Hellschreiber

Hellschreiber v.4.0 2/2/04

(Hellschreiber by IZ8BLY 2 Feb. 04) (by Herr Roudolf Hell 1920)

A Spread TDM 245Hz Bandwidth signal; immune to interference and performs well where

signal level is equal to average noise or better. Sounds like Start and Stop Clicking.

Hellschreiber approval: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/techchar/

Hardware:

A RIGblaster (1ea), Soundcard speaker cables: Radio Shack-42 2387 (3ea).

RIGblaster:

Strap P1 to match your radio's Microphone. (i.e. RJ45 IC706 page 9). Set Audio

Level Control to mid range. Switch VOX/AUTO to AUTO, apply power. Cable

RIGblaster to radio and computer, as shown in RIGblaster manual’s hookup diagram,

(PC Speaker Out to Rigblaster In; Aux. In to Rigblaster Out).

The RIGblaster interface will allow computer speakers to continue to operate for

music etc.

Note: Don't use low impedance un-amplified speakers

Download Software: http://www.qsl.net/zl1bpu/

Install to Hellschreiber folder:

Unzip hellsetup.zip

Create a short cut icon

Windows Sound card setup:

Master Volume: Master Volume to 1/3 of the way up - Balance slider to the center

Wave Volume to 1/3 of the way up - Balance slider to the center

Line In Volume to ALL of the way up - Balance slider to the center

Microphone Volume to 1/3 of the way up

PC Speaker Volume to 2/3 of the way up

Recording Controls: Line In SELECT - Volume to 1/3 of the way up - Balance slider

to the center

Note: Turn the computer speaker volume control knob most of the way, but not all of the

way down.

Recommended frequencies:

3.559 3.575 3.580 to 3.620

7.030 7.035 7.037 7.040 7.063 7.072.5 7.075 7,077

10.135 10.137 10.145

14.061 14.063.5 14.070 14.075 14.077 14.272-14.278

18.095 18.100 18.103 18.105

21.063 21.070 21.078 21.180 24.905 24.963 28.063

28.070 28.078 28.100 28.110 28.120.15

145.55

NETS: Sunday 1200Z 7.035 1400Z 10.137

Daily 1600Z 7.072.5 Noon 14.080

Hell Activity day- last Sunday of month 0000-2400 UTC

Radio setup:

Set all IF Filters to OFF (or as wide as possible)

Set Audio RF to MAX

Set VFO to: 14.063

Set Transmitter output power to ¼ manufacturer’s rated power output, 20 watts or

less is a good operating setup of a 100 watt transmitter for linear performance.

Set Mode to USB (convention for all modes)

Set Processor to OFF and SWR ON

Adjust Tuner for 1:1 with the normal output on CW

Set ALC to ON and SWR OFF

Speak into the Mic., adjusting Mic. Gain so that ALC doesn’t occur above the ALC Zone indicator.

Adjust Tuner for 1:1

Click on Tune button (transmission starts).

Adjust RIGblaster Audio Level Control, stopping as transmitter output power reaches

MAX (ie. 20 watts) keep an eye on your ALC so that ALC does not occur; run with NO

ALC indicating occurring; any ALC indicating, results in your TX Signal being

distorted, and causing harmonics.

Tune will Stop automatically

Note: The RIGblaster Audio Level Control is the most precise way to adjust the

Soundcard output voltage into the radio. The Microsoft Volume controls were

designed to vary the voltage, through a range of reasonable outputs for Speakers;

They were not designed to be adjusted so precisely as to be reliable set to

5 millivolts.

ALC can remain (on) to control drive limit.

Setting Up Hellschreiber:

Click FILE – PREFERENCES – GENERAL type Callsign

Others DEFAULT

PTT CONTROL select COM1

Others DEFAULT

Modes Default

Tools – Tools:

Type links to psk31 & MT63

Type CQ button macro info.

Others DEFAULT

Click OK

Click MODE – Click FM Hell (245 Baud)

Click Tools - select Pause mode

Select VIEW CALLBOOK (On Internet) type in your CALL information, etc.

Note: seems to be a problem registering. An option is to Email your

info to IZ8BLY: nino.porcino@tin.it

QTH – LOCATOR – EMAIL ADDRESS

AGC adjust to mid-range

Operate Hellschreiber:

RX TEXT: Click RECEIVE – START

Click TUNE TO BIGGEST SIGNAL ie changes Freq.

Right Click on the selected signal will change frequency placing the station

at 1300. In the middle of the Waterfall display. This will avoid filter

clipping, limiting output power.

Send from TX buffer: Put curser in Send box – start typing –

After 4 characters the buffer will start sending

To stop sending hit the Space Bar 3 times and Buffer will empty and stop

* allows typing during reception; text will be sent with ENTRY key.

Click TRANSMIT:

Click SEND FILE: ie Station Info

Click SEND CQ CALL: ie CQ message

Click SEND TUNE SIGNAL: use to adjust Output Volume

Click SEND PRE/POSTAMBLE PHRASE: User define ie.

RRR RRR <other> DE <you>

<other> DE <you> PLS KN

Macros: CQ = CQ CQ CQ de AA3EU AA3EU AA3EU PSE KKK

Tnks for Call = Thanks for Call de AA3EU Joe Sykesville, MD USA

BTU = BTU de AA3EU KN

MUF Charts: http://www.arrl.org/qst/propcharts/

DX Spots: http://hamcall.net/dxspots

DX Summit: http://oh2aq.kolumbus.com/dxs/

DX-Telnet v5.2 http://www.golist.net

Reflector: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hellschreiber (post skeds)

Reflector Post message example:

Subject: Feld HELL QSO

Message text: QSX FM HELL(245) 7072.5 USB - QTU 1200Z to 1300Z - QRA AA3EU.

Hellschreiber

Modes:

FELD HELL (105B)

PSK HELL (105B)

PSK HELL (245B)

FM HELL (105B)

FM HELL (245B)

Duplo Hell

C/MT Hell (105B)

Feld Hell - the traditional on/off (CW) keying text mode invented by Rudolf Hell in the early 1930s. A tone is sent for black pixels, silence is sent for white ones. Pixels are sent by scanning columns from bottom to top and from left to right at the speed of 122.5 baud (at standard speed). There are 14 dots in each vertical column.

PSK Hell - this brand new high performance mode offers the sensitivity of differential Phase Shift Keying (like PSK-31) but with the robustness and "Fuzzy" performance that is a special feature of Hellschreiber. White dots are transmitted by reversing the phase of the signal with every dot, while black dots are sent without reversal. Because the receiving software is not amplitude dependent, PSK Hell offers remarkable sensitivity. The 245 baud version uses the normal 14x7 character matrix and has a bandwidth of 245 Hz. The 105 baud version has a special reduced font and lower baud rate for narrower bandwidth wich makes this mode very suitable for QRP DX. PSK Hell requires accurate tuning (to within 20 Hz), and is sensitive to drift. Note that the duty cycle of this mode is close to 90%. This is rarely a problem since so little transmitter power is required.

FM Hell - the modulation used by this mode is an half way between PSK and FSK. It is transmitted like a two tone FSK mode where the shift between "mark" and "space" has a particular value so that the mark tone is always in opposite phase respect to space tone. For this reason, it can be decoded like a normal PSK modulation (infact PSK-Hell and FM-Hell are in some way "compatible"). You can think of it as a single sideband PSK modulation, that is a DSB with lower sideband suppressed. Advantages of FM-Hell over normal PSK-Hell are:

1. Half bandwidth since only one sideband is used

2. More average power (100% duty cycle) since no raised cosine shaping is used (it is not needed as there is a smooth phase change in the signal)

3. More resistence to flutter and multipath since the two sidebands don't overlap each other and don't cancels. Effect of flutter is "wandering" text (rather than "garbled" of PSK Hell).

4. Minimum intermodulation products if the audio is overdriven (PSK is instead very prone to intermodulate).

FM-Hell is sideband dependent and should be operated in USB. Anyway if you are tuned to the wrong sideband the only effect is "negative" colorured text.

Duplo Hell - in this mode the mark and space tones are used to send two pixels at a time. Two columns are sent at a time, where the mark tone sends the left pixel and the space tone sends the right pixel. To keep the typing speed the same, the pixels in this mode are of twice the duration, which provides better integration in the receiver and significantly less noise. This mode is also sideband dependent.

C/MT Hell (F3) - Concurrent Multi-Tone Hell - all the pixels in a vertical column are sent at the same time, each pixel at a different frequency, so it is possible to receive them with a simple FFT waterfall display. This mode is not very sensitive because the RF power is shared among tones, but is very noise immune. This implementation of the C/MT Hell uses five rows (and then five tones) spaced 30 Hz each for a total of 150 Hz of total bandwidth. The column rate is 17 baud for a total of 2.8 character per second sent.

CW (F6) - normal Morse code (also used for CW-ID). Transmission works in a similar way to Feld Hell, you simply type in the TX buffer. Morse signals are tuned just like Hell and are copied by ear or by reading the lines on the screen (at slower speeds!) No Morse decoding is provided in the release.

References: http://www.qsl.net/wm2n/hell.html

http://mixw.net/beta/beta8/MixW216b8.exe

Reflector: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hellschreiber (post skeds)

Test equipment software:

Audio Signal Analyser: SpectrumLab v204b29 (speclab24b29.zip) www.xs4all.nl/~nl9222/software.htm

Oscilloscope, Dual-trace: WinScope 2.51 ( osc251.zip) www.electronicsaustralia.com.au/cgi-bin/downloads.pl?area=5

Spectrogram v5.0.8 (gram517.zip) http://neasmn.org/ben/software/software.htm

Spectrogram v4.2.6 (gram426.zip)

Analyzer 2000 v5.04 (Pay for) www.dxzone.com

Analyzer SkySweeper v3.08

Joe Mettle sends:

Stations: IK1BXZ N3TUZ VE2AIE W1OER W2TQS VK2PN WA6FXL WB3DSJ W8ERN