Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 18:36:07 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 V94 #59
To: Info-Hams
Info-Hams Digest Thu, 20 Jan 94 Volume 94 : Issue 59
Today's Topics:
Bencher Straight key
BRAIN CANCER, LEUKEMIA FROM HAM RADI
FRG-9600 CAT controller program for grabs
Heath SB-1400 problem
HP's vector modulator
Kantronics and VIC-20
Kenwood radio software
Latest verison of SuperMorse
Low Power VCO
more on nts welfare msgs to losangeles
QST Article on Balloon Tracking using GPS Rcvr
Ramsey FX Transceivers
Seeking Opinions of Memory Keyers
Special Event Station
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: 19 Jan 94 07:54:01 GMT
From: ogicse!cs.uoregon.edu!sgiblab!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!not-for-mail@network.ucsd.edu
Subject: Bencher Straight key
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
anyone see one of the new Bencher Straight Keys in person.. look
interesting.
73
Jeff, AC4HF
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jan 1994 11:33:13 GMT
From: noc.near.net!news.delphi.com!gilbaronw0mn@uunet.uu.net
Subject: BRAIN CANCER, LEUKEMIA FROM HAM RADI
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
>Let's hope that the news media don't feed the sense of hysteria that many
>people feel when confronted by something they don't understand, and that we
Did you see Wayne Greens drivel in his latest editorial in 73 on this
subject. It almost makes me ashamed that I have a lifetime subscription. He
even says it can do good too. It can cure aids he says. Very easily he says.
Why doesn't he develop it and make his millions?
Gil Baron, El Baron Rojo, W0MN Rochester,MN
"Bailar es Vivir"
PGP2.3 key at key servers or upon request
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 18:15:30 GMT
From: library.ucla.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!newsserver.jvnc.net!raffles.technet.sg!ntuix!ntuvax.ntu.ac.sg!asirene@network.ucsd.edu
Subject: FRG-9600 CAT controller program for grabs
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
Hi all FRG-9600/FRG-965 users,
I have available a CAT controller program for the YAESU FRG-9600
which multitasks in the background and does everything the FRG-9600 can
do to the max. Brings to the radio, all the features you would see in a
modern scanner. Also includes a very simple and cheap CAT interface which
is better but compatible with the FIF-232-C from YAESU. It has enhanced
features as well. E-mail me for it.
73 de 9VG Daniel
------------------------------
Date: 20 Jan 94 13:53:17 GMT
From: sdd.hp.com!caen!usenet.cis.ufl.edu!bennett@hplabs.hp.com
Subject: Heath SB-1400 problem
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
I would appreciate some help with a small problem that just reared it's ugly
head. I have a Heath SB-1400 HF Transceiver(cousin of the Yaesu FT-747GX).
Over the weekend, receive sensitivity went blah. Ah ha! consult the schematics
and manuals time. While thumbing through the manuals I found reference to a
small light bulb installed on the receive side of the T/R relay that could
cause the problem if it were blown. I checked the bulb, and, sure enough,
it is blown. Well the manual gives the specifications for the bulb as any
8 volt, 100ma pilot lamp(wire pigtails to be precise). Out come the catalogs.
I have not yet been able to find a pilot lamp even coming close to those
specifications. Therefore I approach the net.wisdom in locating the part
number and manufacturer for the appropriate lamp. As this is my only HF
rig that is even remotely capable of meeting my fully legal and licensed
requirements, it is rather important to me to get the unit back up quickly.
If I can find a standard lamp part number, it will be comparatively easy.
(And I will definitely purchase spares this time!)
Any help or information the net can provide me with will be DEEPLY appreciated.
Thanks
Paul R. Bennett N4EGO (General class .. FINALLY)
bennett@mail.cis.ufl.edu
------------------------------
Date: 20 Jan 94 15:46:47 GMT
From: sdd.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!rkarlqu@hplabs.hp.com
Subject: HP's vector modulator
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
In article <9401201432.AA17203@nms1.abb.com>,
Tom_Jennings <jennings@eng115.rochny.USpra.abb.COM> wrote:
>Hello,
>
>Hewlett Packard's add in Electronic Engineering Times, Jan 17, 1994,
>mentions a "vector modulator" chip. I have no idea what it is and
>what it could be used for. Does anybody on the list know?
The HP HPMX-200_ series of vector modulators (from HPs Communications
Components Division) consist basically of two Gilbert cell mixers
and a combiner to form an I-Q mixer system. This can be used to
make a QPSK modulator or image reject mixer. Some of the chips have
on board quadrature networks. The frequency range is over 2 GHz.
You can get data sheets and parts from distributors such as Hamilton
Avnet, Penstock, Newark, and Arrow.
Rick Karlquist N6RK
rkarlqu@scd.hp.com
------------------------------
Date: 20 Jan 94 23:43:11 GMT
From: news-mail-gateway@ucsd.edu
Subject: Kantronics and VIC-20
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
I have both the VIC-20 Hamtext Operator's Manual (30 pages long)
and the Kantronics Interface Instruction Manual (20 pages). You
want me to make and send you copies or just extract some information?
I assume your looking for things like control-E (Return to Receive),
control-I (CW-ID), control 0-9 (message ports) sort of information?
jd....k1zat
------------------------------
Date: 21 Jan 94 00:14:36 GMT
From: news-mail-gateway@ucsd.edu
Subject: Kenwood radio software
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
I am trying to locate Kenwood radio control software such as COMPTROL
or KTWIN either on Internet or BBS.
The particular radio I use is the TS-140S.
Any replies would be appreciated.
SHMC0874@BCIT.BC.CA
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jan 94 19:34:26 GMT
From: ogicse!uwm.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!newsrelay.iastate.edu!news.iastate.edu!wjturner@network.ucsd.edu
Subject: Latest verison of SuperMorse
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
In article <CJvyy3.Hz6@ra.nrl.navy.mil> drumhell@claudette.nrl.navy.mil (David Drumheller) writes:
> It appears that the program SuperMorse is up to verion 4.01. Does
>anybody know of an ftp site that would have it?
wuarchive.wustl.edu has SuperMorse *4.04* in /mirrors/msdos/hamradio.
73, Will N0RDV/AE (Since Sunday... :-)
--
Will Turner, N0RDV ---------------------------------------------
wjturner@iastate.edu | "Are you going to have any professionalism, |
twp77@isuvax.iastate.edu | or am I going to have to beat it into you?" |
TURNERW@vaxld.ameslab.gov ---------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jan 94 19:14:42 GMT
From: hsdndev!dartvax.dartmouth.edu!daan220@rutgers.rutgers.edu
Subject: Low Power VCO
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
Frequency Range: 138-153 MHz
Power Supply: 3 Vdc @ 3 mAmp or
5 Vdc @ 1-2 mAmp
Output (Power): +8 - +10 dBM (50 Ohm Load Resistance)
Control Voltage: 1 - 3 Volts
Op. Temp. Range: -45 to +70 degrees Celcius
Has anyone been able to find a VCO that meets these specifications? Or just
one that is reasonable in meeting them closely? Trade-offs are control voltage,
output, and power supply. Total power consumption w/o output should range b/w 10
and 15 mWatts.
Need to find someone who may supply this VCO, give app notes, or gave name of a
vendor who can meet these specs. Also, design schematics could help us build it
ourselves. Help!
Daan Goedkoop
PLL Group/ES 295
for
Lockheed / Sanders
Nashua, NH
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 03:26:00 PST
From: amd!netcomsv!easyst!rclark@decwrl.dec.com
Subject: more on nts welfare msgs to losangeles
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
i stand corrected by someone on sending packet nts msgs into the
los angeles area...if you are outside of california please address
your nts msgs in the following format for packet:
outside california:
st zipcode @ ntsca
qtc cityname,phone prefix
the rest of the msg is in standard arrl radiogram format....
for inside california:
sysops can point all mail bound for san fernando valley/northridge
area to w8akf.#soca.ca.usa or k6ve.#soca.ca.usa....
the major and only bbs for that area is wb6wfh and his system is down
for the next several days i would imagine...he lives at ground zero
of this 6.6 shaker...so once again the format for internal calif. mail:
st zipcode @ w8akf.#soca.ca.usa or
st zipcode @ k6ve.#soca.ca.usa
this is what w8akf has sent out on our local packet bbs network...
thanks for reading....73 de richard n6uzs rclark@easyst.com
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jan 94 20:31:59 GMT
From: ukma!harold.ca.uky.edu!hpeach@rutgers.rutgers.edu
Subject: QST Article on Balloon Tracking using GPS Rcvr
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
Several months ago there was an article in QST about a guy that was tracking
balloons using data from a GPS receiver, transmitted back to a ground station.
He had written a spreadsheet in MS-Excell that would graph the balloon's
flight path based on the points reported back by the GPS receiver. Does
anyone have a copy of his spreadsheet or the algorithim he used? Please
e-mail me at <hpeach@ca.uky.edu>.
---
Harold
hpeach@ca.uky.edu
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 23:01:58 GMT
From: bruce.cs.monash.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!yeshua.marcam.com!news.kei.com!eff!news.umbc.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!news.intercon.com!udel!@@munnari.oz.au
Subject: Ramsey FX Transceivers
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
Galen Watts (galen@picea.CFNR.ColoState.EDU) wrote:
: Didn't H-D change ownership around this time?
AMF owned them during the '70s. Employees bought them out.
: I believe kits should be engineered better than assembled gear...
They are better engineered from the standpoint of building, modifying,
repairing... You don't ever have to send it back to the factory.
: If they can't afford assembled, how can they afford the test gear to
: get a poorly designed kit to work?
: Galen, KF0YJ
John Ramsey's point is that you don't need test gear to get the FX
transceivers working. Once the ARRL used their test gear to find a
"problem" (that did not affect functionality), they published the 20
cent fix. All the problems are known and there are published fixes
for all of them. And not being able to afford assembled is a blessing
in disguise. One learns a lot putting these kits together and getting
them working properly. What does one learn when one buys assembled?...
the same thing one learns when buying a CB.
73, Cecil, kg7bk@indirect.com
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jan 94 20:39:04 GMT
From: att-out!cbfsb!cbnewsg.cb.att.com!wstrahl@rutgers.rutgers.edu
Subject: Seeking Opinions of Memory Keyers
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
I am seeking net opinions re: the current crop of contest-style
memory keyers. I am very pleased with my present 6502-based
Kansas City Contest Keyer. I am considering getting another
keyer and was wondering if any of the newer ones are 'better'.
It must have at least 4 message memories, serial numbering, message
sending via remote buttons on the paddle, and a speed KNOB.
What should I be considering, MFJ, Logitek, ???
Your opinions appreciated.
Wayne Strahl - W9II wstrahl@cbnewsg.att.com
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jan 94 21:46:00 GMT
From: concert!news-feed-2.peachnet.edu!darwin.sura.net!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!moe.ksu.ksu.edu!engr.uark.edu!news.ualr.edu!chaos!paul.graziani@decwrl.dec.com
Subject: Special Event Station
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
*** Valentines Weekend Special Event STation ***
The Metropolitan Amateur Radio Club of Central Arkansas will hold a
special event from 1500 utc to 2200 utc February 13 from Romance,
ARkansas. Call will be N5RLJ (Phonetics N5Romeo Loves Juliet) .
Cw and phone operation only on 40 through 10 meters.
Phone in general portion of band except for ten meters (28.3 to
28.5 MHz.) propagation permitting.
CW will be in upper end of general band on all bands except for ten
(28.1 to 28.2 MHz.).
For commemorative certificate or QSL send with SASE to:
MARC Special Event
P. O. Box 1793
North Little Rock, Ar 72115
Further information in Special Events Section of January QST.
Hope to work you on the 13th for our annual Valentines Day
celebration from Romance.
73,
Paul Graziani WD5BIV
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jan 1994 20:24:25 GMT
From: koriel!newscast.West.Sun.COM!abyss.West.Sun.COM!sunspot!myers@decwrl.dec.com
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
References <CJuLBB.n3D@news.direct.net>, <2hhsumINNms@abyss.West.Sun.COM>, <CJw15H.MKy@news.direct.net>ne
Subject : Re: Ramsey FX Transceivers
In article <CJw15H.MKy@news.direct.net> kg7bk@indirect.com (Cecil Moore) writes:
>Dana Myers (myers@sunspot.West.Sun.COM) wrote:
>
>: The previous point, that H-D product was poor in the 70s and became
>: good in the 80s because customers helped the factory improve the
>: product is not realistic. H-D product improved as soon as the management
>: cared to spend rthe effort to make a good product.
>
>And why did they spend the effort? They were forced to by the customers.
>Customers -were- the reason for the improvements.
C'mon, this is circular logic. Of course customers were the reason for
H-D improving their products. However, you can not deny that H-D
products improved considerably only after the management became
committed to improving the products.
>: I stand by my assertion that Ramsey kits are poorly engineered with
>: respect to performance.
>
>They are not as well engineered as they might have been. So the constructive
>thing to do is sit and bitch and moan about how bad they are...right?
Funny you should mention that; I've spent quite a bit of effort understanding
exactly what the shortcomings of the Ramsey radios re, in particular the
FX-440. I've posted constructive criticism to the Usenet, and, guess
what, John Ramsey called me up! It turns out he wasn't interested in
a thing I had to say, other than to prove to me I was wrong.
>: if you get a batch that is right on value or 10% high, you'll have a
>: deaf receiver.
>
>That's why Ramsey offers a free variable cap upgrade PCB.
Great. How many people know they need the upgrade PCB when they
don't have the equipment to evaluate the performance of the receiver?
>: ...mentality is straight out of the 11m linear amplifier crowd,
>: where these guys splatter onto 10m and claim nothing is wrong
>
>A Ham running a KW on 20m gets away with splattering 5w onto 10m.
>Why doesn't the FCC care about that?
Of course the FCC cares about that, Cecil. You're starting to sound
just like John; tryingto change the subject and confuse the issues to
avoid the hard problems. Why don't you address my real point, which
is: Just because you can talk to someone with a radio, doesn't mean
the radio is adequately working.
>: John is happy to help you make your radio work
>: better when it has design flaws, but he's not ready to upgrade the
>: design so people won't have problems.
>
>Instead of ragging on Internet which Ramsey may not see, how about
>convincing John that he needs to upgrade the designs? If more hams
>buy his designs after the upgrade you can bet he will do it. But, like
>the Corvair, bad publicity can destroy a product even though it was
>upgraded to a very good product.
I returned John's call and spent 1 hour of my time and $$ listening
to John's excuses. I was told that "no improvement can be made to the
Ramsey radios because no one could build them then". I tried, vainly,
to convince John that he needs to sell kits that include the upgrades
rather than expecting people to realize something is wrong and call him.
At the very least, he needs to include documentation in his manuals which
says "when you build this kit, it stands a good chance of not working
well. Please call New York at long-distance rates on your bill and ask
for the free upgrades which will make your radio work the way you expected
it to".
John flat out told me that his designs have been tested and are optimum
given the fact they need to be built from a kit by people who don't
know anything about radio. He shot down every design alternative I
mentioned with "no one could build it". He bad-mouthed other customers
of his *by name*. Maybe he'll start bad-mouthing me by name, too.
Cecil, rather than trying to convince to stop picking on Ramsey kits
for theire technical shortcomings, why don't you convince your buddy
John Ramsey to spend some hard earned cash going to a course on
customer relations? Then he'd have a chance of addressing the real
reasons why his products get bad press.
--
* Dana H. Myers KK6JQ, DoD 466 | Views expressed here are *
* (310) 348-6043 | mine and do not necessarily *
* Dana.Myers@West.Sun.Com | reflect those of my employer *
* This Extra supports the abolition of the 13 and 20 WPM tests *
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jan 1994 14:27:00 GMT
From: ucsnews!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!news.Brown.EDU!NewsWatcher!user@network.ucsd.edu
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
References <2hfehn$t1o@orion.cc.andrews.edu>, <Anthony_Pelliccio-180194095831@138.16.64.8>, <Charles.R.Hohenstein.1-180194124857@mac22.hesburgh.lab.nd.edu>
Subject : Re: Global Alert For All: Jesus is Coming Soon
In article <Charles.R.Hohenstein.1-180194124857@mac22.hesburgh.lab.nd.edu>,
Charles.R.Hohenstein.1@nd.edu (Charles R. Hohenstein) wrote:
> In article <Anthony_Pelliccio-180194095831@138.16.64.8>,
> Anthony_Pelliccio@brown.edu (Tony Pelliccio) wrote:
> > >
> > Can I ask a question? Did you actually sit there and post this to every
> > single Usenet group? Enough of your wahoo bs... take this to a more
> > appropriate forum since this is for amateur radio. Who knows, maybe one day
> > a Ham will have a QSO with God himself.
> >
> Yes, but would this QSO be voice or CW?
CW of course, only you'd better be able to copy at speeds greater than
1e+99999 per minute or you won't understand a thing.
Let's face it, God pre-dates amateur radio by quite a few millenia so he's
probably using a spark-gap generator and touching two wires together.
Tony
--
== Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR
== Anthony_Pelliccio@Brown.edu
== Brown University Alumni & Development Computing Services
== Box 1908
== Providence, RI 02912
== (401) 863-1880
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jan 1994 23:56:06 GMT
From: koriel!newscast.West.Sun.COM!abyss.West.Sun.COM!sunspot!myers@ames.arpa
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
References <940118080104_2@ccm.hf.intel.com>, <CJu4CH.yuI@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU>, <CJuLBB.n3D@news.direct.net>
Subject : Re: Ramsey FX Transceivers
In article <CJuLBB.n3D@news.direct.net> kg7bk@indirect.com (Cecil Moore) writes:
>Galen Watts (galen@picea.CFNR.ColoState.EDU) wrote:
>
>: Didn't H-D change ownership around this time?
>
>AMF owned them during the '70s. Employees bought them out.
The previous point, that H-D product was poor in the 70s and became
good in the 80s because customers helped the factory improve the
product is not realistic. H-D product improved as soon as the management
cared to spend rthe effort to make a good product. This happened
when a larger corporate entity sold the company to a smaller group
of investors that would lose their shirts and jobs if H-D didn't succeed.
The "new" H-D started aggressively upgrading the product and abandoning
the dated manufacturing and engineering methods for modern methods.
John Ramsey spent an hour of my time and phone bill explaining that
his products do not need to change; this is essentially what AMF did
with H-D during the 70s.
>: I believe kits should be engineered better than assembled gear...
>
>They are better engineered from the standpoint of building, modifying,
>repairing... You don't ever have to send it back to the factory.
According to John Ramsey, many kits are sent back to the factory when
the builder can't get it to work. He told me horror stories of people
using pipe solder, etc.
I stand by my assertion that Ramsey kits are poorly engineered with
respect to performance. The FX-440 front end, as supplied in the
kit, is highly prone to overload from HF and VHF radios; this is due
to poor engineering and does not reduce cost at all. The FX-440
front end performance is highly prone to component tolerances; because
John doesn't want the builder to have to adjust anything, there's no
way to compensate for normal differences in components. The high-pass
filter in the FX-440 front end can have as much as -20dB of loss in
the 440-450 Mhz band while having less than 1dB of insertion loss
above 470 Mhz. The capacitors used have at least a +/- 10%
tolerance; if you happen to get a batch that is 10% low you'll
get adequate performance from 440-450; if you get a batch that
is right on value or 10% high, you'll have a deaf receiver.
>: If they can't afford assembled, how can they afford the test gear to
>: get a poorly designed kit to work?
>: Galen, KF0YJ
I asked John this and he said "Oh, people learn and that is great!"
This is right after he finished telling me how many people can't build
his kits correctly, especially Extras.
>John Ramsey's point is that you don't need test gear to get the FX
>transceivers working. Once the ARRL used their test gear to find a
>"problem" (that did not affect functionality), they published the 20
>cent fix. All the problems are known and there are published fixes
>for all of them. And not being able to afford assembled is a blessing
>in disguise. One learns a lot putting these kits together and getting
>them working properly. What does one learn when one buys assembled?...
>the same thing one learns when buying a CB.
Well, I assert that building any VHF/UHF gear requires the use of
test equipment to verify proper and legal operation. Don't downplay
the importance od a radio which does not meet the Part 97 requirement
for spectral purity. John claimed that Jon Bloom's FX-146 has a -58dB
spur that did not affect functionality; I said "It is still illegal"
and he said "but the radio worked". I don't think John understands
the danger of that logic; the "it works OK cause I can yap on
it" mentality is straight out of the 11m linear amplifier crowd,
where these guys splatter onto 10m and claim nothing is wrong because
they can communicate OK. Radio amateurs are expected to operate their
equipment *legally* and to *care* about things like spetral purity.
A radio which does not mee the Part 97 requirements is not working,
even if it appears to be.
Many of the people I know that have built FX series radios have
never verified the receiver sensitivity or transmitter purity. These
guys are waiting for NALs to show up. By suggesting you can build VHF/UHF
radio without any more test equipment than a VOM is naive and not doing
his customers any favors. John is happy to help you make your radio work
better when it has design flaws, but he's not ready to upgrade the
design so people won't have problems.
--
* Dana H. Myers KK6JQ, DoD 466 | Views expressed here are *
* (310) 348-6043 | mine and do not necessarily *
* Dana.Myers@West.Sun.Com | reflect those of my employer *
* This Extra supports the abolition of the 13 and 20 WPM tests *
------------------------------
End of Info-Hams Digest V94 #59
******************************
******************************