Completely off-topic, I know. But Happy Easter!!! It's not about bunnies and chocolate...
73,
Richard, KK4JDO
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Wish List
I thought that I'd share a wish list today. I'm next expecting anyone to give me this stuff, just wanted to post the direction that I'm heading in the shack. And maybe give my XYL some hints for my birthday and Father's day... ;-)
It'll also be neat to look back over this list in a few years and see how my wants have changed and if I actually managed to acquire any of this.
For the shack:
It'll also be neat to look back over this list in a few years and see how my wants have changed and if I actually managed to acquire any of this.
For the shack:
- Palstar AT2K
- HF Amp
- Shure SM-7B Mic w/ boom
- 6m/2m/70cm verical
- 6m/2m/70cm triplexer
- Bencher Iambic Paddle
- Uniden HOME PATROL Scanner
- Telepost Inc LP-100A Power/SWR meter
- Telepost Inc LP-500 Station Monitor
For the truck:
- Kenwood TS-480SAT
- GPS with NMEA out
- Tarheel 100A-HP
- Uniden BCD-996XT Digital Scanner
- Icom ID-1 (look for an upcoming post on what I want to do with the truck)
- Icom IC-2820H with D-STAR and GPS module
For the bench:
- Tektronix 465 O-Scope
- Hakko Hot Air Rework Station
- Drill Press
- PCB Drill
- Capacitor tester
Of course, since I'm dreaming I might as well wish for a new QTH with dedicated room for my shack, and a 300' tower with stacked mono-band beams for all bands, a couple of beverage or rhombic arrays for receive and enough cash not to have to work ever again so that I can enjoy my hobby full time. ;-D
Anywho, thanks for reading my pointless post of the day! ;-)
73,
Richard, KK4JDO
Thursday, March 21, 2013
PSK31 Ramblings
I'm working towards the eQSL.cc eWAS award. If you're reading this you are probably already familiar with the WAS type awards, but on the off chance that you are not, WAS means "Worked All States" and the award is a certificate or plaque that you get if you have confirmed communications with all 50 US states. In the case of eQSL, the communication needs to be with someone that has AG status. This means that someone from QSL.cc has verified that they are who they say they are in order to stop cheating.
All that leads up to this. I was sitting at my rig calling CQ trying to contact some specific states when this appeared on my waterfall display:
Two stations, one at 725Hz and one at 1460Hz that collectively spread across two thirds of the available waterfall. I've looked into why this happens, and it seems that this occurs when someone pushes their rig into a non-linear state. This can be done several ways, but the usual culprit appears to be either using voice processing and ALC, having the volume output of your soundcard set too high, or trying to push too much power for the given mode. Given that PSK is a 100% duty cycle mode, some radios splatter when they are push too hard, in most cases that I've read about anything above about 40% power output pushed the rig into a non-linear state. I'm a little fuzzy on what that means exactly, but I'm doing my best to figure it out.
That was all said to lead up to this. If you ever see me on the waterfall, please send me a screenshot of what my signal looks like! Hopefully it will be a nice pretty signal since I run around 40W, don't use "PROC", and have the audio output ratcheted down so that the ALC doesn't kick in!
That oughta be about enough ramblings for this evening.
73,
Richard, KK4JDO
All that leads up to this. I was sitting at my rig calling CQ trying to contact some specific states when this appeared on my waterfall display:
Two stations, one at 725Hz and one at 1460Hz that collectively spread across two thirds of the available waterfall. I've looked into why this happens, and it seems that this occurs when someone pushes their rig into a non-linear state. This can be done several ways, but the usual culprit appears to be either using voice processing and ALC, having the volume output of your soundcard set too high, or trying to push too much power for the given mode. Given that PSK is a 100% duty cycle mode, some radios splatter when they are push too hard, in most cases that I've read about anything above about 40% power output pushed the rig into a non-linear state. I'm a little fuzzy on what that means exactly, but I'm doing my best to figure it out.
That was all said to lead up to this. If you ever see me on the waterfall, please send me a screenshot of what my signal looks like! Hopefully it will be a nice pretty signal since I run around 40W, don't use "PROC", and have the audio output ratcheted down so that the ALC doesn't kick in!
That oughta be about enough ramblings for this evening.
73,
Richard, KK4JDO