Another BIG issue

The final issue of the year. The November-December Communicator, digital periodical of Surrey Amateur Radio Communications is now available for viewing or download. Some great projects and articles in this issue including a terrific Ham IV rotator upgrade, suggestions for affordable test instruments, and complete introduction to 3D printing, with special emphasis on amateur radio applications. Our regular columnists will also provide you with some interesting experiences.

Now read in over 165 countries, we bring you 125+ pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and elsewhere. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

Download the Nov-Dec 2024 Communicator 
or read it on-line like a magazine

Previous Communicator issues:

Search for past Communicator issues

and a full searchable index is HERE.  

As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome. 

The deadline for the next edition is December 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at [email protected]

73,

John VE7TI
'The Communicator' Editor

Hello and welcome to the 559th episode of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this short topics episode, the hosts discuss ham radio in the Internet age, ham radio during national emergencies, Sonusmix for pipewire audio routing, Meadow, Jetbrains Rider, a new version of FreeDV and much more. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

Hello and welcome to installment 558 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts dig down to the bottom of their computing tool bag and pull out some odd but eminently useful Linux and open source applications. We hope you enjoy this episode and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

 

 This weekend was the WAG (Worked All Germany) contest which I entered CW low power and unassisted. About 10 minutes into the contest things started to unravel, I was on 10m calling CQ TEST when my contest software (N1MM+) had the contact log window turn black. It came back to normal within an instant but that is never a good sign. Next, I pressed my F1 key to send CQ TEST again and it did not respond, I pressed it again and nothing. Then all of a sudden the rig keyed and the macro started to send...twice. Then the issues got worse as when I had a station come back to me and I responded with my exchange the macro would not send right away. It was very confusing to the answering station and as he sent his call again, it was then my exchange macro decided to send. 

It was time to shut down and get things sorted out. I  have had this issue in the past and thought I figured it out. In the past, my wired Lanovo mechanical keyboard was picking up RFI and causing me problems. I was looking for a fast fix and added some mix  31 toroids to where the cable enters the keyboard. I now have toroids at either end of the keyboard cable. 

I then fired up the contest software and called CQ TEST again on 10m. For over an hour, I  had no issues and hoped I had fixed the issue. This was the first time this issue had ever shown up on 10m in the past it has always been just  20m but of course now that I am contesting "MR RFI" changes things up.  Heading up to 20m and again while calling CQ TEST I had the N1MM+ contest log window go black again. It was time once again to shut things down as I couldn't contest in this situation. 

As I sat there and went over things I knew in the past I had had issues with my wired mouse, I went wireless and the problem was solved. Maybe it was time to go with a wireless keyboard? I have a Logitech K830 hanging around and thought I would put that into service and see what happens. Of course, the keyboard's rechargeable battery was dead and needed about an hour of charge time before I could use it. That gave me time to label the keyboard and look up the instructions on how to pair it. 

Logi wireless keyboard.

I was up and running again with the wireless keyboard and things were working just fine! This is a much smaller keyboard and I found myself hitting macro F keys when I was supposed to be hitting numbers. This also is not a mechanical key-type keyboard. I tend to be heavy-handed while my hands are resting on the keyboard waiting for the  CQ TEST macro to finish. The keyboard was so sensitive by mistake that I would type letters into N1MM+ call box. When this happened my CQ macro stopped (as it should) I had to lighten up my heavy hands while I was using this keyboard. 

While waiting for the keyboard to charge I made my way to Amazon and ordered a full-size mechanical keyboard. I was sure this was the solution to the issue and so far I was right. It was getting more toward evening and 40m looked like it was hopping. When I pressed my F1 CQ key my N1MM+ , Win4icom  radio control software and the web page I had open all disappeared! With everything restarted I tried again with the same results, it was time to pull the plug and think about things over the evening. The wireless keyboard was not the answer. It was time to get back onto Amazon and cancel the keyboard order.

Winkeyer with ground lead to main ground bus

As the wheels in my head started to turn when using the wired keyboard the only program that was ever affected was N1MM+  and not Win4icom radio control software or the webpages I had open, it was always just N1MM+. When I started to use  Win4icom radio control software along with N1MM+ I needed to purchase a  Winkeyer USB unit for the CW macros in N1MM+ to work properly. The  Winkeyer is directly involved with the sending of code and it's part of the chain I have not paid any attention to. All outgoing cables had  31mix toroids on them BUT I realized the unit was not connected to the station ground. On Sunday morning I opened the Winkeyer and connected a station ground wire to one of the PC board mounting screws. 

I  began contesting and all was good on all bands, my fingers are crossed  BUT I have had this false hope in the past. Today (Monday) I have my weekly Medium Speed Contest (MST) in the morning and afternoon. It will be a good test to see if the issue has been fixed.
Also, I posted my issue on the Groups.io N1MM+ site and had some excellent feedback.  One common thread was the USB outer metal shell on the PC. I was told most of the time they are floating and not grounded and this can cause issues. I have a lot of USB cables connected to my PC for radio-related things. I was given a very good idea on how to ground them but more on that in another post. 

UPDATE: This morning and this afternoon I took part in the MST contest and called CQ on all bands without any issues. Maybe I have the RFI issue solved. BUT in the past I have done the happy dance to only be greeted with RFI....so we are keeping this celebration very low key. 

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, we join Martin Martin Butler M1MRB, Chris Howard (M0TCH), Martin Rothwell (M0SGL), Frank Howell (K4FMH) and  Bill Barnes (WC3B) to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and the episode's feature is UK Ham Fest 2024 Part 2.

We would like to thank our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

• An Incredible Amateur Radio Rescue Story
• WRTC and WRL Announce Partnership to Launch New Live Ham Radio Competition Technology
• Balloon to Take Ham Payloads Aloft in South Africa
• Hams Respond to 2nd Hurricane in Southern US
• Jamboree On The Air EME Event
• Volunteer as an RSGB Youth Champion
• New ARDC Director of Technology

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 198 is now available for download.

Adding a Buck-Boost Converter to the PC Power Supply. Tommy’s GMRS Update. Hurricane Francine, Moving, RMS Gateway. AmateurLogic’s 19th Anniversary contest award.

Download
YouTube

George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].