JT65, log book woes, shack update and MORE!!!

I have been thinking about adding another post and well.... here it is.

First the shack update. The shack walls are up and the taping is progressing. No I am not doing any of the work. I really don't enjoy that type of work and when I do the work, I don't like how it comes out. Maybe by this time next month it will be done. They will probable have to wait until next spring to finish the outside. Too much snow on the ground right now and they wouldn't be able to paint anyways. When the shack is done, I will post some pictures.

In the mean time, my station is setup in the basement. Doesn't really work all that well. At the moment I am only working 15 and 10 meters. If I try 40 or 20 I get way too much RFI into everything. I think mainly because of lack to grounding. Basically, there is none!

I have a fresh air ex-changer in the basement and when I key up on 20 meters, the fan motor in the ex-changer starts to run faster and faster! So I don't use 40 or 20 meters right now.

This is my temporary  station.

As you know I like CW. Not all that good at it, but enjoy it.

So I decided I wanted to try a semi-automatic mechanical bug. So I bought a Speed-X off of eBay. It works OK but the dits are too fast for me. I was thinking of buying a second weight to slow it down. My other option is to add a length of rod to the end and move the weight further out. I have also seen a swing arm device that you can attach to the weight arm, Interesting but I don't know if it will slow it down enough. Forgot how much I spend for this. I think it was $50.00 total. Needs a bath though HIHI!

My E. F. Johnson Speed-X key.

Since I am limiting myself to only 15 and 10 meters, I have been doing a lot of JT65 HF mode. Interesting mode to say the least, basically it is "Hi and Bye". No real rag chew. But sometimes that's OK. I won't get into any discussion about "The True Sprite Of Amateur Radio!" or the purity of one mode versus another. It is all just good fun and if you learn something along the way, well great!

I tried several different JT65 programs and settled on jt65-hf-hb9hqx-edition. To me it had more bells and whistles then other programs. A lot more information in the display area and semi-automatic. which means you have to press a few buttons now and then. and it works the serial port PTT, which some of the other programs did not do. It also has the clock sync build in which is a great connivance.

This mode allowed me to get my first Japan QSOs, so I am happy with it. 

I also have two 10 meter CW QSOs. I did not work any 10 meters when I was in Wakefield, because I didn't bother to put up an antenna. Oh well!!

JT65 software running on my computer.

Since I moved, I had to changed my QTH for both LoTW and eQSL.cc. The problem was, I forgot to do it and starting uploading QSOs with the wrong QTH. It took awhile and a few emails to get the information correct. but not to painful. For eQSL.cc, I had a little trouble figuring out how to combine the two logs for the awards. It would be a shame to lose all those QSLs that I had with the other QTH. There is still an issues with LoTW on this, but I get it resolved.

Still here, not dead yet HIHI

Yes it has been a long time since my last post. It was last July just after the WRTC contest.

I have been rather occupied since then with selling my house in MA and moving to VT. Had a lot of packing to do and projects to get the house in reasonable shape for sale.

We rented a 15 yard dumpster. I though it would be big enough since we had already thrown out a lot of stuff. It was just barely big enough!!

The house sold quickly, only took four days to sell, and we got more then the asking price. all in all it went rather well. The buyer did not want to much fixed and there were not issues with the mortgage or the deed to the house.

We moved October 8th and we have been unpacking ever since. I haven't setup my permanent station yet. We are having a garage built and I am going to have my shack over the garage. Maybe by the middle of December it will be ready. Until then I have a temp setup in the basement. I have made a couple of CW contacts on 15 meters last weekend so I am still getting out. I have a fan dipole in the attic that I am using. Seems to work well.

I don't know what I am going to do with my antennas I took down from the old house. We will see.

All for now -30

WRTC and a long time since last post.

Well a lot has gone on since I last posted. First I took the Level two CW academy course from CWops with Mark K5GQ.  Very good and I appreciate Marks effort.

I bought a CW touch keyer for the course. (I couldn't use my straight key for the course). It is a little difficult to use, but I am slowly getting use to it. I also had to buy an adapter to hook it up to my Kenwood TS-520S. Haven't built the adapter yet.

CW Touch Keyer

Went to NEAR-Fest this spring. Didn't buy much, just a few odds and ends for some projects.

Still working on my QRP SWR/Audio filter/Digital display. Got the RF amp just haven't gotten around to building it yet hihi.

I bought a 40, 20 and 10 meter fan dipole antenna at HRO. I plan to use it at my place in VT this summer with my HW-8. Just need to get off my butt to get things going!! Common theme here?

I have participated in two more SKCC WES events, May and July. Got 22 QSOs in May and 13 in June. The June WES was the same weekend as the WRTC and IARU contest, so there was a lot of competition for the frequencies. Also I spent Sunday morning helping to break down our WRTC site.

I was involved in supporting the WRTC July 11 - 13. Wonderful experience and had a lot of fun. Below are some pictures Bob, W1FDR took.

Some of the team, that is me on the left with the droopy sock. BTW the reason we were laughing, John (seated with his head turned) was telling us his some what comical experience using the portable toilet.

Left to right: Bob W1FDR, Lasko LZ3YY, Dave K1HT, Dmitri RA9USU, Soni PY1NX, Craig KC1BZL and me KB1WOD. Taking the picture was John KB1MGI. Lasko and Soni were the WRTC competitors for our site and Dmitri was the Referee.  Our site came in 18th out of 59. Their call sign for the competition was N1Z

Project finished (almost)

Projects are never finished, but this one is functional. See pictures below.
Everything is operational but there are somethings I would like to change or enhance:

1) On the SWR meter there was no spec on the meters as far as current range goes, so I picked a 1ma meter. Turns out I could have picked a higher current meter. I think I will put two series resister in the meter circuit to increase sensitivity. Also the silk screen does not seem to match the functionality Not a big deal I just switch the input and output.

2) I installed the bandwidth pot on the NEScaf  upside down. That could be easy to fix if I wanted to.

3) Box is a little big but I needed something that was wide enough to fit ever thing. I guess the NEScaf controls could have been mounted vertically and save 2 1/2 inches of width.

4) freq counter has a hard time with the 21 mHz signal. I have ordered a RF amp to boast the signal. Also I was thinking of adding a counter input so I can use it for other things. What do you think?

Completed SWR/audio filter/freq counter

Inside view. As you can see plenty of room, SWR on left, audio filter center and freq counter right

Close up of front panel. As you can metal work was not very good.

The good news is I had a CW contact with it already. Not just a CW, but a QRP to QRP contact. K4CML Colin from Newport News VA who was running 3 Watts!!! on 14.050 mHz. Not bad!

K3Y, WES and FE events

Well it has been over a month since I last posted, so lets see what I have been up to.

Ended up with about 9 K3Y stations but not all unique bands. I also worked the SKCC weekend sprint the week end of the 9th and made 12 contacts, including one from the Czech Republic. I am at position 146 with 134 points. This last weekend I tried to do the CWfun fun event. Only made two contacts.  This FE conflicted with the ARRL CW DX contest so it was very hard to actually made any contacts.  As you can see I am not a contester (HIHI) but I did enjoy the events.

Have done some more work on my project but still working on it. Need to wire up the connectors and test it.

I am also working on the SKCC Centurion award. Have 22 stations but I am not really trying to get it in any hurry. Just as the numbers come.

The Baofeng that I am using in my car has been preforming very well. I am getting good reports and can hit the Westford repeater from my house all the way to Boxborough. A lot a people are buying these radios now. An inexpensive yet good radio that you would not mind if you happened to lose it.

Also worked Rod N1SZO a couple of time this month on his 40m QRP Rockmite. Last Saturday he was out on the ice of lake Champlain operating 20m but I could not hear him due to all the QRM this last weekend. He was able to make one contact but he said the QRM was very bad. However, I did work him on Sunday from his house. Remarkable how well those Rockmites work.

All for now 73

New year, and found what was the issue with my 15 meter dipole!

Well it is 2014. The years just seem to fly by.

Let see whats going on. The SKCC is doing their month long special event station K3Y, all band and all call districts. I have 4 contacts so far. They are very good operators and will slow down for you if you need.

Quite by accident I found out what was wrong with my 15 meter dipole. It wasn't the dipole, it was the feed line. The PL-259 connector had a bad solder joint. I discovered this when I was unscrewing it from my antenna switch. The cable was pulling in and out of the connector and I could also twist the cable. So I am thinking this is not right. So I give a tug on the cable and was able to pull the cable out of the connector. I ended up replacing the connector and everything is fine now.

That is all for now.

-30-

The Baofeng Brothers

Like everyone I get a lot of emails from places I have bought from. Usually I do a cursory glance then delete them.

But I got one from Amazon that had Baofeng UV-5RAs for $31.00. I have one already but it is a great little radio and I couldn't pass up the deal. So I bought it plus a speaker mic and battery eliminator for a total of about $50.00 shipped! So now I have two. Since I have two of everything, I can leave some of the stuff in Vermont. Less stuff to pack when we go up there.

As you can see from the photo below the UV-5RA (on the right) has a different style case and has newer firmware. Everything else seems to be the same, even the charging station. I used it in the car Friday with the battery eliminator and a mag mount antenna on the way home from work and had a very nice QSO with Andy KB1OIQ. Very happy with it and not afraid to leave it in the car.

All for now -30-

The Baofeng brothers family photo

Project finally started!!

Well I finally got off my backside and started my project for the SWR meter/audio filter/Frequency meter.

Below is the front panel. The two meters are for the SWR meter. The switch and two pots are for the audio filter. The rectangular slot is for the frequency meter.

Front Panel

The back panel (below) has two 1/4" phone jacks for the audio input and output, two RCA phone jacks for the antenna input and output and a rectangular hole for the Molex plug that connects the frequency counter. The Molex connector also supplies 12 Volts to run all the electronics.

Rear Panel

This picture below shows how the PCBs are mounted. The one closes is the audio filter and the one further away is the SWR meter. A lot of empty space there... maybe room enough for some boots for my HW-8?

PCBs mounted to Chassis

Below is the frequency counter I will use.  You can just see the Molex connector between the HW-8 and my home brew QRP antenna tuner

Frequency Counter

Both the frequency counter and SWR bridge I got from Kits and Parts dot com  http://www.kitsandparts.com/ . Inexpensive and good documentation. I highly recommend them!

As with any project not everything goes the way you would like. Mounting of the frequency counter is turning out to be a little more of a project then I originally thought. I needed to order some 3/4" and 1/4' standoffs before I can finishing mounting it.

I always struggle with the mechanical part of a project. I am not good at cutting slots and aligning holes and I also end up scratching up the front. That is why I procrastinate so much when doing these projects. I was one of those kids that could not color inside the lines. In fact the box that is just above the frequency counter in the last picture is one of my projects. It is the antenna tuner I built 30 years ago. You can tell the slot in the front is kind of sloppy.

BTW, one of the reason I am doing this project is to see if my antenna tuner actually works. I never had a SWR meter so I was never sure it actually tuned correctly.

All for now. Next I will put the PCBs together. When the standoffs come I will try and finish mounting the frequency meter.

-30-

More HW-8 updates.

Did some more work on the HW-8. I added some Molex connectors so I can connect the frequency counter to the existing Molex connector on the back of the HW-8 . Now I can put the covers back on the HW-8 and reduce the RF interference I was getting from it. This is the first step to my next project. I intend to also add a SWR meter and an audio filter to the HW-8. Below is a picture of my station as it exist today.

I have a box to put every thing into. Just got to drill some holes and cut some slots. Might start this weekend.

More later.

The station

DG-5

The other day I was listening to a couple of gentlemen talking on the radio. They were talking about Kenwood hybrids, and mention about digital displays. Well it turns out there is a digital display for the TS-520S, the DG-5.

After a quick Google search I found one for sale on eBay. It was not working and the seller presumed the power supply was not working. So I bid on it a got it for $65.00. I am an engineer and was  also a tech for many years so I figured I would see if I could fixed it. For 65 bucks what do I have to lose.

So today I started troubleshooting it and found that there was a bad feed-through on the PCB. So using an old trick, I put a piece of wire through the hole and soldered it.

It works!!

Here are a couple of pictures of it