KD7YOX About the Rig and Cameras Check Out My Buddistick Pro Antennas LIVE Check Out My Outdoor Cam LIVE KD7YOX Website

Cameras: You are not connected to my radio or computer in any way! I usually start the Desktop camera at about 1300 UTC and it's up about 2 hours, sometimes all day. Check it anytime that you like. You are viewing the desktop of my radio computer presented as an IP camera, much like a security camera. Click this link for setup instructions. This makes it possible for IPCamLive.com to take the video and serve you a live session via your browser. It would be nice to have a few of these sites around the world. Radio: The ICOM 7300 is running version 1.41 firmware which has a preset for USB-D. This makes it ready to connect to the computer and WSJTx with an ordinary USB cable. Antennas: I live in an HOA, in a home with a backyard. Three grounded 100 foot MILSPEC feedlines run to 3 Buddistick Pro tripod antennas. They are connected to the raido through a Delta-4 manual antenna switch. These antennas are tuned as pricisely as possible to one of three WSJTx band frequencies. Each has one radial which must be at least 2 feet above the ground and a tuning coil in the middle of the whip.The radial wire has been replaced by a tape measure which makes tuning much easier. The tripods have been replaced with a 1.5" PVC pipe on top of a patio umbrella base. A "High Q" antenna is not problem since WSJTx only uses 2mhz of width. Tuning them to a particular frequency will get an SWR of @1.3 or better. I have confirmed QSOs with more than 100 countries. Computers: I functionalize my computer system. That makes it easy to publish the desktop without it being entangled with the other computer tasks. I have a main computer, a radio computer, a camera computer, and a few others. The radio computer is an Intel NUC fanless mini PC, available from Amazon for about $200. The other computers are slightly different but about the same size, capacity and cost. I manage them with one keyboard, mouse, and monitor using NoMachine as the VNC on the main computer. The radio computer only needs a power cable a network cable, and the USB cable connected to it from the radio. The network cable to it for a little more speed than just WiFi. Send me an enail (link below) if you'd like more information. Linux Mint OS: If you have just tried Ubuntu, you have not yet experienced Linux with a great desktop. Mint is based on Debian/Ubuntu, so it has the same capabilities. It is the only Linux distro that comes out of the box with a desktop that is user friendly. Setting up and running WSJTx on Mint is easier than it is on Windows. When you watch the radio run in the videos, you may notice that I'm switching between workspaces. I have one workspace for the radio and one for the web. This allows WSJTx and GridTracker to be in one workspace while the web-related apps are in their own workspace and save screen clutter. If you decide to do WSJTx, this is your chance to put it on its own PC using Mint, and connect to it from your Windows PC or Mac with NoMachine. WSJTx Notes: There are several good videos on the web for setting up WSJTx. Once you have it working, you will need to jigger with the sound settings. The radio is controlled using the sound card in the computer and the sound card it's connected to in the radio via the USB cable. If you don't see QSX traffic on the GridTracker map, it is likely that your incoming sound from the radio needs to be tweaked. Looking at this from the computer, the radio is sending sound for the traffic to WSJTx. If it sounds like a fax machine it is because it is similar. If incoming sound is set to low, WSJTx can't hear it well enough to decode it. If it's too loud, overmodulating will make decoding difficult. Likewise, outgoing sound when you tranmit needs to be set so that you are not yelling into your mic. The outgoing sound level is set in WSJTx with a slider control that is erroneously labeled PWR. I control the transmit gain via the PulseAudio volume control in Linux and leave the slider in WSJTx set to max. GridTracker Notes: I'd guess that 80% of the users of WSJTx are running it without GridTracker! That is very sad, and they don't know what they're missing: 1. They are trying to double-click on incoming traffic as it's flying by to start a QSO. 2. They are still uploading their logs manually when Gridtacker would update their logs with the QSO once it's complete and they click the OK button. 3. They start a QSO without knowing if their signal has a chance of getting there. 4. They don't realize that GridTracker does NOT change a single setting in WSJTx. It just makes it better. Usage Comments: • QRZ.COM anchors GridTracker. Turn on QRZ logging PLEASE! No QRZ log puts you in my "Ignore Call" list. • WSJTx works by pulling the message out of the noise. That's why it works at long distances. Joe Taylor - WSJT Explained • WSJTx has synchronization codes built in. If you are properly connecdted to the internet, your time settings will be correct for WSJTx. • Once you get WSJTx working, disable the Watch Dog, Thanks to Joe Taylor for giving us WSJTx. It does the heavy lifting. Thanks to Tag Loomis for giving us GridTracker which organizes our experience so that it's fun and not stressful. Email: kd7yox@gmail.com.