AmateurRadio.com

 

A belated birthday gift arrived the other day, when the order was placed the item just went on back order so I had to wait. I ordered this item from Radio world here in Canada and I have to say that this company is first class. They are the DX Engineering of Canada and if you have ever dealt with DX Engineering you know what I am talking about. When the antenna was ordered I was not charged until the unit came in. Once it was shipped I was sent the tracking number and a link from there office that gave me updated information as to the where the item was in it 's travels. Then when it arrived the store sent me an email letting me know it had arrived. The expedited shipping is very reasonably priced, as in the past I have very frequently come across when shipping is more expensive than the item itself. This store is located in Toronto and when I lived in that city I often would drive up to their store. The staff is very knowledgeable and friendly. In a very short time they knew your name and upon return visit to the store you were known on a first name basis. 

So what whats in the box? I will be waiting until the weather warms up a bit more until the assembly and tuning starts.

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

While I would love to think that in Wayne’s World, this article would be “excellent,” that’s for you to decide! In this month’s Practical Wireless magazine, my article, “Need a Hand? Or Six?,” is on the cover. Like many hams, soldering work on the bench takes many forms. A lot of that involves setup time to get the right tools in place to begin. I really like to minimize these things so that my limited time is spent goofing up a solder joint..uh, making good soldering joints…and getting things done.

I also have been immensely dissatisfied with the cheap “helping hands” devices found at every hamfest or rally I’ve attended. The magnifying glass tips over too easily, there’s really not enough “hands” to suit me, and if I drop it on my garage floor, it’s likely to shatter. So I was inspired by a previous article in the April 2021 PW about the fabrication of a jig to do SMD work by Michael Jones GW7BBY.

My “artisan” soldering platform is my current solution to having a rather full-featured 12″ square platform with numerous “hands” to hold parts for using my two hands for holding the soldering iron or gun and the solder thread. It’s an honor to publish in Practical Wireless, smartly edited by a world-class contest operator, Don Field G3XTT. His book on 6 meter operation was recently revised and it’s well worth reading before practicing the “magic” in the 50 mhz region!

Frank Howell, K4FMH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Mississippi, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Martin Butler (M1MRB) is joined by Chris Howard (M0TCH), Martin Rothwell (M0SGL), Frank Howell (K4FMH), Bill Barnes (WC3B) and Leslie Butterfield (G0CIB) to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and in the episode's feature, Ham Radio Boot Sale and Podcasters Quiz.

We would like to thank Denny Morrison (GM1BAN) , Avishay Greenberg (4X5VG) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

• Dave Ritter, ND4MR, Receives ARRL Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award
• Amateur Radio Led to a Teenager Embarking on an Electronics Career
• SOTA's 20th Anniversary
• G6WBS - SOTA Mountain Goat
• PRESENTER OPINION : Elvis Left the Building…in 2015
• Youngsters on the Air contest results
• Dan Lloyd to Lead Ofcom’s Work Managing the UK’s Airwaves
• New FCC Application Fee will not Apply to Amateur Radio License Upgrades

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

Due to questions I’ve received during club talks to visualize all three dimensions of price, performance and satisfaction in HF rigs, I’ve assembled a 3D data cube (scatter plot) with these three measures together. This includes the composite Sherwood Receive Tests (SPI), price at market entry, and the eHam rating. The data cube points are color-shaded to reflect year-of-entry into the marketplace. These data are updated with Rob NC0B’s March 5, 2022 test data. A few (older) rigs without eHam ratings were removed.

Go to this link over at FoxMikeHotel.com to take a look. I may do some additional analyses in the near future so stay tuned if you’re interested in Rob’s work and related data.

Frank Howell, K4FMH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Mississippi, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Hello and welcome to Episode #462 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts take on two topics. The first is the art and science of the hamfest, exploring what happens at hamfests, what you can do, how you can participate and how you can benefit. Then we discuss future changes to the format and schedule of Linux in the Ham Shack to keep everyone informed and explain how these updates will make the show better. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

 

It's hard to believe that we are 3 months into 2022, winter should soon be on its way out and the warm summer breezes will soon be greeting us. I ended 2021 with a year in review post. In this post, my 2021 goals were to get less FT8 contact and more CW contacts. Not that I have an issue with FT8 but I did find I was paying way too much attention to this mode and my CW skills suffered. The plan was to shore up my CW skills, get into more CW contests and increase my CW contacts.

 

 As far as the past three months go my CW contest copying skill has gone from an average of 22 wpm to 36 wpm and 38 with some repeats. This was accomplished with daily practice of about 30-50 mins. Taking part in weekly CWops mini-contests on Wednesdays. In these contests I operate search and pounce as at this point calling CQ in this fast-paced contest is not in the cards as of yet. On Friday evenings K1USN radio club runs a slow-speed CW contest or SST as they call it. It is a slow speed contest but practice is practice and in this contest, I hold a frequency and call CQ SST for contacts. 

 

I am very pleased with the first 3 months of 2022, my CW contacts almost match the number for all of 2021! I am very happy with my increase in CW copying and my move away from FT8 and more CW. In the chart above from Club log it does show for 2022 a certain percentage for phone operation. Well, I don't have a mic in the shack and I am figuring my logging program logs the occasional QSO as SSB. It has done this in the past and this year I may not have caught this before uploading a log.

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

 

It's hard to believe that we are 3 months into 2022, winter should soon be on its way out and the warm summer breezes will soon be greeting us. I ended 2021 with a year in review posthttps://ve3wdm.blogspot.com/2021/12/looking-back-and-looking-ahead.html. In this post, my 2021 goals were to get less FT8 contact and more CW contacts. Not that I have an issue with FT8 but I did find I was paying way too much attention to this mode and my CW skills suffered. The plan was to shore up my CW skills, get into more CW contests and increase my CW contacts.

 

 As far as the past three months go my CW contest copying skill has gone from an average of 22 wpm to 36 wpm and 38 with some repeats. This was accomplished with daily practice of about 30-50 mins. Taking part in weekly CWops mini-contests on Wednesdays. In these contests I operate search and pounce as at this point calling CQ in this fast-paced contest is not in the cards as of yet. On Friday evenings K1USN radio club runs a slow-speed CW contest or SST as they call it. It is a slow speed contest but practice is practice and in this contest, I hold a frequency and call CQ SST for contacts. 

 

I am very pleased with the first 3 months of 2022, my CW contacts almost match the number for all of 2021! I am very happy with my increase in CW copying and my move away from FT8 and more CW. In the chart above from Club log it does show for 2022 a certain percentage for phone operation. Well, I don't have a mic in the shack and I am figuring my logging program logs the occasional QSO as SSB. It has done this in the past and this year I may not have caught this before uploading a log.

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