AmateurRadio.com

It was the weekend of the Dutch PACC Contest. Me being Dutch I always look out for QSOs with the home land. And since the propagation gods were in an excellent mood the prospects for many QSOs with PA stations were also good.

Unfortunately the contest only starts at 1200 UTC on Saturday and just 20 meters was open at that time. I worked two stations in CW and called it a day. On Sunday it wasn’t much better: hardly any signals on 15 meters and then only weak SSB. I heard my old club station PA6A, but they couldn’t hear me. Bummer. But EA8AM from the Canary Islands was coming in 57 a bit higher on the band and I had a chat with him instead. Nice, another new DXCC entry in the log. I did work three PA stations around 0900 UTC then decided to cook dinner instead of spending time behind the radio.

But after dinner I couldn’t resist and tuned the bands again. And whadda you know! At 1130 UTC 15 meters was wide open to Europe and I could work six Dutch stations in CW in a row, before the contest closed at 1200. In total only 11 stations worked, so I won’t get first prize, but satisfying non-the-less.

But the icing on the cake came when I was updating my logbook. I gave my tuning knob a twirl and landed on 14006 kHz where RI1ANT was calling CQ. No problem working him and the third Antarctic QSO in the log. Can it get any better?

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

And that seems to be my story regarding FT5ZM, and I’m sticking to it. Last night, I heard them well and couldn’t work them. Tonight, I’ve gone back to not being able to hear them. According to the DXCluster, they are active on 14.023 MHz. They might as well be on the other side of Jupiter, for all that I can hear. I’m not hearing any activity on 30 Meters, either.

Ironically, tomorrow is their last full day of activity before going QRT. And tomorrow is the day my KXPA100 kit is due to arrive from Elecraft. What a coincidence, eh?

I am fairly confident that if I had 100 Watts last night, I would have been able to break through the pileup. There’s no way that I can be 100% certain of that, but you can’t be in this hobby for 35 years without building up an innate sense of these things.

No use crying over spilled milk. Keep your ears open on the bands every day this coming week, QRPers. Next weekend is the big ARRL DX Contest, CW portion. I am already hearing some familiar calls in some familiar places as folks set up and gear up for the big event. Working these stations as they get ready, and then working the contest itself is a great way to earn yourself a QRP DXCC Certificate.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Addendum: I went back to the basement to find that FT5ZM came up nicely on 20 Meters. I heard them work my buddy, Bob W3BBO, and fellow blogger and QRPer, Chris KQ2RP. Still no joy for W2LJ, though. I guess tomorrow night will be my last shot, if they’re even on the air at that point.

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

A photograph taken from my living. The sunset looks so beautiful. I closed down my blog, but as most of you know, not for long. But I need to know what other hams are doing on the air, and the blogroll in Blogger is very handy. I was busy with taken photographs of a horse show. Almost 900. This weekend the PACC contest, but I had no time for it. And conditions seems to be poor today.

But 20 meter in the late afternoon was not bad at all.

Paul Stam, PC4T, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from the Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].

There has been a big change here since our move with regards to ham radio.   Antenna challenges, finding a spot for the radio, having the setup "eye friendly" to non hams who visit.  The antenna challenge seems to be solved with the MFJ 1788 loop antenna. There are still some hick ups with it, for example not being able to tune 20m below a 9.1 to 1 SWR. I have spoken with MFJ and they have given me some great ideas to try with the loop. (more on that as I venture into the loop's insides) The setup was solved with a great roll top desk all is hidden away and protected with a very fashionable piece of furniture. Now it's time to look at expanding my radio operations beyond CW but still very much not forgetting about CW it will still be a large part of my operating. CW is perfect for low power and simple antenna operating. BUT also with my new antenna it has a narrow bandwidth and needs to be returned as you move up or down the band. With practice the loop can be retuned very fast. I was wanting now to add a mode that would favour the loops narrow band width. The digital world came to mind.
The last time I was in digi land PSK31 was the ground breaking mode and I have come to understand by many of the blogs I read there are some new modes in town!! PSK is still around but it too has changed. There is also now SIM31 and 63,  JT65, Olivia and the list goes on, I have been out of digital for some time now and am not sure what all is out there. What I am looking for is something that uses a narrow bandwidth, (most digi modes do) only requiring low power, would be great to have a "conversation mode" and not signal reports and goodbye and not a mode that takes forever for exchanges as I have heard about some digi modes. Having said all that one thing I can remember about the digi modes is they can be lot of "fun" to setup with your rig and PC! BUT that is all part of the fun I guess. So you digi fans out there help me out with some suggestions as to an HF low power narrow bandwidth digi mode I can scramble my brains with. Oh and if it helps the bands I have available are 10-40m and the rigs I have are the Elecraft K3  and KX3.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Series Seven Episode Three of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast has been released. The latest news, Martin (M1MRB) and Colin (M6BOY) discuss the 50 years of ICOM and Martin, reviews radio codes.

• Canada fully authorises 5 MHz Channels
• New Essex Ham Radio club in Thurrock
• Fatal West Virginia tower collapse
• 4m VHF Transatlantic Beacon
• K9LA to receive the 2013 Bill Orr, W6SAI, Technical Writing Award
• EuCW launches Snakes and Ladders
• First details of Icom’s New Touch screen ID-5100 Dual Band D-STAR Mobile Radio
• IC-7700 HF/50MHz Base Station firmware upgrade
• Radio Hams responding to Slovenia electricity disruption
• Icom celebrate their 50th anniversary

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

Series Seven Episode Three of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast has been released. The latest news, Martin (M1MRB) and Colin (M6BOY) discuss the 50 years of ICOM and Martin, reviews radio codes.

• Canada fully authorises 5 MHz Channels
• New Essex Ham Radio club in Thurrock
• Fatal West Virginia tower collapse
• 4m VHF Transatlantic Beacon
• K9LA to receive the 2013 Bill Orr, W6SAI, Technical Writing Award
• EuCW launches Snakes and Ladders
• First details of Icom’s New Touch screen ID-5100 Dual Band D-STAR Mobile Radio
• IC-7700 HF/50MHz Base Station firmware upgrade
• Radio Hams responding to Slovenia electricity disruption
• Icom celebrate their 50th anniversary

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

For working FT5ZM, and it looks like I may not get them. I spent three hours tonight, trying to work them on both 20 and 30 Meters – no dice. They QRT on Tuesday, so time is running short. I would really like to work them, as most of the QRPers that I know are in their log book. But if it turns out that I don’t ….. well, the sun will still keep shining, the Earth will still keep spinning, and come Springtime, bunnies and birdies will dance on the lawn. And come 500 years from now, no one will know who W2LJ was, or how many countries he worked and at what power. You have to keep your eye on the bigger prize.

That’s like at the VE session that I worked this morning ….. there was a Ham there who was quite disappointed about being a General Class operator. This person has tried to upgrade to Extra, but is having a hard time of it, and is getting discouraged with the whole deal.

Goals are a good thing, but you have to remember that this is a hobby. We’re not looking for a cure for cancer here. It’s high time to enjoy what you have and not worry too much about what you don’t. Once you have fun with where you are, that just may take off enough self inflicted pressure to allow you accomplish what you feel is an impossibility.

As they say, the joy is in the journey, not the destination, whether that be an Extra class license or DXCC Honor Roll.

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].