The Mitigation of Radio Noise from External Sources at Radio Receiving Sites

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Dave
Cover sheet for RFI information

Mitigation of Radio Noise from External Sources at Radio Receiving Sites

As a result of the RFI post in the blog a few days ago, a fellow ham sent me a link to this document, (which is in the public domain), and suggested I look at the pdf for help in tracking down the RFI at my home QTH.  This document strikes me as one of the nicer items I have seen over the past few years dealing with RFI and how to deal with it.

The Mitigation of Radio Noise from External Sources at Radio Receiving Sites

 

Categories: Info, RFI Mitigation | Leave a comment

Review of N3FJP’s Amateur Contact Log 3.0

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Dave

Amateur Contact Log V3.x Main Screen

Amateur Contact Log version 3, has been in use here at NK7Z for many years.  ACLog is a general purpose Amateur (Ham) radio logging program.  It is designed to perform just a few functions, and perform them well.  The author has selected the needed functions carefully, and the logging program does those functions well.  Overall it is a good logging program for general use.  If you want a contest logging program, get one of those, if you want general logging, get ACLog.

Many years ago I decided I needed an electronic log, I wrote a few, downloaded and tested many, and selected ACLog.  Amateur Contact Log seemed to fit the bill for my needs.  I do not want a contest logging program, (I use MixW for that), and the author has correctly decided to not make ACLog a contest log.  He has created fifty other logging programs designed for twenty different contests, thus not attempting to make ACLog all things to all people.

 

Lets look at features:

  • The display suites what I was looking for, it is simple, shows many contacts per page, and in general works for me.
  • Supports LOTW, the user just uploads his/her log to the LOTW site with a few clicks.
  • Amateur Contact Log supports internal searches of its own log files, If I type a call in, and hit TAB, the old contacts with that station just pop up.  Note I said contacts, not last contact.
  • The user Interface is adjustable, by that I mean you can place the display fields where you want them, and control which field is shown.  If you don’t want to see the ending time of QSOs, then don’t check the box to show it.  You can control where on the screen these fields appear.  So if for instance, you wanted the Mode right up front, you just set it up that way.
  • ACLog will import and export your logs as or from ADIF files.
  • The software will auto-fill in much of the data you would normally type in.  You just point it at a site like QRZ.COM and tell it to fill in your missing data, hit the go button, and depending on your log, it will add the country, name, etc.  If you subscribe to QRZ.COM it will fill in more data, than if you don’t.  I recommend you subscribe to QRZ.COM.  It helps the folks there, and I bet you use them for something, it gives you more data, and in general QRZ.COM is a pretty nice place.  If you don’t use QRZ, you can use CDs, or data files which are provided, and updated.
  • Awards aggregation; The software will provide you a list of your contacts filtered by attributes,  you can tell the software to show you a lit of all confirmed contacts, all contacts for a set country, or several other ways.

ACLog is starting to show it’s age, there have been no updates in the past few years, (actually nothing has been broken, by no updates I mean no new features), however that seems to be changing, the author has decided to retire from his job, and he expects to be able to put more time into the software.  I have followed his support forum on Yahoo for many years, and he seems responsive to support questions, and in general there all the time.  I expect he will follow through and start work on the software again.

 

Pros:

  • Fast, the program is quick.
  • Adjustable field positions.
  • Awards Filtering.
  • Built for one thing, not all things to all people.
  • Clean interface for the most part.
  • ADIF Import/export.
  • The ability to backup your log.
  • The ability to add/remove countries from the country list.
  • Spotting.
  • LOTW Support, it signs and uploads your contacts
  • Rig Control
  • Prints QSL Address strips

 

Cons:

  • The interface is starting to look a bit dated, hopfully the changes coming will fix this.
  • It would be nice if it would download the country list, instead of my having to edit it, using the built in editor.
  • It needs a bit more information about the transfer of data between itself and LOTW being shown during uploads/downloads.  With all of LOTW’s issues of late, the first time I did a transfer, and LOTW did not accept the submission instantly I thought the submission failed.
  • The entry interface could be a bit tighter, the headings are contained in boxes, which are a bit too large for my taste.
  • The awards interface could be a bit tighter, they are starting to look a bit old.  They work, this is just a look issue.

 

Conclusion:

As you can tell my only real issue with ACLog is the user interface.  It is easy for me to sit here and type about all the things I want changed, I don’t have to make the changes, so take the “Cons” section with a grain of salt!  I really like this program in it’s current state, (it still needs to be updated as far as the interface), I would buy it again, I would recommend it to friends, I use it every day, it has never failed, or lost a log or contact for me.  It has no little issues like so many other software packages do, (not talking about logging software now, but software in general), like having to back up the .ini files because every so often it get trashed, and your program explodes, and you lose some important data.  In general ACLog is a great program for logging.  The author has something like twenty other programs out there for contest logging, but I have never even used them, I imagine they are as good as ACLog is.    You can download ACLog and use it for 45 days.  The demo is not crippled in any way, this makes for the ability to test it before purchase.

Categories: Reviews, Software | 6 Comments

Review of MixW Multimode Software V3.x

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Dave

MixW Multimode Software

MixW is a multimode digital decoding/logging/contesting software package.  MixW was initially released in the year 1998.  It has gone through many revisions, and still continues to be useful today.  Although the updates have been sparse over the past few years, the software may be coming back to life with updates coming from the authors recently.  MixW is designed to be a lot of things to a lot of people, unlike many software packages, it has not become unusable during this process.  MixW has evolved over the years, getting more and more functions, and showing surprisingly few bugs.  Make no mistake, it has bugs, all software has bugs, however for me, they don’t bother me.  Others, (less careful types), have lost logs, and config files.  I have not used other contest loggers as extensively as I have MixW, so I have some bias towards MixW.  Please keep this in mind as you read this.

Some of the functions MixW performs:

  • Logging, with import/export
  • Decoding, Operation, and Display of digital communications
  • Printing of QSL Cards
  • Upload to eQSL
  • Contest Support
  • DDE Communications with other software, able to pass QSO data to other software packages for logging etc.
  • Macro Functions
  • Scripting Language
  • Rig Control
  • The ability to use other programs as a TNC
Lets look at the listed functions in more detail:
Logging:
MixW does the basic logging functions, however it does integrate some other functions into that process.  For instance, if you are decoding a digital stream, and a call sign rolls across, MixW will detect this in most cases, and if you double-click the call sign, it adds it to the logbook.  Once logged, MixW allows you to move on to the next QSO.  All in all a very slick process.  Other software packages allow this as well.  MixW generates an ADIF file which is compatible with many software logging packages, one of them is ACLog by N3FJP, ACLog is reviewed here.  You can see a log generated by MixW, imported into ACLog, then worked over by ACLog, adding all of the country data under Log in the tabs at the top of the page, or clicking the word log here.
Decoding,  Operation, and Display:
MixW provides the user with two windows, one for transmit, and one for receive.  The user selects the mode from a pull down menu, and after tuning in the station, using a movable pointer and tuning indicator, decoding starts.  You can in most cases, just get close to the station, hit the AFC button, and MixW will tune in the station for you.
MixW also has an interesting feature, if you select one mode and begin decoding in any window, you can then change modes, and start decoding a different mode at the same time, in a different window.  While this is cool and cute, I have never had any reason to actually use this feature.
MixW will open multiple receive windows as alluded to above, either using the same mode, or a different mode.  This is good in contests, you can be working one station, while decoding another station which is within your passband..  Once you are done with the first station, you can switch to the second station, work him./her, and begin the same process again.  You can walk the passband working all stations in it, then retune and start again.
MixW offers many modes, and the ability to add other modes, assuming there is an appropriate .dll file available.  The authors have built into MixW the ability to add modes, and have shared this information with the programming community.  One thing MixW is missing is Mode ID, it does not auto select modes, it should, and in my opinion it is a major flaw in MixW.  There are many options for each mode, too many to go into here.  Suffice to say, there more than most users will even bother to learn.
The decoding ability is good to very good, depending on mode.  CW is not so good, while MT-63 is great.  Some of this is due to the mode itself, and some of it is due to MixW not decoding correctly, (my opinion), but on the whole MixW does a good enough job for me that I will not even consider moving to a different program.  I am not sure how much of this is reluctance on my part to train up on a different program, so again, my bias may be showing.  In any case, MixW works very well for me in contests, and in normal use.
Contest Support:
MixW supports a huge number of contests, see the contest download page at the MixW site for a list. There are some missing, and other programs support some of them, but again, no single program will do everything for me, so this is not unexpected, or bad, just the way things are in the real world.  A typical contest exchange consists of the following steps:
  1. Tune in station
  2. Double Click Callsign
  3. Single click the Contest macro
  4. Move on to next station
  5. Goto Step 1
The above steps will log the station, send an eQSL, send my exchange, copy the received exchange into the log, and save the contact. If I have things set up correctly, MixW will give me a running score!  I then retune, using the mouse selecting the next station in the passband, and start at item 2 again.  Looping this process a few hundred times will get you a pretty nice score in any contest.  This does not really cover just how much MixW can do, you have to use it to see…
DDE Support:
DDE will let MixW talk to other programs, and pass information to them.  This allows say a logging program to get the last contact information from MixW and autopopulate your logbook.  This is a nice feature to have, as you might not like the log MixW provides.  Of course, the other software will need to want to read the DDE data from MixW, so it is not just up to MixW to make this sort of thing happen.
Macro Functions:
MixW supports a number of Macros.  You can have an entire QSO, and never type anything if you really want to.  Most other programs support macros.  MixW will change Macros based on the mode you are on.  This is good for contesting…  I have a set of Macros I use for PSK, they are talkative, take a lot of time to send, and in general very human friendly.  I do RTTY contesting, so my RTTY Macros are not friendly, not long, and as fast as I can make them.  I do not have to remember to switch Macros, when I select RTTY in the mode settings, the RTTY macros are automatically loaded for me, in fact MixW can have a different set of Macros for each mode.  MixW also has a mode where you can have one set of Macros for all modes.  Some of MixW macros are pretty smart, I have one that tells the other station how far they are from me in KM or Miles.
Scripting Language:
If you know enough to ask what the language is, then you should read the manual…  If you don’t know what scripting is, then you should stay out of that part of MixW.
Rig Control:
MixW will control your rig.  I have an Icom 756 PRO III, there is a setup for that rig in the program already, (actually there are a large number of rigs it can control, the Pro III among them), I just selected my rig type, set the com port, and was done.  One item you might want to think about is “Mouse Wheel Control of Frequency”.  You move the mouse wheel and the rig moves up or down in frequency.  You do not have to touch your rig, nor do you have to type in a frequency, or move the mouse to click a little arrow.  If you want to touch your rig, or move the mouse you can, but if you have used mouse wheel control, you will never want anything else again.  MixW has all the standard features for rig control, so it should work with your rig.
Use of external program as TNC:
Never used it, so I can’t comment on it.
Pros:
  • Once learned, easy as pie to use
  • Does just about every mode
  • It does all functions for contesting in one program
  • Does logging
  • Pleasing display
  • Decodes digital modes pretty well
  • Seems stable
  • Able to use external programs.  There is one that looks up the call information from QRZ.com and automatically, fill in the log for you.  User name, location etc.
  • In the last few weeks there has been a huge increase in the update releases.
  • Exports logs to adif files.
  • Prints QSLs
  • Has external support for additional features, there are a number of widgets you can add to MixW.
  • Has a mode for sending eQSL’s.
Cons:
  • Very steep learning curve
  • No help file included, help is available at K6IX.
  • Costs $50.00, this seems a lot, but for all of the features I do not mind the cost.  After all, you spend thousands on a rig and computer.
  • Very little development over the past three years.  The program is getting old…  It is beginning to show it.  Of late, (last few weeks), the updates have been coming fast and furious, so perhaps this phase of MixW’s sitting idle is over.
  • Could do better at decoding CW, but alas the days of a good fist are gone now…
  • Only works under Windows.
  • No auto mode select.
  • NO LOTW SUPPORT…  Let me say that again…
  • NO LOTW SUPPORT…  Let me say it a third time…
  • NO LOTW SUPPORT…
Conclusions:
I like MixW, I like it better than any other program out there today.  I am sure that if I took the time to learn another, I would like that one too, but I have a lot of time in MixW, I have used it for years, and I understand it.  It works for everything I need.  I paid for it many years ago, and I still like it.  I would purchase it again if I had no program.  If you are interested, join the Yahoo group and ask others what they think.  The group is quite outspoken in what they like and dislike, so you will get a very unbiased opinion from them.  You can download MixW trial version from the MixW site.

 

 

 

Categories: Software | 5 Comments

RFI at my home QTH

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Dave

This is an example of the RFI I am currently suffering!  Click the image to enlarge it.  I have an open request to the ARRL for some help in this.  They are currently waiting on me to provide some additional data.  This has gone on for the past two years.  Only recently have I asked the ARRL for help.  The ARRL has taken an interest in this, so I have high hopes that it will be corrected sooner than later.  I should have reported it a year and a half ago!

Of late, (the last week), it has taken on a life of it’s own.  It used to run around 10 to 20 db over S9.  Now, today, it hit 45 db over S9 at peak, and is now running 25 db over S9, constantly!  The antenna is 100 plus feet out in the middle of a field, and no where near a power line or home for at least 150 feet.  I have done the house power off test, and it is not my home.  I have at least three different sources of noise, and am about ready to ask the FCC for help…

The display in the lower right is the calibrated S meter graph covering the past few minutes.  The FFT 3D spectrum behind it is a graph showing the characteristics of the noise over time.  It represents about 6 hours of time.  I have now hit a record, two days of 25 over S9 noise…

Addendum:

A few folks have asked what software was used to generate the above image.  The FFT graph is generated by DL4YHF’s SpecLab, and the S Meter readings were generated by a program named S-Meter Lite W8WWV.  Both programs have proved so very useful in tracking this noise down.  I am now using a loop antenna to triangulate on the sources.  Also a fellow sent me a link to a really good pdf file covering suppression of RFI.

Categories: Info | 2 Comments

Review of ARRL Log Book of the World

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Dave

ARRL LOTW Logo

The ARRL is currently sponsoring a program for exchanging QSL information in a secure way for use in obtaining various awards from the ARRL.  This program is called “Logbook of the World”.  The ARRL was late to the blocks in implementation, eQSL.cc was first, however the ARRL decided to implement a tighter security model than eQSL initially, hence eQSL ended up being on line earlier than LOTW.  At least that is what I have heard…  Both services have a level of authentication which is similarnow, however eQSL has a lower level of authentication which is available.  The individual ham operator decides which level he or she wants to use.  Using the lower level of authentication with eQSL disqualifies you from some awards.  Both services are free.

This is a review of LOTW, so lets stop talking about eQSL.  LOTW only allows one level of authentication, the postcard process.  This has caused the ARRL no end of bad PR over the years.  You exchange a postcard with ARRL, and they use this process to verify you are who you say you are, and that you are a licensed station.  While this process works well for US hams, it seems to be a problem for non-US hams.  I have no idea why, perhaps someone will add to this with comments…

Given that the ARRL is the key holder for the major US awards, it stands to reason that they will accept their own users, as opposed to others.  This gives the ARRL a distinct advantage in the “Service of Choice” decision.  If you want an ARRL award, your three choices are; send in the cards, have them verified by a “Card Checker”, or join LOTW.  From here on lets assume you have been authenticated by the ARRL for use of the LOTW program.

First lets look at the features:

  • Ease of Setup
  • Ease of Use
  • Renewal of Certificates
Ease of Setup
Initially I was less than pleased with all the fuss needed to verify that I was really who I said I was.  I then downloaded the software package, called TSQL.  TSQL is used to digitally sign your log submissions to LOTW, and is really two programs, TSQL Certificates, and TSQL itself.  TSQL Certificates is for requesting and managing your digital certificates.  TSQL creates a digitally signed upload file of your contacts for submission to the ARRL using the certificates generated from TSQL Certificates.  This all sounds like a very complicated process, and it is, however the process is completely invisible to the operator in normal use assuming the programmer of your logging software knows what he or she are doing.    Anyway, back to the setup discussion…
If you want a complete detailed, mind rending explanation of how it works visit the PDF file the ARRL has prepared for you.  They explain it much better than I would here…
Ease of Use
Using LOTW is simple, once you have the setup phase finished correctly.  Most users are interfacing with LOTW using some sort of logging software.  For me I use N3FJP’s AC Log, (ACLog is reviewed here)..  All I do is select the LOTW option, select upload unsent contacts, wait a few moments, then hit “DONE”.  After that if I want to get a return QSL or two, I hit the “DOWNLOAD” button, and in a few moments I have an ARRL approved certification that I worked a station, or stations.  The ARRL also provides a web interface for LOTW.  After logging in, you get a rather utilitarian, but full featured interface.  Missing is all of the fluff that has characterized web pages of late.  I like the interface, it is clean and makes sense.
You are presented with tabs across the top, all the normal functions are in place you would expect for a web site.  The meat of the site is the “Your QSO’s” tab.  The user is presented with a front end to search your logged contacts to see if you have worked a worked and gotten a confirmation back.  You can download your log in .adi format.  This enables you to re-import the log into a different logging program should you want to.   It also serves as a backup to the local copy of the log you keep at home on your computer.
Renewal of Certificates
The renewal process is pretty much the same as the initial setup, minus all of the postcard verification.  Unless you allow your Certificate to expire.  If the certificate expires, then you will need a new one, which is a bit of a pain, but not bad.
Now lets look at the pros and cons:
Cons:
The validation process takes a few weeks.
The renewal process is complex, but only happens every two years.
As far as I know, only ARRL awards are awarded via LOTW, although I very well could be wrong.  Please comment if so.
You don’t get a paper card.
That’s all I can really think of.
Pros:
No more two year waits for QSL cards
Saves on postage.
The process is now computerized.
The ARRL has continued the “sanctity” of the awards they do support.  This is a good thing!
The turn time is much faster than paper QSL cards.  I have had cards returned in minutes.
It is a lot simpler to to get awards via this process.
It’s pretty cool to work a station, and have a QSL on the way 2 minutes later.
Simpler overall process than doing paper QSL cards.
Conclusion
All in all I really like LOTW, as opposed to eQSL.  Why?  Because I want the ARRL awards more than I want the eQSL awards, and if I want ARRL awards then I have to use LOTW.  The ARRL is worried about degrading the quality of their awards, (hence all of the postcard verification’s), and in today’s climate of degrading standards, it is good to see an organization take a solid stand, (even though it causes the ARRL some bad PR),  and not reduce the quality of their awards.  Of late there has been a lot of complaints on the Yahoo groups regarding LOTW taking a few days to process the thousands of entries after a major contest.  It is still a lot faster than the old postal days ever thought about being.  All in all the LOTW is force for good in the Amateur Radio community.  I would be very sad to see it end for any reason.
Categories: Software | 3 Comments

Review of Kenwood’s TH-F6 Handheld Radio

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Dave

TH-F6 Handheld by Kenwood

The TH-F6 is very compact handheld three band transciver for radio amateurs.  It can be MARS modified, allowing extended transmit ranges. The radio is NOT type accepted for commercial use.  The radio comes with a reasonable sized battery pack, a wall charger, and no case.  I’d recommend getting a larger Battery Pack, there are some really large packs available.  The radio has a power saver feature, which basicly turns the radio off for some many milliseconds every second.  This is a nice feature, but if it is in power save mode, you will miss the first word of a new call.  This feature is well worth the few missed words as opposed to losing the radio to a dead battery.

 

There are a few foibles with this radio:

  • Sometimes it will refuse to turn on.  I believe this only happens if you let the battery get really really dead.  Other than when I let the radio die, I do not see the problem.  This appears to not be specific to my radio only.  I see comments on the Yahoo TH-F6 group indicating some others having this problem as well.
  • If you replace the antenna with an aftermarket antenna make sure it has a wide base covering the area around the connector at the top of the radio.  If you don’t, you run a pretty good chance of breaking off the connector on the radio body.  Again, see the Yahoo group for more information on this.
  • Without a good low band antenna it is a brick!  If you don’t give it a good external antenna while using it for SWLing, (yes you can do this), the radio is a brick and hears nothing, or almost nothing.  If you give it a good external antenna, it suddenly sounds pretty good.  This seems to not affect the performance on the AM broadcast band.
  • The stock battery pack does not come with exteranal charge pins, thus, you will have to dismount the battery to charge it in an external charger, or plug the radio into the Kenwood supplied wall bug charger.  I thought this would be a royal pain, but it really is not.  If you get a few additional battery packs, you just swap them out if you also get an external pack charger.
  • While the radio is on charge, you can not transmit.  That is why you want to get additional battery packs, and an external pack charger.
  • I have seen one TH-F6 in which keypad was becoming disfigured from use.  The keypad is a rubber overlay, which appears to be painted on a white backing.  As wear happens, the white begins to show through.  This happened on a radio which was kept in the much too tight after market case.
  • The after market case from Kenwood is so tight it almost does not fit!  Not kidding, I thought I was going to split the canvas case open getting the radio in it the first time.  The case does not stretch, nor does it even fit the radio well, so don’t even bother to buy the canvas case.  I have not seen a leather case for it, so expect to use the radio without the case. I suspect this is why the keypad was wearing so badly in the one radio I saw which had the keypad issue mentioned above.
  • The menuing is a bit complex, but very learnable, unlike other radios I have seen.  You should get one of those nifty instruction cards for the radio.

Now lets look at the pluses:

  • This is a small radio, by small I mean really small, it will fit in your shirt pocket with room to spare.  I really like the size, it is 2.3 x 3.5 x1.3, and weighs in at 9 ounces.
  • It is very light weight, but does not feel cheap at all.  In fact it feels really solid.
  • The battery packs remove very easily, and are mounted securely as well.
  • The dials on top are split, so it is fairly simple to operate the radio from the dials.
  • Adding external Mic and Speaker is simple, there are several after market headsets designed for this radio.  They all plug into a connector on the side.
  • The MARS extended transmit mod is really simple, and almost anyone can perform it.
  • The radio is easy to use, and programmable via a computer.
  • Once programmed, the radio is really easy to use, and it allows Alphanumeric labels on the dial.
  • It does SSB!!  Yes, you can listen to your favorite low band net with this radio.  You will need an external antenna for 100 KHz. to 1300 MHz., (cell blocked), but you need one for your big expensive transceiver, so this is not surprising.  It also does both the AM and FM broadcast bands, without an external antenna.  Given I have this radio for SAR/MARS/EMCOM use, I find those features very good to have.  The radio has a built in ferrite bar antenna for use in teh AM broadcast band.  It is supposed to work for 80-10 Meters, but it really does not work well.
  • Single button simplex checker.  Just press the little button above the PTT switch, and you are listening on the repeater input frequency.
  • Twin radios in one.  The radio has two band, and you can listen on either, or both at the same time.
  • VOX for use with those after market headsets you will want.
  • Keyboard lock, this is very useful on a radio this small.
  • Three power levels, 5 Watts, .5 Watts, and .05 Watts.  Great for when you are under the repeater; select .05 watts and your battery will never run down.  Front panel selectable, using a single button.
  • MIL Standard: MIL-STD-810 C/D/E
  • The radio has an amazing receive range: 100 KHz., to 1300 MHz.  Cell frequency’s are blocked of course.
  • I removed the belt clip from my radio for some reason that escapes me now.

Conclusion

This is a fine addition to any ham shack, and seems to be very durable.  I have had mine for four or five years now, and still love it.  I have used it to listen to Fire, Police, Weather, Ham, and just about anything else I could think of.  Using the dual radio feature, you can listen to an emergency service, while also listening to your local repeater.  This makes it a very small package, for doing a number of very important functions during EMCOM activities.  Would I buy the radio again, no question.  In fact I am considering buying a second one as backup.

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