985 Workbench: 2024-07-15

My Week in Radio

  • I saw Ron’s photos from Sussex County Ham Fest
    • I only go looking for connectors and gadgets, not real gear.
  • Enjoyed Luke’s talk at breakfast
    • cat whisker and spark gap
    • reminds me of the books I read as an elementary student
      • crystal radios
      • want to build one again and see about tuning it for medium and shortwave
  • POTA: Caledonia
    • used the 12.5M EFRW instead of EFHW
    • afternoon, 40m was dead
    • 20m and 15m was very busy with SSB contesters
    • 15, 17, 20: all EU, and very little local, via FT8 and SSB, but they couldn’t hear me.
      • atmospheric diode?
    • only made 4 contacts in the hour I tried
  • Tape Measure YAGI is amazing for hearing the workbench
    • I didn’t want to need to pick a direction, but seems OK for these longer sessions
  • Purchased an inexpensive variac
    • so now I need an old radio with some questionable capacitors. :)
  • I’ll be at the breakfast, then finding a park to activate afterward.
  • Writing a bit for the blog in down times

Others’ News

  • Ron, WA3VEE
    • Sussex County Ham Fest
    • photos
  • Luke, KC3SCY
    • spark gap and cat whisker
      • receiver working
    • GOJO cleaner without abrasive is good for cleaning wood
  • Keith, KB3ILS
    • Lots of extended propagation on 2m
  • Jack, K3YVQ
    • listening to longer-distance simplex on 2m calling frequency
  • Jim, AF3Z
    • some CW
    • contests upcoming
      • IARU HF contest
      • SKCC Sprintathon
      • Flight of the Bumblebees QRP

Question

  • Perseids meteor storm coming this month, What’s involved in working meteor scatter?
    • Widen topic to: Any special propagation modes?
    • Jim: e-skip?
    • Row, WA3VEE:
      • Tropospheric ducting
        • temperature inversion
        • listen to FM broadcast in the morning
          • difficult to hear local
          • hearing much longer distances
          • it’s a mess of overlap
          • means there’s an opening in 2m
        • dxinfocentre.com for tropo forecasts
      • Meteor showers
        • listen to 6m.
    • Chuck, NA3CW
      • Signal around the world
        • 1-2 second delay to hear your own “hello”
        • Japan at 10w
        • 1-way propagation
          • atmosphere is turbulent
          • photons strike into ionized air molecules and electrons
          • the wave jiggles the electrons in the air, and they retransmit
            • this “reflection”
          • signals going the other direction may hit different conditions along the way.
    • KC3WWC: antenna orientation?
    • W1RC, Mike:
      • Digital modes for studying propagation, since it can be monitored
    • WA3VEE, Ron
      • EM energy is released when an electron drops into a lower orbital
      • RBN and pskreporter

985 Workbench: 2024-07-08

My Week in Radio

  • I had time off, so lots of Parks on the Air
    • The entire Susquehanna River is considered US-4567 as the Captain John Smith Chesapeake Trail
    • I scouted some spots along the river.
    • I’ve been trying SSB P2P contacts first, then digital modes.
  • I found Ron, WA3VEE, and other familiar faces at Harrisburg Hamfest.
  • I got 9 of the 13 colonies on SSB and FT8, usually at parks.
  • That adjacent net on W3HZU was still a problem on my Quansheng HTs.
    • I’m trying the similarly cheap QRZ-1 Explorer tonight. It’s almost as bad.
    • I’m also trying the tape-measure yagi right now for some gain toward 985 and rejection toward 970.

Questions of the Night

  • CR, W8CRW: What would an air compressor from UK (230V, 50Hz) do on 240V/60Hz?
    • Induction motor may run 20% faster, out of spec, wear out more quickly
    • Starting capacitor for the motor may not be compatible
    • May be able to introduce a phase change transformer
  • Bill, KC3OOK: NVIS experiences for close contacts?
    • Jack, K3YVQ: good experience with “trapezoid-shaped” antenna wire: horizontal with ends dropped at an angle.
    • Harvey, KC3NZT:
      • half-wave above ground for better DX.
      • a second low antenna may not be worth the trouble of installing.
      • wait for a quiet time and get through to your target contact.
    • Jim, KC3RFG: Got 12mi to Philadelphia. Maybe that was ground-wave.
    • Jim, AF3Z: 10ft off the ground, a couple hundred miles
    • Chuck, NA3CW: “intentional NVIS” = 6ft off ground the whole way with counterpoise directly below, parallel to radiator.
    • Harvey, KC3NZT:
      • model verticals in EZNEC software
      • see lobes in radiation pattern
      • can be quite NVIS at some lengths
  • Jack, K3YVQ: Mounting and grounding an antenna on a kayak.
    • Harvey, KC3NZT: tape on the underside as a ground plane
    • Leon, AA3LH: glue a plate to the bottom
    • John, KC3WWC: float a wire on something floaty to keep it on the surface, see Coastal Waves and Wires on Youtube.
    • Wayne, KC3SQI: install foil tape like transducer for a fish finder

21 Tech Net - 2024-06-30

My Week in Radio

  • outside wire broke and rehung a couple times
    • avoiding tension on it
    • cheap throwing weight from big sockets from Habitat Restore
  • my first summer of HF: May not be as exciting as past Winter/Spring
  • tape measure yagi for direction-finding/tx
    • Quansheng shows dB and S-level of the signal, so going to work nicely for direction-finding
    • found a direction-finding map application for my phone to help with triangulation: SigTrax
    • may go chasing a curious source noises in my area
    • local club is gearing up for a tx hunt
  • POTA / Field Day on the National Mall in DC
    • GRA-1900t whip with coil with jumper
      • noted resonant frequencies at each jumper fully extended, so lookup, jumper, then shorten to tune.
    • ran out all the batteries, but got the park activated
  • POTA around York/Lancaster
    • oops, tick bite and lyme disease
  • sorting all the gear for radio, electronics, other hobbies.

Other Info

  • packet radio
    • 145.010 FM 12db digipacket
    • 28.105 USB 300bd digipacket
  • 13 colonies activity this week
  • Firecracker Hamfest this weekend
    • Triangle Communication will have lots of gear to unload
  • satellites
    • ISS
      • 145.800mhz
      • 145.825 digipeater packet
      • 437.800 fm repeater
      • Monday morning
      • Tuesday morning
      • Wednesday morning
    • AO-91
      • Monday
      • Wed
      • Thurs
    • SO-50
      • Tues 7pm
      • etc
21  ka3tkw  technet  net 

985 Workbench Net - 2024-05-13

My Week in Radio

  • I purchased some power cables that split out the 12V line out of USB-C, so I can power my radio from a USB-C power brick/jump-starter battery.
  • Marie and I relaunched my EFRW even higher into the the tree in the front yard. I used the slingshot out the second-story window, while Marie watched that the street and sidewalk were clear.
  • I did the RTTY test and FT4 sprint last Thursday.
  • I saw some better propagation on FT8 before the weekend’s solar storm: Ukraine, Northern Ireland, and Greenland at the arctic circle.
  • While the bands were dead over the weekend, I built a couple new, lighter antennas for POTA. I cut and tuned some 20m-long EFHW wires and tuned them with NanoVNA. I used recycled plastic gum boxes as enclosures and winders for the un-uns and wires. I also 3d-printed a winder that holds the transformer and heavier speaker wire. I’ll test the antennas when bands are obviously better. I’ve not really used an EFHW much, so I’m curious to see how it performs compared to EFRW.
  • I saw some recovery today in the band today: Panama, Canary Islands, and the Cayman Islands.
  • Ron, WA3VEE, sent photos from the Antique Radio Meet in Kutztown.

My Question for the Night

What are the effects of solar cycle and solar activity on propagation? We’re in a high point of the solar cycle, so 10m is good, but too much and it blacks out propagation?

Discussion

  • Vic, KC3TYX, made a VARA-C contact.
  • Jim, KC3RFG, found an OCF dipole to be quieter than end-fed.
  • Jim, AF3Z, has trouble with his Ten-Tec radio sometimes not transmitting.
  • Jeff, W3JAM, wondered if anyone was making 6m contacts over solar storm.
  • Mike, W3MFB, noted that 17m sometimes is a pipeline right into Florida in afternoon/evening.
  • Tim, W3QP, is headed on SOTA campout.
  • Jack, K3YVQ, Is it OK to use GMRS on a radio that does ham freqs and more?
    • Mike, W3MFB: technically, the radio should be locked to gmrs frequencies.
    • on the air, no one would know, though.
    • Ron, WA3VEE: FCC approves radios for particular services.
    • GMRS radios are “type-acceptance”, and the right power limits.
    • Some other radios might be hard to limit to the right power.
  • John, KC3WWC: What’s the solar storm do to propagation? Some activity is OK, but too much is bad?
    • Chuck, NA3CW:
      • RF is produced by accelerating (“wiggling”) electrons.
      • Ionosphere doesn’t “bounce” signals, but instead “receives” and “retransmits”.
      • We have loose electrons in the upper atmosphere, good for retransmit.
      • Solar storm ionizes the atmosphere at different levels with varying intensity.
      • Our RF hits ions in lower part of the atmosphere and gets slowed, absorbed (D layer).
      • LF is affected the most, since it moves the electrons further.
      • Solar minimum offers less ionization at any level.
      • D layer, E Layer, F1 layer, F2 layer.
      • Better shortwave propagation at night.
      • Lots more is understood now about the ionosphere.
      • Frequencies are coordinated in SW to adapt to seasonal changes.
      • Electrons free in thicker air recombine more easily, so don’t pass RF.
      • Winter: great distances, because air is thinner.
    • Tim, W3QP: noise also comes up during storm and masks signal.
    • This video from Coastal Waves and Wires explains the effect a bit.

985 Workbench - 2024-05-06

My Week in Radio

  • Backyard antenna
    • build
      • cleaned up the backyard
      • threw wires high in the tree near the top of the hill
      • took my time
        • routing
        • tied and supported solidly,
        • no stress on connectors
      • first floor window to high on the hill
      • the hill is to the east
    • testing, discussion last week
      • made some contacts on 30m
      • switching
      • FT8 on 15m and pskreporter
      • counted decodes in wsjtx
      • new antenna had fewer decodes on average
      • compared the map - missing europe, since it followed the hill and not enough of the antenna is above the ridge
      • old antenna is mostly flat, but is 2nd floor and above
    • scheme to get more of the wire higher
  • Reading the manual for fldigi
    • better prepared for contesting and logging
    • less fixing logs
  • Observing some very boring HF propagation
    • if it weren’t for the propagation reports, I’d think I broke something.
    • leaves also came in on my antenna tree

Discussions

  • Tim, W3QP, talked about sota.
  • Ron, WA3VEE, is helping a new operator shop for equipment.
  • Ron’s going to the antique radio show to sell.
  • Leon, AA3LH, is practicing CW.
  • Jeff, W3JAM, why do we conventionally use LSB and USB?
  • Bill, KC3OOK, does internet time sync work through hotspots?
  • John, KC3WWC, What are better interfaces to SOTA?

985 Workbench - 2024-04-22

My Week in Radio

  • I met some 985ers on Friday morning at the tailgate and breakfast.
  • I heard a bit of the ARISS mission talking to students last week
  • I have APRS working
    • UV-K5 running egzumer
      • VOX mode
      • Sensitive
    • Pixel 6 Pro
      • Volumes way up, nearly 100%
    • BTech audio cable
    • APRSDroid
      • AFSK mode
    • Saw decodes on the phone
    • Saw myself show up on https://aprs.fi map
  • Evolve 3 laptop is working with Linux completely:
    • network
    • sound
    • used it for a pota activation
  • Time to also slim down the go box for POTA as it’s gotten heavy.
  • 2m dipole in the tree working well for a couple weeks, so it’s time to change.
    • next: try building a ground-plane quarter-wave with radials
    • it’ll feed better from the bottom
  • Trying other firmware on the Quansheng radios
    • mixes of features I want and don’t want
  • W3FIS, Paul Ross, sent me a small box of some radio gadgets to explore
  • I’ve been seeing people recommend using a CW decoder
    • maybe try the decoder in my radio
    • get some practice keying, instead of waiting
  • York Hamfest is on Saturday

985 Workbench Net - 2024-04-15

17 people attended the net.

My Week in Radio

  • POTA: Ridley Creek, east of West Chester
    • 21.56m efrw
    • embarrassing tangle of string, 30 minutes
    • got New Zealand!
  • POTA: Presque Isle State Park, Erie PA
    • eclipse
    • 21.56 efrw
    • operated next to my brother, kc3wry from the same picnic table
    • I worked 10m and he worked 40m
    • our data logs will be used my HAMSCI people, University of Scranton
  • Caught Pitcairn Island DXpedition, VP6G, on 5w FT8 10m.
    • operating shifted, and was super quiet
    • my first OC
  • Operating HT at 5W
    • dipole high in a tree
    • too sensitive for this cheap HT
    • FM bandstop filter to clean up the reception, especially for 985
    • TX though it without any fire!
  • Modified the database in my hf radio to mark the bandplan on the waterfall
  • started a website for all my notes since october

985 Breakfast on Friday

  • Lots of coax, antennas, analyzers, etc for sale.

Halyard on dipole install

  • AF3Z, Jim
  • Having a full halyard loop of rope to the pulley (like a flagpole) allows you to pull it up or down, whatever is needed.
  • Avoids having a pulley up the tree with no rope because an end gets away.

Dipole in the Attic

  • KCYYIT, Dave
  • Built the fan dipole for 6m and 10m in the attic.
  • Tuned it with nanovna
  • Not too tricky or ambitious: only the 2 bands.

Mud Mosey

  • Event at great marsh institute
  • Course marshals used gmrs ch 17.
  • 10 ham operators to help coordinate operations.
  • Used simplex freq 147.12MHz
  • Tom was net control

APRS

  • KC3YVQ, Jack
  • Does APRS kerchunk N3FYI?
    • We don’t think so. It should transmit and receive on standard 144.390MHz

21 Tech Net - 2024-04-07

My Week in Amateur Radio

  • Overload on UV-K5 with better antennas
    • UV-K5 & UV-K6 for comparison - not broken
    • Balance antenna location good enough but not too good
    • FM bandstop filter helps a whole lot
  • Modifying params database on Xiegu X6100
    • Now shows me accurate bands and privileges, so I won’t accidentally wander beyond my privileges.
  • Picked up an Evolve 3 laptop that runs on 12v
    • Linux is being challenging: wifi and sound.
  • Packing camera and radio gear or eclipse trip tomorrow
tech  net  21  ka3tkw 

Morning Grind & Bandstop

I checked into the Morning Grind on K3IR today. The questions was: plans for solar eclipse? I transmitted successfully through the FM bandstop filter from rtl-sdr.com. The filter has helped immensely to hold 2m signals with sensitive external antenna.