Anyone have a MFJ 461 CW reader?

[raisindot]

I just picked up a used one of these things, purely as a novelty toy.

And I must say I'm not all that impressed. I'm plugging in via line to my JRC 545, tuning into relatively strong signals, using the noise reduction circuit, and the thing posts back mainly....EEEEEEs and IIIIIs. I can tell it's not working right because it's measuring the speed as 500 WPM, instead of the usual 20-80 WPM it displays on the rare occasions it actually shows any other characters.

I have been adjusting the RF gain and PLL knobs on the back, looking for an ideal combinations that result in better tracking, but haven't found a setting the delivers better than sporadic results.

Now, I certainly didn't expect miracles and there's no way I can get a totally clear signal without any background noise. It also doesn't help that the strong signals tend to fade out soon after I tune to them. So I do forgive the thing to a degree, but I thought it would work a little better than this.

No big deal, however. It's a toy. I am not going for my ham license--just wanted to see if it would all a little variety of my listening.

Suzie

[nickcarr]

Are you sure you're not tuned into a RTTY station?

Try the amateur bands first. Like 7.0 - 7.1 and 14.0 - 14.1

Find a slow CW station and then try your new toy.

[raisindot]

Originally Posted by nickcarr

Are you sure you're not tuned into a RTTY station?

Try the amateur bands first. Like 7.0 - 7.1 and 14.0 - 14.1

Find a slow CW station and then try your new toy.

Thanks, Nick. You always have the right answers. I actually have been limiting my tries to the 7-7.2MHz and the lower end of the 3Mhz band. I know I'm definitely tuning in CW, not RTTY.

I'll keep playing around. Haven't tried the 14 Mhz area yet...I'll see if it comes in any better.

Suzie

[nickcarr]

I went to their web site and had a look at the product. I didn't realize it was using a speaker/mic to pick up its signal.

A couple of pointers:

1. Make sure your in LSB mode on your NRD-545
2. Lock on to a strong CW signal
3. Switch to CW mode when you have a strong signal. Then isolate it's center frequency. Usually it's a common offset such as 14.010.25 or 14.010.75
4. The pitch of the sound should be low. (Think of someone whistling - it'll be lower than that.)
5. Put your RF gain and PLL dials in the middle position to start.
6. Do NOT use any noise reduction settings (this will likely mask the true CW pitch.)

EDIT: If the WPM meter says it's > 50 then try cranking the RF gain down a quarter of turn.

[raisindot]

Originally Posted by nickcarr

I went to their web site and had a look at the product. I didn't realize it was using a speaker/mic to pick up its signal.

A couple of pointers:

1. Make sure your in LSB mode on your NRD-545
2. Lock on to a strong CW signal
3. Switch to CW mode when you have a strong signal. Then isolate it's center frequency. Usually it's a common offset such as 14.010.25 or 14.010.75
4. The pitch of the sound should be low. (Think of someone whistling - it'll be lower than that.)
5. Put your RF gain and PLL dials in the middle position to start.
6. Do NOT use any noise reduction settings (this will likely mask the true CW pitch.)

EDIT: If the WPM meter says it's > 50 then try cranking the RF gain down a quarter of turn.

Good suggestions, Nick. I found that the microphone is useless, so I start by tuning into a strong signal and then plugging directly into the unit's line in through the headphone jack.

Why should I be in LSB? I tried both USB and LSB, and found that nearly all of the readable signals were in USB. There weren't that many in LSB at all. Also, I found that the CW mode actually caused more problems than leaving it in wide or narrow band.

As far as the "controls" go, I'm not sure, but I'm not sure whether this unit was originally supposed to come with 'knobs' or not. There are 'holes' where I would think knobs would be, but at the bottom there are two controls that can tweaked with tiny screwdrivers, which is what I am using. There are no markers that I can see that indicate high or low for these.

Can you also explain me the PLL thing, and how I align the unit's PLL setting and whatever frequency I'm using on the JRC? Don't quite get this part.

Last night I did have a little more luck--got two coherent readots. Of course, one of the problems with CW is that the transmissions only seem to last for 20 seconds or so (or I can only receive them for this amount of time), and then disappear entirely--i.e.,the transmitter doesn't seem to "come back" to that frequency again. Oh well.

Suzie

[eorange]

A few years ago, I picked up an AEA code/RTTY reader from a hamfest. It's a nice unit with a 30 character fluoroescent blue display.

Sometimes I can get it to copy nearly perfectly, and most times I get a bunch of E's. Same hardware, setup, etc. It depends on the noise, the volume into the decoder, and even sometimes the pitch of the CW tone!

Total hit or miss, but it's still fun to play with every now and then.

[nickcarr]

Originally Posted by raisindot

Why should I be in LSB? I tried both USB and LSB, and found that nearly all of the readable signals were in USB. There weren't that many in LSB at all.

Yes, I didn't make this clear. I meant to say whichever mode was appropriate for the frequency. So obviously USB for 14Mhz and LSB for 7Mhz or lower.

Also, I found that the CW mode actually caused more problems than leaving it in wide or narrow band.

If you tune into the CW signal on USB or LSB first and the signal appears to be centered, then switching to CW mode should be easy. CW mode should make the signal sound clearer as the bandwidth shrinks to about ~1000hz depending on the bandwidth settings.

Can you also explain me the PLL thing, and how I align the unit's PLL setting and whatever frequency I'm using on the JRC? Don't quite get this part.

The PLL just refers to how the reader is detecting the signals. It stands for Phase-Locked-Loop. This just means that the reader uses an internal reference signal to compare the signal you're hearing. Thus, if the reader's reference signal is "off" then it cannot do its job. This is one of the controls.

I know this is hard without any markers, but try setting both controls to their mid-points. Find a strong CW signal. If the reader isn't displaying anything then try turning the PLL control until the reader starts decoding correctly. Per the instructions, use the LED to adjust the GAIN control. (The LED will flash with the CW signal when the gain is in sync.)

The point to remember is that once you do get the reader in sync and it starts decoding properly, then you probably won't have to fiddle with the controls again.

Just don't get frustrated, it takes a lot of trial/error to use a decoder properly.

[raisindot]

Originally Posted by nickcarr

Yes, I didn't make this clear. I meant to say whichever mode was appropriate for the frequency. So obviously USB for 14Mhz and LSB for 7Mhz or lower.

That's interesting...I found that USB worked better for everything, including the 7Mhz and lower frequencies. Couldn't really get any strong signals in LSB at all. Nothing at all turned up in 14Mhz on either sideband, which may have more to do with my antenna and propogation that anything else.

I will take your excellent suggestions to hear and fiddle around some more. Haven't given up on it yet.

Suzie