How I Mounted the NØSA TIP1 Mini Paddle

Mounting the mini paddle got me to thinking – it had to be light weight but not too light weight that the paddle would slip about while in use. The mount also had to be at a comfortable height to work just right with my large hands. I also wanted it to be uniquely Canadian.

Usually with projects like this I need a few weeks to let the solution come to fruition. I came up with a unique idea – use a hockey puck; it’s cheap, has some weight to it and it’s Canadian, eh? It fits into my ‘go’ kit quite nicely and it’s durable. A visit to Lee Valley Tools here in Ottawa provided the pucks and some high friction adhesive discs for a very reasonable price – a dollar for the pucks and just a few dollars for a bag full of discs. The pucks aren’t quite kosher Canadian, being manufactured in Slovakia now, but they are ‘regulation’ size. As you can see the adhesive discs fit perfectly on the puck and prevents slippage on just about any surface.

 

And finally a last picture of the FT-817 propped up with the $2 iPad adjustable stand from my previous article of a few days ago. Also note the front antenna connector is terminated with a 50ohm resistor left over from my network installation days. This is to protect the finals in the event that I forget to switch the antenna from front to the rear antenna port.

All photos for this article were taken with the Canon G10 in RAW format and post-processed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for colour adjustments and cropping. Irfanview was then used for reducing the photo size and sharpening for efficient use on this blog. This will be the topic for a future article.

OVQRP Weekend At Rideau River Provincial Park

It’s the weekend and not a drop of rain. The weather is cool at night, dropping to 6C last night at the campground on the Rideau River near Kemptville.

Members of the Ottawa Valley QRP Society (OV-QRP) group are still out there tonight working qrp and some really great DX. Bill VE3CLQ worked France and Zagreb Croatia with 20 watts and 10 watts with his Buddistick antenna and his Yaesu FT-857. Goes to show that even with low sunspot numbers you can still work some great DX with low power. Martin VA3SIE, Mike VE3WMB and Jim VE3XJ did kitchen duty.

Here are a few pictures of this weekend’s event on the Rideau >

The group will operate through part of Sunday and it was a good effort and not at all a contest type operation. 

FT-817 And A New Rockwell Collins 500Hz CW Filter

A new filter arrived today for my FT-817. It was an extremely simple install procedure. It involved removing the screws from the top of the 817, installing the filter by pushing it into place, replacing the cover and going through a few menu settings to activate the filter. From preliminary tests I’d say the filter works very well under crowded band conditions using CW and digital modes.

Here are a few pictures of the installation of the 500Hz CW filter into my FT-817.

Menu #38 of the FT-817 should be set to “CW” instead of “OFF”. There's one more thing you have to do to get the CW filter working. Check out page 14 of your FT-817 Operating Manual - number 7 at the bottom right of the page you will see the “C-Key” setting for "NAR". You have to set this in order for the receiver to switch to the narrow CW filter when you switch the rig to CW or CWR modes. To do this, first put the rig into CW or CWR mode then tap the “F” key once quickly. The FUNC Keys menu items for the A/B/C pushbuttons should appear. Rotate the SEL control until you see “IPO ATT NAR” over the A/B/C buttons. Then press the “C” pushbutton once to set the filter to Narrow. A small right-pointing arrow should appear and the rig should switch to the CW filter - you should hear a marked difference in the receiver noise “tone”.

The FT-817 should be ready for the Ottawa Valley QRP Society’s Field Day on Bate Island at the end of June.

FT-817 Gets Updated After 9 Years

My trusty little FT-817 is getting a CW filter. I’ve had the 817 for 9 years now and it has never let me down. I have the original 817 not the 817ND version. I’m preparing for Field Day with the Ottawa Valley QRP Society and I’m trying to improve my CW proficiency in time for Field Day 2010, scheduled for June 26th and 27th – the last weekend in June. Even if I don’t reach my goal I’ll use the 817 on PSK. The 500Hz filter should help in that situation too. I also have a new PAR EF-10/20/40 End Fedz QRP antenna on the way. Dale, of PAR Electronics has informed me that between May 21st to the 27th is when he’s taking amateur orders for his End Fedz antennas. He’s extremely busy with his commercial and mil orders when he’s not fulfilling amateur orders.

I want to add that I have had 2 PAR End Fedz (EF-40 and a EF-30) installed as permanent antennas for 2.5 years; they still operate and look like new. Don’t hesitate to use Dale’s antennas in permanent locations. If they can survive Ottawa’s extreme weather conditions they can survive just about anywhere. Highly recommended for either portable or permanent locations. I keep a spare EF-20 in my go kit just in case.

Field Day equipment will include my FT-817, an FT-100 as a spare transceiver, a 15W solar panel and charge controller for my 12V 18A/H gel cell, the PAR antenna and a Buddistick as a spare antenna. I’ll be taking along my Honda EU2000i gen set to run my laptop throughout the operating period.

The bands have been lousy lately and the sun is quiet, no sunspots. Despite the conditions there’s DX on everyday. 17 meters is open as a write this at 20:30Z. Ukraine, Russian and Italian stations are on the PSK section of the band with Americans having QSOs in the phone portion of the band.

VE3MPG Blog posts that mention the PAR antennas

QRP on 17 meters with the FT-817

In my previous post from late last evening I decided to get my 817 back on the air and attempt some qrp contacts. I was really surprised at what 5 watts into 130 feet of coax to a vertical can do. I’ve been working all over Europe and to the southern U.S. states with this barn burner. Most contacts took one call with the real DX taking 2 to 3 calls. There was lots of QSB and the band was wall to wall digital signals. Low power and high power stations and stations with sidelobes – lots of sidelobes.

Setting up the 817 took a bit of effort since there are no DSP filters like in the FT-950 – nada, nothing. I had to resort to the RF gain control and the RX control on the Signalink USB interface to dig the signals out. The 817 performed admirably. I had the 817 stored in an Eagle Creek pouch for protection and its little log book with the last entries dated in 2001.

The 817 was an early 2001 copy with no filters installed. Way back in 2001 I was still able to make SSB contacts (before I lost all of my hearing) and these QSOs (log book above) were made from my car with monoband Hustler verticals – not the most efficient antennas. They were cheap and they worked and allowed me to operate mobile from quiet locations. At that time I still lived in the downtown core of Ottawa – a very noisy environment, even before the days of plasma TVs. I traveled south to one of the locks on the Rideau Canal near Manotick and operated parked near the lockmaster’s building. As you can see from the log conditions during that Cycle 23 were very good.

Today’s contacts included IK7EJT, LB1TE, YL2JZ, DL5ZAA, IZ4BEZ, and KB0QC all on psk. I had a 569 report and all other sig reports were 599. Conditions are very good and the 20 meter band stays open quite late here in North America. 17 meters fades out at sunset.

QRP is lots of fun and a bit of a challenge for simple transceivers lacking all the new DSP controls of the new radios.

I hope to fill out my little log book with more contacts during this year’s upcoming Field Day. I will be operating with the Ottawa Valley QRP Society from Bate Island on the mighty Ottawa River.

For the record space conditions as follows:

Solar-terrestrial indices for 25 March follow. Solar flux 88 and mid-latitude A-index 5. The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 26 March was 2 (12 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours.

SpaceWeather.com

The Firmament – Jan Timmermans

QRP With the FT-817

Conditions on the bands have been extremely good for a few weeks. I rarely use more than 20-25 watts with my FT-950 on digital modes. Starting today I’m dusting off the 817 and using QRP power on 17 meters. In the last few days I’ve worked CR1Z, OM1ZL, ES7FQ, YL3BF,1B1AB, TM7CC, Z36W and a multitude of other stations on 17 meters. Max power out averaged about 22 watts and garnered consistent 599 reports using my Cushcraft R6000. Let’s see what I can do using QRP power. Stay tuned.