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The KD0BIK 2012 Challenge which is at least one QSO per day is still going strong at the half way point.  I guess technically I’m really not to the 50% mark for another day or two, but I’ve completed two full quarters or six consecutive months of a QSO each and every day and I’m dang proud of the accomplishment. 

The month of June started off with a bang with three new DXCC’s logged on 2 June 2012.  These new DXCC’s were Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia.  20 meters had been incredible that evening and those three new DXCC entities just seemed to fly into the logbook.  This makes 61 DXCC for me.  I have about 56 or 57 confirmed. 

Of course, the month of June also included ARRL Field Day.  I logged 117 QSO’s just on Field Day weekend as a 1 delta station.  I hope to finish my 2012 Field Day blog update in the next few days.

Once again I’ve  mapped my QSO’s for June.  I’m using a web tool created by K2DSL called ADIF to Map to create the image below.  The first image is the QSO map for June 2012.

The second QSO map includes all QSO’s for 2012 to date (January – June 2012)

I must also add that the month of June was a very successful and productive month in working on the new basement ham shack.  I’m late on a blog update and will try to get one completed in the next week.  But essentially, the painting of the walls and ceiling is completed.  I also started on the laminate floor on 30 May.   I’m actually on vacation (or as my wife and I are calling it a staycation) the week of Independence Day (4th of July) and I plan to complete the floor and begin the trim work. 

I also expect delivery of the cabinets.  I ordered desk height cabinets to go underneath my desk and then will have wall cabinets above the operating position.  The idea is for neat and organized storage which I hope will help keep a tidy and more functional desk.

The QSO breakdown for June is as follows: 

Mode
Number QSO’s

JT65
56

SSB    
79

PSK31 
46

Additional notes of interest:

DX Stations Worked in June – 19

New DX Entities in June – 3

Total QSO’s for 2012 – 758

Total consecutive QSO days – 182

Days left in 2012 – 184

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. He is the host of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Contact him at [email protected].

but definitely not quite as bad as yesterday.  The high for today was only around 94F – about 5 degrees cooler than yesterday.

Looks like we might get some thunderstorms tonight – I’ve got some chicken, potatoes and corn-on-th-cob on the grill.  Hope it waits until AFTER dinner is cooked!

Tonight’s plan is to start working on the K3.  I’m really torn between using the KX3 and having some operating fun and the build of the new radio.  Another determining factor is that I am beginning to pack away the KX3 in preparation for vacation soon.  I need to finalize the logistics of my new Lowepro “portable ops” pack.  I’ll try and shoot some photos or perhaps a video once I get the final configuration down.

Radio, key, battery and accessories aren’t the problem.  The problem is figuring out which antennas to bring along.  This year the Buddistick and the magmount will ride along in the Jeep. But for hiking purposes, I think I will end up taking only the EFHW wires that I have pre-cut.  They take the least amount of space and are quick to set up – AND, they are proven, I have gotten decent results with them before, including some European DX last 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].

M class solar flare letting go

It's Saturday afternoon  around 3:15 local time and 19:15 UTC I just finished turning the Elecraft k3 on for the 3rd time today and nothing!! I looked over at my LDG antenna switch to see if I was on the dummy load but no the attic antenna was connected. I turned on my Elecraft P3 and it was almost flat lined hardly any signals to be found. I try not to use propagation alone to judge the bands as in the past propagation conditions have not been good but I had made some great contacts. Well it was time to head off to Solarham.net to have a look. Things started to come together as I looked at the solar data, solar flux is up and sunspots are as well ...that's good but look at the solar wind speed 689.5 also the K index is up around 4 which is not great but could be worse. the Bz has come up to +2.0. This morning when I checked the
Bz was way in the negative which is not good. The rise in solar wind and K index numbers pointed to a solar flare. The sun sure has been very busy on June 28th M2.4 class flare, June 29th M2.2 flare and now today two flares M1.0 and M1.6 class.
So in a nut shell things are very busy in space in such a way that radio is affected here on earth!! I have been using a less power as possible mind set here at VE3WDM to see how many miles per watt I can get. It seems I may have to chance the game up a little....see  how many contacts I can make compared to the size of solar storm that is affecting us.
 In closing let me know how this conditions are affecting you in your ham location. Oh and a side note to all those who live in the high latitude parts of the world.....enjoy the Auroras this evening.


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

Just received this from Ed at Import Communications:

fyi… KG-UV920R

Wouxun has released a limited number of the mobile radio to dealers. These samples are not FCC Certified yet and do not have the required 2.5 kHz tuning step required for 2013 regulations. SO THE RADIO DOES EXIST.

If no major problems are found when testing these samples, hopefully full production will begin in July.

The costs of these samples are higher than I expected but hopefully the costs will come down when the radio goes into full production.

If you have your name on the reserve list at www.wouxun.us, you will be notified by email when the radio is available to order.

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

Wow! Would you believe I’m posting this by email using WINMORE and Winlink 2000? That’s right, the words you’re reading were transmitted over HF.

My laptop is hooked up to my Kenwood TS-440S with a DigiMaster Pro+, and as soon as I finish this email I’m going to send it over 40 meters. RMS Express will send it off to a Radio Mail Server (RMS) station, which will then send it over the Internet.

For all you CW lovers, I’m still with you. This technology doesn’t hold a candle to the feel of a key in my hand! But it is tremendously valuable for ARES work, no doubt about it. If you lose cell phone, long distance service and Internet in your area during a disaster (as happened just a few days ago up on the North Shore of Lake Superior during the catastrophic flooding in Duluth), this is the only way to get an email out — and email is perhaps the single best way to convey detailed information to the outside in a situation like that. The software is free, and it’s easy to use. What a great way to cover that “extra mile!”

That’s all I have time for right now because I have a bunch of things waiting for me that are more important than ham radio. But I wanted to take a few minutes to give this a whirl since I just got my WL2K account last night before hitting the sack. Have you used Winlink 2000 to some good purpose, perhaps in an emergency? If so, please share your story.

Todd Mitchell, NØIP, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Minnesota, USA. He can be contacted at [email protected].

If you like APRS and cheap Chinese radios you might be interested in this Spanish balloon project which will launch tomorrow (Sunday) from Madrid. The helium balloon will carry aloft two Baofeng UV-3R transceivers connected as a transponder with a 435.450MHz downlink and a 145.840MHz uplink, an APRS module on 144.800MHz beaconing the SSID EA1RCS-11, three cameras, a radio ionosonde and a parachute. The team anticipates that the balloon could go as high as 30km, making operation or reception possible over a large area of Spain and neighbouring countries.

For more information see the project website http://cienciactiva.com/.

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