And at 1600 est we pull the plug on the 2011 ARRL SSB Sweeps…
This year was a great year for contacts but I am talking Quality over Quantity. The bands were fantastic and although I had some equipment issues which caused some down time it was a great time for me… After getting ready for this contest for over a week what ever possessed me to start adding radials to the system just before start escapes me. Although the addition of the radials did improve the performance of the antenna… The benefit from the improved performance was negated by the RFI locking up my laptop EVERY TIME I retuned for a new frequency. I had a slight issue previously with RFI so… I shoulda known better… On the plus side as it performs much better I think I will continue to work on the radial system and then just replace the laptop with a desktop/minitower unit with a metal chassis and case I can ground. There is nothing on the laptop I can ground to that I can find and I aready have snap on chokes/terroids on both ends of every cable that comes to the computer and radio/autotuner including coax, patch cables and usb cable to the radio. The TV and sound system are fine the only thing that gets buzzed is my shack computer…
If I can trust my paperlogs I think I have about 75 contacts in about 30 sections. Not really anything to write home about but I had fun when I was not rebooting the laptop… I managed to work most of Canadian Provinces Territories and for the contest I did work all the Canadian Sections. I did fairly good in the far west of the US but failed greatly in the Mid West…
Highlights for me were… Working VE8EV in NWT on 20m. Actually I heard John on 10, 15, 20, and 40m. As the contest only allows one contact (any band) it was a bit dissapointing not to be able to get VE8 into the log on more bands. just think that two years ago I had never worked any Northern Canada stations and now I hear them on most of the bands.
I also heard a VY1 running a pile up I could not break on 20m and then 40m no matter how hard I tried. But it was encouraging to hear that rare Canadian Zone.
I did not hear any VY0 or Vo2 stations during the contest and I also did not hear any VE1 stations. Not hearing any VE1 came as a bit of a shock as the Halifax ARC has a good bunch of contesters who I normally hear every contest. Not only did I not hear the above mentioned stations I did not even see any spots for them on the DX Clusters so it was not my ears… No one heard them…
So thats the fun I had…. I have a month to get ready for the RAC Canada Winter Contest. In the next 30 days I have to run more radials for the vertical and get the VHF and 6m Loops back up in the air. I also will have to get some sort of computer to handle logging and computer control of the radios (FT 450 and FT897) up and running and with any luck RFI will no longer be an issue. Of course I could always run the FT817 instead in the QRP Catagory and see how I do. Actually my best ever showing in the RAC Canada Winter contest was as VA3RCS in the early 2000′s in the QRP Catagory using a FT817 and a home brewed G5RV
CU later down the log…
73bob
Tags: amateur radio, amateur radio contesting, ARRL HF Sweepstakes, RAC, RAC Canada Winter Contest
November 21, 2011 at 1:37 pm |
Good morning Bob,
Sounds like you had a good time with the Sweepstakes.
I resisted the temptation to play in the SS SSB. I did enjoy playing part time in the CQ WW SSB just to show that I do in fact have a microphone and that it does work.
While the lower parts of the bands where quieter due to there being no digital or cw contest on the go, I set up WSPR and ran it for Sunday for a while. In about 12 hours I get reception reports from 210 distinct stations including one or more on all continents except Antarctica, probably 50+ different countries and all on about 3 watts power. WSPR and JT65 never cease to amaze me!
I also played around with FELD HELL in the FELD HELL sprint on Saturday morning. FH is something I have played with a bit over the last year but never really did much with. Like anything new, it is getting over the hump and building a bit of confidence and comfort. I only made a few contacts during the sprint but I have gotten myself over the hump and can see where I will be spending some more time with FELD HELL. I bet if you gave it a try you might like it too.
As to your continuing RFI/EMI issues with your computer and transmitter. It like your coax is acting like part of your antenna. One of the simplest things to try is what is called an “ugly balun” and is nothing more than a coil of coil. It’s purpose is to act as a common mode choke. These “ugly baluns” are not the most efficient common mode chokes but they do work and it may be all you need to sort out your problem. If it doesn’t then you will need to take another approach with a more effective common mode choke.
Do a quick google search for “ugly balun” and have a look.
cheers, Graham ve3gtc
November 21, 2011 at 6:29 pm |
Hi Graham… Well I did have fun… If the puter did not keep locking up I would of even submitted a score …. but …. so much for that…. paper logging then transferring over to the computer every hour was not much fun….
Right now I am using an ugly balun at the antenna end of the coax then I have a terroid at the tuner end of the coax. A terroid at either end of the patch cord between the tuner and the radio. I am using teroids at both ends of the usb cable between the FT450 and the Dell Laptop.
The Radio, the tuner are both grounded to my station ground. The only thing NOT grounded is the laptop itself…
So far it has not screwed up the few times I have run HRD with the computer not linked to the radio… I believe the offending item is the cable that runs between the back of the FT450 and the usb port on the dell laptop.
Next step as the snow is about to arrive is to get the radials which are sitting above the ground spread out in a better pattern and most likely add a few and get them all ready for the covering of snow which will keep them in place for the winter.
Then I will check for RFI issues in the hope that I have fluked a lucky break… Failing that I will replace the feedline (Currently RG58) with a new RG8X line and try again.
If that is not successfull then I will pick up a refurb desktop which can be grounded and also has some shielding due to its metal case and try again. This unit will have a serial port on it so I can go serial port on computer to serial port on radio eliminating the usb to serial port adapter with the gender bender on the end of it….
In all the years I have been operating here I can never remember a situation where the radio messed with the computer. The FT847 used to mess with itself when I was running hrd and transmitting on 20m but the laptop always ran fine…
Will let you know how everything works out…
73bob
November 21, 2011 at 9:30 pm |
Looked for you all over the bands Bob…..and once again you eluded me!!
I made about 100 QRP contacts and had a blast. Lots of good comments about my signal strength etc. I was using the IC-703. Highlight of the weekend was the 10w contact on 15m to Japan.
November 21, 2011 at 9:45 pm |
Hi Bill….
Does your ARES group run a 40m or 80m net I might try and check into so I can get you in the log or whens a good time to find ya?
73bob
November 23, 2011 at 6:01 pm |
Hi Bob,
Ok on your comments regarding the baluns and torroids.
I think you are heading in the right direction in that your problem is the USB to computer to radio connection. Not all USB/serial adapters are the same. There are a number of USB/Serial IC’s that the devices use and it seems the adapter cables that use the FTDI chips have the least problems. I had a problem very similar to yours when I was using a 2102 based USB/Serial adapter to connect between computer and my FT-950. It would work OK most of the time but then all of a sudden it would “lock” everything up. Replacing that adapter cable with a RS-232 serial cable from a serial port on the computer to the radio’s CAT interface solved the problem and I have not had a problem since.
I also have a laptop that I was using for contest work as the laptop ran WinXP and I was using N1MM logger at the time. I use LINUX on all of my other computers. The laptop does not have a serial port so I tried the same old USB/Serial adapter thinking that it might work – it didn’t, same old problems. Replaced the 2102 chip based USB/Serial cable with one using the FTDI chip and it works like charm. Before going the route of another desktop computer you might try getting a USB/Serial adapter that uses the FTDI cable and try.
I don’t know where you might find such an adapter here in Ottawa. I found mine from a seller on eBay – search for “usb serial ftdi” and that should find you something. A call or a visit to one of the local computer or high tech stores might find you something too.
cheers, Graham ve3gtc
November 23, 2011 at 6:50 pm |
hi Graham… Thanks for the comments and the suggestions…. I am leaning towards the purchase of a new to be (used) desktop that has an actual serial port on it… But I will start searching the local stores for the FTDI style of adapter in case…
tnx and 73bob