Broadcast - 5 May 2024
We will start this week off with an update on one of the clubs favourite subjects, restoration.
Peter VK7KPC has had quite a bit of success restoring his WS62 ex-military HF transceiver over the past months. Apart from the fact that it actually functioning now he has been participating in some of the Straight Key Century Club, or SKCC for short, club activities. The CW session is not a contest but a monthly slow morse get together on the 80 metre band. I believe it is referred to as the Oceania QRS Saunter. Peter managed a New Zealand CW contact running about 1 Watt power out from his WS62, a very admirable achievement. He has managed two VK3 contacts this week on 80 metres as well as successfully using the rig on the Wednesday Discord session. I hear Peter has also been having “fun” chasing a wandering crystal controlled oscillator! Looks like a little bit more work will be needed on the WS62.
For more information on the SKCC - Oceania QRS Saunter monthly slow morse get together follow the link in the text edition below.
https://www.skccgroup.com/operating_activities/oqs/
While we are on the subject of low power level communication, it has come to my attention that Phil VK7ZPD has also been having success with some long distance contacts.
Still in the HF end of the spectrum but not CW this time. Phil has been using Olivia mode and as a quick refresh for me I was reminded it was a weak signal TTY type digital mode that works very well with low power.
Evidently Phil has had several contacts via Olivia 8/250 over the past few weeks with a Swiss ham, Hanspeter HB9BFM. Phil’s latest contact with him was on Sunday afternoon running just 4 Watts power, Phil was in Tasmania and Hanspeter was located in the Swiss Alps! Hanspeter commented that “Phil was the only VK7 ham using Olivia.” Phil mentioned to me that “It's a very interesting mode and much more interactive and personal than the other modes such as FT8 and can also be set up on an SDR for Rx only for those who like to just listen."
Now just for interest sake, namely mine…
OLIVIA was designed by a Polish amateur named Pawel Jalocha, SP9VRC in 2005.
Its goal was to be effective even in challenging propagation conditions on shortwave radio (HF) bands. It can also decode well under other noise, QSB and QRM. It is a Multi-Frequency Shift Keying (MFSK) radio teletype digital mode and uses 7-bit ASCII alphabet. There are a handful of amateur digital modes that are derived from Olivia, including RTTYM and PAX.
There is an excellent run down on the official “Olivia Digital Mode on HF” site, link included in text version of the broadcast.
https://oliviadigitalmode.org/
I must agree with Phil, Olivia does seem like a happy compromise between computer assistance on a noisy and poor transmission path while still maintaining the human contact by actually typing the QSO rather than full automation with the computers instigating and completing the interchange.
As an added bonus from Phil to anyone that is interested, he has notes on the setup of FLDigi for Olivia should anyone need assistance or he can assist via Anydesk remotely.
Thanks Phil, I hope receive some takers for the offer of assistance. This sort of help can potentially save vast amounts of time on initial setups. You never know this might even create a few more QSOs for Hanspeter.
Now for this week’s homework ….. Does anyone know the meaning behind the naming of the Olivia mode?
Apart from being of Latin origin and meaning an olive tree.
As always, pictures will be available on the NTARC Web site under “Blogs” for this broadcast.
UPCOMING EVENTS
TestNet and TechNet session - Every Wednesday, TestNet/CW course on 3.580MHz from 7 pm till 7.30 pm, then a TechNet on 3.567MHz from 7.30 pm till about 8.30 pm. Your host for the evening will be Nic VK7WW.
Coffee Morning - held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Time is from 10 am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all there. So why not pop in and join us for a cuppa, there is endless tea and coffee along with biscuits available for a donation.
Club Room Technical night session - The next session will be on Wednesday the 8th May and will commence at the usual time of 6.30 pm, running through to about 9 pm, at the Club Room Archer Street, Rocherlea.
Finally - A reminder to all members that if you have any items of news you would like added to our weekly roundup, no matter how trivial, then please email them to the Secretary at the following address news@ntarc.net all items to be received no later than 5 pm on the Friday prior to the Broadcast.
That’s all folks,
73, Stefan VK7ZSB, Secretary NTARC Inc.
