This is aimed at new HS4 users like myself.

When i first started using HS4 I couldn't see any activity on the standard display and thought HS4 was a waste of time and effort compared to HS3, having read about the waterfall i decided to purchase it and i am glad i did i started to see plenty of activity which meant i could start using the rotating fishbone antenna that comes free with HS4 (there are two one fixed one rotating) to get a better reception, after installing it making QSO's was a doddle, worth every penny.

11 reviews - https://shop.hamsphere.com/product_reviews.php?cPath=44_124&products_id=2324

This "Waterfall" display gives you a visual overview of the band. As it scrolls slowly down you get a kind of "memory" of the signals and you can get quickly determine where there is activity. Also very faint signals that you would have problems hearing also give a print.



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Closely followed by the mircophone recorder....

I know i am going to kick myself for asking but what is that?

So you record all your standard calls (CQ 0n 10, CQ on 15, Single callsign (for pileups) etc) then you switch the recorder to transmit. In transmit mode the recorder will put the transceiver into transmit, put out the recorded sample and then go back to receive.

Saves a lot of mouth work.

Thanks.

The second for me and another game changer is the band scanner.

HamSphere 4.0 Plugins: Band Scanner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11PBu32IYGc

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Below is an answer i gave to a member having problems with HS4 in another thread its a long thread so i thought it would be worth reposting to help new members here.


"I now am asking for some help!! Can anyone make recommendations as to what plug ins I need to make my station operation ready and to include several types of antennas that will help me make contacts"



Hi Milton, i was in the same boat as you (i posted my experience above) and am now happily using HS4 and making contacts all over the world with the two standard free antennas.


The first thing i added was the waterfall this makes spotting QSO's so much easier and at 10 euro it wont break the bank - https://shop.hamsphere.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=waterfall


The second thing i added was a band scanner which makes finding QSO's really easy, you could probably get away with just adding the band scanner but i find a combination of the scanner and waterfall works great.
https://shop.hamsphere.com/product_info.php?products_id=128474


This is a great video on how to use the band scanner and also shows the waterfall in action (skip to 59 seconds) https://youtu.be/11PBu32IYGc


I wouldn't add any antennas until you get used to using the transceiver with the new addons, these are all the contacts I've made with the standard antennas since 31 May 2020 https://tinyurl.com/y7byl9js so as you can see you can cover a huge area with the two standard antennas.

On the subject of antennas if you click on the littler squares in the bottom left corner and put it on P you will only see the antennas you have whiich saves time when switching - (these are not mine i only have the standard ones as mentioned above) - https://i.postimg.cc/X7Fd7fKL/aaaaaaa.jpg



One of the problems i had when i first set my transeiver up was lack of sound are you hearing static on the frequencies?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwCihMC8Yk8



Here is a video on how to customise the transeiver -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiJ_pUvmKnU


If you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask i am a relative new user but i have spent many hours reading up on HamSphere (its an OCD thing) and was also frustrated by the difficulty with HS4 when i first started using it, i now prefer it to HS3.

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A bit of a heads up for those that missed it in the news letter -

This will be my next purchase (depending on cost)


New HamSphere 4.0 Plug-ins

We will soon be releasing a 160m Power Amp using 2 x 3-500Z tubes, 1 Kilowatts.
This amp is limited to 160m operation and will improve the RF penetration into DX areas.
Combined with the biggest antenna it will provide an ERP of 100 kiloWatts.

https://www.hamsphere.com/images/160m_power_amp_nl.jpg

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As the first post here says the waterfall was the best addon i installed and here is a brilliant video showing how the waterfall shows activity when the standard band scanner shows little or nothing

https://www.facebook.com/100004792144976/videos/1626995284136861/

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