Where is that blasted noise coming from?

Evil RF noise in Ethernet over power adapters

My internet comes in at a corner of the house.  In that room I have my cable modem and a WIFI router.  Unfortunately the WIFI is seemingly non-existent at the other end of my house and especially in the upper floor opposite the WIFI router.  I tried re-orienting it and different antennas to no avail.

As a solution, I purchased an Ethernet over powerline adapter.  This routed the Ethernet through the house wiring to receivers plugged into outlets at points where the WIFI was weak, thus providing Internet access to those rooms.  The model I purchased also had ethernet ports which I needed for some of my older devices.

Ethernet over powerline seemed like an ideal solution.

Typical Ethernet over powerline adapter

All was well until a few months ago... I noticed a broadband noise on 40m and 80m in my shack.  I turned off the power to the house and switched to battery on my KX3 and the noise was gone.  So the interference was coming from my house.

The Search

I restored the power and fired up my Yaesu HT which has general coverage receive and tuned it to 7030kHz.  I walked around the house and conducted a bit of a fox-hunt for the offending noise.  The noise occurred at every outlet in the house !!!

I tracked it down to one of the Ethernet powerline receivers.  I unplugged it from the wall and discovered blissful silence.  I figured it had just gone bad.  It was out of warranty so back to the store I went and purchased another set.  This time it was a different brand, as the first one was no longer carried.

I installed the new adapters and everything was fine... for a time.

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me

This week the noise returned with a vengeance.  Being wiser I went straight to the new adapter and unplugged it.  Yep it had gone bad again.  It was in warranty but I'd learned my lesson.  Whatever sort of RF filtering these devices have doesn't last.  Something zaps them.  I can't plug the receiver into a AC line filter because it stops it from receiving the Ethernet over powerline.

So out they came and back to the electronics store I went.  This time I purchased a WIFI extender with Ethernet ports built-in.  I'm back to blissful RF quiet (to a degree) at my QTH.

The moral of the story

If you have RF noise at your shack and you use these devices, check them out.  They could be the S9 noise culprit.  If you haven't bought them, take my advice and don't chance it.

I didn't think a WIFI extender would work for me because my laptop can't even detect the WIFI in some of my rooms but the WIFI extender (at least the Netgear model) seems to work well.  I now have blessed Internet in every room and no more broadband RF noise.

That's all for now

So lower you power and raise your expectations (and rid yourself of pesky RF noise)

72/73
Richard, AA4OO
http://hamradioqrp.com

The Eagle has landed

Ten-Tec Eagle -- A CW masterpiece

I've had the opportunity to bring another wonderful radio from Ten-Tec into the shack.  The Ten-Tec Eagle.

Ten-Tec Eagle HF transceiver

The Eagle is NOT a feature laden radio and using it is a bit quirky.  

There are no menus on the Eagle.  The dual-function buttons you see are what you get. The multi-knob allows adjustments for the various functions.

What it does have that is so common with the Ten-Tec line of radios is absolutely wonderful sounding audio and beautiful full QSK with no strange audio artifacts at full-break-in.  It is a pleasure to work weak stations.  This particular radio has three 4-pole filters for the IF at 2.4kHz, 600Hz and 300Hz.  They are automatically selected as the dedicated bandwidth knob is adjusted, resulting in smooth and clear filtering of CW stations.

I also have a Elecraft KX3 and while it has similar receiver specifications, listening to weak CW with it has a lot of digital artifacts that are not present on the Eagle.  I can work a weak station with the Eagle and not be fatigued at the end of the qso.

It also has a nice ATU capable of matching up to 10:1 SWR antennas and of course supports SSB.  It covers 160m-6m and can do FM if the 15kHz filter is installed.

Eagle beside its much older brother, the Ten-Tec Century/21

CW the way it was meant to be heard

The solar conditions have been extremely poor over the past week that I've used the rig and are likely to be this way for a few years to come.  It's nice to have a rig that makes these poor conditions still enjoyable.

If you love CW do yourself a favor and try a Ten-Tec.  They are pricey compared to other rigs and they do not come close competing on price-per-feature but Ten-Tec receivers make for amateur-radio bliss.

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

72/73

Richard, AA4OO

BLT+ Balanced line tuner at Excalibur

Another portable test of the BLT+ tuner

KX3 operating on internal battery.  What a fantastic portable rig.

I took the BLT+ balanced line tuner out to the Excalibur antenna site to try it out on the doublet antenna that we put up last Saturday.  This was the first test of that antenna (40m and 80m using a common feedpoint).

I didn't have much time today and after the first QSO it started to rain so I packed up and left before getting as much documented as I would have liked.  I apologize for not recording the actual tuning process and the subsequent QSO.

BLT+ connected to open wire line (under the gloves) going to ta 40m Doublet at 65ft

I had the KX3 operating using its internal batteries and outputting 2w. I was running 2 watts because that is the most efficient PA mode for the KX3.

I used the BLT+ to tune the 40m/80m doublet.  Balanced line antennas perform better with a tuner designed for balanced line and this was a good test for both the tuner and the new antenna. 

Portable shack, courtesy of three plastic chairs

I quickly matched the doublet using the BLT+ using the lowest impedance setting which is also the most efficient.  I was glad to see that the BLT SWR LED indicator is bright enough to be seen in direct sunlight.  I was wondering about that but you can definitely tell when it dims even in direct sunlight.

Performance

After quickly tuning up I sent my call two times and was promptly answered.  The other station was running a Flex 6500 into a KPA500 and a OCF Windom at 50 feet. 

He reported me as 559, while he was a 599.  He was running a new KPA500 amp at 500w so we were a bit mismatched on power.  

Interestingly the difference in 2w and 500w exactly matches the 4 S-Unit difference in our reports if you do the math (each increase in an S-unit requires quadruple the power). 

AA4OO sitting back and listening to the QSO

Paul AA4XX kindly snapped some pictures while I was listening to the other operator.  This is the Excalibur antenna site but the shack is outside the photo. 

The Doublet's feed line has not been brought to the shack yet so I was just sitting under the antenna.  The open feed line is running along the ground for a bit which certainly didn't help the signal but we haven't installed the posts to carry the feed line over to the shack and I was too lazy to move the chairs far enough away to keep the feed line in the air.

In the foreground is some saw-grass common on the NC coast.  I'm not sure why it's growing this far inland.

Portable shack at the Excalibur antenna site... The Doublet is 65 feet above my head

Waiting my turn in the QSO... holding the Palm Single Paddle.  BLT+ tuner in the chair to the right

Video

Here is a brief video showing how the BLT+ is connected to the Doublet...

Summary

The little BLT+ performed great with both balanced line antennas I've tried.  It is easy to use and allows me to use my KX3 with balanced feed line antennas now.  I encourage you to build the kit from Pacific Antenna / QRPKits.com .

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

72/73

Richard, AA4OO

BLT+ Tuner portable Test

A shot in the dark

I wanted to test the BLT+ Tuner portable with a ladder line fed Doublet but my time has been limited.  After getting home from work one night I assembled a 40m Doublet fed by 450 Ohm ladder line in my driveway.

I pushed the Doublet up on my Jacktite pole and attached the ladder line to the BLT+ and attached the BLT to the KX3.  I had the KX3 sitting on the deck table running on internal batteries.

BLT+ tuning the balanced line antenna

By the time I began my test it was quite dark except for the moon.  My headlamp was out of batteries and I was operating by a floodlight up on the eve but I was determined to know how the tuner worked with my portable doublet.

Doublet on Push up pole.  Moon in the background.

40m and 30m tuned up 1.0:1 using the high capacitance setting.  Tuning was fast for each band using the SWR indicator LED.  After tuning on 7030 and sending my call then again on 10110, I tried 14060. Although tuning 14m was a bit touchy it tuned using the low capacitance setting to around 1.5:1 SWR.  After tuning I sent my call on 20m.  Immediately I received a call from K7JHM, a QRP station in Utah (about 1700 miles away).  We exchanged signal reports and station information although copy was a bit rough.  I'd neglected to bring my earbuds out and the speaker on the KX3 is pretty poor.

However, the QRP to contact was a success on a portable antenna, tuned with the BLT+ driven by a rig running on internal double A batteries. 

I didn't try higher bands because it was so late in the evening so I packed it all up declaring success.

Balanced line tuner doing it's job

Tuning 20m was a bit touchy because my total length of one leg of the doublet plus the feedline is too near a 1/2 wavelength on 20m.  I need to add about 7 feet of ladderline to keep it from being near odd 1/8 wavelengths of the bands I want to tune. Or I could add 7 feet to each leg of the antenna.  I will need to do that before the next test.

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

72/73

Rich AA4OO

The Grand Illusion

Five by Nine... QRP... How can it be?

What does an S-Unit really mean and how can a QRP station sound like a 500w station?

The real gain doesn't come from transmitter watts

I rarely go up to the phone portion of the bands.  Since I started doing QRP and CW last summer I think I've only made two SSB contacts just because my focus has been CW.  But last night I was working on a bench project and tuned the Elecraft KX3 up to the phone portion of 40m for some entertainment.

A station in Rhode Island was testing his amp with a new antenna and was getting reports from various stateside operators.  There was a lull where no one was answering his CQ so I thought I'd give him a call.  He was peaking at S9 on my KX3's meter and he also sent me a signal report of S9 with some 10 over peaks.  I then told him I was a QRP station running 10 watts and heard the usual surprised reaction from a QRO station.

I gave him reports as he switched back and forth from running barefoot ~75w to his amp ~500w.  With his amp on he was an S9, running barefoot he was S8.  So the amp gave him one additional S unit.  In terms of hearing him I would have been hard pressed to tell much difference simply by volume.  He was perfectly copyable without noise with the amp off.

We also did some tests with my station at reduced power (as if...)  At 10w-12w output I received a S9 to S9+10.  Reducing output to 5 watts netted me a S8 report and when I reduced to 1 watt (one watt) he was still able to comfortably copy me and I received an S5.  So with my station at 1 watt and his running 500 watts we could still converse via SSB.  Ladies and Gentlemen you don't need as much output wattage as you think you do.

He was running through a newly constructed homebrewed vertical while I was using my 80m OCF Dipole.  We didn't discuss what sort of radial system he had installed, but the difference in antennas was likely the deciding difference in our stations.  We were about 500 miles apart and his vertical probably had more low-takeoff gain than my dipole, or possibly more ground loss so I probably had better high angle gain on him for the short 500 mile skip.  I think the take-away from this exercise is that the antenna is generally the key rather than transmitter power.  If I can get 6 dB of gain from my antenna I have in essence quadrupled my effective radiated power.  Quadrupled?  Yes, Quadrupled effective output power.

Power and S-Units

You've probably heard it before but it's worth a refresher...  Our radio's meter display a measurement in "S-Unit".  To move the meter up one S-Unit the receiver must hear 6 more dB (decibels).  So one S-Unit is 6 dB.

A decibel is:

• A Power Ratio:  dB = 10 Log P₂/P₁
• A Voltage Ratio:  dB = 20 Log V₂/V₁ 

You increase 3dB each time you DOUBLE your power

That's worth repeating... 

You increase 3dB each time you DOUBLE your power.  So to gain one S-Unit you must quadruple your power.

So if you are running 100 watts, to gain one S-Unit using the same antenna system you must increase your power to 400 watts.  If you are running QRP SSB (10 watts) that is only 1.5 S-Units down from 100 watts.  100w / 2 (-3dB)  = 50w / 2 (another -3dB or 1 S-Unit) = 25w... etc.

Antennas offer the cheapest increase in dB

Note the statement above "using the same antenna system".  That's the key then isn't it?  It's easier to get 6 dB of gain from an antenna than from wattage.  A 40m doublet can offer significant directional gain especially when operated on higher bands.  Now unless it's rotatable you will be at the mercy of the directionality of its lobes but if you have trees or tall structures you can very cheaply string up a few dipoles oriented in different directions and for far less money that a 500 watt amp (6 dB).  If you can only have one wire antenna you may miss out on some DX in the antenna's nulls but you will have some stellar gain in the direction of the lobes.  Of course rotatable yagis and beams are the best but now we are talking about real money again.  I'm talking bang for the penny.  You don't have to buy a wire antenna.  Some Dacron rope or weed-eater line and some surplus insulated wire is all you need.  You can even make your own feedline cheaply from electric fence wire and insulators.

We have a great hobby, but there are so many aspects of it that sound like common sense when they really are not... like increase your power.

Increasing power gains you very little compared to a better antenna systems.

That's all for now.

So lower your power and raise your expectations (or your antennas)

72/73 (Note:  72 is a common substitute for 73 among QRPers... as in "not enough power for 73") 
Richard, N4PBQ

1 Watt and a Wire... in the Attic

You can't always get what you want, but you try sometimes...

Recently I've dialed my normal 5 watts down to 1watt (one watt, singular) for all my contacts.  To throw some water on the fire I've decided to use my attic antenna which weaves all around my metal ductwork and electrical wiring.   Mostly this was to prove a point to myself but it may be enlightening to deed restricted hams that they can use a qrp radio and an attic antenna successfully.

Key lineup... Palm Single (paddle), Vibroplex Bug (circa 1970s), Kent Hand key

It only seems pointless until you try

Calling CQ with 1w QRPp into a poor attic antenna isn't as pointless as it would seem.  I didn't have to wait long when calling CQ before I got an answer most of the time.  

Now am I going to bust a pileup with 1 watt ?  Possibly not but I think that my assumptions about both how much power I need and how big an antenna I need are usually out of proportion with reality.

1 mighty watt

My assumptions are often incorrect

I made QSOs on 30m, 20m, 17m and 10m this morning all at 1 watt.  The solar conditions report was not really fantastic, especially for 10m.  Yet 1 watt through the attic antenna bagged the only DX I heard on 10m.  I had a couple of other multiple exchange contacts on 20m, 17m and one good old fashioned 25 minute long ragchew on 30m where I received a 599 report for my one watt from Bob (NR8M) in Ohio.  Admittedly, Bob was booming in and we had good propagation to each other.

http://www.hamqsl.com/solar.html

Video

The recording below was number 4 or 5 this morning.  I wanted to post this one because I was working another QRP station in Arkansas (K5EDM) and we did NOT have great propagation to each other.  He was running 5w while I was running 1w so it was QRP to QRPp.  In the video you can see that I'm using some of the KX3's tricks to pull the signal up because there was a lot of QSB and noise (note the GEOMAGNETIC FIELD UNSETTLED in the solar report).  

I had the volume maxed and was using the RF gain control mostly.  I eventually had to turn on the preamp which really washed me in noise but I dropped the RF gain more and eventually switched in the APF (audio peaking filter) which performed magic on this contact.  Often I find that APF doesn't help but this time it made a big difference.

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

72/73

Richard N4PBQ

Race to the bottom

1 watt or less?

I've been considering ordering a 1 watter kit but I was concerned that it wouldn't be useful in the downward sunspot cycle. 

1Watter board with initial 100nf caps installed and starting inventory of other parts.
Not shown are the myriad toroids (fun, fun), transistors and pots.

So I spent some time this afternoon making 1 watt contacts on 20m and 40m with my Elecraft KX3 just to see what staying limited to that power would be like.  I've made casual 1w contacts in the past but staying at 1watt was a good test for me.

It turned out that I had a plenty of answers to my 1 watt CQ calls and received reports that were only one or two points down from my report to the calling stations.  The last station I worked dropped down to 300 milliwatts and I still copied him fine. 

So I ordered a 1 watter kit for 40m from Kits and Parts today.

The 1 watter kit is significantly more involved to build than the Elecraft kits I've assembled to date. I hope to learn a lot from the build and alignment and I just might finally have a reason to buy an oscilloscope (hopefully my wife doesn't read this).

Update 2/20/2016:
I received the kit yesterday.  It includes 21 100nf SMT capacitors that the builder "highly recommends using".  Optionally he supplies through-hole capacitors.  I tried figuring out hold to hold the SMT part in place to solder for about 30 minutes and gave up.  I don't have 3 hands. I'd have to have someone show me how to solder an SMT part.  Even in the linked video to building the kit the builder used the through hole components so I don't know why the SMTs were supplied or were highly recommended.  So I used the through hole capacitors. 

Through hole versus SMT capacitors

I couldn't figure out how to solder the tiny SMT capacitors

1watter board with the 21 through hole 100nf caps installed

Inventory of resistors

Next step was installing resistors.  There are six 1/8w resistors missing in the kit:

• R3,9,21,22 (470)
• R12 (1.2K) 
• R14 (4R7)

I haven't built enough kits to have spares like this so I sent them a note and will see how long it takes to get the resistors.  I haven't inventoried the rest of the parts yet but so far I'm a bit disappointed.  I have built 4 kits from Elecraft and one from 4-State QRP and all of those kits had all the parts.  Although in the case of 4-State QRP one of the plastic knobs was broken in shipment.  They sent me another in 3 days.

That's all for now. 

So Lower your power and raise your expectations

73/72

Richard,  N4PBQ 

Just stand up

The "Nifty Accessories" KX3 stand

Nifty Accessories KX3 stand

The Elecraft KX3 is naturally at home in the wild

My Elecraft KX3 is an incredible radio in many ways.  It's small size makes it a marvel for portable operations.

The upward facing display of the KX3's short legs is ideal for remote, portable operations

But on the desktop it's short stuff

But for desktop operation the short rear legs make for a laid back angle that makes the display difficult to see and the buttons awkward to operate.  I home brewed a stand that I've used for the past few months.  It angled the radio more vertically but it was still low to the desk. 

The KX3 on my homebrew stand

The KX3 "Iron Throne"

I finally felt it was time to give the KX3 some love and give it a proper throne chair for its little princely demeanor.  The KX3 now has some height and sits more vertically.  Access to the face of the radio is much improved.

Here's a closer view...

If you have a KX3 and use it on a desk in the shack the Nifty Accessories stand is a solid addition to improve the ergonomics of your little jewel.  It can be ordered with enough space to clear an attached paddle or lower to the desk if you prefer but I wanted the additional height to get it above some of my taller keys.

One Suggestion... replace the paper clips

The stand comes with big paper clips to hold the KX3 to the stand.  They are a a bit difficult to properly attach with all the cables exiting the KX3 on the left hand side and they look ugly.

I replaced the two paper clips with a small bungee cord which I attach as a loop across the top of the stand.  The bungee cord connects to itself underneath the stand...

The feet of the KX3 then slip under the bungee cord.  It seems to hold it sufficiently and is easier to attach and remove the radio.  It looks nicer as well...

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

72/73

Richard, N4PBQ

Vertical Space

Taking my station to new heights

My burgeoning QRP station was getting messy, having stuff strewn all over the desk, so I made a shelf from some junk laying around to give me some vertical space. It is much more organized now.

A shelf helps

Left to right top shelf:
Ozark Patrol Regen Receiver Kit, MFJ Versa Tuner providing both tuning and antenna switching duties, Two Position Rig switch on top (blue box), Ham Keyer (circa '78) electronic keyer

Left to right under shelf:

Yaesu HT connected to home-brew J-Pole in attic, two switching power supplies, VHF/UHF meter, Elecraft KX3, Ten-Tec Century/21 (circa '77), Homebrew frequency counter on top of TT)

Three keys:
Bencher paddles, Vibroplex Bug, Kent Hand Key
That's all for now.

So lower your power and raise your expectations

73/72

Richard N4PBQ

Rock 'N Radio -- QRP Style

Operating QRP
Can mean operating from a "Quiet Restful Place"

I had the day off today and it was a beautiful morning.  I decided to spend part of it at Lake Wheeler Park in Raleigh, NC operating QRP from a stone bench under a tall oak tree.

rock 'n radio

I was operating the Elecraft KX3 from its internal AA batteries for the two hours I was there running 5 watts and it worked well.  I had brought an external battery but didn't need to connect it.

I threw a line over a tree using a throwing weight.  I hit my mark the first time, untied the weight, tied on the end of the antenna, and hoisted the 31 foot end-fed up exactly where I wanted it with the feed point a couple of feet off the ground.

31 feet of wire end-fed by a 9:1 balun.
A kite string winder holds the throwing line
A metal stake with a bit of rope anchors the balun and the other end of the rope

Another view of the end-fed with 9:1 balun, stake and coax

The 20 feet of coax serves as the counterpoise so hookups couldn't be simpler.  The KX3 simply has the coax attached to one side and the morse key and headphones in the other.

QRP operating position

The morning was very pleasant, if a bit windy, clear with a temperature of 55 F.

The KX3 will match the end-fed wire on about any band other than 160m but on 80m you could likely throw the radio farther than the signal travels.  The KX3 auto tuner is pretty amazing and I believe it could tune a piano if you hooked it up correctly.

I worked stations on 20m, 40m and 30m.

I called CQ on the 20m QRP calling frequency (14.060) and had a brief QSO with a lot of QSB (fading).  I didn't hear much activity that early in the morning on 20m so I dropped down to 40m and worked the QRP calling frequency (7.030) and had my call answered right away.  After that QSO another station jumped in there calling for a specific station so I moved on.  40m was busy.  Every time I thought I'd found an open frequency someone would jump back in or if I called QRL? I'd get an R R.

So I went up to 30m, and had a very nice long ragchew that lasted nearly an hour.  The internal AA batteries on the KX3 were getting a workout operating at 5w for that entire time but I never saw the transmit wattage drop below 5w and when I finished up the internal batteries still showed 9.8 V  The cutoff is 8.5 V so there was plenty of juice left.  I may just stop carrying the external battery on these brief jaunts.

My long ragchew was with a station in GA about 400 miles away and he gave me a report of 599 so I was thrilled with 30m this morning. Coincidentally, this end-fed antenna, balun, coax-counterpoise combo is nearly resonant on 30m and I've had some of my best reports when operating this portable antenna on 30m. 

Key wise, I was using the Palm Single Paddle.  It is a great little key when you don't have a table to operate from and you don't want to strap something to your leg.  I get strange enough looks from passer-by's without them wondering why I have some mechanism strapped to my thigh and the Palm Single is very inconspicuous.

The Palm key has a clip-on, magnetic base which I use to temporarily attach it to my clipboard when I'm not sending.  When I'm ready to send I simply pull it off the clipboard and hold it in my left hand. As I noted in an earlier review of the Palm Single Paddle it can be used as a straight key if you turn it on its side.  The long ragchew I had on 30m was with a gentlemen who sent me his SKCC number in the first exchange so I quickly turned off the electronic keyer in the KX3's and turned the Palm Single on its side.  That station sent me a nice compliment on my straight key FIST; so the little Palm Single key can serve duty as a paddle into a keyer or (in a pinch) as a straight key.  I far prefer to use my Kent Hand Key if I'm operating manual key but it's too big to bring along for portable operations and I can't quite picture myself trying to hold onto the giant Kent Hand Key with one hand whilst operating it with the other like I can the Palm Single.

The Palm Single Paddle works great in portable operating positions

I made a silly little video of my trip to the park...

So enjoy some nice fall weather if you still have it and have a Rock 'N Radio adventure.

What could be finer than to be in Carolina in the Mooo-oor-ning

Enjoying the last nice days of our Fall... birds singing and morse code beeping

That's all for now...

So Lower your power and raise your expectations

73/72

Richard N4PBQ

Can a Straight Key really Coexist with a Paddle ?

The Harmony of the Keys 

co·ex·ist

/kōəɡˈzist/ -- verb 

exist at the same time or in the same place.

Can a Straight Key coexist with a Paddle? 

Key  ☾☮ E ✡ ☼ † 

Ok, so I have my nifty 1977 Ten-Tec Century/21 and it has one CW key input and of course at its age it has no built-in electronic keyer, so no paddle for you buddy.  I like to switch back and forth between a paddle and a straight key during a QSO so I went looking for an electronic keyer that would allow me to have both types of keys attached at the same time without touching any switches or controls.  Some people simply plug both keys into a Y-Cable and then switch the keyer on in the radio when they want to use the paddle but I switch frequently enough to where I don't want to have to change any settings and I especially don't want to go into a menu (I'm a confessed menu hater).

A modern marvel... The HK5A HAM KEYER

Aren't those gold tone knobs lovely... this must have been the Deluxe Model

This electronic keyer dates somewhere between 1975 and 1985. The St. Louis Ham Radio Center primarily made and sold keys, both paddles and straight keys that were knock offs of the old Brown Bros. keys.  One of their models was a "dual-key" with both a paddle and a straight key on one base so I assume that with this in mind they created the HK5A with dual-inputs allowing both a straight key and a paddle to be attached simultaneously.  The HAM KEYER uses the clever Curtis 8044 keyer chip which is long out of production.

This keyer has no provision for memories but I don't expect to do contests with the old Ten-Tec and my memory is still fine so no worries... mmm,  now what was I saying?  

The HK5A has a sidetone speaker with a volume and pitch (tone) knob.  It's not terribly unpleasant sounding, certainly no worse than the square-wave sidetone of the Century/21.  Maybe I'll set it five semitones lower than my Century/21 for some sidetone harmony.  The keyer weight knob has an enormous range and can turn your DITS into longer DASHES than the DASHES themselves so just a dab will do ya on that one, some component is probably out of spec inside the old boy.  The far right knob turns it on/off and lets you turn side tone on (with Tone) and the last position is key-down for tuning without touching the key.

So it's a fairly normal keyer with the added bonus that it has outputs for both direct keying and grid keying for older rigs with high plate current, that is assuming you don't want deadly voltage on your key.

The business end

On the back of the keyer you can see the outputs for grid and direct keying as well as the inputs for the straight key, paddles and a funky 2.5mm T/R 6v power supply plug.  

Paddle and Straight inputs, outputs for both Direct and Grid rig keying

It can also be powered by 4 internal C-Cell batteries which I've read last for ages so I went with that option rather than deal with RFI in one of my 6v wall-warts.  If it turns out to be power hungry I'll put a different plug on one of my old 6v wall-warts and try to choke it sufficiently to keep it RF free.  Best of all these old keyers come up frequently on auction sites and usually sell for very little.  I got mine for $16 + postage. 

So the HK5A HAM KEYER is the ticket to key coexistence.

Schematic

Demo

Other options?

There is another option for wiring manual keys together with an external keyer that only has a single key input.  You can wire in the manual key(s) in parallel with the output of the keyer.  So you could use a Y-Cable at the output of the keyer and then the transceiver would be triggered by the keyer when a paddle is used and also be triggered when a manual key when it is used.  The only real disadvantage is that you cannot use the keyer for sidetone of any keys that are wired in parallel with its output.  

If you are using a rig with an internal keyer and only one key input there really isn't an option for two keys at once without changing a setting in the rig, that was the genesis of this article and the sister article for the KX3 two-keys-at-once.

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

Or the way my posts have gone lately I should say "So purchase your grandfather's era equipment and lower your expectations, hi hi"

72/73

Richard

N4PBQ

The Amazing 80m Multi-band Windom

Happier than a slinky on an escalator

OCF Dipole resonant on 7 bands

The Windom (or OCF Dipole if you prefer), offers a true multi-band, experience without much use of a tuner.  

The tuner in the images below is in BYPASS mode.  I'm using it to demonstrate the resonance of the Windom on different bands.  If you're not familiar with reading a cross-needle meter, the needle pointing to the left is the forward power (transmitted) and the needle pointing to the right is reflected power.  You read the intersection of the two needles to determine the SWR.  The red, curvy lines in the middle are the SWR based on the intersection of the two needles.  It sounds complicated but it's so easy to view at a glance it's much nicer in my opinion than a digital SWR display.

The meter below is set to the 30w range rather than  300w so you are seeing 5w there rather than 50w

This antenna is resonant with a SWR  of 1.1 or below on 80m, 40m, 20m and 10m.

80m SWR 1.1

SWR 1.1 on 80m at 3.530 MHz

40m SWR 1.0

SWR on 40m at 7.030 MHz (forgive me I was transmitting 10w on the Ten-Tec)

20m SWR 1.1

SWR under 1.1 on 20m at 14.060 MHz

SWR on 10m 1.0

SWR 1.0 on 10m at 28.030 MHz

15m is the worst with a SWR of 2.5 so it requires tuning

SWR on 15m 2.5 at 21.030 MHz

Who Cares?

So in the days of auto-tuners maybe this isn't that big a deal except that SWR does eat some power in the coax and if your running low power then your 5w may become 2w without you realizing it.

For older rigs that don't have an auto-tuner like my Ten-Tec Century/21 I don't have to worry about tuning at all except on 15m.  It's also nice to just have the simplicity of transmitting into a wire without a inductance / capacitance circuit in-between.

Band change without re-tuning (except 15m)

So show me the antenna...

Images of wire antennas are not terribly interesting but here you go:

The apex of the antenna is hung from the peak of my roof.  The coax attaches to a 4:1 current balun with the positive side of the balun feeding the longer wire. The shorter wire is 44 feet long and is supported at the apex height of 25 feet by a birch tree in the front yard.  The long end of the antenna is 89 feet long and runs into the back yard. It is supported 12 feet off the ground by a fiberglass pole until I get a piece of wood permanently in place. 

To tension the wire I have a support rope in the front tree attached to a 5lb weight.  This will eventually wear through the rope and when it does I'll probably do it right and get a pulley up there. The support rope for the long end of the wire at the fiberglass pole goes through a pulley to a spring for tension.

80m Windom (OCF Dipole) hung from the peak of the roof
The line heading to the window is just rope that goes into the window so that I can pull it back to work on it, detach it, etc.

Long end of the wire (89 feet) is supported by a fiberglass pole about 12 feet agl

Back story

My 40m Windom had lain under the bushes for a number of years before being resurrected this past summer.  It was bare wire and the balun was likely wet, corroded and filled with critters.  Nonetheless I made hundreds of contacts using it QRP so I'm not knocking it too badly.  The issue I had was that it had gone out of resonance for a good match on the bands it was supposed to support and I had to use the ATU in KX3 to touch it up.  On some bands the SWR was as much as 5:1 so I was losing some power in the 100ft run of coax to my meager QRP radio.

When I recently picked up an old Ten-Tec Century/21 it had no auto-tuner and I'm not a big fan of manually tuning my MFJ Deluxe Versa Tuner II no matter how Deluxe it is.  It's just time consuming and if I answer a QSO after tuning around and see that I need to re-tune, well that's just a bummer with a manual tuner.  I'm trying to keep my costs down and using an auto-tuner with the old Ten-Tec just didn't seem right anyway so I wanted a resonant multi-band antenna.

I had an extra 4:1 current balun from years past and a fellow ham had recently given me a good supply of insulated wire.  I also wanted to get an 80m so that all played together to putting up an 80m Windom in place of the 40m Windom.   Only this time using some fresh parts.  That was a little over a week ago and I've had some time to play with this new antenna.

I've received good reports and finally am able to operate on 80m without the tricky tuning of my 40m Doublet in the Attic.

So that's all for now

Update (11-20-2015)

I originally only tested the antenna with my Ten-Tec C21 which had no WARC bands.  I was running the KX3 at the house yesterday and found that it also presents an SWR below 1.2:1 on 17m, 12m and 6m.  That makes it resonant without tuning and with a super low SWR on 7 bands (80, 40, 20, 17, 12, 10, 6).  That is truly an amazing antenna for those who don't like to use a tuner.  It requires tuning on 30m and 15m as it is natively 4.5:1 on 30m and 2.5:1 on 15m which is well within the capability of any built-in auto-tuner and easily matched by a manual tuner.

Update (2-11-2016)

I have been puzzling over the good performance from this antenna and updated information in this post:Feeling Skippy on 80m

Lower you power and raise your expectations

72
Richard
N4PBQ