dick | N4BC

Amazingly Quick

I just worked Ghana last night, and this morning when I updated my log, it was already confirmed in LOTW. I’ve been a DX station before … VQ9D, VQ9RB, VQ9D/D, S79D … and it was a lot different back in the “good old days.” I remember sending my logs to my manager back in the US by snail mail, which sometimes took weeks, depending on the vagaries of the various postal systems involved. It was even slower in the early days before I had a manager, with direct mail to me and back, not to mention more expensive. Eventually, with the arrival of email, it got much easier and faster to get my logs to my QSL manager. Now, with LOTW, it’s darn near instantaneous in some cases. I just love technology, don’t you?

On the air this morning, there were lots of Asian stations on FT8. I worked a JA, and tried to land some others to no avail … Hong Kong, Australia … there was even a Russian Antarctic station that was pretty strong. Other North American stations were working them, but I had no luck. I did work a couple of stations on JT65 though … first in a long time … one on 40 meters and one on 20 meters. One was in Florida and the other was Canadian, in Ontario. There’s stuff out there guys and gals … just go get it!

Later today I’m going to dive into the NAQP CW contest. I’ll be a late starter due to family commitments, but hopefully fate will smile on me and let me do my thing!

73 de Dick N4BC

Configuring the IC-7300

I was determined to get the external Spectrum Display function of the IC-7300 working with N1MM+. I’d tried before, but had issues. For the external display to work, you need to set the baud rate to 115200, and the fastest I can get WSJT-X to run with the IC-7300 is 9600. Any faster, and it loses sync with the radio.

The solution was actually simple … I can run WSJT-X just fine with the “baseline” configuration I have saved on the SD card, so I created another file with the N1MM+ settings saved. Now, when I want to do the contest thing and want to have a big spectrum display, I load that file. When I’m done and am ready to go back to “normal” operation, I load the baseline file. Hey, it works! I know I’m missing something, but … .

I also updated my Pi-Star software on my hotspot and activated the D-Star functionality as well, in anticipation of the arrival of the new ID-51A Plus 2. I’ve been doing a lot of reading about D-Star when I have a chance, and I think I’ve got a fair understanding about operating and programming now. Thank goodness for the internet!

It was a pretty sparse crowd for the DMR net last night. Only four of us showed up, but it was still OK. We talked a bit about the new mobile interface that someone has written for Pi-Star. I think it runs in a browser or maybe it’s an app, but anyway, Howard, WZ4K, is planning on trying it out this week. We should have a blow-by-blow description for the next net meeting!

The button battery in my MFJ clock died, so I was off to the drugstore to find a replacement. Of course, they had a different brand, which means a different part number. The internet on the smartphone helped me there too, but of course, they didn’t have the one I needed. I’ll try another place tomorrow.

I’ve been doing a bit of FT-8 after work and picked up a new country. I caught 9G5AR in Ghana calling CQ and pounced. I’ve got him in the log and now I just have to wait for the LOTW confirmation. I also saw a station in Bahrain, but couldn’t connect with him. This was on twenty meters, so the DX is out there. You’ve just got to be in the right place at the right time. I also worked a bunch of other stations 40,30,20,17, and 15 meters, too.

Well, the XYL just reminded me that we have a birthday party to go to tomorrow that I had completely forgotten about, so there went my weekend plans. Gotta be fast and think on your feet around this house.

See you on the bands!

73 de Dick N4BC

The Changing Face Of How We Operate

I was reading through posts in one of the on-line forums (sorry, I can’t remember the poster), and he made a comment that made me stop and say to myself, “That’s so true.” The gist of his post was that with the advent of spectrum displays in more state-of-the-art SDR radios (such as FLEX, IC-7300, et cetera) we have changed the way we search for stations to work. With the older radios, we tune around, listening for other stations to work. Unless you happen across a station while he is putting out a signal, he doesn’t exist as far as you’re concerned. He could have stopped transmitting just a second before you reached his frequency, and you wouldn’t know he had been there. But, with a spectrum display, you’re looking at a broad swath of the band and seeing ALL the activity … ALL the stations. One of those “light bulb over the head moments” for me. ‘Ain’t technology grand?’

73 de Dick N4BC