First QSO on CW

March 27, 2013 Leave a comment

Just made my first QSO on CW. It was with Pete VE3DVR from Windsor, ON. Thanks to Pete for QRS, I had no problems copying him and really enjoyed my first QSO. It was quite nervous, but I guess that’s what the first time is usually about.

I can send 10-13 wpm comfortably with my straight key if I have a text in front of me. But sending and thinking about what to send is much harder for some reason – could be the 2nd language barrier or just need to build a habit?

My copying is 5-6 wpm at best, because even if I get all characters okay, I still need extra time to figure out the words. This distracts my focus from copying the next coming characters… Couldn’t figure how to handle this.

After my first QSO, my brain was exhausted and wanted a break when I was called by Bob WB2FLX from Scotia, NY, and then had another short QSO with Bob KB3ENU from Galena, MD.

All in all, it was a nice day and interesting experience. Thank you Pete, Bob and Robert for your patience. Hope to work you again soon.

rbn270313

P.S. Meanwhile, got my SKCC membership today. New QSOs ahead!
skcc

Filed under CW

New Year resolutions / to do list for 2013

December 25, 2012 Leave a comment

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year everyone. On this post I’ll try to summarize the goals for 2013:

  1. Build permanent shack, install antenna distribution box, new grounding system, antenna feed lines, dedicated PC for digital modes / DSP / CW / logging,
  2. Install antenna distribution box outside, improve lightning protection, grounding system at the entrance

Antenna projects:

  1. Build 10m halo antenna for digital modes, portable use
  2. Build 20m magnetic loop antenna for digital modes
  3. Install new grounding and radials to the main vertical antenna, weatherproof distribution box, retune antenna, calculate diagrams (EZNEC), bury new feed line in a rodent-proof conduit
  4. Locate and identify source of S7 QRN on 40m
  5. Build new HF / VHF antenna
  6. Build and install discone antenna on attic with remote RTL-SDR / Raspberry Pi receiver
  1. Finish SoftRock RXTX kit
  2. Convert Softrock 20m lite for WSPR / PSK usage
  3. Build WSPR beacon
  4. Build APRS gateway using Raspberry Pi
  5. Finalize MCU homebrew paddles CW-keyer (add enclosure, paddles)

Filed under Uncategorized

Free DV – open source digital voice codec for HF

December 15, 2012 Leave a comment

Want to try this out soon – need to interface my TS-520 to my laptop:

Amateur Radio is transitioning from analog to digital, much as it transitioned from AM to SSB in the 1950′s and 1960′s. How would you feel if one or two companies owned the patents for SSB, then forced you to use their technology, made it illegal to experiment with or even understand the technology, and insisted you stay locked to it for the next 100 years? That’s exactly what was happening with digital voice. But now, hams are in control of their technology again!

FreeDV is unique as it uses 100% Open Source Software, including the audio codec. No secrets, nothing proprietary! FreeDV represents a path for 21st century Amateur Radio where Hams are free to experiment and innovate, rather than a future locked into a single manufacturers closed technology.

FreeDV is a GUI application for Windows and Linux that allows any SSB radio to be used for low bit rate digital voice.

Speech is compressed down to 1400 bit/s then modulated onto a 1100 Hz wide QPSK signal which is sent to the Mic input of a SSB radio. On receive, the signal is received by the SSB radio, then demodulated and decoded by FreeDV.

FreeDV was built by an international team of Radio Amateurs working together on coding, design, user interface and testing. FreeDV is open source software, released under the GNU Public License version 2.1. The FDMDV modem and Codec 2 Speech codec used in FreeDV are also open source.

See a demo of a freeDv QSO:

More info at: http://freedv.org/tiki-index.php

 

Filed under Software

ARRL 10m contest

December 15, 2012 Leave a comment

Propagation was not great to say the least recently. Had some interesting contacts during ARRL 10m SSB contest but not as many as hoped for.

Need to make a dedicated 1om antenna for next year!

Filed under Contests

Breadboarding and testing on the air

November 18, 2012 Leave a comment

The next iteration was to put the chip on a breadboard and add other required components and an optocoupler for interfacing with the radio.

The operating voltage of the MSP430 chip is somewhere between 1.8-3.6V (according to a datasheet). So 2 AA batteries in series would be enough. Also, it needs to have a positive polarity via a 47kOm resistor on the RST pin (up). Otherwise, the chip won’t start. Also, a small ceramic capacitor (100pf or so) is recommended across the power pins.

The minimum working configuration on the breadboard has a chip, 47k resistor, a tiny capacitor, and some LEDs. I couldn’t find a 47kOm resistor in my junkbox so I substituted it with 2x22kOm resistors in series.

The next step was adding a 4N36 optocoupler in series with the green LED – this will key the radio. The plus wire goes to pin 1 and the pin 2 is connected to the negative power bus. The collector and base of the optocoupler are connected to the key:

Polarity and current are crucial. I tested polarity and current on the CW key contacts before connecting the optocoupler. The current was about 1mA only and the plus (positive) wire goes to collector (pin 5) and reference (ground) goes to emitter (pin 4).

The total budget for the project so far is $7.30 ($4.30 for the msp430 chip and the development board, $1 for breadboard, $1 for LEDs, $1 for optocoupler; resistors and capacitor have been salvaged from an old computer power supply).

Quick test on air and bingo – we have been spotted by DR1A:

Isn’t that fun?

The next step will be to make this somewhat permanent and add an enclosure – most likely some plastic food container.

 

Filed under Radio-Electronics Tagged with

DIY CW (Morse) beacon using TI MSP 430 – proof of concept

November 15, 2012 Leave a comment

I wanted to build a compact CW beacon which I could use to call CQ in the fields when using a QRP transceiver or in a field day contest, or for a fox hunt. The TI MSP430 chip is very suitable for these applications due to its ultra-low power consumption and cheap price.

This is a first iteration of the beacon program and is my first program for MSP430. It only transmits one message in a loop.

The source code comes below…

Read more of this post

Filed under Radio-Electronics, Software Tagged with

TI MSP430 LaunchPad on Ubuntu 11.10

November 15, 2012 Leave a comment

It took less than a week for my $4.30 MSP430 Launchpad to arrive after I ordered it from TI. Then, due to other priorities, it was collecting dust on a bookshelf until I finally found some time to try it out!

Filed under Radio-Electronics Tagged with

Illinois QSO Party and MFJ-290K4

October 22, 2012 Leave a comment

My Kenwood TS-520 came with an old and beaten CB mic so I needed a replacement asap. MFJ had a Kenwood replacement mic on their website which I immediately ordered:

MFJ-290K4

MFJ-290K4

The price was sweet – just $19.99. However, once the shipping & handling got added, the total went up to $44 which more than doubled the original price.

Still, I badly needed a new mic so I went ahead and ordered it hoping that will solve my problem quickly. It turned out to be rather naive though:

1. Right after I paid the order, the status changed to inventory check – apparently MFJ didn’t have it in stock or couldn’t find it on their huge warehouse. It took nearly 3 months and couple of reminder emails for the status to change to shipped.

2. Once the mic arrived, it was DOA. After opeining the mic and the connector, I realized that the connector was incorrectly soldered. Also, there was a gap between the connector sleeve so the wire was loose and the two of the four wires were broken. A few turns of electrical tape, opening up a mic, and resoldering connector and the wires inside the mic fixed the problems.

3. According to MFJ website, the mic comes with extra long cord. Well, the cable was only about 10″ long… is that extra long?

4. The sensitivity and a response of the mic were mediocre at best; had to shout every time using it.

5. Today, after one year of moderate use, the cable finally failed completely right in the middle of Illinois QSO Party. RIP MFJ.

Resume – I paid to $45 for a defective mic; it took 3 months to deliver; the mic was DOA, and the cable failed after 1 year of moderate use. Not sure if I ever risk buy anything from MFJ again.

Luckily, I had a used TenTec desk mic I bought for $40 at a hamfest in Brampton which needed a new connector. The mic  needed a fresh battery and a new connector.

Ten Tec mic

Ten Tec mic

After opening the mic, studying the PCB and identifying which wire goes where, I resoldered the connector going to the rig and was back on air calling CQ ILQP just in time to realize that the party ended 5 minutes ago…

On a good side, the TenTec mic seems to be working quite well – I had a short qso with Keith N8WSM from West Virginia giving me a good report and apparently my audio was okay. He was off frequency though for some reason – I wonder if my transmitting frequency is slightly off and my rig needs a realignment.

Update: a friendly ham noticed on air about my mic feedback was too strong; seems like the output voltage is to high – a 330kOhm resistor in series with the mic output seems to have fixed the issue.

 

Filed under Contests, Radio-Electronics

Get your own azimuthal map in 30 seconds

October 21, 2012 Leave a comment

While googling for an azimuthal map for Toronto location, I came across a great web tool – the NS6T’s Azimuthal Map

Using it, you can generate an azimuthal map for a particular QTH.

If you live in Toronto, you can use the attached ones I have generated for FN03 grid QTH (Toronto, ON) using his site:

If you think NS6T’s service is worthwhile and would like to show your appreciation, I encourage you to make a donation to the K6LRG repeater and contest operation (look for the donate bottom near the bottom of their website)

Filed under Software

W1AW portable 6 in the log

October 13, 2012 Leave a comment

Just worked W1AW/6 active from Pacificon 2012 in Santa Clara, CA! Finally got W1AW in the log – now need to exchange QSL cards!

Filed under Uncategorized

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