AmateurRadio.com

Hi all!

I’m working on a major update for the kit guide.  I’m finally alphabetizing the list, and including a directory of sources.  I should have the new guide up by this weekend.

I have added a bunch of new vendors. 14 so far and counting.  If you can think of any more, let me know at: W2NDG(at)RadioKitGuide(dot)com

The next big change will be getting the guide into a separate hosted site, and adding a files section, and a forum.

Big things are coming.

Click “Read The Rest of This Post” to read the current list of vendors.

(note: new vendors in the list (*) have not been added to the site as of yet)

73 de Neil W2NDG

Read the rest of this post

Neil Goldstein, W2NDG, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New York, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

I’ve been listening to PJ7/ G3TXF on Sint Maarten Island for several days now and hoping for the opportunity to add another new DX entity to the log book. I made this contact easily last night with a single attempt on the 30 meter band.

Sint Maarten is another one of those small islands in the Caribbean area and a tourist destination within a few short hours flight time from the United States. Princess Juliana International Airport is an unusual landing spot because it’s very short runway for these big planes. They need every foot of pavement possible to avoid an embarrassing “dip in the pool”.  

Not for the faint of heart, standing on the beach here is a unique opportunity to experience a new form of wind surfing. Watching giant aircraft landing overhead is spectacular enough, but the “take offs” are quite another thing. Wind surfing takes on an entirely new form, from the rear of one of these planes, when they take off for the home flight.

My DXCC list is getting really short now. Despite my enjoyment of a long CW QSO the last few months.

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

Today 10 meter is in a good shape. I worked a new DXCC this morning 5R8IC from Madagascar with CW.

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

“Hi Mr. Bolton, Hi Davy!” “Mr. Bolton, thanks for bringing me along!” offered Jimmy.

“Anytime, Jim, always glad to have you along.” Davy’s dad replied.  “How’s your Dad doing?”

“He’s doing fine, Mr. Bolton.  His new job has him traveling a lot, but he’s doing so well that Mom is able to stay home and take care of the house and all.  So thanks for giving me a lift to the soup kitchen while he’s away.”

“No problem, Jim. You know you’re part of our family, too.  You’re welcome to hitch a ride with us anytime”.

Soon the three of them were there.  They were warmly greeted by Donna Pescarelli and her daughter Maria.  Donna, who oversaw the running of the soup kitchen, had been a good friend of Davy’s Mom, Abby.  She new Jason and Davy well, and was glad to see them and Jimmy.  In fact, Davy, Jimmy and Maria were all classmates at Christ the King School.

After signing in on the Volunteer Roster, they immediately went to work.  After securing their coats and radios in a locked closet, Jimmy and Davy began setting up tables in the church basement that served as the soup kitchen.  While they were busy doing that, Jason got busy transferring trays of food from the refrigerators in the kitchen to the oven to warm up.  Today the volunteers would be serving chicken, mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables to all the incoming customers.  There would be coffee for the adults and lemonade for the children. Also, there would be hot chocolate and dessert to anyone who wanted it. It would be a very good and warm meal on a cold and blustery December Sunday for some folks who had to deal with not having much of anything. Donna had thought to provide enough food so that the people could take home containers full of “seconds” if they wanted to.

The dinner went smoothly. People filed in, signed in, and were seated. After receiving a fresh fruit cup, they were treated to a roasted chicken dinner. Afterward,  they were given dessert.  Normally the people would begin to leave after that, but at 4:00 PM, Davy and Jimmy announced for everyone to sit back and relax.  The duo got out their hand held radios and “explained” how they were going to use their Ham radios to contact Santa at the North Pole.  The little kids in the crowd were excited, scared and awed all at the same time. The chance to talk to Santa one-on-one was something they didn’t want to miss.  Most of the parents were leery, knowing they didn’t have enough to fulfill their children’s wishes. But Donna Pescarelli had quietly assured them all, that come the special dinner being held on Christmas Eve, each child would receive a very nice and special gift from their list.  Jimmy turned on his HT and started things off, while Davy got the kids who wanted to talk to Santa, in an orderly line.  There were about a couple dozen in all.

“Santa N2EBA, Santa N2EBA, this is Jim Stapleton KD2PGB calling from Springdale. Do you copy? Over”.

George and Davy and Jimmy had this all worked out.  In addition to turning off the courtesy beep of the repeater, George has a recording of a shortwave heterodyne playing softly in the background, so it would sound more “realistic” like when a shortwave radio was being tuned in an old time movie.

“KD2PGB, KD2PGB, this is Santa N2EBA calling you from the North Pole!  Hello Jimmy and Ho, Ho, Ho!  Is everybody getting ready for Christmas in Springdale?”

When the little ones heard Santa, their eyes went wide as saucers.  One of the little boys in the line was heard to say that since this was radio, this just had to be the real Santa, and “not like those fake ones at the mall!”.

The first girl in line was named Karen. So Jimmy started with her. “Karen, do you want to talk to Santa?” he asked.  She appeared a little frightened by it all, but nodded her head “yes”, so Jimmy really got into it.

“Santa, the first little girl that wants to talk to you is Karen” Jimmy then told Karen that he would hold the radio and would push the button and indicated to her where to speak.

“Ho, Ho, Ho” bellowed out George, in his best Santa imitation. “So Karen, have you been a good little girl this year?  What would you like Santa to bring you for Christmas?”

Karen had no problems with her answer,”Yes, Santa, I’ve been a very good girl this year. I listen to my Mommy and I try not to argue too much with my big sister. I would like a Barbie doll and a telescope for Christmas this year, pretty please?”

Santa answered, “Well Karen, I’m glad that you’ve been a good girl. I’ll do my best to get those to you under the tree for Christmas”.

Little Karen couldn’t contain herself, but her Mom was obviously worried.  She went up to Donna and told her that things were so tight, that she doubted they would have a Christmas tree at home this year, let alone presents.  Donna put her at ease.  “You just make sure to come back here for dinner on Christmas Eve, OK?  Do you see that man over there?” Donna had pointed at Jason.  “He’s taking note of what all the kids tell Santa that they want. We’re going to do our best to make sure that at least one thing that they ask for will be here waiting for them”.  Karen’s Mom turned to leave with tears in her eyes. “God bless you folks” she said, ‘Maybe we’ll have a nice Christmas after all”.

To be continued …….

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

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

I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for the announcement of the ten winners in our SDR receiver giveaway….

Here they are:

Peter, ZL1PWD
Ivan, KP3IV
Jerome, WB8LFO
Norm, VE1NMK
Larry, WA0JDL
Andrew, AA4XS
Edward, VA3EDO
Bob, W2RWM
Keith, ZS6TW
Paul, VK2APA

Congratulations!  Thank you to everyone who entered — all 973 of you!  We love co-sponsoring these contests, especially with a great company like NooElec.

Didn’t win?  Well, Jeff at NooElec was reading all of your great comments about their SDR products and wanted to offer everyone the opportunity to get 5% off any order (no minimum!) at NooElec.com until December 31, 2013. Use coupon code AMATEURRADIO to get your discount. It may only be used once per customer.

Check out NooElec’s USB SDR receivers and Ham It Up upconverter

Please note that we do not get a commission or other compensation from NooElec if you use this code  — we just want everyone to be able to try out these cool little receivers and save a little money, too.

Thanks again for entering and stay tuned for our next giveaway!

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

“Davy, are you ready? We’re going to be late!”

Jason Bolton had to resort to hollering up to his son, who was up in his room.

“In a sec, Dad!  Just trying to work this 9L in Sierra Leone. The pileup is way humongous!”

His Dad answered, “Turn the radio off for now, son. We have to get going, now!  We promised we’d be at the soup kitchen in twenty minutes.”

One Sunday each month, Jason and Davy had been volunteering at a community soup kitchen at St. Nicholas parish in Springdale, which was the next town over from them.  Davy was going to receive his Confirmation the following Spring, and part of his preparation was community service.  Twenty hours of service between the end of October and the beginning of next May were mandatory.  Jason didn’t mind, he actually enjoyed it and he felt it was good for his son to help tend to the needs of those who were less fortunate than they were.  Davy didn’t mind either, except that it did eat into the time he spent on his radio.

Amateur Radio was David Bolton’s hobby – no, it was more like his passion. Ever since their neighbor, George Mason N2EBA had tutored Davy in the ways of Amateur Radio, he had taken to the art of radio like a fish takes to water.  And it turned out that Davy, call sign KD2PGA, was a natural.  Not only was he a superb operator at the tender age of 13, but he had also developed a keen sense of the electronics and the technology behind his hobby.  He and his best buddy, Jim Stapleton KD2PGB had been George Mason’s prized students, and their learning did not stop when they earned their “tickets”.  They both showed signs of having “The Knack” and both looked forward to possible future careers related to electronics and technology.

Davy came bounding down the stairs, “All ready to go, Dad!”, he exclaimed.

“I don’t think so, Bud. Aren’t you forgetting something?”

He looked at his father with a confused look on his face. “Forgetting something?  I don’t think so, I have my 2 meter handheld and the food we’re serving is already there, no?”

“Look down, Davy – look down”, his father chided.

“Oh my gosh, my sneakers!”, Davy gasped.

“Yes son, it’s a bit too cold to be heading out on a December Sunday in your stocking feet.  Sometimes, I think you leave a little bit of your head inside that bedroom shack of yours!”, his father responded.

Davy’s shack was his pride and joy. He had been gifted with an Elecraft KX3 by his Dad and Mom last year at Christmas.  Davy’s Mom had passed away earlier that year, after a long fight with cancer, but she knew how much Davy had wanted that radio. And even though she knew how grave her condition was, and that she wouldn’t be with her son for Christmas, she had insisted that Jason purchase the radio early.  She had wanted her “last gift” to him to be as memorable as she could make it.  In addition to the commercial gear he owned, Davy had built up, or homebrewed, quite the set of station accessories, all with the help of George Mason, of course.  George and Jeannie Mason, the Bolton’s next door neighbors had become Davy’s adopted grandparents.  George and Jeannie looked after Jason, too.  They knew that raising a teenaged son alone wasn’t the easiest job in the world.

It seemed that when Davy wasn’t in school, he was on the radio.  He had completed his DXCC and Worked All States awards, and was going on to higher ground.  Even though he was strictly a QRP operator, low power didn’t seem to be a barrier to Davy.  Other Hams might consider KD2PGA to be just a little fish in the ocean of Amateur Radio operators, but he began chasing DX countries with the appetite and attitude of a shark.  His goal was to some day make DXCC Honor Roll using QRP power levels.  The fact that there were only one or two individuals to have done this before him did not deter him in the least.

All this was being done on the understanding that grades didn’t suffer.  Jason Bolton made it clear to his son that schoolwork came first and that there would be no exceptions.  As it turned out, he needn’t have worried. If anything, the discipline of learning a technical hobby was only helping school matters. Davy was proving himself to be a capable student and was keeping his grades at a high level.  He seemed to be as at home behind a history or math text as he was behind his radio gear.

Davy ran and put his shoes on, locked the front door and followed his Dad out to the car.  They were going to pick up Jimmy and then proceed on to the soup kitchen.

“You’ve worked out everything with Mr. Mason, right?” his father asked?

“Yeah, Dad.   Mr. Mason knows to be on the club repeater at 4:00 PM sharp.  That’s when I’ll put out a CQ to the North Pole”.

Davy and George had gotten permission from their local radio/repeater club, the Twin County Amateur Radio Club, to occupy the machine that afternoon.  All the club members agreed to let Davy and George allow the soup kitchen kids to talk with Santa at the North Pole that afternoon.  Davy and Jimmy were bringing their handhelds and George would be operating from home.  Jeannie Mason, George’s wife, even agreed to take on the role of Mrs. Claus for the afternoon, just in case there were kids that were too shy to talk to Santa.  She has a warm and friendly voice and a way about her that had succeeded in pulling children out of their shells in years past.

A few minutes later, Jimmy bounded into the Bolton’s Jeep and the threesome was headed to the soup kitchen.

To be continued …….

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].

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me, full of different activities. It's hunting season in Texas and that is something that I enjoy a lot. The weather, while cold, has been perfect for hunting and has resulted in a couple of successful hunts. So there is meat in the freezer and with that a certain satisfaction of providing. We will not discuss price per pound:-)

As I have mentioned before, I am a guitarist for The No Refund Band, www.norefundband.com, and we had a great show on Saturday night. It was one of my better performances, landing all the notes and licks in front of a nice crowd, very satisfying. Check us out on iTunes, Amazon or most any digital outlet.

That brings me to radio. I guess I've been spoiled with the last few expeditions as I have documented here, getting nice band counters from S21 and XZ on the high bands. With higher sunspot numbers long path to Asia has been fantastic here in Texas, with loud signals and relatively easy QSO's. With the VU7AG expedition I expected nothing less than to make contacts on 10m and 12m. However, this chase was very different. Texas and VU7 just don't have the same path as the aforementioned countries. I listened and listened and listened. The long path was working to the US east coast, but stopped somewhere in the mid west. Kudos to the operators who tried to make this path work, but it just wasn't, until Sunday morning. I was in front of the radio, antenna turned to long path, nothing but static. Then I see some spots from W5 stations, still nothing, what gives? I turned my antenna to short path and there he was, a decent signal with a touch of artic flutter, but otherwise a great signal for short path 10m at 8:30 am from India to Texas. Unashamedly, I cranked up the amp, found the station he was working and started calling, expecting a QSO at any minute. After all, I am destined to salvage this expedition on 10m, aren't I? I called for 30 minutes when the signal began to fade and soon there was no signal and no QSO. The expedition is now QRT. Unlike the hunt and the gig, not very satifying.

However, as I said, I am spoiled. I did manage two new bands, 17m and 30m and a new mode, RTTY. As satisfying as those QSO's were, the lack of success on 10m seems to have dulled the accomplishment. But I'm over it. I still have some excitement waiting for me in the future. If we don't have hope, what do we have?
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].