Marty,

Welcome to the group.

73s

Bill WA8VIH EL98

On Thu, Dec 24, 2020 at 4:42 PM MARTIN LAMPNER <Martin@...> wrote:

My thanks for allowing me to join the WSJT-X group.  I am a freshly minted General license holder, with at this moment in time about 8 weeks of operation behind me. I held a Novice license in the mid 1960s but never took it further than that - girls and cars distracted me from the hobby.

In rejoining the hobby I am excited about learning more about the various digital modes. I’m interested initially in Whspr as I have built several antennas and it would seem to offer a good way to see how they perform and how various tweaks will help them.

I know I will be asking many questions no doubt asked and answered before so I apologize for taking folks time on things that may be common knowledge.

I do have two questions but first let me share my setup as that could have some bearing on my questions. I am running a Yeasu FT 991A. I built two antennas, one for the HF 20 meter band, a ground mounted vertical, with roughly 20 or so radials.  On the VHF/UHF side I have built a vertical mounted about 14 feet up. Both seem to be performing fairly well but as I say I am interested in seeing how far they can reach.

So to the questions: I am located in Delaware in the USA near the Atlantic Coast, about  3 miles from the coast line. I have run wsjt in Whspr mode twice now with no inbound contacts. I did look at the real time map and saw a station located about 15 miles from me had five contacts. Am I being impatient? I let it run about an hour one time and about an hour and a half the second time.  What is a reasonably amount of time to expect to see inbound contacts?

Second Question when I click on Transmit it will not stay lit. When i did the setup and tested push to talk it worked fine but in an active session it lights for a second then goes back to white? Any ideas on what’s wrong?

Again my apologies for taking the group’s time with what I expect are fairly rudimentary questions.

Merry Christmas to all and best wishes,

KC3PZX - Marty   73.

On Dec 25, 2020, at 6:33 AM, d_ziolkowski <dan.ziolkowski@...> wrote:

Martin-

with any WSJT mode time accuracy of the pc is critical. YOu need to install a time sync program, I use Meinberg NTP. 

One thing to do is get FT8 working first, before WSPR. FT8 has very short time cycles, as opposed to waiting 2 mins for the wspr cycle. 

Do you have your sound card properly selected in WSJTx?

what audio interface are you using? I use a Signalink. it is best to use a 2nd sound card, not the built in one.

when you look at the WSJTx display do you see audio activity on the lower left of the display? 

in the waterfall do you see signals in the wspr bandwidth?

here is a guide to set up audio, https://wsjtx.groups.io/g/main/message/13890

make sure the receiver is set for max bandwidth and USB data mode. 

Hope that helps

Dan KC2STA

On Thu, Dec 24, 2020 at 4:42 PM MARTIN LAMPNER <Martin@...> wrote:

My thanks for allowing me to join the WSJT-X group.  I am a freshly minted General license holder, with at this moment in time about 8 weeks of operation behind me. I held a Novice license in the mid 1960s but never took it further than that - girls and cars distracted me from the hobby.

In rejoining the hobby I am excited about learning more about the various digital modes. I’m interested initially in Whspr as I have built several antennas and it would seem to offer a good way to see how they perform and how various tweaks will help them.

I know I will be asking many questions no doubt asked and answered before so I apologize for taking folks time on things that may be common knowledge.

I do have two questions but first let me share my setup as that could have some bearing on my questions. I am running a Yeasu FT 991A. I built two antennas, one for the HF 20 meter band, a ground mounted vertical, with roughly 20 or so radials.  On the VHF/UHF side I have built a vertical mounted about 14 feet up. Both seem to be performing fairly well but as I say I am interested in seeing how far they can reach.

So to the questions: I am located in Delaware in the USA near the Atlantic Coast, about  3 miles from the coast line. I have run wsjt in Whspr mode twice now with no inbound contacts. I did look at the real time map and saw a station located about 15 miles from me had five contacts. Am I being impatient? I let it run about an hour one time and about an hour and a half the second time.  What is a reasonably amount of time to expect to see inbound contacts?

Second Question when I click on Transmit it will not stay lit. When i did the setup and tested push to talk it worked fine but in an active session it lights for a second then goes back to white? Any ideas on what’s wrong?

Again my apologies for taking the group’s time with what I expect are fairly rudimentary questions.

Merry Christmas to all and best wishes,

KC3PZX - Marty   73.

--

Dan Ziolkowski KC2STA
SKCC #4290T
Ubuntu LINUX

On Dec 25, 2020, at 4:18 PM, d_ziolkowski <dan.ziolkowski@...> wrote:



Marty-

confirm your time accuracy at https://time.is

HRD gives you CAT control, but has nothing to do with the audio.

Dan KC2STA

On Fri, Dec 25, 2020 at 2:57 PM MARTIN LAMPNER <Martin@...> wrote:

Thanks Dan, 

I am actually connecting via a USB cable with appropriate chokes on both ends rather than sound cards and HRD which also uses that connection seems to be fine with it.  I did decide since one of the radios choices is HRD to use it in place of the actual radio and it tests fine. 

As to time I am fairly sure I’m within the 1 second window. I used to have a radio receiver that could be plugged into the PC that would tune WWV and had software that could compare the system clock to it unfortunately it was my employer’s and it stayed with them when I retired. We needed it as we had networks in three states that had to maintain sync for certain functions. In the absence of that I made the changes suggested to WIN10, going to NIST rather than the Microsoft time server and while I can only check by ear I did tune WWV and watched and my computer is clicking over the minute so close to tone that it is easily in the 1 second even allowing for the 10 milsec delay between transmitter so I don’t think its time and in any case I doubt it would be what is preventing the transmit to work. 

If I can’t figure this out I will go back to a direct connection with HRD down but the problem with that is it would mean reconfiguring HRD to either work with these parameters or alternatively reconfigure the radio each time I want to use the other setup. 

Hope you are having a great holiday, 73 KC3PZX. 

On Dec 25, 2020, at 6:33 AM, d_ziolkowski <dan.ziolkowski@...> wrote:

Martin-

with any WSJT mode time accuracy of the pc is critical. YOu need to install a time sync program, I use Meinberg NTP. 

One thing to do is get FT8 working first, before WSPR. FT8 has very short time cycles, as opposed to waiting 2 mins for the wspr cycle. 

Do you have your sound card properly selected in WSJTx?

what audio interface are you using? I use a Signalink. it is best to use a 2nd sound card, not the built in one.

when you look at the WSJTx display do you see audio activity on the lower left of the display? 

in the waterfall do you see signals in the wspr bandwidth?

here is a guide to set up audio, https://wsjtx.groups.io/g/main/message/13890

make sure the receiver is set for max bandwidth and USB data mode. 

Hope that helps

Dan KC2STA

On Thu, Dec 24, 2020 at 4:42 PM MARTIN LAMPNER <Martin@...> wrote:

My thanks for allowing me to join the WSJT-X group.  I am a freshly minted General license holder, with at this moment in time about 8 weeks of operation behind me. I held a Novice license in the mid 1960s but never took it further than that - girls and cars distracted me from the hobby.

In rejoining the hobby I am excited about learning more about the various digital modes. I’m interested initially in Whspr as I have built several antennas and it would seem to offer a good way to see how they perform and how various tweaks will help them.

I know I will be asking many questions no doubt asked and answered before so I apologize for taking folks time on things that may be common knowledge.

I do have two questions but first let me share my setup as that could have some bearing on my questions. I am running a Yeasu FT 991A. I built two antennas, one for the HF 20 meter band, a ground mounted vertical, with roughly 20 or so radials.  On the VHF/UHF side I have built a vertical mounted about 14 feet up. Both seem to be performing fairly well but as I say I am interested in seeing how far they can reach.

So to the questions: I am located in Delaware in the USA near the Atlantic Coast, about  3 miles from the coast line. I have run wsjt in Whspr mode twice now with no inbound contacts. I did look at the real time map and saw a station located about 15 miles from me had five contacts. Am I being impatient? I let it run about an hour one time and about an hour and a half the second time.  What is a reasonably amount of time to expect to see inbound contacts?

Second Question when I click on Transmit it will not stay lit. When i did the setup and tested push to talk it worked fine but in an active session it lights for a second then goes back to white? Any ideas on what’s wrong?

Again my apologies for taking the group’s time with what I expect are fairly rudimentary questions.

Merry Christmas to all and best wishes,

KC3PZX - Marty   73.

--

Dan Ziolkowski KC2STA
SKCC #4290T
Ubuntu LINUX

--

Dan Ziolkowski KC2STA
SKCC #4290T
Ubuntu LINUX

On Dec 25, 2020, at 4:56 PM, Bob McGraw K4TAX <rmcgraw@...> wrote:

Interesting regarding HRD.   I use a single USB cable between my radio and my computer to operate AFSK, PSK-31 and CW. Two of these are audio modes and CAT control.   All at the same time too.  

Bob, K4TAX

On Dec 25, 2020, at 4:18 PM, d_ziolkowski <dan.ziolkowski@...> wrote:



Marty-

confirm your time accuracy at https://time.is

HRD gives you CAT control, but has nothing to do with the audio.

Dan KC2STA

On Fri, Dec 25, 2020 at 2:57 PM MARTIN LAMPNER <Martin@...> wrote:

Thanks Dan, 

I am actually connecting via a USB cable with appropriate chokes on both ends rather than sound cards and HRD which also uses that connection seems to be fine with it.  I did decide since one of the radios choices is HRD to use it in place of the actual radio and it tests fine. 

As to time I am fairly sure I’m within the 1 second window. I used to have a radio receiver that could be plugged into the PC that would tune WWV and had software that could compare the system clock to it unfortunately it was my employer’s and it stayed with them when I retired. We needed it as we had networks in three states that had to maintain sync for certain functions. In the absence of that I made the changes suggested to WIN10, going to NIST rather than the Microsoft time server and while I can only check by ear I did tune WWV and watched and my computer is clicking over the minute so close to tone that it is easily in the 1 second even allowing for the 10 milsec delay between transmitter so I don’t think its time and in any case I doubt it would be what is preventing the transmit to work. 

If I can’t figure this out I will go back to a direct connection with HRD down but the problem with that is it would mean reconfiguring HRD to either work with these parameters or alternatively reconfigure the radio each time I want to use the other setup. 

Hope you are having a great holiday, 73 KC3PZX. 

On Dec 25, 2020, at 6:33 AM, d_ziolkowski <dan.ziolkowski@...> wrote:

Martin-

with any WSJT mode time accuracy of the pc is critical. YOu need to install a time sync program, I use Meinberg NTP. 

One thing to do is get FT8 working first, before WSPR. FT8 has very short time cycles, as opposed to waiting 2 mins for the wspr cycle. 

Do you have your sound card properly selected in WSJTx?

what audio interface are you using? I use a Signalink. it is best to use a 2nd sound card, not the built in one.

when you look at the WSJTx display do you see audio activity on the lower left of the display? 

in the waterfall do you see signals in the wspr bandwidth?

here is a guide to set up audio, https://wsjtx.groups.io/g/main/message/13890

make sure the receiver is set for max bandwidth and USB data mode. 

Hope that helps

Dan KC2STA

On Thu, Dec 24, 2020 at 4:42 PM MARTIN LAMPNER <Martin@...> wrote:

My thanks for allowing me to join the WSJT-X group.  I am a freshly minted General license holder, with at this moment in time about 8 weeks of operation behind me. I held a Novice license in the mid 1960s but never took it further than that - girls and cars distracted me from the hobby.

In rejoining the hobby I am excited about learning more about the various digital modes. I’m interested initially in Whspr as I have built several antennas and it would seem to offer a good way to see how they perform and how various tweaks will help them.

I know I will be asking many questions no doubt asked and answered before so I apologize for taking folks time on things that may be common knowledge.

I do have two questions but first let me share my setup as that could have some bearing on my questions. I am running a Yeasu FT 991A. I built two antennas, one for the HF 20 meter band, a ground mounted vertical, with roughly 20 or so radials.  On the VHF/UHF side I have built a vertical mounted about 14 feet up. Both seem to be performing fairly well but as I say I am interested in seeing how far they can reach.

So to the questions: I am located in Delaware in the USA near the Atlantic Coast, about  3 miles from the coast line. I have run wsjt in Whspr mode twice now with no inbound contacts. I did look at the real time map and saw a station located about 15 miles from me had five contacts. Am I being impatient? I let it run about an hour one time and about an hour and a half the second time.  What is a reasonably amount of time to expect to see inbound contacts?

Second Question when I click on Transmit it will not stay lit. When i did the setup and tested push to talk it worked fine but in an active session it lights for a second then goes back to white? Any ideas on what’s wrong?

Again my apologies for taking the group’s time with what I expect are fairly rudimentary questions.

Merry Christmas to all and best wishes,

KC3PZX - Marty   73.

--

Dan Ziolkowski KC2STA
SKCC #4290T
Ubuntu LINUX

--

Dan Ziolkowski KC2STA
SKCC #4290T
Ubuntu LINUX