Date: Sun, 21 Nov 93 02:29:11 PST From: Info-Hams Mailing List and Newsgroup <info-hams@ucsd.edu> Errors-To: Info-Hams-Errors@UCSD.Edu Reply-To: Info-Hams@UCSD.Edu Precedence: Bulk Subject: Info-Hams Digest V93 #1369 To: Info-Hams Info-Hams Digest Sun, 21 Nov 93 Volume 93 : Issue 1369 Today's Topics: Abbreviating Dates Cross-band 2m/220mhz repeaters? Elmers are dead, god help us HAMS! FT727 Schematic HAM ftp mod sites? How useful are DSP units in noisy locations? MAKE.MONEY.FAST Manual Needed: Alinco ALR-22T Manual Needed: Tek 502A Miss Manners in the Novice Sub-bands? Need Ideas on FSK demodulation Poor audio fix for HTs Pye Westminster Synth Telescoping antenna on HT Using modified HT in emergency (2 msgs) zero-beating Send Replies or notes for publication to: <Info-Hams@UCSD.Edu> Send subscription requests to: <Info-Hams-REQUEST@UCSD.Edu> Problems you can't solve otherwise to brian@ucsd.edu. Archives of past issues of the Info-Hams Digest are available (by FTP only) from UCSD.Edu in directory "mailarchives/info-hams". We trust that readers are intelligent enough to realize that all text herein consists of personal comments and does not represent the official policies or positions of any party. Your mileage may vary. So there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 17:29:41 GMT From: nntp.ucsb.edu!library.ucla.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!col.hp.com!news.dtc.hp.com!hplextra!hpfcso!ajs@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Abbreviating Dates To: info-hams@ucsd.edu For what it's worth... For over a decade I've used what has to be the most efficient and least ambiguous way of representing "timestamps" as text: CCYYMMDD.HHMMSS You can leave off any parts that are not needed due to context. For example: 931117 (today) 931117.1027 (now) 19931117 (for more clarity; seldom required) 1117.23 (about 11pm today) 121523 (a time today; seldom used, must be clear in context) I find that YYMMDD is generally recognized because of it starting with the year. If necessary I can "key" a document with "YYMMDD" or "YYMMDD.HHMMSS" to explain the date notation used. ------------------------------ Date: 18 Nov 1993 17:43:52 GMT From: munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!bradley.bradley.edu!augustana.edu!gganderson@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Cross-band 2m/220mhz repeaters? To: info-hams@ucsd.edu As a Novice I get access to 1.25m. I understand in some cities there are repeaters linked between 2m and 1.25m. How many cities and where? I'm curious..... Thanks. Kevin Anderson, KB9IUA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Kevin L. Anderson, Geography Dept., Augustana College Rock Island, Illinois 61201 USA phone: (309) 794-7325 e-mail: gganderson@augustana.edu or kla@helios.augustana.edu * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 20:06:36 EST From: noc.near.net!news.delphi.com!usenet@uunet.uu.net Subject: Elmers are dead, god help us HAMS! To: info-hams@ucsd.edu It seems some areas of the country are vastly different from others. I never will forget the day my license arrived in the mail. I rushed in the house, grabbed the HT and said, "KE4DPX monitoring." Within moments so many people were on the air congratulating me and giving good advice that I had a hard time keeping track. Thank goodness I had been monitoring for several months and followed the best advice I've yet heard -- KEEP A LOG! :-) While I realize that logs aren't officially required these days, they really do help keep track of who's who -- especially when more than three or four people are in a roundtable. It's also more than just records of names and calls scratched on paper -- it's a piece of your life. Even in the short time I've been on the air, I get a lump in my throat when reviewing the log. . . stirring memories of memorable conversations with old friends and old timers. There's not a day that goes by that I don't learn something new from the friendly voices "out there somewhere" and so many invitations to go visit shacks that I'll never get the time to visit them all. But with so many willing to lend a helping hand, a quick course on amateur gear and theory, and recommendations for equipment I'll never be able to repay them all. -- Greg KE4DPX ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 20:34:32 GMT From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!wupost!waikato!comp.vuw.ac.nz!frc!wk@network.ucsd.edu Subject: FT727 Schematic To: info-hams@ucsd.edu If anyone is desperate, I have a photo-copied service manual of the FT727, as well as the small user booklet. Drop me an E-mail if you can't get hold of it in your country. Just dug into mine last night in an attempt to speed up the PLL switching to tx. Am using it on packet (2400 bps), the PLL takes about 250 ms to lock on the tx freq, and the modulation takes even longer to trickle through. Running it with a txdelay of 600 ms (!) on the local data repeater. Also, the Squelch is very slow to come off, and I keep losing the first part of the first frame received. Conclusion: a nice dual band radio, but no good for packet... Wilbert, ZL2BSJ. -- Wilbert Knol MAFFISH Marine Research, Wellington, New Zealand. Usenet: wk@frc.maf.govt.nz PACKET:ZL2BSJ@ZL2WA.NZL.OC AMPR:[44.147.180.88] AX25, NET/ROM, TCP/IP mailbox 146.625 MHz Wellington Data, 144.650 Simplex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 01:42:41 GMT From: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!sifon!Atlas.EETECH.McGill.CA!bruno@uunet.uu.net Subject: HAM ftp mod sites? To: info-hams@ucsd.edu Steve Wolf <sww@csuohio.edu> wrote: >Is there a site that has an archive of all the mods? Although buffalo >has the individual mods, I would like to update my older set of files. Buffalo's set comprises, of probably 95% of what's out there in terms of ftp sites and automated mailers. I am the person one who collected, and weeded out this collection in particular. There are over 250 at the present time. I'm moving in the very near future, but once I've settled down again, WIBNI we could come to some sort of agreement on having THE mod site somewhere, so people don't have to go all over creation to find what they need. Bruno -- /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Bruno Hall | VE2HUM | old: bruno@eetech.mcgill.ca | new: canuck@rtsg.mot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 18:14:33 GMT From: amiserv!vpnet!tellab5!jwa@uunet.uu.net Subject: How useful are DSP units in noisy locations? To: info-hams@ucsd.edu In article <1993Nov17.211807.12826@sifon.cc.mcgill.ca> DAVID@medcor.mcgill.ca (Dave Lloyd) writes: > > There has been some discussion recently concerning add-on DSP >units to process recieve audio, and some complimentary comments on >their use, particularly for copying cw. I've never heard one of >these devices in use, and wonder if they are effective at helping >to cope with the high levels of electrical noise (tv sweep, >electric motors etc) which I hear on hf in my downtown apartment >location. Might there be benefits in adding one of these devices >when my rig already has a 500Hz cw filter? The claims in some of >the advertising for commercial DSP units sound pretty fanciful to >me. Can anyone point me towards any good magazine articles or books >which mention DSP in ham radio - a quick glance through the '93 >ARRL handbook didn't reveal anything very useful. Are there any >good construction articles out there? > I'm working with an engineer on a DSP project called the Ham Blaster. It's a DSP board that plugs into a PC. I was using it to copy H.F. packet. The program that I was running was able to copy packet even when the computer that I was using interfered with the radio. The packets came through with no noise. It also hac a C.W. program that provides the same filtering. --- Jack Albert Fellow Radio Hacker Tele (708) 378-6201 Tellabs Operations, Inc. FAX (708) 378-4590 1000 Remington Blvd. jwa@tellabs.com Bolingbrook, IL 60440 "he,hehe,hehe,hehehe,hehe hey,heyhey,heyheyhey,hey" Bevis & Butthead ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 17:53:41 GMT From: munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!emory!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!umn.edu!dbrad@network.ucsd.edu Subject: MAKE.MONEY.FAST To: info-hams@ucsd.edu ------------------------------ Date: 17 Nov 1993 14:07:15 -0500 From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!babbage.ece.uc.edu!ucunix.san.uc.edu!ucunix.san.uc.edu!not-for-mail@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Manual Needed: Alinco ALR-22T To: info-hams@ucsd.edu A colleague, N4BRI, needs a manual for a newly-acquired used Alinco ALR-22T 2M rig. He'll gladly pay photocopy/postage; please e-mail me and I'll pass info along to him. Thanks. Theodore Allan (Ted) Morris, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, 513-558-0177V, -2682F, MORRIS@UCUNIX.SAN.UC.EDU, MORRISTA@UC.EDU, WB8VNV Previous politically-incorrect tag-line removed. ------------------------------ Date: 17 Nov 1993 14:51:52 -0500 From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!overload.lbl.gov!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!babbage.ece.uc.edu!ucunix.san.uc.edu!ucunix.san.uc.edu!not-for-mail@@ Subject: Manual Needed: Tek 502A To: info-hams@ucsd.edu I picked up three Tektronix 502A oscilloscopes at our surplus auction last weekend, from which I hope to get -one- working (-: ... need a manual and schematic, and will gladly pay for photocopying and postage. I figure, every shack ought to have an oscilloscope, if only to dazzle the appliance operators and uninitiated... Theodore Allan (Ted) Morris, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, 513-558-0177V, -2682F, MORRIS@UCUNIX.SAN.UC.EDU, MORRISTA@UC.EDU, WB8VNV Previous politically-incorrect tag-line removed. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 19:36:33 GMT From: olivea!sgigate.sgi.com!odin!chuck.dallas.sgi.com!adams@uunet.uu.net Subject: Miss Manners in the Novice Sub-bands? To: info-hams@ucsd.edu In article gary@ke4zv.atl.ga.us (Gary Coffman) writes: |> In article drenze@icaen.uiowa.edu (Douglas J Renze) writes: |> >I've got a little question. I was tuning across the 80-meter novice subband |> >tonight, and right at 3700kHz I noticed a QSO taking place at 20+ WPM. ...stuff deleted... |> On the other hand, if neither of the stations were Novice, or coded Tech, |> licensees, then the behavior *was* somewhat rude. |> |> Gary Coffman KE4ZV | Life's a journey, |gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary |> Destructive Testing Systems | not a destination. | uunet!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary |> 534 Shannon Way | Live it. | emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary |> Lawrenceville, GA 30244 How can two stations having a QSO be rude? It sounds like they were carrying on a QSO without interferring with anyone else. They were within the rules and regs set down by the FCC. I didn't hear anyone mention League Affiliation, Names of Gary, or sexual preference or whether the battery (if they had one) was on concrete with or without the little red wagon. :-) I get in the novice bands and I slow down to 10 wpm. Was I going too fast? I figured I was doing my part to help someone come up to speed for the General AND higher classes of license. Was I wrong? Like others have mentioned. There are some people who operated in foreign wars and peace keeping efforts who were morse intercept operators and capable of doing more than 50 wpm. They become novices, but they sure don't want to slow down to 5 wpm, if the other person can keep up 20 or more wpm. EOT dit dit -- SIG ------cut here---------- Chuck Adams, K5FO - CP60 adams@sgi.com QRP ARCI Awards Chairman ------------------------------ Date: 18 Nov 1993 17:55:49 GMT From: munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!news.umbc.edu!haven.umd.edu!cs.umd.edu!mojo.eng.umd.edu!mebly@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Need Ideas on FSK demodulation To: info-hams@ucsd.edu I have an interesting problem. I want to demodulate a signal with one of three different tones. The requirements are: 1) I need to set the frequency of each tone under software control 2) The input is an audio signal consisting of one of three tones. There is no clock signal available. I have to set the clock frequency under software control. There is no encoding of the three tones to ensure a transition each clock period. 3) The solution needs to talk to a VME chassis. I've thought about buying a general-purpose DSP VME board of some kind and learning enough about digital signal processing to do a fourier transform of the input audio signal. This would be oversampled and averaged to determine which tone was on. Synchronizing to the unknown clock would be done by software. Is there a better way? (I'm betting that there is. :-) ) Thanks for any assistance y'all can provide. -- Mark Bailey KD4D Motto: Life's too short to drink cheap beer. mebly@eng.umd.edu Disclaimer: I didn't really say this. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 23:17:49 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!sdd.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!hplextra!hpfcso!hplvec!scott@decwrl.dec.com Subject: Poor audio fix for HTs To: info-hams@ucsd.edu In rec.radio.amateur.misc, Greg Law <GREGL@delphi.com> writes: > I saw that thing in the Radio Shack catalog and I'm really curious to learn > how well it works. I'm afraid the blasted wire will get hung in the cassette > mechanism and ruin an otherwise perfectly good Kenwood car stereo. :-) The case is designed so that the wire can be channeled out the side or the back to accomodate both front and side-loading cassette players. I've been using mine in a side-loading cassette player for about 5 months now to use my Alinco DJ580 while mobile. Works like a champ. Note, if I had it to do over again I'd still buy a decent mobile rig rather than an HT, but with a speaker mike, the RS cassette adapter and a Larsen antenna I've put together an acceptable mobile setup. Scott Turner N0VRF scott@hpisla.LVLD.HP.COM ------------------------------ Date: 17 Nov 1993 13:41:08 GMT From: munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!uknet!yorkohm!minster!paulh@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Pye Westminster Synth To: info-hams@ucsd.edu Has onyone out there ever tried building a frequency synthesiser for a Pye Westminster to cover the 2m band. Thanks, H Paul Hatcher PHONE +44 904 432771 Department of Computer Science JANET paulh@uk.ac.york.minster University of York INTERNET paulh@minster.york.ac.uk Heslington, York, Y01 5DD UUCP {mcsun,uknet}!minster!paulh ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 17:24:15 GMT From: nntp.ucsb.edu!library.ucla.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!col.hp.com!news.dtc.hp.com!hplextra!hpfcso!ajs@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Telescoping antenna on HT To: info-hams@ucsd.edu > The collapsed telescoping antenna won't be any worse than a duck. Yes it will. It has a much worse SWR. It just doesn't work as well. Try it side-by-side with a weak signal. Whether or not the high SWR will hurt your rig is a different issue. > By the way, I'm extremely happy with my AEA Hotrod antenna on my HT. Me too, although after three years of heavy use it shows some signs of abuse... Less than straight spots, and it was intermittent until I took it apart and sort of tightened it up. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 15:55:25 GMT From: munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!umn.edu!news.cs.indiana.edu!rsg1.er.usgs.gov!dgg.cr.usgs.gov!bodoh@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Using modified HT in emergency To: info-hams@ucsd.edu In article <2celrr$onp@oak.oakland.edu>, cmartman@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Sean J. McCarthy) writes: |> |> I just wanted to point out one *little* detail you all |> seem to be missing: |> |> Using any means available does not mean you can make the |> "means" available to you at all times! Are you saying that he should have had an unmodified radio and then when the emergency occured, he should have disassembled his radio and done the mod on the spot? |> |> The "radio friend" in this thread did exactally as I or |> anyone else would have under the circumstances, but |> it doesnt make it legal to have the modified radio in the |> first place. You are implying that it is illegal to have a radio modified to transmit on unauthorized frequencies. Show me the law that says that. |> |> If this were to go to court, the amateur would *probably* |> be found innocent of unlawful transmission, and get hung |> out to dry on the illegal radio. What makes it an illegal radio? It is like owning a licensed handgun. If you kill someone in self defense it is OK, but if you murder someone it is not - owning the handgun is not illegal, nor is a modified radio (yet). I am willing to bet that the FCC will soon ban the manufacture or import (or even sale) of radios capable of being easily modified to transmit out of band. In some ways, I can understand how modified radios can cause problems if in the wrong hands. On the other hand, I hope that they don't start telling us that we cannot own such a radio... |> |> wx8l Sean. |> |> |> -- +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Tom Bodoh - Sr. systems software engineer, Hughes STX, N0YGT + + USGS/EROS Data Center, Sioux Falls, SD, USA 57198 (605) 594-6830 + + Internet; bodoh@dgg.cr.usgs.gov (152.61.192.66) + + "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends!" EL&P + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 02:17:47 GMT From: spsgate!mogate!newsgate!nuntius@uunet.uu.net Subject: Using modified HT in emergency To: info-hams@ucsd.edu In article <2cbm1dINN5lv@hpsdlss3.sdd.hp.com> Craig Bosworth, craigb@sdd.hp.com writes: >My friend presented photographs and doctors' reports to the FCC and >Sheriffs. There were numerous witnesses when he was trying the amateur >repeaters, although only two of them are hams. > >I hope this information is useful. Does anyone have any comments? Craig, for what its worth I would do the same thing as your friend did. Keep biking! And if the situation changes please keep us posted. ------------------------------ Date: 17 Nov 1993 19:07:50 -0600 From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!emx.cc.utexas.edu!not-for-mail@network.ucsd.edu Subject: zero-beating To: info-hams@ucsd.edu trier@odin.ins.cwru.edu (Stephen C. Trier) asks: >OK, two different threads have touched on this, so I guess I'll ask the >question: How does one zero-beat a CW signal? >The radio in this case is, I believe, a Kenwood TS-830. I'm most >interested, however, in the general procedure applicable to most rigs. I thought I had answered this before, but perhaps nobody believed me. Tune to WWV, set your transceiver to the known WWV frequency (10.000 or whatever) and note the pitch of the signal you hear. Then when you hear a CW signal, tune the transceiver so that the CW signal has this same pitch and you are on frequency. On the TS-830S, and many other rigs, the sidetone is at this pitch. If you are desperate and don't have perfect pitch or a sidetone, use a tuning fork or a bell or something. The other way is to call CQ a lot and average the pitch of all the replies you get. This assumes that other people know how to zero- beat, or at least that they don't all call consistently high or low. I don't recommend this approach. Derek "boing!" Wills (AA5BT, G3NMX) Department of Astronomy, University of Texas, Austin TX 78712. (512-471-1392) oo7@astro.as.utexas.edu ------------------------------ Date: 18 Nov 93 00:33:02 GMT From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!agate!spool.mu.edu!olivea!gossip.pyramid.com!pyramid!infmx!infmx!randall@network.ucsd.edu To: info-hams@ucsd.edu References <1993Nov5.231254.15145@es.dupont.com>, <1993Nov6.134645.11775@msuvx1.memst.edu>, <VBREAULT.93Nov8111110@rinhp750.gmr.com> Subject : Re: Fun with Radio Shack vbreault@rinhp750.gmr.com (Val Breault) writes: >reality is that we have been paying for the catalogs all along. The >catalogs are expensive to produce and the cost of their production had been >part of the cost of the products. Not only did we pay for our own catalogs, >but the tens or hundreds of thousands of catalogs that were taken from the >stores by folks that took them just because they were free. Junk mail and >other "Free" advertising seems to have a very short persistance in most >folks homes, often landing in the trash the same day it's received. A catalog is a form of advertising. Its purpose is to make people aware of your products and boost sales. If you make people pay for it, far fewer people will have one. That defeats its purpose. Tandy might as well start making people pay for the monthly sales flyers instead of asking us for our address, so they can send it to us. The environmental argument doesn't hold water. If Tandy cared about the environment, they wouldn't send the flyers or put flyers in newspapers. These really end up in the trash. The catalog was at least someting you had to ask for. I still have several lying around. I refuse to pay for a catalog because I refuse to pay for Tandy's (or anyone else's) advertising. ------------------------------ End of Info-Hams Digest V93 #1369 ****************************** ******************************