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NEWS on heading in another direction!
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My change of direction leads me to this...........
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| At times it did not go as anticipated |
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| The fun begins |
At this point (don't get me wrong I'm still having a blast) I am learning about all about static IP address, Dynamic IP address, just plan old IP address and finally Subnet mask. Oh and believe me I never knew how fast things can go wrong if your not really sure about these settings and the numbers you place in set empty spaces.
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| The numbers game begins |
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My new ham radio passion revealed.
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| My new adventure arrives |
The SDR radio is a learning experience for me and I’m sure it is going to be the way of the future and I’m a slow learner so I wanted to get on the wagon soon. I “tried” to set the radio up on my own to have it communicate with my PC and it just went from bad to worse. I had to get the rig to communicate with my PC via the Ethernet card. I have two Ethernet cards and was getting them intermixed until I was lost. I didn’t want to get frustrated as this is a huge learning curve BUT I did give in to emailing Yuri about my situation. He promptly called me and set up a time to use Team viewer and take over my PC to figure out the issue. Within 15 minutes he had my PC and SDR radio “talking” with each other.
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| SunSDR2 pro |
The SunSDR2 Pro tops out at 20 watts and includes VHF and a lot more that you can read about from this LINK. As I was saying at the start of this post the IARU contest was on this weekend and I threw my SDR rig into the action. This contest gave me an opportunity to see how the receiver stacked up on a busy band. I was impressed and very much enjoyed using the second independent receiver/transmitter.
I was not an active participant in the contest I was there to see how the receiver preformed. Next I want to get my contest software and logging software on board with the SDR radio. Some draw backs I have found with this rig is.....at this point in time there is no QSK and there is no one button split operation. For split it involves a few button pushes. I have been told and read on the forum that these issues are known and solutions are being worked on.
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| Using the 2 receivers |
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Initial setup of SunSDR2 Pro
Apache Labs ANAN 10 recommends an Intel i3 2ghz or better, 4 GB ram, screen resolution of 1280x1024 and a full duplex 1 GB ethernet card.
Flex radios knowledge base suggests Intel i3 or i5 quad core processor, 4GB ram for 32 bit OS and 8 GB ram for 64 bit OS, screen resolution of 1280x768 and the ability to support firewire.
Sunsdr2 Pro recommends (located under "read it first") intel i3 1.6 ghz or higher, 8GB ram did not specify 32 or 64 bit OS, minimum screen resolution of 1024x600, LAN network card of 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps
Now mind you these in some cases are minimum specs but even to move up to the next level in a PC would not mean you are moving toward a high end gaming PC. Most of us have a PC at home for one reason or another and I would go out on a limb to say that most PC's at ham's homes would meet the minimum standard for SDR to function well.
My SunSDR2 Pro's setup involves some minor PC techno wizbong maneuvering.......my SDR rig like most others communicate to the PC via a LAN cable and using an IP address. Now the Apache Labs ANAN 10 when powered on (if your LAN is correctly configured) an IP address should be automatically assigned in other words the rig and software should be communicating. The Flex radios are the same in regards to setup (again if your LAN is correctly configured) an IP address should be automatically assigned. This I believe is known as DHCP were the configuring is done automatically. For some reason the SunSDR2 Pro does not take advantage of this, you have to manually assign the IP address. It did not work out to well for me as I have 2 LAN options in my PC one is a card and the other is the one on the motherboard. When configuring the IP address I called up the wrong card (not the one the SDR rig was plugged into) Once I figured that out I was getting conflicts and issues. Long story short I have everything running now. I may email the Expert Electronics and ask why they chose this route and not DHCP.
The only (as far as I know) software this radio will work with is ExpertSDR software. Having said that I am very happy with the software and questions I have asked on the forum has been answered very promptly. It runs very smoothly on my PC and the waterfall looks great! The next post I will be looking at the ExpertSDR software.
The only (as far as I know) software this radio will work with is ExpertSDR software. Having said that I am very happy with the software and questions I have asked on the forum has been answered very promptly. It runs very smoothly on my PC and the waterfall looks great! The next post I will be looking at the ExpertSDR software.
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Times are a changing
See you soon once all the unpacking is done.
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In the new place with new challenges.
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| Our view of Toronto |
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| In the livingroom |
I was able to run coax along the wall in such a way that it's not noticeable and out to our balcony. I took advantage of a persian carpet runner in the hallway to hide the coax. I then used Comet CTC 50M to get the coax outside. At the old place I was able to leave the MFJ antenna on the balcony but were we are not at times the wind that comes off lake Ontario is crazy so it's indoors.....not that it matters as the SWR is very poor. In the next post an update on my Sun SDRpro 2 rig.
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The MFJ loop finally has a decent SWR match!!
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| Homemade vertical mounting....."thing" |
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Tweaking the MFJ 1788 mag loop
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| The slow adjustment resistor |
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| What was left of battery holders |
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Striving for a better bandwidth
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| Original shape of coupling loop |
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| New and improved shape |
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Christmas morning surprise!!!
There is going to be an Expert Electronics Sun SDR2 pro rig that is just over 6 month old up for sale very soon.
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RAC contest and the new IC7610
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| Won't make that mistake agian. |
I was thrilled with the Icom 7610 I didn't as of yet get the time to set up N1MM+ contest software so during the contest I was old school with a paper and pencil. The audio was crisp and clean, I stayed with the 250Hz filter and had not even one issue with very close adjacent stations bothering my contact station. The touch screen is very responsive and an absolute joy to use. I took advantage of the 2 independent receivers, I turned on dual watch and had one VFO on an RAC station such as VE7RAC who was very popular and the other VFO I search and pounced. With one simple button push I muted the VE7RAC station and could unmute to check on the pileup. Once things slowed down I was able to put VE7RAC in the log.
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| Dual Watch on |
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SDR Transceiver up for sale!
I have a 7 month old Expert Electronics Sun SDR2 pro transceiver and the E-coder for sale. It is in mint condition, non smoking environment and with about 10 hours max of operating time. The reason for selling the unit is I received an Icom 7610 for Christmas and I can't justify having both radios as the SDR2 pro is just sitting on the desk doing nothing.
New the radio and encoder sell for 2,500.00 Canadian for the 7 month old radio and encoder I am asking 1800.00 Canadian. Weil ship to U.S and Canada only.
Main capabilities
- Independent RX path based on DDC (Direct Down-Conversion) architecture
- Independent TX path based on DUC (Direct Up-Conversion) architecture
- 2 software RXs + SubRX for each of them (4 slices total) + independent wide-band Band-scope up to 80 MHz
- Remote control operation, using it, you connect PTT and CW-key to the E-Coder panel. Microphone and E-Coder are connected to the remotely set up PC
- TCI interface or seamless connection with third-party software like SDC (with its own Skimmer), LogHX, SWISSLOG and RUMlog, more are coming
- Professional TX processing module provides the most advanced tuning capability for voice operation
- ExtCTRL connector to control external devices with 8 powerful keys with open collector
- ALC connector for external power amplifiers*
- Supports use of VHF transverters**
- An opportunity to use the transceiver as a signal generator via DAC OUT connector (SMA connector)
- An opportunity to use external filters in the middle of the RF path, using ADC IN and RX OUT (SMA connector)
- Small delay in CW mode (about 10 ms)
- Input for external 10 MHz reference oscillator
- An opportunity to use the transceiver in SO2V mode
- Full duplex or half duplex modes***
- Antenna switch with 2 HF antenna connectors and separate VHF antenna connector (Mini UHF connectors)
- Internal power-meter for HF and VHF bands and SWR-meter for HF band
- Ethernet LAN interface provides fast and reliable connection to PC
- 20 watts on HF and 8 watts on VHF.
I am also selling with it the radio the E-Coder plus which has:
- 14 programable buttons with 60 possible programming options
- 3 programable encoder knobs with 13 possible programming options
- 1 optical encoder tuning knob
For an unbiased review of the radio go to Eham reviews and there you will find 11 reviews all giving the radio a 5.0.
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| 2 Receivers in action |
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| All cables |
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| Rear view |
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| E-coder |
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FT8 on 20m this afternoon
I found this site that offers some great FT8 tips:
I did remove the tick from the "auto Seq" box as by doing this it did give me somewhat of a feeling of interaction with the QSO. This evening it's going to be a cup of Earl Grey tea and go over the WSJT-X 2.0 manual very closely and see what I can glean from it. Also search out some writeup's on the internet for more tips with this mode.
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Article 0
A screen shot of the ARRL DX CW contest
I will see if the propagation gods are smiling down on me today as I give the contest another go this afternoon.
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ARRL DX CW 2019 in the books
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| The setup |
As for the contest I was running 60 watts (not sure of reason for the 60 watt number) and my antenna is the MFJ 1788 mag loop. I am in a condo so it’s a balcony antenna about 180 feet up facing south east. The software was N1MM+ and MRP40 CW decoder for the super fast fisted contesters. On Sunday the winds for some reason really picked up and my MFJ loop was moving around the balcony. I shut the radio down and took it in I would rather save the antenna from damage than taking a chance on getting more contacts.
I made only 25 contact and a score of 1575 BUT my intention was not to blow the doors off with a great score. Instead after I made contact with a station I would look them up on QRZ.COM and read about either the individual or the contest station. Over all the limited time I was in the contest I had a blast and was very please with the Icom 7610 and the ability of my balcony mounted Mag loop antenna.
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Ham radio and the condo life
Before we talk about the nuts and bolts of condo ham radio lets deal with some of the basics. I have always found it avoids condo board letters if you read and understand the rules and guidelines of your particular condo. Yes get used to it if you are going to move into a condo there are rules and expectations. What does this have to do with ham radio.........well if you are seen as a respectful owner (or renter) of the condo board, residents and property it can go a long way. For example most condo guidelines (nice condo word for RULES) do not allow "permanent antennas" on the balcony. This rule is yes for Amateur radio antennas but I believe the condo is concerned about the mini satellite dishes springing up or HD antennas. Just one of many challenges a condo radio op has to creatively deal with. In my case I have the MFJ 1788 mag loop and in my newest condo (6 months now) the antenna is portable and it not "permanently" mounted on the balcony. In my humble opinion having a low key antenna is important. Having whip antennas extending over the balcony or wires making their way down the side of the building just invites a letter from you know who from the office of your know where!! Like it or not we are all human and once this happens you have the microscope on you.....not a very nice situation to be in.
In a condo your fellow "condo-ites" are very close to you and that means RFI on your part but also on their part as well with all the unfiltered electronics on the market today. The positive outcome to this is you will become very knowledgeable on dealing with RFI. Oh and a word of advise.....I have read this in the past "go see your neighbor and suggest installing filters on their electronics" Up here in the land of snow and proverbial "thank you" we always say to apparently to everything......there is no thank you response from someone you are asking to tamper with their electronics. Rigs these days have excellent filtering and that are some accessories you can purchase to knock out the worst of offender.
Well that is enough for today....in posts to follow I am going to look at RFI, power output and no as a condo dweller you are not a QPRer for life...........nothing wrong with that either!! What antennas I have had that work, some of the better modes (not just digi either) to work and last but not least what happens if your in a situation were absolutely operating is possible, well I am here to say that you will still be able to get on the air in you condo on HF working DX!
Stay tuned.
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PART 2 of ham radio and the condo life
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| Roll-top open and it's a nice station setup |
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| Ham radio gone under cover |
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FA- VA4 antenna analyzer kit.
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| The condo kit corner. |
This kit does have SMD parts that I said are factory installed BUT some of the items that the builder needs to install are very close to some SMD parts. This brings me to another important part of kit building....spend the money to get the right tools for the job. In this case my Weller WES51 has a large variety of soldering tips. I find the fine chisel tip (Weller ETM) worked great for soldering the LCD terminals, the larger tip for the BNC connector (Weller ETD) and finally the intermediate tip for the components beside SMD parts( Weller ETB).
The instructions had me installing the ON/OFF slider switch first and this was a great start for this old rusty kit builder. I then moved onto the 3 rails in which the LCD would eventually plug into. You will notice from the picture these are raised up on the board. Each pin has a "collar" so the rail will be at the proper hight but the builder has to be cautious and make sure the rail is firmly seated and upright and straight. One rail is 20 pins and once it's in....it's in! In the past I have had to remove these types of components due to my own lack of attention. IT IS NOT FUN and I have a Hakko desoldering tool which make desoldering a pleasure but even with that tool removing a 20 pin rail is not fun at all. Take the time to set these parts up for first time correct soldering. My method was taping the rail in place, solder the 2 opposite end pins, check for upright correctness and firm seating on the board. If all is good solder the remaining pins. The other components were easy to solder in place when using the proper tips. I have a magnifier head set and use it to make sure all connections are soldered properly and that all were done. You would be surprised how many times when multiple pins are involved how easy it is to miss a pin. The LCD needed to be soldered to the backlight, it involved a 20 pin connection on one side. The instructions said I only "had" to solder the 2 outside pins. I chose to solder all 20 and then on the opposite side of the LCD there were 2 sets of 3 pin connections that need all pins soldered. To make sure the LCD was firmly against the backlight I used some tape. Once the LCD was ready to go again I took time to inspect the pins that were going to plug into the 20 pin and two 3 pin rails. I did find one of the 3 pin setups ups on the LCD was bent! I corrected this but if I failed to see this could had resulted in broken or bent pins.
There is two AA battery holders that need to be soldered in and all I can say is check and double check this. Mixing this up polarity can bring smoke to the smoke test. Believe me it can happen. One of the Elecraft K2 kits I put together almost ended in disaster when I was not paying attention and soldered up a power cable with Anderson pole connectors. I soldered red wire to Anderson black connector and black wire to Anderson red connector. It gets better.....I then plunged it into the K2 and powered the K2 on!! The Astron power supply made a noise and both the inline fuses on the main Astron power supply blew. I was very luck and now double check everything.
It was now time for the "smoke test" and I was so proud of my first kit in over 4 years I had my dear wife Julie come over for the ceremony.......I flipped the switch and........yup you guessed it...NOTHING!!!!! Yup nothing.....but no smoke and that is a good sign. Julie giggled and moved on to other tasks. I made a mental note to always solo a smoke test and avoid the embarrassment. The problem was one of the AA batteries was not firmly in place. Once looked after the power on test was a success. I called Julie over for her to check out the kit but it just did not have the same excitement. That was it for the kit building for the day I still have to preform the calibration. Over all the kit was a joy to put together and by way of some side notes. The case is a brushed aluminum with attention to detail such as counter sunk screws for securing case, the LCD and buttons lined up perfectly and a nice touch was not having stick on rubber feet (that always over time seem to come off and get lost) This kit came with pull through rubber feet. I still have to calibrate the unit and actually use it but that will be another day.
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| Completed kit |
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| Smoke test |
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| Bent LCD pins |
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| Supporting the 20 pin connector. |
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| Completed LCD pins |
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Where has the site Band conditions gone?
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CW key dilemma
Some time ago I purchased a Begali Key, the Contour key. I have read lots about having a good key, of how it makes sending the code an art. I have to say that from day one the Contour key and I have had a love-hate relationship! The craftsmanship of the key is next to none as are all of the Begali keys. I am not sure if it's just this key or the contour keys but for way to long when ever I use this key I send extra dots and dashes or the spacing gets screwed up. I used to think it was just me and my sloppy fist until I did more portable op's and used the Mini Palm paddle. I just never seemed to miss a beat with this paddle there was no extra anything and the code was very smooth all the time. I have contacted Begali and exchanged many emails about adjusting the key, cleaning the contacts on the key and spacing the contacts on the key. It just seems to be the same old frustration with the Contour key. When I got on the radio today for the RAC contest I started out with the Begali key and after sending some very simple but very embarrassing exchanges I switched to the Mini Palm Paddle and exchanges were sent with not one error. I would put the Begali key up for sale in a second but it has my call engraved in it. I still think nothing can be said for a good quality key but it seems the Begali Contour is just not for me.
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