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Sunday, November 28, 2021

#CQWW CW 2021 - no inspiration

 

green=40m, dark blue=20m, light blue=15m, yellow=10m

I really had no inspiration for this contest this year. It might be the highlight of the year for others but not for me this time. There was no Dutch record that I could go for and so I had no goal. I decided to make at least 50 QSO and search for DX only. When 10m and 15m closed I tried some DX on 20m. But I couldn't really get the contesting feel. I decided to stop early with 52 contacts in the log.

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Friese 11 steden contest 2021 review

 This is a dutch language contest, open for international traffic. But since the content is only interesting for the dutch I'll write it in dutch for archive purposes. Main target is working the 12 multipliers and as many stations as possible during this 3 hour contest.

Event: Friese 11 steden contest 2021
Section: Outside R14
Logger: N1MM+ 
Station: Icom IC-7300 100W
Antenna: Inverted-V apex 12m

Dit is een erg leuke contest zoals altijd. Het is natuurlijk gaaf om direct te horen waar iemand vandaan komt. Soms kom je ook rare plaatsnamen tegen waar je nog nooit eerder van gehoord hebt. Net als vorig jaar kwam ook "oude zeug" weer voorbij. Zoek dat maar eens op...

Ik ben dit jaar wat anders te werk gegaan. Eerst maar eens gelezen waarom ik vorig jaar maar 10 multipliers heb gewerkt. Ja, dat kwam omdat ik lui was. Ik ging eigenlijk niet op zoek maar alleen maar roepen. Dit jaar ben ik begonnen met 15 minuten roepen, daarna 15 minuten zoeken en daarna weer 15 minuten roepen etc. etc. dat werkte prima. Vandaar ook denk ik dat de 12 multipliers weer gewerkt zijn dit jaar. Alleen maar "runnen" is dus in deze contest zeker niet de strategie.

Voor mij waren het moeilijkst te werken PA3DTY uit Bolsward en PA6VB uit Stavoren. Vooral PA6VB was erg zwak en soms helemaal niet te ontvangen. Ik heb het idee dat de meeste stations hem helemaal niet gehoord hebben. In de video hoor je hoe zwak het signaal was, het is het laatste station van de video. En dan heb ik vergeleken met de meeste stations een erg lage ruis op 80m.

Wat erg leuk is in deze contest is dat het er eigenlijk niet toe doet wie wint. Althans die indruk heb ik. Men wisselt gewoon zoveel mogelijk info met elkaar uit waar de multipliers zitten en welke stations daar zitten. Winnen is leuk maar meedoen is veel leuker.

Nu nog even het log nakijken en alle punten optellen, daarna kan het weer naar de organisatie gestuurd en dan wachten op de uitslag...

En volgend jaar.....dan doen we gewoon weer mee!



Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Paraset instructions new insights


 If you came to this article from a different source or link and never did read my blog before I would like to point you to my previous article about this subject:

https://pe4bas.blogspot.com/2021/03/paraset-instruction-manual-discovery.html

This article has also been published in a slightly different form and in Dutch in the local radioamateur magazine Hunsotron and in the Dutch VERON radioamateur magazine Electron.

It actually surprised me that I didn't write a follow up here on my blog so far. Since the guys from the Cryptomuseum here in the Netherlands wrote me some new insights about the document. They also published a high resolution scan and a reconstruction from the document in PDF format on their site.

I would like to write about the conclusions Paul and Marc from the Cryptomuseum made regarding my article and of course the valuable "Paracette" manual.

First of all I wrote in my previous story that the paper was "rice paper". But that seems not to be the case. It is a kind of very thin carbon copy paper they used to make multiple copies with a sheet of carbon paper between the sheets on a typewriter.( I remember my dad used this as well on his typewriter in the seventies of last century. )

The document is definitely a WW2 document written by an englishman. "TLK de JCB" should be "TLK de JCD" when you look at the letters closely. Unfortunetaly the letters are still a big mystery. The pencil written S.2441 probabely means the week that the set and or the manual was released. Like week 24 from 1941. A gamble is that the S means Sweden. Since this paraset with manual definitely came to the Netherlands from Sweden. The name "Paracette" was the nickname the french gave this radio. This radio was actually designed for use in France only. The idea to use this radio in other countries came at a later date when the SOE (Special Operations Executive, british secret service) got interested. The name Paraset probabely came from the original "Paracette" name.

Last weekend Paul (PE1BXL) from the cryptomuseum wrote me about more insights they got after reading certain things in the manual. Especially these sentences: 

… making sure that the correct receiving coil is in place.

… check all external connections and components such as coils, …

So far we all thought that this document was written for use with the common Paraset Mk VII. The paraset that was used most and is copied a lot after the war. But the Mk VII hasn't got any external coils! And so, Paul believes  that the manual is written for the original Paraset the Mk V.  

Actually the paraset Mk VII you see on many pictures on the internet and also in my previous blogpost about this subject might not be called paraset at all. This is probabely all a misunderstanding due to a book called "Sectret Warfare" from 1972. The information used at that time by the writer Pierre Lorain was not complete and limited. The Mk V was the first spyradio that was dropped above France. This radio was designed by the SIS (Secret Intellegence Service also known as MI6). The Mk V has been used in 1941 and 1942, the Mk VII came in service at the end of 1942. The parasets that came via the Swedish route in 1941 can't be a Mk VII because they didn't exsist yet. The "Paracette" manual is exactly right for use with the Mk V. Conclusion is that the OD and Dirk Rustema used a original Paraset Mk V.

Unfortunately, as far as Paul knows, only one original Paraset Mk V survived the war. The nice thing is that also only one original Paraset manual survived and is in my posession. Wouldn't it be nice to get them together at an wartime radio exposition?

Due to this last insights Paul decided to change the Cryptomuseum site. You can still find the story and copies from the original manual but now at a special Paraset Mk V page.

Find the difference between Paraset spy radios here:

https://www.cryptomuseum.com/spy/paraset/index.htm

Find all about the original Paracette spy radio here:

https://www.cryptomuseum.com/spy/mk5/index.htm

Sunday, November 14, 2021

PA-beker contest 2021

This is a dutch language contest, not open for international traffic. Since the content is only interesting for the dutch I'll write it in dutch for archive purposes.

Event: PA-beker contest section: SSB 2021
Section: high power
Logger: N1MM+ 
Station: Icom IC-7300 100W
Antenna: Inverted-V apex 12m

Dit jaar weer geen experimenten. Eigenlijk doe ik gewoon mee voor de lol want een beker of een prijs hoef ik niet. Het gaat mij meer om het meedoen. Voor deze contest is het heel eenvoudig: de 40m MUF moet gewoon boven de 7,1 MHz liggen voor 100-400km. Zo niet dan maakt vermogen of een speciale antenne niet veel uit.

Strategie

Dat is eigenlijk hetzelfde gebleven als in 2020, met als uitzondering het werken van novice stations op 40m. Novice stations mogen nu ook met 100W en tot 7,2 MHz werken. Beginnen met een vrije frequentie zoeken op een rustig deel van de 80m band. Dat is dus meestal in het gedeelte tussen 3,600 en 3,650 MHz. Dit jaar had ik geluk en kon ik net boven 3,700 MHz een plekje vinden. Dan gewoon een uur CQ roepen (runnen) daarna de band afzoeken of er nog stations zijn die ik niet gewerkt heb (ben ik vergeten, volgend jaar beter op letten, eventueel opschrijven). De MUF goed in de gaten houden en dan rond 11 uur lokale tijd een rondje 40m doen.  Als er dan stations gehoord worden bij voorkeur zelf weer gaan roepen en dan maar hopen dat er wat stations reageren. Rond 12 uur lokale tijd beslissen om op 40 te blijven of om weer terug te gaan naar 80, dat is de moeilijkste keuze en kan beslissend zijn voor de eindscore. 

MUF aan het eind van de contest...
De contest

Net als vorig jaar begon ik niet precies om 10 uur maar wat later. Dat maakt op zich niet zoveel uit denk ik. Ik ben eerst maar eens op zoek gegaan naar een rustige plek ondertussen een paar stations gewerkt. Daarna een uur zitten roepen met best redelijk aanbod. Rond 11 uur zag ik de MUF snel stijgen tot 7,2 MHz. Ik dacht eerst even een rondje 40m te gaan doen en dan weer terug te keren naar 80m voor de ontbrekende stations/multies. Ik had alleen zoveel aanbod op 40m dat ik pas rond 12:15 even op 80m ben gaan kijken voor ontbrekende stations. Maar hoorde er eigenlijk geen stations. Heb nog wel 5 minuten geroepen maar geen enkele verbinding kunnen maken, weer snel terug naar 40m. De condities op 40m waren zo goed dat ik dit jaar meer QSO's maakte op 40m als op 80m. Dat is in de voorgaande jaren nog nooit gebeurd.


Doelen

Doelen stellen in deze contest is moeilijk. Het geheel hangt af van de condities op 40m. En die zijn moeilijk te voorspellen. Doelen had ik eigenlijk niet. Mijn doel was gewoon plezier hebben en zoveel mogelijk bekenden te werken. Achteraf heb ik het misschien nog niet eens zo gek gedaan. Immers doordat de novice amateurs nu meer ruimte en vermogen hebben op 40m is de kans dat je veel stations/multies kan werken op 40m ineens veel hoger geworden. Dat ik dus dit jaar meer stations op 40m gewerkt heb is dan misschien ook logisch.

Opvallend

Ik ben er zelf ook al eens mee de fout in gegaan. De organisatie van de contest kijkt streng naar de regels. Met name de gebruikte frequenties. Toch zag ik via het DXcluster diverse stations gemeld tussen 7,100-7,130 MHz, een verboden gebied volgens de regels. Helaas voor deze stations maar alle verbindingen in dit frequentie gebeid zijn ongeldig.

Saturday, November 13, 2021

SEGA Mega Play restoration - power supply

 

  Decided to remove the motherboard to clean and inspect. Insert the new battery on it with emergency repair. So far I don't see any malfunctions. 

Besides that I could test the powersupply and hopefully the high voltage TV monitor screens without damaging the motherboard eventually.





  I managed to power the powersupply through the variac. Slowly increased the voltage on it. So far everything went well. Checked all the voltages and they seem to be correct on all outputs. Can't figure out what the big transformer output is. Also I don't know what it is for exactly? Following wires is almost impossible, it is just one big spagetthi. I noticed safety switches at all the doors, this might be a trigger for supplying voltage to te rest of the equipment.







  Anyway, I decided to measure light fitting voltages first. Fittings are there, bulbs are gone! Assuming these could be 12V car lights but could not measure any DCV on it. Could be ACV of course. Then I touched the frame when measuring one of the poles by accident. Everything went dark....

I stopped for today....will have another a try tommorow.

Thursday, November 11, 2021

SEGA Mega Play restoration

Not about HAMradio this time. I really wish to spend all my available free time to build HAMradio stuff but real live is of course not like that. We have other things to do as well, not less interesting though.

 This SEGA Mega Play arcade system was brought by a friend and ex colleague almost 10 years ago. If I could take a look at it if time allows, no pressure. So, there it still stands in my garage after a decade I think it is time to have a look at it.







This system is from 1993. No SMD parts, lots of microswitches, high voltage TV screens that kind of stuff. All locks are broken like someone was desperate to find money. Yes, this old gear plays on vintage dutch guilders. And while inspecting and trying to clean some parts I found, as a surprise, 2 dutch guilders...

However my big concern is connecting power to this object since it hasn't been powered for over a decade. And I really don't know when it has been powered before I got it here. So I have to take extreme care before I switch this machine on.

Made some interior photos to show.

This is the motherboard. It seems it is used in more types of SEGA arcade machines. First thing I noticed was a very rusty CR2032 battery. Of course I broke the plastic fitting bracket when I tried to remove it, but that is repairable. Tried to remove the dust from the components with a brush but it seems to be pretty sticky. Compressed air didn't do the trick either. Any hints on how to clean this printboard? I already checked for faulty caps but so far they all look pretty decent.

By the way, looking for information on these motherboards I saw them sold with just one game in pristine condition for at least $2500 on eBay. Wow!


All switches are the same micro format, even in the joysticks. Luckely these are easy to get if some will malfunction. I noticed on that was partly broken but could fix it with a ty-rap.

Push buttons could only be pushed once, they just were that sticky. This kind of arcade machines could be found in lunchrooms and cafetarias/grillrooms. No wonder they are sticky. After cleaning them all is ok now.

Reading some tips & hints about restoring old electronic transistorized equipment I found some usable tips for my project.

First of all I should connect the power supply through a variac (variable mains transformer). I find a reasonable prized one on the internet



This system contains a main transformer which I think feeds some auxillairy equipment like lights etc. and a multivoltage powersupply unit that probabely powers the motherboard. More photos from that in another post.

My biggest concern is not the transformer and the multivoltage unit but the 2 high voltage TV screens. I inspected and tried to clean the electronics behind the smallest screen tube. But so far didn't find a way to access the big screen electronics yet.

My idea is to continue cleaning the motherboard. Disconnect all connections from the powersupply. Disconnect the screens from the mains feed by pulling the fuses. Adding mains voltage slowly to the powersupply and measure all outputs first when reaching 230V in. Then connect the TV screens one by one adding again voltage slowly with the variac till 230V. If those are working I'll connect the motherboard.


Since I have no experience restoring this kind old equipment all tips are welcome. Please let me know in the comments below. I especially would like to know how to safely clean the motherboard without damaging the components. I guess placing the thing in the dishwasher is not a good idea ;-).

Thursday, November 4, 2021

#CQWW DX SSB Contest 2021 review

 


Event: CQWW DX SSB contest 2021

Section: SO Low Assisted 10M

Logger: N1MM+ 
Station: Icom IC-7300 @100W
Antenna 1: 10m LFA @14m
Antenna 2: Multiband vertical @16m
Antenna 3: 2x20m inverted-V doublet

Wow, what a great CQWW SSB contest it was. I really concentrated my efforts to 10M this time. The amount of QSOs on 80m is from running in the evening since 10M was open late and closed early. But when 10M was open it was really open.

Yellow: QSOs made on 10M

Can't remember I had such long runs to the USA ever before. Thanks to some DXcluster spots of course. But also heard from several stations I had an excellent signal. Stations kept coming for at least an hour with a rate of about 75/h it was not like a 80m run (120/h) but very nice for 10m.


I worked some nice DX on other bands as well. But my main focus was 10m. In previous years I made a list per band from interesting DX worked, this year I will only take the 10m band.

Most interesting DX worked: CB8E (Chile), PZ5RA (Surinam), V26B (Antigua&Barbuda), VP9I (Bermuda), HC5VF (Ecuador), OX7A (Greenland), HD8R (Galapagos Isl.), V3A (Belize), 7P8RU (Lesotho), PJ4K (Bonaire), PJ2T (Curacao), V51JP (Namibia), 7Q6M (Malawi), 5Z4VJ (Kenya), VK6N (Australia), BA7LOK (China), HS5NMF (Thailand), VU2DED (India), ZS9Z (RSA), PY0F (Fernando de Noronha), NP2X (US Virgin Isl.), FG5GP (Guadeloupe), D4F (Cape Verde), FR4KR (Reunion Isl.), YF9PBZ (Indonesia), FY5KE (French Guyana), HL2WA (South Korea), JA6MWW (Japan), 9G5FI (Ghana), VR2T (Hong Kong), UN4L (Kazachstan)

Worked much more DXCC but personally above are the most interesting from my point of view.

But the most memorable contact during the contest was actually made by accident. I was tuning in near 29MHz and noticed I could hear some FM signals from the USA. Then I heard AE7KI Gerry from Tennessee calling on 29.600MHz FM with a 57 signal. I just gave him a shout and we made a short QSO. This was my first FM QSO with the USA ever. You can imagine how signals from the US came in here.

Hopefully the 10M propagation will be just as good during the ARRL 10M contest in December...