QS1R SDR QST Review

My first-ever product review for QST is coming in the September, 2010, issue.  This is for the Quicksilver QS1R Software Defined Radio.  ARRL members may find it here. [pdf]

Pillar Question

I note that ARRL now has "five pillars", recently up from four. But wait, there are five pillars of Islam, too. Some forms of Buddhism have ten pillars. So what's this about "pillars"?

Inquiring minds want to know how many pillars are optimum. We consult the oracle - Google - with a request to find all occurrences of "N pillars" - from "One pillar" to "twenty pillars". The following is the result -- worthy of deep contemplation.

Memorial: The Audion

One of the neatest displays at ARRL headquarters is in the W1AW station entry -- a couple of early radios using the DeForest Audion. You have to know where to look for them. The League is many things, but it lacks a real museum curator.

Remember the Audion here. (Gizmodo)

Ubuntu Hams!

Are you into software development, Ubuntu Linux, Amateur Radio? Then you need to know about Ubuntu Hams!

Weird Words: Wattage, Architect

Some words bother me. Maybe I'm showing my age, I know. But consider.

Wattage - The better word is "power" or "power rating". A 60 Watt light bulb has a 60 Watt power rating. A 10 Watt bulb is a low power bulb.

On the other hand, "wattage" is a parallel of "voltage", and I don't have the same reaction to that word. The "correct" words would be "potential" or "electromotive force".

Then why don't we say "amperage", "ohmage", "faradage", or "henryage"? Actually, I do hear "amperage", but not commonly.

[We seem to have some confusion between a quality (power) and the unit used to measure the quality (the Watt). In economics, there is something similar. The currency system may be called Stirling or RenMinBi, while the unit is the Pound or the Yuan. In the US, alas, we can only say "the Dollar" for both.]

Architect - When did we start using "architect" as a verb? I think I noticed it first in the computing world in the late 1980's. Why isn't "design" good enough? Maybe we IT gurus want to give the impression that we are a cut above traditional engineering professions? (Alas, the opposite is more often true.)

That's all for now from your local curmudgeon shop.

Fiddling with the QS1R

I'm working with the Quicksilver QS1R receiver, a little SDR box that samples the spectrum from 10 kHz to 60 MHz. The hardware seems good, but most of the action for the user is in the "S" part of SDR -- i.e., the software. Take a look at 20 meters in the afternoon - with all possible windows open. (To be fair, you don't need twin monitors -- 3840 x 1080 pixels -- to use this radio!) CPU demand is 6% on my 4 core, 8 thread system, Windows 7 (64 bit). Click for higher rez.

The Perfect Cartoon

XKCD of course: here.

A new rig

AA6E just acquired a new small rig, a Yaesu FT-897D. Small on the outside (size), but big on the inside (features) -- like Dr. Who's Tardis. This is the first Yaesu HF (+ VHF/UHF) transceiver I have used since the days of the sainted FT-101.

A limitation of all compact rigs with sophisticated operating modes is the very limited user interface (knobs and buttons) through which you have to configure the equipment. We have a smallish LCD screen, 14 buttons, and 4 knobs -- and something like 100 parameters that can be set.

I am climbing the learning curve now. So far, it appears that the "information design" is fairly rational and easy to deal with, conquering new features one at a time. It will take a while to know the rig thoroughly. I'm only afraid I'll forget faster than I'll learn - especially since this is meant as a secondary rig for me.

People complain about the complexity of the Ten-Tec Orion, which is my main transceiver. They have a point, but navigation through the menus is much easier. With the Orion, the big concerns IMO have to do with setting up the flexible AGC system, IF DSP parameters, etc. (Not to mention finding and loading the firmware version that works best for your own operating style!) "Fortunately" the 897 has much less to offer in terms of advanced issues like these...

Getting on the air? I tried for a while without success. I was transmitting at 18 MHz into my 80 m dipole -- not a good strategy. Switching in the SteppIR, I made quick contacts with HA8, F5 and Texas for good measure. Nice reports.

Note to self: Improve antenna switching system!