I have been looking to purchase a new rig for some time and finally decided to go with the Icom IC-7600. I was torn between this rig, the Elecraft K3, and the Yaesu FT-2000 (because I can not afford the FTDX-5000). For my needs, this is the best of the three. and I will maintain... Continue Reading →
Remote K2 Power Timeout
Finally completed the power watchdog timer for the K2. This allows me to operate the K2 remotely within compliance of the requirement to have an automated means of shutting down a transmitter if it exceeds 3 minutes on the air. This is an FCC requirement, and you definitely need to be concerned about the possibility... Continue Reading →
First “Remote” QSO Success
I finally got the Transmit audio interface together and connected and started assembling the "dead man" timer. The timer is required on a remote Ham station to stop a runaway transmitter after it is on the air for 3 minutes. Skype seems to work fine for the audio interface in both directions. I got good... Continue Reading →
Remote Audio for Ham Station
I have been using Skype for remote receive audio. That seems to work fine except I have to mute the microphone at the remote location to hear the audio from the rig clearly. So that is what I have been doing. But now I want to setup the transmit audio link from the operating position... Continue Reading →
ARRL CW Sweepstakes 2011 – The Contest
I worked CWSS again, one of the few contests I try to work every year. It's complicated exchange makes it a real challenge and the activity level is amazing. Band conditions were good this year, with 10 and 15 meters having long openings. I worked SO2R this year with an Elecraft K2 as my primary... Continue Reading →
ARRL CW Sweepstakes 2011 Diary – Preparation
Preparing for CWSS this year mainly consisted of antenna work and integration of the SO2R (Single Operator Two Radio) setup in the Shack. I use mostly wire antennas (no Yagis) but one, a "Fan Dipole" (one design example found here) for 80/40 meters had been hanging for several years. I took it down to check... Continue Reading →
Remote Rig Timeout Controller
To run a Ham Rig remotely, the FCC requires the ability to shutdown a "runaway" transmitter after no more than 3 minutes of activity. There are several ways to do this. My plan is to use a small Arduino computer board to handle the timeout control function. Here is a basic diagram of the timeout... Continue Reading →
Tips for Remote Ham Rig Operation
Finally getting back to this project after a month of inactivity. I had one setback - the computer I was using for the remote rig host, a laptop, had some problems. I set it up and was able to access remotely using TeamViewer but after a day or two the laptop would die. It went... Continue Reading →
Audio for Remote Station Ops
I have been trying several approaches to the audio interface for remote station operation. I have settled on TeamViewer for the remote session server/client. I tried using the VOIP integrated into TeamViewer with mixed results. I am able to reliably establish the session, but I have some problems with audio quality. So for mow, I... Continue Reading →
Remote Rig Operation with TeamViewer
I have been experimenting with remote operation of my K2 using the Internet for control and audio. So far I tried using VNC and WINDOWS Remote Desktop for connecting from my client computer to the remote station. Both basically worked, but have had reliability issues. Today I tried a new approach - a program called... Continue Reading →
Kg3v Ham Radio Blog 