The Museum of Radio and Technology

On February the 20th, 2016-  three of our WV Chapter members drove to Huntington West Virginia for our annual Special Event at the Huntington Museum of Radio and Technology. The Museum is about an hours drive from Charleston. We used the club call sign N3AQC. We did our best to make as many contacts with NAQCC members as possible.

Dave Higley WV8DH

Rodney Dillon WB8PMD 

We had a great time despite some very challenging band conditions. The solar flux was only ninety eight, the A index was fifteen and the K index was one. To the club members I was able to hear and work, I salute you for the contact of a lifetime. You should play the lottery as soon as possible! 

I started on the 40 meter band but was soon overwhelmed by the hundreds of participants in the ARRL DX Contest. In about an hour, it became obvious that it was going to take more than five watts to make many contacts. I switched to the 20 meter band. We soon decided the best choice for contacts was "search and pounce". We had trouble with the beam today. It took Dave and Rodney working together to physically run outside and verbally describe direction that the antenna was pointing. There was apparently a short in the wire to the indicator in the shack.

I'm not a bad DX operator but all the pro's were out today. The majority of the CW operators were sending in the 30+ wpm range. As the three of us concentrated intensely, and wrote down what we heard, we managed to work fourteen stations.

The best were FY5KE in French Guiana, CR3W on Madeira Island. and T48RR in Cuba. I was very surprised to work the T48 station in Cuba. I've worked a bunch of Cuban stations but never one with this prefix. 

NAQCC Florida Special Event Station

This morning I watched the QRP  cluster to see if anyone had spotted our Florida Chapter Special Event station. I saw them spotted on both 40 meters (WB4MM) and 20 meters (WB4MNK) . I could hear the 20 meter station but it was too weak to work. Situations like this demand just one thing; it's called patience. 

I've always considered QRP radio to be much like fishing. Sure enough about an hour later another of the Florida stations jumped into the water. Steve (WB4OMM) shifted from 40 meters to 20 meters. He was transmitting down 1 KC to avoid interference. I caught him on my first attempt. He gave me a 599 report. 

I remember Steve from a previous Florida chapter event. He has a well designed QSL card. I will look forward to receiving it in the mail.

NAQCC Club Promotion Video

Jock Irvine N1JI  has done an excellent job with this promotional video for our club. Watching this production makes me proud to be a member of such an "all volunteer organization" whose focus is on QRP CW operations and simple wire antennas.

This project took many long hours to tweak the audio and gather the pictures necessary for the proper display, in the correct order, to make it pleasing to the eye and the ear. He has done an excellent job splicing it together as a finished product.

I played only a small part in the video by providing the background music. Several months ago, Jock contacted me because he knew I played several instruments. Like himself, we both see music as an art form much like Morse code.

I consider the Ukulele to be the small QRP model of the guitar and thought it would work well as background music without distracting from the voice narrative. Much like QRP radio, the Ukulele is easily transported, very versatile, modestly priced, and easy to use in the field. Whether used at a campsite or sitting at a picnic table they're both great tools for relaxation. I've used both while sitting around a campfire.

I've had several hams ask me how I produced the background music in the video. The sound you hear in the video is actually two "mono" tracks recorded individually and mixed together to form a "master track". I was able to transfer the end result to my desktop and save it as a WAV file. I'm a long way from having it mastered but am looking forward to learning more and recording more as the weeks pass.

I used a Tascam DP-006 multi-track digital recorder. There's a learning curve to using this device. This was my first recording and I was lucky, after several attempts, to arrive with a finished product.

The video seems to be going very well for the club. I think the production explains our philosophy and operating modes very well.

Lifetime membership is Free -- so why haven't you signed up?

An Unexpected QRP MM Surprise

I received an unexpected surprise in the mail this morning. I worked Oleg (UR5FA/MM) back in May of 2011. It's unusual to work a QRP station at around 5,000 miles, especially from a ship off the coast of Brazil. We actually worked each other "twice" on two different days from two different grid squares. (GK57 and GK91). Oleg was running a "long wire" stretched between the masts of the ship. He was the communications officer of the ship and running 5 watts of power. 

Another unexpected surprise was to find him on the NAQCC membership list! (#4528) 

I immediately sent my return card to him. I'm really proud of this (paper) card. Oleg included a SASE which is now in the mail.

Here is is a picture of the ship.  

It's been three years since the original contact on the slow freighter. I've been listening for him again, ever since the original contact. Perhaps I will work him again on the next long voyage from the Ukraine?

Hurricane Wave Pool Park Event

photo of XE1RK dog 

Dave Higley (KD8WA)  and I were sitting at a picnic table at the Wave Pool Park  in Hurricane West Virginia yesterday morning. We heard XE1RK  from Mexico City barking at around thirty words a minute . A lady from the park asked us if we had seen a little brown dog wandering around the grounds. Sorry to say but we were much too focused on the event at hand. I hope she finds the lost dog. 

The Mexico City station was the perfect example of "good operating procedures" when he immediately matched my sending speed of around 20 wpm. I'm sure that if I reduced my speed to 13 wpm, he would have gladly done the same. 

Dave (KD8WA) who was with me, has been an active SSB ham for many years but has now decided to enter the QRP CW fraternity. He is "testing the waters" so to speak. Twice today, we've worked DX stations which have "matched the sending speed of the inquiring station". Our other DX contact was 6Y5WJ in Jamaica, who by the way, was just as accommodating. 

I'm sure it was comforting for Dave to hear this "on the air" courtesy. I can remember those days very well from my early days using Morse Code. 

It was a beautiful day with temperatures supposedly reaching the lower 70 degree range. I don't think it quite made it while we were doing the event but perhaps close. The slight breeze made it feel a little cooler. 

We operated from around 10:15 am till 2:00 pm from this location. We used an end fed PAR antenna cut for 40-20- and 10 meters. The leafless trees made getting the antenna about 35 ft into the air a quick event. 

We worked 19 stations at our event yesterday. 

Some of the highlights yesterday was working our club President N8XMS who was 599 from Michigan and N4KGL in Florida who was using an "Alex Loop" from a portable location. We also had great signals from W7GVE in Arizona, KC0DD in Iowa, and it's always good to hear Don (KD3CA) in Pennsylvania.  

Information from K1SWL (nice call) has me listening for two hikers in New Hampshire this morning. I've previously worked both W3ATB and W1PID in "hiking mode". On our last NAQCC field event I heard them both working a station in France. (It doesn't get any better than this). 

Yesterdays event brought back the true joy of operating from a field location. Simplicity at its best with an added addition of "adjusting the sending speed to the inquiring station". Yesterdays event makes me proud to not only be a NAQCC operator, but also to be a member of such a unique fraternity of CW ops. 

Stations worked yesterday were: 

WB3T W3ZMN N2CX K4KRW K1SWL KD3CA K3SWZ WA8SAN N8XMS 6Y5WJ WA4SPJ K7TQ K4ARQ N0AR WA2FBN XE1RK KC0DD N4KGL W7GVE 

One Thousand Consecutive DX Contacts !

Our club member John Shannon (K3WWP) and former NAQCC Vice President reached a milestone on November 25th, 2015.

Many of us have been following retired NAQCC VP John, K3WWP’s, amazing and inspirational QRP QSO streaks. John is currently in his 22nd year of making at least one QRP CW QSO per day using simple wire antennas.

That’s right, not a single day missed in over 21 years! 

Absolutely amazing!

On November 25th he reached a significant milestone on his DX sub-streak - 1000 consecutive days making at least 1 QRP CW DX QSO using simple wire antennas!

You can read all about this great accomplishment in the Member Submissions section of the NAQCC December newsletter.

Santa Clause on the Radio

Santa Clause should be moving full speed now with the holiday season fast approaching. Two years ago, I found him testing his wings and the new rig on a pre-flight in the skies over Finland. I'll be listening closely this year for another broadcast. I hope you will be able to make a contact too.