AmateurRadio.com

A decent showing on 20m JT-65

I had the day off today as I was called in last evening and worked through the night so I thought some radio time was in order! I wanted to try some digital using WSJT-X's program and JT-65 seemed as good as any mode. At first I attempted to just run JT-65 on it's own as I have done many times in the past. This time for some reason most times when the rig went into transmit my Elecraft K3 stopped transmitting and gave me an error message of ERR PTT. I did post this issue on the Elecraft reflector and got some great feedback BUT I wanted to get some JT-65 in! Next was to try the "back door"

My spots on Hamspots

approach by using Win4k3 suite rig control software as I also have WSJT-X set up under 3rd party AUX/CAT port. Using WSJT-X this way worked like a charm as most of the feedback on the Elecraft reflector site pointed toward software issues and not rig troubles. There was a nice amount of DX on the waterfall that I was decoding but when I checked on Hamspots to see who and where was receiving my 5 watt JT-65 signal it was all U.S so that was the spots I attempted to contact. I also threw my CQ out there as well to see if any local or DX heard me. KG5ICI came back to me from Texas Chris gave me a signal report of -16. I was not on the radio too long but it sure was nice and relaxing.

Afternoon contact

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

A decent showing on 20m JT-65

I had the day off today as I was called in last evening and worked through the night so I thought some radio time was in order! I wanted to try some digital using WSJT-X's program and JT-65 seemed as good as any mode. At first I attempted to just run JT-65 on it's own as I have done many times in the past. This time for some reason most times when the rig went into transmit my Elecraft K3 stopped transmitting and gave me an error message of ERR PTT. I did post this issue on the Elecraft reflector and got some great feedback BUT I wanted to get some JT-65 in! Next was to try the "back door"

My spots on Hamspots

approach by using Win4k3 suite rig control software as I also have WSJT-X set up under 3rd party AUX/CAT port. Using WSJT-X this way worked like a charm as most of the feedback on the Elecraft reflector site pointed toward software issues and not rig troubles. There was a nice amount of DX on the waterfall that I was decoding but when I checked on Hamspots to see who and where was receiving my 5 watt JT-65 signal it was all U.S so that was the spots I attempted to contact. I also threw my CQ out there as well to see if any local or DX heard me. KG5ICI came back to me from Texas Chris gave me a signal report of -16. I was not on the radio too long but it sure was nice and relaxing.

Afternoon contact

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

There is a real gap in my knowledge as I have never once tried an SDR based receiver or transceiver. SDR dongles are very low cost, so I really have no excuse.

On the Southgate site I read news of a new SDR 5W transceiver.

See https://sunsdr.eu/product/sunsdr2-qrp/

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

A little while ago I decided it was time to get a little help with my CW. Whilst I can have a reasonable QSO whilst I’m sat in the shack I tend to make a complete hash of it when /p. The bottom line is that my head copying skills just aren’t there. To try and fix this I enrolled on the CW Academy course for the slightly less than novices (Intermediate). I had expected that I was slated for October but it seems that we’re starting on April 1st! Hope there’s no significance in that.

Alex Hill, G7KSE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, UK. Contact him at [email protected].

This is Episode #186 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, topics include driving while using your amateur radio in Canada, UHF regulations in The Netherlands, amateur radio testing, Samba, tickr, Arch Linux, GeckoLinux and a whole lot more. Thank you so much for listening. We appreciate each and every one of you.

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].

Safety Part 1 and more Technicians pool questions.

57:04

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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].

In this video I show a few things to test before adding an “On The Air” LED indicator to a Kenwood TS-50 ham radio transmitter. I tested for the best brightness of the LED and lowest current using a ganged restore test box I built. The LED was then mounted in my Kenwood MC-60 desktop microphone.

Fluke micro probes

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Todd Harrison, KF7NBI, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Arizona, USA.