Welcome to my blog styled "KN4LF Amateur & SWL Radio Autobiography". This site exists as an amateur radio educational tool. Amateur radio has done allot for me and this is one of my ways of giving back to our great hobby and service.
Amateur radio is a Fraternity. An order of gentle men and gentle women who share equal space in a common community. Ham's are the grassroots citizens of the United States and our "free to speak" voices are heard worldwide by all humanity. What we say, what we do and how we act is a mirror image of America to this alliance outside our borders.
I still believe in the concept of a brotherhood
through amateur radio. I still believe in the fraternity of amateur radio, where
I can meet a total stranger and we immediately hit it off
and become friends at some level. I still believe in elmering new amateurs,
though many new hams take offense when you try to assist them in learning how to
properly operate. I still believe
in international diplomacy and peace through amateur radio. I still believe in voluntary
public service. Unfortunately though I'm afraid that I'm part of a rapidly
shrinking group, a dinosaur!
I do have other hobbies besides amateur radio. They include space and troposphere level weather observing and forecasting.
Other interests include astrophysics, cosmology, gardening (flowering plants), geology, geomorphology, paleoclimatology, space plasma physics, theology and world history.
Here is one of my favorite astronomy/astrophysics
oriented websites.
Check it out it will make your head hurt.
My radio shack is 12' x 13' in size. It contains an electronics work bench, computers, radio and weather observing equipment.
I'm retired military, the U.S. Coast Guard. In the
military I did radio communications and troposphere level aviation and marine
weather forecasting. I also did space and troposphere level weather forecasting for some
private weather forecasting companies, other federal government entities and in
my consulting business. I retired in 2004 at age 47.
I also produce a free daily LF/MF/HF/6M frequency radiowave propagation
forecast. The forecast is very unique in that nothing similar to it is produced
by any other amateur radio operator, SWL, government or university entity. I
publish it every Friday at approximately 1600 UTC.
Amateur radio has done allot for me and this is another one of my ways of giving back to our great hobby and service.
G4ILO has written a piece of propagation
prediction software called VOAProp v1.1 It is actually an interface for the very
accurate but otherwise difficult to use VOACAP software written for the Voice Of
America and honed to near perfection over many decades. After you download VOAProp you then download VOACAP and the two pieces of software work together in
a seamless fashion. When you unzip the VOACAP file called
itshfbc allow it to install on your C:\ drive directly, not into the "Programs
Files" folder. The software covers 1.8-30 mc and the 120-11 meter shortwave
bands. BTW both pieces of software are free.
KN4LF DAILY SOLAR SPACE WEATHER AND GEOMAGNETIC DATA ARCHIVE
2008 KN4LF DAILY LF/MF/HF/6M FREQUENCY RADIOWAVE PROPAGATION FORECAST
& ARCHIVE
SUBSCRIBE TO THE LF/MF/HF/VHF/UHF FREQUENCY RADIOWAVE
PROPAGATION EMAIL REFLECTOR
I am the only amateur radio operator in my family. My grandfather of whom I was named after was an MF AM broadcast band SWL and owned an Italian language newspaper in New York City, NY in 1930's and 1940's. He had a 1960 Zenith Royal 50 all transistor portable (huge by today's standards) AM radio and a 1959 Zenith AM/FM table top radio. Both radios were purchased on "Radio Row" in Manhattan Borough, New York City. In 1965 he began letting me listen to the Zenith table top radio both day and night and this began my fascination with radio and The Beatles, as they were on AM radio at that time. He also was an amateur weather observer and forecaster as he raised citrus, of which I also picked up from him.
My XYL had an
uncle named George Friend. He was a very active amateur on CW, AM and SSB and
held the callsign W4MTU but is now a silent key. He also co-owned the local MF
AM broadcast radio station WPLA 910 kc 5KW in nearby Plant City, FL for many
years. When the station signed off at local sunset he would use the self
supporting 1/4 wave station tower on 160 meters and had a very big signal. He
was very fond of Heathkit equipment and had an enormous setup at the radio
station and also at his home QTH.
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My current rigs are two Icom IC-746 Pro's powered by Astron RS-35M power supplies and monitored with Autek Research WM1 SWR/PWR meters. My amplifier is an Ameritron AL-811 amplifier with three 572B's which easily puts out 600 watts PEP. Initially I used Icom SM-6 microphones but now use Heil iCM desk microphones, which are mounted on professional looking homebrewed booms. The iCM is designed for Icom rigs and at -3db passes 30 hz to 12000 hz audio with a bit of a peak at 4000 hz. I've received some very good audio reports with the microphones so far.
You can directly key a linear amplifier such as the Ameritron AL-811 and most other modern amplifiers with the Icom IC-746 Pro. The IC-746 Pro can handle switching voltage and current of 16 volts at 500 ma and the Ameritron AL-811 16 volts at 100 ma. However to be safe I use a rig to amplifier buffer interface. I use the Ameritron AR-704 and also a K4AVU interface. The K4AVU is a plug and play interface that does not require an outboard power source and costs only $33.00. You can see it at the link below.
On the receive side I use a pair of MFJ-392B headphones. The impedance is 16 ohms and the audio range on the headphone is 20-20000 hz and has independent volume controls for each can. This is my third pair of 392B headphones in the past ten years, as the first two sets fell apart electrically and mechanically due to poor construction. However my newest set seems to have been totally redesigned and much more sturdy. Of course only time will tell.
I also use an active noise canceling headphone made by Encore, model #ANC-01 with an impedance of 32 ohms and audio range of 20-20000 hz, that I bought on eBay for only $5.99, a once in a lifetime deal! They actually make copying CW under poor conditions easier!
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I also
owned an Icom IC-701, IC-735, IC-751A, Kenwood TS-830, Yaesu FT-101E,
three FT-840's, FT-990 and FT-1000MP Mark V Field. The FT-990 had the worst
receiver on HF due to intolerable hissing in the audio chain and IMD distortion
from nearby MF AM Broadcast band stations.
On 160 meters I found the Kenwood TS-830 to have the best receiver as far as
internally produced VCO phase noise, with the Yaesu FT-840 a close second
(seriously).
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HARMFUL MAN INDUCED CLIMATE CHANGE (GLOBAL WARMING) REFUTED
LAKELAND FLORIDA DAILY CLIMATOLOGICAL WEATHER OBSERVATION DATA ARCHIVE
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As I already mentioned above I'm very active on the digital modes on 160 through 2 meters using the Rig Expert Mini soundcard interface and the Tigertronics Signalink USB outboard soundcard interface to my Icom IC-746 Pro's. My first digital modes interface was homebrewed and I still have it but it does not allow for computer control of my rig.
I also operate a little on all MF/HF bands but am most active on 160, 80, 40 and 17 meters using CW, SSB and AM, both rag chewing and DXing. Most of my time is spent on the digital modes such as BPSK31/63/125, FELD HELL, MFSK16, OLIVIA MFSK 500/16, MT63, RTTY and THROB.
While on the subject of the digital modes there is an issue with the PSK mode that I am going to address. I've been operating the PSK mode since 2003 and I'm seeing more and more dirty PSK signals (as wide as 3000 hz versus 31 hz) than ever on the HF bands, especially on 20 meters. I always make it a point to work stations with a dirty signal so as to assist them in cleaning their signal up.
Most of the time they are running 30 watts or less and the problem is how they
are operating their rig, i.e, controlling output power with the RF output
potentiometer on their rig.
Unfortunately though too many newer digital operators are unwilling to do it the
right way and often get offended when you tell them that their signal is
dirty.
The correct way is to turn up rig output power for maximum ~100 watts and
control the power output with the rig mic gain potentiometer and/or computer or
outboard
sound card slider. I say control as in reduce output until the transmitted
signal is clean with no adjacent sidebands.
With my Rig Expert Tiny interface on my Icom IC-746 Pro using this method I can run up to 100 watts with no ALC movement and have a clean signal. With my Signalink USB outboard sound card interface I can run up to 150 watts with no ALC movement and have a clean signal. The performance of the internal sound card of the Signalink USB is very impressive, much cleaner than the expensive sound card in my computer.
I belong to a good number of radio clubs and organizations. I am member of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), #349 of the Pennsylvania/Ohio DX Association (PODXS) 070 PSK31 Club, member #141 of the Feld Hell Club, member #1723 of the North American QRP CW Club, member #3097 of the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC), member #691 of the 30 meter Digital Group, member #1243 of the Digital Modes Club a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Radio Club and Lakeland Amateur Radio Club.
Using CW, PSK31, RTTY and SSB phone my 160 meter DXCC entity worked total was 168, confirmed 158. I started over again on 160 meter DXCC on 01/01/2007 and my worked DXCC entity worked total is 86, confirmed 46.
My all band RTTY DXCC entity worked total is 134, confirmed 87. My all band BPSK31 DXCC entity worked total is 108, confirmed 69.
Using CW, PSK31, RTTY and SSB phone my all band QRP DXCC entity worked total was 81, confirmed 50, QRP WAS total was 50, confirmed 50. However I started over again on QRP DXCC on 03/04/2007 and my all band QRP DXCC entity worked total is 30, confirmed 15, QRP WAS total is 24, confirmed 13.
I recently purchased a U.S. Navy flame proof straight key. It has the orange U.S. Navy stenciled on the bottom and the serial number on the base is CMI-26003A. CMI means that it was made by Molded Insulator Company and the number is the model number.
I am also second owner of a non iambic paddle, the Vibroplex Vibrokeyer. It's a beauty with a serial number of 243902 that was manufactured in 1965.
I also do some of my Morse Code sending with a computer, sound card, keyboard, MixW v2.18f and MRP v4.061 software due to rheumatoid arthritis in my hands. At times I find it less painful to peck with my index fingers then to actuate a key. MixW is an excellent piece of software for handicapped amateur radio operators that want to send CW, the MRP v4.061 software not as good due to an increasingly outdated interface.
Though I can copy CW at 20 wpm by ear, when my
MFJ-392B and
Encore model #ANC-01 headphones
fall short the software assists me in detecting
signals below my local receiving noise threshold
when signals (QSB) fade and noise (QRN) is high and allows for good contacts to
be made 99% of the time. In any event marriage between computer and rig is total
at this QTH.
My radio hobby computer is a recently built generic PC with a 2 gig Celeron
Pentium Processor, 2 gigs of DDR RAM, a 160 gig hard drive and running the XP Home
SP3 OS. I also have a laptop for portable operation. It is a Toshiba Satellite A205-S5000 laptop with a 1.86 gig Celeron
Pentium processor, 2 gigs of DDR RAM, a 120 gig hard drive and the XP Vista Home
Premium OS. I connect to the Internet via a 15000 kbps down and 2000 kbps up permanent broadband connection. Besides running amateur radio related software on it I access callsign databases, DX spots, radiowave propagation and lightning strike data.
As far as amateur radio related software programs I run the following: N3FJP ACLog v3.0 for general and DX logging, G4ILO's VOAProp v1.1 and W6EL v2.7 for propagation prediction, EZNEC 5.0 for antenna modeling, Geo Clock v8.4 for sunrise, sunset and gray line mapping, MixW v2.18f and Digital Master 780 v4 sp4 b 1901 for BPSK31/63, FELD HELL, MFSK16, Olivia MFSK 500/16, MFSK16, MT63, RTTY and THROB operating, MRP v4.061 and MixW v2.18f for computer keyboard CW sending, Ham Radio Deluxe v4.0 sp4 b1901 and CATCI-V v2.5 for CAT rig control and Storm Lab v4.0 radar for thunderstorm tracking.
My station ground system is made up of 300 feet of #6 solid bare copper wire buried 3" deep that encircles my house. Attached are six eight foot ground rods, plus the three eight foot ground rods for the power mains, cable TV and telephone, my house copper pipe plumbing system and the city water system. The ground rods do nothing for collection of RF and are tied in per NEC standards for lightning protection.
Antenna #1 is a 288 foot horizontal full wave loop on 80 meters (3489.583 kc) that is made up of black UV resistant double coated plastic stranded #14 wire. It is in a square configuration with each leg 72 feet long and mounted 35 feet above ground at each corner. The feed point is in the middle of the leg that is broadside N-S. For 80-10 meter operation the antenna is fed with 122 feet of high quality #18 gauge stranded hard drawn copper 300 ohm window/ladder feed line. It is tuned by my link coupled balanced Johnson Viking Match Box (275 watt carrier/1100 watt PEP).
Antenna #2 is a 160 meter 1/4 wave inverted L that is made up of 129 feet of black UV resistant double coated plastic stranded #14 wire. The vertical section of the antenna is 42 feet tall with a horizontal section of 87 feet which points towards the NE. It is fed with 80 feet of RG-213U.
As follows is a photograph of the antenna feed point and radial plate. The gray watertight PVC electrical box contains the feed point connections that make the antenna magic work. The Teflon PL259 coax cable connector is water proofed using high quality electrical tape and also liquid electrical tape.
Though not shown in the picture below, at the feedpoint of the antenna I have placed a choke BALUN made out of RG-213U. The dimensions are eight turns (twelve feet) of RG-213U coax on a PVC form 6 1/2" in diameter. The choke BALUN prevents the feedline from radiating RF and also from picking up unwanted local QRN.
The ground system consists of eighteen 1/8 wave radials (64 feet) using #16 stranded bare wire. I also have nine eight foot ground rods, my house copper water pipe system and city water system tied in with the eighteen radials. Eventually I will get the vertical section 65 feet high. The radial plate was purchased from DX engineering and is of high quality stainless steel.
Antenna #3 is a K4TR D&G Antenna MFG. & Sales http://kk4tr.tripod.com/index-10.html three half waves (3/2) doublet for 6 meters made out of 28.5 feet of black UV resistant double coated plastic stranded #14 house wire. It has a G5RV type feed point arrangement with 8 feet of 300 ohm window line to a 1:1 BALUN and then 55 feet of 50 ohm hard line. The antenna has approximately 3 db of gain with a bidirectional broadside pattern. It is currently mounted at 25 feet above ground broadside NNE-SSW. The antenna is built like a tank and will hold up under most high wind conditions.
Antenna #4 is 1/2 vertical J Pole for 2 meters made up of soldered copper water pipe with the highest current point at 25 feet AGL, 115 feet HAAT and 218 feet AMSL. The antenna is fed with 25 feet of 50 ohm hard line. This setup allows me to hit most repeaters within a 200 mile range. The antenna was designed and constructed by Don Jeerings KI4EFL.
As far as receive antennas on 160
meters, I use an eight foot diameter balanced coaxial loop with the base
mounted at 2 feet above ground on a Hy-Gain AR-35 rotator and a KD9SV 160
meter preamplifier. It is fed with 50 feet of RG-213. Here is a photograph of the loop. Further down is a link to a
website that I published concerning construction of the antenna.
Another all band transmit antenna that I've had great success with in the past is the
switchable horizontal doublet/vertical Tee transmit antenna. For more information about it go to:W4TWW 160 METER BROAD BANDED COAXIAL INVERTED L ANTENNA
KN4LF
160 METER 1/4 WAVE INVERTED L ANTENNA
80 METER HORIZONTAL FULL WAVE LOOP ANTENNA
Last but not least, as far as QSLing I use ARRL LOTW and eQSL. I will
respond to old fashioned paper QSL cards if I receive them but no bureau please.
I long ago obtained mixed mode DXCC and WAS via paper QSL cards. I'm now also
approaching same through ARRL LOTW and eQSL.cc.
If you would like to save $$$ and design and print your own QSL card check
out this website link.
In my personal observation digital modes operators are dedicated QSL card
swappers and actively use LOTW and eQSL.
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My current modern receivers include an Icom R-75, Sangean ATS-909, ATS-818, ATS-505P, Grundig S350DL and Eton E10.
Older receivers include a Zenith Transoceanic H500 and Royal 7000, Realistic DX-60 and DX-100, Hallicrafters WR600 and S120, Sony ICF-6500W, Kenwood R-1000 and R-2000 and Collins R-390A.
However at the moment I'm
using my Icom IC-746 Pro for SWLing. Rig control is via Ham Radio Deluxe v4
SP4 b1901 and the logging program is B Log v1.1.
On the low frequency (LF) band, I've logged 100's
of part 15 LOWFERS, air navigation, marine and broadcast stations in 27
countries. I'm also active experimenting with DSP receiving software such as
Argo, Spectran, Spectrum Lab, etc. for weak signal reception. As far as receive
antennas for LF I use an 160 meter 1/4 wavelength coaxial inverted L.
On the medium frequency (MF) AM broadcast band I
have logged 1300+ stations in 43 states and 41 countries. BTW my first job in
weather forecasting was at a small 1 kw station in Florida, WDCF 1350 kc in Dade
City, FL. As far as receive antennas for MF I use an outdoor 5 foot balanced
coaxial loop and an 160 meter 1/4 wavelength coaxial inverted L vertical.
NOTE!!! If the following pro U.S. Military content offends you then feel free to keep scrolling past it. I support the "War On Terror" (though I feel that it has been mismanaged due to the rapidly spreading plague called political correctness) and I strongly support our troops.
Are you fat dumb and happy? Do you sleep well at
night in your warm and comfy bed because you feel safe and secure? Are you a
life long taker, not a contributor to our great representative republic? Well
check out how our military personnel have been living in Afghanistan and Iraq
while protecting our precious freedoms!!!
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