PA0O ham radio

The contest is still going now  see the real time results: http://www.getscores.org/cq_160_cw.html I am in the  SO low power   100w   i did not start  telnet in N1MM  but had the dxcluster screen on.  Passive spotting is the criterion for being assisted  so i could have just as well loaded  the band ruller with cluster spots. Propagation poor was no surprise as the WSPR DX spots on 160 have been poor last weeks. Mostly     zone 14 15 16 20  Saturday heard  1 JA4  he started CQ  at "my" CQ frequency...  that was not giving much hope... the "highlights"    A73A   JT5DX   VY2SS  only the ones with  good receive antenna's   a Beverage to EU  can hear me. A few big W's and 2 VY2 stations could be worked Sunday evening several JA's heard S&P working EU  but could...

Having relative poor signals on the local 70cm / 2m channels using this X50 Diamond collinear 70/2  1m antenna at a height of 25m. I needed to investigate what could be wrong. Measuring the cable only 3W is left for the antenna of the 10W 435MHz output from a IC451E The cable is 30m type H100 Z50 10mm outside diameter it is semi air-spaced but has an impossible 4mm² solid CU inner conductor not much air left. I preferred the H43 Z75 cable having lower loss and mechanical better ratio in conductor size. My antenna uses SO239 connector UHF type semi air spaced isolator.  3W should be enough for a comfortable noise free FM signal. But only 27km away at PA0A the signal is weak too weak something must be wrong? I made a simple reference dipole of 2x17cm CU wire. With this dipole the signals where totally worse. So the Diamond does work? I got curious to look inside. Maybe moisture penetration degraded the antenna. This  antenna is rainwater close in its n...

The upper 18:48 and 18:48 trace of F5WK reads 0.137490 but is reported correct 0.137560 The IC706+preamp at CW-R narrow tuned at 0.137500  WSPR  reports correct if the WSPR Dial setting is 0.136900  and advanced Rx BFO:  570   The frequecy ruler at the screen is wrong -70Hz  but that is less important. It would be nice if the frequency ruler bar could be corrected in future.  I found no way to correct this since the 2 settings affect both the displayed and reported freq and the 70Hz offset is not adjusted by any setting i could do. 

I did not use the CI-V  Icom CAT interface much after i got the K3 few years ago. But it is always good to have a backup or /P station. The CI-V i have    http://www.qsl.net/g3vgr/civ.html Needs the RTS and/or DTR lines in high state as a pull up voltage to let it work. That worked always very nice with a 2nd serial-port for the R/T and CW keying. Now I wanted to use 1 USB-serial  comport for both CAT and T/R CW switching.  Had to press in 2 more transistors 1 for T/R switching  and 1 for  CW keying. And use the 8V as pullup supply from the ICOM Conventional  electronic parts    only I filed the  transistors flat. This way you can make your own SMD format... SMD parts would be the best for these things..  It took the whole afternoon ...  but it was storm  and rain anyway 4 transsitors 6 R's  1 diode 1 tan-C Finally it worked The IC706 is CAT controlled ...

For WSPR at 137kHz to filter out the DCF39 signal at 0.1388kHz I make use of the CW 500Hz filter in my IC706. Receiving(only) with the IC706 in position CW-narrow using the 500Hz CW filter is possible settings: IC706 Dial:   0.137500  mode CW-R  (for USB this must be 0.13600 to bring the audio in the center of USB filter) WSPR: Advanced : Rx BFO (Hz) 570 (in my case) to adjust the audio at the correct frequency in the band.  (1500 by default for USB mode)  WSPR Dial: 0.137000  Brings the displayed frequency ruler  400-600  meaning 0.137400---0.137600   Tx  0.137500  (no TX Txfr =0)   Decoding is good  decoding traces as low as -31db But   i have a problem that i could not fix yet: The reported frequency is consequent 72Hz to high for all signs. The trace position and frequency at the scree...

My first ever 137kHz  HAM signal  G8IMR  -23dB    on the IC706 USB + preamp.  I listened  only 15 minutes on 137 it became too late already again  glad that it worked  i saw 3 traces of G8IMR    it decoded 2 times. The tracking screen was relative clean although the DCF39 was still s9 in the USB filter  of the IC706. There where some weak thin lines drifting  and clearly distinctable the frequency stable and exact timed  trace of G8IMR. Last night I finished my preamp http://ea4eoz.ure.es/lfpream.html     thanks Miguel  A. Vallejo, EA4EOZ Although  it is a simple thing it took me 2 evenings  to build and get it working. Needs a small  modification for use with a 50 Ohm signal source  like my K9AY antenna.  It did not work  with the high impedance C 33p  input antenna...

deers in our garden WD2XSH/17  Still going  ( but not so ) strong  at 500kHz  DIAL:  .499.600 USB 31 December 23:59 our time the  1 year licence for 500kHz has ended  PA hams have to stop TX-ing  at 500kHz  But i still receive with bandhopping at 500kHz 2011-01-03 01:56 WD2XSH/17 0.501090 -26 0 FN42pb 1 PA0O JO33hg 5630 49 2011-01-03 05:54 WD2XSH/17 0.501090 -27 0 FN42pb 1 PA0O JO33hg 5630 49 2011-01-03 02:06 WD2XSH/17 0.501090 -23 0 FN42pb 1 PA0O JO33hg 5630 49 2011-01-03 02:16 WD2XSH/17 0.501090 -25 0 FN42pb 1 PA0O JO33hg 5630 49