Posted: 10/3/2009 8:08:14 PM EDT
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In QSO with a Cuban ham via PSK31. He uses a home made interface.
Most of us have heard of holding the radio's mic by the speaker, and vice versa, but you have the problem of isolation from room noise. What this guy does is put an electret mic element, floated in foam, in one end of a piece of pvc pipe, and in the other end, a small speaker. BAM! You've got an interface and you've got isolation. No optocouplers, no transformers, none of that. The ultimate in KISS. 
–––– Edit to add... I made a nice PSK31 (at 25 w) QSO to Valencia, Spain... that's on the far side of Spain, on the Med. 
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Quoted:
And never fail most of those Cuban PSK stations splatter 3 kHz wide and look like shit on the waterfall. CO8LY is one of em, and he must have a very poor receiver cause all he does is CQ and never answers calls to tell him to reduce tx drive. I had a QSO with Eduardo, CO8LY, but it was SSB phone. The guy I was referring to in the first post had a nice, clean signal. The Cubans are generally running much older equipment, both radios and computers. They don't make much money as compared to those in other countries. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
And never fail most of those Cuban PSK stations splatter 3 kHz wide and look like shit on the waterfall. CO8LY is one of em, and he must have a very poor receiver cause all he does is CQ and never answers calls to tell him to reduce tx drive. I had a QSO with Eduardo, CO8LY, but it was SSB phone. The guy I was referring to in the first post had a nice, clean signal. The Cubans are generally running much older equipment, both radios and computers. They don't make much money as compared to those in other countries. I ran PSK with a Kenwood TS-520s (hybrid tube rig). Never a single complaint about splatter or overdrive (I asked in every qso i made with that setup). |
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Quoted:
Hmm, I have a 520S boxed up. Maybe I should try it with the digital modes. Use the phone patch jack. You can get isolation transformers from discarded modems. Tune up for SSB as normal, then use the volume on the computer to bring the output power to 5~10 watts. Make sure the ALC never kicks in. The 520s can handle RTTY all day, but just to be on the safe side, I pointed a big fan at it while I was running PSK through it. |