HAM Radio – Page 8 – M0AWS Amateur Radio

22 May 202226 May 2022

IC-705 – Going wireless with Apple Mac computers

Since getting my Icom IC-705 I’ve had problems with computer noise causing interference when connected via USB. I solved the problem mostly by winding both the USB and coax cables around 240-31 ferrite toroids. This resolved the problem nicely on all HF bands except 10m. With further investigation I realised that the 240-31 ferrite toroid doesn’t provide much choking resistance at 28mhz and so a 240-43 would be better for the higher bands. This would mean I’d need a longer USB cable and coax to the AH-705 so that there was enough cable to wind around two ferrite toroids to cover all the HF bands.

Whilst this will almost certainly provide a complete solution to the problem there is of course another way around this issue. The IC-705 is a rare beast in that it has wifi capability built in. The wifi on the IC-705 is capable of operating in one of two different modes, Access Point (AP) and Station, a host on an existing wifi network.

Since I connected my IC-705 to my in-shack wifi I am using the radio in station mode for connectivity via wifi. By connecting it this way my MacBook Pro will also have access to the internet at the same time as connecting to the radio giving me the best of both worlds.

You can of course put the radio into AP mode and connect your computer directly to it via wifi however, you won’t have any internet access from the computer as it will be connected directly to the radio. This is how it will be used when in the field for portable operations unless you have a portable 3/4/5g wifi router.

Getting the radio connected to my shack wifi was easy, just go into the IC-705 menus, switch the WLAN on, pick the SSID of my wifi router and enter the password, the radio connects immediately. You will also need to switch on the network control option and also set up a user and password that is used when connecting to the radio from your computer. Refer to the IC-705 manual on how to do this if you haven’t done it already.

To be able to use the radio wirelessly from any Apple Mac computer you will need 2 applications, WFview and Blackhole. Both of these applications are Opensource Software, I’m a huge fan of Opensource Software and have over the years been involved in a number of opensource projects.

I’m fully aware that there is an application called SDR Control available on the Apple App Store for around £90.00 that can be used instead to connect to the IC-705 wirelessly however, I prefer to use Opensource software where possible.

Before proceeding with the instructions below make sure you have an up to date backup of your system. This installation and configuration shouldn’t cause any issues at all, it worked fine on my MacBook Pro but, it’s always best to backup before you install more complex software like this.

First you need to download WFView from the Download page, make sure to download the MacOS Universal package which was v1.1 at the time writing this article. Do **not** install WFView yet, the sequence of installation is important!

WFView Download page showing the MacOS (Universal) Package v1.1

Next download the Blackhole Virtual Audio Cable application from the download page. You will need to enter an email address and your name to be able to download the application. It’s not clear how much email/spam will be sent to you but, you will need to get at least one email to obtain the download link with the authorisation code in it.

Once you’ve entered the information and submitted it you will get an email with a URL enclosed, click the URL and goto the download page. On the page there are 3 options available for download, select the “Blackhole 2 Ch” option only. At the time of writing this v0.2.10 was the current version available.

Blackhole Download page showing the 3 options available

Once downloaded you need to install the Blackhole application first as it will create the necessary virtual audio cable for WFView to use to provide sound to WSJT-X and other digital mode applications. Installation is simple and follows the normal MacOS installation process. Double click the installation package and follow the prompts accordingly.

Once installed reboot your Apple computer to make sure it starts up OK with the new kernel module installed. When your system comes back up, login and open the “Audio Midi Setup” application. (The Midi app is in Applications >> Utilities)

Once the application opens you should see that you have a new audio device called “Blackhole 2ch”. On both the Input and Output tabs set the format to 48,000Hz. This setting will get the best results when using applications like WSJT-X for FT4/8 digital modes.

Apple Audio Midi Setup showing 48,000Hz selected

Leave everything else as default setting in the Audio Midi App, nothing else needs changing. Leave the Master volume at the default max as levels are controlled from the other apps.

Once you’ve set the 48,000Hz on the two tabs quit the audio midi app as it’s no longer required.

Next you need to copy the WFView app that you downloaded into the Applications folder on your Mac. Once in the applications folder you can create a shortcut to it on the dock by dragging and dropping the app icon onto your dock bar.

Next goto your IC-705 and go into the WLAN settings and make a note of the IP Address assigned to the radio from your wifi router. You will need this IP Address later.

At this point you are half way to having wireless control of your IC-705.

Start the WFView application and goto the settings tab.

The following settings need to be made:

1: Set Data Mod Input to LAN

2: Click the Connect Over LAN radio button.

3:Enter the IP Address from your IC-705 into the Radio IP Address field.

4: Make sure Radio Control Port is set to 50001

5: Enter the Username you configured on your IC-705 into the Username field

6: Enter the Password you configured on your IC-705 into the Password Field

7: Set Sample Rate to 48000

8: Set Audio Output and Input fields to BlackHole 2ch

9: Select the first option available in the Virtual Serial Port field. This should be as shown below:

/Users/username/Library/Containers/org.wfview.wfview/Data/Downloads/rig-pty1

Note: Replace username with your login username.

Leave all other settings as default and click Save Settings and then Exit Program.

You must exit the application in order to restart it with all the new settings.

WFView Settings tab showing all the necessary settings whilst connected to the radio

Start the WFView application again and goto the Settings tab. Click on the Connect Button.

Once it has connected to the radio you will see the RX Latency details etc on the bottom right of the window. Click on the View tab and you should now have an active waterfall.

At this point you have full control of your IC-705 wirelessly. Have a play with the application and get familiar with it.

Fully operational WFView connected to my IC-705 receiving FT8 on 10m

Once I had WFView operational I set about getting WSJT-X connected to the radio wirelessly. This is actually really simple to do and just needs a couple of changes to the settings to make it work.

Start up the WSJT-X application and goto the Radio Settings tab. On this page you need to set the radio to IC-705, serial port to that shown below (Also shown in point 9 in the WFView section above) and Baud Rate to 38400.

/Users/username/Library/Containers/org.wfview.wfview/Data/Downloads/rig-pty1

Note: Replace username with your login username.

WSJT-X Settings showing Serial Port and Baud Rate

Next select the WSJT-X Audio Settings tab and set the soundcard Input/Output fields to Blackhole 2ch. Set both Input and Output to Mono as shown below.

Click OK and return to the WSJT-X main screen. You should now be fully operational for WSJT-X digital modes.

WSJT-X transmitting through WFView to the IC-705

Once I’d made a few contacts with WSJT-X in FT8 mode I went on to try and get FLDigi working with WFView as well.

Unfortunately at the moment I cannot get CAT control working in either FLDigi or FLRig, neither will accept the /dev/ttys000 as the serial device however, I was able to get the audio working into FLDigi and even decoded some morse with it. I need to do little more work to fathom out why the CAT control doesn’t work in these two applications. I’m sure there is a way to resolve this but, I just need to put in a little more time to find the solution.

UPDATE: There was some concern in one of the IC-705 Facebook groups that Blackhole wouldn’t work after a MacOS update. I’ve just upgraded my Macbook Pro to MacOS 11.6.6 and BlackHole is still fully functional afterwards. The MacOS update has no effect on the BlackHole service whatsoever. So you can rest easy!

More soon …

20 May 2022

Resolving the IC-705 USB interference problem

Since getting my Icom IC-705 I’ve had a constant issue with interference on the HF bands from the USB connection on the radio when the AH-705 remote auto ATU is connected.

If I use the radio without the AH-705 inline there is no issue at all but, as soon as the AH-705 is connected to the radio there is some 9 S points of computer data noise across all the HF bands rendering them unusable.

Reading online this appears to be a common issue and so I set about trying to find a resolution.

The noise is most likely being induced onto the outer braid of the screen on the cables and so I decided to look into making a common mode choke.

Visiting the HAM Goodies website I ordered a couple of FT240-31 Ferrite Toroids as I’d read this particular mix is ideal for making common mode chokes.

USB Cable wrapped around a FT240-31 Ferrite Toroid to create a choke

I wrapped a long USB cable around the toroid and used some tape to hold the cable in place, it’s surprising how much length is lost by simply wrapping around what looks like a very small toroid.

Firing up the radio the noise was reduced considerably but, it was still there and so I decided to do the same to the coaxial cable between the AH-705 and the IC-705.

Coaxial cable between AH-705 and IC-705 wrapped around a FT240-31 Ferrite Toroid

Once I’d wrapped the coax around the toroid and reconnected the coax between the radio and ATU I was pleased to see that the computer data noise was now gone on all bands except for the 10m band. For some reason the 10m band interference is still as strong as it was without the toroids in place.

I’m not too sure why this is. I tried more and less turns on the toroid to no avail and so eventually I decided to just live with it for the time being.

At least now I can use 160m -> 12m without any interference whatsoever, a massive improvement on what I had before.

I need to do some more research on the different mixes of the ferrite toroids and perhaps trying a different mix will resolve the problem on the 10m band too.

More soon …

19 May 2022

Reverse Beacon Network (RBN)

Operating a QRP station can often make you feel like you’re not getting out when no one responds to your multiple CQ calls. This was the case the other day when I was trying out my new to me Begali Traveler Light morse key.

I was on the 20m band calling and calling to no avail, the band was open as I could hear other stations just fine so I knew there was traffic on the band. The SWR on my EFHW Vertical was perfect as it always is and so I knew there wasn’t a problem with the coax/antenna combination.

Wanting to know if my signal was indeed going anywhere I decided to make use of the SeeMe facility on the DXCluster that I use. The SeeMe facility effectively allows you to enable spots for your own callsign from the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN).

The SeeMe facility is easily switched on by issuing the set/seeme command on the DXCluster of your choice. Once enabled you will start to see spots for your own callsign from the RBN every time you call CQ using CW.

RBN Spots for M0AWS calling CQ on the 20m Band

As you can see above, I was clearly getting out very well with some great signal reports from a good spread of stations even though I was only using 5w of CW.

You can of course use the RBN website to view the spots if you prefer, it’s not quite as realtime as the DXCluster but, it provides the same information eventually.

The view on the RBN Website is almost the same as that from the DXCluster however, it also shows your CW speed in WPM. I was also surprised to get a spot from the USA at 8dB, that’s a good signal (Just over S2) considering I was only using 5w of power.

I came to the conclusion that no one needed an exotic M0 call for their log and so I went on to my normal search and pounce approach and worked a bunch of stations spread around Europe and Asiatic Russia. My little 5w signal did well and I was able to get through the pileups by using my slide off to the side technique so that my little signal stood out on it’s own. This technique works well when trying to get a QRP signal into a pileup and is used often.

Needless to say, my Begali Traveler Light twin paddle morse key once setup how I like it was superb to use, light to the touch, quick and responsive. Begali make such beautiful morse keys!

More soon …

18 May 202218 May 2022

Another Begali Key!

Since purchasing my Begali Pearl twin paddle morse key I’ve been looking to get another Begali for my IC-705 portable setup. Going portable means I need a key that isn’t super shiny like the Pearl, something a little more hardy would be ideal.

I was looking to buy the Begali Simplex Basic directly from Begali as it would be ideal for portable operations however, my lovely wife spotted another Begali key for sale on Ebay and pinged the details over to me to take a look at.

To my surprise the key for sale on Ebay was a Begali Traveler Light, the perfect key for portable use and at a much lower price than new.

I contacted the seller immediately asking a couple of questions about the key and got an immediate response, always a good sign!

It turned out that the key was being sold by Wallace, MM0AMV up in Scotland. Looking at his QRZ page it’s clear he’s an avid CW fan as he has two Begali keys. This was backed up by the conversation we had via Ebay messaging.

In no time at all I had paid the £170.00 including postage and was the owner of my second Begali morse key.

The key was in as new condition as described by Wallace, clearly it had been looked after well.

It didn’t take long for me to get it hooked up to my IC-705 and on air. After a little adjustment of the gap and return tension I had the key setup comfortably for my weird left-handed use.

The key isn’t anywhere as near as heavy as my Begali Pearl key but, it’s plenty heavy enough to stop it moving around when in use. This is of course is helped by the two fold out legs that stabilise the key firmly during use but, protect the paddles solidly when in transit. It’s a great design and a very unique approach to making a fairly light but, solid twin paddle for portable usage.

In the garden with my Begali Traveler Light and IC-705 connected to my EFHW Vertical for 20m

Once folded the key takes very little space in the IC-705 portable case and completes the setup nicely. IC-705 radio, AH-705 remote auto ATU, Begali Traveler Light, tripod and a few interconnect cables, the perfect portable station.

IC-705 Portable station case with plenty of space for future additions

Since purchasing the IC-705 I’ve found that I’ve hardly used my Yaesu FTDX10, which is strange considering the receiver, filtering, DSP and APF combination is considerably better on the FTDX10 than it is on the IC-705. The IC-705 has a much nicer, easier to use user interface and it’s just a lot of fun to use even though it’s only a QRP rig. I can see me having many happy hours on air with this QRP station.

More soon …

12 May 2022

300hz Filter for the Yaesu FTDX10

Since purchasing my new Begali Pearl morse key I’ve been wanting to install the 300hz CW filter into my Yaesu FTDX10. The radio comes standard from the factory with the 500z CW filter preinstalled however, being able to narrow the bandwidth down even further will help to reduce the ringing effect on noisy bands that often plaques CW Ops when trying to catch those very weak DX signals.

Since I had built up some free credit at ML&S by buying all my new radio equipment I decided to put it to good use and put it towards the cost of the optional 300hz filter for the radio.

In years past when I had a Yaesu FT1000MP I installed a full set of filters in it and it made quite a difference DXing on the 160/80/40m bands. Back then things like digital noise reduction (DNR) were in their infancy and so narrow filters were even more important than they are today.

Yaesu XF-130CN 300hz CW Filter for the FTDX10

The FTDX10 300hz filter looked very similar to the ones I fitted in the FT1000MP and it doesn’t look like they’ve changed at all over the years.

Removing the cover from the FTDX10 it’s immediately apparent where the filter goes. A neat little cutout in the RF shield draws your eye immediately to the spot.

Cutout in the RF shield for the optional 300hz filter

Fitting the filter is easy enough however, you do have to take care to move the little black wire to one side otherwise it gets caught under the filter and stops it from seating properly onto its connections. There’s not a lot of slack on the wire either so care is needed to not pull it too taught.

Note the black wire on the right hand site of the connections for the 300hz filter

I was surprised to see how small the standard 500hz filter is in comparison to the optional 300hz filter.

Optional 300hz filter next to the factory fitted 500hz filter

With the filter safely in position and seated perfectly I had the cover and 9 screws back on in no time at all and then got the radio powered up to check if the menu system had the option of a 300hz filter in CW mode.

Getting on air the filter makes quite a difference to the amount of background noise when listening to weak DX stations. Adding DNR and APF to the equation removes all background noise completely with the 300hz filter making it possible to hear the weakest of CW stations and complete silence in-between.

The bands aren’t in particularly good shape today however, I tuned around on the 20m band and found W7SW in Phoenix Arizona calling CQ. He wasn’t particularly strong but, it was a good opportunity to experience the difference between the filters without any DNR or APF enhancement.

Short video showing difference between 500hz and 300hz filters with W7SW calling CQ

Unfortunately W7SW disappeared before I could make another short video with the DNR and APF on to show the difference. I’ll revisit this again soon and get some video snippets up showing the difference the optional 300hz filter makes with DNR and APF.

More soon …

10 May 202212 May 2022

An evening of FT8 on the 40m Band

I spent the evening/early morning trying some FT8 on the 40m band taking advantage of the grey line and night time propagation. It’s been a while since I’ve stayed up late to catch some DX on 40m and it brought back memories of the all nighters I used to do when I was on air as F5VKM in France.

The 40m band has always been one of my favourites, there’s always great DX to be had when the band is open and on the grey line the world really is your oyster.

I’ve always been a huge fan of CW on 40m, there are some great seasoned op’s on the band and it’s always a real pleasure to QSO with them on the key. This time I decided to see what could be achieved with FT8 and 22w of power from my Yaesu FTDX10, a combination that should give me global reach.

Setting up at just past 6pm on May 9th 2022 the band was already busy with European stations, lots of them! There was no room to squeeze in and call CQ, the FT8 section of the band was packed with signals filling the allocation completely with many calling over the top of each other.

I decided to take my normal stance of search and pounce to get the stations I want to work rather than just working the masses endlessly.

I initially worked a bunch of Russian stations ranging from 1200 to 2200 miles out, good distances were easily achievable even though we were still in full daylight.

My home-brew multi-band vertical antenna worked well on 40m

In amongst the throng of FT8 stations I spotted UN3P, Vladimir in Karaganda Kazakhstan, not a country I have worked a lot since getting back on air and at 3013 miles it’s a good distance to achieve on 40m whilst still in broad daylight.

I gave a call to his CQ and he came straight back with an SNR report of -20dB, I sent him a report of -12dB so there was some 8dB difference between us. Considering I was only using 22w of power in broad daylight I was happy with the report. Of course I’ve no idea how much power he was using but, my signal was 6.63mW/Mile, not the lowest I ever had but, not the biggest either.

I worked a bunch more RA9/UB9 stations in the 2000-3000 mile range and then started hearing the Australian stations on the early grey line. Initially their signals were suffering some deep QSB but, it wasn’t long until their signals were constant and stable.

All the stations that heard M0AWS 09/05/22 – 10/05/22 on 40m

Ian, VK3VDX in Victoria was the first station from Oz in the log at -19dB/-20dB, pretty even SNR reports. At 10451 miles it equates to 2.10mW/Mile.

Closely following was John, VK5PO in Mallala South Australia, much stronger signals this time at -10dB/-14dB, 2.19mW/mile over a total distance of 10028 miles.

As darkness replaced light the propagation swung west with east coast USA and Canadian stations dropping in to the East coast of the U.K.

John, VO1BE was the first north American station in the log with -1dB/+1dB SNR reports. To be +1dB in Canada with just 22w really is quite impressive. I’m guessing he has a very low background noise level.

I worked a bunch of East Coast USA stations and then PY2GZ popped up on the waterfall. From my QTH I have a clear view South East to South West across flat ground for miles and so it’s normally pretty easy to work stations in that zone and this evening was no different. First call was answered and -10dB/-17dB SNR reports were exchanged, 3.68mW/mile over 5965 miles.

My 14.81m tall home brew vertical works superbly on the 40m band with tuning handled by my CG3000 Remote Auto Tuner. This is actually my 30m band EFHW vertical antenna but, removing the 49:1 Unun and replacing it with the CG3000 has made this antenna much more versatile.

CG3000 Remote Auto Tuner connected to the 14.81m vertical antenna and ground system

The next station in the log was BG0BBB in Xinjiang China with -9dB/-18dB SNR reports exchanged. China is always a hard location for me to get into for some reason so, I was glad to get another Chinese HAM into the log.

As the propagation started to swing westerly I got 8P4JP in Bridgetown Barbados into the log. It took a few calls to get the exchange completed due to very deep QSB between us but, with some perseverance the contact was completed successfully and I had a new one in the log!

I continued to work a flurry of East Coast USA, Brazilian and Puerto Ricon stations one after the other until suddenly stations from the east started coming in again.

First from the east was Igor, 4L1FL from Tbilisi Georgia, another new one for me that somehow seems to escape me every time I come across Georgian stations on the bands.

UN7JO in Ust-Kamenogorsk Kazakhstan was loud with me at -5dB SNR although I only got -21dB SNR back, some 16dB difference across the path of 3386 Miles.

One station of particular interest was VY0MEL, Julien in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Northern Canada. This is the most northern Canadian station I’ve worked in a long time and it was great to get him in the log. His QRZ page is worth a read, he works at a mine in Nunavut on a 14 day rotation and so has a fair bit of time for HAM radio. Using just a dipole that is strung between two shipping containers and only 60cm above the snow in the centre he was a good signal at -19dB here in the U.K, especially considering he was still in broad daylight.

VY0MEL Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Northern Canada

Needless to say I had a fun filled evening/early morning on the 40m band, once again it didn’t disappoint and I got a couple of new countries in the log. I think the next late night will have to be a CW evening on 40m to see how well I do in comparison.

The full list of stations worked over 9th-10th May 2022 using FT8 on the 40m band can be viewed in my WSJT-X log in glorious technicolour with distances and mW/mile figures for every contact.

Map showing all FT4/FT8 stations worked up to 10/05/22 all bands

More soon …

2 May 20225 May 2022

Begali Pearl Twin Paddle Morse Key

After my disappointment with the Vine RST-TP1 twin paddle that I bought and subsequently returned to Martin Lynch and Sons due to the poor build quality and finish I continued my hunt for a morse key.

During my conversation with Tony, the sales manager at ML&S one thing he did say to me was that if I was really serious about morse code then there really was only one key to buy these days, a Begali from Italy.

Morse Code has always been my main mode ever since I passed my 12wpm morse test and obtained my M0AWS A class licence, it’s a mode I dearly love and get a huge amount of pleasure from. (It also helps to keep the little grey cells alive in retirement!)

So without delay I googled the Begali website and started looking at their offerings.

Begali do a fine range of twin paddle keys starting from €131.00 +VAT and shipping right up to almost €700+VAT and shipping, far more than I wanted to spend.

Having spent almost £180.00 inc VAT and shipping for the Vine RST-TP1 and being extremely disappointed with it I decided to spend a little more to ensure I bought something of quality that was going to last.

After much research and emails back and forth with Bruna at Begali I decided to buy the Begali Pearl in Palladium and Gold with red paddles.

My Begali Pearl with Palladium base, gold top and red paddles, a thing of beauty

A couple of weeks after ordering the key arrived hassle free, a miracle considering the hassle Brexit has caused with import and export of goods between the U.K. and Europe.

Bruna at Begali assured me that they had a system in place that takes care of all the import taxes etc and that the delivery process would be smooth and trouble free, and indeed it was!

Upon opening the box I was taken by the sheer beauty of the key, beautifully finished, perfectly put together and well engineered. I knew this was going to be a pleasure to use before I’d even touched the paddles!

Being left handed I’ve had to setup both my Yaesu FTDX10 and Icom IC-705 such that the dit and dah are reversed on the paddles but, once done I felt at home with the key very quickly.

Having been out of the hobby for some 15 years my morse is a little rusty so I set about doing a fair bit of listening before trying to work stations. To my surprise I was soon decoding stations at 20wpm in my head albeit with a little more thought than it used to take but, accurate enough to have a go at working a few stations.

Working CW stations on 20m with the Begali Pearl Twin Paddle and Icom IC-705

Using the key is pure delight, it’s light to the touch, responsive, infinitely adjustable, comfortable and a joy to use. I knew right away that I had made the right decision.

At 1.7kg it’s a heavy key which ensures it doesn’t move around the desk no matter how hard you lean on it. I find the key really relaxing to use as it only needs a gentle touch to bring the contacts together. Adjustment is super accurate thanks to the very fine threaded adjuster screws that have been beautifully machined.

It’s clear from the moment you get a Begali Pearl out of the box that it has been made with care and pride, something that is a rarity today.

Laser engraving on the Begali Pearl Twin Paddle Morse Key

I’ve decided that this key is going to be my main station key and will spend most of it’s life connected to my Yaesu FTDX10 radio, that means I need another key to go into my portable case with my IC-705. I’ve already made the decision what it’s going to be, of course it’ll be another Begali, the Simplex Basic Twin Paddle.

I’ll be putting the order in very soon Bruna!

More soon ….

1 May 20221 May 2022

Vine RST-TP1 Twin Paddle Morse Key

I recently purchased a Vine Antenna RST-TP1 twin paddle morse key from Martin Lynch and Sons as I needed a key to get back on CW.

My wife and I always do our best to support British companies by buying local and U.K. products and produce whenever we can.

Before making the purchase I’d read mixed reviews on the the Vine series of keys but, decided to try and support British manufacturing by buying British, sadly I too was disappointed.

When the package arrived it was clear that it had been opened before and then resealed, perhaps already been returned by a customer before being resealed and shipped out to me?

The box had also been drawn on with biro, no big deal except for the fact that this wasn’t the only thing that had been drawn on.

Upon getting the key out of the box the first thing that struck me was the quality of the finish on the product, it was the poorest I’ve ever seen on a key.

Poor quality finishing on the Vine RST-TP1 Twin Paddle Key

Some of the metal surfaces had clearly been finished with a hand file, the finish was appalling. I’d be embarrassed if I had made something with finishes this bad yet alone selling a product commercially with such poor quality finishing.

The other thing I couldn’t believe was that a pen had been used to mark where on the paddle the arm should be attached. It’s one thing marking things up during production for alignment but, another when you ship the product out with permanent pen ink on the paddles. It looked like it had been put together by a 5 year old!

Poor quality finishing and pen marks on Vine RST-TP1 Twin Paddle key

I know that at £170.00 it’s not an expensive key and one shouldn’t expect high quality but, these are very simple production issues that could be resolved easily and produce a much better quality product overall.

Bent left paddle on Vine RST-TP1 Twin Paddle Key

Another issue with the key was that the left paddle wasn’t straight, no a big deal but, again attention to detail during production could resolve all these issues.

Another major issue with the key was the fact that the two gap adjusters were wound all the way in and had no more adjustment available but, the gap between the contacts was big enough to drive a bus through!

Any seasoned CW op wouldn’t be happy with the size of the gaps on this key and with the fact that there was no adjustment left it rendered the key useless.

Another issue with the key was the plug, it was the cheapest quality plug I have ever seen, it wasn’t even straight!

Bent 6.2mm plug on the Vine RST-TP1 Twin Paddle key

I called ML&S and spoke to Tony the sales manager about the issues with the key. He fully understood and even admitted that they’d had a lot of issues with quality from Vine and that most of the Vine keys they’d sold had come back because of defects and poor quality build.

He even said that he was now considering dropping Vine keys from their store as they are so poor but, I see they are still for sale on their website.

What is incredibly sad is that in the 21st century British companies are shipping such poor quality products when there is technology easily available that can produce a high quality finish without a high cost. I really don’t understand how a company can ship such poorly built products to a discerning market place and think it’s acceptable.

Needless to say ML&S arranged collection of the key and issued a full refund, excellent service as always.

So after being let down by British manufacturing I’m back to looking for a morse key to get back on air.

More soon …

26 April 202226 April 2022

A little IC-705/AH-705 fun

I spent some time this morning in the garden with the Icom IC-705/AH-705 combo connected to my End Fed Half Wave (EFHW) vertical for the 30m band. This is a great antenna that works superbly on the 30m band. Being a resonant half wave fed via a 49:1 Unun it doesn’t require any ATU inline normally and so it’s quick and easy to use with any radio.

Today I decided to disconnect and remove the 49:1 Unun and hook up the Icom AH-705 instead. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see how well it handled the EFHW vertical on both 30m and the other bands.

Icom AH-705 connected to the 30m Band EFHW Vertical Antenna

I purchased a couple of 5m leads for the AH-705 so that I could setup the radio on the picnic table in the garden and be a comfortable distance from the antenna. They worked great and allow me to use the radio in the spring/summer sun with ease.

Icom IC-705 setup on the picnic table in the garden

The little AH-705 remote auto ATU really does work well with the IC-705. Each time you change bands all you have to do is give a quick press of the PTT on the mic and it automagically goes into tune mode and matches the antenna to the 50 Ohm radio in seconds.

I was was really pleased to see that the AH-705 ATU matched the EFHW Vertical for 30m on the 80m, 60m, 40m, 30m and 20m bands with a perfect 1:1 SWR. With the antenna consisting of 14.81m of wire this makes it somewhat short of a 1/4 wave on the 80m band and I’m not too sure how well it will work. On the 40m band it is a 3/8 wave antenna so should work well. It’s a 1/4 wave on the 60m band and of course a half wave on 30m band as per it’s original design. On the 20m band it is just under 3/4 wavelength long so hopefully should work reasonably well. Of course it won’t be as good as my 20m band EFHW Vertical that has a much lower angle of radiation but, will make an interesting comparison.

The antenna also tunes up nicely on all the other higher bands including the WARC bands. On 17m it is getting close to a full wave length and on 15m it is just over a full wavelength and so should work fairly well on these two bands albeit with a higher than optimal angle of maximum radiation.

On the 12m band it is 1.25 wavelengths long and of course on the 10m band it is almost 1.5 wavelengths long. I’m not sure how well it is going to work on these two higher bands but, for a 14.81m long piece of wire it certainly gives me a good chance on a wide spectrum of frequencies.

30m Band EFHW Vertical Antenna in the breeze

The bands weren’t in particularly good shape this morning but, I found some SSB signals on the 20m band and so decided to see if I could make some contacts.

First contact was with S51DX in Slovenia. He was using 1kw into a 5 element beam pointed pretty much directly at me. The little IC-705 S meter took a pounding with him peaking +30db over S9 most of the time. I was really pleased to get a 5/9 report from him using just 5w from the IC-705 on the standard 7v battery. Of course his station was doing all the work but, it’s good to take advantage of these big stations when running QRP power levels.

Next I had a QSO with John, EA7JUR in Almeria Spain. But this time the battery on the IC-705 was pretty much exhausted and so I hooked it up to the 12v supply to get it charging whilst I was on air. This of course gave me the ability to increase my O/P power by 100% to a massive 10w!

I wasn’t so strong at John’s end, only getting 5/5 report at best whilst he was 5/5-5/9 with me with some QSB. John was using a mini beam antenna again pointed towards me so once again all the work was being done at his end. We had a good chat for a number of minutes until it was time for lunch.

Listening on the 40m band I did hear a very interesting station, KN6IPA/Aeronautical-Mobile. Justin, KN6IPA is part of the crew on a USAF KC135 air-to-air refuelling tanker that flies out of RAF Lakenheath in the U.K. He was transmitting from the aircraft whilst in flight over Germany. His signal was between 5/9 and 5/9+20dB on my vertical antenna and had a massive pileup of people calling him from all over Europe.

I did try calling him with my punchy 10w of power but, couldn’t compete with the huge pileup of very loud, powerful stations all incessantly calling. It was really interesting to just sit back and listen to Justin’s information. He was using 300w into a wire antenna that runs from the fuselage to the vertical stabiliser. Of course being so high up he had a massive advantage and could be heard for hundreds of miles with ease, hence every one and their dog was calling him.

Photo of the KC135 tanker that KN6IPA was transmitting from courtesy of his QRZ.COM page

If you look closely at the photo above of the KC135 that Justin is a crew member on you can just make out the wire antenna on the vertical stabiliser.

I have to admit that I would love to spend a few hours on the radio aboard the KC135 whilst it was flying around, just imagine the DX you could work!

More soon …

20 April 202225 April 2022

IC-705 and EFHW Vertical for 20m = DX

My IC-705 and AH-705 arrived today from ML&S, I wasted no time getting it hooked up to an antenna and started working my way through the manual getting to know the menu system.

After a few hours tinkering I piped up on 20m SSB and worked a couple of stations with ease using 10w. No problems getting through and to my surprise got a 5/9 report from both stations.

Later in the evening I decided to give it a go on 20m FT8 using just 5w O/P using the battery on the back of the radio that was now fully charged. It’s interesting to note that I didn’t need any drivers on my MacBook Pro to use the CAT and Audio via USB on the IC-705. It was simply plug and go. Much easier than it was with the FTDX10.

There was a fair amount of DX about on 20m including a few stations from Australia and Japan. I never managed to get a response back from either but, PSKReporter was showing that I was heard!

PSKReporter showing M0AWS being heard by BG7BDB

I also noticed that a station in China was hearing me too. BG7BDB in LinXiang City reported hearing me at -17dB. I quickly hunted around the waterfall and found him and gave a call.

To my amazement he came straight back to me and we exchanged SNR reports, 73 and he was in the log.

Looking at my WSJT-X log the distance to BG7BDB is 5467 Miles, at 5w O/P that equates to 0.91mW/Mile!

FT8 really is an impressive mode, it allows QRP stations to work the DX that just wouldn’t be possible on SSB. I have to say I’m really impressed with the Icom IC-705. The receiver and filtering isn’t as good as my Yaesu FTDX10 but, it’s an impressive little package. Portable operations with this radio is going to be a lot of fun!

More soon …