Category: Miscellaneous

All kind of posts without a specific category.

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tl922f updateJust an update from the PA1JIM studio. I realize it is a bit quite on my blog lately. Not that there is nothing going on in the shack but I did not think it is post worthy. None the less I could put little things in one blog post.

Arduino CW keyer
I made some changes to the Arduino CW keyer, add a volume potentiometer to the speaker line and add a tx key line for the TS-590. Unfortunately the line seems closed and the rig is on tx all the time. Need to figure out what that problem is.

Mexican RTTY contest
First contest this year (for me)was a little one: the Mexican RTTY contest. I did not had a lot of time this weekend but I did manage to put some hours in. There were not a whole lot of participants, I only managed to make 50 Q’s. But it was great fun to do a RTTY-contest again. It reminded me I need to spend more time doing these.

Kenwood TL-922
This weekend is the most important contest for us Dutchies: PACC. Once every year we ‘100 watts and a wire’-HAM’s turn the tables and we will switch from Search & Pounce to Run and calling CQ.
If you are participating in a contest as calling station, you have other problems then when you are in S&P-modus. For instance: on a crowded band it is hard to hold a frequency, especially with only 100 watts. This year I borrowed a very beautiful classic linear amplifier from a good friend, a Kenwood TL-922. Before I can use it, I need to make a remote cable between my 590 and the amplifier.
Even if I got it up and running, I need to be very careful making too much RF. I’m in the middle of a residential area so there is a great change there will be RF interference. But none the less it is interesting to give it a try and see how it works. Will I be able to run my legal limit of 400 Watts without any problems?

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ISS contact
International Space Station ISS
Last weekend I followed the Sandringham School GB1SAN, as they made their contact with Tim Peak on the International Space Station GB1SS. This contact even got the attention of the BBC who made full report on it.
It reminds me of an article I read some time ago from the same AMSAT-UK how you can make your own ISS contact via APRS. Then I did put it on my wish list but forget about it.
When I was watching the report of Jessica Leigh M6LPJ and others it triggered my memory.

How cool would it be to succeed in making a APRS-contact with the ISS with just my current setup? If I understand it correctly, it must be possible to reach the ISS with just your average vertical for 2 meters. I do own a Diamond X-200N. And my Kenwood TM-D710 has all the APRS-capabilities on board to make the contact. On of these days I will pick a pass-over of the ISS and try to make a contact. Of course I will report on it here!

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serial problemsAfter a few successful months, again we have serial problems with the connection between the Peet Bro’s Ultimeter 2100 weather station and my Kenwood TM-D710. A few days ago I noticed some ‘flat lines’ on aprs.fi in my weather station telemetry. That is extra weird if you think about it. If telemetry is flat lining the Kenwood must send the same data over and over again. When I checked the settings I noticed indeed a static set of data was on the Kenwood and it did not seem to update anymore although the weather station was updating.

That (and the fact that it worked without problems for a few months) make me suspect the problem is in the Kenwood and it is not necessarily serial problems. So I turned the power off and disconnect the power supply for a minute or so. Turned everything on and waited until the first telemetry from the weather station was on the screen of the Kenwood again. Everything worked fine for a few hours and then same freeze happened again. And again.
So now I turned off the Kenwood permanently and I have to investigate this problem further. I already did check the serial levels from the Ultimeter. Those seem okay. I think I have to give the Kenwood a full reset. I know it’s possible, but I do not know how to do that exactly. RTFM!
On Twitter I read Matthew W2MDW also has TNC-problems with his brand new TM-D710G. Maybe there is a 2016-bug in its software? 😉

*update* found the problem; clocks of the Ultimeter and TM-D710 have to be on the same time. After a few months they where a few minutes apart. Then the time stamps on the APRS-packets gave errors and the TM-D710 doesn’t recognize the packets anymore. I guess I have the check and adjust time every month of both devices. Feels like I own a really old watch 😉