So last night was the PODXS070 club's 80 meter sprint contest memorializing Jay Hudak (KA3X now SK), one of the original members of the PODXS club and a founding member of the 070 club. The contest had a rolling start as do most of the 070 sprints and ran from 2000 - 0200 local time. So I started off shortly after 8pm, once I was finished eating a wonderful supper that the XYL prepared. At first the waterfall was pretty cram-packed so I went hunting and pouncing until I had about 5 or 6 contacts then squeezed into a spot on the waterfall to call CQ. I had quite a few calls and within the first hour of operating the PSK31 mode I had around 18 quality contacts.
The second hour rolled around and I was determined to work more stations to increase the QSO rate. CQ 80 Meter Test de AJ4JD I continued to call. Contact after contact filled the log. At the end of the second hours I had 40 contacts in the log.
With each hour up to about 11:00pm I would find new blood as new time zones could start the contest. After the Midnight hour things began to slow and I would switch from calling CQ to hunting and pouncing. I did that for the last 2 hours of the contest (well last 2 hours for me). By the end of the 6 hour period I had 79 contacts, one of which was a dup, and 30 multipliers including a couple of DX entities: Puerto Rico, Venezuala, Spain, and Canada. With 78 QSO pts and 30 multipliers, I ended up with a total score of 2,340pts.
I don't know if that will earn me a place in the top or not but it was a fun contest none-the-less. I was able to add more 070 members into the log. As a matter of fact I have now contacted enough member to get my 150 endoresment for my LONP award. I know what you're saying, LON what? The Loyal Order of Narrow-Banded Phase-Shifters. It's a special member society in the 070 club for members who have contacted at least 100 other 070 members.
So that's all I have for now. Hope everyone has a great weekend. For those working the VHF contest good luck and have fun.
73 and good DX to all,
Tim - AJ4JD
Showing posts with label ARRL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ARRL. Show all posts
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
New EPC Member. Anticipation builds for the IARU HF Championship
Just thought I would let everyone know that I am now an official member of the European PSK 31 Club. My EPC number is 7880.
I'm also working on a post about my current contesting stats. Hopefully I can get that finished and posted tomorrow. Until then, I'm still waiting for the IARU HF Championship. This is a great contest. I worked it a little bit last year but I didn't submit a log or anything. I was still a fairly new HAM and didn't know much about contesting at that time. Anyway, this year I plan on putting forth a major effort like I did during the CQ WPX contest. Speaking of which, unofficial results have been posted and it appears that I'm sitting as the 4th place rookie stateside in the Low Power Single Op All Band category.
Well that really all I have right now. It's getting late so I'll get off the puter and settle down for bed.
Have a great Friday everyone. 73 and Good DX to all.
Tim - AJ4JD
I'm also working on a post about my current contesting stats. Hopefully I can get that finished and posted tomorrow. Until then, I'm still waiting for the IARU HF Championship. This is a great contest. I worked it a little bit last year but I didn't submit a log or anything. I was still a fairly new HAM and didn't know much about contesting at that time. Anyway, this year I plan on putting forth a major effort like I did during the CQ WPX contest. Speaking of which, unofficial results have been posted and it appears that I'm sitting as the 4th place rookie stateside in the Low Power Single Op All Band category.
Well that really all I have right now. It's getting late so I'll get off the puter and settle down for bed.
Have a great Friday everyone. 73 and Good DX to all.
Tim - AJ4JD
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Field Day Update and West Virginia QSO Party
Well folks, if you haven't heard then I'll just say this, field day is looking a bit bleak at this time. If you've read the XYL's blog then you know all about it. Otherwise, here it is in a nutshell. Our Jeep is broke and we have no other way of getting up to our beloved field we visit for outdoor ops as well as astronomy operations. It's up on a ridge and requires 4 wheel drive to get up there. With that being the case field day may end up in the back yard or from the comfort of indoors with the fridge around the corner and a bathroom within 4 steps of the shack. Regardless, we will work field day.
On another note, I worked the West Virginia QSO Party for a bit last week. You see, West Virigina, has been one of those elusive states that I have yet to get confirmed for WAS. Well last night I checked my LOTW account and low and behold, I've now got WV confirmed. I only have 3 states left for WAS via LOTW (South Carolina, Nebraska, and Maine). So if you here or see me on the bands and your from either of those states, and have LOTW, please, by all means, give me a call.
Well that's all I've got for now. It's time to get ready to go to that 4 letter word that begins with a 'W'.
73 to all and good DX,
Tim - AJ4JD
On another note, I worked the West Virginia QSO Party for a bit last week. You see, West Virigina, has been one of those elusive states that I have yet to get confirmed for WAS. Well last night I checked my LOTW account and low and behold, I've now got WV confirmed. I only have 3 states left for WAS via LOTW (South Carolina, Nebraska, and Maine). So if you here or see me on the bands and your from either of those states, and have LOTW, please, by all means, give me a call.
Well that's all I've got for now. It's time to get ready to go to that 4 letter word that begins with a 'W'.
73 to all and good DX,
Tim - AJ4JD
Monday, June 1, 2009
Milestones Thanks to the 070 TDW
I didn't write about this during yesterday's post as it hadn't really crossed my mind. However, today it has so I figured I would share with you a couple of milestones to put in the books.
Milestone 1:
- During the TDW contest this past weekend I made my 1000th logged contact. That's right I've hit the 1000 contact mark and still trucking. Of course this is mainly contacts on HF. Who was the lucky OP you ask? None other than N7GVV. Thanks for the contact Jim and the milestone mark. I will definitely be sending a QSL your way just for memorabilia sake. Hi Hi.
Milestone 2:
- Thanks to the wonderful cyber world and the 070 TDW contest, I finally confirmed 25 DX contacts via eQSL and have earned myself the eDX award. That's right folks, my first major Ham Award. No, it may not be as pretty as the major award the old man won in a Christmas Story, but to me it is a major award nonetheless.
So that's all I've got for now. I still lack 5 states for the eWAS via eQSL, and 4 more states for the basic WAS via the ARRL. So if you hear me on the bands or see me on the waterfall give a holler for me. I'd love to work you.
Anyway it's late and about time to go QRT. So I'll 73 for now and thanks to all who I've contacted and all those who have contacted me.
Tim - AJ4JD
Milestone 1:
- During the TDW contest this past weekend I made my 1000th logged contact. That's right I've hit the 1000 contact mark and still trucking. Of course this is mainly contacts on HF. Who was the lucky OP you ask? None other than N7GVV. Thanks for the contact Jim and the milestone mark. I will definitely be sending a QSL your way just for memorabilia sake. Hi Hi.
Milestone 2:
- Thanks to the wonderful cyber world and the 070 TDW contest, I finally confirmed 25 DX contacts via eQSL and have earned myself the eDX award. That's right folks, my first major Ham Award. No, it may not be as pretty as the major award the old man won in a Christmas Story, but to me it is a major award nonetheless.
So that's all I've got for now. I still lack 5 states for the eWAS via eQSL, and 4 more states for the basic WAS via the ARRL. So if you hear me on the bands or see me on the waterfall give a holler for me. I'd love to work you.
Anyway it's late and about time to go QRT. So I'll 73 for now and thanks to all who I've contacted and all those who have contacted me.
Tim - AJ4JD
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Proud Papa Ham
One can only imagine the smile that has been across my face since yesterday. Why so happy you may ask. Well it all stems from a contact with Santa Claus that my harmonic (KJ4EGJ) made. You may recall an article from back in December that Duncan MacLachlan (KU0DM - Youth Editor for ARRL) wrote about Santa Claus (W6S).
Well yesterday, Duncan's latest youth article appeared on ARRL's website. Well I can tell that I had a smile much like the Cheshire Cat's when I beheld in mine eyes my daughter's picture and small piece about her contact with Santa. Of course I had previously knew this was going to happen and had been anticipating the article for the last week. It was about 3 weeks or so ago when Duncan contacted my XYL (AJ4IJ) about the article he was planning, and was hoping to get a little information from her about the contact and of course ask permission to write about Ashby in his article.
Yes, I am quite the proud papa. Ashby, you go girl. This coupled with the speech you gave that garnered 2nd place at the 4H competition at your school about Ham Radio tells me you are going to go far in the hobby. For those who don't know already, Ashby gave a speech about her Ham Radio hobby in a 4H competition at school. Now it has been published in our local 470 ARG newsletter. You can read more about it at my XYL's blog along with more about Ashby's contact with Santa. You can also catch Duncan's article on ARRL.org at the following URL: http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2009/02/09/10623/?nc=1.
Until next time, 73 and good DX to all,
AJ4JD - Tim
Well yesterday, Duncan's latest youth article appeared on ARRL's website. Well I can tell that I had a smile much like the Cheshire Cat's when I beheld in mine eyes my daughter's picture and small piece about her contact with Santa. Of course I had previously knew this was going to happen and had been anticipating the article for the last week. It was about 3 weeks or so ago when Duncan contacted my XYL (AJ4IJ) about the article he was planning, and was hoping to get a little information from her about the contact and of course ask permission to write about Ashby in his article.
Yes, I am quite the proud papa. Ashby, you go girl. This coupled with the speech you gave that garnered 2nd place at the 4H competition at your school about Ham Radio tells me you are going to go far in the hobby. For those who don't know already, Ashby gave a speech about her Ham Radio hobby in a 4H competition at school. Now it has been published in our local 470 ARG newsletter. You can read more about it at my XYL's blog along with more about Ashby's contact with Santa. You can also catch Duncan's article on ARRL.org at the following URL: http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2009/02/09/10623/?nc=1.
Until next time, 73 and good DX to all,
AJ4JD - Tim
Saturday, December 13, 2008
PSK 31/63 To The Death ... Match
Well I had every intention of working the ARRL 10 meter contest this evening. Unfortunately, upon arriving at dad's (KU4ME) house, I quickly learned that 10 meters was pretty much deader than a door nail. I heard a couple of stations in there but no sooner than I would hear them, they'd fade right back out again. So after a few calls, I gave it up.
It was at this point that my lovely XYL Robin (AJ4IJ) suggested checking the digital modes. So I fired up Ham Radio Deluxe and launched DM 780. We tuned to 3.580 and found a nice strong waterfall coming in. Within seconds we picked up that there was a PSK Contest going on. CQ PSK31/63 DeathMatch ran across the screen. Of course Google is our friend and we rapidly found out that the Annual Michigan DX Association's PSK 31/63 Death Match contest was on tap for this weekend.
Happy that Robin found me a contest, I quickly set up some macros and dad walked me through tuning up the radio, setting my power on the USB Signal Link, and testing our power output. Within mere minutes I was calling CQ PSK31/63 DeathMatch de AJ4JD. I worked 80 meters for quite a while using PSK 31. After almost 20 contacts, I jumped over to 40 and worked a handful there. After a few of no one coming back to me, I decided to check 20 but it was completely dead so back to 80 I went.
On 80 for the second time of the evening, I switched modes to PSK 63 and continued calling CQ. I picked up a few more contacts and a couple of those were previous contact from earlier on PSK 31. It was around 2:30 a.m. when I wasn't getting any more takers and I decided that I was done for the night. I had been run through and gave in.
It was definitely a fun evening, and I look forward to working more of the contest throughout the weekend. That's right, the Death Match runs all weekend so I have more of a chance to push up the totals. If I remember correctly, I've made around 35 contacts in 17 different states and one Canadian province.
Well it's late now and I must go recuperate from the evening's battle. So with that I will say 73 to all, good DX, and happy contesting.
AJ4JD - Tim
It was at this point that my lovely XYL Robin (AJ4IJ) suggested checking the digital modes. So I fired up Ham Radio Deluxe and launched DM 780. We tuned to 3.580 and found a nice strong waterfall coming in. Within seconds we picked up that there was a PSK Contest going on. CQ PSK31/63 DeathMatch ran across the screen. Of course Google is our friend and we rapidly found out that the Annual Michigan DX Association's PSK 31/63 Death Match contest was on tap for this weekend.
Happy that Robin found me a contest, I quickly set up some macros and dad walked me through tuning up the radio, setting my power on the USB Signal Link, and testing our power output. Within mere minutes I was calling CQ PSK31/63 DeathMatch de AJ4JD. I worked 80 meters for quite a while using PSK 31. After almost 20 contacts, I jumped over to 40 and worked a handful there. After a few of no one coming back to me, I decided to check 20 but it was completely dead so back to 80 I went.
On 80 for the second time of the evening, I switched modes to PSK 63 and continued calling CQ. I picked up a few more contacts and a couple of those were previous contact from earlier on PSK 31. It was around 2:30 a.m. when I wasn't getting any more takers and I decided that I was done for the night. I had been run through and gave in.
It was definitely a fun evening, and I look forward to working more of the contest throughout the weekend. That's right, the Death Match runs all weekend so I have more of a chance to push up the totals. If I remember correctly, I've made around 35 contacts in 17 different states and one Canadian province.
Well it's late now and I must go recuperate from the evening's battle. So with that I will say 73 to all, good DX, and happy contesting.
AJ4JD - Tim
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
ARRL 10 Meter Contest
This coming weekend is ARRL's 10 meter contest. Ever since the November Sweepstakes I've been waiting for this one. There hasn't been any phone contests to speak of or at least that I've known about. Anyway, I've mentioned it to the XYL (AJ4IJ) and to Dad (KU4ME). I don't know if either one of them have any interest in working it but I sure do look forward to working it. I don't think I'll be any count but I will definitely have fun trying.
Anyway for those wandering, the contest runs from 0000 UTC Saturday; ends 2359 UTC Sunday (December 13 – 14, 2008). The only thing required for the exchange is ARRL/RAC Section (state or province) and signal report. For DX stations (including KH2, KP4, etc) transmit signal report and sequential serial number starting with 001. For Maritime Mobile stations send signal report and ITU Region (R1, R2 or R3).
To all the HAMs that will be working the contest good luck and catch ya on the band.
73 de AJ4JD
Tim
Anyway for those wandering, the contest runs from 0000 UTC Saturday; ends 2359 UTC Sunday (December 13 – 14, 2008). The only thing required for the exchange is ARRL/RAC Section (state or province) and signal report. For DX stations (including KH2, KP4, etc) transmit signal report and sequential serial number starting with 001. For Maritime Mobile stations send signal report and ITU Region (R1, R2 or R3).
To all the HAMs that will be working the contest good luck and catch ya on the band.
73 de AJ4JD
Tim
Saturday, December 6, 2008
2008 Skywarn Recognition Day
Last night marked the start of the 2008 National Skywarn Recognition Day. We (Robin - AJ4IJ, Ashby - KJ4EGJ and I - AJ4JD) were at home when we heard one of our local HAMs give a call with a different callsign WX4MRX on the 145.470 WB4GBI repeater for the Skywarn Recognition Day special event. We quickly made contact with John and exchanged current weather conditions marking our first contact for the event.
Later on in the evening I ventured over to dad's (KU4ME) to play radio with him and to try and catch up on the event. Dad had already worked 8 or 9 weather stations across the country. After firing up the laptop and starting the logging software, I sat down and began hunting down weather stations participating in the event on 80 meters. After a couple of hours of work I had tallied a total of 8 contacts with various weather stations from Illinois, Kentucky, South Carolina, and South Dakota just to name a few. Dad also added to his tally.
I believe we are planning to head over there later today to work some more weather stations on some of the other bands provided conditions are good. So if you have the chance, get on the radio and make some contacts to show your appreciation for Skywarn. Without Skywarn and our community of weather spotters, we might not have good up-to-date severe weather information. If you want to learn more about Skywarn and how to become a certified weather spotter check you local weather service website or you can go to the National Weather Service's Skywarn info page.
Until next time, 73 and God Bless,
Tim
AJ4JD
Happy DX.
Later on in the evening I ventured over to dad's (KU4ME) to play radio with him and to try and catch up on the event. Dad had already worked 8 or 9 weather stations across the country. After firing up the laptop and starting the logging software, I sat down and began hunting down weather stations participating in the event on 80 meters. After a couple of hours of work I had tallied a total of 8 contacts with various weather stations from Illinois, Kentucky, South Carolina, and South Dakota just to name a few. Dad also added to his tally.
I believe we are planning to head over there later today to work some more weather stations on some of the other bands provided conditions are good. So if you have the chance, get on the radio and make some contacts to show your appreciation for Skywarn. Without Skywarn and our community of weather spotters, we might not have good up-to-date severe weather information. If you want to learn more about Skywarn and how to become a certified weather spotter check you local weather service website or you can go to the National Weather Service's Skywarn info page.
Until next time, 73 and God Bless,
Tim
AJ4JD
Happy DX.
Monday, November 17, 2008
ARRL November Sweeps 2008 SSB
This weekend I participated in the ARRL November Sweepstakes contest. This was my first time participating in the contest as I have only been a HAM since May. Being that it was my first time and I just started using a new logging program (N3FJP's AC Log) I was a bit slow and didn't make a whole lot of contacts. I started out on 40 meters and made about 20 contacts or so. I took a break long enough to take the XYL(Robin - AJ4IJ) and Harmonic (Ashby - KJ4EGJ) back to the house.
Robin and I had let Ashby go over to her Peepaw's (KU4ME) to play radio for the W4H special event while we put up some of our many Christmas lights. Anyway, after I dropped them off I went back over to dads and started contesting more. This time I switched over to 80 meters and I ended up with about 15 more contacts.
Altogether, I ended up with 35 contacts and 25 sections. 1 contact was a duplicate so I figured my score was around 1700 points. Nothing major and definitely not award worthy, but I did have fun and am starting to like contesting more and more.
As for the W4H special event, Robin and I didn't work it any more than what we had the last two weekends. We figured we'd let dad and Ashby get their fill. I think dad ended up with over 30 contacts and Ashby ended up with 20 over the weekend. Robin and I ended up with 51 and 88 respectively for a grand total of at least 189 QSOs for the special event. I know that Rick (N4JTQ) and I think Cathy (KI4YPO) ended up working the event a little bit. Other than that I'm not sure if anyone else did or not.
Anyway, to all the stations that worked us, thanks for making this a fun and special event. Also be on the look out for us as we celebrate the 4th of July as W4H 470 ARG July 4th special event and catch this time next for our 2nd Anniversary of the 470 Amateur Radio Group.
Here's a picture of Ashby working W4H
Robin and I had let Ashby go over to her Peepaw's (KU4ME) to play radio for the W4H special event while we put up some of our many Christmas lights. Anyway, after I dropped them off I went back over to dads and started contesting more. This time I switched over to 80 meters and I ended up with about 15 more contacts.
Altogether, I ended up with 35 contacts and 25 sections. 1 contact was a duplicate so I figured my score was around 1700 points. Nothing major and definitely not award worthy, but I did have fun and am starting to like contesting more and more.
As for the W4H special event, Robin and I didn't work it any more than what we had the last two weekends. We figured we'd let dad and Ashby get their fill. I think dad ended up with over 30 contacts and Ashby ended up with 20 over the weekend. Robin and I ended up with 51 and 88 respectively for a grand total of at least 189 QSOs for the special event. I know that Rick (N4JTQ) and I think Cathy (KI4YPO) ended up working the event a little bit. Other than that I'm not sure if anyone else did or not.
Anyway, to all the stations that worked us, thanks for making this a fun and special event. Also be on the look out for us as we celebrate the 4th of July as W4H 470 ARG July 4th special event and catch this time next for our 2nd Anniversary of the 470 Amateur Radio Group.
Here's a picture of Ashby working W4H
Monday, August 25, 2008
State Parks on the Air???
I just finished reading an article on ARRL's website, "Ohio State Parks on the Air". I thought that this sounded like a wonderful idea that shouldn't be limited to just Ohio, but as the article eluded to, a National State Parks on the Air contest. I would love to operate QRP from the field while camping and competing. This would indeed combine both of my favorite hobbies, HAM Radio and the Outdoors (i.e. camping, hiking, backpacking, etc.). I know here in East Tennessee, there are several wonderful state parks for HAMs to operate from while camping or hiking. "Mountain Top Portable" comes to mind when I think about it.
Anyway, that article just seemed to strike my fancy and I thought I would share my thoughts with the Hamblogsphere. Other than that I don't have much else. I'm stuck in Alpharetta, Georgia on a Disaster Recovery exercise for work so I'm away from my stomping grounds. I tuned around last evening whilst in my room at the hotel. It appears there are several repeaters in Atlanta, GA and the surrounding area. I did find North Fulton's Amateur Radio League's website which has a pretty extensive listing of repeaters and nets in the area. I might try to catch some of them on the HT while I'm here. For those that happen to check this out from the Atlanta area, leave me some comments on the HAM happenings in this area. I would love to check them out while I've got off time in the evening.
So that's all I have for now.
73 de AJ4JD
Tim
P.S. All my buddies and friends on 147.360 and 145.470 back home, can't wait to ragchew with you all soon.
Anyway, that article just seemed to strike my fancy and I thought I would share my thoughts with the Hamblogsphere. Other than that I don't have much else. I'm stuck in Alpharetta, Georgia on a Disaster Recovery exercise for work so I'm away from my stomping grounds. I tuned around last evening whilst in my room at the hotel. It appears there are several repeaters in Atlanta, GA and the surrounding area. I did find North Fulton's Amateur Radio League's website which has a pretty extensive listing of repeaters and nets in the area. I might try to catch some of them on the HT while I'm here. For those that happen to check this out from the Atlanta area, leave me some comments on the HAM happenings in this area. I would love to check them out while I've got off time in the evening.
So that's all I have for now.
73 de AJ4JD
Tim
P.S. All my buddies and friends on 147.360 and 145.470 back home, can't wait to ragchew with you all soon.
Friday, August 1, 2008
I Feel Like a Ham
The more I'm in this hobby, the more I learn and the more I want. Do you ever get that feeling? It all started when I got my technician license back in April of this year. Robin (AJ4IJ) got me my first HAM radio after I got my ticket. It's a Yaesu VX-170 2 meter FM HT (for those non-hams HT means handy talky). It was long after that that we were both itching for a base station at the house. We've been driving dad's (KU4ME) jeep and it is equiped with an Alinco DR150 2 meter FM mobile radio. It wasn't long before we put a Kenwood TM-261A 2 meter FM in the car. This was Robin's old 2 meter rig she used to have in her old Saturn. It wasn't long before we finally got a base station set up. Dad let us have his old Radio Shack HTX-212 2 meter FM transceiver. To add to all that equipment, you might already know that we have a Jetstream JTB-1 2 meter/440 antenna put up in the air in the back yard. You can check out the post Hoisting the 2meter Vertical for more info on that. Robin has a Kenwood TH-22AT 2 meter FM HT radio, and our daughter Ashby (KJ4EGJ) was presented with an Alinco DJ-V17 2 meter FM HT upon getting her Ham ticket.
So we've been having fun rag chewin on 2 meters with our different radios. We check in to various nets around our area here in East Tennessee. We rag chew late into the night, and recently, as you may well know, we steal moments over at mom (KI4SSI) and dads to chase some DX and play on dad's HF radio (Icom IC-756 Pro). We've worked on his existing antennas, we've put up an inverted V cut for 75 meters (aka 80 meters), and we built a mutliband HF dipole for field day, which we now have up in the air over at mom and dad's as it gets out a bit better than his gap verticle.
The next thing we have to work on, is to hook up the Alinco DR430 70cm FM transceiver radio that dad has lent us to play with. We also have to help dad ground mom's radio and antenna, she has a Ten-Tech 526. This was dad's radio (I guess it still is) but he's set it up for mom to use. So as you can see I'm well into the Ham world since I started back in April. I've since earned my General back in May, and then my Extra ticket in June.
However, I think the thing that has made me really feel like a HAM is that I got my first ever issue of QST magazine. That's right folks, Robin signed us up for a family membership to ARRL earlier this week. Today I got my membership card and my first issue of QST magazine. I thumbed through it almost immediately when I got home from work. I drooled over all the HAM gear that was in it (well I didn't really drool by my eyes were as big as a kid's at Christmas when they first walk into the room and see all the presents under the tree). I read a few little columns and letters, and started to read a really interesting article on grounding your station (which I need to finish).
Anyway, between all the gear, catalogs, the ARRL memberships, and much more (like working toward earning the Worked All States, aka WAS, award) I can honestly and happily admit that I am a HAM.
Good DX everyone.
73 de AJ4JD
Tim
P.S. I promise I'll get some station pics, antenna pics, and rig pics of our stuff up here soon.
So we've been having fun rag chewin on 2 meters with our different radios. We check in to various nets around our area here in East Tennessee. We rag chew late into the night, and recently, as you may well know, we steal moments over at mom (KI4SSI) and dads to chase some DX and play on dad's HF radio (Icom IC-756 Pro). We've worked on his existing antennas, we've put up an inverted V cut for 75 meters (aka 80 meters), and we built a mutliband HF dipole for field day, which we now have up in the air over at mom and dad's as it gets out a bit better than his gap verticle.
The next thing we have to work on, is to hook up the Alinco DR430 70cm FM transceiver radio that dad has lent us to play with. We also have to help dad ground mom's radio and antenna, she has a Ten-Tech 526. This was dad's radio (I guess it still is) but he's set it up for mom to use. So as you can see I'm well into the Ham world since I started back in April. I've since earned my General back in May, and then my Extra ticket in June.
However, I think the thing that has made me really feel like a HAM is that I got my first ever issue of QST magazine. That's right folks, Robin signed us up for a family membership to ARRL earlier this week. Today I got my membership card and my first issue of QST magazine. I thumbed through it almost immediately when I got home from work. I drooled over all the HAM gear that was in it (well I didn't really drool by my eyes were as big as a kid's at Christmas when they first walk into the room and see all the presents under the tree). I read a few little columns and letters, and started to read a really interesting article on grounding your station (which I need to finish).
Anyway, between all the gear, catalogs, the ARRL memberships, and much more (like working toward earning the Worked All States, aka WAS, award) I can honestly and happily admit that I am a HAM.
Good DX everyone.
73 de AJ4JD
Tim
P.S. I promise I'll get some station pics, antenna pics, and rig pics of our stuff up here soon.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
In The Land of HF Part II
Hello everyone. I thought I would get on here and give everyone some updates about our adventures in HF here recently. I believe that last week I mentioned we were going to put up the ZS6BKV Multiband HF Dipole antenna that we built for field day. Well it is up in the air now and we've got it up there about 45ft or so. So far it seems to be working rather well. We've been getting great signal reports from stations that we've contacted around the world.
So last weekend was the IARU HF World Championship contest. Robin (AJ4IJ) and I (AJ4JD) decided to make some contacts just to test the antenna out. I mean after all, what better way to find out how well your antenna is doing right? Even though we really weren't competing in the contest, it was good experience seeing what contesting was all about. We ended up making around 22 contacts overall to stations all over the place including: Brazil, Argentina, Uraguay, Australia, Hiwaii, New Jersey, California, Washington, and Arizona.
Over the last week or so, we've been trying to work the Rockwell Collins S-Line Anniversary stations. There are 6 (N0CXX, W0CXX, W5ROK, W4CRC, W6CXX, F6KNZ) in all, and you need to contact 4 to qualify for the certificate they send out. We finally got all 4 the other day. Another special event we've been trying to get was the FBI station (K3FBI). They've been celebrating the 100th anniversary of the FBI. If you make a contact all you have to do is send a QSL card and they will send back a QSL and a real nice certificate. You can get more information from the ARRL's Special Events page. We've also been trying to work all states on 20 meters and have been doing some DX as well. Some of the states and countries we've worked this past week or so include: Ecuador, St. Barthelemy, Portugal (The Azores), Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Cuba. Some of the states include: Texas, Florida, Iowa, Virginia, Missouri, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Alaska, and Pennsylvania.
So, with special events, working all states, and chasing DX, we have all certainly been abuzz about HF around here lately, even dad (KU4ME) has gotten real excited about it. Anyway, that's about all I've got for now. I'll try to get some pictures of the antenna in it's new home and post them soon. Everyone take care and I hope you enjoy reading the entries. If you do please let me know. Until next time....
73 and good DX de AJ4JD
Tim
So last weekend was the IARU HF World Championship contest. Robin (AJ4IJ) and I (AJ4JD) decided to make some contacts just to test the antenna out. I mean after all, what better way to find out how well your antenna is doing right? Even though we really weren't competing in the contest, it was good experience seeing what contesting was all about. We ended up making around 22 contacts overall to stations all over the place including: Brazil, Argentina, Uraguay, Australia, Hiwaii, New Jersey, California, Washington, and Arizona.
Over the last week or so, we've been trying to work the Rockwell Collins S-Line Anniversary stations. There are 6 (N0CXX, W0CXX, W5ROK, W4CRC, W6CXX, F6KNZ) in all, and you need to contact 4 to qualify for the certificate they send out. We finally got all 4 the other day. Another special event we've been trying to get was the FBI station (K3FBI). They've been celebrating the 100th anniversary of the FBI. If you make a contact all you have to do is send a QSL card and they will send back a QSL and a real nice certificate. You can get more information from the ARRL's Special Events page. We've also been trying to work all states on 20 meters and have been doing some DX as well. Some of the states and countries we've worked this past week or so include: Ecuador, St. Barthelemy, Portugal (The Azores), Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Cuba. Some of the states include: Texas, Florida, Iowa, Virginia, Missouri, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Alaska, and Pennsylvania.
So, with special events, working all states, and chasing DX, we have all certainly been abuzz about HF around here lately, even dad (KU4ME) has gotten real excited about it. Anyway, that's about all I've got for now. I'll try to get some pictures of the antenna in it's new home and post them soon. Everyone take care and I hope you enjoy reading the entries. If you do please let me know. Until next time....
73 and good DX de AJ4JD
Tim
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
