NO1ZE

MY BIO

Started in radio as a kid DXing AM stations. One favorite was 800kHz CKLW Windsor, Ont. which put a potent signal into the mid-west every night with Top 40, back when music was heard on the AM broadcast band. A good weak catch during the day WNOP 740kHz, the Jazz Ark, from Newport, KY. Yes, really, a jazz station on AM, really fun! WSM 650kHz was a Saturday night favorite and WBZ Boston 1030kHzwas a favorite for overnight talk with local hosts. Also started playing with multiband receivers. Had a GE Monitor "10" model 7-2971 multiband radio with a really long telescoping whip. I could tune in shortwave broadcast stations (The Happy Station from The Netherlands, Deutsche Welle, Voice of Turkey and many others) from around the world and listen to local police, fire and 2m hams on VHF/UHF all on one radio. Very Cool. I spent untold number of hours listening to that radio.

The beeps and time ticks were fascinating coming from WWV and CHU Canada. How could these sounds be coming from such far distances? They were other-worldly and mysterious sounding and deserved further investigation. 

A friend had a Teaberry CB and we would talk on Ch. 11 & 14 to 27 Mhz walkie-talkies, lots of fun playing with CB when there were lots of clubs, nets, and local activity. His father was a ham and had a Drake station. I would watch him work CW and was fascinated that a human could comprehend the long and shorts tones and discern a message out of them.

Been ham since 1993. Started as KB8OQS on 'new' novice license and had first contact on 10M SSB and have been hooked on amateur radio ever since. Worked up to 13 wpm to pass General morse code test and was on 40M CW a lot in mid-90s. Then on to Advanced and finally Extra 'lite' in 2005. Enjoy working lots of modes and bands. Some of my best DX has been on 10M when it is open. Worked Hawaii on 10M AM 8W mobile and JA stations in 2003 on FM (29.28 Mhz) with a whip antenna attached to a chest freezer in my garage on 10W.

Recently been working more digital modes. First started during the JT-65 craze, now you can't find much JT-65 activity. The digital mode du jour is FT-8, which is pretty cool, really. You can rack up a lot of stations in a short period of time and easily work lots of DX stations. The activity level is off the charts. Been working more FT-4 to avoid the FT-8 crowds. Working FT-8 can be addicting and leaving you unfulfilled after a while as each QSO seems like the last. So, I've been working more converational modes such as Olivia, Domino, Thor and Hellschreiber along with soundcard/keyboard CW.  See article from HACKADAY on conversational digital modes.

Started in soundcard digi modes in the late 90s when PSK-31 was new and the only available software was Digipan. I still have a copy of the last release (2004) and sometimes work it on the air. Very simple and easy to use; the blue/yellow waterfall concept is still simulated in modern software.

The most recent digi mode to make a splash is JS8Call. Like JT8 but has a rolling timed window for keyboard to keyboard QSOs and messaging. Also, APRS messages can be sent and received here.

RADIO ACTIVITIES & PROJECTS

July 2022 started participation in Winlink Thursday hosted by EmComm Training Organization. It'a a weekly training exercise focusing on ICS and Winlink Form messages.

May 2022 put up EFHW 40m antenna using the 49:1 transfomer I wound in February. Using telescoping fiberglass pole as the main support and the opposite end sloping to a fence. Will replace a 40m doublet.

March 2022, new Keyboard-to-keyboard QSO digital mode VarAC by 4Z1AC inspired by VaraChat.  It combines VARAHF by EA5HVK, which is used by Winlink for message handling, and the convenience of live operator to operator chat connections. It has a similar flavor as JS8Call with beaconing and gestures added. Check it out! Be an early adopter of a new digital mode!

February 2022, started winding 49:1 tranformer for end-fed half-wave antenna. Will use fiberglass mast/poles to get apex up to 25' and slope the rest of the wire to a fence.

In June 2021, started participating in the Kentucky Winlink Net under NCS station AF4Y, Roland Brown in Blackey, KY. It's a weekly check-in net that is useful to test your stations capability in maintaining a Winlink connection. Roland comes-up with exercises in traning the Net in Winlink concepts that can be useful for public service, Emcom, or general message handling for amateur use.

Used K6ETA article from his blog on how to install Winlink on Linux using Wine. Followed his step-by-step instructions and now I'm running Winlink on my Linux Ubuntu box with no problems. My first attempt at Winlink on Linux was with PAT. Don't bother yourself with this project. It has a long way to go in development and is not ready for the average Ham to work through the problems. If you are a Linux guru and are looking for project that needs help, PAT may be for you.

Like hunting stations participating in POTA, Park On The Air

Learing to decode ISM bands (27.120Mhz, 315Mhz, 433Mhz,  866Mhz and 915Mhz) for controllers, wireless alarms systems, transducers, weather stations, utility meters, etc.

Like finding Aircraft positions using their transponder emission on ADS-B on 1090 Mhz using RTL1090 and ADSBscope.

Teaching myself about SDR using RTL-SDR BLOG V.3. DONGLE. 

Decoding POCSAG paging messages using PDW Paging Decoder. I am using a hardware receiver for VHF/UHF. PDW is very fussy in getting the auido in/out levels correct. Some users suggest taking audio out of a radio scanner at the discriminator before the audio filters are applied to get better decodes. This may be true, but if you tweak the in/out audio perfectly, you'll get around 90% decode rate.

Trying my hand at WinLink email through soft modem modes Winmor, Ardop and VARA HF. (Update: June 2020 Winmor has been deprecated and RMS station will be removing it from their gateways)

Put up 40 meter doublet fed with 450 ohm ladder line in Feb. 2020. After two years in use it is in good condition and working fine. Good for general HF receiving and ham bands use.

Having fun decoding the weekly Radiogram from WRMI. It's a half hour digital broadcast on AM SWBC stations. Radiogram is in MFSK and other modes that contains text stories and embedded SSTV pics. See RadioReference Shortwave Radiogram Gateway on how to get started in decoding the radiogram.

Been playing around with QRP Guys DSB kit for PSK31 on 20m. Replaced 14.074 FT-8 xtal for 14.070 PSK-31 xtal. The receiver is surprisingly good for a $40 rig. The 1.5W output takes some patience, but contacts can be made under good band condtions.

USEFUL LINKS

Set-up a Winlink account, and start learning email handling through a network of radios, gateways, peer-to-peer stations and more. Very useful tool.

PSK Reporter is a must for any digi mode user.

To identify ANY signal on ANY part of the radio spectrum check out SIGIDWIKI.com. Includes audio and waterfall screen captures of RF signals. For military, amateur, commerical, navigation, utilities, radar and others. Very valuable resource to ID those rare signals.

Looking for the best FREE digital modes software? FLDIGI is in current production and it just works first time all the time. Also, don't forget the grandfather of digital modes that brought many innovations to all digital modes software, MULTIPSK.

EiBi mantains one of the best shortwave frequency lists. Sort by time or freq.

HFCC Interactive Shortwave Schedule