Harry Mills, K4HU, passed away recently. Harry was 100 years old and was active on the ham bands right up until the end. National Public Radio featured Harry and his ham station in an "All Things Considered" segment about early radio. It came out in 2001. I don't know how I missed this one -- it is really great. Have a listen: NPR program on KDKA, K4HUSaturday, August 16, 2008
Conrad's Garage -- Birth of KDKA -- K4HU, SK
Harry Mills, K4HU, passed away recently. Harry was 100 years old and was active on the ham bands right up until the end. National Public Radio featured Harry and his ham station in an "All Things Considered" segment about early radio. It came out in 2001. I don't know how I missed this one -- it is really great. Have a listen: NPR program on KDKA, K4HU
Friday, August 15, 2008
Bicycling across 30 meters
I was having lunch today, thinking about ON5EX's QRSS bicycle. I've showed it to my wife and kids -- we all think it is really very clever. But then I realized that at the same time I've been admiring Johan's bicycle artistry, I've been using his online grabber: http://www.on5ex.be/grabber/grabber.html I wondered how he transmits and receives at the same time. Then I noted the black stripes on the grabber screen, each about one bicycle long. Clever fellow!
Inspired by Johan, I have put my humble QRSS3 CW MEPT back in the band. I'm at around 10140070, visible on Claudio's grabber now. Reports would be appreciated.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
"It's always a hazy day on Titan."
Now for some real DX. The Cassini probe is exploring the moons of Saturn. Above you see a picture of the planet in eclipse -- the sun is behind it. Click on the picture to make it larger. Look closely between the rings at around the ten o'clock position. That's us. That's Earth."New Scientist" has a really amazing video on the mission's highlights: http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn14276
Bicycle Riding on 10140010 Hz
Sure, you can talk on SSB.... but can you ride a bike on SSB? Apparently you can on QRSS!
Who is the mystery rider on 10140010?
Who is the mystery rider on 10140010?
Monday, August 11, 2008
VK6DI Comments on QRSS Bandwidth, Modulation
David, VK6DI, is one of the Knights of QRSS. He sent in this very nice note about bandwidth and modulation methods in QRSS. Thanks David!
-------------------------
Yes, QRSS3 bandwidth is indeed 0.34 Hz. ON7YD has an excellent 'CW bandwidth' reference at
http://www.qsl.net/on7yd/136narro.htm#Bandwidth
Clearly 'hard keying' rather than 'soft keying' of a CW (or FSK) transmitter will increase the transmitted bandwidth. In a practical sense QRSS transmissions key the carrier at such infrequent intervals that an occasional key click every 3 seconds (for dots) or 9 seconds (for dashes) should be of little consequence QRM wise, and especially so when using QRPp. Ideally however it is preferable to control the carrier's rise and fall times during keying. Sometimes just simple R-C filtering is used for carrier wave-shaping, however 'Raised Cosine' rise and fall times such as used for PSK31 are optimal, albeit much more difficult to produce. 'Raised Cosine' shaping also seems to make good 'intuitive sense'. Hence some compromises as to carrier wave shaping are usually the order of the day.
A convenient way to become familiar with QRSS's bandwidth requirements is to run the program "Spectran" (by I2PHD & IK2CZL), and to then observe the preset QRSS parameters. Spectran is available for download at -
http://www.weaksignals.com
As with the program Argo, Spectran also has a series of predetermined settings for all standard QRSS speeds. Those settings have been optimized for best results when receiving QRSS. This is an extremely important factor for most beginners. Whilst it is true that the more sophisticated FFT programs offer tremendous flexibility of user settings, they also carry a proportionally higher risk of operator confusion.
To obtain further insights into QRSS bandwidth requirements try running Spectran and then select a 'Mode' via drop-down menu -
Now observe the "Show Controls" menu -
Note that 11050 / 32768 = 0.34 Hz FFT bin bandwidth. Each bin will take 32768 / 11050 or about 3 seconds to fill, and 3 seconds is the duration of a QRSS3 dot.
Similar calculations can be obtained for other QRSS speeds - QRSS10, QRSS30, etc. Note that both bin size and waterfall scrolling speed are factors that will determine the final visual S/N ratio. For that reason it is best to stick with easy to use programs such as Argo when beginning QRSS activities. Many seasoned QRSS operators use Argo with excellent results, as you can observe on many of the on-line grabbers.
QRSS10 is not considered usable on HF. It is impossible to keep even the most stable transmissions to within a few QRSS10 FFT bins at the receive end of the path due to continually varying ionospheric conditions that will disperse the signal. The final 'visual S/N ratio' is dependent upon capturing as much energy in as few FFT bins as is possible.
QRSS3 on HF over long paths often results in an ambiguous visual display following QSB. For example - a dash may appear as a series of dots. Is the character below an "O" or a "Z"?
Switching to QRSS6 and FSK-CW seems to partially resolve this problem, but not completely. Slower ID's will obviously allow more time to "visually integrate" the signal. That is, to make a 'decision', as to whether the portion just observed on-screen was a dot or a dash. The trade off (as always), is the rate of information transfer. QRSS6 transmissions are best received as QRSS3 in this instance, and look fine on the QRSS3 grabbers. FSK-CW transmission has additional advantages, apart from any perceived improvement in signal readability. FSK-CW is very easy to generate from an existing QRSS keyer, and cheap Red LED's when reverse biased seem to function adequately as Varactor diodes for FSK modulation purposes. A shift of about 5 Hz is all that is required. The best advantage with FSK-CW however, comes from not having to key the transmitter's carrier on and off. That helps with transmitter frequency stability when interstage isolation from the Crystal oscillator may be poor, as is often the case with simple transmitter designs.
There is certainly room for more experimentation with Visual Modes. The sheer variety of approaches to the modulation problem can be quite interesting to watch at times, but in the end the same old constraints remain. Dual freq CW (DFCW) is yet another option, and has the advantage over QRSS Morse that both dots and dashes can be the same length. So ID's are faster than for normal QRSS.
Ref - http://www.w1tag.com/Modes.htm#DFCW_ENTRY
One final factor not always appreciated by newcomers to the 'slow modes' is that the 'visual gain' advantage of QRSS over that of traditional speed Morse does not arise from the use of narrow receiver IF filters as might be expected. The advantage results from the narrow FFT bin size (Resolution) within Argo / Spectran - namely 0.34 Hz at QRSS3 speed. Narrow filters may be useful to exclude strong QRM that otherwise might impact the receiver's AGC, but they make no difference to the visual S/N ratio. (All else being equal.)
Unfortunately I think that it is fairly unlikely that I will see very many EU signals until conditions improve. So far this year I have caught only one EU signal. Conditions have been really poor these past 12 months or so. When the sunspots return I'm sure everybody will see many new EU and US stations. DL6JAN has previously made it down into VK with 5 mW, along with many other stations that were running 50 mW to 200 mW or so, and all with minimal antennas.
Ref - http://www.proehl-elektronik.de/qrss/dxrprt_e.html
Good luck with your QRSS experiments, I hope you will continue to have fun with the mode.
Regards,
David, VK6DI.
-------------------------
Yes, QRSS3 bandwidth is indeed 0.34 Hz. ON7YD has an excellent 'CW bandwidth' reference at
http://www.qsl.net/on7yd/136narro.htm#Bandwidth
Clearly 'hard keying' rather than 'soft keying' of a CW (or FSK) transmitter will increase the transmitted bandwidth. In a practical sense QRSS transmissions key the carrier at such infrequent intervals that an occasional key click every 3 seconds (for dots) or 9 seconds (for dashes) should be of little consequence QRM wise, and especially so when using QRPp. Ideally however it is preferable to control the carrier's rise and fall times during keying. Sometimes just simple R-C filtering is used for carrier wave-shaping, however 'Raised Cosine' rise and fall times such as used for PSK31 are optimal, albeit much more difficult to produce. 'Raised Cosine' shaping also seems to make good 'intuitive sense'. Hence some compromises as to carrier wave shaping are usually the order of the day.
A convenient way to become familiar with QRSS's bandwidth requirements is to run the program "Spectran" (by I2PHD & IK2CZL), and to then observe the preset QRSS parameters. Spectran is available for download at -
http://www.weaksignals.com
As with the program Argo, Spectran also has a series of predetermined settings for all standard QRSS speeds. Those settings have been optimized for best results when receiving QRSS. This is an extremely important factor for most beginners. Whilst it is true that the more sophisticated FFT programs offer tremendous flexibility of user settings, they also carry a proportionally higher risk of operator confusion.
To obtain further insights into QRSS bandwidth requirements try running Spectran and then select a 'Mode' via drop-down menu -
Now observe the "Show Controls" menu -
Note that 11050 / 32768 = 0.34 Hz FFT bin bandwidth. Each bin will take 32768 / 11050 or about 3 seconds to fill, and 3 seconds is the duration of a QRSS3 dot.
Similar calculations can be obtained for other QRSS speeds - QRSS10, QRSS30, etc. Note that both bin size and waterfall scrolling speed are factors that will determine the final visual S/N ratio. For that reason it is best to stick with easy to use programs such as Argo when beginning QRSS activities. Many seasoned QRSS operators use Argo with excellent results, as you can observe on many of the on-line grabbers.
QRSS10 is not considered usable on HF. It is impossible to keep even the most stable transmissions to within a few QRSS10 FFT bins at the receive end of the path due to continually varying ionospheric conditions that will disperse the signal. The final 'visual S/N ratio' is dependent upon capturing as much energy in as few FFT bins as is possible.
QRSS3 on HF over long paths often results in an ambiguous visual display following QSB. For example - a dash may appear as a series of dots. Is the character below an "O" or a "Z"?
Switching to QRSS6 and FSK-CW seems to partially resolve this problem, but not completely. Slower ID's will obviously allow more time to "visually integrate" the signal. That is, to make a 'decision', as to whether the portion just observed on-screen was a dot or a dash. The trade off (as always), is the rate of information transfer. QRSS6 transmissions are best received as QRSS3 in this instance, and look fine on the QRSS3 grabbers. FSK-CW transmission has additional advantages, apart from any perceived improvement in signal readability. FSK-CW is very easy to generate from an existing QRSS keyer, and cheap Red LED's when reverse biased seem to function adequately as Varactor diodes for FSK modulation purposes. A shift of about 5 Hz is all that is required. The best advantage with FSK-CW however, comes from not having to key the transmitter's carrier on and off. That helps with transmitter frequency stability when interstage isolation from the Crystal oscillator may be poor, as is often the case with simple transmitter designs.
There is certainly room for more experimentation with Visual Modes. The sheer variety of approaches to the modulation problem can be quite interesting to watch at times, but in the end the same old constraints remain. Dual freq CW (DFCW) is yet another option, and has the advantage over QRSS Morse that both dots and dashes can be the same length. So ID's are faster than for normal QRSS.
Ref - http://www.w1tag.com/Modes.htm#DFCW_ENTRY
One final factor not always appreciated by newcomers to the 'slow modes' is that the 'visual gain' advantage of QRSS over that of traditional speed Morse does not arise from the use of narrow receiver IF filters as might be expected. The advantage results from the narrow FFT bin size (Resolution) within Argo / Spectran - namely 0.34 Hz at QRSS3 speed. Narrow filters may be useful to exclude strong QRM that otherwise might impact the receiver's AGC, but they make no difference to the visual S/N ratio. (All else being equal.)
Unfortunately I think that it is fairly unlikely that I will see very many EU signals until conditions improve. So far this year I have caught only one EU signal. Conditions have been really poor these past 12 months or so. When the sunspots return I'm sure everybody will see many new EU and US stations. DL6JAN has previously made it down into VK with 5 mW, along with many other stations that were running 50 mW to 200 mW or so, and all with minimal antennas.
Ref - http://www.proehl-elektronik.de/qrss/dxrprt_e.html
Good luck with your QRSS experiments, I hope you will continue to have fun with the mode.
Regards,
David, VK6DI.
VK6DI Web page: http://tinyurl.com/lp2vv
VK6DI Captures: http://tinyurl.com/2lxyy5
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Loops and QRSS
On QRP-L there has recently been some discussion of the effectiveness of small loop antennas. Some hams in Northern Italy are doing something very interesting in this area. They have two identical QRP (1 watt) QRSS transmitters on 30 meters. They are keyed simultaneously, but one antenna is connected to a standard vertical antenna (with a very good radial system), while the other goes to a small, resonant CFA loop. By looking at the various QRSS on-line grabbers out there, you can get a real sense of how the two antennas perform. I just took at look at VK6DI's grabber -- I could clearly see the signal from the vertical, and could see quite a bit of the signal from the loop (see above at around 10140040 -- the loop signal is a few Hz above).
Claudio, I2NDT, has a good web page describing the experiment:
http://digilander.libero.it/i2ndt/pagine/Dual%20Beacon.htm
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Herman Munster gets license, works Italy!
Nick, KA1BQ, alerted me to this one. I don't think Herman really had The Knack ( he seems more like an appliance operator to me), but he did work Italy, so it merits mention here.
SolderSmoke in Australia in 1944: Listen in!
Well, not exactly SolderSmoke, but these VK3 hams were obviously melting a lot of solder. One of them recorded some of their 1944 QSOs. (I may have mentioned this recording before, but it is good enough to mention again!)
Have a listen: http://www.crossbandradio.com/xbands/ehams.mp3
Cheerio and 73 Old Boy!
Have a listen: http://www.crossbandradio.com/xbands/ehams.mp3
Cheerio and 73 Old Boy!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Kits and Parts dot com
For some nice offers on parts of interest to QRPers and Knack victims in general, check out the website of Diz, W8DIZ.
http://kitsandparts.com/
http://kitsandparts.com/
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Google to the Moon! $30 Million in Prizes!
Extra prizes for finding artifacts! Will there be a SolderSmoke team in the competition?
Sunday, August 3, 2008
SolderSmoke #89
http://www.soldersmoke.com
August 3, 2008
Positano on the Amalfi Coast
QRSS: An Idea for More N. American Activity
Argo's bandwidth: .34 Hz
The New SolderSmoke Audio Filter
Knackered? Translating American to British
Kanga USA helps in Lake Michigan rescue
Google's "Back to the Moon" contest
Russia's Mars sample return mission
Apollo 11
Lasers from San Diego to the Moon
N0TU's slideshow (with Tuna Tin Two)
MAILBAG: K4QO on clubs without rules.
G0WAT names me "Hodeghog #4"
VE7SL ID's Mystery Military Radio
ZL2GX finishing Ph.D.
KC0PET gets EMRFD
N5XL reports Tantalum shortage
G3WOE on Shep and 20 new BITX20s
W8OAJ is now N8WQ, building MEPT
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Italy Travel Report: Positano
We were down on the Amalfi coast this week, near Positano. This is on the southern coast of a beautiful peninsula that juts out into the Med, a bit South of Naples. I brought a SW receiver with me, but didn't hear too much. We did some fishing, down near the boats you see in the picture. This was the view from our window. I'll mention this in SolderSmoke 89 (probably tomorrow), so I thought I'd put a picture on the blog.
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