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Daunting, isn’t it?  Just goes to show that there were some superb ops up there on CY9M!

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

The 20 Meter QRP Fox hunt did not pan out tonight.

I heard Arn K0ZK fine for the first half hour; but could not break the pile up. Then his signal faded into oblivion, even with the K3’s APF feature going full bore.

TJ W0EA was just the opposite.  He came up into hearing range in the last half hour; but I couldn’t break the pileup there, either.

Sometimes you’re lucky and sometimes you’re not. Tonight was not a lucky night.

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

I’m on 6m with my Elecraft K3 and I’ve noticed that VFO B is following VFO A. Whatever frequency I dial using VFO A and the main tuning knob, VFO B changes with it. On other bands the VFOs are not linked like this but turning the VFO B knob does nothing.

Obviously I accidentally pressed something I shouldn’t have, so I don’t know what to do to undo the action. Does anyone know what I should do to get VFO B working normally again? Switching off and switching on again didn’t solve the problem.

UPDATE: VFO B was not changing because LOCK was on. Having turned LOCK off I can change VFO B independently using the knob. VFO B and VFO A now show different frequencies, but if I turn the VFO A knob, VFO B now changes by the same amount! I don’t seem to have SPLIT on, in fact when I press SPLIT the message SPL N/A is shown.

Wowsers!

Both 20 Meter foxes worked within the first 10 minutes of the hunt.  That doesn’t occur very often, but when it does it’s gratifying.  The K3 (and the KX3) really makes it easy with those dual VFO knobs.  Hit split, listen on VFO A, dial up the transmit frequency with the VFO B knob and got to town.  No more hitting the A/B button and trying to deal with tuning two separate VFOs with one knob.  Probably a minor thing when you consider it, but oh so convenient!

The Maxpedition padded pouch arrived today and it is perfect!  Fits the KX3 just fine and will protect it from anything else that’s in the knapsack.  Not that there’s really that much in there, but I still worry about something jouncing around and doing damage.  I had the K1 in a “Tupperware” container all those years and it stayed looking mint.  I am sure this padded pouch will do the same for the KX3.

KX3
Antenna wire
Small SLA battery (and small gel cel charger – going to charge off the grid this year)
Lithium Ion battery
Paddles
Earbuds
Autek antenna analyzer (to make setting up the Buddistick easier).
Pad and misc supplies
Wrist rocket

Still, that’s enough to carry along when we go to Lake George later this summer – and for the Flight of the Bumblebees and the Skeeter Hunt as well.

The SLA battery is being taken as a back up only.  If the Lithium Ion performs admirably and gives me a decent amount of radio time between charges, the SLA will stay home in the future.  That would certainly lighten things up.

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

A new rig is a thing of beauty. Whether it be Elecraft, Kenwood, Yaesu, Icom or kit built or homebrewed, once you get it on the air, it’s definitely fun! And before the novelty wears off, quite addictive.

After watching some TV with Cara and Joey, I headed down to the shack for about another 1/2 hour of operating time before heading off to the sack.  Most of that time was spent becoming familiar with knobs, functions and controls; but I also did manage to work OZ1HDF and RK3ER on 30 Meters.

Even though I now have microphones for the K3 and KX3, I doubt that I will be spending much of any time with any mode other than CW.  Sending and receiving Morse is still what Amateur Radio is all about for me.

July 15th is the Sussex Hamfest up in Sussex County, NJ – which is the extreme Northwest corner of the state. The Sussex Hamfest is one of the best in the state; and normally I can’t go as we’re usually in Lake George that weekend.  This year I can go and am planning on it.  Some things I will need – 1/4″ to mini jack stereo adapter so that I can use my earbuds on the K3.

With the K2, I had a single, amplified speaker.  I think I will have to get a set of amplified stereo speakers so that I can take advantage of the stereo sound the K3 can provide.  An inexpensive set of computer speakers should do the trick and those can usually be found quite easily (and cheaply!) at hamfests.

Off to bed now, tomorrow is a work day, and unfortunately,  I am anticipating tomorrow and Friday to be as bad as yesterday was.

By the way, it’s 11:30 PM and it’s still 84F (29C) – ugh!  In a few of the QSOs that I had today, the ops on the other end told me that it was well over 100F (38C) at their locations, so I guess I should be grateful it wasn’t that bad here!

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

It was hot here again today with highs in the mid 90’s – I believe the high for the day was 95F (35C); so I stayed inside where it was cool.

That gave me the chance to play radio and get the K3 completed.  Between spurts of kit building, I managed to work my good friend Bob W3BBO on 40 Meters this afternoon.  We had a nice 30 minute rag chew and he was using the 44′ EDZ that he recently put up at his new house.  It worked well.  He started out at 559, but when the QSB kicked out, he was a solid 599 from Erie, PA to South Plainfield, NJ.  We had some QRM come in towards the end of our QSO; but the KX3’s silky smooth filtering knocked the interference right out.

I managed to get the front panel mounted and got to the stage of doing the smoke test.  No smoke!

Another hour or so and I was able to finish everything, do the calibrations and get the radio set in its place on the shack table.

The first QSO was Neal N4HAF on 40 Meters.  We had a nice little rag chew going and it was an enjoyable QSO. I worked John K4BAI on 20 Meters and started gabbing with him – only to realize that he was partaking of the MIQRP 4th of July Sprint. Doh!  I quickly apologized to John and let him get on with this business of making more QSOs.  I also worked AC8W in the same contest on 40 Meters and then switched back to 20 Meters for a short chat with Mike N0ZH, who will be Skeeter #55 in the Hunt in August, by the way.  It was good to hear Mike, it had been a while since we has last QSOed.

Anyway, after becoming acquainted with the KX3, it was nice to see the K3 is just about the same with a few minor differences.  It will still take a while before I feel “at home” behind it like I do with the K2; but that will come.  Some of the things that are a surprise are 1/4″ sockets for phones and paddles.  I am so used to the smaller miniature jacks that are used on the K1, K2 and KX3.  But it was nice to be able to hook both antennas up without having to use PL259 to BNC adapters.

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

‘Twas one of those days at work where I felt like I was beaten with a pool cue, run over by a bus and then dragged in by the cat.