Email: andrew_atkinson @ hotmail.com
Towards the end of 2008 I was listening to one of Bill Meara’s talks on the Soldersmoke Podcast. Bill had been experimenting with the use of ultra slow morse transmissions using incredibly low power. It was perhaps unsurprising that this would capture my imagination. In the months that followed I concentrated heavily on listening for QRSS signals on 30 metres, based on the frequency of 10.140. Using one or other of my commercial rigs, together with Argo loaded on the desktop PC, I tried in vain to seek out the tiny signals.
Eventually I joined the “Knights” mailing list and, through them, met a significant number of fellow amateurs, all of whom were willing to share their time and expertise to show me the way. With a lot of hand holding I eventually got there and was regularly able to see a significant number of signals. The photograph below shows typical day time activity at my QTH
Finally, I decided to take advantage of a new kit which had been developed by Genesis Radio in Australia - their Q4 unit. Being crystal controlled, it was rock steady after the usual 30 minutes warm-up time. Working with Colin Thomson (G6AVK) we came up with a simple modification using a diode to shift the frequency of the crystal very slightly to provide FSKCW. Hans Summer (G0UPL) very kindly programmed an ATTiny13 chip with my call sign and then we were all ready to go.
On the 13th of November (a momentous day) Colin and I decided that it was time for me to try out the new rig. He is an old hand at this game and was full of confidence. Firstly I conducted a test into a dummy load and you can see the result in the photograph below.
Although everything is currently set up for 30 metres, I am more than willing to switch frequencies if anyone wants to conduct experiments. Please feel free to get in touch.
Finally, I have attached a photograph below of the modified Q5. Alongside it you will see a breadboard which comprises the keyer and modulator circuit. At some point in the near future all of this will be boxed up to make it more portable.
Hot Iron
Some time ago Tim Walford (of Walford Electronics) asked me to write some articles for his magazine “Hot Iron”. One of the most recent of these concerns QRSS. The problem for writing an article for such a publication is that I often find the format is not suitable for my material, or perhaps my material is not suitable for the publication. In any event I was only able to scratch the surface of the subject and, whilst I have absolutely no intention of writing a book on the subject, I did feel that it would help others if a little more information were provided - particularly that which is of a more practical nature and, of course, hyperlinks to other sites where the reader can continue his or her research.
What follows here is a collection of thoughts, interspersed with links to more detail. I start with the Knights of QRSS. This is the band of happy and helpful folk who are at the heart of QRSS activity throughout the world. I would strongly urge anyone interested in this mode to subscribe to the mailing list. The second link below is a “Clipboard” where a lot of practitioners post their transmitting or reception intentions.
There are a great number of amateurs currently involved in QRSS activity - many of whom have their own web sites. I am fairly sure that I am going to upset someone by failing to mention them, but if there are any glaringly obvious omissions please do let me know and I will do my best to address the situation. Listed below are a small selection of the sites which I have found to be useful at some stage or another.
In addition to the traditional web sites, there are also a host of Blog pages where people discuss QRSS related material. My favoured blogs are as follows :
So far as equipment is concerned, there are more and more companies providing kits for QRSS transmitters and receivers each month. One particularly easy and cheap kit to build is made by the Australian company Genesis Radio it is called the Q5, takes only an hour or so to make and works like a dream. Be sure and add the modifications suggested by Colin, G6AVK (my hero).
Another kit which even comes complete with a pre-programmed keyer is the offering from Hans Summer. This really represents excellent value for money and will have you on the air in no time at all.
I am fast running out of time here and I now really need to crack on with some other projects. Please bare in mind that I always have time to help others in amateur radio. If you are interested in QRSS and really get stuck, please do not hesitate to get in touch. My email address is shown below.
