AmateurRadio.com

This weekend was the monthly SKCC Weekend Sprintathon (WES), and I was really looking forward to working this.  I had hear there was lots of activity, and a great way to pick up additional SKCC member QSO’s as I work towards my Centurion (100 contacts).

Map of contacts – most were on 40 meters (PR was on 15 meters, only 15 meter contact) – map by http://www.qsomap.org/

So I was up and at it at 7:00 AM local Saturday morning (12:00 UTC).  Long story short, the bands really stunk here in Kansas the entire weekend.  All total I probably was able to work about 8 hours of the contest.

I ended up making 24 contacts, 16 states/provinces (including Puerto Rico and France) for a total score of 774 points – all QRP at 5 watts with the KX3 and my 20/40 dipole that lays on my shingles on the roof.

I used the SKCC Logger program, and it made life really easy!

I dug out an old J-37 key that my father had, and it was a real pleasure to use!

J-37 Key – KX3 on 3D printed stand my son made for me!

I added 16 new SKCC numbers, so right now I am sitting at 59 – just 41 more to go for my Centurion.

I will definitely be back next month!  This was really fun, and if you’re worried about your CW skills, this is the perfect event for you.  Nice and slow – not the break-neck speed of most CW contests!

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

This weekend was the monthly SKCC Weekend Sprintathon (WES), and I was really looking forward to working this.  I had hear there was lots of activity, and a great way to pick up additional SKCC member QSO’s as I work towards my Centurion (100 contacts).

Map of contacts – most were on 40 meters (PR was on 15 meters, only 15 meter contact) – map by http://www.qsomap.org/

So I was up and at it at 7:00 AM local Saturday morning (12:00 UTC).  Long story short, the bands really stunk here in Kansas the entire weekend.  All total I probably was able to work about 8 hours of the contest.

I ended up making 24 contacts, 16 states/provinces (including Puerto Rico and France) for a total score of 774 points – all QRP at 5 watts with the KX3 and my 20/40 dipole that lays on my shingles on the roof.

I used the SKCC Logger program, and it made life really easy!

I dug out an old J-37 key that my father had, and it was a real pleasure to use!

J-37 Key – KX3 on 3D printed stand my son made for me!

I added 16 new SKCC numbers, so right now I am sitting at 59 – just 41 more to go for my Centurion.

I will definitely be back next month!  This was really fun, and if you’re worried about your CW skills, this is the perfect event for you.  Nice and slow – not the break-neck speed of most CW contests!

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

My poor-man’s 10 MHz reference based on the Ublox Neo-7M GPS module didn’t always receive GPS satellites. Since I rely on reception indoors, conditions were sometimes too marginal to lock the oscillator output to 10 MHz. Inspired by the QRPlabs GPS module of Hans Summers (G0UPL) with its large 6 x 6 cm PCB groundplane, I therefore decided to do something similar.

The first picture shows the unit with the 8.5 x 6.5 cm single-sided PCB ground plane attached with double-sided tape. It definitely helped make indoors reception in my shack much more reliable. In addition to the improved conditions for the patch antenna, it probably helps too that the antenna now is shielded from the digital circuitry of the GPS module, the 10 MHz pulse shaper, and the USB interface. I also added a small LED to the right so that I could see from the outside whether the GPS locks properly.

The second picture shows the interior prior to adding the ground plane.

This post is a continuation of these other posts about the 10 MHz reference:

1. Just good enough 10 MHz reference (3 Oct 2015)
2. Better with SMA (15 Oct 2015)
3. Curing amnesia in the 10 MHz GPS reference (19 Nov 2015)

Sverre Holm, LA3ZA, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Norway. Contact him at [email protected].

My poor-man’s 10 MHz reference based on the Ublox Neo-7M GPS module didn’t always receive GPS satellites reliably enough. Since I rely on reception indoors, conditions were sometimes too marginal to lock the oscillator output to 10 MHz. Inspired by the QRPlabs GPS module of Hans Summers (G0UPL) with its large 6 x 6 cm PCB groundplane, I therefore decided to do something similar.

It definitely helped make indoors reception in my shack much more reliable. The first picture shows the unit with the 8.5 x 6.5 cm single-sided PCB ground plane attached with double-sided tape. The picture below shows it prior to adding the ground plane. I also added a small LED to the right so that I could see from the outside whether the GPS locks properly.

This post is a continuation of these other posts about the 10 MHz reference:

• Just good enough 10 MHz reference (3 Oct 2015)
• Better with SMA (15 Oct 2015)
• Curing amnesia in the 10 MHz GPS reference (19 Nov 2015)

Sverre Holm, LA3ZA, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Norway. Contact him at [email protected].

Hello, fellow amateur radio and Linux enthusiasts. Welcome to the latest edition of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, your intrepid hosts discuss spy radios, the Heard Island DXpedition, the physics of antennas, new Linux releases and more. We've even thrown in an interview with John Hays, K7VE, of Northwest Digital Radio about their great new Pi hat. There's so much information it's a double episode. Don't miss a single action-packed second.

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].

Economists see scarcity, supply and demand as fundamental forces in a market. Items that are scarce demand a higher price while items that are easy to obtain tend to have a lower price.  A diamond is an example of something that is relatively scarce (and in demand) so it commands a high price. In contrast, wood is generally available and is much less expensive than diamonds.

Then there’s the concept of artificial scarcity. If some items can be made scarce (or even just appear scarce), the price will tend to increase. For example, if I own all of the banana trees on an isolated island, I could reduce the available supply of bananas and command a higher price from all of the banana eaters there. Or maybe I start screening bananas for quality and I put a special sticker on them to brand them as special.

We have a case of artificial scarcity in ham radio, called the DXCC list. This list defines what is considered a separate country when chasing DX. (Actually, the correct term is entity, not country.) For example, Hawaii (KH6) and Alaska (KL7) are considered separate entities even though they are part of the United States. (See Is Alaska a Country?) For someone chasing DXCC entities, because Alaska is on The List, a radio contact with Alaska becomes more desirable. It’s kind of like putting a “premium sticker” on a banana to indicate that it is special.

In my imagination, the DXCC list resulted from a bunch of hams sitting around drinking beer and bragging about how many countries they had worked. One guy, Larry says he just worked Hawaii, bringing his total to 125 countries. His buddy Leroy says, “You can’t count Hawaii because it’s part of the US of A.”  To which Larry says, “You bet I can count Hawaii…and Texas too. It’s a whole ‘nuther country.” Clearly, we are going to need an official list to keep track of what counts as a country.  A more credible version of how the list got established is captured in this article from the October 1935 QST.

Of course, the two main factors that drive scarcity of DXCC entities is the ham radio population and ease of access. Radio contacts are easy to make with entities that have an active ham population. If an entity doesn’t have many active hams but is easy to get to, someone will probably put that location on the air once in a while.  On the other hand, some locations are unpopulated and really difficult to get to. These are not only on The List, they are on The Most Wanted List.

Kingman Reef (KH5) was just deleted from The List, instantly changing it from one of the most desired contacts in amateur radio to a big giant Why Bother. You see, there used to be 340 countries on the list but now there’s only 339. Kingman Reef will now be considered part of Palmyra/Jarvis, so it still has value for DXCC, just a lot less.

As I write this article, there is a major DXpedition (VKØEK) operating from Heard Island, an unpopulated island near Antartica. The only reason those guys are there is that Heard Island is on The List. Take a look at their web site and you’ll see how much time and energy has gone into activating this lonely island. Drop it from the list and suddenly a radio contact with this location is a lot less in demand.

So try to keep this all in perspective. There are lots of radio contacts out there to be made, some more interesting and desirable than others. It is appropriate and necessary that we have the DXCC list, to provide consistency in how we count countries, I mean entities. But really, it all traces back to Larry and Leroy arguing about who worked the most countries.

Thanks to the dedicated DXpeditioners that put these rare locations on the air.

73, Bob K0NR

The post DX, Artificial Scarcity and The List appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

I saw on Facebook this morning, that many were thanking the VK0EK expedition for the ATNO and were thanking them, in general, for a wonderful DXpedition. I would suspect they have gone QRT.

And I would guess I'm in the minority as I'm not in any of their logs.  In fact, I never even heard them decently well enough to work them.  There were a couple of times that I could tell they were on a given frequency, but they never loud enough that I would be able to hear my own call come back to me, on the off-chance that they would have heard me.  It didn't seem right to just add to the QRM.

Am I disappointed?  You're darn tootin' I am!  Working VK0EK would have been an ATNO for me and I sure as heck would love to have them in my DXCC tally.  But I'm not depressed about it.

It all goes back to that post a few weeks ago about balance.  Yes, I do not have Heard Island as an entity worked. However, the sun is still shining, the birds are still chirping, our solar system is still plowing its way throughout the galaxy.  I still have to go to work tomorrow and earn a living.

And while I didn't work them, and life goes on, I still applaud their effort.  It's not easy to go to a remote island near Antarctica, and brave the elements and hardships to provide the rest of us Amateur Radio ops with a bunch of excitement and fun.

Thank you Team VK0EK - even though I'm not in your log - thank you for a job very well done, indeed!

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].