AmateurRadio.com

It was not addressed to me....this time!!!

This evening I was on the radio and 9K2MU from Kuwait was BOOMING IN...never had that happen before. It was 20m at 14.025.008 CW around 23:05 UTC. I was reading on the spots that he was "as deaf as a doornail" Well when he was booming into my QTH he was answering lots of calls and the pileup

Just not meant to be today.

was fairly large to boot. Maybe there are those out there who think if they are not heard then the DX station
is just simply deaf.  Just as fast as he came in.... he was gone and just replaced with static at 23:15!! Did I make the contact....NO.... but I gave it may best effort and  it was not my time. This is what I love about ham radio it's the surprises that help sharpen your skills but at the same you understand that you have so much more to learn.......it just never becomes boring!!!

Over the past few weeks I have been able to get on the air during  the evenings for about an hour and this has paid off with some new DXCC's.  I have been finding a spot on one of the clusters (a DXCC I am in need of) from either DX Watch or the data base in DXLabs spotcollector software. Tuning to that frequency but in the past if I heard nothing I just moved on to another spot. Now I have been sitting on the frequency listening whilst doing other things on the computer....like this post. I have found that as conditions change the static breaks and the new country comes into focus!! At times I have had to use my Audio Peak filtering (APF) which works great to bring the new contact up from just above the noise level.  There have been times when I should had acted faster, like the time Somalia broke through the static. By the time I "filtered up" it was only static and no Somalia!!! 

KPA3 cover plate

Those who are regular readers of this blog know I have all Elecraft equipment and enjoy it very much. My Elecraft K3 was purchased with the 100 watt module (KPA3) and up to this point it has been sitting in the rig and just adding weight. The other week it was decided to unload some unused gear then put these funds together for the purchase of the Elecraft KX3. One of the items on the selling block was the KPA3 unit. When the KPA3 is removed from the radio there is a  hole in the rear of the radio were the cooling fans were located. Elecraft sells a plate (6 x 2 3/4 inch aluminum plate)  that covers the hole. I called up and placed an order, the cost of the plate was 20.37. A little expensive I thought but what are you going to do. Ten days later the plate
arrived looking at the bill  the plate cost 20.37 and the shipping was 10.00!!!

Opening when fans are removed

Plastic plugs

 This is half the cost of the plate. The package weighted ONE OUNCE  and was shipped parcel rate. To add insult to injury the plate has a hole labeled "ANT 3". I believe this is for the 2m  antenna out port .........if you have the 2m module!!!! Anyway I had to drive to the local electronics store to buy the plastic plug. They came in a package of 2 for forty nine cents. You know what Elecraft throw in the plastic plug and add one dollar to the cost. Back to the shipping rant........  my Elecraft KX3 according to Elecraft weights in at 1.4 LBS and lets knock that up to 1.6 pounds when you add in the shipping box, packing material,manual and bill. The cost for shipping me my KX3 is 48.00 dollars and that is more reasonable and understandable. TEN DOLLARS TO SHIP A 1 OUNCE PACKAGE.....COME ON ELECRAFT !!!!

I have been a ham for some time now but there are some things I just have not done as of yet......I can now cross off one more "not done thing" and make it DONE!! To some this may be old hack and you have done it hundreds of times. I was on the radio on the weekend and I heard VP2MUQ down in Montserrat, this is not a new DXCC for me but I did notice here was operating split (transmitting on one frequency and receiving on another). I had two strikes against me before I even gave Bob (VP2MUQ) an attempt. He had a large pileup and he was operating split. Up to this point in my have carrier I have never been able to make a contact when the station was operating split. It made me wonder if I was doing the split thing  right or wrong. I had tried many times in the past but was not able to make contact with ANY op using split. Well on July 21 2012 that all came to an end. I setup the offset for the split (the split according to a spot on a cluster) and gave it a go.....nothing.....but there was a large pileup so I gave it a couple more goes. Then at 01:15 UTC VP2MUQ came back to me and before you know it I worked my first split. Well that's it for the post not very exciting to some but to me it was GREAT!! I now know I have been doing the split thing correctly all along. Another item stroked off the ham bucket list.

The IARU 2012 contest has come and gone it was not without atmospheric grumblings. High solar wind at times over 700, Kp index topping out at 6 and this being the aftermath of the class X flare last week. On a brighter note (no pun intended)  the sunspot numbers are up along with the flux readings.

 So how did all this solar mumbo jumbo affect the contesting goals at VE3WDM?? My first goal and last goal of having fun and enjoying the contest was accomplished. As for adding to my DXCC count I only was able to grab one DXCC. The spotting networks were alive with South Pacific and Asia but at VE3WDM nothing at all was heard. My openings seemed to be centered around Europe with the occasional South American tease.

 This contest for me was not about gathering points and contacts. It was taking advantage of a large amount DX and working them with the least amount of power as possible. This meant the contest was slow going and not worrying about total contacts and points. 99% of my contacts were made with QRPp power and some with QRP. Each potential contact started with trying to make the contact with as little as 50Mw's. I had to stop at 50Mw's as my LP100A meter will not measure any lower power output. Back when I ordered and built this meter I never thought I would ever be operating as low as 50Mw's......my thinking was "an attic dipole antenna at QRP of 5 watts I am pushing it" funny how things change over time. I have a device on order that will allow me to measure power output into the nano watts...not that I will ever go there......but you never know!! I was not able to top my all time miles per watt high of  45,868 well maybe next time.



Contacts                    16                   Six contacts 100mW's or much less
ITU                               9
HQ contacts                6
Points                         46 UPDATE: score was actually 690 have to stop using that new math!!

Hendricks attenuator in service

It's Friday and the IARU contest is tomorrow, I had been checking out the propagation throughout the week and things seem to be calming down. Well until yesterday afternoon and the sun released an X1.4 solar flare and if that was not enough a CME as well..... Oh did I mention the CME is headed in our direction as well. So far the solar-terrestrial data seems to be ok. What's not to bad about a proportional hiccup is that it affects all of us, not saying that is a good thing but in the contest  the playing field stays level. This past week my Hendricks 41dB attenuator came in. The assembly was straight forward and was done in no time it

Final testing

tested out ok and I was ready to start using it. The attenuator has to go in series with my antenna  I placed it in series with my antenna B port on the K3. Both feeds from the K3 (antenna A port and B port) go to a LDG DTS-4 switch. Here I am able to place the dipole antenna in series with either antenna Port A or B. I did this as I can set up the K3 to have different settings (power output, filter selections, ATU on or off... etc) for each antenna port. So I select either antenna A or B on the K3 and then on the DTS-4 I select either attenuator in or out.

Now when I want to use the attenuator it's a matter of selecting antenna B on the K3 and Ant B selected on the DTS-4 and I am ready to go with all the setting on the K3 done.

1. Have fun and enjoy!!
2. Look for DXCC's I do not have so I can add to my  ARRL Diamond  count.
3. See if I can beat my miles per watt record of 45,868 miles.
4. Have fun and enjoy!!

Some of the extra parts

Back to the Hendricks attenuator for a moment..........the kit did come with some extra resistors and switch also the hookup wire was missing.  I also noticed that the color code for one of the resistors had a misprint in the manual. I emailed all this information to Hendricks last week and up to this point I have heard nothing. Also I did have what I thought to be a problem I emailed Hendricks about it. Their reply was "I don't know" and that was it!! Well I figured out the problem on my own but this being my first kit from Hendricks I was not impressed. Maybe this is just a one off many of you out there have had kits from this company what has been your experience?