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No room for Oliver on the old desk

The new desk twice the size

The first half of August sure has been busy around the shack here, not busy with on air time but with getting things done. I have built the A A Engineering smart battery charger for my Elecraft K2. I will be posting the build in the near future. On this project for the first time the during the "smoke test" I actually had SMOKE!!! With kits I have found some of the final check out testing is what I call "destructive" testing as opposed to non destructive testing. Going to a destructive testing  with the Smart battery charger post. One of the kits I built just a short while ago was the QRPometer and it did not have a case...well it does now and that too is going to be another post. I am really not finished with that case yet. I was at the
electronics store the other day (picking up parts as a result of a destructive test going wrong) and saw a neat 9 volt battery holder I am going to add to the QRPometer case. I also have sold all of my items that were up for sale and I have the funds to order my Elecraft KX3. It's not going to be here until  October but that will give me time to read the manual and set up a place for the radio. While on that topic with some of my funds I went online to Ikea and purchased a much needed larger table for my kit building. The old desk was just way to small and things were falling off. The old table was actually a computer desk and it now is off to the side in my shack with an  iMac (27 inch screen) one that Julie donated to me!!! So the new Elecraft KX3 is going to run on Mac software.

iMac waiting for the KX3

F8DGY's antenna

The on air time has been very limited as having to get things done around the house and shack the rig really has not been turned on. I did manage to get some radio time in late last week in the evening. I heard clear as a bell Chris F8DGY calling CQ on 20m. I dropped the K3's power down to 500mW's and gave him a go. He came right back to me with a 579 report. It was a fast exchange and he was off answering others. For me that that a 7,597 miles per watt contact.

Packing up for the contest

I took part in the first annual Skeeter contest sponsored by the NJQRP club the first years theme was to go to  your favorate outdoor operating place and get involved with the contest. Well up this way the weather was not looking like it was going to co-operate. My fav place to operate was out in the open and very vulnerable to the weather....namely rain!! I decided to head out to a location that offered some trees as

The weather to look forward too

shelter just in case of a sprinkle, as for a down pour my car was beside me and the rest of the contest could be finished from there. I was using my Elecract K2 and this by the way this was the first contest  this rig has ever done as battery powered. My key was the Mini Palm Paddle which by the way worked great!! My antennas were mono band mobile whips on the back of my car. I operated QRP at 5 watts Oh and the K2's battery lasted for 4.5 hours at 5
watts with me calling CQ and not searching and pouncing.
The weather was a mixed bag from nice sunny skies (very rare) to very threatening overcast that did let go

The setup...with a bit of rare sunshine

with rain at times.Over the last month the temperatures have been in the upper 30's and low 40C...today it was nice and cool almost to the point of putting on a long sleeve shirt (which was used to cover the rig during light rain). The location I chose was about 15 minutes from my home and offered a pic-nick table, trees and what I consider a luxury when operating out and about a portable washroom!! The bands were busy with not only the Skeeter contest but the WAE contest as well. I did have some European stations involved in the WAE contest respond to my "CQ Buzz contest" Thats ok they gave me their report and serial and  I asked for their power output and then they moved on this made it a skeeter contact....I believe anyway???

Covering for rain drizzle

I confined my operating to 20m as it seemed to be a "buzz" with skeeters but at 14.060 for some time there was some SSB going on, not sure if anyone else heard it but they were there right on the CW QRP calling frequency. While calling CQ I did have someone come back to me at the same time a passer by asked me what I was doing and showed an interest in ham radio. So I sacrificed the contact for taking time to talk with this gentleman about the hobby. So if your reading this blog I was not ignoring you just had to promote the hobby.....:). I had to end the contest around 4:40 as the Elecract K2 was telling me that the battery is getting to the point of no return so it was time to shut things down.

When it really rained

I made in total 19 contacts including DJ5AV from Germany and YU2A from Serbia. 12 of  the contacts were fellow Skeeters as they had Skeeter numbers. One contact was just an average QRP op not in the contest but wanted to know what he had to give me as an exchange so he could count in the log. Over all I had a great time even though the weather was touch and go at times.

Finally...a must have!!!

See all you Skeeters next year!!!

KPA3 cover plate

Those who are regular readers of this blog know I have all Elecraft equipment and enjoy it very much. My Elecraft K3 was purchased with the 100 watt module (KPA3) and up to this point it has been sitting in the rig and just adding weight. The other week it was decided to unload some unused gear then put these funds together for the purchase of the Elecraft KX3. One of the items on the selling block was the KPA3 unit. When the KPA3 is removed from the radio there is a  hole in the rear of the radio were the cooling fans were located. Elecraft sells a plate (6 x 2 3/4 inch aluminum plate)  that covers the hole. I called up and placed an order, the cost of the plate was 20.37. A little expensive I thought but what are you going to do. Ten days later the plate
arrived looking at the bill  the plate cost 20.37 and the shipping was 10.00!!!

Opening when fans are removed

Plastic plugs

 This is half the cost of the plate. The package weighted ONE OUNCE  and was shipped parcel rate. To add insult to injury the plate has a hole labeled "ANT 3". I believe this is for the 2m  antenna out port .........if you have the 2m module!!!! Anyway I had to drive to the local electronics store to buy the plastic plug. They came in a package of 2 for forty nine cents. You know what Elecraft throw in the plastic plug and add one dollar to the cost. Back to the shipping rant........  my Elecraft KX3 according to Elecraft weights in at 1.4 LBS and lets knock that up to 1.6 pounds when you add in the shipping box, packing material,manual and bill. The cost for shipping me my KX3 is 48.00 dollars and that is more reasonable and understandable. TEN DOLLARS TO SHIP A 1 OUNCE PACKAGE.....COME ON ELECRAFT !!!!

During the NAQP CW contest

In Canada Monday is a civic holiday.....translation...LONG WEEKEND!!! The weather has been a mixed bag of sun, heat and thunderstorms with heavy rain storms. On Friday a package arrived for me from A&A Engineering. My Elecraft K2 is outfitted with the the internal rechargeable battery. A&A Engineering offers a great charger called a smart charger it's combo 1amp swithchable to .05amp charger. Of coarse I ordered it as a kit and I am looking forward to building it in the near future. So there will be more on the charger when the build happens this thing is great and can really extend the life of your rechargeable batteries.




On Saturday I took part in the NAQP CW contest. It was this day and mostly early evening and evening that the thunder and lightening storms came my way. This limited my on air time in the contest.  I entered as QRP at 5 watts and was going to lower the power into the mW range but the conditions would not allow it. I was having a hard enough time making contacts with 5 watts.

First time it has been blank

 I decided to take the plunge and purchase the Elecraft KX3 my previous post talks about selling off gear for funds BUT the great news is all but two (very minor) items have been sold. I was able this afternoon to call Elecraft and place my order for the KX3. Along the radio the optioned I ordered were the KXFL3 dual-Passband Roofing Filter, KXAT3 Internal, 20-W Automatic Antenna Tuner, KXPD3 Precision Iambic Keyer Paddle and the KXBC3 Internal NiMH Charger with Real-Time Clock. The wait time for this rig is anywhere from 60 to 90 days. 
 So that is how the weekend more or less went here at VE3WDM!!

I was planning on spending some time this weekend participating in IOTA contest...but...I got called into work and by the time I got home and settled in I was only able to put in about an hour toward the contest. This is the first time I had taken part in the contest and was surprised at the turn out, this is a very busy contest for sure. I had hoped to add to my DXCC count by taking advantage of some of the rare islands. I did hear lots of rare DX but that was as far as it got to making any sort of contact. I found the bands to be so so there was an M6 flare along with an R2 radio black out that did not help out conditions. Despite the conditions I was able to make 8 contacts.
On all my contacts I tried with the lowest power possible and worked my way up until I made contact. If  I was at full output (5 watts) and still could not make contact it was time to move along.

Pile up for CY9M on my P3

I have been a ham for some time now but there are some things I just have not done as of yet......I can now cross off one more "not done thing" and make it DONE!! To some this may be old hack and you have done it hundreds of times. I was on the radio on the weekend and I heard VP2MUQ down in Montserrat, this is not a new DXCC for me but I did notice here was operating split (transmitting on one frequency and receiving on another). I had two strikes against me before I even gave Bob (VP2MUQ) an attempt. He had a large pileup and he was operating split. Up to this point in my have carrier I have never been able to make a contact when the station was operating split. It made me wonder if I was doing the split thing  right or wrong. I had tried many times in the past but was not able to make contact with ANY op using split. Well on July 21 2012 that all came to an end. I setup the offset for the split (the split according to a spot on a cluster) and gave it a go.....nothing.....but there was a large pileup so I gave it a couple more goes. Then at 01:15 UTC VP2MUQ came back to me and before you know it I worked my first split. Well that's it for the post not very exciting to some but to me it was GREAT!! I now know I have been doing the split thing correctly all along. Another item stroked off the ham bucket list.