Monthly Archives: July 2020

Parks On The Air: Finally biting the CW bullet!

I mentioned in a previous post that one of my Social DX goals was to activate a Parks On The Air (POTA) site in CW (Morse Code).

Mission accomplished!

Yesterday, I mustered up the nerve and drove to the Blue Ridge Parkway (site K-3378 in POTA).

My wife and kids were knee-deep in another project so I planned to go solo until my dog, Hazel, caught wind I was leaving with my radio backpack in-tow. Always ready for a hike or road trip, she jumped in the car the moment I opened the door.

I’ll admit it: I was nervous. I had the same jitters I had the first time I spoke in front of a large crowd.

In the end, though, I really had nothing to fear. The POTA community is a very kind, courteous, cohesive and supportive group of radio operators.

I picked the Blue Ridge Parkway as my first site not only because it’s so convenient to where I live, but it’s also one of the most activated parks in the POTA program. I knew a BRP activation wouldn’t attract a mad pile-up of park hunters because everyone in POTA has this one in the books already.

My full radio kit–including my KX2 transceiver, KXPA100 100W amplifier, two antennas, Heil headset, two battery packs, chargers, and all accessories–is packed in my Red Oxx C-Ruck and always ready for action. I grabbed the full kit, although in truth I only needed the KX2, my CW paddles, coax cable and antenna.

Conditions were rough yesterday. Propagation was pretty good, but there were pop-up thunderstorm everywhere in the region, so the bands were very noisy with constant static crashes. Herein lies one of the great things about CW: you can use a filter width so narrow that it doesn’t affect you as much as it does operating phone.

Because I had limited operating time, I deployed the Wolf River Coils TIA portable antenna. It takes me all of 4 minutes to set up.

I got on 40 meters, started calling “CQ POTA” and the next thing I know I had 13 stations logged.

My nerves dissipated quickly after I logged the first couple of contacts and I was even looking forward to stations answering my call. The operators were also incredibly patient with me and two of them even followed me to higher bands and made contact there.

Hazel the dog staring at my portable logging computer.

Hazel was a bit upset this activation didn’t include a hike, so several times she insisted on “helping” with the logs as I sweated it out!

All-in-all, I logged 17 stations in one hour on three bands using about 10 watts of power.

I deployed my station quickly, and I packed it up quickly. A pop-up thunderstorm, once again, chased me off the air. That’s okay, though, because I was already feeling pretty chuffed about bagging my first CW activation.

If I’m being completely honest here in front of my community of radio enablers, as soon as I arrived back home, I started mentally putting together a super-compact CW activation kit built around an LnR Precision MTR3B transceiver. I’ve always wanted one of these little CW-only transceivers to carry in my EDC bag for impromptu field radio fun, but never could justify it. Until now! 🙂

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Joint RAE and LRA36 Radio Nacional Arcangel San Gabriel test transmission today July 25, 2020

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Adrian Korol, who shares the following announcement:

RAE Argentina to the World, broadcasting from Antarctica

RAE will join a trial transmission by LRA36 Radio Nacional Arcangel San Gabriel, broadcasting from Base Esperanza, in the Argentine zone of Antarctica.

This Saturday, July 25, between 17:00 and 21:00 UTC, the Antarctic station will perform a series of tests on the 15476 kHz frequency (19-meter band), Upper Side Band, via a Collins HF80 transmitter and a rhombic antenna.

RAE Argentina al Mundo will put on the air two 30-minute programs, one in Spanish and the other in English, hosted by Fernando Farias, focusing on the history of RAE and LRA36 with historical files and information that listeners, DXers and radio amateurs alike will appreciate. On the Spanish-language show, Fernando is joined by RAE’s director Adrián Korol.

Let’s recall that last Saturday, July 18th, the first test USB transmissions were carried out with excellent results amid optimal broadcast conditions .

Damian Tranamil, LRA36 operator and technician, answered afterwards more than a hundred reception reports from all over the World.

Many listeners said they had the chance to pick up a station from Antarctica for the first time, while others said they were thrilled to be able to receive Arcángel San Gabriel’s signal for the first time in 20 years.

Accurate reception reports will be verified with an electronic QSL card (eQSL). They are to be sent to : [email protected]

We also appreciate listeners sending clips of them receiving our broadcast, or tagging us when they post on social media.

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Belka-DSP shortwave receiver now available via Mobimax

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Many thanks to Boris (LZ2JR/AC9IJ) who notes that his company, Mobimax, in Europe now distributes the excellent Belka-DSP receiver.

Boris informed me that he has inventory and they ship immediately (at time of posting–July 25, 2020).

The price is 145.72 EUR (roughly $170 US).

They have two shipping options to US:

Via International Priority Air Mail (11-25 days) 18 Euro
Via TNT/FedEx Express 26 Euro

Click here to check out the product page.

I’ve been working with Boris for well over a year now. He’s the designer and developer behind the Mission RGO One transceiver project. He’s a top-notch fellow and provides excellent customer service to his clients (check out what reviewers say about him on eHam).

Click here to check out Dan Robinson’s initial Belka-DSP review,

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China Radio International: Jim seeks help understanding language schedule and transmitter locations

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jim Meirose, who asks:

Each day in NJ I am hearing China Radio International in German on 9.570 MHz. It “fades in” up out of the noise about 2 pm EDT, and strengthens until the broadcast signs off just before 3 pm (1800 UTC).

Two things: first, I have found on a couple of websites that a broadcast from CRI on 9.570 does run daily and signs off just before 1800 UCT, but–the listings say it is in English. What I am hearing is in German.

I would like to find someone who can explain the discrepancy in languages between the listings and what I hear.

Second, I would like to know for sure where the transmitter for this broadcast is located. I know CRI broadcasts not only from Beijing but from Albania, Cuba, and possibly others. Can someone tell me the answer?

Thanks very much.

Per your request, Jim, I’ll toss your question out here to the experts in the SWLing Post community. Please comment if you can help Jim with his inquiry!

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Upping my CW pile-up game with Morse Runner

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I mentioned in a previous post that I’ve been practicing my CW (Morse Code) skills in an effort to build confidence to do a Parks On The Air (POTA) CW activation.

But how in the world do you practice handling a CW pile-up without actually going on the air–?

I’m glad you asked!

My DXing and contest friends have often touted an amazing free PC application developed by Alex Shovkoplyas (VE3NEA) called Morse Runner.

Morse Runner’s goal is simple: teach you how to manage a CW pile-up.

In short? It’s incredibly effective!

When you start a Morse Runner session, the application emulates the sound and atmosphere of the HF bands in CW mode (meaning, a narrower filter setting). It’s very convincing.

Instead of using a key to send a CQ, the Morse Runner interface emulates a contest logging system where a computer generates your CQ and sends the signal report you record for a station.

Screenshot of Morse Runner (click to enlarge)

You simply set a few parameters like your call sign, max CW speed, pitch, and bandwidth, then press the “run” button and call CQ by pressing the F1 key on your keyboard.

Within a few CQ calls, you’ll hear anywhere from one to several stations answer your CQ (depending on your settings). Your job is to then start logging those stations accurately from the pile-up. If you reply with an incorrect call, the other station will repeat their call until you correct it.

Morse runner has band condition settings you can select like: QRN, QRM, Flutter, QSB and–yes–even LIDs.

Quite often I’ll accurately reply to a weak station and they’ll send “AGN?” and I repeat their report until they copy it.

Morse Runner is so convincing that when I’m in the middle of a big pile-up, I honestly forget I’m communicating with a computer application! I get some of the same excitement and the–let’s be frank–anxiety I would get on the air during a live CW pile-up.

If you select the “LIDs” Band Conditions setting, it’ll crack you up with how accurately it portrays annoying operators who either deliberately or unintentionally try to interfere!

Here’s sample audio from a session this morning:

The screen shot above shows the settings I used for this very tame session with no large pile-ups. If you’re a seasoned CW contester, pump up the speed and the activity level then you’ll feel like you’re on the Heard Island DXpedition!

In short: Morse Runner is giving me the courage to do my first CW park activation. I highly recommend it!

Click here to check out Morse Runner and download.

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Video: When “Tomorrow’s World” demonstrated digital radio

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jason W, who writes:

You might be interested in this episode of the BBC series tomorrow’s world from 17th Feb 1993 on YouTube:

10:23 to 14:50 has a introduction and demonstration of digital radio in the UK and concluding with “the experts say we will be fully digital by 2020 it’s a long wait” (referring to the switch from fm to digital radio in the UK which is yet to happen).

I thought it might be interesting to highlight this on the blog in 2020.

We can forgive the bit where she suggests digital radio will operate alongside analogue FM in the same frequency band. This Wikipedia on the history of digital broadcasting in the UK shows the UK adopted the DAB Eureka 147 standard in a SFN (single frequency network) from the start of test transmissions in 1990.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_radio_in_the_United_Kingdom

The same episode has a later piece on wide-screen digital television. (20:18 to 23:41) ending with the line “like digital radio, it is a few years away” 🙂

This is fantastic! I love watching vintage Tomorrow’s World episodes. It’s great to see how well they predicted the future and what they considered to be meaningful future innovations at the time. Thank you for sharing, Jason!

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Photos of the lab599 Discovery TX-500 in the field

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Don (W7SSB), who shares the following photos of the new lab599 Discovery TX-500. Don notes that all of these photos were taken in Russia–where the TX-500 is manufactured–and include a number of Chameleon resonant field antennas.

Thanks for sharing these, Don. The thin form-factor of the TX-500, paired with a resonant antenna, certainly makes for a lightweight portable field setup!