2010 Resolutions & Wishes

My 2010 New Year Resolutions

1. I will work CW: No, seriously. I really mean it this time -- I can no longer take it when I hear people bragging about their QSO with Holyshite Reef, South Fubar Island, or Siddown & Shuddup Rocks on CW with only 10 watts and a coat hanger. I want in on this action!

So... I've been spending a lot of time listening down at the low end of the bands lately and have an iPod Shuffle loaded up with W1AW code practice MP3s, trying to get my speed up above my current retard level. I don't phant'sy I shall ever achieve contester/DXer proficiency but I figure if I can recognize my own call sign and "5NN' at 30-35 WPM I can fake the rest and blame QRM and QSB for all that I miss.

2. I will work QRP: This resolution closely related to the one immediately preceding. Time to break out the KX1, head out to Whiskey Hill with a 300' roll of bell wire and see what happens. I might even try for WAS on PSK running only 5 watts.

3. I will concentrate on single-band WAS: All-band/all-mode WAS is in the bag, and I just need HI for the PSK endorsement. Only 5 QSLs left to complete WAS on 20m, then I swear to Baby Jesus I'm through with that infernal band (contests excepted). With solar conditions improving I expect to be spending a lot more time on 17m and 15m. And of course 40m is always a lot of fun even with only 100 watts. If I can finish 2010 with WAS on 40m and either 17m or 15m, I'll be happy; if all three, I'll be delirious.

4. I will upgrade to Extra: I've been putting this off for too long. Never did it because I never really needed the lower 25 kHz, but now that Resolution #1 is in effect...

5. I will buy an amp: Because even though QRP is fun, it ain't gonna help me earn any awards on 80m or 40m. That ALS-1300 looks soooo nice.

6. I will build more equipment: Been itching to dig into another kit or two, perhaps a K1 or a SoftRock. If I can muster the dough, I'd love to build a K2 that I can dedicate to QRP CW and PSK31. At the very least I will build and install the 80m/30m option for my KX1 that I have in a box somewhere.

My 2010 Wish List

1. PSK ops will refrain from using RSID: I love automatic ID for oddball modes like Throb and MFSK, but do we really need it for garden-variety PSK31 transmissions? I end up turning RSID off after a few minutes.

2. PSK ops will develop some DXing skills: For God's sake, people... stop sending "My Station" macros and weather reports when working DX. Unless the DX station starts chatting you up, work him like it's a contest -- people are waiting. And trust me, the DX doesn't care what kind of radio or computer you're using or when you were "created". Try this macro instead:

hisCall TU 599 599 Name myName QTH myQTH BTU DE myCall

If the DX wants to know anything else, he'll ask. Betcha' a dollar he won't.

When the DX station signs, just give a quick "73" and leave it at that. Wishing him and his family Merry Christmas in six different languages is not required; neither is informing him that "PSK31 QSO #261 has been logged at 0351 UTC on 12-December-2009", nor that he can find more info about you on QRZ.com. And if the DX ends his last transmission to you with "QRZ?", don't say anything else -- just log the QSO and move on. Remember: "QRZ?" is short for "OK, you're in the log, now shut yer pie-hole and let me work someone else!"

This is all so "DXing 101" that I'm embarrassed to have to mention it, but the PSK band segments are clearly overpopulated with noobs who need some gentle Elmering. I'm here to help.

3. Sunspots will return: 'Nuff said.

4. More hams will use LOTW: Yes, I know it sucks... but it's really not that hard to figure out or that much of an inconvenience to sign and upload your logs -- certainly much less hassle than filling out a couple hundred cards, stuffing them into envelopes, fixing stamps, etc. And a whole lot cheaper, too; this alone should appeal to the cheap bastards that all hams are known and well documented to be.

With that, I now sign off for 2009 wishing all a Happy New Year and all the best DX in 2010!

The Noisy K3

or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the RF Gain

The latest kerfuffle currently brewing on the Elecraft reflector concerns the "Noisy K3 receiver" and, predictably, the commenters have broken down into two opposing factions: the "Me Too!" group is posting comparisons with other receivers that supposedly have less background noise and less listening fatigue, and the "Not Here!" group which swears that their K3 is so quiet that they sometimes think it has been damaged.

Whether any or all of the complaints about background noise are valid, and/or whether these people have radios that are somehow defective or simply misadjusted is beyond my ability to discern. I'm not picking sides here, the guys who think their K3s are noisy may have real issues, and if so I'm confident Elecraft will address these issues as they have done with all others in the past. Perhaps we'll all end up with better, quieter K3s in a few weeks as a result of this discussion.

That said, what really fascinates me is that some of my fellow amateurs apparently believe the RF Gain control to be an archaic, vestigial appendage left over from ancient days of vacuum tubes, and that it has no place or purpose in a modern receiver. To wit:

"Bill has linked to and quoted Eric's paper which quite frankly seems way too complicated to me. IMHO, a modern DSP, microprocessor-controlled receiver should figure all of this stuff out automatically and do it for me ... If the receiver has a properly designed AGC system then there are only two variables that are potentially the operator's responsibility: 1) Preamp On/Off and 2) Attenuator On/Off. With the smarts built into modern radios, why can't the radio do, for example upon band switching, a little routine of turning each of these on and off and measuring the resulting SNR and then setting them accordingly?" -- N7WS

And:

"I'm used to leaving the RF gain wide open on the MkV, leaving the audio gain pretty much alone, and maybe switching between SLOW and FAST occasionally. I don't seem to have any trouble hearing the weak ones under the strong ones. Now I have to fiddle with the RF gain (a small knob hidden amongst the others) while running a pileup. Not enough hands (or enough brains)." -- VE7XF

Seriously? Not enough hands? No offense intended to these guys, fine gentlemen both, but we've long suffered complaints about how the K3 doesn't have the all front panel controls one "needs" at his fingertips to tweak a signal to perfection. Now, a single RF Gain knob is too many controls to tweak in order to deliver a good sounding signal? And what N7WS is asking for falls under the general category of "Artificial Intelligence" -- I think we're going to have to wait a few more decades before we start seeing that offered in consumer electronics products!

The fact is, if you run the K3 or any other radio with RF Gain flat out, the result will be a higher level of background noise than if you "ride" the RF Gain. Whether analog or digital, a receiver's AGC cannot magically discriminate a desired signal from noise. Instead, it will adjust the gain of the IF stages in response to the entirety of what it detects -- that is, signal and noise. The purpose of the RF Gain control is to allow the operator to limit the range of the AGC to some degree in order to compensate for this lack of intelligence. RF Gain is like a transmission in a car, and just as an automatic transmission may work well some or perhaps even most of the time, it doesn't always put the car in the right gear for every road condition. Similarly, the AGC doesn't -- and cannot -- always deliver the optimum results under all band conditions. The RF Gain control is the radio's stick shift. Use it.

Advancements in DSP technology have made it somewhat possible for a processor to detect speech or CW from random noise and perform the requisite voodoo to pass the wanted signal and suppress all else, but this technology still isn't perfect. I don't pretend to understand it all, but lot of math is employed to come up with what is still essentially a "best guess" as to what is, or isn't, wanted. In my experience, it doesn't always guess correctly; operator input is still required. The reason there are so many different possible settings for the Noise Reduction (NR) on the K3 is so you can choose what works best for you. But if you can't be bothered riding the RF Gain a little bit, you surely won't want to mess with the NR parameters.

Is my K3 unusually "noisy?" Honestly, I don't know for sure. I don't think it is; when I first got it I did comparisons with the JST-245, a rig which had a pretty damn quiet receiver. At the time I thought the K3 compared quite favorably. However, these tests were not scientific and the antennas used at the time were fairly crappy. Now I have a slightly better antenna... but alas, no more JST-245.

I did a brief A/B test with one of my NRD-515s on 40m SSB switching between both radios with the same antenna, each feeding identical NVA-515 speakers. It was a hands-down win for the K3 even with NR and AFX turned off. Tweaking both radios for best results, the difference in signal quality and intelligibility was pretty significant. Not exactly a fair fight, though... the NRD-515 is a 25 year old design.

Maybe I'd notice this perceived noisiness more if I had a quiet antenna and QTH. Unfortunately, I contend with a constant S7-8 background noise that I attribute to environmental factors (the QRN of suburban hell) and the fact that I have a vertical antenna, by nature more susceptible to electrical noise. In any case, I've never experienced how the K3 behaves on a quiet band. Under my typical conditions I can tweak the RF Gain, AF Gain and NR to maximize the quality of signals at or above the high noise level while reducing the background hash to a very acceptable level, but there is no single setting of controls that works on all signals. If I optimize for a relatively strong signal, I can reduce the background noise to practically nil but then weaker signals then become much less readable. Tweaking to separate the weakest signals from the noise is possible but that brings up the background noise as well -- all the more so the weaker the signal and the closer it is to the noise floor. Every situation is different, so I'm constantly adjusting RF Gain and other controls to match the conditions much the same way I must downshift my Jeep when I climb a hill or drive through the twisties, or upshift when I reach cruising speed on a highway -- no one gear works well all the time.

Once I find the best RF Gain setting for a particular signal, any noise that is still bothering me is handled extremely well by the NR (which, it cannot be overstated, is the whole purpose of having a NR function in the first place!). The K3's NR has been greatly improved since trusty ol' #216 arrived on my doorstep in January 2008. The original NR worked well for me as an SSB op, but the CW guys were not satisfied; so Elecraft changed the DSP voodoo to accommodate them. All of a sudden, I (and many others) found the NR didn't work as well on SSB as it did in previous firmware versions, it made the output sound too hollow. So after we bitched and moaned about this, the boys in Aptos doubled the number of NR settings from 16 to 32, restoring the SSB-optimized NR settings and giving operators enough variety in NR level and aggression to satisfy everyone. I generally prefer very light NR, so I most often use the least aggressive setting in the 8-1 to 8-3 range to make copy comfortable to my ears; rarely do I use 8-4, but occasionally I will try the 7-x range on stronger signals. With the K3's exceptional noise reduction I find myself adjusting NR more and RF and AF Gain less than I did in the pre-NR days with my JST-245, JST-135 and TS-930.

I hadn't touched the AGC characteristic settings since the K3 was delivered, but today I decided to experiment with the AGC Slope and Threshold parameters just to see what effects they have. I found that the threshold (AGC THR) parameter makes a big difference in the amount of background noise amplified by AGC during periods of no signal. After a few hours of playing around the settings I ultimately settled on (for now) are:

• AGC DCY: SOFT
• AGC HLD: 0.20
• AGC PLS: NOR (default)
• AGC SLP: 012 (default)
• AGC THR: 002
• AGF-F: 100
• AGC-S: 020 (default)

Thus configured, and with noise reduction off, AGC set to Fast, and both AF and RF Gain controls set to 12 o'clock position, I've found my sweet spot for tuning around under typical conditions. When find a station, I may switch on NR and/or adjust the AF or RF Gain until what I hear sounds right to my ears.

What it all boils down to is, using the RF Gain isn't a burden, nor is it rocket science -- it's how I've always operated a receiver. Along with NR, Notch, Width and Shift, it's simply another tool at my disposal to recover the most intelligibility out of a signal. Reaching for the RF Gain comes as naturally to me as it does for the AF Gain or VFO. The idea that some ops feel put out by having to tweak the RF Gain control is beyond incredible to me.

Why Are Radios Horizontal?

This thought has been keeping me awake at night. Yes, I know I probably need psychiatric help... but that still doesn't answer the question, now does it?

Radio manufacturers appear to be locked into a belief that radios must be horizontally oriented. I don't get it -- this takes up more desk space and offers no discernible advantage over a vertically-oriented rig. Why not flip radios on their side?

The closest thing we've got to vertical radios are some commercial rack-mounted systems, but even then, each of the individual components in the rack are horizontal. The cubish Flex-5000A comes close, it is almost as tall as it is wide, but is still technically a horizontal rig. (Actually, it has no knobs so it's not a real radio anyway. Never mind.)

Desktop PCs used to come in horizontal cases; now they are all happily ensconced in tidy, attractive vertical towers. Has anyone complained? I don't think so...

Tallness projects power and demands respect -- you never hear people marveling over the world's widest building, do you? I believe the first radio maker who ventures out into this brave, new design direction will come to rule the market.

You heard it here first, folks.

LOTW vs. eQSL: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Came across some interesting observations out in the blogosphere re: LOTW, whether its worth the hassle and such, by VE3OIJ and KB6NU. I shared some thoughts a few months ago not long after I got LOTW working. Some time has passed so I did some logbook analysis on my contacts since getting back on the air (16 June through the 30 November) to see if things got better or worse.

Every QSO in my logbook for this time period (379 total) has been uploaded to both eQSL.cc and LOTW. Here's what I got for my trouble:

• Confirmations via eQSL: 118 (31.1% return rate)
• Confirmations via LOTW: 113 (29.8% return rate)
• QSOs confirmed via both eQSL and LOTW: 55
  
• QSOs confirmed via eQSL but not LOTW: 25
• QSOs confirmed via LOTW but not eQSL: 58
• DXCC entities confirmed by both eQSL and LOTW: 16
• DXCC entities confirmed via eQSL but not LOTW: 10
• DXCC entities confirmed via LOTW but not eQSL: 14

So what does this prove? Nothing, really, except that more than two thirds of the stations I've worked in the past 6 months don't use either method of electronic QSLing, or simply haven't bothered to upload their logs yet. As for those who do QSL electronically, just under half use both LOTW and eQSL. Unless and until more logging software integrates automatic uploading, I don't see how electronic QSLing will be a viable replacement for the analog method.

I'm sure more electronic QSLs will trickle in over the next few months, but in my experience I've found that most people who use eQSL and/or LOTW will upload their logs pretty soon after the QSO. Therefore, I don't expect the percentages to skew drastically either way. Whether my experience is in any way representative of reality, I can't say. I'm curious to know how other hams are faring. Is my 30% return rate typical?

Meanwhile, I'm sitting on a pile of cards ready to go out to DX stations but I haven't had a burning desire to cough up the $150+ for postage (including the return postage that most DX stations ask for), nor have I sent off any cards to the outgoing bureau. I've been happy thus far to sit back and watch the LOTW verifications trickle in and my DXCC and WAS totals slowly increase.

In a perfect world, the ARRL would accept eQSL as a legitimate confirmation method. But in reality, this would net me very few "new ones" since many of those 10 eQSL-only countries were already verified when I was QRV from New Jersey, years before either LOTW or eQSL.cc were a gleam in their programmers' eyes.

November 2009 Wrap-Up

The hunt for WAS and DXCC continues...: Got back to the shack this month (actually, late October) to work a few contests and return to my WAS quest. I worked Maine three times, leaving only Delaware unworked; QSLs still needed from AL, DE, ME and NV.

Now I'm turning my attention to filling in the grids on individual bands with an eye towards an eventual 5-Band WAS. As of now I have 42 states confirmed on 20m and 16 states on 40m. On the 80, 30m, 15m and 17m bands my counts are in the single digits, though the cards are trickling in and the number of states worked is increasing as I spend more time on 40m at night, 17m and 15m during the day, and avoid the lure of 20m as best I can unless something good pops up on the cluster. Even made a few QSOs on 80m the other night -- the Tarheel doesn't deliver an SWR better than 2.5:1 but my signal made it into the midwest for KS, MO and IL. Unfortunately 12m and 10m operations will have to wait as my Tarheel won't tune those bands (need to get it closer to the ground, I'm told).

FWIW, I now have 39 states confirmed on eQSL.cc, so their eWAS won't be far behind the "official" WAS award from ARRL. As for other eQSL awards, I have 17 zones and 36 countries confirmed.

On the DXCC front, I worked 7 new countries in Oct/Nov and received confirmations from 8 new ones. Now just 17 QSLs away from all-band DXCC...

Misc. QRM: I had my first MT63 QSO with N1GKE in Rhode Island on 17m -- saw his RSID pop up in DM780 and gave it a try. Neat mode -- not sure if it's as error-free and fade-resistant as Olivia, but close.

October/November 2009 Stats (To-Date Confirmed/Worked):
27 DXCC Entities (83/124)
18 CQ Zones (27/30)
26 States (46/49)
160 Total QSOs

Waiting for Baudot

I just submitted my meager log from last weekend's WAE RTTY test -- just 45 QSOs and a whopping claimed score of 1,530. I only operated for a few morning hours (between 1125-1345 on Saturday and 1245-1700 on Sunday) in order to give DM780 a try at good ol' fashioned 170/45 Baudot, a mode I haven't worked since days of yore with the trusty old KAM and a terminal program. High time to give the new technologies a try, said I.

Some random thoughts and observations about RTTY operation with the K3 and DM780 follow...

The DM780 + HRD Logbook combination did fairly well, considering HB9DRV himself says "HRD/DM780 is not contest software." As such, there is no easy provision for sending or receiving QTC info for extra multipliers, and it wasn't clear at first how to get DM780 to increment serial numbers in the exchange field (put them in [brackets], I finally discovered). Using a fresh database file for the log (as I do for every contest) lets me use the logbook's Awards Tracking and Worked Status functions to keep an eye on what stations and countries I've worked on each band, but I have to be careful to individually set the other databases (previous contest logs, plus my master logbook) to not figure into the worked status lookups (this is one in the Logbook Databases control panel).

Another limitation from a contesting perspective is HRD Logbook's inability to output Cabrillo files for log submission after the test, a feature that was available in HRD v4. So I have to use another app (SP7DQR'S nice ADIF2CABR freeware app) to convert an ADIF export file into Cabrillo format, and that only after doing a search-and-replace on the ADIF file to change the tag to that the conversion app is looking for. No biggie, I mud-wrestle data for a living, so this is just another day at the office...

That said... I'm familiar and comfortable with DM780 and HRD Logbook so it all worked just fine for me.

I worked the first day with the K3 in DATA A mode before remembering that AFSK A mode allows DUAL PB filtering to peak the mark and space tones. The DM780 waterfall screenshots below illustrate the difference far better than words:

K3 set to DATA A mode. BW = 400 Hz, Fc = 1530 Hz

K3 set to AFSK A mode. BW = 400 Hz, Fc = 1530 Hz, DUAL PB enabled

Note that the overall bandwidth in AFSK A mode is quite a bit narrower, even though in both cases the K3 was set to 400 Hz, and the distinct notch between mark and space tones is indicative of how effective this filtering mode works. Back in the pre-DSP days with the TS-930S and JST-135/245 transceivers and NRD-525/535 receivers, I used to use a Datong FL-3 audio filter which had a RTTY mode that accomplished the same thing, albeit at the AF stage.

DATA A and AFSK A each have their advantages. In DATA A (or AFSK A with DUAL PB turned off), I can open the bandwidth up and see a good portion of the band (I generally set DM780 to display 3 kHz on the waterfall and set the K3 bandwidth to match) and all the signals on the air, then select the desired signals with a point-and-click like I do in PSK31 mode. If QRM is a problem, I can crank down the bandwidth and shift the passband center frequency to pass only the station I'm working; once the QSO is complete, a quick tap-twist of the K3's shift control recalls my wide settings and I'm back on the hunt. I rarely touch the VFO dial, all tuning is done with the mouse.

In AFSK A mode with DUAL PB enabled, however, the K3's center frequency is fixed at 1530 Hz so all tuning must be done with the VFO. Also, the bandwidth is limited to 500 Hz max (which as shown in the image above is a bit less in practice, more like 250 Hz or so) making VFO tuning very touchy and slow (the 1 Hz fine steps must be used) and renders the waterfall useless for spotting other signals. But the filtering advantage is huge, especially in a contest scenario.

For me, it's a no brainer -- in the latter stages of the WAE contest I found myself using DUAL PB almost exclusively, occasionally switching it off and opening up the bandwidth if the band was quiet or if I've already worked the majority of the stations I tune across, since clicking on a waterfall makes it far easier to hunt and pounce.

DM780 facilitates the switch from narrow DUAL PB to wideband waterfall tuning easily: I first activate the center frequency marker (Tools>Program Options>Waterfall menu, or F8) and set it to match the K3 DUAL PB center frequency (1530 Hz). After finding a signal on the waterfall and clicking on it, I can then click the C button just above the waterfall to center it at 1530 Hz (HRD offsets the K3 VFO frequency to do this), and then activate the DUAL PB (press/hold the #6 key on the K3 keypad). The bandwidth is narrowed to 500 Hz, and the mark and space tones are perfectly positioned for decoding. To switch back to wideband, press/hold DUAL PB, and tap XFIL a couple of times to select the 2.7 kHz filter or use one of the filter presets to select my standard wide data setting of 3 kHz. This can perhaps be simplified to a one-button process using the new macro feature Elecraft just added to the latest firmware version; I need to check into that...

Note to K3 users: when working RTTY in AFSK A mode, either the radio or DM780 needs to be set to reverse, as AFSK A demodulates the lower sideband while DM780 looks for the upper. DATA A, however, works in the upper sideband.

CQ WWDX SSB 1996: Lost Log Discovered!

Almost as much fun as finding a $20 bill in an old coat is finding an old contest log on an even older hard drive! Today I discovered my log data from the 1996 CQ WWDX SSB contest, which I must have exported from Log Windows before my erstwhile Toshiba laptop screwed the pooch back in the late 90's.

After some data mud wrestling, I was able to convert to ADIF and import into HRD and saw my total DXCC worked count jump from 119 to 123 (the "new" ones are 3DA Swaziland; FS Saint Martin; V4 St. Kitts & Nevis; and GU Guernsey).

I then uploaded the new QSOs to LoTW and immediately had 13 new QSLs credited to my account, with a handful of new DXCC/bands confirmed: VP5 Turks & Caicos (80m); P4 Aruba (15m); 8P Barbados (15m); V2 Antigua & Barbuda (15m & 20m); and GI Northern Ireland (20m) -- the latter two being all-time new ones confirmed, bringing my DXCC confirmed count to 80, and DXCC Challenge totals to 239 worked/123 confirmed.

God only knows how many of my other contest logs are gone forever -- I must have worked at least another dozen contests back around that time, and all these logs got nuked along with the Toshiba. This is why I now keep separate paper logs as backup.

Also found this photo of the old N2HIE shack in Closter, New Jersey circa 1998.

Complete with that utterly dreadful JRC NVT-56 desk mic. Wish I held onto that, seeing how one just sold for over $1,300 on eBay. Please, stop laughing... I'm not kidding:

WTF is wrong with people? Clearly some hams have more money than sense...

CQ WWDX SSB 2009

My first major contest with the K3 -- not a major effort, mind you, just a major contest, and it leaves me smiling. I could only squeeze in around 10.5 hours over the weekend, just enough to give the station a good shakedown under contest conditions and leave me hope for the future when I add an amp and a better antenna.

The K3 was a champ. With the latest DSP noise reduction tweaks I found it possible to run with RF Gain full throttle and not have the background noise kill me. Auto Notch took care of the tuner-uppers and the SWBC carriers on 40m. Left NB off most of the time as there was little QRN for a change, and the noise from the plasma TV was easily notched out with manual notch. All that was left was the DX.

Things started out rough Saturday morning (UTC) on 40m. Worked TO7M on my first call then spent a frustrating hour or so with no contacts. After a break things started to improve a little. Stayed at the mic until around 0600 UTC (2 am local) and landed 12 countries/7 zones on 40m, plus Canada (zone 3) on 80m. Worked 20m and 15m for about an hour and a half in the morning before going out and about, and again early Saturday evening (UTC Sunday) for about a half hour. Worked 13 countries/9 zones on 20m, and 3 countries/3 zones on 15m. Sunday saw fairly good conditions on 15m (14 countries/7 zones) and 20m (9 countries/7 zones).

Most of the DX I was able to work was in the Caribbean, Central and South America, but I managed to work D44AC (Cape Verde, an all-time new one on 20m), CN3A (Morocco), EA8/OH6CS (Canary Is.), three Hawaiians, and a few Europeans. 6W1RY (Senegal) was loud on 15m but I couldn't break through the pile. Heard 4U1UN on 40m and 20m but only managed to work them on 15m.

It's pretty frustrating to work a contest with 100 watts and a mobile antenna (without the benefit of an actual automobile underneath the antenna to provide a decent ground plane) but in the end, 10.5 hours at the mic netted me a bunch of new ones on 40m and 15m:

15m: 4U1UN (UN HQ), 8P (Barbados), CN (Morocco), EA (Spain), EA8 (Canary Is.), HI (Dominican Rep.), LU (Argentina), P4 (Aruba), PJ2 (Bonaire/Curacao), VP2V (British Virgin Is.), VP5 (Turks & Caicos Is.), and YV (Venezuela).

40m: FM (Martinique), HC8 (Galapagos Is.), HR (Honduras), KP2 (US Virgin Is.), PJ2 (Bonaire/Curacao), V3 (Belize), VP2V (British Virgin Is.), and XE (Mexico).

Totals:

Update 10/30: Was filling in some of the blanks in the HRD Logbook tonight and discovered one of the US stations I worked during the contest (K8PO) was in Maine. It didn't immediately dawn on me because of the K8 prefix, but according to QRZ he's in Union, ME. That's #49 on my WAS tally sheet, just need Delaware now...

IOTA 2009 Contest Results - Seriously?

I have the highest USA score in my class (World Single-Op Assisted SSB Low Power)?!?!? LOL! Maybe next year I'll stay at the mic for longer than 2 hours...

Thinning Out The Herd

The NRD-505 is gone, the JST-245 will be gone next month, the NRD-535D is still for sale. If someone told me even a few short months ago that I would sell off most of my JRC gear I would have slapped them. But alas, it's time to get over my separation anxiety and find good homes for this stuff. The reality is, the K3 has proven itself to be the complete HF rig for me, as close to perfect a radio as I've ever owned. I'm keeping my pair of NRD-515s for mediumwave DXing, and there's that mint NRD-525 sitting in an unopened box. But the rest of it was just eye candy, well loved but never used.

Then there are the boat anchors still sitting in boxes since our last move -- do I really need a pile of hollow-state relics? Do I have the time to work on them and get them into good working shape? Would I ever use them? Probably not on all three counts. So they will probably be gone soon, too.

Oddly, I'm not too depressed about it. The cash this stuff has turned into will pay off some lingering debts, with likely enough left over to go towards some needed goodies for the shack (sub-RX module or panadapter for the K3, or maybe an amp). A bit of real estate in the shack has been cleared up, too. But most of all, I'm happy that this gear will finally get some use.

My NRD-505 is on eBay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250504814357

Hate to do it but need some cash flow. This is another one I'll regret selling.

Update 10/3: Sold for $2,025.00. Was hoping for more but think my eBay rating (a big, fat zero because it's a new account) probably pulled down the final price. Also had my NRD-535D and NVA-319 listed; the speaker sold ($202.50) but the radio did not.

August 2009 Wrap-Up

Not a very active month here in W5-land -- only 28 Q's, one all-time new DXCC (FJ - St. Barthelemy), one new-for-TX (V31 - Belize), and a couple of new ones on 40m (ZL and VK). Was distracted by work most of the month, missed the North American QSO Party due to family duties, and generally found the bands dead whenever I found time to operate.

August 2009 Stats (To-Date Confirmed/Worked):
6 DXCC Entities (75/117)
7 CQ Zones (27/30)
18 States (42/48)
4 IOTA Islands (33/58)
28 Total QSOs

QSLs: Despite the lapse in activity, I am ahppy to report that the QSLs have been coming in. My QSL rate on LoTW has improved markedly, and I received a bunch more cards from stateside ops, bringing my DXCC confirmed total up to 75 and WAS confirmed to 42.

Stats: It's getting harder for me to track which states, DXCC entities, zones and islands are "new", so from this month forward I'll just post my stats for each month along with the running total worked/confirmed. Also, totals include QSOs from NJ.

(And yes, I realize no one cares about my piddling DX efforts; I do this for my own amusement - an extension of my logbook, if you will.)

HRD v5 Beta

HRD Logbook v5 Beta

I generally avoid beta software like the plague. In fact, I even avoid most official "dot.zero" software releases, especially if the previous version works well. I try not to get suckered into the oft overhyped promises of nirvana that software developers promise. Pioneers take the arrows, as they say...

Nevertheless, I decided to be brave and upgrade Ham Radio Deluxe & DM780 to the latest v5 Beta release (build 2293). Since the price is right I had little to lose; I could always switch back to v4.whatever if v5 turned my screen blue. So after making sure all important data and pref files were backed up and safe on another drive I went ahead with the v5 installation.

So far, so good. The new stand-alone Logbook is awesome, and maybe it's my imagination but I swear DM780 is doing a better job of decoding digital signals now. The HRD rig control seems to be pretty much unchanged except for a few tweaks and additional features.

Things I like:

• DM780: RSID is cool... just not sure if it's working for me on transmit; I have it enabled, but I don't hear the distinct RSID tones in my monitor when I begin transmission.
  
  
• Logbook: Awards tracking is much improved over the "analysis" function of v4! The ability to set up and switch between different layouts is a nice addition, too. I will eventually take advantage of v5's ability to use a remote database; my plan is to set up a myQSL-based log on the web.
  
  
• HRD: Not much difference from v4 as far as I can tell -- which is fine, I liked it just the way it was. Just wish the integration with logbook was a bit better; having an Add Logbook Entry window in HRD that doesn't require a switch to the Logbook app itself would be a big plus. It's certainly possible, DM780 does it.
  

There are issues, of course

• The filter buttons in the main HRD control screen don't work.
  
  
• I still can't save a "Favourite" (that's Eurospeak for "favorite") with DATA as the stored mode (it defaults to USB).
  
  
• The "NR" button doesn't change color when engaged (this issue is carried over from v4...).
  
  
• Clicking the Add To Log button (or pressing F7) in HRD doesn't switch to the Logbook, have to do that manually; also, the ALE function doesn't seem to carry the callsign from the DX Cluster window over to the ALE window.
  
  
• I can't seem to get Logbook to upload QSO data to the HRDlog.net web site.
  

My biggest problem, however, is performance. Most of the windows are slow to render, especially the Add Logbook Entry window. DM780 has a tendency to freeze for several seconds whenever I do something like double-click on a call sign to look up QRZ data, or switch between SuperBrowser and the QSO screen. I'm guessing this is not an HRD problem, however; more likely caused by my aging, underpowered PeeCee, I'm sure.

Next Beta release is scheduled for tomorow (18-Aug).

Elecraft P3

K3 with prototype P3 panadapter unit

The long-awaited Elecraft panadapter unit for the K3 is now officially beyond the rumor-and-innuendo stage of development. The announcement on 11-Aug by Wayne N6KR and Eric WA6HHQ was immediately followed by the predictable flurry of questions, praise, complaints, nit-picking and feature requests that Elecrafters have grown to expect any time a new product is announced, ranging from the serious to the absurd:

• Q: Will there be point-and-click tuning? (A: Yes.)
  
  
• Q: Will it be I/Q-based and thus able to use PowerSDR, Skimmer, etc.? (A: Perhaps.)
  
  
• Q: Will their be a built-in speaker and/or power supply? (A: No.)
  
  
• Q: Will the P3 be able to be used for text display in data modes? (A: It's on the list...)
  
  
• Q: The photo shows it on the left side of the K3. This is an affront to the Right Handed-American Community. Will there be a right-side version to comply with the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment? (A: Huh?)

(OK, that last question wasn't exactly asked in those words, but one guy really expressed concern that a photo showing it on the left side of the K3 meant that it wouldn't be "optimized" for use on right side. You can't make this stuff up...)

I love Elecraft and their close relationship with their customers, but I've previously commented [see here, read last paragraph] that in the future (that is, now) they need to play their cards a bit closer to their vest than they did with the K3. It has to be counterproductive to announce a product too early, then spend valuable time fielding absurd questions, squelching rumors and erroneous information from well-meaning Kool-Aid Drinkers (I use that term in the most endearing way), and generally trying to please everyone with an ever expanding feature list to accommodate feature requests from customers. All of this ends up pushing the delivery date back, causing the company to endure months of bitching and moaning about deadlines promises being broken, features left out, firmware revisions, fix bugs, etc. This is what happened with the K3, and sadly I can see it happening again right before my very eyes. Sigh.

That said, I like the concept; it adds the most lamented missing feature of the K3 (perhaps second only to band-stacking registers). I plan to order one as soon as it is orders are accepted. Whether I place it to the left or right of my K3 has yet to be determined...

July 2009 Wrap-Up

What's "New?": I'm still limiting my running totals to my operations from Waco, so "new" means a lot of countries and states that I've worked and confirmed in the past from W2-land. I'd prefer to earn DXCC, WAS, WAZ, etc., from the new QTH and not count the old QSLs, but I may change my mind once I have enough cards to qualify.

WAS: I made a concerted effort this month to pad my WAS numbers, working 41 states in July (33 of them new) to bring my total to 45 since moving to Texas with 31 confirmed (if I count my NJ QSL from NE, I have 46 states worked and 35 confirmed). The states still giving me agita are DE, KY, NE, ME and WY, the first two of which I hear on 14070 damn near every day. And for Christ's sake, how can it be possible that I operated from the NYC metro area for so many years but do not have NY and NJ confirmed?!?!?

DXCC: Short operations during the IARU and IOTA contests this month brought in a few new ones for me, including SV9, VK7, CN, & UN plus several "new for TX" countries. I started to move off 20m a little bit, working 8 countries on 30m (incl. EA8, SV, & YO) and 6 countries on 40m. I've yet to hear anything on 17m or 15m strong enough to even hope to work.

Misc. QRM: Still mostly working PSK31, it's simply the most practical for me to monitor and operate during the week while I work in the mornings and afternoon. Only 1 of 37 phone QSOs this month was made during a weekday, and most of the rest were during the IARU and IOTA tests. •---• The QSLs are finally starting to roll in, getting few each day in the mail from US stations, while LOTW delivered nine DXCC confirmations in July. Also good return with eQSL.cc this month with 46 incoming QSLs from 15 countries. •---• Noise is still my enemy, a constant S7 on the meter. The K3's NB and NR helps, but pretty much any signal below the S7 threshold is lost in space. Once the weather cools off I want to venture into the attic to see about putting up something that's horizontally polarized; I might be able to manage a full-wave loop for the high bands which should be less susceptible to electrical noise.

July 2009 Stats:

• 131 Total QSOs Logged
• 37 DXCC Entities (25 new)
  
• 22 CQ Zones (9 new)
  
• 41 States (33 new)
  
• 20 IOTA Islands (12 new)
  

Overheard on The Intertubes

"This discussion is about SDR. A K3 is a firmware defined radio not a SDR."

On QSLs

Sadly, the Logbook of the World QSLs are not coming in nearly as fast as the QSOs, with just 21 QSLs received and 8 DXCC confirmed on LoTW out of 149 QSOs uploaded. By comparison, my eQSL.cc delivered 51 QSLs and 15 DXCC with the same 149 of my QSOs uploaded. Not a scientific study, but there it is. I wonder if it might have something to do with all the contortions and hoop-jumping the ARRL makes one do before being granted access to LoTW. On this note, I submitted a LoTW review on eHam, reprinted here for your reading enjoyment:

I share most of the bad experiences others have already stated. My initial attempt to register for LoTW ended in failure. I'm still not sure why. A few years later I tried again with better results. Still, the first time signing and uploading a file was confusing, and adding a certificate for my previous callsign left me scratching my head when no postcard came in the mail (I later realized that the postcard thing only applied to the first callsign certificate). In the end, I got it working and have had no further issues.

Now that I understand the system, I find it works as advertised. I upload new loggings regularly, painlessly, and with little effort. It's clear that the process in and of itself is not complicated; it's simply a case of really, really crappy instructions.

The ARRl web site has a "Getting Started" page with step-by-step instructions to walk you through the process of requesting a certificate and validating it with the password you receive from the postcard you receive in the mail. Then... nothing. It just stops short, with no info on creating or exporting the ADIF file, or using TSQL to sign and upload the file. Digging around further on the ARRL web site, I found and watched a PowerPoint slideshow that filled in the blanks. Only then was I able to put all the pieces together. Why all the information in the PowerPoint file isn't available on the "Getting Started" page is beyond comprehension.

In practice LoTW works like a charm once you get into the groove of things. I can appreciate the ARRL's desire for strong encryption methods to prevent fraud -- I use eQSL.cc as well as LoTW and while I enjoy the simplicity of it, I have received (and rejected) a few incoming QSLs from stations that I did not work; someone less scrupulous would merely have accepted the QSLs and padded their DXCC total without actually working the DX. At least with LoTW there can be no doubt that the DX was actually worked.

I also like the fact that I can get quick confirmation of QSOs and apply them to DXCC and WAS much sooner than it would otherwise take me to collect all the cards via snail mail and the bureau. I still send out "real" QSL cards as I enjoy collecting them, but for award purposes LoTW is a really great tool.

However, the League needs to address the fact that they have needlessly complex instructions for a relatively simple process. The number of people expressing anguish over registration and giving up on the system should be a wake-up call. I'm a fairly bright computer professional, and I'm sure everyone else complaining about LoTW's complexity and difficulties are fairly bright as well. If so many of have had trouble getting started, I think it's fair to say there's something wrong with the way it's being explained to us.

And that's it in a nutshell: If it's a chore to use, hams won't use it, especially the 'modern' ham who expects everything to happen with the push of a button. LoTW's three-step process of exporting the log file from your logging program, signing it with the TSQL app, and uploading it from the ARRL web site is not the kind of elegance and simplicity people expect from an ostensibly technology-driven hobby like amateur radio. And we won't even talk about the registration process.

By comparison, every QSO I log gets uploaded to eQSL.cc by Ham Radio Deluxe automatically and transparently with no additional effort on my part. Yes, I know eQSL doesn't have the crypto-security of LoTW and the possibility of QSL fraud is increased. Who cares? It's a friggin' hobby; these are QSLs, not ICBM launch codes.

Then there's the 20th century method of QSLing: snail mail. So far I've only received 5 QSL cards in the mail, all from US stations. It's going to be a long, long road to DXCC and WAS.

I'm filling out my outgoing cards as soon as possible after each QSO, it's much more efficient than doing a hundred of them at a time. Now my first batch is ready to go out. All of the US cards of course are going direct, and more than a couple of them need SASEs according to the worked stations' QRZ listings. I have about 25 DX cards that I'm sending direct for those countries which I've never confirmed, and I'm including a self-addressed return envelope and $1 (or $2 if so requested by the station on QRZ). I'll send the rest of the DX cards via outgoing bureau because the cost of international postage has become obscene since the last time I did this; as bad as I want my DXCC award there's no way I can spend upwards of $100 a month to mail QSL cards. All told, this first pile of outgoing cards is going to cost me around $85 to send out

My HRD log file with all of my old N2HIE and WW2PT contacts was fubar'd pretty well and good with the Country listings wrong for about half of them, so I went through the log line by line and corrected everything in order to get a definite DXCC count (64 countries confirmed out of 112 worked, although this excludes several contest logs that never made it into my master logbook file and have since been lost). More importantly I've found a ton of DXCC entities that I never sent cards to, so I'm hoping these guys are packrats like me and have kept their logs from the late 80's and early 90's...

Julian G4ILO writes about his PSK31 pet peeve: hams who ask -- or rather demand -- that you don't QSL them via eQSL or LoTW. I've noted this phenomenon as well, both on the air and on QRZ. I also see some people on QRZ ask we ONLY use eQSL and/or LoTW and say they do not want paper cards. I remember back when working the station was the hard part; now, it's figuring out how to QSL them. Frankly, I love the cards, it is a tradition that I don't want to see end. I will send cards to stations that I've already got via LoTW. Whatever floats your boat.

The Ultimate DXpedition

Oh, the stuff that comes across on the DX cluster sometimes...

Now that is a great QTH, but I don't know if I'd find much time for operating -- assuming, of course, that the locals are the friendly and fun sort (as opposed to the angry ones you find in the East Village).

Funny, though... I always assumed the mythical Island of Lesbos would be down in the Amazon region, not Greece. I learn something new every day.

IARU Contest: Nolo Contendere

Much as I wanted to give a wholehearted effort in yesterday's IARU HF Championship, I was only to operate for less than 2 hours mid-afternoon. I still managed 6 new-for-Texas countries, two of which were new all-time for me: CN3A in Morocco, and SV9CVY, Mike in Crete, who eluded me the last time I heard him on 20m. This brings my DXCC total to 43 worked since June 16. Plus I worked South Dakota and Connecticut, too; nine states to go...

On more than one occasion I had DX stations question my Zone 7 exchange, asking if I wasn't Zone 8. I'm guessing whatever contest software they're using is pre-filling the ITU zone to 8 based on my W2 prefix. Hope these QSO's weren't blown.

Despite the embarrassment my whopping claimed score of 742 will surely cause me, I submitted my Cabrillo log file in order to help the guys I worked.

Complete DXing.

My goal each time I sit down in front of the radio is to do something new -- work a new DXCC country, or a new state, or a country or state on a new band or in a new mode. This helps overcome the doldrums of watching the same stations scroll by in SuperBrowser or listening to the same people having the same old QSO on 20m phone.

Perusing my logbook over the past few weeks since going QRV, I find that I have largely succeed in this endeavor; every day of operation has yielded something new, and I've watched my totals climb (37 countries and 39 states worked in 22 days of operation). All this, mind you, with a low-power rig, a mobile antenna, a questionable ground system, a high-noise level QTH, and minimal effort.

Looking further back through my logbook I found that it took me just over a year to work 37 countries at a time when the propagation conditions were far better, I had a better antenna situation, I operated a lot more, and (for a short time) ran a JRL-2000F at 600W. What's changed? Well.... me, that's what, and I can thank a single book for fostering this change.

I attribute my recent results, meager though they may be, to The Complete DX'er by W9KNI, a book which I've read and re-read several times during 10-plus year period of little or no activity and one which has become a mainstay of my toilet-reading regiment (and I say this with utmost respect, as my most productive reading occurs in the Porcelain Library). If nothing else, the book repeatedly pounded into my skull the most important skills a DX chaser can master -- listen, learn the behavior of the DX station, understand when to give up on a hopeless pileup situation, then listen some more. These simple, common-sense principles are so ingrained in my operating style that I don't even think about them anymore.

While working PSK31 on 20m the other day, I encountered a DX station in QSO with a stateside ham. I waited for the QSO to end then dropped in a call to the DX station but got no response. Switching back to SuperBrowser, I saw him just north of his last operating frequency already in QSO with another US station, so I QSY'd and waited. In the past I would have called him again as soon as this QSO was complete. But alas, the lessons of W9KNI reigned in my old impulses. Instead of calling again, I watched the waterfall to see what he was going to do next. Sure enough, he moved up-band slightly and a few minutes later answered a CQ from another station. As this QSO was in progress I scouted out the next clear piece of real estate on the waterfall. Then, as the DX was just about through signing clear, I started sending a long call to the DX station in hope that he would once again QSY up the band to look for a new station to work and see me calling. He responded to me after one call. As we QSO'd, I noted (with smug satisfaction) that others were still calling him on his last frequency while I was putting a new one in the log.

While I can't say for sure that I wouldn't have eventually learned how to do this on my own, the fact is I learned it from W9KNI by reading his book, and I did so a long time before I would likely have figured it out for myself. Gone forever are my days of shouting into a storm of big guns or trying to work stations that probably have a slim chance if any of hearing my near-QRP signal. My ratio of stations called to stations worked is far better, not because my equipment is better but because I simply operate smarter.

My copy of The Complete DX'er is the First Edition (1983), old enough that it still refers to external VFOs and the Soviet Union (remember "Box 88?"), while making no mention of packet clusters, DSP radios or digital modes; relics of the past such as outboard audio filters and a DX-Edge are among the recommended accessories a DX'er needs, items which are presently gathering dust on the shelf as they've been replaced with my K3's variable DSP filtering and computer-based grey line maps. Most of the book's narrative revolves around CW operation, yet the basic concepts of successful DX chasing still apply today to the modern digital modes I'm so hooked on. The Complete DX'er has just been updated to a Third Edition which I imagine will cover all of the modern radios and tools introduced since the early 1980's that are now commonplace in the modern ham shack. I intend to pick up a new copy one of these days.

Perhaps now more than ever, this book should be required reading for all amateurs who operate on the HF bands -- simple observation of the way some people behave in a pileup makes it all too clear that they've never read this book nor otherwise learned through experience the principles it espouses.

Postscript: It should be noted that W9KNI is now, unsurprisingly, a practitioner of the QRP arts (link to PDF file).

The Last Honest Reporter in America

I'd be remiss in my duty as your faithful chronicler of all things remarkable about ham radio if I did not wax enthusiastically about how insanely cool the PSK Reporter web site is. The general idea of the system is described on the home page:

"[PSK Reporter] automatically gather[s] reception records of PSK activity and then make those records available in near real time to interested parties — typically the amateur who initiated the communication. The way that it works is that many amateurs will run a client that will monitor received traffic for callsigns (the pattern 'de callsign callsign') and, when seen, will report this fact. This is of interest to the amateur who transmitted and they will be able to see where their signal was received. The pattern chosen is typically part of a standard CQ call. The duplicate check is to make sure that the callsign is not corrupted.

"The way that this would be used is that an amateur would call CQ and could then (within a few minutes) see where his signal was received. This can be useful in determining propagation conditions or in adjusting antenna and/or radio parameters. It will also provide an archive of reception records that can be used for research purposes"

I vaguely recalled skimming over something in the DM780 operation manual about enabling reports to a web-based propagation monitoring system but didn't follow through and check it out until last week when a station I was working mentioned it during our PSK31 QSO. Since then I've had the site up on my Mac whenever the radio is on and parked on a PSK31 frequency.

PSK Reporter answers the two most important questions an amateur can ask: "Who can I hear?" and "Who can hear me?" It plots markers on a Google Map for all stations you're copying -- even when you're not paying attention -- and also lets you see how your own signal is propagating by plotting all monitor stations that hear you. It's an incredible useful tool for someone chasing WAS and DXCC points. Just mouse over any of the monitor station markers and you'll get a pop-up box with details. The map scales automatically, so when all of a sudden the page refreshes and pops open a map showing Europe, Asia, the Pacific, South America or Africa, you know it's DX time. The screen grab atop this post was captured Wednesday morning on 20m just a few minutes after a single test transmission.

At first glance one may wonder how PSK Reporter is different or better than your garden variety DX Cluster. The difference is localization -- that is, local to your own station. It shows you what your station is hearing; you no longer have to sift through spots by European or Asian stations for DX that you couldn't possibly work. Just as it is unthinkable today for someone to chase DX on phone or CW without a DX Cluster connection, I believe it will soon be equally unthinkable to operate PSK31 without PSK Reporter.

Advantages over DX Cluster:

• Automatic, no need for an individual to spot the DX.
  
  
• Only shows stations that your own station has received and therefore have a possibility of working.
  
  
• Gives you near-real time feedback on how your signal is propagating and where you are being heard.
  

Disadvantages:

• Only useful on a single band at a time. I suppose multiple receivers can be used, but that would take some engineering...
  
  
• Not yet universally supported -- at present only DM780 and fldigi facilitate automatic updates to PSK Reporter. All major apps need to support this project for it to become completely ubiquitous.
  
  
• PSK Reporter is run by an individual, not an organization. What if Philip Gladstone loses interest in ham radio, or gets tired of footing the costs for hosting the site, or gets hit by a meteor? What happens when (not 'if') the system grows to thousands of users instead of hundreds, all posting their spots simultaeneously to the server, and the current host becomes unable to handle the increased traffic? Perhaps it needs to be institutionalized by a group similar to AMSAT or TAPR to ensure its longevity.

By and large, PSK Reporter is a brilliant creation and should be utilized by all who use digital modes on a regular basis. Kudos to Philip Gladstone N1DQ for developing the system and providing it to the amateur community, free fer nothin'!

Top Loading

"It is important to recognize that simply adding a top hat to a vertical of a given physical height may reduce ground losses." -- The ARRL Antenna Book, 21st Ed.

June 2009 Wrap-Up

First month (well, half-month actually...) back on the air, worked a few all-time new ones like New Caledonia (FK), Aaland Is. (OHØ), and New Zealand (ZL). (Have I really never worked ZL?!?!? That's hard to believe.) Also missed a few like S. Cook Islands and Fiji, both of which I heard on 20m PSK31 but QSB beat me too 'em.

QRV mostly on 20m but managed a few contacts on 40m including Barbados (8P6) on phone and Cuba (CO) on PSK31.

The IOTA count is tentative -- I fill in the IOTA numbers when I know I'm working an island on the official list; none of the stations worked so far have included IOTA no. in the exchange. Hopefully it will be stated on their cards so I can get award credit.

I probably should be working more USA stations for WAS but I'm too focused on DX. Still, I've got 13 states in the bag, and I know I've passed up at least a dozen others.

June 2009 Stats:

• 55 Total QSOs Logged
• 27 DXCC Entities
• 12 CQ Zones
• 13 States
• 8 IOTA Islands
  

The Ham Who Slept Through Field Day

For a moment last week I considered tracking down the local Field Day operation, which turned out to be the HOTARC effort in Hewitt Park a couple of miles from my QTH. Then I stepped outside into the 109° heat and quickly reassessed my priorities. My desire to avoid heat stroke narrowly outweighed any urge to shout "Six Bravo North Texas" into a mic for extended periods. I decided then to operate 1D from the home station, at least help out the true believers by handing out a few QSO points.

Instead, I took a nap. Maybe next year...

Olivia Si! Windoze NO!

I worked Olivia for the first time last night, replying to a CQ on 40m just around midnight CST, then answering a call after signing with the first station. I had a pretty good idea how this mode operates from several QSOs I've monitored on 20m, but didn't realize that there are calling channels and other protocols that are followed. Tnx to VE7NBQ for pointing me to the HF Link web site for more info on this.

The best thing about Olivia is that it looks to be a true ragchewing mode, unlike PSK31 which is one boring macro-centric QSO after the next. Olivia trades speed for damn near 100% perfect error-free print so you actually have the time to type ahead on the fly; this facilitates the all-but-forgotten conversation, long since replaced by fast callsign/RST exchanges and the aforementioned QSO by Macro -- perhaps we should we call such exchanges QSMs instead of QSOs since most of the people you work on PSK simply repeat everything they've already sent to the station before you. I've seen none of that on Olivia; it's clearly the digital mode of choice for hams who have something to say.

So now I've conquered two of the 'new' modes. However, I have yet to conquer the needlessly complex operating system known to many as Windows, but known to me affectionately as "this f--king third rate piece of s--t so-called operating system." Call me a Mac bigot, but I'm a Mac bigot for a reason. I honestly spend about 6 minutes a year troubleshooting Mac OS X, and that's in a bad year. With Windows, there's some issue or another to deal with every other time I turn it on -- loss of sound card settings, inability to see the K3 on the COM port assigned to my USB adapter, vanishing drivers, application lockups just as a DX station is returning my CQ... all this has happened to me in the course of the one week, and this is a fairly new PC that had a fresh installation of WinXP put on it before it entered the shack.

Now I understand that some people actually like tinkering with their computers. God bless them, they're entitled to treat their computer as a hobby. I, however, have no more desire to tinker with my PC than I have to tinker with my electric toothbrush, power drill or vacuum cleaner -- they're tools, nothing more. I just want the damn things to work when I turn 'em on. The computer is a tool for me, not a hobby. I've lived through the dark ages of both DOS and Mac OS 6 through 9 (and, to be fair, Mac OS X 10.0), I've had enough of the constant man-vs-machine struggle to get the damned computer to do what I want. Sticking with Macs all these years has finally paid dividends, OS X 10.5 has been bulletproof for me, as has 10.3 and 10.4 before it; Microsoft, on the other hand, has merely replaced the IRQ headaches of DOS with the driver and DLL headaches of their "modern" OS.

There's one genius on the QRZ forums with a sig line that says "Macs are toys, Get a PC!" Whatever. This is the 21st century, the OS wars are over and the winner is... The Internet. I don't care what OS I'm running anymore, and neither do most people as long as it works. Except for a couple of ham radio apps that I like, my Mac can do anything my PC can do, and it does it elegantly, effortlessly, and without the constant headaches.

Unfortunately, with HRD and DM780 I have found logging and digital mode software that does everything I want. Plus, I'll eventually use some sort of contest logging program for which the choices for Mac are virtually nonexistent. Therefore I must deal with Windoze much as I've done for years at work. Lucky me.

Maybe Windoze 7 will be better. LOL!

</rant>

PSK31 Progress

I've made the move to USB -- I had an M-Audio JamLab USB I/O sitting around picked it up a few years ago to patch my guitar into Garage Band. I hadn't thought about using it for PSK31 audio until now. Downloaded latest XP driver, switched the cables over to it and saw improved results immediately -- now the waterfall shows a much cleaner signal than I was getting when running the RX audio directly into the soundcard, confirming my suspicion that my soundcard is crap and a dedicated USB I/O device -- even a cheapo single-channel box like the JamLab -- would greatly improve things. My inner geek is smiling.

The JamLab appears to be replaced by the Transit Hi-Resolution Mobile USB Audio Interface, apparently the same device with a new label.

I'm a little concerned with the range of level adjustment -- with the control panel and K3 output levels set at 100%, I'm getting about 20-25% input level in DM780. It seems to be enough, though. Also have to up the K3's Line In gain to 30 (up from around 8) in order to tickle the ALC to 4 bars as suggested by others on the Elecraft reflector.

Still getting noise from the outside world, not sure what to do about that. It seems to be intermittent and shows up on the waterfall as two fairly broad (300 Hz) stripes centered around 1325Hz and 1950Hz when tuned to 14070.0 kHz. They are weak enough that they disappear when a strong signal appears in the passband and the AGC drops the gain, but if a weak signal is anywhere near the noise it's tough to pull them out.


I've been considering the MFJ-1025 phasing noise filter with an outdoor sensing antenna; not cheap ($180) and not sure it will help on this particular noise source but MFJ's 30-day return policy makes it worth a try.

After running the K3 wide open for a few days I now find myself crunching down the bandwidth of the K3 to a narrow (200 Hz) passband and centering it on the desired signal in order to reject adjacent strong signals and improve copy of weak signals. The K3's combination of 8-pole 400Hz roofing and DSP bandwidth filters are simply awesome for picking a single signal out of a crowded band.


By keeping Filter Preset I set wide open (4.0 kHz in DATA A mode) and Filter Preset II set to 200 Hz, I can jump to the narrow setting quickly when I spot something on the waterfall and shift the passband until it's centered on the signal. It would be cooler than penguin turds if DM780/HRD would set the K3 width and shift automatically to zero in on an incoming signal with the click of a button, but since this isn't a K3-specific program I'm not hopeful this will ever work it's way into a future version.

So now just barely 4 days into PSK31, and with little effort, I've worked 7 DXCC entities (8, if you count the USA, which I don't...):

• CO - Cuba
• FK - New Caledonia
• KH6 - Hawaii
• SP - Poland
• TG - Guatemala
• UT - Ukraine
• VE - Canada

Moving along...

PSK: I Love You

I'm now firmly ensconced in the 21st century, having successfully made my first QSOs in PSK31 mode. Two simple audio cables from the Dell's soundcard direct to the K3, a little bit of diddling with Digital Master 780, and we're off and rolling. First QSO was with WU6X in California who answered my CQ, followed by another with TG9AHM in Guatemala whose CQ I answered. All this with 30w -- incredible.

I've been decoding PSK31 ever since I got the K3, the rig does this internally and scrolls the received text across the LCD. It just never worked very well so I didn't believe all the hype about PSK31. But when I first fired up DRM780, I was shocked to see near perfect copy from signals that were barely visible on the waterfall display. Then I discovered the SuperBrowser feature... Holy smoke. I can see I'll be spending a lot of time in this mode.

Receiving and decoding PSK31 signals was easy, but getting the K3 to transmit took a bit of poking. First, I needed two audio cables (1/8"-to-1/8") -- I had one in the junk box with stereo jack on one end and mono on the other. This worked fine for the receive audio. Then I drove to Radio Shack to pick up another for the transmit line only to find an empty store with a For Lease sign in the window. Great. So I went over to the other side of the mall to Best Buy, but they had no cables with an 1/8" jack of any sort. Returning home in a rather pissy mood, I dug some adapters in the box to convert a 1/4"-to-RCA cable into another 1/8"-1/8". I hate adapters, but it'll have to do for now. Cable adventure over, I spent the next 45 minutes transmitting into the dummy load, making adjustments, tweaking the config parameters to get the audio into the K3's Line In jack and finding the optimum input levels.

In retrospect I'm thankful I didn't rush out and buy an external soundcard device, as the K3 I/O ports are fully isolated and this configuration seems to be working just fine. I may still add one later because I'm sure the soundcard in this Dell isn't very cutting edge, but for now my cash is better burned on something I need more (RAM, ground rods, beer...).

On the other side of the coin, one of the unintended consequences of Digital Master 780 is that with the waterfall I now can see all the noise I'm picking up.... but I'll save that rant for another day.

Quote of the Day

From the Elecraft reflector (I won't further embarrass the person who said this by identifying him):

"I still for the life of me can't understand why the K3 didn't come with a USB port instead of the outdated com port. That is one reason I have not bought one yet."

Really? A USB<->Serial adapter costs, what, $30? This is what's keeping you from buying one of the best performing amateur HF transceivers ever designed?

I'm speechless. Almost.

Other than a possible speed advantage -- and I say "possible" because there is no practical need for anything faster than a standard RS232C connection to control the K3 -- what friggin' difference does it make? Perhaps if the radio ported audio I/O through its serial connection... but it doesn't.

Besides, I've never seen a PC that didn't have a serial port, but there are plenty of computers still in use sans USB. And while I certainly wouldn't mind a USB port on my K3 in addition to the regular serial port, the idea of its ommission being a deal-breaker is beyond silly.

QRV.

Worked UA3 and LY on 20m late Monday (early Tuesday UTC), my first HF QSOs since moving to Texas. Bands were awful but there seemed to be an opening over the pole to Eastern Europe, as I heard a few other stations in there as well; ER4DX was 20 over but didn't hear me. Later on Tuesday & Wednesday I worked TI, XE, KH6, VE and ES. Only 93 to go for DXCC from W5-land!

The Tarheel has been great so far. It's noisy (as verticals tend to be) but it's hearing stations that I'm not hearing at all with my stealth wire on the RX Ant input. I'm thinking now that I should have added the Ameritron SDC-201 controller to facilitate band switching, but for now I'm using the MFJ analyzer to tune the antenna without keying the K3.

Ham Radio Deluxe has become a true extension of my K3, operating without it is like attending a formal without pants. I finally dug out the old Dell (2.0 GHz P4 with 512MB RAM) and got it running, completely dedicated to amateur radio operations. Linda brought home a newer Dell from work with a 15" LCD monitor; not sure what processor is in this one but it isn't important -- what I'm using now is adequate, it's already set up with Wi-Fi card, HRD, and some other ham software, and I dread the thought of having to reconfigure another PC. (As a Mac guy, doing anything with Windows is torture. I think we should make Gitmo detainees administer a Windows network; they'll be begging for waterboarding before the end of the second day.)

So with the PC up and running, I had to clear off a bunch of stuff from my desk to make room for the monitor. Should have done this long ago as most of the stuff is seldom used (if ever). I removed the second '515 along with all the little dust-gathering peripherals to make room for the LCD and moved the mic boom over. Now I can actually see the K3, the HRD display, the power/SWR meter at the same time while speaking into a mic and typing without moving my head from side to side.

Now I need only figure out what to do with all the shit that is scattered all over the shack...

Getting RF into my audio chain, so I have to turn the Multi-RX off when transmitting and use headphones fed directly from the K3. Some sleuthing is in order; methinks it is a station ground issue because... well, there ain't none.

Tarheel 200A-HP Antenna: Installation & Initial Tests

Issue One: How do I mount this thing? My first thought was to hammer a 1" galvanized steel pipe into the ground. Then I remembered this heavy duty speaker stand that I scavenged out of the dumpster at the music store a few years ago. It's one of those stands that is designed to elevate a PA monitor; the handle normally used to raise and lower the cabinet to the desired height was broken off but it was otherwise in good shape. I had no idea what I was going to do with it but I figured someday I would adapt it to one of my hobbies -- maybe a telescope mount or a camera tripod. It sat around in my boiler room in NJ for years, then almost got put in the trash when we moved but at the last minute I threw it into the U-Haul. I'm glad I did.

It never occurred to me to use it as an antenna mount until the HamCom show where I saw a similar setup at the Buddipole booth. That rang a bell in my head, so I dug it out of the garage Saturday night. The upper mast is 1", exactly the size needed for the MT-1 mounting bracket and ground radial plate. And though the mast cannot be raised or lowered from it's broken position, it turned out to be the perfect height to mount the MT-1 with the ground plate just a few inches below. This puts the plate about 3.5" above the ground, which means the ten supplied 9' radials droop down before extending outward.

The antenna stands over 15' tall when fully extended for 75/80m. I'm a little concerned about the top-heaviness of the whole thing; wish the mounting bracket U-bolts would fit around the lower section so I could remove the gear assembly and top mast to get the center of gravity closer to the Earth's core. It's not going to tip over all by itself, it's fairly sturdy, but I fear a good blast of Texas-style sever weather might topple it. I'm considering some sandbags on the tripod legs to hold it in place. At least it's portable enough to move indoors or lay down if the wind picks up. While not an ideal permanent mounting solution, it works quite well as a temporary/emergency/portable/field day antenna mounting system. I may eventually move to the pipe-in-ground method; for now, however, this gets me on the air.

While mounting the antenna to the MT-1 bracket I had a bitch of a time fastening the upper half-bracket. Even threading the lock nut on one side just enough to grab the screw, I could not get the screw on the other side through the bracket enough to fasten the other nut. I tried numerous times until the nut got dropped and went bouncing off into the tall grass. I finally just fully tightened the one side and left it for another day -- it's not going to be going down a highway at 80MPH so it's good enough for now. I'd ultimately like to adapt some sort of cam-lever quick release for this upper bracket to facilitate quick break down.

Assembly completed, I did some initial testing with SWR analyzer and found the 200A to tune well on most of the bands I care about -- 1.2:1 or better on 40m through 17m, about 1.25:1 on 15m, and a hair under 2:1 on 75m. With the inductor fully retracted the antenna was resonant on 22.9 MHz, well under 1.2:1; I'm guessing I will need a shorter whip to tune 12m and 10m, which I'll worry about when the sunspot cycle perks up.

Getting the control cable and coax to shack is going to be my next mission. Right now I have it coming in through the window but despite stuffing bubble wrap into the gap I'm still getting bugs working their way into the house. The MFJ feed-through panel is pricey, so I might try to fabricate something similar as soon as I can get to home depot to buy a 2x4 and a circular saw (I left way too many tools in NJ...).

With the 200A hooked to the K3 I'm hearing many more stations that are weak or inaudible with the RX wire antenna; other stations that are strong with the RX antenna are 10dB or more stronger with the 200A. KH6IB was S9+20dB on 20m but I couldn't break through the small pileup he was working through before he started calling for mobile stations only -- even though others who were most definitely not mobile still called him, I followed his instructions and held off. Finally I shut it down since I'm exhausted and need to hit the sack. First QSO will have to wait...