Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Kenpro overhaul and another final test

The Kenpro KR600 rotor that was originally mounted in my antennatower is much more complicated as the Create RC5 I previously had on the bench. I remember from 10 years ago I had a problem with the potmeter so had to check that out. Besides that all the lubrication hardened in 9 years without movement. So, everything is going to be cleaned and it will get some new lubrication. I measured the potmeter and electrically it is ok. Though mechanically it is broken, it doesn't stop at 0 and 500 Ohm but turns continuously. Searching for a new pot was not giving me satisfying results on google. The pot I ordered for the Create came from UKWberichte in Germany. So I checked that shop as well, and incredibly they still store some parts for the KR600 and have the 500 Ohm potmeter in stock.




PSKreporter 12 UTC
The previous test with my magnetic loop went well, I made one QSO. That was great. This friday evening I will do a presentation about the JT and FT digimodes at our local radioamateur club and want to do at least a receive demonstration. For this last test I built the portable station again in my shack and let it receive in the 40m band FT8 frequency. It is incredible what the magloop receives in one day! If you need a fast signal comparisation by the way, FT8 is a great "tool" as alternative for WSPR were reports are given much much slower. And these days I think there are more stations active with FT8 compared to WSPR.

PSKreporter 19:30UTC
Strange enough PSKreporter has a limit I guess. I checked this evening again and saw many spots erased although I checked reports for 24hours. When I look into the log it will only give you a limited amount of spots. This picture is from about 15 UTC till 19 UTC. You see, there are just too many on FT8. PSKreporter has a limit. So, if you want to use PSKreporter for propagation research you should check every 3-4 hours! I noticed interesting propagation paths. Like long path propagation to west-coast USA at about 14-15UTC (still light here). I saw Japan in the morning at 10UTC but also in the afternoon at 14UTC. I checked now and then on my phone but forgot the make a printscreen. Don't forget these are all received with my magnetic loop in the shack. This would be a interesting thing for SWL stations as well. Imagine if I connected my inverted-V or vertical!

I think the demonstration station will do well, however there is one thing I have a issue with and that is the WiFi connection with my telephone to update the computer's time. Still try to solve that....

2 comments:

Hans said...

Hoi Bas, mooi dat ze die potmeter voor je rotor nog hebben. Ik heb bij mij 10 jaar geleden die ook vervangen maar kon de potmeters nog vrij gemakkelijk krijgen.
Leuk dat je FT8 als een soort WSPR gaat gebruiken. Ik zal daar ook eens meer aandacht aan schenken want FT8 wordt steeds meer gebruikt.
Ik hoop dat lezing op de club slaagd en dat het een interessante lezig wordt. Volgende maand hebben wij bij ons op de club een lezing over digimodes.
Wat die tijdsynchronisatie betreft snap ik niet. Als jullie daar op de club internet hebben kun jij toch via wifi met Dimension4 de tijd synchroniseren, of ontbreekt er wifi. Ik hoor/zie het van je. Overigens als jij vlak voor de demo thuis je laptop qua tijd synchroniseert, lukt het best wel om binnen een paar uur digimode te laten werken. 73 Hans, PE1BVQ

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hallo Hans, wij hebben geen clubgebouw. De avonden die we hebben zijn in een dorpshuis. Ik heb daar geen wifi. Overigens is het voor portable gebruik ook altijd handig om een hotspot bij je te hebben. Mijn laptop wijkt elke 5 minuten zeker 2-4 seconden af. Dus wat jij voorstelt gaat zeker niet lukken! 73, Bas