RTTY contesting with N1MM and FLDigi

This weekend I took part in the CQ WW RTTY contest that ran for 48 hours. Not being a serious contester I dipped in and out of the contest using my Yaesu FT-847 and a hexbeam at around 45 feet.

I set up N1MM Logger + to work with FLDigi and once I had the two programs talking to each other it was plain sailing. I have used N1MM Logger previously during SSB contests so I was already fairly comfortable with its configuration and I had also used DM780 previously with Ham Radio Deluxe although it's not entirely suitable for contesting.

Getting FLDigi set up was a little more involved but once I had it configured I really enjoyed using this combination. I think I may give the UKEICC CW contest a try tomorrow evening..!

Log4OM

Last November I decided to give Log4OM another try as I was frustrated by Ham Radio Deluxe's inability to handle 13cm band frequencies. It's due to a limitation of the software's architecture to accept 64 bit integers and a frequency such as 2400.220.000 will default to 2147.483.647. I contacted HRD and they are aware of the issue and plan to address this in a future release. They didn't say when but at least it will be addressed.

In the meantime I've been using the excellent and free Log4OM. I dabbled with it previously but always came back to HRD as it was the first logging software I used and was pretty comfortable with it.

The latest version of Log4OM, version 2, is the first major revamp and update of the program and is a very capable piece of software fulfilling the needs of most demanding operators today. Like most logging applications around it does have its quirks and configuring it for the first time can be a little daunting. It does have some annoying features for me, such as the inability to enter a QTH on the main QSO window. It will take the QTH as entered by the operator exactly as they entered it on their QRZ.com page which can include postcodes, CAPS LOCK names and sometimes just plain wrong info!

I've also found that saving the QSO frequency in kHz instead of MHz is preventing me from seeing the correct total number of 13cm band QSO's that I've made via QO-100 in Clublog. I've worked 70 DXCC but Clublog shows only 6! I think Clublog requires the frequency in MHz to show 'worked' entities and this has always worked fine with HRD.

I need to look at this further, maybe try and work a country on a new band and see if that is saved correctly in Clublog but for the most part Log4OM works just fine as a logging tool, best thing of all, it's free..!

About time I wrote something new...

 It's been almost 3 years since my last post so I thought I'd better give an update.

Since early summer I've been active on QO-100, I'm one of only 6 EI operators that are, as far as I know, licenced to use that portion of the band. So far I've racked up 55 DXCC but given the scarcity of EI calls on the satellite I thought I might have been in greater demand. There are plenty of German stations actiev on the satellite and given their level of involvement in the QO-100 project that's hardly surprising.

Oddly enough I still haven't work any stations north of the border, it seems there is no one on QO-100 from Northern Ireland. Come to think of it, the Isle of Man is quiet too...

Maybe when all this Covid nonsense has eased I may try and activate an island using an 'EJ' callsign, I reckon that may cause a pile up..!

My QO-100 setup is an Icom IC-7000 using an SG Labs transverter on 70cm into an SG Labs amplifier into a PoTY feed on a 1.4m offset dish. I normally use a websdr for receive although I do have a modified LNB which I can use with SDR Console.

FT8, an update

Since FT8 was unleashed on the amateur radio community last summer I've made many contacts using this mode. However, in recent weeks I've noticed an increase in the number of failed QSO's, i.e. where a QSO fails to complete with the '73' exchange and can be logged as a valid QSO. In many cases contact is established with reports exchanged but then an almost endless cycle of RRR's are sent without reply causing me to cancel the QSO and start again.

This is something that is happening increasingly and I would be curious to know if this is something other users of FT8 are experiencing. Given the number of lost QSO's I seem to be experiencing I wonder if it's a mode worth staying with..?

FT8

Like a lot of amateurs out there I've recently discovered the joys of a recent innovation in the world of digimodes, a new mode called 'FT8'. I had been playing with JT65 as band conditions have been very poor for quite some time and for me, the only way to make reliable QSO's was to run digital mode. I've racked up a lot of contacts on PSK31 and first dabbled with JT65 back in 2013 but FT8 has been a revelation. Each over takes 15 seconds to complete resulting in a QSO that can be completed between 2 stations in 1 minute! As with JT65 there is no extraneous waffle about station equipment, the local WX, etc... just 4 digit locator, signal strength and 73, that's it!
It seems to me that FT8 is taking the digimode world by storm, I've checked the PSK frequencies and they don't appear to be as busy as they once were and this morning I managed to work 14 Japanese stations on 20M using FT8. I wonder how many I might have worked by PSK31..?!

The software is free and can be downloaded from https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html

Once your callsign and location details have been entered and you have configured it to run with your rig that's pretty much it. You can call CQ and when a station replies the QSO will be completed automatically with the auto sequencing option selected. Logging is handled by 'JTAlertX' which can be downloaded from http://hamapps.com
I use Ham Radio Deluxe v6 for logging and I had to manually add FT8 as a mode by going into 'Tools > Configure > Modes' and adding FT8 to the list of modes, by doing this each QSO will be correctly logged as FT8.

Enjoy FT8! If anything it's just a great way to rack up your contacts and of course, being a weak signal mode there's no telling who might reply to your CQ!

Ham Radio Deluxe

I've been using the free version of the great program 'Ham Radio Deluxe' up until quite recently when I started to notice that the program was becoming quite slow. I uninstalled and reinstalled but this didn't solve the problem and decided that I needed something different, something a bit more reliable that wasn't prone to hanging or the occasional crash, something that could be used as my everyday logger as well as a contest logger.
I searched the web, downloaded various programs, deleted many just as quick but eventually came across a program called AC Log by N3FJP. I liked the layout, it was easily configurable although I was unable to configure the tab order of the various boxes on the logging screen but overall, it did what I wanted it to do. The only real issue for me was because most of my operating is in digimode and I really liked DM780 I found it hard to get to grips with some of the digital programs that would work with AC Log.
I tried to use DM780 with AC Log but found it very frustrating that I could not get the two apps to communicate. Maybe you can't? Maybe I misunderstood how the two interact?
Anyway, after getting a bit fed up with JT-65 (although the software WSJT-X, works flawlessly with AC Log) I decided to look at the more recent versions of HRD.
I downloaded the trial version, installed it, launched the program and imported my logbook. It was like being reunited with an old friend! The familiarity with the app is enough to convince me that I should buy the software despite its fairly steep price.
I have 30 days to play with the program so will look for a possible solution to integrating DM780 with AC Log but I have to say that the ease of use I feel for HRD may mean I have to break out the the credit card..!

Turn your power down!!

I spotted this station SV9RMU in Crete on JT65 yesterday closing with the highlighted message stating he was running 40 Watts into a Hexbeam!

Why so much power?? Anyone using this mode should understand from the outset that anything above 10 to 15W is excessive, in fact somewhere around 5W is the norm for this mode.
Sadly, this kind of behaviour and lack of understanding of the operating protocols of digital modes is leading to increasing levels of QRM in the digital portions of the amateur bands. Once power levels start to increase it becomes a one way street with little chance of normal or proper use of the digital mode used.

Cheap(er) headset

For a few years now I've found myself increasingly using a headset while playing radio, sometimes to mask any background noises such as the television when my girlfriend is watching it or to help hear those weaker stations, especially those when in a contest.
There are a number of brands aimed at the amateur radio market which come usually at a high price but a brand that I've been using can be bought quite cheaply online. I recently bought a replacement set of headphones made by a company called 'Natec'. The original set were called 'Natec Grizzly', a comfortable headset which are still working well and will be the backup headset to the new set called 'Natec Toucan'. This new headset is very comfortable and judging by the reports I receive they are equally as good as the previous set.

I'm sure there are many brands out there that like the Natec brand are aimed at the Skype user or PC gamer and are much cheaper than equivalent sets aimed at the amateur radio user but for the price I paid, approximately €15, they represent excellent value for money.

Expanded 60m band

On the 1st of January 2017 all amateur radio operators in the Republic of Ireland gained access to a small portion of the 60m band without the need to apply for a temporary licence. The band allocation is 15 kHz from 5.351.5 to 5.366.5 MHz at a power of 12dBW (15 watts PEP).

The existing 3kHz wide channels remain available as long as the user has paid ComReg the €30 fee for the use of these channels. Users are allowed a higher power allowance of 23dBW (200 watts PEP). The frequencies are as follows...

5.280 MHz
5.300 MHz
5.332 MHz
5.348 MHz
5.400 MHz
5.405 MHz

As USB is the preferred mode on the 60m band set your transceiver to a frequency 1.5 kHz below the frequency, e.g for 5.405 MHz set your TX frequency to 5.403.5 MHz USB. This way you will minimise the chances of transmitting out of band.

P5/3Z9DX operating in North Korea?

A Polish gentleman named Dom Grzyb has claimed to have operated recently as P5/3Z9DX from Pyongyang, the capital of the DPRK, more commonly known as North Korea. Earlier in 2015 I had read on the web about a proposed DXPedition to the DPRK and given the amount of interest this would generate in the ham community I kept my eyes and ears open to any further updates.
At the end of 2015 it was made known that Dom had in fact done some demo's to the North Korean authorities and had worked a number of stations as P5/3Z9DX.
There has been a lot of scepticism about the P5 operation with various individuals, including myself, doubting the veracity of some of the 'evidence' produced.
I had the pleasure of visiting the DPRK last September to avail of the opportunity to fly in some old Soviet era airliners, aircraft that have been long since banned from European skies.

This is one of the last passenger carrying Ilyushin Il-18's in service, a type produced in large numbers and sold widely.

I also flew on Air Koryo's last remaining airworthy Ilyushin Il-62 from Pyongyang to Samijyon and back on the same day after our visit to Mt. Paektu.

During our briefing the evening before departure from Beijing we were told, amongst other things, that we could bring our mobile phones into the country but we would be unable to access the local network. We were never made aware of any North Korean network that we could access by buying a SIM. Given their need for foreign currency it seems strange that we weren't offered this service, no matter about the cost it just seems strange to me that Dom was able to access the 'Koryolink' network.
I don't doubt that he visited the DPRK when he claimed he did but I doubt very much that he would have been granted permission to operate from any site within North Korea. If he had been granted permission I'm sure it would have been very well publicised in advance of his visit.

K1N

Yet again the amateur radio community manages to shower itself in glory as another DXpedition struggles under the weight of an onslaught of stupidity, selfishness and general mental retardation.

Listening to the amount of QRM directed at K1N, the most sought after DXCC entity, it's staggering to think that people's sole intention is not to attempt to work them and make the QSO but to actively prevent others from making the contact.

I guess it's simply a reflection of mankind in general but to listen to the cacophony of retards tuning, playing music, playing pre-recorded bogus calls currently on 14.155 MHz is indeed quite depressing.

Tower install woes

I recently bought a Hexbeam from a friend of mine Trevor, EI2GLB and I'm hoping to put it up soon. I'm in the process of installing a 40 feet tower in my garden but this is proving to be a little less straight forward as I had hoped. As is so often the case here in Ireland I'm discovering that suppliers of concrete or steel seem to have a very lax attitude in dealing with customers. Last week I contacted a company to find out how my previously ordered reinforced steel cage was progressing. I was told I could collect it on Saturday morning but when I drove there the gates were closed shut. Working 9-5, Monday to Friday my only opportunity to collect would be on a Saturday. I still have not had any response from them this week.

I also contacted a concrete supplier to get a quote. The guy took my number as he was busy and said he'd call me back in two minutes. That was one week ago and still no contact.

No wonder this country is on its knees...

MFJ-1700C antenna switch

A recent addition to the shack is the MFJ-1700C switch. This is a really useful item and compared to similar switches on the market, very affordable. Apart from the obvious advantage of being able to select between 6 antennae and 6 radios it removed the need for me to convert my LP-100A to take readings from my two rigs. The cost of converting the LP-100A to the dual coupler standard was almost twice the price of the MFJ unit!

I currently have two antennae, a dipole and a Hustler 5-BTV going in to the switch. On the radio side I have a Kenwood TS570 and a TS-850 and I use one of the antenna sockets connected to my dummy load. The 'Com' socket allows me to connect my LP-100A meter so I can always read my SWR, power out and so on with any of the 4 connection options currently available to me.

As with all MFJ products it's always a good idea to check them over before putting them into service. This item was no different. I shook the box when it arrived and sure enough there was something rattling around inside. When I opened it up all that had come loose was a nut from one of the SO-239's screws, an easy fix! I took the opportunity to check the connections and since then I've had no trouble with this now, indispensable little unit!

First SIM31 QSO

Besides getting this new blog up and running I've also been playing with a new (to me!) digital mode called SIM31. I've just had my first QSO on 20m at 22:15Z with KG6VQH, Peter in Piedmont, Missouri, a distance of almost 4,000 miles. Not bad for my first contact! I'm using SIM_PSK31_v6792 which is available here... and a Signalink USB with my Kenwood TS-570D.

My new blog...!

After weeks of being unable to login and waiting patiently for a fix I've decided to give up with blog.com and start a new blog here.
Over the last couple of months there have been a couple of things that I would have liked to share with the few visitors to my blog but with the issues I've been experiencing I decided to ditch the old blog and start a new one. The problem I now have is that I will have two blogs on the web so hopefully I'll be able to delete the old one if I ever manage to login!