CQ retro, CQ RN...

I like.

Did a bit of reading to catch up with this thread.  Interesting.

I see Dr. Kate (the earthquake specialist out of Cal Tech, now retired) is associated with the Radio Relay International, not surprised there at all.  She is really enthusiastic for cw and traffic handling (attended one of her classes a while back).  Have to do a bit of monitoring.  I know Kate is local to my region, so shouldn't be too hard to find them.

There is a LOT of information so far embedded in the associated links, and posted in the thread itself, interesting thread, thanks for starting it! I've got a lot more reading to do to properly catch up!

Allan

But if they used 2 way radio, they're lives would start to smooth out, the drama, the drama!  Drama would drop, ratings would plumet.

Underhill

So Cal is a long way off from you, and time is a squeeze these days, and I'm SLOW.

Allan

Have to agree on the power level concept.

I have been working a weekly sked for a while now with a station up in Nor Cal, north of Sacramento, I am in So Cal near Long Beach.  I set my rig to 20W (it's an ft-857D, with the 'brownwire' powercord mod, thinks it's an 897 on internal batts, max power is 20W wiht flip of a switch setting), and regularly receive 579 or 589's.

I set it at 20W max, as I have more to worry about in this than just qrp, like learning the rig controls, how to work the filtering to block out distractions on 40M at 20:00 local, sked time, how to work my key consistently, and just trying to understand enough to know what we're discussing, lol.  I figure, with skill might come finesse, lol.

He startd out at 100W when we started the sked, habit I guess, dropped down to about 50W after a while.  Couldn't hear the diff at my end, he is typ 579 to 589 into my station as well, whichever power.

I have a homemade wire dipole at about 30ft, in a somewhat twisted up, inverted V, to fit on my lot.  He has a similar antenna config.  Not really much at either end.  We are pointing broadside, more or less, at each other.

Well, few weeks back, he up and moved to northern central Idaho near CoerDelaine.  Sked restarted, I'm still at 20W, still receiving 579 or 589's.  He still booms in pretty good into my station , also 579, 589 typical. He's at 100W right now.  Bit more fluttery at times, prop is more in play now.  That's about the extent of it, doubled the miles and more, and really not much noticable change in the signal. 

Maybe one night, if I EVER devlop a better ear, I might drop to 10W... then 5W, lol.

Allan

Very nice

Allan

Quote from: RadioRay on August 17, 2014, 02:03:08 PM
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-...-

Hey Allan!

Glad that you're doing the CW sked.  THAT is the #1 way to transform 'I kinda knew the code when I passed my license' into "Sure, I speak Morse code."   ;-)  I had an 857D and the built in audio filter makes quite a difference.  That also has a variable passband filter, ja?



73 de RadioRay ..._  ._

Hi Ray

What you say about filters and signal to noise is quite true, if I had been aware of the NEScaf at the time, would have been considered certainly.

Out of the box, the 857D, and for that matter my 817ND have a nice IF shift function, and passband, and while sidetone is set on both at 700Hz, that is variable as well.  Side note, these filters are in menus, which are more challenging 'on the fly', but using the radios on something other than FM or Digital modes is bringing the familiarity up fast.

Weekly sked not daily, but still it's consistant, and 20W into NorCal frm my area working.  I'm not worrying about real qrp at this time, focus is getting better with CW, the rest will come.

Allan

I'm working a weekly CW sked now with a guy up in Redding, CA (I'm just north of  Long Beach, ca) on 40M, and right at the appointed hour, the band suddenly gets quite congested.  For me and my weak cw skills, very difficult to maintain copy!  My 857 doesn't have the optional 300hz filter, so very difficult, at my end.  Well, my cw buddy uses one of these little filter units, is quite satisfied with it, and suggested it so I picked one up.

It's a slightly different approach for a similar result, from 4 state qrp club http://www.4sqrp.com/HiPerMite.php

200Hz bandpass centered on 700Hz.  Planning to stuff it into an altoids box as well.

Would be built by now, but I discovered that the 857D has a special 240Hz cw filter in it's DSP selection, which works amazing on the QRM!.  Sill have a use for it, so still going to build it, and now I know that the 200Hz bandwidth is just fine.

Just thought I'd throw out there another option available.

Allan

Quote from: KK0G on June 21, 2014, 09:54:35 AM
Somewhere I have a link to a site where a guy built a gasifier and ran an engine on it but I'll be damned if I can find it now :( . It may have been the same guy you're referring to Wally. And yes, he had a lot of problems with byproducts causing engine failures, definitely something you'd have to perfect long before the SHTF. I'll keep searching for the link and post it here if I find it.

Just a question, as right now I don't have the answer, but the differences between a wood gassifier and a steam driven generator, has anyone ever looked at the differences?  I know that they were running woodgas driven busses in london during ww2, and autos were using steam early on,  anyone ever consider if any advantages of using a small steam powered generator for electric?  or would it eat more fuel  for the same amount of wood input, I haven't done the energy calcs between wood gas and steam, derived from burning wood.

Inquiring minds, (or just confused?)

Allan

The QSL card arrived today.  I don't have but a couple QSL cards, I really don't collect paper, but this one is kinda cool.

I like it anyway  :)
Allan

April newsletter.   Ahh it got me

Allan

So Morse code has gone interplanetary, longest 'qso' is earth to mars on 10 meters ;).

I just received the latest NAQCC (april 2014) newsletter, and apparently Morse Code qso has gone interplanetary, with the Curiosity Mars Rover on Mars.

front page of the newsletter, third article, at the bottom of the page:
http://naqcc.info/newsletter_current.pdf

well, an automated qso, lol.

Allan

FWIW, this is what I do, for power.  I float a 12V battery on the output of a 14V 25A switching supply, designed to run radios direct.  I buffer the supply from the battery, with a solar charge controller, (SCC3) so the battery will not back-discharge into the supply when it is off, or pull down the powersupply too much if it is drained low when the supply comes back on.  Has run well for me for almost 8 years now.  2004, maybe going on 10 years?

I modularized my system to make it easy to switch in or out charge sources and batteries.  I use powerpole connectors, have for years, work for me, but ymmv, as in everything else. 

I use a couple 12V lead acid deep cycle batteries, but can switch in or out smaller gel cells I keep around for portable use quite easily.

I wanted to ensure isolation from the charging source to the battery, I ended up choosing a solar charge controller, from Cirkits, model SCC3.  12V/20A and fits into a square electrical outlet box nicely.  I have used powerpole connectors thruout my system for many years, so I picked up a 'rigrunner' fused powerpole powerstrip from West Mountain Radio for final interface to where I want to use the power.

To charge the batteries, I have several choices.  I have about 300W of solar panels, just inexpensive amorphous silicon on glass, picked up from Harbor Freight, for fixed operation.  Unfortunately right now they are not deployed, mounting issues, and other projects that have kept me from getting them up.  They are wired up and ready to go, if needed, just the mount system is not permanent.

I have also a couple portable folding panels, from CT Solar, the 33W backpack panels.  Couple of those, enough to power a full 100W qro digital station in the field I used to have, along with a tiny charge controller (portable use only) I picked up from Buddipole. Cost as much as the SCC3, and not nearly as flexable, but tiny, use is targeted for field/portable use.

Options, each panel section can be removed, I have noticed, if only small power amounts are needed.  Again, very modular.

Normally I have been just running a cheap 13.8V 25A switching supply I picked up from HRO (MFJ-4125), run it on a mechanical 24hr timer so it is only on part of the day, to float charge the battery thru the solar charge controller, which does provide isolation as well as some charge regulation for the battery.  A battery charger may work just as well, I just have the switching supply with the timer, it works, has proven itself that I don't have to monitor it closely, and it's good enough for now.  I have been lucky perhaps, but I haven't found any switching noise in my system from the supply.  Also the little mfj-4125 is buffered by the battery, so any possible power glitches from it have not been apparent.

Other than changing out batteries recently, after 7-8 years the lead acid wet cells do get weak, especially the wallmart ones, the system has been operating reliably with little attention needed for about 8 years now.  Would be nice to have the solar panels up more permanent, just need to get around to mounting them to withstand high wind without having them go visiting the neighbors when the santa ana winds come a-blowing :/

I have not messed with lithium batteries yet, except the standard ones in my ht.  Pricy, and they scare me a little, they do.

Personally, I can't see anything wrong with having radio equipment on hand that will give you information of what's going on around you.  While I have been diligient at my cw studies, ~1/2 hour a day min since Nov, min, seems not everyone is willing to even consider doing cw (sacraledge!).  There have been a couple of times now, that having a shortwave rcvr on a camping trip, or having vhf/uhf available coming back from a business trip, has either been a comfort (collapse of the old soviet union- we were camping out that week), or actually kept me safe and out of the middle of a developing riot (the rodney king riots).

My personal first goto radio, when anything happens, is probably my little VX-6R.  My FT-817 is probably next, but doesn't have the receive coverage the vx6 does, and does use more juice. My HW-8 and the little NorCal-40 are fun, but are not capable of receiving everything I think I need to hear.

The VX6 Works as a great receiver and scanner, fairly low drain (~150mA), receives from .5MHz thru 1GHz pretty continuous.  Will not do trunking, nor digital p25 or whatever the slow migration of public services is to, but gets everything else. Good to use for gathering intel on what just happened (I live in equake country), or whatever else might be going on.  Works well on 2M 220 and 440MHz as well, but the receiver/scanner is proven itself to be really handy. 

I also have a FT-7900, dual band version of your FT-2900.  Works well, makes it easy to reach out to distant repeaters, but doesn't have the receive coverage of the HT tho.

Allan

Quote from: Archangel320420 on February 04, 2014, 02:09:32 PM
The Navy used a cruel harsh form of brainwashing. They had a large screen in front of the class room which displayed a letter when in the student's earphones the morse was sent and the student then typed this letter. This happened 5 days a week for 4 hours per day. haaaa

AAAAH!  Well, that ain't what I've got, so that disproves that theory, lol

Allan

All I can suggest is just stick with it, if yu drop something just move on, and don't worry about progress, it will come on it's own, probably faster if not worried over, takes a while for the brain to learn new pathsways in it, at least for me it does  - and seems longer and longer as the years pile up,. ;)

I haven't been on too much for a while, bit of kid drama (again -son #2 this time... sigh!) over much of this last year, but I do browse and try to keep recent.  Anyway, aside from dealing again with some family drama, I've been using CW study -trying to relearn my code, partly as a mental escape, partly as a medatative type of exersize, partly cause I do believe it's a survival skill, and it's gone slower than maybe if I had just gone at it without distractions, but what's life if not a  series of distractions when yu've got something else planned, lol.

Anyway, the last 3 months have seen me working thru my old morse study curruculum.  No computer, just an mp3 player, a pen and a pad. 

An aside, when I get home at night, the dog gets all excited, and barks me in,  (2yr old - he still goes hyper/bonkers, and I get home it means 'alpha's home, and he's out going on his walk')  Daughter reports  that his bark has changed now somewhat, sometimes seems somewhat staccato at times, long and short, he's a husky/golden mix, we think he's imitating morse to me, ;)  (he  rarely barks except when members of his 'pack' return home).  But enough of that chuckle.  (dog does morse code, lol).

A bit of background on this, the F.I.S.T.S. cw club has a CW cd available, at cost, that was developed and donated to them by Chuck Adams, K7QO.  I've heard it was based on WW2 navy training techniques, but never bothered to confirm.  You study, writing a character when you hear it.   Then when done, Chuck suggests to go back thru and start head copy, or use a typewriter, whichever you prefer to learn.  I think the intent is to 'imprint' the sound, to an impulse, try to just write, don't mentally translate then write.  I do find that occasionally I've written the right letter subconsiously, but then I realize i did it, and it screws me up, as I become consious of it, lol.

The CD uses about 15-18 wpm character speed, with slower spacing (initially) to let you comprehend it, like Farnsworth.  Don't worry over it, just jot down what yu can and it really does pick up :)

The whole CD, which consisted of some 514 mp3 files, plus answers in pdf, and several pdf's on how to study, is available for a download, along with the original and updated curruculum that Nc6Q developed from it, if any are interested, at my personal webpage: http://www.lauchlan.com/cw   Feel free to download if interested!  The MP3 files from #300 or so on are HG Wells "War of the Worlds" audio book in CW, so there's a bit for everyone here.

I think the CD is now at version 4 from Fists, however, as morse doesn't really change, Version 3 should still be good.  If you follow thru the curruculum, it's about 13 weeks, and you will be doing 15-30 minutes a day split into a couple sessions.

I took a CW class with my local radio club, back in 2010, that was based on this cd, and the instructor of the class, Bob Grubec Nc6Q, developed a study curruculum based it on Chucks CD, at version 3.  They also did a slow speed net for a while, for on-air practice. Unfortunately for me right at the same week as the class graduation, life happened, and my oldest Son had a crisis in his marriage, and moved back home for a while, with all the drama you'd expect.  Things are fine now, we helped him find where he wanted/needed to be, and he and his wife are doing great, he's even developing a career that he seems to love, but I lost well over a couple years, and all the momentium I had.  I'd do the tradeoff again for them tho.

Anyway, I saw a rumor in the clubs newsletter last fall, that they MIGHT offer some kind of cw class spring of '14, this goaded me to dig out my old curruculum and the CD (all mp3 files, and go back thru it.

I just completed the course curruculum last week. There were a few problems at week 8 in the original curruculum, something about NC6Q switching accidentially to an earlier cd version, but I corrected it, based on my current needs (numbers were giving me problems).  I've started listening on air some, need to get myself on the air now!  Still running maintenance studying, so I won't backtrack again!  Guess I need to develop a codebuddy eh?

This is only offered as a resource to consider adding to your set of cw study tools, not suggesting you replace anything that is working for you! It's working for me, but YMMV!!! Or if you want a copy of a book on (CW)audio of War of the Worlds, ;)

For you consideration

Allan

ummm   

http://radiopreppers.com/Smileys/default/lipsrsealed.gif


Allan