I snuck in a quick CW QSO before work with Kerry, K5KS, on 80M. 80M was pretty rough. I was able to understand that he was in TX and after a repeat I got his name. But we wrapped up the QSO after that.
Month: October 2006
Sunday in the shack
I was successful in transferring the WX station duties to the computer out in the garage. I first had to get the Davis Weather Monitor II talking with the computer – which was accomplished after I changed the COM port speed to 2400 baud. I then transferred all the Weather Display files from the computer in the radio room out to the garage. The Weather Display software started up, green lights indicating that it was taking data from the Davis Weather Monitor II. But I didn’t have any sensors plugged in yet, so the only data being displayed was the indoor temp (now the garage temp) and the barometer. The outdoor temp sensor is located near the garage, so I was easily able to reroute the cable into the window of the garage and connected it to the Davis Weather Monitor II box. The outdoor temp came up right away. The next challenge was setting up the FTP for my weather webpage. The Weather Display software has great wizards that walk you through setting up different aspects of the software – the FTP setup had such a wizard. And now the webpage is getting updated every 5 minutes. Great! I still need to (1) reroute the wind direction and speed cable to the garage (requires me to get on the roof), (2) find some place to put the rain gauge (may require me to get on the roof), and (3) get the webcam hooked back up.
Spent some time cleaning up the radio room. I finally unpacked the MFJ-989C tuner that I got to go along with the Heathkit SB-220 amp. Neither are setup – that’s a project for another day.
I was also able to make contact with MI3JQD, operating from Northern Ireland… and a CW contact on 30M with John, K9??? in Indiana.
Saturday
I’ve been recovering from a cold, so I have been on as much as I’d like. I had a couple notable QSOs today:
W7DK/90: The Radio Club of Tacoma’s 90th Anniversary special event station. An ARRL-affiliated Special Service Club since 1920, the Radio Club of Tacoma will mark the occasion with a homecoming dinner October 21 and a week-long operating event with certificates. Special event station W7DK/90 will be on the air October 16-22, and for part of the event will put its “old oak rig” — a circa 1930 breadboard-style AM transmitter — on the air. “We have done some historical research, and it’s been very interesting,” says the club’s Peter Baker, AD7EU. One item that turned up was a W7DK QSL card from 1938.
JOTA: Jamboree On The Air — a nearly 50-year-old tradition — provides an opportunity to showcase Amateur Radio for Boy and Girl Scouts and Guides, Cub Scouts and Brownies around the world, some of whom will be part of the next generation of radio amateurs. I had a nice QSO with two Scouts up in Wisconsin. One Scout was a 2nd Class and the other Life.
CW QSOs: the first few on 20M and 30M had the op at the other end blazing away a little to fast for me. I then went down to the good ol’ Novice sub-band on 40M and had a nice QSO with Fred, KC2IOD. His callsign looked familiar and sure enough – I worked him when I activated the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse (USA-567) back in February.
FISTS: I received the latest issue of the FISTS periodical. Lots of good reading.
Wednesday
I had two short contacts during lunch on Wednesday. The first was with a station in Slovak Republic and the second was with a station in Croatia. Both gave me good signal reports. I also believe that the Slovak Republic is a new country for me.
I’ve started to try and count up my DXCC contacts – and it looks like I have maybe 60. Which is kind of dissapointing. Lots more work to try and reach 100.
When I got home last night, I tied my feedline off to the rain gutter above the radioshack window which raises it off the ground between the house and the tree where the center point and feedline are at. This will ensure no one trips over the feedline.
I didn’t get on the radio last night.
Tuesday – On The Air
At lunch I was able to work a station on 15M from Pisa, Italy, IK5MEJ. I noticed some SWR issues on that band as well as 17M. But the contact went through.
Shortly after dinner I was tuning around a found CE/VE7SV from Chile operating on 20M. There was a bit of a pile up, but I was still able to work him fairly easily. I think this is my first contact with Chile. I then jumped up to 17M and was able to work Javier, XE2EX, operating from Ensenada, Mexico. This is my second contact with Mexico, but first Phone contact. The final DX contact was with Larry, V31LL, also on 17M and oeprating from Belize. A nice solid contact and Belize is a new country for me.
Just before bed, I jumped on the radio to get in a CW QSO. I heard KB2MBC calling CQ – I replied and he came back to me right away. It was Bill in NY, who I’ve talked to twice before. We exchanged RST (599 on both sides) and then commenced a 40 minute slow speed CW ragchew. Bill told me that it was currently raining and windy were he was at and was worried about his antenna comming down in the wind. He also told me about all the snow Bufflo, NY had received a few days earlier. It was nice departing from the standard RST, name, QTH, rig, WX exchange to a more free flowing conversation. Needless to say, I really enjoyed our QSO.
Hex Beam
From : K2JXW
Sent : Tuesday, October 17, 2006 1:30 PM
Subject : K2JXW’s Hex Beam
A few have been asking about the new Hex Beam that I just installed. I purchased it from Trafie Technology (see web site at http://hexbeam.com and was able to assemble it in less than an hour from a sitting position in my WHEELCHAIR. Mine is a 20M monobander, but 5-band models are available, albeit a bit pricey ($900 or so). The construction is supurb — every part fit exactly and went together exactly as described. Light weight (a pound or so) and compact (9-ft turning radius), this thing went up easily on a 30-ft fiberglass mast, again whilst in my wheelchair.
Now, if you dont want to buy the commercial version, construction of an easy and cheap homebrew 5-band version is described at http://www.leoshoemaker.com/hexbeambyk4kio/general.html
C U on the air with a signal about 3 S-units stronger than previously.
73 from K2JXW and the
Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society,
with 1400 members and over 10,000
subscribers, the largest lighthouse
society of its kind in the world!
Monday night QSO
I jumped onto to 80M CW around 10pm eastern and received a reply to my CQ from Shawn, KB1CKT up in Sutton, NH. His initial reply to me was very strong, but on the second go around, his signal dropped down quite a bit. He said the same of my signal. So it ended up being a short QSO. I still was noticing that 80M had less noise than before. I’m also getting better at getting the callsigns on the first go around. I used to have to ask for a QRZ but am lately getting the callsigns right away. I still have a lot of work to do, but it is encouraging to know I am slowly improving my CW skills.
Lunchtime DX
Instead of trying to knock out a quick CW QSO, I decided I’d try to tune around 20M to see if the new antenna was picking up any DX. I was rewarded with a brief QSO SSB with Mike, RX6AM. I believe that was my first SSB contact with Russia, up to now I’ve only had a few confirmed PSK31 QSOs. The next station I heard was Abdula, 9K2GS from Kuwait! That marks a first – up to now, I’d never heard an amateur station from the middle east. I was unsuccessful in breaking the pileup and had to head back to work. All this is helping to build my confidence in the new antenna.
Sunday night QSOs
I had two QSOs last the night. The first was am 80M CW contact with Ken, K5GAT and the second was a 40M PSK31 QSO with Ron, K0??? in Kansas City, MO. The CW QSO went well – again I noticed much less noise on 80M than I have been used to. We both exchanged an RST of 569. I was also able to use the 500Hz CW filter as well as IF shift to sharpen the reception of the signal. Ken is in Naples, TX and he gave a WX report of rain. On 80M both the SWR and power out appeared to be normal on the new Carolina Windom.
I then went up to 40M to take a look and see if there was any PSK31 DX. I saw a CQ from K0??? and answered him. We chatted for a bit. He was trying to find a friend of his from St. Louis that he had a sked with and thought that the 40M skip was bouncing him over St. Louis and asked that I try to call him. I did but did not have any success. On 40M both the SWR and power out looked good.
I’m really hoping I’ll be able to hear (and maybe contact) Australia or Asia with the new antenna – we’ll see. So far it appears to be functioning very well.
Weekend Wrap Up
I finally got the RadioWorks Carolina Windom 80 up in the trees! Again, a wonderful job done by the CSV19 Pneumatic Antenna Launcher. I used it four times, each time it performed perfectly.
The matching unit is up about 50′. I was able to put the 82′ leg over the house and tied off to a tree in the front yard. The 51′ leg went out the other direction tied off to a tree behind my backyard. Each leg is tied off at about 35′. Unfortunately, the antenna is not in a completely straight line from end to end, but I think its the best I’m going to get. So far I have noticed a lower noise level than my inverted vee. I participated in the MARS training net tonight and was able to hear all the stations very well. I also had a 20M USB QSO with Argentina and a 40M LSB with southern Florida.
I had a few CW QSOs Saturday night. I hoping to have a few tonight and test the new antenna a bit more.