Hamvention 2012… The trip to Dayton.

Posted on by

We left Pennsylvania around 9:30PM on Tuesday night, leaving right after Paul’s (N0KIA) excellent hands-on presentation about oscilloscopes.

This would be my first trip running the FTM-350 with APRS. I spent most of my day Saturday, prepping the Durango… getting the Yaesu wired and configured, and getting the Sirius satellite antenna and receiver mounted. It was all well worth the effort. It was a joy to listen to JamOn for most of the trip, driving to Phish, moe, and Umphrey’s McGee to name a few!

We arrived in Dayton at 6:30AM. We called during the night to check on room availability. We were excited to find out that our room was empty and we could check-in early. Big Kudos to the Hawthorne Suites and staff. This is my third Hamvention staying at this location, and I have always been extremely satisfied with the accommodations and service. I hate giving away this secret as it always a great deal… a huge two bedroom penthouse suite, free wifi, continental breakfast, and priced right. It is a bit further from Hara Arena then some other accommodations, but I like the location.

As soon as we got in the room, I unpacked, whipped out the Macbook and checked aprs.fi to see how well we tracked. I was pleasantly surprised with a really quality set of packets, considering the desolate areas of western PA that we had traversed.

APRS20120516

APRS20120516

It’s time for a nap. I will be video taping and blogging during my entire trip, so check back for updates.

Interfacing the FT-450 to an SDR Receiver.

Posted on by

I have always been a big fan of computerization.  In my video production business, I was an early adopter of the Newtek Video Toaster.  When I was a DJ, I was one of the first people in my area to have a mobile PC-based DJ system.  I have been using PC-based audio and show control solutions for theatrical productions for 20+ years…  so why would my ham radio shack be any different.

One of the neat things with Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology is that it seems to be reducing the expense for someone to get a really good receiver..  I’ve touched a few of the really high end radios at Hamvention… but I doubt that a $10,000+ rig is in my near-future radio budget.  Part of of my reason for starting this website and posting my shack design and progress, is to highlight the ability of a radio operator to make some incremental additions, and to work towards a reasonably high quality HF station.  Continue reading →

First Attempt at Contesting: Part II

Posted on by

Lets go with subtitle: SDR-Radio vs HDSDR.

Continuing from my first post about contesting, the feedback coming from my speakers is due to the SDR receiving my locally transmitted signal.  I need to mute the audio out to the speakers during transmit.  I could fabricate some relay driven device to switch the PC’s audio path to ground during transmit, but I really would like a faster solution.

HDSDR makes reference to a TX function, but wants two sound cards to route mic inputs and speaker outputs…  and it doesn’t seem easy to do.  I know SDR-Radio has the capability to sense when the transceiver is transmitting and it automatically will mute its output.  I needed to switch to SDR-Radio.  Bummer, as I really like the interface on HDSDR, and I am much faster at navigating with it.  Maybe I just need to learn to use SDR-Radio better, but for now, N1MM is enough for me to handle.

After finally, working out the software kinks, I ended up settling on SDR-Radio and N1MM.  It was a bit after 1PM and the contest was already underway. The activity in mid-afternoon was on 10-meters.  Interestingly, one of my first contacts was a Costa Rica QSO.  Having only one antenna, a 80m off center fed dipole, and only being 24-feet above ground, I was going into this experience with low expectations.  I was pleasantly surprised to be able to work just about every station I called. Continue reading →