AmateurRadio.com

Have a look at the above picture and see if you can see an issue? I operate SO2V in contests now, and this shot was taken during the RAC Canada Day contest on July 1. Operating SO2V is new to me, and I am still getting used to things. If you are familiar with the Icom 7610, you may see the issue in the picture. 
Now that you have looked at the picture, let me tell you what I did.....Since I am new to SO2V, I have been trying to get used to VFO A sound in my left ear and VFO B in my right ear. At this time, I had been listening and operating on 15m but just had 20m up on the screen with no audio. Things started to pick up on 20m and drop off on 15m. I then pressed a key on my keyboard (Pause key), and this put me back on 20m and set up N1MM+ to log contacts on 20m. 

The odd thing was I was calling CQ contest on 20m for about 5 minutes and no answers. I could hear a noise floor, but I was not getting any replies to my CQ. Then it clicked, I looked at the radio and forgot to take VFO A off mute! The orange light you see in the picture on the main VFO AF/RF control means the audio is muted for the main VFO. I was hearing VFO B in my right ear but I did not click into that. Who knows how many ops called me, but I just could not hear them as the audio was muted. Live and learn, I guess.  

My Hustler 4BTV has now been up for 5 years and is serving me very well, I might add. I felt it was time to take it down and clean it. I know, as Murphy would have it timed that something went wrong and it would be the middle of winter on a very cold and windy day. The items I used were a wire brush to get inside the tubing to clean, 99% alcohol for cleaning and a roll of 3M 33+ tape. This tape has a good temperature range. Finally, a Scotch Brite pad....which I never ended up using. I had read online that it was great for cleaning the aluminum tubing....found out not so much. It has been retired to the kitchen for pots and pans. 

Top of spider arm

Bottom of spider arm

Example of clean trap

Damaged spider arm

Inside tubing

Base section before cleaning

 This weekend was the running of the ARRL Field Day event. For some they get out into the elements and set up an emergency-type station. Both individuals and clubs take part all over Canada and the U.S. There is a category for home stations on mains power....that was my preferred setup. This year the solar conditions were a bit of a challenge which involved considerable fading. I find that during ARRL Field Day when calling CQ FD I had to really listen for stations. There were many QRP stations, those using minimal antenna setup and then the good old poor solar conditions. I found many stations coming back to me just at the noise floor. I entered CW only at 100 watts from my home station and to the noise floor stations who were running who knows what I could be booming into them. I wanted to make every effort to make the contact. It was a good workout of skill. Below is the final score I did pull the plug a bit early as I found myself just calling CQ FD without any responses. 

My 10m sweep

My Hustler 4BTV has now been up to 5 years and I was thinking it was due time to take it down and give it a good cleaning. Before I do that I wanted to take a baseline SWR of each band and see if the SWR changes after the cleaning. I used my NanoVNA to take the SWR readings and in my opinion, my 15m readings looked a bit odd. I have posted a sweep of 10m and then 15m and you can see the large spikes in the 15m readings. I am not sure why this is and I am searching for some input. 

15m sweep

what is your shack monitor real estate? For many of us, our hobbies and computers are intertwined, there are many programs out there that can enrich our radio experience. As we indulge in programs I find the monitor real estate becomes a bit crowed. Sure you can put things in the taskbar until needed again and I did this but then the taskbar became a bit crowded. 

As I became more involved in contesting I found I needed more programs running as well needed to see them up close and personal on not taskbar jumping. Also many modern transceivers today have a monitor-out option, which is nice and allows a larger view of the waterfall. But that is another monitor that is needed just for this option. Now a basic setup is two monitors. In my case, I have one monitor for the Icom 7610, 2 monitors for my PC and one monitor for Ham Clock running on a Pi 3. Some may think that two monitors for your PC is a bit excessive and there are some very large monitors one can easily fit everything into. I find these monitors to be pricey and I found 2 Samsung 24-inch monitors for 1/2 the price of a very large PC monitor. 

The part of the hobby I really enjoy is contesting and 2 monitors allow me to comfortably have Win4icom radio control program running, N1MM+ logger, VFO A and B waterfalls working ( as I operate SO2V) and finally an open window of Firefox as well. My second monitor looks after N1MM+ VFO B logging window and VFO B waterfall along with the open Firefox window. This monitor is on my right, I also have my external VFO B RC-28 knob on my right as well. This way everything to do with VFO B is on my right. Therefore when I look to the right it's all about VFOB.  I use Firefox to monitor live contest scoring, reverse beacon network and during slow times look up contesters I worked on QRZ.COM to learn about them. The final monitor looks after Ham Clock and I mainly use that for the solar conditions as well as which bands are open for me as Ham Clock has VOACAP on it.. For example, if I am taking part in a German, North American or Spain contest I setup the a VOACAP in the country or continent I am working and I get informed about the open and closed bands between them and my location. Elwood does a great job at updating this program and it is well worth adding it to your station's software. 

Finally, all my monitors are on swivel arms so they can be adjusted to my liking. Because I spend a lot of time in front of the screens I like to have the most commonly used ones at eye level and my left and right monitors set up so that my head does not have to move just my eyes. For me the less neck movement the better over the long-term contesting adventures. The Ham clock monitor is the only one up high and I only check that screen now and then. 
So what does your monitor real estate look like?

My "thing" in amateur radio is contesting and more specifically CW contesting. With most contesting programs the F keys on your keyboard are used for sending specific macros. Macros are stored messages and can be edited to do many things. Such as sending your call sign, sending an exchange and so on. As well as the F keys certain contesting programs also have keyboard combinations that do certain things and finally single keyboard keys that also perform a contesting function. During the heat of a contest, I have now and then hit between the keys on my keyboard and sometimes it so happens to be a key combo for my N1MM+ contesting program. All of a sudden I have no volume, switched VFO's and so on, it does not put me in my happy place. 

Above is a picture of my Lenovo full-sized preferred pro 2 keyboard. This is a mechanical key system I have tried many keyboards and this type for me is the best. It's not too sensitive as to when my fingers are resting on the keys I am not accidentally typing letters in the N1MM+ call window. I have tried the small keyboards but I find I am not able to fly along at a nice speed. I like this keyboard so much that I purchased a second one just in case this one fails.  My luck it would be discontinued when I wanted to purchase another one.  

Let's have a closer look at the macro setup, shall we? The keys at the top left to right are:

STOP which does just that, if I want the rig to stop sending a macro I hit that key. Reasons for this might be when I am searching and pouncing I start to send my call and because my radio is set to full break in I may hear 4 or more other powerful stations calling as well. I just hit stop as at 100 watts I am wasting my time. Also if my exchange is asked to be sent again I may hit the "X" twice and since I am in full break in or QSK as it is called I may hear the station send "TU" after the first repeat and then hit stop. 

CQ is self-explanatory, it's my calling CQ contest macro. 

X is short for contest exchange. 

TU again simple as a good Canadian I am always saying TU.    

VE9 is my call sign and used to send when I am doing search and pounce. 

HIS this will send the station call sign I have entered in the call box of N1MM+. What I use it for is while running if I copy a partial call only this will send the partial call sign. 

MYNR with most all contests you send 599 or 5NN for CW and then there is the unique part of the exchange such as a serial number, province, age, member number and so on. This key will send the unique part of the exchange if the other station asks for a repeat. 

RUN This key is used when I am searching and pouncing and then I want to start running (calling CQ contest) I hit this key and N1MM+ goes from search and pounce mode to running mode. 

TEST this macro will just send "TEST VE9KK" generally, I do this to identify just after a pileup. There may be some op's waiting to contact me but have no idea what my call is. 

?? very straightforward forward this just sends out a question mark. 

LOG this is an interesting one. I have found in the past using ESM (Enter sends message)  when I have been operating search and pounce it can get confused. For example, I find a station calling "CQ CONTEST" I then hit the ENTER key and the first ESM message is sent (my call). If the station answers another call I then have to send my my call again. I now go to the VE9 macro key and only part of my call is recognized, again I go to the VE9 key. Next is my exchange I have hit the ENTER key for the next ESM message (my exchange). At times my call has been sent or the station gets logged which would be the 3rd ESM function. To avoid confusion I use the X key to send the exchange. Next, I use the LOG macro key to log the contact. 

R this macro simply sends the letter "R" when a confirmation is needed. 

W this macro is a wipe function, when you hit this key it removes information. It can remove a call or exchange very fast so you can start over. 

You may have noticed some of the macro keys are yellow and others white. This was intentional, the yellow keys are used for running and the white generally for search and pounce. Also, there are two green dots above and below the "MYNR" key. At times either during search and pounce or running I will need to repeat the main part of the exchange such as a number. This is done most times in the heat of the moment and the green dots call my attention to the key right away without having to look or think about it. 

The pause/break key (top right key) has a blue dot on it. This key is used when operating SO2V and this blue dot key when pressed will swap to the functioning VFO. Pressing this key will switch to the opposite VFO both transmit and receive switch. The blue dot is for fast identification. 

The numbers keys with the green and red dots are my CW speed increase and decrease keys. Green to increase speed and red to decrease speed. 

Finally the yellow dots are a key combination, when you first press the ALT + W keys you mute the sub-receiver. I have to be honest here I seldom use this key combo, using the Icom 7610 it is very simple to mute either receiver. There is a volume knob for each receiver and if you push the knob you silence that receiver. I use this as it is very fast and simple But I still have to learn to remember to unmute. I have in the past wondered why a certain receiver is so quiet and it is my error as it is still muted. I will be removing the yellow dots and the label "mutsub". 

That is my contest keyboard setup, leave a comment if you have anything to all or what your keyboard functions are.

As those who frequently read my blog you know I am into CW contesting big time and enjoy it. This past week I thought it was time to change up my CW contesting routine. It was due time to dip my toes into single operator 2 VFO operation or as it is known in the contesting world SO2V. In a nutshell, you have VFO-A audio in one ear (left in my case) and VFO-B audio in the other (right). With my Icom 7610 can have each VFO on the same or different bands. The contesting software N1MM+ is great for this type of operation, it incorporates many keyboard shortcuts. For example, once N1MM+ is configured for SO2V by just hitting the pause button on the keyboard you can jump back and forth from VFO A to B and the other way around. 

Next is to learn about your contest software when using it for SO2V mode. What are the keyboard shortcuts, and options available to you such as 2 waterfall displays, your qso entry windows may have visual indicators that give you needed information and what program window options do you need to be displayed as some may just be a distraction. 

Some operation goals to work on before trying CW SO2V and I say CW as that is all I do. I have mentioned this one in the past and that is learn to type and not hunt and peck. There are many programs out there now that can help you to learn how to type. The advantage to this is your eyes are not taken off the PC screen as you type a call sign. Both in SO1V and SO2V and more so with SO2V as you have a lot more going on at once at times. Also in time learn without looking where your macro keys are for the common parts of an exchange. In N1MM+ sure you have ESM BUT things don't always work out as 1,2,3 in a contest contact. I have made it a point to know CQ, exchange, my call, His call, exchange repeat and the wipe macro keys where they are without looking at the keyboard. Also, work on your pileup skills and Morse Runner PC program is a good start. No, you may not have a pile-up but with SO2V you may hear 2 signals (VFO-A and VFO-B) you have to learn to tune out one signal to hear the other. Sounds weird I know but it can be done over time with pileup contest software practice. 

How did my first couple of SO2V adventures go you ask? Not to overwhelm myself I started this adventure while operating the Monday Medium speed or MST (25 wpm max) mini 1-hour contest. Some of the blunders were:

At times forgetting which ear was which VFO.

Hear a contact calling on VFO-B and call them but forget to change to that VFO.

 Spin the wrong VFO as I have an external VFO (RC-28) and my habit is to always turn the main VFO.

 Working a contact on VFO-B and out of the blue a strong station on VFO-A (my left ear) starts to call CQ test. 

Then I gave the CWops mini contest a go on Wednesday! This mini-contest is another whole ball of wax. The speed is much faster and there are a lot more stations. At first, I just did search and pounce until I got my bearings and then I started to call "CQ CWT" and that is when the fun began. 

My goal with SO2V is to have fun, work my brain, and better my skills and it really does make the time fly by as you are constantly doing, thinking or looking at something.