Skilman and AmateurRadio.com
have teamed up to give away TEN free copies of
Skilman Introduction to Morse Code
($49.95 value each)
Open to all US and Canadian residents.
Deadline to enter is 10 January 2016 20:00 UTC.

Editor’s note:

Skilman has sent us a 10% off coupon code ‘U4YDIFM’ (valid through 1/24).

From the description:

Developed by Dr. Jessica Parks, an expert in memory and cognition with a doctoral degree in experimental psychology, this course on six audio compact discs will guide you step-by-step to mastery of Morse code.

Dr. Parks draws on long-standing research and scientifically validated principles to give you every advantage as you learn the letters, numbers, punctuation, and pro-signs that you will need to communicate using Morse code. A booklet and complimentary digital download of the entire course are also included.

Always wanted to learn Morse code? Now’s your chance — for free!
Listen to the sample lessons and then enter to win below…

Skilman Introduction to Morse Code – Lesson 1 (24:02) Download
[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://static.skilman.com/learn-1.mp3″]

Skilman Introduction to Morse Code – Lesson 2 (24:32) Download
[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://static.skilman.com/learn-2.mp3″]

Prize Packages

Ten (10) 6-disc copies of
Skilman Introduction to Morse Code
http://www.skilman.com

Eligibility

Residents of the
United States and Canada
(shipping is included!)

How to Enter

It’s simple!
Leave a comment to this post.
(e-mail address will not be shared)

Entry Duration

Only 1 week!

You may enter only once from
3 January 2016 12:00 UTC
to
10 January 2016 20:00 UTC

(multiple entries from the same entrant will be discarded)

Winner Announcement

10 January 2016

We will announce the winner on AmateurRadio.com.

You can get the winner announcement by
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Please tell your friends about this giveaway!

Thank you to Skilman for offering these fantastic prizes!
http://www.skilman.com

The winner will be chosen at random (using random.org) from all valid comment entries to this post received by the contest deadline. Entries will be deemed valid at the sole discretion of AmateurRadio.com and may be rejected for any reason, including inappropriate comments. Entries received after the deadline will not be considered. The prize may not be transferred. The prize may not be exchanged for cash. Winner agrees to allow AmateurRadio.com to use their name and callsign to announce them as a winner on our site, and to share their contact information with the sponsor for the purposes of awarding the prize. No purchase necessary to win. Odds of winning dependent on total number of entries received. Winner is responsible for any applicable taxes or fees imposed by their jurisdiction. Void where prohibited by law. E-mail addresses of all other entrants will not be shared with any third party, including the sponsor. Entrants will not receive any unsolicited e-mail or be placed on any e-mail list.

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

Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Yesterday, after getting my fill of NPOTA stations, I was in the shack getting ready to pull the switch for the evening. It was just then that I heard a weak CQ on 3.652 MHz, from WT2W who lives in the Syracuse, NY region. It turned out that Jim was using a homebrewed transmitter modeled after a 1929 Hartley Oscillator.


Jim was putting out all of about 2 Watts to his antenna, but it was enough to garner him a 569 report from me.  His signal was a little chirpy and a tiny bit raspy, but it was still pleasant to listen to and fully copyable.  Shortly after our QSO, Jim e-mailed me the above photo.  I know how satisfying it is to build a kit and have it work.  I can only imagine how much more satisfying it must be to build something from scratch and have it work.  I'm not the greatest scratch builder, but the few times I have and have had the finished product work were enough to make the ol' shirt buttons pop.

Another friend who is into building from scratch is my good buddy, Bob W3BBO from Erie, PA.  As mentioned before, Bob is my Ham Radio mentor, and I've learned so much from him that I don't even know where to begin.  Here are some photos of a series of regen receivers that he's been homebrewing.







Now does he do nice work, or what?  Very nice work, indeed! I know that Bob has been conversing with Dave AA7EE, who's listed on the blog roll to the right. As far as I'm concerned, Dave's one of the Master Builders. His creations come out looking so good as to be museum pieces, in my humble opinion.

I wish I had an nth of the talent that these guys have.  My creations always seem to come out looking more like something Dr. Frankenstein would have created.  Functional, maybe, but definitely not pleasant to look at.

This afternoon, I worked three more NPOTA stations:

AC9FL - SSB - TR55 - Ice Age National Scientific Reserve
N4MJ - CW - BF04 - Fort Donelson National Battlefield
KS4YT - SSB - NP30 - Hot Springs National Park

Sadly, my SSB pileup breaking skills are nowhere near my CW pileup breaking skills.  It's going to be interesting to see if they improve as the year progresses.

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].

My wet noodle on 40m WSPR on Dec 30 2200 UTC

30m results at 2100 UTC Dec 30th

Over the holidays I was able to get some time to activate WSPR (at 5 watts) using WSJT-X version 1.6 the latest version which now includes WSPR. I wanted to investigate band activity with relation to UTC time from my QTH using my MFJ 1788 loop from the balcony. I started WSPRing on Dec 30th on bands I thought to be the "good" bands such as 15, 17 and 20m. From the UTC times of 1600 to 2200 I netted zero results on these bands!!  It could had been due to poor propagation on these bands as I had very poor results. 30m was my best band of all the test bands for that day. I did confirm that my MFJ loop is just a wet noodle on 40m as I was only spotted by two very local stations on a band that seemed very busy.

17m from  1500-1550 UTC Dec 31

I was on again on Dec 31 testing to see how the propagation gods were treating me that day. It turned out that my faith in 17m and 20m was uplifted a bit with some decent results. and once again 30m seemed to be consistent. It would seem from my limited testing that 30m is the band for me to go to on evenings when I get in from work. Also 20m but it may be more hit and miss. During the day on weekends 17 and 20m seem to be a charm. But then again there is always propagation that plays into the numbers and then just good old luck. I try not to just play these numbers games all the time. In the past (as I am sure most reading this post also have had it happen) there has been times when a band should be shut down and I make an amazing contact against all the odds.

20m from 1600-1700 UTC Dec 31

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

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

All about repeaters. More questions and answers from the Technician class question pool. Learn how you can win an Icom T-shirt and cap.

01:05:54

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George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

Is always a kind of lazy day at the W2LJ household. Marianne and I are not big party-ers and in fact, last evening, we had to wake up to watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV.  We were both fast asleep quickly after.  Our two kids were up later than we were, talking with their friends online.

I got on for a bit last night for SKN.  I don't know if it was just bad band conditions with the remnants of that CME lingering; or perhaps it was my atrocious bug fist. I made no contacts last night.

During the day today, I did a bit better. I worked five different NPOTA activations (6 QSOs):

N8XX - TR04 - North County National Scenic Trail
W1BXY - NS76 - Weir Farm National Historic Sight
NC8IN - NS55 - Ninety Six National Historic Sight
NR3P - SS01 - Assateague Island National Seashore
KK4ZUU - BP02 - Mnasassas National Battlefield Park
K7UPJ - NS55- Ninety Six National Historic Sight

I just realized now that I worked NS55 twice. Basically, I was dial twiddling, working the ones I could hear decently.  There were a few others, but QSB was so bad on 20 Meters at times that I bypassed a few, thinking conditions would get better.  They didn't, and going back to try and work those again, I found them to be gone. Sometimes the Propagation Princess is a cruel mistress!

Only N8XX and NR3P were CW, though. I had to break out the microphone and resort to SSB for the others.   As Yoda would say, "A disturbing trend in The Force, I sense".

As mentioned in an earlier post, the 2016 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt will be featuring NPOTA - but let that be just a foot note.  I would hope that a lot of you who read this blog regularly will step up the plate and activate NPOTA entities using CW (and QRP).

Remember, it doesn't have to be an elaborate set up, with multi ops and crazy antenna installations that last all day.  This NPOTA program was tailor made for portable QRP ops!  Go to one of the entities, throw a wire into a tree, or perhaps break out the Buddistick, Buddipole, Alex Loop - what have you. Get on the air for a few hours and hand out some contacts!

Also, remember that this is a year long celebration.  There were a bumper crop of NPOTA activations on the air today. It seems that everyone wanted to be active on "Day One", but there are 365 days left (this is a Leap Year, don't forget).  So get out there and have some fun.  That's what this is all about - going outdoors, setting up and having some fun.

This is OUR specialty, guys!  Let's show them how it's done!

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].