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The K3 just stopped!

This weekend I hooked up the Elecraft k3 as it was all disconnected when we had the house painted as it had to be moved for safe keeping. I wanted to make sure it still worked with all the computer software and the Alexloop. Software can be a very funny thing in that you really don't have to do anything and for some strange reason it just stops working! I am happy to report that all between the PC and Elecraft K3 is working well.

There was one heart stopping moment, it was during a tuning session of  the Alexloop and the rig. I tuned the Alexloop for max receive I then hit the tune button on the K3 with the power on 3 watts the SWR was around 3.1 to 1 so some fine tuning was needed. As I tuned the Alexloop the SWR did a sharp rise and the rig powered off!! I waited for a moment and tried to power the K3 on again and NOTHING! I then checked the incoming power and it was dead. Well I thought better the Astron 20 amp supply taking a hit than the K3. Looking at the Astron supply the lights were on and 13.8 volts was showing on the meter. As I narrowed things down it was a fuse on the power bar that the Astron feeds power to. The K3 was fused at 1 amp at the power bar and not 5 amps and the fuse on the power bar went. After the proper fuse was installed all was well again.

Blown fuse

Last week I was able to purchase for a GREAT price a used very large roll top desk and this is going to be the desk that I use for the radio setup when we move to the condo. Not sure what I am going to do with my 3 monitor setup as it's great having all three. There seems at this point to be room for one monitor and all the radio gear. Whats great about the roll top once  your done all the radio equipment hides away into a nice oak desk. At this point I am brain storming on how to incorporate the other two monitors???
As for radio time Saturday was spent getting the K3 setup and my heart restarted when it powered down. There was a contest going on so the band were very busy but it did give me a change to see how Skimmer works under a contest situation. I can see how this piece of software will give my limited size station some advantages. The picture below is what sold me on the desk, the keyboard tray and the two pull outs.

The temp antenna and op position

Well the weekend is done and I had Monday off so what a better time to turn on the KX3 and see what is happening out in radio land. I have been reading on Twitter how well 10m is doing so this was my first stop. The antenna is the Alexloop now positioned in my second floor radio room and not on the main floor. With my 5 watts of power I was able to make contact with CO8LY and CO2OQ both in Cuba! CO8LY was at 28019 calling CQ and had a mini pileup going I I waited and was able to make contact with a 599 report. He then moved onto the next station. I then came across CO2OQ at 28032 he was just ending a QSO and I gave him a call. Osmany came back to me but needed several repeats to get my call correct. His report to me was 229 but he was still able to pick me out to have a short QSO with  me. He was in and out but steady around 559. It would seem that 10m is still open and ready for biz. This was all the time I had as it was time to head out and see my Chiropractor and then off to the grocery store. If time permits I will be back on the air this evening after dinner but there are other things that have to be done now.

SWR 1.1:1, power 5 watts and memory CQ message

With getting most if not all of my "to do list" done it was time once again to swing the Alexloop into action and have a nice late afternoon of ham radio and relaxation. Setting up the loop has become faster for me I'm getting the hang of the in's and outs of the loop. I also am able to tune the loop in less than 20 seconds and be up and running on different band segments. The SWR is anywhere from flat to 1.7:1 and the band width is very good and retuning is not needed unless 20 khz changes are needed. This weekend the Worked all Germany CW contest was going on so I wanted to be a point giver for the contest. With 5 watts, my KX3 and the Alexloop in the living room I was able to contact the following  all on 20m:

DK1NO
DK9PY
DR4A
LX/DF1LON

  I did try dropping the power lower than 5 watts but is was just not doing the trick. I then was on 30m and WA3SCM Dave was calling CQ. I came back to him using 5

Time to recharge the battery

watts. I was at times in and out with Dave but he was in P.A and that's off the backside of my loop antenna. Dave was running a long wire with 100 watts and all was going well until my KX3's batteries decided to die! The KX3 just shut down and my lesson was learned in that I should be monitoring the voltage on the KX3 (via it's display) and I would had known it was due time to change over to my external battery supply. I did go upstairs and get the extra battery but it was too late as Dave was gone. I did email him and explained what happened and on Sunday he emailed me back. He was wondering where I had gotten to and did tell me that he was very interested in the Alexloop as he has worked with lots of different types of loop antennas.
I was able to spend some time on the radio today (Sunday) and I again tried 10m to see what was happening.....it turned out that 10m was good to me today. I was only able to make 2 contacts but they were sweet ones!

IS0GQX from Sardinia
MD0CCE from Isle of Man

I was shocked at both these contacts two very nice and sometimes rare areas and I did both in one day! If I get the time this evening I will try some more radio time but if I don't get around to it I am very happy with the two contacts I did make today.   

Things around the house are slowly getting packed away but the ham radio bug still bites. It's true what they say....."you don't know how much you miss something until it's gone.....or semi packed away" Ham radio is not gone from VE3WDM, the antenna may be sold and gone, coax all rolled up and boxed. The Elecraft K3 sits idle at the desk but all is not lost as the KX3 and Alexloop are calling my name!! On Saturday once our Thanksgiving preparations  were going smooth...the turkey was in the oven and the side dishes were slowly cooking it was time to feast on some missed ham radio time. The night before, I charged the batteries in the KX3 having them ready to go if the opportunity came about. It did on Saturday afternoon so I setup the Alexloop in the living room and fired up the KX3. It sure was nice to hear some atmospheric noise and even the woodpecker QRN from some offending appliance was ok as well. (the KX3's NB and NR took care of any offending interference)
I had been reading about some hot openings on 10m's from some of my blog buddies but I found 10m to be dead. I ended up hanging around 20m at the QRP watering hole. My power was reduced from it's normal 5 watts to 3 watts. Julie was on her Mac beside me and since our living room TV had been sold it was a Sony boom box radio entertaining her with tunes. The Sony radio along with it's antenna was only 10 feet from the Alexloop anymore power than 3 watts could be heard over the radio. The way Julie see's it CW is NOT music to the ears and it's much better to be on the radio and have Julie happy thus down went the power.
As for contacts I only made 2 short contacts as I did not have much time and was up and down checking on dinner. I was able to make it into Utah to WA7LNW and N3PDT in Missouri, not much but from the ground floor, indoor antenna and 3 watts I was happy with the contacts. I kept tabs on my signal using the Reverse Beacon Network and it showed only U.S stations were copying my signal. I was on again Monday evening and could hear PV8ADI from Brazil at S8 but I was not able to make contact with him.
The KX3 now is resting on the radio desk and the Alexloop is away in it's carry case until next time. I was please to get this short radio time in and the results were pretty good as well.

As I sit here in the "shack", "radio room" "man cave" it's hard to fathom downsizing also includes the radio room. So what kind of changes am I in for....? The "I love me wall" with all the paper is now going to become the "I love me book", as there is no wall space. The operating desk with 3 monitors and the rigs and "stuff" all spread out is moving to a roll top desk with much less space. My attic fan dipole ( which is down and sold) is now changing to..........well I'm not sure yet.  There is the other part of the hobby I love, the kit building. I have an Elecraft K2 on the go and as I look over my shoulder at my setup for kit building that is going to have to go. I am going to have to use the roll top for double duty. So one may wonder if I am a depressed ham.......NOT AT ALL. It's exciting times here at VE3WDM for sure and I look forward to the challenge!

You know what folks, me and my family have our health which is HUGE to me! Overall we are not doing bad at all so the real big picture is not what is going to happen to ham radio..... that will always be there just in a different way. Each night I watch the news and peoples lives change in ways I could never imagine or handle. As for me my little world it's just a change in ham radio and that is just plane old peanuts!

I HATE painting..so we hired a painter

There has not been very much radio time here and I sure do miss the hobby time! I have been removing wall paper, painting.....well we have decided to hire a painter for the job as I HATE painting and take way to long to get it done. For me it would take about 4-6 days to get the job done. The painter is coming next Friday and ONE day and it's done.  Because we are downsizing to a condo it also means that certain things in the shack have to be downs sized as well. I have sold my DX-EE antenna, H-800 receiving antenna, LDG 6 position antenna

Getting ready to take the sub out

switch and my beloved sub-receiver in my Elecraft K3. The sale of these items netted me around 1,000 and will help with the new challenge of an antenna for the condo. Well now lets talk about the up and coming condo shack! There are going to be challenges but also some advantages as well. I am excited that this will still be a QRP shack and antenna challenged....BUT....I will have more height than I have ever had in the past and that is a huge plus!! Now that I will be in the city I am also going to have more noise trouble. This will for sure give my MFJ noise cancelling uint a workout.  We will have a balcony, in the summer will be great for sitting out and using the KX3 with
and at this point I am not sure if I want to have an antenna out on the balcony or not (like the MFJ magnetic loop antenna) I would like to have an antenna in the radio room and not outside as condo's are not antenna

The Sub is gone...:(

Room prepped for painting

friendly and it being outside the weather would take have an affect on it. .....Now a stealth wire antenna on the balcony is also an option. I just love these challenges!! Hey blog crowd any ideas about a stealth wire antenna from 10m to lets say 40m???????

Goodbye crazy driving

The new temp antenna

I have been very busy these past few weeks and my lack of blog posts can testify to that. Julie and I have been bouncing around some very big ideas. We have some very exciting plans ahead of us that will both help our over all well being. It also will bring about some huge changes with my hobby but I am very happy to say that it's a challenge I can meet. Both Julie and I have over an hour drive each way to work. We get up very early, get home late and to be early each evening. Then there is the winter months with the snow and crazy driving. We have decided to put our home up for sale here in the country and move to Toronto. We will be living in a condo as our kids have moved out and are doing just fine. This means downsizing both with our home belongings and my ham radio. We want to get a place that is in Toronto and over looks Lake Ontario. Both Julie and I are very excited about this and with this move I will be 10 min's from work and Julie 15 min's. We will have a fantastic board walk just steps from out condo. It thrills us that all the advantages of the city will be not an hour away but minutes.
So how does this affect radio for me.....well my Attic DX EE has been sold and already is taken down! Not to worry I still have my Alexloop that I can set up in my radio room until we sell and move. I have some gear for sale and it is slow but sure selling. I have sold the Sub receiver in my Elecraft K3 as I will be very limited with antennas in the new place. I don't have any room for an antenna for a sub receiver.  So I have been going over antenna options in a condo. There are far and few BUT one main advantage I will have that I don't have now is height! In the condo we are looking at the 11th floor and
up. I am thinking of using at first my Alexloop and then going to the MFJ loop antenna. This will be a new adventure in my QRP ham radio challenge.