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The Mail Bag

February 3rd, 2013 |

I received two e-mails, that I’d like to share – the first is from Andreas, IZ3NYT:

“Hi dr om,

I built a new beacon on 30 meters, I would like your participation, I hope you have fun. receive the signal if I’d like your QSL card.
the frequency is 10139,2 khz cw wpm 8, power 100mw.

The layout and the pictures you can see on my site http://iz3nyt.altervista.org/.

73 de Andrea IZ3NYT”

Keep a listen out for Andreas’ beacon – this would be an excellent way to know if the band is open to Europe

The second e-mail was from Blaine KØONE, pointing me towards a new Website : MorseFusion.com. They are touting themselves as a new way to learn Morse Code:

“You begin by listening to a novel (over 20 available) spelled out in English (not in code). Then you select which letters, numbers, and punctuation marks you want to gradually start hearing in code. Proper character speed and word rate are maintained during all stages of training.”

and

“Throughout the learning process you focus your attention entirely on listening to a novel, NOT on learning Morse code. Learning takes place gradually and in the background.”

Interesting concept – but not cheap. A subscription of $19.95 per month is involved. But, if all other methods of learning the Morse Code have failed for you, this might be something you could look into.

I have to admit, the list of novels that have is intriguing. Classics such as “Pride and Prejudice”, “Moby Dick”, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (had to read that in High School) and books that are a bit more fun, such as “War of the Worlds” and “Tom Swift and his Wireless Message”.

The Tom Swift and Hardy Boys books were staples of my youth.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

80 Meter Fox hunt fun

January 31st, 2013 |

Author: Larry W2LJ

We had two very good QRP ops serving Fox duty tonight. Dave N1IX in New Hampshire and another Dave, AB9CA in Alabama. Double barrel Daves!

As the hunt began, my gut instinct was to listen for N1IX first. I mean, go figure, right? New Jersey to New Hampshire — 80 Meters — in the Winter and at night. No brainer, right?

Right! But even though Dave N1IX was a relatively easy catch, he wasn’t as loud as I thought he would be. I was expecting 599 or better. He ended up being 569/579 at best. But I did get his pelt in my bag, so it was off to hunt for Alabama Dave.

I found him, rather easily, also. However, his signal swung wildly. He was either 559 at best, or was completely in the mud. I ended up having to turn the K3’s AGC off so I could hear him decently. The static crashes did wonders for my bleeding ears!

Even though I was able to hear Dave AB9CA throughout, it seemed he just wasn’t hearing me. I kept switching between the HF9V, the W3EDP and the EDZ, but no matter which antenna, nothing seemed to be working. I was considering lighting a signal flare, but that would not have been Kosher.

And Dave must have been having receiving problems also. He went back to several stations, only to have them fade away on him, and forcing him to send them a “nil”. And he was also changing his listening frequency often, probably to get away from local QRM and QRN on his end. In all, it made for an interesting time.

But luck was on my side, and with about 15 minutes left in the hunt, Dave finally picked me out of the muck. Conditions were bad enough that I had to repeat my half of the exchange for him once. But in the end, I got a “TU”, so all’s well that ends well.

QRP – patience and perseverance DO pay off!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Rem K6BBQ flashes us

January 30th, 2013 |

Author: Larry W2LJ

Well, not really!

But as a reminder that this Saturday is Freeze Your Buns Off, he treats us to a flashback of the Flight of the Bumblebees from 2012.

Hey Rem …… how about a video of the Skeeter Hunt for 2013? (Hint, hint, hint, HINT!!!!!)

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

You call THIS clean ?!?

January 30th, 2013 |

Author: Larry W2LJ

Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.

Compared to what it was before, the W2LJ basement shack is now pretty organized. About a dozen large green garbage bags went out to the trash. Some was mine; but a lot was some ceramic pieces that I had been storing for my Mom for the last nine years after she moved out of our house and into her apartment. This shelf was totally filled with boxes of paints and ceramics – now it has radio and electronic items on it.

Those empty firelog boxes come in handy. One is holding various empty enclosures that I have collected over the years. The other has my collection of unfinished kits. I have to sort through those and see if there’s any that I want to sell. But parts tins, egg crates, rolls of wire and cable, cable ties, various parts and pieces all have a neat home now.

I have a relatively uncluttered operating space now; and my little tray table that I use for building is now uncluttered and very usable. The World Map is new (and slightly smaller than the ARRL one that I had) as is the MFJ LED clock hanging on the wall. My old Radio Shack one, which was about 20 years old was starting to lose some segments.

Down on the leg of the table is where I placed the new antenna switch. The old one was on the wall; and I always had to lean forward to make an antenna selection change. This is much better location now.

I would say that I am about 90% complete. I need to go to Harbor Freight this weekend and purchase another 40 drawer storage cabinet like you can see in the lower left of the very top picture. I have a lot of resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc that I have to sort, label and store. That will take a while; but at least I have a functional uncluttered shack in which to do it now.

Before I left the shack for the evening, I disconnected the antennas from the switch. It reached 65F here today; but tonight we are expecting thunderstorms, 2 inches of rain and very gusty winds (maybe up to 60 MPH). I don’t want to take the chance of either radio getting damaged.

73 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Happy Anniversary !!!

January 29th, 2013 |

Author: Larry W2LJ

I took the test for my Novice license in November of 1978. I received my ticket in the mail at the very end of December 1978. I remember that I was sitting, taking a break from my job at the camera store where I was working. We were having a post-Christmas sale and it had been a frantic day. My Mom had called to tell me that I had received the vaunted envelope from the FCC and that my call was KA2DOH. Between that time and my very first QSO, I was occupied with putting my station together.

For some reason, in my mind, I always remember my first QSO as having taken place on January 29th, 1979. But a look in Logbook Number One reveals the date as January 28th, 1979 – so the 34th anniversary of my very first QSO was yesterday!

As I recall, that was a Sunday afternoon and it was 2110 UTC, so that would have been 4:10 PM local time – yep, that’s just about right. And my victim ……. er, QSO partner was Adam KA9CIH.

As far as I can tell, Adam is no longer active or even licensed. KA9CIH doesn’t come up at QRZ.com, nor does it come up at N4MC’s Vanity Headquarters. A search on his name returns nothing, either.

From my log, I can see that was the only contact I made that day. I guess I was so petrified from that initial 20 minute QSO, that I didn’t go near the radio for the rest of the day!

The station in my bedroom at my parent’s house consisted of a Drake 2NT transmitter attached to a Globe VFO (by 1978, Novices were no longer constricted to being crystal controlled.) This used VFO had a cable coming out of it that had a crystal base soldered to it. So not knowing any better, I just plugged that into the 2NT’s crystal socket. I didn’t blow myself up and it worked! The Drake 2NT was my parent’s Christmas gift to me that year. They purchased it (under my direction, as a result of several well placed hints) from the used equipment list from Burghardt Amateur Supply.

My receiver was a Heathkit HR-1680, which I had bought and built myself. My camera store salary was allowing me to make “OK” money at the time. I wasn’t getting rich; but I was able to afford a few hobby items here and there. (Still ain’t rich to this day!) The purchase and construction of the HR-1680 was the reason for the month’s delay between receiving my ticket and actually getting on the air.

My antenna was a wire that stretched from my bedroom window to our unattached garage, ran through an insulator there, bent at a sharp angle and was anchored at another second story window on a different side of the house (imagine a slightly sloping horizontal “V”). I soldered a piece of coax to the end of the wire – center conductor to the “long wire” and the shield I connected to the cast iron radiator in my room. The radio end of the coax went to an MFJ tuner. I switched between the transmitter and receiver using a double throw knife switch. That this “Rube Goldberg” mash up worked was a miracle; and the fact that I made contacts at all was an even bigger miracle.

I worked all the Novice subbands available to me on 80, 40, 15 and 10 Meters. There were times that the old MFJ tuner would spark and hiss at me on 80; but I had a ball, anyway. To this day, I have the feeling that if I went back in time and saw that set up, knowing what I know now, I would probably shake my head and tell my younger self how crazy I was.

I look at my log and see how I logged EVERYTHING – unanswered CQs and all. But that was good because looking at it now brings back so many vivid memories. I upgraded from the 2NT a few months later to a Kenwood T599D after my Globe VFO crapped out. I had the Heathkit and Kenwood setup until I ordered and built my Heathkit SB-104A. I distinctly remember soldering SB-104A boards while watching the 1980 Winter Olympics on TV.

I upgraded to General on June 2nd of 1979. I’ll never forget THAT day. Somehow, the Morristown, NJ Club had gotten the FCC to come to their hamfest to give exams. I wasn’t about to miss the grand opportunity of taking my General test without having to travel to Manhattan, even though I was sick as a dog that day with about a 102 fever. And it was sweltering outside that day to boot, and to make matters worse, the hamfest and exams took place in the UN-air conditioned Morristown Armory. I was in no condition to drive; and somehow I wangled my sister into driving me, waiting for me and driving me back home. But in a strange way, I think being sick was a help, as I was feeling so lousy that I didn’t have the normal pre-test “jitters”. They graded the tests right then and there, and I was told I passed and was given the AG designator so that I could use my new privileges immediately.

I don’t have a copy of my Novice license; but I still have my General license.

Looking further at my log, I see that I made very few A3 QSOs after upgrading. I discovered the hard way, by the ire of my family, that SSB screwed up the TV – royally! I pretty much stayed with CW with only occasional “very late hours” phone QSOs. And I couldn’t stay up too late as I was a working man – so the overwhelming majority of my QSOs (roughly 95 -97%) have been CW since that original one back on January 28th, 1979.

Ahh ….. the sweet, sweet memories!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Waxing nostalgaic

January 25th, 2013 |

Author: Larry W2LJ

I posted the other day about the Novice sub bands and how a lot of us got our feet wet there and paid our dues there. There is a really great Website about the history of the Novice license. You can find it at the Novice Historical Society.

The Novice Class license was issued for a period of almost 50 years, from 1951 until 2000. There are a lot of good stories and photographs in there, and I’m sure if you entered the ranks as a Novice, you will enjoy what you see there. It will bring back a lot of memories, perhaps summed up the best by the following line (not sure right now which Ham said it):

“We didn’t know any better and we were having the time of our lives!”

A lot of names and calls of some prominent QRPers show up in the list there.

If you didn’t become a Ham as a Novice, you should go take a look see and read some really good stories to get a feel of what it was like.

On the other hand, if you WERE a Novice and you haven’t posted your Novice story – please consider doing so! The stories make for great reading and this truly was an era of Amateur Radio which will never be duplicated. It deserves to be preserved for posterity.

Oh, and while I’m talking about nostalgia, I got a link through K6MM’s Website – television commercials from the 1950s and 1960s. Take a look and see how many you can remember – I was able to recall quite a few!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

160 Meter fun

January 24th, 2013 |

Author: Larry W2LJ

Instead of chasing 80 Meter Foxes, I decided to make an effort in the NAQCC 160 Meter Sprint that was held tonight. Boy, am I glad I did!

Up until now, I really haven’t had anything that loaded up well on 160 Meters. When I had my G5RV, it would load on 160 Meters; but barely and you could sure tell the radio wasn’t happy about it.

The 88′ EDZ is about the same. It will load up on 160 Meters; but the autotuner in the K3 takes a painfully long time to achieve a match. And then, if you decide to change frequency – even just a hair, the autotuner begs to be re-tuned.

The W3EDP, however? I hit the autotune button and within what seems to be about a second and a half, I get a tiny little “BRRRRP” and a 1.1:1 match. And I can tune around quite a bit without the radio complaining. I know it’s not the ideal solution for 160 Meters; but it has allowed me to make more 160 Meter contacts in one night than I have in all my 34 years of operating combined. Seriously, before tonight, I think my total QSO count on 160 Meters was maybe 3 …. 4 – maybe 5 at most?

I made 17 contacts tonight, my best DX being North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana and Ontario. Not bad for 5 Watts to a compromise antenna, eh? OK, so the W3EDP won’t earn me WAS or DXCC on 160 Meters, but at least now I have another band I can go to when other bands seem dead.

And my good friend Charles W2SH sent me an e-mail the other day, informing me about a book soon to come out from the ARRL on 160 Meter antennas, specifically for those of us who are real estate challenged. That is a must buy for me once the NJ Hamfest season starts back up again in March.

73 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!