SteppIR Tuning Relay

Since my 4-element SteppIR antenna was graciously erected by the WVDXA members last weekend, it was now time to build up the SteppIR Tuning Relay I had purchased long ago. The SteppIR Tuning Relay is a device that connects between the PTT line of the transceiver and the PTT input of the amplifier. SteppIR specifies no more than 200 watts be applied to the antenna while it is being tuned from one frequency to another. Doing so could damage the antenna and result in an expensive and time-consuming repair.

So, Larry Phipps, N8LP, has designed a device to detect when the SteppIR is moving and break the PTT line to the amplifier during that time. You can see all of Larry's fine products on his WEB SITE. In addition to this SteppIR Tuning Relay I also own his LP-100 Digital Vector Wattmeter which I dearly love!

After unpacking and checking all the parts I began placing them on the circuit board. This consisted of sticking the leads through the plated holes, soldering them in place and cutting off the leads. I took my time attempting to do a fine job. You can see both the underside and top side of the completed board below (click on any photo to see it larger):

The assembly went easily and took about 2 hours. Once I had all the parts mounted I double checked the placement of the diodes, relay, transistor, and I.C.'s to make sure I had made no mistake. I cleaned the excess rosin off the bottom of the board and then made the simple resistance and voltage checks. Everything checked out OK. At that point I placed the circuit board in the case and buttoned it up.

During normal operation of the SteppIR antenna, an "asterisk" blinks on and off on the SteppIR control box indicating that the antenna is tuning. That is just not enough of a warning to keep you from engaging the PTT and calling the DX especially after you have clicked on a spot which caused your rig to change bands and the SteppIR is moving to the new frequency. With the SteppIR Tuning Relay in place, I now do not worry about accidentally engaging the Alpha while the antenna is moving!

Below you can see a photo of the Tuning Relay to the right of the SteppIR control box. Note that the Asterisk is blinking on the SteppIR control box and the Red LED is lit on the Tuning Relay indicating that it has interrupted the PTT line to the linear.

In tests with the amplifier all works perfectly. Now I can comfortably interface the SteppIR controller to the computer so that the antenna will automatically change to the appropriate band when I click on a spot. That is one more step to both automating the station and assuring that the operator does not forget to change the antenna when he changes bands (like I did when I was chasing K4M!)

W8TN's Antenna Project - SteppIR Installation

OK, we set the official date for the installation of the SteppIR 4-L yagi with the 30/40-M option for Sunday, 11 October 2009. I put out the call on the WVDXA Reflector for persons who would be willing to come and help with the operation. Several people responded that they would be there. However, I was more than a little surprised to see that TWELVE hams showed up to help. What a fantastic turnout! I did not get any photos of all 12 at the same time but here is a single shot with 9 of the guys (click on any photo to view it larger.) All photos except this first one were taken by Hal, W8HC.

There was a lot of discussion about what had to be done and then folks just started DOING stuff. I am still stuck in this wheelchair so all I could do was supervise from my hamshack door. I had stayed up until 2:30 a.m. the night before getting all the "parts" ready. Tim, KC8UHE, had taken me "shopping" on two days in the prior week to acquire all the bits and pieces we would need. We had communication over 2-M H.T.'s between those outside and myself in the shack so everyone knew what was happening.

Mike, NU8LL, aka the "Tower Man", arrived and hit the ground running. He began instructing the ground crew in how he wanted them to do everything while he was up on the tower. Safety was stressed all around and I'm proud to say no one received any sort of injury during this operation. Here some of the Ground Crew are shown pulling on the rope (well away from the base of the tower) to raise the antenna (L-R, KC8UHE, KE8V, WA8VPN, & N8RR):

In the following photos you can see the antenna as it reached the top of the tower and then after Mike, NU8LL, flipped it over and attached it to the mounting plate. The antenna is now UP. It sits atop a Rohn 45 tower at about 86-feet above ground. The hillside behind the house slops very steeply so that the base of the tower is 30-feet below the top of the hill.

The group was here for as long as TEN hours but when they left, the antenna was atop the tower and fully functional. All the fine details were attended to and the only job left is to run the coax through the PVC tubes up to the top of the hill and then through more PVC underneath the back yard and up into the shack. In the interim they thoughtfully brought the cables up to the hamshack window so that I could go ahead and put the station on the air (and I have!) Come Spring a 6-M beam will be installed above the SteppIR but in the meantime, I'm back on the air!

I should also mention that my wife, Evelyn, cooked up a large pot of homemade chili, and made a couple of pans of Brownies! That made for a wonderful meal break before the guys began pulling up the antenna.

Here is an 8-minute video that shows several scenes of the operation. The video was shot by Garry, W8OI. On the bottom row of the YouTube video below, you can click on the next to the last icon (a small rectangle inside a larger one) and it will switch to Full Screen mode. Press your ESC key to return to normal mode.



As an extra added benefit to the day, the DX'er Emeritus of the WVDXA, Bob Hall, W8QHG, was celebrating his 93rd birthday the very next day. So, unknown to Bob, the WVDXA surprised him with a Birthday Cake and a Card signed by all the club members present. He was truly surprised and I was amazed that he stayed here for 6 hours watching the installation. Here is a short video of the presentation of Bob's Card and Birthday Cake:



Below you see the beneficiary of all this work, W8TN, peering longingly out of the hamshack door. I so wished I could have been out there in the middle of all this activity.

I want to especially thank all those who were here that day:

Bob, W8QHG - Charlie, N8RR - Pete, K4OM - David, W8IW - Lonny, WA8ZDL - Dwight, KC8WDT - Garry, W8OI - Mike, KE8V - Hal, W8HC - Bob, WA8VPN - Tim, KC8UHE - And, our Tower Man, Mike, NU8LL.

I also want to thank those other members of the WVDXA who helped previously both in person and on the email reflector. It is my privilege and honor to belong to such a wonderful group of hams. It just doesn't get any better than this!

Now, Bring On the DX - I'm READY!

W8TN's Antenna Project - Phase III

A funny thing happened today. I had a mis-communication this week with Mike Null, NU8LL, about when he was going to come and do some work on the tower project. So, about 1:30 p.m. Mike called to say he was on his way to the house and was apologizing for taking so long to find all his equipment. WOAH! The last communication I had with him was me asking him how many folks he needed to help him. Somehow, I never received the email he sent me on Thursday night so I thought the work was called off due to the chance of rain today. Mike thinks he was in a bad coverage area all day yesterday and his iPhone failed to properly send the email to me due to lack of network coverage.

THANK GOODNESS Tim, KC8UHE, was off work and agreed to drop everything and come up here to help. I sure hope Tim did not miss a chance to work FT5GA because of his unselfishness!

Above you see the entire crew for today's work. Mike on the left and Tim on the right. That meant Mike was the "tower guy" and Tim was "ground crew." It also meant that Mike stood on the tower for a few hours while Tim ran up and down the hill - again, and again and again! Poor Tim, his legs must be killing him tonight.

Below you can see a close up shot of Mike in his climbing gear. Also, another shot of him on the top of the tower. I had one little "clearing" in the trees where I could see him from the hamshack. So, I shot this photo through the window in the shack. He is right at the top of the tower.

You can click on any photo to see a larger image.

Anyway, in about four hours this two-man crew accomplished the following: removed the TailTwister rotor from the tower, removed the current rotor cable, installed a new thrust bearing on the top accessory shelf, installed the M2 Orion 2800AC rotor (that puppy weighs 45 pounds!) - the installation of the bigger rotor meant the mounting holes had to be slightly enlarged so Mike had to mount and remove the rotor in order to get the holes right. They then pulled up and connected the new rotor cable, dropped the mast onto the new rotor, secured the thrust bearing and did several other small jobs associated with this rotor installation.

In addition, Tim sprayed more Roundup and cleared the brush from the guy anchor positions. I think there is one small tree that still needs to be removed and that may require Papa November's brush cutter.

On Thursday I had prepared the pigtail on the rotor with a quick disconnect connector and ran the rotor through its check out and calibration routine. While the first part of the work was being done today, I installed the mating connector on the rotor cable which was just delivered by UPS yesterday.

The good news now is once we acquire a couple of missing flat washers and some stainless steel spacers, 200-feet of PVC and a "pull box" to connect the PVC together, and some other miscellaneous items - we are READY to pull up the SteppIR! Tom, AB8RL, came by on Tuesday and went over the hill with the SteppIR controller and an MFJ-259B and confirmed that the antenna functions properly after its two-year hibernation standing beside the tower.

Pizza Hut kindly delivered a pizza for the crew at the end of their work so everyone got some calories to make up for all that were expended today. The completion of this project is getting so close that I can almost smell the finish line!

W8TN's Antenna Project - Phase II

I have not reported on "Phase I" of my antenna project before but suffice it to say that Tim, KC8UHE, came and cleared a lot of brush around the base of the tower and around the SteppIR antenna. He also sprayed a few gallons of Roundup to kill off the brush so there will be space to work when erecting the antenna. Also, Pete, K4OM, came one day and we attempted to install an "N" connector on the hardline for the 6-M beam - but we failed. Apparently there is some coating on the center conductor that prevented it from making sufficient contact with the center pin. Now that we know about that problem, we are ready to do it again.

Today, 4 willing souls arrived beginning at 9 a.m. to work on Phase II of the project. This involved digging a trench to bury three 2-inch PVC pipes (which will eventually carry the coaxes and control lines) and install a No. 4 solid copper ground wire and 2 ground rods. Below you see Pete, K4OM, Steve, KC8FVE, and Tim, KC8UHE hard at work on the trench (click on any photo to enlarge it):


As the work progressed, we moved Pete, K4OM, into more of a management position. Here you see him directing the work from the shade of the steps to the ham shack:


Below you see my step-son, Darren, KC8QGV, coming up the hill from doing some chain saw work to cut a clear path to the tower. Also, Pete, K4OM, is installing the ground rod just outside the shack. Because of the rocky soil, we had to angle this rod a bit but were able to sink about 7 feet of in in the ground. In the third photo below, you can see Steve, KC8FVE, just about to reach the point where we stopped pounding in the ground rod.

A 200-foot roll of No. 4 solid copper was purchased (ouch!) and it was run under the house and up into the ham shack. It exits the house where the PVC pipes do and will later be bonded to the ground rods just outside the shack and where the ground begins sloping down to the tower. I will also put ground rods about every 16-feet down to the tower and this No. 4 will be bonded to all of them and to the three rods that will surround the tower.

All that remains of this portion of the project is to acquire about 200-feet of 2-inch PVC and run it to the base of the tower, install a junction box at the top of the hill and another at the tower and then begin running the feedlines up to the shack. This is a HUGE step forward in getting to the point where we can put the antenna up and hook it all together. My hat is off to all the guys who have helped up to this point! I sincerely appreciate all the excellent help and am now getting really anxious to see the antenna finally at the top of the tower.

P.S. I also need to thank my wife, Evelyn, for providing a great lunch for everyone. The guys partook of hotdogs with homemade chili and slaw, homemade Bar-B-Que, chips and dip, veggies and dip, and they even tried some Humus. I did a little fetching and carrying in my wheel chair and after Tim, Steve, and Pete tried to open the PVC glue, they had to turn to the old guy in the wheel chair to open the can with his bare hands! What can I say?

A-1 Operator Club

Looking on the ARRL web site, you will find the following description of the A-1 Operator Club.

Only the best operators can qualify for the A-1 Operator Club, amateurs who have met the highest operating standards. But you can't apply; you must be recommended independently by two amateurs who already belong to the A-1 Operator Club. Who knows? Fine-tune your operating skills, and one of these days you may be pleasantly surprised when the mailman delivers an A-1 Operator Club certificate.

The A-1 Operator Club was first organized in May 1933. By 1934 there were 400 members and in 1938 the club hit the 1,000 mark. That number had only reached 3,000 by 1995 because, as the A-1 Operator Club newsletter states:

Then, as now, nominations were not made lightly; through the years, recognition as an A-1 Operator has represented an unsolicited acknowledgment of one's high standing among one's peers.

In 2008, just 207 amateurs were appointed to the Club. As of June 15, 2009, there are a total of 5,354 on the roster.

On Monday, June 15, 2009, I was more than "pleasantly surprised" to receive a certificate stating that "Clark Stewart, W8TN, is a member of the ARRL A-1 Operator Club." What a surprise! I have no way to tell who nominated me for membership in this august group but in looking over the roster, I see many well-known calls including at least 14 members of the WVDXA! So, whoever felt that I was worthy of nomination into the A-1 Operator Club, I sincerely thank you for your nomination and will strive to live up to the ideals of this group.

Building a 40-M 1/4-wave Vertical for KC8UHE

Today KC8UHE and I undertook to build and install a 1/4-wave, 40-Meter vertical at his QTH. Tim had a 21-foot telephone pole already installed (left-over from a prior antenna project) so we decided to use that as the support for the antenna. We had previously ordered 6 telescoping pieces of aluminum tubing from DX Engineering. The smallest was 1/2" in diameter and the largest was 1-1/8 inches. We planned to slip the pieces into each successively larger piece to build up a 33-foot long radiator. We also purchased two Resin Support Block Clamps from DX Engineering (see one HERE) and planned to screw these to the telephone pole to support the vertical.

Last night I cut off a short piece of perforated metal strap, used a chassis punch and drill to make the mounting holes for a chassis-mount SO-239 connector, and bent it into an L-shape to attach to the telephone pole. A short jumper from the center pin of that connector would connect to the vertical radiator.

Tim drilled some pilot holes and then I lifted up the 33-foot piece of tubing and he secured the Upper Mounting Clamp to the vertical at about 20-feet above ground. This meant Tim was on one ladder near the top of the pole and I was on a shorter one to the side where I could hold the bottom of the vertical about 10-feet above ground. Then Tim moved down and installed the second Mounting Clamp. At this point, the vertical was UP!

We then screwed the mounting bracket with SO-239 connector to the telephone pole and connected the center pin to the vertical tubing. Three elevated radials were then cut at 33-feet and a spade lug soldered to the end that would attach to the SO-239 bracket. We put a couple of lag bolts into the pole to take the strain of the radial wires off the spade lug ends and just wrapped the wire around the lag bolt in a simple over-hand knot. Below you can see the Lower Mounting Bracket, the coax connector & bracket and the radials attached to the lag screws. Click on the photo for a larger view.

The final step was to wind the end of the RG-213 feedline into an RF Choke to decouple the feedline from the antenna. We purchased a piece of PVC that was 4-1/2 inches in diameter and wound about 23-feet of feedline in 18 turns on the form and secured it with Ty-Raps. See THIS PAGE for similar chokes. Below is a photo of our RF Choke (click on the photo to see a larger image):

Checking the antenna with the MFJ-259 we found the antenna to be a bit too short. So, Tim climbed back up the ladder and loosened the clamps to let the pieces of tubing telescope back down for three sections. He then lengthened the amount of tubing that was above each section so that we raised the height of the antenna by about a foot. This brought the resonant point of the antenna down to 7.19 MHz. At that point the antenna had an SWR of 1.1:1 and exhibited a 50 ohm impedance. Down at 7.025 MHz, the SWR had climbed to 1.5:1 so that was still acceptable. We may lengthen the antenna some more after Tim has a chance to use it a bit but for now, it seems to be A-OK. And, total cost of this antenna (less the feedline) was under $100.

Below is a photo of the completed antenna. Click on the photo for a larger image. You can see more photos of our project on THIS PAGE.

At 4:45 p.m. we checked the radio and had excellant copy on 9K48NLD in KUWAIT on 40-M SSB!! This was more than 1-1/2 hours BEFORE our sunset! I just can't wait to see who Tim works with this Monster! (Now I need to get the splinters out of my hands!)

Beverage (Antenna, That is!)

With Charlie, N8RR, having FOUR Inverted-L antennas for 160-M, he is hearing a good deal better than I. He has worked ZD8UW a couple of times and I can barely hear that station (and have no QSO's!) So, I decided to put up a Beverage antenna aimed at ZD8 and began to gather together the parts. Thankfully I had almost everything I needed. I had previously acquired the 9:1 transformer, pre-amp, and miscellaneous small parts from Lance Johnson Engineering. I had intended to put up a Beverage last fall but just had not gotten around to it.

You can see in the above photo (bottom row) ground rod clamp, insulators, split nuts (to connect the "Ground Drop" and "Feed Drop" wires, and a coax connector. I had to make a run to Radio Shack for a barrier strip, some spade lugs, and a couple of 1-K, 1-watt resistors (put in parallel they give 500 ohms.) That was a "guess" at the termination resistor. Later I'll fine-tune the antenna for the best Front-to-Back and put the exact value resistor there.


I had also previously purchased 500-feet of RG-6 coax and 500 feet of No. 14 solid copper insulated wire. I had a couple of 4-foot ground rods in the garage (one shown above) and only need to pick up a couple of ground rod clamps, some extra split nuts (in case I dropped one) and a new needle nose/wire cutter that would handle No. 10 wire. I had some No. 10 wire that I planned to use for the "Ground Drop" and "Feed Drop."

I then set about adding an additional 45-feet of No. 15 to the 500-foot spool as I was shooting for a 540-foot Beverage. Then I put spade lugs on the "Ground Drop" wire so I could easily connect it to the barrier strip where the termination resistor would be mounted. I soldered the two resistors together and to some spade lugs so they could be easily mounted. I installed a PL-259 on one end of the RG-6 and I put another PL-259 on the "Feed Drop" so I could easily connect it to the 9:1 transformer box.

After all this "prep" work, I put on my warm coat and loaded myself down with a canvas bag containing my tools, electrical tape, the prepared "Drops", the transformer, the pre-amp, spare gloves, compass, drinking water, etc. I then hung the 545-foot spool of No. 14 over the other shoulder. I stuck the two ground rods through my belt on one side and put the sledge hammer through my belt on the other. I then picked up the 500-foot spool of RG-6, several dowel rods I planned to use to support the wire (along with electric fence insulators that were in the tool bag.) And picked up my lightest step ladder and headed for the hill behind the house.

Some of you know how steep that hill is. Of course I was not able to make it down in one trip, loaded like a pack mule. I had to ferry some of the stuff down and come back for the rest. I should note that the "prep" work took a lot longer than I had planned and it was 4:30 p.m. as I descended the hill.

I quickly picked a sturdy tree to serve as the "hub" for my future "Beverage Farm" and, using the step-ladder, climbed up and secured one end of the Beverage. I then used the split nut to clamp the "Feed Drop" to that end of the Beverage and connected that to the 9:1 transformer box. Later I would connect the transformer to the pre-amp with a short length of RG-8X coax.

It was now after 5:00 p.m. and I was starting to lose the light. So I took a heading with my compass and took off into the woods. This was where the adventure began. I walked, and walked, and walked (ALL DOWNHILL) and played out the Beverage wire as I went. I utilized local supports (tree limbs, bushes, etc.) to support the wire, stopping every so often to take a new bearing. As I got within about 75-feet of the end of the wire, I ran across a place where three large trees had fallen. I had to climb over the fallen trunks and make my way through very think brush to reach the end of my trek.

At that point I had a nice tree for the end support but had to cut off about 10-feet of the wire. I had not been able to drag the step-ladder with me so I just tied it off as high up as I could reach. Here is a photo of the "front" end of the Beverage.


Yep, it's kinda dark out by now. In fact, I had to hold a flashlight in my mouth in order to do all the work at this end. I then connected the "Ground Drop" with another split nut (covering the connection with Scotch 88 electrical tape) and then used the sledge hammer to drive in the two ground rods about a foot apart. I connected the previously prepared ground wire with the spade lug to the ground rods and the spade lug end was connected to the barrier strip with the terminating resistor (the other end of the resistor was connected to the "Ground Drop.") Below you can barely see the tops of the ground rods and the ground rod clamps with the No. 10 wire connecting them.
Now I drank one of my bottles of water and took a breather before gathering up my tools and heading back. Here is where I began to think I might be out here for awhile. I could barely see the lights from my house and they looked like they were at a 45° angle from me!! Man that hill looked steep. But, I knew I had to trudge back up it and I was certainly thankful for both the flashlight and the fact that I had the Beverage wire to follow! Without that, I might STILL be wandering around down there.

It took me 25 minutes to cover that 500 feet back to the Beverage hub. I quickly connected the pre-amp and began laying out the RG-6 cable back toward the house. I had now made it back to the "haul road" behind my house, just 250 feet from my garage (but about 100 feet in elevation!) My wife, Evelyn, had called me on the cell phone 4 times by now, concerned for my safety. At this point I used the flashlight to blink at her so she could see where I was in the dark night.

I finally made it back to the top of the hill but it did take two trips to get the ladder and tools up and the RG-6. As you can see by the next photo, I did my best to insure that the antenna would play by shedding a little blood on it!


At the house (after I put away the ladder and tools) I connected the RG-6 to a PL-259 and put that into the "Power Signal" box that sends the DC voltage down to the pre-amp and returns the RF signal to the receiver.

Now comes the point in this treatise where I expected to be able to tell you that I could hear the ZD8 just like a local. However, that is not the case. The antenna seemed to not be working at all. I was crushed. I had been "over the hill" for more than 3 hours and it was nearly 8 p.m. I had spent all day on this project and had nothing to show for it.

After making what tests I could, I called Steve at Lance Johnson Engineering and he walked me through some tests that finally resulted in my replacing the cable that ran from the "Power Signal" box to the remote antenna jack on my transceiver. The first cable I had used was apparently faulty. The antenna now seemed to work but the ZD8 was not on 160-M. He was working SSB on 75-M. So, I tuned up there and worked him as I still need a confirmation for that band.

I guess I'll just have to wait for tomorrow evening for him to come back on 160-M to see if all my work will pay off. It's 2:15 a.m. now and I'm so tired and sore that I will probably sleep till noon. I'll post here again with the results of the antenna's performance once I determine what that is.

Google Releases their Browser - Chrome

Google has entered the Internet Browser arena and has released their own browser called Google Chrome.  I've downloaded and installed it.  I had it import my Mozilla Firefox settings, bookmarks, etc. and all went flawlessly.  When you first run it there is a tab with several of the new features shown and you can watch a You-Tube video of how each feature works.  I spent about 5 minutes watching the various videos so that I would have some idea of how Chrome works.  So far, it seems to be pretty fast.  And, all my bookmarks imported in just the same order as they were in Mozilla.

If you like Tabs, here are some of the features of the Tabs in Chrome:

• The tabs are at the very top of the screen - I like this.
  
• There is a "+" sign to the right of the last tab.  Click on this to open a new tab.
  
• Click & Hold then drag to reposition any tab.  You can change the order the tabs appear really fast!
  
• Drag a tab away from the top of the screen and it opens in a new window - COOL!
  
• Right-click in the blank area to the right of the tabs and choose "Task Manager" and you can see how much of your memory and CPU resources each tab is using.

I've opened several pages (some that I know are a bit slow) and I swear, it sure seems like it is working faster than Firefox.  I'm listening to my "Beachboys" channel on Pandora radio in one tab while I'm doing all this.  

BACK and FORWARD buttons.  Smaller than Firefox but just "click & hold" on either to see the history.  That's an improvement.  Just one button to access.  Overall the whole look is cleaner and leaner than Firefox. More "stuff" from the page I'm viewing is being displayed on my monitor.

I just signed onto my Blog and it did not even ask for my password (just like in Firefox) so that imported successfully.  I made a modification to my last Blog post and the update was made and displayed in record speed.  I can't get an actual number for the speed improvement but it seems to be 50% faster (at least) in some cases.

Now that I've visited a few web sites, when I open a new Tab, it shows thumbnails of my "favorite" web sites.  At least on the four sites it is displaying, this does not see to be too useful (except it gives me a very fast way to click on a commonly accessed web site.

OK, the "One Box for Everything" concept is going to take a little bit of getting used to.  However, I think it can be another vast speed improvement.  You have just one "Box" to type text into.  This is both an "Address" box AND a "Google Search" box AND a "History" search box combined.  I typed in "WB2D" and after each letter I got pop-ups below the box where Chrome was trying to guess at what I wanted.  When I had typed all of "WB2D" I hit Enter and it took me to the Google search engine with 10 results displayed.  

At this point I'm extremely pleased with Google Chrome.  You may want to download it and see what you thing but at this point, I'm Thumbs Up!  CLICK HERE for the Google Chrome download page.  And, if you just want to watch the You-Tube videos of the various features, CLICK HERE for that.  Oh, it's only available for XP and VISTA at this point.

Software Defined Radio

The WV DX Association has been asked to prepare the 2008 DX Forum for the 50th Annual WV ARRL Convention (and Roanoke Division Convention) and I have agreed to give a demonstration of the software program, CW Skimmer, at that Forum. In preparing for that, I realized in order to fully display all the power of CW Skimmer I needed to be able to input a broadband portion of the radio spectrum. CW Skimmer works well with just the 3 kHz passband of a regular transceiver but it works SO much better if it can see a larger slice of the band.
This can be done with a very simple, direct conversion type receiver which delivers I-Q audio signals to a computer's sound card. The receiver downconverts a 48 kHz section of RF and then quadrature samples that and produces two signals at audio frequencies which represent that RF but which have a 90° phase difference with each other. The computer then takes those signals and processes them in much the same way a regular radio does.
In searching for a simple way to do this, I came across the SoftRock series of "Software Defined Radios" (SDR for short.) These are sold as kits by Tony Parks, KB9YIG, of Springport, IN. I contacted Tony via email and he agreed to build a 40-M version of the SoftRock Lite version 6.2 receiver for me. THANKS TONY! Below you can see a photo of the completed receiver. It is just 1.5 inches square. (Click on the photos for a larger view.)


Connecting this radio could not be simpler. An antenna is connected to the antenna input, 9 VDC to the black/red wires, and the Stereo Audio Output cable is plugged into the Line (or Microphone) input of the computer. Now all you need is the "software" portion of the "Software Defined Radio." For that I downloaded THREE different programs which were all FREE! Click on the names of the programs to visit their respective web sites:

Rocky by VE3NEA who is also the author of CW Skimmer.
KGKSDR by MØKGK.
SDRadio by I2PHD.

I was able to use all three of those programs with the SoftRock 40 just fine. All have a different "look and feel" and have different features. You can also use PowerSDR which is the software used with the FLEX radios sold by Flex Radio Systems. They produce a very high-end SDR that you may have read about in a recent QST review.

But, since my purpose in acquiring the SoftRock 40 was to demonstrate CW Skimmer, I needed to download and get that program running. That turned out to be a simple task. HERE is the page that describes CW Skimmer. You can download a 30-day free trial from the "Download" link on the top right of that page.

Below you can see what I was able to copy on the SoftRock 40 using CW Skimmer for about 4 minutes on Saturday night. The list of stations copied by CW Skimmer totals 31 including: 9A2EU, F3NB, GM4FAM, HA9PP, I2AZ, LZ3FN, RA1AR, UT7NW and VE1DT among several others. Not too shabby for just a 1-1/2 inch square circuit board, a laptop computer and an 80-M Inverted-V antenna!!


I will demonstrate several other VERY interesting features of both the SDR radios and CW Skimmer at the 2008 DX Forum at Jackson's Mill on Sunday, August 24th, at 9:30 a.m. Oh, I should mention, as I stated above, the software part is FREE and the SoftRock 40 kit costs a whopping $10. WOOF! That's the best "bang for the buck" I've seen in a LONG time!

Japan on 6-M via E-skip

My last post about a wire antenna for 6-M shows what you can do with very little antenna. But, sometimes you need more. So, I purchased a 4-L yagi from Directive Systems and installed it INSIDE my attic! The very next morning I was able to work TO5E for a New One (No. 102) on 6-M. Yippee!

But, a couple of days later, Tim, KC8UHE, pointed out a spot on 6-M where stations were working Japan. What? You can't do that I said. Too many Es hops. But, apparently it IS possible because on July 8th, both KC8UHE and I actually DID hear a JA station. I copied the full callsign of JE1BMJ on just that 4-L yagi in the attic. I did not have the amp wired into my station then so had no chance to call him but Tim did call and the JA came back but no QSO resulted.

Who wudda thunk it? Japan via E-skip. Un-real.

In fact, the station we heard, JE1BMJ, is pretty much considered to be the guy who discovered this mode of propagation. He has written an article on the subject called Short-path Summer Solstice Propagation (SSSP) and you can download a copy HERE:

The next night I was better prepared and was able to actually record a Japanese station as I heard him on the 4-L ATTIC antenna. HERE is an MP3 file of that. What is being transmitted is "de JHØRNN K" and you might have to listen to the file a couple of times to pull it all out but it is all there.

This is just amazing to me that I am able to hear Japan on 6-M in the summer. AND, using just a 4-L yagi in my attic to boot! This is the first time I have EVER even HEARD Japan on the Magic Band in 44 years of operating on 6-M! Outstanding!

6-Meters with a Wire Antenna

Well, the June ARRL VHF Contest suddenly appeared on my radar and I "still" did not have a 6-M antenna in the air at the new QTH. And, since my friend Steve, KØCS, was mounting a rover expedition to Capulin Mountain (an extinct volcano) in New Mexico, I thought it would be really cool to be able to work him while he was there. So, on Friday afternoon I gathered some old RG-8X coax that had been in my last "flood" plus a couple of pieces of PVC pipe for a support and I proceeded to erect a 6-M Inverted-V just outside the shack. Below is a photo of the antenna:


Once I had the antenna up, I got on the air with the Kenwood TS-2000 and made my first 6-M QSO from the new QTH with Tim, KD4LEJ. I figured the new antenna was working quite well and I had probably hooked up with a Florida station. However, when I told KD4LEJ I was in Hurricane, WV, he replied, "I'm in Hurricane, WV!" DUH! Great DX, huh? But, later that night I did work a couple of FL stations so the antenna did seem to radiate.

Then on Saturday afternoon the contest started. My first QSO was W6OAL in Parker, CO. That appeared to be a good omen. As the contest went on, I was working a lot of 5-land stations and sometimes a station in FL. I had to quit after about 3 hours to attend my wife's high school reunion but when I got home, the band was still open. In fact, stations from Texas were STILL being copied my me at 1:50 a.m. when I finally pulled the plug.

Sunday morning yielded a nice opening to New England and I had one 10 minute run where I worked 13 stations. Not quite what I can do on HF but considering just a wire antenna, I was very happy.

Over the course of the contest I managed to work a couple of Canadians, one station in Mexico and a nice QSO with Oscar, CO2OJ, in Cuba Sunday evening. The contest still has almost an hour to run so I might still snag another QSO or another multiplier but right now I have 128 QSO's with 59 Multipliers for a total score of 7,552 Points. Not the best score I've ever turned in but considering I was only using a wire antenna, I'm one VERY happy camper!

So, as it was with the Monster-L, you just never know what you can do until you give it a try.

W8TN Installs Filters in W8QHG's FT-1000MP MkV

At the 2008 Dayton Hamvention, Bob, W8QHG, had me pick up two crystal filters and a roofing filter for his Yaesu FT-1000MP MkV. It was cheaper to have them shipped than to pay Ohio Sales Tax so that's what I did (but I still got the 10% Dayton discount!) Once the filters arrived I needed to go down to Bob's and install them. I had already done this on my FT-1000MP so I was somewhat experienced. Below is a shot of me doing the install snapped by Bob. I tell you, that Optivisor is the berries when it comes to seeing small items!

Things went really well until we hooked the radio back into the station and heard ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! RATS! What had I screwed up? The radio seemed to work in all regards but as Bob commented, "It sounds like there is no antenna connected." Well, we tripled checked that the antenna wire was plugged into the correct jack and that antenna jack was selected in the radio and the antenna switch was turned on and in the proper position - but still - NOTHING! So, a break for lunch was in order.

After being refreshed at Bob Evans we returned to Bob's QTH, removed the radio from the station, removed the 15 case screws and pulled the case apart to check and see what might have been messed up. Just as I got the case apart I heard Bob exclaim "OH, NO!" That was when he realized we had failed to connect the antenna wire from the station to the outside antenna cable where he removes it for lightning protection. DUH! You would think two guys with all our combined experience would have thought of that already. NOT!

So, another "lesson learned." Don't overlook the obvious. Bob hit the nail on the head when he said it sounded like there was no antenna connected - because there WASN'T! Once we checked out everything, re-assembled the radio and re-installed it in his station, it performed flawlessly! The filters helped out quite a bit and Bob was pleased with his purchase.

Now, I seem to have heard that KC8UHE bought a roofing filter for his FT-1000MP MkV at Dayton and I think W8UV has one on his shelf as well. Maybe I should just set up a small assembly line and get all those rigs done at once, hummm . . .

W8TN Now WSPR'ing on HF

Have you ever wondered just how much power it takes to communicate on Ham Radio? Or, if a particular band is really open for communication? Well, Ham Radio's Nobel laureate, Joe Taylor, K1JT, has recently written a new piece of digital soundcard software for HF Propagation. It is called WSPR (pronounced "whisper") and stands for "Weak Signal Propagation Reporter." You can see a screen shot of the program running HERE.

Basically this software runs on your computer and transmits and receives over your HF (or VHF) radio. Running very low power (on the order of 1/2 to 5 watts) the program allows reception of signals at distances and times of the day that most DX'ers might think impossible for that power level.

To give it a try I downloaded the software from Joe's web site HERE, installed in on my computer and configured it by typing in my callsign, my grid, the power level I was running in dBm and the soundcard numbers for input and output. Within a few minutes I had it operational and was transmitting on 30-M at a power level of 32 dBm (less than 1.6 watts!) This was between 4 and 6 p.m. today so I was not really able to utilize any nighttime propagation. Over a period of 40-minutes here is a list of the stations I was able to copy (click on the box below to enlarge it):
Note that I was able to copy SV8CS at a distance of 5242 miles while he was running 5 watts. This took place 3 hours BEFORE my sunset. Also, here is a list of stations that were able to copy me while I was running just under 1.6 watts output power:

Best DX of stations that heard me was IV3GTH at a distance of 4612 miles. Oh, did I forget to mention that I do not have a 30-M antenna! Yep, I was using my 80-M Inverted-V as an antenna with the FT-1000MP MkV's internal tuner. Without the tuner the SWR was 4.92 : 1.

If you wonder how I was able to determine who heard me, there is a web site that allows stations to upload their logs so everyone can see who has heard them (and who else is being heard.) It even has a map that shows the paths that are open on any particular band. That web site (which has a Chat/Sked Page, Forums and other useful information) is available HERE. BTW, I was the 344th distinct callsign reported using this mode.

Tonight I plan to fire up my WSPR signal on the Monster-L and see who can hear me on Top Band with such low power. I'll add a note to this post after tonight's session.

160-M Addendum: Well, my evening on 160-M was not quite as exciting as on 30-M this afternoon but still VERY interesting. I copied F6IRF at 10-watts and he copied me at 10-W. He is in JN35au so that is 4,312 miles on Top Band with just 10-watts at each end. Later I was copied by F1US when I was transmitting at 3-watts! He is in JN04fv so that is 4,099 miles at just THREE watts! On 160-M no less! Pretty awesome if you ask me. Also, my 3-watt signal was heard by GI3HXY at 3,580 miles.

An interesting footnote is that I checked over 1,000 spots from 0245 to 0500 GMT and my 10-W contact with F6IRF was the LONGEST one reported! That is, except for one report where K4CML copied CM8RF who was running 126 watts. Not quite in the same league I'd say. Thank you Monster-L!

Serious DX on Top Band

On Tuesday night 160-M sounded very quiet. The night before I had worked 5T5DC but conditions were lousy. But, Tuesday they sounded so much better I set the alarm for 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning to try and work something out in the Pacific. When I struggled awake to the blaring of the radio I almost turned over and went back to sleep. I had only been in bed about 3-1/2 hours and was rather bleary-eyed. But, I turned on the radio instead to see what was afoot.

I heard W8JI and AA1K calling CQ but not a trace of any DX signals. Then, I heard W8JI working someone and it turned out to be VK6HD! I had never heard a VK6 so I listened and was just barely able to copy him. So, I started warming up the amp, just in case.

There was nothing being spotted on the PacketCluster so things did not look too good. I tuned around a bit more and then heard K1JO a bit above W8JI and he was working VK6HD! I still did not have great copy on VK6HD but thought I'd set up shop a couple of kc. above K1JO and see what happened if I called "CQ DX."

Lo and behold, after my very first CQ (my first CQ DX in quite a long time - years maybe) I was answered by VK6HD !! WOW! His signal was now MUCH better than before. (As it turned out, it was just exactly my sunrise and one day before the spring equinox.) The QSO we had was not pretty as I was so nervous I could barely work the paddles. But I completed the QSO with Mike (VK6HD) successfully. This was the longest DX I have EVER worked on 160-M.


As you can see by the above map (Click on it for a larger view), VK6HD is just 1,128 miles away from the point that is the exact opposite side of the world from me. And, there is nothing very near that point (except water) so I expect that this will stand as my longest QSO (on the Earth) EVER! The distance from my QTH to VK6HD's QTH is 11,313.4 miles. WOOF! That's a haul, AND I did it on Top Band with the Monster-L!

Oh, and when I turned to the computer to log the QSO, I saw the following on the PacketCluster:

W8TN 1829.1 19 Mar 11:41 VK6HD tnx

VK6HD had spotted ME as if I was rare DX! Amazing!

By the way, it was 7:41 a.m. here in Hurricane, WV, when I made this QSO but it was 8:41 P.M., TOMORROW, for VK6HD! I worked him on Wednesday MORNING my time but it was Thursday EVENING, his time! Aren't you glad we use GMT for our logs and QSL's?

I'm now up to 110 Countries Worked and 72 Confirmed on 160-M. VK6HD gives me a new Zone so I now have 27 Zones Worked and 19 Confirmed. The last 12 weeks have just been a hellava good time for me on 160-M.

VP6DX - A Clean Sweep

With the VP6DX DX'pedition to Ducie Island drawing to a close, it has now broken the record for the most QSO's worked by any previous DX'pedition. Many people have managed to work Ducie for a new one or for new Bands or Modes that they were not able to do in previous DX'peditions. Personally, I only had three Bands and two Modes confirmed from previous operations.

But, now that I have moved to the New QTH on the Top of the Hill, and have installed the Monster-L for 160-M, I decided to see if I could fill in some of those needed Bands and Modes. As you can see from the VP6DX "Leader Board" below, I managed to do that - in style!


I do not believe I have ever swept a DX'pedition on ALL Bands and Modes they were operating on before. And, this is especially pleasing since I only have two antennas - an 80-M Inverted-L and the Monster-L for 160-M. All other bands were worked by loading one or the other of those two antennas with a Drake MN-2000 tuner. Working 20 Band/Mode "slots" is the MOST that ANY operator has accomplished with this DX'pedition! But, I'd trade a lot of those "slots" for a single 6-M QSO - Hi!

The most difficult contact by far was the 30-M RTTY QSO - and it was the last one I made. I probably spent 5 hours on the air calling them on that Band/Mode. Being restricted to 200-watts on 30-M and not having a 30-M antenna was really a challenge. But, as the DX'pedition was drawing to a close, lots of folks had already made their QSO's and that left room for the "little pistols" to make it into the log.

Now that I have all the "Greenies" showing in the VP6DX log, I'll send for my QSL's using their on-line QSL request service. And, I'll include an extra contribution for the huge expenses incurred by this operation to take all their equipment to such a remote location and, at the bottom of the sunspot cycle, pull off one of (if not THE) best DX'peditions of all time! Thanks VP6DX!