Experimenting

Antenna Analysis

There are lots of antenna analyzers on the market now … and at all price points. Here’s an extremely affordable one … the RigExpert AA-30ZERO. Barebones, but looks interesting, even if only from an experimental viewpoint. Eric, who has a great YouTube channel covering all aspects of ham radio (HamRadioConcepts), did a pretty thorough demonstration :

The boards are available from Gigaparts for $75 + S&H as I’m writing this. I’m getting one!

And don’t forget to check out all of Eric’s videos (and he’s got a LOT!) … he talks about antennas, radios, DMR, accessories… you name it!

73 de Dick N4BC

Last Weekend

Well, the best laid plans … . I had planned to participate in the NC QSO Party, but circumstances changed that. I just had too many honey-dos to finish.

I did get my Tytera MD-380 codeplug programmed, but can’t hit my local DMR repeater from my house (maybe improved antenna?). I drove a few miles closer and did hit the repeater OK. Checking, I see that his antenna is only at 30 feet, but he does have plans to raise it, I believe.

So, my solution is to add a hotspot to the mix. I have a Raspberry pi lying around, and ordered a dvMega to link into the network from the DMR portable. It should be here on Tuesday, so I’ll let you know how it works. Yes, I know some people say it’s not “real” ham radio if it uses the internet, but I want it for communications, not for awards. I’ve already created a SD card ready to plug into the pi with the Pi-Star image on it.

Well, that should do it for now. I’ve done a lot of research on this DMR stuff, and actually think I’m beginning to understand what’s going on. Oh, I knew a lot, due to working with Motorola radios and systems for years, but this is a new realm for ham radio.

73 de Dick N4BC

WSPR-X

Well, I did a bit of fiddlin’ with WSPR-X this evening. Here’s the results …

Graphic representation of stations hearing me …

I was transmitting 5 watts, using a 31-ft vertical. If you’re more interested in how WSPR-X works, it’s one of the modes included in W1JT’s WSJT-X ver. 1.8.0 software. WSPR is explained at http://wsprnet.org.

73 de Dick N4BC

Neat trick

I saw this somewhere (can’t remember where) and said to myself, “That can’t work very well.” Today I was in Lowes and picked up a 2-inch elbow to give it a try. Place it right above the speaker. Hey, it makes a big difference, especially on CW. It redirects the speaker audio towards the front. Well worth the $1.88 (+ tax) I paid for it.

73 de Dick N4BC

Propagation blues

You know times are bad when 20 Meters doesn’t have a single CW signal audible during a major contest weekend. I just tuned up there and couldn’t hear ANYTHING! NADA! Forty and eighty are really active … lots of contest activity.

I haven’t done any contesting this weekend. I just worked about 15 stations on FT8 with the new rig, and I did make a couple of QSOs to check out how it handles on CW. As far as SSB, I haven’t even taken the mic out of the box yet!

The IC-7300 is a SWEET rig to operate, but I’m still stumbling a bit with the controls. It’ll get better with familiarity.

73 de Dick N4BC