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I kept the radio tuned to 20 Meters for the evening and had a variety of QSOs.

The first was with CO6RD, Reynaldo in Cuba.  This wasn’t a long QSO as Reynaldo was working “contest style” racking up the QSOs. But I did get him on the first shot, even though a lot of stations were calling.

Next up was a busted QSO with Mike AA6WQ, who was operating from TN.  We got through the QSO basics, only to have the band pull the rug out from under us.  One minute we were going at it, next minute we couldn’t hear each other anymore. I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles, sometimes.

With two short QSOs under my belt, I was thinking that might be how the evening was going to go. But my fears turned to be for nothing as the next QSO was an almost hour long rag chew with Paul W4KLY in Stone Moutnain, GA.  This was an Elecraft to Elecraft QSO.  Paul was using his K1 and (of course) I was on the KX3.  QSB had a role to play; but in all honesty, when the band was not in fade mode,  our signals were 599 both ways.  We talked about rigs, portable ops and antennas and summer vacation plans.  It was very enjoyable and it is truly amazing to see how fast an hour can go by on you when you’re having fun.

The last QSO for the night was with Rumi LZ2RS in Bulgaria.  He was calling “CQ QRP” and I was lucky enough to be heard on my first call.  Rumi was at 5 Watts; but what really made the QSO was his Yagi at 12 meters up, pointed my way.  I was on the 88′ EDZ pumping out 5 Watts from my end also.  Signals were a legitimate 559.

The bands have been so good lately!  Not the best I’ve ever witnessed; but after the past few pitiful years, this is like Heaven (comparatively).  I sure hope it stays this way for a while and doesn’t take a fast dive off a cliff into oblivion.

On another note, this new 9 cell battery that I got for the Acer is fantastic!  I got it Monday and attached it to the netbook for charging.  I’ve used it Tuesday, Wednesday, and tonight – about two to three hours per night.  The indicator says it still has about another two hours left in it.  Of course, I have Windows set for “Max Battery Life” through the control panel, but even so, this is way outlasting the old battery.  That one gave me about two hours computer time, tops.  This battery should be able to get me through a four hour sprint (outdoors) without breaking a sweat.

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

Got QSOs on four different bands tonight – they all seemed to be in decent shape.

CN8KD in Morocco on 20 Meters
UA3TCJ in European Russia on 17 Meters
UT6UD in the Ukraine on 30 Meters
EW7LO in Belarus on 40 Meters

No rag chews tonight – just quickie kind of DX contacts.  The QSOs on 17 and 20 Meters were completed through the Butternut HF9V and the QSOs on 30 and 40 Meters were made through the 88′ EDZ antenna. As per the little NA5N propagation box, conditions on all the bands I used were pretty good.

Just for the heck of it, I hooked both antennas up to my coax switch and then to the KX3.  You could actually hear the signals being attenuated by the switch.  The difference between direct hookup to the rig and going through this crummy switch was like night and day.  I’ll have to try and see if I can find a good quality coax switch at the hamfest this weekend to replace this piece of junk.

It would be nice to be able to switch real quickly.  Take the QSO with CN8KD for example.  When I first heard him, I was on the wire.  I called and called and called with no result.  I switched over to the vertical and bingo – first try resulted in a QSO.  Maybe it was coincidence, but in my mind, in this case the vertical made all the difference in the world.  The wire is a much better performer on 80 and 40 Meters.  It sure would be nice to be able to switch at the flick of a button.

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

Want to see a KX3 build from start to finish?  TJ, W0EA treated us to live video on USTREAM while he built his:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/23127348

If you have a kit on order and have the time, I would really advise watching this (Hint: Start viewing at about the 8:00 minute mark).  Looking at stills (like I’ve posted) is one thing.  Watching the build being done before your very eyes (in real time) is just priceless.

Even though mine is built, I also learned a thing or two.  TJ mentioned that there was a Builder Advisory note that I hadn’t seen anywhere. It concerns the speaker grill and the distortion that can occur if it is installed.  I was experiencing that distortion; so as a result of listening to TJ, I took it out. The unit sounds much better now.

I still haven’t done the roofing filter alignment. maybe tomorrow night as I have been way busy.  But I have found some time to get in a QSO every day for the past few days.  I worked EM2012UA tonight, which is a special event station for the 2012 European Football Championships. Five watts to the Butternut vertical is still getting my signal heard worldwide.

By the way, conditions on 20 Meters were superb tonight.  The noise floor was about S1 and I heard so many European and Caribbean stations up and down the band – it was amazing (especially the fact that it was around 02:30 UTC – recently the band has been dead by then).  The fact that the sun spot number is 154 is a good thing.  Maybe Venus imparted some magic as she crossed the face of the sun yesterday?  Who knows?  If conditions like these keep up for a while, I think we’ll all be happy.

I am becoming more and more familiar with the radio and quite honestly, it isn’t as complicated as I initially thought it would be.  The controls are well labeled and are pretty intuitive and easy to get the hang of.

The bait’s been taken; but the hook hasn’t quite set yet, but this fishy really wants a K3 now.

I’ve been getting a lot of spam comments over the past week or so.  Been averaging about 20 a day since I took the Captcha code thingy off.  I apologize for keeping the comments on moderation; but if I didn’t I’d be overrun by spam.  So if you make a comment and don’t see it for a while, it’s nothing personal – just haven’t gotten to allowing them through.

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

It rained and thunder stormed here today, on and off, in fits and starts. That prevented me from doing the yard work that I was planning to accomplish – boo hoo!  🙂

So I spent some time on the air, getting used to the new radio.  Fate would have it that band conditions would be on the less than optimal (read that as: crappy) side today.  But I did manage some QSOs both foreign and domestic.  Hungary, Italy, and England were successfully worked.  The domestic QSOs were brief QSO Party contacts for the most part.  They let me know that I was getting out and being heard; but not very satisfying.

I did have another short QSO with Terry W9UX last night on 30 Meters.  I was calling CQ and he answered me and asked, “Larry, is that your new KX3?”.  Obviously, Terry is a regular reader of this blog.  I answered him that yes, it was and he was my first “real” QSO – something other than “UR 599 TNX QRZ?”

I’ll have to send him my QSL card – the funny thing is that my QSL cards have the image of my K1 on them.  I still have a bunch, so I am not going to discard these just because of that. It’s still QRP, which is what the idea behind the card is supposed to be about.

The KX3 is really cool and I’m getting used to it rather quickly. It has really great features like the APF or Audio Peaking Filter that will really help to dig a weak CW signal buried in the noise. I like being able to decode RTTY and watch it scroll at the bottom of the LCD display.  I also like the CW Tuning Aid, where you tap a button and the KX3 automatically zero beats the person you’re trying to work.

As the radio is configured now, as a strictly QRP radio, I cannot hook up two antennas like I can on the K2,  and I use that feature a lot to switch back and forth between the Butternut and the wire. I suppose I could always go back to using a mechanical manual coax switch; but by going that route, I would be incurring some signal loss, and I would rather not do that.

There is a button on the KX3 that will allow you to switch between two antennas, but that is enabled only when  the 100 Watt autotuner is used.  As of right now, I have no plans to make this a QRO radio, so the main shack radio will be the K2, unless a K3 should come waltzing into my life for some unforeseen reason.

The other thing that I am looking forward to in the near future is making some contacts on 6 Meters, which I have never done in the 34 years that I have been a Ham.  This is the first radio that I have ever owned that is 6 Meter capable.  The other thing I want to do is hook this netbook up the the KX3, just to see how Ham Radio Deluxe interfaces with it.  I never installed the RS232 option in the K2, so I was never able to have rig control until now, either.

Lots to look forward to!

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

Thanks to all of you here and on AmateurRadio.com who were so kind as to express condolences and kind words upon our Sadie’s passing.

This is going to take a while to get over – but life does go on.

So …… on an Amateur Radio note, the bands did not seem to be active at all today.  For a few brief minutes this afternoon, I was able to get on and listen.  I heard and worked EI4AA on 12 Meters and was surprised by the fact.

Bernard was pretty weak hear – 569 or there abouts, maybe a little louder – 589 on QSB peaks, maybe?  As I called him, I thought to myself, “There’s no way I am going to get an answer here.”  But sure enough, I did and on my first call – and I received a 559 report for my efforts.  And I was very happy to receive that.  Then I went down to 20 Meters and worked a station in Texas who was working the SKCC Weekend Sprint.

After that, I had to QRT as my daughter Cara (holding Sadie above), who is a member of the children’s choir at Church, was part of a free concert this afternoon.  The theme was “A Night on Broadway” and the children’s choir, the adult choir, the hand bell and hand chime choirs all participated, performing various Broadway tunes. It was a very enjoyable two hour event.

Today was very windy and cold – winter has come back to New Jersey with a vengeance.  Yesterday, the forecast was for 1-3″ of snow, but that forecast was a bust.  We barely got a dusting – and please don’t misunderstand – I am in no way complaining!

As soon as it turns to 2/13 UTC, I am going to head downstairs to see if I can get a daily QSO or two in and then off to bed.

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