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The weather forecast suggests that the fine spell we have enjoyed for the last few days – which has caused the G4ILO shorts to be brought out of the wardrobe unusually early – is going to end soon. So I thought I would try an activation this morning of the small summit of Dodd, LDW-174 for Wainwrights On The Air. Being a tightwad, I didn’t want to pay the Forestry Commission’s exorbitant charges to park at the visitor centre so I parked off the road at a spot about a mile north of the official car park. I’ll happily walk an extra two miles to save £6.50!

I was afraid this well-known parking spot would be full but in fact there were only two other cars there, a silver Nissan and an old BMW that was very dusty and looked suspiciously as if it might have been there a while. I set off along the path and had hardly walked a few paces when I saw some car keys in the undergrowth beside the path. “I bet they are BMW keys” I thought to myself as I picked them up and sure enough they were.

Now I had a dilemma. Perhaps someone had dropped their keys and would be coming back to look for them, so I should leave them where they were. It was just a gut instinct that made me suspect the BMW had been stolen and some thief had left it in this quiet spot and thrown away the keys before switching to another car. If it wasn’t a stolen car, surely it soon would be if I left the keys so close to the vehicle itself. So I decided to walk to the visitor centre and hand the keys in, explain what had happened and suggest they called the police to investigate.

This I did, before beginning the ascent of Dodd up the forestry road. It is a rather dull plod until you reach the col between Dodd and the Ullock Pike ridge and the path curves round Dodd’s conical summit until this view over Derwentwater opens up. Then it is another short upward plod until you reach the summit (top picture.)

As I reached the higher altitudes it was clear that the stiff cold wind that has been a feature of the entire weekend and made conditions a lot less pleasant than the photos suggest was still with us. The WOTA Pole was still broken (and probably won’t be repaired) so in its place I was using my new rucksack mounted telescopic 5/8 vertical. This is the old telescopic 5/8 BNC antenna with a new more robust whip fitted to the spring/loading coil. Because the weight of the whip makes the spring bend over it is encased in a piece of plastic electrical conduit which is Araldited to the base of the telescopic whip. This fits into the base section of conduit using one of the famous fragile jointing pieces. A female BNC plugs into the BNC base of the antenna, with the coax and a 19in pigtail counterpoise. This gave a perfect 1:1 SWR at 145MHz when tested at home using my antenna analyzer. It fits nicely in the rucksack with the telescopic whip sticking up above my head, the ultimate fashion accessory for the keen WOTAphile.

The radio was the Kenwood TH-D72 stuck on my belt. The headset I first tried on Carrock Fell proved itself once again, both in helping me to hear the other stations in the howling gale and in keeping the wind noise out of my audio. Regular readers can probably detect a trend here. I think the Kenwood is finally coming into its own as my APRS radio of choice.

I called CQ WOTA a couple of times, with no replies! Was this going to be a failed activation? Eventually to my great relief Mark MM1MPB came back. He gave me only a 5 by 5, which I improved to a 5 by 9 by walking a short way to the other side of the summit. I was concerned that perhaps something was wrong with the antenna so I swapped to the Nagoya NA-701 short dual band flexy-whip and Mark gave me only 5 by 3 so the 5/8 seemed to be doing its stuff. Dodd is quite a hemmed-in summit and although I could see across the Solway to Scotland it’s possible that the path to Annan was blocked by the Ullock Pike ridge and the northern flanks of Skiddaw.

A few more calls and I was pleased to be answered by Colin G4UXH in Milnthorpe who had noticed the website spot placed by Mark, and then Steve M0IGG from Walney Island. Both stations were beyond the southern boundary of the Lake District and so at a fair distance. Clearly I was getting out, just not many people were listening. I also worked M6BDV/P on Little Mell Fell for a summit to summit contact, who confused me at first by using the call MW6… his home area being Wales. But that was it. None of the Workington mob or the Penrith crew. I guess everyone was WOTAed out after all the activations over the weekend.

I didn’t even see another person on the summit, which is quite unusual. Not that I minded that at all, in fact I always prefer to have a summit to myself than have hordes of people wondering what I am doing.

The views as always from Dodd on a clear day were stunning. But it was damn cold no thanks to that icy wind, so I was pleased to pack up and head back down to the car again. The BMW had gone by the time I returned. How it came to be there with its keys tossed in the undergrowth will probably forever remain a mystery.

I was very pleased to receive the following news this morning, via Dave, WW2R from Brian, WA1ZMS. The callsign has changed this year – but with the same configuration this beacon was heard in Europe last summer – so it is well worth listening for!”As of 12:30z on 2 May, a 4-Meter Band Radio Science E-skip Trans-Atlantic (TA) propagation beacon is QRV from the East Coast of the US. QRG is 70.005 MHz, QTH is FM07fm, CW emissions.ERP is 3kW aimed at 60 degrees true towards Europe. This year’s parameters are identical to the previous 2010 operations but with a new call sign, WE9XUP, for 2011.The beacon is scheduled to run 24 hours a day until 1 Sept, 2011 but must QRT sooner if there are technical or *any* QRM issues. This is a Non-Amateur beacon (just like 2010 operations) and 2-way QSOs are not permitted. Any and all QSL/SWL reports are welcome via email to:WA1ZMS ( at ) ARRL ( dot ) NET.This beacon has been licensed solely with the gracious co-operation of theSociety of Broadcast Engineers (representing the TV industry, which holds the Primary 4-Meter Band spectrum allocation) here in the US — and the FCC’s Office of Engineering Technology.Although there is no possibility of an Amateur Allocation on the 4-Meter Band in the US in the foreseeable future (because the TV Broadcast Service is the sole allocated radio service), as the transmitter licensee I am ever grateful that this beacon could be QRV again in 2011 for propagation research — exploring Trans- Atlantic E-Skip propagation, with the dream of a TA QSO taking place someday on the 2-meter band!Here’s hoping for many more E-skip TA reports on the 4-Meter Band this year!73,-Brian, WA1ZMS”

I was very pleased to receive the following news this morning, via Dave, WW2R from Brian, WA1ZMS. The callsign has changed this year – but with the same configuration this beacon was heard in Europe last summer – so it is well worth listening for!”As of 12:30z on 2 May, a 4-Meter Band Radio Science E-skip Trans-Atlantic (TA) propagation beacon is QRV from the East Coast of the US. QRG is 70.005 MHz, QTH is FM07fm, CW emissions.ERP is 3kW aimed at 60 degrees true towards Europe. This year’s parameters are identical to the previous 2010 operations but with a new call sign, WE9XUP, for 2011.The beacon is scheduled to run 24 hours a day until 1 Sept, 2011 but must QRT sooner if there are technical or *any* QRM issues. This is a Non-Amateur beacon (just like 2010 operations) and 2-way QSOs are not permitted. Any and all QSL/SWL reports are welcome via email to:WA1ZMS ( at ) ARRL ( dot ) NET.This beacon has been licensed solely with the gracious co-operation of theSociety of Broadcast Engineers (representing the TV industry, which holds the Primary 4-Meter Band spectrum allocation) here in the US — and the FCC’s Office of Engineering Technology.Although there is no possibility of an Amateur Allocation on the 4-Meter Band in the US in the foreseeable future (because the TV Broadcast Service is the sole allocated radio service), as the transmitter licensee I am ever grateful that this beacon could be QRV again in 2011 for propagation research — exploring Trans- Atlantic E-Skip propagation, with the dream of a TA QSO taking place someday on the 2-meter band!Here’s hoping for many more E-skip TA reports on the 4-Meter Band this year!73,-Brian, WA1ZMS”

For while, I had three computers stuffed into two operating positions at K8GU and things were just getting out of hand as far as keeping the software updated, the clocks synchronized, and LoTW uploaded—as well as just plain having space on the operating table.  So, I moved the venerable sakhalin into backup, spent $18 on USB-to-RS232 adapters and a few hours over the past two weekends reorganizing the operating table.

The new arrangement replaces a monitor with two small shelves (which are designed, I might add, to hold exactly two T2X control boxes).  I moved the DC power distribution system to be more centrally located and made room for some accessories that I’ve been meaning to move into arm’s reach.

Software is a different story.  I have been test-driving N1MM in VHF contests which are slower-paced than their HF counterparts.  As a die-hard TR-Log user, it’s difficult to make the switch.  I decided I had to go cold turkey.  I am presently trying TR4W, which is a very good clone.  However, it does have idiosyncrasies—the biggest of which is the behavior of two-radio mode.  When CQing on Radio #1 in TR-Log, ALT-D lets you dupe a station on Radio #2 then hit the SPACE bar to call that station on Radio #2.  With TR4W, ALT-D changes the focus to the Radio #2, but does not dump your call in, a step which requires you to hit ENTER.  The other small thing is that the delightful emacs key-bindings CTRL-W and CTRL-K do not wipe the present and both (call and exchange) entry fields in TR4W.  But, I’m getting the hang of using ESC.

Another thing that will take some getting used to is the fact that if the TR4W window loses focus, I can’t use the CW memories!  Fortunately, the paddles are close at hand!  For serious operating without sidetone, this won’t work, though.  Speaking of paddles, I’ve found that putting the paddles on the keyboard tray and the mouse up on the operating table is actually good as far as keeping mouse usage low.  Plus, the paddles remain at a comfortable height for sending.  Great arrangement!

Lots of other little projects around the station remain…

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The F-117 Nighthawk, designed by the Lockheed ‘Skunkworks’. (Image in public domain from Wikimedia Commons)

I have just finished reading ‘Skunkworks’ by Ben Rich and Leo Janos and it should be one of those books that engineers, students of engineering and those that like technology should read. The book details the secret Lockheed Martin aircraft design branch, set up and run by Kelly Johnson, which became known as the ‘Skunkworks’. Out of this special projects group came the F-104 Starfighter, the U-2 spy plane, the SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117 Nighthawk (also called the stealth fighter), amongst other aircraft.  The book starts out with the development of the Nighthawk which was developed by a team led by Ben Rich, who replaced Kelly Johnson as the head of the Skunkworks.  After telling that story of the stealth fighter development over the first few chapters it goes back in time to when Ben Rich first joined the special projects unit and how he became involved in the development of some of the most advanced military aircraft of the 20th Century. The book is an exciting insight in to how advanced engineering projects can be run.  ’Skunkworks’ was allowed to be free from the usual corporate bureaucracy and therefore it could move quickly in development. There was also a philosophy of using off-the-shelf parts as much as possible, including engines, so reducing delays from manufacturing new parts that would then need to be continued to be produced.  Although this philosophy was challenged with the development of the Blackbird which was designed to achieve Mach 3 speeds and so needed to be constructed with large amounts of titanium.

Combining details of how the planes were developed, the challenges and uses of the planes, as well as some insight into management styles and how to obtain multimillion dollar contracts make the book extremely interesting. When you read about the uses of the U-2 in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the shooting down of Gary Powers, and the use of the F-117 in Iraq you can see these aircraft had influencial and important roles in the the Cold War period and beyond. It was also interesting to read about the irony of how a relatively obscure Russian paper on electromagnetic theory  lead a young mathematician at the Skunkworks to propose how they could devise an aircraft that was almost invisible to radar.

Check out your library or bookstore to find a copy of ‘Skunkworks’ and read about engineering at its best.  To illustrate the performance of the U-2 here is a video from the BBC where presenter James May gets a flight in the two seater version of the U-2.  You can see how the U-2 could fly so high it was out of range of fighter jets and missiles (although there is a report of an English Electric Lightning F3 intercepting one at 88,000ft during a NATO excercise in 1984).

Onto the second engineering biography book to read.  This is ‘iWoz’ by Steve Wozniak and Gina Smith, which I read a year or two ago and should have written about sooner.  This is the story of Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple and the real technical brains behind the development of the first Apple computers, including the massively successful Apple II.  This is a very personal account, and more like a traditional autobiography than ‘Skunkworks’, but there are some interesting insight into how ‘the Woz’ come come up with the design for computers that effectively started the microcomputer revolution. It is fascinating to read how in high school he collected minicomputer manuals and with the help of catalogues and datasheets of newer components he would redesign the circuitry of those computers to use fewer components. Also interesting is his interest in using components in more than one way on the same board.  Here you can see the real engineering genius coming through. Below is a short clip of Wozniak talking about the ‘economy’ of the design of the Apple II at book signing event for ‘iWoz’.

Summer is not far away so chase down one or both of these books for your Summer vacation.  Lots of engineering inspiration is contained within the both books.