AmateurRadio.com

In this episode, we have a great interview with Linux software developer and ham radio enthusiast from the Czeck Republic, Petr Hlozek – OK2CQR. He is the author of CQRlog and HamQTH.com. Unfortunately, Petr’s audio was a little hot and nothing we could do made it better. Our sincerest apologies. Sound problems aside, we hope you enjoy this fascinating look into the life and mind of an Open Source ham.

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].

Not much special going on lately. Worked some SKCC members, spent some time on 6 meters and worked my first station over 3000 km there. My weather station always seems to be in need of repair and my website’s CMS needed upgrading. Oh yes, there is the daytime job, too. Busy, busy, busy.

But, my wife was so nice to bring me a 2.6 meter telescopic whip from one of her trips to China. And so, last Saturday afternoon, while my little girl was horseback riding, I took the KX3 and MP1 with the new whip for a spin. The longer whip proved okay, although now the loading coil is much too large. Without the coil the whip needs to be shortened to be resonant on 12 meters and lower. I made four QSOs: HL0HQ (the KARL HQ station), JD1BLY (from Ogasawara), 7M2ALZ and JL1NMB. The resident ostrich took interest in my setup and decided the counterpoise set was a nice toy to play with and so he took it from me. Who said QRP is not dangerous? Power levels may be low, but those beaks do have a lot of force in them.

Hans "Fong" van den Boogert, BX2ABT, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Taiwan. Contact him at [email protected].

The waterlogged  PL-259

Well FINALLY I was able to get some radio time it has been so long and really there were no good reasons just what I call excuses!  On Saturday afternoon it was time to get some long over due radio time in. I ran my coax jumper  to the 1788 MFJ loop from my K3 radio, I settled into my radio chair and flipped the switch…..and……it was time for Murphy to visit me! With the MFJ loop you are supposed to tune the loop for peak noise and this was just not happening. I was getting numerous peaks but the SWR was all over the place! I thought about it for some time and after trying numerous ideas it finally hit me! I have a 6 foot coax tail on the loop and via a coupling I connect the coax from indoors. It was really raining the last few days and the balcony was very wet and "normally" my outdoor coax tail is in a plastic zip lock bag. This past rain storm was also accompanied with a strong wind and somehow the coax was removed from the bag and was in the water. I removed the coax and checked it with my ohm meter and it showed a high resistance between the centre conductor and shield. So it seems water has made it's way into the PL-259 connector and after installing a new piece of coax and doing some check with great results it was time for bed. My loop is supported by the MFJ tripod. I have a cover over the loop it to help disguise it and kinda makes it look like patio furniture. There is lots of wind being high up and on the lake so the cover has to be secured around the centre pole of the tripod. It's great that the antenna works perfect with a cover and with it secured as well I just want to come up with an easy way to connect and disconnect the coax from the antenna. I don't want to remove the cover or un-secure it from the centre pole. Any ideas from ham world would be approbated.

A shot of the balcony antenna open for suggestions.

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

Took a drive down to Superior WI yesterday May 3rd to take part in the A.R.A.C.  Swapfest in Superior Wisconsin. Got up at 5 am, picked up Wayne VA3WRL and Clarence VE3WCW and we proceeded for our 3.5 hour tour down the lake-shore. Stopped in Two Harbors for breakfast before heading into Duluth MN and then over the bridge to Superior. Had rain/drizzle from Thunder Bay to Two Harbors but was sunny after that. Arrived at the fairgrounds on Tower Ave. and went into the building to see what was on the tables for grabs. Lots of vintage radio gear, computer parts, hand helds, coax and almost anything that folks have been collecting in their garages that they wanted to get rid was there. There were having hourly draws as well for prizes. Had a chance to talk with lots of the folks that I have not seen in a while and the Thunder bay group had a good showing at the swapfest as well.

73 Fred VE3FAL

Thunder Bay, Ontario

Fred Lesnick, VE3FAL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

One of my most read posts on this blog is “Which Antenna” it describes the comparison between 2 antennas. The MA5B and the MQ26-SR. As my readers will know I opted for the MQ26-SR. and 2 years on its only fair I tell you how I have gotten on with the  antenna.

I can hardly believe that 2 years exactly has passed where I hosted an erecting party, to install my new mast, antenna and rotator.  The first year of the antenna was perfect I was able to find the DX weak signals pick them out and get heard over the majority of the European pileups. I had a great deal of fun. The antenna remained unchanged in that first year.

But suddenly over a period of 3 months I found the SWR was changing, and the antenna was becoming more and more deaf on 20m. Something clearly had changed on the antenna. My initial thoughts were water ingress in the Balun. I never really trusted the balun and found the construction of it crude. But in fact the balun was fine. I did however find that every clamp, bracket and connection on the antenna extremely corroded.   “dissimilar metals”   was the culprit.

A huge strip down clean and reassemble job was needed. And so this was completed with the antenna still in place, and although better the antenna still isn’t quite right. It really does need bringing down to earth and cleaning thoroughly and wrapping up in self amalgamating tape.

So 2 years on. What do I think ? the antenna is excellent. But do look closely at the spreader arms, clips and any screw terminal. You may need to buy some new hardware in order to achieve a compatible metal. Have a look at the chart below. For a cross match on metals used to clamp the antenna up. As a guide I had a stainless steel screw, brass washers, clamping an aluminum ring clip. Not a great combination.

Also make sure the clear acrylic tubes do indeed have a place for water to drain from. 2 of mine do not and I have the bottom bracket nearly half full of water at any given time.

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.

Today was QRP to the Field for 2014, and it was also my birthday. What a present! Although I didn’t get to spend anywhere near as much time on the air as I would have liked, I got a little air time in and that’s always a good thing.

The theme for today was Tres de Mayo in honor of Cinco de Mayo. Well, here in New Jersey there really aren’t an abundance of locales with a Mexican flair. So I got a little creative.

Yes, I placed some Chipotle Mayo next to me while I operated.

I got to experiment a bit too. I used both my Par EndFedz and the EARCHI 9:1 Unun with a 36 foot radiator. The Par EndFedz performed as expected. The EARCHI performed much better than last time. The extra three feet of wire made a big difference. The KX3 handled the wire well on all bands, 40 through 10 Meters with minimal clicking and clacking from the auto tuner.

In the hour or so of operating time that I got in, I worked about a dozen or so stations. Included were some very familiar calls like Mert W0UFO, Jerry N9AW, Rick NK9G, Dave AB9CA, Gene N5GW and Kelly K4UPG among others.

So even though I didn’t get a lot of operating time in, I did learn more about the EARCHI end fed. I think it will serve well as an all around multi band antenna for portable ops.

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].

Series Seven Episode Nine of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast has been released. The latest news, Martin (M1MRB) and Colin (M6BOY) discuss Anonymous use of Ham Radio, Ed Durrant (DD5LP formerly VK2JI) joins us with his first report since moving to Germany and Martin (M1MRB) answers questions and gives repairs tips.

• Ofcom active in Somerset
• Coalhouse Fort Easter Activation
• 4m addition to Mt. Leinster repeater
• 16 New England communities to host International RadioSport competition
• ICASA awards long-term 5MHz license to SARL
• SARL 5MHz Activity Weekend
• AM Broadcasters and Radio Hams have common interest

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].