ARLA/CLUSTER: Episódio n.º 184 da série " Foundations of Amateur Radio "

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Foundations of Amateur Radio #184



*Contest Headphones and glorious HF SSB*Recently I managed to get some
quality on-air time when I participated in a contest. This isn't about
contesting. Although I suppose tangentially it is. It was a most enjoyable
experience shared with some friends and because we did it at a local radio
club, Sunday morning had all manner of visitors joining us for a little
social chat, just the ticket for breaking the monotony of calling CQ.

Normally when I do a contest I wear headphones, actually it's a headset,
that is something over my ears with an attached microphone to capture my
contacts without me having to use my hands or move my head towards a fixed
location while I'm making the contact.

One hour in my trusty headset broke clean in half. They've been with me
since 2012 so I was a little disappointed. They weren't cheap. I'm not
going to tell you what brand it is, but they're very popular in the
contesting community and I bought them based on those recommendations.

Given that I now had no headset I immediately went to the nearest social
media outlet to ask for recommendations on what to do next and the typical
responses included different brands, ways of repairing, better models,
those kinds of things. Everything you'd expect from a community which has
some experience in creating a headset that actually works within the
context of amateur radio.

Don't get me wrong some of these suggestions were great but I don't
particularly fancy spending $500 on a headset that is suited to listen to
glorious HF SSB. If you're not familiar, think long distance AM radio
playing music you can barely hear hosted by a DJ you can almost make out.
Making a contact using HF SSB is really an exercise in deciphering really
bad audio, often with lots of people on the same frequency at the same
time, all vying for your attention. Making a contact, a QSO, in that kind
of pile-up can be a challenge.

The contest ran for 48 hours so in my down time I had to come up with a
solution since making a repair within the time available seemed
unrealistic, even though I happened to have spare parts somewhere in my
shack. As an emergency standby I brought along my mobile phone in-ear
headphones.

They're lightweight, cheap, and they block out the audio from nearby
conversations in the shack. Everything you want in a contesting headphone.
I used a microphone on a boom, attached to the desk, but that wasn't ideal,
moving your head, looking at the logging screen, operating the radio, from
a user interface perspective, it left me wanting.

I should add that I prefer to operate a contest using Voice Operated
Control, or VOX, that is, setting up your radio in such a way that you
don't need to push any buttons to talk, you open your mouth and the radio
automatically starts transmitting. Very helpful when you have your hands on
the keyboard and the foot-pedal is just out of reach or making your leg
tired because you have to hold it up so you don't accidentally key up the
transmitter.

It occurred to me that I'd never seen this particular use of a headphone in
the context of amateur radio. After the contest I went out to find a
similarly spartan microphone. I'm still weighing up the options but I think
I might have settled on the idea of pursuing headphones and microphones
intended for use on a mobile phone, precisely because they are designed to
deal with blocking out surrounding audio from both the earpiece and the
microphone.

As I'm describing this to you it occurs to me that it doesn't even need to
be wired, a simple Bluetooth audio module plugged into the radio with
wireless mobile phone headsets might just be the ticket.

What has been your recipe for success in creating an environment where you
can hear a HF SSB QSO in a contest environment without spending half the
value of the radio?

I'm *Onno VK6FLAB*

To listen to the podcast, visit the website: http://podcasts.vk6flab.com/.
You can also use your podcast tool of choice and search for my callsign,
VK6FLAB. Full instructions on how to listen are here:
https://podcasts.vk6flab.com/about/help

All podcast transcripts are collated and edited in an annual volume which
you can find by searching for my callsign on your local Amazon store, or
visit my author page: http://amazon.com/author/owh. Volume 7 is out now.

Feel free to get in touch directly via email: cq  vk6flab.com, follow on
twitter: @vk6flab (http://twitter.com/vk6flab/) or check the website for
more: http://vk6flab.com/

If you'd like to join a weekly net for new and returning amateurs, check
out the details at http://ftroop.vk6flab.com/, the net runs every week on
Saturday, from 00:00 to 01:00 UTC on Echolink, IRLP, AllStar Link and 2m FM
via various repeaters.
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