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!
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?
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?
Lately I’m not doing well on the antenna area. I did pull down the multiband dipole because it was really a horrible sight from the back garden. Then I put down the Antron 99A because it wasn’t giving the performance I hoped for (I couldn’t use it for 20m anyway). And the Cobwebb is still under construction which give a little delay because of the DYI-stuff I have to do around the house at the moment. So the only antenna I now use is a single wire which I draped over the roof. More of less in a square, 20 meters long.
I’ve noticed a pretty nice receiving signal in SSB but (of course) transmitting is awful. Not been able to make a single contact in SSB.
But the other day I got an idea: why not trying BPSK31?! So when I fired up the Signalink USB I started making QSO’s! A lot of European Russia (UA3PI, UA3GX, RA3FO, RN3DY, RX3DD, RU3EJ) but after trying a little harder I also contacted Croatia (9A6DJM), Ukraine (UX1MW, UX1LN) and Romania (YO3JX). This turns out to be fun! Fine tuning my macro’s a little here and there.
Seems that my wire on the roof has a liking for the east, don’t know why since it lays out in a square. But hey, it’s nice working till I’ve get my Cobwebb up and running!
One of my favorite hamblogs must be the one from Julian, G4ILO. Julian always writes very sharp and critical posts, fun to read! I’m so happy he now implemented RSS to his blog so I can keep track.
This afternoon I was reading his piece about D-star. I’m not very familiar with D-star. Read a little about it, seen someone at the club with a portable transceiver making QSO’s with an American Ham. Didn’t like the digital sqeeks and blibs. D-star equipment also seems to be too expensive for me. But when I read this article from Julian (supposing he did his research), I don’t think I mis out on anything…
Last three weeks I’ve been celebrating my holiday in Indonesia. We’ve made a roundtrip starting in Sumatra, Java and ending on Bali. Absolutely beautiful country! Funny thing happened in Ubud on Bali: my lovely girlfriend is making a photo of a nice entry to a house and suddenly I see the house belongs to a radio amateur YD9DP! That can’t be a coincident!
When arriving at home last friday I wanted to send the OM an email but unfortunately he doesn’t seem to be on qrz.com Bummer! Anyway, maybe he read this some day and drops me a mail.
I didn’t bring any rigs with me this holiday. Of course we we’re using the plane to get there and I didn’t want to bring another 10 kg on luggage with me for making a few QSO’s.
As I wrote before: I’ve managed to store my HRD-logbook on a online MySQL database. My plan is to show my logbook live at the logbook-url of this very site. I’ve wrote a little PHP to be able to do this. So from now on you can take a look at my logbook live! Any changes will be online immediately.
On my wish-list is a search option to look for your own call in my logbook and be able to select one year of QSO’s.
We did need a new transceiver for the club. After looking around we’ve found a good one: a Kenwood TS-870S in mind condition. In comparison to the new rigs it’s a real muscle radio for not too much money. It came with speaker SP-31. Very nice sound IMHO. I put it on top of my TS-850S. It’s receiving capabilities are alike but the 870 has a little more bass. Of course the digital filters are awesome and 2 antenna connections are very convenient.
Now I’ve to do the wide transmit modification to let it work on the new upper piece of the 40 meter band. I think I’ll ship it tomorrow evening to it’s new destination, the shack in the club building!
After studying several articles on the webs I tried to figure out a concept construction for my first Cobwebb antenna. An awful lot of tie wraps, a few fishing rods and a almost 50 meters of electrical wire. A few hours DIY in the rain and you see the result beneath. First test results: even at only 2,5 meter height very nice reception! In comparison to my end fed wire it’s a lot less noisy and picks up even very weak signals. Last night I was even listening to local QSO’s of amateurs in North America on 20m! Transmitting is another story on this height of course. No one heard me since, but almost all dipoles are resonant in the band and SWR is good. I think it will be even better when it’s on good operating height of 10 meters. I’m planning to put it on a pole on the roof, then it will be 14 meters high and more ore less 360 degrees free around.
The construction is of course just for testing purposes only. I need to construct another feed point which is waterproof. I’m not satisfied with the tie wrap solution to attach the wires to the spreaders. I think it’s not UV-proof too. I’m thinking about drilling little holes in the spreader to put little screws in them. And the end of the dipole wires I want some elastic pieces in. Then the wires will be tight all the time. Just haven’t figure out what to use for the elastic material yet.
And the baseplate needs some adjustment too, no possibility to attach a vertical pole in it now and the spreaders are not properly aligned. So need to do some rework… Then again, it’s only version 0.1!
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. 
Bummer! Anyway, maybe he read this some day and drops me a mail.
