I read that JT65 was an extremely useful weak signal mode. I installed JT5-HF software and set it up to work with Ham Radio Delux. Although it was a simple install there was a lot of interesting reading material before I felt comfortable going on the air.

Once I had JT65-HF set to what I thought was the correct settings I needed to test the PTT interface and the TX level. Luckily the Elecraft K3 has a test mode that allows you to check PTT and transmit levels without actually radiating. I could have done the same thing by reducing the power level and running the transmitter output to a dummy load. Either way will work but it was quick to just go to test mode.

I did a quick Google search for operation information and found an Italian site that had some really good information. The info was very helpful as was the setup instructions included with JT65-HF.

The good news is that on 5 watts you can message the world. The bad is it is slower than watching grass grow. I tried working on 10 meters (28.076 MHz). There were literally dozens of signals during the day and early evening. Japan was present but I had no luck in making a QSO. I did several but it is slow roughly five minutes per QSO. This is definitely not a mode you want to use during primetime on Field day … but I bet it might be worthwhile overnight when there are few new stations to log.

Hopefully I will be able to pick up the missing states using this mode…I did see several stations on PSKReporter running JT65-HF in several of the missing states.

JT65-HF can send signal reports to both PSKReporter and to the Reverse Beaconwebsite.

I recently I went looking for a new VHF radio with GPS so I could do APRS without having to worry about my current radio’s problems. I was shocked to see what a new APRS-capable radio costs. There had to be a better/cheaper/simpler way.

I Googled APRS and followed a bunch of rabbit trails until I found a neat Android application…APRSdroid. APRSdroid is a free app that allows a ham to set up his Android phone to send APRS packets via the Internet (APRS-IS).

Setup is not exactly logical but it works. The first item that needs to be taken care of is to request a passcode. After 3 or 4 days you should have the passcode that will allow you to send APRS data using the app. At this point you can set up the rest of the items:
• Callsign
• Passcode
• SSID
• APRS symbol
• Status message
• Minimum update time
• Minimum update distance
• Await speed & bearing
• Use network location
• Neighborhood radius
• Connection protocol
• Server

Each of these items has a short explanation but so far there is no user documentation. The Wiki has a bit of info such as the map display does not show other stations in the neighborhood unless you are using TCP.

I have been playing with the app and have been able to send position reports and on occasion been able to see myself on the map display but have not been able to try all functions. Since the app is still in Beta things are fluid and what I comment on today may or may not work tomorrow. Hopefully this app will be fully functional and robust in the near future. I plan to use this in lieu of radio transmitted APRS until I can replace the radio in my car or when I am traveling in a vehicle without an APRS setup.

Look for ND2E-10 using FINDU or APRS.fi.

Either way it is still an expense and I had just built 2 new computers and purchased a new 24 inch display for one of the computers. I needed a cheap inexpensive means of switching the keyboard and mouse between computers.

I found a piece of software, Synergy+, that allows the sharing without the need for hardware.

I installed it last night and find it is a convenient. Even-though it is still beta, I haven’t noticed any bugs. It must be installed and set up on each of the machines. It is not difficult to set up but the instructions are a bit obscure.

I also use Logmein Free to run the K3 when I don’t want to be in the basement. It is very useful on digital modes where you don’t need to hear the audio. I can also use it with HRD decoding CW since I don’t copy CW very well and I really don’t need to hear the audio (but I should be listening so my proficiency increases.)

I have spent several hours off and on looking for the cause of the slowdown. I have finally located one of the reasons slowing my computer when using Ham Radio Deluxe.

According to the info on the HRD website, HRD is a very light load on the computer. I concur that it is a very small load but whenever I ran HRD/DM780/HRDlog my computer bogged down. I spent several hours tracking down what was causing the slowdown. Finally, I noticed that the System process was consuming valuable realtime. I searched the web for System process information and came across several articles that indicated USB-connected peripherals such as USB-Serial adapters can cause the System process to balloon.

I changed the interface point to my only serial port and the load presented by the System process dropped from 50-70% to 0-5%.  That is a really significant change that may allow the HRD package to run without hesitation or slowdown that have plagued me since I brought the Dell GX270 on line.

Hopefully this info will be of use to others.

73 de ND2E