AmateurRadio.com

When you find hams heading for dark basement shacks in the middle of a glorious summer day, chances are they're 6m nuts like me. Sunday morning was a good example of why the magicband can become so very addictive.

For west coast fanatics, the 6m Holy Grail is working Europe. Such summertime opportunities via multi-hop sporadic-E (Es) are very rare and usually very short-lived, so the biggest challenge is just being in front of the radio for those few moments when things 'go polar'.

From here in VE7 land, our best propagation indicator for possible polar openings is the 12 watt VA5MG beacon on 50.034MHz, located in central Saskatchewan. It is rarely heard....but if and when, it often heralds the possibility for some memorable moments for some lucky left-coasters.

Such was the case this past Sunday morning...almost. My normal workbench 'background music', the quiet white-noise hiss of a programmed scan for northern beacons (50.015-50.050), suddenly filled with signals shortly before 0930 local time. The VE4SPT beacon in NE Manitoba and the VA5MG beacon were soon joined by VE8WD/b in Yellowknife, Northern Territories and VY1DX/b in Whitehorse, Yukon. Game on! ..... the north was alive with Es, signalling the all-important first-hop stepping stone to Europe was in place.

After alerting a few dinner-bound Europeans via the ON4KST 6m chat page, I began a prolonged period of over-the-pole CQ's on 50.086. About 30 minutes later, there were a few other west coasters doing the same, along with VE6TA near Edmonton, who was hearing the 15 watt VYØYHK beacon on King William Island in the Canadian Arctic.

VY0YHK Courtesy: Google Maps

I continued to CQ for some time, but the most I could muster were three separate callers at various times, all too weak to identify. I later learnt that I was heard by SM2A, who called with 50 watts, as well as DL6HL. It seemed that VE7 was just on the far edge of whatever might be happening. For VE6TA however, the magic was much more powerful.

Having only worked two Europeans in several years on the band, Grant bagged six Europeans over the next 30 minutes, hearing ''tnx first VE6" from a few very alert Europeans..... PA5JS, ON7GB, PA7MM, LX1JX, DL1QW, DH6JL and SM2A. Randy, VA6EME, further north in Cold Lake, Alberta heard and worked one European, ON7GB, as did  Joel, VE6WQ in Edmonton. As is so often the case, on-the-ground signal footprints are usually very small and stations just a few miles apart can have a completely different experience.

The N3TUQ 6m DX Map starkly illustrates this exciting event, showing Grant in the right spot at the right time, for a very rare mid-summer event. In his own words, "My best day ever on 6m".......




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

This evening CA3SOC (Chile) was calling CQ on 10m JT65. I called and called him – he called CQ about 14 times – but I was unable to raise him. At the start he was -16dB S/N but in the end was down to -22dB S/N. I was copied in Sweden at the same time, but that was no compensation.

Earlier in the afternoon I worked an E74 on PSK63, my first ever QSO on PSK at that speed. I am finding real-time keyboard operating in PSK modes quite “challenging”.  Whenever I use the keyboard e.g to write this blog, I make lots of errors that need correcting. This is hard on PSK31 and PSK63 in real time.   JT65 and JT9-1 are a lot easier. Currently I am using Digipan software which is simple and basic for PSK modes. I am using WSJTX V1.3 r3673 for JT65 and JT9-1.

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

The setup in the car

It was a great day today even though they called for rain  it was just overcast and very nice cool temps in around 17C. I was off work today and after I had completed the chores around the house it was time to get out in the outdoors for some ham radio. Since there was a chance of rain I decided to not set up outside and get rained out but instead I took my car and set up the Elecraft KX3 mobile from one of our near by parks on lake Ontario. I set out on my way and checked and double check all my items (last weekend I forgot   a coax connector and the portable op's came to a fast end) I arrived at the park around 13:00 local time and began to call CQ 20m I had no takers and decided to spin the dial to see who I could find. I did come across some DX stations calling CQ but was not able to be heard and some had very long waiting lists wanting to contact them. I then came across Bernie KB4JB from Florida and we had a very nice 20 minute QSO. The CW speed was in around 14 WPM and both of us were able to share station, location and other information before conditions changed and we both faded out. The KX3

20m mobile whip

operated just fine for over an hour and a half on the internal batteries at 5 watts output. At one point during my QSO with Bernie for some reason my KX3 key was just not sending what I wanted. As time passed in our QSO I noticed my headphone cord was under the KX3 Key and causing the troubles. Once that was dealt with the code improved minus the headphone cord! I only made one QSO for the outing but it was a long one and the speed was at a very comfortable.  The antenna was a mono band 20m whip, the power was 5 watts from the internal rechargeable batteries and the radio as was mentioned the Elecraft KX3. It was time to head home and get dinner going for Julie's home coming from work.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Click to Enlarge – I am towards the bottom!

A couple weeks ago the IARU HF World Championship 2014 was held.  It started at 7:00 AM local time on Saturday morning and ended 7:00 AM local time on Sunday morning.

I have been wanting to work a big contest, and I was able to squeeze a few hours of “shack time” into my schedule on Saturday.

I hit the ground running on Saturday morning right when the contest started.  I did a bit of band hopping for the next 90 minutes.  Then I was able to get back on about 3:00 pm local for an hour, then back on again about 11:00 pm local for an hour or so.

I worked 55 stations during this limited operating time.  I worked mostly stateside stations, but I was able to pick up a couple DX contacts as well.

The only HQ station I worked was W100AW – which was a thrill.  I also worked stations in Canada, Bermuda, Europe, Jamaica and Brazil.  I also worked Hawaii several times, which I had never done before.

Here is the breakdown per band:
40 Meters: 34 Contacts
20 Meters: 5 Contacts
15 Meters: 15 Contacts (This would have been more productive if I had more time in the afternoon)
10 Meters: 1 Contact

The good news about my high noise level at the QTH is that if I can hear them, I can almost surely work them.  I think I only called 2 people that I did not end up working.

I operated “search and pounce” the entire contest.  Starting at one end of the band and working my way to the other end.  One thing I found interesting is that I would finish scanning from end to end, then start over.  On the next pass I would hear stations I didn’t hear on the first past.  Very interesting!

The other thing I was happy to see is that I was not last!  I uploaded my scores to 3830scores.com and as you can see in the image above, I was not last.

I will officially submit my score to the contest, just to eventually see my call sign in print.

This was very fun!  I know I will never by a big gun contest station, but contests are a great way to improve your CW speed, operating skills, and have lots of fun!

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

It is back to the real world after a great week in the Isle of Skye with almost constant sunshine, temperatures topping 28°C (83 °F) and very humid conditions. Some great walks with the wife and the dogs to some new locations, the highlight was watching a school of porpoises playing in Loch Bharcasaig.


The cottage was booked last year primarily for our holiday requirements with no thought of radio operating as this has come later. As I feared in my previous post my unpreparedness meant disappointing operating as 2M0NRD/A

Located on the main tourist route up the Waternish peninsula I didn't want to have any unsightly aerials up at the front of the property. It is situated part way up a hill side and knew there was a wooden fence at the rear and to the right separating it from the neighbouring croft. I had taken a couple of 6 meter long fiberglass poles which I could bungee cord to the fence and then string the OCF dipole between them or alternatively use one of them to hoist the M0CVO Magitenna as a sloper. These poles and wires would be largely be obscured from view by the cottage.

The rear fence runs north to south, meaning the main lobes of the antennas would be to the west and east, not ideal for any ‘inter-g’ UK operating, so I had planned to use the side fence. What I hadn't spotted on the photographs was the overhead power line running on that side of the property. I could have put them up but opted for safety and used the rear fence.


I set up base in the spare bedroom at the back of the cottage but I really didn’t get to operate very much. We were out and about during the day and I did dabble on HF for an hour or so on some evenings. I could certainly hear a lot more than I do at home with very little noise and had some very strong signals coming in. I made a few QSOs but other than the contesting I am still finding my feet as an operator and being mike-shy I find the HF bands intimidating. I struggled to find a free frequency but did call CQ on 40m and 20m but with no response even after several minutes, eventually giving up as I was invariably swamped by another operator.

Last week was also the start of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, not only did I see some of the stadiums and venues while driving up to Skye but I also heard the special event station GA14CG operating out of Stirling on 40m some evenings. It was a huge S9+ signal and despite several sustained attempts I was unable to break the pile up. Seems they were beaming south and being north of them in Skye I stood little chance being at the back of their Cushcraft X-240 with just 50W and my OCF dipole being end on in their direction..!

Having holidayed in Skye before I was aware of the terrain but having surveyed the cottage using Google Streetview it seemed nicely situated. Upon arriving at the cottage it became apparent that the mountainous terrain was a bit more imposing than Streetview had shown, so not unexpectedly the 50MHz UKAC on the Tuesday evening was a disaster!

I spent the best part of an hour tuning around the band, occasionally hearing faint voices in the static but nothing legible. I vainly called out “CQ Contest” for a while but nothing was heard, even using the tuned dipole – even if I had managed to build the planned Quad beam it is unlikely I would have fared any better. 

The cottage was meant to have broadband and Wi-Fi facilities but a fault meant this wasn't working all week, coupled with no mobile phone signal left me feeling cut off, ironic really given the founding principle of amateur radio communication. I did do some digi-modes but without an NTP connection the error in the laptop clock (several seconds a day) meant I was initially too far out of synchronisation for JT65 or WSPR until I realised I could use the clock on my Garmin GPS which I use for geocaching. Doh!

It is likely we will be going back next year and hopefully will be a bit more experienced as an operator and will be more prepared. 

Oh and here are the porpoises I mentioned earlier


Andrew Garratt, MØNRD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from East Midlands, England. Contact him at [email protected].

I ended up staying home, working from the shack and forgoing my bumblebee number. The weather was partly a factor as one minute it was sunny and five minutes later it looked like it was going to downpour.

The real issue was my back. I woke up this morning with a stiff lower back. Nothing incapacitating, but sore enough that hiking to my FOBB destination while carrying all my gear, and then setting up would have been no fun. Added to that was the fact that my sore back has also slowed me down somewhat, so if I would have had to dismantle the station in a hurry, it would have been a problem.

Even from home, on the good antennas, band conditions seemed to stink. I didn’t hear a lot of FOBB’ers, and those I did hear were pretty weak. Giving out a 559 was generous today. I managed to work 15 stations.

I sure hope band and weather conditions and my back are better for the Skeeter Hunt!

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].

I read on the M1KTA blog that an antenna lead on one of his Elecraft KX3 units has failed. I know these have seen some harsh portable field use but I would not have expected this.  I have owned an FT817 for close on 14 years and, touch wood, it has never once failed me – still the same PA, same everything.

In my view, the KX3 is overpriced (over here in the UK) and not well built for rugged field use. I don’t doubt it has excellent features and an excellent receiver, but it is still over twice as much as an FT817ND which covers DC to blue light, out of the box ready built. The KX3 is a mess for leads, coming out all over the place. The FT817 is neat, rugged, and compact.

For me, the FT817 still wins.

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.