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Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 16:27:17 +0000 (GMT)
From: Mike Thayne <g3gms@yahoo.co.uk>
To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
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Subject: Re: LF: 500 grabbers
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Hi John
Pleased to hear from you again. I just wanted to let you know my 500
experiments would have ground to a halt had it not been for the
assistance you have given me in providing your Grabber. I can check
improvements I make to my station by checking my transmissions a few
minutes later on your grabber. My signals are easily identified as you
say by the display of frequency time and series of 5 sec key downs. It
is not important for me to read the CW ID I also send at normal speeds!

It does amaze me that with a distance of about 350 miles between us, I
am able to be clearly seen on your Grabber at most times of the day
although I never get answers to my CQ calls. So please John, get out
there and brave the horrible weather as soon as you can and get your
mast sorted out! Your contribution to my experiments is essential for
me to continue and is greatly appreciated.

Best regards

Mike, G3GMS
IO95GB




> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
> [mailto:owner-rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org] On Behalf Of John
> Pumford-Green GM4SLV
> Sent: 05 January 2008 10:45
> To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
> Subject: Re: LF: 500 grabbers
> 
> 
> On Fri, 4 Jan 2008 19:10:55 -0000
> "mal" <g3kevmal@talktalk.net> wrote:
> 
> > Hi all
> > The majority of the grabbers are running too slow for normal CW,
> which
> 
> > is the predominant mode on 500 khz.
> 
> My grabber isn't meant to be used to read CW, that's what your ears
> and
> brain are for!
> 
> The grabber is meant as a remote signal reporting tool. Admittedly it
> allows reading of QRSS3 CW visually, but that's more by accident than
> design. 
> 
> To use it to check your own signal all you need to do is key down, or
> send CW etc.... on a known frequency at a known time, (perhaps a
> series
> of long dashes?) and then check the grabber via the web. 
> 
> I admit that it makes identifying unknown "real" CW difficult, but
> you
> can't have everything! Most signals (especially CW beacons) are
> identifiable once you know the usual QRG and have heard the signal
> yourself to know what it sounds like - eg Finbar's callsign and long
> dash are easily ID'd visually once you know what they sound like.
> 
> 
> Imagine the speed it would have to scroll to show real CW and the
> number
> of web updates needed to keep it reasonably up to date for the remote
> viewer! 
> 
> At present mine fills a screen in about 4 minutes with a 300ms scroll
> speed, and uploads each screenful every 5 minutes.
> 
> This allows you (watching via the web) to see a reasonably continuous
> picture of activity with reasonable refresh rate. 
> 
> To scroll fast enough to read CW by eye would require much faster
> scrolling speed and to ensure nothing is missed by the viewer
> watching
> online the picture would need uploading to the web that much more
> often.
> 
> 
> I figured my setup balanced utility with bandwidth. 
> 
> I also archive each and every picture locally so it's possible to
> provide historical data for any day/time. If the screen was scrolling
> fast enough to read CW by eye I couldn't do this - too much data to
> store! Guess how much data I have stored already - 5 minute updates
> running continuously 24/7 since July......!!
> 
> > Speclab  grabbers do not give the time, which I find useful on the 
> > others.
> 
> Mine does. There's a box at the bottom of the picture showing
> date/time
> etc of the capture and vertical marks for each minute (with the time
> marked at the foot of each minute). The time is accurate too - the PC
> is
> locked to NTP time.
> 
> 
> I hope my grabber is of use to people. One of the stated aims in my
> NoV
> application was to provide a remote station to be of assistance to
> other
> NoV holders - and while I have been unable to get on the air to have
> QSOs recently at least I've been able to make a contribution to the
> experiment! 
> 
> I figure I can at least make my station useful for something when I
> can't operate it myself.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 



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