Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark (AE2EA), with the Antique Wireless Museum who shares the following:
This isn’t a SWL, or even a ham radio story, but it’s a nice technology story about a vacuum tube at the beginning of the digital age and near the end of the tube age, that I thought you might be interested in:
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kostas (SV3ORA), for sharing the following guest post which originally appeared on his radio website:
by Kostas (SV3ORA)
The thinking of this new mode, came to me when someone posted that he quit the HAM hobby because he did not learn Morse code and he did not want to use computers to do the job for him. Some time I faced a similar situation and I believe many do one day or the other. So I thought that I had to do something about it. It is too bad people quit the hobby or missing the fun of the KEY operation, because of the obstacle of Morse code. No matter what CW operators that already learnt Morse might say, the fact is that Morse requires patience, continuous practice and most importantly time. After all military had dedicated courses on it in the past, so it must be more than true. These are things not all people can, or are willing to do. An alternative that gives the same pleasure like Morse and operates with the same techniques, but requires no training and time must exist. Meet the TAP mode!
This mode has its roots to ancient Greece. You may read the article in Wikipedia for more information on the Polybius square. A form of it, was used in the previous century in was times, for in-prison communication. A modified version is presented here by me, that fits perfectly the HAM radio. This modified TAP code scheme, is dedicated to HAM radio and includes the numbers and the letter “k”.
This is all you need to know in order to send and receive TAP. It is easy to follow and easy to generate on paper. This is a 6 by 6 table, with the first six alphabet letters placed in the first line, the next six in the second and so on. After the alphabet ends, the numbers are put in the same manner. Thats it!
It is better to describe the sending procedure with an example.
To send the letter “i” you send two dots (“i” is on the second row), wait a bit and then send 3 more dots (“i” is on the third column). In other words, you first count the number of rows where the letter exists, then wait a bit and then you count the number of columns where this letter exists. Before sending the next letter, leave a bit of more time, so as to distinguish that this is a separate letter and not the time between rows and columns. Thats it!
Try it now without any transceiver! Write the TAP table on a piece of paper (you do not need to write the row and column numbers), or read it from the website. Tap on your desk with your finger and send some words to the colleague near you. See how easy it is?
There are actually four spacings involved. The spacing between adjacent dots, the spacing between the row and the column, and the spacing between letters and the spacing between words. Follow the PARIS spacing, like Morse code does, if you intent to write a software for it. However, in practice, manual operators would need to consider just two spacings, the spacing between rows and columns and the spacing between letters. These are the most important. Just make the one bigger than the other and communication should be achieved without problems.
It is better to describe the receiving procedure with an example.
To receive the letter “i” you listen two dots (“i” is on the second row), then a short scilence time and then listen 3 more dots (“i” is on the third column). In other words, you first listen for a number of dots (this is the row where the letter exists), then sense the scilence and then you listen for the next number of dots (this is the column where the letter exists). The scilence time between two letters is greater than the scilence between rows and columns and this can be distinguished easily. Thats it!
Try it now without any transceiver! Write the TAP table on a piece of paper (you do not need to write the row and column numbers), or read it from the website. Put your coleague to sent you some TAP words and you should be able to decode them by counting the rows and columns in the TAP table.
A programmer that may need to implement the mode in software, should follow the PARIS spacing to distinguish the different parts of the code, as described above.
Here are some advantages I can think, of TAP in comparison to Morse.
Here are some disadvantages I can think, of TAP in comparison to Morse.
There are some common points shared between TAP and Morse code.
By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM
Truth be told, I’ve been curious about the MFJ 1020C for a long time. Back when I wrote for Passport to World Band Radio, over a decade ago, I wondered if the 1020C was a worthwhile device, but then I had a big wire antenna outside connected to a communications receiver, so I didn’t worry so much about squeezing every last erg out of the signals I was receiving. As a result, I never experimented with an MFJ 1020C.
Now, however, I have a 50-foot indoor end-fed wire antenna connected to a Grundig Satellit 800, and I am constantly looking to improve the signal. Feeding the signal through a 9:1 unun and then through coax to the Satellit 800 has boosted the signal-to-noise ratio a bit — https://swling.com/blog/2022/05/the-satellit-800-the-tecsun-pl-880-and-two-indoor-antennas-an-afternoon-of-experimentation/ — and so has grounding the unun — https://swling.com/blog/2022/05/jock-gets-a-good-grounding/. But is there such a thing as too much signal to noise? Not in my not-so-humble opinion, so the quest for improvement continues.
During a phone call with Thomas (Maximum Leader of SWLing.com), I mentioned my curiosity about the 1020C. Thomas said, “MFJ is a sponsor of SWLing.com, I’ll see if they would like to send you one for testing.” Two days later, a package arrived with the 1020C, a power supply for it, and a short coax jumper.
The Basic LayoutThe 1020C is small — 2.5” H x 6.4” W x 3.3” D – and looks well made. It covers 300 KHz to 40 MHz. On the front panel are two knobs, a push button, and a selector switch. The left-most knob controls the gain of the amplifier. Moving to the right, you’ll find a push button that controls the bypass circuit.
To the right of the bypass button, you’ll find the band switch, which controls which frequency range is in use, and to the right of that is the tuning knob which allows you to peak the signal in the frequency range you have selected. We’ll get to how it all works in just a bit.
On the back of the 1020C, you’ll find a coax connector labeled INPUT and another labeled OUTPUT, a grounding post, and a connector for the external power supply.
Setup is easy. Plug the power supply into the wall and into the back of the 1020C. (You can also run the 1020C off a 9-volt battery, which we will discuss in a while.) Connect a coax jumper from the OUTPUT connector on the 1020C to the coax input on your receiver. (If you don’t have a coax connector on your receiver, we’ll deal with that issue shortly).
Finally, you need to make a choice about which antenna you want to use. The 1020C Owner’s Manual says:
You may connect either the telescoping antenna provided or an external wire antenna of your choice. To connect the telescoping antenna; screw the antenna end through the top cover and into the spacer located on the PC board. If you chose to use external wire antenna; plug it into the INPUT SO239 connector located on the back of the unit. (DO NOT HAVE BOTH ANTENNAS CONNECTED AT THE SAME TIME!)
Attaching the telescoping antenna can take a while since you may have to hunt around to get the antenna centered on top of the screw inside the 1020C’s case.
Here’s how I operate the 1020C:
Note: When the BYPASS button is pushed IN (the ON position), that means you are hearing the signal straight through from the antenna without going through the amplification and preselection circuits of the 1020C . . . it’s like the 1020C isn’t even there. This is true even if the red PWR LED is illuminated. To put the 1020C to work for you, the BYPASS button must be OUT, and a band must be selected.
Bottom line: the 1020C can really help in certain situations.
Initially, I set up the 1020C with its diminutive 20 inch antenna and connected a coax jumper cable between its coax output and the coax input on the back of the Satellit 800. I wanted to see if it would out-perform the four-foot-long telescopic antenna on the Satellit. No way, I thought; the Satellit antenna is twice as long. But I was wrong. On the first day I tested the 1020C, the atmospheric noise was terrible. I could not hear time station CHU on 3.330 MHz at all with the Satellit’s built-in antenna. But with the 1020C properly tuned, I could hear the time “pips” on CHU clearly.
A couple of days later, when SWLing.com announced the Annual Armed Forces Day Crossband Test — https://swling.com/blog/2022/05/today-14-may-2022-annual-armed-forces-day-crossband-test/ — I set out to see if I could hear some of the stations. I removed the telescopic antenna from the 1020C and connected the 1020C to my indoor end-fed antenna. Putting the unit in bypass mode, I then started punching in the crossband test frequencies on the Satellit 800. At each frequency, I would first listen to the frequency in “barefoot” mode, then activate the 1020C to see if I could bring any intelligible signal up out of the noise. I had no success until I got to 14.487 MHz USB. With the straight-through indoor end-fed antenna, I heard nothing, but with the 1020C engaged and carefully tuned, I could copy a station sending in CW: CQ CQ CQ. Later I was able to confirm the ID as NSS from Annapolis, Maryland, one of the stations in the crossband test.
On some easier-to-hear signals, the 1020C sounds as if it lowers the noise floor, improving the “listenability,” but the 1020C does not improve all signals. Sometimes the signal processed by the 1020C sounds roughly the same as the bypassed signal. And sometimes the bypassed signal (straight through from the antenna without the 1020C in-line) simply sounds better.
The pigtail.
Next, I tried the 1020C with my Tecsun PL-880. Immediately, I was confronted with a problem: how to get the signal from the coax output of the 1020C and into the antenna socket of the 880. Fortunately, a ham friend fabricated a “pigtail” for me that made the connection from the coax connector on the 1020C to the antenna input socket on the PL-880. As soon as I hooked it up, I heard an unpleasant hum that I had not heard on the Satellit 800.
I decided to see if running the 1020C off battery would offer an improvement. This involved another challenge: there is no “hatch” on the 1020C to provide access for plugging-in the 9-volt battery. Instead, you have to take out the screws on either side of the cabinet, remove the cabinet top, find the 9-volt connector hidden in a little plastic sleeve inside the 1020C, plug in the 9 volt battery, slide it into its clip, replace the cabinet top, and run the screws back in. That, in itself, is not difficult to do, but as soon as the battery needs replacing, you have to go through most of the process all over again.
The good news is that once the 1020C was running off battery, I could detect no hum, and the experience with the 1020C with the PL-880 was much the same as with the Satellit 800. Some signals were improved, some were the same, and sometimes the straight-through (bypassed) signal was better.
I have not tested the 1020C with a large, signal-devouring antenna out in the fresh air. The 2009 edition of Passport to World Band Radio offered that, with an inverted-L antenna longer than, say, 50-75 feet, the 1020C may not provide much benefit. However, my experience with a modest 50-foot indoor end-fed antenna demonstrates that the 1020C can deliver a significant signal boost in some circumstances, and I am glad to have it in my shack.
Bearing in mind that it won’t improve every signal you want to hear, if you live in an antenna-challenged situation, the MFJ 1020C – particularly if you can get 20-50 feet of wire outdoors or run around the perimeter of a room – may be just what the doctor ordered.
There are three areas in which MFJ could make life easier for 1020C users: (1) make a pigtail or other device available to get the signal from any wire antenna to the coax input of the 1020C, (2) make a pigtail or other solution to bring a signal from the output of the 1020C to a shortwave portable (possibly a pigtail with an alligator clip to connect to the whip antenna), and (3) offer or provide quick-release pins for the 1020C cabinet for those who wish to operate it off batteries and want to be able to replace them quickly and easily.
Friends, I’d like to share some good news with you!
I’ve created an SWLing Post discussion board that anyone can join, free of charge, at SWLing.net.
My hope is that this will be a spot for community members to get quick answers to questions and connect with other like-minded operators.
Everyone is welcome and this board is already populated with a number of moderators who will make sure that all questions–no matter how simple–are welcome. Trolls and rude people will be weeded out.
I would encourage you to create an account and check it out: http://swling.net
In the past, I’ve mentioned in posts that email from readers and subscribers (of both QRPer.com and the SWLing Post) has increased to a point that I can no longer keep up with them. It became very evident when I went camping in West Virginia last month and came back home to find no less than 60 messages in my inbox. These 60 messages were all ones needing some sort of reply or acknowledgement–they didn’t include notifications and SPAM.
I take pride in replying to each and every message I receive, but sadly I can no longer keep up with the volume. Sadly, I don’t have enough time especially with my busy family life.
In fact, I realized recently that replying to emails is actually taking a large bite out of the time I have to do content creation. I can’t let that happen, because that could quickly lead to burn-out. Both of my sites are pure labors of love and I enjoy them immensely. Continue reading
You might have noticed a lack of posts this weekend and that would be because I was completely off-grid and off-line, camping with two good friends in Pisgah National Forest.
It was brilliant, actually. I got to hang with friends I’ve known for over 30 years, test my new one person backpack tent (a.k.a. the “Bear Burrito”–the one on the right above), and of course I played a bit of radio.
Black bears are a fact of life here in the mountains of western North Carolina and we spotted three hanging out within 25 meters of our campsite.
By the way: the trick when camping with bears? Don’t put food in your tent, else that whole “bear burrito” thing becomes a reality.
I had a fabulous time putting my Elecraft KX1 “Ruby” on the air. I made perhaps 15 contacts in CW (Morse Code) with 3 watts of power.
One of the cool things about the KX1 is you can change the mode to SSB and actually tune through several shortwave broadcast bands (if you have the three or four band version of the KX1). Of course, I had to do a little SWLing.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m also a proper coffee snob and I firmly believe coffee tastes better when brewed outdoors. Yesterday morning, I brewed a pot of Rock Creek French Roast.
Off-grid, off-line camping recharges my internal batteries and it’s for this reason, I’ll be doing a lot more this year with my family.
It’s is also a brilliant way to experience an environment without any forms of radio interference (QRM or RFI). If you want to do some proper DXing, take your radio on some primitive camping experiences. It’ll remind you what life was like before switching power supplies ruled the world!
This morning, I was searching hundreds of half-finished articles I’ve accumulated on the SWLing Post over the years looking for a particular note. During my search, I stumbled upon the following post from September 2020 that I thought I published but had not. There’s no time like the present, right? Here you go:
A couple weeks ago, a package arrived at the post office and I noticed that the return address was from friend and SWLing Post contributor and Patron, Scott Gamble.
Scott knows me pretty darn well because, frankly, we’re a lot alike: we’re radio geeks and coffee snobs.
The confirmation was in the box. A Shortwave Coffee mug:
Turns out, Scott discovered Missouri-based coffee roaster, Shortwave Coffee. He shipped me one of their branded mugs and it has become a favorite here at SWLing Post HQ.
Next time I’m anywhere within driving distance of Shortwave Coffee, you’d better believe I’m stopping by for a cauppa!
Thank you, Scott!
Fast-forward to the present day and, as I type this, I’m sipping a nice Rock Creek French Roast in my Shortwave Coffee mug. Thanks again, Scott!
I should add that my buddy Troy Riedel also sent me a shortwave coffee mug–one he actually designed–nearly a decade ago. It lives in our travel trailer so I enjoy it during each of our family camping trips!
Here’s wishing everyone an amazing weekend filled with shortwave and coffee!
Hi all, Fastradioburst23 here letting you know about some transmissions on the shortwaves over the next couple of weekends via the services of WRMI and Channel 292.
X-Raydio will explore some audio from unusual musical formats (think flexidiscs, 5″ vinyl etc.) and will feature a piece on Bone Music by Stephen Coates from The Real Tuesday Weld (who by the way hosts a great radio show called The Bureau of Lost Culture on Soho Radio, London) and also a flexi disc mix by Shane Quentin from The Garden of the Earthly Delights radio show on CRMK, Milton Keynes.
The first transmission is on Sunday 5th June 2022 at 2200 utc on 9395 kHz on WRMI to North America and then the week after to Europe via Channel 292 on Sunday 12th June 2022 at 2200 utc on 3955 kHz. They’ll be some changes between the two shows with inclusion of alternatives mixes.
So get that shortwave set set and tune into X-Raydio for something a little bit different!
