Radio – Geronimo/370

HAM-gadget (3) – connected the GPS

Posted on2021-10-242021-10-24Leave a comment

Finally got it to work After much fiddling and trying out different libraries I finally had a bright moment and reverted back to the library that has been specifically made for this GPS module by Velleman… Duh… prototype, software version 0.5 That worked, also after some tweaking of the wires… Read the rest

HAM-gadget (2) – new Arduino board

Posted on2021-10-232021-10-23Leave a comment

Arduino board left and center, GPS module on the right, GPS antenna on top Today some new stuff arrived. First of all the new Arduino RP2040 Connect board, a Wifi capable board with a much smaller form factor then the Uno clone I had before. Second came in the GPS… Read the rest

HAM-gadget (1) – building a shack gadget

Posted on2021-10-222021-10-23Leave a comment

Today I worked on version 0.1 of my new project. It’s in the prototype stage as you can see in the picture below. For this test it’s an Arduino Uno (clone by Velleman), two DS18B20 temperature sensors and two 20 x 4 displays. This version is for setting up the… Read the rest

The early bird catches connections…

Posted on2021-09-102021-09-10

Today I started early (around 06:30) and noticed that the 40 meter band was open on FT8. Receptions from way into Argentina and all the way from New Zealand. See below… Read the rest

Gray line made visual

Posted on2021-07-042021-07-04

In the image below, created yesterday evening, you can beautifully see the effect of what is called the ‘gray line‘ (see explanation by Paul NA5N Harden below). It is the line between day and night, as can be seen in the image. Along this line radio connections are ‘propagated‘ by… Read the rest

Antenna replacement and correction

Posted on2021-06-252021-06-261 Comment

Yesterday I replaced my broadband Diamond Discone antenna with a dual band Diamond X-300N. The Discone is a broadband antenna with a range from 30 MHz up to 1300 MHz. The new one gives a much better reception on the 145MHz and the 430MHz bands. old (DisCone)new (Dual band) Correction… Read the rest

IC-9700 repaired

Posted on2021-06-232021-06-23

Today I got my IC-9700 back from the repair I sent it of for. That took a while longer than expected, but hey, I’m glad it’s back. Here it is, In my (again) rearranged shack:… Read the rest

HAM Clock

Posted on2021-06-062021-06-17

A fellow HAM – Jon K60J – pointed me to a nice program: HAMclock. Click on the name to go to the page where you can have a look and download it when you like it. I did, and installed it on my Raspberry Pi 4B. I also had a… Read the rest

Conditions seem to be good today

Posted on2021-06-052021-06-05

Today I received a lot of stations on my HF radio using FT8 even one from the vicinity of Australia (from a boat perhaps?). Mainly on 20 meters (yellow), a couple on 10 meters (pink) and a couple on 40 meters (blue). My experience so far is that FT8 is… Read the rest

Screen error in my IC-9700

Posted on2021-06-052021-06-05

The TFT screen of my VHF/UHF radio has an error in it. As you can see in the gallery below, there is a horizontal dotted white line just below the middle of the screen. It appears immediately when the screen comes on and stays there no matter what screen I… Read the rest

FT8 connections

Posted on2021-05-302021-06-06

What is FT8? The last couple of weeks I have been trying to get digital mode FT8 working. FT8 is a means of transmitting (which I don not do yet) and receiving messages that are digitally coded, and then encoded into analogue signals so that they can be transmitted over… Read the rest

Digital mode receiving

Posted on2021-05-212021-05-21

Amongst the ways we can receive (and transmit) information are the digital modes. One of the popular modes is called FT8. The program WSJT-X that I use is capable of coding and decoding that FT8 protocol. Using that program I received (and was able to decode) the stations in the… Read the rest

Antenna cables through ceiling

Posted on2021-05-212021-05-21

Today I drilled a hole through the ceiling of my office / shack to feed the antenna coaxes through. A nice piece of PVC pipe inserted in the hole and through the isolation helps make it clean. An old rag inserted in the hole from attic helps keep the cold… Read the rest

Antenna preparation – masts and result

Posted on2021-05-152021-06-06

My son in law is a crane operator and he was kind enough te lend me a hand in erecting the masts for the antennas. First, we set up the big mast (a long piece of scaffolding pipe attached to two mounts that are bolted into the wall. Jig My… Read the rest

Antenna preparation – the antennas

Posted on2021-05-142021-05-16

After preparing the cables, next up are the antennas themselves. I have two at the moment: a Diamond Discone (25MHz – 1300 MHz) and a HyEndFed 3 band antenna (10, 20 and 40 meter). The coax plugs have to be weather proofed with vulcanizing tape. Diamond DisconeHyEndFed MK IIIPlug and… Read the rest