FIELD DAY 2022 By John E. Gercken, AA9UF I was all excited about this year's Field Day exercise because I thought I was going to have two friends come over to participate. My brother, Glenn, N0PNQ, could not come this year because he had just gotten out of the hospital from surgery. One doctor friend of mine, Dr. James Derk, said he would come over, but he did not bring his radio. His radio was an SDR affair, all operated by computer. He pretty much wanted to check out my station, I think. Well he was blown away by what he saw, but he only stayed about 2 hours. He said he is in the middle of building a deck on his house and wanted to make some headway while the sun was shining. The good news is that he is looking forward to next year's Field Day. I gave him a short tutorial on making contacts. I started out by using FLDIGI software for doing PSK31 and other digital modes but I quickly found that the radio (Icom-7300) would not talk nice with my computer. No matter what com port I used, they just would not play nice in the CAT department. The PTT worked fine. Seeing that I was not going to make any contacts using FLDIGI, I opted to use Airlink Express. It played nice with the radio but I could not get anyone to hear me even with 60 watts being thrown at them. I was getting desperate now. I started MixW and got it configured for Field Day. Everything worked but when I hit the SAVE button after a contact, the information would NOT go into the on-screen log bar. It would go into the full logbook instead. I knew what causes this from previous experience. The dates and times of the contest period need to changed. The start time needs to read 6/25/2022 18:00:00 and the end time needs to read 6/26/2022 20:59:00. I made the changes but the darn thing STILL would not work. I finally decided to "crash" for the night at around 10:30 pm because I was so tired and frustrated. About an hour later, another thunderstorm went through and dumped a bunch more rain on us, about 1.5". Then at about 3:00 am, my wife called me on the intercom saying that our 16 year-old Border Collie, Kate, aka "Poochy Dog" had diarrhea and pooped all over the back hall. Guess who got to clean it up. That took me 45 minutes. Since I was already up, I decided to work some more Field Day stations. I tried 20 and 40 meters but no luck there. I went back to the recliner for another nap. Maybe God will intervene and fix MixW for me. I prayed. I have run out of ideas. After my "clean up" detail, I turned my MixW program back on and much to my surprise and delight, IT WORKED! The callsigns went into the log bar like they were supposed to and stayed that way through the rest of the contest! I give God the credit for this. I checked 20 and 40 meters for activity but there was next to nothing there, so I left the radio on just enough that I could hear it if signals were present. At around 6:00 am, I heard activity, so I quickly moved from the recliner to the ham desk chair and started working stations on 20 meters using PSK31 mode. It got to be so hectic that I could not work them fast enough! Some stations would not let me get finished with one station before they would start calling me! I wasn't complaining....just grinning from ear-to-ear! Of the 84 Field Day sections, I worked 42. I worked a lot of stations east of the Mississippi River but not much was forth coming out of the northwest. Of course, with all my problems I had to deal with, I probably missed out on some good DX. But, with the short time I had left, I ended up with53 contacts. I was hoping to maybe get some RTTY contacts and some on 6 meters but none was to be had. It is strange how things vary from year to year. One mode or another seems to be dominant and one region of the country will have more activity than another. Often, the wee hours of the morning such as 3 to 5 am would be totally dead but once the Sun comes up, it is a totally different story. Stations would come out of the northwest, southwest and the plains. Then the closer to Noon it gets, the signals fade away. Now that the 2022 Field Day event is in the history books, plans for next year are already rolling around in my brain. The first thing I want to do is build an extension on my hitch on the truck or my lawnmower to accommodate the generator. Both of them are about 12" too high. I also want to get a better canopy to put up over the generator. The one I have is a piece of junk and quite old. I would like to find one that can be put up by one man, if there is such a thing. I don't bend very well anymore and my balance leaves a lot to be desired, but I keep trying.

The Aftermath of the Ice Storm

     The ice storm that hit Central IL this winter (2020-2021) did some pretty major damage in the area.  My east and north yards looked like war zones with limbs down all over the place.  It will take me quite a while to get it all cleaned up because I don't move as fast as I used to and I have a bad back and poor balance.  Below are some photos I took.  There is a big tree out behind the barn that really got hit.  The top of it looks like a whirlwind got it.  We were very fortunate in that neither of my Ham Radio antennas were damaged and there was no damage to the house or vehicles.

     I hauled 3 pickup truck loads to the burn pile today (1-9-21) and it barely made a dent in the mess.

John, AA9UF

Live long and prosper. \\//

In light of the fear over the Corona Virus, it might be a good idea for us to change the way we greet each other.  I think we should temporarily adopt the Vulcan hand sign \\// like Mr. Spock did on Star Trek.  When he gave the hand sign, he said "Live long and prosper."  If he was greeting another Vulcan, the other man would hold up the same sign and say in response, "Peace and long life."  It would be infinitely more healthy and a bit more meaningful.  Your comments are welcome.

\\// Live long and prosper.

John, AA9UF

How to install a PL-259 coax connector on LMR-400 coax.

     Every ham radio operator has little tricks to help him do things such as installing a PL-259 coax connector on a piece of coax cable.  I would like to share my method.

     First, I strip off about 1" of insulation from the end of the coax cable with a utility knife (aka box cutter).  Then I take a cable stripper and position it right in the middle of the exposed coax braid.  Put your finger in the loop and make 4 or 5 turns around the coax.  You should end up with about 3/8" of coax braid on the coax.  

     Now, get a small file and file off the nickel plating from around the 4 holes in the barrel of the connector.  I have found that solder does not like to stick to nickel very well.  

     Before you begin this next step, make absolutely sure there are no small wires sticking up near the center conductor of the coax.  If even one of those little whiskers gets in the wrong place, it can cause a short in the coax if it makes contact with the center conductor.   

      I have a very handy little tool that a good ham friend of mine made which consists of a PVC Tee and an SO-239 coax connector  glued into the middle hole.  Thread the coax connector on to the T with the connector's bezel.  Now carefully stick the end of the coax into the back of the connector.  Grab the T firmly with one hand and the coax in the other and twist the T toward you about 11 times until you feel resistance.  

     Now take the Tee off the connector and check to see that you can see the braid through the 4 holes in the barrel and check the center pin to see that the center conductor is poking through. 

     Now we are going to dab some soldering paste on the 4 holes in the connector barrel.  You can use any little stick such as a Q-Tip with the cotton cut off the tip to dab it on.  This step insures that the solder will flow down into the holes, creating a good seal.  This step is important because if those holes are not sealed, RF can leak out and cause interference to other components of your ham station.

     Next, we solder the center conductor to the center pin of the connector with my Weller 200 watt soldering gun.  I strongly suggest putting the coax in a vise but don't tighten it down too tight.  You don't want to damage the cable in any way.   The vise will keep the coax from turning while you solder.  

     Now, we solder the 4 holes in the barrel.  Position the coax connector so that the center pin is pointing to your left.  Now, position one of the 4 holes so that it is looking directly at you.  Make sure your soldering iron is up to operating temperature, then apply solder to the tip while holding the iron on the area just above the hole.  Now slowly drag the iron down over the hole and pull it away.  If the iron does not completely cover the hole, do it again.  If you are successful, repeat for the other 3 holes.  Let the coax connector cool off before removing it from the vise. 

     Next, we check continuity with a multimeter set to the OHMS setting so that when you hook the two leads together, the meter emits a beep.  Connect the black lead to the center pin and the red lead to the barrel of the connector.  If  NO beep sounds, then there are no shorts in the connection.  If there IS a beep, you will not be able to use that piece of coax.  You will have to cut the connector off and install a new one.   The last thing you need to do is scrape the brown rosin off the center pin of the coax connector with a knife then shine it up with some Scotch-brite.

   

Model of the starship USS Enterprise

This  AMT model of the Enterprise was a real booger to put together.  There were very few pins and pockets for parts alignment and the modeling glue took forever to set up.  I ended up using Gorilla Super Glue instead.  In some areas I had to use a hot glue gun.  The forward end caps of the warp nacelles were too thick to let any of the red LED light thru so I used two caps from 1 liter soda bottles instead.  Also, I had to drill a hole thru the middle of the two clear plastic domes because the LEDs I installed were just a bit too tall and I had nothing else to use.
     The decals for this model are NOT the kind where you dip the paper in water to loosen them up.  You simply peel them off the dry paper and they stick on.  The instructions say that you need to dip them in water, but that is wrong.
     It took me 2 weeks to put this thing together which is way longer than I expected due mostly to all the wiring of the LEDs that I did.  I powered it with a 5 VDC wall wart from an old cell phone.

Lament Of A Ragchewer

     My, my!  How things have changed in the digital world of Ham Radio.  It used to be that the 14.070 frequency was crowded with hams having  meaningful conversations with other hams around the world.  Now, you are lucky to see 2 or 3 traces.

     Everybody has left town and gone to the gold fields of FT-8 and JS8Call where they just exchange callsigns and 599s then move on to the next contact.  That saddens me because they are missing out on the real meaning of communication.  What is communication?  It is the exchange of thoughts and ideas between humans.  In having an exchange of thoughts and ideas, we usually tend to learn something from it.  I don't see that happening with FT-8 or JS8Call.  I have done both and neither one appeals to me at all.  JS8Call sends out 13 words at a time and takes 15 seconds to send a string.  You can take a power nap in that time.  It is my hope that  perhaps FT8 and JS8Call will eventually die out and more hams will come to realize what they have been missing.

     We are supposed to be trained communicators according to Part 97 of the rules.  Are we doing that?  My answer, for the most part, is "no"...at least not in the digital world from my experience.

      Whenever someone tries to get by with a "hit and run" contact with me, I do my best to not let them get away with it.  I ask them why they want to quit so soon.  If they tell me that their English is not so good, I tell them that they won't get better at it if they don't practice using it.  Usually, they do engage in conversation and in by the time we are done, they tell me how much they enjoyed it. Then I say to myself , "Well another one bites the dust."

     Pretty soon, we are going to forget how to communicate effectively.  Just take a look at some of the phone texting that goes on.  It is replete with poor spelling and grammar.  Almost nothing is spelled out.  It is all abbreviated or somehow butchered in one way or another.

     Try listening to a TV news program.  My wife cringes every time she hears the local TV news....poor grammar everywhere!  Don't they have anyone who proof reads the script?  My wife taught 6th grade for 35 years, so she knows her stuff about spelling and grammar.

Setting Up The SignaLink USB Interface For Digital Ham Radio

     I have noticed quite a few hams on the air having trouble configuring their radios and interfaces to get a good looking signal out.  I am hoping these tips will help.  I have been doing digital ham radio since the 1980s when the Commodore computers were popular.  I was doing Pactor and RTTY quite a bit.  Then in Sept. 1999 I got into PSK31 and other digital modes as they were developed.
     My digital program of choice is MixW 3.2.105 but most programs are pretty much set up the same way.  They all have a drop-down menu called Configure where you can set up the program and the SignaLink USB.
     Make sure that you have your digital program up and running and your SignaLink is plugged in and turned on.  Turn on the rig, too, because you will need to set up the CAT (Computer Aided Tuning) parameters.
     Go up to the top edge of the program screen and find the word Configure and click on it.  A drop-down menu will appear.  Now find TRANSCEIVER CAT/PTT and click on it.  At the top you will see 2 windows labeled CAT and MODEL.  Click on the little black arrow to the right of CAT and choose which radio you have and click on it.  Now go down to the MODEL window and click on that little black arrow and choose what model number of rig you have.
     Now go further down where it says PTT & CAT Interface and click on the label called DETAILS.  You will see 7 windows labeled Port, Baud Rate, Data Bits, Parity, Stop Bits, RTS and DTR.  Click on Port and you will see port numbers listed there and some will have an asterisk (*) by them.  These are the ones that have COM ports assigned to them.  Choose one.  Now, the numbers that go into the rest of the 7 windows should be as follows: Baud Rate: 9600, Data Bits: 8, Parity: None, Stop Bits: 1, RTS: Always On, DTR: Always Off.  These parameters are for an Icom radio.  If you have a different brand of rig, you might have to check the manual or you could go to the Tigertronics website to see what the parameters for your rig are. Yaesu rigs use a baud rate of 4800.  Once you have those 7 windows filled in, click OK.  There are other things in the menu box that need to be checked: Save frequency on exit can be checked in the little box beside it and CW out via Soundcard can be checked.  Also, AFSK in place of FSK can be checked.  Default digital mode should be USB.  You are now done with this part.  Click OK.  If you do not get an error message saying that the CAT interface Com port is in use or not functioning, this means that it is the correct Com port for your radio.  If you get an error message, you might have to go back to Configure and choose a different Com port number.
     Now go back to Configure and this time we will set up the PTT, sometimes called Secondary PTT Port.  Click on it then click on Port Settings.  You will see a little box with 5 windows in it.  They are labeled: Port, Baud Rate, Data Bits, Parity, Stop Bits, RTS and DTR.  The port number you choose should NOT be the one you chose for CAT.  Baud rate should be 9600, Data bits 8, Parity None, Stop Bits 1.  RTS should be PTT and DTR should be Always Off.  The boxes beside Echo, Disable and Hardware Flow Control should NOT be checked.  Now click OK.
     Now we go back to Configure again and click on Sound Device Settings.  At the top of this box, you will see Device, Input and Output.  Click on the little black arrow and you should see Sound Card (Internal or External, Rig Expert S/D, and Eye Of The Needle.  Click on Sound Card.  Then on the next two windows, click on the little black arrow.  In the Input window, choose Microphone (USB Audio Codec).  In the Output window, choose Speakers (USB Audio Codec).  Next, there is a window called Sample rate.  Type in 12000.  The default is 11025 but having a higher sample rate keeps your TX  signal from drifting. You don't have to do anything with Clock Adjustment or Sound History.  The next 3 windows down are Spectrum Speed, DSP filter and FFT Window.  Spectrum Speed adjusts how fast the waterfall display travels downward.  I like mine at X3.  DSP filter should be: None.  FFT Window should be: Hamming.  I have my DSP filter turned off because I have an outboard MFJ-784B tunable DSP filter hooked up to my rig.  Audio Processing window should be "Message-based (standard).  Now click OK and see if you have a waterfall display.  Tune your rig to 14.070 Mhz and see if you find some signals.  They should be traces that are about 1/4" wide.  Click on one with your mouse and see if the signal is being decoded by the software.
     The volume on the rig should be at about 9:00 and the volume (RX) on the SignaLink should be at about 8:00.  I have my volume set so I just see some slight speckling in the waterfall from the noise floor.
     Here is how I have my waterfall display set up for color display:  Click on View, then find Spectrum and click on it.  Now find Colors then find Waterfall Pallet.  You will see a bar with little squares of color.  You can change these colors by left clicking on each bar and choosing the color you like.  Here is how I have mine configured: black, black black, blue blue, yellow yellow yellow yellow.  This configuration gives me yellow traces on a blue background.  Click Apply then  click Save.  This will let you save your colors to a folder.  I use a file name called 3blk2blu4yellow.pal .  This tells me what the colors are.  I keep a folder called Waterfall Colors within the MixW folder where I keep my waterfall pallet files.
     Here is how you need to set up the rig for best signal output.  First, set the RF power to 100 watts.  My Icom rig uses a port in the back to connect to the SignaLink, so I don't need to mess with the Mic Gain.  TX output is set by the TX control on the front of the SignaLink.  When you transmit with the software, watch your ALC reading!  It should be at ZERO, showing NO reading at all.  If it does, your TX level is too high.  This is the most common mistake that hams make.  You don't need to drive the TX audio nearly as hard with digital as opposed to SSB voice.