The First 100 Years Are The Hardest

Spring is nearly here in Texas.  I was able to get in another quick activation yesterday at US-4423 Spring Creek Forest State Preserve.   Located in Garland and just 14 miles north of Dallas, Spring Creek is very accessible.   As noted in  Wikipedia ,  the existence of virgin forest within city limits is highly unusual, as the 19th Century settlers in the area typically cut down the forests for use in construction or to clear land for farming. Noise is usually a problem since the park is right in the middle of the Dallas metroplex, but 15 meters was open and the signals were very good.  I was able to get 22 CW contacts in 30 minutes using my Yaesu FT-857d and ATAS-120 antenna.  I did not try SSB.  Once I got home,  I was happy to see this was my 60th activation at 43 unique parks.   I’m a long way from a KILO, but with 314 QSOs made at US-4423 I should make this a priority! The park contains about 230 acres of land, preserving some of th...

I was away for another business trip to India from 2.13.2025 thru 2.21.2025.  The CTR2-Dial and Smart-SDR iOS solution on my iPhone again worked flawlessly.  Was able to make a few contacts most days both from calling CQ and Search and Pounce.  The Lynn's controller is a nice solution that's really robust! The work schedule was very hectic, usually 7am IST to mid-night, but it was really nice to get in a little radio time!   I have yet to work VU (India) DX stations from US!   73, Chris de WX7V

This week I received the new CTR2-Dial, a new MIDI controller for remote ham radio operations from Lynovation (Lynn Hanson NU7Q) with support for RHR, Thetis and Flexradio.    This new controller is enhanced version of CTR2-MIDI but features a color touchscreen display.  The dial is completely programmable and support dozens of buttons and dials which simulate Mode, Band, VFO, RIT/XIT functions, etc.   The platform is still very much under development so I flashed the firmware to the latest version (1.00.04).  I loaded the default map into SmartSDR iOS and updated Trigger Straight Key (98) and PTT Push (99) configs in the map file.    The controller is connected via USB to my iPhone via an OTG adapter to power the Dial and communicate with SmartSDR.  The straight key connects to the TRS jack onthe dial.  I made a few test calls and RBN spotted me right away which is always the best part of the test.   The Rest of the controls (...

First activation of the new year, and it took two attempts to get NM US-2701 Hyde Memorial State Park activation in the books.  No internet or cell service, and valleys and deep canyons make this park a challenge to activate QRP.   I chose 17M for both attempts.  I could hear many stations on 17M and 20M but 17 was less crowded on both days. During the first outing, I used a ground mounted vertical  (MP1c Super antenna) and only got 1 QSO (from KS) over the course of an hour.   I checked RBN when I got back to our lodging and confirmed my KX3 was definitely getting out.  However most of my RBN spots were < 20db and many were less than 10db SNR. Not accepting defeat, today I went back for a second try the next day and set up in the same location, at the same time of day.   But time I scheduled the activation on the POTA spotting page before I headed out,  and switched to to an EFHW up about 15th in an inverted V configuration....

I was able to get Hamclock up and running in Christmas Eve just in time to see the Santa tracker.   Very nice edition to the shack — its a fully configurable kiosk-style application that provides real time space weather, radio propagation models, operating events and other information particularly useful to the radio amateur. I’ve been running Hamclock in a full screen in a Chrome browser window (F11 toggles full screen).  Its  FB to access from my tablet in addition to the host PC on my local private network. With a few commands provided in the step by step guide by W4CAE you can run HAMCLOCK on Windows 10 / 11 using the Ubuntu  WSL. To learn more about Windows Linux Subsystem (WSL), click https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about . My version is compiled and installed using the hamclock-web-1600x960 web server only parameters.  For reference  http://127.0.0.1:8081/live.html .   Use port 8082 for RO interface if you should want to make ...

I don't have a 160m antenna but was able to get on the air with an OCF dipole and a tuner.   Not very efficient on TX but the band was in great condition so I couldn't resist.  I kept the power down and worked up from 30w to 75w.   50w seemed to be the sweet spot with tuner.   I worked 15 QSOs, choosing only the strongest signals so as not to QRM the other contesters.   I heard OR, CA, CO, IL and WTX sections on the are in addition to the ones I worked.  Nearby stations could copy me easily, the more distance stations could not.  Makes me want to get a proper antenna for 160M but at least I have a little experience with the top band!  Exchange for these contests is simple:    W/VE: RST + ARRL/RAC Section 73,  Chris de WX7V

I checked into the Intercontinental Sideswiper Net (SSN) today using the FX4-CR transceiver by BG2FX, and the W2LI MapLoop QRP antenna made by the folks at Tri-County Radio Association.   I ran 5W Power for both the 20M and 17M nets.  Signals were helped with Solar Flux (SFI) 277, and 162 Sunspot Number (SN) but offset a bit by Kp 3.33 (Unsettled) and A 7. Gotta love Solar Cycle 25 which is expected to peak in 2025. WX clear skies and cool, cool at 83F / 28C by end of 17M Net. Reports: 20M 14.055 AA7FV 599+ N8LAG 579 KN6BAZ 559 W0BET 589 17M 18.088 AA7FV 599 No other stations heard loud enough for good copy on 17M. I did work some POTA stations before and after the net with the magloop with generally good reports on both 20M and 17M bands. I was operating from bed of the truck with the mag loop mounted on a camera tripod I picked up cheap at the Hamfest in Belton TX yesterday. I had plain of the loop broadside to EU, which may explain why i didn’t have any luck w...

Successfully tested my new W2LI QRP mag loop antenna had made by the folks at Tri Country Radio Association .   The TCRA will operate a Special Event Station celebrating its 90 year history of Amateur Radio service over the weekend of  October 19-20, 2024. The W2LI antenna is easy to assemble.  Push together a few sections of PVC pipe, connect the ends of the LMR-400 coax to the control box and your done.   Supply your own feedline from the transceiver to the transmit loop.  I added a BNC adapter to the transmit loop since most of my QRP rigs use BNC connectors. I tested the loop in the garage with the antenna mounted on a small camera tripod.  The SWR is easy to match: turn the capacitor knob on the tuning box till you hear maximum noise, then hit the tune button on the radio.  Fine tune the SWR by slightly adjusting the knob till you get the desired match on the radio- in my case 1.4:1 on the KX3 within a few seconds.   I was able...

I finally got around to setting up RBN Aggregator v6.5 and CW Skimmer 2.1 for my Dallas Station (EM12ou).   I’m using a Flexradio 6400 with 2 bands / 2 slices (usually 20M and 40M).  The RBN Aggregator pulls the spots consolidated by Slicemaster from each of the CW skimmers running. RX is via a W6LVP amplified receive only magentic loop antenna that provides frequency coverage from below 100 kHz to above 30 MHz with no tuning or adjustment required.   I ordered mine directly from Larry with an additional 5-pole 1,700 kHz high-pass filter in the preamp to attenuate the strong signals from local AM transmitters in Dallas.  The filter cover from 1,800 kHz (160 meters) through 30 MHz (10 meters). The 2 band set up will do until I get a dedicated Red Pitaya receive only SDR https://beta.reversebeacon.net/main.php?rows=100&max_age=24,hours&spotter_call=wx7v/5&hide=distance_km Refer to this guide  from HamSCI for additional help configuring your node for Fl...

Received the Platinum Activator Certificate today after activating US-3001 Copper Breaks State Park in North (West) Texas.   60 activations, 40 unique parks, and looking forward to many more.   This was the third activation that I took my dad on.  He listened to a few CW QSOs, then asked if we could switch over to voice mode so that he could record the convo!   There’s a lot of history in each location, and a lot of learning if you stop to look.  We make an effort to go into the visitor center to learn a little bit about the park and its history.  We visited with the park ranger during the registration.  The ranger was super nice- when she saw my Texas State Park Pass, she asked “POTA, huh?”  Turns out her husband is also a ham and president of the local amateur radio club and does his share of activations! 73,  Chris de WX7V.