AmateurRadio.com

It’s called the Music Bullet.

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

From the QRP ARCI Website:

Saturday 6 April 2013, 1200z – Sunday 7 April 2013, 2359z

This is one of the “Big Ones” !

The Spring QSO Party and the Fall QSO Party are the two most popular QRP ARCI Contests. This contest is also a very good way for you to increase your QSO totals if you are involved with the 2013 QRP ARCI operating event known as ‘The QRP Challenge’ where the goal is to work at least 100 QRP ARCI club members to qualify for The BIG 13 Award. You can also use the Spring QSO Party to increase your QRP totals for various QRP ARCI Awards.  Or you can just get on the air and have some fun whether you’re a serious competitor or a casual participant the Spring QSO Party is for you !

You can enter as an all band, single band, high band or low band station and then pick the antenna and power category that matches your personal setup and compete with similar equipped stations around the country and around the world.

Read the complete rules and get on the air for the Spring QSO Party !

Thanks to Hank N8XX for posting the reminder!

I am so glad about this!  It seems like the last few years, the Spring QSO Party has fallen on Easter weekend.  I may actually get to participate this year.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Hanz W1JSB and I hiked down to a beautiful point on the Pemigewasset River in Bristol. We worked England, Germany, Ohio and Tennessee. It seemed like the first really warm day of spring.

We were hoping to hike to Sky Pond, but there was just too much snow… at least a foot. So we changed plans. We headed to Bristol to a spot where Profile Brook flows into the Pemi. We hiked down the old Northern Railroad right-of-way.

We crossed a few snowy spots and a few muddy places, but it was grand… 52F and sunny! We sat down right on an old stone railroad bridge abutment. We tossed a line high into a nearby ash tree and pulled up a half wave wire for 20 meters. We used the Chinese HB-1B. The band wasn’t full of DX, but we snagged a few. I took the first turn and called my old friend Tom, G3HGE in England as he finished up a QSO. He was strong to me… 599, but there was also significant QSB. He dropped as low as 569. He gave me a generous 549. I’m sure he was unable to copy at times. “DX is below par,” he sent. I told him I’d send some photos of our operating spot. He was pleased with the idea… “That will put flesh on the skeleton,” he sent, and we signed.

Next I called Serg, DL1DGS. I had worked him just yesterday from the shack. He was also strong, but only gave me a 539. Even so, he sent, “UR 4W OK.” With that I handed the key to Hanz.

Next I called Serg, DL1DGS. I had worked him just yesterday from the shack. He was also strong, but only gave me a 539. Even so, he sent, “UR 4W OK.” With that I handed the key to Hanz.

With four QSOs under our belts, we headed back. We went straight to the river through the woods and walked back by a different route. What a pleasure to walk on almost-dry land for the first time in four months.

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For a version of this story with imbedded video see http://www.w1pid.com/easter/easter.html

Jim Cluett, W1PID, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Hampshire, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

K1EL Winkeyer ready for action

For some time now I have wanted a stand alone keyer as well as one that integrated with my PC allowing me to change and update messages.  The Winkeyer USB is the perfect match as I am able to add 3 AAA batteries and take the keyer with me on outings or keep it at the desk hooked up to the PC via a provided USB cable. The unit comes as a kit with all SMD components already on the board so there is no worry about having to deal with super small parts and the soldering headache that goes along with it. The kit was shipped out and delivered very fast and very safely boxed for the ridge to my QTH. 

The first day of assembly

 The only thing that has to be downloaded is the instructions. I find this to be a fantastic way of doing things. If there are updates to the build then it's a simple update on the website and you are downloading the current assembly instructions. Take the time to print off the instructions that way you can check components off as you do the inventory.  Do yourself a favor and print the instructions in color as there are some great pictures to assist you. The kit went together very smoothly and KE1EL put thought into the order of  assembly. Follow the order and the kit

Battery holder

 building will be a smooth experience. Take your time building the unit, it's not a race as certain components such as USB connector, 1/8 jack and 4 way RCA jack should be mounted with care. This makes the final assembly of the two metal covers fit without any surprises.

Kit complete

Once the kit is done there are some checks to be done to make sure all is working well. Once that is done you are on your way to hooking up to your PC. Easy to follow documentation is provided instructing you how to have your PC recognize the keyer and what to do if things don't go as planned. The kit also comes with a CD containing programs that will allow you to program the keyer from your PC and download the messages to your keyer. Not to mention all the settings one could imagine for setting up a key as well. The only 2 issues I had with the kit and by no means are they show stoppers.
1. There is a 10k potentiometer and the shaft was just a bit to long and I had to trim it. This was only for looks as I did not like the knob extended away from the keyer.
 2. No hookup wire was provided to go from the potentiometer to the board. This is no big deal either as I did have the wire...but.....it would had been nice to include it in the kit.

Pot before mod

Pot after mod

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

I see that some bloggers have complained that HF propagation today was not too good. My 5W JT9-1 signal on 20m was spotted several times at reasonable strength by VK3AMA so this afternoon I thought I would see how far I could get with 1 watt.

Reception of JT9-1 signal from G4ILO using 1W to attic dipole

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

The Oseberg viking ship, 820 AD

Not so many nationalities are included in the exclusive group of countries with their own Q-code. I mean of course the QOD-code. I have never heard it used by radio amateurs, but it must have played a role some time ago in shipping.

The Q-codes date back to 1912 and were meant to be a short-hand for use in telegraphy. According to the list of Q-codes which Ralf D. Kloth (DL4TA) has on his web page, the meaning of QOD with a number added is: “Can you communicate with me in … 0 Dutch, 1 English, 2 French, 3 German, 4 Greek, 5 Italian, 6 Japanese, 7 Norwegian, 8 Russian, 9 Spanish?” As a response to the question the meaning was “I can communicate with you in …“

The reason for a separate code for Norwegian must be the historically large shipping fleet in Norway. This is still the case as graphically depicted in this overview of the Top 20 Ship Owning Countries, where we seem to rank as number seven – so QOD7 is appropriate!

But today all of them will QOD1.

Image from Wikipedia, user Karamell

Sverre Holm, LA3ZA, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Norway. Contact him at [email protected].