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I operated a contest yesterday that I’d only ever done before as as DX, The RSGB IOTA contest. In this contest, any station can work any other station, but if you work an island (as defined by the organizers [note that the link goes to a PDF file]) it is worth more points (15, instead of 3 for a non-island contact) and each island you work counts as a multiplier, increasing your score. The contest has some interesting rules regarding hours of operations (you can submit as a “12 hour” or “24 hour” contestant) and some categories that are different from many other contests. (e.g., “Island DXpedition”). I decided that I’d try to operate in the 12-hour, low-power assisted  mixed category as “world” station. That means that my operating time was 12 hours or less, I used 100 watts to transmit, I used the packet cluster to help locate stations, operated both phone and CW, and I was not located on a island.

Unlike many other contests which typically start either in the evening or mid-afternoon for me, this one started at 8AM local (Eastern Daylight Time), and, not being a “morning person”, I didn’t get on the air until around 11:30 AM, and was a little disappointed to find out that the band conditions didn’t seem to be as good as I’d hoped. I started off on 20m phone and made a handful of contacts in the first 20 minutes. I realized that if 15m was open, if I wanted to work anyone outside the US it would have to be early in the afternoon. I switched over to 15m and found … nothing. Well, almost nothing. I did manage to work two stations in about 10 minutes, one on phone and one on CW. Clearly 15m was not going to be a productive band.

I moved back to 20m and worked stations steadily, thought not terribly quickly using Search & Pounce to find stations. I worked a few dozen stations on phone, then another dozen or so on CW and moved back to phone. After another hour of S&P, I was lucky enough to find a clear frequency to call CQ to try to “run” stations. (During most contests, it’s pretty tough to find and keep a frequency, especially for a small station like mine.) I called CQ for a couple of minutes and got one reply from a station in Poland, then about a minute later got a reply from my friend David, K2DSL, who is located nearby. We chatted briefly, then I moved on to work other stations. All of a sudden, a number of stations all started calling me. It turned out that David had “spotted” me on the packet cluster. When that happens many stations will tune to the spot frequency to work whoever is there. For someone like me being spotted is terrific because it significantly increases the rate at which  I can work stations. Prior to being spotted, I’d operated for around 4 hours and had made around 100 contacts, for a rate of around 25/hr. One hour after being spotted I’d worked an additional 65 stations, almost tripling my rate. I finally gave up the frequency after about 90 minutes, making 75 QSOs during that time which comes to around 50/hr. (The final 20 minutes or so of that period was considerably slower). In any case I had a great time and it was a lot of fun being the person that was being called, rather than having to hunt.

After time out for dinner (we were out with friends), I got back on the air at around 11:30PM. The only band that was open at the time was 40m, and because of atmospheric noise due to all the thunderstorms in and around the east coast, the band was very noisy. It was very slow going making contacts, and I suspect that some of the ones that I made then will turn out to be incorrect, since I had a particularly difficult time getting the details of the contest exchange. (For this contest, you gave a serial number, starting at one, and, if located on an island, the island identifier). I gave up after about 90 minutes, with a total of 210 contacts in my log. I thought that it was a pretty decent effort for the seven hours that I operated. Here’s my score summary:

        Band  Mode  QSOs     Pts  Sec
           7  CW      10     138    9
           7  LSB     22     246   13
          14  CW      45     399   13
          14  USB    130     990   27
          21  CW       2      18    1
          21  USB      1       3    0
       Total  Both   210    1794   63

            Score : 113,022

The whims of Cycle 24 presents a challenge for my low power, low profile station. Likewise, the difference between a vertical antenna and a horizontal wire antenna, is most notable during the summer from my location. The difference is becoming evident in terms of logged contacts during an event between summer and winter.

Polarization?
My production slopes toward the negative or dwells at the bottom in the summer. Winter conditions are favorable for my vertical antenna system and its low take-off angle. Additionally, I recently read W1ZR’s article on Antenna Polarization — What Does it Mean and When is it Important?

I’m curious if my vertically polarized signal takes a beating during the summer? I had a dickens of a time during the IARU HF World Championship against horizontal antenna systems. I logged a stunning 7 contacts in 5 hours of operation on the high bands. Perhaps, my doublet is better at focusing radio frequency energy, during the summer when it is really critical given conditions?

Shackadelic Update.
I thought again about a QSL card and Fred, KI6QDH inspired my approach given time budget and resources. Likewise, neither Global QSL or Cheap QSL, are sponsoring my recommendation. However, I chose Global QSL as my bureau manager for DX contacts and Cheap QSL for their thrifty price per unit (10 cents per card) for 100 cards.

Why our stateside bureau(s) are not moving into the space of domestic QSLing is something to think about given today’s austerity. The cost of confirming a domestic contact would fall dramatically when factoring bulk mailings.

I would gladly trade a little more patience for the price of one pound bulk mail. Would staff at the bureau(s) be willing to help out in driving down cost?

TS850S.
I have a few payments left and the shack relaxation zone will sport a used Kenwood TS850S in the near future. My FT100 will move into a pelican case for portable operations especially for 6m during the summer.

73 from the shack relaxation zone.

Since becoming licensed in the Fall of 2007, I’ve participated in every ARRL Field Day event since becoming licensed (2008, 2009 and 2010) and can honestly say I’ve had fun each and every year.

Let me explain, my three field day weekends mention above are not my only field day weekends. As a child I attended at least one FD with my Uncle, K5SOR perhaps more…But one I remember really well.

Anyway, in 2008 I was honored to have the opportunity to spend my first field day as a licensed ham with my Uncle. He and I went down to his childhood home of Cleveland, Texas and participated with the SHARK (Sam Houston Amateur Radio Club). Many of my Uncles friends belong to this club and just about all have been licensed for over 50 years. The 2008 FD event with the SHARK club was a lot of fun. We operated as N5AF, a 1A station in STX.

Last year in 2009 I spent Field Day weekend with my local club here in Denver. We operated as W0TX, a 6A station in CO. We setup out near Hudson, CO at an old AT&T site. The site is literally in the middle of nowhere.   It was hot, it was dusty and dry.  The Rocky Mountains just west of Denver teased us with every glance.  But…it was fun. 

As I began thinking about what I wanted to do for Field Day 2010, the thought of a hot, dusty location just didn’t appeal to me.  After all, I live in one of the most beautiful states in the lower 48.  I kept thinking of all the advantages to having Field Day in the mountains.  First, the daytime temps could be anywhere from 10-20 degrees cooler than those down in the city.  Second, the elevation difference sure wouldn’t hurt from an operating position.  Third, the smell of pine is just incredible.  It was decided….my third Field Day….Field Day 2010 would be in the mountains. 

I discussed the idea with a few friends and back in the March/April timeframe all thought it was a great idea and everyone was in.  At that time there would be three operators.  Our number one goal was to have fun.  We weren’t out to win anything…just have fun and prove to ourselves we could pull something like this off.  We stayed in touch via email and every couple of weeks we would update logistics and add more to the overall planning checklist.  We would keep things simple and operate as a class 1 station.  The decision of power was yet to be determined.

As we got closer and closer to Field Day weekend, more and more issues began popping up for the three of us.  It was pretty clear we would only be able to operate on Saturday as we all started having scheduling issues with Sunday.  But that was OK.  We planned to operate for 6 hours or so and break down our operation and be back home before dark.  Remember, our number one goal was to have fun. 

Just a few days prior to Field Day I got the call.  One friend had to bail on the plans.  And then there were two.  But….no sooner as I even thought that….the second friend sent me an email saying he would be unavailable.  And then there was one…..ME!  Well I wasn’t going to let this ruin my plans and I wasn’t going to change my plans either.  I wanted to operate Field Day in the mountains….I wanted to have fun and I wanted to smell pine trees while doing all this. 

Now my wife is THE BEST wife a ham can have.  She supports me and my hobby and all that goes along with it.  She agreed to go with me.  Give her a picnic lunch, a comfy chair and a good book and she’s very happy.  We’ve gone on picnics before where I take my Yaesu FT-817 and Buddipole and she takes a book and we’re both happy doing what we enjoy for 2-3 hours.  I figured the same could be true for Field Day. 

All was set, the car was loaded and it was time to head up the hill.  We have a favorite little park just up from Evergreen, Colorado.  It’s a great site because there is almost no one there and it sits up overlooking the town of Evergreen.  We arrived just before 11 AM local time (1700 UTC) and I had an hour to get my station setup.  Field Day would start at High Noon. 

My wife the day before encouraged me to leave the generator at home and try operating “green” for field day.  Now understand, we’re not tree huggers or anything like that.  By the way….there is nothing wrong with being a tree hugger.  Yes we care about the environment and we do our part to make a difference.  I have batteries and I have solar panels.  What else do I need? 

So we arrived and I began setting up.  The forecast was calling for a beautiful day.  Of course, I checked the forecast the day before and didn’t bother checking again that morning.  Like other places….In Colorado, wait 5 minutes…the weather is sure to change and change it did.  We quickly had our meal just before noon and I was setup.  About 5 minutes before noon the clouds began to roll in.  Hmmmmm, solar panels not working.  No worries….this will blow over and as long as it doesn’t rain……

I managed to work about 5 stations and then I felt it.  Yep….one single, tiny little rain drop.  But you know….where there’s one.  Possibly the one piece of equipment I did not take with me (other than a portable sun) was a canopy.  So the rain drops turned from one to many and so the gear needed to be packed away.  Saint Maximilan Kolbe (the Patron Saint of ham radio operators) was truly looking out for me because no sooner did I close the back of the Ford Escape, the bottom fell out.  It rained and it rained some more.   Knowing the weather would not clear up for the next few hours, we decided to start heading back to Denver.  I finished out my Field Day fun for Saturday afternoon and even a few hours on Sunday morning from a local park with just my buddipole and my Yaesu FT-897. 

So….do I have a favorite Field Day weekend from the three?  Well…certainly nothing will ever top sharing field day with my Uncle.  But I still managed to have fun and as with the two years previous, I did learn a few things.  As for Field Day 2011, I’m not sure where or how it will turn out.  Field Day in the Rocky Mountains???  It will happen some day.

Until next time,

73 de KD0BIK

Jerry

I heard from my ‘boss’, Rob Mannion, G3XFD, the editor of Practical Wireless the sad news that well-known PW author, Gordon King, G4VFV died yesterday, 24th July. Gordon had been suffering from stomach cancer.

I’d known Gordon on the air ever since we got our Class A licences around the same time. Of course I knew his call as even then he was a prolific author! We had many a good chat, often when I was at my parents’ then house in Cornwall, which was a good distance to Gordon’s Brixham station on 80m.

I’m sorry that I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to him. A full obituary will appear in Practical Wireless shortly.

I’ve been in Madrid for a few days, on business. I didn’t have any radios with me, though I did have the laptop and a decent internet connection. I had a couple of QSOs using the DV-Dongle on D-STAR – which of course is great fun if you’re stuck in a hotelroom. Not that I was stuck, as such… but anyway it was nice to work Mark, KJ4VO and a few others from time to time and just to listen to some of the reflectors.

Incidentally, I noticed someone the other day lament that there were a lot of reflectors on D-STAR but not so much activity. I’m not sure that’s entirely fair, but I’ve found that rather than operating ‘blind’, I tend to keep an eye on http://www.dstarusers.org and see who’s on and what repeaters / reflectors they’re on. That way, you can easily work out the best place to listen to catch up with activity or a particular person.

I also had Echolink on my PC and I was hoping to try and make some QSOs through the Swindon 70cms repeater, GB3TD with it. However the router configuration of the hotel did not permit the UDP ports required to pass. It wasn’t until later on that I realised that I could have remotely setup an Echolink proxy on my PC at home and used that. Find the Echolink proxy software on the Downloads section of http://www.echolink.org

Call me cynical, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like reading this story on the excellent Southgate ARC News site.

So, the producers want to invite amateur radio enthusiasts onto a doubledecker bus for some sort of dating show.

What could possibly go wrong in terms of publicity for amateur radio!

Wouldn’t. Touch. It. With. A. Bargepole.

Every now and then, there is a question on one of the e-mail lists or forums about traveling by air with radios and antennas.  In my experience, most travel headaches can be minimized by adhering to a couple of simple rules:

1. Make it easy for the security (and Customs, if international) inspectors. Pack everything neatly so it’s easy to search, even if you’re not present (checked baggage).  Label everything.  Include documentation and instructions on how to quickly disassemble things if needed.  Be courteous if searched.  This is not the time to “educate” inspectors about amateur radio.
2. Carry your radio and computer as hand luggage. I think everyone knows this by now.
3. Put antennas into a sensible container and check them. I’ve heard of golf club carriers, ski bags, fishing rod carriers, and cardboard boxes.  I use a 4-inch thin-wall PVC drain pipe that’s about 48 inches long.  It has a black rubber cap on one and a drain plug on the other.  This may have problems in the automatic baggage-handling systems of some airports like O’Hare.  The sporting equipment bags are better because the airlines know how to handle them.  It makes sense to use a carrier that might be similar to other baggage going to your destination.  But, in reality if you just call it your “ski bag” or “golf bag” at the counter, the agent will never ask what’s in it (aside from the usual security questions).  Also ensure that this bag is acceptable on all your flights, including island hoppers.
4. Keep as low a profile as possible, but don’t be weird or break the law. Practice moving fluidly with all of your gear.  Expect to be questioned and prepare for it.

If the trip is international, every country is different.  So, it’s helpful to have either a resourceful, intelligent local fixer or at least to discuss your plans with someone who has been there before.  However, most countries that receive a lot of tourists and have relatively easy reciprocal licensing requirements will not pose any problems.