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I was fortunate enough to work both 40 Meter QRP-L Foxes tonight.  Jimmy WA4ILO and Jerry N9AW are superb operators, both with good ears, so that had a lot to do with it.  But I used the KX3 tonight and that made it all the easier.

The “Dual Watch” feature is something else, and makes working split a snap!  You go into the KX3’s menu until you get to “Dual RX” and you turn it from “Off” to “Auto”. What happens next is that you hear your quarry on VFO A in your right earbud.  VFO B is heard in your left earbud, so you can tune around VFO B until you hear the Hound the Fox is currently working.  Once you know where the Fox is listening, it’s just a matter of time!  The only caveat is that the Dual Watch feature will only work with splits less than 1.5 kHz.

Anyway, I nabbed Jerry N9AW at 0106 UTC, six minutes into the hunt, and Jimmy WA4ILO at 0139. For the last hour, I was just listening to the two Foxes work my friends.

The past few days, I have been getting very few e-mails.  I subscribe to quite a few QRP e-mail reflectors and I was wondering what was up.  I thought that maybe it had something to do with that Microsoft / arrl.net thing that was going on last week, as I always use my arrl.net address for e-mail.

This evening, I checked my Web-based Verizon e-mail page.  Everything was in the spam, folder!  All the spam was in there; but also a ton of good e-mails, too! For the longest time, Verizon’s e-mail spam filter was doing an excellent job and I never really had to give it a second thought.  Looks like for the next while that I am going to have to regularly check the spam folder until the e-mail client “learns” what is spam and what is not.

I got an e-mail from my good friend Bob W3BBO, telling me that he was fortunate to work the Easter Island DXpedition on both 12 and 15 Meters today.  I haven’t had much luck hearing them loud enough to work them, and when they have been loud enough – they have been calling for EU stations only.  I don’t know how much longer they are going to be there; but I do have this Friday (Good Friday) off; so maybe when I’m not in church, I just may get an opportunity.  I’ve worked Chile many times, both QRP and QRO, but I have NEVER worked Easter Island.  It would be appropriate to work them this week, wouldn’t it?

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].

I’ve resumed my role in the vhf white noise listening club with this evenings UKAC 50Mhz contest. Its a bit early in the season to expect any results with 6m from here but nice to get a full 3 qso’s with my new (and more xyl friendly) 4 ele yagi, from Powabeam.

 

I opted for the smallest one they did as the previous long boom 5 ele was just too big and basically got in the way for much of the year. This one is shorter by quite a margin and performance isn’t far off what I would have expected from the previous one. Oddly enough it was a gift from my mother in law through the DX shop. Well done her, and by far better service than I received through other well known and innovative antenna manufacturers. The specs are largely what you would expect from a small beam but the quality of manufacture is superb. There is no need to trim or tune anything. Just bolt up and away you go. All in all less than 10 mins from start to up on the portable mast. Highly recommended.

Operating at home certainly beats sitting in a car, freezing yourself half to death, on the side of a fell road but there is not much in the way of chance that I’ll get good results from here without the aid of Es. When I could no longer hear the beacons in Northern Ireland it was time to turn the rig off though.

Alex Hill, G7KSE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, UK. Contact him at [email protected].

Today I hiked along the Winnipesaukee River. I worked Sweden, Slovenia and Russia. What a great hike!

It’s a perfect spring day… 45F and the snow is melting! I hiked on the old rail right-of-way along the Winnipesaukee River. The river flows from Lake Winnipesaukee in Laconia to the Merrimack River in Franklin. The trail passes through some beautiful farm land.

After about a mile I turned north toward the river. A piece of land juts out into the river. I setup on a large rock with a fantastic view. I’m using an HB-1B on 20 meters with a half-wave wire.

I’m looking toward the east… that seems to be where the signals are coming from too. My first contact is with Steve SM4OTI in Sweden. He gives me a 599 and sends “HI” when I tell him I am running 4 watts. He’s running a KW to a 4 element beam. “UR doing FB WID 4W,” he sends. Of course, he is very strong to me. I’ve worked Steve nearly a dozen times over the years.

I move up the band a bit and answer S57KW. Jure in Slovenia doesn’t get my call sign on the first try, but he gives me a 559 report. “UR 4W QRP doing good job,” he sends.

Finally, I work Vlad RU6AV near Moscow. He gives me a 579. When I tell him I am running 4W /P, he asks about my antenna. I tell him it’s a 10 meter wire. “FB CONDX HI… UR 4W FB Jim.” Then he tells me he is running 200 watts to a 3 element yagi.

I have been operating for only 10 minutes. It’s exhilarating! A beautiful spring day… glorious river scenery and some nice DX for icing on the cake.

My view to the west is perfect. Hopefully we’re seeing the last of the snow. I’ll hike more often now that the days are getting warmer.

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

From the That Took A Long Time department, the FCC granted a waiver requested by the ARRL that clarifies the rules concerning the use of TDMA (i.e., MOTOTRBO or DMR) on the ham bands. I posted on this topic way back in March 2011, so refer to that article for the background. Update: ARRL article posted here.

I was surprised to find that the FCC quoted my comments that I filed on this proceeding:

Some commenters state the proposed rule change “removes an ambiguity in Part 97 concerning the use of single slot TDMA technology” and it “enable[s] and encourage[s] the adoption of spectrally efficient narrowband technology.”  Comments of Robert Witte at 1.

OK, fine, it was buried in the footnotes but I appreciate the mention. I can now die in peace knowing that my name is in the FCC record and not associated with a rules violation

Thanks to Jeff K0RM, for pointing this out.

73, Bob K0NR

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

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].

It's that time of year, at least in Texas where I live, the flowers start to bloom, the temperatures start to rise and antennas need some work. This past weekend a friend of mine, Hector, AD6D/XE2K, came to help me (he did most of the work) with some tower climbing, element straightening, rotor fixing and antenna building. In a addition to the antenna/tower work we completely reorganized my shack, so it was a busy weekend. I am now greased and gassed and ready to go for while. I found some things in the shack that I hadn't seen in a while, so I will be getting reaquainted with some of my toys.

I also received my new Yaesu VX8-GR with the build in APRS/GPS capability. I was up on APRS in a matter of minutes, pretty cool. There are various applications of APRS, but for a hiker/climber it is a nice safety device so that you location is known in case of emergency and if you are activating a summit, chaser can follow your progress up the mountain.

I also managed a QRP QSO with EY8MM, so the new restored antennas are working great.

After I recover from the weekend, I will write about some more interesting topics.
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

The Arduino platform has struck a bit of a chord with me. It is very well supported with both hardware and software, which makes it ideal for people like me who don’t have the background or skills to get a project off the ground. There are plenty of resources around the internet that off either ready made projects (just add hardware) or Books that explain the concepts and procedures in detail. Even the books tend to be supported by websites that have the code available for download if you wish.I came across a new(?) book by Leigh Klotz Jr, WA5ZNU titled ‘Ham radio for Arduino & Picaxe’ seems to be available through the ARRL but not the RSGB at the moment.

The book is supported by a website which has forums, code and links to the various projects that are presented. The links include the almost ubiquitous Sparkfun website, which has been supplying bits and bobs to US based hobbyist’s as well as those internationally for some time. The Sparkfun site is also a good place for technical data and resources such as libraries for Eagle.

Anyway, as usual I digress. The book is currently available through the ARRL and possibly in the future through the RSGB. The contents page looks like it has a whole heap of projects that will keep us busy for a long time. If its your cup of tea then I hope you can get a copy and enjoy the projects.

Alex Hill, G7KSE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, UK. Contact him at [email protected].