Plan Ahead
How can you get started on a plan? Fortunately, while life is proceeding rather normally, you can access many ideas about how to form a strategy. You’ll find many resources at the Preparedness Fairs in your area. The Preparedness Expo in our part of the country is slated for the end of September. If you are not ready, I’m going to post some things that you should consider arranging while you have time. If you hunker down at home, you know the essentials: food, water, protection, and communications.
If you flee, how will you shelter away from your own roof? If you already have a go-to place, you’ll stock it. If not, then you may be hiding in a tent or put up a structure for protection. A bug-out bag sets you up with part of what you need to survive: nonperishable food and water, plus a way to purify additional water; fire for cooking, warmth, and cheering up; add a radio, flashlight and pet food as needed.
And do you know how to make a fire? You will practicably want to add a fire-starting kit to your supplies.
However, if you can foresee a long-duration crisis such as hyperinflation or societal collapse, you’re likely considering whether your money will work for you in the circumstances. After all, who has wheelbarrows of cash to buy a loaf of bread as Germans needed in 1923? But that’s a topic for another blog.
How Will You Communicate?
If you have the inclination, you may build your own radio, of course. Yet it’s worth investigating PreppComm’s line of radios to prepare for dire circumstances.
With good reason, we offer “Morse Made Easy™” to our customers. In bad times, a lot of transmissions are made in Morse code, and many radios are MIA under duress. Part of the problem is the transceiver’s not being able to hear the information when the bands are rowdy. Some radios on the market have a limited capacity to decode even in adequate conditions. Frustration motivates operators to look for transceivers that will flawlessly decode on the worst of days and that make contact when infrastructure fails them. It is the technology built into the DMX and MMX that uses the ions and electrons of the ionosphere to propagate radio waves
PreppComm understands that your ability to key in Morse code may have slipped over time or that you may not have learned it. Good news! With their included keyboards, the MMX and the DMX-40 enable you to speak Morse immediately via texting, with the bonus that you will not escape learning Morse. You’ll assimilate irresistibly it as the dits and dahs roll out into words on your graphical user interface. Or if you still have access to your big rig, the MMX ZERO hooks up to it to connect you with essential communications in CW. The MMX and DMX also do this. It’s called External Mode, using a transceiver (your rig) external to the DMX or MMX.
A Fab GUI
Speaking of the GUI, here’s what one ham has to say: “Your unit is great because the screen is actually big enough to provide a good viewing area…is capable of holding a reasonable number of text lines. So many have tiny screens. It is nice to have something where I can send CW using a keyboard without a computer and see the type-ahead buffer before it it is transmitted…I also like it because I can see my actual CW speed.”
Sounds like a plug for using a PreppComm radio in stressful circumstances.
Meanwhile, we’ll remind PreppCommers that software update MMX or DMX v. 27.3 is available. This revisal corrects some bugs and adds several functions to microprogramming to support contesting. You’ll also see a new key command to toggle the backlight on and off. Let the factory know that you want our manufacturing techs to install this alteration for $50.
#learnMorsecode #nationalpreparednessmonth #floridahurricane #earthquake #preppcommamateurradio #MMX #hfradio #decodemorse #contesting
]]>Solar Cycle 25 is approaching maximum in the next four years. The previous minimum ended in 2019 with a dearth of sunspots, and the next 11-year cycle kicked off. It’s already been a wonder to behold. Just recently we’ve seen two X-class flares interfering with radio and navigation transmissions. While these dangerous flares measured X1.5, solar radiation disturbances can be far more severe, as we know from the Carrington Event of 1859, which was estimated to be an X9 class flare.
So as the sun dances onto this new scene with wonders of sunspots, flares, and geomagnetic storms, PreppComm’s customers are eager to extend the reach of their HF communications. How far will this increasingly dense ionosphere refract their signals? Will their DX (distance) logbooks read like the journals of a modern-day Christopher Columbus? We anticipate some great stories of unexpected contacts, as SOTA and POTA hobbyists bounce their messages with smaller antennas and QRP (low power). And could it be that the MMX and DMX-40 will be vital links?
Internet Connects Our World
Back in 1859 the Internet wasn’t even a glimmer in a prodigy’s eye. People connected face to face or by letters and newspapers. The pace was slow and easy. Fast forward to 2023. This whiz-bang, split-second realm of ours. Look at how routinely we expect the Internet to provide our traffic for information, commerce and socializing. We just reckon on its being there when we touch a keyboard. Most of us don’t really think about all the infrastructure that networks its components. We suppose that it will work as it did yesterday.
A severe solar flare can change that. All of a sudden power lines, data centers, servers and all that infrastructure will disappear. Emergency communications will be crippled. Everyday communications, essential services and financial transactions will stop. Our world as we know it today will halt. We will no longer be conferring with each other.
Modern Morse Code Transceivers: PreppComm MMX and Communication Resilience
Well then, how can we prepare for that eventuality? What can connect people when links, lines, networks and information have vanished? What modes of propagation will bridge the gaps? A significant portion of the solution resides in the increasingly ionized high-altitude regions that can propagate HF signals. Yes, HF.
As the solar maximum approaches and peaks in the next four years, propagation of 40 and 20 meter signals improves. Probably 80 meters will be favorable as well. And voila! The age-old connections of Morse code are again harnessed to ensure communications resilience in times of crisis. PreppComm’s state-of-the-art HF Morse code transceivers provide ongoing communication and information exchanges during these emergencies. The robust QRP low-power MMX transceiver, with its 20, 40 and 80 meter bands, shines in the developing conditions.
All the HF bands will open up more. As signal reflections escalate, HF signals from smaller antennas will highly likely propagate farther around the globe.
Enabling individuals and communities to transmit Morse code messages over radio frequencies, PreppComm’s MMX CW decoder will be a vital lifeline. The DMX-40 will as well. Their simplicity and reliability make them potent communication options, especially in situations where traditional digital methods falter. And let’s emphasize how they operate from low-power batteries or even a portable solar panel.
By utilizing the PreppComm MMX, individuals can bridge the emergency communications gap that might arise from a solar-storm induced Internet outage, allowing for crucial information sharing, coordination of relief efforts, and maintaining contact with loved ones and other critical connections.
#CWdecoder #Morsecode #solarflares #emergencycommunications #solarcycle #SOTA #POTA #QRP
]]>Several years ago, Prusa announced the Prusa XL, a larger format version of their printer. Even back then, in 2021, I knew what the next product was going to be, and that I needed the larger printer, so I pre-ordered it. We are working with Prusa now to get the order released, because we need it NOW. I am tired of printing in two pieces because parts are too big for the MK3S+
Now that is an intro! And I have one of 1000 right here at PreppComm!.
As to why: we have a few new employees that have been able to take a lot of the load of running PreppComm off me, so I can work on the new product, which has been in my mind for at least 3 years. But to start, I had to find a 3D program I could learn quickly, because the person that i was relying on to design the cabinet for the product was not going to be able to continue in any reasonable time frame, and he did not have time to collaborate frequently. His life was too busy.
I discovered Shapr3D, an amazing product but not cheap. I learned in 2 days enough to get started, and this last week have printed all of the parts for the new product in 2 pieces. I have version 9 ready to print. I have also learned how to use Prusa Slicer, which takes the files and generates g-code for the printer.
Even though it is in parts, put together to see if everything fits, including the PC boards (well, OK, fake PCBs printed in the printer) and then using that information to improve the 3D model, etc… I think that cycle is over until we have the XL, no doubt some additional fine tuning is required…
But now, I can start focusing on the electronics. Develop the PCBs. Is there enough space? How to locate parts inside so everything fits? Yesterday was a day to celebrate! I was finally at the point of starting on the PCB.
If I showed you the 3D prints, I would have to “shoot” you… hoping to reveal this amazing new product in a few months!
]]>The Carrington Event, a monumental solar storm that struck Earth in 1859, remains an indelible reminder of the delicate balance between nature's power and our technological advances. This article explores how modern Morse code transceivers, like the PreppComm MMX, could play a vital role in maintaining communication during such emergencies.
The Carrington Event, named after British astronomer Richard Carrington, unleashed an immense burst of solar energy that caused a geomagnetic storm of unprecedented magnitude. The solar storm disrupted telegraph systems, leading to widespread outages and sparking fires due to induced electric currents. In today's context, with a modern society interwoven by intricate technological networks, the lessons of the Carrington Event take on new significance.
Our reliance on the Internet has grown exponentially especially in the first quarter of this century, making it a cornerstone of global communication, commerce, and information dissemination. However, this reliance also exposes a vulnerability – the potential for a large-scale solar storm to disrupt the complex web of undersea cables, satellites, and data centers that constitute the Internet's backbone. Such a disruption could lead to cascading effects, affecting not only daily communication but also essential services, financial transactions, and emergency response systems.
In the face of this vulnerability, modern Morse code transceivers offer a beacon of hope for maintaining communication and information exchange during emergencies. The PreppComm MMX, an advanced Morse code transceiver, exemplifies how this age-old mode of communication can be harnessed to ensure communication resilience in times of crisis.
The PreppComm MMX serves as a vital lifeline by enabling individuals and communities to transmit Morse code messages over radio frequencies. Its simplicity and reliability make it a robust communication option, especially in situations where traditional digital methods falter. For example, even a solar storm with a fraction of the power of the Carrington Event can cause a great deal of noise in radio communication. The PreppComm MMX can “hear” CW (Morse) transmissions, even among noise that would render them unusable by methods tuned by ear. By utilizing the PreppComm MMX, individuals can bridge the communication gap that might arise from a solar storm-induced Internet outage, allowing for crucial information sharing, coordination of relief efforts, and maintaining contact with loved ones.
The PreppComm MMX's potential for emergency preparedness extends beyond its direct application. Its user-friendly interface and intuitive Morse code encoding and decoding process ensure that individuals of varying technical backgrounds can quickly learn to operate the device. In the aftermath of a solar storm or other disruptive events, the PreppComm MMX's reliability and ease of use can empower communities to establish communication networks swiftly.
Moreover, the simplicity of Morse code transceivers like the PreppComm MMX ensures their resilience against the complex digital infrastructure that might be susceptible to electromagnetic interference. These devices operate independently of power grids and intricate communication systems, ensuring that communication remains possible even when mainstream technologies falter.
The Carrington Event stands as a testament to the immense power of natural forces and their potential to disrupt the technological marvels we have constructed. As our reliance on the Internet grows, so does our vulnerability to disruptions caused by solar storms and other emergencies. In this context, modern Morse code transceivers like the PreppComm MMX emerge as crucial tools in maintaining communication and information exchange during crises. After all, a major solar event, similar in magnitude to the Carrington Event, will happen again. The word is “when”, not “if”.
By using our MMX unit, you can bridge the gap between historical wisdom and contemporary technology, and reminding us that communication, connection, and preparedness are essential for safeguarding our interconnected world.
We have two more manuals for you. We have prepared a completely reformatted and updated MMX Multi-Band & MMX ZERO Quick Start Guide Version 1.2 and an brand new MMX Multi-Band Reference Manual Version 1.2. Both of these manuals have significant revisions, new information and diagrams, and some reorganization.
Eric recommends that you begin with the Quick Start Guide. It comprises a lot of great information in a step by step format. The first part covers MMX setup (both Multi-band and ZERO), followed by the basic MMX controls for auto-transmit modes: CALL and ANS, used for both multi-band and ZERO.
At that point, you branch into electrical setup for either ZERO companion or external mode, or for QRP transceiver mode. For the ZERO case, we cover external transceiver setup. You get the picture. You may never need to go into the reference manuals at all.
]]>Do you wonder how to get started with ham radio? A traditional approach might be to buy all the equipment needed for voice transmission and reception. The new operator of ham radios could see the MMX as a starting point for her hobby.
]]>Here at PreppComm Amateur Radio, we provide products that cut down that learning process; we provide Morse Made Easy™. So there is no need to see the MMX, for example, as just an add-on to the ham’s existing equipment, though, of course, it does make an excellent addition. But the new operator of ham radios could see the MMX as a starting point for her hobby.
The reason for not starting with morse is obvious; it was always easier to start by talking. PreppComm’s products have changed that paradigm. Radio hams can now start with morse, even if they have not learned it yet! A radio ham starts by typing her messages as text, using her MMX, and allowing it to encode the message for transmission. The ease with which the MMX will decode the incoming replies will be an excellent way to get into ham radio.
So what are you waiting for? As soon as the radio ham has her Technician level license, the MMX can be among her first purchases.
Who will you be texting by MMX encoded and decoded morse this week?
]]>Homeschooling: Why the PreppComm MMX and DMX-40 change everything!
The article using ham radio in homeschooling below is a great general overview of how to use ham radio to teach STEM and other areas subjects effectively. However, it is important to note that the DMX-40, introduced less than 2 years ago, changes the possibilities significantly. Why is that?
The student and teacher do not need to know Morse code to begin learning. In fact, the easiest way to learn the code ever invented is by allowing your brain to do it for you, subconsciously. And, at the same time, get to use the radio and learn about band conditions, tuning, learning to type or use a manual key, etc. How is this possible?
The answer is cognitive association. This is a brain function that is operating all the time. It is the function that warns you when you are about to do something that did not turn out so good the last time. The brain looks for causative events and their results, and matches them, and then as they are repeated, the match grows stronger. Once strong enough, the brain reports the result before it occurs. For our products, the causative event is a particular character being received in audio, going into the brain via the ear. The resulting event is the character appearing on the screen. This happens with or without you paying attention: your brain IS ALWAYS paying attention! After enough repeats, the audio code result is put into your conscious mind before it even appears on the LCD screen! In other words, when the letter L is received in code, you will think "L". And then you will see it on the LCD as a validation. This usually takes a few months of usage.
But it gets better than that! Your brain is learning in the context of a flow of characters! You are learning not just the codes, but words. This approach puts your brain to work and lets you relax and have fun while it is learning. The best part? Kids brains are much faster and better at this process than adults, so their learning curve will be significantly faster!
So while they are learning various STEM subjects around amateur radio, including getting their Technician Class license, they can be learning by listening, tuning, exploring, and even transmitting into a dummy load. They can use the keyboard, and learn all of the commands for using and adjusting the rig. And, they can use a straight key plugged into the rig and use it to monitor their keying, displaying the results on the LCD screen. It is the ONLY key practice system we know of that actually listens and tells you what the other guy thinks you sent. This is using the intelligent decoder for code practice. We recommend not starting key code practice until the student is very familiar with the transceiver operation, and can operate it easily. There is a great advantage of having learned the rhythm of code by listening before attempting to recreate it yourself.
And there it is: the other reason everything has changed! In the past, to go on the air on HF required another General or Extra Class licensed operator to be present, as a Technician Class licensee cannot operate on HF except with Morse code. And that is why we invented the DMX-40: to make it possible for the lowest level licensee - the Technician Class - to use HF, the best bands for all distance communications - from local to international - without having any external infrastructure requirement, such as the internet, AC power, or repeaters!
As an aside, this is also why the DMX-40 is such a great preparedness radio!
And now, the article on amateur radio in the homeschool!
A Powerful Tool for Homeschooling: Ham Radio
Ham radio is an exciting and versatile technology that can be used in many ways to expand and benefit both the homeschool teacher and students, from communication to emergency preparedness to scientific research. Ham radio can be an excellent tool for teaching students about electronics, radio waves, geography, social skills, and much more. Let’s start by looking at some ham radio details.
Ham Radio Technical Details
The best Ham radio for home schooling operates in the high frequency (HF) spectrum, which spans from 3 MHz to 30 MHz. This frequency range allows radio waves to travel long distances via ionospheric skip propagation, making it possible to communicate with other hams across the country and even around the world. Ham radio operators use various modes of communication, including voice (single-sideband, or SSB), Morse code (also known as CW), and digital modes such as FT8 and PSK31. VHF/UHF frequencies are also available for local and repeater use, but can fail during emergencies.
To transmit on ham radio frequencies, operators need a transmitter, an antenna, and a power source. Transceivers, which include both the transmitter and the receiver, can range from simple kits that students can build themselves to more complex multi-band transceivers that can cost thousands of dollars. Antennas can be as simple as a wire strung up between two trees or as complex as a multi-element beam antenna that can be rotated to point in different directions.
For homeschooling, Morse code or CW is recommended. More on that later.
In addition to transmitting and receiving, ham radio operators also participate in contests, awards programs, and special events. For example, the annual ARRL Field Day event is a great way for homeschoolers to practice their communication skills and compete against other hams from around the country.
Using Ham Radio in Homeschooling
There are many different ways to enhance the education of children and teens by incorporating the many aspects of ham radio into their education, from a very young age to teen years. In addition to an exciting educational aspect, it also provides the possibility of a great hobby with many different exciting aspects that can last a lifetime. Here are some of the ways to apply this tool to enhance home school curriculum.
Hands-On Learning
One of the biggest advantages of using ham radio in homeschooling is the hands-on learning experience it offers. Kids can learn how to set up and use ham radios, antennas, and other equipment, which helps to develop their fine motor skills, as well as their understanding of basic electronics and circuitry. This type of hands-on learning can be especially beneficial for kinesthetic learners who learn best through tactile experiences.
STEM Education
By learning about radio waves, electronics, and communication technology, students can gain an understanding of the basic principles of electrical engineering. They can experiment with and study the different types of antennas and frequencies to explore the science of radio waves and how they propagate through space (physics and math). Students can also learn about the different modes of communication, such as CW and digital modes and modulation techniques (applied science/technology for communications), and practice sending and receiving messages using these modes (communication techniques and social skills). Finally, combining ham radio with basic electronic kits and simple CW transceiver kits can teach about electrical components and circuitry, the basic building blocks of modern electrical engineering.
Cultural Exposure
One of the most exciting aspects of ham radio is the ability to communicate with people from around the world. Homeschoolers can learn about different cultures, customs, and languages by speaking with people in other countries, which can foster a greater appreciation for diversity and global awareness.
Geography Lessons
By tracking the locations of the hams they communicate with, students can also gain an understanding of geography and map reading. They can learn about the different time zones and how they affect communication, and even practice speaking or writing in different languages.
Preparedness Lessons
In addition to its educational benefits, ham radio is also an important tool for emergency preparedness. During natural disasters or other emergencies, traditional communication infrastructure can become overwhelmed or fail completely. Ham radio, however, operates independently of traditional communication channels and can be used to transmit critical information, such as weather updates or evacuation orders. Homeschoolers can learn about the importance of emergency communication and how to use ham radio in the event of an emergency.
Social Skills Lessons
In addition to the social skills described above when communicating over the air with other hams, students and parents can also join ham radio clubs and organizations, attend meetings and events, and meet other hams in person.
Best Choices
While there are many wonderful communication modes and tools available, the best for homeschooling is Morse code. This is the simplest, oldest, and most reliable in difficult circumstances, such as bad band conditions and emergencies. It also has the most educational value, and learning Morse code can stimulate the brain into organized and logical pathways. It has also been a comfort and help for some with various learning difficulties.
With that said, the best way to get excitement into the process is to get on the air - at first, just listening (while working on getting the license), and later by actually making contacts, i.e., talking via text using code with other hams on the air. However, in the past, this has required that the student spend hours and hours getting the knack of sending code, as well as the even harder task of hearing code and translating it into text in their head. This can be a significant damper on the learning process. Studying for the General Class license is also difficult.
As we discussed above, PreppComm has recently introduced a new line of Morse Transceivers that allow learning code while using code. This method uses cognitive association to learn while listening and seeing the translation appear, and by the built-in decoder listening to the students keying and displaying what it thinks they are sending. This is the absolute best education system for Morse code available, all built into a small, portable, low power transceiver. The computer is built-in, and a keyboard is included for control and text input. A key can also be used.
The recommended approach is to combine a DMX-40 Morse Transceiver from PreppComm with a basic electronics kit from ELEGOO, available on Amazon. This combination provides a complete range of educational experiences for ham radio and basic electronics in the homeschool.
Conclusion
In conclusion, ham radio is a fascinating and valuable technology that can be used in many ways in homeschooling. Whether you are teaching science and technology, geography, emergency preparedness, or social skills, ham radio can provide an engaging and hands-on way for students to learn and explore. With the right equipment and guidance, homeschoolers can discover the exciting world of ham radio and develop skills that will serve them well throughout their lives. And of course, that means PreppComm equipment!
Conclusion
Overall, ham radio operators have made significant contributions to the advancement of radio technology over the past century. From the early days of wireless telegraphy and Morse code to the development of software-defined radios, signal processing algorithms, and new digital voice modes, hams have been at the forefront of innovation in the field of radio communication. As a result, ham radio remains a vibrant and exciting hobby that continues to attract new enthusiasts to this day. Whether you're interested in Morse code, digital modes, or emergency communications, there's never been a better time to get involved in ham radio and join the global community of amateur radio operators.
]]>I don’t have a wall full of transceivers, as some folks do, I have only my trusty old Icom 7300. I say old, because I bought it when it first came out at $1500. I recognized even before it was on sale from the information made available that it was a breakthrough product, and I was right. What an amazing day in amateur radio history!
Anyway, let’s start out by first setting the CW PITCH or sidetone as high as it will go. To do this, go to CW mode, and then, using the Multi knob/button, press once for the display shown on the right. Touch CW PITCH to select. Turn the Multi knob until the value reaches 900 Hz. You should see something like the view on the right. Press Multi to save the value.
Now let’s consider what this setting is doing. For many, it is a mystery. Basically, to turn a carrier wave - which has no sound in itself - into a tone, we do this using a method called creating a beat frequency. A beat frequency is the difference frequency between two signals. So, if you have your dial set at 7.030.000, or 7,030,000 Hz, or 7.03 MHz, to get a 600 Hz beat frequency audio tone, you must use another frequency at 7.030.600. Note that 7.029.400, which is 600 Hz lower, will also generate a 600 Hz beat frequency tone. So in effect, this 600 Hz higher frequency is your VFO or receive frequency, and the displayed frequency is your transmitter frequency. Thought of in another way, a zero beat will occur 600 Hz higher on the dial, indicating that your receiver is, in effect, operating at 600 Hz higher in frequency than your transmitter, so you can hear the other station.
Thus, the CW PITCH control is an offset between your transmitter frequency and a VFO frequency generated within the transceiver. You can tune up or down, and this tone will go up and down depending on the distance between an incoming carrier and the VFO, which is offset from the displayed frequency by this setting, now 900 Hz. The displayed frequency is both your transmitter frequency AND the station’s frequency you are listening to,
For the DMX-40 or MMX receiver, the VFO frequency is the receive frequency, and it is the frequency we "insert" into the RF mixer to generate an audio signal. To receive 1300 Hz tones for a given frequency, we actually set the receiver frequency (VFO) 1300 Hz above the displayed frequency, and turn off the 1300 Hz offset when transmitting. We also have an RIT function that works in addition to that offset - just like the 7300. For the 7300, the internal workings are quite different, but the effect is the same, but limited to 900 Hz. We will add the extra 400 Hz later,
There are 3 built-in filters, and the one you are currently using is shown to the right of the blue CW button, top of screen. Here, we see FIL1, which is Filter 1. Pressing briefly switches between filters, but pressing and holding brings up the settings for the filter. Here, you see the effect of holding down FIL1 at the bottom of the screen, an area called FILTER (CW). Note that you can use any of the 3 filters for this purpose.
Note in the bottom left, the filter "center" is 900 Hz, as you have set in the CW PITCH, and the bandwidth in this example happens to be set to 1.5K, shown below FIL1 between the DEF button and SOFT button. That is 1500 Hz, and the filter is from 600 to 2100 Hz as shown on the left. SOFT is a good setting - SHARP will introduce too much ringing and other artifacts into the signal, interfering with the signal processing in the DMX-40 or MMX.
Press the BW button to the left of FIL1, as shown below:
The BW button and the box below FIL1 will light up, and the label FIL1 will turn darker blue. This indicates that the filter bandwidth is ready to be adjusted.
Using the main tuning knob, adjust the bandwidth so that the upper number is at least 1500 Hz, and better yet, 1700 Hz to give plenty of unfiltered content for the DMX-40 or MMX signal processor. Having a filter too tight can cause issues and reduce quality of the decode output.
Here, you can see we adjusted the bandwidth to 1.1K or 1100 Hz, resulting in a filter range of 600 to 1700 Hz. This should work nicely with the DMX-40 or MMX decoder.
You may have noticed that RIT was already set to 0.40, but the photo here shows you the setting again, top right on the waterfall display. Use the Multi knob to adjust this to 0.40, which is 0.4 KHz or 400 Hz.
Now what is actually happening when you set RIT to 400 Hz? It moves the receiving frequency up an additional 400 Hz from the transmitter and displayed frequency. Since the offset is already 900 Hz (generated by whatever means is used in the 7300), the tone for a tuned in signal that was at 900 Hz will rise to 1300 Hz - without touching the tuning knob! But the transmitting frequency, and the display frequency will stay the same. So no changes are needed between transmit and receive!
So just like the DMX-40 and MMX, the display frequency is ALWAYS the transmitter and other stations frequency, but adjustments are being made so the tone is heard at the appropriate frequency. If it is only your ears, it is set with the CW PITCH control. For PreppComm products, more than 900 Hz is needed, so we add in 400 more with RIT.
If you could turn off CW PITCH, or make it zero, then RIT would need to be 1.3, or 1300 Hz.
You don’t need to move the dial between receive and transmit. If you need to adjust for a station that is not exactly on your frequency - i.e., the tone is not quite right - adjust with your RIT control. It has steps of 10 Hz, and you can do fine adjustments.
In fact, your DMX-40 or MMX decoder is only APPROXIMATELY 1300 Hz. It should be very close, but it can be 20-30 Hz off in either direction, and can drift as the temperature changes inside the decoder. So a little experimenting over time, you may discover that the correct setting for your PreppComm decoder is actually 0.42 or 0.39, for example. However, each station you are communicating with, depending on how close they are transmitting to your frequency, may require you to make a fine adjustment for best results. This should not be more than 50-60 Hz, for a sloppy operator. Always return to the default best setting between QSO’s.
Other transceiver owners, you will have to translate these instructions for your unit. Older transceivers may not have an RIT control, or even no adjustment of tone, so there may be situations where your transceiver cannot operate with 1300 Hz tones. Filter adjustment is also a potential issue. The Icom 7300 and other similar modern transceivers all have these kinds of settings, often called by a different name.
]]>Morse Code was a means of early communication using sets of short and long pulses corresponding to each letter, number & punctuation. Long pulses have become known as “dahs,” while short pulses have been called “dits.” Under the code, every letter in the Latin alphabet, number & punctuation was designated with a unique set of dits and dahs.
In the original iteration of Morse Code, not all dahs were created equal. Some dahs were longer than others. Plus, the spaces between the dits and dahs varied widely. The International Morse Code simplified the original version by simplifying timing of the dits, dahs, and spacing. Specifically, the dit became the base time element, and all spaces were measured by how many "dit times" were required. The dah was set to be equal in time to three dits in length. Dit spaces between letters and words were set to three and seven dit times. This new and internal version has become widely recognized and is still being used by ham radio enthusiasts and other hobbyists today.
The world credits Samuel Finley Breese Morse as the inventor who was also popular as a painter. He began working on the first electrical telegraph—and the Morse Code—in the 1830s. His initial version of Morse Code only represented numbers, but Alfred Lewis Vail improved it by including letters and punctuation.
When the original iteration of Morse Code (the one with numbers, letters & punctuation) made its way to telegraph operators in Europe, officials quickly determined they needed to make some changes to accommodate the diacritic characters in languages other than English. That led to the creation of the International Morse Code in 1851, which standardized the code as described above.
While it was originally transmitted using a telegraph, Morse Code can also be used in just about any circumstance. You can use it to create a signal or send a coded message by flashing a light or tapping on something. It can even help you in emergencies. Say you’re being forced to tell your loved ones through a video that you’re safe even when you’re not. Like how a prisoner of the Vietnam war blinked the word “torture” in Morse Code during an interview, you can send a signal by tapping “SOS” on your leg or a table while being recorded. The police or anyone who knows Morse Code could help decipher your signal.
Morse Code can help beat censorship, too. In China, citizens use Morse Code and other codes to communicate crucial information without being detected. It turned out to be vital during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, an article about the virus was deleted from the internet in China. Fortunately, citizens were quick enough to repost versions of that article on social media platforms using Morse Code, ancient Chinese symbols, QR codes, and emojis. In turn, the reposted texts were harder for China’s censorship programs to detect and delete—and the world finally learned about the COVID-19 virus.
The simplicity of sending a message through Morse Code is one of the reasons it remains an important part of training for soldiers. It is most prevalent in aviation and aeronautical fields, especially since most radio navigational equipment can still identify it. The US Navy & Coast Guard also use signal lamps between shipsto communicate using Morse Code when in radio silence status.
Morse Code is also used today by people with disabilities or whose communication abilities were impaired by paralysis or stroke. With limited mobility and speech, they can tap on something, use a flashlight, or use a Morse Code transceiver to communicate with others.
Morse Code has had such a big impact on modern life - should I mention the telegraph? - that we even have an official Morse Code Day, April 27, to celebrate the impact this simple code has had on the development of modern technology and modern life.
And even though it is no longer as widely used as it once was, Morse Code remains popular among radio enthusiasts. Even though proficiency in the code is no longer required to obtain an amateur radio license, many ham radio enthusiasts still strive to master Morse Code. Activities such as contests, online nets for various purposes, code classes, and so much more goes on in the amateur radio world around Morse Code! Because of all of this interest and activity around the code, including using it on the air, the Morse Code continues to be alive and kicking in today’s digital age. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) continues to encourage new hams to learn the code by restricting the HF bands to only use via Morse Code for the first class for new hams, the Technician Class licensee.
PreppComm was founded on the idea of providing a way for Technician Class licensees - the lowest class of amateur radio license operators - to be able to access the HF (high frequency) ham bands without having to learn the code first. At the present time, while they are not required to learn the code, they are not allowed on the HF spectrum unless they are using Morse Code - an off-hand way of encouragement from the FCC.
PreppComm devised a unique Morse Transceiver system that enables hams to get on HF with either no previous knowledge of Morse, or with some past or recent, but rusty or limited experience. The unique system contains the most effective but sneaky learning system - learn while you operate and communicate! The operator may not be thinking about learning the code. Rather, the Morse Transceiver is enabling him to communicate with contacts all over the world by reading text, and typing back his comments, questions, answers, and thoughts on a keyboard.
So how is he learning the code? It is by a "sneaky" process called cognitive association. This sneaky learning system is built into every human brain, and operates automatically in the background. If it hears "dit-dah" and sees an A appear on the screen, after a while it connects the two events. Over time, the operator begins to "think" the letters before they appear on the screen. Faster than the computer can get them put up on the LCD! Amazing! And no work. Now that is a learning system that is magical because it is so easy! As easy as using the transceiver to communicate!
Learning to send with a key - if that is a desire of the operator - is also aided by a very unique approach. Generally, keying is considered to be much easier than reading code via the ear. However, getting good timing is not so easy. Many aids have been developed, such as bugs, paddles, iambic and other kinds of complex keys that do automated series of dits and dahs either mechanically or via a keyer. A keyer is an electronic device that takes the input from a key and converts it to Morse Code. Because series of dits and dahs are timed by the keyer or the mechanical design of the key, the resulting Morse Code is better timed.
All true, but if you listen online to the code being sent, there is a lot of improvement needed for "human" Morse Code. PreppComm provides a way for hams to improve their timing by of feeding the key signal to the decoder in the Morse Transceiver when the rig is in receive mode. Normally, the key is not used while receiving, of course, but if you are working on your sending code technique, then disconnect the antenna, and key into the decoder. It will display your sending on the screen, as if it is coming in over the air. If it is not perfect, well, you know what to do to fix it! Keep working on it until the decoder can decode you perfectly, and you can be sure humans will be able to as well.
Of course, using a keyboard is not keying code. Rather, you are feeding characters to the computer for it to generate computer-timed Morse Code, which is to say, with perfect timing. PreppComm offers many features to make this work well, including a typing speed test and a visible type-ahead buffer. This enables you to have the time to think, correct errors, and type your thoughts without stress, as the text is fed to the computer to convert to Morse Code for transmission.
And add to that PreppComm includes the world's best decoder in all Morse transceivers! It works in heavy noise situations, where most other decoders fail. It can even decode when you can't even hear the signal under the noise!
You can read more about Morse Made Easy!™ in another blog about Morse Code and CW.
PreppComm gives learners a hand-up by offering transceivers & other devices to help them master Morse Code while enjoying all the fun within the amateur radio community.
Check out our entry-level product, the DMX-40 Decoder & Converter Transceiver, which starts at $299 and gives you the full capability of all of our more expensive Morse transceivers, but only on a single band, 40 meters.
Browse through our collection of products today.
]]>PreppComm has made use of Morse Code easy - you can use it without knowing the code yourself. However, there is another dimension to radio communication with Morse Code, which is actually learning how to use it on eat air. This is called CW. CW and Morse Code share the code, but CW is another whole level: how to operate on the air with code. Learning CW requires patience and practice.
]]>No, actually. CW, which stands for "continuous wave," is a term often used for Morse Code communication, but CW also includes to the entire realm of how to communicate on the air within the band limits where Morse Code is used. Normally, you first learn Morse Code and then you learn how to use it on the radio: in other words, you learn CW. In the case of PreppComm Morse transceivers, you can pretty much skip the first step, because our Morse Transceivers take care of the code for you.
Understanding the difference between Morse Code and CW is critical for a happy user. When we use the term "Morse Made Easy!™”, some people get the wrong idea. They think they can buy an MMX, and tune in a station, which "of course" is transmitting plain, easy to understand English, and read it. They can push a button and talk to them. Just like they push a button on a VHF/UHF handheld to talk to someone that they hear on the local repeater.
This is because they don’t realize that PreppComm has solved the Morse Code problem for them, but they still need to learn how to use the transceiver, especially a keyboard-controlled digital transceiver, and they have to learn CW — how Morse is used and what the practices are for communicating with Morse Code.
So what do we mean by "Morse Made Easy™”?
Normally, to learn Morse Code, a person listens to code for hours, and practices with a key for hours. And we mean hours and hours, just to get to 5 WPM (words per minute). A lot of traffic in the bands is much faster — an average speed could be as high as 25-35 WPM. Getting to that speed takes months, even years, of hard practice. This is partially why some hams don’t like PreppComm — they had to sweat out that process and they don’t want other hams getting an easy street.
So when we say "Morse Made Easy!™”, we mean this: forget all of that time, sweat and effort! You get Morse at any speed delivered to you in text form, and send back with a keyboard!
This ability to decode in noise is accomplished with a careful mix of analog and digital signal processing. The result of this combination can be quite amazing at times. Several of our customers have reported this, and we of course have seen it as well: you are tuned to a CW stream, and it is decoding along just fine. Then the signal starts fading, but the noise does not. It fades below the noise floor — you can’t hear it at all. But the CW IN LED is still blinking away, and characters are appearing on the screen! The signal fades back in, and everything continues as if nothing happened. It always blows my mind when I see that.
Because we can decode very well even in noise, and of course we can encode — encoding is a very simple problem -- we can communicate via Morse Code without having to learn it — thus making the Morse part easy.
But that was not enough for us! We added in a type-ahead buffer (2 lines, 56 characters per line) and a typing speed control so the transmitter speed is limited to your comfortable typing speed. We devised a test to capture your typing speed, and also learned how to compute an accurate limit from the information gathered, taking into consideration the difference between taking a test and having a QSO. This reduces stress, and eliminated or dramatically reduced the issue of starving the transmitter.
Starving the transmitter occurs when the transmitter is transmitting faster than the user is typing. The result is the time between letters within words and between words that does not conform to the spacing defined for Morse Code transmissions. This can result in difficulty for the person at the other end: they are receiving only single characters, and they have to figure out where words start and end.
In addition, a starved transmitter means the type-ahead buffer is virtually always empty, thus eliminating its advantage to you as you are typing a message, and preventing you from correcting typos before they are transmitted.
In fact, one of the advantages of starting an ANSWER with a short station ID is to give you time to start typing while the transmitter is busy doing the station ID. This allows you to get ahead of the transmitter right from the start, and with the correct speed setting, stay ahead. The result is a very comfortable QSO!
So why are we talking about learning the code, if the machine does it for you automatically? Good question. Some people don't want to learn Morse Code, but others do. The DMX/MMX technology happens to be the best learning machine for Morse Code!
For learning how to decode, how about a process where you just use the MMX or DMX, and suddenly you discover you can decode without it? Enter Cognitive Association!
When you are listening and watching the screen to see what the other station is sending, you are not working to learn the code. You are doing a QSO, or "watching" a code stream as it comes in, usually at the same time as you hear it. But your brain is doing something amazing! It hears the tones, and it sees the letters pop up on the screen. And it associates those two things, without your effort or knowledge. Well, OK, now you know... :) After a while, typically a few months of using our system, letters will pop into your mind before they appear on the screen! Yes, we get this feedback from customers, so we know it actually happens.
So actually, you will learn to hear the code even if you are not interested! But sending is a separate matter.
For learning to key or send the code using a key rather than a keyboard, the DMX/MMX series also provides the best "intelligent "key practice oscillator" around! The decoder is pretty flexible, and can respond to a fairly wide range of bad keying. But not as bad as the human brain can decode. This is why computerized decoders can never do as well as a well-trained human. The human knows the English language, and a good bit of the dictionary. So bad sending can be adjusted for with this information. It is no fun, but can be done. The computer does not know that (yet).Maybe we will have Morse AI in the future, but don’t hold your breath.
Anyway, the decoder is good, but it also had good limits on what it will accept as "good code." We enabled the decoder to operate from the KEY IN jack when in receive mode for the purpose of key training. You will have to use an external keyer to convert paddles into pure Morse, or you can use a straight key. The decoder decode whatever you decide to send with a key when in receive mode. It is a good idea to disconnect the antenna so you don’t get any blips from the receiver along with your keying, which of course will mess up the process.
The same rules apply here for tuning in a new code stream: press the space bar to start the decode process, start keying. The status line will read "Collecting Data..." for a short while.
Since the decoder is more limited than a human ear, if you can get the decoder to correctly decode your keying, you have a very, very good chance of being understood by another human ham out there!
“Yikes! The decoder does not work!” That is the thought that went through my mind. I connected up the logic analyzer, and recorded a few minutes of data, and sat down and laboriously scrolled through the data, which showed the signal and various stages of the decoder data pathway all the way to the CW IN LED signal and the decoded character being transmitted to the display. Guess what I found? Absolutely NOT what I expected. I found that the decoder worked PERFECTLY! What?
This was a surprise, because I was not a CW person before I invented the DMX-40, I had and still have no idea what streams of CW like this are for, what the data is, who is sending it, etc. However, if a customer buys a DMX-40 or an MMX, and expects to tune into an English stream, they are going to have the same reaction as I did, but no way to validate that the decoder is working. The automatic reaction will be like mine was: the decoder is broken!
There is another issue with CW, and that is the longer an operator has been a code operator, the more abbreviations they have learned and use. There are enough abbreviations available in general use, and some used that are not in general use, that make reading a transmission from some operators hard to read.
Of course other aspects of CW include things like band allocations for CW, how calls are made, how QSO’s work, and different operator methodologies. These are operational aspects of using CW, and before your first QSO, it can be intimidating. We reduce the intimidation with our DMX and MMX products by providing computer automation for call and answer functions, including automatic capture of the other station’s call sign, and doing the back and forth station ID for a basic QSO.
We also provide for more advanced operators by including a powerful micro programming system to expand the function of the automation, such as starting and ending transmissions without a station ID and much more.
Learning CW is a requirement to use Morse Code on amateur radio. Learning Morse Code is a prerequisite, and that is handled by our encode/decode system for you.
It should be clear now that solving the problem of Morse Code knowledge and experience is only a prerequisite, and the starting point for operating on CW. The rest of the journey to great QSO’s and DX is learning to operate on the bands. Learning the ropes, so to speak.
The only way we know of how to do this is to just do it. You will fumble and mess up at first, but that is part of the learning process. Here is a suggested approach:
Operating at low power on CW takes patience. You are competing with much stronger signals from stations with better antennas, more power, and potentially better atmospheric conditions between themselves and the station of interest. Of course if you have your MMX or DMX connected to a more powerful rig, that should help. However, on a good day, you can still try calling for a while and not get a response. It happens. It is life on ham radio! Part of the learning process is learning patience! I call CQ on my IC 7300 many times and don’t get a response! And that is with 100 watts!
In this article, we have described in detail the difference between CW and Morse Code. Morse Code is a prerequisite to learning CW. PreppComm solves the prerequisite, and helps with learning CW with a number of useful features built into the transceiver, such as the CALL and ANS buttons, the INFO program, micro programming, and more. But to expect it to happen instantly will be met with disappointment.
We also described a process we thing will make learning to operate on CW a little easier to get into, and explained why the same features that make Mores easy also make learning Morse easy.
There’s just one more thing!
Digital Morse is two computers communicating over the air using precise Morse Code at a precise, known speed. Morse Code was the first digital system, but since digital technology did not appear until much later, it was delivered via analog means. Digital is now here. There are many very complex digital systems out there that are very popular, and also very good. So why bother with an "outdated" and "obsolete" code system?
Believe it or not, properly done Digital Morse is nearly as good as the best internet-time controlled digital modes - but without the internet synchronization requirement. What if the internet is not available (you are on a mountain top, or in a national park in the back woods, or there is a major disaster in your area which takes down the internet? The really nice, but very fancy system that requires very accurate clock synchronization cannot be used. Note that using the same type of synchronization can also create Super Digital Morse, but we digress...
Morse is easy to generate, easy to decode (well, OK, not so easy with noise). But we have mostly solved the noise problem, and with Digital Morse, that problem gets much more subdued. Try using CTX mode between two DMX or MMX transceivers: you will find a noticeable improvement in communications reliability than with HCW mode. PreppComm supports both modes of communication.
The problem with CTX mode is the issue of typing speed and the type-ahead buffer, because CTX is at a fixed speed of 30 WPM, faster than most people can type, and there is no speed control based on your typing speed. We have a fix for that in the works. Moving forward, PreppComm will be improving Digital Morse as well as adding in some basic digital modes such as PSK31, etc. Stay tuned!
]]>From the start of developing transceivers we saw how PreppComm’s products could serve customers dealing with disabilities. We understand how valuable that purpose is for users. Over time we have learned about initiatives such as the Courage Kenny Handiham Program that provides tools for people with disabilities to learn amateur radio and other technology skills and to earn their amateur radio licenses. You can easily find them at handiham.org.
Early on we recognized how the DMX-40 and the MMX could be useful to vision-impaired customers with the devices’ audio feedback, and to hearing-impaired folks because of the GUI visually providing the information they need to operate. Now we’re beginning to hear how these devices serve customers with other disabilities, and it’s just plain inspiring for us. We suspect your response will be similar to ours when you come across their own accounts of what communicating in Morse code means to them. We start by sharing Duane’s story with you because we believe it will impress you as well.
Duane’s chronicle kicked off many years ago when he was an enthusiastic 13-year-old 4H-er, just enjoying the county fair in Palo Alto, Iowa. Strolling around, he heard unusual signals emanating from an exhibit under the grandstand and stopped to investigate. The sounds fell into patterns, long and short bursts. Dah-dit, dit-dah-dit, dit-dah-dit-dah-dit and so on. When he looked into the display, he saw equipment that he didn’t know existed, and he was intrigued. His brain engaged with the orderliness of the sequences and latched onto the novel language. Inexplicably, it brought him a peace he hadn’t experienced before. As the hours of the day passed, a kindly, patient mentor introduced Duane to the world of Morse code.
Clearly something new was happening. Previously Duane had avoided conversation when he could. No talking, if possible. Although he longed for social engagement, his efforts had only netted him a sense of threat and drained him. Trying to relate to people exhausted him. But this was different. Here was a man who took his time and didn’t challenge him. And it seemed to be a miracle that Duane actually enjoyed stopping at his booth. Completely unexpectedly, he was in the right place at the right time. Lights went on. He recognized God’s obvious provision of solace for him.
It was a life-changing afternoon. He didn’t have to speak to connect with others. Great news! Friends were there, at the other end of a CW signal, waiting to talk in code. Learning Morse code came rather naturally to Duane with the fun of assembling letter and word patterns. To this day the paddle-user interface intrigues him. He has discovered that each key has a unique feel. The tones soothe him. Stress melts away.
What in the world does this have to do with disability? Maybe you have already guessed it, but many long years tolled on until someone finally took notice of Duane’s social discomfort. Not until he turned 60 did someone pinpoint it. A young medical-school-faculty physician recognized his distress, his uneasiness in interacting, his lack of eye contact, straining to make small talk. And he knew what it was: Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. In Duane’s case it was complicated by symptoms of major depression. All his sufferings had names.
If you have experienced anything like that combination of symptoms, you already know that living with those complications is treacherous. It can lead to suicidal thoughts, but, thankfully, Duane turned those over to his Heavenly Father. He regretted his dangerous impulses and vowed, “Lord, if you let me live, I will give my future life to you.”
Apparently God approved and even inspired Duane with a plan to help others: Morse Code Youth Outreach, which you can find on YouTube. It disturbs him to watch the effects of high societal stress levels, the hazards, violence and tragedy harrying today’s youngsters. He sees online networking and gaming contributing hassle and danger rather than challenge and fun. He worries about the alarming chaos trashing lives old and young.
As an antidote to these societal blights, Duane wants to steer kids to learn Morse code, its orderliness and organization, its connection to people everywhere. He is passionate and focused on his mission. He states that missing the opportunity to learn CW is downright tragic. So while his journey has been difficult, he now lives with purpose: introducing kids to the unique and fascinating world of Morse code.
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Those were good ham radio days. We lived near the crest of a low hill at the edge of a smallish, mid-continent, almost treeless prairie town where we had a large backyard at the end of a culde-da-sac, and we had no CCR restrictions on antennas.
Jump ahead approximately 10 years when Robb was in high school. Robb studied for and earned the Technician Class license. That added another potential dimension to FD operations. We had moved from the open prairie to suburban Houston, TX, by then, and our FD activity was limited to making cameo appearances at the FD site of a local club, which set up stations in the parking lot adjacent to the local American Red Cross center.
Life marched on. Robb graduated from the University of Montana, he started his own business processing satellite imagery in support of wildland fire studies, he married, and he and his wife moved to suburban Seattle, WA. I retired from my job in Houston and moved to Missoula, MT, during Robb’s undergraduate days. After fifteen years in Missoula, and a number of good backyard FD installations, several of which Robb visited while he was an undergraduate,
my wife and I moved to semi-rural western Washington last fall in order to be closer to Robb and our daughter-in-law, who, like her husband, is a computer scientist in a field of big data processing and analysis. Not unexpectedly, in the relocation, I found myself again in a deed restricted neighborhood.
Robb’s place, however, is in a neighborhood of single-family homes that was developed during the post-WWII years before CCR’s were common. Further, he has a good-sized yard surrounded by tall trees. When I saw the advertisement for the MMX, I thought that the device could provide an opportunity for Robb to leverage his skills at keyboard-to-keyboard internet chatting into making Morse Code contacts on Field Day. The MMX might provide the vehicle for Robb to participate in FD using his own Technician Class privileges on HF with me acting as coach as opposed to me acting as control operator as in previous activations. We could string a 40 m dipole between two of his tall cedar trees. The MMX would bridge our respective weaknesses with CW.
I ordered the MMX with just the 40 m board installed some time before FD hoping that the unit would arrive in time for me to gain some skill with it before FD. This is about the point in the story where my FD Sunday ARRL Field Day 2022 wrap-up email to Eric Anderson begins.
The MMX arrived last Tuesday. I started reading the manual and quickly realized that the antenna connection was SMA. I had no SMA connectors. Fortunately, I was able to get a set of SMA connectors and adapters overnight from Amazon. Wednesday, I set about dusting off the 40 m dipole that I had used for Field Days and Scout demonstrations off and on during the past 30 years and stringing it up in my backyard with the center insulator screwed into the ridge of the patio roof. The antenna was pretty close to the ground, but living in a CCR limited neighborhood, I have to keep antenna things below the HOA radar. I had hoped that 40 m would be open with some regional stations through the afternoon, but, apparently, not.
I set up the MMX, portable battery, and antenna tuning equipment on the island counter in the kitchen of our new house. The island is about the only clear workspace that I could claim for a few days. The island had AC power and was close to the patio door through which I could route the antenna coax.
A little before sunset, I started hearing 40 m code signals through the MMX in its standalone mode. I was not initially paying a lot of attention to the MMX screen, i.e., I was reading the quick start pages and poking here and there on the screen and on the keyboard. At one point, I looked up and exclaimed to my wife that the box was decoding. Later that evening, I was able to decode both sides of a QSO on 40 m. The MMX indicated a speed of 10 WPM, and I was able to check the decoded text with my own mental decoding, or, maybe, it was the other way around. I do not know when I last tried to copy Morse code, but I did okay in that instance. The visual feedback from the MMX screen was nice to have. Buoyed by that success, I planned to spend time on Thursday working on the transmitting side of the MMX-based station.
The next day, (Thursday) I got busy with non-radio things, and by evening, I was too tired to pick up where I had left off with the MMX on Wednesday evening. After my experience of Wednesday and after checking online propagation sites, I was beginning to realize that 40 m would, most likely, be an evening band for Field Day. By this time, it was obvious that using Robb’s place for the FD site was not going to work out. I decided that I should try to set up at my place for a daytime band if Robb were going to join me on FD Saturday afternoon.
With my MMX having only a 40 m board, I would need to build a 10 m antenna and find adapters and patch cables for using the MMX in external mode with my 20-year-old Yaseu FT-817 as the transceiver. Finding odd things like the necessary cables and adapters was terribly frustrating with so much of my radio stuff still disorganized after last fall's move.
After I got the 40 m dipole down from the end of the patio awning and put away and after I got the 10 m dipole built and hung from the ridge of the patio awning in the afternoon, I was surprised that 10 m was “dead”. Conventional wisdom is that 10 m would be open in the middle of the summer, in the middle of the day, and with the solar cycle on the upswing.
No apparent activity on 10 m was disappointing, but I thought that I could splice a little wire onto the 10 m dipole to make it resonate on 15 m, another band on which Technician Class licensees have code privileges. Robb and I could splice on the extra wire quickly enough on Saturday morning after he arrived. However, Robb called around eight o’clock Saturday morning saying that he and his wife were sick and that they would not be coming down here on Saturday after all.
I checked 10 m around noon (Pacific time) on FD Saturday, and the band was dead. I checked again a little later, and the band was still dead. I checked internet propagation sites, and, indeed, the MUF for mid-latitudes was around 18 MHz. Anticipating that I would not see Robb for Field Day 2022, I decided to splice in wire to extend my 10 m dipole for 20 m, not 15 m, i.e., 14 MHz and not 21 MHz. I would attempt to make contacts using my own call. Even 20 m was dead. I do not know what the problem was. Maybe it was entirely ionospheric conditions. Maybe my house is in a topographic hole, and radio reception is further compromised by the tall, rainforest trees throughout my neighborhood. Maybe my antenna tuner or my antenna SWR meter was malfunctioning having been damaged during the move. Maybe I forgot to change the antenna switch from the SWR meter to the transceiver. Whatever the case, I was certainly frustrated in hearing nothing but white noise.
Robb called Saturday evening saying that he and his wife both seemed better and that we might be able to get together on Sunday morning. Robb called again early Sunday morning in the waning hours of the nominal 24-hour Field Day period and said he would arrive around ten o’clock. I flipped on the MMX patched into my Yaseu FT-817, which was still tuned to 20 m, and I heard all sorts of CW signals, nothing like my experience of Saturday afternoon.
Hearing signals was some reassurance that all of my antenna engineering in this new house, including the splices to lengthen the 10 m dipole, was working and that my transceiver and test equipment had survived last fall's move. The MMX was decoding the 20 m signals as expected. Tuning was hard, though. Using the SSB setting on the FT-817, per PreppComm suggestions, and trying to hit the 1300 Hz sweet spot with the short transmissions for the Field Day exchanges was a challenge.
Robb did arrive around ten o’clock. While my daughter-in-law and my wife whipped up a brunch for the four of us, a throwback to the bar-be-cue picnics of 30 years earlier, Robb tuned in signals and watched the decoded text. He was amazed at what was happening in the MMX. He asked many questions about the hardware platform and the software that I could not answer.
The bottom line is that we did not make any Field Day contacts, but with the signals coming in on Sunday morning, Robb was able to see the decoding side of the MMX in action. Of course, at eleven o’clock, the nominal end of the 24-hour Field Day period in Pacific Daylight Time, 20 m went dead.
While not as productive in terms of contacts as some of the Field Days during my 52 opportunities, I count this year’s experience as being encouraging more than being successful. I am encouraged to work on my stealth antenna deployment and to work more with the MMX. Monday, I will be closing out the station on the island in the kitchen and sorting the audio patch cables and adapter plugs and the coax patch cables and their adapters to the SMA port on the MMX into storage places where I can find them again quickly when they are needed.
I am looking forward to gaining proficiency with the MMX and using it for Morse-based chatting, something that I have not done since I was a Novice Class licensee in the early 1970’s.
Getting outside would be nice, but we’re pretty busy inside with PreppComm’s affairs. Our assembler is back after a well-deserved Christmas break. She tackles the multi-facet work of assembling: organizing kits, building transceivers and GO Bags, testing, keeping track of inventory and a plethora of other details, and carefully packing boxes and dropping them off for shipment all over North America and the rest of the world. Yes, we have been shipping internationally for several months and have loyal customers in many countries.
So what are PreppComm’s engineers up to? As the saying goes, “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” Well, actually, one thing I can tell you is that they continue to improve the DMX-40 Morse code transceiver. It’s now enhanced with an increase of up to eight decibels of receiver sensitivity.
I don’t believe engineering took off any noticeable time, so focused are they on improving current products and developing new ones, based on requests from our customers and our long-term product roadmap: customers who want QRP, or Morse code practice to improve their skills, or for preparedness communications in an emergency, or are HF aficionados.
Until recently, our engineers had measured readings with an outdated service monitor, but they recently acquired a spanking new Siglent Digital Storage Oscilloscope. Result: more accurate readings of harmonics in the output and other measurements. Not only a wave display, but accurate digital readouts at the same time!
I will talk about PreppComm’s new cable assembly in a separate post. This new accessory is designed for customers who have been wanting to use the DMX-40 with an external transceiver—it’s called External Mode. You can find the cable assembly on our Products/Accessories page.
Peeking into the lab, you would find the engineers bent over circuit boards as they solder surface-mounted components. It’s a challenge. They have to use a microscope. Those parts measure somewhere between the size of a speck of sand and a grain of rice. Just a
breath blows them away, likely never to be found. So at this stage of development, to speed up the process, one engineer picks the parts and returns extras, per the bill of materials (BOM), and the other painstakingly removed them from the tape, carefully positions them, and solders them. At times, the part goes flying off of the tweezers into outer space! Zing! This process is a far cry from what happens in factory production, which I’ll explain.
If ever you have had cause to open up a device and examine a circuit board with its slew of parts, you might have wondered, “How did they build this?” It’s a fascinating. process. When a product moves into production on the assembly line, surface mount technology (SMT) revs into high gear at the factory. While it moves fast, the risks of defects increase. The surface-mount devices have arrived to the printed circuit board producer from their various manufacturers, packaged on reels and ready for the next step. Hold on. I’m a little ahead of myself, because first a stencil masks the product empty circuit board and squeegees on solder paste in the solder pads for the parts.
There are two kinds of pick-and-place machines, for different types of components: Chip shooters and flexible placers. Chip shooters rapidly place smaller parts at 20,000 to 80,000 per hour—in the exact position where they belong. Flexible placers load larger integrated circuits or connectors, for example, at a slower pace— to ensure accuracy—at speeds of 6,000 to 40,000 per hour! That’s something our engineers definitely cannot do in the lab. (While we never measured our speed, it is more like 10 or 20 per hour!) Inspection and rework take place along those busy production lines. Technicians monitor each step along the way, inspecting and reworking the product along the lines. Once all the parts have been placed, the printed circuit boards are moved into a very special reflow oven, which ramps up the temperature to a high value, causing the solder paste to melt, and to thus hold all the parts in place, electrically connected to the board. Finally, through-hole parts are manually soldered in place, and—presto!— a new batch of radio boards is ready to forward to our workshop.
Back here, in the northern United States, we anxiously await that tracking number, that announcement that within days (we hope) those newly manufactured boards will land at our factory, ready to be programmed and assembled into products, then tested to ensure they meet the product specification, for pending and future orders. Snow or not, our priority is to get your shipment out to a carrier so that you can begin having fun with your text-to-Morse-code transceiver!
]]>And then disaster struck. First, our assembler and tech team both got COVID. That put them down for a mere two weeks, and of course stopped production at PreppComm. Then there was a week vacation for their 10 year anniversary.
We presented our booth and products at the Expo, and were awaiting our assembly/tech team return when both my wife and I got sick. Thus, we enter the October that Wasn’t. There was no PreppComm in October, 2021.
The problem was, we did not think it was COVID. Big mistake. We had in our hands HCQ and AZ, zinc, etc., but did not use it until we were very sick. Well, you know the story about early treatment. Not.
I am sure the HCQ must have been somewhat helpful even being late — more so for my wife than for me. I got pneumonia along with the COVID. I was so weak that we had to have a police officer from across the street come and lift me off the floor- - I could not get up.
Fortunately, our assembly/tech team recommended getting an oximeter, and we discovered (or should I say, my wife discovered) my O2 levels were in the 60’s and 70’s. I was close to death. Conferring with our pharmacist, who had begun providing IVM as well, we called 911 and an ambulance arrived and put me on O2, and took me to the ER.
Naturally, the ER was overloaded, so they really did not want to keep me. They tested me (positive for COVID), they did a chest x-ray (pneumonia), and sent me home with some O2. Being as harried as they were, they did not tell us how to use the machine, only to set it to 2 liters of O2 per minute.
Well, that was not nearly enough oxygen as indicated by the oximeter, so more calls to doctors and we turned it up to 5.5 liters per minute. Wow, was I in trouble! My lungs were really wiped out, and I was needing a lot of O2 just to keep up to a reasonable level. At that point, I was so weak, I had to use a wheelchair to get around, and my O2 level would drop into the 70’s after wheeling down the hall from the bedroom to the bathroom. I had to sit for a few minutes and breathe hard to get it back up.
The oximeter became my best friend. My insurance company and doctor got me a home nurse, physical therapist, and occupational therapist to help me recover. They taught me all kinds of breathing techniques to rebuild my ability to breathe. I made small, incremental progress, but it seems to take forever.
Meanwhile, orders are coming in due to some great YouTube videos, and we can’t do anything but watch them pile up. OK, well, I could sit and work on emails, so I sat at my iPad at the kitchen table, and answered requests from our customers regarding when their product would ship.
Our policy —stated on our website — is to ship within five business days. So, one by one, either by phone or by email, each of our customers asked about their order. And I explained that we were shut down for over seven weeks, but planned to open the factory on November 4, and that I believed we could ship all back orders that week and the next.
The response from the customers was truly inspiring. We did not lose a single order —at least by the time I write this (November 14). It turned out that we were more impaired getting started than expected, so we only filled about 2/3 of the back orders in the first two weeks, and of course new orders continued to come in, as well. We were also fighting a supply base problem with a shipment of solar panels, which made it impossible to ship all of the GO Bags ordered.
Anyway, we had incredible support -- promises of prayers, encouragement to take our time and get better, that they would wait, that they understood, and don’t worry, we will keep our order, etc. Even phone calls. One from Athens, Greece! Even offers for technical support for future product development! I was truly amazed and blown away!
We finally DID open the factory on November 4, but of course not me doing any assembly, testing, packaging, or shipping (although I did print the shipping labels). I spent a lot of time talking (via email mostly) with the customers, and dealing with special cases, which seemed to abound. And we had a fair number of international orders: Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Greece, Canada, and more (I can’t remember all of them). While most of our orders are US-based, we see a growing number from the international scene.
Startup was rough for a number of reasons: our inventory was out of control, we all forgot stuff after seven weeks, even me. I had a hard time remembering how to set up the frequency counter, for example. I could not find my magnifying glass, and could not read the dials. After lots of button presses, it worked as expected.
We instituted a new test that went sideways. We have since given up on that. There was just a lot of stuff that got in the way of sheer production, so our production rate was probably about half normal. It was still suppressed the week of November 11, 12 as well, but I think hopefully we will be almost back to normal from a production point of view next week.
I am still on O2. Here I am, sitting at my computer, with my ragdoll cat. Both Sandy (my wife) and I are still struggling with weakness, but there is progress daily. Maybe another month before we are back to normal? Dunno. It has been a true nightmare.
Being snatched from the jaws of death back to life has given me a new perspective on things, as well. I thank God every day for giving me another day on Earth. My relationship with Jesus in me is the best it has ever been. I could talk your ear off on what I have learned through this process!
So they say that now I have “natural immunity” against COVID. Gee, I hope so, it came at a terrible cost. I don’t think we would have made it without the help of our local pharmacist, who provided massive doses of IVM to kill off the virus, and provided other support as well. And the ER for prescribing O2. And of course, my new doctor, my home nurse and other assistants, wow, I am truly blessed. I even got electrical acupuncture from the occupational therapist! That was truly amazing!
Anyway, PreppComm has survived, returned to life after the October that Wasn’t, and maybe in a little while we can get back to our new product development efforts, our additional sales channel, and additional marketing, as well as completing an internal “re-org” that hopefully will give me more time for engineering…We hope.
For all of you customers out there that actively supported us during our hour of need, thank you from the bottom of my heart!
]]>The names below are in alphabetical order, as it is extremely difficult to arrange them any other way, as each was important in different ways at different times during the development process.
Richard Anderson, KE3IJ: I discovered Richard via his published website articles on the DC-80 receiver. While I was well versed in digital and analog circuitry and programming, I was not so knowledgable around receiver or transmitter designs. I was very interested in his DC-80 receiver design, and we borrowed the “front end” for our initial design. Later, as I learned more, we upgraded it to include a integrated component that increased the sensitivity significantly, but we worked with Rick on a new design of the bandpass filter at the front end of the receiver. He is also involved in the improved filter design that we will be using in a future generation of our products, currently under development. It was through Rick that I got started using circuit simulation to test my RF circuit designs. Thank you, Rick! As of this writing, Rick is still active with PreppComm.
David M Burt, AB3PC: Besides an unusual level of generosity and friendship, David was always a great supporter and encourager. He was my “toroid” guy — winding by hand lots of toroids for our early runs of transceivers. Few people were willing to do that, but David offered to do it, and did a great job. I truly miss David. He lost his battle with cancer in 2020, to our great sorrow. Thank you, David! You were always there for me.
Gary Dingman, KG7CSD: Gary and I were both officers of the local amateur radio club during the early development years, and we got to know each other pretty well. Gary has helped us in numerous ways, and has worked on testing the DMX-40 in the field, as well as working with me in development and testing of the Super No-Tune 40M End-Fed Antenna and the Antenna Setup Ket Kit we provide in the Go Bag. Gary currently builds our antennas for us. Gary has also been generous, and supported our efforts in numerous ways. Thank you, Gary! As of this writing, Gary is still active with PreppComm.
John Downey, N2LEQ: John has been a very enthusiastic supporter of the idea of a Morse code transceiver. He even built a prototype PCB of a portion of the circuit for me to test. His generosity was outstanding, and he also was responsible for getting me into 3D printing by buying the company a 3D printer. While we did not end up using it for production, it was very helpful during the development of the initial box (which was replaced with a much improved case under pressure for a better result from several of the support team), but also the development of the lid — a rather late addition to the product. Thank you, John!
Mark Ford, KA7LAS: Mark came alongside the project at a later date, and was a very early adopter. He spread the news of the DMX-40 before it was even named the DMX-40! I believe he had a CTX-HF3 and later a RTS Commander, both forerunners to the DMX-40. He took it to Arizona with his RV and where he demonstrated it to various people at a Hamfest. Mark gave us a lot of excellent feedback from that experience, which resulted in many of the great features and improvements taken for granted today. Thank you, Mark!
Ray Miles, K7LNA: Ray has been a supporter from early on, more from a distance due to his busy schedule working on various contracts, and away working for Microsoft for a while. He has always lent me a broader view of the amateur radio world, as he is either aware or involved in much more variety of amateur radio than I have been. That has been very helpful, and will increasingly become more helpful as we develop follow-on products in the future. Ray assisted in the early prototypes by hand assembly of surface-mounted PCB’s, which at that point was the only available way we could afford to do SMD work. Ray had a lot of experience and tools for SMD, which we benefitted from. His knowledge in that area really helped us as we moved from thru-hole to SMD. Thank you, Ray! As of this writing, Ray is still active with PreppComm, and increasingly active with the development of the next product line.
Doug Orman, KE0KAX: Doug has been a faithful financial supporter of PreppComm from the beginning, and was the first in the support team to actually place orders for a production model of the DMX-40 — even before we announced special deals for supporters! We arranged for him to get the special deal when he purchased a GO Bag at a later time. Thank you, Doug!
Warren Weber, N7WEB: Warren has been a supporter from the beginning, and has been instrumental in getting me to “see the light” about a number of issues. One of them was a better cabinet design. Warren had many good ideas for improving the original ideas, and at this point, several years later, I really don’t remember the details, but I think it was Warren that suggested to skip the knobs and switches and LED’s and use keyboard commands, and make it small. And that is why the DMX-40 is so small! I also remember his stalwart support and his generosity. He was also helpful in spreading the word about the project in the early days, to gain more attention, and worked with us through some difficult decisions. Thank you, Warren!
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But what if you live outside the bounds of current transport? Despair not. We do pay attention to the level of interest in any given region. Write to us. Call us. Let us know what interests you. We do pay attention and extend shipping when it is possible.
We have made it as easy as possible for you to place an order. It’s pretty straightforward. You’ll place your item(s) in the cart and see options for shipping, including the cost and the time to delivery. When you have figured out the time vs. cost trade-off, select the one that works best for you.
After you have processed your order and your cart is ready, proceed to checkout. You’ve stated the shipping option you want. We’ll use it when we attach the appropriate label to the package. We also attach three copies of the customs information. You, the customer, are required to pay any fees or import duties your country commands for delivery. They will contact you for payment.
You may have to do some homework to ascertain the cost of releasing your package from customs. Over here, on our end, we have no knowledge of what those fees or import duties are. It would be convenient if we could tell you how much it costs. We can’t. Alas, we don’t know what the fees and duties are for each country we ship to.
Please be forewarned. If you fail to pay those fees, the shipping company will be forced to return the package to us in the U.S. At that point our only choice is to provide you a partial refund, after subtracting the shipping cost and a restocking fee. Protect yourself. Make sure you are ready to deal with the fees and import duty charges before you order!
]]>For starters, let’s explain a few things about PreppComm’s robust lithium-ion battery bank. We ship you this portable power source with the Pro Station GO Bag and with the Combo DMX Plus GO Bag. You’re in charge of a 28 amp-hour battery bank (at 3.7V). That’s about 20 amp-hours at 5V, and about 8 amp-hours at 12V, when you consider the voltage conversion and loss. Eight amp-hours is a lot for a battery bank the size and weight of the PreppComm super capacity power bank, and ours actually performs according to the spec.
Believe me, many other batteries don’t. For example, some of my flashlights say they come with 4200 mAh batteries, but they actually measure about 450 mAh! Seriously! This is typical if you don’t buy the more expensive mainline batteries from the big names like Sony and Samsung.
But back to the topic of long-lasting energy. Thanks to a question from a customer in our PreppComm Community (That’s preppcomm.mn.co.), we have a power update for you! Complementing the battery bank instructions, these tips help you maintain your PreppComm outfit. What’s not to like about getting the most out of this surprisingly high power battery bank?
Looking at the case, you see two USB connectors: one rated at 1 amp, the other at 2.1 amp. When you plug in the voltage conversion cable (5V to 12V), make sure you plug into the 2.1 amp connector. While the 1 amp connector works fine for the DMX-40 in receive mode, it will fail in transmit mode.
Why? First of all, the transmitter only draws about 550 mA when the key is down, so why is 1 amp not enough? Well, to clarify the riddle, you are making a simple voltage/amperage conversion. 12V at 0.55 amps is 6.6 watts. How much current do you need at 5V to get 6.6 watts? P=EI, so I=P/E or 6.6/5 = 1.32 amps! And then, if you throw in 85% efficiency for the conversion circuitry in the cable assembly, you get 1.55 amps. So, as you can see, 1.00 amps at 5V will not do. The battery bank circuitry will cut out and the DMX-40 will reset.
Secondly, consider the issue around accuracy of the percent readout. It’s supposed to tell you the charge state of the battery bank, but it’s not accurate when your battery bank arrives. It has not been calibrated. That is for you to do.
To calibrate your percent readout, first discharge the bank until it shuts down, and then charge it fully. Don’t stop when it says it’s charged to 100%. (You need to presss the button to see the display). The battery is really fully charged when the “IN” indicator stops blinking, not when the percent reading is 100%. Now, and only now, is the readout fairly accurate.
To put it another way, remember the early days of cell phones? Phone manufacturers used to tell you to complete this cycle, as well. Similarly, if you charge the bank to where it appears fully charged, but don’t confirm it with the “IN” light, it will be somewhat accurate at the start. So while your tough little battery bank may seem full, it’s not yet reading true. As it discharges, though, the accuracy drifts.
Following the procedure outlined above, you’ve given the battery bank system a complete reset. As a result you’ll derive much better accuracy of the reading and less headache about how long your batteries will last.
PreppComm’s robust battery bank is rated at 28,000 mAh, at 3.7 volts. If you do the conversion to 12 volts, you get about 8600 mAh. The DMX-40 draws about 160 mA average with the LCD backlight on, and about 120 mA average with the LCD backlight off, assuming the following: 25% transmitting/75% receiving, and around 50% keydown during transmit time, 100% LCD backlight on. That comes out to about 50-60 hours of operation.
Obviously, the LCD backlight is not lit all the time; it shuts off after three minutes if there is no activity. So, all things considered, except maybe on Field Day, this might equate to 10-12 days of operation at around four hours each day.
Furthermore, you would deploy the solar panel included in the GO Bag to restore power from that bright orb up there. Indeed, you will continue using your DMX-40 for as long as sunlight or bright daylight pours down on you. To sum it all up, roughly an hour of sun, or four to six hours of bright daylight restores all the power you consume. That means…forever, just about.
]]>As I mentioned before, we could see that the receiver sensitivity in the small-scale QRP 40 meter radio stood to improve and that we could eliminate the inductor. Using a minuscule PCB for testing, we started on a receiver redesign in November 2019. Unfortunately, that first trial failed because we could not get the update correctly installed (photo above). We’d been trying to connect an itsy-bitsy receiver board with lots of strands to teeny SMD components on the transceiver board. The poor wires were so tiny that we kept breaking them in our effort to hook up additional connections. It was a complete bust.
Time for a different approach. We built the new receiver on a slightly larger board with audio out, antenna in, bandpass filter, gain controls—the works. The second go was fantastic! Tiny wires not needed. And while we wanted to build in a speaker, that concept turned out to be impractical on several fronts, at least for now. The one-inch speaker that we tried to use (shown beside the miniature test board) just wasn’t powerful enough. We mothballed that idea, transferred the new technology to the transceiver board, and the new receiver was ready by the end of January 2020.
We were now on the cusp of Preproduction Run Number Three with the new receiver built in. Eliminating a couple of audio bugs with rework made everything fully functional with that version of the software.
We also redesigned the case to be much stronger, switched to a better filament type and found a small 3-D printer in Texas to fabricate our cases and lids. He did some quick turns on the lid design so we would get it right before ordering a significant quantity. Naturally, we played around with colors, there were so many choices. But the marketing input was “Black. Black. Black.” Consequently we now have, like the original Ford Model T, any color you want, as long as it is black.
We produced Preproduction Run Number Three and proudly arranged them on the shelf. They didn’t stay there long. Some of those radios sold for $100 off at various events that year.
During midyear 2020, we took on a marketing intern and redesigned the company name, logo, functionality, product name, graphical user interface and feature set. The results were spectacular improvements. We also began developing our next product, the Professional Station GO Bag.
The newly-named DMX-40 Morse Code Decoder & Converter Transceiver was outstanding, but still something about its presentation nettled me. Its face was the actual PCB control board with some visible wiring. Not only was it unattractive, but it also might also trigger damage to the circuit from a user’s static electricity. A professional front panel would make an attractive appearance. It could completely shingle the control board and protect it.
A bit of checking around turned up a panel that goes for, oh, a mere $4000 up front with full-color overlays for only a few dollars apiece—assuming that we ordered a minimum of a thousand. Uh, that was too rich for our blood. We mulled it over.
Brainstorm! And a good one. Why not just order a thin PCB cut out like the control board, with only copper as an anti-electrostatic shield? Have the panel printed just like a PCB? Sure it would be one color, white, but very fine, high-resolution printing, and less than a dollar a pop. Beautiful.
Things were looking good. We assumed that we were finally ready for another preproduction run. Previously, each preproduction run had turned out only ten pieces for evaluation in the market. Now the PCB manufacturer was at last able to supply the toroids. No more hand-winding for us. We ordered 100.
The boards worked very, very well, even better than the previous run. Everything had shifted. Whee! Now we were unquestionably ready to roll. This was PreppComm’s real, honest-to-goodness Production Run Number One! We synced up to construct the first batch, starting with several prototypes for our first full rollout.
Even then, concurrently, there was a lot going on. We continued to add features. The most exciting were the Key-in and Tone-out innovations. With them you could hear outgoing code from the keyboard or your own keyed-in code.
On top of that, our new relationship with American Redoubt Radio Operators Network (AmRRON) inspired more features. All the changes meant, of course, making tweaks to the PCBs and tossing out a batch of out-of-date boards. We didn’t do prototypes of the changes, as we were confident in them. The new features were working extremely well. So well, in fact, we could not imagine leaving them out! This was it. Production Run Number One was humming.
Our club president got so excited by being able to key in Morse code and hear it, and see how the decoder decoded it—he was not spacing things very well—he exclaimed, “This is one of the best features of the DMX-40, the ability to learn to send Morse code and have the computer actually tell you how well you are doing by showing you how well you adhere to good practice.” In the photo, you see him playing around with the DMX-40.
I agree with his evaluation. I send better code now for the same reason. By the way, that’s another exclusive feature! No code-practice unit out there has a built-in decoder that tells you how you are doing. Of course, many of our future customers are not going to be interested in learning Morse code, but some will.
Beginning in 2019 as the CTX-HF3, it became the RTS Series Commander along the way. Today it shines as the DMX-40 Morse Code Decoder & Converter Transceiver. A mouthful, to be sure, but descriptive.
It has been quite a journey so far. Although we have not lingered on describing the evolution of the software, we’ll just say, modestly, it went through a few hundred revisions. The complete redesign of the GUI turned out a total of 28 different screens for ease of use and functionality, with the support of our marketing intern. She also sparked renaming the radio and giving it a brand. Its new look is much more professional.
Yes, the DMX-40 QRP transceiver is tiny, but its feature set is tremendous. It addresses the need for hams to use Morse code in a crisis, and it alleviates their fear of not being able to call out when the repeaters are down. With the Professional Station GO Bag, they are set up well for emergency communications anywhere. PreppComm’s high power battery bank keeps the energy flowing.Yes, they have a reliable plan. They can make contact in the worst of circumstances. And finally, the DMX-40 provides a way for all amateur radio operators who always wanted to use code but had great difficulty trying to learn it to connect the DMX-40 to their rigs in External Mode, and operate CW on any band they want!
So, back to the lab for the next product. What do you suppose that will be?
Once we got past the decoding issue we were ready to complete the graphical user interface, build a cabinet, assemble the transceiver boards and address various issues around features and operations. Phew! At that point, we had named our little Arduino QRP radio the CTX-HF3, a very techie name for such a lightweight fellow. That would change.
The photo shows the fairly complete breadboard version that would render as a control board. So what’s missing? The transceiver, of course! The first board we built was the control system for a transceiver.
That board manages band switching and band selection. While it can handle six bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 12, and 10 meters, at this point, we have provided only a single-band transceiver PCB. We hope to add other bands soon, and maybe even a dual-band board.
We developed the transceiver board for 40 meters as a compromise, since 80 meters required an antenna that was too long for many situations, and 20 and above bands were not as good for local and regional communications as 80 and 40. Building additional single-band boards requires changing the inductors and some capacitors on the board, but we have not gotten to that yet.
We were also working on a box or cabinet to put the circuitry into. We purchased a 3D printer, and designed a cabinet using 3D software, and began printing our own cabinets. It turned out that they were not strong enough, and part of the reason was the printer was skipping, thus leaving small gaps and giving us a weak result.
When we finally figured it out, we were able to improve the situation but not fully correct it. In the photo, you can see the printer beginning to print a box, as it builds up the object layer by layer—frequently skipping parts of layers—but the case was very useful for where we were at the time. We were on the road to a portable CW transceiver made in the USA.
The next problem we had to overcome was surface mounted devices (SMD) on the PCBs. They were new to us. SMDs are extremely tiny parts soldered on the top surface of the circuit board, unlike through-hole components that are soldered on the bottom of the PCB. They are tiny, ranging down to 0.04″ x 0.02″ in size—so small that a grain of rice looks big in comparison. Back in the day at Apple, when my designs were turned into SMD, I had nothing to do with that phase of product development. Consequently, I didn’t foresee the next few wrinkles.
At first it was smooth sailing. When our first set of un-assembled control boards came in, a team member with considerable experience in SMD PCBs offered to build two. After he completed those front-panel PCBs, we buttoned up a lot of initial testing, made a few changes and headed into the second preproduction run. It was also time to design the SMD transceiver board. Our ham radio preppers were waiting.
Then things got a little rough. By the time the transceiver boards were developed and ready for assembly, our guy was no longer available. Surely we could do it ourselves, we thought. Just so you have some idea of what we were dealing with, here’s a blank transceiver board alongside a paper clip. The dark spots are targets for more than 100 SMDs.
We borrowed a soldering oven, ordered all the other stuff. We were good to go. With several team members on board, we used a metal stencil to squeegee solder paste onto the board where the parts were to go. Carefully we passed out the parts, one at a time. Using tiny tweezers and microscopes or magnifying lenses, we painstakingly placed the parts where they were meant to go.
After placing maybe 50 components on the transceiver boards, someone noticed pieces scattering around his board and the general area. Huh? How did that happen? We had been so careful, so precise. What went wrong? We could only guess. Maybe he breathed too hard? Accidentally swished his shirt over the board when he reached for the next strip of parts?
Then the other assembler noticed the same problem. Pieces everywhere. It was already difficult enough building this sort of board. Paste was drying. This process was too time-intensive. We’d have to start over.
The stray parts were not recoverable, not these miniatures. SMD parts, especially capacitors, are not marked with values. If they were, you could only read them under a microscope. If one fell on the floor, you could kiss it goodbye because it was unlikely you would ever find it. We threw in the towel. Doing it ourselves wasn’t going to work.
At that point I was searching for a company to build those confounded radio PCBs, relieve the stress of dealing with the SMDs, get this 40 meter radio project back on the road. I would simply maintain the inventory and hand the rest off to someone else. Seemed straightforward.
I signed up with a group that sounded reasonable enough. Until reality kicked in. On my side, simply ordering the inventory of more than 200 different parts took countless hours. After they arrived in labeled, anti-static bags, I would tally and “kit” them. Oh, yeah, then pay for shipping to a manager several hundred miles away, reimburse that person to recount them, repackage them and ship them overseas for assembly.
So I’d just handle inventory and my long-distance manager. All right? Hang on. Inventory, manage that manager, pay for shipping the lot overseas where they would be counted yet again, get the boards assembled by hand, repackaged, sent back to my long-distance manager, who would unpack, check, repack and ship the boards back to me and make it all easier, right? Not. Too much shipping expense, repeated operations, and time wasted.
No way! Forget it! Preproduction Round Number One of the transceiver boards still wasn’t working out. There had to be a better way.
Finally, at last, we had the first full unit, with both the main PCB, aka the front panel, and the new transceiver PCB. Preproduction Run Number Two was going well.
The PCB company assembled everything except the toroids. We were hand-winding them at that point and soldering them onto the PCB. In the photo you can see a completed unit showing the transceiver PCB mounted on top of the LCD PCB and the main CPU PCB.
Naturally, over time we found things that needed improvement, but the radio was doing all right. We shipped several units out into the field for testing, with good reports returning. The feedback coming to us recommended that we enlarge the text on the main screen, move the buttons on the display so that they were easier to touch, strengthen the case design, add a lid to protect the front panel when not in use, and more.
Around then, we also started working with the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in Coeur d’Alene. Over time they have provided a wealth of coaching in business operations. More recently, they have added coaches for website functionality and marketing via social media, which at this writing is just getting under way.
At that point, while things were going well, we determined that 15 µv sensitivity in the receiver was not good enough. So, we prepared to develop a much more sensitive receiver—about 30 times more sensitive. We also discovered that the bandwidth of the bandpass filter was wide enough that we did not really need the tunable inductor, shown in the photo, upper left. And we designed a better band pass filter for the front end, with the help of another ham operator.
]]>Portable transceiver—check! Interactive screen—check! Everything was looking good so far. Our Arduino-based HF transceiver was into development.
It was clear to me that the ham radio community needed a rig that would work under dire conditions, reliable Morse decoding and encoding, and that the Arduino could be a very good platform to develop an HF amateur radio unit that would work without repeaters. Our next experiments were focused on developing a reliable Morse decoding and encoding approach. They might sorely need that in an emergency.
The very ethos of amateur radio is saving lives and getting help to distressed areas. Operators are looking for amateur radio that works when SHTF. Encoding is pretty easy; get your code tables set up straight and your digital timer right. You are encoding text from the keyboard into Morse code. Decoding is another story entirely.
First, we started off simply using the decoder with key input. No issues with audio yet. We developed an algorithm that measured five different key values for human-generated code. Result: it decoded my poor keying, touching wires together. Worked pretty well. Next, we needed it to work with audio input.
We studied all of the available information on the internet, which is pretty extensive, about how to do this. Or I should say, how everyone else has attempted to do this. We saw the common circuitry, saw the minor differences and studied the chip manufacturers’ detailed specification sheets.
Ergo we built it, as shown, essentially like everyone else. We connected it to the audio output of our IC-7300 transceiver and tuned in a few stations. Our decoder, using audio output, could not decode anything! Nada.
Gee, back to the drawing board! There I was: “Okay, I know that the digital decoder works, so the ‘front end,’ the part that converts audio to digital to feed into the decoder, must not be working right.”
After a lot more study, it became clear, oh, so very clear: you could “tune” the circuit to reduce errors from noise, but then it would not work for fast code. If you tuned it for fast code, it would not work if there was any noise on the band. And, at no tuning, would it work with high noise! Are you kidding me? We are going after trusty Morse decoding and encoding, nothing less.
Certainly the specs said “high noise immunity.” The chip, you have to realize, was developed for telephones, where it needed only to recognize a touch event, regardless of timing. Now in a transceiver we’re bringing the chip into a precisely gauged context, with noise. Different story. It has to see when the key is up or down, get the timing right and detect the precise rate of a tone in a very narrow band, nothing like its application in a telephone.
Everyone uses this chip, as far as I can tell. I was able to adjust the circuitry to make it work when the band was very clear. Mistakes still cropped up, of course, but at least it worked, sort of. Look, in my book the decoding was not good enough for a legitimate product.
With those thoughts in mind, I attempted things no one else had that I know of, such as increasing the frequency it was looking for to help it with faster code. The photo above shows the final analog signal processor portion on the breadboard, which went through many revisions until we got it working the way we wanted.
Customers tell me that competitors give them a Morse code decoder that works only if the band noise is uncommonly low. Doesn’t happen often, and I was not willing to market that as a working product. It’s not my definition of “functional.”
Consequently, I spent a month on this and began to believe it was a hopeless puzzle for producing a low-cost Arduino-based ham radio. Sure, you could solve the problem with lots of fancy circuitry and programming, throw more dinero at it. One day, though, an idea popped into my mind, and I tried it. It was a special form of a digital filter, running on the Arduino before the signal gets to the actual decoder software. In it went.
The shocking thing was it worked the first time. I could not believe my eyes. My Morse code translator was alive! So I checked it with my logic analyzer. In fact, for several months, every time I saw something decoded that I did not understand, I got out the logic analyzer to check because I was still incredulous.
To make it work better, moreover, I adjusted the analog circuitry to make it ultra-sensitive to noise, and consequently the input to the digital filter was actually much worse. It kept working and still the accuracy went up!
This was a major breakthrough. In fact, if there was a single feature of the DMX-40 that I would tout, it would be this: it works with serious band noise, even atrocious band noise! As you can see, the oscilloscope image shows what I call medium-noise decoding in process. The top trace is the CW IN LED, the output of the digital filter. The bottom is the analog signal going into the analog signal processor. The results are truly amazing. And this is only mild noise!
Although we did not fully understand it at the time, clearly we now had a unique advantage over every single other product on the market. We had made it to mid-May 2018. With the full backing of the original team of our eight supporters, this leap made future developments possible.
]]>I was born with an inquisitive mind and my parents let me run with it. Later, when I entered the work world, I began a prolific career, by many standards, of creating products. It has taken me to some interesting places and rounded me out with extensive knowledge in evolving products for several markets. My 50-plus years in electronics and software abound in products with and without microprocessors, so, of course, when the Arduino turned up, it drew me in. I just wanted to play with it. Naturally, I had a few ideas.
A bit of background first, though.
To begin with, in 2005 the Arduino project emerged from a bar in Italy as a tool for students in a graduate design program. Their course requirements were, and presumably are, to create “devices that interact with their environment.” (Wikipedia, “Arduino”) Intrigued by the concept of this open-source hardware and software company, I joined their community of several hundred thousand novices and professionals in October 2017. By that time, the platform had undergone several revisions and acquired a great reputation as a popular educational system that teaches programming and basic electronics. In my case, I wanted to figure out how far I could take a project on that platform.
Reader, please realize that my first experience with chips like these was back in the mid-1970s. For $11,000 my company could place an order for 1000 pieces for a computer-on-a-chip. We’d have: 2K of read-only memory, 64 bytes of random access memory, a 4-bit CPU and four 8-bit parallel I/O pins in a 40-pin package. Better get your code right! You would not believe what we could do and did do with those chips. Our market competitors sure didn’t.
Fifty years of microprocessor development have wrought amazing advances. The Arduino has an astonishing 32K of program memory, 2K of RAM, and a bunch of I/O pins as well, costs only about $1.50 and runs about 200 times faster. Wow, how things changed! Low price, extensive resources and no operating system required or even desired. You program right to the metal, so to speak. Which is what I have always preferred. Yes, I dislike programming on top of operating systems. So, no Raspberry Pi for me, thank you. At least for this project.
My early experiments with Arduino included this weather station of sorts. I had plans to build an indoor/outdoor wireless system, but I ran into a problem that needed to be solved. I call it the “Prepper-HF Problem.”
It came to my attention that hams here in the Northwest needed a small HF transceiver that would also be a Morse code translator, mostly for emergency use. Some of them were also asking whether we could take a bit of the pain out of learning Morse code. They didn’t have the time or the inclination to master CW, but they might need it in a crisis. A few wanted to learn Morse code—but without the intense studying and drilling. Present me with a conundrum like that, and I’m on it.
The weather station project had already familiarized me with Arduino programming, but the display that came with it? I had my doubts. Would it work for a Morse code decoder? Nope. Two lines of 40 characters was not going to cut it for a transceiver that could encode and decode
By and by our research singled out a 3.5″ full-color touch panel, with built-in memory to store lots of graphic elements and a programming language all its own, apart from the other hardware and software. The Arduino simply had to send text commands to the GUI’s computer, and it would perform the operations, including graphics, buttons, changing pages, displaying text or returning text entered by the user.
Originally, I’d planned on a fairly large front panel for my Arduino ham radio, with lots of LEDs and knobs and not so much of a display – maybe a four-line, 80 character display for incoming and outgoing text only, not a lot different than the display in the weather station, only bigger. The operator interface is a plug-in keyboard, since the design goal is to type in your message, not key it in with Morse code. Everyone knows texting; the computer translates it into code.
I like to point out that my team was arguing, “Use keyboard commands. Get rid of most or all of the knobs and switches. Make it small and portable.” Great! The results tell the story. Don’t be fooled by the Arduino name or the tiny size of the DMX-40 when you see it. It’s crammed with features! Critics would say, “Impossible with such a simple chip.” Not me. “Simple chips” don’t have to be that simple. I’ve always used less to get more.
The first hurdle we faced was the input-output requirements. We have a digital frequency synthesizer chip, several digital volume control chips, the outgoing CW, the incoming signal which is not yet CW, the CW IN LED, several other LED’s, keyboard input, debug serial ports, serial ports to the display, band selection, timers for CW in and out, lots of stuff. Too much stuff for one minute Arduino, right?
However, when it came down to the realities, the biggest issue for me, in fact, was serial ports. Because we wanted to keep a serial port free for debugging, we added a software serial port for the display. What to choose? The Duo, the Raspberry, something else? We chose the dual Arduino and allocated its duties. I/O was tailored to the capabilities of the chip and—bonus!— we got a 2X gain in available memory resources.
As you can see, our two-Arduino experiment was off to a good start, with the 3.5″ LCD and a rotary knob for frequency control. We would later chuck the knob.
]]>About seven years ago I saw the Inland Northwest Preppers training members to use handheld UHF/VHF
radios that operate off the repeater on Hoodoo Mountain. It’s a plan, great as long as long as the repeater is in service. Later I found that the Bonner County Amateur Radio Club (BCARC) was doing the same. They had been maintaining a few repeaters, but only Hoodoo was working. The gaps in the plan soon became obvious to me: the limitations of handhelds, problems of repeaters, the challenge of Morse code and FCC regulations.
Like all repeaters everywhere, Hoodoo sometimes breaks down. Communications break down. And when the snow is deep, for months at a time no one can get up on the mountain to fix it. That’s a problem because all these guys (and gals) want to be prepared for a SHTF event, natural or manmade. Hoodoo keeps them in touch with the world around us. When its repeater network is functioning, they can cover a fairly large area, and of course, when the internet is up, it connects to the entire planet. Seeing that they’d need that capacity in a predicament, it might not be there when they needed it, and that bothered me.
And that wasn’t all.
Another layer of complication is FCC rules. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for some time now, has restricted entry-level hams from the preferable frequencies, the high frequency (HF) ones they would seek in a SHTF event—inaccessible to them unless they learn Morse code. In a disaster it’s an unenviable plight to imagine. Most of the hams we’re talking about hold only a Technician class license, entry level, which limits their operations to certain frequencies. Plus, they have not learned Morse code.
Preppers commonly study just enough to get the Technician class license. It’s their goal. They are not usually all that interested in ham radio per se or going further. Their license is a means to a specific end: to be able to operate the UHF/VHF handheld and talk via the repeater. It’s many hours extra of studying more specialized concepts for a higher-level license. Alternatively, learning Morse code would add even more time and effort. The HF bands that would perform so much better for preppers call for a load of work. Piling on that sort of requirement just isn’t going to fly.
But let’s say a prepper did learn Morse code. Practically speaking, he would have to become adept enough to key in and be able to copy at a reasonable speed, at least ten to fifteen words a minute. That’s the lower end of most Morse code traffic. It takes a lot of practice to become that skillful.
That’s quite a few obstacles to successful prepping right there. Here’s another tough one: the handhelds don’t work on HF and there aren’t any decent HF transceivers available for $35 like the VHF/UHF handhelds from China. So that adds another issue: cost.
Summing it up so far, we do not have products at hand that enable a Technician class licensee to access the HF bands without becoming well-versed in Morse code sending and receiving, as well as in abbreviations, operating methods and so on.
VHF/UHF radios are basically line-of-sight. They do go through some trees and some walls, but that reduces the signal strength significantly. Thus, a mountaintop repeater or the top of a city’s tallest building is the obvious solution. In this case, other than your car roof or window, or the wall or window of your home, or a few trees, signs, or whatever is right near you, you are likely to be in approximate line of sight with the repeater. As long as enough signal gets through the obstacles in the way, your handheld can make contact. Even better with a small antenna on the roof of the car, or your house.
Not so HF. Line-of-sight isn’t necessary. Signals in that range propagate by bouncing off the ionosphere and can reach long distances. Repeaters not required.
Using the rigs at hand today, as long as the repeater and its network are up and running, you are connected! But then you have to address the primary requirement you started with: a means of communication if the SHTF event occurs and line-of-sight isn’t going to get you to the help you are looking for. What if someone is trying to reach you? Will that repeater still be on the air? Will you still be connected to the world?
In a word, unlikely. Maybe for a short time, from batteries. Maybe the repeater has solar panels. But if the sun is covered by clouds, and too many users have been hitting it, it may be out of power. Or…on and on. Too much snow on the mountains. Equipment breakdown. The list of what-ifs is a long one.
How willing are you to depend on external infrastructure for your communication needs in an emergency communications event? That equipment can be affected by wildfires, hurricanes, floods, solar flares, EMP attack and other misfortunes, including equipment failure. You’d want your prepping to be effective, not dependent on line-of-sight or the repeater system, right?
We took a hard look at all the angles and determined to find a solution. We put together a team of about eight guys from across the country. They responded to an email I sent to the prepper group and plugged into the project. Thus the work began around October of 2017, and over the next few years, a revolutionary, innovative transceiver began to materialize, something never seen before.
As we had hoped, it addressed all our concerns: a way for entry-level hams to get through in hard times.
PreppComm’s leading-edge decoder/encoder addresses numerous impediments to connecting in a disaster. It uses the ionosphere, delivers Morse code to the Tech licensee and turns an everyday keyboard into a Morse code encoder. It eve3n plugs into an existing station to provide code capability for any ham! It’s the little transceiver that could.
We’ve introduced this novel radio to the market—the DMX-40 Morse Code Decoder and Encoder Transceiver. This unit empowers Technician class licensees to utilize the 40 meter HF band for communications by doing all of the translation from and to Morse code. You type your message on the keyboard, the transceiver captures it and converts to code for sending to operators who are operating CW. When they respond in Morse code, the transceiver decodes the message to English on the display. What Technician isn’t going to love that? And if so inclined, learn CW by this method.
It’s like texting on your phone, only over the air, with additional features such as digital tuning and automatic station ID. This transceiver is completely self-contained and operates off of a 12V supply, or a 5V supply with a 5V to 12V converter cable. Available alone or as part of a GO Bag, it comes with everything you need to set up a portable station, including solar panels, battery bank, antenna, and more.
No more waiting. Finally, you have a solution to the grid-down comms problem for preppers!
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