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FT-9000DX

I don't know if I could ever learn what each knob and button does but it would sure be fun to try!

Dichotomic Search Table

Some methods of teaching or learning morse code use the dichotomic search table shown below.

Cross-Band Internet Bridge

Overview
An INTERNET Bridge Computer establishes a Skype conference with Base Station 1 (BS-1), Base Station 2 (BS-2), and up to 25 Internet Participants (IP) parties. BS-1 is in contact with any number of HF participants on 7.230. BS-2 is in contact with any number of HF participants on 3.968. The transceivers (XCVRs) at BS-1 and BS-2 are set for VOX operation with their thresholds to only open on a solid Q5 signal. All participants must follow good round-table protocol, clearly identifying who is to get the mic on the next over.

Situation (1)
An HF participant is talking on 7.230. BS-1 receives the signal and sends it out over the Internet conference. All Internet Participants (IP parties) and BS-2 will hear the signal via the Internet conference. With BS-2’s open VOX, the HFP’s signal will be retransmitted on 3.968.

Situation (2)
An Internet participant is talking. The signal goes out over the conference link. BS-1 and BS-2 retransmit the signal on 7.230 and 3.968 respectively.

Observation
Internet participants can talk to each other full duplex. These full duplex conversation will be retransmitted by BS-1 and BS-2.

Situation (3)
HFP-1 on 7.230 is talking. His signal is retransmitted by BS-2. There is nothing to prevent Internet participant IP-1 from talking—other than good round table protocol.

Doubles
If an HFP on 7.230 and an HFP on 3.968 start to talk at the same time, who ever opens the corresponding VOX first wins and a classic double occurs. For example, suppose HFP-1 on 7.230 starts talking a fraction of a second before an HFP-3 on 3.968. HFP-1 will key the VOX on BS-2, blocking reception of (or double with) HFP-3. Should HFP-3 start talking a moment before HFP-1, HFP-3 will capture the VOX on BS-1 and block reception of (double with) HFP-1.

Application
When 40m is long, round tables are limited to distant stations. For example, typically on 40m N0SAP, KB4BW, can hear each other; W4UOA, WA5MLF, and W4BXI can also hear N0SAP and KB4BW. However, W4UOA, WA5MLF, and W4BXI can not hear each other. With the Cross-Band Bridge in place, all communications are retransmitted for full geographic coverage.

Are YOU TOO in the database?

Beauty is surely in the eye of the beholder....

HDR with "Favourites"

ADSL Speed

Speed Feb 2, 2009 0900 CST

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.

Christmas 2008 on Alaca Place

24 degrees in Tuscaloosa

Remote Control from Brentwood

Bi-Directional Splitter

The table in action!

Well, it's done and it works!

Cutting the Legs and Wiring Before and After

Cutting the legs!

Before!

After!

The Table Gadget

Well...with a little luck...by dinner time tomorrow my table will be on wheels. The Table Gadget works...just crank the car jack and easily lift the end of the table say 1/2"...remove the current support cabinet...roll in the new support that is on wheels (that will be next series of pictures) and crank down The Gadget.

Go to the other end of the table...repeat the process...and there you have it! A table that I can roll out away from the wall and work on the back of the rigs.

The exciting moments will be when I remove the existing metal cases that support the ends and roll in the new supports. Just need to NOT knock over The Gadget just at that moment!

I'll keep you posted!

The Sun Shows Signs of Life

Nov. 7, 2008: After two-plus years of few sunspots, even fewer solar flares, and a generally eerie calm, the sun is finally showing signs of life.

You heard it on WWV!

Really!?

VoIP HF Bridge

(Click on the image to enlarge)

This is a pictorial representation of a recently tested Skype-based amateur radio HF VoIP bridge station. Working with well developed and tested component elements: Skype and a radio computer interface were linked to provide a HF VoIP bridge--somewhat similar to Echolink. Recent tests found that given sufficient Internet bandwidth, and a relatively robust computer to serve as the conference hub, Skype can provide exceptional audio between all participating stations.

In the most recent trials, the HF tranceiver was set for VOX operation thus allowing conference participants to easily key the transceiver. This easy access does require some discipline to minimize doubling on the part of conference and on-air participants.

On-air participants reported excellent audio quality and no objectionable latency. Obviously the readability of the on-air signal will depend on the power of the HF bridge station and propagation conditions between on-air participants and the HF bridge station.

A special thanks to WA5MLF and W4BXI for many suggestions and encouragement.

June 18, 2010

ARRL just released their first Remote Operating for Amateur Radio.  I was impressed by their first figure!  See below.

Well, gosh.  I guess that's just about the only way you could draw it!  I'm just glad they are promoting a great idea.  Hats off to TRX-Manager, HRD, and a host of other innovative programmers who have made it all possible!

HF via Echolink

Several of us have been working to setup an Echolink server to facilitate an early morning HF round-table when 75m propagation is not particularly good for all stations. The following screen shots show the current state of affairs. You can click on each image to seen a full size rendering.

The above screen shot shows the microKeyer audio routing necessary for COM port or Winkey PPT. Note that this configuration is called a "C" type of routing.

The following screen shot shows the required port configuration. Note that the PTT port is set to COM4. We'll see that COM4 setting again when we look at a the Echolink PTT setup.

See the Echolink Preferences-Connections-Push-to-Talk Settings below. Note the Serial Port COM4 selection.

Echolink inbound audio (RXCtrl) is set to VOX as shown below.

Echolink out-bound (TX-Ctrl) is also set to COM4 as shown below.

And lastly, Echolink must be told where to find the in-bound (Rcv) and out-bound (TX) audio. In this case, the sound card as shown below.

Configuring this particular installation was complicated by the the interface (microKeyer) choices audio routing and possibilities and transmitter keying, coupled with a number of different parameter choices in Echolink.

I'm not sure we are yet properly configured but I think we are closer.

Grounding Project

Each leg of the tower is grounded to an 8' ground rod. The rods are tied to each other.

One of the three 8' ground rods.

Looking up from the base of the tower to the entry panel. Note the feed lines come off the tower at roof line and go directly to the entry panel.

The entry panel. Note the ground wire. This runs down a leg of the tower and is tied to one of the ground rods.

Feed lines from the UHF, Beam, and Fan dipole. The fan dipole goes to the connector labeled beam--go figure!

Note the tower sits just to the right of the guest bedroom. Can you guess what I'm think?

Alabama QSO Party

I used the N1MM logging program. After a bumpy start, Mickey Mouse worked great. With all the testing, I did not confirm that I could enter state abbreviations. Some how I managed to break this feature. After almost an hour all was working.

Of the many nice features, the ability to record and manage voice keying was very handy. While I setup wav files for several different transmissions, the one I really used was the CQ call. Just hit the F1 key and the station called CQ. All I had to do was log the contacts!

The dual monitors allowed me to watch many of N1MM's windows. The paper in front of the keyboard includes a conversion for county names to 3 or 4 character abbreviations; two-character USPS abbreviations; and a copy of the rules!

73,
W4UOA

Alabama QSO Party

Alabama QSO Party starts at 11:00AM CST, Saturday, June 7th. I've never been a contester but am going to give it a try this year. I'm going to use the logging program N1MM with digital voice. I've recorded all the messages and setup the layout. More on the results after the weekend! Click on the picture of a larger image.