AmateurRadio.com

This weekend it was my intention to get some DXCC's into the books and the weekend is not over yet and there is still time....but.....the bands were alive with the Worked all Germany contest. On Saturday morning and mid morning 10m was alive with DL calls. I have been reading over the past few weeks how great 10m  WSPRing has been. I wanted to give QRPp operations a shot and 10m seemed wide open to Europe. Below are the result from my Saturday and Sunday morning QRPp contacts.
1. HA3FTA ( I know it's Hungary not Germany) 200mWs          22,776 miles per watt.
2. DK9PY                                                          100mWs           39,565 mpw.
3. DJ1MM                                                          500mWs            8,405 mpw.
It was now time to start dropping the power lower.
4. DL2DX                                                              50mWs         82,857  mpw
Below was the best distance of the day for Saturday the conditions started to change on 10m and contacts were getting harder and harder to make. Besides it was time to get some things done around the house. 
5. DL1NUX                                                           40mws        101,702   mpw.

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

Series Five Episode Twenty-Two of the ICQ Podcast has been released. News Stories include :-

• New IARU R3 Chairman
• FCC to allow additional emission types
• 14 year-old Indian ham gets Diamond DXCC
• ILLW draws attention to lighthouses
• Conway Reef DXpedition
• GB3NC back in service
• Spring VHF-UHF Field Day

Listener mailbag and Tom Samacicio (KB4HQA) from HQA Radio and Martin (M1MRB) reports from the RSGB convention.

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Series Five Episode Twenty-Two of the ICQ Podcast has been released. News Stories include :-

• New IARU R3 Chairman
• FCC to allow additional emission types
• 14 year-old Indian ham gets Diamond DXCC
• ILLW draws attention to lighthouses
• Conway Reef DXpedition
• GB3NC back in service
• Spring VHF-UHF Field Day
• Qatar to host Ham Radio Festival

Listener mailbag and Tom Samacicio (KB4HQA) from HQA Radio and Martin (M1MRB) reports from the RSGB convention.

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Michel F6FEO sent me a link to his website. Many projects of QRP interest will be found there. The site is in French but Michel has provided Translate links for each of the articles. Definitely worth a visit.

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

Today was almost Indian summer. I hiked on Shute Hill and sat in the sun under a canopy of gold. I worked a dozen German stations in the Worked All Germany Contest.

I hiked up the Rufus Colby road and turned right into the woods. Not far ahead lay two small fields. It was grand to be in shirt sleeves at the edge of the field. I brought the ATS-4 and set up a half wave  wire for 15 meters in an oak tree. Bright orange, yellow and gold accentuated the deep blue sky.

In barely six minutes, I worked six German stations with my 3 watts and 22 foot wire. I tuned the wire with an Elecraft T-1. Then I extended the wire to 33 feet and set the ATS-4 for 20 meters.

In the next ten minutes I worked 3 more German stations and a Dutch special event station celebrating 75 years of Boy Scouting. All the QSOs
were quick contest exchanges. Here’s my log:

20 Oct-12 1843  21.018 DL5NDX  CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1844  21.019 DJ9DZ     CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1846  21.024 DK4WF   CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1847  21.028 DK5DQ   CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1848  21.030 DL0UM   CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1849  21.032 DL5JS     CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1900  14.016 DL3GA    CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1903  14.019 DJ9DZ     CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1904  14.020 PH75S/J CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1905  14.022 DL8QS     CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1910  14.042 DL0UM   CW 599 599

I packed up and headed back through the 20 acre field at the top of Shute Hill. The field is surrounded by a wall of color. The air is so fragrant and warm, I wonder why Mother Nature didn’t make Fall last at least another month or so.

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

I decided that I would run 1W of 28MHz WSPR through the day today. Delighted that I did and conditions were interesting; reports from Australia and New Zealand as well as a nice opening into the US in the afternoon.

No sign of any signals from Africa or South America today.

Tim Kirby, G4VXE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Oxfordshire, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Just catching up on a few things spewing forth from the internetz.

From the Great Minds Think Alike Department, Jeff KE9V suggests that the world needs a really good transceiver focused on 50 MHz and higher. I’ve always had this irrational attraction to VHF and higher and would love to have a solid radio in this category.

Don’t miss the Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) this weekend. Also, take a look at this ARRL article on Radio Scouting. Our local Scout troop will be on the air as KB0SA for JOTA.

Based on the blog posting by Jerry KD0BIK, I picked up a Kelty Redwing backpack, for SOTA and other hiking activities. The 20% off coupon for REI was a good incentive to pick up the pack.

I managed to miss the 2012 Pacificon hamfest. Early in the year, I figured out that I needed to be in the San Francisco area right around the Pacificon date, so it looked like a sure thing. Unfortunately, circumstances changed and I missed it again this year. I keep hearing great things about Pacificon so it may be the best hamfest in the USA, based on a quality venue and great programs. I will have to wait until next year to validate this theory.

The LA Times has a great time-lapse photography video of space shuttle Endeavor moving through the streets of LA. Check it out.

HamRadioSchool.com has a neat video of a flagpole vertical antenna getting installed. There’s some really good content on that website. But I might be biased, since I’ve been contributing a few articles under the Shack Talk banner.

My buddy Ken WA6TTY has written a review of the new ARRL RFI Book. Ken is an EMC expert and does an excellent job of reviewing the book.

- 73, Bob K0NR

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