pa0r

ThePSKmail test system is working again since wednesday. We just had to reset the TX, which was hanging in it's PTT watchdog. Since then it has been working reliably. On Friday PSKmail had it's first big live performance. The ADSL connection was down all day, and the HF mail system was the only way to receive the mail. Since the time I use the FT897 especially for PSK63 the system has become very reliable, due to the frequency accuracy of the set. There are still some quirks in the GUI, which I hope to kill during our next trip, starting tomorrow. Target is northern France, and I will try to upload APRS data every evening. The tests will be run with 20 Watts and a fishing rod antenna in the camper, the server has 10 Watts and a dipole on 10.148 MHz.

The GUI version of the client is now operational!! The only thing missing in version 1.0 is the handling of the options and the menus. I have done a bit of tuning with respect to the protocol, especially timing issues. I had not taken into account that the Baud rate is not fixed in a varicode system, so the client timed out while drawing lines and other fancy things.
At the moment the server is down. There was a planned power-down on saturday. I have been able to bring the system back up remotely, but the TX has no output (RX is ok). I hate hardware.... Looks like I have to make a trip to Eindhoven tomorrow.

I have been shopping around for a compact station package for the camper. On VHF/UHF I was still using the old IC2E/IC4E equipment which I had bought in 1977, and the K2 is dead at the moment.
I settled for a Yaesu FT897D with optional 500Hz CW filter, which gives me everything I need for HF CW and Digimodes (PSKmail), and also covers 6 metres and VHF/UHF with ample power. Meanwhile I have prepared the cables for use at PSK63 and RTTY with the laptop. The frequency difference between the FT879D and the PSKmail server at the TU Eindhoven is only 3 Hz!! This transceiver costs less than a Pactor-3 controller!!

Unfortunately I was unable to work the server from Friedrichshafen. I had set the output power to 5 Watts before I left, and I could not hear the server at all. Probably a wrong antenna connected to the server again, as the signal was only S2 at the home station when we came back (normally it was S7 with 5 Watts out). Top priority is now to build a separate antenna for the server, so this type of problem is solved.

Back home. The trip to Friedrichshafen was nice as usual. Unlike the last 5 years we did not stay in the hotel in Kressbron, but we took the camper to the parking lot at the Messe.

We left on the 18th of june early morning (9:30) for a 350 km drive to Worms, our first destination, via the A61. Worms has a special parking/service area for campers which is right on the banks of the river Rhine (49.63455 N, 8.37537 E) and 300 meters from a number of interesting Restaurants. We had sun all day and the temperature was around the 25 degrees mark. We had dinner at the Hagenbraeu restaurant (I had Schweinshackse with dark beer) at the Rhine promenade. This is also the place for the camper service.
We spent the rest of the day looking at the ships passing through.

On the sunday morning we drove to Friedrichshafen via A61, A6 (until Heilbronn), and the A81, again with excellent travelling weather. We made the 280 km in 4 hours. Friedrichshafen also has a parking/service area for campers (47.65010 N, 9.49617 E), 50 metres from the Bodensee. The parking area has room for some 20 campers. One place was in the shade, and we were glad to take it over from the UK couple who left at the time we arrived. We spent the rest of the day at the border of the lake.

Monday morning we moved to the parking area of the exhibition, and we were astonished to see that there were already 50 campers and caravans. The sanitary installation was already working, and people told us that most had taken their spot already on sunday morning. We connected to the 220V mains (important for the airco) and took our seats in the shade of the camper... We had hell of a time. Temperatures were between the 25 and 30 degrees C marks all week, and we had only one thunderstorm on the wednesday evening. Strange. Other years it was always on the thursday.

Friday to sunday we were at the Ham Radio exhibition, partly representating the European DX Foundation at their exhibition stand. During the exhibition and the RRDXA DX dinner at the Adler we met lots of old friends. We will be back...

On the 27th of june we drove north to Baunatal, near Kassel to visit some old friends we had not seen since the last 10 years. We had excellent travelling weather and enjoyed the 6 hour trip.
Baunatal has a parking area for campers (51.25465 N, 9.42042 E), with a nearby service point which is clearly indicated. The parking is at the end of the Altenbaunaer Strasse, near the sport fields in Altenritte. We settled for a different parking area, because the official one is on top of a rainwater basin which did not smell too well....