AmateurRadio.com

I worked a station at lunch time today, and it was a frustrating experience. He was sending way too fast …… not for me, but for him.

He was 599 Plus and should have been easy copy, and he would have been if he had been able to send his own call correctly more than once in a row. But it took a while to figure his call out, as he sent it differently each time, tripping over himself the whole way.

You know, when you turn up the code speed to that point, you’re not doing anyone any favors – yourself or the stations you’re trying to work. What’s the point of sending so fast that repeats become necessary or you turn off potential contacts? No one really wants to listen to gobbledygook.

It makes more sense to slow it down. You might not break any land speed records, and your ego may be a bit deflated, but you will also not send people away going, “Huh?!?”.

As they say in the FISTS club, “Accuracy transcends speed.”

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].

You think a deal is deal....NOT

Over a week ago I blogged that I was having some trouble with my home PC and was getting this error message whenever I wanted to run some ham software. I was not able to open the software at all I was just shown this error message. I did lots of searching on the web to see if there was a work around or a solution other than re-formatting my hard drive. In my travels on the web I came across this site that said their software dealt specifically with removing Windows error codes. I did some reading and they did have a free trial software so I downloaded it and gave it a go. Sure enough it did identify the problems on my PC and namely it pointed out that ERROR 2908 was a big one and could be cleared......BUT.........to do so the software had to be purchased! Well I did some looking around the net again about this software in particular and it did get some good reviews. So I sent the money via PayPal  and soon after had a email with what I thought would be the key code to unlock the program and allow me full access. Well a 1-888 number was given and I was asked to call the get the key code. So I did and sure enough a person answered and gave me a code and the program was up and running. While on the phone with me this person wanted to make sure I knew how the program worked and the problem I had to want me to purchase the program. I thought "well this is customer service" After about 10 minutes on the phone with me and paying 50.00 for the software' I was told that my problem was "complex"........BUT........he could fix my problem via having control of my PC in about 20 minutes. Again I thought "this is great customer service"........BUT........then he added for 200.00 via PayPal it could be all looked after!!!!
Well that was the end of that call and my PC was not fixed at this point, as a matter of fact he never even used this software to see if a fix could be done. So I ran the software and it finished, it removed my ham programs and would not allow me to download them again. I have contacted PayPal to dispute this product and get my money back so we will see what happens there. They are in the final steps so I should know soon.
My solution was to re-format my hard drives and get a good Mal-ware/spyware tool!!
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Good results on 30m tonight. This morning I made a few BPSK31 qrp qso's on 20m. Below my 6 meter antenna, unfortunately I hardly didn't make any qso this summer. Maybe 2 or so. I think it was the last time on 6 meter. I will replace the antenna for an another HF vertical.

Tonight we were on the beach. It was rather quiet because all tourists are gone home again. Here I took a photo.

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

One of our local runners approached me a few months ago, knowing I was a bit of a radio geek asking for advice on which walkie talkies to use for his upcoming trail race. For the unitiated a trail race is a bit like an old fashioned cross country but it generally goes over some serious terrain and can be quite long. Jon’s event was from Bassenthwaite to St Bees, totaling 35 miles. Not to be sniffed at. I’d suggested at the time that walkie talkes might not do it and as a member of the local Raynet group I offered our services.

Well the event was yesterday and after the runners set off at 8am I was manning checkpoint 1, some 20 miles into the race. Only the first couple of people through the check point looked ‘sprightly’ the rest took on more knackered looks as they went through. Eventually some RAF guys came through with packs on and the stragglers shuffled on. What’s this got to do with Ham Radio?

Well. the Cumbria Raynet group support a few of these types of events and I think our services were appreciated. The organiser thanked us and said he didn’t realise how complicated the whole thing was to maintain communications in a mountainous place. Perhaps it was the relief or local beer (Ennerdale Blonde) that helped his cheery outlook. Perhaps next year I’ll run it…with an APRS tracker! (It’ll need to be a very lightweight one though)

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

After becoming very frustrated with this error I decided to re-format my hard drives. I dug up the XP install CD and all the drivers needed. I then transferred  all (so I thought at the time)  items from my drives before starting the re-format. The process went very smooth there was only one "are you kidding me" moment when the Win XP CD said there was an error loading a file. It was a matter of cleaning the CD and I was back in biz.
The error is now gone and most if not all of my ham programs have been loaded, now it's time to get them running the way I want them too. This is the part that takes time up to this point  my only trouble has been getting N4PY radio control program and N1MM contest logger to talk to each other via VSP manager!! I can remember having trouble with this in the past and I just can remember what I did for them to get along. Once the system was up and running it was then I had some "you can't be serous moments"....I did not save a backup copy of my log from DXlab, I did not save any of my contests in N1MM nor all my macro setups.........oh well at least the PC is healthy again........until that is another virus or malware decides to play games with me that is!!


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

News is just in that SOTA – Summits on the Air – starts in a number of new call areas tomorrow including my home state New South Wales, VK2. I understand that Queensland VK4 and Hawaii KH6 may also be launched tomorrow, 1st September.

The new VK2 association adds over a thousand summits to the SOTA database. I was part of the team that surveyed the 16 regions. Hats off to Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH who coordinated the widely dispersed team of surveyors. I should publish a post here soon about the things I learnt along the way, about the resources available for SOTA summit surveying and cracking the mystery of identifying the all-important saddle to ascertain the required prominence. Flooding Google Maps is the clue.

The news of the scheduled start has taken us a little by surprise. I’m not sure how many activators will have had time to properly plan activations for the first day. The other issue is that tomorrow, Sunday 1st September is Father’s Day.

For more news about the accelerating SOTA activity in Australia – it’s already active in VK1, VK3, VK5 and VK9 – you should follow the conversation on the SOTA-Australia Yahoo group and visit VK1NAM’s blog for a list of SOTA blogs from VK activators.

The WIA’s Amateur Radio magazine for September which arrived in letterboxes yesterday features a report on the mass activations on 11 August celebrating six months of SOTA in VK1 as well as three pages of regular SOTA news. It’s brilliant for SOTA that editor Peter VK3PF is also one of the top SOTA activators in VK.

Stephen Rapley, VK2RH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New South Wales, Australia. Contact him at [email protected].

I rode my bicycle about a mile and a half alongside the Pemigewasset River this afternoon. I worked Belgium, Slovenia, Belarus, Germany and England. The river is a beautiful place.

The Pemi flows through Sanbornton where I live. An old road that has been closed to traffic since the 1940s runs along the river. It’s perfect for hiking and bicycling. I stopped near the old bridge that went to Hill. The bridge is gone but the abutment is still there.

Here’s another photo looking down the river from the abutment.

Is it any wonder that I like to operate from here? I tossed a wire into an old oak tree and set up in the grass not far from the river. I used the KX3 powered by one of the Chinese LiPo batteries. I ran 5W to a 33 foot wire. Here’s my log:

30 Aug-13 2030 18.080 ON6KE CW 579 579 Belgium
30 Aug-13 2041 21.017 S51XA CW 569 599 Slovenia
30 Aug-13 2050 21.055 EW8DJ CW 599 599 Belarus
30 Aug-13 2110 21.015 DL1DGS CW 549 599 Germany
30 Aug-13 2115 21.001 M0DHO CW 559 599 England

A fellow and his wife rode by on an ATV while I was operating. He was curious about the wire in the tree. I finished the QSO with Belarus and showed him the setup. I wrote down the ARRL web page for him. He was concerned about surviving the end of the world and wondered if ham radio would be a good option for communicating.

When he left I worked two more stations: Germany and England. Then I packed up and rode back to the car.

I love these outings.

Jim Cluett, W1PID, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Hampshire, USA. Contact him at [email protected].