Cool bling!, New SKCC Logger, Bonus brag month

 

Cool bling:

AetherSDR lets you put a background image on the spectrum display! What do you think? Pretty slack right?

It appears AetherSDR has reach a "stable" state. The author has slowed down releases quite dramatically.  I used it during the May WES and everything seem to work OK. The thing is I don't think the audio is as good as SmartSDR in CW mode. I don't know about phone or digital because I never use either mode. So I still kind of prefer SmartSDR, at least on my Windows machine.

New SKCC Logger:

The SKCC group has come out with a new logger. It is a local web applications that needs a Chromium based browser  e.g. Chrome or Edge. It has the skcc_skimmer built into it and also has a lot of bells and whistles that make it really useful for SKCC contacts. In the figure above the skimmer is top right and the Add Log Entry is in the lower right. One cool feature is you can import a xml file from QRZ to get grid squares. I haven't try this yet because it cost money, and I'm a little parsimonious i.e. cheap HIHI.

It seems like I will have to redo my "The SKCC for the Intellectually Challenged" since the skimmer is now part of the logger.

Bonus Brag Month:

Bands really suck right now. I did most of my skcc Brag contacts on 40 and 20m. I ended the month with 76 brag QSOs. As of June 10th there are only 32 brags stations listed. 

I ended up with 133 QSOs for May, which is not too bad. I had to take my HF antenna down because I am having some tree work done and the ropes are in the way. I hope to get the antenna back before too long.

All for now 73!

K3Y 2026 QSL, More on AetherSDR and YACSDR

 K3Y QSL:

QSL card arrived the other day. I was fortunate to get the grand sweep again this year. I didn't get my last region until the 29th, but all is good. Can't wait until next year. I am thinking next year might be tougher because the sun spot cycle is on a down slope. We will see! Full details are here for this years SKM.

AetherSDR:

Well this Flex client is certainly going through a lot of changes. It works OK on Linux and Windows. The only thing I have objection to is the way they implemented the FlexControl. The wheel only affects tuning. and the buttons only toggle functions, e.g. MOX, on or off. This is a deal breaker for me. I need the wheel to affect the audio volume. I will keep monitoring this program but I am not hopeful it will be what I want.

Fortunately my SKCC  logging program can connect via the network, so I don't need a CAT interface. I really don't need the DAX interface, so I am not concerned with that.

YACSDR:

Yet Another Client SDR for Flex Radios. This one is called RimuSDR. Unlike the other clients I have looked at, this is not open source. Can't download it yet and there will be some sort of monetary obligation. I will have to keep my eye on this one. The only worry I have is paying for an unknow quantity before trying it out first. We will see.

All for now

73!

Windows 11 and SmartSDR, Some Thoughts on CW, YACSDR, HTCommander update

 Windows 11 and SmartSDR:

So I have had some time using SmartSDR on my new computer. There are some oddities under windows 11.

The first is that when you first SmartSDR, the Autotune and One Shot buttons do not appear on the RX tab. However, if  I toggle one of the other tabs on and off, such as P/CW, they appear on the RX tab. Now I do not have a "License" for those features so that might have something to do with it. However, once I toggle one of the other tabs, they appear and are greyed out as expected.

The second thing that happens is when I had first installed SmartSDR on my Windows 11 machine, the AUX button on the FlexControl would randomly change from AUX2 to AUX3. This has stopped happening though. I assume a driver update has taken care of that. So all is good now.

The third issues is that sometimes when starting SmartSDR, the FlexControl either does not seem to be recognized by the software or it suddenly loses connection to the controller. However, if I restart SmartSDR, the FlexControl starts functioning.

This seems to happen the first time I start SmartSDR after the computer was asleep ( I usually sleep my computer rather then turn the power off at night. The computer starts up faster that way.)

Some Thoughts on CW:

I have been working on my speed/head coping using the morsecode.world web site. I can probable get about 80% of the words at about 16 WPM. I am also doing the letter recognition drills. 

One thing I realized is that learning to head copy is very much like learning to speak when you were young. That is, you learned the "sound" of a word, not how to "spell" the word. So when you are doing the drills you should try and recognize the sound and not each letter. 

This is really hard for me and unfortunately, I don't do these drills as often as I should.

YACSDR:

Yet another Client SmartSDR APP called AetherSDR.  This is a work in progress. It is meant to be a native Linux app. This one seems to be more promising, but there is a lot to be done before it is useful.

HTCommander update:

I am now running v0.59 and it is pretty good. I am pretty much using this program exclusively now.

All for now 73!

GPS fun, New Windows 11 machine, HTCommander, Winter s#cks and Code Copy Speed

GPS Fun:

One of the things that HTCommander doesn't do is provide my VR-N7500 with a GPS position. It needs a position in order to start beaconing. The radio does not have a built in GPS chip, so it has to be provided by some other means. I am hoping this feature could be provided by the HTCommander app.

So I decided to see what it would take to get GPS on my computer. I found this GPS dongle on Amazon. I plugged it in and said "Now what?" I expected something to happen, but nothing. So I went spelunking on Google and found this program: VisualGPSView. It is freeware and is very useful for understanding GPS. For less than $20 it is a great learning aid.

It turns out the GPS dongle provides GPS data in a  NMEA 0183  ASCII serial format. If you want to get a copy of this standard it will cost you a minimum of  $1,500 but no need, there is plenty of free info on this standard available. The link above is a Wikipedia page that tells you all you need to know.

GPS Dongle blinks green when it transfer GPS position to the computer.

Below are screen shot from the VisualGPSView.

Front panel status

 

Scatter plot

Position plot

NMEA Data

I was surprised as to how many GPS satellites there are in orbit. I guess it would not be too hard to integrate this dongle into an app.

New Windows 11 Machine:

Well, my "old" Alienware R6 was crashing more frequently and since it can't be upgraded to Windows 11, I decide to bite the bullet and buy a new computer. 

I am not a big fan of Windows 11 and I feel like BIG BROTHER is getting too much involved with my computer and what I am doing with it. If only more people wrote more programs for Linux I would ditch Windows.

So far almost every program I use runs Windows 11. The only app that didn't run was JTAlertV2. I had to disable the Smart APP Control.

HTCommander:

I have been doing more testing on this APP. Unfortunately version 0.44 does not run on my Window 11 machine, so I have keep my Windows 10 machine running 0.44 to allow me to do some A/B comparison.

One feature that I have been exploring is the speech to text.  It is interesting(funny) as to how it translate some words. Such as icicles to icecoats. I suppose it has it uses.

Winter s#cks:

I have lived in New England area almost all my life. The only exception is my years in the service. This winter has been especially bad. Both December and January were colder then normal. There has been a lot of snow to go along with it. A lot or 3 to 5 inch storms, a two footer, today was a very wet 5 inch storm and Sunday into Monday a major Nor'easter of 12 to 18 inches. I hope we don't lose power on Monday. One bonus, The town took down FIVE diseased Ash trees in front of my house this year, so I don't have to worry about a tree coming down on the wires or my house.

That is my OCF dipole covered in wet snow.

Code Copy Speed:

I have been working on my copy speed using the Word List Trainer. It is coming along but man, do I hate doing it. But taking a line from the movie "The Outlaw Josey Wales" : "I will Endeavor to persevere."

I guess this is enough for now.

73!!

SKM K3Y Event, K3y 2026 Preliminary Results, EOL for my Alienware computer and Misc

 SKM K3Y Event:

The Straight Key Century Clubs 20th anniversary has just ended. There were over 3500 SKM QSOs made during the month. I don't know if this was a record or not, but pretty close I would imagine.

Below is my band/region log for this years SKM. It is not as good as last year, but there were several days I could not work much. I did get the grand sweep, but with only two days to spare. It was a close one this year. I swear next year I will have 160m antenna up... Really!

K3Y 2026 Preliminary Results:

I've posted some stats for the month below.

 {last year}(two years ago)

Total QSO for January : 187 { 385} (281)

Total SKCC Brags : 128 {230} (170)

Total K3Y unique operates worked : 121 {168} (135)

Total Band slots : 112 {128} (124) 

US Entities Worked [50 States + DC & PR]: 41 {45} (45)

Continents: 6 out of 6 {6 out of 6}

DX Entities: 12 out of 19 {15 out of 20}

As you can see, not as good as last year. But with the down turn of the Sun spot cycle, it is to be expected.

Below is the winning QSL design for this year. The other entries can be found here .

EOL for my Alienware computer:

As with a lot of people, my computer cannot be upgraded to Windows 11. But I can still get security updates until October 2026. However, my computer seems to freeze a lot, especial when viewing videos. I mean I have to do hard reset i.e. push the power button until it power cycles. I have run all the extended diagnostics, but they seem to pass no problem. It is six years old, which is old for a Windows computer. Notices I said "Windows" computer, not for a Linux computer.

So I ordered a new Dell and it arrives Feb 3rd. We will see what that brings. Hopefully my old computer can live a longer life as a Linux machine. We will see.

Misc:

I am still playing with both the HT Commander and StationPilot. It has been awhile since there has been any updates to either program. I guess we will see if these programs fall by the wayside.

Still trying to get my Morse code head copying speed up. The ICR seems to help.

January has been a bad month weather wise. Over two feet of snow and temps in the single digits for a lot of days. I hoe Feb. warms up a bit.

All for now 73!!

HTCommander, ICR, New Flex licensing program, StationPilot and SKM

 Yes I know, it has been too long without a post. Really preoccupied with summer activities not related to ham radio. Also, not much new until recently.

HTCommander:

This is a Windows based APP that allows me to connect to my VR-7500 2m 70cm radio from my computer rather than my tablet or phone. Here is the link to the repository:  HT Commander .

ICR:

ICR stands for: "Instant Character Recognition" . Basically you set your character speed really high. Like about 30+ c.p.m. and instead of trying to count dots and dashes, you try to recognize the sound of each character. You should start by watching these YouTube videos by CW Innovations. CW Innovations provide training for CW at there cwinnovations.net. I think I will look into it.

Flex Licensing:

Flex Radio has changed the licensing as explained here New License . The good thing is, bug fixes are no charge. It is only new features that require a new license fee. This OK with me. You should be able to get bugs fixed for ever.

StationPilot:

This is sort of like SmartSDR app. Here is a link to the StationPilot project. What I like about it is that it runs on Linux and you can run it concurrently with SmartSDR. Still playing with it. Hope to have more info in the future.

SKM:

Well, SKM is under way. Bands aren't as good this year. I am having trouble getting AF. I may not get the grand sweep this year. Below is the winning design for this year QSL card. I am not sure what key manufacture this is. Any guesses? BTW SKM make easy blog post helps with finding K3Y operators.

All for now 73!

Its BACK!!

 Yes, it is back! My 6400 arrived on July 12th and it has been working great. Made 32 contact this weekend during the SKCC WES . 

First sent my 6400 in April 15th and really didn't get it back until July 12th. That is a  total of 88 days, of which about only 11 days was actually spent working on the issues. The rest of the time was either in transit or waiting for service. See the three previous posts to see the whole story.

The theme for WES this month was 13 Colonies. I worked 11 colonies. I didn't get GA or RI. I heard GA stations but they weren't hearing me. I missed RI because the only RI station that gets on the air regularly was on for Saturday but not Sunday. Oh well. 

Bands are terrible lately. I don't know why. I did get a 6m QSO with FL though.

All for now -73

More 6400 problems!

More 6400 problems:

Well I finally got my 6400 back June 2nd and discovered I was having a problem that I had previously in which the radio would stop sending (CW) intermittently. This is some sort of interlock problem and is very annoying.

While in the process of working with Flex Radio engineers, I discovered my PA temperature sensors was erratic. 

I used FRStack to monitor the PA temperature. I setup the radio in CW mode and press the MOX button to enable the PA but did not key the transmitter to generate any RF.  The PA temperature slowly increases until about 39C. Then it jumps to about 120C. This leads me to believe that there is an issues with the circuit the generates the PA temperature. See the following  video . So back off to Flex on a warranty return (no cost to me). 

Notice the interlock (lower right ) that occurs on startup.

I am a little annoyed that this wasn't discovered during their "testing and burn-in".

Flex received my radio on the June 18th but won't service it until the 26th! EIGHT DAYS!! I am starting to regret trading in my 6300 for a 6400. 

More to come on this.

73!

Life without my 6400, VR-N7500 update and Bad Bands for WES

 Life without my 6400:

It has been four weeks+ since I sent my Flex 6400 in to get the power poles replaced. Of course next week is Hamvention and I am wondering if there will be anyone at Flex to work on my radio. We will see.

My TS-520S has been working OK for a 50 something radio. I did have to spray some contact cleaner on the AG gain and RF gain controls, which were very noisy.

I did learn a couple of things about the TS-520S. First, in order for the S meter to work correctly, the RF gain has to be fully on. Second, use the fast mode AGC for CW. Third, use the RIT so you don't wonder all over the band trying to chase the other station, who might be slightly off frequency for the CW filter. Fourth, using the VOX allows for semi-break-in operation. Sometimes the VOX doesn't work. There still some issues with the side tone volume. I think the pot to adjust the side tone volume might be dirty. Also the pots for the VOX circuit might need a little cleaning.

VR-N7500:

The other day I was checking in on our local social net, when my radio decided to reboot. Not a good thing. I can't decide if it was a firmware glitch or a power glitch. I checked the power cables and they seem OK. We'll see if it happens again.

WES:

So the May WES was a little disappointing. Bands were terrible and with my boat anchor I had trouble making contacts. Hopefully the bands will improve.

All for now - 73!

K3Y QSL, LIDS, Flex-6400, Antenna rework, awards

 K3Y QSL:

Arrived today 3/4/2025

LIDS:

I have been thinking about the different types of LIDS. There are at least four that I have run in to.

1) someonewhorunswordstogethersoyoucan'tcopythem.

2) Those that send faster then you can copy and refuse to slow down even when you ask QRS.

3) Those who have no idea how to send, or make mistakes and don't correct them.

4) Those that the dots and dashes are almost the same.

To me sending code is like playing a musical instrument. There is a rhythm to it, with spacing and tones. I usually tap my foot while I am sending code. Most times I am told  "easy copy" to my sending.

Three of these LID types (1,3,4) can be rectified with practicing off line. However, number 2, maybe they are running a keyer or keyboard and don't know how to change speeds? I don't known.

Flex-6400:

Well my radio is at Flex Radio having the Power poles changed.  I think what happened was the Plus wire might have been damaged causing the resistance to increase through the power pole that caused it to heat up under high current and melt.

What surprised me was it will take them THREE WEEKS before they can get to it. That is ridiculous amount of time for backlog repair. Maybe they should hire a few more techs to help. Just my option.

Antenna Work:

I have decided to rework my antenna system to make it easier to changes antennas . My support ropes are up in trees. The problem with this is the ropes can get entangled in the branches and also the tree will start growing around the ropes, making it difficult to lower the ropes to change antennas. 

What I have done is attach three pullies to the rope and run secondary ropes to these pullies to make it easier to raise and lower the antenna. 

I also strung a rope across the whole distance so I can support my antenna at the balun. This will lessen the strain on the whole antenna. 

Right now, I have my 80-10M OCF dipole up. 

Eventually I would like to put my Radiowavz DX 160 meter OCF SHORT dipole up to see if 160M will work. 

I also have a Alpha Antenna 160-6M EFHW HF Jpole that I want to put up to see how that preforms. And also use it with my TS-520S and HW-8.

Awards:

Recently received mixed 20M WAS for my MA location. Had to wait over three months to get the sticker. I don't why it took so long to get.

I also got awarded my Senator times eight award. It took me a year and a half to go from Sx7 to Sx8. It was not easy. It seem like all the Ts disappeared for some reason HIHI.

Post SKM Depression, K3Y 2025 preliminary results more about my VR-N7500

 Post SKM Depression

Well maybe not depression exactly, but certainly a let down. I really enjoy SKM. Chasing all those K3Y operators and filling in all those area band slots. What fun!!

Below is this years QSL card design. Personally, not my favorite. I like a little color and some human presents. Just saying.

K3Y 2025 preliminary results 

I've posted some stats for the month below.

(last years totals)

Total QSO for January : 385 (281)

Total SKCC Brags : 230 (170)

Total K3Y unique operates worked : 168 (135)

Total Band slots : 128 (124) 

US Entities Worked (50 States + DC & PR): 45 (45)

Continents: 6 out of 6

DX Entities: 15 out of 20

We are at the peak of cycle 25 right now, so I expected good results. Hopefully next year I will have 160Ms. Can't wait to see if it makes a difference. I am thinking it will be about the same as this years, do to the fact we will be past peak.

VR-N7500

There has been a firmware update to the N7500 (about time!). The biggest difference is the there are now 32 channels available per region instead of just 16. There are still 12 regions.

It turns out there is a feature missing from this radio which is useful, at least here in the states and that is the reverse function. This feature allows you to reverse the receive and transmit frequencies on a channel so you can listen to the input frequency of a repeater. Good for seeing if you can hear other stations from your location so you can contact them directly without going through a repeater.

My biggest gripe of this radio is the lack of a good manual.

All for now.

Some changes for my Cootie, Flex 6400 update, New rope for my Antenna, HNY and K3Y!

 

Slipping and sliding

Trying something different for anchoring my cootie key. I have been using a piece of anti-slip rug material but it has the annoying habit of slipping at the most inopportune moment. I have some Quake Hold Museum putty that I used for anchoring pictures and such that seems to work pretty well. I placed a small piece on each foot of the key and pressed it down on my desk. Seems to be holding nicely.

using anti-slip material

Key now anchored with Quake Hold.

6400 Bug

The latest software update, v3.8.20,  for my Flex 6400 has a subtle bug. The CAT interface sometimes stops sending the correct frequency. Flex is working on it but no fix as of yet. My work around is to close the CAT and restart it. Most of the time this works.  Sometimes I have to do it twice.

New Antenna rope

A couple of years ago (2021) while I was trying out my 160-6m OCF dipole, the rope on one end of my setup broke. I tried to shoot a new line but lost the projectiles and ended up with a much lower antenna height on one end then I wanted. ( see posts 5/16/2021 and 5/20/2021 Note: click on dates in the right panel to see those posts.)

I have never been happy using monofilament fishing line with my antenna launcher. I always felt the line was too light and it got tangled in the trees too easily. So I have been procrastinating on shooting another line until I come with a better solution. Well, finial I got a solution. I am using some Micro paracord. It is only 3/64 in diameter but is 100 lbs. test and is small enough to slide easily into into my antenna launcher. The only minus to this is I had to spool out 250 ft. of paracord on my lawn and hope it doesn't tangle. 

Well all went without a hitch and I got a new rope over a big tree in the back yard.

Position of antenna now compared to old position

old antenna position.

Operating

Basically from the beginning of May until the end of September I really didn't do much operating.

I only made 11 CW contacts during that period. I was off doing other things. Weather was good and I was playing a lot of golf. But since then I have had 174 CW contacts. 148 of those came in Dec.

Well, it is Jan 1 2025 now and time for K3Y. This is my favorite event. I really like filling in the band slots and contacting as many unique K3Y operators as possible. BTW I am also the Brag Bonus Station for January.

All for now. 73!!

K3Y QSLs arrive and more wallpaper.

 I wrote this back in March/April, but just getting around to posting it.

K3Y QSLs:

Received My K3Y QSL card the other day. Pictures of the front and back are below.

Wallpaper:

Received my WAS for my MA QTH. I already have my WAS for VT.

Wallpaper, another great K3Y event and Remembering Curt K2CWM

 I'm back! I haven't posted since May 2023. I got sidetracked for the Summer and Fall playing golf and really didn't do too much Ham radio. Actually none at all. 

But January came along and my favorite activity was in full swing (K3Y)  so here I am, so let's get started!

Wallpaper:

Last spring I decide to get my ARRL DXCC. I was finally awarded it on May 6 2023. I decided it was time to put up some wallpaper. The ones displayed aren't all of my awards, just the ones I felt needed to be displayed. 

I also use eQSL.cc but yet to achieve either WAS or DXCC. I have certainly made enough contacts to earn these awards but I guess people are not using the service as much as LoTW and QRZ. Actually, QRZ can import my LoTW log so I guess it is just LoTW more then QRZ. (nit picking).

ARRL WAS and DXCC also QRZ DX and WAS.

These are some of my SKCC awards, WAS-S, Senator and 2xQRP

K3Y Event:

K3Y event is now over and it was a great month for me. I've posted some stats for the month below.

(last years totals)

Total QSO for January : 281 (208)

Total SKCC Brags : 170 (130)

Total K3Y unique operates worked : 135 (115)

Total Band slots : 124 (120) 

US Entities Worked (50 States + DC & PR): 45

Continents: 6 out of 6

DX Entities: 13 out of 18

As you can see results are much better than last years. I also got the Grand Sweep.  QSL card are usually sent out before June. Anyone can participate, you don't have to be a member and you can still get a QSL card.

We are pretty much at the peak of sunspot cycle so it was much easy to make those rare contacts. For equipment I have a Flex 6400 100W and an 80-10M OCF Windom dipole up maybe 35 to 50 feet. Really don't need much to do well.

Log band slot map

Remembering Curt K2CWM:

I never meet Curt in person but we chatted many times in QSOs and on the Sked page. He always left a comment on my posts to encourage me to keep at it. We were also FB friends and I followed his  many  exploits and his travels to Tennessee to visit his family. I do miss him. God Bless Curt 73!

All for now. Hope to post again soon.

73!

Linux, the Anarchist of OSs, K3Y QSL card and working on DXCC

Time for a little update.

Linux:

In my last post, someone suggested I install Linux on my old laptop computer.  Ubuntu seemed like a reasonable choice. The problem with any distribution of Linux is there is really no organized plan. And if there is a bug... Oh Well! Really wished I had not done this. I ended up losing my Windows installation. I guess I will never learn my lesson on Linux. Both the SKCCLogger and skcc_skimmer run on Linux. I just wish there was a native version of SmartSDR for Linux.

K3Y QSL card:

I have received my K3Y QSL card last March.  Below are the pictures of the front and back of the card. It was nice to get the grand sweep again. This is my favorite SKCC event.

 

Senator x7:

Finally made it to Sx7. It has been really difficult this last year going from x6 to x7. A lot of Ts are doing POTA and are not likely to do a SKCC number exchange. Also many now want to do Marathons or Ragchews and will not do just a number exchange. 

I have over 10,000 SKCC contacts in my log. I think I am going to limit my SKCC activity to sprints only from now on.

DXCC:

The next thing I would like to accomplish is DXCC. For this, I am doing FT8. It seems the fastest and easiest way to do this now. 

As of this writing, I have 100 for LoTW, 96 for eQSL.cc and 100 for QRZ. Hope to finish this soon. Already have my QRZ and LoTW certificates on the way.

Screen shot of my FT8 setup

Something total different:

I heard this quote awhile ago and I thought it worth repeating. 

" I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant."

H. L. Mencken

I would also like to add "I believe it is better to love than to hate."

All for now. Next time I hope to have finished the DXCC for eQSL.cc

73 - KB1WOD

New life for my old HP laptop, Flex6400 scare, Social Media Police ( wannabes)

 HP Laptop:

I bought this HP back in 2010. It has been largely a disappointment, but I decided to try and extend its usefulness by adding another 4G of memory, bring it up to a total of 8G which is the most it will take. Also the battery was not holding a charge so I bought a new battery for about $30 from BattDepot. The cost of the memory was only $15 from  MemoryStock.

Adding the memory help some especially since this PC was upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 8 and finally to Window 10 64bit.  Only issue now is it won't be able to upgrade to Windows 11 due to some BIOS issue.

Flex6400 scare:

Well, it happened to me again. My 6400 starting losing communication with my computer. But this time we were able to recover, and I think I know what might of caused the problem!

A month after I received my first 6400, I tried setting it up with SmartLink. Just to see if I could get it running, which it seem to run correctly. Not really being interested in remote operating and not willing to add all the traffic to my local network, I powered down my radio and reconnected it directly to my computers Ethernet port and powered it back up. That seems to be when I started having communication problems. see the post:

 https://dsckb1wod.blogspot.com/2022/02/flex-6400-issues-end-of-k3y-2xqrp-award.html 

 So for some stupid reason, I decided to redo the experiment. I was going to see if I could allow some of our local hams to get on the HF bands who could not do so from their QTH for what ever reason.

Well, guess what? you guessed it, I started having communication issues again. Fortunately, between updating to the latest software and doing a factory reset, we were able to resolve the problem. We meaning Flex tech support. They do a great job. Very responsive and knowledgeable.

Social Media Police (wannabes):

Well, I posted this on a Facebook page and got a couple of comments that questioned the "relevance" to that particular page. Implying I should not have posted.

What is the relevance? Look at it! This is wrong on so many levels. First, someone is overdriving his audio and generating spurious harmonics that are exceeding bandwidth restriction and causing interference over at least 70kHz on the band. 

As you can see, It is interfering with a CW signal on 28050kHz. Which by the way, is one of the calling frequencies for a certain club. So I ask you is this relevant? (rhetorical)

The good thing about a blog is you don't have to accept comments.

I think I have said enough.

All for now 73!!!

Andy's Ham Radio For Linux, K3Y 2023

Time for some updates

Andy's Ham Radio For Linux:

The nice thing about Ham Radio is there is so many variations of the hobby. One such variation is software programs that aid and enhance the enjoyment of Ham Radio.

The other day a local Ham Radio Club (NSRA) invited Andy KB1OIQ SKCC #6265S to give a presentation of his Linux base collection of Ham Radio software that he has integrated on to an Ubuntu distribution of  Linux. Andy is a very personable and energetic and has just released his 25th version of his distribution.

Here is a link to his presentation on YouTube that he gave to the RATPAC group. This the same presentation as he gave us.

Andy KB1OIQ and Dave(me) KB1WOD ( Team Flannel HIHI)

I first "meet" Andy late 2013 early 2014. At this time I was living in Wakefield, MA and working in Boxborough, MA. A 40 minute drive one way on a very busy Interstate 495. I had put one of my Baofeng HT in the car so I would have something to do on those long rides to and from work.  The PART Westford repeater is located about half way between Wakefield and Boxborough so I could reach it for almost my whole commute and I was a regular user. Andy was a regular check-in and we chatted many times.

Andy also participates as a K3Y operator during SKM . Please visit his QRZ page and watch his presentation (Links above). I am sure you will enjoy it.

K3Y:

K3Y event is over and it was a great month for me. I will post some stats for the month.

Total QSO : 208

Total Brags : 130

Total K3Y unique operates : 115

Total Bands slots : 120 

Not too bad considering I didn't start until the 7th. I also got the Grand Sweep.  QSL card are usually sent out before June. Anyone can participate, you don't have to be a member.

Band slots I had QSOs

This years QSL design was by Steve N0XC # 10091

K3Y QSL cards, Flex-6400 update, New radio - VGC VR N7500, RFI solved finally (I hope)

 Time for some updates.

Well, K3Y is under way so I thought I would post same past QSL cards.

K3Y QSL Cards:

Just thought I would put these here.

Flex-6400 update:

Well the replacement 6400 has been working great now for about a year. At some point I would like to try the remote capability of the software.

There was a problem with version 3.3.29 where the radio would forget the ATU settings when switching bands but that was solved in the next version 3.3.32. I have been happily running 3.3.32 for almost a year now. 

Vero NR-7500:

This radio is a headless 2M 70CM radio with APRS capability.

2M, 70CM with APRS

Attached Mic.

I bought this radio sometime ago. Here is the link to there web page N7500. It has some interesting feature. I like the hardware, but the software, documentation and support is less the acceptable.

As you can see there is no front panel controls. Everything is controlled via a Blue Tooth connected Android or iOS device that is running their app called HT that can be download via the play store. You may have to type in "VGC VR-N7500" to find it.

However, channel select and volume can be controlled via the Mic. If you press the OK button, it will announce the channel you are presently on. Pressing the M button will effect the functions of the up and down button. For volume mode it will change the volume up or down and for channel mode, it will change the channel up or down.

This is a YouTube video that is the best I have seen on the product Review by Tech Minds 

Here is another review that you might like:

 VGC VR-N7500: APRS! Android, iOS, Bluetooth, Dual Band 2m/7cm Ham Radio Review

RFI:

I think I finally solved my 20M RFI problem that was setting off my smoke detectors.

I bought 25 clip-on chokes and put them on both the antenna lead wire and the power cable for the smoke detector. It seem to work at full power. If this doesn't fix it, I don't what to do next.

Bought the chokes form Digi Key

Clip-on chokes spaced about 5 to 7 feet apart on antenna lead cable.

Clip-on chokes on power cable to the smoke detector.

All for now 73!

Flex-6400 issues, end of K3Y, 2xQRP award, and more!!

Flex-6400:

Well, my brand new 6400 died less then a month after I received it. The problem seems to be that the audio, spectrum and waterfall data was not being sent by the radio all the time. There would be times it would start working for about 10-15 seconds and then just stop. 

However, the command interface seem to work fine. Also it was still able to transmit.

I was communicating with an apps person for awhile. Since nothing he suggested worked, I got a phone call from Dan Quigley, N7HQ, the support director, who connect to my Flex via TeamViewer and determined there was nothing else that could be done remotely. Dan started the process of having Flex build me another 6400 to be shipped to me before I had to send the broken radio back.

This whole process took about 12 days. I have the new 6400 running now. Hope I have better luck with it.

I discovered there is a bug in the CW mode. If you set the the delay in the P/CW window to certain values, it will randomly stop transmitting. But it does recover, so you only lose a little. This seems to be a know bug and if I set the delay to a small value it does not happen.

Flex-6400 number 1

K3Y event:

January was the SKCC anniversary event. It lasted from Jan 2nd to the 31st.  This is the second year in a row that I was able to complete the grand sweep.

I worked 86 out of 174 band slots, 110 K3Y operators worked, 12 DX Entities out of 17 worked, 5 Canadian Prov/Terr of possible 6 and 42 states worked. 

All in all a good result. Not bad considering I worked the last 11 days with no WARC bands.

My band slot results for the 2022 K3Y Event.

2xQRP award:

This award I am very proud of. It took me sometime to get, but it was worth it.

Operating:

I ended up with 147 brags for January. Might be my best brag total ever.

I had 47 QSO in the January WES. I have not been as active in the WES lately. Hope to change that in the future. 

February's WES I did a little better, 70 QSOs. All were S&P, no CQing this WES.

Bands seem to be opening up. I have had a lot more 12 and 10M QSO lately. Come on Cycle 25!!!

Repair of DG-5:

Well I finally seem to have fixed all the problems with the DG-5 Digital Display for my TS-520S. I had to replace a 7454 IC that had a bad input. I also re-soldered all the through holes and ran a piece of copper wire through each. Hopefully this is the end of it!

before: The digit third from left should be a "0"

After Third digit is now a "0"

Well, I guess I will end this here. CUL es 73