[OKDXA] FT8 Setup: Conclusion

[John Geiger]

No luck on FT8WW here either but did get 3C3CA on 30 Tuesday night for a new band country!73 John AF5CC Sent via the Samsung Galaxy A10e, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone
-------- Original message --------From: Peter Laws N5UWY <n5uwy at arrl.net> Date: 1/5/23  11:37 AM  (GMT-06:00) To: Oklahoma DX Association <okdxa at mailman.qth.net> Subject: Re: [OKDXA] FT8 Setup: Conclusion On Thu, Jan 5, 2023 at 12:12 AM Kim Elmore <cw_de_n5op at sbcglobal.net> wrote:>> As I know you've all been sitting on pins and needles about this...A little ...>> I finally got a USB sound card interface that works! And it is truly> nice to have a sound card dedicated to the particular radio. I may also> use one for my TS930S, just so I don't need to reset anything when> switching between radios.What did you get, finally?I did the RigBlaster to PC Soundcard thing for years and even had theWest Mountain ACC(1) cable for my IC-746Pro that had the separate linefor FSK (in order to remain *pure* ...).I noodled around about a different interface cable for the RigBlasterfor a long time and then decided that I would instead build abreakout-box for the ACC(1) and run it to a different audio chip (nodoubt after reading about someone else's adventure).  Finally did thata few years back and now run it into the cheap USB dongle thing wetalked about.  Two of mine are branded "VIA USB" ... or I assumethat's the brand showing up in Windows because it *is* connected "viaUSB" ...I run audio through an isolator card first, though, just to eliminateany ground loop issues.  The boards are in the $10 range on eBay orwere when I bought them.  Purpose-built by hams, probably in smallquantities, but usually available.For my IC-910, I bought a much fancier Behringer USB interface(UCA-202, I think - used off eBay) that has L and R RCAs for transmitand receive (or "input" and "output" as they call them).  I did thisbecause the 910 has two receivers and operates full-duplex forsatellites ...  Have I used it for digisats?  No, of course not.Though I have made some terrestrial FT8 QSOs with it.  Did the samething with a break-out box but instead of using the ACC(1) on the backof the 910, I used the "MAIN" and "SUB" 6-pin mini-DIN DATA ports.Those ports were standard on several makes of radios in the 90s/00sand have the signals needed, including PTT (I use CI-V commands toturn the transmitter on, so moot for me).  More on the "DATA" porthere:  http://wa8lmf.net/6-Pin-MiniDin-Data-Connector/index.htm ...made obsolete by USB ports on radios like my IC-705.Getting back to the 746, I also built some MORTTYs, one for FSK RTTYand one for CW.  The former was my main interest because there wasgrowing realization that bit-banging through a serial port, which ishow most people including me keyed FSK, put out a pretty ugly signal.The MORTTY is built around an Arduino Nano and does a much better jobof bit timing resulting in a cleaner signal.Also, and much more importantly, while I haven't got FT8WW in the logyet, I did get 3C3CA last night and he's already confirmed via LOTWwhich gives me 200 confirmed--Peter Laws | N5UWY | plaws plaws net | Travel by Train!______________________________________________________________OKDXA mailing listHome: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/okdxaHelp: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htmPost: mailto:OKDXA at mailman.qth.netThis list hosted by: http://www.qsl.netPlease help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html