AmateurRadio.com

Just a quick reminder of TechDay 2012 coming up this Saturday. This event is designed to help the new Technician Licensee get started in amateur radio. However, everyone is welcome!

Come join us on Saturday, September 15th, 2012 (9:00 AM to 2:00 PM) at the Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Administration Complex at 166 Second St. in beautiful Monument, CO for a half day workshop aimed primarily at the new Technician Licensees to help them get started in ham radio. While you’re here you’ll learn what it takes to be a ham radio operator, brush up on your DXing skills, test  your own ham radio equipment, check out some sweet mobile radio installations, and ask an Elmer “What’s so cool about 10 meters?”

Bring your questions, bring your radio and join us for TechDay!

More information is available here.

Note that TechDay is being held at the Tri-Lakes Fire Admin Complex in downtown Monument and not at one of the fire stations.

73, Bob K0NR

Well Dr Watson, its wobbly metal.

Enough of the Tom Foolery and down to the serious business of an issue that must be fairly common. Drilling larger diameter holes in flexible metal sheet generally found on hobby cases. Just in case you were wondering though Tom Fool (aka Tom Skelton) is apparently a ghost of a Jester at our local castle, Muncaster so here’s hoping he’s had plenty of opportunity to wander round the house and grounds with odd shaped holes in his thin sheet metal parts.

A lot of trouble I have with when its time to put a project in a case is that the 16mm hole needed for an SO239 for example causes me no end of trouble. I have tried a number of different ways to make the holes without giving a figure of 8 or elongated hole. Step drills tend to give slightly better results that piloting and increasing the bit size. I have found that the latter can easily end up with a poor hole if any vibration is imparted into the case.

So what’s the answer, well, I just don’t know. Punching would seem to be a better solution as would routing the holes but in the case of pre folded sheet I’m sure this isn’t too practical. I’m wondering if people have had better results with other ways of making these holes.

I got up this morning for my daily walk – well, actually, I don’t do a daily walk, anymore.  Saturday and Sunday, I get up early and go for a walk. Monday through Friday, I spend a half hour on my elliptical machine in the basement – but I digress.

I woke up this morning to the beginnings of a beautiful day!  Yesterday was positively tropical, hot and humid, with the threat of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes all day. One minute it would be sunny, the next it was dark and threatening. While other areas in the North East were not so lucky, I praise God, that in South Plainfield, all we got was some really heavy rain from about 5:00 to 6:00 PM yesterday evening.  After that, the temperatures dropped, dry air moved in and you can honestly say that today is one of the “Ten Best of the Year”.

Weather issues aside, the object of this post is to relate that I did something yesterday that I have not done in a very long time – about 9 years to be exact.

I made a contact using SSB.

Yes, I know – totally out of character; but I did it and surprised myself in the process.  After mowing the lawn yesterday, I had a little bit of down time, so I went down to the shack to spend a little bit of quality time behind the rig.  Alas, 12 Meters, 15 Meters and 17 Meters were a vast wasteland.  20 Meters was not bad; but had very little activity in the CW portion of the band.  So I decided to switch the K3 over to USB, and went “up” the bad to see if perhaps there were any special event stations doing their thing.

Didn’t hear any of those, either.  But I was hearing a lot of loud European stations working the WAE contest. So I thought to myself, “I wonder if one might hear me …….. hmmmmm”.  I twiddled the dial looking for a particularly loud one – there were a good number of them.  Then I heard a call sign that sounded interesting – 3Z2X.  AC log informed me that it was Poland.  All the better, the country that my ancestors came from!

Using my noodle, I pumped the K3 up to 10 Watts – still QRP by definition (I may be a little crazy; but I’m not insane – SSB and QRO? No way!). Then, I picked up that funny looking little box that you speak into – I think it’s called a microphone and pressed the button thingy on the side.  Announced my call sign and actually heard him call me back!  I gave the contest exchange, got his and then sat there kind of amazed.  10 Watts via SSB all the way to Poland – and he heard me!  We spoke to each other, exchanged information and said good-bye. It worked. I was amazed.

I made a few more and it was fun but it wasn’t enough to convert me from being a dyed-in-the-wool CW op.  But it did hold out hope for me that, in the future, I may be able to work Special Event stations that choose not to have CW as one of the modes that they employ.  It also encouraged me to maybe dip a toe into the pool when the QRP-ARCI holds their annual QRP SSB Sprint.  I never participated in one of those before.  This year just might be different.

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

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

• Emergency Network in Dominican Republic activated
• Hams come online to help with Asia disasters
• Philippine Radio Hams get 7200-7300 kHz
• PB100, Netherlands Special Event
• Dublin Bus celebrates its 25th birthday
• Region 1 EMC WG to asked to reconsider PLT policy
• Repeater Directory Android App now available
• Coastal station VIP marks its 100 years
• Broadcaster vacates 40m amateur band
• Has 2O12L broken a world record?

Listener mailbag and Martin (M1MRB) interviews Julius D Jones (W2IHY) about good audio.

If you are a QRPer and are serious about it, especially when it comes to working DX or participating in the QRP Fox hunts (or any radio contest, for that matter) then the following IS A MUST READ.

http://www.ae5x.com/blog/2012/09/07/from-sardine-sender-to-dxcc-honor-roll-in-10-years-qrp/

This post on John AE5X’s blog, is an absolute gem.  I have rarely read posts that are more pragmatic, to the point, that are dead on and hit the ball over the wall.

Pay particular attention to the passage that begins with, “There is a common misconception that the heavy lifting in a QSO containing a QRPer is done by the non-QRP station” and then ends with, “rather than using a strategy, are simply calling on unproven frequencies within the split range, thereby eliminating themselves as valid competitors.”

This part is what I consider to be the “meat and potatoes” of this post, and I can think of no better words of wisdom to impart upon ANY Ham, let alone a budding QRPer.

John, thanks so much for writing this and sharing it with the radio and QRP community.  Words to live by!

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