2 metre WSPR de MW0MJB

Yagi under the stars

Tonight was a good night for WSPR on 2 metre.

I set the radio up on 144.489Mhz and started up the WSPR software .

It took a couple of hours, but finally a report showed up on my screen.

I was just about to go outside to observe the stars, when I happened to look over at the laptop.

There on the screen I could see the callsign G6AVK...

Timestamp	Call	MHz	SNR	Drift	Grid	Pwr	Reporter	RGrid	km	az
2011-06-30 22:28	MW0MJB	144.490475	-22	0	IO71lu	5	G6AVK	JO01ho	391	92
2011-06-30 22:08	MW0MJB	144.490474	-20	-1	IO71lu	5	G6AVK	JO01ho	391	92
2011-06-30 21:50	G6AVK	144.489531	-28	0	JO01ho	5	MW0MJB	IO71lu	391	276
2011-06-30 21:42	MW0MJB	144.490469	-16	-3	IO71lu	5	G6AVK	JO01ho	391	92
2011-06-30 21:42	MW0MJB	144.490459	-23	-2	IO71lu	5	G6AVK	JO01ho	391	92
2011-06-30 21:32	MW0MJB	144.490469	-15	0	IO71lu	5	G6AVK	JO01ho	391	92
2011-06-30 21:20	MW0MJB	144.490467	-19	0	IO71lu	5	G6AVK	JO01ho	391	92
2011-06-30 21:00	MW0MJB	144.490467	-26	0	IO71lu	5	G6AVK	JO01ho	391	92

No one is more surprised than me...

I'm only using a five element beam, and it's only about 5 metres above the ground.

This WSPR mode gets better all the time. 

Thank you Joe Taylor..

73 fer now 

Mark MW0MJB

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A Fellow Blogger

Several year ago, I met a fellow blogger and Ham Radio Operator via the Internet. We have since traded; email, blog comments, and EchoLink conversations.

When I first started my struggling Blog, he provided helpful feedback, critique, and most of all, encouragement.

He is a prolific writer within his own Blog and has written several Ham Radio related software projects. He has provided the world with much enjoyment and fun to read information, technical insight and humor. He has written about; his love of his Wife, Ham Radio, his community, the outdoors, and his hiking adventures.

Recently my Friend was diagnoses with a fast growing incurable brain tumor, treatment of which undoubtedly will make his life difficult.

My heart, thoughts, tears and prayers go to my Friend;

Julian Moss - G4ILO, and to his wife Olga.

You can read his story at;

http://blog.g4ilo.com/, 

and

http://onefootingrave.blogspot.com/.

Good Luck my Friend

--

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WA7LAW Field Day 2011

Here are some of the WA7LAW Field Day 2011 Photos, at GRID: CN87UW99VR

Paul - KD7EJI

at the Antique 40m CW Station
Unseen to the Right is the GOTA Station

Although, Paul is not the owner of the above Antique Equipment, he is the; owner / operator / program-director, of a micro power Old-Time AM Broadcast Band Radio Station, see: http://www.radio1610.us/.

The Main Operations Tent and Antennas

The main tent was the center of operations, with most antenna connection and operating stations. A Generator and Solar Cells provided the power.

Outside, a Bar-B-Que and treats were setup for Lunch and late night meals.

Off photo, to the left, are the 2m Talk-in Station, the GOTA Station, the Antique 40m CW Station and several other QRP Stations, each with their own antennas.

In the main tent, cross band interference was a bit of a problem, but many people were working to resolve the issue.

In the Main Tent

Left is the 20m PSK Station
Right is the 40m SSB Station

In the Main Tent

Bob - AD7BP Checking Out the Operation
Left is the 20m SSB Station
Right is the 15m 90w CW Station

Bob - AD7BP
with his Pedestrian 20m Mag Loop

Bob showed me his 20m Mag Loop, I was really impressed, it was easy to tune by listening for max volume, and then the Ft-817 reported a very Low SWR on transmit. The Loop can be turned quickly to maximize the received signal.

Unfortunately, we did not have much time to use or play with the Loop.

--

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TS-180S Repair - Part 4 - That's More Like It!

Great progress to report, and more dead bits!

The frequency counter unit is now working properly.

The two DC-coupled "front end" transistors in the 40MHz amplifier section were suspected as being faulty and were replaced. No exact replacements or direct equivalents were to hand, but looking at the specifications of the original units (2SC460) I figured that more or less any old small signal RF transistor would do, and as I had a bag full of MPSH-10s in my spares box I used those. The pinouts are incompatible and I ended up mounting them under the board.

Anyhow to my great delight the frequency counter then appeared to work, albeit not quite properly. The frequency count was correct at the bottom band edge (e.g. 7.000MHz) but when I tuned a signal at 7.100MHz the counter read 7.060MHz, near as makes no difference. This was consistent across all bands. The counter was proportionally out of kilter receiving at 7.200MHz, the counter reading 7.120MHz

Owing to the frequency scheme in use in this transceiver, and the fact that basically the counter is fed with frequency of 40.0 to 40.5MHz as the VFO is tuned across each band I figured there was a counter timebase problem.   The microprocessor logic in the counter unit adds the base frequency for each band to the difference between the 40.0 to 40.5MHz and 40MHz producing the correct frequency on the display.

Underside view of Counter Unit

Investigation of the divider part of the circuit revealed a problem with Q5, a CMOS BCD counter (4018) which was producing an output of 83Hz instead of the required 50Hz. Ha! That explained everything!  The frequency being too high would mean a shorter gate time for the counter than is required, and hence the frequency count would be too low.  This signal goes through a further division-by-10 process (a 7490 TTL chip) before the 5Hz, or in the case of this faulty radio 8.3Hz gating signal is sent to the counter signal chain.

Oscilloscope display of output from faulty Q5

The repetition rate of the waveform should be 20ms not 12ms!

Below:- the replaced Q5 - the replacement has obviously been in my spares box for quite a while!

 This faulty chip has now been replaced, and the counter is now functioning correctly, and I'm feeling very happy with the way this repair is shaping up.

Here is the old girl on the "operating table" ..

I'm just about ready to see if the set transmits ...

Latest update - no it does't,  so it's on to the next fault (again!) ...

read more "TS-180S Repair - Part 4 - That's More Like It!"

The Drive Cycle Reset for the OBD

While running errands and trying to find a place to "Drive Cycle Reset" my VAN's On Board Diagnostic Computer (OBD) today (see previous post), I drove East along the Mountain Loop Highway, which is just North of Mt Pilchuck. Of course Mt Pilchuck is my favorite QRP Operation site (see previous posts).

Today was a really nice day, the first of hopefully many to come this summer.

The Mountain Loop Highway is a great place to be when it is HOT in the low lands. The following are some of the pictures that I took along the highway

Cool and yet, Warm, Very Nice
Northwest Weather

A Side Tributary for the River Below  

 I Should have Brought a Fishing Pole

When is Fishing Seasons?

A Hot and Cool Spot

An Old Log Provides for the Ferns

A Sunny Spot in the Under Growth

Another Sunny Spot

Of Course,

Tess is Always Up for 

a Ride In the Mountains

 --

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Slave to a Computer

It all started several months ago, I took my VAN to my favorite Auto Shop for an Oil-Change and Tune-Up if and as necessary. All was OK, only an Oil-Change was necessary.

A few days after the Oil-Change, the dash board Engine Service Light came on. Worried that something major was wrong, I called the Auto Shop for another diagnostic appointment. They could squeeze me in on the following Monday.

Unfortunately, I forgot the appointment. I called the Mechanic, and told him that I just remembered that I had purchased an On Board Diagnostic (OBD) with Blue-tooth for my HTC Droid Cell Phone and that I could tell him the Fault code. He said the Fault Code was a simple Failed Catalytic Oxygen Sensor, which did not effect the VAN's operation. I could probable continue driving without a problem, but it would mask additional Faults from being noticed on the Dash. But, that is OK, I have the OBD output on the Cell Phone that I review often. We decided that the repair could be done at the next Oil-Change.

At the time/mileage of the next Oil-Change, I was far from the Auto Shop, and therefore I took the VAN to the local Oil-Can-Harry's for the change. No problem, they do a good job. But, of course the Service Light was still on.

I later received e-mail notification that my Tabs were expiring, No problem, as always, I just send a check to the DMV and they return the Tabs.

Not this time. The check was returned because an Emissions Test was required.

What?? I never had an Emissions Test requirement before.

OK, I called my Auto Mechanic, to see if there is anything regarding Emissions that I should take care of before Testing? He said NO, the best way is to have the VAN tested, the test is only $15.00, and if it fails we could repair only as necessary. He suggested the near Testing Facilities was close to home.

The next day, I went to the Emission Test Facilities (about 15 miles away). They went crazy - I had something plugged into the OBD port on the VAN! They were concerned that I was trying to subvert the testing system. They calmed down when I explained that it was a Cell Phone OBD monitoring device. I should have removed it before approaching the testing station.

The VAN Failed the Emissions Test (remember the Fault and Service Light). The Emissions Test System could not continue until the Fault and Problem was fixed. With a Failure, they allow for one free test after repairs.

OK, I called my Auto Mechanic, to get an appointment for repairs, an early appointment was available next Monday (his shop is about 25 miles away, the other direciton).

Within a hour, the Mechanic had decode the Fault Code, and determined one of three Oxygen Sensor needed to be replaced. The Mechanic had stocks for two of the three, but not for the failed sensor. An order was placed, I would have to return the VAN the next day for the repairs to be made. It should only take about an hour.

Surprisingly, repairs only took an hour, . . . plus $288.00 :-(

OK, I was off to the Emissions Testing Station (about 15 miles away) for the re-test. I removed the OBD Interface before arrival.

The VAN Failed again! This time it failed because the On Board Diagnostic Computer Fail Codes had been reset (normally done after a repair), and the "Drive Cycle Reset" had not completed. What?

OK, I called the Auto Mchanic, What is a "Drive Cycle Reset"?

Oh, he forgot to tell me about that. When the OBD computer has rebooted, the VAN must be driven a few days for sensors to re-acclimate. Or, I can drive a Standard Factory Prescribed "Drive Cycle". The Mechanic suggested that my OBD Cell Phone Monitor may provide status of the "Drive Cycle".

Yes, two of the eight Drive Cycle requirements had not completed, The Catalytic and Evaporative System sensor status were reported as not complete.

The Mechanic suggest that I just drive as normal for a few days. On Monday we could review results and initiate a plan.

The next day, after a few minutes of driving, the Catalytic Converter Status completed. Only the Evaporative System was now in question. Did it also need repair?

OK, on Monday I call the Mechanic, this time to get the official "Factory - Drive Cycle Reset" recommendation for the OBD Computer reset. The Mechanic reported the following procedure as per the factory:

1. Fuel Tank must be between 15% and 85% full (Dang, I just filled up, I will have to siphon 5 gallons out :-(
2. Start Cycle with Engine Cold (I will have to wait until the next morning)
3. Drive at 55mph until engine is hot, then drive for additional 6 minutes at the same speed
4. Coast without breaking for 25 seconds
5. Accelerate back to 45mph
6. Repeat above Coast and Accelerate cycle 4 times
7. Drive at 50mph for 2 minutes
8. Coast to a Stop, without Braking
9. Once Stopped, Hold the Brake while still in Drive, wait for 2 minutes

That "should" reset the OBD Computer sensor statuses.

OK, today I got up early to do a "Drive Cycle Reset", I had several errands to run anyway. Finding a place to play with acceleration and coasting was a little difficult. But I got it done, twice.

But, NOPE, the Evaporative System was still not complete.

The Mechanic suggested I return for Emissions Testing, maybe it will pass without that status. Again, I made sure that the OBD Interface was disconnected before arrival at the Testing Station,

OK, It PASSED :-)

Later I checked the OBD Evaporative System had not completed. Apparently the Testing Station allows for that.

Now to get my TABS, I used my phone to find the nearest DOT Licensing Facility (2 miles). Dang, the  phone was wrong, the DOT Facility closed up shop. The next nearest was about 20 miles away.

Now, with another $58.00 and I now have my VAN TABS !

The reason that the VAN now requires an Emission Test, is because I recently moved into more populated ZIP code. Emission Testing is required each two years :-(

I now know a lot more about OBD Computers, much more than I desire.

This TAB renew effort has taken about three weeks.

I guess, . . . we are all slaves to one computer or another, and I will bet the OBD is just a small simple 4 bit processor!

---

UPDATE:
Several days later, I noticed the OBD Evaporative System has finally completed.


--

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SRC Mobile update

Although HF conditions in my opinion have not been too good lately, I have now had a little time to evaluate the SRC mobile whip.
It certainly appears to be a robust enough antenna physically and it looks well made. Using my LDG auto ATU I can now tune all bands from 80 to 10 metres. The antenna seems quite lively on receive, within the first few days of using it and under poor conditions I worked a DL station on 20 metres, he was calling CQ and came back to me straight away. I can monitor a local 80 metre AM net on my morning drive to work, although I would think that 80 metres is likely to be the worst band for this antenna.

Because the "Tune" function on my Icom 706 MK1 does not operate on 6metres I am unable to get the LDG atu to work on that band. I have found however that by tuning the whip up on 80 metres and then switching to 6 I get an acceptable SWR and indeed the antenna appears to work reasonably well on 6.

All in All I am pleased with the SRC. It is very convenient having all the HF bands available without swapping whips and the performance does not seem to be noticeably different from the mono band whips I had been using.

read more "SRC Mobile update"

TS-180S Repair Part 3 : Recovery in progress, but the Body Count is Increasing ...

I am aware that it has been a while since my last update on this subject, but work has been progressing quietly in the background as my limited free time has allowed. At least once careful consideration was given to this old lady "becoming a projectile", or to be more serious whether a time was approaching when I would could my losses and put it to one side as it seemed to be taking over my life! However after a brief break I rolled up my sleeves and carried on ...

I am pleased to report that this transceiver now works as a receiver, albeit not on all bands yet, and the frequency display isn't functioning. The time is fast approaching when I will check out the transmitting capability and performance of this venerable transceiver.


The replacement of the dead 2SC1907 in the Q14 position (PLL WBA) allowed me to move on to the next fault (there always seems to be a "next fault" with this radio!) - it still appeared that the PLL circuitry was the problem area.

I revisited the Premix Unit, and although all the various signals appeared to be there I was not convinced that the RF levels were all that they should be.   The Service Manual is rather vague on expected RF levels, though it is very good at expected DC levels around key parts of the circuitry.

Meanwhile, back at the PLL Unit I discovered that the amplified VCO outputs which are fed to the Premix Unit were suspiciously low whereas the VCO output levels themselves seemed to be reasonable.

TS-180S - PLL Circuit (Part)

Attention was therefore drawn to the output stage of this part of the circuit (see excerpt from the circuit), and probing around with my DVM revealed that Q2 (another 2SC1907) had just over a volt between its base and emitter and that Q3, the "unlock output mute" transistor had no volts on its collector.  The other voltages were not very close to those suggested by the Service Manual.

Small signal transistors with a volt showing across base and emitter simply aren't transistors any more (it's a kind of Law of Physics!) and clearly the load choke of the mute transistor was open circuit.

The transistor and choke were replaced, and the radio burst into life! Furthermore, replacing the components restored the DC voltages to being very close to those suggested by the Service Manual, an interesting lesson there for future use. (Note to self:- check the DC voltages first!)

It is interesting to ponder that both of the u/s transistors found so far in this circuit were identical types.  This possibly suggest a quality issue with the manufacturing as I strongly suspect they would have been made at the same time, more than likely from the same piece of material.   Worryingly there are a few more 2SC1907s in this radio!

 Now I have a radio which appears to work as a receiver on most but not all bands - there appear to be some alignment issues still with the PLL, but the frequency display now just shows the "base" frequency for each band, in short the counter isn't working.

I spent a little bit of time investigating the counter issue, and again I am not convinced the signal levels are quite sufficient.  The counted signal is a 40-40.5 MHz VFO-locked signal from the Premix Unit and has to be amplified to a sufficient level to interface with TTL (yes, TTL!) chips, and I don't think this is quite happening, but when I lifted the circuit board to investigate the underside I had a bit of a shock!

TS-180S - counter underside

The components underneath were a surprise, and suggest that the layout of this board isn't what you would call "Kenwood's Finest Moment"!.  However to be fair the added bits are shown in the Service Manual layouts, if you look carefully, and are, in the main added decoupling components to the TTL chip supply pins, or the tying down of unused pins.

Re-sweating some suspicious-looking joints and plated-through holes didn't appear to make any difference, but it's early days yet ...

read more "TS-180S Repair Part 3 : Recovery in progress, but the Body Count is Increasing ..."

ARRL VHF QSO Party 2

My VHF QSO Party (See previous post) - Results

These are from my location on Green Mountain, Grid: CN98 at 3000 feet.

As far as I know, only I and one other station (W7MRG) were located within Grid CN98.

• 18:45Z 50.125 N7XS CN87
• 19:??Z 50.132 WA7JTM DM46 ( my only DX )
• 19:50Z 50.125 K7CW CN87
• 20:20Z 50.125 WB7BST CN87
• 20:44Z 50125 WA7TZY CN87
• 20:45Z 50.125 W7MRG CN98 ( about 500' below on the same mountain )
• 20:57Z 50.125 K7KN CN88
• 21:11Z 50.125 K9VD CN87
• 21:15Z 50.125 K7OFT CN87
• 21:18Z 50.125 W7FI CN87

All contacts were local except the second one. With just 5 watts and a whip on the VAN, I was not expecting much more.

Next time I will try to have a beam available.

--

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ARRL VHF QSO Party 1

For June 2011, ARRL VHF QSO Party

Station: FT-817ND

• 6m - 5 watts into a 110 inch Virtical on top of my VAN
• 2m - 5 watts into 5/8 Virtical on VAN

Primary Operating Location:

• http://no.nonsense.ee/qthmap/?qth=CN98BD92RU&from=CN98BD92RU

Alternate Location:

• http://no.nonsense.ee/qthmap/?qth=CN98DC16GA&from=CN98DC16GA

Or:

• http://no.nonsense.ee/qthmap/?qth=CN98CB06QA&from=CN98CB06QA

Zoom out and click on map to see great circle route to your location.

--

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Blog Photos Drop-Shadows

For as long as I have been writing web pages, I have always wanted a easy-to-use Drop-Shadow routine for my included images and photos. I had considered modifying the photos to include the shadow, but that pollutes the photo archives for other uses. Also, modifying the photos means that any photo downloaded or expanded (into another window), would unnecessary contain the included shadow.

Thanks to a Google Search, . . . I finally found a solution!

It is a simple CSS Snippet that is easily included in my Blog Template, and it can also be used with other web pages with style sheets.

 An Example of an Image Frame Drop-Shadow

I am pleased with the results, it makes the photos stand out. But, I hope viewers do not find the Drop-Shadows distracting.

With Blogger it is simple to add (or override) the current Blog Template. Image Drop-Shadows can be added via the following snippet. Note, the Current Blog Template stays intact, with no modification necessary.

Design --> Blogger Template Designer --> Advanced --> Add CSS

-Cut-----------------
.post img {
-moz-box-shadow: 6px 4px 8px #A0A0B0;
-webkit-box-shadow: 6px 4px 8px #A0A0B0;
margin-right: 4px;
margin-bottom: 3px;
padding: 0px;
}
-End---------------

For this blog, the above overrides the current ".post img" style for each image or photo of the posts. A simple edit allows it to be added, removed, or modified as I see fit.

I hope others will also find this useful.


UPDATE:
Apparently this does not work for Internet Explorer, I will have to continue research.

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