hpr-knowledge-base/hpr_transcripts/hpr2656.txt

Episode: 2656
Title: HPR2656: Explaining the controls on my Amateur HF Radio Part 2
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr2656/hpr2656.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-19 07:05:33

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This in HP are episode 2656 entitled, explaining the controls on my amateur HF Radio Part 2 and in part on the series HAM Radio QSK.
It is hosted by MrX and in about 14 minutes long and carrying an explicit flag.
The summary is, in this episode I cover the mode and frequency selection controls on my Kenwab DS940.
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Hello and welcome Hacker Public Radio audience. My name is MrX and welcome to this podcast.
HPR is a community lead podcast provided by the community for the community.
That means you can contribute too. I'm sure you must have something interesting you could contribute.
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This is the second part of my series on the controls of my HF Transsever the Kenwab DS940.
I originally recorded it in one go but it was too long so I decided to split it up to multiple sections.
Ken always loves this because it means you get to multiple shows for the price of one.
It also stops you getting too bored when I ran blonde too much.
The second part covers the mode and frequency control section of the radio.
It's the middle section on the front panel so we'll start off from there.
Sit back and enjoy.
The middle section is to do with modes.
There's one, two, three, four, five, six modes that the radio can operate in.
I'm going to turn the radio on.
It's currently sitting in LSB lower sideband.
The radio actually announces a CW identity for each mode.
That's you for USB.
That's L for LSB.
If you were a blind operator you could quite successfully operate this radio.
Because every control does one thing.
You're not going to hit and menus and such.
You've got this lovely function where if you push this button here it announces the frequency.
7.1600.
There you go.
I don't really know if you were able to touch both your side or whatever.
That's LSB lower sideband.
That's one of the modes you can use.
I'm not going to cover these in any detail.
But that's one mode you can use.
It tends to be the mode that if I'm ever transmitting on the radio it's the mode I use.
Because that's the mode you should be using on 7 megahertz which is on the 40 meter band.
Which is predominantly where I operate on the rear occasion of do these days.
You've got lower sideband.
Of course you've also got upper sideband.
That's you.
That's CW.
There you go.
I know some of the letters in the alphabet.
Probably 80% of them I would say.
But not all of them.
Which is a bit of a nuisance.
The next one is AM or amplitude modulation.
I don't know.
A is the DA.
So it'll be the DA.
What's the DA?
There you go.
AM.
And the next one is FM.
This is interesting.
FM.
So F is...
Did the DA did it?
Did the DA did it?
So it said...
Did the DA did it?
Let's see how that goes.
There you go.
FM.
Frequency modulation.
And the final mode is FSK frequency shift keying.
And since that also starts to the NA.
I wonder what letter it's going to remember.
I'll do an S.
Let's see.
Did I add it?
K.
I had to stop thinking about that.
What's I?
Did I add it?
Is that K?
It is.
Did I add it?
Yes.
I think it is.
It's an S.
It's did it.
And it isn't F.
Which is...
Did I add it?
So it must be K.
Did I add it?
Did I add it?
No.
There you go.
That's FSK.
But I'll put back the L.S.P.
There we go.
And next to that is a tuning knob.
The main tuning knob.
It's a lovely big weighted control.
Not sure.
Three or four inches in diameter.
Something like that.
I've got a measuring tape here.
It's got lovely.
It says it's got a nice weight filter.
I guess it's scientific emulate the old.
You see the old radio is with a scale.
It had frequencies printed on it.
And there's a needle in it.
As you turn it, you'd like to see them in old radios.
And the needle would move along the scale.
And giving approximation of what frequency we're on.
Obviously it's been much more modern radio.
It's got a digital readout and gives you a precise frequency readout.
I haven't actually covered the display.
I guess I better do that in a minute.
But next to that, the tuning knob.
There's a right-hand side of the tuning knob.
There's a row of buttons called function.
And again, I've just found a button here.
I can't remember what that does.
T dash F set.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to pass on that one.
I'm not sure what T dash F set is.
It's a button I do not use.
The button below that is A slash B.
That's a very handy button.
Oh, I know what T dash F is.
And one of its transmit frequencies set.
I'll get back to that in a minute.
So the A slash B, you've basically got to...
That's for split.
Two VFOs, a VFO, variable frequency oscillator.
It's basically just where the radio is listening.
It's a bit like...
You can set a frequency on VFO A.
Let's say we're listening to 7 decimal 2.
And then we switch to VFO B and tune that to 7 decimal 1.
And then just like hitting that button, we can quickly switch between 2 and 1.
So we could be listening to a conversation on 1 frequency.
And another conversation on the other frequency.
Without upsetting each of them.
Well, you think so.
Well, that's not that useful.
What's the point in that?
Well, where it becomes very, very handy is...
Let's say you're having a conversation with another fellow amateur.
And they say, oh, there's a lot of noise on this frequency.
And I say, oh, well, yes.
I'll go off and see if I can find a quite frequency.
So you grab the control, you turn it around and you...
Oh, there's a quite bit.
Oh, where was I?
To write that frequency down, heck.
Jimmy, you're there.
Hello, Jimmy, you're there.
And you get to keep turning off and that work out where the heck you came from.
So what you do there is you...
You see, I'll go and find a clear frequency, Jimmy.
And then you hit a button called A equals B.
And then whatever frequency...
Let me just check how this works now.
I'm at this long way round.
7176.
Yes.
Whatever frequency you're sitting on just now, whether it doesn't matter...
It doesn't matter whether you're an A or B.
Whatever VFO you're on, the other VFO is instantly switched to that frequency, if that makes sense.
So if I'm sitting on 7 decimal 2 and I say to Jimmy, Jimmy, I'll go and find a frequency.
It doesn't matter what VFO I'm on, I don't even think about it.
I just hit A equals B.
In fact, A equals B and it means both VFOs are at the exact same frequency.
And then after doing that, I just turn the dial to find a clear bit of frequency.
Oh, that's clear.
And then I can hit the A slash B button and it flips to the other VFO.
It doesn't matter what it is.
I'll just switch back to the other one because it'll remain where it was sitting at.
And because I made them both the same when I started, it'll go back to the point where I was talking to Jimmy.
I'll say, Jimmy, right, there's a clear frequency on...
And then I realize I forgot to write it down and I hit the button AB
and I take a note of the frequency.
Go back to whatever I was and say, right, it's on 7 decimal 1, 6, 2 or something.
I hit the AB button and I immediately jump to that frequency.
So it's a great way of moving from the current frequency you're setting at.
And then instantly jumping back to where you started.
As long as you remember, of course, before you move off to hit the A equals B key.
So basically the A equals B key makes the other VFO.
Whichever it happens to be, the same as the one that you're currently listening to if that makes sense.
Maybe that makes more sense.
So I use the A slash B and the A equals B key quite a lot.
And it's very handy.
Very handy indeed.
And with some of the modern noodles you've got to go into menus to access these sort of things.
So it's much, much easier when you've got a single button that does that.
So let's just stab the A equals B key and then spin the dial.
And then hit the A slash B key to come back to where it was.
It's really, really useful.
And so that was the A slash B key.
Below that is a key called split.
And that allows you to set your transmit frequency to one freak.
It allows you to go into split mode.
And then I think using the T dash F key, you set the transmit frequency to one frequency.
And then when you let the button go, it goes to different frequency and receive it.
Never use that button, but I'm guessing that's what it does.
That's split.
Below the split key is the A equals B, which I've previously described.
Below that is F dot lock, which is frequency lock.
And that's half used it.
Because you might have lost a good conversation, stab that key.
And it doesn't matter what you do with it, just rock solid stays on that frequency.
It doesn't move, it doesn't budge.
And finally, my favourite key in the whole radio, the voice key.
7.17697.
It's marvellous.
So there you go.
That's all the controls to do with mode and tuning, the frequency and whatnot.
Okay, so I hope you enjoyed this podcast.
I'll leave it at that.
I think I've got anything else to say.
I hope I've bored you too much.
If you want to contact me, I can be contacted at Mr X.
At HPR at googlemail.com.
That's MRX ATHPR, the art symbol, googlemail.com.
So until next time, thank you, and goodbye.
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