My Icom IC-7600 HF Transceiver

About five months ago, my newlywed wife was nice enough to tell me that she did not have a problem with me purchasing my dream radio, the Icom IC-7600.  It sits alongside my Kenwood TS-2000X in my shack.  Now I know that many people own several HF rigs, but I do not see the point in that.  HF radios can be quite expensive.  I would rather concentrate on one or two radios in terms of the radios that I keep on hand.  I've owned a number of radios in the past from mobile radios, to HTs, to HF radios.  The IC-7600 is actually only my third HF radio.  The problem with having too many radios is that all of those radios need to be taken care of and used.  For example, firmware may need to be updated regularly, or the memories need tended to.  I don't have the time like I used to set up multiple radios.  I indicated that the IC-7600 is my third HF radio.  I've had the Kenwood the longest, but at one point I owned a Yaesu FT-897D.  The Yaesu was a decent radio, but I sold it to another ham when I thought she was ready to get on the air.  I am keeping the TS-2000X because I believe that some of its features complement the Icom.  Specifically, repeater operation is available as well as a satellite mode, and it operates on 2-meters, 70-cm, and 1.2 GHz, whereas the Icom does not.

I absolutely love the 7600.  Of course, it has the beautiful LCD screen and that screen contains the spectrum scope, but the screen contains a lot of other useful information.  However, the radio is much more than just the awesome LCD screen.  Shortly after acquiring the 7600, I participated in the IARU HF Championship, and made 23 contacts using the radio, including confirmed (with Logbook of the World) contacts with TM0HQ and NU1AW/5.  I felt that was pretty impressive given my limited operating time, and my rather limited antenna--an indoor Buddipole.  I only spent about two or three hours operating during the contest.  I had the radio on for a couple of hours on Saturday evening, and I had it on for about an hour on Sunday.  About half of my contacts were on 20-meters and the other half were on 40-meters.  I was operating in the search and pounce (S&P) mode, and most stations heard me on the first or second call.  I don't recall having that kind of success with my TS-2000X, but I may be comparing apples to oranges.  The bands did not seem as crowded for the IARU HF contest as they were during Field Day (which is the last contest I operated the TS-2000X in), and the pile-ups were not very deep for the IARU contest, or were completely non-existent.  I really am looking forward to using the 7600 during the next Field Day when the bands are typically very crowded.  I think it has a number of features on the receiving side that will make it easier for me or guest operators to pick out (more on this later) the individual stations.  For much of the operating that I do, however, the bands are not crowded at all.  I'm also looking forward to getting back on the digital modes after a two- or three-year hiatus.  In particular, I want to expand my operating skills to RTTY, and I think that the 7600 should be able to handle it quite well.  I would like to add that my first opportunity to operate split on the HF bands occurred shortly after I purchased the 7600.  I was tuning around the bands--probably on 40-meters--and ran into N4S.  N4S was the special event station commemorating the final flight of a space shuttle.  Although, I never got through, I was able to figure out how to program the 7600 to operate in split mode.  I got to hear first-hand the handful of stations that had not copied N4S stating that he was operating split, as they tried to call on N4S transmitting frequency.

Most likely the next time that I operate this radio during crowded band conditions will be the 2012 Field Day.  This radio will replace the TS-2000X during Field Day.  I may pack the Kenwood, but the Icom will be the primary radio that I use.  I'm looking forward to using several of its features that should really help pull stations out.  I suspect that it won't have any problem being heard.  Some of the features that I have used that will be helpful are:

• Adjustable IF digital filters:  Each mode has three filters that can be quickly selected with the Filter button.  For example, on SSB, I normally am using FIL2, which has a 2.4 kHz bandwidth.  This is a decent bandwidth that allows for an intelligible signal, but at the same time, does not allow too much noise.  My SSB filter FIL1 is currently set at 1.6 kHz, and FIL3 is 3.0 kHz.  As suspected, FIL1 is a little tight and the conversations are slightly harder to copy, but noise is lessened, and the tight filter helps keep out adjacent channel interference.  FIL3 makes for easy copy on strong signals, but with weaker signals, the wider bandwidth lets in more noise, which in turn makes the signal harder to copy.  Although I'm not a CW operator, the digital IF filters can be adjusted quite tight.  The really neat thing is that each of these three selectable filters (keep in mind that these filters are implemented with digital signal processing) can be fine-tuned.  You can adjust the roll-off of the filter skirts, the bandwidth, and the roofing filter used.  The roofing filter is in the first IF stage and is the radio's first line of defense against interference from adjacent channels.  I'm assuming that my Kenwood TS-2000X has just one roofing filter and it is probably about 15 kHz wide.  A passband that wide just lets in too much signal.  With the Icom, I can choose a 15-kHz roofing filter, or a 6-, or a 3-kHz one.  I suspect that being able to select the tighter roofing filters will greatly help during the crowded band conditions of Field Day.

The filter adjustment screen on the Icom IC-7600

• Twin passband tuning (Twin PBT):  I'm still trying to understand this feature, and I don't often use it because I don't fully understand it, but I think it allows me to adjust the lower and upper skirts of the IF filter.  So in that regard it does alter the bandwidth of the filter, which may affect the intelligibility of the signal, or the amount of noise.  The main feature of the twin passband tuning is its ability to filter out an offending signal.  For example if there is an interfering signal above the desired signal, you just adjust one of the Twin PBT controls and the undesired signal is filtered out.  I suspect that I will experiment with this feature quite a bit during Field Day, or the next contest that I participate in. 



The Twin Passband Tuning control

• Noise reduction:  The noise reduction is implemented digitally and unlike the TS-2000X it is actually quite effective.  Although it is best to leave it off with strong signals, it can helpful with weaker signals.

Noise reduction and noise blanker buttons and controls

•  1/4-Speed Tuning:  I know that this feature is available in the CW mode.  It allows more precise tuning with the main knob.
• Auto Tune:  Again, I believe that this is strictly a CW feature, but with a push of the button during CW reception, the receiver zero-beats with the signal.
• Auto Notch:  I've used this before, and I normally leave it turned on.  It clamps down really quick on a carrier.  People tuning up on the band during Field Day, or other contests is quite common.
• Audio Peak Filter:  This filter is applied to the CW sidetone during reception and definitely makes hearing the Morse Code easier to hear.  I may not use some of these CW-related features that much, but guest operators at my station may.

There are plenty of other features that will help with copying stations during Field Day or another crowded-band contest.  I make every effort to understand all of the controls on a radio and maximize my use of them.  I paid quite a bit for this radio and I need to get my money's worth.  If I don't, I might as well use the TS-2000X.

The Icom IC-7600 HF/50-MHz transceiver, LDG AT-200 Pro II autotuner, and the Power Master II wattmeter

 I'll probably have more to say about this radio in the future, but I do need to get more time on the air before I write more.

73,
Ned

Looking for a new HF rig

I'm not sure exactly why, but I am starting to get the urge to get a new HF rig. I have two radios with HF capabilities: the Kenwood TS-2000X and the Yaesu FT-897D. I never expected too much when I bought the FT-897D, but it's still a decent radio that offers HF (including general coverage receive), VHF, UHF, along with the AM and FM broadcast bands and the airband. It's also a lot easier to go portable with it than the Kenwood. I used the FT-897D at Field Day (the WC8OH, West Central Ohio Amateur Radio Association, group) and made several dozen contacts on 20, 15, and 10 meters. I thought it performed admirably. Actually, my main problem was the other transmitters getting into the front end of the 897. I plan to solve that at this year's Field Day with the purchase of W3NQN bandpass filters to put on each transmitter. Ever since I bought the TS-2000X, I have considered it my main rig, but starting last year, I started looking at other radios. I have heard several comments in the past about how great the VHF, UHF, and satellite capabilities are for the TS-2000, but those same people always stated that they believed the HF section to be only mediocre. The main radio that I started looking at last year was the Icom IC-756Pro III. From the product reviews in QST, it did seem to have better numbers in the receiver department.

I did a little bit of research on the IC-756Pro III last year, then I dropped the ball. I guess it was late last year or very early this year, I heard about Icom's upcoming IC-7600. And last week (I think it was), I learned that it had been FCC-approved and that Universal Radio was listing a price right around $4,000. That's is a good chunk of money, but doable.

My plan is to do more research on radios over the next year. However, once I set my sights on something, its too to let go. Perhaps, I will assume that I will get the IC-7600 and look for anything that might disqualify it from consideration. There are other radios out there that have similar or superior performance, but the ones for Icom that fall in that category are also even more expensive. There's Yaesu, and I'm sure that they have some great radios, but I haven't really checked them out. Kenwood, I've just about written off. It's been several years since they've released a new radio (the TS-480, I think), and that radio has similar characteristics to the TS-2000, if I am not mistaken. Ten-Tec makes fine radios, at least based on the numbers, but I do find their radios to be lacking cosmetically. There is Elecraft, also. From what I have heard, they are some of the best radios. Finally, there's Alinco, but I hardly have any familiarity with their products.

I plan to post more about my research on the Icom IC-7600. Naturally, I am looking at the receiver performance, but I also wonder if the transmitter section of the 7600 is clean. I also want to determine if it can handle high duty cycle modes such as PSK31 and RTTY at its highest power level. Normally, I turn down the power on my TS-2000 to the lowest that I think I can get away with (to still be heard on the other end), but I would like to know that I can turn up the power if necessary. I'm not that comfortable with doing that on the TS-2000. I also want to learn more the 7600's ability to do PSK31 and RTTY without the computer. My main concern there regards macros. When I'm using MixW with the TS-2000, I will use macros, but I do try to use them sparingly. I have several macros entered and ready to go, but I won't necessarily use them, unless I feel that the other station is using theirs as well. In other words, if the other station is practically going to automate the QSO, I might as well too, but if the other station wants to ragchew a little, I'll just manually type at the keyboard. Obviously, I can manually type the whole QSO at a keyboard connected to the IC-7600, but it would be nice to have the CQ macro stored, and a macro stored for answering the other station (i.e. urcall DE mycall). I've downloaded the owner's manual, and it appears that macros are supported. It doesn't call them macros, but that's what they appear to be. Anyway, there will be more research. I'll try to post regularly about what I learn about this radio.

As I wrapped up this post, I realized that I had previously mentioned looking for a new radio. At that time, I briefly mentioned the IC-7600, but I indicated that I was looking at the Icom IC-7000. I am no longer looking at that one. It's a feature packed radio, but again I would never have high expectations for it. I'll keep the FT-897D for my portable radio for now.

73,
Ned, N8OIF

Power Back On

Well after 53 hours, my electricity is finally back. As many of you may know, the remnants from Hurricane Ike swept through the Ohio Valley on Sunday, September 14th. Port Columbus International Airport clocked a wind speed of 75 mph. Needless to say, winds that strong for several hours snapped many tree limbs and as a result about 400,000 homes in central Ohio were without power immediately after the storm. Now on Thursday, about 83,000 homes are without power.

Several items helped me during the power outage: a crank-up AM/FM portable radio, flashlights, amateur radio, and my cell phone with web browser. The crank-up radio is made by Freeplay. I won it several years ago at an amateur radio club meeting. It is the type of product that sits on the shelf for years at a time. About thirty seconds of cranking provides about thirty minutes of listening. The audio is surprising good. I used this radio to listen to 610 AM WTVN for updates on the storm damage and also to listen to the call-in talk shows where people were describing the storm and its aftermath from their perspective. As far as flashlights go, I have several, but the ones that I recommend are made by Pelican. One of my Pelican flashlights runs off of three C-size batteries and has an incandescent bulb. I don't use that one too much anymore. Another Pelican flashlight that I have closely resembles the first one but has two distinct differences. The first difference is that the shroud is photoluminescent. Therefore the flashlight is easy to find when the power has gone out. The other difference with this flashlight is that the light source is an LED. This LED points rearward into the reflector, and maximizes the light output. My favorite flashlight over the past few days however was my new Pelican headlamp. I wear it on my head and it runs off of two AA batteries. The LED light source is a one-watt LED and the lamp has three brightness settings. I used the brightest setting when walking around at night and the lowest setting when reading (it was still plenty bright). It make look silly, but it leaves my hands free to do things such as cook (I have a gas range, which was unaffected by the outage). My cell phone's browser allowed me to pass the time by browsing some of my favorite sites. It's not the same as browsing on a full-fledged computer, however. I was able to recharge the cell phone's battery at work, where they never lost power.

Finally, I did enjoy amateur radio a little bit. I think that my sealed lead-acid battery needs to be replaced, so I didn't place any large demands on it by transmitting, but I did listen to 40-meters, 30-meters, and 20-meters a little bit. Of course, it is simply amazing how noise free the bands are when the power is out and no appliances or other electronic items are operating in the area. There were many stations on the bands and they were easy to copy. That tells me that my best operating will probably be done away from my suburban neighborhood.

The Freeplay AM/FM radio, Pelican 2010 SabreLite Recoil LED Photoluminescent flashlight, and the Pelican 2630 HeadsUp LED flashlight.

73

My Station Equipment

I figured it was time that I talk about my station equipment. In this post, I will mainly talk about my base station equipment. In some future post, perhaps I will talk about my two HTs.


In this first photo, I have pictured my two VHF/UHF mobile radios that are currently serving duty as base stations. In the photo, you can see two mobile radio main units as well as two control heads. The main unit on the bottom is for my Icom IC-2820H and the main unit sitting on top of it is the Kenwood TM-D710A. As far as the control heads go, the 2820's head is in the foreground and has the green backlighting. The D710 control head is in back. Of course, the main reason for having the D710 is for its APRS capabilities, and my main reason for having the 2820 is for its D-Star features. These radios may never get installed in my car, but I would like to make up a box that these two radios can be mounted in and then quickly connected to the car battery and a mag mount antenna. In this photo, you can also see my Bencher iambic paddle. I barely know the Morse Code, but I have this paddle so that others can use it, particularly during Field Day.




In the photo below, you can see both of my current HF rigs, a pair of wattmeters, a pair of speakers, and a pair of radio interfaces. The larger radio is the Kenwood TS-2000X. This radio covers 160 - 6-meters, 2-meters, 70-cm, and 23-cm, but it does not cover the 60-meter channels. It has IF-DSP capabilities, satellite operating feaures, and a built-in TNC. The radio sitting on top of the Kenwood TS-2000X is the Yaesu FT-897D. The 897 has the LDG Electronics AT-897 autotuner attached. On top of the 897D are two Tigertronics SignaLink USB units. The one is the rear is connected to the Kenwood TS-2000X and has seen quite a bit of use lately. The one in the foreground is new and is connected to the 897D. I have not had a chance to tweak its settings yet. To the right of the TS-2000X, you will see a pair of speakers. The Kenwood SP-23 is sitting next to the TS-2000X, and a Vertex speaker (the MLS-100, I believe) is to the right of the Kenwood speaker. I've added both of the speakers fairly recently as I prefer their forward-firing sound better than the top-firing sound of the transceiver's speakers. On top of the Kenwood speaker, you will see the Powermaster wattmeter. That is the main display for the wattmeter. The Powermaster also has the HF coupler that samples the RF energy. It is shown in another picture. The LDG Electronics FT-Meter sits atop the Powermaster meter. As its name implies, it is connected to the FT-897D. I must say that it is nicer to read this meter than the 897's built-in one.




The next photo simply shows my sealed lead-acid battery in its battery box. Sealed lead-acid batteries are safe for use indoors as the hydrogen levels during charging are never high enough to be dangerous.




This photo shows a number of station accessories. The large black box on the floor is my Astron linear power supply. I believe that it can supply 35 amps continuous. There are two things sitting on top of it. You can see the Palstar DL2K dummy load with its backlit analog power meter. Sitting to the right of the DL2K, is a Bencher low pass filter. It's designed to not pass anything above HF frequencies, hopefully ensuring that I do not cause any unnecessary interference. I will have to remember to bypass it, if I want to operate 6-meters, though. By the way, neither of this two accessories block the ventilation on the power supply. The gold-colored box on top of the DL2K is the HF coupler for the Powermaster meter. Sitting on the floor next to the power supply are first, the Rigrunner 4008, and second, the Super PWRgate (both are products of West Mountain Radio). The green object with the small LCD display, is a meter that simultaneously measures voltage, current, DC power, and several other parameters. The sealed lead-acid battery and the Astron power supply simultaneously feed the Super PWRgate. The Astron normally runs the station, and it trickle charges the battery. If commercial power fails, the Super PWRgate allows the battery to immediately take over. The DC meter (the green thing) samples the output of the Super PWRgate immediately before it goes to the Rigrunner for DC power distribution to the other station gear.




Some of the things that I haven't pictured are my Palstar ZM-30 antenna analyzer (perhaps a future post), my HTs as mentioned before, antennas, my computer, Heil Sound Proset Plus boomset, Heil Sound Goldline GM-4 microphone (was free with the TS-2000X), and a Palstar DL1500 dummy load. I'm hoping to add the Palstar AT2K manual tuner to my station in a couple of weeks. I'll probably be talking about that, too.

73

One Missed Contest; Another Upcoming

I did not actually miss the Ohio QSO Party (OQP). I had put it on my calendar at least a month out, and the reminders popped up on my computer screen at the appropriate times. I just decided to sit it out this year. I'm in an apartment and currently my antenna is indoors. I normally try to keep my RF power set at lower levels, which have been fine so far for PSK31 and other digital modes. I was actually quite surprised when I ran my numbers through the RF Safety Calculator on the University of Texas website. The highest power setting that I think that I have ever used for PSK31 is 40 watts. However, PSK31 is a 100% duty cycle mode (there are always tones being emitted), so 40 watts is also the average power. The calculator asks for average power, so I use 40 watts. It also asks for the frequency of operation. I used 7, 10.1 and 14 MHz, and it asks for the gain of the antenna, and suggests 2.2 dB for a dipole. I have a Buddipole, which is a form of dipole, so I use 2.2 dB. On the 40 meter digital segment, a person in the uncontrolled environment has to be 2.04 feet from my antenna. On 30 meters, that number increases to 2.92 feet, and on 20 meter digital, one has to be 4.03 feet from my antenna. Keep in mind that the calculator asks for average power at the antenna. So I could have subtracted off losses in the coax: I'm using a combination of RG-58 and RG-213. I think that it is also implied that antenna inefficiencies could be weighed in, too. Obviously, antennas that are not resonant, or use things such as loading coils, will take some of the RF and convert it to heat in the coax or the antenna itself. That RF won't be radiating and potentially exposing someone. The point is that my neighbors are easily at a safe distance away. Things look even better when you talk about SSB, which is what I would have used in the OQP. In the OQP, I probably would have gradually worked the RF setting up to the full 100 watts that the TS-2000X is capable of, but SSB is not a 100% duty cycle mode. The characteristics of speech are such that the average power of SSB is about 20% of the peak power. Therefore, on the RF Safety Calculator, I would have put in 20 watts for average power, even though my radio is set at 100 watts. The 20% number assumes that a speech processor is turned off and you aren't using heavy equalization.

To make a long story short, I sat out the OQP because I wanted to be able to set up my antenna outdoors (not because of RF safety, which appears to be under control, but because 100 watts will create havoc in the shack), and I hadn't made arrangements to do that yet.

I will have my big chance to enter a contest in a matter of weeks. For a 48-hour period starting on October 25 (UTC) and running through October 26, the CQ Worldwide DX SSB Contest will be going on. Last year, I made six DX contacts during the contest, but I never officially entered. In other words, I did not submit a log. This year I will probably enter in the Single Operator Low Power category. I did notice the other day, that the logs from 2007 are available for viewing on the web. I checked the six logs for the stations that I worked: VP5T, ZY7C, ZF2AH, 6F75A, VP9I, and V26B. I appeared in four of the six logs. For whatever reason, I was not in the ZY7C log nor the 6F75A log. The operators probably misread my call. 6F75A is Mexico (yes, last year's CQWW DX SSB contest was my first real exposure to unusual callsigns). I've got Mexico (XE3RR on PSK31) confirmed on Logbook of the World. ZY7C is Brazil. It would've been nice to ask for a confirmation for that, but there is no point, since I'm not in their log. Assuming 15 meters opens up again this year like last year, Brazil and other DX should not be too hard to obtain, but 20 meters should work, too.

73

International QSLing

I believe that I mentioned in an earlier post that at least for now, I am going to send out QSL cards for all of my contacts on HF. I purchased my QSL cards over a year ago from CheapQSLs.com. They are decent cards. I had passed out a couple to friends here in town, just for a token simplex contact on 2-meters. Now that I started making HF contacts about a month ago, I'm actually preparing my cards and mailing them out, and I'm getting a few in return. I've also signed up with eQSL and Logbook of the World (LoTW).

As far as my domestic contacts are concerned, unless I feel that I really have to have a card, I'm just sending my card as is, with its 27 cent stamp affixed. With all other cards I will include a return envelope and postage. I've been doing a lot of reading about how to deal with QSLing the DX contacts. Most of my research has centered around the postage part of the equation. In many countries you can purchase International Reply Coupons (IRCs) at a post office. When they are sent to a foreign radio amateur he can exchange them for one unit of standard airmail postage. Apparently in a few countries, the weight of our QSL cards and the return envelope is more than one unit of postage will buy, so two IRCs are required. I've got about six DX contacts in my log, so the other day on my lunch break I stopped at the nearby post office. They appeared to have heard of IRCs, but they didn't carry any. Later that evening, I stopped at the post office near the Port Columbus International Airport. That post office, up until recently was open 24 hours a day. It still has very late hours. I figured if any post office in Columbus sold IRCs, it would be that post office. I got there shortly before the Guaranteed Mail cutoff time apparently. I had to wait in line about twenty minutes. As before, the postal clerk here seemed to know what an IRC was, and I was hopeful that they had some, but she consulted with a fellow postal clerk, who indicated that IRCs were "being phased out". I wasn't in the mood to argue, so I left and headed home. A little later that evening I got on the computer and did some more research. I saw two things that should help. First, the Universal Postal Union, that established the IRC program is accepting designs for the next IRC to take affect in June of July of 2009. That tells me that they are not being phased out. Second, I read a post on some site that says if you get the line about IRCs "being phased out", it's because the postal clerk is too lazy to deal with the issue. The message poster indicated that the U.S. Postal Service's own International Mail Manual (May 2008 edition) says that IRCs can be requistioned just like any other postage product. It doesn't say that the have to have them in stock, but suggests they do if they have demand for them. Radio amateurs are probably one of the few segments of the population that use them. Anyway, I guess I need to return to my local post office branch and enlighten them on their international mail manual and get them to order me some IRCs.

On a parallel track, I have been working on the envelope system. Last Saturday, I went to my local Staples office supply store. I just assumed that they would have envelope systems consisting of a return envelope and an outer cover envelope. I was wrong, unless you are talking about envelopes for wedding invitations and the like. I don't think they would hold my card, they are heavier than necessary, and are not really appropriate anyway. So, when I got back home I got on the computer and did some more research. I found at least two people that carry DX supplies including envelope systems. I decided to place an order with James Mackey, K3FN, at Air Mail Postage. His prices seemed reasonable. He sells three different types of envelope systems: normal, European, and plain. At first I figured the Normal system was appropriate, since the web site mentioned that Normal is common in North America, but then I realized that my card will fit in both Normal and European, but I need to consider what system will accomodate the DXer's card. I asked Jim, and he quickly indicated that the European would be best. Jim also sells foreign postage. If the IRC thing doesn't work out, I can order postage stamps from Jim, and if that gets to be too cumbersome, there is always the Bureau System, but not all DXers or their managers use the Bureau.

As an update to my IRC quest--many of my posts on here take several days for me to compose and edit--I stopped by the local post office again only this time I had an excerpt of the USPS International Mail Manual in my hand dealing with IRCs. It didn't help. When the postal clerk was unsure about IRCs, I calmly asked to speak to her supervisor. Naturally, he was on vacation. I've got his name and phone number, and I may try to call him in a week or two. I also asked a well-connected friend of mine if she knew someone (an avid DXer) that I could contact and help me understand the QSLing process better. She gave a name and email address. I'll send him an email shortly.

73

Icom IC-7600 Announced

Just a short post today.

About a week ago, I received an invite to a new Yahoo Group devoted to a new Icom HF/6-meter transceiver, the Icom IC-7600. It seems that this new radio has been unveiled at the Tokyo Hamfair. As of this morning, there are only 17 messages on the Yahoo Group, and there is a lot of speculation about this radio. Some people believe it will be quite some time until it hits the U.S. market; perhaps a year from now. Other people are speculating on where in the Icom lineup this radio will go. Some of those people believe that it will replace the Icom IC-756ProIII, but fall somewhere below the IC-7700. With a model number like IC-7600 that makes sense, but you can't trust model numbers. Finally, some of the messages on the group are talking about the price. I would imagine the price would fall somewhere between the IC-756ProIII and the IC-7700.

This brings up a dilemma for me. I would like a nice, small radio for portable operations. The current IC-7000 fits that bill nicely. However, I am also interested in a radio that has a better receiver than my Kenwood TS-2000 (which, by the way, has held its own quite well). I'm sure that the IC-7600 (assuming that it is a 756ProIII "Plus", or a IC-7700 "Minus") has a pretty good receiver, and assuming that its price is not too far removed from the 756ProIII, at least I stand a chance of being able to buy one. I always have my Yaesu FT-897D for portable operations.

73

More Digital Contacts on 30 and 20 Meters

I've been having a lot of fun lately on the HF bands. Of course, I've operated SSB before, both at my own station and at numerous Field Days. But over the past couple of weeks I have operated nothing except for the digital modes, including PSK31, MFSK16, Olivia, and Hellschreiber. Many of my earlier contacts were on 40 meters. Lately I have been using 20 meters or even the fairly unique 30 meters. I would eventually like to try a mode such as PSK31 on 80 meters, and when the sunspots return, I'll definitely be using 15 and 10 meters. 30 meters, as I mentioned, is a fairly unique band. In the U.S., amateur radio operators use 30 meters on a secondary basis to a fixed service. I wonder what fixed service that is. Every evening when I turn the radio on to 30 meters at around 2000Z on roughly 10.130 MHz, I hear a signal that sounds a little bit like RTTY, but this transmission has a fairly wide shift. By playing around with MixW, I can determine that the shift is 850 Hz, but I apparently don't have the baud rate set correctly, because nothing meaningful ever decodes. If anyone knows what this is, let me know. I routinely hear other digital transmissions, including one that I guess is PACTOR. In the U.S., we are limited to 200 watts PEP on this band (presumably to avoid interference to the primary users of the band), and although I haven't looked at the Part 97 FCC rules lately, I know that you cannot use phone or image transmissions. They are just too wide. On the other hand, I have read about people trying Olivia 1000/32 on 30 meters, so I presume that at least 1 kHz bandwidth is allowed; at least in certain segments. I just checked my meager log (I've been operating the digital modes less than a month): I've got five QSOs on 30. Four are PSK31 and one is Olivia (which I assume is Olivia 500/16 since I've never tried 1000/32 and only tried 500/8 once).

20 meters has been somewhat more productive for me. I currently have 13 QSOs in the log for 20 meters. All of those contacts are using PSK31, except for one which was PSK63 (very similar to PSK31 but with double the baud rate and, I believe, double the width). As I suspected 20 meters works better for DX than 30 meters, and 30 meters may be slightly better than 40. Of course, I believe the reason is simple. My antenna is a fixed height above ground and is not particularly high to begin with. Many hams realize that an antenna needs to be a certain fraction of a wavelength above ground in order to have the lower takeoff angles (for the RF energy), in order to work good DX. When the antenna is too close to the ground for the band in question, you have what many refer to as a "cloudwarmer". Going back to my log (which has less than 50 entries, because I have only been doing this less than a month), I have no problem working the eastern provinces of Canada, and I can easily work 500 miles out or so in the U.S. I have no other DX on 40 meters. On 30 meters, I only have seven log entries, but I have Cuba. Station CO8LY is located in Santiago de Cuba, which is 1430 miles from me. Not too bad. On 20 meters, my DX gets even better: Mexico (Cancun), Venezuela, and Colombia. The Venezulean station, YV4OW, is located on Margarita Island (which happens to be SA-012, one of the Islands On The Air). Margarita Island is 2300 miles from me. I can also hear TG9AHM in Guatemala and TI2CCC in Costa Rica. It's just a matter of time before I work them.

I can't wait until the sunspots return, because I suspect that my workhorse DX bands will be 15 meters and 10 meters.

As a final note, I started working on this post about a week ago, after I first worked a station on 30 meters. In the meantime, I received a comment on my post entitled "The Internet and Radio Propagation". David, K2DSL, left a comment for me about another web-based propagation tool (which I plan to take a closer look at and blog about), but he also left me an email where he indicated that he has an amateur radio blog, and that he had similar radio equipment to mine. I was encouraged by his post about the SARTG RTTY Contest that was recently held. David has very similar gear and was able to work all sorts of DX. Good job, David, and it's certainly encouraging for me.

Until next time,
73

QSL Cards

I've been operating the digital modes on HF for about three weeks now. I've sent out a few QSL cards, and I've received a few. If you are not familiar with QSL cards, they used to be the primary way for amateur radio operators to confirm their contacts with each other. For some people, the cards form a collection and allow the operator to recall contacts made in far-away places. For others, the cards represent proof that the contact did indeed occur, when that amateur radio operator seeks an award.

The methods for confirming contacts got a fairly recent update (within the past ten years or so). An operator can use a service known as the Electronic QSL Card Center, or more succintly eQSL.cc, which is the URL for the website that this service runs on. The other method for confirming contacts is the American Radio Relay League's (ARRL) Logbook of the World (LOTW).

At least for a while I think that I am going to use all three methods to confirm my contacts. I don't think that I operate enough that postage is going to be a problem. eQSL and LOTW are free services, sort of. eQSL allows you to custom design your electronic QSL card and grants you access to other features assuming that you contribute a certain dollar amount in a certain time frame. LOTW is free until the time that you need to apply your confirmed contacts towards an award. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of the different methods? Both eQSL and LOTW allow for almost instantaneous confirmation of contacts. I've noticed after some of my QSOs, that the other station has immediately loaded the QSO information in eQSL for our contact. That brings up what I see as one of the flaws of eQSL: since the other station shows up on your Inbox, what is to stop you from entering reciprocal information even though the contact was not complete. You will not see the other station on LOTW until you upload your information, or at least that is the way it seems. Other differences: Some consider the ARRL to be more prestigious. To apply for those awards such as the ARRL's Worked All States, you can either make your cards available for possible inspection or you can use the LOTW; you cannot use eQSL for ARRL award credit. Some people might consider LOTW to be more secure and immune from fraud. The normal sign-up process for hams in the U.S. for LOTW involves the ARRL sending a postcard to your FCC-listed address. That postcard has a unique code or password that is used to complete the registration process. Also, to add your contacts to LOTW, you either enter them directly after logging in to LOTW, or you digital sign a file from an ADIF-compatible logging program. eQSL also has its Authentication Guaranteed process. It can piggyback off of the LOTW authentication, eQSL can review your license, or they can send you their unique code-on-a-postcard.

For me, getting my QSOs confirmed will be easiest on eQSL. I just export an ADIF file from my program, currently Amateur Contact Log (AC Log), and upload it to eQSL.cc. LOTW takes slightly longer to load, because the ADIF file has to be digital signed and compressed first; but then you upload it. Actually, keeping track of postcards back and forth in the mail will probably be the most time consuming, but at least for a while, I'll do it.

On a slightly different topic, if you had asked me a month ago (before I got on the digital modes), if I was interested in awards, I would have said "no", but now I definitely say "yes". First of all, striving for an award, gets me on the air. Second of all, it requires me to hone my skills. I'll probably never have a contest-level station, so I will have to concentrate on my operating skills. I don't care as much about having a certificate or plaque for my achievements, but it would be neat to say, for example, that I worked all 50 U.S. states with my mediocre set-up. Contesters can probably work all states or achieve DXCC in a weekend.

As I receive QSL cards, either from eQSL or in the mail, I plan on posting them to my Picasa QSL album.

73.

my card (front):


my card (back):

Trying to Pick a Logging Program

Now that I am becoming active on the HF bands, I need to settle on a logging program. I purchased a license for Writelog about a year ago, but as I started using it a couple of weeks ago for my initial PSK31 contacts, I noticed that it does not seem to handle general purpose logging. I could be wrong. I admittedly have not spent much time learning how to use it. I then started doing a little research on what program to use for general purpose logging. My first visit was to eHam.net--a site that I regularly visit. In the Reviews section of that site under the category of logging programs, I looked for the program that had the highest ratings. The program that had the highest score with the highest number of reviews seemed to be AC Log written by N3FJP (Scott). I went to Scott's website and downloaded a trial copy. Once I started it up I could tell that it was a very straightforward program to use. I've now got about 16 contacts logged so far. This is a trial version and I have about another month to complete my evaluation. Registration, I believe, is $19.

I've noticed in several of my PSK31 QSOs and other in-progress QSOs that some people mention the use of Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) for logging. I was not even aware that Ham Radio Deluxe had a logging capability, but it does not surprise me. It is a quite comprehensive program. I have used it for rig control before. It handles my Kenwood TS-2000X and my Yaesu FT-897D effortlessly, and it is a program that I still have loaded on my computer and have kept up to date.

Before I send off my money to N3FJP, I am going to give Ham Radio Deluxe's logging a try. I am assuming at this point that both AC Log and HRD support the ADIF file format. I hate to make the switch to HRD and not be able to transfer my existing log from AC Log. Of course, I may settle on AC Log and not have to transfer my log. Ham Radio Deluxe is free; AC Log is not, but I have always believed that good things are worth paying a little bit for. After all, the developer had to expend a lot of time and resources (application development software, etc.) to provide the program to the amateur radio community.

I will let you know what program I settle on.

73

More Ham Radio Purchases

I've been doing quite a bit of buying and selling lately with regard to my amateur radio equipment. Last summer I bought a second HF rig, the Yaesu FT-897D. Actually, it is a MF/HF/VHF/UHF radio. It's a great little rig and includes features such as AF-DSP, a TCXO, and coverage of the 60-meter channels. I also bought an AT-897 autotuner made by LDG electronics. This tuner bolts to the left side of the radio. That rig is rounded out with LDG's FT-Meter. This adds an analog meter to the 897D. I placed my order for a second Tigertronics Signalink USB, that will interface this radio to my computer for sound card HF digital modes. I have recently sold three HTs. The first to sell was a Yaesu VX-7R. It was a great radio, but I had four HTs and that was too many. The second HT to go was my Kenwood TH-D7A. Again, a great radio with APRS and packet capabilities, but I have other plans. Finally, the HT that I sold most recently was my Icom IC-91AD FM and D-Star radio. The reason that it had to go was because I had purchased the IC-92AD (a beefed-up, submersible, more-versatile version of the '91). Another purchase that I made at the 2008 Dayton Hamvention was a new mobile rig, the Icom IC-2820H. A few weeks after the show, I added the UT-123 digital voice and GPS board. Earlier I mentioned that I had other plans for packet and APRS. In a couple of months, I plan to buy the Kenwood TM-D710A mobile radio. There are times when I would like to run APRS but I need more than five watts of power. Another purchase that I will make shortly is a third HF rig, the Icom IC-7000. I will talk more about these purchases in a future post. 73.