The First 100 Years Are The Hardest

The DXCC is Amateur Radio's premier award that hams can earn by confirming on the air contacts with 100 countries. You can begin with the basic DXCC award and work your way up to the DXCC Honor Roll.    I was able to get H44WA - SOLOMON ISLANDS - 10M confirmed on Friday for  my 100th country confirmed via LoTW for CW. QSL K4KCG - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 20M CW (CW) QSL TG9ADM - GUATEMALA - 30M CW (CW) QSL C6AZM - BAHAMAS - 40M CW (CW) QSL PG4I - NETHERLANDS - 40M CW (CW) QSL DL1DGS - FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY - 40M CW (CW) QSL OA4DX - PERU - 40M CW (CW) QSL KP4JRS - PUERTO RICO - 20M CW (CW) QSL AH6KO - HAWAII - 20M CW (CW) QSL JM7OLW - JAPAN - 40M CW (CW) QSL F6HKA - FRANCE - 40M CW (CW) QSL CO7FR - CUBA - 40M CW (CW) QSL SN2B - POLAND - 40M CW (CW) QSL HK1MW - COLOMBIA - 40M CW (CW) QSL PJ2ND - CURACAO - 40M CW (CW) QSL VE3TM - CANADA - 20M CW (CW) QSL XE1RE - MEXICO - 15M CW (CW) QSL HQ9X - HONDURAS - 15M CW (CW) QSL HD8R - GALAPAGOS ISLANDS - 40M CW (CW...

 ARRLs Winter Field Day 2024 is in the books.  Spent about 2 hours and made all contacts on CW.   Winter Field Day is a communications exercise. WFD is held on the last full weekend in January and enables operators to practice portable emergency communications in winter environments as the potential for freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and other hazards present unique operational concerns.  I worked from my remote stations near Richland Chambers lake for about 2 hours on Sunday and got about 20 sections logged,  all via CW.  Too bad I had work a work commitment and had to shut down just as I was getting on a roll! Chris de WX7V

 I was able to get four activations in this month - consolidating posts and pictures from our private facebook groups to document here for future reference.   First Up was a New Years day activation at  K-4419 ID Fairchild State Forest in the Piney Woods area of east Texas.  Nice and relaxed outing, this was my 42nd. activation since September 2021.   To bad Texas State RR State Historic Park isn’t registered, would have been a nice 2-fer.   The pine trees were magnificent and truely inspiring! January 5th:  I  had a great pair of activations today in Bonham Texas.  On the way to my last activation I ran over something on the highway and had a blow out.  No such issues this time!   81 contacts in all,  thank you hunters!   First I activated the Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site first.  The noise floor was quite site (S8/S9) and I was about to give up after making 5 contacts, but before I k...

Just in time for Christmas,  the big kids came home from school and wanted to get some of the old toys out.  I charged up the Airwheel no problem and aired up the tire.  But the battery on the Segway Ninebot wouldn't charge after nearly a year of non-use.    Turns out the battery management system won't allow a charge if the battery voltage falls below 27v.   My battery measured 25v.  The only way to get it working again is to remove the battery, and bypass the BMS and charge the battery directly, effectively jump starting it.    I had to do this last year around Christmas as well so this time I've decided to document for my personal use and future reference. You can google lots of how to videos showing the complete process.    I'm documenting here for my personal future reference if needed.    Also, I used jumpers from the plug on the charger so that I didn't have to cut into the charging cable.   To make t...