Author: shedberg

Lunchtime CW QSO!!

I had a nice, short (very short) lunchtime CW QSO with Rik, KB1BIC. Rik answered my very last CQ on 40M and I had to cut the QSO short in order to get back to work. I was easily able to copy Rik’s fist, very smooth and steady… just the right speed. We were only able to exchange callsigns, RST reports (I gave him a 589, he gave me a 579), names, and QTHs (he is in Ludlow, MA) before I had to say 73. I wish the QSO could have gone longer – it is such a great feeling to be able to get 100% copy on a CW QSO! Gives me hope I can keep improving my speed.

Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Event

On Friday, October 6th from 1900utc until 2200utc or so look for Polar Bears on the air! Yes we bears will hike, drive etc to the top of the local terrain and operate our qrp rigs. We call this a Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Event or PBMME. We do this only during or near a full moon every month from October to March. We presently have 37 Polar Bears in over six states and two countries so look for the US and Canadian PBs on the air this Friday!


The EPA QRP Club sponsors this nice event.
http://n3epa.org/

Every Polar Bear has a PB# so ask for his number too. This isn’t a contest, but just a FUN event. It’s a nice way to get to know other hams too.

If you want to bag a bear, look around the QRP frequencies of 3.5060, 7.040, 10.106, 14.060 and 21.060mhz.

Be the first to work WA3WSJ and I’ll send you a very nice Two Dollar Canadian Polar Bear Coin! You can look at the coin on my Polar Bear Website at http://www.wa3wsj.com/files/PolarBear2006.html

Be sure to look in the scrolling picture header at the top of the page.

72,
Ed, WA3WSJ
PB #2

October CQ Magazine


Got the new issue of CQ Magazine. Really enjoyed the article Revisiting My Roots: or “I have a radio; forget the price” by Bob Locher, W9KNI. I always enjoy the articles of Dave Ingram, K4TWJ. He’s got two in this issue, ones a product review and the other is on QRP.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Finally put the CSV19 Pneumatic Antenna Launcher into action. The objective was to drop the four 10′ PVC pipe sections that supported the center point of my B&W inverted vee and replace it with a heavy duty rope supported by the upper sections of a pine tree in the back yard.

I pumped up the launcher to 70psi, loaded the ball, launched it almost straight up. I fired the tennis ball up over some tree branches at about 60′. The ball went up, cleared the branches and easily came down the other side. I attached some heavier line to the far end line and pulled it up and over the branch. I pulled down the PVC and attached the center point to heavy duty rope. I then pulled the center point back up. The launcher worked great and my next step will be to raise the end points from 10′ to 20’…. which will allow me to then raise the center point a few more feet.


I had two 20M SSB QSOs: a station in the British Virgin Islands that gave me a 59 and a station in Italy that gave me a 57. I’m pretty comfortable that my antenna is working at least as well as it was before I made the changes.

NC and TX

Had two CW QSOs last night. The first was on 80M with WA4BNO from Charlotte, NC. The second was with N5PIR, John. I didn’t get very good copy from the QSO, but QRZ.com says John is from San Antonio, TX. Both the 40M and 80M bands seemed to be open last night. I heard pileups for a South African station and a Swedish station.

Carolinas Slow Net (CSN)

http://home.carolina.rr.com/w4eat/csn.html

The Carolinas Slow Net is a bi-section NTS net. It serves North and South Carolina.

Purpose: Traffic handling and training in North Carolina and South Carolina
Mode: CW 8 to 10 WPM
Frequency: 3695 kHz
Time: 2000 ET Daily
Net Manager: W4EAT Carl Starnes
PO Box 188
Stanfield NC 28163
704-888-4815
E-mail: cstarnes3@carolina.rr.com

Portable logging using Palm Pilot

Some advise from Larry, W2LJ: http://w2lj.blogspot.com/

I use QSO Diary by Ray Goff G4FON. It’s freeware and it works really well for me. Whenever you do a hot synch it backs up into a log you can view on your computer screen. While doing this, you can export your QSO Diary information as an ADIF file to whatever log program you normally use.

I have an accessory Palm keyboard; but I never use it. QSO Diary is easy enough to use with the stylus. I must admit that I never really tried this under contest conditions. I’ve been told that for contesting, there is an excellent program called Go Log. It’s not free, however; I guess I’m just cheap!

Here’s a good URL for Ham related Palm programs:

http://www.qsl.net/va3pkh/palm-ham.html

and here’s the URL for Go Log:

http://home.earthlink.net/~david.ek/golog/

73 de Larry W2LJ

TOEC WW Grid Contest

— CW, sponsored by the Top of Europe Contesters (TOEC) from 1200Z Sep 30-1200Z Oct 1. Frequencies: 160-10 meters. Categories: SO (no packet) -AB, -SB, LP-AB, QRP-AB), MS (10 min band change rule), MM, Mobile (SOAB) — work mobiles from each grid field (i.e., JP, KO, EM). Exchange: RST + grid square, i.e., JP73 (log must show all grid fields activated). QSO Points: own continent — 1 pt, other cont — 3 pts, QSOs with mobiles — 3 pts. Score: QSO points × two-letter grid fields. For more information: www.sk3bg.se/contest/toecwwgc.htm. Logs due 30 days after the contest to contest@toec.net or to TOEC, Box 178, SE-83122 Ostersund, Sweden.

Arkansas QSO Party

— CW/SSB/PSK31, sponsored by K1ARK, from 1600Z Sep 30-0600Z Oct 1 and 1800Z Oct 1-0200Z Oct 2. Frequencies (MHz): CW — 50 kHz above band edge; Phone — 3.980, 7.260, 14.260, 21.360, 28.360, 145-147; PSK — 3.580, 7.070, 14.070, 21.080, 28.120. Categories: SO and MS (HP/LP, QRP, Mixed, CW, Phone), Mobile, PSK. Work mobiles in each county. Exchange: RST, state or province, DX stations send DX, Arkansas stations send county. QSO points: PSK — 3 pts, CW — 2 pts, SSB — 1 pt. Score: QSO points × AR counties (AR station count states, provinces and AR counties). For bonus points and more information: www.arkan.us. Logs due 30 days after the contest to k1ark@arrl.net or to Bill Smith, K1ARK, 3032 Strawberry Dr, Fayetteville, AR, 72703.