AmateurRadio.com

Come join us on Saturday, September 14th, 2013 (9:00 AM to 2:00 PM) at the Prairie Winds Elementary School , 790 Kings Deer Point East, Monument, CO for Tech Day 2013. Tech Day is for beginner to intermediate hams who want to learn more and take that ‘next step’ in ham radio.

Everyone is welcome, no registration is required. Just show up with your bright smiley face, ready to learn something and have fun.

Presentations

9:30 am – Getting started in QRP operating from Steve WGØAT of Rooster & Peanut fame [http://www.youtube.com/user/goathiker]

10:30 am – Mobile radio installation tips with James KDØMFO

11:30 am – Practical antennas made out of copper pipe by Al WBØTGE

12:30 pm - Ham Shack 101 - the basics of setting up a home station by Stu WØSTU

1:30 pm – Some Practical Antenna Theory – Bob KØNR

* Each presentation is approximately 20 minutes with Q&A at the end.

Live Demonstations

All day long, we’ll have these displays set up so you can get a hands on look at radio operating:

QRP operating, Flex Software Defined Radio (SDR), HF antennas, mobile radio installation

The local Boy Scout troop will be selling hotdogs and drinks in hamfest style.

Tech Day 2013 is proudly sponsored by the WØTLM Amateur Radio Club 

Whew!  The 2013 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt Soapbox page is 99% done and published!  Hallelujah!  I still have to post Andy WN0I’s photos.  He sent me hard copies through the mail and my scanner is acting up; but I should have them up tomorrow Andy – please bear with me!

To see all the comments and photos published so far – please click here.  And to see the scores and where you placed in the standings, click here.

Many thanks to all of you who participated this year, and thanks for all the photos and comments.  If you sent me something and don’t see it – please resend! The big black hole that is the cyber world probably swallowed your e-mail on me!

Also, a very special thanks to Ward Silver N0AX, who included some nice words about the Skeeter Hunt in this week’s e-mail of  “The ARRL Contest Update for September 11, 2013”.  Muchas Gracias, Ward!

And once again, a very big special word of thanks to the NJQRP Club and it’s members for lending their name and for giving the Skeeter Hunt the credibility that it has.

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

Judy and I went to the beach today. I launched my antenna with a kite and worked Greenland, Greece and Italy in less than 10 minutes.

It was a remarkable day. In the mid-90s and not a cloud in the sky. We headed to the New Hampshire coast and arrived at Rye Harbor for a picnic lunch. After a walk on the beach, Judy went for a swim, and I went up to the point and launched a parafoil kite.

There was a good breeze and it went up in a jiffy. I had it up about 120 feet. At about mid-point I placed a loop in the line and tied my 33 foot wire to the loop. I had a nice vertical and set up the KX3 right below the wire.

I started on 15 meters and heard Peter OX3XR in Greenland with a strong signal. He returned my call and gave me a 599. He went on to the next station. I was thrilled.

I switched then to 17 meters and quickly worked a special event station SV130PAP in Greece. Again there was a quick exchange of 599 and we signed. Back to 15 meters and I heard IK3VUT in Italy calling CQ. Luca gave me a 559 and I gave him a solid 599.

With that I shut the station down. In barely 10 minutes I had worked three nice DX stations with the kite wire and I was pretty excited. Who could ask for more? Besides I had agreed to meet Judy in a few minutes.

I hope you’ll join me in focusing our attention, thoughts and prayers to our heroes who lost their lives 12 years ago and also to those who lost their lives 12 months ago today.  In addition, we should also honor all who have given their lives to defend freedom around the world.   We must never forget those who died on September 11th and we must never forget that freedom is not free. 

May God continue to bless this great nation…and may freedom ring around the world.

JT 

Man is it ever hot here in Kansas!  Today it was 93 when I exited the car to setup the antenna.  Can’t wait for those cool fall days to arrive!

Once I turned the radio on I opened SOTA Goat on my iPhone to see where the SOTA activators were.  I noticed one of them was calling CQ on 12 meters.  I had never even listened on 12 meters, so I thought I would give it a go.

I couldn’t hear the SOTA activator, but I did here…

CO8LY – map from QRZ

CO8LY:  I heard Eduardo calling CQ with no takers and he was LOUD.  So I gave him a shot and he came back with a 599 report.  From the map on QRZ it looks like Eduardo was near the “infamous” Guantanamo Bay.

The bands were slightly strange today, a little up and down by there just not too many stations on.

I called CQ on 20 meters near the QRP watering hole…..

WB3GCK – from QRZ

WB3GCK/P: Craig was working portable from Duck, NC.  Duck, NC is on the eastern most part of NC – and looks to be a popular resort area.  He was VERY quiet – and judging from his picture on QRZ he was probably QRP.  He gave me a 559 and I gave him a 339.  We kept it short since he was so quiet.  Craig has a nice page with lots of operating stories and other projects.  You should really check it out here: http://www.qsl.net/wb3gck/  He is definitely a QRPer!

Called CQ some more and…

N3RSD: Frank came back with 559 reports both ways.  He was in Wilmington, DE.  We exchanged SKCC numbers and called it day.  I always feel bad exchanging SKCC numbers when I am using the keyer – should I?

One other interesting thing… I was tuning around at 18.100 and heard W4BVH/BCN Tampa FL – I will have to check this out and let him know I heard it!

Another fun and successful QRP lunch time portable outing!

I have about 2/3rds of the 2013 Skeeter Hunt Soapbox comments Webpage composed.  Hopefully, I will finish tomorrow night and will then publish them (I’ll post the link here, of course!).  Thanks to all who submitted soapbox comments and especially for all the photos.  I only wish I was a better Web artist, so that I could give them the layout they truly deserve. Once the soapbox comments are published, I will begin printing and mailing certificates.

It is being said that we are now at the peak of sunspot Cycle 24.  Several articles have pointed to that fact. We may, or we may be not.  I am not an astronomer/astrophysicist, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you that from my own authority.

But I do know that 15 Meters has been good lately, and today’s lunch time QRP session was decent again.

In my limited amount of operating time, I worked the following stations:

HA3FTA
9A287R
DK3GI

The first two contacts were pretty much your average “bang bang” DX QSO exchanges of RSTs. The last QSO with Roland DK3GI was a little bit more in depth.  Roland who lives near Nuremberg, was pushing 200 Watts to a beam.  I also found out that it was rainy and cool where he was – it was only 15C (59F). Typical Autumn type weather.

On the other hand, we’re having a brief re-visit from Summer here in NJ. After some cool days and some downright chilly evenings the past few days, the heat and humidity have come back with a vengeance!  It was a sticky 85F (29C) here today, and it expected to go into the low 90s (32C) tomorrow.  But then clouds will come in Thursday and by the weekend, the temperature is supposed to struggle to reach 70F (21C) on Saturday and Sunday.

As Mark Twain once said this about the weather in New England:

“If you don’t like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes.”

The same holds true for New Jersey!

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

Rather quiet on the blog for the last couple of weeks. All’s well and there’s no lack of enthusiasm. Life has been busy, ‘good busy’. Non radio related, but we have acquired a new kitten, who we think is around 8 weeks old. She was stray in our village and despite, numerous enquiries, we could not track down her owner. We think she was born on a farm close by in a barn. Anyway, she is wonderful and we are delighted to have her with us. We are hopeful that the introductions with our other two cats, Max and Pippi, will go well – an initial brief introduction on Sunday went without incident!

I was thinking this morning about some of the different radio projects which are on my mind to have a go at over the next few weeks/months:

– 10GHz receiver using LNB and RTLSDR. I have most of the bits to do this and just need to piece it together and try it out. I’m particularly interested to see if I can receive the beacon on Cleeve Common, GB3CCX regularly. I’m also keen to see if it will exhibit rainscatter characteristics. Initially I will try using the LNB and see if I can hear anything. If that’s insufficient, I guess the next trick is to try and source an old Sky dish and use that. Should be fun.

– At the opposite end of the spectrum, I wonder if I can get some RF out on 472khz. I had an interesting reply to my post about the IC706 and 472khz from Daniele IN3FCI, who is using an IC706 at around 5W output. He’s built some matching to get his long wire working. I must find out more and see if I can get on and make a QSO! I’ll have to see if I can hook the IC706 up to the WSPR gear if so and see what is possible.

–  I also have in mind to get hold of one of the cheap and attractive Intek CB rigs and modify it for 29MHz AM and FM. I already have the band and modes in the car, but it would be fun to get it going and try it out for myself.

– Getting active on FO-29 with the FT790 and FT817. As I posted the other day, I think the acquisition of a duplexer for 144 and 432MHz will be useful for satellite activity. I can use it for FO-29 and potentially also with the FT-847. I was musing the other day about doing some satellite activity from the car (static mobile!) using the FT-847 and the Elk antenna. I’d need the duplexer for that too.

Plenty of projects in mind then! No doubt I’ll get around to a few in due course! Operating wise, it’s been mostly 14 and 21MHz JT65A and JT9 over the last few days – mostly remotely controlled from the iPad on the sofa! Perhaps we can have Bailey the kitten making contacts…