AmateurRadio.com

When I came home from work today there was a package in the mail for me, now this is not an unusual thing but I never ordered anything!! Holding the package and making my way back up to my condo apt I am old and do forget things but I was very sure I did not order anything. I opened the package and out came a very nice QSL card from DK7SN, DL9SCO and DL2BAT all hams from Palm Radio in Germany.  I have used their Palm paddle for years and without a doubt this is one of the best paddles I have ever used! I have used it with my Elecract KX1, K2 and KX3 radios and for those CW op's out there you understand when I say it's very smooth, adjustable to your fist and the dit's and dah's you ask of it are the only ones given to you….no more no less. Those of you out there that hit the trails (now that the summer is here) and are looking for not only a portable key but one that is compact and reliable the Palm needs to be seriously considered! It seems I have gone off on a tangent here and wondered away from the package I received.........it seems that the gents at Palm radio read my blog and read a comment I made about their cable that connects the Palm paddle to the rig. I said that it seemed it could become damaged easily and for that reason with my KX1 I made the cable attachment permanent. Well HAT'S OFF TO PALM RADIO the cable has been re-designed and  they sent me the new cable free of charge! What they improvements have been made you ask……..

Old cable on KX1

1. The new cable is thinner.
2. The new cable is more flexible.
3. The 3 pin connector ( the area of concern for me) now has an integrated strain relief.
4. The strain relief 3 pin plug is available on it's own so you can use your own cable to suit length.
5. A 3.5mm gold plated plug is added for a more reliable connection.

The new cable

All the new Palm Paddles I am informed now ship with this new cable. Julie and I on many occasions have had a conversation about success in business. Seems we have always come back to the same conclusion over and over again and that is CUSTOMER SERVICE! As hams we all know the companies that offer over the top customer service and those that fall short, it's not my place to mention those that fall short........Some of the companies that I have dealt with that offer fantastic customer service are Elecraft, DX engineering, N4PY software,Telepost, Alexloop, Begali keys and  A&A Engineering this is not an exhaustive list but the companies I have dealt with and had over the top service. Also added to the list is Palm paddles!




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

In a recent post, I had mentioned how I had purchased two refurbished Windows 7 computers from the Blair Group via eBay. One was to replace the family computer that died, and the second was to replace my shack laptop that has seen better days and is in the throes of dying.

I just wanted to mention that so far, I am pretty well pleased with both machines. I spent $139 for each, which is a bargain when you take a look at the price of brand new computers today. But when you’re saving up for a new radio accessory (PX3), you have to save pennies when and where you can.

Each computer is a basic box with Windows 7 installed. You might consider them a bit behind the current OS curve, but for me, this was a step up from XP and Vista. These are very basic computers, with no fancy software bundles, and I like that. A lot.

I don’t need a fancy or overloaded desktop as everyone in the house does basic Web surfing and e-mail reading through tablets now, anyway. The family computer is now basically a homework and formal document machine and you all know what the shack computer is, more or less. If I get 4 or 5 years from each of these, I will be happy.

So if you’re in the market for an inexpensive, yet decent machine, check the Blair Group on eBay. They do a good job.

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].

 

May normally brings a bit of Es fun for me in sunny St Bees. I duly put up the 6m antenna (which annoys the xyl). Tuned into 50.150 and started listening about. Nowt.

I left it a few days and went back when I knew there was Es. Nothing heard…strange.

Carried on listening. Considered starting a white noise listening club.

This evening I checked all the cables

I had wired up a co-ax patch lead…to thin air.

I’ll be contacting Ofcom to hand my license back in and accepting the dunces cap for however long it takes me to stop being so dumb! My sincerest apologies to one and all .

 

Alex Hill, G7KSE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, UK. Contact him at [email protected].

One of my favorite contest/Sprints is coming up this weekend.  The Hoot Owl Sprint, sponsored by QRP ARCI is this coming Sunday evening.  I guess I had lost focus, or wasn’t paying attention, as this came as a surprise to me when Jim W4QO announced this on the NoGA Group reflector yesterday.

The Hoot Owl Sprint is always held on Memorial Day Weekend, here in the US. The rub is that it doesn’t feel like Memorial Day weekend as far as the thermometer is concerned.  It feels more like late April or early May around here.  It’s been chilly and wet for the most part, lately.  We have had very few days where the temperatures have gone into the mid or upper 70s. And the forecast for the weekend is for basically more of the same. Ugh.

I also believe that Monday evening will be the MI QRP Memorial Day Sprint, but I haven’t seen any announcements regarding that, either.  Keep your eyes peeled. (Update: As per the MI QRP Website (should have looked there, first – DUH!) there will only be a Labor Day Sprint this year.)

I am hoping that it will stay dry enough so that I can test out a 53 foot radiator with the 9:1 UNUN at the park at some point this weekend.  According to the SWR Chart on the Balun Designs website, a 53 foot radiator will yield decent SWRs on all bands 80 through 10 Meters. If I get an opportunity to play and the results bear out, then this will be one of the antennas that will be used at the SPARC Field Day effort.

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 guess you could say that tonight was the first, formal meeting of a new Amateur Radio club. The newly formed South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club (SPARC) now lives.  Up until now, we were an “informal’ club, a loosely knitted confederation of Amateur Radio operators who gathered under the CERT umbrella to provide community service to our town.

But now we have a formal constitution and by-laws and we now fall under the banner and protection of the South Plainfield Office of Emergency Management.  Our major purpose is to provide communications and service to the OEM and the town of South Plainfield, NJ. The club documents were signed by the charter members, of which yours truly, is one.  I was appointed to be Trustee of our Club Callsign NJ2SP., which really is just a continuation of what I had been doing.

Our secondary purpose is to highlight Amateur Radio to the public, as well as to try and introduce Amateur Radio to the youth of our town and the surrounding area.  One of the ways we hope to do that is by sponsoring a prominent Field Day effort in a very public park in town.  Since time is short, it was decided to put forth as simple an effort as possible, so we will be doing a two station QRP setup – one station SSB and one station CW.  Since I seem to be the “QRP Guy” in town, I was made Field Day Committee Chairman. Yikes!

It looks like we’ll be using my two KX3s and some simple wire antennas.  While South Plainfield has its share of parks, there are two in particular that have very high visibility. The first is Spring Lake Park, which is actually part of the Middlesex County parks system.

That gazebo to the left in the picture would offer a nice shelter in the even of inclement weather.  The other possibility is Putnam Park,  a municipal  park which has the advantage of being at the intersection of two major roads in town. It sees a lot of traffic and has lots of tall trees, also. The only disadvantage is the lack of a shelter. We would have to procure some kind of tent, canopy, or other portable shelter.

Time is short, and this is definitely going to be a “fly by the seat of the pants” effort at this point.  The main goals will be to have fun and garner some publicity for SPARC and Amateur Radio in general. Since this looks like it’s going to be a QRP expedition on steroids, maybe I can get the other guys in town to be bitten by the “QRP Bug”.

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].

As I remember the days of working 10 Meters and have always loved the band I haven’t been as active on 10 in years. I was just cruising through some sites and came across this rig. While I have an Icom 7100 in my car now I really did like this rig. For the price tag of $159.00 it seems like a reasonable cost to get up and running on 10m mobile. There are some interesting features of separate color screen and I know some Ham’s night not like having CD frequencies in your car I normally keep an ear on longer trips. I will listen to some of the cross talk about traffic and construction.

Interesting rig to check out:

 

 

More on this rig: http://nicktoday.com/stryker-sr-89mc-10-meter-amateur-radio/

Nick Palomba, N1IC, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Florida, USA. Contact him at [email protected].