USB morse key

Via Julian G3ILO news of an Arduino based project to build an inteface to enable direct input to a computer with a morse key. Lots of information can be found here.

It looks like a neat little project. I don't get the feeling it's going to be offered as a kit or anything. Most of what you'd need to know to make one is on the site including a schematic and the code that decodes the morse code!

This is similar  - in concept at least - to those iPhone morse apps where you can tape the screen in the same way you would a straight key, and the app gives you feedback on your morse - at the most basic level by translating it back to what you hopefully intended to say.

What would be even more exciting would be an interface that could also handle paddle input to PCs ... a bit like the $1.99 iPhone app iDitDahText by Marc Vaillant. You can only load this one on to jailbroken iPhones. It's available via the Cydia Store. It enables you to enter text in all iPhone apps using the equivalent of an iambic keypad on the screen up to 50 wpm. Great party trick!

Or better still isn't there a way to connect the output of the iPhone or even the iPad - electrical not audio - to control a keyer and a transmitter. Throw in PTT control while you're at it!

Digital radio speed bump

Lead story on Southgate News is latest stage of mounting concern over radio "scrappage" plans that are part of the switchover to digital radio in the UK. One UK radio network group UKRD is refusing to broadcast the radio scrappage advertising campaign and they describe it as "morally and ethically suspect."

And apparently they're not alone. Rob Mannion G3XFD, editor of the UK radio magazine Practical Wireless also has grave doubts about the rush to digital radio in the UK. He's launched a national campaign aimed at maintaining essential traditional analogue broadcast radio for everyday listening and for use in times of national emergencies.

Also see the earlier Southgate news item about concerns that DAB is twenty-year-old technology.

QST for June 2010 arrived in Sydney today

Now I can see the article by Tony K2MO that was being talked about on the digitalmodes email list and that generated a flurry of activity with the ALE 400 mode. It explains how to use MultiPSK by Patrick F6CTE to use ALE 400 to have error-free two way keyboard chats.

Other articles this month include:
Homebrew Challenge II Winner #1 — The Lowest Cost Entry - Donald W. Huff, W6JL
For less than $30, you can build this 40 meter band 50 W linear amplifier for your QRP rig.

HF Yagi Triplexer Especially for ARRL Field Day - Gary Gordon, K6KV
Put three transceivers on one antenna using a decoupling network in conjunction with band-pass filters.

A Fan Dipole for 80 through 6 Meters - Richard P. Clem, WØIS
Parallel dipoles can be easy to build and are quite effective — once you know the rules.

Receiver Sensitivity — Can You Have Too Much? - Joel R. Hallas, W1ZR
With modern receivers, hams are not as concerned with sensitivity as they once were. But if you want top performance from your rig, here are some tips to keep in mind.

A Vehicle Mounted Mast for Field Operating - Geoff Haines, N1GY
This easy-to-deploy portable mast will get your Field Day antenna up fast.

Product Review includes the second part of the wrap on popular dual-lever keyer paddles — Vibroplex Iambic Standard, Elecraft's HexKey, K8RA's P-2 & W5JH's Black Widow Kit.

Three new keys

As the aussie dollar dies and the exchange rate plummets (down > 11% in less than a week!), I can sense the appeal of eBay waning. And soon the pleasant flow of small and not so small packets from overseas may dry up. (Even now - with  slight recovery - the aussie is just at US 83 cents compared to 93c last week.)

This week I've received three keys - from the UK, the US and Victoria - all of them neat and smaller than your average morse key.

Arriving from the UK was a key made by New York firm J H Bunnell - similar to the very first key I ever had in my teens. It was billed as a WWII key.

Coincidentally in the same delivery there was a key I'd ordered from the J H Bunnell company in the states. I was responding to an (out-of-date as it turned out to be) note about a stash of NOS (new old stock) Bunnell Navy Flameproof keys. They wrote back promptly to let me know these keys were out of stock but they did have NOS supplies of the same MIL STD CMI-26003A keys manufactured as the prefix indicates by Molded Insulator. A very neat key, as new in what looks like the original labelled cardboard box.

The last of this trio of keys to arrive was an as new Hi Mound HK-705 which Morse Express describes as the little brother to my HK-708.

All of these keys are compact enough to literally fit in your pocket, but still not as small as - or perhaps as practical for portable ops - as the tiny Palm Paddle!

Fuchs antenna

Received the kit for the Multiband Fuchs antenna from QRP porjects in Germany. The English manual explains how it tunes a half wavelength at the lowest band to operate effectively on higher bands. So a 41m length of wire can be used from 80 - 10 metres.

"Tuning is very easy. The first step is, to find the point of maximum noise / loudest signal in receive. Now with a small transmitter signal, the link is switched to lowest SWR. Ready. The FUCHS is equipped with an output indicator. Only at the point of resonance, the LED glows."

Handy K3 resource

Via the Elecraft email list a pointer to a comprehensive looking listing of settings for the K3 compiled by K8DD. There's also a document detailing calibration procedures for the K3.

June World Radio Online available now

The June edition of WorldRadio Online is here.

Cover story is of Steve WG0AT and taking on the ARRL Field Day alone. Well the two goats Rooster and Peanut aren't too far away, but they don't look very interested in helping log contacts or make the odd cup of coffee.

B&W coils

I was surprised to see that one longtime brand I associate with my earliest days playing around with radio, Barker and Williamson, is still thriving - and even better, still providing the product I associate them most closely with, air wound coils, specifically the Miniductors.

There's a list of the types they have available here. They're not cheap, but they are convenient. They don't appear to have a local Australian distributor. They do sell an attractive looking 13-42pF butterfly variable capacitor for US$25.

QST for May 2010 arrived in Sydney today

Articles this month include

• a report on the second Homebrew Challenge featuring inexpensive designs (think around $30) for a 50 W amplifier.
• circularly polarized Yagi antennas for satellite communications
• a homebrew a window feed through panel
• explaining the differences bewteen a duplexer and a diplexer
• a six band - 20 - 6 metres log periodic dipole array using a phasing line.
• an Amp-Hour meter for portable ops to monitor battery discharge rate.
• there's also a review of some popular dual-lever keyer paddles and a couple of noise canceling headphones, and the Yaesu FT-1900R 2 meter transceiver. 

More info - including how to subscribe - here.

K1 arrived

The K1 I purchased recently arrived today. I'm looking forward to exploring it.

It has all options including both interchangeable 4 band and 2 band modules, KAT1 - ATU, KNB1 - noise blanker,  KBT1 - internal battery holder, K1BKLT - dial backlight and KTS1 - the wide range tilt stand.

I was lucky enought to get a Palm Paddle included in the deal and the paddle base is neatly stowed on the stand. This compact little radio just needs an antenna and it's ready to go.

Iambic keying: How to?

Stumbled across interesting YouTube video on "Iambic Keyer and Technique" attempting to teach how to use an Iambic keyer. It's about 5 1/2 mins long. Another video from IK0YGJ simply shows the sender using a beautiful Begali Sculpture and sending at 50wpm.
While I'm at it I should include the link to the 9mins plus video explaining how to use iDitDahText on the iphone.

Homebrew ladder line spacers

It never ceases to amaze me what wisdom is simmering away amongst those email discussion groups I read.

Out of the blue today - prompted by mention of a commercial solution on the Elecraft list - came a sequence of brilliant ideas about making effective and easy on the budget ladder line spacers.

The commercial spacers from K&S Ham Radio Parts look great, but the fact they're made of nylon prompted concerns about their survival against UV. At 25 cents a piece I think they look fine!

In response there was a pointer to a YouTube video showing how to turn a box of ballpoints into very neat and secure spacers using black cable ties.

And then a pointer to another commercial solution from True Ladder Line, and a hint about how to replicate the effect at home using 'drip sprinkler tubing' which is the right size and and has just the right amount of rigidity for the job. And there's Dave ZL1BJQ with his approach based on those plastc chopping boards you can buy at any $2 shop, cut into spacer pieces, notched then pushed on to wires and held in place with hot glue.

And then there's this approach by VK2YE using plastic coat hangers, cut to length (5cms) and drilled to fit wire, and then glued to stay in place. In fact this is just one of 138 videos on his YouTube channel.

FT-817 resources online

There's a wealth of digested experience on this particular radio online.

ka7oei has a detailed site which has pages devoted to the following topics:

• Repeater coverage analysis using the FT-817 and GPS
• About the RF Power Amplifier 
• The NiCd/NiMH page 
• "Customizing" the FT-817 
• FT-817 Correspondence 
• The FT-817's 'Soft Calibration' Menu 
• The FT-817's Schematics  
• Quirks of the FT-817
• The Receiver 
• VSWR/Reflected power metering on the FT-817 
• A Detailed circuit description of the FT-817 
• Current Consumption of the FT-817 
• Optimizing the power consumption of the FT-817 when using battery power and a switching supply 
• Operating the FT-817 from Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) cells 
• Operating the FT-817 from other types of cells 
• CAT (tm) Interface Programming with the FT-817 
• FT-817 Bugs, Manual Errata and Omissions, and Birdies... 
• FT-817 Radio modifications 

Other FT-817 related sites include:

• OZ9AEC has an FT-817 page
• Yaesu's own web page about the FT-817 
• K6XX's FT-817 pages 
• The Yahoo FT-817 E-group which also hosts the useful FAQ page
• 

The "Ham Radio Deluxe" page 
• FT-817 FCC Type-Acceptance Documents

One of G4ILO's 'Radio topics' pages is devoted to the FT-817. His document points to 817-Mem, a program to manage memories on the radio.

WSPR

Prompted by Julian G4ILO's musings about the possibility of volcanic ash being responsible for propagation he observed a few days back, I've been looking deeper into WSPR, the application that produced the data that inspired the notion.

First stop was the main WSJT site where Princeton physicist Joe Taylor K1JT outlines the application along with other weak signal communications applications. The WSPR page points to the 20pp. User's Guide (pdf).

There's also some information at the WSPRnet site - especially the stunning map and the detailed database of recent spots.

Full circle  - when I searched for a general introduction to the software and the mode it's based on - sure enough I end up back with Julian, G4ILO. He's published a very readable and comprehensive article which quite rightly comes up #4 on a WSPR google search. He describes how easy it is to become part of a global beacon network and contribute to the generation of up-to-the-minute propagation reports.

Right now, I'd really like to know how to interpret the colour and thickness of the lines tracing the transmission paths on the map. 

It is, ah, not raining here also!

Via vk3app's twitter feed, a pointer to the first part of the definitive and classic Hancock episode, 'The Radio Ham'.



Painfully hilarious!
Part 1  |  Part 2  |  Part 3

Volcanic propagation

G4ILO has some interesting observations and speculation about recent 10m openings in his part of the world. He wonders whether they might be scatter off the clouds of volcanic ash drifting to Europe from Iceland.

SDR lists

Via M1KTA's blog a pointer to Christophe F4DAN's exhaustive list of SDR projects.

What an amazing resource! It feels like the distillation of many hours of research and study.

Really valuable information in here. It was last updated at the end of March. Also available in 'une version française'.

A123 batteries

There's been a great explanation posted on the Buddipole list about the practicalities of using the A123 battery packs Buddipole sell from their site.

The advantages of the A123 chemistry are low weight, fast charge times and ability to deliver high current. As well their voltage - 13.2v for a four cell pack such as the one shown - is well-suited to modern amateur radio gear.  

The email exchange is yet another example of how an innocent newbie's question can draw out the best information which benefits the broader group. Mark KD5RXT's explanation of duty cycle and the unique qualities of this new battery chemistry are almost text-book ready!


I'm still keen to find out more about the selection of the best solar cell and charger system to keep such a battery topped up. I sense that a system that could take advantage of its fast charge rate might dwarf the rest of the radio gear. And I also sense that current portable solar panels, especially the expensive roll-up ones might barely keep track even at QRPp levels.

iPad date announced for Australia

News this morning from Apple that the delivery date for iPad (both WiFi & 3G) - in Australia - is 29th May.

I'm so looking forward to seeing how an iPad might fit into a portable QRP operation. Or even a remote one. I'm also hoping that Apple will retain enough of open protocols so that the device does not simply become an expensive personal front end to whatever shops they wish to set up, like the sadly not ready for primetime Kindle.

Lack of a camera on the iPad is odd - given the next iPhone will actually have two - one in the front as well as the existing one on the back. Bluetooth keyboard sounds like it could be fun. I also imagine that ham radio apps to track satellites (ProSat) and monitor solar activity (Space Wx, 3D Sun etc) should look amazing. A work colleague showed me his new Android phone with a graphically brilliant astronomy application that you could use to locate, stars, planets and constellations easily. It felt like visual velvet and the images were much richer than I've seen so far on the iPhone.

Even a straighforward app to display bandplans should be able to be made to look clear and brilliant and enable you to get different views depending on mode, QTH or licence class.

The creator of the Continental code

I stumbled on to a page on Wikipedia about Friedrich Clemens Gerke, (22 Jan 1801 - 21 May 1888) the man responsible for simplifying Vail and Morse's original telegraphic code.

As the wikipedia article explains, "The original Morse code consisted of four different hold durations (the amount of time the key was held down), and some letters contained inconsistent internal durations of silence. In Gerke's system there are only "dits" and "dahs", the latter being three times as long as the former, and the internal silence intervals are always a single dit-time each."

 This chart reveals the logic behind his reform of the code.

 

After some minor changes it was standardised at the International Telegraphy congress in Paris in 1865.

Fabric antenna

Via Southgate News and MAKE magazine news of a collapsible fabric yagi antenna developed by Diana Eng KC2UHB who has combined two craft skills in a stylish way, electronics and sewing. It's a design for a Yagi for portable amateur radio satellite operation.

Her MAKE magazine article is well-written, comprehensive and brilliantly illustrated.
Diana Eng has also written an earlier article aimed at newcomers to amateur satellites for MAKE that covers:

• Finding out when to listen
• Finding the frequency
• Aiming a whip antenna
• Following the pass with the antenna
• Tuning the radio for the Doppler effect

Check the size of the antenna in that earlier piece and you'll understand why she aimed at something more portable!

KGD antenna translation

I'm keen to have a go at building a 40m version of the KGD short vertical dipole that used to be sold by QRPprojects.

Step one will be to translate whatever information I can find. It's happening here.

Silicon Chip (May 2010) and Elektor (March 2010)

Picked up two new (for me) electronics magazines.

Highlights of the Silicon Chip:

• Solar-powered lighting controller - a detailed description of the issues involved in the design. I've always been a fan of the Radio & Hobbies etc house style of technical writing. I grew up on in fact so it's like mother's milk to me. 
• There's also a very neat and compact 12v Stereo Amplifier that seems to be designed for buskers with SLA batteries. How many banjo players have you seen who need a PA? How many buskers play the banjo? I think there's a joke waiting to pop out there.

Highlights of the Elektor issue:

• Sceptre, a 32-bit ARM7 fast prototyping system. Open source, open hardware and open mobile. The project is a response to the low calculating power of the Arduino. This looks like a good way to dive head first into microcontrollers.
• An interesting article on the carbon footprint and appliances, standby power, manufacture and distribution and of course in generating the power to run the appliances.

Latest 'Amateur Radio' arrived

Received the latest 'Amateur Radio' magazine for May today. I really like the new look and the magazine feels like it's really arrived. It's always been a good read, but now the layout is matching the quality of the information. It's much easier on the eye and there also seems to be more investment in selecting the right mix of content.

Anyway, this month's highlights include :

• a continuation of the brilliant historical articles AR has been running as part of the Wireless Institute of Australia's centenary celebrations
• good technical articles about duplexers, diplexers and triplexers, quad loop antennas, homebrew butterfly capacitors and how to make your own ladder line using lego blocks!

I always think it's a healthy sign when you get more inspiration and enjoyment out of the content than the advertisements! And I suppose you don't one without the other.

Morse gems

Browsing today and came across some rich veins of morse information, including a great list of morse related links on the SKCC site, G0RDO's Morsemad site which has another fantastic list and the site of George VK2DLF with his brilliant keys such as the model 900 below.

These keys look like they're worth the 6-12 month wait.

Portuguese in morse

This page has a listing of how different alphabets and accented characters are sent with morse including Russian, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese and Korean. I feel an overwhelming urge to change it from its dots and dashes layout to a didah format to reinforce the sound and not the visual structure of the characters. As comprehensive as these charts are, I'm still a little in the dark about some accents used in Portuguese. It could be that they're simply not used in morse. Maybe listening to QSOs is the only way to confirm this.

Even the listing on the Portuguese Wikipedia page is missing the ã character. And this Brazilian page makes no mention of accented characters, even though it does explain that the codes for each character reflect their frequency in English.

Palm Paddle and Code Cube

Took delivery yesterday of a Palm Radio Paddle and the Code Cube. Reassuring how well made they are. The paddle is very finely adjustable. t comes with a neat base which has two strong magnets which have s great grip on the top of a FT-817 and make for a very compact package.

Very convenient combo for practising using a paddle and ready to go out of the box - but I can't work out how to adjust the actual volume of the sidetone. Maybe it can't be done. Excellent quality is such a relief when you buy something sight unseen on the recommendations of others.

I also got the Peg Legs for the FT-817 which are very neat and retractable. They took all of a couple of minutes to attach to the tiny transceiver. It took me longer to work out how to re-thread the carrying strap through the bracket slots. Good to put the brain through its paces.