Waves in Vacuum

Morse over Internet (MoIP)

2023-06-23T11:00:00+02:00

Want to exchange Morse Code over the Internet? Read on if you want to know how.

Why would you want to do that?

There are many reasons. What if one of the parties doesn’t have a callsign (yet)? You live so far apart and don’t have the eqipment to reach each other. You’d like to practice without setting up everything. And many more…

Ok, so what do i need?

First of all we need to check the preliminaries. You need:

A computer running Linux
the packages cw and xcwcp and mumble
(install via sudo apt install cw xcwcwp morse or similar depending on your distro)

Optionally you can connect your morse paddle to the pc.

How do I set things up?

Xcwcp worked out of the box for me. Just set the drop down menu to “Receive Keyed CW”. Adjust the Speed and Tone accordingly and hit the Play button.

The space-bar acts as straight key
the left and right arrow buttons act as paddle
the left and right mouse buttons act as paddle

Then start Mumble. If it’s your first time you’ll be greeted with an “Audio Tuning Wizard”, if not you can find it in the “Configure” menu. Set up accordingly. If you’re in the red zone at the Volume Tuning turn the Volume down in xcwcp.
64% was a sweet spot for me.

Next enter the Settings (Configure > Settings). Audio Input should be set up well now. Go to “Audio Ouput” and change the “Output Delay” to around 20ms. If you can’t receive any CW reduce it further.

Great, where can I connect

Generally you could use any mumble server that allows it. You could even set up your own mumble-server if you want to.

I found two servers specifically for Morse over Ip though.

Server by Thomas, DF7TV:

Address: 216.52.148.10
Port: 5360

(his site)

Server by Ralf, DK5BU:

Address: vs42.gameserver.gamed.de
Port: 10260

(source here you can also find a german manual for Windows)

And there you have it. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me.

Converting words per minute (wpm)

2023-05-16T21:00:00+02:00

How long is a dit at 12wpm?

Why even convert wpm?

I started to write a “little” project for the MicroBit in Python. To future proof the project I want to make sure to implement the speed in words per minute (wpm). This immediately begged the question of how long should I play the tone of a dit when I want to practice at 12wpm?

Basics

Morse Code is not just dits and dahs, there are also spaces. But how long is a dit, how long a dah and how long do I wait between two letters?

 .  = 1 u
 –  = 3 u
[s] = 1 u
[l] = 3 u
[w] = 7 u

u...unit of time
[s]... space between symbol (dits and dahs)
[l]... space between letters
[w]... space between words

Words, letters, symbols and units

What is actually a word? When you calculate words per minutes it makes a difference which word you take:

hi (2 letters)
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters)

And even if the words have the same amount of letters, it still makes a difference. Let’s compare, for example, “cook” and “need”.

cook = -.-.  --- --- -.- (13 symbols)
need = -. . . -..        (7 symbols)

Same amount of letters, but almost the double amount of symbols. But we’re not finished. Lets go deeper. Even if the letters have an equal amount of symbols, the letters still consume a different amount of time.

o: --- (11 u)
s: ... (5 u)

This difference in units is due to the fact that the letters were assigned to their symbols to account for their likelihood¹ to show up in a (german)² text.

PARIS

To standardize things a certain word was used to measure the words per minutes. This word is “PARIS”³.

So on our quest to find out the amount of time consumed by one dit, lets calculate the units in “PARIS”.

wpm to baud

First let’s translate the letters to morse:

P = .--.
A = .-
R = .-.
I = ..
S = ...

Now let’s count the dits and dahs… and don’t forget the spaces.

10x  .  -> 10x 1 u = 10 u
 4x  -  ->  4x 3 u = 12 u
 9x [s] ->  9x 1 u =  9 u
 4x [l] ->  4x 3 u = 12 u
                     ----
                     43 u

After checking with the wpm article on Wikipedia I found, that a word includes the wordspace [w] of seven units after the word. In this case “*PARIS *” equals to 50 units.

Maths

Note: For the sake of simplicity, I will write to the unit words per minute w/min⁴. Further down you’ll see why.

To be able know how long my Dit should last at 12w/min I need to answer three questions.

How many units are in a minute at 12w/min?

12 w/min = 12 * PARIS[w] = 12 * 50 u
 x w/min =  x * 50 u/min   

How can I convert words per minute to words per second?

min = 60 s

w/min = 1 w/s (word per second)
w/min = 1/60 w/s
 x w/min = x/60 w/s

How can i convert words per minute to minutes per word?

 2 w/min = 1/2  min/w
10 w/min = 1/10 min/w
 x w/min = 1/x  min/w

Now we need to combine these three informations to be able to convert words per minute to seconds per unit. Since a Dit usually takes less than a second I will convert to Milliseconds (a thousandth of a Second).

x w/min = x * 50 u/min 
        = x*50/60 u/s 
        = 60/(50x) s/u 
        = 6000/(5x) ms/u
	= 1200/x ms/u

Congratulations! We can now calculate how long a Dit takes at 12 words per minute. Now we’ll switch back to old notations.

12 wpm = 1200/12 ms/u 
       = 100 ms/u

The table for 12wpm looks as follows:

 .  = 100 ms
 –  = 300 ms
[s] = 100 ms
[l] = 300 ms
[w] = 700 ms

For any other wpm you just have to use the equation x wpm = 1200/x ms/u.

I hope this post was easy to understand. If you have any further questions, drop me a line.

Footnotes:

See Letter frequency (Wiki) ↩
The Morse Code as we now know it was revised by German writer Friedrich Clemens Gerke (1801-1888). ↩
To make things more complicated: Sometimes the standard word CODEX is used. But we won’t talk about this here. ↩
the word per signals a fraction/division. m is usually used for Meter, min for Minutes ↩

Logging into the Xiegu

2023-04-25T14:00:00+02:00

Even if you don’t use Linux on your desktop pc you likely use it one way or another. You’ve got an Android smartphone, yeah that’s running Linux. You’ve got a Xiegu X6100, that’s running too! If you’re familiar with the command line you can even log into your device. Here’s how

Connect your transceiver to your (Linux) computer¹ via the USB-C port marked DEV
It should connect as “USB ACM” device, usually called ttyACM0 and ttyACM1
log on with picocom --imap lfcrlf --baud 115200 /dev/ttyACM0
Enter root as username and 123 as password (yeah, i know…)

And voila, you’re in.

Infos

Here’s a list of information I was able to find out:

Kernel was built
- with support for SMP (Symmetric multi-processing)
- as preemptible kernel (low latancy)[^preempt]
- version: #89 SMP PREEMPT Sun Feb 20 13:55:09 HKT 2022
Kernel release: 5.8.9
armv7l chip
running BusyBox v1.31.1

It works with Mac and Windows too, but you’ll need to look elsewhere for an instruction. ↩

How to learn Morse code

2022-09-09T22:00:00+02:00

One rabbit hole you can run down in the world of ham is CW. CW stands for Continuous wave and stands for sending Morse code via electromagnetic waves.

In this post I will write my way to learning Morse code.

Schools

Like with Karate or instruments there are different schools of learning Morse code. “Every” school thinks they have the best way and other ways to learn it are inferior.

In reality different ways work for different people. Choose your own way and nitpick from all schools.

How not to do it

While there are many ways that can work for you, some are still considered outdated or unfavourable.

It is considered common knowledge, that you shouldn’t learn Morse code at slow speed. You should be able to hear the character as whole and not as single Dits or Dahs.

It also isn’t good to memorize the characters as dots and dashes for the same reason. This alphabet is meant to be heard, not seen.

Beware that using pre made recordings hold the danger of (subconsciously) learning the solution off by heart, rather than listening to the sound and translating it.

Lastly it is not smart to use mnemonic devices as it might help you at slow speeds but will hinder you when you want to hear and give fluently. The reason is simply, that you have an extra step between the sound and the letter. Nobody sees the letter “A” and thinks, this looks like an angle, therefore the letter is pronounced “a”.

How I did it

I used following two concepts

Koch’s method: Learn one letter at a time.
Farnsworth timing: Increase time between letters, but give one letter (dots and dashes) in “normal” tempo.

I learnt two letters (M, K) at 20WPM with an effective speed of 12WPM. If I didn’t succeed I reduced the effective speed. Then I increased stepwise till I was able to manage at least 90% with 12WPM (effective). When I managed three consecutive lessons (20WPM; 12WPM effective) I’d add a letter.

Note: The programs I use all have a group length of 5 (5 characters after another and then a larger break). I also read, about people that use a group length of 2 instead of 5 and increasing it after all characters were learnt at 20WPM (12WPM eff.). I don’t have any experience with this method.

Meanwhile I changed my strategy. You can read about it in my post about farnsworth method

Software

Nowadays there are many ways to learn Morse code. Following I share the software I use:

Android: Morse Trainer (F-Droid)

Linux:

unixcw library consisting of
- cw - a CW sending ‘engine’ that reads characters from stdin, sounds them on either the sound card, or the console speaker, and echoes them to stdout.
- cwgen - a simple random character generator that can be used as a feed for cw.
- cwcp - a curses-based program that generates groups of characters from selected sets, words, and CW abbreviations randomly, and sounds them using libcw.
- xcwcp - a qt version of cwcp with a paddle keyer!
aldo - a Morse code training program

Web based:

LCWO.net (learning platform)

Changelog

2022-09-09: added link to farnsworth post

Farnsworth timing

2022-09-09T22:00:00+02:00

In my post about how to learn morse code I explained how I started learning cw.

Some frustrating months later I had to adapt my way of learning.

The big crash

I chatted with a fellow ham operator about how he learned cw and how I do it. He was rather surprised by the great difference between “speed” and “effective speed” that I used (20WPM - 12eff). He argued that it will be hard for my brain to comprehend the letters with way less time in between. Sure enough, as I tried reducing the difference of the two speeds I had no chance at all. Even at 14WPM (14eff) it sounded like a random string of dits and dahs.

So what now?

My new strategy is to reduce my speed to 12WPM and set the effective speed 11WPM. If I succeed here I increase the effective speed to 12WPM (no farnsworth timing).

My goal is to learn all letters at 12WPM and increase the speed afterwards.

How to stay motivated

To be honest, it’s hard! If you, like me, don’t have much time, sitting and listening can become dull and boring. I have a paddle now and practice sending with it. This hugely boosted my motivation. Also I hope that motivation will rise or stay up, when I managed to learn all symbols at a slow speed. The next milestone after learning all symbols, is to increase speed stepwise from then on.

Stay tuned…

Monitor PMR channels with the Anytone

2022-07-30T14:00:00+02:00

The Anytone is capable of receiving and transmitting on the band of PMR446. Since transmitting is not legal (power must be 0,5W and antenna must be fixed), here is what you need to set up in qdmr.

(optional) Create a Scan list “PMR446”

Tab Channels:

Repeat following steps for all 16 channels:

Add Analog Channel
Set RX Frequency to correct frequency and TX Frequency to a frequency within your region setting.
Check Rx Only
(optional) Set Scan List to “PMR446”
Set Bandwidth to “Narrow (12.5 kHz)”

Afterwards you must create a corresponding Zone to make the channels available.

Building your codeplug with qdmr

2022-07-30T01:00:00+02:00

Following I’ve collected a few tips for using qdmr with the Anytone AT-D878UVII PLUS. If you are interested in how to install qdmr, see here.

Brief introduction to codeplugs

Let’s be frank. They are a pain. A codeplug is

vendor specific,
model specific and
region specific.

So if you don’t have a ham buddy in your region, with your device, then you need to write your own codeplug.

Steps

Set region of your device (only once)
Back your codeplug up
Build your codeplug
Transfer it to your device

Region set

To set your region on the Anytone AT-D878UVII PLUS you need to enter the test mode.

Buttons	Mode
PTT+PF3	Firmware flash mode
PTT+PF1	Init mode
PTT+1	Test mode: Region setting
PTT+2	GPS test mode
PTT+PF2	Icon update mode

Region 0 is completely open and 3 is fitting for Austria.

Warnings:

Codeplugs have specific band limits. Your device must be set to the same band limit.
If you reset the region you must enter ‘Init mode’, which will wipe your codeplug along with your settings.

Backup your codeplug

Turn your device on
Connect the double jack to it.
Start qdmr
Plug the usb cable in your computer.
Press Device>Detect. A pop up window should inform you of the correct device.
Press Device>Read and chose a location to save your codeplug.
Make a backup copy of this file or initiate a git repository and commit the file.

Build your codeplug

Read and follow the instructions over at dm3mat.

In short:

Set general settings
Create contacts (all call, private calls and talk groups you want to use)
assemble contacts into group lists (simplex, local, regional, global, all)
create channels (list of repeaters; clone for time slot 1 and 2)
assemble channels to zones¹
(optional) assemble scan lists
(optional) configure GPS/APRS and Roaming

I advise to make small steps, commit, write to device and test. If you create a syntax error it’ll be hard to find otherwise.

Transfer to your device

When qdmr is open with the codeplug loaded.

Turn your device on
Connect the double jack to it.
Plug the usb cable in your computer.
Press Device>Detect. A pop up window should inform you of the correct device.
Press Device>Verify and solve the listed problems.
Press Device>Write.

Warning: Before testing it is important to unplug the double jack. Otherwise the microphone and speaker is not active.

Changelog

2022-07-30: added warnings to ‘Region set’.

Footnotes:

If a channel is in no zone it won’t be available on your device. ↩

Cheat sheet

2022-07-06T12:00:00+02:00

Talking on the air is pretty stressful the first times around. Next to the tips for repeater usage I always have this page open as little cheatsheet. Please use it for your first QSOs too.

QRP Frequencies

For IARU Region I

SSB

Band (m)	Freq (MHz)
160	1.843
80	3.690
40	7.060
20	14.285
17	18.130
15	21.285
12	24.950
10	28.360
6	50.285
2	144.285

(Source: dk8dg.de)

How to call CQ (start a call)

Listen if the frequency is free
Call CQ three times
Name your Call sign three times (best to spell it with the NATO alphabet)
Also state where you are calling from (frequency, callsign or name of relay)

If you give a definitive end, like “…is listening”, when you name your call sign the last time, people know when to come in.

How to give a signal report (RST)

Num	R	S	T
1	Unreadable	Faint – signals, barely perceptible	Sixty cycle a.c or less, very rough and broad
2	Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable	Very weak signals	Very rough a.c., very harsh and broad
3	Readable with considerable difficulty	Weak signals	Rough a.c. tone, rectified but not filtered
4	Readable with practically no difficulty	Fair signals	Rough note, some trace of filtering
5	Perfectly readable	Fairly good signals	Filtered rectified a.c. but strongly ripple-modulated
6		Good signals	Filtered tone, definite trace of ripple modulation
7		Moderately strong signals	Near pure tone, trace of ripple modulation
8		Strong signals	Near perfect tone, slight trace of modulation
9		Extremely strong signals	Perfect tone, no trace of ripple or modulation of any kind

What to say

So, you started a conversation, but you have no idea what to talk about. Following information is good to say in every conversation:

Minimum:

Call sign
Name
QTH (Location)
RST (signal report)
gear you are using

Other topics may include:

Weather (always a good one): Temperature, air pressure, clouds
Antenna
Your interests in ham

What to put in your log

Call sign (optionally name)
Date
Time (UTC)
Frequency or Band
Mode
RST

Misc

If you don’t have it yet, make a list of repeaters in your surrounding. The list should include following informations:

Name
Call sign
Frequency RX
Frequency TX and/or shift
CTCSS or DCS

DMR

For a further explanation see here

R-ID: Radio ID
PC: Private Call
GC: Group Call
TG: Talk Group
TS: Time Slot (TS1 = trans local, TS2 = regional)

Contacts

Name	Type	Number
All call	all call	16777215
Regional	group call	8
Local	group call	9
TG99	group call	99
World wide	group call	91
Europe	group call	92
D-A-CH	group call	920
Italy	group call	222
Austria	group call	232
Germany	group call	262
Switzerland	group call	228
EMCOM WW	group call	9911
EMCOM EU	group call	9112
Echo Test	private call	262997
SMS Serv.	private call	262993
DAPNET	private call	262994
APRS GW	private call	262999
DM3MAT	private call	2621370

For more see Brandmeister Wiki and dmraustria (german).

Reflectors

Connect to TG9 and call Private Number

Reflector list for OE IPSC2:

Reflektor Nummer	Region
4000	Reflektor trennen
4180	OE Test
4181	OE1 Wien lokal
4182	OE Hotspot
4183	OE3 Niederösterreich lokal
4184	OE Wettersonden Talk
4185	YL Reflektor
4186	OE6 Steiermark lokal
4187	OE7 Tirol lokal
4188	OE8 Kärnten lokal
4189	OE Support / OE Rundsprüche
4190	Server Team
4191	OE1 Wien - Ostregion
4192	OE2 Salzburg
4193	OE3 Niederösterreich
4194	OE4 Burgenland
4195	OE5 Oberösterreich
4196	OE6 Steiermark
4197	OE7 Tirol/Osttirol
4198	OE8 Kärnten
4199	OE9 Vorarlberg/Bodenseeregion
5000	Abfrage mit welchem Reflektor das Relais aktuell verbunden ist

(Source: dmraustria.at)

Global reflector list:

No.	Reflector	ID
0	No Link	4000
1	Germany	4001
2	Hamburg	4002
3	Elbe-Weser	4003
4	Hessen	4004
5	Rhein-Main	4005
6	Ruhrgebiet	4006
7	NRW	4007
8	Wuerttemberg	4008
9	Baden	4009
10	DMRplus - Chat	4010
11	Heide	4011
12	DSTAR DCS001_V	4012
13	Rheinland-Pfalz	4013
14	Test	4014
15	Bayern	4015
16	Berlin	4016
17	Niedersachsen-Ost	4017
18	DL-Mitte	4018
19	Germany test	4019
20	Weserbergland	4020
21	Neuwied-Mayen-Koblenz	4021
22	White-Sticker	4022
23	Rhein-Neckar	4023
24	Bayern-Ost	4025
25	Franken	4026
26	Inntal	4027
27	Thueringen	4028
28	Sachsen-Anhalt	4029
29	Harz	4030
30	Niedersachsen-Sued	4031
31	Geestland	4033
32	Workshop -Digital-	4034
33	DV4mini-Treff	4035
34	Friesland	4037
35	Sachsen	4039
36	Osthessen & MKK	4040
37	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	4041
38	Brandenburg	4044
39	Rheinland-West	4045
40	Muensterland	4046
41	Greece - Ionian Sea Islan	4048
42	Ostwestfalen-Lippe	4050
43	Switzerland German	4060
44	Switzerland Francais	4061
45	Switzerland Italian	4062
46	Switzerland Bern	4063
47	Region Basel	4064
48	Aargau / Zentralschweiz	4065
49	Switzerland Central-CH	4066
50	Graubuenden	4067
51	Switzerland Zuerich	4068
52	Switzerland Ostschweiz	4069
53	SWISS-ARTG	4070
54	Lichtenstein	4080
55	Multimode Chat 1	4100
56	DMR<>NXD Gateway	4107
57	TAC DE	4110
58	DMR-DL ST/MV	4130
59	DMR-DL BE/BB	4131
60	DMR-DL HH/SH	4132
61	DMR-DL HB/NI	4133
62	DMR-DL NW	4134
63	DMR-DL RP/SL	4135
64	DMR-DL HE	4136
65	DMR-DL BW	4137
66	DMR-DL BY	4138
67	DMR-DL SN/TH	4139
68	Greece - Sporades Islands	4148
69	OE TEST	4180
70	OE1 local	4181
71	OE Hotspot	4182
72	OE3 local	4183
73	OE Wettersonden Talk	4184
74	YL Reflektor	4185
75	OE6 local	4186
76	OE7 local	4187
77	OE8 local	4188
78	OE Support	4189
79	OE DMR-Austria	4190
80	OE 1 DMR-Ostregion	4191
81	OE 2 DMR-Salzburg	4192
82	OE 3 DMR-NOE	4193
83	OE 4 DMR-Burgenland	4194
84	OE 5 DMR-Oberoesterreich	4195
85	OE 6 DMR-Steiermark	4196
86	OE 7 DMR-Tirol	4197
87	OE 8 DMR-Kaernten	4198
88	OE 9 DMR-Bodensee	4199
89	Ukraine	4200
90	Ukraine2	4201
91	IT YCS222 C4FM	4222
92	Switzerland IPSC2	4228
93	Denmark talk	4238
94	Greece - Emergency	4240
95	Greece - Attika & Mainlan	4241
96	Greece - Central & West M	4242
97	Greece - Peloponnese	4243
98	Greece - Thessaly	4244
99	Greece - Dodecanese Islan	4245
100	Greece - Epirus	4246
101	Greece - East Macedinia &	4247
102	Greece - Aegean Sea Islan	4248
103	Greece - Crete Island	4249
104	Italy 222	4250
105	Italy Zone 1	4251
106	Italy Zone 2	4252
107	Italy Zone 3	4253
108	Italy Zone 4	4254
109	Italy Zone 5	4255
110	Italy Zone 6	4256
111	Italy Zone 7	4257
112	Italy Zone 8	4258
113	Italy Zone 9	4259
114	Italy Zone 0	4260
115	Italy Link	4261
116	Deutschland Talk	4262
117	Czech & Slovak	4270
118	Czech - Talk	4271
119	Slovak - Talk	4272
120	SP-Bridge	4280
121	SP1	4281
122	SP2	4282
123	SP3	4283
124	SP4	4284
125	SP5	4285
126	SP6	4286
127	SP7	4287
128	SP8	4288
129	SP9	4289
130	China 1	4290
131	France - IDF	4300
132	France - Mediterranee	4301
133	France - Sud-Est	4302
134	France - Midi-Pyrenees	4303
135	France - Est	4304
136	France - Ouest	4305
137	France - Atlantique	4306
138	France - Nord	4307
139	France - Centre	4308
140	France - Dom-Tom	4309
141	France - Corse	4311
142	Emergency Test France	4320
143	Bourgo./Franche-C.	4325
144	France-Gironde	4333
145	Belgium	4340
146	Belgium North	4341
147	Belgium South	4342
148	Belgium East	4343
149	Belgium West	4344
150	Luxembourg	4350
151	Moselle	4357
152	Alsace	4367
153	Spain DMRplus Network	4370
154	EA-1 Spain DMRplus	4371
155	EA-2 Spain DMRplus	4372
156	EA-3 Spain DMRplus	4373
157	EA-4 Spain DMRplus	4374
158	EA-5 Spain DMRplus	4375
159	EA-6 Spain DMRplus	4376
160	EA-7 Spain DMRplus	4377
161	EA-8 Spain DMRplus	4378
162	EA-9 Spain DMRplus	4379
163	Latin America	4380
164	Mexico 1	4381
165	Mexico 2	4382
166	Dominican Rep	4390
167	NOT USE	4391
168	UK Calling	4400
169	UK - Chat 1	4401
170	UK - Chat 2	4402
171	UK - Chat 3	4403
172	UK - Chat 4	4404
173	UK - Chat 5	4405
174	UK - 6	4406
175	UK - 7	4407
176	UK - 8	4408
177	CQ-UK WIRES-X	4409
178	SW England	4410
179	NW England	4420
180	Midlands	4430
181	East England	4440
182	East England 1	4441
183	East England 2	4442
184	DMR to DCS001 x	4444
185	Scotland	4450
186	Fife, Dundee & Angus	4451
187	Cent & West Scotland	4452
188	Highlands & Islands	4453
189	XLX600E - Peanut	4454
190	NE England	4460
191	Wales	4470
192	Norther Ireland	4480
193	SE England	4491
194	HF,QRP&DX&Contest	4501
195	Skywarn & WX	4502
196	Digital Radio	4503
197	Satellites	4504
198	Raspberry & Arduino	4505
199	HAMNET & Packet Radio	4506
200	NA Sports	4507
201	UK Sports	4508
202	VK/ZL Sports	4509
203	Computer Programming	4510
204	Astronomy	4511
205	Auto Mechanics	4512
206	Hunting and Fishing	4513
207	Montreal Area	4514
208	Handi Hams	4515
209	IT-Trentino Alto Adige	4520
210	IT-Veneto	4521
211	IT-Friuli Venezia Giulia	4522
212	IT-Lombardia	4523
213	IT-Piemonte	4524
214	IT-Valle D'Aosta	4525
215	IT-Liguria	4526
216	IT-Emilia Romagna	4527
217	IT-Toscana	4528
218	IT-Marche	4529
219	IT-Umbria	4530
220	IT-Lazio	4531
221	IT-Abruzzo	4532
222	IT-Molise	4533
223	IT-Puglia	4534
224	IT-Campania	4535
225	IT-Sardegna	4536
226	IT-Basilicata	4537
227	IT-Calabria	4538
228	IT-Sicilia	4539
229	XLX313A Constellation	4540
230	XLX 1 Quadnet	4541
231	XLX 2 Quadnet	4542
232	DMR-MARC Worldwide 1	4551
233	DMR-MARC Europe 2	4552
234	DMR-MARC North America 3	4553
235	DMR-MARC Asia 4	4554
236	DMR-MARC South Pacific 5	4555
237	DMR-MARC Africa 6	4556
238	DMR-MARC South America	4557
239	DMR-MARC German 10	4560
240	DMR-MARC French 11	4561
241	DMR-MARC Dutch/Flemish 12	4562
242	DMR-MARC English 13	4563
243	DMR-MARC Spanish 14	4564
244	Portoguese 15	4565
245	Korea - All	4570
246	Korea - HL1	4571
247	Korea - HL2	4572
248	Korea - HL3	4573
249	Korea - HL4	4574
250	Korea - HL5	4575
251	Korea - HL0	4576
252	Korea - 1004DMR	4577
253	Korea - XLX171D	4578
254	Korea - Test/Chat	4579
255	Canada English	4580
256	Canada Francais	4581
257	Newfoundland, PEI	4590
258	Nova Scotia	4591
259	Quebec	4592
260	Ontario	4593
261	Manitoba	4594
262	Saskatchewan	4595
263	Alberta	4596
264	British Columbia	4597
265	N: Territories, YT, NU	4598
266	New Brunswick	4599
267	Florida	4600
268	Georgia	4601
269	North_Carolina	4602
270	Texas	4603
271	New York	4604
272	Minnesota	4605
273	Wisconsin	4606
274	Indiana	4607
275	Ohio	4608
276	FCS002-90 USA	4609
277	RF IT	4610
278	Washington	4611
279	Pennsylvania	4612
280	Tennessee	4613
281	Arizona	4614
282	California	4615
283	Puerto Rico	4630
284	Colorado	4634
285	USA DMR-Allstar	4635
286	Illinois	4636
287	Michigan	4637
288	TAC310	4638
289	USA - Nationwide	4639
290	USA Midwest	4640
291	USA New England	4641
292	USA Northeast	4642
293	USA MidAtlantic	4643
294	USA Southeast	4644
295	USA Southern Plains	4645
296	USA Southwest	4646
297	USA Mountain	4647
298	USA Great Lakes	4648
299	USA TriState IL,IN,WI	4649
300	Sweden - generic	4650
301	Sweden - North	4651
302	Sweden - East	4652
303	Sweden - South	4653
304	Sweden - West	4654
305	DMR-MARC Italian 16	4666
306	DMR-MARC Nordic 17	4667
307	DMR-MARC Russian	4668
308	DMR-MARC Chinese	4669
309	Romania	4670
310	Ruhrgebiet-Ost	4671
311	Hellweg	4672
312	Bulgaria	4680
313	Denmark - All	4700
314	Denmark - Nordjylland	4701
315	Denmark - Midtjylland	4702
316	Denmark - Syddanmark	4703
317	Denmark - Copenhagen	4704
318	Denmark - Sjaelland	4705
319	bridge to DCS004 V	4706
320	bridge to Analog Sys	4707
321	Denmark - Chat 1	4708
322	Denmark - Test	4709
323	Portugal-1	4710
324	Portugal-2	4711
325	Portugal	4712
326	Catalonia	4714
327	DK-QSY 1	4716
328	DK-QSY 2	4717
329	DK-JOTA	4718
330	DMR+ Peru	4721
331	DMR+ Argentina	4722
332	DMR+ Colombia	4723
333	Brazil 1	4724
334	Brazil 2	4725
335	TEST1	4750
336	TEST2	4751
337	TEST3	4752
338	TEST4	4753
339	Hungary	4770
340	Hungary - Test	4771
341	Finland OH0	4780
342	Finland OH1	4781
343	Finland OH2	4782
344	Finland OH3	4783
345	Finland OH4	4784
346	Finland OH5	4785
347	Finland OH6	4786
348	Finland OH7	4787
349	Finland OH8	4788
350	Finland OH9	4789
351	Finland QSY1	4790
352	Finland QSY2	4791
353	Finland allmode linking	4792
354	Finland Testing	4793
355	Finland SAR1	4794
356	Finland SAR2	4795
357	Finland Bulletin	4796
358	Australia	4800
359	Capital Territory	4801
360	New South Wales	4802
361	Victoria	4803
362	Queensland	4804
363	South Australia	4805
364	Western Australia	4806
365	Tasmania	4807
366	Northern Territory	4808
367	VK9 External Territories	4809
368	VK Emergency WICEN Group	4810
369	Francophone	4837
370	New Zealand	4850
371	South Pacific	4851
372	Philippines	4852
373	Tuerkei-1	4860
374	France-Seine et Marne	4877
375	Japan	4900
376	ARES	4911
377	Pan Hellenic	4930
378	Canada Francais Intl.	4932
379	System Link1	4990
380	System Link2	4991
381	System Link3	4992

(Source: ham-dmr.de)

Changelog

2022-04-13: added DMR talk group and reflector lists
2022-04-14: added abbreviations and contacts to DMR area

Xiegu X6100 - First thoughts

2022-06-22T13:00:00+02:00

In the life of most amateur radio operators comes the time, that you’d like a transceiver to be able to use the hf bands. With me it was combined with the wish to be able to do CW. There are many transceivers on the market and in all price categories. I chose the lower spectrum, that can still do all hf bands and all modes. The device that fit most was the Xiegu X6100.

Why didn’t I go for the Xiegu G90?

It has more power (20W VS 10W) and costs less. My main reason was, that doubling the power only increase the S meter by one unit. The second reason was that the 6m band (50-54 MHz) was only available for the X6100.

First thoughts

When I unpacked the device I noticed, that it feels heavier than expected. No problem for me, since I don’t plan to be portable with it. It just needs to be small.

After hooking up the microphone, that seems a bit cheap (maybe because it’s light) I turned the device on. I noticed a line _ on the screen which reminded me of a typical boot up on Linux. I felt at home instantly.

The Interface seems very simple. You have three rotating nobs, two of which you can press as well. There are plenty of buttons. I’m sure that you’ll get to know them, as soon as you use the transceiver.

After hooking up a CB-Antenna, I tested the SWR-Meter and tuner and found they work well.

Next steps

Since the X6100 can take a micro SD card, I will preparing one. If needed I’ll do a firmware update. Other than that I might open the device up, that it could send out of the ham bands (which would be illegal, so I’d not do it).

Connecting your morse key to your PC

2022-05-08T20:00:00+02:00

When you learn CW you’ll want to practice sending at some point. Many programs help you with that, but you’ll need to connect a paddle (or other key) to your computer somehow. Following you’ll find out how I did it.

Software

I used the package unixcw which provides a set of programs. For sending I use xcwcp, which is a GUI version of cwcp. The advantage of the GUI is that you can use the mouse as input. This option allows you to use the left and right mouse buttons for dits and dahs.

Hardware

Now you only need a way to connect your paddle to the computer, that the paddles are recognized as mouse buttons. For that I sacrificed an old, broken mouse. With a multimeter I found where the buttons and ground connected to the main board. Then I took a 3,5mm jack socket and soldered as following:

Tip   > Left Button
Ring  > Right Button
Sleve > Ground

Most paddles have a jack plug to connect which fits perfectly in the socket. Voilà, you can use your paddle with your computer.

Waves in Vacuum

Morse over Internet (MoIP)

Why would you want to do that?

Ok, so what do i need?

How do I set things up?

Great, where can I connect

Converting words per minute (wpm)

Why even convert wpm?

Basics

Words, letters, symbols and units

PARIS

wpm to baud

Maths

Logging into the Xiegu

Infos

How to learn Morse code

Schools

How not to do it

How I did it

Software

Links

Changelog

Farnsworth timing

The big crash

So what now?

How to stay motivated

Monitor PMR channels with the Anytone

Building your codeplug with qdmr

Brief introduction to codeplugs

Steps

Region set

Backup your codeplug

Build your codeplug

Transfer to your device

Changelog

Cheat sheet

QRP Frequencies

SSB

How to call CQ (start a call)

How to give a signal report (RST)

What to say

What to put in your log

Misc

DMR

Contacts

Reflectors

Changelog

Xiegu X6100 - First thoughts

Why didn’t I go for the Xiegu G90?

First thoughts

Next steps

Connecting your morse key to your PC

Software

Hardware