HRH Queen Elizabeth II - Diamond Jubilee

Callsign GQ4EST activated for period 5th May to 10th June in celebration of the above event. New QSL card on eQSL and will be available via Bureau.

Am I too technology dependent?

On Saturday 17th March I drove from St Helens in Merseyside to pick my son up from Newcastle where he is at University. No real issues here as I am familiar with the route into the city as my eldest daughter also went to University there. One part of the route is tricky though, so out came my ageing TomTom ONE sat nav. It was already programmed with the destination and connected into the car's 12v system so just switched it on. It went off in 5 seconds. Checked power was OK then tried again. Went off 20 seconds later. Hit power button again - on then off - just as I was getting to the dodgy junction. Memory did not fail me though as I took the correct exit, but then made a right turn 1 traffic light too early. Sat Nav switched on again and I found that I had joined the road I needed just via an earlier connecting road. Tried the unit a few times after but it just would not stay on.

I had vowed not to get another TomTom device as earlier this year when my device shut down only occasionally I looked at upgrading. 4 years ago I purchased the full USA and Canada maps as I had intended touring and found that they were linked to my old device and could not be transferred. I enquired of TomTom if this was the truly the case and said that I wanted to upgrade as a fault had developed in my unit and was basically told "tough luck". I could not recall seeing any T's and C's stating this when I bought the maps or since.

I therefore decided to look elsewhere for my next sat nav. Garmin have a nice device so I researched it a bit. Their website is very poor as delivered '404' page not found when I went to look for maps, locked me into their FAQ pages after attempting to raise an email with their support people, and I could not find any downloadable information on any PC management software. I subsequently rang their UK support 'team' and got the following responses to my questions.

• Can it pair up with my IPhone? - No Android OS only
• Can I add costom POI? - Yes through POI Loader application
• Can I change colour display? - No
• What functionality from PC management software is available? - Only the POI.

This non-competitive feature list is a showstopper for me. Navman not attractive, so must shelve my principles and go back to TomTom - probably XXL Classic.

Big question though is do I need a discrete sat nav device ? would my smartphone navigation software be good enough? Answer probably yes as I don't want to risk losing the GPS signal at inopportune times, especially in the USA.

UPDATE 21 March 2012.   Bought a TomTom XXL Classic and USA Maps. Will do the job ; however due to them now combining individual country / regional USA maps into discrete maps (Western Europe and USA) I need to physically replace one with the other when going from UK to USA. The XXL does not have an SD slot which would have made life much easier. Now I need to take my laptop and wait 40 minutes for the exchange to complete. Agent I spoke to did not inform me of this although I did ask if the USA and UK maps could reside on the unit as at that point I did not know that UK was not a separate fileset.

G3TPW - CobWebb antenna

In January 2012 I ordered a CobWebb antenna from G3TPW as I had heard glowing reports from another station in the Netherlands and it's specifications made it ideal for my loft. After communication with G3TPW I ordered one, but was then met with an 'information blackout'. The explanation for the delay in despatch was quite acceptable. The designer has supply issues with the antenna wire and had to source elsewhere and he needed to evaluate the new component re velocity factor before he despatched the kit to me. That is attention to detail.

After 4 weeks the antenna arrived. Now built and operational. - I plan to put a photographic guide to the build on here when time permits.

WOW - as compared to my vertical and long wire antennae it is much less prone to noise pickup yet receives signals just as well, better perhaps as it is more omnidirectional. Have heard South Africa, China and Indonesia now which were not resolvable previously, and the areas I previously heard very well are still pounding in. Truly omnidirectional. Incidentally the first station I worked was in Belize.through a pile-up using 50W PSK31 so nice christening.

I have posted a construction video on my site, www.g4est.me.uk for interested parties.

My Website

At the beginning of the year I developed a frozen shoulder which was quite painful and immobilised me for some time. Got really bored as driving, or even walking some distance was painful. Could not even go to bed for some 10 weeks as lying down brought on the pain.

What to do? I decided to restart my website build and now have a framework to build on. The site is www.g4est.me.uk and still under development. I am using Dreamweaver CS4 which is working well, however having installed Internet Information Services (IIS) on both my PCs am unable to get them working well. One machine tells me that the service is unavailable, while the other fails to process the css or javascript files.

Shoulder 95% OK now so will be putting up my 2m/70cm antennae which came down in the January storms very soon, so will be leaving the website for 'rainy days'.
I plan to move this blog there, but have not researched it fully yet.

UPDATE: 19th March 2012: Website nearing completion and on the live server. Still not technically live but is viewable - bugs and all.

Happy New Year and etiquette matters

Happy New Year to all who are reading this.
I decided to revive an old tradition of mine whereby I work at least one station on each of the bands I have available to me on both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. I used to do this in my first period of operating from 1977 to 1983 when I resided at an address where I was able to erect decent antennae. At that time only 2m and the 10,15,20,40,80 and 160m bands were available to me so not really a problem. I succeeded most years.
Did not think it through this holiday though as in addition to those I now have 70cm,6,12,17 and 30m to operate on.
New Year's Eve- success on all but 70cm and 6m - ^m band dead to me - even changed the aerial from a halo to a dipole to change my target audience, but not a signal to be heard on FM or SSB. On 70cm I use a collinear, decent take-off but silence rained.
New Year's Day same issue with those bands, and 30m eluded me also. Putting up the new dipole for 6m the day before aggravated an existing shoulder injury and I was in no position to stick at it for long, so better luck next year. Used new 6m bandplan to hunt as well

Etiquette

Just thought I would just pop in a comment on this. I just worked an Italian station on PSK125 low down in the usual PSK operating  portion of the 20m band - very strong but wide - I gave him 597 as IMD was clearly visible. advised him of such. A few minutes later on in the main area of the PSK operating portion 14.071 he reappeared calling CQ, still wide and obliterated 2 PSK31 stations underneath him and caused QRM to several adjacent signals. I appreciate that he may not have heard them, but there would have been some indication that QSO's were going on in that frequency range as the band was absolutely 'chocker-bloc' at my end. Finding a clear frequency for a 31Hz signal was hard enough, nevermind a 125Hz one doubled in size due to IMD products!

When the band is busy I do not use the wider modes in consideration for other Hams. There is an excuse for PSK variants at times as the messages are transmitted so much faster, but Contestia for example is just a bandwidth gobbler (IMHO).

digimodes and modulation

I have just come off 20m PSK around 14.070 MHz having had my QSO blasted away by a station overmodulating so badly the PSK31 signal covered in the region of 250Hz, faint intermod products just discernable outside that range.
I appreciate that it is not easy to check your own signal visibly, but I have read the following guidelines which may be of interest to those wondering (worrying) about their own signal quality.
Steps are simple:

1. Ensure any audio processing is OFF
2. Right-click the audio icon on the system tray to bring up the Playback devices (Windows 7, maybe Vista also). Set the level on the device used to provide audio input to the rig at 60 - 70%
3. If rig has a menu setting to adjust audio in from accessory socket set midway value.
4. If interface has an audio setting control then initially set midway.
5. Fire up the rig, set to transmit on a clear frequency and adjust volume either from the Interface control, or the PC output to interface level slider so that the ALC just starts to kick-in.
6. Back off slightly so the ALC is dormant.
7. If the ALC won't back off, or never registers then adjust the other controls accordingly.
8. When conditions seem OK then make a QSO and ask for honest reports

If a signal is bad I do not give the standard RST(Q) of 599. The last digit is for Quality (Tone) and if it is not free of intermodulation products I reduce this to 7 or even 5. I have seen several references to reporting guidelines on the web, and recommend this one from RSQ-INFO

I have noticed that as the 'tones' generated by the digimode software go lower in frequency, then the audio power tends to make the ALC kick in, conversely the higher the frequency the less audio, and less transmit power is generated. I usually check around a tone of 1500Hz, midband with frequency set at the PSK 'calling'. This will depend on the linearity of the soundcard I think.

I have two rigs which require differing input levels, I adjust from the Playback devices level control as I know the settings I need for each rig now, the rig with the menu driven volume level TS570D is too coarse to equalise both rigs. Settings are 61 for Kenwood, and 69 for the Icom. These will be particular to me though as rigs, sound cards and interface combinations will vary.

I have asked several stations to check my output periodically to ensure that something has not gone awry.

Hope this helps folks

UPDATE 2 December 2011
After several attempts to get the station to correct their overmodulation I have decided to post the spectrum display from the DM780 Superbrowser to highlight the worst signal I have seen on the bands
even able to resolve the ghost transmissions.

4th February 2012 EPC WW contest:
nice bunch of overmods here - or could be "Space Invaders"

QSLs, eQSL and all that

Firstly I must state that I prefer paper QSLs via the bureau, however recent experiences suggest that this is not supportable in this modern age. Reason I say this is that after 10 months on the air I received my first batch of QSL cards from my QSL manager, 25 in all, none of which were for any QSOs I have made.QSO dates were between 2000 and 2010, a period I was QRT, and for CW a mode I do not use. All were for my callsign so no blame to the QSL bureau for this.
In my first spell on the air, 1976 to 1992 I received the occasional card for Bill, G4EHT I think, a CW operator, and as some of these these cards include his name then I assume they are his. As he is not on QRZ.com I cannot send them on, although technically they are not valid QSO's anyway, well not in my book.
Bottom line is 10 months on air with 600 contacts but no paper QSLs via bureau.

As for eQSL. I send out eQSL log updates automatically from DM780 on the assumption that if you have an eQSL account then they will be accepted, and if not then they will still be recorded on the system in case a ham joins up later and therefore a card will await them or else they merely exist in electronic limbo.
A recent QSO was rejected however by a guy who has an active eQSL account whose valid date range covers that QSO but rejects eQSLs received. This to me is illogical as if you don't want eQSLs then don't have an eQSL account, or at least adjust the dates acceptable range to refuse them if you do. With the volume of auto eQSLs sent then rejecting them manually seems like unnecessary work.

The message I got back was "not a eSQL user)"(sic) from an eQSL account holder?

I use eQSL as a means of collecting cards to show people on the computer. It's virtually instantaneous and convenient. Paper cards on the wall of the shack are better but take too long to arrive if at all.

I appreciate that different people have different views, however incorporating these into the bigger picture could be better thought out.

Contest operating

Not having added to the blog for some time - nothing really to report - I have decided to air my views on contest operating having just been on the CQWW SSB contest this last weekend.
As a keen contester (?) in my early days of radio, and being the contest manager of a local club for some years I feel I have some relevant input in this field.
Comments :

1. with data competitions there is a visible clue when a station has ended the CQ call. With phone there is no such indicator, so "CQ TEST CQ TEST" gives no clue to the receiving station that a reply is needed at that point. this leads to point #2
2. If you are leaving the receiving station time to assess if you have finished transmitting then leave more than 2 seconds to LISTEN for stations coming back. Heard several instances after a CQ call as above when after a second or so's delay many stations called to respond, but the calling station was already calling CQ again, possibly wondering why nobody was calling back. This went on for some few minutes when stations were obviously calling back.
3. I heard a couple of pile-ups on a station who was simply giving the callers callsign then the report followed by QRZ. some 10 minutes passed when responders requested the caller's callsign, and this did not materialise for some time after that.
4. The 'flow' of some languages or even regional accents are such that spaces between words are compressed, and coupled with national accents can mean call letters can run into each other if spoken quickly. having to repeat 2 or 3 times takes up more time than speaking more distinctly in the first place.
5.  calling stations listen more. There is nothing more ridiculous than a station calling in, giving a 59 report then asking "what is your callsign?". 
6. If the station being worked asks a particular station such as "station with DK in the call please try again" then don't try to piggyback the contact if your call does not match the pattern..

The protocol I tried to encourage was:

1. Transmit on a clear frequency. Also remember it may be clear at your end, but in the middle of other stations which you cannot hear in the areas you are trying to reach. If nothing comes back after a while then QSY to another clear frequency - easier said than done I appreciate.
2. Finish off a CQ call with the station callsign and 'listening' indicator e.g. "CQ TEST CQ TEST ... de G4EST and bye".
3. Listen for more than 2 seconds - perhaps 5 or even more.
4. If the station you are calling is attempting to contact or in QSO with another station then DONT call in.
5. Give your callsign clearly and frequently.
6. If after several attempts on responding to a CQ then log the frequency, QSY and go back later when conditions may be more favourable.

I hope these musing strike the right chords for some people.
REMEMBER: contests are not life or death, have fun and remember your manners at all times.

Manners cost nothing

This is no doubt a one off, but called UR6IM on PSK31 today. he was heavily overmodulating with a IMD of -11db. In response to my callback to his CQ he responded with "G4EST QSO BEFORElq BEFORE!!! de UR6IM  CQ... " that QSO was in May 2011, so not that recent.

I accept he may not wish to have a long QSO but a simple exchange would suffice rather than just being RUDE!

I responded thus: "UR6IM Igor -- sorry to bother you!!!
did not realize that you only accept 1 QSO per station
G4EST".  Perhaps he understood!

If memory serves me correctly I have seen him on the band (15m) fairly regularly and usually overmodulating.

USB, Soundcards, and connectivity.

Just thought I would document the problems I have had recently with my data connection between my interface unit (ZLP USBMiniPro) and the PC through external soundcards.

USB 6 channel audio external soundcard

After reading an article somewhere on the web about a decent external soundcard to use instead of the cheapo USB plug-in dongle I was using I purchased an External Sound Card USB 6 Channel 5.1 Audio from Amazon. It arrived a day or so later and as described in the article performed well, installation being straightforward, DM-780 recognising it easily and connection being 100%. Also there was far less added noise on the audio from the rig (TS-570D), as expected.

One morning however, weeks later after booting up the digimode software refused to recognise the microphone input, so I went about the usual steps of rebooting, reinstalling etc, all to no avail. I assumed therefore that the unit had developed a fault so returned it via Amazon's very efficient returns service. As it was sourced outside of Amazon I was unable to obtain a replacement, so a refund was made.

I temporarily connected with the dongle - no problems there.

Maplins 5.1 Multimedia Soundcard

Next stage was to obtain another external sound card (I wanted external so I could use my laptop if out portable). I went to the local Maplins and purchased a 5.1 Multimedia sound card. This as with the 1st unit connected easily and gave solid connections.

After a few days I decided to move the USB connection from the front of the machine to a rear panel input. On starting the DM780 software I was advised that the connection to the microphone had failed.(deja-vu) Went into the soundcard options and reselected the microphone without success. Next stage was to look at the recording devices available from right-clicking the icon in the notifications area of my toolbar (Windows 7). This shows activity against each connected device, and in my case showed that the Line-in was active although audio input was plugged into the microphone jack!  I selected this in the soundcard options dropdown and all was well, signals on the waterfall. Went to transmit and NOTHING.

To cut this long story short, after reloading drivers etc. the only way I could get both TX and RX to work was by connecting via different USB ports and reloading the disk based drivers. Currently working off line-in, audio plugged into this socket now.

I have a decent spec PC with a 750W PSU and am wondering if the voltage to the USB ports is marginal thus the intermittent connectivity. Also wondering if the latest W7 updates have fouled things up!

Working at the moment, so will keep fingers crossed.