Wednesday 20 July 2016

JT65 Salutations

I have been using JT modes for a number of years now and have got a typical logged QSO down to about 4 minutes. This is great for quickly changing conditions especially on 6 metres. I find the reply RRR to be superfluous and I therefore don't use it.


A typical QSO would go like this

  1. CQ G8YPH IO83 (CQ call)
  2. G8YPH G8RLR IO83 (QSO received by my station clock starts)
  3. G8RLR G8YPH -01 (QSO initial report sent clock minute 1)
  4. G8YPH G8RLR R-01 (QSO other station report sent minute 2)
  5. G8RLR G8YPH RR73 (QSO report acknowledged and 73 sent minute 3)
  6. G8YPH G8RLR 73 (QSO other station 73 sent minute 4)


So the logbook shows up 4 minutes elapsed time even though the initial CQ doesn't count in the logged QSO. So in theory you should be able to work 12 stations an hour (1 minute for the CQ and4 minutes for the logged QSO).


Tuesday 5 July 2016

FT-450D Digimodes revisited

I'd had a few questions on how I connect the computer to the FT-450D when using digimodes (or even just controlling it with a program like Ham Radio Deluxe) and decided to do a block diagram of how I achieve this.
This diagram is a full picture of the station layout so you can see how everything hooks together. Feel free to use it for the basis for your own datamodes operation.
In case you are wondering why I have 2 ATUs, one is in the shack for tuning the Diamond 2000 when it is switched into circuit and the other is outside at the feed point of the 9:1 UNUN end fed antenna.

Physically I have two USB hubs in circuit. One of them has USB sockets arranged side by side and the other in a vertical column pattern. The USB deices that plug into them can't go into one hub as they foul each other. Either they are too wide or too thick to have them all in one hub. So having two enables full flexibility and physical room. The diagram only shows one hub for clarity.