HEXBEAM

Today was very nice weather after cold rainy days.
My ham friend JF1OSL who is also my big boss at office has been planning to install HEXBEAM since several months ago. However, he could not isntall it due to his busy work or bad weather, etc.
Then, finally today, the HEXBEAM has been installed on his roof top.
I visited his house 9:30AM, then started assembling.
Another friend JR1NHD joind around 11AM, then we could finish assembly before 1PM.
After that pro-worker made final installation on the top of the mast.
Around 5PM, it's up and running successfully.
Congratulations & FB DX!

G3SED

I worked with G3SED, Mike. He is the 1st G station on 40m!

QRG:7010.3KHz, CW.
He was 400W rotaly dipole 28meters high.
My power was 150W with 2 ele HB9CV.

Condition seems very nice and fortunately noise level was very low this eveing here.

I hope band condition will be much better and more stable, and then the day that I can do long chat with G stations and other deep European countries easily will come soon!

Mt.Fuji from Yamanakako

Today, WX was very fine from the morning, so we decided to go Yamanakako lake through Doushi-keikoku valley road.

Autumn leaves were best at Doushi valley but already finished at Yamanakako. View of Mt.Fuji from Yamanakako was wonderful.
My wife and I have been refreshed!

Place:Lake Yamanakako, Yamanashi-pref. JAPAN
WX: vy fine, temp 13C at noon but wind blowing down from Mt.Fuji was very cold.


The voice "Samui!" (or "Cold!" in English) is recorded at the end of video. :-p

Evening glow

After long rain, it became clear this afternoon.
And look! What a beautiful eveing glow here!

Here is viedo clip　360 deg view from roof balcony.
At 16:30 Locat time.

9M2ADX

My friend Kazu, JH8PHT is staying 9M2 for his business and recently got 9M2ADX.
Today he and his friends in JA tried 1st ever QSO with his new callsign.

Unfortunately his signal was not so loud today, we barely worked on 20m band but cloud not work on 15m band.

Hope to see him on the air in better condition soon.

Here is some sound file of our QSO.

CW QSO on 20m band (Wkd wid 9M2ADX)


SSB on 15m band (JA only)

Hida-Shirakawa-Kanazawa Bus tour

Last weekend, I've been Hida-Takayama, Shirakawa-go, Kanazawa, etc by bus tour with XYL and daughter.
We got up in the ver early Saturday morinig and went to Shinjuku terminal by train then get on the tour bus there. Tour started 7AM from Shinjuku.
Before 1st destination Takayama we short stopped at a parking near Kamiko-chi. The mountains are already covered by colourful leaves.


At Takayama, we ate Takayama ramen.
Delicious!


Then we walk around Hida-Takayama old town.



Very nice red leaves of "Momiji"a kind of maple.


Next we visited Shirakawa-go, a wolrd heritage, where old Japanese houses are preserved.



Next day (Sunday), we visited Kenroku-en, a traditional Japanese Garden in Kanazawa-prefecture.


Here is Kanazawa-jo castle.


The last one is Higashi-chaya-machi, a traditional amusement center in Kanazawa.

HIGASHI means EAST.


Finally we drive along seaside of Nihon-kai or Japan sea.

It was very short but concentrated trip. It was fun but tired. zzz

XYL operates CW Contest

Today XYL tried CW contest for the first time.
It was Let's A1 Contest, only straight key is allowed to use.




I was busy for logging :-)

HB-1A QRP Rig

I bought HB-1A, a 3-band (40/20/30m bands) 4W QRP transceiver, made by BD4RG.
It was 24800JPY including transportation and handling charge through ICAS Enterprises.

Its clear LCD display indicates,
- Frequency with full digit.
- input DC voltage,
- S-meter level


Inside view, mostly SMD is used.



Comparing with similar concept rig, KX1 side by side.
Size: KX1 is smaller than HB-1A
Weight: KX1 is lighter tha HB-1A.
Material:HB-1A's case is made of iron.
KX1's case is made of Alminum.
Functions: No RF Gain control on HB-1A
Continuous RF Gain control on KX1.

4 filter setting (900/700/500/400) on HB-1A.
Continuous setting from 500Hz to 2KHz on KX1.

KX1: Many commands are available for user
HB-1A:Very few commands are open to the user.

Following video clips were recorded on 40m band.
HB-1A have inter-mod from to strong broadcasting signal.
ATT must be on for normal operation under strong signal in the same band.
KX1 has much better inter-mod performance.

Alberto I1QOD Bug

I1QOD Alberto makes excellent bug and paddles in Italy.
I found his reputation on eham.net 3 mmonths ago and I ordered one of his bug keys.
3 months have been passed and the key finally arrived at my house last week!
It is all brass standard version. It's shining gold on my operation desk!

This is the first time to use double lever type for bug key.
I need more practice to become familiar with it.
But I can't wait to show up on the air :-)

Calling CQ (1)


Little faster! This is my max. speed (^^;


I used this bug key only few hours so far, but it is obiously the most excellent bug key that I have ever used.
This bug key is the best for QRQ operator.
Since I'm not QRQ operator now, I must keep K4VIZ Right Angle Bug for ordinary speed operation.



Yesterday, I worked two US stations on 14050KHz, I called CQ SKCC there, I put QRV info on K3UK SKED PAGE

ACAG Contest from Nagano

On this weekend Oct-10th & 11th, 2009, I went to JA0 area with 7 friends from A1 Club.
During this weekend, All City & All Gun Contest, one of the major domestic contest is held by JARL.
We operated A1 Club station JO1ZZZ at wonderful cottage owned by one of my friend.
The cottage is very large and land estate is wide enough to deploy a full size 160m band dipole.
As expected, we started drinking before start of the contest...:-p

HAMFAIR 2009 report

Japan's biggest ham festival HAMFAIR 2009 has been held at Tokyo Bay area international exhibition center "Big Sight" on 22 and 23 of August.
A1 Club presented their own booth and distributed an original CW tuning indicator kit, also demonstrated Morse Code especially to kids and beginners.
At the club dinner so called "QRM Party", 36 members were gathered including F5EIC Jean-Luc from France and VR2XMC Johnny from HongKong. It was really a kind of "QRM" party. Hi
Some of photos are shown in our Japanese page as follows;
http://a1club.net/HAMFAIR/hamfair2009/hamfair2009.htm

I hope to see more participants from overseas next year!
See U then!

Below is a photo of CW friends. From the left, JJ1TTG Aki, me, JJ8KGZ Leo and JA1NUT Shin.

Atsu, JE1TRV

QSO Party in Expanded 40m Band

From July, 10th till July 20th, Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) helds QSO party in the expanded segment of 40m band.
Since March 30th, 2009, The Japanese amateur 40m band has been expanded from 100KHz (7.000-7.100MHz) to 200KHz (7.000-7.2000MHz) and the QSO party this time celebrate it.
Rule of the QSO party is shown in the JARL website [HERE].

I cannot find English version of the rule but DX station may participate this party.

Dear all DX amateurs!
Please tune your xcvr to 7.100MHz and up and please call JA stations, they are calling "CQ 7QP".
Required exchange is just RST only.

Thank you in advance and see you on 7.1MHz and up!

de JE1TRV, Atsu

A1 Century Club Award

QTC to all CW loveres!
On the day of 2009-06-13, A1 CLUB announced in their homepage that they starts A1CC (A1 Century Club Award).

There are two categories, Special and Original.
"Special" may be applied by all amateures, "Original" is issued for A1 Club member only.

The rule is very simple, in case of "Special" category, you should just make CW QSO as many as possible and in the application you must include at least 1/5 of A1 Club member.
Award is issued from 100 points by 100 point step.
In case you apply A1CC-100, you must make at least 100 CW QSOs with different callsigns, and at least 20 QSOs shall be A1 Club member.

In case of "Original", all QSOs must be made with A1 Club members only.
So you need to work with at least 100 A1 Club members for "Original-100".

For details please refer here.

New K3 arrived!!!

As I wrote the other day, my K3 #1070 had problem on receiving even after repair work in Elecraft.
I could not believe that, because the symptom is clearly observed only when decent real antenna is connected and receive real signals.
First I reported the fact to the person who carried out the repair work.
In response to my report he started to ask me "what is the symptom".
I thought "Oh please stop such story again?" so I just say the symptom is just the same as before repair and I sent same symptom report that was made before repair.
After that, no reply from that person.
Then I sent e-mail to a person in charge for the Sale department asking replacement of equipment. But no reply at all.

Then I deceided to sent e-mail to to-management both Eric & Wayne.
Wayne, N6KR replied immediately even it was midnight there in USA.
After several correspondences, Wayne decided to send new K3 for replacement.

It was arrived 3 days ago．
As soon as I opened the box, I connected power and antenna then received 40m band.
The receiver was OK!. But... transmit...problem again!! "END" message is always pop up on the sub LCD and cannot transmit.
What's happen!? Give me a break...
I read the operation manual but no instruction about "END" message.
I made initialize (EEINIT) but no change.
It was already midnight in Tokyo, so I took the symptom by video and reported to Wayne before sleep.
Next morning, new firmware version 3.15 had been arrived in my mailbox.
I installed the new F/W then the K3's transmit function became normal.
I sent e-mail telling everything seems OK to Wayne then rushed to work.

It was very log time and berden plus some extra expenses.
I regret why Elecraft could not find the symptom at the first repair.
It is clear that the repair return had been a wast of time and cost.
If they connect decent antenna placed outdoor and receive real world, I believe they could find the problem.

On the other hand, I really appreciate Wayne's great support.
He is really a trademark of Elecraft!!
Now I'm happy and can keep good impression on Elecraft.
Thank you very much Wayne.

PS. I hope Elecraft will not charge transportation cost for this case :-)

Spider-Beam Antenna (3)

This is the 3rd time post about the Spider-Beam after some months silent.
I've been no work on that antenna since it was cold for outdoor work. But after spring, I was reluctant to work with that antenna.
Beacuse I must measure and cut all 9 elements (3ele for 3 bands) from one signle wire reel. Also, instaruction manual is not so kind enough for me.
However, I managed to measure and cut and terminate all elements and other parts including KW bulun, etc the week before.

And finnaly, I found a nice wide open space near my home in Machida, Tokyo, So I tried to assemble the Spider-Beam on the ground.









All booms are assembled. It took more than one hour. And I gave up to continue assembly since the lenghth between blun and 15m & 17m band's radiator was too long and needs re-work on mounting of blun on th mast.


After trial assembly, I found the base hub plate had damaged as shown in the photo below. The hub plate seems too thin to support moment during installation.

K3 returned after repair but...

On May 3rd, my K3 #1070 has been arrived from US after repair.
The TAT was 39 days including go & return transportation lead time.

According to the Elecraft's repair report, they replaced RF Board and confirmed all performances meet their published specifications.

HOWEVER, UNFORTUNATELY, I found that the K3 still has problem.
Very high noise and terrible intermodulation interference on all bands except 20m band is still observed.

I was totally disappointed.

Yesterday, I reported this info to the Elecraft's enginner who wrote the repair report.
Today, I received reply from Elecraft engineer and he is asking symptom. I sent all correspondences that I communicated with another Elecraft man before repair, since the symptom is not changed at all before and after repair.

Google Top Page changed for S.Morse's B-Day

Today April 27, 2009 is the 218th Birthday of Samuel F.B. Morse who is an inventor of Morse Code.

What QRJ stands for?

I read an article written by JK1OPL on the latest Japanese CQ Hamradio magaizne (May 2009 issue). In the article, he introduces Q-code "QRJ".
I've never heard such Q-Code "QRJ".
In the article it is explained that QRJ means "Your signal is too weak to continue QSO." something like that.

I searched "QRJ" by internet and found the site where ITU regulations are listed:
Here
According to this site, QRJ stands for
"How many radiotelephone calls have you to book?" in question style.
"I have ... radiotelephone calls to book." as answer.

Which one is correct?

K3 Forced Repatriation

After one week investigation at local K3 holder's shack with Elecraft engineering support by e-mail, my K3's trouble is found as serious.

Following video clips are the comparison of bad K3 and normal K3 submitted to Elecraft engineer for their reference.

[Case-1]
my K3 upper, my friends' K3 lower.
receiving strong signal out of filter bandwidth.
First upper then lower and repeat.

[Case-2]
Same setup with receiving strong signal within thefilter bandwidth.
Swiching bad K3 and normal K3 vice versa.

I appreciate Elecraft enginner's patient support everyday.
But unfortunately, no improvement obserbed.
I deceided to send my K3 to the factory.

Marconi TRX1A

After long silence since Hamfair 2008 (Aug/2008), Marconi-Japan has finally announced their first products on 2009-03-08. That is a HF Transceiver Case Kit "Marconi TRX1A".
http://marconi-japan.com/default.aspx

It is Not a Transceiver kit but a Case kit.

It includes prefabricated case, knobs, fly-wheel drum, meter, connectors for RF and AF signals, power socket, cooling fan.
No PCB, electronic components for transceiver is included!

At the time of Hamfair2008, the guy at the Marconi booth explained that they will provide transceiver kit.
Since I have been interested in their presentation at Hamfair2008, I've been confirmed the progress of their preparation time to time and I saw that they have been reducing their plan guradually and finally they decided to sell only CASE KIT.
It's disappointing.

The sales price of the CASE is 88200JPY. Expensive!!
They are going to sell 30 sets only without having stock.

I've been confusing the company name with the famous telecommunication company of "Marconi plc" in UK that had been bought by Ericsson few years ago.
But Marconi-Japan seems no relation with that. It looks like a private workshop or personal company.

My K3 should go to hospital

Yesterday I took my K3 to a local friend Aki, JA1NLX who also has K3.
We made side by side comparison and found that my K3 is something like a compeletely different radio.
I left my K3 at Aki's home last night, according to Aki's report today, my K3 has too much distortion on all bands except 20m band.
He guess DSP board is suspicious and he suggested to contact Elecraft anyway.
So, I sent an e-mail to the Elecraft support today.

My K3 is very poor

I made apple to apple comparison between K3, FT2000 and K1.
The band is 40m and the time is eveing in Tokyo Japan.
Above shot is a band scope snap on 40m band when I made the test.
The biggest peak around 7330KHz is a Broadcast whose signal strength is +60dB over S9 on my FT2K s-meter.

And here is the comparison movie, 1st one is K3 vs K1, and the second one is K3 vs FT2K vs K1.




K3 is obviously very noisy and poor. FT2000 is much better than K3 and K1 is the best in three radio.
200-dollar raido beats 4000-dollar raido!
Is this only on my K3?

Graduation Ceremony

My son graduated from the high school today.

HEXBEAM works on 6m band

I've been a happy user of Traffie Hexbeam for about 5 years.
It works pretty good without any adjustment and any maintenance upto now.

This antenna has very unique hexagonal shape but realizes both very small foot-print and high gain at the same time.

Although the price for 5-band type is around 1100USD not so cheap, but it is reasonable when you consider the total system cost including tower, rotator, coaxial feeders, etc. You can enjoy 5 band with one antenna, one coax and small tv rotor with very low height! (see photo above which is extracted from Traffie's website)

In addition not only specified 5 bands (20, 30, 17, 12 and 10m), it can be used on 6m too! See the SWR plots for 6m below;


Amazing!

SWR Plot by DMU-2000

The DMU-2000, a band scope for Yaesu FT-2000, has a function to plot SWR of the antenna connected to the FT-2000.

This is SWR plots for 40m band, antenna is Create Design AFA-40, 2-el HB9CV.

The left edge is 7000KHz, the red line is 7100KHz.
The SWR seems pretty low between 7000-7100. But above 7100KHz, it becomes very high.
So, I must use antenna tuner when I will QRV at above 7100KHz from coming April after the 7100-7200 band is permited in JA on 2009-3-30.

Here is the SWR of 20m band , antenna is HEXBEAM.

I bought normal setting HEXBEAM so that the SWR is optimized for phone band.

FT-2000 new firmware

The latest firmware has been released in Jan,2009.
Firmware update procedure is not announced officially in JA market.
That means Yaesu dose not allow Japanese cutomer to update the firmware of FT-2000 by themselves. If we did it, warranty of that equipment is terminated immediately, e even if the warranty period has not been finished yet.

Besides, in US it is opened and the latest firmware can be downladed free of charge from Yaesu America Website.

Update procedure is little bit complicated, but the step by step procedure is described in the Yaesu website, and my local friend, Jun/JQ1BWT who is an active electric engineer kindly helped me to do it.

After istall of the new firmware "PEP2000", my FT-2000D has been re-born.

FISTS/SKCC SKED page by K3UK

K3UK's SKED page for FISTS, SKCC, etc. is very nice!
I could hook up with some of FISTS and SKCC members in USA with help of this page.

This is the screen shot of this morning.

FISTS page is always almost empty;


On the other hand, SKCC page is always crowded.


Why?

A Happy New Year 2009

As a CW operator I must send new year greetings by Morse Code, Hi Hi.
Sorry for my rusty fists...at last I gave up sending by straight key...