AmateurRadio.com

Learning a QRP lesson

I took advantage of another portable mobile QRP day again on Saturday. Once again using my Elecraft KX3, mono band HF whip antennas and QRP power. I decided right off the get go to use 20m whip antenna and I found there was a few CW contests going on. This is great as it gives me an opportunity to make some contacts......so I thought. I chose this day to cruise up and down the band for stations calling CQ and not CQ contest. I have been doing some reading in my spare time about QRP operation and making contacts. One of the tips I read I was actually able to put into practice and make a DX contact only using 5 watts with a mobile whip antenna. I was starting my run up the 20m band and at 14.007 I heard a very faint station calling CQ. I narrowed down my KX3's filter to around 200 Hz and he was still in and out, I was not able to pick out his full call as yet. When he started to call CQ again I turned the audio peak filter (APF) and started to fine tune his signal. Then low and behold I was able to get his call RA3XM, he was DX but what were my chances of making the contact???

1. He was in and out right at the noise floor.
2. He was not at the QRP watering hole so he was running most likely some kind of QRO power.
3. What chance did my QRP 5 watt signal have if I could barely hear QRO signal?

When RA3XM stopped calling CQ I threw my call out there and can you believe he came back to me on my first call!! I was shocked that I made the distance, it was not a long QSO but I did get a 559 signal report and I passed along to him a signal report, my name and that I was running QRP. It became crystal clear to me of something I read on more than one occasion from seasoned QRP op's....you may come across signals that are in and out of the mud, don't short change yourself ( I have done so on many occasions) thinking "they are QRO and in the mud they are never going to hear my peanut signal. Instead throw your call out there and you may be surprised......and when RA3XM came back to me from the noise I was surprised and pleased to make the contact. Spinning the dial once again I hear AN400R booming in (Spanish special event station) I gave him a call and and made that contact as well.  On this outing it was not as simple as calling and making a contact there was F6EJN, DK7OB, AN400C, IT9RZU, MI0GH and AN400C all who I called and was not heard. A valuable lesson was learned on this outing.....even if the station calling CQ is in the mud give them a call and you (I was) may be surprised they come back to you.

Learning a QRP lesson

I took advantage of another portable mobile QRP day again on Saturday. Once again using my Elecraft KX3, mono band HF whip antennas and QRP power. I decided right off the get go to use 20m whip antenna and I found there was a few CW contests going on. This is great as it gives me an opportunity to make some contacts......so I thought. I chose this day to cruise up and down the band for stations calling CQ and not CQ contest. I have been doing some reading in my spare time about QRP operation and making contacts. One of the tips I read I was actually able to put into practice and make a DX contact only using 5 watts with a mobile whip antenna. I was starting my run up the 20m band and at 14.007 I heard a very faint station calling CQ. I narrowed down my KX3's filter to around 200 Hz and he was still in and out, I was not able to pick out his full call as yet. When he started to call CQ again I turned the audio peak filter (APF) and started to fine tune his signal. Then low and behold I was able to get his call RA3XM, he was DX but what were my chances of making the contact???

1. He was in and out right at the noise floor.
2. He was not at the QRP watering hole so he was running most likely some kind of QRO power.
3. What chance did my QRP 5 watt signal have if I could barely hear QRO signal?

When RA3XM stopped calling CQ I threw my call out there and can you believe he came back to me on my first call!! I was shocked that I made the distance, it was not a long QSO but I did get a 559 signal report and I passed along to him a signal report, my name and that I was running QRP. It became crystal clear to me of something I read on more than one occasion from seasoned QRP op's....you may come across signals that are in and out of the mud, don't short change yourself ( I have done so on many occasions) thinking "they are QRO and in the mud they are never going to hear my peanut signal. Instead throw your call out there and you may be surprised......and when RA3XM came back to me from the noise I was surprised and pleased to make the contact. Spinning the dial once again I hear AN400R booming in (Spanish special event station) I gave him a call and and made that contact as well.  On this outing it was not as simple as calling and making a contact there was F6EJN, DK7OB, AN400C, IT9RZU, MI0GH and AN400C all who I called and was not heard. A valuable lesson was learned on this outing.....even if the station calling CQ is in the mud give them a call and you (I was) may be surprised they come back to you.

Hunting for that one contact

In Canada it's the Thanksgiving long weekend and I thought I would add Friday as a vacation day to make it an extra long weekend. The weather has been great all week very summer like and far from fall like. I decided to take advantage of this fine weather and get outdoors with ham radio! This time it was going to be our local park with my car, so instead of the Endfed antenna My plan was to warm  up the mono band HF whips. Apon arrival in the park I check with the website "band conditions" and it was showing all green on 30m. I thought "what the heck" I setup and the band was dead! I checked with band conditions again and low and behold the band was now deep on the red. It was off to the standby band.......20m. Going up and down the band I did find it quite but with the hurricane riding up the Eastern U.S. , it's Friday and lots are working and then the band conditions not idea the slow band made sence. I came across a station calling CQ at 14.041 followed by "up". Hmmm I thought....dxpedition or rare call. I engaged the dual watch on the KX3 and I listened for a bit and found there was no pile up in fact there was no one calling him! The call was AN400M that to me seemed like a special event station but at this point I was not sure from where? I set my KX3 for the common split of 2K and threw my call at 5 watts out there. He came right back to me with the standard 599 to which I replied the same adding TU and 73.  From there I was just spinning the VFO around 20m and really did not find much. I did come across 2 other stations signing AN400G and AN400I and that convinced me I contacted a special event station. I tried calling these other station but was not able to make the contact. It was then time to pack it up as there was a Blue Jays game to watch at 1pm today. While at the local watering hole waiting for the Blue Jays game to start I went on   QRZ.COM to find out it was a special event station out of Spain. They were offering a silver, gold and platinum awards but I was not able to get on their website it was not loading so I was not able to get anymore info.

Hunting for that one contact

In Canada it's the Thanksgiving long weekend and I thought I would add Friday as a vacation day to make it an extra long weekend. The weather has been great all week very summer like and far from fall like. I decided to take advantage of this fine weather and get outdoors with ham radio! This time it was going to be our local park with my car, so instead of the Endfed antenna My plan was to warm  up the mono band HF whips. Apon arrival in the park I check with the website "band conditions" and it was showing all green on 30m. I thought "what the heck" I setup and the band was dead! I checked with band conditions again and low and behold the band was now deep on the red. It was off to the standby band.......20m. Going up and down the band I did find it quite but with the hurricane riding up the Eastern U.S. , it's Friday and lots are working and then the band conditions not idea the slow band made sence. I came across a station calling CQ at 14.041 followed by "up". Hmmm I thought....dxpedition or rare call. I engaged the dual watch on the KX3 and I listened for a bit and found there was no pile up in fact there was no one calling him! The call was AN400M that to me seemed like a special event station but at this point I was not sure from where? I set my KX3 for the common split of 2K and threw my call at 5 watts out there. He came right back to me with the standard 599 to which I replied the same adding TU and 73.  From there I was just spinning the VFO around 20m and really did not find much. I did come across 2 other stations signing AN400G and AN400I and that convinced me I contacted a special event station. I tried calling these other station but was not able to make the contact. It was then time to pack it up as there was a Blue Jays game to watch at 1pm today. While at the local watering hole waiting for the Blue Jays game to start I went on   QRZ.COM to find out it was a special event station out of Spain. They were offering a silver, gold and platinum awards but I was not able to get on their website it was not loading so I was not able to get anymore info.

The park setup

With the fall fast approaching which signals colder weather that is just around the corner and with that an end to outdoor op's for another year I decided to get outside today. It's a long weekend up this way with Monday being a holiday. I decided to use up some of my time off and took Thursday, Friday and Tuesday off as well. I went to our local park this afternoon and with it being a work day I did not find it too busy there I was able to get a nice spot under a shady willow tree. My first setup was an inverted "V" configuration. I was out last weekend and used the same configuration and was not spotted anywhere on 20m or 40m. I was reading this week that it's best to setup the inverted "V" with an angle greater than 90 degrees. I was not sure if that was my issue last weekend  but I decided to try again today but making sure my angle was greater than 90 degrees. I ended up having the same results with no spots. I then changed it up to a sloper configuration and I was able to contact K8DSS from Florida on 20m. Ed gave my 5 watt signal a 539 and I was happy with that but for the day that was all I had time for. It was soon time to pack things up and head home. While in a QSO with Ed his CW signal was in competition with practicing air show jets ( CF-18's and FA-18's) and the jets were

New power config

winning!  During the summer I have had on to many occasions battery issues. I have had AA cells in the KX3 not last more than a 1/2 even after a full charge. I have a Tracer lithium Polymer power pack that is an 8Ah pack. I decided to purchase the same item again and parallel the two 8Ah packs. This gives me a solid 16Ah's of power and a nice steady 12 volts. I have been using this arrangement for the summer and am very pleased with the performance.

The park setup

With the fall fast approaching which signals colder weather that is just around the corner and with that an end to outdoor op's for another year I decided to get outside today. It's a long weekend up this way with Monday being a holiday. I decided to use up some of my time off and took Thursday, Friday and Tuesday off as well. I went to our local park this afternoon and with it being a work day I did not find it too busy there I was able to get a nice spot under a shady willow tree. My first setup was an inverted "V" configuration. I was out last weekend and used the same configuration and was not spotted anywhere on 20m or 40m. I was reading this week that it's best to setup the inverted "V" with an angle greater than 90 degrees. I was not sure if that was my issue last weekend  but I decided to try again today but making sure my angle was greater than 90 degrees. I ended up having the same results with no spots. I then changed it up to a sloper configuration and I was able to contact K8DSS from Florida on 20m. Ed gave my 5 watt signal a 539 and I was happy with that but for the day that was all I had time for. It was soon time to pack things up and head home. While in a QSO with Ed his CW signal was in competition with practicing air show jets ( CF-18's and FA-18's) and the jets were

New power config

winning!  During the summer I have had on to many occasions battery issues. I have had AA cells in the KX3 not last more than a 1/2 even after a full charge. I have a Tracer lithium Polymer power pack that is an 8Ah pack. I decided to purchase the same item again and parallel the two 8Ah packs. This gives me a solid 16Ah's of power and a nice steady 12 volts. I have been using this arrangement for the summer and am very pleased with the performance.

PSK reporter

Over the weekend I tried some JT-65 HF again after getting great feedback from my last blog post, I was under the impression I had some JT-65HF hits and in fact it turns out I netted ZERO contacts. The reports I was seeing on PSK reporter were stations I was hearing and  not hearing me! One of those who commented advised me to listen to the signal WSJT-X was sending. It turns out that was one of my problems, the software was not sending out CQ but a solid tuning tone. Seems this was a software issue with WSJT-X if I was to use the "tune" button on the software to see my ALC it would then send the same tone when TX was enabled. The way around this was to just restart WSJT-X and don't use the tune button on the software. There is a bata test software out now version 1.7 and I may download and try it. My results have been much better once this error was corrected.

Ham spots report