Mountain Lion and IOS 6

 Several years ago My family became true Apple Computer fans. Started simple with "Nano's", progressed to "Itouch" and then "Iphone" and eventually Macbook pro! If Your an Apple user then You understand the typical progression with operating systems and in this case upgrading from Lion to Mountain Lion on the Macbooks. Upgrading to Mountain Lion or OS 10.8 is a  $19.95 purchase thru the Mac store. I think a direct mail DVD is more money. This particular download went well although the little tiny progress bar at the bottom under the Mountain Lion icon is really hard to see! Follow instructions and have tons of patience-- this took about 8 hours thru a DSL connection at 2.5 meg!! The download size is about 4 gigabytes!
  The mobile operating system -IOS 6 is a free upgrade done thru Itunes for ,Iphone and Ipad and other apple devices. I upgraded a iphone 4S, iphone 4 and Ipad 2 & 3 with no problem. It did need the latest itunes-- 10.7 so be prepared for a double whammy! Itunes is about 80meg and IOS 6 is around 900 meg. It adds up at slower download speeds.The iphones I did thru itunes and the ipads thru Icloud. All of these went well and the users are happy!
 I next tried My old jalopy of an iphone- a 3gs running IOS 4.3. I first read reviews on the internet and they were mixed. I decided to still chance it. All seemed to be going well until it was time to reload the phone from the backup. I had a write to HD error!! Oh boy. Phone seemed dead and after a very long time I bit the bullet and disconnected it from the PC. Yup -dead phone. Rehooked to Itunes and thankfully I saw the Apple logo eventually appear and a load bar start. It did not like the most recent backup so I tried a previous backup and that kind of worked. It finally finished loading but I was missing most of My apps and information. Under settings I noticed it now did say I had IOS 6 loaded so it was partially good.
  I tried re-syncing and was surprised to see now most apps did reload, although in a haphazard fashion on multiple screens. I started moving the apps between screens to get them on fewer screens and then re-synced again and finally had My phone recognizable!! It also appeared to be working OK with the new features of IOS 6 available. It will be soon time to trade in this model for a new one-- but not now!!
 Would I try upgrading a 3GS ? I would only try after following the upgrade route of IOS 5 first. I can't help but think that might have been part of the problem along with a partially sick PC( a windows machine!). It also is OK to try Apple support-- I've used them a few times and they are very helpful and don't make You feel stupid!!!
  good luck upgrading-- final result is worth it!!
 73---Tim

W7WLL QSL

I usually have QSL additions for EQSL and LOTW weekly but have very few direct mailed QSLs even though I specify in QRZ I will respond to direct mailed QSL cards. Last week in the mail I received a card from W7WLL for a contact in November of 2010 on 20m SSB.Being slightly interested in the time from the original QSL till now I checked His QRZ biography. He indicated the practice of sending a direct QSL card for all new callsigns contacted! Obviously not a Contestor! It is an interesting practice to acknowledge new calls and very nice to be on the receiving end! If He is very active on the air, might explain the time spread from date of contact till now.His card from Me was in the mail Yesterday!
 I have to admit I still enjoy receiving QSL cards direct mail.Its very expensive to send this way and I really appreciate EQSL and LOTW for the monetary savings! On the other hand- the US Postal service could certainly use the business!!
  73--Tim

PS-- also had a chance to add VK2FAAU -Australia on 10m as DXCC contact #97  but missed South Cook Islands- E51JD ! Need QRO!!

FT-857 RTTY adventure

After purchasing My Yaesu FT-950, I have been for the most part using that radio for both SSB and RTTY contesting. My Yaesu FT-857 has been relegated as back up. The last RTTY contest I remember participating in was months ago and all was well. Recently I noticed My CAT port on My FT-950 is not passing frequency information to any logging programs. I tried from the FT-857 and it seems fine. I did some cable change out and other simple trouble shooting but until I open the FT-950 I won't know what the issue is.
  I decided to just quick set up My Ft-857 for the upcoming CQ RTTY contest so if I don't have a chance to fix FT-950 I'll still be able to participate.Well turns out "quick" was wishful thinking. I thought all the information on settings I had written down but unfortunately it turns out I had written down several different versions of settings. I also was having problems with My "kluged" together homemade interface. I had added several circuits to My interface for several radios and had never quite cleaned it up.
  Lots of experimenting with settings,hardware and cables I finally have a working setup. Some was just "memory fade" on My part with setting up the programs. This is the final solution-- My homemade interface for audio and PTT connected to com port 1 on the PC, plus a CT-62 from the data port on the FT-857 to com port 4 is the hardware hookup for handleing both PSK31 type modes and RTTY. The FT-857 menu changes are this-- menu 20--CAT, menu 37-- 50 (dig Gain)  , menu 38 -PSK31-U for that mode or RTTY-L if RTTY. VFO is USB or DIG for most Digital modes or LSB if using RTTY. Be aware that having VFO set to "DIG" seems to decrease output level but is not affected by volume control.
  I typically test all digital modes by first getting it working with "Digipan" to make sure the majority of the hardware and PC are working together. Then if using RTTY I switch to "MMTTY" before eventually incorporating My logging program "N1MM"
  Microham-USA has a good interface "how to" on their website - go to "support-- then "config examples" and pick a simple interface like the USB II and the program your using. It will show an example of setting up the com ports and software. I use N1MM and MTTY as the RTTY engine. It can be quite lengthy to explain but its step by step.
  Remember the FT-857 is an AFSK RTTY only radio. It will not do FSK but the receiving end will never know. The audio set up is a little more tricky and I do suggest trying this before the contest.
 good luck---73-Tim

Several old Receivers/radios

I spent a rainy afternoon assembling this work area of old Receivers/radios. I've owned most of these for many years except for the Hallicrafters S-40B receiver which I aquired several years ago from an ex-ham. I had never tested it before and once going thru the slow power up process using a variac and iso-transformer ,I was disappointed to find it has many issues. Another project!!
  The old brown bakelite cabinet at the top is a Zenith 78H20 am/fm broadcast radio.This one also has the old FM 48mhz band .It also has several issues and needs some work. On the far right is a Military radio a  BC-348-R which has been converted from 28vdc to 120vac . It works well and I've owned it for many years.
  The far left is a very recognizable Zenith transoceanic H500 , a great radio and My first shortwave receiver I aquired when I was in high school. It was also My first tube radio and I was very proud to repair it back then. It still works well!
  I hooked up a wire to the radios and wound thru the basement but it seems to be quite noisy. I had a longwire like this in the basement before but I also now have lots more wiring and equipment to cause interference. I might try hooking these up to one of My external antennas to see if the interference goes away.
 Still was fun to bring these back on a workbench and "shine" them up. I don't know when I'll find the time to work on them. Maybe after the snow flies up north!
73--Tim