A Suitcase Portable 40 Meter CW Station from 1951

 

Wow.  Check this out:

http://www.skywaves.ar88.net/homebrew/W9FKC.pdf

A very nice  rig built by an amazing homebrewer 

And thanks to Al Klase N3FRQ for putting that wonderful web site together. 

SolderSmoke Podcast #225: Mars, uSDX, G-QRP, HP8640B, DX-390, Rotary Tools, Walla Walla SDR, MAILBAG

SolderSmoke Podcast #225 is available

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke225.mp3

Mars,  West Coast smoke.

Pete's Activities: 

-- DC receivers.

-- CW offset

-- GQRP talk

-- The uSDX project

Bill's Bench

-- Sliding into the Vintage Test Gear Cult:  HP8640B . 

-- Fixing up and figuring out Radio Shack DX-390 receivers.  

-- 220 to 110 on a few remaining devices.     

-- Got myself a Dremel-like rotary device.  

Tech News: 

-- ARRL/TAPR Convention:  SDR project from Walla Walla University students.   Intuitive explanation for why desired and image freqs in a mixer come out with very useful phase differences.  

-- Chuck Adams' Amazing Lab Notebook.   Includes a simple circuit to measure resistance and Q in crystals.  FB. 

MAILBAG: 

-- Dino KL0S  SITSing in his shack, homebrewing 9 MHz filters  FB Dino.  Airborne! 

-- Dave NT1U sent us the famous 1968 QST Article by W7ZOI re DC RX.  

-- Ron K0EIA listening to SWBC staions with uBITX.  

-- Ted AJ8T  Korguntubes making a 12AX7 equivalent.  

-- Joel N6ALT sent me a nice DX-390 manual.  Thanks Joel

-- Bob KD8CGH alerted us to the uSDX project -- story on the blog. 

-- Craig AA0ZZ Sent a great message with insights on computer code -- I will put up on the blog. 

--Tracy KN4FHX reports on optimistic prognosis for SolarCycle 25.  Some chickens may have to be sacrificed.   

-- Stephen M0OMO Thanks SolderSmoke for rekindling interest in this hobby. 

-- Paul VK3HN  has a cool new rig -- The Prowler -- check it out

-- Steve N8NM working on his Sunbeam car -- Pete already knew about the carburetor synch problem.  N6QW knows everything. 

ON6UU's DB4020 EA3GCY Rig

Hi,

Recently I got the EA3GCY newsletter,  it announced a new kit DB4020,  a 2 band transceiver kit covering 40 and 20 mtrs.  I know Javier EA3GCY’s kit are good so I ordered one.  A week later it arrived in a brown enveloppe in which I found all components and printboard wrapped in bubblewrap,  it was all well packed and after checking all components all was accounted for,  all components were indeed there.

8 toroids have to be wound,  following the instructions it was piece of cake,  no problem,  

After several hours of work - relax max style - I got everything in place to test,  hurray,  no smoke !!!!  So now the SSB part was ready,  I have 7W on 40 and 3.5W on 20mtr.  Good power for qrp sota,  wff or just garden activity.  A fortnight later I got notice that the CW part of the kit was ready and another week later it arrived here,  I soldered the 2 boards as soon as possible to get a multimode 2 band transceiver.   The 2 boards are the CW interface which also holds the KB-2 keyer,  the second board is the 500-600HZ CW filter.   The KB-2 give the user 4 memories,  beacon function and some more functions.  Good thinking to include the keyer,  it makes life easy when you’re on an activation. 😊   I opted to make the filter switchable,  I like to be able to listen broadband too,  very simple,  cut one leg of the 13 pin connector on the bottom of the CW interface and put a switch on both ends.

After some figgling around I also got the box ready,  a military grade plastic box with wall thickness of 5 mm,  this box should be able to withstand a lot of shocks and a drop to the ground.  I also made a docking station for a laptop battery which holds some 5Ah and which should be able to give me a lot of hours of listening and some 2 to 3 hours of operation.  I had an old laptop which the screen was broken and had some other malfunctions,  I have taken the battery connector out of it,  luckily I still have another laptop which still works and this is the charging station for the batteries …. ..  😊   The docking is only to test,  I will box it up in maybe a some box where I can then maybe also fit a end fed solution or tuner for coax fed antennas.

A new radio also needs a new CW key so I made one out of an old relay,  painted the base green to fit somewhat the box et voila,  here is the result of the complete portable station.

The key can be fitted to the box by means of a bolt and a wingnut.  A short cable goes to the CW connector of the transceiver.

I had a lot of fun constructing this kit,  the box,  the docking and the key.   For 180€ you get a arduino nano controlled CW/SSB transceiver with 2 bands on which most of the activity is and you also get a keyer with memories.   Good deal I think.   More info is available on EA3GCY’s website.  Javier is also very quick in responding to questions,  he ask for opinions and offers almost an Elecraft style of service.

I made some video’s which are on youtube :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9sUbyAlF00&t=12s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGDwLdkr3HU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiMnpfte4cI&t=35s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLYIgVv7So8&t=130s

The kitters website :

https://www.qrphamradiokits.com/

https://www.qrphamradiokits.com/transceivers/db4020-dual-band/#cc-m-product-12710260049

Best 73

Frank

ON6UU

Dilbert, Shep, Dex, Pete, Farhan, and Wes! N2CQR Presentation on Homebrewing to Local Radio Club

Dean KK4DAS asked me to speak to our local radio club, the Vienna Wireless Society.   It was a lot of fun.  I talked about my evolution as a homebrewer, some of the rigs I made, the moments of joy, and the tales of woe.   You can watch the presentation in the video above. 

I was really glad to be able to explain in the presentation the importance of people like Pete, Dex, Farhan, Wes, Shep and even Dilbert. 

I was also pleased to get into the presentation the N2CQR sign that Peter VK2EMU made for me.  Thanks Peter! 

Here is the URL to the YouTube video (also above): 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3414&v=VHSr-v4QO7Q&feature=emb_logo

And here are the PowerPoint slides I used: 
https://viennawireless.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/VWS-presentation-Rig-here-is-homebrew.pdf

"The Radio Collector" A TV Series from 1985

Here is a really nice five part series of PBS TV programs about the history of radio and about restoring old radios.   I got a kick  out of W6AM's description of the "exam" that got him his first radio license -- you will find that story at the end of the first episode (above). 

Here are all five of the progams: 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLTogcYJemH5Oc_W8Q4gsae4a0zHvi5L8&fbclid=IwAR1H1Eq1vqMb_-MntRvPId5f_UpU5h-KJVtz2Wj8ijbTmSusr1BmGvcAROk

And here is the background info (from the YouTube Channel): 

The Radio Collector from the California Historical Radio Society

5 videos 156 views Last updated on May 25, 2020

The 5-part PBS series from 1985, “Radio Collector” was nominated for a Los Angeles Area Emmy for Best Informational Series. Radio Collector was shot in 1985 on 3/4″ video, a marginal format that boasted 240 lines of resolution. It was edited 3/4″ to 3/4″ using a control track/insert cuts-only editor, then that 2nd generation 3/4″ was transferred to 2″ at KOCE in Southern California where the credits were added. KOCE sent it to PBS and it was available to all member stations, and it has been aired on many stations. Mike Adams' students in Radio-TV-Film at California State University, Fullerton, were the camera operators, musicians, etc. Twenty eight years later CHRS President Steve Kushman transferred a copy of a copy of a copy of the master which went from 2nd generation 3/4″ to 2″ to 1″ to Beta SP to his computer. The story has held up well, and of course many of those profiled here are silent keys/valves. Mike’s inspiration for this series was the original “This Old House,” thus “This Old Radio.” Enjoy

Adam N0ZIB's FB Station (and UGLY Michigan Mighty Mite)

Bill and Pete, 

Thanks for the work you put into your podcast. I’ve been listening to it on my commute and while at work (I’m a welder/fabricator). Fantastic content.  Keep up the great work.  

All your talk about Farhan and the Ubitx convinced me to order one.  I welded an aluminum case for it and upgraded to the Nextion 3.5” screen. Also added a tuning knob from a Heathkit SB-401.  So far I’m really enjoying this rig. Plan to add an audio amp (to drive a larger speaker) and a CW filter to it this weekend.  In the station picture I sent I also show my paddles made from a hacksaw blade and stainless steel hardware. It’ll send 25 WPM before it gets a little sloppy.  My QCX 40 is also pictured.  I have a commercial rig too but find I’m not using it very often. 

Plan to start building the simpleceiver soon and maybe a bitx 17 too. Your podcast played a big part in convincing me to pick up a soldering iron again.  You guys are awesome.  Keep it up.  

73’s

Adam

N0ZIB

(Pete noticed that the main tuning knob on Adam's uBITX was NOT from Heathkit but was instead from a Collins KWM-2 or 32S3.  He advised Adam that the knob would sell quickly on e-bay.  It did, and will finance additional N0ZIB homebrew projects.  We are thinking of adding these knobs to our SolderSmoke Retirement Fund Portfolio.)   

Adam continues: 

I was listening to your older podcasts and heard several discussions about the Michigan Mighty Mite.  So this jumbled up mess probably doesn’t look like much but I built one. I need to order a 40 meter crystal and actually build it again on a board(with the coil rewound for 40) but my “proof of concept” build was a success. Using a variable cap from a Hallicrafters S20-R and the crystal holder from a Heathkit.  

Paul VK3HN's Portable Rig

Nice work Paul. 

The Homebrew Rigs I Worked During the First Day of Novice Rig Roundup (NRR)

The Thing-of-Beauty above is "The Scrounger" homebrew transmitter of Jon WS1K. Jon writes: 

The rig I used this morning was the Scrounger.  I built it a couple of weeks ago.  It took me about 2 months of trolling a local thrift store for the right pan. I wanted a pan that captured the spirit of a true Novice built rig.

As a side note, the key that I'm using is a JH Bunnell that I bought at one of the MIT flea markets last summer in Cambridge.  It's mounted on a piece of plywood and written on the plywood is the Novice callsign WN1UMD.  Cool or what?

More of Jon's rigs here: https://www.qrz.com/db/WS1K

Above is Greg Latta AA8V's amazing 6X2 superhet receiver: 

More details here:

https://www.frostburg.edu/personal/latta/ee/6x2rcvr/6x2rcvr.html

PH2LB's Homebrew Hi-Per-Mite CW Filter in his uBITX

I really like the way Lex PH2LB measures and demonstrates the effectiveness of the Hi-Per-Mite CW filter designed by David Cripes NM0S.   Watch the short video above.  The blue trace is the audio input to the filter, the orange trace is the output.  Watch the output change as Lex sweeps the audio frequency range. 

He wrote: 

After studying the schematic I shifting through my spare parts stock to collected the components and build one according there design on a breadboard (I changed the center frequency from 700 to 600Hz).
I hooked up my signal generator with a amplitude of 2v max and sweeped it from 250Hz to 2KHz looking at the output on my rigol osciloscoop. On 2khz VMAX=0.04V, 885Hz=0.2V, 700Hz=1.5V, 662-585Hz=2V, 400Hz=0.2V, 500Hz=0.9V, 250Hz=0.04V. So a nice flat top between 585Hz to 662Hz.

A full description of Lex's project (with more videos) is here: 

https://www.ph2lb.nl/blog/index.php?page=ubitx-mods3#ubitx-mod14

Lex's Knack Story and the intro to his blog is here: https://www.ph2lb.nl/blog/index.php?page=history

Hi-Per-Mite Active Audio CW Filter Installed in uBITX (video)

Coming home from the Dominican Republic, this was a major item on my list of desired mods for the uBITX: a narrower passband for CW.  Using the 2.3 kHz SSB passband, you could have many CW QSOs audible in your headphones.  Narrow that passband to 200-300 Hz and life gets a lot easier. 

Farhan had discussed adding a 12 Mhz IF filter of suitable CW bandwidth, but this seemed difficult to me. Besides, I have long wanted to use an active audio filter for this purpose. 

The Hi-Per-Mite filter from 4 State QRP Group is just what I needed. I built the kit without problems in about an hour, then I put it in the uBITX box, with  switch on the front panel that lets me put it in the circuit or take it out -- this is very satisfying and a lot of fun.  

The Hi-Per-Mite just goes between the uBITX audio out and the speaker/headphone connection. I built mine for "no gain" -- the uBITX provides plenty of audio. 

The selectivity with the Hi-Per-Mite compares favorably to that of my Drake 2-B with the 500 Hz LC filter.  You can get an idea of the performance in the video. 

Three cheers for the 4 State QRP Group and their Hi-Per-Mite!  Here is the page with all the info: 

http://www.4sqrp.com/hipermite.php

Mountain Topping in Indonesia -- Very Cool Video

OM Kenji has an awesome video about a mountain topping trip that took place in Indonesia just yesterday.  Very nice.  

I like the use of the neodymium magnets to attach the paddles to the rig.  I may try that with my homebrew straight key and the Samana-uBITX. Or I may have to get a keyer and learn (finally!) to use paddles.  (But simplicity is a virtue and there is nothing more simple than a straight key.) 

Kenji is obviously an amazing cook, even in the field.  I like the coffee-making technique. 

Check out more of his videos (and subscribe) at his YouTube Channel page: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpfn1viFoqVmWk6x891nKaQ   

Thanks Kenji! 

Mike WU2D on QSO Today with Eric Guth 4Z1UG

Eric Guth has a great interview with homebrew and boatanchor guru Mike WU2D.  

Listen here: 

https://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/WU2D

Wow: "My receiver was from a Sherman tank." 

His story about getting in trouble after "borrowing" his friend's callsign was really great. 

I also liked his wise comment about how anyone who homebrews simple gear will collect some "wallpaper" from official observers and the FCC.   Mike is right:  we shouldn't get too concerned about minor transgressions. If we do, we run the risk of becoming so careful, cautious, and fearful that we never BUILD anything.  

There is a wonderful discussion of the Paraset. 

Mike coins a term that we might want to add to the SolderSmoke lexicon:  RetroQRP.  (Over to you Steve Silverman.  Your call OM.) 

Santa Came to SolderSmoke! From Australia!

Oh wow!  Santa Claus made a really long distance DX trip to SolderSmoke's East Coast HQ last night.   His chief Elf this time was Peter VK2EMU who crafted the AMAZING Morse key you see in these pictures.  This is truly a work of art.  I will indeed put it on the air with a homebrew transmitter.  And we will keep on soldersmoking.  

Thanks very much Peter.  This was really great.  

Merry Christmas to all!  

SolderSmoke Podcast #216 Is Available: BITXs, Paesano, Paraset, ET2, Antuino, Mailbag

Bill's uBITX with HB keys and the mic that used to be the podcast mic! 

SolderSmoke Podcast #216 is available 

21 December 2019

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL! 

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke216.mp3

Pete's Bench 

Sprat Article

BITX 40 Fun

ZL2BMI Rig

Paraset.   Three tubes!  Almost an ET-3!

Bill's Bench

ET-2 Adventure over,  Rig on the wall

Final QSO count. 20   3 "random" 

Last QSO with AA8OZ

Lessons learned:  100 mW not the problem. Crystal Control cramps your style. 

N0WVA regen amazingly effective.

Tried for the Sunrise Net.  Walter sent me some crystals.  

On to the uBITX. 

Accidentally wiped out calibration and BFO settings. 

Had to do recalibration and reset BFO. 

Learned a lot about the rig. 

How they did CW and how they do it now. Shift TX?  Or shift RX?  Or just shift BFO on RX? 

How all the signals end up as upper sideband.  Only one BFO freq.  Very cool. 

TalentCell 12 V Lithium Ion 3 AmpHour battery. Size of a deck of cards. 

Inspired by Peregrino -- I ordered EFHW Tuner from QRP Guys. 

Homebrew Straight Keys

Antuino upgrade 

SMT soldering. 

Back to Arduino Nano and the IDE.  

A very cool tool. 

Antuino filter analysis.

Version 6 of uBITX out. 

The "Watt Meter" DC power meter.  Very useful.  8 bucks.  LINK:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-DC-combo-Meter-LCD-Watt-Power-Volt-Amp-RC-Battery-charging-Analyzer-M/152339793114?fbclid=IwAR0u9SlZi2Dm6zOJyZt4fDTu7w_pjBIEYD_FiNfLymxtQUbMjcNHjfB17P0

SPRAT, balloons and hardcore homebrew hydrogen. 

MAILBAG

VK3HN's AM receiver.  I ordered 6kHz 455 kHz filters from Australia. 

Dean's MMM

Peter VK2EMU   Hertz not hertz. 

Ben KC9DLM LTSpice YouTube Videos

Steve Silverman  Electroluminescent Receiver Kit

Lyndon N0LFX back to listening.  FB OM

Steve M0KOV built a pill bottle variometer.  Did you get the regen going? 

Anthony VU3JVX   FB HB uBitx.  

Allison KB1GMX  Great to hear from her

Leif WB9IWT -- helped me trouble shoot my uBITX (BFO was low)

Mike EI0CL  old buddy from Azores days.  Recognized his voice on 20.  Great QSO.  

Hangin' it up (the ET-2)

My ET-2 minimalist QRP CW adventure is (for now) officially over.   I have taken the rig - festooned with the callsigns of all the stations I contacted -- and have put it up on the wall.  This may be a new form of art.  I think I am the first radio amateur to do this.  I think it is pretty cool. 

Here are the stats:   I made 20 contacts with the rig. I had it on the air from 12 October 2019 to 7 December 2019.    Seventeen of the contacts were the result of my posting pleas for help on the SKCC Sked page and/or the Summit DX page.  Three of the contacts were completely random. One station -- W1PID -- provided four of the contacts.  Thanks Jim. 

My power out was usually around 100 milliwatts.  I used either a 40 meter coax fed dipole or a 135 foot doublet fed with window line. 

My best distances were Wisconsin and Georgia. 

Crystal control was the real limiting factor.  100 milliwatts didn't seem to be much of an impediment. The most amazing thing about this rig is the N0WVA regen receiver.  It took a lot of peaking and tweaking, and it took some skill to operate. but once I got it going it was an amazingly good receiver.  Really Amazing for just ONE J-310 FET. 

The last contact was really nice.  I was calling CQ and AA8OZ came back.  He was in a cabin on a trip with some scouts.  He too was on a wire antenna.  He was one of those guys who said WOW! when I told him about the rig.  We had a nice long conversation on 40.  It was a great way to wrap up the ET-2 adventure. 

Thanks to all who helped me make contacts and for all those who tried to work me. Thanks to N0WVA for the regen inspiration. And thanks to Glen Yingling W2UW (SK) for the ET-1 idea. 

The rig is standing by.  On the wall.  Perhaps it will return to service, maybe during solar max. 

Crystals -- Old and New and World War Two

I was watching Greg Charvat's great video about the WWII ARC-5 receiver yesterday. Greg admonished all of us to preserve any WWII gear we might have in our shacks.  Just one day earlier I had found the crystal pictured above in my junk box.   There is some old stuff floating around in here! I will preserve this one. 

Speaking of crystals,  Walter KA4KXX recently sent me some 40 meter crystals for use with my ET-2 transceiver.  Walter suggested that I use them to check into the daily (1300Z) Sunrise Net on 7123 kHz.  These were modern "short" computer crystals.  So I put them into FT-243 and FT-241 holders.  (Don't worry Greg, no WWII gear was destroyed in the process).  It was kind of fun to put the new rocks in old boxes. They work just fine in the ET-2.  Thanks again Walter! 

Finally, Chris KD4PBJ has been helping a buddy of his buy a Drake 2B.   This morning Chris asked about the E Crystal adjustment coil on the back of the Drake.  I told him that was to allow the use of "overtone" crystals.  But, sadly, I advised him not to worry about it too much because the days of ordering bespoke crystals (overtone or otherwise) are behind us. 

ET-2 Contact #18 W4FOA -- RANDOM, UNSCHEDULED, AND NOT SPOTTED (Video)

On December 1, 2019,  my 100 milliwatt signal flew more than 500 miles to reach Tony W4FOA in Chickamauga, Georgia. And -- icing on the cake -- this was a random contact.   Tony just heard my CQ on 7038 kHz -- he had not been alerted to my CQ by any spotting site or by the SKCC Sked page.  I made a quick video of my side of the contact (above). 

In a follow-up e-mail Tony explained how my CQ sounded to him: 

"I was just listening on the 40 meter band and having been a QRP'er for 50+ years, I tend to notice the weaker stations, thus explains my calling you.  Also, your signal had that little "sound" of "yesteryear" when signals were not all pure, hi.  Had it not been for the QSB and QRN we could have had a long chat despite the weak signal from your QRPp.  Over the years I have QRP DXCC, 2 way QRPARCI WAS, and my best DX was two QSO's with 2 different VK7 stations on 40 when I was running 1 watt.  I've had a lot of different QRP rigs and still have some home brew stuff plus a couple of HW8s, HW9, Elecraft K2, etc..."  

From Tony's QRZ.com page, we learn more about his ham radio activities (note his homebrew rigs and his obvious affection for the Drake 2B and 2BQ) 

First licensed as WN4FOA in April 1954. Other calls held include EL2AD, 7Q7AA, PY1ZBA. Prefer to work CW but I do work some SSB, primarily DX-related. Enjoy chasing DX on all HF bands. Have 9BDXCC and I now have worked and confirmed all of the current DXCC countries . I enjoy QRP operation and currently use an Elecraft K2 (#2213),Ameco AC-1, Kenwood TS-130V SW-40, DC-40, HW-8 (2), Heathkit HW-9 Deluxe (WARC) PSA-9 HFT-9B SP-99 HM-9 HD-420 VLF, MFJ 40T and MFJ 40V VFO,  and a homebrew 6AG7/6L6 or a 6C4/5763  etc. I also enjoy operating boatanchor gear which includes a Johnson Viking Adventurer, Viking Challenger,  an Eico 720 and an Eico 723 with a HG-10B VFO and a Heath AT-1 and a Drake 2NT. Recently added a neat Lysco 600 transmitter and a Knight Kit T-60, Johnson Viking II, and a Ten Tec 544.  Boatanchor receivers include a Hallicrafters SX-100, SX-110, SX-71, Drake R4C and the incredible Drake 2B/2BQ combo. Recently added a Kenwood TS-830S, VFO-240, AT-230 and SP-230.

Tony W4FOA

Thanks a lot Tony.  73

QSO #3 with the ET-2 Minimalist Transceiver

 

The Radio Gods were clearly supporting me on 16 October 2019.  I had sent out a plea for people to listen for the 80 mW CQ from my ET-2 rig.   I had specified 0930 Eastern as the time.  Little did I know that there would be a contest at that hour (on a Wednesday morning!) on 40 meter CW.  There was no chance of my signals getting through.  I leaned that the contest would be over at 1000 hours, so I waited and called CQ again at that hour.  Jim W1PID had guessed that I would do that.  I immediately recognized his call -- he was often at the other end of Michael Rainey's most daring low-power adventures.  He was a participant in the famous Rexpeditions, including a coastal effort to send Michael's voice-powered CW signal across the Atlantic.  His normal operating habitat is in the field.  We had a wonderful QSO.  He told me I peaked at S-6.  

I have worked W1PID on at least two Straight Key Nights and this blog has had many postings about his long-standing involvement in QRP. 

Thanks a lot Jim! 

 

Making Fish Soup from Herring and Tuna (How to Build a Fish Soup 10 Transceiver)

Just in case some other fanatic someday thinks about trying to turn a Herring Aid 5 and a Tuna Tin 2 into a Fish Soup 10. This will also serve as a note to myself on how I did this.  Above are my suggestions on how to get the VFO signal into the transmitter and the receiver.  Both RX and TX can easily be returned to their original condition. 

A Frequency Readout for the Fish Soup 10 (with cool BLUE numerals)

Note the cool BLUE numerals.  They represent 7040, 7050, 7060, 7070.  The little black "pointer" is from a power cord wall fastener.  My tuning cap has a nice reduction drive -- the pointer follows the movement of the capacitor blades.  The VFO is very stable. 

Simplicity is a virtue.  CW is, I think, outmoded and kind of absurd (one letter at a time?  really?), but it does allow for extreme simplicity.  Using a rig with just 10 transistors, putting out half a watt of RF,  I am regularly communicating with people.  This is what I like about CW.   

I've had about 12 solid contacts with this rig since putting it on the air earlier this month.  The VFO was a huge improvement over being crystal controlled. Crystal control was OK back when receivers were broad and hams tuned around for replies, but those days are gone.  Getting the transmit offset set correctly was another huge improvement.