N5NA

I recently participated in the 2010 NM QSO Party. This is the second year I've entered. This year the organizer changed the entry categories so if you have a driver you are in the multi-op category. My wife, K5AKS, drove so we multi-op'ed.

The QSO party started at 8:00 am MST so we drove over from Midland planning to arrive in NM by the start time. Unfortunately we ran into some thick fog on the way over so we got a late start. The first QSO was in the log at 8:39 am MST.

We had a great time covering 10 counties on the way to Taos. We arrived in Taos around 4:30 pm, which was near the start of the Super Bowl. In total we made 340 QSO's with 46 multipliers. With the addition of 50,000 bonus points for activating 10 counties with 15 QSO's or more our claimed score is 112,192 points. Not bad! That's about 2-1/2 times our score from last year. Of course, those bonus points really helped!

As always, I used CQ/X de NO5W for logging. However, this is the first time I've remembered to set up the GPS log so each QSO is recorded with the latitude and longitude of the location of the QSO. On my way home I started wondering if I could set up the GPS log in a KML file to display each QSO on Google Maps. I did some searching and found a program to convert a CSV file to KML format. After some gymnastics with Excel I had the GPS log in a format suitable for the conversion program. I was able to insert that KML file into a county map overlay KML created by CQ/X and, voila, my log was on Google Maps!

NO5W has now added that capability to CQ/X (as of patch 177-06) so I can skip the reformatting step and go straight from GPS log to KML file. That's a really nice new feature in CQ/X.

I'm looking forward to seeing the QSO party results which should be available around May 1.

At the beginning of the ARRL 10M Contest a couple of weeks ago I noticed several "squalling" noises across the band. I had heard these before but hadn't investigated. I thought it was probably from the Ethernet cabling in my house I decided to see if I could do something about it.

First I disconnected the coax from my rig, the noise disappeared. I reconnected the coax and turned off my router and wireless internet radio. The noise was still there. Next I disconnected the coax from the remote sensor for my SWR meter. The noise was still there. Hmmm, that's strange. I disconnected the coax from the antenna from the back of my amp. The noise was still there. Next I disconnected the jumper from my rig from the back of the amp. The noise was still there. At this point the only thing connected to my rig was a 6' coax jumper. I disconnected it and the noise disappeared!

That coax jumper was factory assembled with molded strain relief at the PL-259's. I replaced that cable with a homemade cable and the noise stayed gone.

I cut open the factory cable and found the coax had maybe 10% coverage, if you could call it coverage. It was junk. If I'm not mistaken I bought that cable from one of the large dealers at Hamcom. Below are a couple of pictures. It looks pretty until you cut it open.

A few months ago I was getting ready for the Texas QSO Party. I was testing a USB>Serial adapter that uses a separate USB cable. When I connected the adapter there was a noticeable noise increase in my Elecraft K3. Again, I tracked that noise down to the USB cable, which was a piece of junk from China. After replacing the USB cable with a Belken cable I didn't hear any noise from the adapter.

Moral of the story, beware of crappy cables from China!

Earlier this week K5HCT emailed me asking if I could model an antenna design he was thinking of building. I didn't have an antenna modeling program and had never done any modeling so I referred him to W5AJ. However, K5HCT's inquiry piqued my interest so I did a search for antenna modeling software.

Most hams have probably heard of and many use EZNEC. I had looked at the version that is bundled with the ARRL Antenna Book but never really figured out how to use it. Plus, the ARRL version only works with the antenna files included with the antenna book. You can modify those files but if you save the changes then the program reverts to demo mode when you re-open those files.

My search turned up a free program called 4nec2. 4nec2 was written by Arie Voors for his own use but has made it available as freeware. This is one COOL program! In addition to numerous modeling files included with the program it can also open and convert EZNEC files. So, all the files included with the ARRL Antenna Book are available to use as well as many files on the internet.

I've spent the last few days learning a little bit about antenna modeling and thoroughly enjoying using 4nec2. A good place to start is a series of four articles written by L.B. Cebik, W4RNL (SK), called "A Beginner's Guide to Modeling with NEC" published in QST in November, 2000, through February, 2001. These articles are available for download from the ARRL's Technical Information Service (TIS). You have to be an ARRL member to access those files but if you're not a member you may be able to find those articles on other websites.

One of the first antennas I tried to model was my 160m antenna I wrote about in a previous article. KB3X had commented he modeled it with EZNEC and found all the RF went straight up.

I found an EZNEC file in the ARRL Antenna Book files to start with. I used an 80m sloper with a 3 element yagi on top of a tower. I deleted the radials, lowered the sloper wire to 8', and extended the wire out to ~130'. This seemed to give reasonable results but the SWR was quite high. 4nec2 has an optimizer so I ran that to optimize the SWR. The optimizer came up with 161.7' for the sloper wire length which gave an SWR of 1.29:1. In reality my wire is about 125'. I haven't been able to figure out what I can change to make the model come out closer to reality. I suspect it's something to do with the tower base being in concrete and it's relation to ground.

For a comparison I used the ARRL version of EZNEC and made the same changes to the 80m sloper file. I found EZNEC and 4nec2 results were very close. Below are some of the graphics of my 160m antenna from 4nec2. I highly recommend 4nec2. It's a great program!

At least that's what I think they are! They're those little critters that create mounds of dirt and a maze of tunnels in the yard. I've finally figured out how to EXTERMINATE them!

Our yard has been plagued by pocket gophers for several years. My wife has tried to poison them repeatedly with no success. A couple of months ago I bought The Underground Exterminator. That was a waste of time and money. That is a device you slip on the exhaust of your vehicle and attach a garden hose. You then uncover their tunnel and pump exhaust fumes into the tunnel. I tried that three times from 30 - 60 minutes but it had no effect. The way you can see if you killed them is if they plug up the hole to their tunnel. After each gas treatment they had the hole plugged within an hour.

One day we saw digging in progress in the back yard. I loaded a shot shell into my 9mm Glock and slipped outside and let him have it. I didn't know if I hit him as there wasn't a carcass. However, he never filled the hole in and no more mounds appeared in the back yard.

A second time I saw dirt flying in the side yard. This time I blasted him with a 9mm shot shell but I guess I missed as he filled the hole in soon afterward. I decided I needed more fire power!

I purchased a box of 12 gauge shotgun shells with #8 shot. A few days ago my wife came in saying she saw dirt moving in a mound in the side yard. I loaded my 12 gauge with the #8 shot and headed out. By the time I got there though the digging had stopped. So, I uncovered the entrance to the tunnel and waited. Finally after 15 - 20 minutes he came to fill in the hole and I let him have it. Again, I couldn't find a carcass but the hole remained open.

Yesterday a new mound appeared in another part of the side yard. I uncovered the entrance hole and waited with my 12 gauge. After 25 minutes he finally started filling it in. BOOM! Another one bites the dust! No carcass again but no sign of the hole being filled.

After years maybe we can finally get rid of these pests! The hardest part is being patient enough to wait for them to appear to fill in their hole. Hopefully one of these days I'll recover a carcass to see just what these things look like!

I recently purchased a Globalsat ET-102 GPS receiver board off of eBay. It was a good deal at $3 for the receiver and $3 for the antenna. With shipping it came out to $10.80. When the package arrived there were two boards and two antennas. Guess he was just trying to get rid of them because he later offered a board and antenna for $3 total so I bought another!

A Google search turned up a product sheet on the ET-102. It's a 12 channel SiRF receiver, whatever that means. The serial output is at TTL levels so it can't be connected directly to a computer's RS-232 port. I was planning to use it with a Byonics TinyTrak3 which will accept TTL levels. However, I wanted to test the receiver with my computer so I ordered an RS-232 to TTL level converter from NKC Electronics.

When the GPS boards arrived I connected one to my computer through the level converter. I like to use VisualGPS to check the GPS NMEA output. The ET-102 was only sending out gibberish. I reversed the TXD and RXD connections between the GPS and the level converter and started getting NMEA sentences on the monitor. It works! However, the GPS was only sending out the $GPRMC sentence. While the TinyTrak3 will accept $GPRMC sentences VisualGPS will not display any information with only that sentence. I wanted $GPGGA, $GPGSV, and $GPGSA sentences to get a good test on the GPS.

More Google searching turned up a product sheet for a Globalsat ET-212 GPS board. That datasheet had some NMEA input commands as well as the output sentences. So, I decided to try those commands to turn on the other NMEA sentences I wanted.

I have previous experience sending NMEA sentences to a Furuno GN-80 GPS. The only tricky part is you have to send a checksum at the end of each command. In working with the GN-80 I found a website that had a script to calculate the checksum for NMEA sentences. How convenient! The website was public domain so I copied it, modified it slightly and set it up at nmeachecksum.eqth.net so I wouldn't lose the site just in case it went away sometime.

With the input commands and the checksum determined I just needed a terminal program to send the data to the GPS. I found a program called Realterm that worked great for this purpose.

So to turn on the $GPGGA sentences I sent "$PSRF103,00,00,01,01*25" to the unit and it immediately starting sending the $GPGGA sentences as well as the $GPRMC sentences. So, the ET-212 commands work! I sent the appropriate commands for the other sentences and I was in business.

(Since originally writing this up I found a program called SiRFDemo that makes it easy to set the NMEA sentences as well as tinker with the GPS.)

The GPS works great! I was able to receive 7 satellites with the antenna in the window. When I took it outside I was receiving 9 of the 10 satellites in view. Next was to try it with the TinyTrak3.

To use TTL levels you have to check a box in the TinyTrak configuration software. I set that up in the configuration but when I connected the ET-102 the TinyTrak didn't show it was receiving GPS data. I thought I was just going to have to use a level converter but I read the TinyTrak documentation (helps sometimes!) and found the TinyTrak checks the GPS for TTL data when it is first powered up. I had not turned the TinyTrak off when I connected the GPS but when I did that the TinyTrak started receiving GPS data!

So, look for N5NA-9 on findu.com!

Last week I finished up installing my FT-7800R dual band transceiver in my Smart. I installed the radio under the passenger seat held in place with "Industrial Strength" velcro. (Not K0BG approved!) Velcro sticks to the carpet in the Smart great! That location made for an easy route to the battery for power and to the antenna mounted on the rear spoiler.

I had the radio in the car for a couple of weeks before I settled on a mount for the control head. I finally decided on an LM300 floor mount from Lido Mounts. After ordering the LM300 I found a thread on eHam with lots of complaints about Lido Mounts. Fortunately I received the mount one week after ordering. The same type of mount is also available from mountguys.com.

For an antenna I purchased a Comet CP-5NMO lip mount and a Comet SBB-5NMO antenna. The SBB-5 is marketed as a "ground independent" antenna. I installed the mount on the rear spoiler, straddling one of the screws that holds the spoiler on. I had to reconfigure the mount slightly so the large wing nut doesn't hit the roof when the rear window is opened. The antenna works great! I did tilt it over at about a 45 degree angle so it wouldn't hit the garage door. I haven't had ANY RFI problems running the rig on high power.

Below are some pictures of my installation.

My long awaited Smart arrived in San Antonio on March 21. My wife and I made a quick one day trip to S.A. on Wednesday, March 25. The drive down only took 4-1/2 hours. You can make pretty good time when you can drive 80 MPH on I-10!

The salesman was waiting on us when we arrived and gave us both a short driving lesson to learn how to operate the manual automatic transmission. The purchase went pretty smooth since I had told the salesman ahead of time I didn't want the "anti-theft window etching" they had included in the TT&L total for only $97.50. I don't know why dealerships try to stick you with stuff like this. Turns out they did the glass etching anyway so I guess that was a freebie. I tried to get some free floor mats thrown in but couldn't talk them into that.

Next stop was the finance man. He did a really poor job trying to sell us an extended warranty. Maybe that's why he's the finance man and not a car salesman!

After giving the finance man our check we were ready to head back to Midland. We made a stop at the parts department to pick up some floor mats on the way out since I couldn't get them for free. Gotta have floor mats!

The little car is a blast to drive! On the way home I got it up to 80 MPH a couple of times but mostly drove between 65 and 70. It seems to be pretty wind sensitive. We drove into some heavy rain, wind, and hail near Junction. Fortunately the hail was small and the storm was short. It was clear sailing on home from there. We stopped in Ozona for gas since I was down to 1/2 tank at that point. It took 4.8 gallons to fill up which worked out to about 41 MPG. Hopefully I'll continue to see mileage in that range!

Next trick is to figure out how to mount an antenna!

I finally received word today from Smart Car in San Antonio that my car should be arriving around March 23. Juan at Smart Car said he expected it would actually be between March 15 and March 20. That makes it right at one year since I sent in my reservation.

Hope I like it!

This past weekend I participated in the NM QSO Party as an in-state mobile. K5AKS (my wife) and I drove over to NM on Saturday morning. Since the QSO party didn't start until 10:00 a.m. MST it was easy to get into NM from TX without having to head out too early.

We arrived in Hobbs about 30 minutes before the start of the QSO party. I rigged up my laptop, keyer, GPS, etc to get ready. The first problem I had was getting the GPS going. I use a Garmin GPS 18 USB. The GPS 18 USB uses a propriety format so to be able to use it with my logging program, CQ/X by NO5W, I have to use a Garmin program called Spanner. However, Spanner did not seem to be passing the data to the virtual com port I had set up. So, as a fallback I connected the GPS I normally use for APRS. It seemed to be working so I was in business.

I was a few minutes late starting the contest by the time I got the GPS going. Then the logging program froze. After about an hour battling that problem I finally figured out I had an RF problem causing the logging program to lock up. I had added a second antenna to my truck. In addition to my High Sierra HS-1500 screwdriver type antenna I had installed my Texas Bugcatcher antenna to give me the ability to quickly switch bands. In hindsight, the serial cable running to the GPS was picking up some RF from the bugcatcher coax. I quit using the bugcatcher and worked the contest with the screwdriver antenna and didn't have any more problems.

In total we drove through ten New Mexico counties. The route covered about 630 miles from Midland to Santa Fe. I finished with 259 QSO's and 47 mulitipliers. Of the 47 multipliers I only worked four NM counties.

The 160m antenna described in my previous entry works amazingly well. I operated in the CQWW 160m Contest this weekend and was able to Work All States. In addition, I worked a number of countries including Chile, Denmark, Scotland, France, Japan, Luxembourg, Sweden, and Hungary. In total I made 343 QSO's on 160m this weekend which more than doubles my lifetime 160m QSO total of 230 QSO's!

Doing some research I've concluded this antenna is basically a half-sloper. Or maybe a low half-dipole since it's not sloping. WD8DSB made an interesting post to the Top Band Reflector in 2001 which describes some measurements he took of the feedpoint impedance. He concluded if the half-sloper is not mounted very high from the ground the feedpoint impedance would provide a reasonable match to 50 ohm feedline. I had considered raising the feedpoint up the tower but there may be little to gain and it could affect the feedpoint impedance. K6SE(SK) made a followup post stating polarization is predominately vertical with the azimuth skewed in the direction of the wire.

Bottom line is IT WORKS!