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On Friday evening I was able to pull some radio time out of my hat and it was time to try my MFJ 1788 loop antenna on 17m. I was very happy with the results it was very easy to tune (SWR of 1.2.1) and the band width was decent so retuning was not needed most of the time. I operate QRP at 5 watts so having the antenna on the balcony, it also being a small loop antenna plus QRP it's a bonus when I contact some DX.  I first heard S59AA calling CQ at 18.078 and my first attempt was not heard and another station jumped in and made his contact. I threw my call in again and I was heard and given a 559 signal report.  Franc was located in Slovenia and was operating an Elecraft K3 he was also booming in. The time was 5pm local time and 17m seemed to be wide open to Europe so I decided to spin the dial and see what else the ham god's brought my way. I then made contact with HB9CVQ in Switzerland, again another bonus for my ham setup. I was given another 559 RST but again I am just fine with that. I emailed both S59AA and HB9CVQ to give them a  little more details of my station but most of all to thank them for sticking with me and passing along a 559 signal report. I did hear back from Andy HB9CVQ who passed along some info about his station as well and it too included an Elecraft K3 radio . I try to avoid using the spotting clusters as for this tiny station hopping over to a busy spot just does not end well. I did spin the dial for a final time and I came across KH2L in Guam! In the past I had tried to make contact with Edward as he booms into here and I was not able too. Friday was no different I dropped my call but it was not heard by KH2L.....oh well. It's now Saturday afternoon and the bands are in so so condition I ended up spending time writing this post with the radio cans on.

When I came home from work today there was a package in the mail for me, now this is not an unusual thing but I never ordered anything!! Holding the package and making my way back up to my condo apt I am old and do forget things but I was very sure I did not order anything. I opened the package and out came a very nice QSL card from DK7SN, DL9SCO and DL2BAT all hams from Palm Radio in Germany.  I have used their Palm paddle for years and without a doubt this is one of the best paddles I have ever used! I have used it with my Elecract KX1, K2 and KX3 radios and for those CW op's out there you understand when I say it's very smooth, adjustable to your fist and the dit's and dah's you ask of it are the only ones given to you….no more no less. Those of you out there that hit the trails (now that the summer is here) and are looking for not only a portable key but one that is compact and reliable the Palm needs to be seriously considered! It seems I have gone off on a tangent here and wondered away from the package I received.........it seems that the gents at Palm radio read my blog and read a comment I made about their cable that connects the Palm paddle to the rig. I said that it seemed it could become damaged easily and for that reason with my KX1 I made the cable attachment permanent. Well HAT'S OFF TO PALM RADIO the cable has been re-designed and  they sent me the new cable free of charge! What they improvements have been made you ask……..

Old cable on KX1

1. The new cable is thinner.
2. The new cable is more flexible.
3. The 3 pin connector ( the area of concern for me) now has an integrated strain relief.
4. The strain relief 3 pin plug is available on it's own so you can use your own cable to suit length.
5. A 3.5mm gold plated plug is added for a more reliable connection.

The new cable

All the new Palm Paddles I am informed now ship with this new cable. Julie and I on many occasions have had a conversation about success in business. Seems we have always come back to the same conclusion over and over again and that is CUSTOMER SERVICE! As hams we all know the companies that offer over the top customer service and those that fall short, it's not my place to mention those that fall short........Some of the companies that I have dealt with that offer fantastic customer service are Elecraft, DX engineering, N4PY software,Telepost, Alexloop, Begali keys and  A&A Engineering this is not an exhaustive list but the companies I have dealt with and had over the top service. Also added to the list is Palm paddles!




   

This weekend brought great weather and so it was out and about with Julie, but I did find some time for radio on Sunday evening. The bands were busy with contests and not wanting to get involved with them I skipped up to the QRP watering hole on 20m. I started calling CQ as I could not hear to much action. In a very short time W5TM came back to me and I was only 449 but it was a contact and that was good enough for me! Our QSO did not last to long as I was very much in and out I did send Edwin an email thanking him for the QSO. During my next CQ calling a G station came back to me but they were down in the mud. I switch on the APF and we did try over and over again to make contact but things just did not work out. It was pretty cool that my QRP signal was somewhat making it into "G" land. My last contact for the evening was with KA5KMS and this was a long QSO with a solid contact at both ends. Terry was running a Ten Tec Century 21at 25 watts into a dipole.  It was a good evening on the radio! They all were short QSO's but it will help keep me in the hobby, keep my code up and help me become more and more aquatinted with my rig. I have found that I can easily get lost in my ham programs, antenna issues and PC hiccups that involve radio. Bottom line it's great to put all that to the side and get on the radio and make some good old contacts.

LP-100 reading

I was on the air the other day using the MFJ loop and as I was trying to tune to the lowest SWR reading I noticed an odd thing happening! Available to me at the station are 3 separate points to view the SWR. I have the SWR reading on the K3, the LP-100 and the MFJ remote control for the loop antenna. While tuning the loop antenna I was able to get an SWR of 1.5.1 on 20m with the K3's meter this is a very decent reading. I had the same reading on the MFJ remote unit but the LP-100 was showing 2.08 SWR??? The way the meters read the SWR are as follows.....the K3 right at the radio, then the LP-100 and then the MFJ remote unit. Oh and in case you are wondering if I am SWR meter crazy, I have the LP-100 in the game plan as it also reads very accurate output power and when operating QRPp it comes in very handy. . as for the MFJ remote that just comes with the antenna package and is really used to adjust the antenna and I really don't rely on it's SWR meter. I have heard and read in the past that the remote MFJ meter should not be relied on to much. ANYWAY.............I am getting this odd reading on the LP-100 and it is on all bands that I get a differing reading from the other SWR meters. First thing that came to mind was faulty coax or faulty

K3 meter

LP-100. I bypassed the LP-100 ( I removed the LP-100 and attached the two PL-259 using a SO-259 coupling) using all the same coax that fed the LP-100 and there was no problem. I then setup the LP-100 on it's own, meaning out the K3 through the LP-100 into a dummy load and there was a perfect match. Then I simply removed the SO-259 coupling and added the LP-100 again....there was the funny SWR again. Not sure what is going on here. In my trouble shooting I tried the LP-100 on it's own into a dummy load and it worked fine. I then used all the same coax cables and bypassing the LP- 100 and all was fine. Therefore LP-100 is fine and cables are good??? Not sure what is going on here.

The waterlogged  PL-259

Well FINALLY I was able to get some radio time it has been so long and really there were no good reasons just what I call excuses!  On Saturday afternoon it was time to get some long over due radio time in. I ran my coax jumper  to the 1788 MFJ loop from my K3 radio, I settled into my radio chair and flipped the switch…..and……it was time for Murphy to visit me! With the MFJ loop you are supposed to tune the loop for peak noise and this was just not happening. I was getting numerous peaks but the SWR was all over the place! I thought about it for some time and after trying numerous ideas it finally hit me! I have a 6 foot coax tail on the loop and via a coupling I connect the coax from indoors. It was really raining the last few days and the balcony was very wet and "normally" my outdoor coax tail is in a plastic zip lock bag. This past rain storm was also accompanied with a strong wind and somehow the coax was removed from the bag and was in the water. I removed the coax and checked it with my ohm meter and it showed a high resistance between the centre conductor and shield. So it seems water has made it's way into the PL-259 connector and after installing a new piece of coax and doing some check with great results it was time for bed. My loop is supported by the MFJ tripod. I have a cover over the loop it to help disguise it and kinda makes it look like patio furniture. There is lots of wind being high up and on the lake so the cover has to be secured around the centre pole of the tripod. It's great that the antenna works perfect with a cover and with it secured as well I just want to come up with an easy way to connect and disconnect the coax from the antenna. I don't want to remove the cover or un-secure it from the centre pole. Any ideas from ham world would be approbated.

A shot of the balcony antenna open for suggestions.

It was time to take the plunge and load Windows 7 on my PC, there were up's and downs to both the preparation to the loading of Windows 7 and also during the loading of 7. I had an external hard drive and decided to use it to help out in the Windows 7 transformation.

Boy was I surprised to get this!

It was February 2013 and we just really finished unpacking all our boxes from the move into our new condo and I felt it was time to let some steam off and get on the radio. My new MFJ 1788 loop antenna had arrived and after some tweaking it was setup and ready to go. The ARRL DX CW contest was on and what a better way to give the antenna a workout! I blogged about my ARRL event and the use of the magnetic loop antenna. I was very pleased to see I was getting out and able to be a points giver in the contest. I was more concerned with checking out the MFJ's antennas performance from my condo location than taking the contest seriously. As a wise ham had told me long ago "always submit your contest score" and I did just that......last week a certificate came in the mail. It seems I was first place in Ontario south section for QRP!! No it's not top in the  country or world but for my condo station it was a great accomplishment. To think I was not even trying for an award.....maybe next year I will go for points and see how I do?