Radio and rails...

I solved the drive issue... got a SignaLink USB box which has its own sound card built in. The box needs four wire jumpers installing inside and these are supplied, along with a diagram of where they need to go. The Allen key needed to open the box is also provided. This device plugs into the FT450D's Data socket and a USB on the PC - no audio leads needed. It was quite easy to set up except Linux is not supported officially and the sound setting instructions are for Windows. But, hey, you run Linux you are sort-of expected to know stuff, right? So I figured out what the sound card was called and found it in in Pulseaudio - it found it as PCM2904. My settings in the Pulseaudio volume control - so far so good - are: Playback - playback on PCM2904 - I set the level to 100%. I tried this at 50% but got no 'music' when listening via the ICR2; at 100% it 'sounds' fine, and obviously worked because I managed a QSO. Recording - capture from PCM2904 - again set to 100% Output devices - PCM2904 and 100% Input devices - PCM2904 and…

I had my first BPSK-63 QSO today. I like these modes, just set the rig to 14.070 and follow the matrix-like display... with no audio to annoy the wife. Mind you, as yet I have had no success having a CQ answered. I've sent plenty but currently the rather poor drive from the PC results in very little RF power. I hope to rectify that next week. There is a lot of RTTY about with the BARTG contest. Plenty of decodes but I've not joined in because I am not up to entering. Once the contest ends I'll have a good sniff for RTTY. Pity I don't have a nice old clattery Creed 7E to do it properly... but that is probably a step too far as I am still only a lodger in the spare room (aka study, aka shack) and may well be turfed out into the shed!

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…