AmateurRadio.com

Yessiree!  If it’s close to the 4th of July, then it’s time for the 13 Colonies Special Event!

The 13 states, which were the original 13 colonies (Can you name them?  How’s your history?) will be on the air until 12 Midnight on Saturday evening/Sunday morning of this coming weekend. They will have special call signs from K2A to K2M.

If you participate, a very special certificate (suitable for framing) can be yours.  Work all 13 colonies and your certificate specially will be marked to denote the Clean Sweep.

Log summaries can be submitted via snail mail with the suggested donation to obtain the certificate.

Just this evening, I was able to work the following eight states/colonies on 40 Meters – NY, SC, DE, RI, NJ, MA, VA, NC.  I also heard the NH station, but his pileup was something akin to the crowd trying to work Spratly.  I also heard the GA station, but he was very weak.  GA is usually super loud here in NJ, maybe he had his beam turned away from the NorthEast and I was hearing him off the side.

NY and NC were worked via CW – the rest were worked using that SSB mode.  I got a kick out of working K2I, the NJ station.  The operator was Mike KA2FIR, who I’ve worked before.  When I finally broke the pileup, he came back to me with “W2LJ, we’ve run into each other before. Aren’t you that QRP guy?”

My reputation precedes me!

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].

Rigol DS 1052E now DS 1102E scope

For some time now I have been in the market for an oscilloscope. Like most hams I don't want to break the bank but at the same time want good value for every buck that is spent. My travels lead me to the Rigol DS 1052E 50mhz  dual channel scope. The scope comes in at the low end  price but has had some very glowing reviews. Also one major plus was the ability to "hack" this scope up to a 100 mhz unit! This a a software hack so no need to get into the SMD nightmare. This may not be what is called a 100% ham blog posting but I do know that lots of hams and non hams are looking for a great scope as well info on how to hack this one to a 100 mhz unit. I am going to run down the process (and mistakes) I went through to finally jack the DS 1052E up to the DS 1102E 100 mhz scope.


1. The first thing I had to do was to check what software version was on the scope. To hack the scope your software version has to be 2.00 or 2.02 SP2. Well I checked by simply turning the scope on and looking at the start up screen  mine was 4.00.

4.00 software

2. Now I would have to downgrade to ver 2.00 and on the net I found 2.02 and that was just fine. I loaded it on a thumb drive and plugged it into the scope and the software was downloaded and I was now at ver 2.02.
3. This is were the fun begins....I had to hook up a serial cable (not crossover and female to female) from the scope to pc. It was now time to enter some code via Hyper Terminal!! The instructions are very very very clear on the net.....you mess up the code and you could "Brick" your scope. Looking up "Brick" in a nut shell meant rendering it useless until MAJOR programing or hardware issues were dealt with.

Down grading to 2.02

SO IF YOU ARE GOING TO DO THIS MODE BE VERY CAREFUL CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK CODE LINES. Having said that I did mess up the code but in the end all did work out.....(side note going to buy lotto ticket seems lady luck was on my side)
4. I entered the code in Hyper terminal asking it to connect to my scope and it did by giving me the serial number of the scope.
5. I then entered code to change the scope from model DS 1052E to DS 1102E and then (according the online instructions) entered the serial number but changing one specific letter to a " B". I then entered that line of code.
6. It was now time to restart the scope and see from the systems info menu if the model changed to DS 1102E and if the serial number had changed to the new number with the "B" in it.
7. It was successful (after a few hiccups)  and I could further verify by turning the horizontal scale down and if it went to 2 nano seconds things were good to go!

Downgrade done

Here are some of the mess ups that happen to me.
1. I was not able to connect the scope at first to the PC hyper terminal program. Turns out I just changed RS232 ports on the PC and all was ok.
2.When I installed a lower software version into the scope and then went to hyper terminal to confirm I did not get any serial number. I restarted the scope and ran the commands in hyper terminal again and I was good to go.
3. For some reason lady luck had me put the "B" letter in the wrong part of the revised serial number. That resulted in a new serial number of @@#$#%%$$% (ya no numbers just junk) on the Rigol start up screen. That was fixed by reloading version 4 software and then in hyper terminal changing the serial number back to the original number. It was then time to start all over again and change the model and serial but pay more close attention this time.

model and serial change

 I am going to be adding a page to my blog in the very near future that gives more detail of the "hack" and were to get the 2.02 SP2 software and the 4.0  you need to upload that as well. The Hyper terminal code needed. How to setup hyper terminal to connect to the scope and finally how to change the serial number and model number of the scope through hyper terminal.

Upgrading back to 4.0 software

2.000ns means 100mhz scope

4.0 upgrade good to go

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

As most of you know, I have copyright issues with Youtube. I was wondering if that was the same with photos taken from QRZ.com

A lot of pictures on the internet have a copyright. Using it without permission can gives a lot of troubles. So I sent QRZ an email. The QRZ Support Team replied as follows:

"Photos on QRZ are not generally copyrighted material unless they say so in something like a watermark on the photo. We would ask that you be respectful and remove an image should a member ask you to do so."

I think that is good news!

The old blog of mine is still attainable for old postings. But for new posting I continue here because I like the URL. When I change my call sign again, I can still go on here.

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

Rich Fisher KI6SN, has begun issuing Bee numbers for the 2013 Flight of the Bumblebees. I signed up this evening, and was awarded Number 16.

You can get your own Bee number, by going to the ARS blog. All the instructions are there. You can view the Bumblebee numbers already give out by clicking here.

Pick out three numbers you would like (that aren’t already taken) and then send an e-mail to: [email protected]

Include your name, your call, where you plan on operating from, and your three number choices.

It’s that easy!

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].

I have just trashed my shack PC. Not intentionally, you understand. I was trying to resolve a problem and the result was that the system has restored itself to the state it was in when it was new back in 2006 or whenever it was.

I have been using a backup program called Magicure. I’ve probably mentioned it in this blog before. It’s kind of a System Restore on steroids. It has saved my bacon countless times and I have come to depend upon it. But it started giving an error message when it tried to do a backup. No new backups were being made. So I had to do something about it.

I emailed Magicure support for help but didn’t receive a reply. I saw that there was a newer version of the software so I decided to download and install that in the hope that this would get it working again.. But the installer complained that there was another version present and asked me to remove it first. So I started to uninstall Magicure. That was a mistake.

The uninstaller said that it was going to roll back to before Magicure was first installed. If I was a bit sharper-witted I might have smelt a rat at this point. But I thought “no, surely it isn’t going to do that.” I just want to remove Magicure. So I clicked OK and within a few seconds I was looking at a Windows XP login screen with only Administrator as the available login. This looked ominous. No user “Julian”. It looked as if it had rolled back the entire system to the state it was in when new, when I first installed Magicure.

I have no idea what the Administrator password was. But if I knew it I would be no better off because the computer won’t respond to the mouse or keyboard. So I can’t get in to the system to assess the extent of the damage. I don’t seem to have a Windows XP disc to reinstall from scratch, either.

What an utter disaster. I have no idea what to do at this point.

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Here’s a great set of Summits On The Air (SOTA) links from Steve WG0AT:

Name:	Medium:	Source:	Description:
Official SOTA Site	Web	SOTA UK	Gateway to all official SOTA resources
Rules & Guidelines	PDF	SOTA UK	General Rules & Guidelines for SOTA
WØ SOTA Site	Web	WØ Assoc.Mgr	A good place to start for SOTA info for the WØ region
WØ Association Reference Manual (ARM)	PDF	WØ Assoc.Mgr.	Defines all summits and rules for the WØ Association
SOTA Activator Guidelines	PDF	SOTA UK	The rules summarized on one page
SOTAwatch: Alerts	Web	SOTA UK	Create activation alerts for the world to see (You have to sign-up for a free account)
NA SOTA (Yahoo Group)	Web	3rd party: Yahoo	The NA-SOTA Group on Yahoo is a great place to meet fellow Chasers/Activators, announce activations and share experiences. You have to submit a ‘join’ request before getting access
Results & Summits Database	Web	SOTA UK	Submit activation logs, search for summits, view results etc.
Adventure Radio: Mapview	Web	3rd party: Mario/DC7CCC	Google map overlay. Allows to search for SOTA summits based on Assoc./Region or grid locator.
How to Activate a SOTA Peak	PDF	3rd party: Guy/N7UN	Guy/N7UN’s helpful 4-page summary of the steps involved from planning, posting an activation Alert, conducting the activation itself and post-activation activities.
WØ Summits	Web	WØ Assoc.Mgr.	Find a summit in your WØ region
Colorado 14er Event	Web	14er Event	The web site for the Colorado 14er Event (includes SOTA activations)
SMS Gateway	Phone	SOTA UK: Andy	SMS gateway for selfspotting. You have to register with Andy: mm0fmf_sota (at) intermoose dot com
SOTA Goat iPhone appy	iTunes	iTunes	Spotting app for your iOS device at the iTunes store
SOTA Spot Monitor App	web	Eric KU6J	SOTA spotting app for Windows PCs

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Some weekends are boring or should I say, laid back, while others have lots of interesting turns and twists. This past weekend was one of the latter. The only thing on the calendar was a gig on Saturday night that my band, www.norefundband.com,  had in San Antonio, so not much else was contemplated. There was also an IOTA island coming up that I needed, OC-175, DU9/JA1PBV, however space weather didn't look that great and the time on the air for DU9 station wasn't known, so I didn't get my hopes too high.

On Friday afternoon after I got home from work there were some intrepid SOTA activators on and I picked up a few chaser points working those guys. I did some experimentation with telescoping pole anchored EFHW dipole antennas in preparation for my trip next week to NM and CO. I also went through a few guitar drills just to keep the old fingers limber. A relatively quiet evening.

Saturday dawned hot. The temperature would eventually reach 108 degrees, a good day to remain indoors and that is what I did. I was able to work several SOTA summits, but generally took it easy. I had to be at the venue for the show by 5:00 to set up and sound check. Of course everything was late which is typical in a business that is normally, hurry up and wait. The show went extremely well, good crowd and sold a few CD's. Driving home after the show, it was still 94 degrees at 11:30 pm.. The down side of the show was that the IOTA I needed came up around 2300z and was worked by a couple of my buddies.  I received an email from Buzz, N5UR, notifying me of what I had missed. Oh well that's how it goes.

Sunday dawned cool and rainy. I made a cup of coffee and sat on the back porch enjoying the change in the weather. It rained for a couple of hours which in Texas, in July, is a nice rain. However, that is when the rain became the enemy. DU9/JA1PBV was spotted on 20m. Great, I come in from the porch and head to the shack, only find that the rain noise was S7. The DU9 had a nice signal, but too much static to hear consistently enough to work, plus he had  big EU pile-up as well. So sit and wait, everyone once in a while the rain would diminish, his signal was easily readible, so call a few times, the rain picks back up and the static covers him up again. The cycle repeated itself several times. Frustration. However, patience is often rewarded, while waiting  a spot for PJ5/K3RTM on 6m came across the cluster from a ham not too far from me. Wait a minute I need that one, so a I swing the antenna around and there he is, solid signal through the static, a couple of calls and a new one on 6m. Cool. During the DU9 chase, I would periodically see a spot for a SOTA summit and I worked them throughout the pursuit. Back go the DU9. Finally around 1600 the rain relented, however his signal had dropped considerably although still copiable, he was now working EU exclusively, up 2 to 3. My hope was fading. To add to the problem, I couldn't hear who he was working so I was hoping he would find me. Finally, I swung the beam to EU just to hear where the largest concentration of stations were calling and set my 2nd VFO there. I was throwing the heavy artillery at him, 1,200 watts. Sometimes 5 watts is just not enough.  Finally at 1653z I broke through the wall and got a QSO, hallelujah!!!.

So all is well that ends well. A rare IOTA in the log, a new 6m band country and a 136 SOTA chaser points for the weekend. A 108 degree day followed by an 85 degree day. A successful gig, I got a haircut, changed the oil in the Jeep and washed it after the rain stopped. A very interesting weekend.

Oh, the DU9 showed up again on 17m CW later Sunday afternoon, working up 1. I got him on the first call. Go figure.
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].