Radio and rails...

Typical. I tidied the setup today and got everything into a better position for working - as you see in the photo now. And now there are stripes of noise across the waterfall in fldigi - as you can also see in the photo! I've moved everything about again to try to cure it to no avail. Something has clearly moved nearer to something else and they don't get along. Grumble...

So... I moved the PC closer to the rig as I could not be bothered to make extension cables. I already had fldigi and flrig and these both worked well once I connected it all up. Lots of morse - I'm still learning so seeing it decoded is actually quite an aid. But then I found some unfamiliar patterns. These fldigi pages are really helpful - http://www.w1hkj.com/FldigiHelp-3.21/Modes/ as is G4UCJ's page at http://hfradio.org.uk/html/digital_modes.html and I soon discovered lots of BPSK31 and BPSK63 signals around 14.070. Yup, I still only have wires up for 14MHz and 50MHz... I tried answering some CQ calls to no avail. So I had a break and made those extensions so I could actually regain some desk space. I tried to answer more calls and noticed the tx power level stayed firmly at zero when I transmitted. After a couple of 'CQ tests' I could hear a hash on the ICR2 but no 'music'. Having then plugged the audio leads into the right holes (!!!) and adjusting the line out volume I managed some tx power movement and tones on the ICR2. After attempting lots of unanswered CQ calls I answered a CQ from an Italian station and he…

I am planning to have a fiddle with digital modes. My current leads will not reach from the FT450D to the PC so I get the chance to do some soldering and make the leads longer... see if can remember which end of the iron gets hot. There are a few quite strong RTTY signals about (I don't yet recognise the sounds of other modes) which takes me back a way. Years (decades) ago (I was 15!) I used to buy up old Creed 7B and 7E teleprinters, renovate them and sell them on to make a bit of pocket money. These were all set to 50 baud, not 45.5 baud as I only had a tuner for 50. I got quite good at it and I wish I had kept one. At one stage I had a couple running, one via a terminal unit wired to a B40 receiver, plus a separate tape punch and reader. It used to be fun running off reams of print from the Russian news agency TASS, or columns of numbers that I had thought were spy stations but turned out to be weather stations. Fingers crossed I'll manage to get it all wired…

Well I am up to three HF contacts now, two with Slovenia and the third with one of the 14th Antarctic Activity Week special even station. My tatty fan dipole seems to work ok. At this rate (4 QSOs ever since just before Christmas 2016) I'll soon need a logging programme to cope with this high load... hmmm.

Well I made my first 20m contact today - with a special even station in Slovenia no less. Very quick contact, 5/9 each way. But this is on my loft crude wet-string (fan dipole) antenna with 10 watts. Not too bad for a first contact I think... 871 miles.