G0HYN - Robbie Robertson -



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Area dedicated to Amateur radio, under my UK class A callsign G0HYN.

The aim of this site is to provide a little information about myself, my HAM related activities, and provide a reference point for any projects and reference materials other operators (licensed or swl) might find useful.

Equipment:
Having been off the air for over 20 years and having retired early, I have recently established a small station at our new home in Peterborough, UK.
This station is dedicated to digital modes, which have always interested me since I dabbled in the early days of packet radio.


Station Antenna

So the main station consists of:

Yaesu FT-767gx transceiver which I bought when I passed my morse back in the 80s and has the 2m and 6m modules fitted.

As I wanted to work the hf bands and didn't want to erect a large aerial outdoors, I went for the mobile vertical multi band Intruder III from Moonraker. This uses a jumper and adjustable top whip to tune, so I like it near the rig to facilitate easy band change.

Currently using an old floor standing PC and Fldigi, with a purpose bought interface which connects to the USB and mic/headphone sockets of the PC.
On the rig side, just 2 connections, one to the PTT phono, and the other to the data in/out (both on the rear of the transceiver).

Activity 2013-2014:
Although I am still playing with the antenna location, I have been most impressed with the performance of the Intruder on all bands from 80m to 6m, working European stations on 10 watts easily, and even work across the pond both to the US and Canada. Now this might be purely my newness to the digital modes such as Psk31 etc. but impressed I am...
Now looking forward to working more countries on each band, and seeing how far I can get out.

Activity 2014:
Whilst trying to relearn morse code, I came across a PC Windows based learning program by ZL1AN (Gary from NZ). I so impressed with the method, that I contacted the author to see if there was a Android version available so that I could carry the app around on my phone to use as and when...
Unfortunately, Gary informed me that there was no Android version, but was more than happy to provide the project files (including the Delphi source code), so that I might create the Android equivalent.
I've been working on this project ever since, and despite having to battle with Android to get things progressed, have got to a beta version which does mimic the PC offering at least in the method of teaching morse.
Still so work to be done, but hoping to release the first usable version soon...

Fitted two  flat screen onto what was the top shelf of my office desk, by simply swiveling the shelf on its rear mounting screw, drilling through the shelf to match the screens Vesa mounting holes, and fixing a block to the side of the shelf to stop it rotating forward (where the weight of the screens wants to take it). See new station photo, you can just make out the block on the right hand side.

Having discovered that QSL.net supports Javascript, I started having a play with it (clock in header of this page is Javascript). This made me think; could I create a simple web based 'Learn Morse' page, so that it would be more or less device/OS independent? Well I'm working on it, and if you want to see how far I've got then click on the rotating globe top right of this page... Please be aware that it's still very much under construction, so it may not work on your browser, or work and then not work because I'm still making changes.... but that said it's not far off being usable now.

Having used web SDR resources to try and track down slow morse QSO for practice receiving, I decided I wanted one to act as a monitor for my station transmissions in Digi-modes, but also to get a quick view of a bands activity.
I've gone to the KN0CK upconverting  HF SDR dongle, and I eagerly await it's arrival from the US (hopefully before Xmas :o).

Activity 2015:

So far, 2015 has been centered around the creation of the Android morse decoding app, which has been quite a challenge, but very rewarding. And with the help of Ron, Gary, and Nigel, we now have a working app that has been in Alpha testing for some time.
Hopefully it will be ready for Beta testing very soon (i.e. available to all to download and have a go at it). Please see the dedicated page I've created for more details of it's capabilities and screen shots...

Activity 2016:

Revisited the morse reader App, with a view to improving graph update rate, and although I'd achieved a rate four times faster,
testing on my Samsung Galaxy Ace unfortunately gave audio degregation, so I backed out the changes.

That said, I have uploaded Beta 1.2 as I'd also added a 'Share' function to the playback options. This appears as an  extra option ('Share externally') when a recorded file is selected, and if chosen, will pass the file over to any Android App that advertises it can hand .wav files.
I use it as a fast way to store the recorded files 'in the cloud' for access from any other internet connected devices (such as my development laptop). So basically I press 'Share externally', Android shows me a list of Apps, and I pick the one I want to use. This is usually DropBox, or Google Drive, but it can be a mail service such as gMail, in which case the .wav file becomes and attachment, and the email title the file name.

More changes to the reader app:
Beta 1.5:
Input sensitivity changed so that the app hopefully requires less volume from the source audio
Touch actions applied to the decode, filter, and stats text fields to change font size/clear text, and invoke filter settings or help screens

Beta 1.6 - 22-Oct-2016:
            Change background colour to customborder.xml so that playback field can be found easier for touch action
            Change radius of corners in customborder.xml from 20 to 10
            Added font cycling to help activity
            Added lowercase/uppercase flip to main menu. Note only a...z flips to A...Z (and back again)

Beta 1.7:   28-Oct-2016
            Added AGC whichs adjust the main gain to achieve a target level, within a tolerance range
            Made 'standard' screen layout changes to get more text lines on Samsung Galaxy Ace
            Added AGC settings for Level, Speed, and Tolerance (including AGC On/Off and reset to defaults)
            Added invoke of AGC settings via single click in image field
            Added AGC settings help text

Beta 1.8:   06-Nov-2016
            Added playback file time remaining (elapsed obviously still used for record)
            Added 'All' settings screen to encompass Filter, AGC, and general settings
            Added save/restore of all adjustable parameters (on app stop & start)
            Added 'hide' of gain slider when AGC is active, plus recovery to manual when AGC is switched off

News:  Free Android Learn Morse app ready for you enjoyment... Download here.

More news:  Free Android Morse reading app Beta 1.8 uplaoded for testing Download here.

NEWS FLASH (17-Nov-2016):
Both Apps now available from via Google Play store (still free of course, with no Ads or in app purchases).

Search for 'learn morse' or 'morse code reader', and look for G0HYN-Morse logo.