As I get ready to build the SolderSmoke Shack South, the Radio Gods (well at least YouTube) keep sending me these workshop videos. Today's is also for a shop specializing in the repair of vintage audio gear, but the lessons-learned and observations are also applicable to a ham radio workshop. This fellow's shop is in New York City, where space is very limited. Check it out. Lots of great ideas here.
by Vince (VE6LK) Field Day 2024 started out with the best of plans to be spent with the best of friends and ended up totally different – and, unexpectedly, I had a hoot! With my carefully made plan behind me, my new last-minute plan was to run solo for Field Day in the backcountry of … Continue reading Experimenting during Field Day 2024→
Wow. Really great test gear, and an amazing parts collection. This guy even gets a "nice workshop" comment from Mr. Carlson. Pac1085 seems to be in Rochester N.Y. and he says he specializes in the repair of vintage audio gear. He should have more subscribers. Does anyone have more info on him?
Dean KK4DAS asked me why we have these switches on our 'scopes. I didn't know. Dean asked Alan Wolke W2AEW. Alan knew:
Alan Wolke wrote:
Interesting background on the 20MHz vertical BW selection. This feature has existed on the vast majority of all oscilloscopes since the 50s or 60s (both analog & digital). When I explored the history of this, I spoke to some of the folks at VintageTek.org, and wound up having a chat with THE engineer that did it first! Tt was John Addis, designer at Tektronix.
At the time, Tektronix was located in Portland Oregon. While working on a wideband vertical preamp for a new scope (the 7A11 vertical plugin for the 7000 series scope), John Addis was plagued with interference from the local television broadcast station in the 50MHz band. So, he popped in a 20MHz low pass filter that he could switch in/out so that he could complete the work on the preamp. Since it was deemed useful, it was left in the design.
And, since Tektronix added a switchable 20MHz low pass filter in their scope, and Tek was the leader in oscilloscope technology, other manufacturers followed suit, and this feature has "stuck" as a staple in vertical setting controls.
The main reasons you'd use this filter would be to improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR) for signals when their frequency content is below 20MHz. You've probably noticed that, even without any signal connected, the thickness of the trace is thinner when you engage the 20MHz filter.
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Alan sent a link to a Wiki page about the 7A11 that John Addis was designing. Alan says this places the initial inclusion of the 20 MHz BW Limit filter to the mid 1960s:
The entire weekend was about picture perfect. The sun was out. There was a nice breeze. It was warm but not hot. We did have a little work to do with some plumbing on Saturday, but it got done and that made time for Other Things. And you know that means POTA!
Too. Many. Variables.
I decided that I’d go to my most local park which is the Cooperrider-Kent Bog State Nature Preserve – US-9401. It’s just down the street and seemed like a great idea since I had some Dad Taxi duties floating around with unknown timelines. The truth is that this park is a boardwalk look around a bog. There are no picnic tables and no space to sit, really. Thus I was consigned to the Jeep. I’ve shared many times that this is not my favorite setup. This was the first variable in play.
The second was the Penntek TR-35. I’ve been itching to get this little guy into the field, so I tossed it in my bag. I don’t know this transceiver very well, but the only way I learn is by doing.
The third variable was the one that might have wrecked things but I’m not really sure just yet. I recenly received an ATU-10 automatic antenna tuner as designed by N7DDC and built by a reputable seller to whom I shall not link until I have determined if I have a problematic unit or the dreaded Operator Error. I was planning to use this little guy to give the AX-1 that little bump that it needs to work with the TR-35. I’d measured the SWR on the AX-1 a few times in experiments earlier in the week and it just needed a touch of tuning. So little, in fact, that getting it right on the z-match tuner was a total pain. Why not try the ATU-10?
Lots of new stuff in a new place in an operating position I don’t love. What could go wrong?
This Looks OK…
ATU-10 on the dashboard, the TR-35 resting on a speaker held in a phone holder in the Jeep. A complete mess.
I got everything set up. The AX-1 was clamped to my Jeep’s cargo bar. The tuner was set up on the dash. The TR-35 was hanging out on my speaker in the phone holder (not at all precariously!). Everything looked good. I hit the tuning cycle on the ATU-10 and things settled in at about 1.1:1. Cool! So I started calling CQ.
And I kept calling.
I spotted myself.
And kept calling.
The RBN heard me! That was good! But it was a very long time before I got a call. It came in at 599 for sure. The signal indicator on the TR-35 was lit up nice and bright. It was a perfect signal from Maine. No fading, no nonsense. It was impressive!
And then nothing. Some static. A few crashes on 20-meters. No other calls.
It was time to pack it in.
I wasn’t too phased by not getting the activation. It was a Saturday at about 3 PM and the weather was amazing. It was nice to sit there in the sun (in the Jeep) and play with my new toys. I had the nagging feeling that I get with a new rig that I did something wrong, but I don’t believe that there was anything to do wrong. Sometimes, the magic simply doesn’t happen. And that’s OK! Besides, as soon as I pulled out of the parking lot, my daughter requested pick up and food for her and her friends. Dad Life!
QSO Map
Here is what my QSO with Maine looked like:
QSO Map of the single contact by KC8JC on the attemped activation of US-9401 on 13-Apr-2024.
Sunday Will Be Better
It is well known that my wife and I love to bike out to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park – US-0020. We do that most weekends in the summer and I always take my radio along to do a little POTA while we eat lunch. I figured this would be an easy win! Once again, I set up the TR-35 and the ATU-10 with the AX-1 and got to calling CQ. This time, I even used the message memory in the TR-35. Good stuff!
Lots of crashing on 40-meters. I got one contact with Michigan and then moved to 20-meters. More crashing. Maybe our local star was trying to wreck my flow, but it could also be that, again, I was using new stuff. This time, I was prepared. I reached into the bag and pulled out the IC-705.
And I got nothing.
It was almost 20 minutes until I got a contact. It was a Park To Park with an operator in Kansas. The crashing on the bands didn’t let up. There was a lot of fading. After about an hour and a half, I had 7 total contacts and a lot of band noise. I’m not going to give any side-eye to the new gear as I really do believe the bands were hot garbage. I also noticed that the POTA site didn’t pick me up on the RBN though I was getting picked up by the RBN. In fact, all of the activators only had spots from hunters. I wonder if there was a technical difficulty there. Not that it would have helped. You can only work what you can hear and there’s no hearing anything over that kind of noise.
QSO Map
Here’s what the map looked like for Sunday in the park.
The QSO Map for the attempted activation of US-0020 by KC8JC on 14-Apr-2024.
Final
What’s does all of this mean?
Nothing. Playing with new toys is learning what they’re good at and where you have to give to take. I plan to take the TR-35 out with a resonant wire antenna in the near future and give it a chance to shine in some backyard portable. I also plan to take this week and mess around with the ATU-10. It seems to want to kick into tuning cycles at odd intervals. Maybe I just need to tune it and turn it off. I was pretty sure that I consumed all available documentation on the device and given that it only has 3 button press commands, it’s hard to imagine that there is a lot of user error here. I will report back with findings.
Also, it’s important to note that there’s no getting skunked in POTA. Sitting outside in the sun with a nice breeze on a Sunday afternoon is fantastic with or without contacts. It’s about playing with a radio outdoors. And that, my friends, is hard to screw up.
P.S.
I didn’t take pictures while I was out on these activations for no really good reason. So you get a picture of Bella the Rottie after a very, very muddy hike where she rolled in everything that she could. You’re welcome!
My wife and I headed to our favorite park, Beavertail (US-2868) on Conanicut Island, RI, to watch the Eclipse this afternoon. We were too far to the east to enjoy totality, but we figured it would be fun to see 91% of the sun occluded. The weather sort of cooperated, with thin high wispy clouds and a temperature in the low 50s. But I didn’t quite plan on the stiff breeze blowing right off the water into our faces – I was shivering, especially my hands.
I figured that I could use this as an opportunity to try out my Elecraft KH1 and it’s built-in 41-inch whip antenna at a park. Despite my trembling fingers, I managed to make ten QSOs between 2:15 and 3:09 PM, all of which were during part of the eclipse. I was actually pleasantly surprised that folks could even hear me, but they did with a few fills required and signal reports ranging from 539 to 599. That completes another of my goals for 2024, by the way.
My view looking SSW from Beavertail – it was a nice early spring day but WINDY.
My Elecraft KH1 laying down on my chair. It was fairly easy to work 10 stations with the attached 41″ whip (and 13 foot counterpoise wire laying on the ground)
This blog exists for me to catalog sucesses and failures. The other thing it does is provide me with a place to put things so that I can get to them no matter where I am assuming – an internet connection. The topic for today is a refresher on my setup for my portable digital operations.
The Gear and Software
This discussion centers around the use of the IC-705 and the Microsoft Surface GO 2. I have no reason to believe that changing the computer will make any difference as I have gotten this working on other laptops, but the operating system will require some attention.
I’m running Ubuntu as my Linux distro on this device. There is pre-reading required to make this all work and we’ll get to that in a second.
Software includes the following from the Ubuntu repository:
wfview
fldigi
WSJT-X
Pat
I am currently using the fork of ardop known as – ardopcf from pflarue on GitHub. New and exciting things are happening here in the world of ardop.
The Pre-Work – wfview
There is a great set of instructions on how to get ALSA loopback devices set up appropriately for wfview in their well-written user manual. Start here:
With all of that done and in place, there are a few things to look at in wfview for rig control to make life a little easier. At the bottom of this page of the wfview manual there is some good information on setting up wfview to do what flrig would do. That’s what I do. Why? Because it’s working and keeps things simple. The important thing, in my experience, is to set the port number to something other than 4532 which is the flrig default. I set it to 4533 because that’s a safe port number.
Here is what my wfview External Control tab looks like:
The screen for External Control in the wfview application.
It should be noted that I’m using the Virtual Serial Port. This is a mapping to /dev/pty/NUMBER and it takes care of itself once set up.
fldigi
With wfview up and running, setting up fldigi is relatively simple. The following configurations for audio and rig control are currently working.
fldigi audio settings with the PortAudio section selected, Loopback PCM (hw:10,1) set for Capture and Loopback PCM (hw:11,1) set for Playback.
The rig control settings are set on the HamLib segment of the Rig Control section in the configuration dialogue.
Use hamlib is selected. Rig is set to Hamlib NET rigctl (stable) Device is set to 127.0.0.1:4553 (as found in wfview) Baud rate is set to 115200
All other settings are defaults.
The fldigi rig control settings configured with the values defined above.
With this complete, save and initialize the connection and then go to the main fldigi window to tune or send a station ID. Rig control and audio should function as expected.
WSJT-X
WSJT-X is the odd duck. My dad and I have the rig control configured differently, but it still works for both of us. What does that mean? There might be more than one successful configuration so maybe find what works and don’t touch it after that. What I use is listed here.
The Radio settings tab is configured as follows.
Rig: Icom IC-705 Serial Port: /home/jcw/rig-pty-1 Baud Rate: 115200 PTT Method: CAT Data Bits: Default Stop Bits: Default Handshake: Default Mode: Data/Pkt Split Operation: None
The WSJT-X Radio configuration window with the values set as detailed above.
The Audio setup matches the devices that are set in wfview but in reverse.
Note: I find the labeling in wfview to be counterintuitive. It’s probably just my broken brain, but I have to remind myself to flip things around and think about it as source/destination pairs. It’s probably just me.
The WSJT-X Audio configuration window with the values set as detailed above.
With this configuration in place, one can test the rig control on the Radio tab or by going to the main window and changing frequencies. Running a tuning cycle briefly will test audio output.
ARDOP – ardopcf
ardopcf is available on GitHub as a binary. Simply download it and put it in /usr/local/bin, run a quick chmod+x on it, and it should be good to go. That’s all that it required of me.
With ardopcf in place, lauching ardop is fairly simple. I put it in a little script so that I don’t have to type out the arguments each time. I named the script “startardop.sh” and dumped it in my home directory. Creative, huh? Here’s what it looks like:
When you start ardopcf, you should start to see pairs of numbers in the terminal showing you audio input levels. If you’re getting a lot of 0,0 then you might have a problem or wfview might not be running. Maybe your rig is off? Check your signal chain. If, on the other hand, you’re seeing numbers pop up every 4 seconds or so, then you’re in good shape.
Wow. That’s a lot of stuff. That is the configuration that is currently working for me for sending Winlink email using ARDOP or telnet.
What a lot of people seem to miss is that Pat has a web gui that will run on localhost:8080. It makes using Pat a lot easier and gives a fresh, modern GUI to Winlink email. And yes, it handles forms and everything. It’s pretty darned cool!
To get that up and running, I use yet another creatively named script: startpat.sh. The contents of that are:
pat-winlink --listen "ardop,ax25,telnet" http
What does that do? It starts up Pat listening for connections on ardop, ax25, or telnet. I didn’t detail ax25 here because, well, I’m not done playing with that just yet. And telnet should always be there so that you can use Pat if you have a good internet connection and NEED to check your Winlink email. The http argument starts the application listening on 8080 for the web UI. With Pat running, all you have to do is go to https://localhost:8080/ui and you’ll see the web UI. You’re now free to explore Pat and send/receive Winlink email.
Final
This is the setup that is currently working for me. I will update this as I add other modes, etc.
Embark on a thrilling journey into the world of SDR receivers with the Malahit DSP2! Discover its versatility, advanced features, and user-friendly interface as you dive into the realm of radio communication excellence. Join us on M0 FXB Ham Tech for expert insights, tutorials, and tips to elevate your radio experience.
This tutorial explains how to modify Retevis Ailunce HD2's band for different IARU regions and outlines the advantages of DMR in ham radio, including text messaging.
Above you can see what I picked up at the Vienna Wireless Society's 2024 Winterfest Hamfest.
-- On the left in the blue box is an MXM Industries SuperRX/TX 40 transceiver. It is a kit from a Texas company. Superhet receiver with IF at 455 kHz. Crystal controlled CW transmitter on 7040 kHz. The oscillator works, but so far no receive signals. I will have to troubleshoot. Does anyone have a schematic?
-- Behind the MXM there is a nice box marked "Diode Detector" I opened it up and there is just a solid state diode and a 50 ohm resistor to ground. Box may be useful.
-- I got a couple of books: "Weekend Projects" 1979 from ARRL, and "A History of QST -- Volume 1 Amateur Radio Technology 1915 - 2013" 2013 from ARRL.
-- On top of the Weekend Projects book you see a "Crystal Holder" from Gross Radio of New York City. W1UJR has some good history on this company: https://w1ujr.com/written-word/gross-radio-company-circa-1931/ This device seem to be intended to hold in place a raw piece of quartz! Cool.
-- To the right of the books there is a serious-looking VFO. One dollar! Deal! It is a CB VFO, but the markings say it puts out 5.44 to 5.99 MHz. So it should be useful. The dual speed dial is very nice.
-- Above the VFO is a nice step attenuator from the "Arrow Antenna" company of Loveland Colorado.
-- Further to the right are some Electric Radio and Antique Wireless Association magazines that Armand WA1UQO gave me. Really nice. The AWA mags have a very thoughtful piece (warts and all) on Jean Shepherd. And the ER pile has an article by Scott WA9WFA that mentions my work on the Mate for the Mighty Midget receiver. Thanks again Armand!
-- I also got some ADE6+ surface mount mixers. The price was right!
Activate 10 new parks in CT or obtain award for hunting 1000 parks
Obtain 50 States Parks on the Air award
I completed four of the five, only failing to build the QDX transceiver. It sits on my desk and perhaps will come to life in 2024. I did complete 145 CWTs (actually 146 but I forgot to submit a log for one of them). I also taught a Technician class in the spring of 2023. For POTA I did get the WAS award, and hunted more than 1000 parks.
For 2024, I think I’m going to dial things back a bit, but here we go:
Hunt 1500+ POTA parks
Do at least one activation with the Elecraft KH1 hand-held QRP rig
Give a radio club presentation on solar power/batteries
Compete in 120+ CWTs
Wildcard (like finish the QDX or some other ham related project)
During my time off for the holidays, I got in 6 activations. I’ve been writing them up in pairs and so it only makes sense to put out this last report for 2023 and the first of 2024 in one post. Two different parks, two different years, but still in that Ohio Winter Style.
The Last of 2023
On 29-Dec-2023 I went to West Branch SP – K-1999 for what would be my last activation of 2023. We had a lot going on with the end of the year and the weather was getting worse and worse per the forecast. The last Friday of the year was set to be overcast and chilly. It delievered on those promises.
There was no precipitation and only the lightest of breezes when I got to the point near the water. What was most noticeable was how quiet it was. I rolled out my tarp and got the IC-705 up and running with the AX1. There was just a touch of sunlight and the clouds weren’t the dense sort that produce that nasty “wintry mix” that we’d have for the next two or three days.
IC-705 with AX1 on a plaid tarp with a log book, gear pouch, and Begali Traveller paddles.
I decided to start on 40-meters despite the time of day. As expected, I only pulled in about 2 contacts before it became apparent that that I had to change frequencies. Someone on Phone in the CW portion of the band kept repeating “My toes…my toes…my toes…” which is something that is vaguely familiar to me from the 40-meter lore, but I wasn’t really in the mood to think about it. I shifted a bit and managed to wrangle 10-ish contacts before moving to 20-meters.
On 20-meters, things moved a lot faster and the contacts were coming in more and more like a pile-up. Lots of operators calling on top of one another. I felt like a popular kid for a bit there! I even made contact with a couple of friends from the Ham Radio Mastodon world. That was really cool!
When I closed up for the day it was because I was out of coffee and the wind was starting to pick up. I was dressed for it, but my desire to be out in it was dropping fast. It’s a hobby, so I packed it all in.
As I wound up my counterpoise wire, I looked around. For the first time, there were no boats. I hadn’t seen a disc golfer all day. In fact, I saw no other cars. Moments like this take us to a very different place. With 24/7 connectivity and the constant presence of other people, it stands out when we’re truly alone. I studied the water for a bit and drank in the solitude of the moment. It was so quiet. Perfectly so. This part of the park – as far as I knew – was only me. I walked back up to the Jeep and left the park in its stillness.
Picnic table and lone green Jeep in the distance. A completely empty parking area.
The QSO Map of the activation of K-1999 by KC8JC on 29-Dec-2023.
Nothing Changes On New Years Day
My wife and a group of her peers have set up a hiking club. That club is participating in a challenge that is pulled together as a fund raiser by the volunteer conservancy group that serves Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The challenge starts on the first of the year and runs through the end of June. Since the team she’s on is mostly overextended mothers of teens and younger, they need to be DONE quickly. That means a lot of hikes are going to happen in rapid succession. To start the whole thing off right, my wife wanted to take the puppy and head out on a longer stretch of the trail on the first day of the year. It sounded like a good enough reason to hit the park for an activation.
The day was not great for hiking. There had been significant rain for the previous two days or so and it was still coming down on and off in that lovely stuff we call “Wintry Mix”. I had a feeling it was going to take longer than expected to finish the hike and that meant a longer time on the air. But…see also, “Wintry Mix”.
Still Love That Tarp
Once again, my tarp was bound to save the day. I set my gear up on a very wet table that I did my level best to dry off about as well as could be expected. I then proceeded to make a Radio Taco with my tarp keeping the IC-705 and my Begali out of the rain.
IC-705 and Begali Traveller hiding under a tarp.
Being ready for weather is something that I don’t think about much. My little backpack has almost everything that I would need to be in the outdoors. Look up the Scouts BSA 10 Essentials for more on that, but there are radio-specific items that I keep on hand as well. In this case, I had the cool picnic table mount for the AX1 and a 6 foot run of coax. Recently, I’ve been putting the AX1 straight onto the ATU. In this scenario, that wouldn’t have worked out as I needed to keep the radio covered. Having the mount in my bag with some extra coax (which I’d never leave home without anyway) made the activation possible.
The other item that probably doesn’t get enough press is my Rite In The Rain notebook for logging. Having paper that is seriously resistant to water comes in handy whether it’s raining or you’re spilling coffee. I’ve dealt with both. I will also admit that I love notebooks. I have a Field Notes subscription and I’ve often thought of using them for log books. Every time I think about that, I get out in some weather and we’re back to Rite In The Rain.
And back to “Wintry Mix”.
A Rottweiler watching mom walk off to the restroom while dad makes weird noises.
On The Air
The AX1 is set up to run 40/30/20/17-meters if you have the 40-meter extension. I decided that I’d just walk the bands and see how it went. Overall, it was good!
Given the time of day, 40-meters wasn’t going to be a thing. With that expectation in place, I got one contact in about 20 minutes and moved on to 30-meters. That was a lot better! I don’t do nearly enough with the WARC bands and I’m going to change that. 17 was equally good. Finally, I brought it home to 20-meters and picked up my bulk of the contacts for the day in a flurry of activity.
An Awesome Surprise
There was one station, however, that stood out. The operator was sending their call very slowly. I scribbled it down and it was more than a little familiar. It was KC1SRI Joe from over on the Ham Radio Mastodon world! Now Joe isn’t a CW operator. He’s a ham freshly minted in 2023 and he’s been going on about how he wired up his raingutter as an antenna. His signal was weak, but readable. Definitely 339. But he was getting the important stuff. I got his call and his state. And most of his signal report. Sending numbers takes a lot more practice than most people think. He did a fantastic job! Checking on Mastodon later, we cleared up what it was that I sent and what the experience was like on his end. It’s exciting to be a first CW contact for someone. And it’s even better when that person is just jumping out there and taking a stab at it. After all, it’s radio and we’re all friends here. We should be able to take a chance or two.
More Weather Talk
The weather didn’t get better. The rain did transition fully to snow but snow isn’t much better when everything is wet from rain. My wife was making good progress on her hike and I was finally deciding that sitting outside was getting old. We exchanged texts and I pulled my gear together so I could go pick them up at a more convenient location. With all said and done, I had 40 CW contacts across 4 bands for a banner start to the year.
QSO Map for the activation of K-0020 by KC8JC on 01-Jan-2024.
Final
This week off brought many opportunities to get outside and play radio in the parks. I’m glad I could take advantage of them. Although the days are getting longer, they aren’t going to get warmer soon and given my experience with this state, there will be lots more weather to navigate. What’s important is that any day playing radio is better than a day when you don’t.
Excellent Go Box for sale. Covers 160m thru 432 mhz all modes including a netbook with WSJT modes. All equipment stows inside the pvc/aluminum waterproof audio case with 2 handles, total weight 32 lbs.
About one weekend every month, my house empties out for the weekend. My wife, who is an Assistant Scoutmaster, and our two kids go off on a camping adventure. I stay home to take care of the dogs. That is my story and I will stick to it ThankYouVeryMuch! In any case, I usually take advantage of this quiet time to grab a nap, mess around with my silly projects, and get outside to play some radio. That was The Big Plan for this given weekend and I thought that I’d get a good amount of time in on the air. Sometimes, things don’t quite work out that way.
First off, it was the ARRL CW Sweepstakes contest. For non-contesters like me, contest weekends are less fun. They seem to bring out the worst in what are normally very friendly ham bands. The contest in question didn’t start until the afternoon, so I figured I’d spring out of bed (yeah, right!) and get to the park early-ish. For the most part, that’s just what I did.
Maybe I’m in a park rut or maybe I just really enjoy the solitude that I get at West Branch State Park – K-1999. That picnic table on the point is in a very quiet place. With the shelters gone not a lot of traffic wanders by other than the disc golf crew and they’re Good People.
New Gear
I had a new piece of gear to play with. The AM1 Antenna Mount from ProAudio Engineering. It’s a clamp with a 2” wide opening that acts as a mount for the AX1 from Elecraft. I’ve been enjoying that antenna quite a bit – much to my surprise. The only problem I have had has been with the tripod I use and the wind. It just isn’t as stable as I need it to be. Perhaps others are simply more careful or less “Oafy” to borrow an adjective from my wife, but I found the tripod either being blown or knocked over too often. I don’t want to think about the stability of my antenna that much when operating, so when I saw the ad for this clamp in QRP Quarterly, I took a look. I’m glad I did.
The AM1 clamped to a standard issue park picnic table.
The clamp is solid and did exactly what it said it would. It definitely fits the standard issue picnic table that is found in almost every park in the U.S. The only thing I found didn’t work out so well was the little knob that is supposed to act as a point of contact for the counterpoise. I found that it didn’t work out that way. I need to experiment with it more, but when my SWR was way too high I played around with it for a minute before attaching the counterpoise to the ground on the IC-705 and calling it even. That ALWAYS works. The only addition I can see making is that of a 90 degree BNC adapter. It seems like that would make things work a little better.
Tweaks and Adjustments
Speaking of little adjustments, I picked up a trick somewhere online for keeping the mAT-705 out of the way. A velcro strap run around the Peovi cage will keep the tuner quite firmly attached both for transport and for operation. It really has cleaned up my deployment. With a very short run of cable to the tuner and then out to the AX1 everything suddenly feels much more compact.
The mAT-705 attached to the Peovi cage on the IC-705 with a velcro strap.
The IC-705 with AX1 antenna behind it. The Log Book is in foreground next to the CW Morse paddles. A much cleaner setup than in past activations.
While we’re on about all of these small changes to the setup, the biggest “Well Duh” moment goes to bringing along the heavy metal base for my paddles. I’ve been doing some kind of awkward thing where I work the paddles with my middle finger and thumb so I can hold my pencil while I hold the key with my left hand and…what am I doing? I have this heavy base that the paddles attach to quite nicely. Why not just toss that in the bag? I’m not climbing a mountain in Ohio. I’m getting from the Jeep to the spot where I’ll operate. Or even riding a big. I won’t notice the weight and it adds to “Quality Of Life” during the operation. This decision led to a significant improvement.
CW Morse paddles on a metal base.
The Activation
I got started on 20m because that is where I’ve been having the most success. I was rewarded. I started to pull in contacts fairly steadily, but things were fading in and out with increased regularity. More and more I see park activations as being like fishing. Do I stick with this lure or change it up? Was that a fish surfacing over there or just something falling in the water? Should I have grabbed that other rod instead? What’s it like on the other side of the lake? And much like fishing, patience is rewarded. Sticking with what you’re doing for long enough to see if you’re REALLY on the wrong frequency or mode or if you’re just being impatient. It’s the beauty of POTA. Even when I’m sitting there calling CQ with no one coming back for 5 minutes or more, I’m still outside engaging in a wonderful and energizing hobby. It beats the heck out of sitting around at home!
By the end of it, I’d snagged 3 Park to Park contacts: one with N0ZT in MO and a two-fer with N1BS in RI. But the highlight was grabbing a contact with my buddy from the Mastodon world N0MQL. I’m glad you stuck with me, Operator! All in all, it was 15 contacts for the day and some nice, quiet time at the park in a pre-snow November. Not bad at all!
The QSO Map for the activation of K-1999 by KC8JC on 04-Nov-2023.
Fun With Data
Because the POTA site is full of tabular data, it lends itself to looking for patterns and other nonsense. After all, these are imaginary points in a game we play with and against ourselves. That said, the mind does what it does. I noted that all of my contacts in October were CW. That’s 100% of my activations for that month. It feels like quite a milestone! It was a total of 100 contacts even. That’s 10% of the way to a kilo for West Branch all in CW. Kinda neat! I can’t wait to see what November has in store.
Discover the new firmware and its enhancements to the Quansheng UV-K5(8) HT. In addition to the standard UV frequencies, you can listen to shortwave broadcast and the ham bands while viewing signals with the new spectrumscope.
The ending days of October in Ohio come with unpredictable weather. Last weekend it was in the 30s and 40s with high winds and rain. Suddenly, the sun returned and temperatures bounced up into the 70s. Never had a Tuesday screamed for a little time out in The Big Blue Room like this one. It was impossible to resist.
There was a half-scribbled plan in my mind. Go out to West Branch State Park – K-1999, sit on the point near the water, and play radio for an hour if the timing worked out. It did!
Setting Up
The Elecraft AX1 was in the bag – that’s just how it’s going to be from now on – and the Chameleon whip lives in the trunk of the Jeep for the season (now that I’m not cycling to my park destinations as much). Given the conditions, the EFHW was really the best choice. The line went up and over the Magical Branch the first time! That’s rare and is a Good Omen.
A view of the EFHW tethered to my backpack via a carabiner.
The Magical Branch is so named because if I get the antenna up on that particular limb, it ends at the picnic table perfectly without having to adjust anything. It also seems to be where the best results happen. There’s probably some superstition in there along with the math, but it works.
With the antenna situated, I plugged it into my brand new, never been on the air Penntek TR-45L. That’s the Secret Squirrel thing I was talking about at my last activation post. My original plan was to try the new radio with the AX1 and let any natural chaos ensue. Toss everything I know to the wind! Maximize ALL the variables! But…the weather changed my approach and I stuck with the IC-705. It all worked out.
But hey! A new radio! Just what I needed, right?
The Penntek TR-45L on a picnic table with a log book and CW paddle in the foreground. There is a tiny, tiny spider on the upper right hand corner of the TR-45L. It was kind enough to share its table with me for my activation and crawled all over my log book, backpack, and my arm. It was on the table, unharmed, when I left.
A Little Back Story
I know that I’ve mentioned in this blog many times that when I first got into the hobby, I was looking for something that didn’t involve computers. The solar cycle in 2017, QTH, equipment, and life in general led me down the path to digital modes and hours upon hours of enjoyment. There are no complaints or regrets with how I’ve spent my time with my hobby.
That said…
I’m really tired of screens. Really, really tired. And lugging a tablet around always feels like business travel. So, my path changed. I followed a well-worn track up the mountain, so to speak. I think of it as an inevitable progression for a chunk of operators:
POTA leads to QRP leads to CW.
If QRP is your thing, you can fight it, you can run from it, but eventually, the road takes you to the neighborhood where CW lives. I’m glad I found myself there, because it’s challenging and rewarding.
Which brings us back around to the TR-45L. This radio popped onto the scene not that long ago and that gorgeous, old school amber meter on it grabbed me. It grabbed a lot of operators. To add to the aesthetic draw, the rest of it is all knobs and switches. Physical knobs and switches. No touch screens. No submenus to navigate. Everything is right there.
In thinking about what I wanted from the hobby, the tactile nature of some of the hardware was in there. When I was a very little kid, my Dad AC8NT made me what he called a “Gunkulator”. What was it? A rotary phone dial, some light-up buttons with numbers on them, a couple of oscillators, and an LED or two in a metal enclosure that probably came from Square D. When you dialed a number and pressed the button that matched it, it made a nice sound. It buzzed if you did it wrong. This was all before my brother was born so I was about 3 years old. The inevitable early 1970s parenting moment comes in with the big metal box off to the side that housed some God-Tier power supply with a fuse socket on the front. Ya know, the kind of fuse that you twist the lid and pull out? The kind of fuse that goes into a socket exactly the size of a three year old’s finger? I’ll leave the rest of the story as an exercise for the reader, but yes, I did have to change my pants. I wonder to this day how any of us survived the 70s, but here we are. Gen X: The Cockroach Generation!
Anyway…
The Radio
This is not the blog to read if you’re looking for receiver sensitivity analysis. I’m not that ham. What I will say in praise of this radio is that it sounds wonderful and operating it is a dream. Every flip of every switch and every tweak of every dial is a pleasure. The speaker is perfectly placed and given the enclosure, it sounds wonderful and surprisingly clean.
The setup I chose includes the built-in Z-match tuner. I put my own battery in it and that seems to be doing well. I also chose the original thicker version. I love that form factor – a totally aesthetics-driven decision. I did acquire a camera bag for it because I worry about the switches if it’s loose in my backback. $20 worth of padding is pretty good insurance.
For this particular activation, I didn’t need to use the tuner since I had my EFHW antenna that’s resonant on 40/20/10 and I stuck to 20m the whole time. I will toss up the random wire soon enough and see how well the tuner performs. There are high expectations for it as it’s a simple and elegant approach that falls into the Tried and True bucket. Also, having the tuner knobs on the back of the unit is neat. No, I can’t explain why. It just is.
The transceiver maxes out at 5 watts and I ran it at about 3 or 4 while I was on the air. The performance was stunning as demonstrated by the QSO Map. Oh, I didn’t mention it above, but this rig only does CW and has five bands: 80-75, 40, 30, 20, and 17 meters. I’ll be blunt: using this rig would be incentive enough for me to learn CW from scratch. It’s THAT cool. And if you’re trying not to acquire a new rig, definitely avoid talking with Scott VE3QBZ because that operator can sell. I suppose I should thank him!
Back To The Activation
With the antenna plugged in, the radio showed a near 1:1 match on 20m just like my trusty IC-705 does. I spotted myself on POTA.app and started calling CQ. The band was hopping, so I was confident things were going to go fairly well. Sure enough, I heard back from a station in MA about two minutes after I started calling. That was followed quickly by a station in TX and then, shock of shocks, a station from Puerto Rico! I copied “PR” as the QTH, but it didn’t occur to me until later that I hadn’t mis-copied “OR” or “AR”. Nope. Puerto Rico on 3-ish watts from Ohio. Wow!
There were 15 contacts in a 30 minute period. Sadly, that was all the time I had to be on the air. The sun was dropping quickly, as it does this time of year, and I got the text that told me dinner was going to be moving along soon enough. Packing it in took no time at all. I did take a minute to enjoy the sun over the water and snap a picture or two. A beautiful day for sure!
A reservoir under sunny conditions with a perfectly blue sky.
Wrapping Up
When I got the log dumped into the QSO Map I was honestly stunned by the spread of contacts. Here’s what it looks like:
QSO Map of the activation of K-1999 by KC8JC on 24-Oct-2023.
From east to west to south I was having a great day. The rig combined with the EFHW performed really well. I was also, again, pretty pleased with my CW work. My copying is improving noticeably. I even navigated a pileup which my buddy Joe KC1SRI recorded and shared with me on Mastodon! I almost sound like I know what I’m doing (at 12-14 wpm). Almost.
As for the TR-45L, well, I’m smitten. Sure, I’ve only got one activation on it, but using it is So Much Fun. I’ve overused that word, so maybe it’s delightful? Is it going to replace my IC-705? No. Let’s not be crazy. They aren’t the same thing at all – and they aren’t trying to be. There’s not a great analogy for how I would compare them, but I’d say that the IC-705 is like a well-kitted out Jeep Wrangler with a lift, a winch, and gnarly tires that can go ANYWHERE. While the TR-45L is a gorgeous vintage Cadillac with white walls that somehow takes us back to a time when we looked at things through an entirely different lens. It still drives on the same roads (and probably gets the same gas mileage) but it’s an entirely different experience. It’s incredibly enjoyable and a view into a time when interfaces to our equipment were more physical and existed in a different space aesthetically. It is a Sunday Driver of a radio.
It’s that time of the year where Northeast Ohio reminds us that it’s going to be cold and miserable for a bit. There was a good amount of rain on Saturday and that combined with a myriad of family activities made getting out for an activation impossible. Sunday was a new day and a different story. Sort of. There was still a concert to attend and the weather was still promising cold and wind, but there was enough time in the morning to get out to the park and rack up 10 contacts. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. In fact, The Plan called for introducing a ton of variables all at once. That plan changed when faced with weather – as it often does.
The general sketch was an activation at West Branch State Park – K-1999 where I would sit in my normal spot and tap away on my paddles. That didn’t work out well as the trees were dropping a lot of leftover water on the table, so I moved to the beach area where the situation was just different enough for me to think that I wouldn’t get wet. I was right! It’s worth saying again that I do miss the shelters, but to get to sit in a shelter I’d need to drive to the opposite end of the park on the other side of the reservoir to sit near the boat launch. That’s time I didn’t have.
Oh! And at the usual spot, there is now a sign letting folks know why things have changed!
A sign indicating that the area is being rewilded. It reads: “Restricted mowing encourages diverse habitats that provide food and shelter for wildlife.”
The Big Variable – The Elecraft AX1
We’re going to take a side trip here for a minute to examine something that I think is a huge change to my operating for POTA. I recently acquired an Elecraft AX1 with the 40m element.
I am going to admit it: I’m a sucker for portable antennas for QRP. Especially those that have a very small footprint and make me even less conspicuous during an activation.
The AX1 with 40m coil on top of my log book and attached with a rubber band.
Let’s start with the usual assumptions. The first is that all ham radio involves compromises. There is no Perfect. There’s only Better. And Better means that we’re tyring to improve a specific aspect of performance. Most of the time, Better in one area comes at a cost somewhere else. We know this. All of us do. We fight it. We write about how things would be so perfect if only… and we know that it’s impossible. It’s the Ham Radio Circle Of Life.
For me, I tend to optimize for deployment/teardown and conspicuousness. That is to say, I want to be able to set up, have no one notice me, and tear down all with as little fuss as possible. That, in my experience, has led me to vertical antennas and ATUs. My SuperAntenna MP1 is amazing, but I have to spend some amount of time tuning it up every time I change bands. It’s not horrible, but it’s not as fast as a non-resonant antenna with a tuner. I’m giving up efficiency for deployment. The same can be said of my general aversion to EFHW antennas in trees. Getting a line in a tree isn’t a particularly onerous task, but it is obvious and might take a few throws. Tearing it down is usually what takes me forever. I do recognize that it is the right answer for efficiency and backpacking.
Well, it’s the answer for efficiency for sure. But this most recent experience has changed my perspective more than a little.
I’ve been watching various operators who do POTA and SOTA go into the field with the Elecraft AX1. This antenna, on first inspection, is ridiculous. It’s short. It packs up to nothing. It can’t possibly deliver. And yet, I see people completing activations with it and getting great signal reports. To be fair, that’s mostly using CW, but I’m not in the habit of operating Phone at 5-10 watts anyway.
After seeing the hundredth video of Thomas K4SWL using the AX1 in an activation, I decided that I would be the fool and part with my money. I got the AX1 with the tripod adapter and the 40m coil. Despite the rave reviews, I still didn’t think it would be all that great. It would probably end up on a shelf as an oddity that I would drag out for something in the backyard or for a demonstration for the Scouts.
On a Friday evening, I grabbed my IC-705 and the AX1 and went into the outback. By that I mean, out in the backyard on my patio. I got set up on the table and fired up WSJT-X so that I could beacon a little bit. The only mojo that I added in was the counterpoise that came with the AX1.
The AX1 set up on a tripod on a table in my backyard.
The first thing that I noticed was that on 20m at 5 watts running FT8 my trusted mAT-705+ tuner couldn’t come up with a solution. The IC-705 was reading about 1.1:1. I was stunned.
The screen of the IC-705 showing an SWR of 1.1:1 with the tuner inactive.
I felt bold and I started to transmit. Immediately, I landed a contact about 350 miles out at a very reasonable signal level for where I was, etc. The PSK Reporter was showing me popping up all over the place.
The WSJT-X interface showing a contact with W4CPO.
The PSK Reporter map showing stations that heard KC8JC.
I added the coil and flipped over to 40m. I was definitely getting out. I didn’t grab a screenshot of PSK Reporter this time, but it was surprising. No contacts were collected, but again, at that time of evening there weren’t that many operators out there – or I wasn’t hearing them – one or the other.
The AX1 with the 40m coil addition.
Given the footprint of the antenna and how inconspicuous it is, I decided that getting it into the field was definitely the next step – though I would probably keep my larger vertical in the back of the Jeep just in case.
Back To The Activation
The plan for the Fall Support Your Parks activation was for 100% CW operation. I set up the AX1 and the IC-705 and got things moving.
Leather bag, IC-705, paddles, AX1 on a tripod, log book, and ICOM VS-3 Bluetooth mic on a canvas tarp.
The wind was bad. Really bad. 35mph gusts bad. I sat with my back to the water, which is not my preference, but I wanted to keep things out of the wind as best I could. The wind was bad enough that it was trying to push over the AX1. I had a bungee cord handy and wrapped it around the tripod and added a bit of weight. That kept things stable enough.
With things more or less stable, I started to call CQ. I got three stations back from Florida fairly quickly. Missouri followed. Things went out as far as Colorado, Minnesota, and even New Hampshire. I was working with 5 watts and a new antenna. It was surprising to see how well it worked.
Another much smaller change was using the VS-3 Bluetooth mic which provides the benefit of a wireless headphone. It comes with a single earpiece. I find that really nice as it leaves one ear open to hear things that are happening around me without having another earbud dangling and getting in the way. I’ve only ever used this mic for weely nets when I check in. I get great audio quality reports from it and tossing it into the bag made things a bit lighter in that it’s very small and keeps me from taking along a hand mic or a larger headset. The battery life on it is pretty good as well.
The hardware was working out pefectly, but the weather highlighed some things to think about. One of those being good gloves to be able to write and operate my paddles. Ohio was reminding me the entire time that it was going to be winter soon given the grey skies and temperatures in the low 40s F. It’s always fascinating to see the way time changes when the weather is poor. The two or three minutes between clusters of contacts can feel like hours. A thermos of hot coffee helps keep the chill at bay and the focus that comes with the contacts themselves help, of course.
CW Progress
I sat at about 12-14 wpm for this activation. Copying was much improved. I didn’t send nearly as many “”?”” as in previous activations. The only times when it was really necessary was when the wind got really, really bad. I apologize to my Hunters for that and appreciate your patience!
All in all, I felt pretty good about my performance. Definitely still room for improvement, but the practice never stops, does it? I’m plugging away to get up to 18 wpm. This winter will be a time for working diligently on head copying and speed. I will say again and again: getting on the air is the best practice. It’s a boost of confidence and it’s the whole reason we spend time hammering away learning the code.
The Conclusion
The AX1 is going to go in the kit with the VS-3 from now on. And, well, the AX1 is not a joke. It’s a serious antenna that gets out. Which is really, really wild to me for a lot of reasons. Look, I’m not Mr. Test Equipment Ham. I don’t go modeling ever piece of wire I toss into a tree. So far, everything I’ve done has been very much the Han Solo approach of dumb luck and card tricks when it comes to deploying in the field because deploying in the field is about adapting to what is available and not necessarily about what we’d like. Sure, there are fundamentals and there’s lots of math, but the kind of precision we see on a calculator is rarely present with a wire in a tree or at a campground on a hillside.
I’m glad that I’ve added it to the kit. It’s not the only variable I was going to introduce, so I’ll save that for the next activation. I’ll keep it very Secret Squirrel for now.
Here’s what the activation looked like on the QSO Map:
One of the first ham radio specific kits that I built was a dummy load from QRP Guys. I keep it on my desk. It’s two PCBs with a shedload of resistors sandwiched between. It is simple. It is brutally effective. And the other day, it was invisible. I have no idea how it wound up in the drawer that it did, but I was absolutely unable to locate it for about two weeks. This is more than just a case of “It’s behind the milk”. This was almost nefarious.
My original dummy load from a QRP Guys kit wrapped in red electrical tape to make it easier to see. Hmm.
Yeah. I was trying to organize my office and hid it from myself.
The quick lesson was that I use my dummy load a lot more than I realized. I keep it on the desk so I can slap onto a rig if I want to apply power and play with settings or do much of anything that might inadvertently trigger a TX.
With my trusty dummy load missing, I did the only thing that made sense: I ordered another. But this time, I went with the Digital Power/SWR Meter with Dummy Load Kit from QRP Guys. It was a great experience with the first one, why not go back for more?
The kit arrived and I put it on my bench to assemble in the coming week. I then went into my office, opened a drawer to grab some electrical tape and there was my original dummy load.
Nice.
Well, with the kit in hand, there was work to be done. Given that the weather in NE Ohio can be pretty awful this time of year (I find that radio gear is more amenable to snow than misty, cold, intermittent rain) I decided to go to the bench and get it together. The process was swift. As with all of the kits of their’s which I have assembled, this one was well documented and easy to assemble. It did involve winding a transformer (not my favorite passtime given I have rather large hands) but it was painless.
The assembled PCB with all parts in place.
The kit even powered up the first time!
This was my first kit project where I got to use my 3d printer to make an enclosure. There is a link to the various design files on their site and the model is perfect. My Anycubic Vyper took about 10 hours or so to print the top and bottom in one go. I chose a rather strange lemon yellow color for the case so that it will be easy to locate. Nothing else I own is that weird color. With sliders and a button printed, the case went together pretty smoothly.
3d Printed case next to the assembled PCB.
And now I have a second dummy load that can also do double duty as a Power/SWR meter in the field (or on the bench).
The fully assembled kit inside of its enclosure complete with sliders and button.
It’s a great kit and I’m glad I got it. I’ve already used the dummy load feature a number of times and the Power/SWR meter works well. Look, it’s not an oscilloscope, but it is a Good Enough meter from a kit and does the job at QRP levels. I recommend it.
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