AmateurRadio.com

The last time I saw the USS New Jersey was in 1968. This battleship was in the Tonkin Gulf, along with us, during the Tet Offensive. We used “red lights” to preserve our “night vision” on the signal bridge, and on a clear moonless night, after an hour or so in the dark, I could see like a hungry cat searching for an elusive mouse. If you’re looking closely, you can see a slight curvature of the earth on the horizon at around 10 miles and the protruding masthead light from another ship. The white “bow” and “stern” lights of this large ship were easily visible as soon as they appeared just above the horizon.

It was important to know “who” was in the area at that time, and we had a method of identifying every new “light” on the dark sea. I focused my search light and sent the Morse Code pro-sign equivalent to “halt, identify yourself, or be fired upon” and after a brief pause, they replied “This is the USS New Jersey — fire at will”. I turned to my shipmate and said “wow….I just told the New Jersey to identify herself or I was going to blow her out of the water”. I never forgot that “challenge” even tho it was 46 years ago.

I have many memories from that period of time, some of them not so good, but when I heard the New Jersey (NJ2BB) last weekend, and was finally able to work her again, (in civilian life) it was like speaking to a ghost for me.

This weekend, I was also able to work several more ships. The most memorial to me was LST-325. I have a personal history with this ship; it was in our home town of Charleston WV last year. The previous year, I found this ship in Marietta Ohio and was able to use their ships radio to work a Coast Guard Museum radio station near Los Angeles California. A few weeks ago I worked one of the LST 325’s crew members (W8AU/M) who was driving along the interstate near Columbus Ohio. It was a long and enjoyable QSO.

The Nuclear Ship Savanna is the first ship of it’s type I’ve worked. I had no idea some cargo ships were nuclear powered? This was a big surprise to me.

This was the warship Haida located near Ontario Canada. (a fantastic signal by the way).

I’ve changed my “radio” focus since getting both my DXCC and WAS awards. (QRP at five watts or less of power and indoor stealth wire antennas). I work an occasional DX station with my “new straight key” but get my most joy from  long conversations at a slow 15 wpm speed.

There are several hams that I enjoy talking with very much. I like the “Special Event Stations”, and will continue to work them, but I will be writing about friends and interesting places in the United States for awhile.

My “free time” has become very limited with my father approaching his 93rd birthday, and my five grand kids growing like billy goats. There’s just not enough hours in the day……

John Smithson, Jr., N8ZYA, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from West Virginia, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Being able to work from home clearly has its advantages. Today for example I find myself walking along the ridgeway just down the road from me. The dog loves this place but it doesn’t really offer up as a great location to play a bit of radio. Or does it ?

For me the idea of a perfect location is somewhere remote. Easily accessible and yet offers up enough real-estate to erect an antenna. Of course what antenna you erect is entirely limited to the location. In recent weeks I have been using a home brew vertical antenna to great effect, although one of the SOTA beams Linked dipoles also provide a great lightweight antenna package.

Back to the ridgeway. Is this a perfect location? Well it might just turn out to be a good area after all. There are some areas that offer some small amount of space – The Vertical antenna would be the perfect choice here and its very easily accessible too.

On todays walked I hunted out a couple of small areas where I can settle down in a quiet corner and set myself up for the day.  I do have a couple of days off coming up soon – So I think I will try one of these locations out and film the results too. There is an added benefit as there is a woodland nearby, so fuel for my Firebox is sorted out for the day – so a nice lunch and warm drink is certainly on the cards.

I will of course update you and if I remember my camera – upload a video of my time on the ridgeway.

Dan Trudgian, MØTGN, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Wiltshire, England. He's a radio nut, IT guru, general good guy and an all round good egg. Contact him him here.

Actually, I’ve never liked people referring to 50MHz as the ‘magic band’. Sure, signals can come out of nowhere, but that’s hardly peculiar to six metres! Either way, I’ve been having fun on 50MHz as is usual in the Es season.

Over the last few days, when there’s been not much happening on the band, I have been leaving the receiver running on 50.276 with WSJT-X running JT65A. I don’t think there is a huge amount of activity, but there have been some interesting loggings; Iceland, Greece amongst others. Typically the most interesting ones have been when I’ve been elsewhere, but I have called CQ a couple of times and was delighted to be called by 3 or 4 stations in succession. Signals were pretty small and there was no sign of any CW lower down the band.

For me, that’s magic – working stations that you can barely hear! Of course, when the band is well open, JT65A, taking at least 5 minutes to make a QSO, is not the way to go – but when you fancy a bit of magic, it can be fun!

Tim Kirby, G4VXE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Oxfordshire, England. Contact him at [email protected].

6m so far on WSPR

Just semi-locals on 6m today so far.  Maybe there will be Es about later? My locals G4IKZ and G4KPX don’t appear to be on 6m today.

UPDATE  1746z:  Just the semi-locals still all afternoon, with no sign of 6m Es here today, well not yet! Will 61km be my best DX today?

UPDATE  1754z:   Just a few minutes later on 6m WSPR and OZ7IT (853km) in JO65df square was booming in at -8dB S/N by Es.

UPDATE 2105z:   No further Es seen here this evening on 6m.

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

10m unique WSPR spots yesterday

Quite a productive day on 10m yesterday with both Es and F-layer DX about. Best DX spot of my 2W was from FR1GZ on Reunion Is. and my best spot was of CX2ABP (11127km) in Montevideo, S.America who uses 5W.

This morning I have returned to 6m but G4IKZ, my faithful local reporter is not on!

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

All too quickly and the holiday is over

Apart from the UKAC on the Tuesday night I didn't do anything else with the radio, I did have the HF antenna up but the trapped nerve in my back meant I was in a lot of discomfort after being out and about during the day and so rested and zonked out on painkillers rather than struggling to set up the rig.

I must sort out a proper portable station that I can just open it up and start operating, I am impressed with Charlie's M0PZT porta-pack frame idea being an excellent solution especially for back packing.

In the past the wife and I used to be keen walkers, tackling many of the peaks in Cumbria, Snowdonia, the Peak District and elsewhere. We completed the Coast-To-Coast Walk back in 1991 and The Cleveland Way the following year.

Dipping my boots at Robin Hood's Bay in 1991 at end of the Coast-To-Coast

Sadly I am too overweight now to be a serious Summits On The Air (SOTA) operator but I plan on getting back to a reasonable level of fitness. As it happens if I'd been more prepared our walk of Latrigg last week could have been my first Wainwright On The Air (WOTA) activation.

Next month we are off to the Isle of Skye. We are staying in a self-catering cottage with plenty of room so rather than being /P portable I can be /A alternative and will be able to set up the rig in the cottage so can use it as and when I want.

I've already mentioned the holiday coincides with the 50MHz/6 Meter UKAC and am currently toying with the antenna choice, one advantage of being so far North is I won't need to rotate it as pointing it South South East should cover most of the UK. From the photographs of seen the cottage is reasonably elevated with clear views across Loch Bay in that direction. There are mountains ranges to contend with but who knows with propagation? I'll be in the rare IO67 locator square so might even have to contend with a pile up!

I will almost certainly operate as 2E0NRD rather than M6GTG for that week as using just 10W might be a bit optimistic.

IO67 Locator Square

I got somewhat excited last week when I received an email announcing the RSGB First 50MHz Contest results I was down in 35 place in the SF section but with a rosette next to my callsign? Wow I'd got an award! Pleased with myself I jumped on twitter to spread the news...

Gobsmacked.. pic.twitter.com/sGDI4jDh1W
— Andrew Garratt M6GTG (@nerdsville) June 7, 2014

Perhaps I shouldn't have been quite as quick to brag as it appears I was the only Foundation Level entrant!

Still I managed 4 verified QSOs on what by all accounts was a very difficult contest, with low activity and poor conditions. In fact I almost missed the contest altogether and was only alerted to the contest by a tweet by Robert @G1ZJP and was late starting as I needed to get the antenna up. I actually made 5 QSOs but one was broken because I mistakenly put 59 in as the serial number.. Doh!

This weekend is the 2nd RSGB 144MHz Backpackers contest and the Practical Wireless 144MHz QRP Contest Unfortunately the FT857 is too powerful for the QRP contests as the limit is 3W but I could have a go at the Hill Toppers section in the RSGB contest which is limited to 10W and as luck would have it I am left to my own devices this weekend so might take a drive in the car..



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

Today we present our first interview with one of the three Indiegogo donors who pledged an incredibly generous amount to earn a spot of honor on our very program. We have a great talk with Doug Jones, N6LMX, talking about everything from banjos to Hamvention, and from Linux to gastropods.  You definitely don’t want to miss a minute of this one.

73 de The LHS Guys

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].