Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 283

Amateur Radio Weekly

Vacuum tube-making on the comeback in the US
Production will resume of the single-ended triode tube known as the 300B.
ICQ Podcast

The Morse Code revival
How dots and dashes are being embraced by a new generation.
National World

2023 Hamvention Awards
Club of the Year (W2ZQ), Technical Achievement (WA3FET), and Amateur of the Year (DM9EE).
Hamvention

A coax cable horror story
Two RG316 cables out of 3 from AliExpress had an attenuation of more than 4dB.
QRPer

Omniangle omnidirectional antennas
Stacked for more fun.
K5ND

QRZ.com celebrates 30 years
New operating award celebrates 3 decades of service.
QRZ.com

Special event: K4A 9-11 Still in Our Hearts and Mind
The Alabama Contest Group will honor the victims of 9-11 September 8 through September 12.
Alabama Contest Group

Online Ham Radio bootcamp
Includes a series of demonstrations and tutorials designed to help new Hams.
Nashua Area Radio Society

Bob’s bespoke rack of radios
You simply cannot have enough radios – a principle I learned a long time ago.
SWLing Post

Video

AREDN basics and tutorial
AREDN is a fast, IP-based wireless mesh network using cheap commercial components.
HB9BLA

POTA setup and activation
From K-0661, Ocean Springs, MS with a live duck, Mochi.
Ham and Quackers

How photographs were transmitted by wire
Dramatization of how photographs are transmitted by wire, an exciting new technology in the 1930s.
Charlie Dean Archives

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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.

International Morse Code Day (April 27)

Morse Code Day on April 27 (every year) honors one of the inventers of the Morse code, Samuel Morse, who was born on this day in 1791.

Morse Code Day on April 27 (every year) honors one of the inventers of the Morse code, Samuel Morse, who was born on this day in 1791.

Happy Morse Code Day, April 27 (every year).

Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs. He was a co-developer of Morse code and helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy.

Alfred Vail developed the dot-dash structure, and Leonard Gale along with Vail was instrumental in developing the mechanical receiving apparatus for code.

Samuel Morse gets most of the credit because of his work in promoting this code as a viable means of communication. Morse code is still used now. Amateur radio is one of the communities in which Morse code is popular and in daily use.

73 de NW7US dit dit
https://NW7US.us

..

 


Visit, subscribe: NW7US Radio Communications and Propagation YouTube Channel

ATNO for me!

Way back on April 20th late in the afternoon, I checked my go-to DX cluster DX heat to see what was happening on the bands. I saw VU2TMP from India spotted and I have seen this station in the past but never heard him just the pileup. 


This time he was spotted on 15m and out my way in the afternoon 15m can do some very surprising things. I flipped on the Icom 7610 and spun over to 21.001 CW and low and behold there was VU2TMP at about S5! I put the radio in split and Dual receive and to my surprise there was not much action happening. I dropped my call a few times but he went back to other stations I could not hear most in Europe. I thought to myself the only time I hear him he can’t hear me, but I am only running 100 watts into a Hustler 4BTV. 


I dropped my call again a few times and low and behold I hear “VE9?” now I am thinking it’s one of my fellow VE9’s also calling him. I tried again and heard “VE9K?” well know things are getting serious and to top it off he is now fading!! I sent “VE9KK…KK…KK” and his reply was “VE9KK 5NN” Well hot dog I am in the log. I sent my exchange and all was good.


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

 Ham Radio – QRP 2023-04-25 01:28:00

 TX Relay, Power and TX REQ IN

R&L Electronics sent me a SCU-28 10-pin DIN cable by accident and were nice enough to let me keep it.  Consider shopping from those guys.  They offer great communication and good prices.

This cable is typically used to wire connections for an external amplifier.  I don't have an external amplifier but I wanted to make use of the +12v power and transmit relay for the protection relay I built for my SDR-Play a few years ago.


I had also read that the TX REQ IN pin could be used to switch the radio into a lower power tune mode for use with external tuners. The absence of a TUNE button for external tuners is one of my pet-peeves about the FT-DX10 so I was excited to have one.

Wiring the Break Out Box and TX-REQ-IN

So I used my last spare plastic project box, some female phono jacks and found a push-button that I'd cut off of some other project in my junk box and went to work.


I used some shrink wrap for the momentary switch for the TX-REQ-IN pin.


I wired up 3 phono jacks... One for the TX relay, another for the +12v out, and one for the ALC control in case I ever do get an amp.  I safed the other wires for future use inside the project box.


Partial Success

I connected the box and verified that I was getting power for the relay and that the Relay Switch operated



Unfortunately, the TX-REQ-IN does NOT do what it does with other Yaesu transceivers.  Pressing the button grounds the TX-REQ-IN - the radio does transmit a carrier in any mode (here I tested with LSB) but rather than transmitted a reduced power carrier as it's supposed to, it just transmits at whatever wattage the mode is currently set to.  In this case I had the power set to 50w into a dummy load and it transmitted the full 50w rather than a reduced power 10w or 20w carrier for tuning.  See the power out on the radio's display


In my opinion Yaesu screwed the pooch on this one.  I don't see any reason why they wouldn't operate like they do with their bigger brethren radios when the TX-REQ-IN is grounded.  Some subsequent forum searching turned up posts from others that confirmed that the FT-DX10 does not properly respond to that signal.

My Elecraft KX3 and Ten-Tec Eagle both have a "TUNE" button that sends a low power tuning signal regardless of what the current power setting is at and there's no reason that the FT-DX10 shouldn't do the same.  Having to dive into a menu to change the power setting for tuning an external matching unit is just silly in this day and age.

I have confirmed that my box is working the relay properly to my SDR-Play.  I reference the relay I built to protect the front-end of the SDR-Play in this post https://www.hamradioqrp.com/2017/02/spruce-up-basic-transceiver-with-sdr.html

That's all for now.



So lower your power and raise your expectations





Richard Carpenter, AA4OO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from North Carolina, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

A Pop-up Ham Sale

 

April 29 at our Training Site

5746 142 Street, Surrey

Surrey Amateur Radio Communications will be holding a parking lot sale next Saturday April 29th (weather permitting) to dispose of a large quantity of surplus ham equipment. 


Lots to choose from!
 
Items for sale include HF and mobile transmitters, receivers, transceivers, antennas, rotators, test instruments, coax and other cable, swr and power meters, power supplies, tuners, scopes, dummy loads, misc. accessories etc. We also have a utility trailer for sale. 
 
The sale is at our Ops & Training Centre 5756 142 St. Surrey, BC. from 11 am to 2 pm.  No early birds please (Map link: 
: https://what3words.com/daunted.rarity.parrot)
 
SARC/SEPAR members and non-members are also invited to set up a table or sell personal items from their vehicles. There is no charge for this.
 
Before the event, you may also wish to join us for our club breakfast at Denny’s Restaurant 6850 King George Blvd between 7:30 and 9:00 am.
 
Questions? [email protected]

Here is a partial list









































See you there.

 
~


ICQ Podcast Episode 401- MFJ8504 Review and Understanding HF Controls

In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Dan Romanchik KB6NU, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and in the episode's feature is MFJ8504 Review and Understanding HF Controls.

We would like to thank Paul Coppin (M0YMJ) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

  • Ria Jairam, N2RJ, joins ARDC Board
  • Your MultiMeter Might be Lying to You
  • Vacuum Tube-Making on the Comeback in the US
  • FCC Takes a Deeper Dive into Satellites
  • Electrocuted While Helping Another Amateur
  • Three Hams Chosen for Artemis Moon Mission
  • RSGB Coronation Activities
  • National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting Open during 2023 Dayton Hamvention

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

Blackpool Rally 23th April

 The warmth from the North welcomes all to the Norbreck rally tomorrow.





Further detail click NARSA





Steve, G1KQH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from England. Contact him at [email protected].

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