eBuild-A-Thon and BBQ

On Saturday I held the first "eBuild-A-Thon and BBQ" in my shop, two local HAMs were present to build and chat about their HAM projects.

Brendan N0BML worked on his ALT DC supply/charger of his Blackberry. He is planning for a transmitter, receiver kit or other project for the future.

Brendan - N0BML

Roger K7RXV and I worked with the FDSP antenna program to plan my FDSP antenna for 30m, I have the parts but could not find the optimum configuration - thanks to Roger, I now have something to build for QRSS, WSPR, and PropNet.

Roger - K7RXV

To get things started for the "eBuild-A-Thon and BBQ", we plan to meet at my shop, on the third Saturday of each month at 10AM, - with more expected attendance we will plan as required.

My sister, Carolyn, did a great job of food prep and making sure we were fed. My son, Chip, cooked the Burgers and Bratwurst - Thanks Carolyn and Chip!

Back Online

My QRSS Grabber, WSPR and PropNet station is back online, but still I have not heard my PropNet Transmission report from anyone, I am reporting those that I hear. I must still have problems with PropNet.

Web Info on PropNet

My QRSS Grabber, WSPR system and PropNet reports have not been up and running today - we had a power outage this AM and I have not had time to restart everything.

I have been watching on the Web that several people have been having problems with PropNet and that some new revisions will be coming out soon. I do not know if they will address my problem - but I will have to wait and see.

I went to the Puget Sound pQRP group P&C (pie and coffee) meeting tonight - there was a lot of good technical discussions.

More PropNet Trials and Tribulations

I have been working on PropNet most of the day, and still not a single spot received by others. I have removed all other Radio Control programs from the transmit control computer, and reset tones and frequency to default.

I set up another receiver, connected to a dummy load and -30db of antenna attenuation, and a PSK31 decoder (fldigi) on yet another computer. The received signal looks and decodes fine along with the checks, as:

• FOR INFO http://www.PropNET.org
• wa0uwh>hg:[cn97bv]PHG2000F4/^A06A

Next I will have to have someone try to receive my ground wave at their station, maybe I am over modulating, but I don't think so.

I found an interesting way to look at the "PropNet Database" received data (just wait and watch):

• telnet LIVEx.goodbits.net 2023

Anyone can use this to watch what is being received. Apparently, a line with 2 commas before the "*" is a spot report by the listed station, while a line with 1 comma before the "*" is a self report of the text sent by your Radio Control computer via the Internet.

More tests to follow -

More tries with PropNet

Today I re-calibrated my receiver for MEPT QRSS, WSPR, and PropNet, using WWV on 10mHz. The best way that I have to do this is to output 10mHz on my AIM-4170B Antenna Anylizer and zero beat WWV - there is a CAL function that make this easy. To receive the zero beat, I use the receiver connected to sound card and ARGO and Spectran. The zero beat can be seen at a higher tone frequency, which is much eaier to match than trying to zero beat the receiver alone.

Then QSY the the receiver close to 10.1386000 and set the AIM to 10.140000mHz, what I look for on ARGO is a 1300Hz tone, if necessary change the receiver so that ARGO sees a tone exactly 1300Hz - All is then calibrated.

At that same time, I also zero beat my handy 30m Band Edge Marker, so that i have a portable marker for later use. This crystal seem quite stable.

But alas, I still do not receive any PropNet spot from any other stations. I have reset the mic modulation control to a very low setting, hopping that I was not over-modulating.

I don't understand, I have done something right in the past as I have received some spots before - but not now!

More work to be done!

No PropNet Spots Recived from Others

I must still have a problem with my PropNet Transmission, I am going to try to reset the Transceiver Frequency again - I was transmitting a side tone of 1725Hz, and now moved down to 1700Hz (RF = 1700 + 10.138700mHz Base = 10.140400mHz, which is the North America PropNet Freq). It takes a while to get new spots after a change to anything on PropNet. It is hard to see results very fast.


Note: I use 10.138700mHz for my base receiver frequency, so that some of my other programs will work with ProgNet, all sharing the same transceiver at the same time. Or, at least thats the way most of them work :-)

PropNet Spots are Now Being Received

OK, I now have a PropNet Spots being received by other stations. I think my transmitter was off frequency via the tones from the sound card. I am somewhat at the mercy of the 6 digit display of the ICOM-730 and it frequency drift.

Normally I can set the received base frequency right on the money (via my band edge marker) but things drift over time on the ICOM.

It is kind of fun watching WSPR and PropNet programs compete for the transmitter, actually they share as their sound card tones are different. Due to the two programs slightly random transmitting schedule, they sometime are actually send tones at the same time. The transmitter just turns the two tones into two different FSK RF signals.

I use VOX on the transceiver and all works well with the sound card and the two programs. Except if the computer needs to "beep" (as on an error) - the transmitter is triggered. I try to turn off the VOX if I know I am doing something on the computer that will generate a lot of beeps. It would be best to use PTT via the serial DTR line as documented on the web, but I have not built that connection yet.



In this capture, you can see the WSPR program output started first at (10.)140225mHz, and then the PropNet program started at a higher tone (RF Frequency (10.)140425mHz) .

WSPR signal transmits for 2 minutes, while PropNet transmits for about 20 seconds. Click on the image to see a larger view.

Note: the display program "Spectran" does not support 8 digit frequency calibration scale, so add 10mHz to what you see.

Also note, this image capture was created on another local computer and a standalone local Kenwood R-2000 Receiver - which was somewhat overloaded by the transmissions.

Sound Card Is Now Working

I fixed my QRSS Grabber, WSPR and PropNet Transmit problem - the sound card "Wave" output was muted. The "spots" are now working.

I still have a problem, I do not seem to get any PropNet spots on the PropNet list or map, all spots are from my receiving others. So far, I can not confirm that my PropNet Transmit is working? All look well, and the Transceiver goes into transmit mode with RF ouput as indicated on the meter. Go figure??

My 30m Band Edge Marker or CW QRPP Transmitter

This is a little quick project that I cobbled together, and now, I have found it very useful to help find the 30m MEPT QRSS and WAPR band edge on the Receiver.

It is set to 10.140300mHz, which is the upper limit of the 30m WSPR band. I watch and check the frequency on FLDIGI will tunning the receiver to about 10.138700mHz. This received frequency provides an offset of 1300Hz for my QRSS Grabber (ARGO), 1400Hz offset for the WSPR programs and a 1700Hz offset for PropNet program.

All three programs run at the same time on one computer. Note sometimes WSPR and PropNet programs transmit at the same time, but that is no problem as they are using different tones.

All parts are mounted "Ugly Style", all parts are SMD except the; Cystal, Trimmer, Voltage Regulator, the Output Cap (the antenna) and the Key (switch).

At best guess, the power output is about 45uW.

This Oscillator is surprisingly stable.

My Station is not Transmitting??

For some reason my computer sound card is not working. Therefore I am off the air (not sending WAPR, or PropNet) while I figure it out.

Initial Post

I decided to start a blog of my station activities, somewhat of a blog or notes to and for myself.

My current on the air projects include:

• MEPT QRSS Grabber, via ARGO
  
• WSPR
• PropNet

All of these are running on the computer at the same time, driving the mic input of a ICOM-730 and the antenna is a 1/4 wave 30m Vertical.

My plan is to put up a Field Day Special (FDSP) antenna on 30m, with a 30 degree heading to try to work into Europe. I have purchased the 300 ohm feed line but I am having trouble using the "fdsp.exe" program to find an optom cut and size of the antenna.