HF PSK31 With Ham Radio Deluxe

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Clyde

H.M.F.I.C.
Neighbor
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
Messages
5,240
Location
Communist State Of Kalifornia
Hello, all. Here is a video on PSK31 using Ham Radio Deluxe with an Icom IC-7200 and HP Envy 15" Laptop.
The Icom IC-7200 has a built-in soundcard eliminating the need to spend at least $100.00 on an external one.

 
Something's not right. You should be seeing tons more traffic than that in the waterfall. I can see on the sides traces of other traffic. Is your Attenuator turned on? Noise Blanker? Anything else that reduces or quiets your receive signal? Check that and make sure it's all off, that your audio levels (in your control panel) aren't turned all the way down, and if you still don't see strong signals all the way across your waterfall, then you have an antenna issue somehow.
 
Something's not right. You should be seeing tons more traffic than that in the waterfall. I can see on the sides traces of other traffic. Is your Attenuator turned on? Noise Blanker? Anything else that reduces or quiets your receive signal? Check that and make sure it's all off, that your audio levels (in your control panel) aren't turned all the way down, and if you still don't see strong signals all the way across your waterfall, then you have an antenna issue somehow.
Thank you for the comment. Part of my problem is that I live in a place with an HOA. They do not allow antennas of any kind. So the only way I can do it is to mount a vertical to a wrought iron cage thing outside my second story window, and the vertical is only 17 feet long. Here are 2 videos is did showing what i am dealing with. Some days are better than others.





I'm a new General Class and have a new HF radio. The local ham club is helping me put up a wire dipole antenna soon. I'm looking forward to PSk31.
How's your wire dipole coming along?
 
Not too shabby! Now I understand exactly what's going on over there! Let me introduce you to the CommoFreq solution to your dilemma - what you have is a blessing, not a curse.

First of all, do any of the other buildings (or even your building) have satellite TV installations? That is to say, can you find a building that has any 75Ohm coax cable installed to the exterior walls of the buildings? Go find the power meter - you're practically guaranteed to find some there, and then you can trace it to see where it leads you. I have a simple solution, and then a more complex solution, depending on your answer.

Interesting to note, federal law says that the HOA cannot prevent someone from having a satellite TV installation. So, you may find the dishes on poles, if they cannot be attached to the building due to HOA rules (or because it's stucco).

If you do see 75Ohm coax installations, you can simply use 50Ohm coax of the same diameter to make a dipole (that is, the inner and outer leads are connected, and the coax itself is the antenna), wrapped around the building, in such a way that mimics a satellite TV installation. In other words, you'll have to use cable clips, drill a small hole into the stucco for each clip, insert a plastic anchor, and screw the cable clip in. As long as you make it look neat - as in, it belongs there - then nobody will even notice. Take notes on how they ran the coax. The chicken wire will serve as a counterpoise. Of course, again you want as much of it to go around the building as possible, as high up as possible.

The best way to do it would be to run it under the soffit - if you have the right kind, you can actually tuck it in, saving a lot of time, and completely hiding the cable. The idea is to run one part of the dipole along one side of the building, and the other along the other side of the building. Given that this is for HF, we're talking about a lot of coax, though.

The good news is, it doesn't have to be 50 Ohm. Your tuner will tune 75 Ohm TV coax as well, and that stuff is a bit cheaper too. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could use any pre-existing coax?
 
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