Ambivalence re FT8

17:09 UTC today marked exactly one week of FT8 usage. For the 7 months preceding that, I had been focusing on JT9/JT65, and was amazed at how rapidly I was building up my list of contacts--640, at least 63 countries. FT8 puts that to shame: in ONE WEEK I had  312 QSOs with 29 countries. I worked 9 stations in my first 45 minutes using the mode.

FT8 is really addictive--it's hard to step away from--the instant response is great reinforcement.  I went back to JT65 the other day and found it WAY too slow. The difference is that you have to stay with FT8--on JT65 you can set it up and go do other work on the computer until you get an alert, then go back and jump in.

Right now, I love FT8.  It's a great way to build up contacts and fill in gaps for awards--as well as to communicate with the world (tiny messages notwithstanding). One negative I see now is that I expect to burn out on it--I can feel that starting to happen already. We'll see--the up side is that I've been motivated to go back to SSB at times--I've been in some contests, and I was able to work an Oklahoma station, which was the last state I needed for WAS Phone (now if I can just get 8 stations to return QSL cards...).

There is a philosophical discussion around whether FT8 is a real mode that should count for awards and such.   As a relatively new ham with no Morse Code nostalgia, I believe that there should be no distinction.  There are categories within the awards for various modes and bands, and those should satisfy the curmudgeons.  Amateur Radio has always been about  continuous improvement and use of new technology. To disparage people who do that is to disparage the service in an attempt to define a "real ham" in the image of one's own experience.

On the other hand, FT8 will take some getting used to.  It's different.  It's also fun and useful.

More on Worked All States Plus CQ WPX

In my last post on this subject, I mentioned that I just needed Maine for several endorsements. Well. I finally got Maine on FT8 on 40M, giving me WAS Digital.  I am still at 49, lacking Maine,  for WAS 20M and JT65.

Also, I made SSB contact with an Oklahoma station the other night, giving me WAS Phone, although I an awaiting 8 QSL cards for documentation. So, that's WAS Mixed, Digital, and Phone,

Meanwhile, I discovered the CQ WPX award, which counts prefixes. I qualify for WPX Mixed (400 contacts) ans WPX Digital (300) plus 20M and North America endorsements for both.  I was going to apply but LOTW wanted $56+ on top of the $12 CQ Magazine would charge for each.  I'll be happy with the accomplishment and forego the fancy certificates.

Worked All States!!

I did it! Yesterday afternoon I had a JT65 QSO with a station in Hawaii. When I checked my Logbook of the World account this morning, it was confirmed.  That completes my 50 states (mixed). I have other Worked All States (WAS) awards to pursue, but I'm really happy to have this completed.

Twenty Meters was great yesterday--I made this contact with Hawaii before I repaired my antenna (one of my side of my G5RV Jr. had broken loose from the cord that ran from the dogbone to a tree...later yesterday with help from another ham I inserted a bungee cord, re-tied the cord, and raised and tightened the antenna).

Vintage Clock Radio Teardown

Yesterday my wife presented me with a 1966 Sears Silvertone Clock radio, model 6048.  The clock turned on but the radio did not.  I opened the case to find it was a vacuum tube device, so before I tore it down I took it a meeting of one of my amateur radio clubs, which happened to be last night, to see if anyone wanted to play with it. There was some curiosity, but no takers, so I tore it down.

Case open, pre teardown

Torn down

Salvaged Parts

After all that, I wound up with pretty much what I expected: a speaker, some knobs, 2 POTs, and some screws.  I also kept the transformer for the speaker--cursory research reveals that a permanent magnet speaker may need a transformer. I do not know if that's a function of the radio or the speaker--but I will try to find out.  I also kept the internal antenna, just for grins.

So, a piece of history bites the dust, but hopefully I will have some use for the parts.

49 States!

I've been working HF for just over a year, and have been looking forward to qualifying for the ARRL "worked all states" (WAS) award.  After starting digital modes in February, I got up to 48 states, leaving just Maine and Hawaii.  I did not think ME would be a problem, since I live in Massachusetts, but it proved to be difficult.

This weekend is the New England QSO Party, so I figured that this would be my chance. I am not hearing a lot on 40 meters today (the most likely band for me to hear ME on), but I did get 1 ME confirmed contact...so now I just need Hawaii.

Any HI hams out there wanna help me out?

73, W1LEM

I am an Extra Class Operator

In 1958, my friend Freddy and I studied Morse Code with the intention of becoming licensed Ham Radio operators. Then Junior High School happened, along with the 60's and other decades of distraction, so I never got licensed.  About 3 years ago, I became interested in hobby electronics. In the process I built a crystal radio, and all the ham interest came back. A little over a year ago, I decided to investigate the local ham community.  I found an active, vibrant community so I decided to get licensed. I passed my first exam in January of this year.

As of about 9:45 AM EST 10 December 2016, I am an Amateur Extra Class Radio Operator. I passed the test with a 100% score. I have now taken all 3 Ham Radio license exams this year. I scored 100% on the Technician, got 1 wrong on the General (although when they asked me the question after the test I got it right), and 100% on the Extra.

So, now I have to go learn what the questions really mean--but I am proud and happy, and I have made two QSOs (contacts) so far with my new privileges.

Interference Problem Solved

For the category "better late than never"...

Before I left for Texas for a month, I disconnected the antenna cables to my Ten Tec Jupiter HF  rig and my Yaesu FT1900R 2 meter rig.  When I got back and reconnected everything,  I had major QRN on 2 meters. People could hear me fine, but reception was spotty at best.  

I tried moving the cable around with no success.  The only difference from before the trip is that central air conditioning unit was on.  I never got motivated to get into into in detail, because HF was fine (I thought) and I use 2 meters more for mobile.

This past weekend we had an ARES drill for which I was assigned to operate my base station. I turned off the A/C--no difference on 2M.  The next suspect was the computer, but that's always been right where it is.  I shut the computer down and the static disappeared. I looked online and found that the monitor may be the problem.  I tried just turning off the monitor without shutting down--that was it.  Brain jock that I am, I ran the antenna cable behind the monitor.  I moved it, running it under my desk to the Yaesu, and that was it.

We were also operating on 40 meters.  I was getting static there in about a 3kHz range. Since the radio gods have a sense of humor, the frequency we used was right in the middle of that range.  It turns out that the source was the A/C--when the unit switched on, I got static.

Moral of the story: don't run antenna cables behind a computer monitor, and A/C has potential  to produce interference.

On the air!

As described in  this post  the antenna (G5RV Jr) was mounted yesterday. Today, we finished the connections (see photo), and hooked up the Ten Tec Jupiter.

Ladder line connected to coax via a juntion box, to the balun and off to the rig

I was able to hear a lot on 20 meters and some on 40.  It's tough to break in at times, and it's not always clear whether I'm not getting through or some one else is transmitting over me. Very often, you only hear one side of a conversation.  For example, I could hear someone in the Czech Republic clearly. At one point he was talking to someone in Connecticut, probably 200-300 miles from hear, but I could not here the Connecticut station.  Propagation is funny like that.

I did check into a marine net just to be sure I was getting out, and a relay station in Georgia confirmed the check-in. Later I spoke with someone in Portugal and someone else in Nicaragua.  This is cool. Tommorow morning I'll try ECARS (East Coast Amateur Radio Service) to see how I do on 40 meters.

G5RV Jr mounted--almost all set

On the house (middle)--J-Pole for 2 meters on the left

G5RV Jr on the mast with balun and juntion box

I wanted to get my new antenna mounted and installed yesterday (23 April) so I could get on the air for Marconi Day.  Unfortunately, it rained and we decided to be safe.

Today, we go the antenna mounted on the house and ran the horizontal wires out to trees, The job went smoothly almost without issue.  The only problem was that the ladder line extended down farther than I expected. We measured, and it was 19+ft.  I went back and checked the specs, which say 16ft. I went to my 2 meter rig and raised a local ham with the same antenna, and he verified the 16ft. 

So, we took the antenna down, cut the ladder line down, desoldered the existing connection from ladder line to the SO-239, and soldered the shorter piece. Then we re-mounted the antenna and ran the horizontals out to trees in the back yard. We used ropes connected to the insulators to secure the antenna to the trees, and inserted 24" rubber bungees for strain relief.

By that time we were ready to call it a day.  For tomorrow:

1. mount the choke balun on then house
2. mount a waterproof juntion box next to the balun
3. connect the balun to the ladder line inside the junction box
4. connect coax to the balun, with a lightning arrestor  between them
5. ground the lightning arrestor to the ground rod
6. run the coax through the wall to the shack and connect to the HF rig
7. figure out what I need to do for station ground
8. get on the air!

I passed my General tonight!

Step 2 on my Ham Radio journey. Now I need to buy an HF rig and build a multi-band dipole.

Adafruit OLED display on Arduino

I have been neglecting my Arduino interests in favor of amateur radio recently. So, I bought a book "Arduino for Ham Radio."

One simple project to get me started is a compass display.  The book call for a LCD module, which I have, but I also have an +Adafruit Industries OLED 128X64 display that I haven used yet.  So, I dug it out, soldered on the header pins, downloaded the Adafruit libraries, and uploaded an example to an +Arduino Uno clone that I had lying around.  I'm now sensitive to clones, and from now on will only by genuine Arduinos, but since I had this one I used it.

I made one small change to the program, just for grins:  changed "Hello World" to "Hello Town" and passed that message as a variable rather than a literal. No big deal, but I'm refreshing my Arduino skills.

I have ordered the compass module--after I get it I'll finish the project and post results here.

Here's a video.

J-Pole on the house, base station set up

The J-Pole antenna I built (see this post) is now mounted on the house to serve as my permanent antenna for 2 meters.  We sealed the coax connections with electrical tape and soldered the crosspiece with the SO-239 connector to each of the antenna elements to make a permanent electrical connection.  The RG-58 coax is connected to a lightning arrestor, and then to another piece of coax via a female-female adapter. Those connections are wrapped with electrical tape, and the coax goes through a hole in the singles and wall into the area above a drop ceiling in my basement, then down the wall and under my desk  to my new base station radio (Yaesu FT-1900R, with a 13.8V power supply). The lightning arrestor is connected to a 10ft ground rod, driven into the ground, via #12AWG wire.

It works great!

Next steps: finish studying for my general class license. pass the test, by an HF rig, put up a multiband dipole antenna, and expand my ham horizons.

J-Pole!

Most of the J-Pole

Antenna side of SO-239 soldered to the copper strapconnected to the long side of the J-Pole.

Note the screw connecting the body of the connector to the short side.

Socket side of SO-239 bolted to the short side of the J-Pole

With plans found here for a 2-meter j-pole my brother in law (the one with the skills) and I built this. We used the dimensions exactly as given except that the bottom extends about 5', rather then the 2' in the specs.

To test, we first took it outside, and supported it so it was vertical.  We connected a 9' length of RG58 coax to the SO-239 and to a meter, and the radio to the other coupling on the meter. On a simplex frequency on low power (1W), SWR was well under 1.2:1, so I tried a repeater about 12 miles away on high power (8W) . A member of my local club heard me and reported a good signal reception was strong but a little scratchy--I may need to fuss with that.

This was not at my house, so the next step is to find a place at my house where I can get a consistent signal and be heard consistently.

It's snowing now, so I'm on hold, but when it clears I will get to that.

Success! See this post  and this post for the process that go me here.

More on 2-meter antennae

mag antenna for top of car on the right, using baking sheet for ground plane, new ground plane antenna on the right, using just 12 gaugue wire and an SO-239 connector

Just for grins, I decided to go further with the attenna experiments.  I made another grond plane, using #12 AWG insulated wire, crimp-on ring connectors, and an SO-239 connector. Using the same dimensions as the one in this post but following +Martin Lorton more closely (e.g., no copper plate), I soldered the vertical and screwed the radials (via the ring connectors) to the SO-239.

I still get spotty reception, not much better (and sometimes worse) than the 15" antenna screwed on to the radio.  I borrowed an SWR/Power meter.  I need one more connector to test the mag, but I get  beter than 1:1.2 SWR on the groundplanes. The power meter shows I'm getting 1W and 5W on the low and medium settings, and 7+ on the high setting.

I also made contact yesterday using the mag antenna on the car through a repeater ~15 mi away from where I was.  That's the first time I had success with that antenna. I was getting what may have been reverse feed, so I'd like to check the SWR. I'll do that once I get the connector (need 2 days for Amazon Prime).

I may just have to live with the fact that my house is in a bad place, but I'd like to see if an alternate antenna will improve things. I may have to go to a J-Pole, mounted up high.

113th Anniversary of First Transatlantic Wireless Contact, 18 January 1903

Coast Guard Station, Eastham, MA--note the antennae set up for a variety of wavelengths. The actual first message was sent from Marconi Station, a few miles north.

113 years ago today, the first radio telegraph message from US President Theodore Roosevelt of English King Edward VII was sent from Marconi Station in South Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Today, only some of the foundation remains of the original station. National Parks Service and local ham radio operators work the anniversary from the former Coast Guard Station in Eastham, a few miles to the south.

This area is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. Cape Cod Marconi Radio Club (+Marconi Cape Cod) call sign is KM1CC. The event is also part of National Parks on the Air (NPOTA), celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Parks Service (also a Teddy Roosevelt thing). The NPOTA id is SS03.

I observed some of the activity yesterday.  There were 2 voice stations and one CW (Morse Code) station working 10, 17, 30, and 40 meters.  The frequencies are posted on the KM1CC Facebook page and the @KM1CC Twitter Feed.    Volunteers were also setting up another CW rig.

2 meter antenna

To celebrate my new licensed amateur status, I decided to build an antenna for my new radio.

The radio is dual band (2 meter/70cm), but I decided to start slowly and make an antenna for just the 144MHz (2 meter) band, since that's the one I'll be using most.  I found the specs here (part of a compendium) I used the rest of the compendium as well as other reference material, particularly this video by +Martin Lorton,

I enlisted the help of my brother-in-law, who has skills (see the generator house).  In the interest of using what we (he) had, we used a copper plate instead of aluminum, and 10-gauge wire instead of welding rods for the radials. There may be a galvanic action problem, but we'll see.

Materials:

1.       SO-239 chassis connector https://www.radioshack.com/products/so-239-coaxial-socket?variant=5717635205

2.       6” SO-239 to SMA female jumper http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COKNKS8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01

3.       18’ coax with PL-259 connectors http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001JT0CGI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01

4.       4-40 machine screws, washers, and lock nuts (4 ea)

5.       12 AWG wire (19 5/16” + loop,  4 x 20 3/16 +)

6.       Copper plate (~6” square)

7.       PVC pipe for stand

Process:

1. drilled a 5/8" hole and four small holes (for the 1/2" 4-40 machine screws) in the copper plate
2. attached the SO-239 to the plate with the machine screws
3. cut the wires to length (4x#10, 1x#12, 19")
4. bent the radials to 45 degrees, 4 inches from one end
5. soldered (instead of screwed) the radials to the copper plate
6. soldered the #12 wire to the center pin of the SO-239
7. connected the cables to the antenna, each other, and the radio
8. on the air (not yet...I need to hear activity in order to know what's up)

We found an old Archer 21-256 CB tuner (over 40 years old).  It claims to cover 2-175MHz. Just for drill, I cleaned it up and connected.  It showed my SWR was way off. I tried bending the radials up, and it got worse. I bent them down, not quite to vertical, and I got it to 1,2. I have no idea how accurate the device is or how effectively I used it, but I used it.

I have not raised anyone, with the antenna, but I had the same issue without it. This morning I heard 2 people on a local repeater and when they finished I asked if they could hear me. I had a nice conversation with one, so my radio transmits.  Now I just have to test the antenna.

I passed my Amateur Radio Operator test

Last night I qualified as a Technician Class amateur radio operator. I have to wait a few days before I can be on the air, while the FCC assigns a call sign to me.

I bought this inexpensive, handheld radio to get started. It will get me around the local area and I can participate in local activities including emergency management.

I expect to by an additional radio that will get me to other parts of the world, but I have to decide whether I will uprade my license first in order to be able to broadcast on more bands.  Meanwhile I am having fun!