Our Blog Reaches Another Milestone

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March 2013 Reader Countries

March 2013 Reader Countries

Our Blog reached another milestone today – we have had over 20,000 visits from readers in 125 countries around the world. We’d like to thank all of our readers for your interest in our Blog. It is your interest and participation in this project that motivates Anita and I to continue to post new articles and information.

We are considering a number of new articles for this Blog and I’d like to again ask for our reader’s input as to what articles that you might find most interesting. Please take a minute and participate in the following poll to give us some input (vote for your top two choices).

Thanks again to all of our readers for participating in our Blog. I hope that each of you is able to find something interesting here.

Fred (AB1OC)

The 2013 BARTG RTTY Contest – AB1QB Gets Serious

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AB1QB Operating In The BARTG RTTY Contest

AB1QB Operating In The BARTG RTTY Contest

This past weekend, I operated in the 2013 BARTG HF RTTY Contest.  I had previously learned some things during our multi-single operation in the 2013 CQ WPX RTTY contest and made some enhancements to our contesting setup. As a result of this experience, I set a goal of making a serious effort in a RTTY contest.  The 2013 BARTG HF RTTY contest ran from 0200z Saturday March 16 – 0200z on Monday March 18.  I operated in the Single Operator All Band category, which allowed me to operate for 30 hours out of the total contest period of 48 hours (each break had to be at least 3 hours).

N1MM Setup - Left Monitor

N1MM Setup – Left Monitor

I used the N1MM logger again in the SO2V configuration with our Icom IC-7800 transceiver.  We added the 2Tone decoder, which, when used along with MMTTY, made a huge difference in being able to pick the call signs and exchange information out of the sometimes garbled exchanges.  I kept a window up with each decoder, which gave me two different interpretations of the RTTY signals.  When I couldn’t make sense of what I saw in one window, I could almost always pick out a call sign or exchange from the other.  This improved my QSO rate as I did not have to ask the station to repeat the exchange.  As conditions deteriorated on Sunday due to a Solar Flare, using 2 decoders made a big difference.

The N1MM screenshot above shows the SO2V configuration I used with 2 decoders associated with each VFO.  SO2V was helpful in speeding up the search and pounce.  You can tune one signal in on one VFO, and while waiting for your chance to call, you can find the next signal in the other VFO.  Each VFO has its own call sign entry window on the left, then 2 digital interface windows (with the decoded RTTY text) and 2 tuning windows per VFO – one with 2Tone and one with MMTTY.  The upper left window has the spotting network, which was useful, but in a RTTY contest, I can find far more stations in search and pounce mode by manually tuning through the band.   I also used the Check window, which looks up call signs in the Super Check Partial database. This was also a big help in determining whether I got a call sign correct – if it cannot find a match, it suggests other similar call signs, speeding up my QSO rate.

The lower right-hand window shows my QSO rate – if this gets too low, it could indicate that it’s time to change bands.  Also, it has a band timer – there is a rule for my category that I must stay on a band for at least 5 minutes – the timer tells me when I can change bands again.

N1MM Setup - Right Monitor

N1MM Setup – Right Monitor

Here is the N1MM setup on my right monitor.  The multiplier window shows which multipliers I worked on for each band.  For this contest, the multipliers were DXCC countries and W, VE, VK, and JA call areas.  The two windows on the left are the band map windows – one for each VFO.  It shows spots and stations where I have worked. If I click on one, it tunes the VFO right to the station – useful in search and pounce mode.  The right monitor also has my QSO log, the spotting cluster access window, and the score window.  Below are the graphical statistics showing my progress during the contest, provided via an analysis program called Athena.   You can see that once the Solar Flare hit during the day on Sunday, 20m was practically the only band with steady traffic.  15m and even 10m opened up again later in the afternoon.

Performance Statistics

Performance Statistics

Since this was a European-hosted contest, I started out on Friday at 10pm Eastern Time on 40m, pointing our two SteppIRs toward Europe, which was very productive.  I spent some time on 80m, but the traffic slowed down by 3am Eastern Time, so I took a break to sleep.  I started up again Saturday morning around 9 AM and was able to run on 20m for some time.  The SteppIR beams have a Bi-directional mode which is very useful. This configuration of the SteppIRs worked really well since most of the stations in the contest were either in Europe or the US, and I could point the SteppIRs in both of these directions at the same time using the bi-directional mode.  By afternoon, 15m had opened up, and I had good runs on both 20m and 15m.  I was able to make some calls on 10m as well, but that band was not as productive.    After dark, I worked 40m toward Europe but took my break at midnight since I learned on Friday that the late hours are not so productive.  Before going to bed, I checked my email and saw a message from my local PART club that a Solar Flare was heading toward Earth and would hit by Sunday.

Sure enough, when I woke up Sunday morning, the solar storm had hit, the K-Index was 6, and all the bands were rated as poor.  I was going to give up… but AB1OC convinced me to go down to the shack and keep operating as I could still reach the closer US stations.  Surprisingly, when I turned on the IC-7800, I was hearing stations from Europe on 20m.  So I did some search and pounce until I found a run frequency.  QSOs were not coming as quickly as they did on Saturday, but I was still making them at a good pace.  20m was the only band open for most of the day. Later in the day, I turned toward the southwest and received many calls from the US and, surprisingly quite a few from Japan and New Zealand.  The SteppIRs are amazing antennas!!

DXCC Multipliers

DXCC Multipliers

My goal was a score of 1 Million, and I probably would have hit it if not for the Solar Storm.  Even so, I came pretty close, as you can see in my score data below.  I worked close to 60 countries, all US areas on most bands, many VE areas, and even a few JA areas.

Claimed Final Score

Claimed Final Score

I posted my score to the 3830 website, and as of this morning’s report, my claimed score ranked at the top of my category – I am hoping that this will hold up.   Each time I operate, I learn more about N1MM, and I’m looking forward to the next contest to learn even more about its capabilities and to be able to better take advantage of SO2V.

Anita, AB1QB

Amateur Radio Station Design And Construction

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Station Design And Construction

Station Design And Construction

A little ways back, John (W1MBG) discovered our Blog and approached us about doing a presentation for the Nashua Area Radio Club (NARC) on the design, construction, and operation of our recently completed station. The NARC group invited us to their March meeting where we shared our presentation with the nice group of folks in the Club. I wanted to post an overview of what we shared as well as a link to the full presentation so that our readers can have a look at the material and hopefully benefit from the information that we have assembled. I have also used this post as an opportunity to create an index to all of the articles on this Blog related to the design, construction, and performance of our station.

Topics Covered

Topics Covered

Our new station project involved both the construction of a dedicated room for a new shack and a tower-based antenna system. It took us about 1 1/2 years to build our station including the associated antenna system and we covered quite a number of areas during the project. Our presentation focused on some things that we did to plan and build our station that should be useful to many Hams building or upgrading anything from a simple station to an all-out effort to create a state of the art multi-op station.

Station Goals

Station Goals

I think that it’s important to begin a new or upgrade station project by thinking through and writing down the goals that you have for your new station prior to purchasing equipment or beginning construction. This step is important because it helps you to think through what you want to accomplish and serves as a high-level blueprint for making the design, equipment selection and construction decisions as you build your station.

Shack Layout

Radio Shack Layout

We put considerable time and thought into the design of the room and operating area for our new shack including many rounds of drawings and some “human engineering” to arrive at the final room layout. While not every Ham will build a dedicated room for their shack, some careful thought put into the layout of the operating and storage areas for your shack and the associated support systems is an important design step.

Antenna System Planning

Antenna System Planning

The other major element in the design of our station was a new tower-based antenna system. We had some pretty expansive goals for the band capabilities and associated performance of our new antenna system and the presentation explains how we went about developing and executing a plan to meet our goals.

Additional Antenna Construction

Additional Antenna Construction

Since the initial installation of our tower antenna system, we added an 8-Circle Vertical Receive Array for the Low Bands and we’ve reinstalled our SteppIR BigIR Vertical Antenna. These new antenna systems provide important additional performance on the low bands and during contests. We’ve also added an Antenna System and Electronics for LEO Satellites.

Station Automation

Station Automation

We’ve also installed an SO2R and Station Automation System from microHAM. The microHAM system enables much smoother and less error-prone operation of our station and enables SO2R and Multi-two operation during contests.

Virtual Station Tour

Virtual Station Tour

Our presentation includes several slides that cover the construction of our new shack and tower as well as the feedline, antenna, power, and other supporting systems. The end result of all of this work is shown via a few slides that provide a “Virtual Tour” of our station.

Virtual Station Tour - Operational Videos

Virtual Station Tour – Operational Videos

The “Virtual Station Tour” slides contain several videos. You can play these videos below.

[fvplayer id=”3″]

Other posts in this Blog contain more detailed information and many additional pictures and videos about our station. See the index of links at the end of this post to view more detail about the areas that interest you.

Station Performance

Station Performance

Our new station has been complete for several months now and we wanted to take some time to look at how it is performing against our original design goals. As you can see from the above slide, we are on a good track to meet or exceed all of the original goals that we set during the planning stage of our project.

What We Learned

What We Learned

Finally, we shared some additional information about what we learned during the project and a set of links to various sources of equipment and information that we used to complete our new station (see the full presentation). This Blog contains many more details (and pictures) about the design and construction of our station for those who are interested. Some good places to begin are categorized in the index of links below:

Shack Design and Construction:

Antenna and Tower Design:

Tower Construction:

Antenna Construction:

Tower Integration:

Station Integration:

Station Operation and Performance:

I hope that you can apply some of the ideas and information shared here to building or improving your station. We’d also like to extend a special thanks to John, W1MBG and the NARS Group for encouraging us to create and share this presentation. We are available to provide this presentation to other clubs or Ham gatherings. If your club or event is interested, please contact us at ab1oc@arrl.org.

Fred, AB1OC

Setting Up And Using A Software Defined Radio

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AB1QB Operating The Flex-3000 Software Defined Radio

AB1QB Operating Her Flex-3000 Software Defined Radio

Anita (AB1QB) has been interested in Software Defined Radio for some time now so I decided to get her a Flex-3000 Software Defined Radio (SDR) as a holiday gift. This post will share what we have learned about setting up and using the Flex-3000.

Flex-3000 Hardware And DJ Console

Flex-3000 Hardware And DJ Console

Our Flex-3000 setup includes the following hardware components:

The hardware component connections in our setup are illustrated in the following figure.

SDR Hardware Configuration

SDR Hardware Configuration

We can use our Flex-3000 barefoot (100 w) or connected through our Elecraft KPA500 amplifier (500 w). All we need to do to use the Flex-3000 with the amplifier is to connect the PTT Output on the radio to PTT IN on the amplifier, connect the amplifier in the path between the radio and the antenna switching in our shack and adjust the drive on the radio to the appropriate level to generate full output from the amplifier.

SDR Software Configuration

SDR Software Configuration

We use the PowerSDR/Flex-3000 combination with Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) 6 for automated logging, transceiver control and to operate using the digital modes via HRD’s DM780. This setup is similar to a hardware digital mode setup as described in our post on Setting Up A Digital HF Station. The major differences are:

  1. There are no physical serial cables for CAT and PPT are needed between the radio Ham Radio Deluxe
  2. No sound card is needed as the output of the Flex-3000 is already in a digital audio format inside the PC

Both of these functions are implemented via software inside the same PC that is running both PowerSDR and Ham Radio Deluxe/DM780:

  1. Two virtual serial cables for Computer Aided Transceiver (CAT) and Push To Talk (PTT) control are implemented via the Virtual Serial Port (VSP) Manager Software by K5FR
  2. The bi-directional Virtual Audio cable is implemented the Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) Software

The following are screenshots how these two programs are setup on our PC.

Virtual Serial Port (VSP) Manager Setup

Virtual Serial Port (VSP) Manager Setup

Note how each end of the Virtual Serial Port is mapped to a different COM port (COM6 <-> COM16 and COM7 <-> COM17).

Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) Setup

Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) Setup

There are two VACs setup on our PC but only one is required for HRD/DM780 and most other Amateur Radio programs which use a sound card. The VSPs and the VAC numbers must be setup in both PowerSDR and in HRD/DM780.  The exact setup on your PC may be different depending on available COM ports, etc. This information should give you the general idea of what you need to do to get all of the hardware and software working together correctly. Note that you can use any program that works with the combination of a CAT/PTT over serial cables plus a sound card interface. This approach which makes PowerSDR compatible with most Ham Radio software (ex. Software CW Keyers/Decoders, Fldigi, JT65, and others).

PowerSDR Software

PowerSDR Software Conducting A RTTY QSO

Once the hardware and software is configured as outlined above, its easy to use the HRD/DM780/PowerSDR combination to conduct Phone, CW, and Digital QSOs in the same way that you would with a conventional radio. All of the automatic logging features of HRD work correctly and digital QSOs are completed via DM780 in the usual way. The picture above shows PowerSDR being controlled by DM780 to conduct a RTTY QSO during the 2013 ARRL RTTY Roundup Contest.

I find the ability to tune the radio and adjust filtering and other audio processing very natural via the PowerSDR interface using the mouse attached to our PC. PowerSDR provides a wide-band pan-adapter interface which makes it very easy to “see” various signals on a band, tune the software to receive these signals and then apply filtering and other audio processing as needed to avoid interference, etc.

Flex-3000 Operation Via DJ Console

Flex-3000 Operation Via DJ Controller

Many operators will miss PowerSDR’s lack of a “buttons and knobs” interface provided by a conventional radio. There is an excellent add-on to PowerSDR available that uses a re-purposed audio mixing console from HERCULES to implement a more conventional interface to PowerSDR. The picture above shows a HERCULES DJ Controller which we have configured to work with the PowerSDR add-on. You will need a customized version of the PowerSDR (PowerSDR-UI) and the latest DJ Controller hardware to realize the interface. PowerSDR-UI allows the various buttons and knobs on the DJ controller to be assigned to control many of the functions provided by PowerSDR. See the following website for some ideas on how other Hams have set up the DJ Controller. There is also an yahoo group on the use of the DJ Controller and PowerSDR-UI. Once you have your interface setup the way you want it, you can use a conventional label machine to label everything on your DJ controller so that you can easily remember how to use your custom setup.

The video above shows a SSB phone QSO with John, WA0DQR on 20m using PowerSDR-UI. You can see how the radio’s pan-adapter is used to select a signal to receive by tuning via the mouse at the beginning of the QSO.

I would encourage you to experiment with an SDR if you have not used one. This technology is clearly an important part of the future of Amateur Radio. For our readers who already have a Flex or other brand of SDR, I hope that you will explore the digital modes or perhaps the DJ Controller as enhancements to your setup.

Fred (AB1OC)

The 2013 ARRL DX Phone Contest – Occasionally, Everything New Works Out

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ARRL DX Phone Contest Ops

AB1OC Operating In The ARRL DX Phone Contest

I participated in the 2013 ARRL DX Phone Contest from our recently completed New Hampshire, USA shack. This was my first serious effort in a Phone contest, and I participated in the Single-Operator, High Power Assisted category within the W/VE segment of the contest.

We have been enhancing our station’s contesting hardware and software recently. These enhancements included the addition of a microHAM MK2R+ SO2R interface the week before the contest.

microHAM MK2R+ SO2R Interface

microHAM MK2R+ SO2R Interface (Courtesy microHAM)

The MK2R+ provides a single interface to the two radios (an Icom IC-7800 and an Icom IC-9100) at my operating position. It allows one microphone, one set of headphones/speakers, one set of paddles, both radios’ FSK interfaces, and the MK2R+’s built-in sound cards to be used with both radios flexibly. I used the MK2R+ along with our logger’s voice keyer as part of the contest. I only operated using a single radio, the Icom IC-7800, in Single Operator 2 VFO (SO2V) mode in this contest as I wanted to prove in the MK2R+ in a relatively simple configuration during the first contest that we used it in. The MK2R+ also controls and shares our SteppIR DB-36 antennas between the two radios at my position.

The other major station enhancement for this contest was my first use of the N1MM Logger. N1MM is a very sophisticated contest logger that provides many features to enable a more competitive contest effort.

N1MM Screen Layout (Left Monitor)

N1MM Screen Layout (Left Monitor)

Anita (AB1QB) used N1MM as part of the 2013 CQ WPX RTTY Contest a few weeks back, so we had some experience with it prior to this contest. N1MM presents a lot of information, and I configured it to display various information on two monitors. The picture above shows the N1MM on my left monitor during the contest. This screen is the primary one that I used to operate. It contains the logging and control windows for both VFOs on my Icom IC-7800 (lower left), the spotting cluster data and band maps for the same (upper left and center tall vertical windows), and the Super Check Partial call sign checking window and my contest score window  (to the right of the two logging windows). The final two windows on this monitor are the control window for our rotators (Ham Radio Deluxe, upper right) and N1MM’s cluster telnet window (lower right).

N1MM Screen Layout (Right Monitor)

N1MM Screen Layout (Right Monitor)

The N1MM setup on my right monitor displays statistics and results for my contest operations. The windows here include my contest QSO rates (upper left), map of multipliers (countries) worked by Band (upper right), the logged calls during the contest (lower right), and my QSO rate and score statistics throughout the contest shown graphically (lower right). The graphical contest statistics are provided by a program called Athena.

Contest QSO Statistics

Contest QSO Statistics

As you can see from the picture above, Athena provides a great deal of information about my performance by Band in real-time during the contest. It is also an excellent tool for analyzing your performance after the contest is completed.

So how did the contest go? I operated for about 40 of the 48 hours of the available contest time. The following shows my final “claimed” score for the contest.

AB1OC's Claimed Score

AB1OC’s Claimed Score

Analyzing these results against other scores posted in my category on the 3830 website was very useful. When I compare the scores posted to these stats, I am pretty satisfied with the performance of my station on all bands but 160m. My 160m performance was a little weaker than the top stations in my category in this contest. My planned addition of a DX Engineering  8-Circle Receive Antenna System, which will cover 160m, plus some longer radials for my 160m Inverted-L antenna, should help.

I made extensive use of N1MM’s cluster data and band map features plus N1MM’s voice keyer to operate in Search and Pounce Mode at QSO rates which exceeded 150 QSOs per hour at times. These rates were far better than I have ever been able to achieve. N1MM’s voice keyer, coupled with some focus on improving my operating technique while running, allowed me to approach QSO rates of 200 per hour at times while running. This, coupled with decent coverage of the available multipliers, resulted in a good overall score – by far my best.

Multipliers Worked In Contest

Multipliers Worked In Contest

One of my goals in every contest is to work as many DX stations as I can towards various DX awards. This contest was also my best effort to date in this area. The picture above shows the final set of multipliers (these are DXCC entities, think of these mostly as countries) during the contest. At the 24-hour point, I worked 100 DXCC entities, earning a Phone DXCC Award in 24 hours. My final count for the contest was 120 DXCC entities.

I learned a lot about how to select which bands to operate at various times during the contest as well as how to use some of the best capabilities of N1MM. I was also able to improve my operating skills as the contest progressed. I am looking forward to the next major Phone contest so that I can apply all that I learned and hopefully perform better. I hope to finish in the top 20 within my category for this contest, which fulfills one of our major goals when we set out to construct our new station.

– Fred (AB1OC)

First Winter With A Tower

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Tower in the Snow

Tower in the Snow

It seems that our tower is holding up well in its first winter here in New Hampshire, USA. We have not had a great deal of wind or any major ice storms this year but we have had quite a bit of snow. The antennas and the other equipment on the tower seem to be holding up very well including the two large SteppIR DB36 Yagis. The picture above shows a nice contrast of the tower and its antenna against a recent snow storm in progress here in New England.

– Fred (AB1OC)

More Digital Contesting – The 2013 CQ WPX RTTY Contest

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AB1QB Op'ing CQ WPX RTTY

AB1QB Op’ing CQ WPX RTTY

Anita (AB1QB) and Fred (AB1OC) decided to enter the recent 2013 CQ WPX RTTY Contest in the Multi-op Single Transmitter, High Power category. We decided to move to the N1MM Logger and the MMTTY RTTY Decoder for this contest. This was our first use of this software, and we did some pre-contest setup and testing work using this combination to learn the new software and get it working with our radio. We used our Icom IC-7800 for this contest which has hardware FSK capability, Twin Peak Filtering, and a built-in RTTY decoder. MMTTY supports hardware FSK with this radio, which was also our first use of these capabilities in a contest. We operated for about 30 of the allowed 48 hours in the contest due to a major snow event and the associated cleanup at our QTH.

Our experiences with N1MM/MMTTY and the new radio setup were very good. We operated mostly on 40m and 20m, with some operation on 80m and 15m. We operated in Running Mode for most of the contest. The N1MM logger enabled our QSO rates to run as high as 130+ QSOs per hour. We made 1,562 QSOs, worked 609 prefixes, and worked 68 DXCC entities for a final claimed score of 2,981,664. If our placing associated with our claimed scores holds, we should finish in the top 10 entries in our North America category, making this our best contest effort to date.

The N1MM logger and associated setup made a major positive difference in our score! We recommend the N1MM/MMTTY combination to others interested in RTTY contesting. N1MM really speeds up the QSO process. We made heavy use of N1MM’s Enter Send Message (ESM) and Call Sign Stacking capabilities during the contest, and both of these features greatly improved our QSO rates. Enter Send Message allows the operator to hit the <enter> key to progress to the next stage of a QSO and automatically send the correct string. Call Sign Stacking allows the operator to grab 2-3 responding call signs after calling CQ and then respond to them without calling CQ again. The following shows a segment of an example QSO using Call Sign Stacking to respond to both KB1OIQ and NE1RD after they both respond to our CQ:

CQ CONTEST DE AB1QB
< KB1OIQ NE1RD …>
KB1OIQ UR 599 NH DE AB1QB
<TU UR 599 MA DE KB1OIQ>
TU KB1OIQ AND NOW NE1RD …

We also used the combination of MMTTY and the hardware decoder in our Icom IC-7800 to have two chances to decode received information during weak or noisy QSOs. In many cases, either MMTTY or the hardware decoder in our radio would decode key contest exchange information correctly when the other decoder did not.

We plan to add the 2Tone Decoder to our setup and enable SO2V operation for our next contest attempt. The 2Tone Decoder can do a better job decoding weak or noisy signals. SO2V operation allows us to use the second receiver in our Icom IC-7800 to tune a second QSO while completing another QSO in Search and Pounce mode. We still have much to do to improve our digital contesting skills, but we are progressing.

– Anita, AB1QB and Fred, AB1OC

Reverse Beacon Networks – PSK Reporter And WSPR

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20m Worldwide Propagation (PSKReporter)

20m Worldwide Propagation (PSK Reporter)

Reverse Beacon Networks (RBNs) are good tools for evaluating propagation conditions on a real-time basis. A conventional Beacon Network consists of a set of beacon stations around the world which transmit on known frequencies, times and power levels. A station can then listen to the beacon frequency and determine if the associated band is open to the places in the world where the beacons are located. A Reverse Beacon Network takes this one step further – each time a station that is a member of a RBN hears another station, it logs the station heard’s call sign, signal level received, mode of operation, and other data to a RBN website on the internet. The RBN website collects this data from stations all over the world and stores the data in a database for later display and analysis. An example of an RBN website is PSK Reporter. The picture above shows information from the PSK Reporter website illustrating a nice opening on the 20m band between Europe and the United States which occurred  this afternoon. Each marker on the map shows a station which is participating in the RBN and the lines indicate a path over which one of the RBN stations heard another. The PSK Reporter example shown above is displaying information about stations which heard each other on all modes including digital, CW, SSB and others.

AB1OC Station Performance on 20m (PSKReporter)

AB1OC Station Performance On 20m (PSK Reporter)

Programs like Ham Radio Deluxe/DM780, FLdigi, JT65HF, CW Skimmer, and others can act as RBN clients for PSK Reporter. You can use one of these clients along with the PSK Reporter website to do a real-time evaluation of your station’s performance and current band conditions. For example, the picture above shows the results of a 45 minute digital operating session from my station using our yagis pointed towards Europe. Using techniques like this, you can get a good idea of the real-time propagation conditions as well as how well your station is performing towards various parts of the world.  If you use a digital mode program as the client for PSK Reporter, you should check your setup options to see how you can enable it to report stations that you hear to the PSK Reporter website.

Any station which is setup for digital mode operation already has everything needed to use RBNs. Your don’t need a lot of power for RBN operation. An omnidirectional antenna works best as it will transmit and hear equally well in all directions but most any antenna will allow you to evaluate your station’s performance and propagation conditions. If you have directional antennas such as yagi’s that you can point, you can still make worldwide measurements by operating for periods of 5 minutes in a given direction followed by rotating your antennas about 45 degrees. After about 45 minutes or so, you will have operated in all directions and the results for your call sign on the RBN website you are working with should give you a good picture of your signal coverage worldwide. Also note that fixed antennas like Dipoles, Inverted-Vs, etc. work just fine for RBN use as well. The results from the RBN website will tell you where you are being heard around the world. In the case of fixed antennas, the results will reflect a combination of the directional coverage of the antenna that you used for the measurements and the prevailing band conditions.

Worldwide 20m Propagation Reported By WSPRNet

Worldwide 20m Propagation Reported By WSPRnet

Another very useful RBN tool for evaluating propagation conditions and station performance in WSPR. WSPR uses the JT65 family of protocols in combination with the WSPRNet website to allow real-time measurements of band conditions and station performance using very low power levels (typically 1w or less). The picture above shows worldwide conditions on 20m from the WSPRnet website late in the afternoon.

AB1OC Station Performance on 20m Measured via WSPR

AB1OC Station Performance On 20m Measured Via WSPR

There are a substantial number of WSPR enabled stations worldwide and any which hear a WSPR transmission from your station will report it to the WSPRnet website. As you can see from the picture above, the WSPR transmissions both sent from and heard by my WSPR station can be displayed on the WSPRnet website. This is an example of the actual performance of my station on 20m late this afternoon. You can let WSPR run at low power levels on an extended basis to enable continuous updates on the performance of your station and prevailing band conditions. If you decide to do this, it is important to properly monitor your station’s correct operation per your licensing authority’s control operator requirements.

WSPR Application On 20m

WSPR Client Application On 20m

WSPR uses a Client Application which controls your transceiver’s sending and receiving of WSPR beacon transmissions. The results are then reported to the WSPRnet website. Each transmission sequence by all WSPR stations in the world takes place on a narrow range of frequencies on each band and all stations are synchronized precisely to start and end their transmission and reception cycles on exact 2 minute intervals This synchronization along with other techniques implemented in the JT65 protocols used by WSPR allows signals sent at very low power levels (often less than 1w) to be received and decoded over long distances. In the picture above, each block of colored lines represents the WSPR transmissions heard by my station on the 20m band during a 2 minute cycle. As you can see, there was quite a bit of activity in the WSPR segment of the 20m band at the time I made the measurements. You can find the latest WSPR client software along with information on how to setup and configure the program for your transceiver on the WSJT website.

I encourage our readers to give PSK Reporter and WSPR a try. They are a very useful tool and its fun to see how your station is performing in real-time.

– Fred (AB1OC)

Digital Contesting – AB1QB Enters The 2013 ARRL RTTY Roundup

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AB1QB Contesting

AB1QB Contesting

I worked the 2013 ARRL RTTY Roundup contest this weekend for the first time with the new station and the difference from last year was amazing! I also got to use my new Flex-3000 Software Defined Radio for the contest. Band conditions were very good (the sun spot numbers were high) and 10 meters was open. I entered the contest in the Single Operator High Power category, which did not allow me to use a spotting network.

Software Defined Radio

Flex-3000 Software Defined Radio

This was the first time I tried to “Run” during a contest. That is to find a spot in the digital sub-band that nobody is using and call CQ (as opposed to “Search and Pounce”, which is to tune across a sub-band looking for stations to work). “Running” allows you to work QSOs at a much higher rate. Using our two Yagi’s and 500 watts of power from our the amplifier,  I was never “lonely” – I always had a constant stream of callers answering my CQs and sometimes several at once.

Multipliers for this contest were individual US States, Canadian Provinces, and DX Countries. To calculate your score, you multiply the total multipliers by the number of QSOs that you made. I had 111 multipliers for the contest and 759 QSOs. My total score before log checking is 84,249 (the final scores for the contest will be posted here in the near future). Below are some statistics for the QSOs that I made during the contest by area of the world and by band.

RTTY Contest Stats

AB1QB Contest QSO Statistics

Most of the US and Canadian multipliers were easy to get, but it is usually the closest (or most remote) states that are the most difficult – and I did not get Vermont or North Dakota. Saturday evening, I pointed the Yagis toward Europe and worked stations from many different European countries on 40 meters. Sunday toward the end of the contest, I was running on 20 meters with the antennas pointed West working W6s and W7s and I started seeing JA stations calling me. Before we upgraded our station, the only QSOs with JA’s in my log were made during our DXpedition to Bora Bora Island. I moved the antennas around toward Japan and worked approximately 20 Japanese stations and started completing calls with other DX stations in Asia including South Korea, Indonesia, and New Zealand.
RTTY QSO In Contest

RTTY QSO During The Contest

All in all this was a very enjoyable experience. Planned improvements for the next contest (CQ WPX RTTY) will be to work more hours (this time I took time off to sleep, working about 20.5 hours of the 30 hour contest period) and include trying to search out more DX stations. Also, we will be trying contest oriented logging software (we are considering WriteLog and the N1MM Logger). I have been using Ham Radio Deluxe because its well suited for Digital Operating and chasing awards. But logging software designed specifically for contesting will do a better job of keeping track of multipliers and duplicate contacts as the contest progresses. (Generally multiple QSOs with the same station on the same band do not count – and  also wastes precious time for you as well as the other station).

If you work contests, please complete our poll and tell us what logging software you use. This will help me to choose which contest logging software to try for the next contest.

– Anita (AB1QB)

Building An Amplifier

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Elecraft KPA500 Amplifier

Elecraft KPA500 Amplifier

I have been planning to add a medium power HF Amplifier to our station for some time now. The plan was to use an amplifier of this type for two purposes –  as an amplifier for Anita’s (AB1QB’s) position at our home station and to have an amplifier that we could take along on DXpeditions and other portable operations. After doing some research, it looked like the Elecraft KPA500 Amplifier would be ideal for this. It is small in size, can operate using either 120 VAC or 240 VAC power and has a quite reasonable weight of 26 lbs.  After dropping some not so subtle hints, I received a KPA500 kit as a holiday gift.

The Elecraft KPA500 is a no-solder kit and requires 4 – 6 hours to assemble. Just for fun, I decided to make a time-lapse video of the assembly, checkout and an initial QSO with our KPA500.

The assembly of the kit was quite straightforward and I was able to complete it in about 5 hours. The amplifier worked fine after assembly. It  performs well on all of the Amateur Bands from 160m – 6m and delivers its rated output of 500 W with 25-35 watts of drive power. The initial QSO in the video was made using our Elecraft KX3 Transceiver which provides a maximum of 12 watts of drive power to the amplifier. As you can see in the video, the KPA500 produces about 200 w output using the KX3. I have also tested the KPA500 with a 100W transceiver and found that it produces the rated output on all of the bands and runs cool and quiet. Testing with my station monitor as well as on-air reports indicate that the KPA500 produces a clean signal.

I know that some of you may be wondering how I made the time-lapse video included in this post. I found a very good how-to webpage that explains how this is done and includes links to some good software choices to perform the various steps in the process. The software and hardware that I used are listed in the credits at the end of the video for those who are interested.

Time Lapse Video Setup

Time Lapse Video Setup

The basic setup requires a digital camera on a tripod that can take a series of still images at regular intervals. My video was created using a Nikon D7000 which took a still frame  every 5 seconds. The video required a total of about 3,900 individual photos to produce a 24 fps video that is about 2:40 minutes long. A combination of Batch Photo Editing (Adobe Lightroom), Time-Lapse Assembly, and Video Editing (Apple iMovie) tools were used to complete the project.

The plan is to couple the KPA500 with Anita’s new Flex-3000 Software Defined Radio (I got a not so subtle hint too). More on the Flex-3000 and its operation with the Elecraft KPA500 will be the topic of a future post.

– Fred (AB1OC)