Cloud Warmer - DX Ham Radio in Costa Rica, projects, antennas, dx, morse code, digimodes

Ham Radio Wallpaper from 2012 ARRL DX Contest

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:19:00 +0000

One year plus about a month's delay in our usual mail forwarding scheme it took for my ARRL DX CW award certificate to arrive! I'd been wondering if I was supposed to apply for the award beyond just submitting my log.

At that time, I'd racked up over 600 Q's and calculated a max score north of 96,000, all on 40 meters. I didn't learn until later that I needn't have busted my buns quite so hard, since it turned out I was the only participant in my category from Costa Rica! HI HI! A single QSO would have won me the certificate.

2012 ARRL DX Award for Single-Band (40M)

No regrets, there, however. It was an experience unlike any I'd had before, working pile-up after pile-up, which tested my endurance (and the patience of those whose calls I had trouble decoding) and improved my skills. Always room for more improvement, of course. One area might be to reduce dups as you can see there's quite a difference in points between my estimate and the 85K I actually received.

I might have tried my hand at it again this year, but the contest snuck up on me before I knew it, so I didn't have time to prepare. Plenty of other contests throughout the year, though, at which I'd like to dip my paddles into.

WebSDR Server New and Improved Update

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 19:31:00 +0000

A few days ago, Pieter-Tjerk de Boer, PA3FWM, e-mailed an update to the WebSDR server code, and I installed it yesterday. It's now running on my Linux box for my 30 meter Softrock II Lite SDR at the usual place: http://ti2na7u.zapto.org:8080 *. It listens via the 125 meter skyloop antenna.

30 meter band on WebSDR server

Besides bug fixes, making the server more CPU-efficient, and a few sysop features, there are a number of new user features that you may like to try:

FM demodulation (turned off in my server)
Memory channels, so you can store your favorite freqs.
Volume control (slider in HTML5 browser, otherwise text)
Squelch, which responds to modulation, not signal level, so no threshold to set.
Automatic notch filter for SSB
Frequencies typed in the chatbox are now clickable
Labels on the frequency axis can have a mode and are clickable
Option to compact the display of other listeners, so the Chatbox
is closer to the other controls
Removed the Java version test applet, which reduces the number of Java popups
Noiseblanker for strong local noise spikes (admin settable)
View last 20 log entries is again included
Support for RTL-SDRs: cheap USB DVB-T sticks used as general-purpose amateur SDRs
There's an experimental feature to invoke an external program to decode and report WSPR signals. (contact PA3FWM for details).
Support for 116 kHz samplerate (needed for one specific SDR).

Enjoy and 73!

* it's usually running on weekends, Fri-Sun.

Costa Rica Once Again Has Ham Radio Regulations

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:18:00 +0000

Long-time readers of Cloud Warmer have read about the ongoing saga of ham radio regulation here in Costa Rice here, here, and here. Given what appeared to be little or no effort in formulating new regulations by SUTEL to replace the obsoleted regs under a previous agency, an e-mail from AA2UP caught me a bit by surprise.

TI7/AA2UP sent me the following link to the new "Radio Handbook" for amateur operators in Costa Rica. It's 125 pages, including a long section they snarfed out of the Panamanian handbook of radio theory. The link goes to a big PDF and it downloads rather slowly, so don't click it, especially if you don't read Spanish:
sutel.go.cr/Medios/Descargar/3D176AE2A190D762CD223B1276F03C8078F96BF2

Of course, AA2UP, myself, and any other expat ham here who is using a prefixed call sign was hoping they'd allow us real Tico calls, but alas. There appears to be nothing specific in the new regulations concerning that situation. They cover Costa Rican license aspirants and "temporary" aspirants. The latter can now officially operate under reciprocal permission if their home country recognizes reciprocity for Costa Rican citizens. There is no specific mention of legal residents, conditional or permanent.

In any case, all operators are to register via a form with SUTEL. They also want a full description of all your equipment and its location, in writing. Below the fold are some rough translations of sections relevant to resident hams such as myself. I don't see any mention of fees, but you know that that's coming soon.

(Photo credit: dnas2)

"Permission of reciprocity will be granted to foreigners without producing the corresponding examinations, whenever they present permission of current amateur status from their home country and that that benefit is granted reciprocally to Costa Rican citizens."

Looks like no exam is required if you can operate under a reciprocal permit. They also require a complete list of your equipment and its location. The only problem I see with reciprocity is that the regs specify "Costa Rican operators" and "foreigners", and it's implied that the latter are temporary operators. Seems like they haven't specifically addressed legal residents or they just assume we operate reciprocally.

"All the applicants to obtain a permission for amateur operation will have to present his request in the corresponding form, to SUTEL, with the following information:

a. Name, no vacancies, number of certificate, general qualifications, exact address where the station is located, telephone number, post-office box, place to receive notifications and any other fact for the easily locating the petitioner.
b. Two passport size photos.
c. Photocopy of his identity card.
d. If the applicant is under-age it must indicate the name of the father or mother contributing his name along with the written authorization, where the signature of parent is properly authenticated, requesting the license of radioaficionado for the minor.
e. Specification of the characteristics of the equipment to use, indicating mark, model, serial number and power, ... "

It's not clear if all the requirements above apply to those operating under reciprocity.

"For purposes of control, operators will have to maintain daily notes that must be sealed and enabled for SUTEL, where the amateur will note down all the communications that are done.

The book must have numbered pages and it will be written in clear text. The following indications will have to be recorded:

a. Date and hour in which he establishes the contact.
b. Used band.
c. Station correspondent.
d. Type of emission used.
e. Report of sign “ RS or RST ”.

This document will have to be presented in the moment and place in which it is needed by the officials of the SUTEL."

They require hams to keep paper logs in a bound book.

I see nothing that addresses getting a real TI call. Seems you would have to pass the exam to do so, but even that is not clear. There is certainly nothing about vanity calls.

As with almost any new regulations in Costa Rica, especially first drafts, it doesn't pay to jump too quickly. Within a few months to a year, these ham radio regulations will very likely be revised substantially. That's the way things work here. I'm also anxious to see what fees will be charged. If they are going to charge according to the value of your equipment (believe me, this is quite possible!) then I may show them only my KX1, HI. Meanwhile, I plan to continue using my prefixed call when operating. I don't expect anyone from SUTEL to come knocking on my door anytime soon. 73!

A Better Diagram for the 74HC240 QRPp TX

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 23:37:00 +0000

Another example (with clearer diagram) of the 74HC240 digital IC based QRP transmitter that I posted about previously.

74HC240 IC CW Transmitter Puts Out 500 mW

This one also has values for the VXO capacitors. I now have the parts for this, so perhaps it will show up on the work bench soon. I've added a link to this example on the Kits and Homebrew page.

By the way, there are some great on-line circuit simulators out there, such as CircuitLab, that are a great help for hands-on homebrewers, such as me, who are still learning about electronics. For learn-by-example hams, these simulators reduce the amount of smoke on your work bench.

Do You Read My "life in Costa Rica" Blog?

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:28:00 +0000

Thank you everyone! I won the gold award, which I now proudly display on my blog, A Dull Roar. Couldn't have done it without you loyal readers!

If you do or don't, please consider stopping by my latest post on A Dull Roar, and follow the link to Expatsblog.com to add your review and rating of ADR. Each review until 1000 UTC on the 17th adds to my total points there. Whoever amongst C.R. bloggers gets the most reviews wins a Gold Award badge for display on their blog. A minor award, for sure, but I'd like to win it just the same! :) 73, Casey

Progress with Ten-Tec Scout 555 Mobile Installation

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 18:33:00 +0000

Modified Hamstick temporarily mounted

The last couple of days I've progressed with the installation of the Ten-Tec Scout 555 in the GMC truck. As of today, it's ready to transmit, though not while actually in motion, yet. Most of my spare time had been spent on the green cargo rack for the truck as seen in the photo to the right.

Installing the rig in the truck

Once I got back to the rig, the first step was mounting the radio in the "cage" I'd installed previously. Believe it or not, that cage is fastened to the truck with a single stainless steel hose clamp, but it seems quite immoveable. I tapped into the cigarette lighter circuit, which I'd never use otherwise, for power, and ran a ground wire to the truck's frame.

Scout mounted with the homebrew paddles on top

A shelf for the code paddles

A small wooden shelf slides into the steel angle pieces on top in order to support the homebrew guitar pick paddles I made previously. Since I added a lead weight to the bottom of the paddles they rest snuggly and firmly without an additional fastener. The bumpy roads here will let me know if it can stay in place as-is, however.

Close-up of the left side homebrew clamp

Clamping the rig in place

I scratched my head a while to find a way to fasten the Scout into the frame. In the end, I created screw-in clamps, one per side, which hold it solidly in place with only an additional wire-tie through the bail stand on the front.

The clamp foot was made using a 1/2" copper pipe cap, which I slotted and compressed around a bolt head that I'd ground to a round shape. On the other end of the bolt I welded a wing nut. There is a hex nut welded to the inside of the upright. A few turns of the wing nuts grips and centers the Scout in the frame.

Installing the antenna coax

The last step was running 15 feet of RG-58 for the feed line. That only required a single hole the diameter of the coax in the floor pan underneath the floor pad. The back end has a BNC connector and the front end a PL-259. The latter I soldered on to the coax from within the truck.

Checking SWR

I first used the AA-54 analyzer to tune the modified, multi-band hamstick for 20 meters before hooking it to the rig. SWR is less than 2:1 for most of the band. Half-heartedly, I admit, I called CQ for about 10 minutes without a reply. It was a little early for 20M to be open and where the truck is now it's blocked to the U.S. I'll take the truck up to a high point later and give it a more thorough test run.

One Data Gauge for Interest in Ham Radio

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 02:14:00 +0000

This graph is from Google Trends for the search term "ham radio". The trend is clear, but what does it mean? Here's a few ideas on interpretation, please feel free to add more ideas in the comments:

Ham radio itself as an interest is in decline
Ham radio web resources have stabilized, so less searching is needed over time (we've got more stuff bookmarked)
Information about ham radio is coming to hams from other sources than Google (hard to swallow for me)

What do y'all think?

Preparing To Go Mobile With The Ten-Tec Scout 555

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 19:57:00 +0000

The new GMC truck we acquired recently is back in the shop with a 4-wheel drive problem that is mystifying the mechanics so far. While it was still at home I started preparing a home in it for my Ten-Tec Scout so that I can once again work CW mobile as I used to do many years ago. There is so much room in the cab that the radio will hardly be noticed. I've completed the bracket (really a frame) to hold the radio and have power and ground hookups and a plan for how to run the antenna coax.

Meanwhile, I've been working on the antenna and a set of paddles (yes, home-brew paddles!). Four years ago I sold off a lot of radio gear, but still brought a lot down. I guess I wasn't planning on operating mobile again at that time as the only mobile antenna I still had was a 10-meter Hamstick (now a collector's item since Lakeview is defunct). I was going to modify it for 20 meters only, but it was just a bit more work to make it multi-band. It now tunes 40 through 17 meters used a tapped coil. The full description is captured in a Hubpages article here.

The other problem to solve was how to send CW. The only paddles I still have are my nice ones (GHD optical and a hand-crafted set from G4ZPY) and no way are they going into the truck. A cheap set of Bencher paddles would be fine, but they'd be twice the price including shipping to get down here. So, I took a crack at making my own using hacksaw blades, and although they are ugly as sin they actually work well with good action and a light feel. Those are also described in another Hubpages article.

Here's hoping the truck gets back home this week so that I can start the installation of the radio and antenna line! 73!

The Next Big Wave For Ham Radio? DXing The Dead?

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 21:43:00 +0000

Tongue planted firmly (so firmly it's beginning to hurt) in cheek:

Yes, you too, with basic modification of an AM or FM (depending on the educational level of the departed I gather) radio can receive messages from your departed loved ones!

Apparently, all that is required is to have a radio with scan capability which you modify by disabling the audio mute during scan, and this is where the messages from the dead ..., oh for heaven's sake!

I mean, come on! This is like inter-dimensional DX or something. Dead DX.

"Uh, yes, I'm about 15 dead QSOs from getting my DDXCC certficate ...",
"Did you hear about the DDXpedition to Hades next weekend?",
"We've found that the really, really old boatanchors, if they have their modulating tubes dipped in wax, really have much better selectivity inter-dimensionally, I mean you'd really like to talk to your Aunt Betty, right, not your neighbor's?"

Anyone with half a brain knows this isn't going to work on AM or FM broadcast bands. Get real! This technique could only have a chance of success on HF! ... or 6 meters during the off-season.

Well, I may be over-simplyfing, of course. If you want all the ethereal details I guess you're going to have to buy their book, available at any of the finer spookstores around town, and for only $15.95! Maybe you can find an MP3 version on Pirate Bay. :)

73!

Too Busy For Ham Radio

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:07:00 +0000

Really wish I had something interesting to post, but I've been so busy writing article on Hubpages, trying to get critical mass over there. Some of the articles are about projects I've been doing in parallel, which take time as well. I now have 17 articles up, 5 of which are ham radio related (and several more of those are in the works). The only QSO I've had lately was UA2K. I just wanted to quickly try the amp to bust the small pile-up and got him on the first call.

The good news about the Hubpages thing is that it's already paying off. Small so far, but better than the blogs combined. So, that's good news for my readers, too, as I'll be taking down the ads on here soon. They're just not worth it for the pittance I receive and I know they must annoy some people. They annoy me!

Believe it or not that WinKeyer USB that I assembled back in April still isn't in use. I found it only recently buried under a couple of manuals. It's in the house shack staring at me from the shelf, so soon I will get it hooked up and try it out with N1MM Logger.

Same truck as our new one, but ours is not nearly in as good as shape as this one

We bought a new truck lately, a GMC 2500 Silverado 1 ton, which is a real monster, but will be much for useful on our farm than the small Mitsubishi. It's also inspired me to install my Ten-Tec Scout in it, so that's another project for the list. First, though, I need to do some maintenance on the antennas. The quad's rotor is finally out of commission, but I have the refurb kit to get it going again. And, I still haven't taken down the folded VK2ABQ so that I can straighten the mast.

Meanwhile, if I don't post here very often, you now know why. 73!

Amateurfunk - Amateur radio in 1955

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:25:00 +0000

Southgate ARC put up this short film made in Germany in 1955, all about the state of the hobby back then, over there. It's a real treat, even if you don't understand German. Just looking at the walls of equipment is worth the time to view it. To my eye it looks like 90% of the equipment is home-brewed, but maybe I'm just mistaking that for the state-of-the-art manufacturing during that era or maybe it's military surplus.

After I watched this short German documentary, I went to YouTube to see what other vintage ham clips might be out there and there are many. I've added a couple of those also below. These old videos are both fascinating and illustrate the rich history of our grand hobby and the amount of work and knowledge our predecessors possessed. Many fine old boatanchors can be spied.

Don't miss the Drake mobile unit in the convertible at about 1:50 in the video above!
K7UGA, Barry Goldwater, ex-Presidential candidate, enters the picture at 11:48

Field Day at 11:00, Johnson Matchbox tuner at 11:50

The Quake - All's Well At This QTH

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 04:25:00 +0000

4 Kyle & Scott Earthquake Costa Rica 4002 (Photo credit: youwhocolleen)

I know some folks probably don't get over to my Costa Rican Life blog, A Dull Roar, much. Over there I described the quake just after it happened. Yes, we're fine, and no apparent damage here. It was a 7.6Mww at the epicenter, but about 6.5Mww down here. Definitely the biggest shake we've had since moving here almost 4 years ago, though. Thought it would never stop and there were some aftershocks too.

Fortunately, this has been a relatively mild rainy season so the ground is not saturated. If it were there probably would have been a number of slides, which could easily block a road or two. That often happens even without any help from a terremoto. Anyway, just part of life living on one of the hotspots of the Pacific Ring of Fire! 73!

Ham Walling - New Social Site For Amateurs

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 00:35:00 +0000

I thought these guys deserve a plug for trying to upgrade the state of the art for amateur radio social sites. Compared to the sedate QRZ.com and Eham.net sites this one is really jumpin' (well, it's all relative y'know?). Fast moving and quite a bit more personal than the basically text-based online ham watering holes, which I'm sure would irk most of the OTs in the hobby, it's definitely worth a visit. It will be interesting to see if it survives, and if so, how it will evolve with time. Just not sure what is up with the "ning" in the URL?? 73!

Take Your Ham Radio Blogging Up A Notch

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:55:00 +0000

By Sharonrosen CC: BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr

I know that several Cloud Warmer readers also write their own ham radio blogs. We're sort of an in-bred group that way, hi. As bloggers you may or may not get the urge to increase your readership or your "social reach" as Facebook puts it. I do have that urge and have been engaged in a lot of activities the last couple of months in order to bring more eyeballs to my blogs, all 3 of them. It's been bearing some fruit, but it's a lot of work and there are a lot of scams out there that may increase your "views", which don't result in much repeat business.

One of my fellow bloggers, who I met via Bloggers.com, however, has been "elmering" me in various aspects of how to be read more widely, and one of her best suggestions has been to join Hubpages.com. If you like writing, and want to take what you're doing right now up a notch, then I recommend you sign up.

The writing required there is a more formal than our casual blogging style. They, frankly, have a lot of rules. They don't, for instance, tolerate copyright infringement, but they give you the tools necessary to avoid that. Generally, they post articles of high quality. As an article nexus they bring in a boatload of traffic and can help you reach many more readers, whom you can also link back to your own blogs. They have revenue sharing programs, too.

I just posted my first article (about how I became a ham), which they call a "hub" (I don't know why), and it's here. I'm not going to make it a regular practice to link to my hubs from here, but since this is the first one, I want folks to visit it so that I get a running start. And yes, that link is a referral link, so if you do decide to join Hubpages and get revenue from your articles I get a small cut. The cut doesn't come from your revenue share, though, it comes from Hubpages' share.

Another reason I'm promoting Hubpages here, on Cloud Warmer, is that I noticed the dearth of Ham Radio related articles there. There are barely more than a dozen posts and some of those are on CB radio! So, in that category you would not have a lot of competition. I'd certainly like to see that segment grow on their site and I know our blogging community has a lot to offer. 73!

p.s. published my second amateur radio "hub" today!

What We Like Best About Amateur Radio

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 23:47:00 +0000

This symbol is recognized worldwide as signifying amateur radio. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was thinking about making a "10 Best Things ..." list. The more I pondered it, however, the more I realized how difficult it would be to rate "the best" in any kind of meaningful order. Certainly, you'd pick somewhat different items in a different order anyway.

We all bring to our treasured hobby our particular (some might say peculiar, hi hi) personalities, talents, experiences, and motivations. From these we derive our own individual meaning and satisfaction about ham radio.

So, I offer up my, unordered, list of what I like best about this hobby. I invite you to share your favorite aspects of ham radio in the comments.

English: Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, Expedition 22 flight engineer, conducts a ham radio session in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The call sign - It's our unique badge, not a random number. It becomes part of your personality, your identity.
Instant camaraderie - You're in a big club, literally millions of members worldwide. As I'm sure you've experienced many times, your fellow hams extend to you friendship automatically that you wouldn't usually receive otherwise from a stranger.
Lifetime learning - A lifetime, and then some, of learning about physics, electronics, operating modes and techniques. It's learning without end. There is always a new challenge to keep us busy.

Freedom - Sure, your key or mic needs to go in the key or mic jack, respectively. Station equipment has to be connected properly to operate correctly. Other than that, however, we are pretty free in how we configure our personal stations, which radios we use, which accessories to buy, which antennas (my favorite of favorites) to use. We decide if we're going to buy or build. We get the satisfaction of trying new combinations, going QRP or QRO, fixed or portable, CW, SSB, Digi-modes and more, which contest, and also the freedom to tear it all down and start over if that's what we want.
Opportunities to help others - Amateur radio plays a big part in disaster communications, which is probably the single most important assistance provided by our hobby. Many of us, though, help out in numerous small ways every day. We elmer a new ham, help another ham analyze his or her signal, offer troubleshooting suggestions for equipment that's on the fritz, and apply what we learn from the hobby to other areas, such as computers and electronics.
Meeting new people - When I'm on the air I'm not usually talking to the same ops repeatedly. Every new contact is another person I've "met", maybe someone from a new country. Sometimes there is followup via a QSL card or an e-mail and I get to know that person a little better. Even when I'm off the air, it's often that I have interaction with someone new, another ham or someone thinking about being a ham. And let's not forget the ultimate social interaction of the hamfest!

Amateur radio station of DJ4PI (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On the facetious side, I also enjoy the many sensual delights of the hobby, such as the blinking lights, the fans, the hums and buzzes, the static, the meters bouncing up and down, the "feel" of taking apart a radio for repair, the smell of solder smoke and the heat of the iron, and especially the glow of the tubes in a boatanchor rig. I also love the opportunity to use the stylish "Zed" or "Zulu"!

Please, let us know what gives you a thrill about this hobby, why it is the hobby for you, whether it be something general or very specific. We're all QRZ(ed).

First Time on Six Meters, CW and WSPR

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 18:45:00 +0000

It's been a long time since I had a sked with TI7/AA2UP. We happened to cross paths via e-mail recently and he suggested a CW sked and I suggested we try 6M since I knew this would be a forcing function on me to try out the Ten-Tec 1208 6M transverter that's been sitting atop my auto-tuner for months. Despite scant instructions in the manual, it's pretty easy to hook up and coupled with the Argonaut V I had it working in short order. Our QSO, however, was a failure even though his station is only about 180 Km away. My expectations were low, however, especially given that all I have at the moment for an antenna is the rooftop vertical. Anyway, we completed a QSO on 40 meters shortly thereafter.

Not wanting to give up on 6 meters quite yet, I decided to set up for WSPR on that band and let it run while I tend to other things today. That effort is underway as I write, though it took just a little head-scratching as I couldn't use CAT because the Argo V itself doesn't have that band. I got it running by turning off CAT and keying with VOX with the Argo V in split mode 14.293/14.295, which is the input freq for the transverter, which adds 36 MH to that. It seems to be working, but not making any contacts yet, of course, how can I really tell?

At least I'm not the only optimist on the WSPRnet map! Naturally, if I manage to make any kind of 6M QSO, you will be the first to know. 73!

The Ameritron ALS-600 QSK Mod Is Done

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 02:12:00 +0000

The QSK modification for my recently acquired ALS-600 solid state amplifier is now complete. The instructions for this modification by AD5K are quite good as is the small PCB he can supply anyone wishing to give this alteration a professional look. The mod is a simple one, easily handled by even a beginner electronic kit enthusiast.

The idea behind this improvement is to replace the stock open frame relay (about 10 ms delay) with much faster (3 ms) closed frame relays so as to ensure that the exciter isn't "hot" during that relay delay during TX decay (cue the music!).

I have an appreciation for keeping equipment stock, so it felt weird to remove the old relay, especially the step where you grab the frame itself, held in my a single screw, and rock it back and forth until the screw strips out. Sort of like pulling a stubborn molar. It's not an entirely irreversible step, but might as well be.

Besides the two 16-pin IC sockets, the two relays, PCB, and a 1N4007 diode, the AD5X kit comes with two short pieces of stiff buss wire, gauge 20 and 28. These wires are cut into 4" lengths and soldered to the contacts in the old relay base according to the diagram in the instructions. The smaller gauge wires are for the DC power and amp bias, while the bigger ones handle the business end of the RF switching.

The original black RF In and RF out wires, which were cut long when removing the old relay are re-attached via this small board. I departed from the instructions in this respect only in that I re-attached those connections before I had the board in final position so that I had more room to maneuver. Then I pushed the board down as far as it would go, soldered the wires and flush cut them.

The final package looks neat and the retro look to the PCB could even make you believe this was part of the original machine.

Really, that is all there is to it. It seems to work very FB at 30 WPM (AD5K tested it at 80 WPM). You'd have to listen closely to even hear the relays switching. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to test it in a QSO as our usual afternoon T-Storm rolled in before I got that far, but soon, soon. 73!

Poor Man's Panadapter For SoftRock SDR

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 13:07:00 +0000

This is the sort of thing I really love about our beloved hobby myself. Homebrewing at its best. What Matthew Williams has done here with an iPad, his Softrock, and a little programming is the metaphorical equivalent of making something both interesting and useful with only bailing wire and gum on hand. Sort of reminds me of that old Star Trek episode ("The City On The Edge Of Forever") where Kirk and Spock are stuck back in 1920's USA having to put together a time-line viewer with vacuum tubes!

Anyway, nice effort Matt, W2MDW! I hope you continue to experiment with this and improve the speed. 73 OM!

Shade-tree Method For Xtal Filter Settings For Elecraft K2

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 14:49:00 +0000

100Hz filter de Hajos Kontrapunkte

After I'd finished installing the new non-original encoder into my workshop K2 and gave it a little spin on a couple of bands I thought something was amiss. The bands seemed pretty dead, which was a distinct possibility before noon here, but still ... Anyway, I was off to other things and couldn't get back to that radio until yesterday when I confirmed that indeed it appeared that my xtal filter settings were messed up.

My previous stab at fixing the encoder problem was to do a firmware (and IOC) upgrade. Of course, I'd carefully recorded all settings including the filter settings, but it turned out that except for a few non-filter settings that everything had been retained during the FW change. So, why, during the U3 and encoder swap on the Front Panel board my filter settings would be lost, well, I don't know, but they were!

I suppose I could have just re-entered the saved BFO settings I'd scribbled down before I did the FW swap, but I thought this a good opportunity to do them all from scratch to make sure they'd be right.

So, into the manual and a separate app note about setting the filters again I dug. It's one of those things you hope you only do once so you tend to forget the whole procedure, and in this case "more than one way to skin a cat" is definitely true. In the end I merged a couple of methods and did it all by ear, which I think is a bit unique and could certainly be handy if for some reason you needed to do this in the field without instruments (but you'd need the table of default settings from the manual, pg. 85).

Reset all the filter bandwidths per the manual for CW/SSB (only one of these was off from what I normally use).
Reset all the coarse-grain BFO settings for CW/CW-Rev/SSB per the manual.
Now come the trickier parts. I used the K2's Spot function on the birdie at 7MHz to center FL1 CW-Normal (zero-beating against the birdie). Then I moved through each filter (with XFIL) and adjusted the fine-grain BFO setting to re-spot each filter as necessary. Very little adjustment was needed for this step. CW-Normal filter settings are done at this point.
I decided to do the next step on a real CW signal (no reason, really, just felt it was a real-life test, you could still use the birdie), which I found on 20 meters. Starting with FL1 again, CW-Normal, zero-beat, I A/B'd the tone against CW-Rev, then adjusted the fine-grain BFO setting while still on CW-Rev. This involves a little trial and error, because when you get back in the menu to the fine-grain BFO setting that tone is a different tone than the actual signal and you have to move the BFO tone in the opposite direction of the actual tone difference of the signal. That is, if in CW-Rev, listening to the actual signal, if that tone is higher than in CW-Normal, then you need to move the BFO setting to a lower tone.
After a few rinse/repeat cycles of this the tones match (to my ear). Move to the next filter and do the same thing. You're done.
SSB is easier because you only have to set the filters directly, no A/ B between LSB/USB.

Moving WebSDR To Old Laptop - FAIL

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 23:05:00 +0000

You might recall a recent post in which I had just received a boatload of parts, including a new encoder for the ailing K2. I mentioned that I had revived an old PIII Thinkpad X24 and was installing Ubuntu on it. The intention was to use it instead of the Duo-Core desktop upon which WebSDR runs now.

It took quite a while to get the new Ubuntu install on and all the apps and tweaks I needed. I actually ended up installing the much lighter Lubuntu interface to get more juice out of the PIII. And, I did get WebSDR running on it, networked, etc. There was just one little problem that I hadn't considered before, however.

When I looked at the spectrum on the WebSDR page I noticed that there seemed to be duplicate signals. Actually, the 50 KHz spectrum had two halves, mirror images of each other. I scratched my head a little over that and finally realized that probably the sound card in the laptop can't manage 44.5 KHz sampling, so is either processing half the width and/or only takes mono input through the mic line. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a spec on the X24 detailed enough to confirm that.

I tried all manner of sound mixers hoping I could somehow compensate for this, but to no avail. So, in the end, I decided to abandon that idea and keep everything running on this PC. Perhaps my son, Sean, would want to take the X24 to use for schoolwork. He could even take it to school as I really wouldn't shed any tears if it were stolen given that I only have 16 bux into it! 73!

Is A Reset Of Radio Regulation Coming in Costa Rica?

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 21:23:00 +0000

This from one of the "serious" newspapers in Costa Rica today:

El Ministerio de Ambiente, Energía y Telecomunicaciones (Minaet) debe ordenar el uso de las frecuencias del espectro radioeléctrico (que incluye frencuencias de radio y televisión) así como el otorgamiento de estas. Esta es una de las principales disposiciones de la Contraloría General de la República en un informe dado a conocer esta mañana...

The jist of this, in English, is that the nation's comptroller has recommended that the current governmental department that is responsible for managing the radio spectrum (and to the point, Costa Rican hams) should be examined to see if they are doing their jobs and, if not, their jurisdiction should be taken over by a different department (MINAE).

The current responsible body is SUTEL, which took over the old, long-standing government body about two years ago. SUTEL is so in over their heads that for about two years Tico hams couldn't even renew their licenses, there is still no formal reciprocal operating agreement for foreign hams (except N.A. hams via a letter of understanding), and the dream of all ex-pat hams, such as me, of ever obtaining a real TI call may again be slipping away. Sigh...

TI5KD, the president of the national radio club has been working long and hard to push SUTEL along with respect to ham radio issues, so I will soon try to get his take on this situation. Probably wishful thinking, but maybe a takeover by MINAE would move things along faster? I can always dream, can't I?

The Encoder Fix Is In, But It Wasn't A Cakewalk

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 17:33:00 +0000


Honeywell encoder shaved to fit

The replacement of the standard K2 pulse encoder, used for frequency tuning, was a bit more challenging than I'd anticipated. Basically, the problem was that the encoder I ordered didn't have a mechanical drawing on-line (even on Honeywell's site) and I mis-judged its size. The original encoder sits in a square hole in the Front Panel board, but this replacement was too large for that hole by quite a bit.

Seeing that I was going to have some challenging mods to make to get this to work, I first made a promise to myself that under no circumstances was I to modify the K2 itself. All modifications had to be to the part. That way, if I did get stuck I could always be sure that the original K2 encoder would fit again.

Encoder mounted on rear of FP board

Because the new encoder would have to mount on the rear of the K2's FP board that meant the tuning shaft was too short. I compensated for that how I could by first shaving down the side of the encoder case as much as possible so it could be positioned closer to the front panel. That wasn't much, but it was enough so that the threaded collar just sat in the hole in the front panel, giving more stability.

Unfortunately, not enough threads were showing to get a nut on the collar. Thus, the encoder had to be fastened to the FP board itself, which I accomplished using a small piece of stiff plastic (so as to avoid a short on the board). The plastic came from the middle section of some 450 ohm window line.This method actually stabilized the encoder a great deal.

New encoder mounted to FP board

Up to this point I'd been pretty lucky. There was room to spare between the back of the encoder and the Control Board behind it, so no worries there. There are a couple small spaces in the square FP hole to route the encoder wires to the front pads. Of course, I'd already put in the new FP U3 and temporarily wired the encoder so that I knew this was all going to work electronically.

Extending the tuning shaft

Still, the encoder shaft was too short, by at most 2 mm. This is because the original K2 knob's inner shaft hole is recessed about 6 mm (probably to allow for the original encoder fastening nut). Trying to extend the shaft in a permanent way consumed well more time than I'd put in up to this point.

I first tried simply gluing on a short piece of steel rod. The only metal-to-metal glue I could find in town though was epoxy and it wasn't up to the job because of the tuning knob weight. I considered welding on the extension, but even if I had wrapped the encoder in a rag drenched in ice water I doubt I could have done that that without damaging the electronics.

Extension with plastic shim

I had to have a physical/mechanical connection between the encoder shaft and extension. The technique I used was to carefully drill a small hole in the end of the encoder shaft, just large enough to take a small self-threading screw of the right length. I couldn't very well turn down the clamping screws in the tuning knob to the screw, so I also had to add a shim, which is just a short piece of hard plastic tubing I had on hand. I filled the space between the screw shaft and tubing with epoxy.

I think this is a permanent fix and no mods to the K2 chassis itself were made. It took a little adjustment of the tuning knob to get it to turn without wobble, but that wasn't much to overcome in the end.

The radio now works FB, the only change being that it tunes slightly faster since this encoder part is 128 PPR (Pulses Per Revolution) whereas the original encoder was 100 PPR. I think I can consider that an improvement! It was a fun project and saved me 60 bux over buying a new encoder from Elecraft.

Please share your experiences with homebrewing a radio equipment repair in the comments!

Parts In The P.O. Box!

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 16:41:00 +0000

Yesterday was jackpot day at the post office. Parts for the AD5X QSK mod to the Ameritron ALS-600 amp and the replacement encoder for my holey K2 along with the front-panel U3 were in my monthly mail forwarding bundle from the U.S. Hoorah!

So, after some overdue brush-cutting this morning I plan to spend at least an hour or two in the workshop seeing if I can get this encoder to work with the K2. The Ameritron mod can wait a while. I'm also in the middle of refurb'ing an old Thinkpad X24 someone gave me. I found a used keyboard ($16!) and replaced same on this little PIII laptop and am putting the finishing touches to a dual-boot Linux install on it. I plan to dedicate it to the Softrock SDR / WebSDR server instead of the power-hungry desktop machine it runs on now.

Radio Habana's 74HC240 QRPp TX Circuit

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 00:51:00 +0000

Whilst perusing the QRZ Forums yesterday I ran across a post about a 74HC240-based TX. I followed the link to the schematic and it didn't look familiar. Not familiar because I knew I'd stashed away a similar schematic for the same kind of TX in my files and it didn't look like that one on QRZ.com. Unusually, my search for my schematic was brief. In fact, I didn't have to look far at all, it was in a nearby hanging paper holder almost within arm's reach.

I was going to add the link to my schematic as a reply to the QRZ posting, but I soon found out that the URL on the schematic was no good, and a Google search of Arnie Coro, CO2KK, didn't find his circuit, either. So, I decided to revive this particular circuit on the web once again. Thank goodness for the hard copy!

The instructions and circuit (which I fully intend to implement one day ..., heh heh) are on two pages, which I've scanned, zip'd, and linked on the Kits and Homebrew page, reached in this blog's menu above. The final scans are larger, more detailed than the image here, so you should be able to read it easily. Certainly, it looks like a fun and fairly easy circuit to put together. The instructions say you can build it for 10, 15 or 20 meters (QRPp 10M beacon, anyone?). The coil winding form recommended is a Bic pen! It takes 8 VDC input and supposedly puts out about 500 mW.

If anyone gets this put together, I'm sure you'll let us know, right? Do you have any small radio circuits like this that you've built or would want to share? 73!

Official ARRL CW DX Results for TI-Land

noreply@blogger.com (Casey Bahr) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 14:36:00 +0000

I guess the results from the ARRL Int'l CW DX contest have been out for about a month, but I'd nearly forgotten about them, so didn't check until this morning. Here are the results only for Costa Rica.

Technically, I could say that my single-band strategy worked, but on the other hand it appears had I only made a single QSO I would have won that category for the home team anyway, hi hi! Looks like I had more busted Q's than I thought, since I didn't crack 600 Qs. Anyway, I await my certificate in the mail!

I offer hearty congratulations to TI5N and TI5W for racking up some impressive numbers! Wowsers!!

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