XYL up-grades NUE-PSK

Regular readers of CQHQ the informative, cynical and sometimes humorous look at what is happening in the world of amateur radio will know about my wife Helen and the NUE-PSK portable PSK device. So for those not in the know here is a quick up-date...

Last year a group of Norwegian radio amateurs came over to the UK for a conference and to do some Summits on the Air activations. Helen and I met up with the group for drinks and was most taken by the NUE-PSK portable PSK device used by one of the group, Halvard LA1DNA. I suggested that Helen might like one for Christmas but was slightly put off by having to order it from the US. Recently one came up for sale and I asked Helen if she was still interested. She was so I bought it. Helen and I liked the idea of the add on USB board for up grades and to allow logging to a USB memory stick so it was ordered. Unfortunately the software on the unit turned out to be version 1.2 and that needed to be upgraded first or it would not even see the new board. That involved ordering another serial cable or sending the unit and board back to the US. If you are in the US it is a reasonably cheap option but two way postage to/from the UK makes it a little expensive option.

The latest news is that one of the Mold and District Amateur Radio Club members was able to knock up a serial cable from parts he already had and on Wednesday night he supplied Helen not only with the cable but the software and a simple step by step guide to doing the up-grade. 

Having done these type of up-grades in the past I know just what can go wrong so I was expecting a nervous half hour at some point in the next couple of days. Imagine my surprise when I got home from work this morning (Thursday) and Helen told me she had done the up-date and the unit was running the latest software. It is great to see her getting stuck in at the sticky end of ham radio and getting a buzz out of it. Well the next one that comes along the Helen GW7AAU is the expert.

There are a couple of small mods and some chassis bashing to fit the new board and I have to make a new linked dipole for her to use and then after some testing we can head for the hills and Helen can call CQ SOTA on PSK and thanks to the up-date on RTTY as well. Hopefully I can have it ready before our next holiday and we can find the time to get out on a hill or two.

It is Helen's birthday soon and I have promised her a Kindle eReader, but due to all my portable antennas being tuned for the SSB section we could do with a portable tuner for the FT-817, so if anyone has an LDG Z-817 autotuner or similar going cheap please let me know.