Rookie Roundup

I'm sure everyone remembers all the anxiety about dropping the "code" requirement a few years ago. There were forecasts it would be the demise of Ham Radio.

Well....it hasn't happened.

I received an e-mail, a few days ago, from the North American CW QRP Club (NAQCC) about an American Radio Relay League (ARRL) event encouraging new operators (licensed three years or less) to get their feet wet in contesting. A big part of this event was (you guessed it).........Morse Code.

Although I'm not a "serious" contester, I couldn't break myself away from this event.

I was astounded at the CW activity on the 40 meter band this evening.

Most of the activity occurred around the 7050 MHz frequency. It was a four hour event and I heard a variety of stations all along the "east coast" and as far west as the Mississippi River. (actually as far west as Iowa and Missouri)

My most exciting catch this evening was K3ROI in Aston Pennsylvania. James is thirteen years old and NAQCC member # 516.

Some of my other contacts were:

K8JD in Michigan (always proud to be involved in teaching CW to new users)

WA4YG in Georgia (an incredible signal)

KJ4VP in Tennessee

KD0JCX in Iowa (an exceptional contact at 579 miles) and I might add, an incredible patient person trying to pull my QRP signal out of a hive of swarming bee's.

W0AX in Missouri (an incredible operator that pulled me out of the swarm by "leading a series of dots to a quite place) Ward (W0AX) was 700 miles from me.

WK4U in Georgia

N4ZR in (of all places) my home state of West Virginia.

W1RM in Connecticut

N8XI in Michigan.

K1LKP in New Hampshire (636 miles).

As always, I used my Icom 703 (with no filters) and the indoor mounted Isotron antenna. This evening I was at 5 watts of power for the entire contest. I used my brass Brunnell straight key. I've started using the "full arm" method with this key and find it amazingly comfortable.

This was not a QRP event.

So much more the gratification to compete with lots of aluminium in the air and amplifiers.

I felt good about it....

Coasting Along in the Winter Months

I continue to make contacts at about the same distances on 20 meters this month. Most are weak signals but workable. I'm still amazed at the times I've heard KE7PZX (and also worked him) in the state of Washington. If there's any propagation at all, I seem to catch him on the 20 meter band. One of the other 'nicer' contacts (and at a much shorter distance) was a fellow transmitting from his motor home from Loxley Alabama. Seems his home in Texas is just a mail box and he's on the road full time.

I've also worked a few QRP stations this month. N5GW was in Vicksburg, Mississippi (20 meters) and on 40 meters (WB8AIZ). I also found KY4O in Nashville Tennessee using a QRP rig. I also found W2IFB QRP in Newfield NY.

Although no DX this month, I still continue to have fun on the bands and find it fulfilling to continue the hobby. The distance isn't important to me, it's still the music of a good fist that attracts me.

Just to mention a few; I've worked these stations this month.

N5GLU in Denton Texas

KE7PZX in Chelan Washington (3 times)

N5GW QRP in Vicksburg Mississippi

VA3AH in La Salle, Ontario Canada

WB8AIZ QRP in Mount Clemmons Michigan

KK4RF (nice call) in Suffolk, Virginia

KY4O QRP in Nashville Tennessee

WG3D in Willmington Delaware

W5VYN in Whitesboro Texas

KE7XU in American Fork Utah

WC7C in Ephrata, Washington

This morning, the weather turned really bad here in West Virginia. It forced me to spend more time than usual on the air. I worked another station in Florida. WB4VMH had an exceptional signal. My favorite today was working an old friend here in West Virginia. I've worked KC8MFF many times, and we always enjoy talking about his old stomping grounds here on the west side of Charleston.

I think the upcoming cold weather is going to force me indoors the rest of the month. It should be good time for radio.

The Best QSO's

I've worked several 2,000 mile stations (on 20 meters) in the state of Washington recently.

I worked KE7PZX (twice) in the last 10 days and also worked WC7C. (in Washington). Some of the other stations I've worked have been in Texas and Florida. (W5VYN--W5GXV & K3RLL). I also worked VE9CQ in New Brunswick and VE1BA in Nova Scotia. All of which are at the 1,000 mile range using my QRP rig and the indoor Isotron antenna.

But I don't spend a lot of time on 20 meters because I find most of these contacts are very weak, and only allow the basic exchange of signal strength, name, and location. The CW speed is also seldom less than 15 wpm. (Most are at 25+ wpm and a little too quick for me).

I've worked 34 DX stations now with my QRP rig and simple wire antennas. Several have been at 4,000 miles (or more) but I only remember one station (in Germany) that took a few minutes to actually 'chat' with me. It was a 10 minute QSO and an extremely rare instance. I find it amusing when I make long distance contacts, (yes I enjoy them from time to time) but they're not the very "best". I guess there's different things for different people, but still, my biggest joy is making a contact with another QRP operator.

When I worked K3RLL, (QRP) in Daytona Beach Florida, his batteries were about to go. But I still made the contact as he used a little QRP rig and a simple wire antenna while operating from a city park. My contact in Nova Scotia (VE1BA) was also QRP but using a small beam.

As I look over my log book now, I see a little over 800 contacts. Of those, 182 stations have been North American QRP CW Club (NAQCC) members.

Those QRP CW contacts are what I would call my "best QSO's".

Revolving Map Gadget

Sometimes what appears to be progress isn't necessarily so.....This morning, I removed the "Revolving Map" from the blog because I found it slowed down, not only the loading time of my blog, but also my connection to other links. It was a beautiful application (visually) but just wasn't working out.

In a similar maze, the "elections" are over.

If there's anything positive about any of the results, it's that (at least for now) $142 million dollars can't buy a seat in the government, there's not a "witch" on board (this is meant to be funny) and our beloved Robert C Byrd (from West Virginia) wasn't replaced by a rich man who actually lives in Florida.

I'm still scratching my head and wondering "what now".

One candidate (who lost by more than 25 percentage points) brandished a "baseball bat" on stage at his concession speech. I was a little disappointed at that....at least he could have held his breath until he passed out.

Stealth Monkey

This is VERY funny. (cut and pasted from the Ham Radio Safari blog)

BBC Radio Player

I've developed a fondness for the British Broadcasting World Service. When I was a kid, I remember the sounds of Big Ben and their broadcast over the shortwave bands. I've always enjoyed their programing. I consider it one of the best in the world.

But shortwave listening is becoming more difficult every year because of budget cuts, poor propagation, and increasing electrical interference. Some major international broadcasters have ceased transmitting all together, and many others are limiting their transmissions to the weekends.

For those reasons, I feel the future of most radio stations will be on the world wide web. There's both good and bad for this mode. Obviously, if you don't have web service, you don't have anything, and if someone decides to "pull the plug" on the electrical grid, we're all "up the creek". But what it is, is what it is....This is the wave of the future, weather we like it or not.

I found a neat gadget yesterday that allows you to choose many "different" streams of the BBC at the click of a button. I've added it to the right side of my blog. I usually have something playing in the background whenever I'm surfing the web.

I can't think of a better station to listen to. I hope you enjoy it also.

20 Meter DX Field Day

I spent this afternoon "out in the field" with my portable station. The solar flux was 90, the A index was 1, and the K index was 0....all the indicators for a good radio day, especially in the field, away from the electrical noise in town.

But I never dreamed it would be THAT good of a day!

I set up at a city park just outside of town, on the highest point, with some nice trees for an antenna support. As always, I set up for 30 meters with a dipole. Everything went perfect today. It was a "first shot" with the slingshot, and I had the antenna in the air in just a few minutes.

It took only a few more minutes to arrange my table and battery and I was on the air.

But not much on 30 meters....I heard a clear 3 watt beacon (W0ERE) and a station in Florida but not much else.

So I switched over to 20 meters and found it ALIVE with DX stations.

It took a few extra minutes to drop the 30 meter dipole and exchange it with my end fed Zepp. (some people call this antenna an end fed dipole), I re-tuned and immediately heard KN6ZA in Paradise California. Sounded just like he was beside me.

Right after this QSO, I heard WI5C in Arlington Texas. Fantastic signal and we chatted for a bit and then closed because I wanted to listen for some distant stations.

A few minutes later I heard IK6BGT in Italy with an even stronger signal. Justin was on the far side of the "boot" and coming in just like a local. He congratulated me on my QRP status.

A few minutes later, LY3X in Lithuania kicked my socks off...I was beginning to feel really proud of my portable station sitting on a hill in good old West Virginia.

Just when I thought I couldn't get much better, I worked UW5ZM in the Ukraine. Wow....what a day.

About that time, my cell phone rang. It was my brother coming home from work. He could hear the dots and dashes in the background, I said "Is this anything important" -- He said "No"--just wanted to say hello and sounds like you're on the radio---I said yes...having a blast up here in the park---I said-- "I got'a go, I'll call you right back". Then I listened in amazement as I heard a familiar K6AA calling from San Pedro California.

If you look back a few entries on my blog, you'll notice that call sign, as the one I worked a few weeks ago, while aboard the LST 325 (WW2LST) when I visited it, in Marietta Ohio. My Dad was with me and I was fortunate enough to use the ships radio for this contact.

Today....we must have talked for 15 minutes about this eerie "second meeting" on the band. It was spooky.....The club station was again on the air, we happened to be on the same frequency, at the same time. We re-hashed me walking the past club station a few years ago when my wife and I were walking to Huntington beach via an old railroad trail.

To make it more eerie, when I returned this afternoon, from my field operations, their QSL card was on the table.

Radio doesn't get any better than it was for me today. Maybe the dog bite, and the way it turned out had something to do with it?

Good Karma I suppose.