These are various Amateur Radio videos taken by Scott, WX0V. Most of these are of DX, and their signals into my station in the suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. My goal it to document their history; especially those DXpeditions that DXers may not see again for many years (or maybe never again).
All videos starting on March 8 of 2016 are dated in GMT. Videos prior to that are dated in Central Standard time, not GMT.
Thanks for a great instructional video!!! I'm looking for the winding experiments/tests suggested by K0SR - can you share a link or more info? I will start with 2:5 and see what happens but was curious about the 3:13 windings, as well. I only have 1 core to experiment with.
Sorry, but I do not have a link for more info on the K0SR transformer (it was shown to me live, by him), but I show how to wind it in this video. You can always order more cores, which is a good idea anyway as then you can experiment. Also, see the note about how to count "turns" in the comments here, as K0SR counted his differently than others (and that is what I went with on this video). Thank you for your kind words and 73! de WX0V
@@SuburbanDXing I did note the turn comments and will be experimenting! Thanks for the info. Explains why my search results were not getting me anywhere.
Big deal! I think ever since Kenwood released their TS440 the transmitters have made hardly any advances. Receivers come with more than bells. Listening to the IC7600 was a rather low value for money, the IC7300 become the new vanilla and the IC7610 is overengineering with old tradition, for that money I would expect some regular firmware updates for proper ham use and perhaps a HDMI output. Tapping the notch 3 times I could live with that. Buying an Icom is like getting a Lexus car, some engineer is making all them traditional decisions for you.
A premium radio, geared for DXers and contesters, should have an easily accessible notch button. Have you ever been chasing a weak-signal DX station, with headphones on, straining to hear them, with the volume up, and have a Lid drop a 10 over S-9 carrier on them? For me, I prefer to protect my ears and that is easier done with a move notch button. If you are not a serious DXer or contester, than yes, it is not a big deal. Thanks for your comment and 73 de WX0V
I use an old Glenn Martin 8 foot mini tower (which is no longer available, I'm sorry to report) and the mast is a steel fence post...I'm serious! It's been in place since 2007...73! de WX0V
You may find that the coupling capacitor between the oscillator and pa is too large a value. The original version called for 100pF, not the 10nF/100nF that you find in these kits.
I just built one to see if it has a better noise level than my NVIS 40 meter inverted V. Mine is 60 feet of wire with 15 feet per side in a perfect square configuration. I only use QRP so my transformer is only rated at 15 watts. Does it work? Well, yes definitely on 40 & 20 meters. Have not tried above 20 meters yet. Not good for 80 or below. But, while noise level is definitely deceased so is the signal strength in spite of having a reflected power indicated by less than 1.5 on my Nano Vna in SWR mode across the entire band of interest. I'd probably like it more if I increase its size to pick up the lower bands as well as it picks up 40 meters. On the other hand while the operator may not like the result of transmitting into it because of propagation issues I really don't think doing so, if reflected power is very little, will damage the radio anymore than transmitting into a dummy load. Also if your transformer can handle the power it should be OK too. It might be actually kind of interesting to give transmitting a go on the lower bands because I suspect it will behave exactly like NVIS antennas which I have in the past laid directly on the ground.
Interesting post. I have unintentionally transmitted into my LoG multiple times ("ready, FIRE!, aim") which usually results in a blown transformer, but if one keeps the power low it would reduce that result. However, if the goal is to be heard, the LoG isn't likely your best TX option. 😎 73! de WX0V
@@SuburbanDXing Well, yea, it depends on your aim. If you want to transalsntic DX the LOG would totally fail. But, if your aim is to communicate or rag chew with low noise and as good a quality as via telephone within a 400 mile radius NVIS is the cat's meow and I suspect the LOG will give you this. Yep, you can't give a 15 watt rated transformer 100 watts without a failure, but either use less power or heavier gage wire & multiple toroids stacked together such as 4 when considering 500 watts. Give it a go with a friend within a few hundred miles of you & keep the power within the transforner's rating & I bet you will agree to wow, that is a neat use of an antenna.
QSL! I always enjoy your videos. Thanks for sharing technical detail like fox and hound operation, splitting FT8 streams, and a potential WSJT-X upgrade. All very helpful, 73!
Poopy, indeed. It's currently 1327z with an SFI of 210 and 10 meters is anemic. The high bands have been ridiculously bad up here. Anyway, not dead yet...glad to hear you're still kicking, as well...73! de WX0V
@@SuburbanDXing glad all is well. The ta33 is on the ground and another few sections are ready to go up. I did pick up a f12 c3 and a 6m yagi so things may get a tad better but we sure need the sun the cooperate.
@@JayN4GO Cool on the Force 12. I know it's a pain in the ass, but a few videos on that build and install would be fun to watch. Easy for me to request, isn't it? 🙂 73! de WX0V
The 7610 uses a tiny relay to switch the receiver and pin diodes to switch the transmitter. Using a relay for the receiver prevents IMD that diodes could generate. Icom did an excellent job with QSK in the 7610. Not only is there almost zero relay noise but there is no switching artifacts coming from the speaker. In fact, this rig is quieter than anything TenTec ever produced. Tentec used a reed relay in their early models. Some were pretty noisy. The Omni 7 had a mechanical relay and it was very loud. The Elecraft K3 even had a tiny click about the same as the 7610. I never did trace down the source of the K3's click however.
Good information. In the 6 years+ that I have been using the IC-7610, there has never been an instance of distracting relay noise while using full-QSK. Zero. 73! de WX0V
Thank you for your kind words...I was a little concerned with the length and my non-related material (Joe Flacco) brought a negative response from a viewer, but so far, so good. It's the only detailed build video of this device; which I am loving, by the way. 73! de WX0V
Thank you for the compliments. I do not have any affiliate links here but just search for "1 1/4" Hole Black Nylon Locking Panel Plugs" (or whatever size you want) and you should easily find them. Mosley should source them and replace the poor-quality ones they supply with the antenna. It's an easy fix for an ongoing issue but they'll never do it. 73! de WX0V
Good point on the missing auto mode. At times I use different antennas for RX so auto mode will never be used here, but your point is totally valid...it is a feature of the switch that I probably should have covered. I appreciate your feedback; maybe more than you know...73! de WX0V
Fair enough...likes versus dislikes is currently 40 to 1...so I'll take those numbers and continue to do what I am doing. You can dislike this and move on to the other detailed builds of this device on You Tube (spoiler alert; there are none)...73 de WX0V
Thank you. I got the term "destructions" from an old grizzled salesman named Gary Huddleston in the mid-1980's. A group of young guys were trying to assemble something and he walked in and barked "WHERE ARE THE DESTRUCTIONS?!" I loudly laughed and have used it ever since. So there ya go...73! de WX0V
Cool. I hope your build goes well. So far, I love mine...it's great! No affiliate links here, so you'll have to find him on your own (very easy to do). I do not have any affiliate links because I want unbiased information given to my viewers...73! de WX0V
Not sure...perhaps the complexity is needed to work with the software and rig-control. All I know is thus far, the RAAS-8a is working beautifully. 73! de WX0V
Hello i took down the vertical at beach and replaced with 160m loop Much stronger but just as noisey as vertical I worked ve6sz the other night on 160m with 100w Im going back to beach on tuesday Watch the spots for me Im going to kyrgyzstan 14 march Btw could you hear 7q6m on ft8 I.e. his tone when he was sending? 73 bob Du7et Ex0et wt3a ve5te g0wet
I will keep an eye out for you...would be much easier if I lived in W6/W7...their paths to the west are fantastic. Yes, I could audibly hear 7Q6M during this opening, so he was workable had he been on CW. When I worked him on 160m (a different night than this) he was -20 so CW would likely not have worked. 73! de WX0V
@@SuburbanDXing thanks reply I have w0dd w0vtt w0ne cfm Mn on 160m Worked 1009 1030 1316 utc Feb Feb April My sunset 1000 utc I have peak and then peak 15 minutes b4 ur sunrise or so My goal is WAS 160 3 different stations I have most already Of ND RI DE places like that are tough Only 1 so far I'm still looking for TF for cq zone 40 160m cw that's why I go beach ,clear shot to EU , here mountain qth have mountain about 270 degrees from me, eu is 320 degrees 73
@@baikushex0et682 The timing is good as my sunrise is just before I leave for work...the problem is there has been very few 160m openings to AS/OC this season...very few...we'll see...73! de WX0V
Thank you for those very kind words. FT8 does require some extra commentary versus CW or SSB videos so I do try to add something...glad you like it...73! de WX0V
I like the Pixie, simple yet effective. Be aware there seem to be several manufacturers of the Pixie. When plugging in the headphones my audio shorted to earth and I had to cut the copper track to prevent it shorting. I destroyed the jack socket when removing it to confirm the problem. I put mine on 5.262 MHz. Best dx so far 180 miles with a SWL report for that QSO at 220 miles from Utrecht. 350 mW out. G4GHB.
Good information. I have not touched my Pixie in months, as conditions have been focusing on chasing DX that I need. Thanks for your comment and 73! de WX0V
Just toss an LM317 on a small piece of metal for a heatsink. Then hook it up to a 12/14V battery and dial its output down to 9 Volts. There's no reason to burn up expensive 9V batteries, especially as many of them these days that say "9V" are only specifying the form factor of 9V, and they only put out a bit over 8 volts. Besides, the internal battery resistance causes a voltage drop when you key, which causes the frequency of the oscillator to drift. A stiff supply voltage from a lead-acid or Lithium and a voltage regulator will help stabilize the Pixie's oscillator and provide a cleaner CW note. I'm an Extra, but I figured the odds of many other Extras hanging out on that frequency listening for a slow, weak, dirty-sounding CW note wasn't all that high. On the other hand, that is the only frequency that a lot of these kits are crystalled for, so if there are any other Extras willing to work a Pixie that's exactly where they'll be listening. The signal that you have radiating on receive is due to the RF output transistor also being used as the receive mixer. It leaks out quite noticeably. That was a problem for years with regenerative receivers. You can block it by adding a low gain receive preamp in line with the antenna, and using relay switching between Xmit and receive to bypass the preamp. The beauty of the Pixie lies in how bad, but functional it is. Because it works, but it has such glaring problems that it inspires the builder to fix the problems, one at a time. For instance, the AM broadcast interference can be solved by simply adding an LC in series to ground using a tunable capacitor or inductor to ground on the antenna lead-in. Just tune until the Am station goes away. Use 2 or more such circuits and tune out each offending station. Or simply look up a passive BCB blocking filter circuit online, build it and stick it in the antenna lead-in. There are simple, inexpensive mods all over the web to fix or minimize most obnoxious Pixie problems. I even added an SI-5351 circuit to mine, and a frequency display with TX/RX offset, (after I got the noise out of the display to make the Pixie happy.) That allowed me to cover the entire 40 meter band with digital frequency accuracy and stability. That should allow me to even use it for digital modes, especially since I built a board using a crystal oven reference, though I haven't tried it yet. I suspect there are hams who have managed WAS Awards on Pixies. It just requires a few small mods, RF knowledge, a good antenna, and some patience. You might try building about a 3 foot diameter tunable mag-loop with a low RF resistance, (fat tubing.) That will boost the Q and make the antenna very narrow-band, and solve a lot of bleed-over problems from high-power stations. I suggest to all of the hams I Elmer that they build Pixies when they get their General license. They cost less than $10 to build, and solving all of the irritating little quirks quickly teach the noobs all sorts of things about radio, and leads them to start experimenting, which has always been the heart and soul of amateur radio, (not to mention what the FCC intended for the service when they authorized it). I wanted more frequency agility on my Pixie, so I added an SI5351 circuit in place of the crystal, along with a display, which was noisy, so I had to figure out how to quiet the display.Lots to learn in the ham radio hobby. Plugging in $15,000 worth of appliances and talking around the world is the smallest facet of the hobby and entirely lacks the satisfaction of a 4,000 mile QSO between 2 hams running modified Pixies. I tell my students that after they've played with their Pixies for a couple of months and solved some of the problems with them they will have a much better idea of what attributes they might want in a more expensive rig if they decide they want to buy or build one. I learned on the unlicensed 1750 meter band that I could blanket 1/3 of the lower 48 states every day with an ERP of 5 mW and a 25 foot vertical, a lot less power than a Pixie. I just needed to know what I was doing. So now my 100 Watt HF rigs and amps just sit and gather dust and I build and modify little rigs built from junk-box parts, and I have a ball with them. 73
Thanks Scott, we’re having a lot of fun here in Guyana. The Jumping around was on purpose, to make it easier to copy a complete callsign the first time, since that was the first night on 30m.
@@dj4mx988 The jumping around was music to my ears...some ops just sit there and slug it out; making 1 Q every 2 minutes. Not you! You're spinning that dial and cranking 'em out...that's the way to do it!
No, not snow QRN, but that's a good guess. Snow doesn't effect the LoG, not that I have noticed in using for over 6 years (I installed mine in late 2017). Occasionally I have a local ambient noise source that affects the LoG (more than my usual ANL -Ambient Noise Level), and was doing so when this was filmed. The 6BTV is a surprisingly good RX antenna for 160m, and I use it frequently. By the way, I'm now going to use the acronym "ANL" to describe my noise, since there's so many hot opinions on "QRM" and "QRN"...73! de WX0V
Good stuff! Unfortunately no 160m here... I might have to go portable and try another day... Did you catch 8R7X on 17m FT8 today? Six streams all day, and loud! Unfortunately the pile was massive and I never made the QSO. 73 VE3GKT
The local guy that is usually active is a $$ collector, does reply to QSL's I needs lots of slots but only home from Hospital after Cancer surgery so in to much pain to try yet, hopefully they will still be there when next week I hope to be active,
@@SuburbanDXing no worries Scott I don't think many know who I am here, I just had the cells removed, I have to heal and the will do the Radiotherapy in a few weeks,
Only took me about 3 hours to get them. Like you said he was moving 1-2k after each log. Finally picked me out while I was brushing my rigs hair with my left hand 😂
They're doing a great job so far! This is a group of four young guys from Germany and the UK. Just worked them on 30 cw myself, with a decoder and FLDigi keying for me. Was 100% remote from the basement with the radio upstairs! Unfortunately I forgot to turn on Split at the beginning, but someone sent a reminder and I figured it out. 73 VE3GKT
Good catch. For whatever reason, they have not been that strong here. They should be quite strong on almost all bands given their location. We'll see...still very early on in the operation. 73! de WX0V
Hi there i have a TA 33M series WARC, and that looks exactly the same as your MP 33, so whats the difference?, i put mine up in 2001 the vswr on that is pretty good on all bands, its mounted on a tower about 40 feet up, its set for the phone portion of the bands, i checked mine with and MFJ analizer, and use a Weltz meter in line and it always very low on all bands...i use RG213 coax, and have a coax wound choke like yours...mine performs really well on all bands...73 from Fred g4vvq in England..
Hello Fred, I seem to recall that the difference in the 2 antennas is the MP-33-NW is a lighter duty version of yours, with a weight of only 29 pounds. It uses the same traps as your antenna and has the same power handling. My 15m SWR curve shifted in 2023 to a more favorable pattern. Mosley had some traps that may have had some metal fragments, which possibly caused an unintended curve, and I believe I had one of those and the metal fragment either fell off or burned off with heat. Either way, the antenna is operating well especially given the low height. Thank you for your comment and 73! de WX0V
@@SuburbanDXing Ok thanks, i hadn't actually heard of your model before, i am pleased with mine, had it up there a few years, it seems to match well, on 10mts its a bit low down towards the cb band but i can use the atu in the radio if i have to, it's good that Mosley say they can supply any parts for any of their antennas ever made..i had the d/e traps apart once but they seem ok inside, i normally only run 100 watts but do have an 800 watt amplifier, still withing the power limits..only use ssb anyway..have a good day from Fred in Uk.
Hello Fred...for some reason, You Tube blocked your comment. No idea why. I just set you to be approved for all comments. Anyway, sorry for the delayed response. 73! de WX0V
I go to Iowa State, which is the school where Purdy played in college. Sad to say it, but I was rooting for the 49ers just because of that. Practically the entire school would have gone nuts if Purdy was to pull it off. Disappointing, but it is always fun to see Mahomes do his thing. 73 de W0AAE
Purdy played well, and well enough to win, but tough to beat #15 in that scenario. Purdy is young and the 49ers have a great organization, so he may have another shot. 73! de WX0V
They also have seemed to have some sort of RX issues at times. Several times on both 10m and 30m CW they called CQ in the face of a roaring pile. Not sure if that was latency issues with their RHR ops or high RFI locally. 73! de WX0V
@@baikushex0et682 Some of their ops are remote (most of this will probably be FT8), using RIB set-ups...they have up to 30 different remote ops worldwide involved. This is really cool, if you ask me...can you imagine having 30+ ops for an operation?! They'll make way more Qs. By the way, I also use RHR as I remote into my own station at home from my work QTH (I am doing that right now). I can do FT8, CW and even SSB (with canned voice macros). I have worked a bunch of band slots that way. 73! de WX0V
He uses FT8 and CW, and switched to 80m CW after his run on FT8, but it was well after sunrise here. Still, FT8 or CW, when you see XV on 80m, it's noteworthy...73! de WX0V
