The First 100 Years Are The Hardest

Successfully activated K-4423 gain today.   This was my first time to activate using the mobile set up in my Jeep with the new-to-me Yaesu FT-100D and ATAS-120a antenna. The FT-100D doesn't support headphones, external MIC or digital voice recording.  You can connect an external speaker.   Something to consider for future operating comfort. Also  I logged all contacts using HAMRS on my iPhone.  Works fine, but the iphone keyboard layout is awkward - you have to toggle between letters and numbers which slowed my down when logging call signs.  I'll stick to the ipad version with external keyboard for future activations. Overall I made 40 contacts with 100% SSB including 10 P2P.  The first 25 were on 17M with good signal reports.  I had to fight thru a bit of QRM, with whistling and others tuning up on my frequency during the activation.  Was even told by someone who failed to identify their callsign that contests were not allowed on 1...

The international DX contest was this weekend March 5th and 6th.  The contest is designed to encourage W/VE stations to expand knowledge of DX propagation on the HF and MF bands, improve operating skills, and improve station capability by creating a competition in which DX stations may only contact W/VE stations.  I started Saturday morning using my relatively new ZS6BKW antenna.   It lived up to its reputation as a modified G5RV.  Optimized or not, I struggled to make any contacts.  I could hear plenty of DX but most stations couldn't hear me.  I completed 1 QSO on 80, 1 on 40, and a few more on 20 before giving up for the day with 12 QSOs logged.  I fired up the amp but that didn't make much difference.    On Sunday I switched over to my Wolf River Coil and manually tuned the antenna for each band using the wonderfully "Made in Ukraine" RigExpert AA55 Zoom antenna analyzer.   The WRC is easy to tune for 10, 15 and 20 met...

 I’ve had a lot of RF noise in my home since I moved in 2013.  Noise on the phone lines, intermittent cable TV and internet outages.   Spectrum has been out multiple times to replace lines, fix coax connectors and even installed amplifiers up in the attic.   All these actions helped to some extent. But getting the mobile HF capabilities in my jeep has let me test interference in my neighborhood.   I was very surprised how quite the 40 and 20 meter bands are just a block up the street.   I conducted a simple drive around, observational test and shared the results with Oncor who is responsible for electric delivery services in my neighborhood.  I started the process by calling 888-313-6862 Oncor Electric Delivery Services and reported "radio, telephone and TV interference" that appears to be due to the electric lines in my alley. The service rep asked me a few questions and opened a trouble ticket.   She informed me that a Field Check...

April2022 update. The ATAS-120a is going strong one month in. Follow up on the last vfo error issue that was happening on 20m- turns out it was RFI that 8 snap on ferrite chokes cured.   I put them on the feed line near the KN-400 mount.   I’ve  recently added mobile HF capabilities to my Jeep and I can vouch for the Yaesu ATAS-120a.   It’s a great little performer once I got it fully grounded and bonded to my truck frame.   I tried several mounting locations before I remembered there is a convenient grounding bolt just under the hood on the passenger side of my 2018 Grand Cherokee Trailhawk.  The bolt is is used to jump start the vehicle and can easily be removed with a socket wrench so that you can bolt down a ground strap. The antenna is mounted to the hood using a Diamond K400S mount and cable set.   An SMA to SO-239 adapter is included.  I ran the coax thru the Jeep’s fender wheel well and into a the vehicle thru an existing firewall gromme...

 The ARRL International DX Contest was help over the weekend of February 19th - 20th.  I was able to run an hour on from my Dallas QTH on Saturday, and a few more hours on Sunday from the lakehouse.   Saturday I worked 40 and 20M while Sunday mostly 15M and 10M.   Propagation was good for CW.  In Dallas this was the first contest running with the new G5RV antenna.   Lakehouse used the trusty old Carolina Windom. The goal of the contest is for US stations to work as many DX stations in as many DXCC entities as possible.  For DX stations to work as many W/VE (US and Canada) stations in as many of the 48 contiguous states and provinces as possible. W/VE stations send a signal report and their state or province.  DX stations send a signal report and power as a number or abbreviation.  I programmed my FlexControl to send WX7V, and WX7V 5nn TX.  The contest was fun and propagation worked well for CW despite the solar conditions ...

I’m restoring a 10 year old DX Engineering Hexbeam antenna that I bought from a local ham.  The sales price included about 25” of galvanized pipe used as a mast. The fiberglass spreaders were sunburned and deteriorating.  Handing required thick leather gloves.  I marked the elements with electrical tape for easier reassembly.   First step was to clean and degrease with hot soapy water and a pot scrubber.  I used a cap of Windex and 16oz of hot water.    Once dried, I sprayed with primer and sealer - two coats.  Final step was to spray paint the elements flat black.  All using material I had on hand leftover from previous projects.   Will get it mounted in the spring. When it’s done it will look something like this-  new!

Follow up post from 3 years ago.   This weekend I needed to get some MiniDV videos transferred to my PC.  I have 25+ MiniDV tapes from the past 20 years so its important to keep the firewire interface working!   I'm using my old Sony Handycam DCR-TRV18 that I bought off eBay which is identical to the one stolen during a ski trip to Santa Fe several years ago.   I have a PCIe Firewire card (VIA chipset) in my PC similar to this cheap one from Amazon .   The legacy 1394 OHCI firewire drivers are required Windows 10.   Finally, I used a six pin firewire cable to connect the camcorder to the PC. Windows 10 support is more straight forward than Linux.   But I did have to spend some time fiddling with drivers and cables.   Google search shows a lot of solutions but the guide from this site worked best for me.    After you have the legacy drivers installed (1394-ohci_legacydriver.msi) manually update the driv...

I had fun in the National QSO Party SSB contest yesterday.  I used the old Yasesu FTdx-3000 since my Flex is back in Austin for repairs (operator error - tuned up into a dead short, and vaporized R24 on Ant Input 1, but that is another story).    Setup was quick thanks to the excellent Rig integration provided by Scott's N3FJP Contest Logger.  http://www.n3fjp.com/help/righelp.html Operated off and on for about 3 hours while we got ready to host the after party for Ava's Sadie Hawkins Highlights dance.    Worked 4 HF bands - 15, 20, 40 and 80M from EM12ub.   Made 89 Contacts with 66 multipliers including Hawaii,  Belize, the US Virgin Island and 4 provinces in Canada (BC, SK, MB, ON) resulting in 5874 QSO points for my claimed score.    From the NAQP Website: "The North American QSO Parties are favorites of beginners and seasoned operators alike. The NAQPs are low-power only (no amplifiers allowed) which makes for a lot mo...

I had fun on Sunday activating K-3007 Fairfield Lake State Park, Texas. My new HAMRS “Every Day is Field Day” hoodie kept me nice and warm! First activation of the new year with a goal of getting 15M going. Sadly I only logged 7 contacts in the first hour but was able to QSY and get a few three more contacts on 17m, then for fun a added a few P2P on 20 and 40M before calling it a day. Thank you for those who hunted and tried to hunt me. 15M was definitely tough today! Yaesu 991a, 100 watts into Chameleon Tactical Delta Loop. I got very good signal reports for those who could here me on 15M then worked a few more parks from on 15 when I got home. Next time I work 15M I’ll try my wolf river coil vertical. 73, Chris de WX7V

I really enjoyed the North American QSO Party this past weekend.  QSO parties are great for low power  (100W) operators like me, and the 12 hour format ensures I have time to do other things on the weekend.   I used Flexradio 6400, N3FJP NAQP Contest Log, and CW Skimmer to help with decodes.   All CW was sent from the PC using the Flexradio CAT Winkeyer emulation in ACLOG.   The first QSOs were made via CWX.   I then switched to FRrig which  works well for CWT.  But I found my rhythm by sending CW directly from the contest logger.   F1 set up to send WX7V, and F2 to send WX7V Chris TX.   I also configured additional function  keys to individually send Name, State and Tu 73 to resend specific elements of the exchange when necessary. The exchange is easy - listen for CQ,  toss out your call sign, then respond with Call sign, operator name and station location SPC (state, province or country),...

The 2022 winter contest season continued with the ARRL RTTY Round Up on first weekend of January of each year but never January 1st.   The goal of the contest is for Amateurs worldwide contact and exchange QSO information with other amateurs using RTTY (and other digital modes including PSK, FT8/FT) on 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands.  I operated exclusively on RTTY.   Exchange:  RST + SPC (State / Province / Country), DX RST + S/N. Typically exchange when calling CQ: CQ CQ CQ CQ RU WX7V WX7V K ->Their Call Their Call R TU 599 599 TX TX  -> R WX7V 599 ( Their State ) Their Call TU DE WX7V QRZ? Typical exchange when answering: -They Call WX7V WX7V -> They Answer My Call R RPT Their State Their Call R TU 599 599 TX TX WX7V k -Their Answer 73 TU Their Call I had fun but only worked a few hours Sunday.   I used the N3FJP RU Contest log and the N7YG Digital Engine as the connected software for my flex radio. RTTY: 109 Qpts x 42 Mults ...

The hunters helped me finish 2021 strong with two new park activations: Lake Tawakoni State Park K-3031 and Tawakoni Wildlife Management Area K-6605.   Special thanks to NL7V for  North Pole Alaska!   97 Contacts all in, my logs submitted to K7 for processing and uploaded to LoTW for QSL confirmations. This was my first activation with the new Chameleon Tactical Delta Loop.  I've seen Bill Brown using it so effectively that I had to try it.  FB, and glad I did - much easier to set up than my WRC but requires a tuner which also allows faster band switching when conditions require.   This might be my new favorite antenna!  There were some shenanigans during the activations - people tuning up, humming and whistling.  I was able to fight thru it and get 41 contacts completed at K-3031 then 56 more at K-6605.  The WMA was off the beaten path - so off that the park sign was hard to find and not in the best repair! Map by  DL4MFM...

This weekend was the annual ARRL 10M contest for CW and SSB.   All contacts were limited to 10M (28MHz).   2 QSO points per SSB contact and 4 points for each CW contact.   Sunspot number was ZERO and the SF was about 78, making propagation a challenge.  So I operated 100% CW mode. Contest Summary I made 2 contacts right away Saturday morning, then the band closed until later Saturday evening where I went on a roll for 80 contacts.   Sunday was even more challenging - with very little activity all day.   I made an additional 10 contacts Sunday afternoon, the last few of which were questionable!   I operated the Flexradio 6400m at 75w fed into my OCF dipole.  Any higher power caused SWR to spike intermittently.   I did set up my wolf river coil vertical antenna on Sunday afternoon using ANT2 and operating at full 100W with no SWR issues.   I was able to set up and tune the WRC for 28M on the first tr...