SimplerHardwareMethodsforiCW

withtheAmazingHiPerMiteBandpassFilter
JoeLoposzko,KF7CX

ThisarticlewillshowyouhowlittleittakestousehardwaremethodstogeneratetonesforInternet CW(iCW)operation.Ahardwaremethodmightbeofinteresttothosewhodontliketheideaof usingcomputerprogramssuchasCWTYPEorFLDIGIforiCW.Thetwoexamplesthatwillbe presentedusetheHiPerMiteaudiofilter(picturedabove)toachieveresultsthataresuperiorto whatIobtainedwiththecircuitrydescribedinmypreviousarticleOperatingiCWwithaSine WaveOscillator(seeiCWGooglesite).Theintentofthisarticleistoprovideinformationthatmay inspireotherstoexperimentwiththeHiPerMite. SomeBackground Asexplainedinmypreviousarticle,agoodhardwaresolutionforiCWmaynotbeassimpleas connectingasinewaveoscillatortoacomputersoundcardinput.Inmanycases,theexperimenter mayencounterproblemswithkeyclicks,lowfrequencythumping,andunpleasantharmonics.Inmy case,Iwasabletoovercomethekeyclickproblembykeyingasinewaveoscillatorthatgenerated waveformswiththerequiredriseandfalltimes.Toreducetheleveloflowfrequencycomponents andharmonics,IconnectedtheoutputofthesinewaveoscillatortoaW3NQNpassiveaudiofilter (Figure1).Theoutputofthefilterwasthenconnectedtothesoundcardinput.

Figure1.W3NQNpassiveaudiofilter ThismethodofgeneratingtonesforiCWworkedreasonablywell,butmyCWhadabitofringing causedbyboththeoscillatorcircuitandthefilter.Inaddition,mykeyingsoundedlikeitwasbeing affectedbyexcessivefiltering.Beingawareofthesedeficiencies,Ikeptsearchingforbetter methods. AroundthetimethatIstartedusingmysinewaveoscillatormethodtooperateiCW,Chuck, AA0HW,startedexperimentingwiththeW3NQNfilter.Indoingso,heshowedthatitwasnot reallynecessarytouseasinewaveoscillator.HewasabletoobtainagoodtoneforiCWby filteringthesquarewavesidetoneofhiskeyerwiththeW3NQNfilter.Hedemonstratesthisinhis excellentvideo,HowtoSendMorseCodeOvertheInternetonWindows7:TheBasicSetup. Lastyear,theFourStateQRPGroup(http://www.4sqrp.com/HiPerMite.php)startedsellingthe HiPerMiteaudiofilter.TheHiPerMiteoffereda700Hzcenterfrequencywitha200Hz3dB bandwidth.SeveralofuswereinterestedinfindingouthowthisfilterwouldperformoniCW. ComparedtotheW3NQNpassiveaudiofilter,theHiPerMiteismuchsmallerandlighter. InitialtestingwiththeHiPerMitebyChuck,W5UXH,showedthatthefilterwasveryeffectivefor iCWcircuits.MyowntestingshowedthattheHiPerMitecouldconvertthesquarewaveofa keyersidetoneintoasinewave.Italsoshapedtheriseandfalltimesofthedotsanddasheswithout theneedforadditionalcircuitry.Thismeantthatitcouldbeaseasyasconnectingthesquarewave sidetoneoutputofakeyertoaHiPerMitefiltertoproduceagoodtoneforiCW.

Figure2isanexampleofwhattheHiPerMitecando.Theoscilloscopedisplayshowswhat happenswhenwekeyaditfromasquarewaveaudiooscillatorandfilteritwiththeHiPerMite. Theriseandfalltimesofthefilteredoutputareapproximately5msinsteadof0msthatmightbe expectedfromtheunshapedwaveformenteringthefilter.MoreinformationabouttheHiPerMite canbefoundinAA0HWs1February2013blogposting: TheHiPerMiteActiveAudioCWBandpassFilterisAwesome

Figure2.DitfromasquarewaveoscillatorafterbeingfilteredbytheHiPerMite K1ELK40withHiPerMite TheK1ELK40CWKeyboardKeyer(Figure3)isusedbyanumberofkeyboardCWoperators andcanbeeasilymodifiedforiCWoperationbyusingtheHiPerMite.

Figure3.K1ELK40 AsusersoftheK40know,thekeyerincludesanaudiofrequency(AF)outputthatisnormallyused todrivethespeakeroftheinternalsidetone.ByconnectingwiresbetweentheAFoutputand groundasshowninFigure4,wecanaddiCWcapabilitytothecircuit.TheRadioShackaudio transformer(2731380)inthefigurereducesthesidetonelevelsotheHiPerMiteoutputwillbe about1.5Vpp.ThislevelshouldworkwellwhenconnectedtotheLineInjackofmostcomputer soundcards.Insteadofusinganaudiotransformer,theexperimentermayprefertousea potentiometerasavoltagedividertoprovideasuitablelevelfortheinputofthefilter.Thismightbe abetterwayoffindingtheappropriatelevelforusewiththeMicInjackofasoundcard.

Figure4.ConfigurationforusingK40AFoutputwithHiPerMite

Ideally,thesidetonefrequencyoftheK40shouldmatchthe700Hzcenterfrequencyofthefilter. TheK40,however,onlyallowstheselectionofseveralfixedfrequencies,sothisisnotpossible. Fortunately,theuseofthe666Hzsidetonefrequencyworksverywellwiththe700HzHiPerMite. Figure5showsthespectrumobtainedwiththissetupwhensendingastringofVsat65wpm.The peakactuallyoccursaround674Hz.ThisresultwasobtainedwiththeHiPerMiteconnectedtoa 9voltsource.Thisvoltagelevelproducedthebestspectrum.At5volts,afairlyhighpeakwasseen atthelowerfrequencies.Ididnotdoanyteststodetermineifthedifferenceisactuallynoticeable whenjustlisteningbyear,oniCW.

Figure5.AudiospectrumofK1ELK40withHiPerMite ThereadermightbeconcernedthatafilteredK40wouldnotallowforalltypesofiCWsending options.This,however,shouldnotbethecasebaseduponinformationintheK40manual.In additiontokeyboardandpaddlekeyeroperation,theK40allowsforbugorstraightkeyoperationif thepropercommandisselected.

MyiCWModifiedK40 Figure6showshowImodifiedmyK40keyertoincludeHiPerMiteiCWcircuitry.MyK40was packagedinaRadioShackplasticboxinsteadofthefancyenclosureshowninFigure3.Iwas concernedthattherewouldnotbesufficientroomfortheHiPerMite,butthecircuitboardeasilyfit intooneendofthebox(topofpicture).Thebackviewofthebox(Figure7)showsthatIaddeda

sidetoneswitch.ThisallowstheusertooperateiCWwithouthavingtohearthesidetonefromthe internalspeakeroftheK40.Thefollowinglinkletsyouhearhowthethiscircuitsoundswhen operatingiCW.

https://soundcloud.com/chaseology/k40sidetonefilteredbyhi

Figure6.iCWcircuitryaddedtoK40keyer

Figure7.BackviewofK40keyermodifiedforiCWoperation

SquareWaveOscillatorwithHiPerMite InsteadofusingthesidetonefromakeyertogeneratetheiCWtone,theusermightprefertokeyan oscillatorthatproducesthetone.ThecircuitofFigure8doesthisbyusinga555timerinanastable multivibratorconfiguration.

Figure8.SimplesquarewaveoscillatorcircuitwithHiPerMite

Intestingthe555timercircuit,Ifirsttriedkeyingthetimerbyputting5voltsatpin4duringa keydownstate.ThisproducedasatisfactoryiCWresultforslowerCWspeeds,butapercussive soundwasnoticedathigherspeeds.Thesolutionwastoletthetimercircuitruncontinuouslyand keytheoutputwithagate.Idecidedtouseanoptoisolatortoprovide5voltstothegatewhen keyingthecircuit.Othermethodscouldcertainlybeused. Withthiscircuit,theadjustmentofR4canputtheoscillatorexactlyatthe700Hzcenterfrequencyof theHiPerMitefilter.Theresultingspectrumobtainedwiththeoscillatorandfilterrunningfrom5 voltsisshowninFigure9.AswasthecasewiththeK40method,afilteredoutputlevelofabout1.5 Vppproducedagoodlevelforthelineinputofmysoundcard.AdjustmentofR5toobtainalower levelmightbeneededforthosewhointendtousethecircuitwiththemicrophoneinputoftheirsound card.ThefollowinglinkletsyouhearhowthecircuitsoundsiniCWoperationwhenkeyedwiththe K40keyer.

https://soundcloud.com/chaseology/555timersquarewave

Figure9.Audiospectrumof555timeroscillatorwithHiPerMite IsolatingtheSoundCard Thecircuitspresented,donotuseanyisolationbetweentheHiPerMiteandthecomputersound card.TheexperimentermaychoosetouseaRadioShack1:1audioisolationtransformer (2731374),butthiswillusuallyproducesomechangetotheaudiospectrum.Inmostcasesthe levelofsomelowfrequencycomponentsandharmonicswillincreaseslightly.Thesechangeswill probablynotbesignificantinaffectingtheiCWsound.

SoundCardandMumbleNotes AfteryougetyouriCWtonegeneratorcircuitworking,youllhavetohookituptoyourcomputer andtryitonMumble.MakesurethatthetoneoutputfromtheHiPerMitefilterconnectstothe ringandtipofthepluggoingtotheLineInjackofthesoundcard.Thisallowsthesidetonetobe heardfrombothspeakers. IuseonlyonesoundcardandselectthesameaudiodeviceforPlayandRecordonmyWindows XPsoundcardsoftware.Withmycomputer,thePlayControlsliderofthePlayControlpanel controlstheoveralliCWreceivelevel.TheLineInslidercontrolsthelevelofthesidetone.Onthe RecordControlpanel,theLineInslidercontrolsthelevelofthetransmittediCW.Insettingup Mumble,thesameaudiodeviceisenteredintotheAudioInputandAudioOutputsetupscreens. ThereadershouldviewChucksBasicSetupvideofordetailedinformationonthesoundcardand Mumblesetup.Thevideodemonstrateshowtosetthepropertransmitlevelbymonitoringthelevel indicatedonthemeteroftheMumbleAudioInputsetupscreen.Chuckalsodemonstratesthe LoopbackTestprocedurethatletsyouhearhowyousoundontheserver. MoreiCWProjectsUsingHiPerMite Chuck,W5UXH,haspostedsomeinterestingvideosonYouTubeofhisiCWprojectsthatusethe HiPerMite.AgoodonetoviewishisiCWTeensyNr3KeyerDemo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72MkYz2qdTo)thatshowshishomebrewkeyernicelypackagedwith twoHiPerMitefilters.ThesecondHiPerMiteisusedonreceivetoimprovethecopyofiCW signals.Thisisusuallynotneeded,butitcanbeanicefeaturetohaveattimes. FinalComments Baseduponmyexperimenting,theHiPerMiteappearstobebetterthantheW3NQNfilterfor iCWapplications.TheHiPerMitedoesnotfilterassharplyastheW3NQNfilterandperhapsfor thatreasonitallowsthekeyingcharacteristicstocomethroughbetter.Thisisparticularlynoticeable athighersendingspeeds.Thetwohardwaremethodspresentedinthisarticleproduce bettersoundingiCWthananyofmypreviouseffortswithsinewaveoscillatorsandtheW3NQN filter.