Ham Radio Deluxe 6.2.10.377 - upgrade - my experiences

When a new upgrade for any software comes out I am always slow to install it. I remember the disastrous Windows NT Service Pack 6 in the late 1990's!!
On June 1st 2015 HRD Version 6.2.10.377 was released. This release makes many changes too numerous to mention
I installed it on June 6th. Oh dear!!. To say I am not impressed is an understatement.

The installation routine came up with several errors about registry keys/files not present.

Allstar/Echolink simplex nodes

I found a local node called MB7IUK located in Ashton Under Lyne which is attached to the "UK Allstar Hub Network" - whatever that is - and had a listen.
It seems to act like a repeater but isn't a repeater.
Today I heard a station coming out of Manchester Airport and to me it just sounded like a mobile station with the associated flutter. He was talking to a station in Norfolk.
There was a few two tone noises and it appears that this is the "over" sound. I'm not sure how the station in Norfolk was accessing the node - maybe he was doing it over the internet using Echolink or connected to a node local to him and had opened a channel (again over the internet but node to node this time).

I had a look on QRZ.COM and found a note about the node that said "Please be aware you may not be able to hear the station talking to the node as this is not transmitted out of the node, only received."
So how does this work as a repeater? If I can't hear the station talking into the node how can we communicate?

Update 07/07/2015

Nick M0NCZ the owner of MB7IUK too the time to write to me to explain how the system works.


"The reason you are not able to hear some stations at times is that these stations are talking “into” MB7IUK in that it is receiving there signal then sending it to the UK Allstar hub.

This is distinguished by a Der dah tone (means local traffic to the node – it is receiving)

The normal courtesy tone “Sqerch” (short Motorola sounding control tone) means this is traffic coming from the UK ALLSTAR HUB (therefore MB7IUK transmits it out).

So if you have a local user going “Into” MB7IUK on 145.2875 then you would be receiving him direct just like MB7IUK is.

I hope this makes sense?"

Squerch sound
UKALLSTAR HUB > MB7IUK> 145.2875MHz> G8YPH


Der dah sound
UKALLSTAR HUB  <MB7IUK <145.2875MHz <Local RF User into MB7IUK (could be G8YPH)

Thanks to Nick for explaining my queries about how it works. Now it's a pity I don't currently have a Dstar rig to investigate this system more. I'll have to try out MB7IUK on regular FM myself and see what it can do.

FOr more information about Allstar and to participate goto this link for a look.

PSK-63 working higher up the audio frequency waterfall

I noticed that when working on the 15m PSK frequency (21.070 MHz) trying to make a contact with a contest station on PSK-63 my station could not be heard. The waterfall showed this station at around 2300 Hz.
After checking out my ALC levels it was noticed that the ALC meter reading was considerably down at the low end despite the audio drive level being high. I went into the Transmit section of DM780 (the  Ham Radio Deluxe module dedicated to audio/digital modes) and turned up the volume.
My station still could not contact the caller.

So I changed the radio frequency to 21.07150 MHz and tuned up again. This time the caller was at around 1KHz on the waterfall so was right in the sweet spot of my rigs audio range. The Transmit drive was reduced back to 30% and I sent out a reply to his CQ.

Rig retuned lowering the apparent waterfall frequency
to around 1000 Hz

BANG - got him straight away with the ALC two points less than the FT-450 colon symbol.

The moral? - Try to work stations at around 750 to 1500 Hz on the waterfall, re-tuning the rig if necessary, and you will put out a better PSK signal especially on higher bandwidth digimodes.

Wouxun KG-UV950P review - Part 9 - The S Meter

Hmm. The rig has a LCD display and part of it is the S meter. I don't know what it is supposed to represent as your guess is as good as mine.
Sometimes the meter can show 9 divisions which, presumably, represents a signal of S9. There isn't any +10 +20 db symbol as there are on many other rigs.
In practice you can see all 9 divisions lit up and hear masses of noise as well as the other station.

Other times you can see all 9 divisions lit up and there be absolutely no noise. Then you can get a 5 division light which is a perfectly readable signal with no noise and then another same reading which is barely discernible.

There is no consistency to it.





The squelch control is no better working in 9 steps. I've found that it is best to set it at maximum 9 to avoid it opening every few seconds when set at 1.

All in all the S meter is a waste of space and the squelch control could do with better calibration,

6m openings

Over the past couple of days there have been interesting openings on 6m in the 50.100 to 50.200 MHz SSB segment of the band. At the present time there are many European continental stations that are workable from my QTH in north west England. When using Google Earth in conjunction with the Ham Radio Deluxe logbook module I can see most of the stations I can hear are on the same geographical heading of around 310 degrees.

4 x 6m stations worked in around 10 minutes
all lying on the same direction

These stations varied in signal strength from 53 to 59 and sounded like they were in the same room. I did hear a couple of local stations in Manchester which were a few miles away but in the noise. I think they may have been using vertically polarized antennae whereas mine is horizontal. Therefore on direct path I would appear many decibels down to them. However the continental stations would be being worked on the skywave and polarization didn't appear to be much of an issue to them.

The 6m band is quite fascinating. Sometimes there appears to be nothing and then it can be loaded with many stations.
Soon after writing this the band went quiet again. All in the space of an hour!
My advice is keep your eye on the DX cluster in whatever area of the world you live in for advanced warnings.

Overdriving the rigs ALC and producing spatter

On data modes it is very easy to overdrive the rig audio input causing the rigs ALC circuit to kick in. The result of this is to cause spatter either side of your actual transmission frequency.

When you see this on a waterfall display it looks like a ghost image of the transmission a few 100 Hz up or down.

The yellow coloured PSK-31 images are the same
transmission. The main one is centred at 1760 Hz and the spatter is around 750Hz

You will then get other hams shouting at you in CAPITAL LETTERS telling you to turn the gain down and look at your ALC meter. You can turn the gain down on your computer by simply decreasing the slider. In DM780 it is the TX slider shown below.

Transmit volume slider on Digital Master 780

ON the Yaesu FT-450D follow what I do - link here

Do yourself a favour and clean up your signal. Other hams with thank you for it.

Monitoring transmissions using a SDR receiver

When using digimodes you have to rely upon another amateur who can tell you if you signal is being over-modulated. Or, as per my previous blog entry, look at the ALC meter on the rig.
Another way of doing it is by using another computer in the shack (everybody has an old one!) and logging onto a Web SDR receiver somewhere on the internet.

There are many now and a quick search on Google reveals where they are.

Install Ham Radio Deluxe onto the old PC and set it in demo mode so you are only controlling a demo radio.
I found a piece of shareware software called Virtual Audio Cable that runs in demo mode.
Download it from here

Install it and launch the Audio Repeater part of it.
Set this to take the output of your audio card and feed it to the Virtual Audio Cable 1 as per this picture