Radio W4KAZ Thanks for stopping by the virtual KazShack. Feel free to comment - I often approve them.
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By w4kaz, created on 2009.04.09 at 06:22:12 | last changed on 2015.03.17 at 09:48:32 | Engineer the possible. The “best” is too often the enemy of “good enough”. Â If you wait until you have “The Best”, you may miss out on a lot of operating. Â Â Better to aim for “the best POSSIBLE”, i.e., what can be accomplished within the constraints of resources and time frame available.
The recently completed W4KAZ SO2R box is going to be something “New” in the KazShack. But the choices made in building it are all “old” technology. It is a case of engineering the possible.
This has been a project that I have flipped and flopped on. The choice made was based on practicality rather than “the best” approach. The best approach would have been to utilize a new computer and the USB rather than the LPT port. That choice implies using some of the newer CW keying technologies(Winkeyer or Microham). O’course, that would also entail blowing a couple of thousand dollars on the new off-the-shelf hardware, none of which is currently on hand. This approach I characterize as “New Hotness”, per Agent K from MIB. So, where do I get a couple thousand dollars I can divert to this frivolity? (Answer: convince Number One Son to join the Navy rather than go to college? Didn’t work…)
The alternative is to see what can be accomplished using “Old and Busted”.
It turns out that practically speaking, “Old and Busted” is perfectly serviceable, even if it is not quite so much fun as “New Hotness”. New Hotness certainly has an advantage in the effectiveness of generating the CW in a seperate piece of dedicated hardware. Nice, but not essential. New Hotness also uses current technology. Also nice, and also not essential.
The fact is that Old and Busted can be designed to competently and reliably perform the essential basic tasks required:
- Key the CW
- Control the radio TX focus
- Provide the band data or pass it along
- Be easily home brewed [!!!!!the most important criteria!!!!!]
- Be easily modified as needed/wanted/for experimentation
Even better yet, “Old and Busted” can be cobbled together very inexpensively relative to New Hotness. For my own part, the cobbling together is tremendously more satisfying than waiting for the postman or UPS truck for delivery.
O’course, price is also a big factor. But I have not found any home brew solutions utilizing USB. A hybrid solution could be derived by using the PIEXX SO2RXLAT device to convert USB to LPT type data. That seems like a workable bridge between old SO2R hardware and new computer tech. Possibly not ideal, but very plausible, and very attractive for those with money already invested in LPT hardware.
So, “Old and Busted” wins. Since I don’t like N1MM logging software, I don’t NEED a better shack computer. I can get by with a clunky old Win 98 box running good ole Writelog. Relying on an old CPU could be a reliability issue, but old CPU’s are free for the taking, and I already have several backup boxes on hand. The old boxes all have LPT ports, which is the approach that seems simplest for home brew of an SO2R box. A single LPT port can be configured to carry the CW, PTT, radio A/B switching, and also carries the band data for one of the radios.
So, Old and Busted wins out, at least for now.
Besides, I just can’t get my head wrapped around “needing” the latest-n-greatest technology for CW contesting. Really? Because CW is so cutting edge? Really?
It may all be moot. I may get the whole kit assembled and decide I don’t want to operate SO2R after trying it out. By going the old an busted route I have at the very least learned a lot by cobbling together several design ideas into a custom solution. That hands on education has more value to me than the cost of the New Hotness hardware. So even if I put the new toys aside after light usage, I win.
Engineer the possible. If you wait until you have “The Best”, you may miss out on a lot of operating.
By w4kaz, created on 2009.02.24 at 05:51:15 | last changed on 2010.10.27 at 13:15:47 | Okay, it is pretty minor, but in listening to the K5D pileups last week, I figured out that the K2 is less user friendly for chasing splits than the FT-920. Even though the second VFO on the 920 is not a genuine second receiver, it is a lot simpler to use than the K2 for hunting down the guy the DX is working. So the 920 is definitely the first choice for hunting DX. The close in capability of the K2 is not as important when the DX is working split. But the ergonomics of using the 920 is so much easier for split DX hunting, it will take a lot of effort to adjust to the K2 ergonomics.
🙁
I guess the solution is to buy a second K2. 🙂
But that’s not going to happen with the first college tuition check for the eldest only months away. Until that is behind us, I’ll just need to use the 920 for SWL’ing and some DX’ing. And SO2R, if I ever get geared up to practice that.
And of course, the K2 can’t get WWL during LSU football season. We won’t count that as a demerit since it was not designed for that purpose.
– more – at the K2 Impressions page
By w4kaz, created on 2009.02.08 at 20:32:44 | last changed on 2021.05.06 at 21:16:43 | Obtained a third hand Array Soultions SixPak from N4YDU. The control box needed a wee bit of refurb. The LED indicators were not all working, although the switch itself is functioning well. One LED was cracked, three others blown, along with four of the resistors.
So, heating up the soldering iron and pulling a few parts was needed. This was more trouble than expected. The board is very well done, and it is simple to remove from the box. But I didn’t anticipate the minor fly in the ointment. The holes are ‘plated through’. The LED’s were simple enough to replace, and I had close match replacement LEDs in the parts bin. The four bad resistors were a bit less cooperative. It was difficult to remove enough solder with the solder wick.
The new resistors were difficult to install, because the plated through holes were a close fit even when clean. Downright difficult with a coat of solder in them. I resorted to alternately heating the holes and pushing each lead through a couple of millimeters at a time. Once I had enough fed through, I was able to grab the leads with forceps. Then I was able to hold both leads, apply hot iron, and pull the part down flush with the PCB.
So what should have taken 15 minutes tops probably took almost 90 minutes. Grrrr. Not difficult, just frustrating. The LEDs I had on hand are not exact color matches, but very close when lit. The red matches better than the greens, but I didn’t want to chance messing something up – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I’ll replace them if they blow up.
The SixPak is probably overkill here, but will be a good thing if a certain SB-1000 ever migrates into the KazShack. It could happen.
Now I just need to figure out the best way to re-configure the station. The idea is to allow SO2R experimentation at some point. That will require some alternate antennas and a set of filters on each. I’m not there yet. Then maybe a W9XT band decoder board for auto band switching.
Coming along, slow but sure. Sure to slow down that is, because the first tuition check for the college bound eldest is due in three months.
EeeeK!
By w4kaz, created on 2009.01.25 at 15:14:41 | last changed on 2009.01.25 at 22:38:03 | Totally unexpected results. This was nowhere near a serious attempt to maximize the score, but rather have fun playing with the K2 on160m. It turned out to be a lot more fun than I really expected.
I did not operate long Friday. I was just too tired. But I was on long enough to realize the conditions were very good. The noise level was very low on the transmit antenna. It was possible to turn on the pre-amp for the weak signals. The big surprise was that most of the weak stations could hear me. Yikes.
But it just got better. I planned the day better on Saturday, and was more prepared to stay up a bit later to play more radio. Conditions did not seem quite as good as Friday, but the noise level was still low. I worked some new states for 160. Even more unusual, I also worked 14 European stations. Their signals seemed to come up with their sunrise. I knew I could hear them, as I had been listening to a couple of run stations, and I could copy most of their EU QSO’s. Tuning around with the K2, I was able to find several EU stations calling. The booming US signals made some of them too hard to copy, but several others were easy copy.
Low and behold, a handful of those were also able to hear the 100 watt tin whistle. Way fun. Apologies for the guys that really had to struggle to copy my weak signal, but I sure do appreciate the effort! Some of those guys must have really good RX antennas, because they didn’t miss a beat, and got it on the first try.
So I spent the last hour digging through the US QRM for the EU pearls. The K2 is really an S&P operators friend. With the filters cranked down to 200hz, it was easy to find the stations. Not so easy for them to find me, but that is an antenna/ERP problem unlikely to change soon.
The Good: The antenna repairs worked. The extra radials on the 160-L probably didn’t hurt either. Currently 18 radials, between 16 and 45 ft long. The K2 really shines for S&P. Conditions seemed as good as I have ever heard on 160m, but my experience down on 160m is very limited. K2 is generally much better at keeping NT4D out of the front end than the FT-920(exception below). Worked RK2FWA…on 160m! Finally worked ON4UN on 160!
The Bad: Missed a golden opportunity by not planning to operate more. Discovered that NT4D causes a mild overload when listening on the xmit antenna with the K2 pre-amp turned on. Discovered an NT4D image 20kc below his run frequency. Gotta get with Jay and do some testing to see if it is an artifact generated in the K2, or if I can hear the same image in my FT-920. (NT4D is a nearby neighbor, close enough to be inside a 500 meter multi circle. We’re gonna pull the trigger on that one day)
The Ugly: Nothing found – yet.
Station:
- Rig: Elecraft K2, 100 watts
- TX Antenna: 160 ft Inv-L
- RX Antennas: Homebrew K9AY, 20m dipole
- Homebrew antenna tuner
- Logging: Writelog
Station: W4KAZ
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): ~9
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 203 State/Prov = 38 Countries = 17
Total Score = 33,220
By w4kaz, created on 2009.01.23 at 14:10:30 | last changed on 2009.02.14 at 10:57:05 | The 160m-L has been “on the fritz” (i.e., broken) since the ARRL 160m contest. It went crazy when it started raining during the contest. The SWR went high, and it became deaf.
The ground was still covered with snow from our very rare in central NC five inch snowfall. Old XYL tales relate that antennas work best when installed/repaired in inclement weather, so the time seemed right.
It turns out there was a bad connection on one of the jumpers. I took a bit of time to find the problem, and only about 30 seconds to fix. To debug it I plugged the dummy load into the feedline system out at the antenna end. The high SWR into the dummy load told me the problem was in the line and not the antenna. Fixing the line solved the immediate issue.
That whole antenna system needs closer scrutiny. It was intended to be ‘temporary’ when it was hauled up three years back, and the feed line is a hodgepodge of jumpers which were available around the KazShack at the time. If it stays up, the matching network needs to be corrected. At last count, it now has 18 elevated radials. The feed point is about 8 feet off the ground mounted atop the kid’s wooden swing set. The radials are all of different lengths, tied off to trees. The distance of the tree from the antenna center determines the radial length. It seemed to be playing much better with 18 radials than it did in the original four radial configuration.
I suppose I’ll play around in CQ 160 CW, but I expect it will be an all US contest here in the KazShack. 100 watts is effectively QRP when run into a poorly matched inv-L. I’ll find out if I feel like trying to run stations.
The heavy winds from a couple of weeks back knocked loose a rather large branch, which clipped the nested rectangular loop for 15m and 10m. That simplifies the job of fixing it, something that has been much lower on the radio project list.
But without sunspots, I’m still in no rush to get 10m fixed. 15m either, unfortuneatly.
By w4kaz, created on 2008.10.28 at 06:12:48 | last changed on 2013.04.18 at 17:58:38 | This was the first crack at operating N1LN for a DX contest and a 48 hour event. Bruce has the station set up for Multi-2, and that’s the way we operated. Murphy appeared before and during the contest. N1LN was in a car accident the week before, and NT4D was out recovering from an operation. Murphy took out one of the K3’s with an AGC problem at 5:00am Sunday morning.
Beyond that, everything seems to be working according to N1LN’s expectations. It was a lot of fun running stations, but I’ve decided the most difficult thing about running stations is the boredom when things are slow. I also need to figure out how to find good run frequencies. It was very difficult at times to get a run established, especially on 20m.
I’ve also decided the CW ops are right – SSB contesting stinks! (Well, sometimes.)
It is amazing to hear stations that are normally not heard on the low wire antennas. I saw a spot for an HS0 on 20m, and sure enough I was able to hear him. I also heard the huge pileup of west coast stations calling him. Since the contest was about rate, I tried only as couple of calls before moving on.
It was fun to be able to run EU stations on 40m just after their sunrise. I was called by a ZL, and I’m still not sure if it was off the rear of the beam or a long path gray-line contact. The timing was right for gray-line. After turning the beam 180 degrees, I was able to work a couple of ZL’s and VK’s. I put the 40m yagi back towards Europe after a few minutes, not wanting to lose the mostly clear frequency into EU.
Operating is a far different proposition from such a station. There’s a lot to learn.
A lot of fun too.
By w4kaz, created on 2008.10.12 at 08:44:15 | last changed on 2010.10.27 at 13:13:39 | Finally got around to the K2 to assemble and install the 160m module. I’m not sure why they chose to make 160m a separate add-in, unless it seemed superfluous for a QRP rig in its original form. So maybe it was added as an afterthought. Anyway, after a lot of procrastination on my part caused by too many things to do, I decided to squeeze out an hour or two here and there to give it a go.
The 160m board itself has only a handful of components. These went together easily enough, but I would recommend changing the instructions to install C6 after installing the 14 pin header. It was very difficult to solder the end pins on the header with C6 already in place. I may have spent more time on those two pins than on the rest of the board. Maybe it only seemed that way.
Before beginning, my only real concern was the mechanical dis-assembly of the bottom of the K2. That turned out to be less difficult than I anticipated, but it does require a bit of patience. Since I had not done the original assembly of the kit, I didn’t really know what to expect after reading the instructions on disassembling the heat sink. This was fairly tedious, but not as complicated as it first seemed. Someone who had assembled the kit from scratch would not have had a problem.
The project took about three hours from start to final tune-up. I split that over three sessions, so it seemed like less. I have not really been on the air with it yet, but I’m looking forward to trying out the RX antenna input. Thats a bit of an issue, as the RX input uses a BNC jack. This really begs for a BNC to UHF jumper cable, because an adapter adds too much length and puts too much physical stress on the rear of the radio for my preferences.
Even if I were not to operate on 160m, the RX antenna jack is adesirableaddition to the K2 for my methods of operation on 80m. Here in the KAZshack the separate RX antenna is used frequently on 80m, and I expect to add another RX antenna soon.
Maybe today…….
-more- at the K2 Impressions page.
By w4kaz, created on 2008.07.01 at 06:57:08 | last changed on 2008.07.04 at 08:56:19 | Had another great time this year. We operated as N4PY, and ran 3 stations plus a VHF rig. The daytime temps were blistering, but there was a steady hot breeze blowing and the humidity was moderate. The heavy rains waited until we were done to show up, a real stroke of good fortune.
The FD site N4YDU got us access to was outstanding. We improvised and modified plans to accommodate the realities of the site, but it has great potential.
Just like anything else – you learn by doing. The more you do something, the more you learn. So, no surprise, it is the same with Field Day. These are not really all from 2008, but they all were either discovered or re-iterated this year.
2008 FD Picayunes:
- W4MY supplied me with a real Homer Simpson “Duh-OH!” moment when he taught me how to get the insects out of the screen tent. Just take the stupid light and clamp it to something OUTSIDE the screen, shining in. Duh-OH!
- I also learned first hand that the Dunestar filters may be well worth their price. Zero interference, no noticeable impedance bump.
- Listening to 10 meters at about 0500Z(after midnight local), I was hearing ten or fifteen QRP beacons. They were not strong, but good enough for easy copy. But a ten minute interval calling CQ turned up zero Q’s.NOTE TO SELF: Even if you listen and find open paths, it is possible that no one on the other end notices.
- Wild blackberries will ripen right in front of your eyes in direct sunlight and 98 degree daytime temps. Actually, I guess they wait until you walk past, then ripen when your back is turned. Either way, they taste good if you don’t mind the seeds.
- A FD site with wild blackberries pays dividends. Not very big, but nice and sweet.
- A Vee beam with 200 ft legs is big. A Vee beam with 266 ft legs is bigger. Crossed dipoles are easier.
- It’s a challenge to get a line over an exact branch when the winds are gusting. Doing it in one shot is cause for celebration.
- Denim jeans will soon be soaked through, heavy, and clinging with perspiration in 98 degrees/60% humidity conditions. But they make negotiating fields of tall grass, wild blackberries, and poison ivy navigable. Not so much fun in shorts. Wear the jeans and drink more water – and be thankful the wind was blowing and the humidity wasn’t higher.
- A slight rise in the terrain topped with a loose cluster of shady trees makes an outstanding FD station site.
- Three hours of sleep is better than zero hours of sleep.
- Drink more water.
- Moving up to 3A from 2A added a lot to the set up work load, but not a lot to the score.
By w4kaz, created on 2008.06.13 at 08:06:40 | last changed on 2008.06.10 at 12:49:19 | I was browsing through some of the back issues of club newsletters, and ran across the YCCC tribute to W1PL, SK in the February issue of the Scuttlebutt. Despite an early life filled with adversity, W1PL must have found happiness in the latter part of his life. He sure seems to have earned a good life. He sounds like a man whom I would have enjoyed knowing.
Appreciate what you have.
By w4kaz, created on 2008.06.12 at 06:24:53 | last changed on 2008.08.01 at 06:48:45 | NS3T reports that there has been at least one group(WRTC 2010) who have taken the position that using a spotting robot is getting assistance. What amazes me so far is that the opinion is not more widespread. I guess the “anything goes” interpretation is just something I’ve not been able to digest.
In the sidebar on the same page Jamie also reports that the California Qso Party hasactuallymade rules changes to restrict the use of internet chat rooms, etc. to the multi-single class. CAQP does not have an SOA class. Bravo. But no decision yet on Skimmer.
I suppose it is all moot anyway, because the folks who advocate “no rules” may well be the group most likely to disregard the rules anyway. It is certainly all moot to me, as I expect to operate at home as always – no spots, no skimmer. Just a kid with a radio having fun. If I were to ever even get close to a decent score, it will just mean more to me then. But given my station and skills limitations, a competitive score is still just a goal for the future. Let the Big Dawgs chew each others tails off. My input is irrelevant to them, and their windmill tilting is irrelevant to me.
I guess what really bugs me is the parsing of the meaning of the word “is”. I’ve never bought into the ‘roadblock to progress’ bull crap. Anybody that wants to experiment can do so at their leisure. There is no real impediment to experimentation with any new technology or method. Certainly nothing so esoteric as the classification of a contest entry. It undermines their argument completely. Just don’t claim you have “won” if you are using a technique no one else is using. If I bring a motorcycle to a horse race, I’ll improve my odds of getting to the finish line first. But did I “win”?
Actually, the very fact that there is an argument sort of takes the sheen off the idea of contest operating. If it weren’t so damn much fun I would be having doubts. The truth is, a couple thousand more robots on the air might help give me a lot more practice. I’m certainly not doing it for the plaques I’m not even close to winning.
It seems to me the contest sponsors have both dropped the ball and set a bad precedent by failing to act. Does it really take six months to parse the meaning of “is”? The long period of hesitation only serves to give tacit approval. By avoiding action that will piss early adopters off now, they will only piss off those with the opposite view more if they reverse course later.
The genie is out of the bottle – but neither CW Skimmer nor any other technology is the genie. It’s the precedent set by contest sponsors refusing to “man up” and make a decision, whatever that decision might be. A ruling won’t stop those who would cheat – but the cheaters need to “man up” too, aina?
So a big thumbs up to RA3AUU and the WRTC for having enough testicles to decide.
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