PropNet Conference

The following picture shows the computer setup used for this mornings

PropNet HF Internet Conference.

PropNet Presentation

This link will take you to the KI4SGU PropNet Presentation.

PSK31

Several folks have asked about my earlier PSK31 presentation. You can also listen to the sound of PSK31 calling CQ.

Final puzzlement....

W4UOA (the ham computer) is a dual boot machine: Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux

The BIOS reports the following ports in use:

SATA Port-0 : WDC WD7500AAKS (XP OS)
SATA Port-1 : WDC WD3200YS (NTFS backup drive)
PATA Primary Master : DVDRW
PATA Primary Slave : Maxtor 5T060H6 (Ubuntu Linux OS)

The BIOS reports the following boot order for the hard drives:

1st Drive 3S-Maxtor 5T060H6 (Ubuntu Linux OS) -- Using GRUB to manage dual boot.
2nd Drive SM-WDC WD3200YS (NTFS backup drive)
3rd Drive PM-WDC WD7500AAKS (XP OS)

GRUB's menu.lst requires the following commands to boot from the XP drive WD7500AAKS:

root (hd2,0)
map (hd0) (hd2)
map (hd2) (hd0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

I assumed the drive order used by GRUB would be the order shown in the SATA and PATA port list. As such I started with GRUB commands that pointed to (hd0) as the XP boot drive. This did not work. Once I worked with the boot order, which makes the XP drive hd2, it boots into XP.

Ubuntu Dual Monitors

Dual Monitor Support in Ubuntu 8.x

This evening I found a great YouTube video on how to setup dual monitors in Ubuntu 8.x. In my case using an ATI card. See the video below.

Installing the new 750GB drive in W4UOA

When main computer in the shack came online, affordable drives were relatively small--75GB was considered large. Over time, this meant I added more drives to accomodate software and data. With the rapid decline in drive prices over the past few years, a 750GB drive became a reasonable option. Fortunately, the older Intel D865GBF mother board also had two SATA ports to support the higher transfer rates. The first picture shows the new drive's blue SATA data cable.

With the drive connected, this shot shows the new drive being cloned from the older boot drive--a drive with less than a 1/10 the storage capacity of the new WD7500.

After testing the cloaned drive and copying data and software off of two small drives, I installed the new boot drive and removed two of the smaller drives. The system now includes 3 drives--boot/data/software, backup, and Ubuntu Linux--down from 5 smaller drives!

Toroid on Speaker Lead

RF has been getting into one set of computer speakers. The pictured toroid

on the lead from the computer solved the problem nicely.

IC-7600

Click on pictures of hi-res image

IC-7600 100w HF/6 all mode transceiver. Powered by a 4 pin DC 13.8v similar to IC 7000; 3 Roofing filters; and Icom Dual Watch.

IC-7600 Dual Watch, is a receiver configuration in which the incoming RF bandwidth is presented via a power divider to two 1st mixers, each with its own LO. The IF outputs of these mixers are combined and demodulated, yielding a composite baseband (audio) channel. Dual Watch allows simultaneous monitoring in real time of two frequencies in the same or adjacent bands, and in the same mode. It is also fully functional in conjunction with split operation.

IC-7600 Spectrum Scope features similar to IC-7700; RTTY and PSK 31 RX & TX built in; APF/TBF (Twin Bandpass filter for Digital); Variable TX Bandwidth; TX/RX Audio Controls; USB port for Memory stick or Keyboard; USB port for Rig control and audio baseband impu/output; 4 pin DC 13.8v similar to IC 7000.

The Icom IC7600 will be available in the U.S. market later this year.

Pictures from AB4OJ

Rolling Table Summary

Pipe clamps used to secure legs to bottom of the table.

Before and after of cabling.

Wire racks used as table supports. I used a car jack and a
2x4 "gadget" to raise the table and roll in the wire racks.

CAT5EW

GAP Hear It DSP Noise Filter

Click on the image for a hi-res view. The power switch in the upper right corner is all that is necessary to turn the filter on/off. I do have to be sure the 12vdc station supply is also turned on. Both are within easy reach. See the post below to hear the effectiveness in filtering out white noise.

Noise Filtering

This audio was recorded January 7, 2009 at 3.968MHz. The noise floor was S7 on the FT-1000. The filtering was done using a GAP Hear It DSP device.

Dielectric Water Proofing Filler

microKEYER Configuration for HF Internet Bridge

The microKEYER router client provides virtual connections
between the computer and the radio. This particular configuration
supports the Skype HF Internet bridge.

The Wireless Switch

This is the wireless switch on the front of the HP laptop.