SSL Added to KC9QQ.COM Site

Posted on by November 1, 2018

For those of you that are using the latest browsers you have probably noticed that the URL for this site was proceeded by the text “Not Secure” or something similar.  This was occurring because I had not obtained an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate for the site.  I wasn’t sure it was needed since my site is just a simple blog.  However, I was concerned that the warning was scaring off some potential visitors.

Therefore, in order to give visitors some piece of mind I have now added an SSL certificate to the sight.  Therefore when you now visit the site you will see the URL starts with “https://…” , and will be proceeded by a small “lock” icon.

 

This lock shows that all data to and from this site is being encrypted, so that anyone monitoring the stream of data will only see the encrypted values and not the plain text.  If you want to know more about HTTPS and SSL here is an article on Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTPS

Fred

 

First Experiments with FT8

Posted on by October 16, 2018
WSJT-X User Interface

WSJT-X User Interface

Over the past several months I have read several articles about the FT8 weak signal digital mode.  Several DXpeditions have announced that they will be operating at least one FT8 station during their DXpeditions.  Therefore I decided that I should setup my station to operate FT8 and figure out how to make FT8 contacts.

Nearly all stations that are operating FT8 are using the WSJT-X software.  This is the description of WSJT-X given in the online user guide :

WSJT-X is a computer program designed to facilitate basic amateur radio communication using very weak signals. The first four letters in the program name stand for “Weak Signal communication by K1JT,” while the suffix “-X” indicates that WSJT-X started as an extended and experimental branch of the program WSJT.

My station already has a Tigertronics Signal Link USB sound card interface which I use for RTTY.  Therefore it was straight forward selecting the Signal Link USB as the input and output sound card in WSJT-X.  For more information on how to interface WSJT-X with your own station you can find an excellent tutorial here:  FT8 Operating Tips.

Once I was able to make my first FT8 contact I installed a piece of software called JTAlert which enabled me to have WSJT-X work seamlessly with the DXLab logging software that I use for my station.  JTAlert can be downloaded here: JTAlert.

Since setting up WSJT-X and JTAlert I have been able to make nearly 50 FT8 contacts.  I am amazed that it is possible to contact stations that are not audible to my old ears.  However, FT8 is clearly not a mode for Rag Chewing.  The QSO follows a very rigid format.  Deviating from the format can confuse the other station and will probably result in a broken QSOs.  A typical QSO takes 1 to 1-1/2 minutes.  It can be longer if there is QRM on your or the other stations frequency.

While CW is my preferred mode, I plan to spend some time using FT8 to work some DX that I cannot hear in CW mode.

Give it a try.  Whether you like FT8 or not you at least learn about a new and rapidly growing mode.

73,

Fred, KC9QQ

Finally Getting High Speed Internet

Posted on by September 11, 2018

Most of you that are visiting this site probably already have high speed internet (DSL, Cable or Fiber Optic).  Unfortunately, in the rural area where I live the only option other than dialup or cell phone has been satellite internet.  We have been using HughesNet internet since they introduced their first generation system several years ago.  While it was an improvement over a dialup connection it was not very fast and suffered from a number of issues:

  1. Long ping times . (750 ms)
  2. Low data caps (50Gb)
  3. high cost
  4. widely variation in speed
  5. too slow to stream HD video

Their Gen5 service was a significant improvement when it came out last year but to a lesser degree these issues still remained; particularly during afternoons and evenings.

This Spring, Endeavor Communications, announced that they would be installing fiber optic cable in our neighborhood.  Once completed they would be offering phone, internet and TV to their customers.  Endeavor communications is an Indiana based cooperative whose mission is to provide fiber optic services to under-served rural communities.

Our fiber optic internet was finally installed in August.  Our speed is 1Gb/s.  The difference is amazing.  We are now actually able to stream HD and Ultra-HD movies on multiple TVs without re-buffering or data limits.

I was also able to take advantage of our new connection to participate in the W9IMS (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) Special event operation last week.  I was able to remotely operate the station using TeamViewer and N1MM just as if I were in front of the radio.  This is pretty amazing technology.

73 for now,

Fred, KC9QQ