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Yesterday — 13 August 2024N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle

August 13, 2024. The Politics of Ham Radio

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
13 August 2024 at 12:38

I thought that blog readers needed a break from all the CW Transceiver stuff and so today I picked a nice non-controversial subject like the Politics of Ham Radio. 




This is not about eavesdropping on QSO's on 75 or 40M especially with stations having a 5, 7, 8 or 4 in their call sign. You definitely see the polarization and often ignorant statements and claims being made about things that are simply not true. The moon is not made up of moldy green cheese -- period, nor does the use of SDR technology cause pedis plantis or dermatophytosis.

But the politics of which I speak deal with the arguments for and against the old versus the new technologies. In a recent hackaday posting a design for a SDR receiver was showcased that looked much like an empty box of electronics. 

A Raspberry Pi Pico W2 plus a Tayloe detector and an Op Amp and that was about it save for a small OLED screen. This was good for signals well beyond 30 MHz. It was of the I/Q form factor not DDC. 

My response was "Cool Beans" in that with just a few components it was possible to build something far better than a Regen and far better than a DCR as the topology was really multiple DCR's.

The real strength is in the software as future code iterations will add capabilities without the need to change the bits, parts and pieces.

Now enter the politics and the Ham Radio Set (mathematics terminology). Firstly, only half the US hams have full HF privilege's so likely the other half could care less about an HF SDR project. Secondly many of those with HF as a license may be "Grumpy Old Men", insofar as moving to the new technologies. 

I have personally witnessed this same phenomenon in the 1957-to-1967-time realm with the switch over from AM to SSB. The AM mode is still used today but mostly by this same group of Grumpy Old Men, but it was indeed the same sort of conversations about then the new mode SSB and today SDR.

But as hams we need to respect those who have different ideas from where we personally stand. I have no desire to build LC VFO's as a Digital VFO for my liking is the choice. But there are those who like the Analog LC VFO's for many reasons. 

Some hams offer that the LC VFO is a direct connection to the past yet usable in the future. For others it is in their comfort zone and involves no software, programming and the ability to see and touch everything. This aspect for them is like working on a 65 Mustang out in the back yard under a shade tree. Certainly nothing wrong with that view. We have a big tent and room for all.

But unfortunately, the ham radio open microphone has given rise to our hobby becoming a part of the current pitched presidential battle. No fact checking before hitting the PTT -- often what is repeated is something heard fourth hand on Tik Tok. The old axiom: it is said so it must be true is on a weak foundation. No, the use of SDR will not give you an STD!

I see an SDR receiver as not only something to hear QSO's, but I use mine as a test instrument. I can measure crystal frequencies to an accuracy of within less than 10 Hertz. That is helpful when fabricating crystal filters. 

So, in all we should refrain from using our stations as a mechanism to foster national political views and secondly respect that others have a technical view or approach different from ours. We don't have to support SDR as a medium but should respect those who make that choice. 

TYGNYBNT

73's
Pete N6QW


Before yesterdayN6QW ~ The Ham Oracle

August 12, 2024. More on how it is done.

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
12 August 2024 at 12:52

Time to back up in the sewer and give a bit more explanation of how it is done. This is not about the 300-pound Mary Jo and the backseat of the 57VW Beetle, but the CW Transceiver project in progress.

Our DCR Receiver project of course used the Arduino Uno for the LO (CLK0) and provides a nice LCD display. But the thought of an Arduino still creates panic amongst many homebrewers. There is no reason why you can't use something like a Glue Stick PTO with the Receiver and similarly use Crystal Control for the Transmitter. 
 
The net result in either form factor is that you have a CW transceiver. Fortunately, specific frequencies have been established for QRP CW operation and thus you can leverage those frequencies for a simplified design.

With that in mind the Transmitter portion has been envisioned as capable of operation without the Arduino, meaning it could be Crystal Controlled. 
 
With that idea in mind one feature is not included in the Arduino Logic and will work in either scheme. Behold the PNP Keying circuitry which simply provides a mechanism to key the Voltage of a Buffer stage. 


The Circuitry to be built on the Blank Squares
 
Ahead of that Buffer is either the CLK2 from the Si5351 which is offset from the Receive (CLK0) frequency by 600 Hz AND is only "ON" during the transmit cycle. Or a simple Crystal Oscillator which is manually turned on during transmit.
 
I ran a test with keying both the Oscillator (PNP Germanium) and the Buffer. Cleaner Signal and about 72 milliwatts output.






The Arduino sketch features a keyed pin (Pin6) which does the following.

1) Starts a two second timing Cycle.
2) Outputs Voltages on Pins 9 and 10.
3) Enables CLK2 which is CLK0 - 600
4) Disables CLK2 after the cycle is over
5) It is not involved in the keying of the Buffer

The Voltage on Pin 9 triggers a fast-acting Reed Relay via a BS7000 to supply 12VDC to the TR Diodes and the Bias to the IRF510. Pin 10 simply lights an LED to show you are in Transmit and could provide a source voltage for other controls.

Initially the delay was set to 2 seconds -- Having seen it work on the Mega 2560, I can envision that is too long so needs some tuning like about 1 second before return from transmit (maybe even less than that). But that part is working.



During the timing cycle (now set at 2 seconds) the Arduino sketch is locked on to just those functions designated in that sub-loop which by some is viewed as "bad", but I do not see that as an issue. Essentially it puts the TR Diodes in the transmit mode and supplies a constant Bias to the IRF51o while generating CLK2. Timing cycle over and that all goes away. The real keying of the transmitter is done with the PNP keying transistor which is now a 2N2905. 

My tests of the Keying circuit show a bit of artifact garbage which will be evaluated. I will also look at the "back wave" phenomena. 

Were you to directly utilize the Arduino for transmitter keying then my simple approach may need refinement -- but then you are locked into using an Arduino. 

TYGNYBNT

73's
Pete N6QW

 

 

August 11, 2024. Using the Arduino Uno to make the CW Transmitter work.

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
11 August 2024 at 13:02

Today I want to focus a bit on the Arduino code that will operate the transmitter. We will have to start by traveling back and looking at the code that operates the MC1496 Direct Conversion Receiver (DCR). 


Arduino Uno for the CW Transceiver.

The true story is that I did not start out to build a DCR. The real truth is that I was headed toward a SSB Transceiver that would utilize the MC1496 devices in many critical parts of the transceiver. (Product Detector, Balanced Modulator, Transmit Mixer, Receive Mixer)

I had a bag of old MC1496's in the 14 Pin DIP package and the goal was to test those for the SSB transceiver, custom selecting the best ones. It was jury rig time and for the code I just hacked some Arduino code I had that would work (with a lot of nulled lines).

So, we all know how things happen -- the DCR worked well beyond my expectations and so did the code. Soon an article evolved, and the rest is history. 

My 1st task is to clean up the code so that only those lines involved with the DCR are kept and from there modified to work with the transmitter.

One key element I include with all of my code is a little program I wrote that produces a pulsed 10 second, 988 Hz tone that could be used for tuning purposes. This will beat whistling into the microphone or shouting "Ola" over and over.

This timed action is already in the DCR code as it was not removed but simply nulled out. This function will be modified so that when a momentary Push Button (key) is engaged a 2 second timing cycle starts that causes an output pin to go HIGH for the timing duration. This same action cause CLK2 to be enabled for the timing duration where CLK2 = CLK0 - 600 (the offset). With the Key Up (Receive) the Pin Goes LOW and CLK2 is disabled. As long as you key (at about 13 -15 wpm) the timing cycle will not break. If you stop keying > 2 seconds back to receive. You may have to play with the value delay(2000) to suit your keying speed.

Below is the enabling code for the Transmitter LO. The example shows CLK1, it is changed in the code to CLK2

//Turn ON:     si5351.clock_enable(SI5351_CLK1, 1);
//Turn OFF:   si5351.clock_enable(SI5351_CLK1, 0);

When a 1 appears after the CLK number then it is ON and when a 0 appears it is off.

The output pin when High triggers a small Reed Relay using a BS7000 driver, whose contacts are connected to 12VDC. The 12VDC feeds the Diode switch (TR) and provides a source to the Bias circuitry on the IRF510.

The Momentary switch has diode isolation to two other circuits, one of which is the PNP Keying transistor (2N2905) and the other is a semi muting switch on the audio amp. This gives us sidetone. SW3 is the Key on Pin 6 and Pins 9, 10, are timed outputs. CLK2 is enabled with the 600 Hz offset during the timing cycle.
 
  void checkCWMode(){
      
 
 
      buttonState = digitalRead(SW3); // creates a 2 second hold in
       if(buttonState != lastButtonState){
        if(buttonState == LOW){
          
         lcd.setCursor(10,1);  
         lcd.print(" XMIT ");
        
        delay(12);
        
        digitalWrite(9,HIGH);
        digitalWrite(10,HIGH);      
        si5351.clock_enable(SI5351_CLK2,1); //Turn CLK2 ON
        si5351.set_freq(rx1-600 , SI5351_PLL_FIXED, SI5351_CLK2); //The transmit frequency is offset by 600 HZ
         delay(2000); //2second delay
         
          
        }
       else{
          
        lcd.setCursor(10,1);
        lcd.print("    ");
        digitalWrite(9,LOW);
        digitalWrite(10,LOW);     
        si5351.clock_enable(SI5351_CLK2,0); //Turn CLK2 OFF
        lcd.setCursor(10,1);
        lcd.print(hertz);
    
        
    
       }
          delay(10);
    
    }

    }

The Block Diagram.






For those Blog readers not in California, Willie Brown was Mayor of San Francisco and Jerry Brown was twice Governor of the state of California. Jerry Brown's most notable other fame is that he is a member of an elite club along with George Lucas and JD Souther -- they all dated Linda Ronstadt! Past 70, it is really hard to keep the Brown's straight.

One blog reader suggested using the IRF510 Final in Class E based on its high efficiency --more watts to the antenna and less heat.

TYGNYBNT

73's
Pete N6QW

August 10th, 2024. Mapping the Arduino Control System

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
10 August 2024 at 12:37

Just recently appearing on Prime Video is a classic John Wayne movie called The High and the Mighty. The movie takes place in the Mid-1950's and chronicles a commercial airplane flight from the Territory of Hawaii* to San Francisco on a Douglas DC-4. Having worked for Douglas Aircraft in commercial aerospace some things jumped out at me.




During the grueling 12-hour flight, some sort of mechanical problem develops, and Wayne is dispatched to the tail section to observe the mechanical flight control system. It was all wire cables and pulleys! 

Instant flash thought passed through my mind, it was of N2CQR and his LC VFO's (wire cables and pulleys) and today where it is all "fly by wire" and N6QW with the Si5351.

That leads us to the Arduino and the Si5351 for our CW transmitter. Luckily, I have a template of how to do this based on my 40M MMIC CW transceiver. See the June 8, 2024, posting.

The trick is to convert the discrete approach of the 40M MMIC rig over to the Arduino. Thus, I have started to think of features that will be needed for CW using the Arduino/Si5351 to generate and transmit the CW.

40M MMIC Circuit


Firstly, is that CLK0 will be the LO source for the receiver and is dependent on the rx1 which is the generated LO signal without a BFO since it is a DCR. CLK2 will supply the LO signal to the Transmitter and is 600 Hz lower in frequency (our offset). Thus CLK2 = f (rx1 - 600). The enable command will cause CLK2 to happen.

For the transition to transmit we need to detect a contact closure at the Arduino as that will start the chain of many events. We have to also think of tasks like powering on the Driver/Buffer stage. Providing a keying Mechanism, Biasing on the IRF510 and Muting the Receiver. 

The TR switchover can use the same diode biasing trick to steer the Antenna between the DCR and the Transmitter. Likely there are more tasks to add to this list.



TYBNYGNT

73's
Pete N6QW

* Of note the passengers in the movie had to check with immigration before getting on the plane and had to disclose their age and where they were born. Hawaii was not a state at the time the movie was made. There was no TSA screening process as one passenger managed to sneak a gun aboard the flight.

August 9th, 2024. Initial work on the CW Transmitter portion of the CW Transceiver

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
9 August 2024 at 12:40

I am having great fun looking at some transmitter topologies that indeed have some added twists. Several years ago, I purchased some Russian PNP HF Germanium Transistors. I got one hundred pieces for about $2o. They look funny and the pinout is a bit strange, but they work. 


I have working a 20M Crystal oscillator on 14.060 MHz and it produces about 0.8 Volts PTP into a 50 Ohm load (1.6 Milliwatts). I also built a Driver stage using a 2N2907 that by design should produce 60 milliwatts output from the 1.6 Milliwatt input. A second stage with an IRF510 should push us close to 1 watt output. Might even try the P type MOSFET equivalent of the IRF510. See the April 16, 2024, Blog posting on the LT Spice simulation and the Part Number.


800 mv PTP = 1.6 milliwatt



Russian PNP Germanium Top Hat Transistor at 14.060MHz

Small steps here. I want to use the crystal oscillator initially as the RF Source and get that nailed down and working as a full transmitter. Then I will switch to the Si5351. Note only one transistor is used in the oscillator and the second one floating there is just a spare device. 

Below you can see the pads for the BPF ready to be populated. The output with the Driver stage looks like this in hardware and a plot of the output.


2N2907 PNP Driver Stage = 58 Milliwatts

4.8 Volts PTP = 58 Milliwatts



The plan is to use a keying transistor to key the 2N2907 Driver/Buffer stage. The 2N2907 is producing about 15.6 dB of gain and the LT Spice predicts about 16+ dB of gain. Kind of like Mary Jo in the backseat of the 57 VW Beetle --- everyone has a wicked smile on their face!

The math says 10*log (58/1.6) = 15.59 dB which is close to the 2N2907 design. Now for the sanity check on the IRF510 we have 10*log (1000/58) =12.4 dB which is in the range of gain figures for the IRF510.

There is no reason why PNP transistors can't be used for the transmitter and that is the plan. BTW the 2N2907 has a device dissipation of 600 milliwatts and an Ft of 200 MHz. It is loafing along!

This just showed up on my phone a new R Pi4 variant, the Model B. The 2GB version available from Digi Key is only $45. My remote operating HL2 radio uses the R Pi 4 (plain) and works FB.


TYGNYBNT

73's
Pete N6QW

August 8, 2024. My Nightmare Last Night!

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
8 August 2024 at 13:10

Last night was a terrible night for sleeping and my mind was in overdrive. It was a nightmare almost terror filled! No, it was not of the ilk such as the check engine light came on or that Mary Jo suddenly craved something other than the Bob's Big Boy Hamburger (pickles and ice cream). It was a schematic for a project I had seen on the internet.



So, how this all started was that I was trying to put together a project that possibly would be a future article. It would also provide fodder for several postings on this blog. I now find that I am captive to the beast -- unless there is new fresh meat on the blog each day -- the readers go elsewhere. It is like being on the hamster wheel!

Given my time constraints my plan was to take a prior project that had been published and to add to that project thus creating an entirely new project. 

Using a metric of how many requests for Arduino code as the screening mechanism, it was an easy choice. The Direct Conversion Receiver project using the MC1496 has had over 200 requests for the Arduino sketch, and I have seen examples that were actually built. 




Now the 2nd piece is the many reader requests for modifying many of my SSB transceiver projects to include CW. I always say that building CW into a SSB rig is very hard if you want to do it right. A better approach is to just build a CW Transceiver -- period. 

Thus, an internet search to find a CW transmitter driven by an Arduino/Si5351. The MC1496 used the Si5351 and that essentially is a starting place from where I could develop the transmitter section.

Now, I should "splain" I look at the schematics 1st and if I see something that fits with what I think should be there, then I will take the time to read the documentation. If something looks hokey then I just move on to the next search item. The Google search parameter was CW transmitter + Si5351




The Arduino/Si5351 part looked OK, but it was the transmitter part that really raised the RED FLAG. The 1st transistor is an audio amp stage much like a microphone amplifier. This essentially means you have a modulated oscillator. Now that can cause some problems.

Next is the right-side transistor that has the output from CLK 0 dumped into the base which means two things -- there is no "keying" like when it is ON it is on. The second issue is that CLK 0, is more like a square wave which is being amplified by the 2N3904. Most of the time the Si5351 is dumped into a Diode Ring Mixer which likes Square Waves.

But the huge FLAG is the lack of any tank circuit and harmonic filter on the output that would limit harmonics and weird mixing products. I wonder what the signal actually sounds like. With a 9 Volt supply the output would not be huge but likely to be transmitted possibly hundreds of miles.

NOW a disclaimer is that I did not read the documentation as just looking at the schematic signaled, I should not waste any more of my precious time. In all fairness perhaps the author has addressed the concerns I highlighted. 

My notional approach starting place would be something like this back of envelope sketch.


Essentially, I would take an output from CLK 2 which is 600 Hz lower in frequency from CLK 0 and CLK 2 is only enabled on transmit. This signal is fed through a Band Pass Filter to a 2N3904 Buffer stage that is keyed by a 2N2905 keyer transistor. The Vcc is raised to 13.8VDC.

To enable a smooth sequence, we would need some circuitry ahead of the 2N2905 that enables CLK 2 and Mutes the DCR. The 2N5109 is capable of producing 500 Milliwatts of RF. Don't forget the W3NQN LPF. 

Now we will have the other side of the blog readers suggesting we use a second MC1496 to create a DSB transmitter and DSB Transceiver. Guys the project is a CW transceiver.

Thus, poor sleep last night wondering how many of these transmitters are on the air.

TYGNYBNT.

73's
Pete N6QW

August 7, 2024. If you homebrew you need this stuff!

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
7 August 2024 at 11:56

 If you do the homebrew, then this is a must tool to have. Behold the Digital Microscope. Once I chased a problem for two days until I found a hairline short on a circuit trace to ground. This would have aided finding the short much quicker. Lauren Sanchez's boyfriend has them for about $70.




This microscope has two principal uses with the first being during the fabrication of circuits using surface mount devices. The digital microscope lets you see the parts and as a huge aid in the soldering process. The second use of course when you have to look for the needle in the haystack when there is an issue.

Not only good for checking solder bridges and hairline shorts -- but to read the Teeny Tiny laser print on components.

Several years ago, I homebrewed something similar using a webcam on a not so sturdy mount that had a fixed focal length. One of the 1st uses was to find a steel splinter in my finger from some steel wool I was using. 

If you are a paranoid politician with small hands, placing them under the microscope will make them look bigger!

This $8 MCU running at 240MHz is available from Bezos. 

The unit programs with the Arduino IDE but of importance is the number of I/O pins. Plenty of flexibility to handle displays and lots of I/O requirements. This looks ideal for use with many of sensors and controlling the Si5351. 

Caveat Emptor as programming this device may be on par with being an expert Olympic gymnast* on the pommel horse without having really great vision. See the following link www.acebott.com before you buy this jewel.

The very 1st Chinese station, BA3KY, worked today on FT-8 at 1400 GMT (7 AM)  on 20M where the band was flat lined on the SDR except for FT-8.





TYGBNYBNT

73's
Pete N6QW

* A Mechanical Engineering graduate from Penn State.

August 6, 2024. If you did know stuff you could do stuff!

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
6 August 2024 at 12:55

 The Common Colon (Symbol :) did me in! No, we are not talking about the Common Cold but Common Colon! That leads me to ask why does one word have two decidedly different meanings? This could get real deep real fast, but one colon is typically at the front end while the other colon is at the back end. The front-end Colon did me in!


If you have been religiously following my blog you know I created a new operating position in my garage shack that has three rigs, with two local and one remote. The remote rig the Hermes Lite 2.0 (about 100 feet away via CAT6 cable) has some super features like seeing the activity on the whole 20M band where I can bask in the lack of Cycle 25 signals plus afford me FT-8 access. 

This set up has been in place for about a week, but the successful activation of WSJTX eluded me. The Hermes Lite 2.o is a DDC machine (Direct Digital Conversion) and thus a bit different in set up than my homebrew I/Q SDR.   This in some ways is rocket science, but I have been doing this setup for many years so not brand new.

Last night at 2000 PDST, 0300 GMT I fired up the Hermes Lite 2.0 to see all the DX from Cycle 25. A pretty flat line except for FT-8 which of course was not functioning in this setup. More proof -- that FT-8 has become the mode of operation, more to come.


2000 PDST 20M ~ 1 Blip @ FT-8

BTW I now have a 27-inch Samsung TV as the monitor -- big improvement over the 16-inch monitor. That 50-inch sure would be nice!

So, the press is on to get FT-8 working. The Hermes Lite 2.0 uses the HamLib Rig Control Protocol for interconnection between WSJTX and the radio. When you do not have it right you get this annoying message. Within QUISK (SDR Software) are settings for remote operation identifying the Port Number where HamLib should go -- kind of like an I2C address. The default is Port 4575 on the localhost (HL2/RPi4). 

In the WSJTX set up pages you have to either identify the radio you are using like the Kenwood TS2000 or identify the generic HamLib Rig Control. You also must select CAT control and the Localhost Port (4575). It wasn't until I used the bigger screen that I spotted the issue with FT-8. My entry was localhost 4575. Then it hit me it has to be localhost:4575. 

The missing colon was the issue and hard to see it was missing on the 16-inch screen. Now no longer error messages and FT-8 was working. 

The operational FT-8 confirmed that it is the preferred DX mode. I called CQ twice using the software and just look what happened.


CT2HEX in Portugal at 2026 PDST on 20M

Also in the mix are other DX stations all operating on 14.074 MHz using FT-8. The band appeared totally dead but look what is out there.

The lack of a front-end colon sure made the back-end colon pucker just a bit.

TYGNYBNT

73's
Pete N6QW




August 5, 2024. It is 90F outside but summer is over

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
5 August 2024 at 12:52


When I was a kid (last century) I always dreaded August as I knew in just a few weeks --- back to school.  As an adult, today, I see Halloween stuff is on display in stores -- another sign of summer is over.

Yet the weather sure says its summer as we hit 90F temperatures every day. But it is inevitable that summer will be over and time to think Ham Radio and projects. But also, time to think about innovation. 

Yesterday I was reading a back issue of the G-QRP Club SPRAT (Spring 2023) and suddenly it hit me between the eyes. The Covid19 Pandemic caused many worldwide hams to practice SITS (Stay In The Shack, a phrase from N2CQR) but also gave rise to some creative projects. One project from Covid19 was a WiFi controlled Magnetic Loop Antenna using an ESP8266 as the device to control two stepper motors tuning the loop.  Another Covid19 spawned project in that issue was a superhet receiver made from the junk box parts.

Bravo Franco, IK2NJV the Mag Loop author who of course is from Italy, joining the ranks of other Italian visionaries like Michael Angelo. See if you had SPRAT on a Stick you could search for Issue #194. There is also a fact check that the Stockton Bridge Kit from W8DIZ has the FWD REV terminals mislabeled.

OK, so I am suggesting as you think about winter projects that you have a microcontroller or single board computer in your headlights. On my phone I spotted that Digi Key is selling the 4GB Raspberry Pi 5 for $60. Sanchez's boyfriend wants $68 for that same SBC. 


R Pi 5

Hang on to this -- the RPi5 is a 2.4GHz, 64Bit SBC with 4GB of RAM for $60 and the 8GB is $80. I would recommend the 8GB as future applications will demand the extra RAM. You can have 4K dual monitors which is kind of fun to have as you watch the FT-8 signals appear on your screen. 

[Following my disparaging remarks on the current Solar Cycle, that while the white lab coat guys praise Cycle 25, the bands are empty because the FT-8 craze has sucked up all of the activity and DX is concentrated and not spread out.  I also forgot an important fact, in large measure a result of the ARRL meddling, only 1/2 the US hams can operate on all HF bands. While the ARRL proudly points out we have 750, 000 hams -- only half have full HF privileges -- their data not mine. BTW more proof the experts must explain if Cycle 25 is so good then why no signals. Typically, prime DX time at 7AM and not much difference at 1300. The Cycle 25 proponents are trying to bamboozle us with flashy charts -- but the Spectrum tells the tale.

In the Mid-70's almost daily at 7AM you could hear 9V1OI (Singapore), Bud, on 14.240 MHz talking to the gang here on the left coast -- including me once running the Atlas 180 while on my way to work in Long Beach. That was cycle 20.]


7AM Left Coast time 20M and the only blip FT-8


1 PM Left Coast time and FT-8 is still the Leader!

BTW it was in the 1600's during the Great plague, while in self-isolation, that Sir Issac Newton invented Calculus and worked on theories involving optics and the laws of gravity. 

Another important reason for ham projects now -- to avoid the political scene for the next 100 days. 

TYGNYB nor the Pixel 7.

73's
Pete N6QW

August 4, 2024. Some of the Good Stuff!

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
4 August 2024 at 12:37

This posting is not about Weed or Irish Whiskey! It is however some "good stuff" I found while searching through Lauren Sanchez's boyfriend's (Bezos) website.

I do not think this is a problem unique to N6QW, but in general all hams have this issue. Simply put, where to plug in the devices. (Not about Mary Jo either.) 

All of our "stuff" has to have a power source and as more plastic is flashed -- the need for more outlets. It is not just more outlets but given our electronic goodies, they must be surged protected. 

Boom a quick problem arises with the surge protectors of the old design, which typically have 6 or 8 NEMA parallel blade with ground sockets stacked next to each other. The added issue it is an assembly about a foot long. 

Because of its size and shape the old-style surge protector is hard to tuck just anywhere and the second issue the sockets are too closely spaced. If you are just plugging in a cord with a plug, you are OK. But often that plug-in at the end is also a switching power supply and because of its physical width you lose the use of a socket.

I have recently set up a second operating position that will have three rig choices: The Drake C Line, The KWM-1 and The Raspberry Pi4 Remote console for the Hermes Lite 2.0. The RPi4 needs two sockets (Monitor, RPi4 Power Supply). These two sockets must house switchers. Then there is the DSO (standard plug) and the Signal Generator with a really FAT plug. One socket is needed for the overhead light and another for the 12VDC supply (both standard plugs). The count is six so far. Now add in the Drake C Line and the KWM-1 yields a total of 9 sockets. Whew --we counted properly. The 125VAC at 13Amp capability should be sufficient to have everything powered on all at the same time.

You got to love design innovation and a designer who thinks about the end user. The product.



Behold a 9-socket surge protector with wide spaced sockets. It takes up less space than my 4-socket unit.



 




Yes, it does have an on-off/reset circuit breaker switch so you can soft power on various hardware. It is good for 1625 watts of load and 900 joules. The bonus -- less than $10. The earlier link will call up the Bezos page. Now there are similar devices with added features like more outlets and USB C charging ports, but cost 2X as much. My goal was the added sockets (9 ports), capable of taking the wider plugs, the small footprint and the least cost. Less than a cheap hamburger meal at Mickey D's!

TYGNYB nor the Pixel 7

73's
Pete N6QW

August 3, 2024. Cycle 25 where does it stand?

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
3 August 2024 at 12:22

 So, what are the excusiasts saying? First a definition of my newly contracted word, excusiast. This contraction combines excuse with enthusiast and by definition are those who get enthused making excuses. 

You know it was the radio, it was the antenna, it was the time of day, it was the band all explaining why the Logbook Of The World (LOTW) is pretty thin.

We had some early predictions by those who predict such things that Cycle 25 would be worse than Cycle 24. This dire prediction even caused a schism amongst the predictors. A dissent group formed that said Cycle 25 will be greater than Cycle 24. 

The sunspot counts in recent months suggest better than Cycle 24 and the upstart dissents may be on to something. So, what is it? The Red Line is the prediction, and the blacklines are actuals -- so the dissidents appear to have been vindicated.




I liken both groups who are forecasting sunspots much like the weather guys and their predictions. Forget what the experts say (both groups) and reflect a bit of what you hear in the bands. Yes, bring the umbrella as your bones tell you it will rain but the forecast says sun all day. 

Having personally experienced Cycle 19 I have a benchmark of a really hot cycle.


Even squinting, indeed Cycle 19 > Cycle 25.  We may be caught up in the scientific pissing contest of 24 versus 25 but the real proof is Cycle 25 is puny compared to Cycle 19.

I have a bit of distrust with the guys in the white lab coats and my evaluations are based on sitting in front of the radio and listening. The true test is what do I hear which then if you believe in you can hear them you can work them will result in DX contacts 

Unlike many hams I do not have a Tiny SA to hook to my antenna, but I do have some pretty good receivers that tell me the God-awful truth about Cycle 25.

One of the most useful receivers is my Hermes Lite 2.0 SDR. I set the spectrum to 384 kHz and call up 20M. Just by looking at the blips I can see the activity across the whole band. The antenna is a 40M Delta Loop and I test the band at various times of the day. The blips do not abound as you might expect from a hot cycle.

A 384 kHz slice of 40M


But more importantly is I have some mental benchmarks of the stations I do hear. EA3JE is typically heard here on the left coast, and I have been hearing only one Russian station R5AJ. Missing in action are the powerhouse stations from Kuwait, Israel, Germany, South Africa and the Scandanavian countries. Let us not forget the Italians or those from the UK. On 40M I do hear VK's and the JA's and of course South America. Toward the right side are the Shortwave broadcast stations.

A dead zone appears to be India, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Then again FT-8 has seriously siphoned off many DX stations. Noteworthy 7.074 MHz always has a large blip on the SDR. Look at the large blip near the left side of the photo.

But my benchmark, again Cycle 19, was 24/7 and with low power on 10M -- work the world. Many times, (in 2024) during the daytime -- 20 and 40M are like graveyards and you have to whistle to hear a noise. 

So, the escusiasts will say they are working lots of DX and it is me but likely they have no Cycle 19 experience. Turn on 20M and what do you really hear besides CQ POTA?

TYGNYB nor a Pixel 7.

73's
Pete N6QW

August 2, 2024.Technology has done me in!

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
2 August 2024 at 13:28

 


A story today of what happens when technology has gone awry. I am totally tethered to my Google Pixel 7 communicator and now I am in a pickle. 


Given the health situation of the XYL the Pixel 7 is more than watching Tik Tok videos. It is a critical and necessary piece of equipment. My Pixel 7 has made no less than five 911 calls and has logged many hours of telemedicine with her primary care provider. It also is my link to the Board and Care facility when I am personally not there. Given all of the hacking and scam stuff it is needed as a part of two step verification for many services.

The Pixel 7 was a Christmas present from my offspring who knew how critical the communications part of my life had become and better than the $95 phone I bought on eBay. 

All worked well although most of the features were like the 3000 menus on an ICOM 7300. There were many things I do not like about the Pixel 7 like the keypads are incompatible with FFS (Fat Finger Syndrome). But the voice recognition and type the message does help. I realize now that my voice must sound like I grew up in the south as some words appear like I grew up in Alabama. 

But for the Basic stuff like making and receiving calls it was OK. Text messaging worked, as well as email. I do have You Tube TV on it so I can watch the politics in play.

Then several days ago a malady appeared. It does not receive phone calls. It doesn't even go to voice mail. You can call out and all other features appear to work OK. So, the 1st step is to restart the communicator as I always have the unit on and charged given its criticality. That did not fix the issue. Fortunately, my kids text me when I do not directly answer the communicator.

Some would do the happy dance as getting calls may be a problem issue on the other end. Receiving calls however is critical for me. 

Next was an Internet search and suddenly 2 + 2 = 4. There are a lot of things that will prevent you from receiving calls on a Pixel 7 -- like Airplane Mode -- it was off. Then there is battery saver and call forwarding -- both off. Clearing the cache was another -- did nothing.

But the best was the posting from a Pixel 7 user citing the very same problem where a recent update caused the problem. My phone was updated less than a week ago -- automatically and I couldn't stop it. So today a trip to T Mobile.

TYGNYB nor the Pixel 7.

73's
Pete N6QW

August 1, 2024. A move from DEI to DEA. Toilet Bowl Update

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
1 August 2024 at 14:14

This posting is not about The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) but about Deliberative Engineering Assessment.


Thank You to the many who responded to my inquiry about my Toilet Bowl ring. Suggestions included using a pumice stone (one reader even had Bezos send me some) all the way to using muriatic acid. 

At this point (just like with homebrew ham gear that has gone awry) we first come up with a list of the possible scenarios to follow. (DEI part.) But critical to those possible solutions is the secondary impacts. Thus, our DEA is a risk assessment of the proposed solutions. How many times have we said let's just apply power only to see a mushroom cloud over the workbench and quickly following the smell of burnt parts. 

Scraping the bowl with pumice stone may clean the ring. However, will this scar the ceramic coating so that subsequent ring build up will appear as black mold. I would classify this as High Risk to several critical parts of your anatomy when seated at the bowl. The muriatic acid presents that same scaring problem but likely needs hazmat gear during the application including breathing apparatus and now that becomes a risk to life.

My DEA is telling me to get another piece of paper and to fully assess the risks of each of the proposed solutions. Suddenly the baking soda and vinegar appears the least risk as a starting place and the muriatic acid as the highest risk.

I will keep you posted. But we at least have a process to start our toilet bowl cleaning adventure.

TYGNYB

73's
Pete N6QW

July 31, 2024. DEI and being out of step with the world.

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
31 July 2024 at 12:26

That is indeed a serious problem being an OT and thinking (what else) that DEI meant Deliberative Engineering Inquiry. WE are not going to talk about the other currently popular meaning of DEI, but today's post is a trouble shooting problem.



A good friend and fellow podcast participant Dean, KK4DAS has a mysterious occurrence with one of his homebrew rigs. It is not a simple problem like R27 is the wrong value or it's a defective 2N3904, but one where you can see the problem, but the source and cure is hiding in the bushes.

So, how do you attack the problem? The old adage about time is healing applies here too. Step one is to back away from the problem for a short while and resist the immediacy of try this and try that where that only results in raising the frustration level.

A tool, I use, is to write things down on a piece of paper using a two-column approach. One column is marked Known and the other Unknown. My friend has some critical pieces of information in hand. The 1st is that the condition occurring in transmit depends on power level, meaning not so evident at 10 watts but really evident at 20 watts. This goes in the Known column.

In the Unknown may be a case of the Negroponte Switch Theorem (that which was sent by air is now sent by wire and that sent by wire is sent by air ~ Cable TV and Cell Phones). The Unknown is whether RF is floating around his Al Fresco layout causing the issue which is a shielding problem or RF is being fed into the power rail which is a decoupling problem. There is also the non-binary case where it is both!

Based on this "Unknown" entry we now can develop a plan and methodology to evaluate the two identified possibilities. Our tests should also look to uncouple the two issues. In the case of power being fed back into the power rails, using a 2nd supply to isolate the power supply condition then removes that as a cause. If the condition remains, then you can further explore the Al Fresco non shielded layout.

A short story about controlling the test conditions and page from when I was involved with Quality Processes during my aerospace years at McDonnell Douglas. We used this story as a training device. There was a manufacturer of cast/molded products that was having a high rejection rate. They called in an expert who observed three molding stations. Two of the stations had high rates of non-conformances while the 3rd station did not. 

So, the expert set up a test where he observed the process and over and over again each station had total process control but two were always a bust. This was a mystery.

Purely by accident the expert came to work early one day and noted the worker who always was successful was cleaning up his mold but then noted the worker was rubbing the mold with a rag that was soaked with a bit of oil. He asked the worker what he was doing -- he said I always like to have my molds clean and shiny. This was not in the process but had not been observed because this was being done before work officially started. 

The expert then asked the other two workers to do the same -- boom three perfect production pieces. This worker in his quest to have a clean mold was adding a release agent to the mold which then became the fix and part of the revised process. The hidden factory was at work!

My friend's project is actually a homebrew build of the SBitx and so care must be exercised when asking others "have you seen this"? They may be doing something slightly different (oil on the mold), and that issue does not come up in their build. All Information is important.

We may have the Unknown bits that we identified not resolve the matter but at least the testing would then exclude those as a root cause. The issue is relays in the rig are controlled by a RPi4 and the one set of relays being activated in a BPF indeed switch on command but the other relays in assembly also seem to partially conduct (chatter). 

The control wiring to the banks of relays appears to be a cable bundle. Is shielded wiring needed? That goes into the Unknown column. Could a brute force solution be a totally shielded box with feedthrough caps on all of the power wiring? That is extreme but must be eliminated as the solution.

What we are advocating is DEI ~ Deliberative Engineering Inquiry.

TYGNYB!

73's
Pete N6QW

July 30, 2024. What is wrong with this picture?

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
30 July 2024 at 03:51

Having been born 11 days after Pearl Harbor, my early childhood memories were of war. It was hard in 1944, when my dad finally got called up as I knew he was gone. Shortly after the war there were many stories shared by my uncles with me about their exploits in Europe and the Pacific. Then there was the flood of war movies that appeared at the local movie houses in 1946 and 1947.


(My one uncle shared his war stories about the women he met as he traveled across the Pacific -- Hawaii and Australia were his favorites. Not sure if it was the locale or the women. Some 18 years later after the end of the war, I was headed to Midway Island. I happened to mention to my Uncle I would be passing thru and spending a couple of days on Oahu. He immediately suggested I visit some ladies he formerly knew. That was my Uncle Carmine!)


Later in life I began to collect some of those war movies that I actually had seen as a kid. 

Who can forget Sands of Iwo Jima or The Flying Leathernecks. One movie, Airplane, chronicles a flight of B-17's headed for Hawaii on December 6, 1941. Then of course there is The Fighting Seabees and Wake Island. Another fav is They Were Expendable. 

Having been on Midway Island in 1963 some of the WWII fortifications were still there and they looked just like the movie sets especially like in the movie Wake Island. 

Many of the movies had actors that later were big stars like Gig Young, Robert Preston, William Bendix, Donna Reed, Ward Bond, 
Anthony Quinn, George Reeves and Veronica Lake.

Here is a jacket cover from the They Were Expendable DVD. The movie has some real US Navy personnel in key roles like Capt. John Ford (Director) and Cmdr. Frank "Spig" Wead, USN Ret. (Screen Writer) and Lt. Robert Montgomery (one of the starring roles). So, look at this photo and tell me what is wrong?




Look Real Close

OK, the answer is they are out of uniform. The Uniform of the Day for Officers was the standard Khaki pants and shirts and brown shoes. The long sleeve shirts could be worn sans a black tie but if you were OOD then the black tie was not optional. What is awry is the "cover" (hat). When wearing the Khaki, the hat cover is khaki. If you were wearing "whites" or the Navy Blue, then the hat cover was white.

The DVD shows the khaki uniform with a white cover. Pure and simple Out of Uniform!

Now after all this movie talk there is a radio nugget for us. When troubleshooting Look Real Close as something may be out of uniform.

TYGNYB. 

73's
Pete N6QW

July 29th, 2024. Impacts of Technology

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
29 July 2024 at 12:42

Sure, there are the extraordinary fun moments in our hobby, fleeting as they may be, when you are making contacts with a Glue Stick PTO Direct Conversion Receiver and a one transistor Michigan Mighty Mite. That thrill is enhanced by the fact that you are using a station rig totally homebrewed by you!


But such a rig may soon be used less and less given the spare nature of the equipment itself. Issues like frequency limitations of the Glue Stick PTO say operating at 28 MHz or 100 milli-watts is marginal when band conditions just plain suck are a huge damper! But you argue with the statement that the actual hardware has such a small footprint (like two small wooden boards) and is a complete ham station. 

Time to look at the Technology Impacts of Software Defined Radios where the hardware becomes small, and the software drives the performance -- it will work at 28MHz.

My Hermes Lite 2.0 is small and so is a Raspberry Pi4 -- and together even smaller when the Hermes Lite 2.0 is 100 feet away from the RPi4.

My 100-foot chunk of Cat 6 cable (less than $10 from Lauren Sanchez's boyfriend, Bezos) arrived yesterday, and I did just that -- put one hundred feet of separation between the two units. It works!



RPi4



Mini Keyboard



17-inch Monitor


At the operating position is a 17-inch monitor, a keyboard and mouse, the RPi4 and a headset/mic. About 100-feet away (by cabling) is the Hermes Lite 2.0 and a 100-watt Solid State Amp. This is all a result of recent technology advancements.

I often say that in 1959 a 100-watt transmitter was two racks of equipment with one rack being just the power supplies. The Heathkit DX 100 was a huge step up as the 100 watts was in a single box -- still hefty by today's standards. My 100 watts on all bands and all modes weighs maybe 15-20 pounds including the Samlex switching power supply.

But the real impact of the tests from yesterday is that I can have the RPI4/Monitor, keyboard/mouse and headset/mic be located anywhere in my home and be on the air. A 100-foot tether gives a wide option. This also addresses the summer heat and winter cold issues with a garage shack. If I want the Big Boy Signal on the air, I can even have the SB200 in line and still remotely controlled by the RPI4.

For some SDR will never happen as you really can't see or touch much of the hardware like you can with the Glue Stick PTO. For others an absolute understanding of the why of every resistor or cap is crucial which is not possible with the FPGA in the SDR. Still others (me) think of technology like LEGO blocks to be fitted and assembled is more of the challenge. SDR does require more out of the box thinking and often plowing some new fields. But that is why our hobby is such a large tent -- contests, operating, antennas and even homebrew.

TYGNYB -- The political dynamic is rapidly changing and tuning in to the events of the next 100 days will certainly take away from radio time.

73's
Pete N6QW

July 28, 2024. Another choice for a small box SDR.

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
28 July 2024 at 13:06

Covid19 did some strange things to us as a nation. In my case I actually saved a bit of money! That seems like a weird statement considering toilet paper shot up in price! Let me "splain".


The XYL prior to her move to the Board and Care always needed to be out. Like out to lunch and out to the shopping mall. I think I did 100,000 miles on her Transport Chair. That all changed with Covid19. Thus less $$$ spent on gas, meals out and tips. My radio fund grew by a modest amount and was literally burning a hole in my pocket when I spotted this jewel the Multus Proficio. 


Just Released the Multus Proficio MKII


It took about a year to save up for the MKI which I have, and that was about $400. The MKII is about $475 fully built.

The MKII has some improvements which I think plays to the CW aficionados and the usual upgrades. Multus has their own SDR software, but the radio will work with HDSDR and I even had my Proficio MKI mostly working on a RPI4 using QUISK. 

The Multus Proficio is a bit larger than the Hermes Lite 2.0 but operates the same bands and modes. I think I see a few more watts out (7 versus 5) from the Proficio. BUT the Multus as of now does not handshake with SDR Console or Thetis s0 you might not need that 50-inch Monitor.

Telling is that the lower costing SDR boxes with the high-end software makes for some real competition -- $400 to 500 versus $2K -3K. 

Believe it or not I have a 100 watt CCI amp and that will drive my SB200 to 600 watts out on 20M all from a Multus located 100 feet from an operating position (like inside the house that has AC in summer and heat in winter)!

Keep an eye out for even more of these type boxes as a choice for a next place to flash the plastic.

BTW Multus also has a line of Linear RF Amps to put some "shoes" on their basic rigs and I think they are also releasing a new amplifier deck. Check their website.

TYGNYB.  In this highly charged political season this indeed is sage advice. 

73's
Pete N6QW

Disclaimer I have no connection with Multus and am just a purchaser of their hardware.

July 27 2024. A versatile addition to your shack

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
27 July 2024 at 13:00

I get bombarded with those buy me adds including one I got for a McClaren custom automobile at only $400K. But for 0.001% of that cost ($400 bucks) you can have this jewel.



A 5-Watt SDR Transceiver

The Hermes Lite 2.0 is truly a marvel in its own right, with its small size and rich features. All Band thru HF and all Mode is only the starting place as I have it running on a wired network in my home using a $20 Network Switch. 

With some Cat 6 cable and a variety of computers the HL2 can be literally everywhere in my home. Some have managed a wireless latch up so now out by the pool with the laptop having QSO's -- and the HL2 nowhere in sight. That is a tough choice -- pool bunnies in bikinis or a 20M DX opening!

The BEST part is that it will run on a host of software packages including QUISK, Openhdsdr, Encore and Thetis. The latter two are the uptown packages used with the high end SDR radios. I have it running on both Linux and Windows Computers all the way from an RPi4 to a Big Box Desktop converted to Linux Mint 20, with a couple of Windows machines also in the mix.

But its real value has been as a test instrument.   It will let you see 384 kHz of spectrum and for HF that is most of the bands. I often use it for crystal testing as I can distinguish down to 1 Hz various crystal frequencies. It can be used as a VNA and gives a good look at carrier suppression in a homebrew rig. The binaural audio reception is a bit nerve racking but in split operation you can hear two different QSO's at the same time.

The HL2 is sold by Makerfab and is a complete board but you also need the N2ADR LPF board and the case plus shipping from DHL you are cruising close to $400.

If you lack the knack don't buy this product as you do have to assemble the board inside the case, but the hard part is installing the software suites. Since it is on a network you have to add network addresses and one of the software packages is based on the FLEX radio Power SDR. 

Not for the OT's who grew up in the Analog world, but for the 12-year-olds just another day at the computer. Some knowledgeable users suggest that the HL2 with an outboard amp and the upscale free software puts you in the league of the Apache Anon and FLEX Radios. I have not tried those radios, but I can say I am really impressed how the HL2 performs especially with the more advanced software suites. Not even close is my Drake C line. 

For those who like tailored audio -- yes some of the software distributions include a built-in audio panel to independently fine tune the audio spectrum of the receiver and transmitter.  A touch of a couple of slider bars and you have moved the audio to transmit lows, mid-range and the highs.

Most of the software packages enable at least two receivers and Encore I think can do 8 receiver slices. This is where your monitor must be at least 37 inches -- 50 inches would be better. I also recommend a high-end audio amp following the HL2 so you can benefit from the 6 kHz ESSB signals emanating from NJ (do you remember W2ONV, SK).

With a Raspberry Pi4 this makes the HL2 a candidate for POTA and SOTA ops. 

TYGNYB.

73's
Pete N6QW

July 26, 2024. SWR (Standing Wave Ratio)

✇N6QW ~ The Ham Oracle
By: N6QW
26 July 2024 at 13:15

The last couple of posts dealt with HARDWARE to measure SWR. But why is a high SWR a BAD thing. Often quoted, a high SWR is on par with what happens when the gas gauge is almost empty.  Or as we well know, if you had a Red Ryder BB gun you will shoot your eye out! Or the cute Red Head has only a slight STD.






Basically, two impacts are: 1) max RF from your rig is not getting to the ionosphere and 2) you risk serious damage to your rig. For many hams the idea of a puny signal is a far greater impact than a smoked rig. Hey, it's just more added on the plastic. But a high SWR also can cause unwanted feedback and then your signal is not only puny, but it sounds terrible. 

Manufacturers will caution their radio can safely operate with a 2:1 SWR or never exceed a 3:1 SWR. Some radios will sense when your SWR is approaching a danger point and even have circuitry that will idle back the power to values that won't harm the radio. (Fold Back Current Limiting).

Disclaimer -- I actually never looked at the sausage making aspects of SWR calculations but always had an SWR bridge in line to tell me the values. But a hand calculation is an eye opener. I listed a link for K6JCA (two posts ago) and he provided some detailed math on the calculations. (Now I know why I used the meters.)

If I haven't screwed this up if you take the Reverse Voltage and divide it by the Forward Voltage that is a Factor that is plugged into an equation where the numerator is 1 + the Factor and the Denominator is 1 - the Factor. Pure logic shows the lowest SWR is 1 to 1 (0 Reflected power) and infinite when the Forward is the same as the Reflected as that puts a Zero in the denominator.

So (again if my calculations are correct) what is a 3:1 SWR. Let's assume the FWD = 5 Volts and the REF = 2.5 so what is the VSWR. Our Factor is 5/2.5 or 0.5. Thusly (1 + 0.5) / (1 - 0.5) = 1.5/0.5 = 3. That Buck Rogers is Rocket Science meaning 50% of your available power is being fed back into your rig and not the antenna! Are you sure you want to subject your ICOM IC7300 to a 3:1 SWR.

Now how about 5 V FWD and 0.5 V REF. Our factor is 0.5/5 or 0.1. Thus, the numerator is 1.05 and the denominator is 0.95 and the SWR is 1.10:1 

So, you get the drift -- it is hard to get a 1:1 but that is reflective that with 5V FWD and 1.667V REF that gives a 2:1 SWR. About 1/3 of the power is being back fed into the rig and not fed into the antenna.

Notionally if your SWR is greater than 1.3 to 1 you need to fix something with your antenna! This means about 0.65 V REF with 5V FWD or about 13% not going to your antenna!

Again, a bit hurried this morning so the math may be a tad off. BUT a High SWR does suggest an eventual smoked rig and not all the juice into the wire! I am surprised at how many hams do not have in line monitoring --so get or build a meter 1st thing!

TYGNYBNAINNVNA.

73's
Pete N6QW

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