++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 05:29:18 EDT From: JohnK1JD at aol.com Subject: [Elecraft] MFSK, FSK31, THROB, etc... Anyone else experimenting with the many "new" digital modes? New is in quotations since many of these are actually old modes that have been resurrected because current soundcards/computers make them practical to implement. Mix W and other software programs have a large number of these modes available in their menu. It occurred to me that we could establish an Elecraft data mode frequency(s) in the same sense that 28.715 was chosen as an ad hoc SSB calling frequency. MFSK seems robust compared to PSK31, but is very difficult to tune properly and stability requirements are even more stringent than PSK. Running the K2 at lower power seems to help a great deal. I've had several successful QSO's using this mode around 14.080, one with a PY. 73, John K1JD Jamestown, RI IOTA NA31 K2's #139 & #583 +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2001 07:38:57 -0400 From: Charles Greene Subject: Re: [Elecraft] MFSK, FSK31, THROB, etc... John et al, I use MFSK occasionally as well as PSK31. It seems a little easier to tune with MixW than with Stream. On some of the others, it's hard to find them. At 05:29 AM 9/6/2001 -0400, JohnK1JD at aol.com wrote: > Anyone else experimenting with the many "new" digital modes? > New is in quotations since many of these are actually old modes that have >been resurrected because current soundcards/computers make them practical to >implement. Mix W and other software programs have a large number of these >modes available in their menu. It occurred to me that we could establish an >Elecraft data mode frequency(s) in the same sense that 28.715 was chosen as >an ad hoc SSB calling frequency. > MFSK seems robust compared to PSK31, but is very difficult to tune > properly >and stability requirements are even more stringent than PSK. Running the K2 >at lower power seems to help a great deal. I've had several successful QSO's >using this mode around 14.080, one with a PY. 73, Chas, W1CG +++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001 23:54:08 +1200 From: "Ron Willcocks" Subject: [Elecraft] K2 & MFSK16 Greetings all, I made up a lead to fit the Mic socket of the K2 that went from the computer's sound card to the PTT and Mic input of the K2 . Another lead plugged the "mic in" line from the sound card into the headphone socket of the radio. Using the IZ8BLY "Stream" software, I was able to work as far as Valdez in Alaska this afternoon running 4 watts output, which I thought was pretty good from down here. I didn't notice any perceptable drift even after extended overs, and the heat sink area didn't seem to warm up any, so it would appear that digital DX is alive and well with the K2. Nothing really fancy about the leads I use. They are shielded single core audio cable, and the sound card "audio out" to the "Mic in" of the K2 has a 1:1 transformer in it to stop earth loop hum. I used a small transformer off the telephone section of an old FTPOS card and it is encased in a pill bottle! The PTT line has a single transistor and resistor built into the 25 pin "D shell" case and plugs into Com2 of the computer( Port# is selectable in the software) That is three modes I can use the K2 on now. The old ICOM is now sitting on the floor sulking..... Cheers......Ron ZL1TW. ++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Sat, 08 Sep 2001 09:08:51 -0400 From: Charles Greene Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K2 & MFSK16 At 11:54 PM 9/8/2001 +1200, you wrote: >Greetings all, > I made up a lead to fit the Mic socket of the K2 that >went from the computer's sound card to the PTT and Mic input of the K2 . >Another lead plugged the "mic in" line from the sound card into the >headphone socket of the radio. -- snip -- >Cheers......Ron Excellent. I did about the same thing plus I use the phones output through another isolation transformer and a 10k/1.5k resistor attenuator to my sound card mike input. No matter how hard I try, I can't use the "line" input. I use a dual stereo 1/8" phone adapter so I can plug in the phones. The two isolation transformers and a 4N25 opti isolator for keying PTT or CW are in a tiny plastic box. Works great. If you don't key CW, you can get away from the 4N25 and use CAT PTT if you use a PSK31 program that supports CAT. Zakanaka and MixW are two that come to mind. Hope to work you on the bands. 73, Chas, W1CG ++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 21:11:40 -0400 From: breneiser Subject: [Elecraft] K2 and PSK31 Hello all: I hooked up my Rigblaster and computer to my k2 and I've been working PSK31 DX! I do have a question about the audio input to my sound card. It seems that the slide bars on my computer are a bit touchy. I also have to turn down my volume contol to almost the minimum position. I'm using the K2 headphone output into the sound card. I guess I need a divider for the audio input to the computer? Any comments will be appreciated by WA3WSJ. By the way, I love this mode! I'm taking my K2 down to the Turk and Caios Islands (VP5ED) 11-20 to 11-27 and I plan to operate CW & PSK31. One last question, does anyone know where I can buy a book about PSK31? I'm one of those nuts who just has to know all the technical stuff! 72, Ed, WA3WSJ, KP4/WA3WSJ, C6A/WA3WSJ, V26ED, VP5ED +++++++++++++++++ Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 18:31:03 -0700 From: Phil Wheeler Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K2 and PSK31 breneiser wrote: > > Hello all: > I hooked up my Rigblaster and computer to my k2 and I've been working > PSK31 DX! I do have a question about the audio input to my sound card. > It seems that the slide bars on my computer are a bit touchy. I also > have to turn down my volume contol to almost the minimum position. I'm > using the K2 headphone output into the sound card. Use the speaker output. There are two sliders in win: One for Volume and a Mixer window. use both. My Rigblaster has a pot that can also use. Phil ++++++++++++++++ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 10:05:51 -0600 From: "Steve Banks" Subject: RE: [Elecraft] K2 and PSK31 Ed- The May and June, 2000 issues of QST Magazine were how I got started with PSK 31. Both were quite informative, and they led me to building the Small Wonder Labs PSK 31 transceiver. The K2 came a few months later. Make sure the "Microphone Boost" check box in Soundblaster Volume Control is OFF when you adjust the audio mixer controls (SB>Volume Control>Advanced>Microhhone Boost). Turning off the mic boost was a big help to me in avoiding overdriving the audio. Steve Banks K0PQ K2 S/N 1599 - -----Original Message----- From: owner-elecraft at qth.net [mailto:owner-elecraft at qth.net]On Behalf Of breneiser Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 19:12 PM To: elecraft at qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] K2 and PSK31 Hello all: I hooked up my Rigblaster and computer to my k2 and I've been working PSK31 DX! ---snip--- 72, Ed, WA3WSJ, KP4/WA3WSJ, C6A/WA3WSJ, V26ED, VP5ED ++++++++++++++++ Reply-To: "Dominik Bugmann" From: "Dominik Bugmann" To: Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 21:14:30 +0100 Subject: [Elecraft] Successful RTTY with K2 Last weekend I enjoyed my 2nd RTTY contest. More on http://www.swiss-artg.ch/hb9czf/contests/2003/wpxrtty/wpxrtty.html How did I calibrate my K2 for RTTY? The center frequency for RTTY is 2210 Hz (2125 / 2295 Hz) and in the manual I could read that for TX the fixed SSB-filter is used and I concluded that low tones might introduce harmonics. On 10 and 15m I switched to "normal"-RTTY and was able to set my filters with center frequency 2.2kHz and bandwidth as follows: FL1 stayed were it was (2.4kHz) FL2 = 1kHz FL3 = 500Hz FL4 = 300Hz For the reamining bands (below 15m) I had to chose RevRTTY (press CW RV) because I was not able to move my filters high up. Since I was was working in reverse mode I also had to press the Reverse button on MMTTY (reverse the reverse). In about 17 hours I managed 604 QSO (incl. 1 dupe) and the 500Hz filter was just fine. 300Hz was only needed for the JA's on 40m. Power was either 50W from KPA100 or 10W into a TL-922. 73 de Dominik, HB9CZF and next weekend back to QRQ-CW :-) http://www.swiss-artg.ch/hb9czf +++++++++++++++++++ Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 10:09:20 -0500 From: Dave Barr RDS Inc To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net, hb9czf at swiss-artg.ch Subject: [Elecraft] Re: Successful RTTY with K2 Congratulations on your 604 qsos with the K2. I have been running RTTY with only 5 watts for several years using K2 sn937, and I sympathize with the filter adjusting problem. The nominal high RTTY shift and mark frequencies are too high to allow effective use of the K2 filters. MTTY will allow you to lower the RTTY center frequency to around 1000 hz where you will find it much easier to set your filters. Also, current firmware allows unique settings in rtty mode. I run filters from pretty wide down to about 50 hz. And after several years of using the K2, I am still amazed how the it will print a relatively week signal that is within 1 khz of a real boomer. Good luck and 73 Dave K2YG ++++++++++++++++++ From: "Gregg R. Lengling" To: , Subject: Re: [Elecraft] PSK31 -- ghost image: Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 06:00:51 -0600 No there is nothing wrong...what you found was a poorly setup transmitting station. If you were to watch his IMD when he idles with no characters sent you would have seen a very poor IMD figure....chances are his signal was very wide on the waterfall also. He is overdriving his radio and causing such a wide signal and distortion that he is actually splattering. I've helped out a couple hams that didn't realize they were doing this.....a good clean PSK31 signal on the waterfall should be clean and less than 50 Hz wide...anymore and they defeat the purpose of the mode. Gregg R. Lengling, W9DHI PSYCHOLOGY: The science of inventing words for things that do not exist. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin AC6RM" To: Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 11:11 PM Subject: [Elecraft] PSK31 -- ghost image: > I've just started playing with PSK31 with the K2 and a rigblaster Nomic. > I noticed something strange today. A station appeared strongly just above > 14071 kHz, but the station also appeared almost 2kHz higher in the band as > well. I'm using digipan 1.6 which allows you to watch two QSOs at the > same time. They were both the same station -- character-for-character. > Is there something wrong with the way that I have set up my equipment? > > Tks in advance, and 73, > > Martin AC6RM K2#3021 +++++++++++++++++++ From: "Sandy W5TVW" To: "Gregg R. Lengling" , , Subject: Re: [Elecraft] PSK31 -- ghost image: Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 07:30:52 -0600 Some of this "ghost image" stuff seems to be a quirk of the computer sound card. Or even possibly some distortion in the receiver's audio system causing accentuation of the harmonics of the audio signal. I have noticed this even when a VERY clean CW signal is generated and it's spectrum is watched carefully. The "ghost signals" appear on the spectrum display in exact multiples of the fundamental audio tone, even if the audio level into the sound card is carefully adjusted until it "just appears" on the display. Usually when the transmitted PSK signal is being overdriven, "sidebands" appear on either side of the "railroad track" signal. I have also seen wide bands of spurious signals that appear over the portion of the spectrum being monitored at times. This is also sometimes accompanied with harsh sounding signal or a "hissing" note. Must PSK operators are unaware of this unless you TELL THEM that their signal is "dirty", but I hasten to add, that the "ghost signal" images you are viewing are not usually the fault of the transmitted signal, but flaws in the actual receiving setup/software/hardware. I was somewhat alarmed in first seeing this until I ran some tests and discovered what I have conveyed above! I would be curious to find out what happens to the audio signal while it is being processed in the sound card! To date, I am not brave enough to go probing around in the audio card with an oscilloscope! 73, Sandy W5TVW ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gregg R. Lengling" To: ; Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 6:00 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] PSK31 -- ghost image: +++++++++++++++++ From: "Rich Lentz" To: , Subject: RE: [Elecraft] PSK31 -- ghost image: Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 16:28:45 -0600 Not an expert on this issue but have been told by informed PC-Audio people that this is caused by the PC sound card "oversampling." Ask some that knows more than me but is something about the analog to digital conversion technique and trying to provide a higher frequency response out of the available binary bits. Rich KE0X +++++++++++++++++++++