After purchasing a surplus HP Z3801A, it was a challenge getting it to work. Below is a short checklist of steps that will get your Z2801A running fast.  I had to learn the hard way and you can now take advantage of this information.

1.  You must convert the RS-422 output to RS-232 in order for your computer to talk to the receiver.  You can find excellent instructions here. http://www.ad6a.com/Z3801A.html  Make your own RS-232 cable using only the three pins in the instructions.  Do not try to use a ready made cable or commercial converters - they won't work.  The RX and TX connection must be reversed on the PC side so be sure to follow the pin-outs carefully. 

2.  You must have a stable 48 volt DC 1A metered power supply.  It would be helpful to be able to crank the voltage up to 50 volts initially while the oscillator oven warms up.  When the current draw drops to around .4 amps you can then set the voltage as close to 48 volts as possible.  The power connector on the rear of the receiver has the positive voltage connection on the top.

3.  Connect your new RS-232 cable to the receiver and computer Serial COM port.  Set the computers COM port to:  19200 Baud, Data Bits 7, Stop bit 1, Parity to ODD, No flow Control.  Download the free SatStat program.  HP Satstat software.  Set the software's COM setting as stated above using the appropriate COM port. Set the LAT and LONG as close as you can to your current location.  This is VERY important.  Otherwise it may take the receiver hours or more likely days to derive this information from the satellites.  Remember this is relatively old GPS technology and the reason the unit is surplus.  Set the software to the SURVEY mode.  Go away for a couple hours and let the receiver do it's thing.  You can find the information on all these steps in the software help files.  Also be sure to read all the information here.  http://www.realhamradio.com/GPS_Frequency_Standard.htm

4.  If you finally get a green GPS lock light your done.  Just let the receiver stabilize for several days.  You really should get the professional software from Dave, AD6a http://www.realhamradio.com/gpscon.htm  It is not free but it will make running your receiver a FUN project.

5.  When your finished, take a look at my receivers output and compare it with yours.  They should be similar.  http://www.101science.com/gpsstat.htm  The graph show the oscillator correction voltage, the map shows the current GPS satellites being tracked, and the other panel technical data about the receiver.

Notes:  See, nothing to it.  I played with the receiver for weeks (well, I confess, months) until I finally decided to try the RS-232 connector conversion.  Prior to that time I thought I could get it running by just turning it on so I could use the 10 Mhz output.  But it never got a GPS lock and the oscillator will drift without GPS corrections. So much for the easy way - didn't work.  You must do the conversion and load the software to get it to work.

 

 

GARMIN GPS  
iQue 3600 pda
NEW! Item - color display maps
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and GPS all-in-one
Great for anyone

 

 

- Signal processing : Spectrum Laboratory, AVS Audio utilities, Easygram, Hamscope, FFTDSP, WinTone decoder

- K1BV Awards directory, list over 3000 awards

- Belgian-P10, the 10 belgian provinces

- BCA-castels, 132 belgian castels

- Castels of France, 2642 castels, DFCF and other related awards

- CEA, the 45 countries members of the Council of Europe

- DCI, 104 italian castels counting for the DCI award (e.g. CN-040, etc)

- EA-islands, 446 spanish islands (e.g. ISN 01-1-1, etc)

- EWWA, 326 entities members (there are light differences with DXCC !)

- France-dept, the 22 departments of France

- IIA-islands, 789 italian islands

- IOTA, link to RSGB's IOTA home page

- IOTA, 1192  islands on the air (e.g. EU-xxx, etc)

- IOCA, 231 croatian islands (e.g. CI-xxx, etc)

- Map of Japan districts (J0 to J9)

- JCC-JCG, all japanese prefectures, cities and guns

- LGT-WLH, list about 1000 lighthouses from WLH, the only one official for DX-peditions

- LGT-ARLHS, list about 6000 worldwide lighthouses sorted by country, 344 KB .exe file to extract.

- WABA, over 130 callsigns used by Antarctic bases

- RU-oblast, 92 russian oblasts (territories) with a commentary about Russian callsigns

- RU-robinson, 159 islands groups members of the Russian Robinson

- US-Counties, 3095 US counties and 418 counties inspired by Native American subjects

 

 

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ARRL

DX Bulletin W1AW Bulletins Propagation Bulletin DXCC Application Status ARRL Letter Keplerian Bulletin Members Only

DOWNLOAD THE ARRL MOVIE, "Amateur Radio Today".  Narrated by former CBS news anchorman Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD, Amateur Radio Today showcases the public service contributions made by hams throughout the country. 
(copyright ARRL 2003, Link Permission granted by ARRL, 3/28/03, not for broadcast.)

Latest Ham Radio NEWS from ARRL Newsletters
RAG CHEWING  - www.arrl.org/awards
Q Signal list. Click HERE. - www.arrl.org/field/fsd218.htm#q

W1AW  http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/ 

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BAND PLAN

What modes can I use on what frequencies?  
Answer: Check the IARU Band Plan: IARU Region 1 BandPlan

Frequency Allocation charts http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.html

ARRL Band Plans
Frequency Allocations.
SPECTRUM:  Printable Amateur Radio Frequency Spectrum Chart:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/USbands.pdf

IARU version of the individual band plans are presented as separate pages for the greater convenience of users. The individual plans are for 50-52 MHz, 70-70.5 MHz, 144-146 MHz, 430-440 MHz, 1240-1300 MHz, 2300-2450 MHz, 3400-3475 MHz, 5650-5850 MHz, 10.0-10.5 GHz, 24.0-24.5 GHz, 47.0-47.2 GHz

• Medium Frequency (MF) (0.3 to 3 MHz)

• 160 meters (1.8 - 2.0 MHz)

• High Frequency (HF) (3 to 30 MHz)

• 80 meters (3.5 - 4.0 MHz)

• 60 meters (five channels: 5.332, 5.348, 5.368, 5.373, 5.405 MHz)

• 40 meters (7.0 - 7.3 MHz)

• 30 meters (10.1 - 10.15 MHz)

• 20 meters (14.0 - 14.35 MHz)

• 17 meters (18.068-18.168 MHz)

• 15 meters (21.000-21.450 MHz)

• 12 meters (24.890-24.990 MHz)

• 10 meters (28.0 - 29.7 MHz)

• Very High Frequency (VHF) (30 to 300 Mhz)

• 6 meters (50 - 54 MHz)

• 2 meters (144 - 148 MHz)

• 1.25 meters (222 - 225 MHz)

• Ultra High Frequency (UHF) (300 MHz to 3 GHz)

• 70 centimeters (420 - 450 MHz)

• 33 centimeters (902 - 928 MHz)

• 23 centimeters (1240 - 1300 MHz)  

• Click the band plan you would like information on.
  (Includes band simplex frequencies you can use.)

  • 6 Meter

  • 2 Meter

  • 222-225 Mhz

  • 440 Mhz

Frequency Allocation Chart to Download and Print - PDF: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/Hambands_color.pdf
More Charts http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.html
International Radio Contacts http://www.iaru.org/iaru-soc.html
AC6V Links:  http://ac6v.com/callfreq.htm
Beacons http://ac6v.com/beacons.htm

60 METERS - NEWS FLASH - 

The new five-channel 60-meter amateur allocation becomes available to US Amateur Radio operators at midnight (12:00 AM) local time on July 3. The local time designation means that amateurs in the US territory of Guam likely will be the first to get a crack at the new band. 

The FCC has granted amateurs use of five 2.8 kHz-wide channels with center frequencies of 5332, 5348, 5368, 5373 and 5405 kHz. The channels will be available to General and higher class licensees. The only permitted mode will be upper-sideband USB phone, and 50 W ERP is the maximum power allowed.  Users of the 60-meter channels should set their carrier frequency1.5 kHz lower than the channel center frequency. ARRL suggests restricting transmitted audio bandwidth to 200 Hz on the low end and2800 Hz on the high end for a total bandwidth of 2.6 kHz. ARRL recommends that amateurs considering modifying existing amateur equipment for operation on 60 meters contact the equipment's manufacturer for advice.  

Get more details on how to operate correctly on these new frequencies from Mr. Doug Smith's site at http://www.doug-smith.net/sixty.htm

FM Voice Simplex Operation

10 METERS  (29 Mhz band )

29.600 Mhz is the National FM simplex frequency on this band. Some FM simplex operation also occurs on 29.500 Mhz.

 

6 METERS  (50-54 Mhz band)

52.525 Mhz is the National  FM simplex frequency on 6 meters.  52.490 and 52.510 Mhz are also used. Other FM simplex activity occurs in the 51.100 to 52.000 Mhz range. 

2 METERS  (144-148 Mhz)

146.520 Mhz is the National  FM simplex calling frequency. The following  voice FM simplex frequencies are used on 2 meters,  based on a 15Khz  frequency spacing matrix.: *146.400, 146.415, *146.430, 146.445, *146.460, 146.475, 146.490, 146.505, 146.520, 146.535,  146.550 , 146.565 and 146.580 Mhz.  147.420,  147.435, 147.450, 147.465, 147.480, 147.495, 147.510, 147. 525, 147.540,  147.555 and 147.570 Mhz are also used.

Notes:  1) The above listed FM simplex frequencies are on a 15 Khz matrix, which is the closest spacing recommended when FM radio transmitters  are set with a maximum  audio deviation of 5.0 Khz. Operation on frequencies with a  closer spacing  than 15 Khz will cause adjacent channel interference problems with the frequencies on each side.  Interference will be caused by operation on the 5 Khz and 10 Khz channels between the above listed simplex frequencies or near to repeater inputs or outputs.

 2) * 146.400 (optional input for 147.00), 146.430 (input for 147.030) and 146.460 (input for 147.060)  are sometimes used as inputs to 147.000, 147.030 and 147.060 Mhz repeaters instead of the frequency 600 Khz above the repeater output. Be sure and check for local repeater input use of these frequencies before operating  FM simplex on these frequencies in  the State of Minnesota.

 3) Digital modes (Packet radio) should not use the FM voice simplex  frequencies listed above as wider spacing (20 Khz recommended) is needed between adjacent frequencies for packet radio use.   A  20 Khz  spacing  matrix  of frequencies near to 145.010 Mhz and 145.610  Mhz is available for packet..

 222 Mhz   (222-224 Mhz, sometimes called 1  1/4 meter band)

222.350 Mhz is the National FM simplex calling frequency. A 20 Khz spacing matrix is used on this band.  Other frequencies in the 223.600 to 223.850 Mhz range are also used for  FM simplex.

 440 Mhz  (420-450 Mhz, sometimes called 70 cm band)

446.000 Mhz is the National FM simplex calling frequency. A 25 Khz spacing matrix is used on this band. Because of the short range of FM simplex  on 440 Mhz, no other  simplex frequencies are specifically identified  on this band. .  If duplex cross-banding is to be done on  the 440 Mhz band, the frequencies of 445.975 and 446.025 Mhz are recommended for such operations in Minnesota.  The use of other  445 and 446 Mhz  frequencies is not recommended as these frequencies  are used quite extensively in Minnesota for Auxiliary  or Control Links for the repeater and remote base systems now in operation

 UPPER UHF BANDS

900 Mhz   FM Simplex identified in the 927.00 to 928.00 Mhz range but no specific calling channel is identified.

1.2 Ghz   .  1294.50 Mhz is the National FM calling frequency on this band.

 1294.00 to 1295.000 Mhz  is identified as  the FM Simplex operation area in this band.

Links from http://www.astrosurf.com/lombry/qsl-download.htm

- International institutions : IARU, ITU, CEPT, ERO, European Union - National IARU societies : link to IARU, includes contacts and complete coordinates

- CEPT administrations : link to CEPT,  includes contacts and complete coordinates

- The Electromagnetic spectrum, from 31.2 mHz to 6.52 EHz, poster designed by Anthony Tekatch

- HFbands, band plan of all HF frequencies assigned to each mode to Region 1 Europe (graphical & tabular forms)

- BandsPlan, detailled frequencies allocation from 0.150 to 250 GHz

- Frequencies, frequencies allocation from 27.5 - 960 MHz to each 3 Regions.

- QRP frequencies, list HF frequencies used for QRP activities

- Beacons, International HF beacons

DX

Dx Cluster Nodes Worldwide> DX Packet Cluster Nodes

Amateur Radio And DX Reference Guide

dxbands.com - The Amateur Radio Portal on the Web - Home Page

eHam.net Home - Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) Community Site

The DXZone: ham-radio, shortwave and cb-radio guide

NG3K Amateur Radio Contest/DX Page

Music Production, Amateur Radio Service Manuals, Commercial Radio

Amateur Radio World-Wide - NW7US - HAM Radio on LF, MW, HF, VHF

DX Atlas: Amateur Radio software

DXer.Com - DX Clubs & DX Newsletters

Amateur Radio Directory

- Callsigns, callsigns range allocated to each ITU country

- CQzones, list all 40 zones and concerned entities (DXCC)

- DXNet, the main DX networks working in HF bands with time and frequencies

- DXCC, list all countries, ITU and CQ zones, Timezones, QSL buros and more

- Famous hams, list callsigns of some celebrities

- ITUzones, list all 90 zones defined by ITU

- MostWantedDX, the "most wanted" countries

 

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BOOKS

101science.com Ham Radio Book Sale - Complete List

    

 

 

 

 

 

REPEATERS

CURRENT UTC TIME:  http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?UTC/s/0/java 

TIME CONVERSION CHART - from 101science.com: 

World Clock you can customize (many time zones)

LED Clock with UTC and Local times 24 hr format

Time and Frequency stations:  http://ac6v.com/standard.htm