That didn't last long. I just rebuilt my radio shack again after just a couple of days of withdrawal symptoms.

Oh well, at least I got my computer to drive all my loco's, so when I do eventually build a railway I'll hit thee ground running hi..  Desk looks a bit neater than last time.  Not all radio's on, just  1 scanner and 3 receivers at the moment. The DX-394 is monitoring for ssstv using the loop. The PCR-1000 is being driven by  HRD on one computer and the Dongle is on another using SDR Console.  4 computers/screens and the Watson weather centre liven's the desk up nicely.. Just as well I didn't take any antenna's down.

Well that's it, I finally made my mind up to take a break from radio all together. Been at it since the late fifties, but it just doesn't seem to do it for me any more. Seems I'm just firing up the shack out of habit now and invariably just sitting about waiting for the odd sstv pics to appear.  Figure it's time to get away form it completely for a bit at least.  Maybe if I had serious money to spend I would get some enthusiasm with new kit of some sort, but the days of being able to splash out hundreds of pounds seem to be a thing of the past and we do seem to talking 'hundreds' whatever the kit.  A pension just does not cut it and all credit cards were destroyed on retirement.

Anyway, yesterday I packed all the gear away and decided to play with my model railway stuff that I had collected in the past when I was erm....flush hi instead.  I'm still not sure whether to devote the whole room to a layout though, so meantime I'm experimenting with computer and infra red control on the desk.  I have Hornby Railmaster software set up on the note book and already I'm successfully controlling loco's through E=Link interface.  I've tried my Bachman infra-red contoller, which also works ok.  I also have the option of a Digitrax controller (Also works) and associated units.

I think I prefer the latter in use, but the beauty of Ralmaster is I can program the loco's to operate a sequence of events, of which I'm going to experiment this afternoon.   If I had a bigger room I think there would be no question. Build a layout and goodbye radio once and for all.  However, my shack is not suitable for such a big decision as that, so it's stand back and assess the situation time.

I'll leave the radio pages on line for the time being. Maybe something of use to someone out there. Never know I might get back into it one day anyway.  Meantime it's 73 to all my reader hi.

Brian

qsstv finally in action

Perusing the mag's in Smith's, as I do every morning. I noticed a new one Linux edition that included a disc of four variation of Ubuntu to try, live or install.  Oh well, I thought, in for a penny.  Another six quid on the off chance I get qsstv working right.

Anyway, I initially chose Kubuntu, and it installed no problem. Very nice desk-top too. I'll keep this one on the notebook, regardless.  I downloaded qsst 8.2.7 and it's dependencies, and installed it without problem.

Testing it meant waiting all afternoon and evening until stations who were eventually out there, were strong enough with me.  I began to receive Hybrid images, but initially on EasyPal only. The third did appear on qsstv, and also managed to upload it to my page. Some success at least.  Haven't a clue why I didn't get the first two on qsstv, but force uploaded them from EasyPal.

Either the image id signal was not strong enough for qsstv to register, or maybe my sound card not up to the job. Will have another go at using my Akai usb job today. Still getting used to the Kubutu way of configuring stuff.

Had one of my senior moments the other day. Bit expensive, this one. Managed to blow up my 300 quid Sattelit 750 receiver.  Moral..Never take it for granted everything in the shack runs off 12 volts *groan*

Dragged said receiver off the sub's bench and automatically grabbed one of my trailing 12 volt leads and plugged it in.  Smell of burning. oops!, too late. Display goes mental.  Looks at input voltage on set. 6 volts. Bugger!.  Took set apart and found burnt out tranny/ic ?..   No way I'm going to repair that. I can't even tell what it is, let alone read any values of course.  This flaming surface mounted stuff really gets up my nose.  Absolutely no chance of repairing stuff like that. Means a complete new board.  They call it progress.

In the sixties I could have whipped out the offending component and soldered a replacement in, no probs.
Now it's goodbye 300 quid. Put it down to experience. Or the lack of it lol.

To tell you the truth, If I had the room I would give up all thee brain damage and expense that this hobby seems to incur more and more in my old age and switch to my back-up of model railways.  However, for the moment at least, I don't. Therefore it's keep taking the tablets.

'This time next year Rodney, I'll be a train driver' lol.

Been trying to run qsstv the last few days, but at the end of the day  it just doesn't want to play ball

Just doesn't make sense.  Last evening I received a Hybrid on both qsstv and EasyPal. EasyPal having ftp enabled, did the business. The next Hybrid received appeared on qsstv, but not on EasyPal ? However, qssstv, since ftp enabled,  did not upload pic to my page.  After that Ubuntu gave an error message  'Sorry Ubuntu has an internal problem' and qsstv promptly disappeared.  Nice!.  Is it worth the agg I thought to myself   ••  .  Nope!. Time I called it a day.  MMSSTV and EasyPal only from now on, pic wise  
Today I'm back to good old reliable jt65-hf to repair the brain damage hi.. Here's a screenshot anyway of qsstv, when it did eventually  manage to download a Hybrid .

 

Yayyyyyyyy!, at last. Percy Verance pay's off. I finally managed to install qsstv.
This is he previous version to last ie V8.1.17.  Got it running in parallel with EasyPal on seperate notebooks. Over an hour and no sign of sigs yet. Murphies! no-one about and low pressure probably meaning lousy prop. See how it goes this evening anyway....

Jt65-hf-hb9hqx-edition running on XP, but won't apparently do the business with Windowa 8?.   Anyway here's as screenshot of last 24 hours. (With a break for for sleep hi)..

Gordon Bennett!, I'm really up to there with Linux today. Been trying to get Wine to run.....anything.  Why is it that a demo install on You Tube looks so straight forward, yet trying it myself doesn't.. On you tube...Click here to download...It downloads.  When I try the same I get told to something completely different resulting in achieving nothing.  The package downloaded from the Ubuntu repository appears to have loaded, but how do I get the described Windows emulation so I can run something?... I've tried so many things now as a result of searches in forums etc, I've finally given up. I know I want to elbow Windows, but it's nowhere near as bloody complicated to use.

I guess I should have expected the rest of the day to go bad, as this morning the Linux geek I'm friendly with in the local electronics outlet wrote a load of instructions down for me re using the terminal to download a particular program and it's dependencies.  When I came to read them this afternoon I realised they were in my shirt pocket.....Which was having it's final spin in the washing machine.  Bugger!. What a dipstick!.  Tomorrows another day lol.

Decided, whilst nosing the mag's in Smiths, that I would buy the Linux mag that included a disc for the new Ubuntu (14) It had both 32 and 64 bit versions onboard so reckoned I'd be in with a reasonable chance of getting  the 32 bit running on my notebook that had 'Ultimate Edition' installed.

It did indeed install ok, so I proceeded to try and find some ham stuff to run on it.  First wsjtx.  Ah!, first snag.  I have to use a usb to serial converter and I only have Windows drivers.  Search of the forums comes up with how to install Linux drivers from the command console.Managed to do that, as everything appeared as instructed in the console box. My serial converter was recognised and ready to use. Unfortunately wsjtx didn't agree, so couldn't trigger ptt.

On to qsstv. Commanded an install ie 'sudo apt install qsstv' and we're in business after starting from the console ie 'qsstv'.  Ran an audio lead from the DX-394 and waited......and waited. Fired up the dongle/HDSDR and MMSSTV.  Eventually got a pic trigger  appear but qsstv would not trigger ie VIS. Went to manual and hit 'start receive'. A pic, or the remaining part of one did appear.  Tried a few time to get qsstv to run in parallel with mmsstv, but no dice.  I haven't had a really strong VIS to see if that's the problem, so called it a day and switched to installing fldigi.  That appears to work judging by the waterfall.

As I though  might try again with qsstv on the Linux job, I installed HB9HQX's version of jt65-hf on the XP notebook.  I'll work jt65 from there I thought. Wrong again!..The program works great.  Unfortunately I forgot I can't get the time to synchronise on that machine any more.  I get errors with when attempting  on line time updating, and manually setting it goes t*ts up within minutes. Therefore Jt65 and wspr, which both need accurate time running, are out of the question.  That machine, and apparently my Linux machine are only good for receiving data it seems.

The new lappy will not run HB9QX's jt65-hf. (the waterfall freezes half way down) presumably Win 8 compatibility problem, so all in all I'm not having a lot of success.  The old version of jt65 and wspr are about my only options tx wise.  Another crap day at the office lol...

That's a better start to the day. Seems the norm is the States first thing, same cluster of EU stations during the day and the Far East late evening.   Probably worth switching to jt65-hf during the day. Could try sstv I suppose, but I don't think 10 watts will get me very far.  Colouring my wife's hair this morning. Must pick up some Dulux on the way lol. Just kidding, it's Henna I'm using.  I'll stick to the grey myself....What's left of it. hi..

Been playing with jt65-hf today. Managed to get the original program running, but can'y seem to get the one I prefer to complete a waterfall sweep. Keeps freezing half way. Blast!. I liked the version by HB9HQX which did run on the XP machine for 120 qso's at least, but the 64 bit Win 8 lappy just won't entertain it.

Anyway I've had enough jt65 for today, time to see if I can get some dx with wspr this evening.

What's happened to the prop' this morning?. I've been wspr'ing  for the last hour and received, or been received, by no one.  Oh well, try later. I'm off to the office..

Two new one's for me today. New Zealand and Phucket, Thailand. Nice!

Looks like Jose has been hitting the computer keys again. Come up with a new mode he calls FHSS mode. (16 different CDMA codes randomly chosen with 1.8 seconds per hop). Apparently 3g uses a similar concept.  It's an optional mode included with hiss ROS program (V 7.2.7), but I downloaded it and found the relevant frequencies to be used greyed out. I think it is only operable to testers at the moment. Watch this space.

Think that will do for today.  Of course while I'm tx'ing not only can't I use the dongle/swl'ing, but  pictures received on the DX-394 are also scrambled.  Can't have one's cake and eat it hi!.

Here's who received me on the indoor loop today anyway.

Ah that's better. Nothing like a bit of VK to prove one's system is doing the business hi!. JA next?..

Only meant to get the gear together before going out, but found myself strapping it all together and firing it up. Here are the stations that have received me. (G0PEB is right on top of me on the map..Isle Of Wight station). Closed down until return from town, then fired up again. Seems the best times to tx are early morning and evening. During the day all I get is the same small group of EU stations over and over.

Problem that has cropped up. When transmitting (using lap top and IC-718) I screw up reception on the desk top using HDSDR via the dongle.  Obviously the tx'd rf from the loop is hitting the long wire and the dongle is chilled. Everything freezes on the desk top.  Understandably.  Oh well, looks like I'll have to allocate times to each.  First and last thing I'll fire up the wspr, then during the day I'll use the dongle for general listening.

Eye's down, look in. A new day!...Thinks!. What shall I do today?. Call in at the office as usual, then I'll rig up the lappy/interface/rig and loop to try a bit of wsp when I return.  Just tried running jt65-hf receieve, but the waterfall gets half way then freezes?.  Loaded ROS up instead and the layout is all screwed.  Bugger! running out of options here.  Just tried wspr receive and seems to be ok. Decoding ok anyway.  That's it then, wspr it is when I get back from my constitutional..Practical wireless is out I noticed yesterday in Smiths, But like Radio User, I wait all month for it to appear, have a squint through it in the shop and decide there's nothing new to interest me enough to buy it...The internet is going to kill off all mags I think.

Had a nose around 15 megs and found Radio Australia.  Heavy qsb but heard what sounds like a rock concert. Didn't recognise the group. Sig 4/3-5-7.   Also found Overcomer Ministry on 15.190. Southern drawl. Usual brain washing to the masses hi..Makes the orator feel important anyway.  Nice little number!

Picked up a cute little usb soundcard from Maplin the other day. It's built in to an enclosure that looks like a valve. Got a right angled fitting so it stands up. Lights up like a valve too.  Love it.  Anyway it solves the problem of no mic socket on the lap top and has allowed me to use data mode decoding software in parallel with the PCR-1000.

This Windows 8 is not as friendly to my software as XP I notice. Neither SDR Console or HDSDR are happy (Both lose audio contact with the dongle for some reason) and even  Ham Radio Deluxe crashes quite often.  The original Icom software works fine though.  Maybe the computer spec is not up to it. Haven't bothered setting up the IC-718 and Rigblaster to try tx'ng with the lappy yet.  Waiting for the right mood hi..

Been playing with Train Sim, now I have 'Steam' running again. Never dawned on me to use the lap top for games when I bought it, but really chuffed to find it's capable of running some of my old games, which include Train Sim and Flight Sim.

Anyway, back to radio. I compared the Mag Loop with the long wire re receiving sstv this morning, and the loop won hands down. Therefore I've made the loop/DX-394 my permanent sstv set up. Put the IC-718 away as I'm not bothering to try tx'ing with the lap top. Would have to buy another usb card for it if I did as it doesn't have a mic input socket.

Using the lap top to drivee my PCR-1000 with Ham Radio Deluxe (V5.2). Audio is straight to speaker system.  HDSDR is driving the dongle on the old desk top, with decoding done on same computer  via the Akai usb sound card.