N1MM+ Field Day

I decided to give N1MM+ a whirl.  I've been using WriteLog for many years, but a concerted effort has been done to bring N1MM+ into integration with SSDR.  This is my first iteration with N1MM+ in an actual contest.

The program couldn't be easier to set up. Load, update and set up a couple forms.  The program needs a link between the radio and the logger.  I had port 7 set up in SCAT so I used that.

On the N1MM+ side

There may be a better way to do this.  I didn't read any directions just gave this a try and it worked.  Make sure there are no conflicts between ports in device manager

I also set up the focus manager in the radio under Settings>RadioSetup

I couldn't get the N1MM choice to work in the Window dropdown so I filled in Flex-6000 and it worked.

I decided to add a skimmer link to a N1MM band map

This allows skimmer/SDR-Bridge to populate the band map through a Telnet local loop link.  Call signs can then be extracted from off the air (no internet) and used to populate N1MM+'s entry window

Here K5TQ is noted on skimmer.  I click that and he is transferred to a "pre" QSO state in the logger

If decide to call him, I click his call sign and he is transferred to "ready to log" status.  

I copy the exchange and I'm on to the next contact, very effective. 

If I get a dupe it lets me know

To set up the skimmer telnet local loop was easy

In the logger screen choose tools>Telnet Window Tools 

Which opens 

Choose localport as the cluster and edit list

Edit the port number to 7310 and hit OK

Then connect to localport and type in your callsign.  Skimmer sends out spots on local port 7310 so the band map should start to populate

I'm sure that just scratches the surface of the feature set of N1MM+.  I didn't set up the keyer or macros or messages.  I just programmed a couple messages in my keyer and in short order had 100 pts in the log

Mucho Funno

73  W9OY

DU7ET Phillipines

Friday morning I was headed out the door and saw DU7ET spotted on 40M.  I don't know why but I hardly ever hear the Phillipines especially on the low bands.  I reflexively clicked the spot anyway.  Hope springs eternal.  

Robert was armchair S3 to S5 working simplex.  Almost NO pileup in fact when I called I was the only one calling

He came right back and we exchanged and I had him in the log.

Virtual gray line perfection!  Good op.  

73  W9OY

Too Bad N8MSA say's so long

My friend Greg NI8R turned me onto a sight that I find very interesting.  Unfortunately it looks like I got there a couple weeks late.  It's the site of Mike N8MSA and he has some interesting ideas about ways to standardize comparison of SDR's.  My opinion is the ARRL's format of testing and even Sherwood's list are not granular enough and measure the wrong things.  SDR can be done in several architectures but the bottom line is what way the information is presented to the operator.

Here is a response I posted on the Flex community list regarding buying a 6300 v 6500.  I own both:

"I have both radios and find the 6500 far more versatile.  The 6xxx series radio is an interface between the operator and the band.  As such it presents both visual and aural information to the operator.  I look at the 6xxx panadapter as 2 receivers, a visual receiver overlain with a aural slice, or possibly 2 aural slices.  It turns out however it presents much more data.  The waterfall for example presents history and persistence.  CW skimmer presents a kind of intelligence.  So what the radio can present in the 6500 is far more data in more versatile ways.    You can have one pan with a fast waterfall and one with a slow waterfall, you get 2 different dimensions of history.  CW skimmer presents a kind of intelligence to the data it collects.  2 CW skimmers on 2 pans with 2 DAX channels do not present identical data  One skimmer will decode different stations the other skimmer does not see so more data is presented by 2 skimmers  So what the radio can present in the 6500 is far more data in more versatile but yet readily understandable to the op 

I'm a low band DXer.  Often lets say in the case of an Indian ocean DXpedition I will set up 2 pans with 2 slices in one and and once slice in the other.  I will set up one slice on the DX or at least where the spot of the DX says they are, and lock that slice.  I will then start using the other 2 slices to click around and start copying different waves of EU stations working the DX as they gray line approaches them.  By listening to the activity I get some good idea of propagation and the skill of the operator and some idea of his pattern.  As the gray line approaches me I can start to hear farthest east US ops begin to make contact.  About an hour later is when they gray line finally hits me and I'm very informed about this operation.  You can do this with a 6300 but it's more robust with a 6500.

I use the same setup to work very wide DX pileups like the 40khz wide variety.  I set up one pan zoomed into about a 20khz wide pan with 2 slices, and a second pan zoomed out to the full width of the pileup with one slice.  I will have 2 skimmers running collecting data with one skimmer tuned high in the pileup and one tuned low.  I will have each skimmer set up so if I click tune on the skimmer TX falls to that slice.  This way I can monitor much more skimmer data and where stations are located in the pileup.  If I hear the DX calling somebody I invariably know where the station being called is in the pile up because I've been studying the pile up and I can rapidly click to that part of the 40khz pileup so my transmitter is very close to where his receiver is tuned.  It also makes it easier to discern the ops listening pattern, like he makes a contact and then tunes up 500hz so tail ending is not an effective strategy, tuning up 500 or 1000 hz is an effective strategy.  You get some of this with a 6300 you get more with a 6500.

I've set up a kind of SO3R for bandfils in DX contests.  I'm generally not part of a contest to make the most contacts, I generally join in to give contacts and get band-fils.  With writelog SDR-Bridge and skimmer I have setup my radio with 3 pans on 3 bands, 3 writelog band maps, populated by 3 skimmers and a a spot client.  This mines therefore a huge amount of data on 3 bands.  by linking to my spot collector database and DXkeeper which is my logbook I can easily check my needs against the 3 band maps.  Quite powerful.  You can do 2 with the 6300.  You can do 4 but for me it becomes unwieldy

You can monitor for 6M band openings on one pan while working DX splits on another band.

I ran 2 top ten DX peditions, on 2 bands, in 2 pans, with 2 slices in each pan, driving 2 DAX channels to 2 CW skimmers, one for each DX pedition.  The pans and skimmers were each setup for independent click tuning of the TX slice either in the pan or in the appropriate skimmer, and TX would follow where I clicked.  My station is set up so the antennas and amp band follow the TX slice.  I used a broad band RX loop for RX and switched to full duplex.  So I could hear 2 top 10 DXpeditions on 2 bands in full duplex simultaneously and click tune my transmitter/amp/antenna anywhere in either of the 2 pileups.  A 6500 exclusive 

I use the preamp/attenuator in the 6500 extensively.  I work many stations only 1-2 dB out of my noise and being able to move the dynamic range up and down rapidly in the noise to get best SNR is extremely useful.  I often need to kick in some preamp when I switch to the RX loop.  I have all of those preset in macros with DDUTIL so I can hit one macro and the RX loop kicks in and the preamp goes to +10 or I can hit it again and it toggles back to antenna 1 with -10dBm attenuation.  I have about 5 permutations of this for various bands and antenna configurations.  Some of this can be done in the 6300 but the subset of choices is inferior compared to the 6500."

The OP responded he really wanted to know would the different clock speed make a difference in how CW works in the radio.  My experience is it makes no difference but some people are incredibly particular about their "CW experience" so the answer is UNKNOWN because it s the information presented to the operator that determines what's important.  All of the magic I described meant nothing.  So I am glad Mike took it upon himself try try and come up with a scheme to rationally compare SDR's 

73 W9OY 

XR0YS Easter Island

Jeff K5WE is set up on Easter Island off the coast of Chile till June 8th using XR0YS.  I worked him on 15M during the WPX and on 30M tonight.  

Very clean effective operator at 25wpm

4-5 dB out of the noise Q5 copy, the pileup was larger than it looks as he was working much eastern EU and Russians I could not copy.

His QTH on the Island is Hanga Roa and from what I saw on the internet that's the way to DXpedition.

73  W9OY

Playing in the WPX test

I recently redid my computer and none of my contest software was on the new machine so I decided to set things up.  I like WPX since it gives me some bandfills.  I use Writelog for contest software.  One of these days I'm going to have to give N1MM+ a whirl.  I like 40 CW so I decided to concentrate on 40M.

My set up is Writelog 11, DDUTIL which has a bunch of custom macos for controlling my station,

SDR-Bridge, CW skimmer and DXLab.  My hardware line up is a Flex 6500, a ALS-1300 which is automatically controlled by the 6500, a MFJ-998 antenna tuner, a MFJ RCS-4 antenna switch which I modified to automatically band follow the 6500 and choose the correct antenna.  The antennas are high performance optimized verticals for each band 160-20 and a horizontal W5GI at about 50ft.   

I didn't have Writelog installed, so I installed it and booted it and it virtually set itself up.  I think this is SDR-Bridge's doing since SDR-Bridge uses Writelog as its favored contest client, but it was a convenience not have to go through the menus ticking off what I wanted.   I decided to use 2 panadapters on the same band.  This allows me to use 2 skimmers and sift through and display more data in terms of needed band fills.  

DXKeeper  from the DXLab suite is my logbook database.  I recently moved that database off my computer to cloud storage after my recent mishap with a dead motherboard on my previous shack computer.  All new contacts are now updated on some offsite server and if I have another disaster no problemo.  I'm using one drive which comes with win 10.  I think it's a great feature of the DXLab software.

SpotCollecter which is DXLabs spot client keeps me informed of needed bandfils.  

It has a color coded "need" reporting feature.  ATNO's in my scheme are bright red.  Bandfils are burnt orange.  Blue is unconfirmed and black is confirmed.  As you can see not too much red or orange in this data base for 40M

Here is a screen shot of 15M.   I don't spend much time on 15 so a lot of burnt orange bandfils needed.  It's a very good system for understanding ones needs at a glance.  Another gold star for Dave AA6YQ the author of DXLab.  

Spot collector has another feature that is very useful.  It can connect to the telnet of CW skimmer

This allows skimmer spots to be imported into SpotCollector and SpotCollector allows bandfils therefore to be imported directly into DXWrite the log book, and the whole point for me is to increase my bandfils as easily as possible.  

I can turn on and off the skimmer feed to SpotCollector from the front panel of SpotCollector if I want, which is handy.  

The bandmap is populated by skimmer over telnet.  This gives me a way to inset stations into Writelog to be worked and logged

The focus between pan A and Pan B is controlled from the keyboard by using the up-down arrows.  When focus is changed the TX also changes so I am ready to transmit on which ever pan is in focus.  

The focus also changes by clicking a skimmer also changing the TX and clicking a station will insert that station into the logger ready for workin'.  

I use a hardware winkey USB as my keyer, and I have a couple of FlexControl knobs connected, one for each pan for fine tuning.  I use 50hz filters and am continually amazed at how quiet the 6500 is in a contest environment.  The radio's presentation is very calming.  Quiet non-fatiguing audio, easy ergonomics, quick response, great versatility, razor sharp filters, band following hardware, a huge amount of easily discernible contest information, me like.

If I was interested in going for the gold I would set things up differently in more of a SO2R format with everything controlled from the keyboard, but for bandfil radio where my main goal is to give ops a point and give myself needed log entries, this setup works great.  It's been running non-stop for nearly 24hrs without a burp.  I was amazed at how many EU stations were running 45-50 wpm.  Most US guys were below 40.

73  W9OY

  

Backup Puter

I recently had the MB blow in my shack computer.  I worked Palestine and came into the shack the next morning and the puter was deader than a door nail.  Everything else in the box, SSD, RAM WIFI was OK.  I had a little $80 Atom 1.3 MHZ quadcore I was using as a backup.  It has 2gb ram and 32gb SSD built in and upgraded to Win 10.  It works OK except being an $80 fanless computer its thermal management kind of stinks and the CPU would throttle back, meaning I couldn't run the full compliment of software I like to run.  SSDR worked fine but when I added DDUTIL FRStack SDR-Bridge Chrome CW Skimmer and opened a DAX channel the processor power started to throttle back.  None the less I was able to make a dozen DX contacts using the little Atom box, while waiting for the new main shack computer to arrive.  

I decided I wanted something more powerful as a backup, plus I like playing with computers, so I went to AliExpress and had me a look around.  I wanted something cheap and fanless but effective, which meant one of the i's, i3, i5 or i7.  I decided on a i3.  Next is to determine which version of the i3.  There is an older Haswell chip which has the 4000u video  chipset which was the cheapest and the model I chose which is the 5500u video chipset, the latest 14nm Broadwell version.  The price differential is only a few bucks and my experience is 5500 chips are better, so 13 5005u with the 5500 video it is.  

The spec sheet looked good.  Plenty of ports, dual monitors if desired, 2 drive options (SATA and mSATA) half length card slot for WIFI, GB LAN.  Since I already had RAM and a SSD I bought it barebone.  There was a $3 coupon so it was $125 out the door delivered airmail via DHL. I've dealt with this company before with good service.  

Here is what CPU boss has to say about the i3 5005u performance.

My suggestion is 8gb RAM if your going to purchase new RAM.  4gb is enough but the price difference between 4 and 8 is small.   The chip uses 1.35v 204 pin laptop memory.  8gb single stick (there is only 1 slot) on Newewgg is $33.  There are a little cheaper choices but this memory has CAS 9 latency which is desirable.  SSD choice is next.  I had a 32gb SATA III  on the shelf.  32gb is more than enough for this dedicated kind of back up application.  I checked Newegg and found a  64gb mSATA for $32, which fits the mMSATA slot and has 6gb/s transfer spec so if I was buying new this is what I would choose.  This leaves the SATA III slot open for expansion if you want to turn the puter into a media server or something.  Again cheaper choices exist but this would be my best bang for the buck.  I had a WIFI card so I stuck it in but I virtually never run my ham stuff off WIFI as I prefer the wire.

So for under $200 a good setup.  I loaded Win 10 pro using a genuine OEM license I purchased off ebay for $20.  So it's a fresh install and not an upgrade.  Since I had the RAM WIFI and SSD my total was $155 for an i3 5005u Broadwell homebrew computer, not too shabby.

The SSD space required for Win 10 pro plus recovery partition plus Chrome Firefox SSDR FRStack DDUTIL SDR-Bridge and CW skimmer was only about 17gb which left plenty of space for other programs if I wanted.

So howzit work?

With nothing open 0% utilization and 1.4gb memory usage (video memory is shared with RAM)

SSDR Chrome and my screen shot app 12% usage throttled back to 1.24 ghz

My typical compliment SSDR, CW skimmer, 1 DAX channel. DDUTIL, SDR-Bridge, FRStack all customized to my operating habits.  SSDR Display is set to 70 on the Rate and 30 on AVG and 25 fps.  DAX and skimmer are set to 4800.  

2 pans and 2 skimmers

  Full tilt 4 pans 4 skimmers 4 DAX channels still plenty of overhead.

My normal pileup mode  2 slices in one Pan, SDR-Bridge set to split mode FRStack DDUTIL Chrome.  I have several chrome extensions active like hangouts that also take some clicks.

The new computer in the shack is a close cousin to this one except better chip: Fanless i7 Broadwell, Iris pro video, 8gb faster memory, 254 SSD and 2 HDMI ports.  That computer runs like butter even with everything hanging out and running OBS video screen capture of one monitor.  It's kind of overkill for SSDR and I bought it specifically for its graphic performance with video capture.  At some point I may give OBS capture software a whirl on the i3 computer just to see how it flies.

73  W9OY

E44QX Palestine

Bodo E44QX is on from Jericho, the oldest city in the world.  I tuned in and was greeted by this 

Some ridiculous wideband noise.  He was there but totally uncopiable.  I started fooling around with the noise abatement in the 6500.  I added WNB, NR, APF, and the second NB

  All of which helped but still pretty shaky.   I then tried an old trick, turn OFF the AGC.

That periodic noise was for sure pumping the heck out of the AGC just when I needed gain the most.  There was also considerable QSB,  Bodo was calling CQ so even though some were calling up the band, I didn't have much competition.  I called twice on the freq I thought he was listening to and he came right back and we were in each others logs.

Palestine is about 6500 miles as the electron flies.  

I made a video to show the difficulty this noise produced 

  

Shortly after the contact the noise subsided 

So I worked him again just to be sure.  

73  W9OY