Thinking of getting a Portable computer for digital modes

[VK3TOM]

Thinking that I want a seperate computer just to recive digital modes and for possible portable use later on with a FT817 when I get one, got IC 706 MK II G for home use

Had a look at a Acer 150 with XP loaded
Speed 1.6GHZ Atom Proccessor seems fast enough
Memory 1Gig in XP version same as my desktop
Hard disk 120gig or optional 160 Gig, think 120 will do me, only got 80Gig on desktop
Sound Uses a Realtek sound card for input and output just like my cureent desktop built into motherboard so should work ok.
Screen size is only 9.5" but probly ok, hole machine small enogh to be easy portable.
Loading software would be from USB port but thats not real problem I don't think, get my self a 1 gig stick, need one anyway.

Only thing I do wounder about is the interference between the computer and the radio, my current desktop, you can notice it on the IC 706


Any coments

DE VK3KST
Tom

[VK3WE]

Hi Tom,

I've kinda touched on this subject awhile ago and really don't have any real conclusive results as yet, as I've been experimenting with an FT817 with a Dell Latitude D500 notebook. But so far my testing results have all failed due to the noise emitted from the notebook into the Yeasu at nothing less then s9, probably due to close proximity via the appropriate interconnect cables. Maybe another notebook or appropriate earthing may remove / reduce the interference. I'm not sure yet.

I haven't given up on this project, but it's on hold for now.

Let us know how you go and good luck

Good Luck
Rhett 3VHF

[VK2OMD]

Thinking that I want a seperate computer just to recive digital modes and for possible portable use later on with a FT817 when I get one, got IC 706 MK II G for home use

Had a look at a Acer 150...

Tom,

Notebook computers are a high risk of noise that will degrade your recieve system. It is advisable to select carefully.

Some notes:

Sources of significant noise include:

• display;
• power supply;
• motherboard;
• network;
• USB/RS232 adapters.

Most modern notebooks do not have COM ports, and do not have audio line input.

The lack of COM ports means USB/RS232 adapters or USB/CAT interfaces for rig control.

The lack of line input means you don't have stereo audio input, and it is microphone level (unnecessary sensitivity, susceptibility to hum/noise loops). There are other audio solutions, including the Tigertronics SignaLink USB. Some others have cobbled together a USB audio solution from cheaper parts (David???). I have also used a Creative USB sound card for quality audio capture.

Both RF noise and audio hum/noise are potential problems.

My suggestion is to try before you buy. That is not real easy I know, because by the time you have tried, the model is superseded.

An alternative is to engage the retailer in a way that gives you some protection under statutory warranty of fitness for purpose. If a supplier supplies you knowing what you want to do with the equipment, there is a warranty of fitness for purpose under commonwealth legislation. It doesn't eliminate the noise, but it may help you to return unfit goods to the retailer.

I have a Toshiba that is relatively quiet, and so was the last one (but I never make important measurements with the battery charger / power supply operating). I know Phil Wait obtained a Thinkpad for BPL emission measurement on the advice of an 'expert' seller, but it was unusable with FSM because of noise and he needed to procure another (I cannot remember the brand). That is not to say that Toshibas are always good and Thinkpads are always bad, not at all.

If you need portability, you will lean to a notebook... but they are potentially noisier.

Owen

[VK3HZ]

Most rig interfaces go to great troubles to isolate the rig from the laptop - audio transformers and optoisolators etc. I've found that if you do this (with my laptop and rig, anyway) you get horrendous noise and hum. I must have a direct, solid connection between the earths of the laptop and rig. Works fine then.

And yes, I've cobbled together a complete, cheap USB rig interface (sound and PTT). Works well (with no isolation), and I'll get around to documenting it one day.

If you're talking Netbook, the MSI Wind looks like a very nice solution.

Regards,
Dave.

[VK4GHZ]

Tom, I have an Asus A6JA.
(2½ years old)

By default, it sits on the shack bench, literally inches away from my IC-756, whilst charging and/or in use.
I haven't noted any noise problem (by ear) whilst operating on 6m.
Not a scientific measurement by any means, but if I cannot detect any difference, then it doesn't matter.

It does feature a stereo line I/P, and it is common for most notebooks to have three 3.5mm stereo sockets, being;
Mic level I/P
Line level I/P
Speaker level O/P

I must say, I have never come across a notebook that does not have a line I/P!

Few notebooks will have a COM port.
As of a few years ago, (when I was shopping around), Toshiba were one of the few manufacturers that offered a COM port on some of their notebook models.
At the time, Asus offered slightly more bang-for-the-buck than equivalent Toshibas.
This will change week by week, as retailers offer specials on this or that.

Unless you are spending $$$ at the higher end of the market (Asus, Toshiba, IBM, Compaq), then I wouldn't spend too much, as most of the remaining brands are all re-badged generics that come out the same factories.

If you have a need to operate for some time without mains being available, then also factor in the price of extra batteries.
These are not cheap.
My second Asus battery was $199.

[VK3WE]

Tom,

just to add, I used to use an IBM R31 notebook ( with a USB / Serial Adapter ) with a IC706, never had a problem on 144 at least, but again the Dell D500 with my FT817 is a different story at this stage!

GL

Rhett

[VK5LA]

Hi all,
I have experience with 2 laptops and operating portable. Both are positive.
My first laptop, an IBM A31 Thinkpad, was very quiet. My new laptop, a HP 6730 is equally so.

My only issue with noise was when I used a USB civ interface to obtain band and mode data from the rig for logging purposes.

Adding a couple of clip on ferrites to either end of the civ cable reduced the amount of noise to a very acceptable level.

I found that external devices, such as inverters for running the laptop battery chargers and car air conditioning fans
caused far more noise that the laptops ever did.

I now run one of cheap 240V generators when operating portable. That way I can run the whole station without a noisy switch mode power unit
to upset the apple cart.

Andy - VK5LA

[VK4YEH]

Hello Tom

I have successfully used an ACER EEPC with an FT-857 for PSK, SSTV and WSPR, both battery operated portable and powered. The interface I used was a SignaLink USB, software : MMVARI, MMSSTV and WSPR2 respectively.

The advantage of this little netbook is its cost ...... you could by 3 - 4 of them for the same priced "normal" laptop.

I can thoroughly recommend this combination, particularly if you have any thoughts about using them portable.

Tim Roberts
VK4YEH

[VK5AJL]

I bought a compaq (HP) desktop/laptop LCD screen combination lately. Sounds crazy but it is shaped like a desktop but uses laptop technology. It has an external 240v to 12v conveter so the box can be run in a car although I run it in a truck. A SMALL inverter works the monitor.

It came with a 160Gb hard disk, WinXP, LCD monitor, a few USB ports, DVD burner, card reader, etc. I think its 1.6GHz but it works plenty fast enough anyway. I have a couple of terabyte drives plugged into the USB port and THE WHOLE KIT USES LESS THEN 100W ALL SWITCHED ON. Total cost was $700 NEW the lot. I bought mine from DSE when they were getting rid of XP machines but have seen them on sale other places like the Good Guys.

Is that what you had in mind? IT MAKES NO INTERFERENCE I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DETECT ON ANY BAND.

Of course, I also have my BIG computer and use it for serious number crunching but this little beast gets used more often.

Few notebooks will have a COM port.

You can buy USB to RS232 converters in several places if you really need one.

[VK1MA]

I have a small ASUS notebook (EeePC900HA) which cost me about $500 from hardly normal in June last year. I haven't used it for data transmissions yet, but even with very close proximity to several different radios both new and old I have had no discernable interference. From memory it has a 1.2 or 1.6 GHz processor, about 160 Gig of storeage and roughly 1 Gb of RAM. It has handed evrything I have thrown at it so far without a problem (but admittedly not as quickly as higher spec computers have)
Very low power usage (claims 36W), runs off a 12V powerpack (so if needed I can run it directly from 12V in the car rather than needing to run an inverter) and it came with XP rather than that horrible Vista.
I have a USB pre-paid dodo modem that I use for portable internet access and have been very happy with it (QRZ and this site when portable as I often operate). All I need to do now is install office onto it so I can use my logging software (I use an excel spreadsheet for logging my normal contacts) and then there is really nothing I need to do to it.
I have had a number of ASUS laptops/notebook - and only one of them has caused me any problems (dirty switchmode for the charger - or maybe the charge controlling circuitry within the laptop) and that was only with older radios on a poor antenna on 40m.
Would I recommend it for others? Yes - but I have to state that I am yet to connect it to a radio for data modes so cannot give it a definitive no noise anywhere tag, but my experience thus far has been very encouraging.



Matt
VK8GMT/2

[VK3TOM]

Thanks for all the comments

With help from VK3PF Peter & VK3FDNO Deno I Now have a Asus 1000HA connected to a MNCARG Interface to my FT817. Peter also built me a interface cable for the IC706 MK II g but this one is not working at the moment .

I have FLdigi, WST 7.0, MMSTV and ROS loaded.

Getting a error in Ros saying it can't register some components even though I copyed the DLL and the OCX files to windows32 except for mscomm32.ocx witch was a older version than the one on XP.

Tom

[VK2CSW]

<snip>
Getting a error in Ros saying it can't register some components even though I copyed the DLL and the OCX files to windows32 except for mscomm32.ocx witch was a older version than the one on XP.

Tom

The reason you may have an issue with some dll's and ocx files not being found id that they aren't registered with the OS.

You need to use regsvr32 to essentially tell XP that the dll exists and what its API's are.

See http://www.microsoft.com/resources/docu ... x?mfr=true

Typically its usage is simple;
To register a .dll, type:

regsvr32 the_dll_file_Name.dll

Regards
Colin
VK2CSW

[VK4WDM]

Thought I would revive this thread because my old laptop died and I need to get a new one to run digital modes. The transceiver will be either my FT847 or my IC756Pro3. The interface will be the Navigator by US Interface.

I will also use it as a portable for non-ham use so it will need to have MS Word, Power point etc and be WIFI capable. I don't won't it to spew out too much RFI and I don't want to spend a fortune.

What requirements do I need? Please remember I am a computer-challenged semi-geriatric so go easy on the jargon.

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[ZL2TLD]

I'm using a toy - a netbook - an Acer eMachines EM350 or somesuch - just because it was marked down 20% 6 months ago.
Small screen, limited screen resolution, cut down keyboard, limited ports.
But 160GB, 2GB Ram, 1.7 or so GHz processor, 2USB, wireless and wired lan, VGA out, and it will run on 14VDC in. (Made for 18VDC)
Far quieter than my multiple P3 desktops in the shack. And more powerful too.

The inbuilt sound hardware seems ok, but to avoid too many cables, I built a USB Hub with sound interface and two serial ports into a small plastic box with switching to select cat/rts/dtr PTT. Might just add another serial interface for the GPS, then the compact mobile digital modes shack is all go!
And just one cable into the netbook (power), one to the interface (USB) and two to the FT857 (CAT and Data)

Tidy. If I had an 817, I could fit it ALL into a small laptop bag. Antenna and decent battery included!

de Glenn, ZL2TLD, RE79tb, Masterton, New Zealand

[VK3JD]

I can highly recommend the Acer Netbook, I have had a 8.9 inch since they came out here in Australia,, it performs perfect with XP. I have only used it with Echolink and Skype, and Allstar. It has 2 partitions on the hard drive one running xp the other Linux Mint 9, and I am very happy with it.

I was in Kentucky 3 weeks back and Walmart where selling the 10.1 model for $198-00 USD, I have bought one, but at this stage have not tested it throughly, unfortunately it came with Windows 7, this does not impress me.


Hope this helps.

John vk3jd