AmateurRadio.com

BREAKING NEWS!  Mack has rebooted and W4AX.com is back online. It is a huge blessing  and thanks again to Mack and the host of others who serve all of us! YAHOOO>>> Grinches lose! W4AX.COM is online again! Belay my last!

A few years ago, we did not know the term, Software Defined Radio but now it has become one of many new technologies that we hams are learning to adapt to our needs. As an antenna restricted condo dweller, I’ve found it most helpful for being able to listen to the bands at various times through the day.

W4AX.com during IARU CW contest

Yesterday I learned my favorite site, W4AX.com is shut down due to abuse by non-hams and other constraints. A big thanks to Mack, W4AX and others who are the unsung heros that provide services like these and have allowed access to others over the years. The Reverse Beacon Network is another great service and we often forget the time and expense that our fellow hams have put into keeping them going.  As a blogger with multiple sites, I understand the challenges and resources it takes all too well.

I’ll miss being able to check the bands 24 x 7 on my favorite site, but perhaps it will prompt me and others to set up our own SDR site and share it with others. I salute those who like Mack paved the way for new technology to provide access to so many hams. Sorry that the burden got too heavy to keep it going, but know your work was appreciated by many. I’ll be sure to let others who are working behind the scenes know that they are appreciated too.

Blessings gang of pioneers and Happy Holidays to you all!

72,

Kelly K4UPG

The weather was too nice to sit inside. In the low 70′s with a very slight breeze so after church and a short nap I headed out to try my hand at giving out points in the QRP ARCI Homebrew Sprint. My startup was delayed by curious folks in the lakeside park wondering what in the world I was doing and how I got that string and wire so high up in the nice tall pine trees!

Next to the Lake in the Sun

I checked 40m first with an inverted L end fed half wave and my trusty Stuner (KI6S Stu’s kit) and decided to change to 20m after not hearing much activity. 20m was decent and there were a few of the big gun qrp contest regulars shooting it out. N4BP, K4BAI, K0ZK and a few other were running stations while the little guys like me were mostly doing Search and Pounce. Hey it is fun even if you cannot run a frequency, right?

Sun went down about 1745 local and the mosquitos were quick to find the hole in my hat and attack. This time I remembered the repellant and after a few bites I took time to spray my hat and hair and the backs of my hands. The temperature dropped fast and my hands got a bit stiff pounding out the morse code on my J-47 straight key. 50 degrees is cold for a Florida evening. The darkness also brought out the raccoon family and it was fun to shine my flashlight on them and watch them stand on their hind legs and stare into the night wondering what the funny guy was doing in the dark.

Sun is almost outta sight

40m came to life after sunset and I finished with a respectable 20 contacts for about 3 hours of operation and was able to give some Christmas contacts to the needy fellow contesters who were chasing another certificate. What a great way to spend the afternoon… by the lake in the sun and outdoors playing radio.

As Hams, we know the phrase “A little goes a long way” is very true in Ham Radio. Anyone working QRP can tell you that. There are people that have worked the other side of the planet with just a few watts. I worked Japan once with 5 watts with Grayline. But check out this video of 1200+ mile contact on a handheld.I didn’t even know they made 10 meter handhelds. But we can see one here in the video. As well as making that contact with just 5 watts of power. Not too shabby at all. I say keep this video handy for recruitment. This shows how radio can work.

73.

This coming Saturday at the Melbourne Hamfest and ARRL FL State Convention QRP ops from around the state will gather for a time of eyeball QSO’s, bragging, show ‘n tell and maybe even some operating from the picnic tables in the park next door!

Looking for Something?

Get there early and do your tailgating and swapping so you can gather at noon near the front entrance. Look for K4UPG’s gawdy yellow hat and come up and say HI! Some of us want to go to lunch together and depending on the number we have a couple places in mind that are nearby the event site.

So come one and all (even the curious) and join the fun.

GATHERING: Front entrance to Auditorium

DATE: Saturday, 8 October 2011

TIME: 12:00-12:15 EDT

Bring some gear if you want to play radio in the park or on the beach later in the day!

Today I grabbed a little time on HF with the K3.  I was pleasantly surprised to find 10m and 12m were open, so I listened around on those bands.  I worked a Welsh station, GW4BKG on 12m SSB and was pleased with a 55 report for my 10W.  Later I worked a mobile Italian station on 12m operated by Claudio, IW6DRH on SSB. That is the first time I believe I have made transatlantic contact from my QRP station to a mobile station, so again was pleased with him picking up my call first time.  Claudio was 57 to me with some QRN and he gave me a 55 report.  The antenna I was using was my homebrew 90ft doublet.

I later found some videos of Claudio on the web, so here is one that shows his mobile setup and him operating from his car. Thank you Claudio for the contact and the video!

Through the QRP-L mailing list I have read about a new QRP HF transceiver to be made by Ten-Tec.  It has the model number 539 and seems to be a 10W output rig with 80m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m and 10m band coverage, three filter slots,  DSP and dual VFOs. Photographs and details are available at the QRPer blog. The rig looks about the size of a K2 and seems to be designed for portable operations.  The front panel looks very minimalist with a few knobs and buttons, and I could not help thinking it resembled the old Lowe HF 150 in appearance. From the QRPer blog it is reported that the receiver board is the same as that used in the Eagle.

Besides the transceiver there appears to be a planned 100W amplifier to match with the 539.  This is a clever combination as having both will allow a user to have a full 100W station at home with the ability to take away the 10W transceiver ‘front-end’ for portable use. No information yet on the Ten-Tec site as of the time of writing this, but there is a Yahoo group already available.

You have time to save your money, it is indicated on a display board in one photograph that it is expected to be available in mid 2012.

UPDATE: As of mid October the new availability date for the ATS-4B is November 2011. Also Steven Weber is developing a daughter board to enable the ATS-4B to decode PSK and CW – which has a January 2012 delivery date. This board can’t be added to the earlier ATS-4A. 

Since late June, Steven Weber’s site at http://kd1jv.qrpradio.com has displayed a short announcement that the next batch of ATS-4a kits will be available in the “fall of 2011″.

On the AT_Sprint Yahoo group Steven has just confirmed that he anticipates having the kits available from late September or early October. He’s expecting the boards to be delivered “soon”.

This will be a revision ‘b’ as there are some minor circuit and layout changes. These include

• a simple AGC circuit to add to the audio output to limit the volume of very strong signals. The AGC should limit the audio output to about 200 mV p-p.
• a change of LCD display, reverting back to the graphics type used in the first run ATS-4 rigs.
• using the 28 pin version of the now scarce 20 pin SOIC MSP430 chip in the new board layout.

These kits enjoy a passionate following – especially the ATS-3b – and they sell out very quickly. Monitoring the AT_Sprint group closely over the next few weeks is the best way to avoid disappointment. An automated alert (such as changedetection.com) when the kd1jv.qrpradio.com page changes might help.