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Unfortunately, a few days after Carl W3HC (ex-W3HCW) celebrated his 100th birthday, he fell ill, declined rapidly, and passed away. We can’t complain as he lived a full life and got to enjoy a beer at his birthday party.

Photo credit: Karen Vibert-Kennedy, Williamsport Sun Gazette

Carl was an avid photographer all his life. The Williamsport Sun Gazette featured an article and video on his time in Berlin during World War II, taking photographs. While in a bombed out home, he found a roll of film which he took home and later developed. He was shocked to discover the photos were taken by a German photographer and even included pictures of Himler, who was the #2 in Germany at the time. Many of his photos are featured on his Flickr site.

I owe my grandfather a lot of gratitude as he’s the one who got me into amateur radio which led to me getting my first two jobs in wireless and communications, and laid the foundation for a rather successful career. I continue to be active in amateur radio, with QRP, field operation, circuit design, open source software development, and homebrewing equipment being my favorite activities.

Carl was first licensed in 1956 as WN3HCW, back when Novice calls had the WN prefix. After upgrading to Technician, the FCC dropped the N and he became W3HCW. Later in the 90s when he upgraded to Extra he shortened his call to W3HC. During my time with him as a youngster and teenager, he operated nearly all HF phone and enjoyed DXing, but he also did a lot of 6 meter AM work in the 60s. He operated theW3HCW QSL Fund which funded QSL cards for DX stations, and he was a QSL manager for about 130 stations over the years.

Carl McDaniel, W3HC, SK at 100 years and 6 days. dit dit

This article was originally published on Radio Artisan.

Through some reorganization at work in the past two months, I have suddenly gained ready access to a lab full of RF test equipment again.  Two years is a long time to go without. Apologies for the cell-phone photograph of the screen.

I took the W1GHZ 1152-MHz LO board over to have a look at it during lunch.  I’m seeing -11 dBm at 1152.007 MHz.  I am a bit dubious of the last digit of the frequency (even at 300 Hz RBW) but I’m sure there’s a frequency counter around somewhere.  Anyhow, I need to put a MMIC (or two) on the transverter board.  That should be a nice evening project along with the W6PQL preamp kit that showed up today.

Saw this in my Google Reader at work and had to post.  Apply to work, ham radio, …?  It’s clearly an artist’s take and not an engineer’s.

Photograph 1 taken Sunday afternoon as rate drops in half and I’m logging California counties on 20m with the yagi pointed due east.

Photograph 2 illustrates my rate per hour through 17 hours of operation. What a blast operating CW through CQP weekend as 3 point Qs drove my score into six digits.

Photograph 3 is a list of sections worked and one notes band conditions were long especially on 15 and 20m however 10m never ionized over the weekend. I miss 10m activity and hope the band will finally play next year?

Photograph 4 is a continuation of sections worked and I did not log Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada, or Utah in addition two Canadian sections as well.

Photograph 5 breaks down my country total and each European counted as new one against my DXCC pursuit. What a joy finally hearing stations across the Atlantic on the wireless set!

California QSO Party.
Rest is important going into any RadioSport event and fatigue does not help one’s morale when butt-in-the-chair time is a priority. I was wiped out when Saturday evening rolled across the ionosphere and called it at 0100 UTC when CW signals blurred my brain. I slept 12 hours then returned to the keyer catching long skip into Europe on Sunday morning.

I recognized many stations who filled the log at the shackadelic in Shell Beach and, what a hoot, logging Dave, K2DSL and Victor, KD2HE both of whom journal their wireless activities on the Internet.

Likewise, logging Bill, N6ZFO who was booming through the ICOM wireless on Sunday morning from Lake County. A great signal from his location. I want to thank the North California Contest Club for sponsoring a stellar event. The California QSO Party is world class!

KA3DRR/6 CQP Score.
40m = 92Qs and 1 Section.
20m = 376 Qs and 25 Sections.
15m = 222 Qs and 26 Sections.

Total Qs = 690
Total Sections = 52
Total Points = 107, 640

Spirit of Ham Radio.
Likewise John, W6SL is a stellar example when speaking about the spirit of ham radio and the friendship that follows our hobby. He opened his operating chair and put me in the pilot seat of his accomplished station. John is a 5 band DXCC operator with 300 plus entities to his credit. He is one who patiently waits for a new country recently logging Andorra not an easy feat from the west coast given the mountainous terrain surrounding this country.

The spirit of ham radio moves through the ether in mysterious ways. I was speaking with Dick Norton, N6AA about moving to the next level in RadioSport during an annual swap fest in Santa Maria, California. He mentioned guest operating just as W6SL walked within range of our conversation. John asked about my guest operating interest and invited me over without hesitation.

I enjoyed operating a wireless set using an amplifier and competitive grade antenna systems through last weekend because of John, W6SL.

Conclusion.
Rest is important going into an event. RadioSport is fun and reasonably defined goals make a difference in the operating chair. I logged new countries, grid squares, and counties through last weekend while learning about propagation using competitive grade antennas.

The spirit of ham radio endures through men like John, W6SL, Bill, N6ZFO, and organizations like the Northern California Contest Club.

73 from the shackadelic.

Photograph 1 taken from our second floor window.

Photograph 2 is a street level few of the 6m 2 element yagi positioned in a difficult operating location.

Photograph 3 taken a few steps upward from street level view.

Photograph 4 highlights additional radials installed yesterday afternoon. The total is thirty across three bands of operation.

Photograph 5 illustrates the cement like quality of our soil just two hundred yards from the Pacific.

Photograph 6 is an example of re-purposed, decorative lawn fencing.

73 from the busy shack relaxation zone.