Well, I spent a few hours this weekend changing the shack up. The laptop just wasn't cutting it for Digital Master 780. So I built a new box frame moved my old tower to the radio room.
A little re-arranging and everything is working like a charm. Much faster now. The only problem is a little interference on the CRT monitor from the power supply. I'll try to shield it better to see if that helps.
Made several good contacts by taking advantage of the PSK Fest. Worked several California and Florida stations, all on 20 meters. Seems the MFJ Loop is doing a great job.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Back on the bands with a helping hand
Well, since moving back to texas from Germany nearly seven years ago, I haven't really spent much time in the shack. Every now and then, I'd wander out and turn on the rig and listen around, but nothing else really.
But now my son is nine and has taken an interest in ham radio. It's still not as strong as his DS-Lite addiction or his passion for Pokemon, but he is interested and that is a start.
We are studying for his Tech exam and so, naturaly, we've been at the dial some over the past few weeks. And that's when it stuck...the digital bug.
I'd worked RTTY before. Years ago. I built the famous "HamComm" interface and routinely chatted with hams from Israel, Russia and the Ukraine. There was something about that loop (the same one I'm using now) that made a great path from eastern Germany to the Middle East and the Eastern Russia. So when I played around with some RTTY this time (and a little SSTV to impress the kid) I thought I'd try to decode a little PSK31.
Wow. I mean, "Wow!" I was hooked from the start. A narrow mode that (with the right software) allowed me to view a dozen conversations at once. I spent way too much time in the shack. And that was just a few weeks ago.
I've had QSOs with several stations all across North and central America and even a couple into Europe. Then I stumbled across PSK Reporter. Amazing! I'm definately hooked. And Peyton likes it too.
But now my son is nine and has taken an interest in ham radio. It's still not as strong as his DS-Lite addiction or his passion for Pokemon, but he is interested and that is a start.
We are studying for his Tech exam and so, naturaly, we've been at the dial some over the past few weeks. And that's when it stuck...the digital bug.
I'd worked RTTY before. Years ago. I built the famous "HamComm" interface and routinely chatted with hams from Israel, Russia and the Ukraine. There was something about that loop (the same one I'm using now) that made a great path from eastern Germany to the Middle East and the Eastern Russia. So when I played around with some RTTY this time (and a little SSTV to impress the kid) I thought I'd try to decode a little PSK31.Wow. I mean, "Wow!" I was hooked from the start. A narrow mode that (with the right software) allowed me to view a dozen conversations at once. I spent way too much time in the shack. And that was just a few weeks ago.
I've had QSOs with several stations all across North and central America and even a couple into Europe. Then I stumbled across PSK Reporter. Amazing! I'm definately hooked. And Peyton likes it too.
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