Finally more details of the new Kenwood are published! Take a look, must be a interesting transceiver! A nice christmas present for this year? 
update:Read the first impressions of the early buyers!
Kenwood TS-590S
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Filter cluster spots on region
Ham Radio Deluxe has a pretty cool feature where you can logon to a DX-cluster and the spots from the cluster are presented on a band scale just beside your logbook. This way you can see in one glans what stations are on the band. If you click on the call in the scale, your radio automatically tunes to that frequency and if you have your add-screen open, the call will be polled from QRZ.com.
Very handy indeed! But I missed out on something. Before I became using the telnetcluster option in HRD I always had DXwatch open to look for good DX-stations (and sometimes I still have to see the overall activity on the HF-bands). A really neath feature of DXwatch is you can filter on spotters. For instance: it’s not really handy to be informed about a contact between a amateur in the US and an amateur in Japan when you’re located in Europe (like I am). Little change I’ll be able to hear both/one of these stations. On the other hand: I would really want to know about all the qso’s between amateurs in my region (region 14) and anyone outside that region. On DXwatch you simply make a filter to only show spotters from region 14 and voila! You’ve a pretty good change to hear all the stations who are spotted!
I really missed that feature in HRD so I went asking around. Nobody really had a clue how to do this. One colleague-amateur advised me to install VE7CC-1 CC Cluster software. This program connects to the telnetcluster and HRD connects to the program. I’ve tried it, incredible complicated, didn’t make any sense to me, couldn’t even get it running. I think it’s a little overblown for only filter spotters.
Then I started to read about telnetcluster software. I know little to nothing about these services but maybe it is possible to fix something there. And what turned out? It’s possible! Just hit the [Show] button in the DX Cluster window in HRD Logbook when you’re logged in a telnetcluster and hit [Console]. Now you can enter commands to the cluster. Just enter: “accept/spots by_zone 14″ and hit enter. Now this filter will be saved on that particular telnetcluster for you. If you login next time, the filter still wil be active. If you want to know what filter is in use, just enter: “sh/filter’ and hit enter. The cluster will tell you what filters are active.
Another great link is this one.
I hope I helped more amateurs out there with this, don’t think I’m the only newbie with telnet clusters. At least I didn’t found a lot of hints and tricks on Google…
Ham Radio Deluxe issues
More and more I become a happy HRD-user. I’m using HRD v5.0 build 2494 at the moment. One thing I absolutely love is the logbook functionality. When I’m DX-ing I want to add the QSO’s to my log asap with as much additional information as possible. Of course HRD already adds all data from the radio to the log but I also want all available QRZ.com information added. HRD is able to grab all available info from QRZ.com with different methods. It’s possible true WWW and true XML. True WWW is slow but free of charge, to use XML you need a subscription for the feed at QRZ.com. In my case it so bad if I hear a station I want to work, but the link to QRZ.com doesn’t work, I won’t grab the mike. Last weeks QRZ.com seems to have some problems with the WWW connections of HRD. So in a blink of an eye I bought a XML-subscription for a year! I can report: works flawlessly!
But the other day some weird bug pops up in my HRD: I use the alarm functionality in Logbook. I wanted to have all unworked DX-countries put in my alarms so I got a mail when a unworked DX-station is spotted on the telnetcluster. I bumped into a limitation of HRD: there is a maximum number of alarms you can define. I think it’s around 60 alarms or so. Okay, no problem: I started whit the A-calls and I have to delete the entries when I worked the countries before I can add new ones. Acceptable workaround! Last weekend I worked Cuba and Argentina for the first time. So I wanted to delete those from my alarms to add two new DX-countries. And now something weird happens. I deleted both countries, they are gone from the list. When I close the alarm list with the [Ok]-button and I open the list again, both entries are back! Same thing for changing the properties for each entries. When I save the entry and open it up again, gone is my change! At first I thought maybe it’s because I’ve reached the maximum number of entries (like a full harddisk) but when I wanted to delete some to check, they also don’t disappear.
I’ve signed up for the HRD forum to add this bug (or is it a feature ) but I’m still waiting for moderation of my account before I can post. Hopefully this thing can be fixed…
Blog mobile ready
It bugged me for a while that my blog looked crap on my iPhone. Way too big, you always had to zoom in to be able to read the articles. “Had” because I found a simple solution. Running my blog on WordPress I’ve downloaded WordPress Mobile Pack and the mobile theme from Carrington Mobile 1.1 Theme from Crowd Favorite. And after 5 minutes my blog is mobile ready!
Kenwood SP-31 speaker
Last piece of my Kenwood TS-850-line has arrived! The Kenwood SP-31 speaker. I already had the chance to play with one when the TS-870 for the club was temporarely in my shack. A beautiful speaker, not only to look at, but also the filters do a fantastic job. And most important: my TS-850-line is complete now! I’ve got the TS-850 transceiver, the PS-52 power supply, the SP-31 speaker and the MC-60 microphone!
I always wanted to build a piece of wooden furniture for this Kenwood line. Something that I could put on my desk so the gear is not placed directly on the desk but a little higher. Better view on the display, easier to operate and safer in case if anything wet (drinks) falls on the desk. It should be something fancy like mahogany or so. Nice shiny and chic! Mahogany is too expensive at this time, but I will make something more suitable.
Aligning a FT-817
My precious FT-817 still is lying around in the shack unable to transmit. I’ve studied the service manual and did some measuring around in it. Regular readers of my blog know that a while back suddenly my Yaesu broke down due to shortage. It seems like a capacitor on the voltage input blew and took something with it. I let the input fix by a local service shop but that alone cost me already 75 euro’s. So now the Yaesu is able to receive again, but still no transmit.
My intention is to fix that myself. The local repairman told me it’s probably due to blown finals that the rig isn’t transmitting. That would make me a member of the “Blown Finals Club”. But I’m not quite convinced by his story. When only the finals are blown, you should get a very faint signal as output. But there is absolutely no signal at all. Not even when I take another receiver and poke around with that antenna in the transmit line of the Yeasu, no signal at all. So maybe the oscillator or driver stage must be (also) broken to get this behavior.
This would be my very first big repair job, there for I’m not in possession of various measuring equipment. The only measuring device I have is a multimeter. That won’t bring me very far in this case. Fred, PA3YH has a Multimeter which can measure HF-signals. A RF-millivolt meter, such as referenced to in the service manual. But it has a maximum reading frequency of 100 KHz. The RF-millivolt meter reads like 2,6 volts AC on the output of the oscillator (the service manual says it should be 66mV). But the output signal from the oscillator has a frequency of 65.875 MHz. So it’s logical the meter is not reading the correct voltage.
Okay, so I don’t know if the output of oscillator is correct, but I DO know that the oscillator has output! So I guess now I should look to the first driver stage.
But I think I’ll look for someone with a good scope first. It’s easier to check all the checkpoints in the service manual and also check if they have the correct value.
If anyone has good tips on how to find the problem, let me know!
Unidentified Signals
When I was tuning around at the band the other day, I mistakenly went out of band and ran into a pretty strong signal. A weird signal. When I spin around some more I’ve noticed this signal repeats itself all over HF. First I thought its something in the neighborhood but when I asked Fred, PA3YH and Anne, PB1A to listen for the signal, they confirmed it.
I’ve made a list of all the HF frequencies were I hear this signal. Does anyone know where this signal is coming from and what it is? Are there more HAM’s who hear this?
Listen to the mp3 here: Unidentified signal JO22NF
The list of frequencies is over here: Frequencies Unidentified Signal
bhi NES10-2MKII
A while ago I’ve bought a DSP-speaker from bhi, the NES10-2MKII. The results with this speaker are unbelievable. The background noise is totally pushed away and you’ll be able to hear signals that are normally buried in noise. So the DSP-algorithm is very good. However…… I’m not satisfied with the LF-amplifier in the speaker itself. It hums and makes noises when it has no input. When you crank up the volume too high the speaker starts making distorted sounds. First I thought it was the speaker itself, but when I put the thing inline between my rig and the Kenwood SP-23 speaker the distorted sound appears from the Kenwood speaker. Really unsatisfying when you take in consideration that the DSP-unit itself is doing a great job.
I would really like to add the ‘bhi-experience’ to my TS-850 and TS-450. But I prefer a way without the crappy LF-amplifier from the NES10. I’ve a external speaker for as well the TS-850 as the TS-450. So it would be an option to put something in there. But I don’t want to drill extra holes in those speakers. It would also be an option to put a DSP-unit in the transceiver itself. I read from the bhi-site they have an unit for building in transceiver too: the NEDSP1061-KBD. Although tis unit is mainly made for adding to a Yaesu FT-817 or a Kenwood TS-50, it is possible to build it in other transceivers according to this manual to build it in a TS-440.
Now would it be possible to also build the NEDSP1061-KBD into a TS-850 and TS450? Does it have the same performance as the NES10-speaker as regards to the DSP-functionality and I’m I rid of the bad LF-amplifier behavior this way?
Just some questions and it would be great if someone have already experience with the NEDSP1061-KBD. Let me know!
Neighborhood noise
The other day when I was testing my brand new Cobwebb antenna I noticed something weird. I worked a few stations (EA7IQQ, RV3DMX and RV9LM) and I was pretty happy with the results so far. So I went on the roof to do some finishing touch on the Cobwebb. A little tape here and there to make it a little more waterproof.
When I came back down and listen again, the noise level increased from S1-2 to S8-9! At first I was thinking: maybe the band just closed when I was on the roof. Still it’s a weird thing for the noise level to come up.
But then again I remembered changing something else: I rotate the Cobwebb to be able to reach the elements. So it was in a different position now. Not that that should matter, the Cobwebb is multi directional. Time for a new experiment: the XYL behind the s-meter and me on the roof turning the Cobwebb around. Results? When I turned the front side of the Cobwebb (where the element ends are bound together) to the east, noise level drops to S1-2. When I turned the front in any other direction, noise level increases from S5 till S9! If you take a look at the construction of the Cobwebb, you notice there is less length of element in the front side. Maybe the Cobwebb is multidirectional from a bigger distance, but maybe when a signal (interference) is nearby, the Cobwebb behaves a little directional. It seams like there is a big interference east from my house. When I look at the other side of the street, there is a big old peoples home there. Maybe the source of interference is located there. Time to find out more about this. Although not sure how to begin… Any tips?
First impression Cobwebb 0.2
A while ago I did a first try to build a Cobwebb antenna. I noticed that even on a very low operating height (about 2 meters above the ground) the Cobwebb received very well. Last weekend I did my second attempt to build a Cobwebb antenna for 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20 meter. Gave the construction a little more thought and this time I tuned the wires individually before putting the Cobwebb on the roof. I’ve made sure every element was resonant within the amateur band. No problems. When I put the Cobwebb on my dormer, this thing works like a charm!
On the receiving part I notice very strong signals. The signal strength seems the same as on the 3 elements beam over at the club. Weird thing though is sometimes at 20m suddenly there is an enormous noise level. Up to S8! But a little later the noise level drops to S1 or 2 and I hear a great deal of signals from all over the world. Can it be the opening and closing of the band?
