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

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

eQSL and LOTW is now

Just thought I would let everyone know that I am now confirming QSO's via Log Book of The World (LOTW) and eQSL. So everyone check their accounts and make sure you received my confirmation and if you haven't already, please send return confirmation. Thanks to LOTW, I only lack 5 states for the basic WAS award. Woohoo. Don't forget, I also QSL direct and love to collect QSL cards. If you want one in return I will be more than happy to send out. Just in case you are wondering what my QSL card looks like check out this old post. Anyway, that's really all I have for the time being. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and if I don't post prior to... Everyone have a Happy Easter.

73 and good DX,
Tim - AJ4JD

5BWAS Update

I decided I would give an update on my 5 Band WAS status. I've added a couple more states for the WAS and added a couple more bands on a couple of states. I've still got a ways to go. Anyway here it is...


Catch ya on the bands. Now if only I had an antenna up for 15 meters.

73,
Tim

QSO Parties and WAS

Well it has been a little while since I last blogged. So I thought I would sit down and give everyone an update of what has been going on here lately. I've definitely caught the contest bug. The past couple of weekends (ever since we got our shack set up) I've been working different contests that are feasible for me to work. Robin (AJ4IJ) worked the PODXS 070 Club Valentine Sprint. I have to say she did really good too. I've been working the different state QSO parties. I really haven't given them any major effort. I think I worked one station in the Vermont QSO Party, and a handful in the New Mexico QSO Party, as well as the New Hampshire, and Mississippi QSO parties. I did put forth more of an effort in the North Carolina QSO party today. I ended up with 33 contacts and about 1700 points total. While it will not win a prize or anything, it was still nice to work it and see how the radio/antenna/ and new antenna tuner was performing.

In case you didn't know we added a new LDG AT-200Pro Auto Tuner to the shack. It seems to be working really well. So well in fact that prior, I've been having to cut the power back on the upper end of the 75/80 meter band when checking into the Tennessee Phone net as the SWR runs a bit to high for our liking. So now with the tuner in place, I am able to hit 3.980MHz with full power without even blinking. Really, with the antenna, that was the only place we had trouble with as far as SWR was concern. Of course we can't work 15 meters at all but our Windom is not resonant at all for 15. It performs without issue on the other bands though.

I've also decided it was time to update my Worked All States map and have included it for you all to see my progress. I've got a ways to go and I'm going to have to get a 15 meter antenna up if I ever plan on get the 5 band WAS.

Did I mention we got a new FT-1802 to replace the new Radio Shack 2 meter rig. No more noise when we key up from the laptops. I'll have to get a shot of our shack up here soon.

Until next time 73, God Bless, and Good DX,
AJ4JD - Tim

Antenna Maintenance, My First Asian Contact, and W4H Update (My first real pileup)

Well, yesterday we decided to go over to dad's (KU4ME) and play some radio. This was of course after we did a little maintenance to the wires we have up in the air over there. We needed to remove some of the tension on the ZS6BKV multi bander. There was a branch that was creating tension on the twin lead close to the choke as well as to much slack in the support rope we have strung the wire on. So after cutting out a whole big branch and removing the slack in the support rope we moved to the inverted vee for 80 meters. The balun had slid down a little back towards the house and had dropped a little as well. So we moved the balun back up the support rope and hoisted the antenna a little higher. We also got the multi-bander up a little higher as well. After we finished the antenna maintenance we went inside to eat supper that mom (KF4SSI) had made and watch an episode of Dexter.

Once we finished with supper we headed out to the shack to see how well our maintenance improved things. I started scrolling around on 20 meters and heard a station calling CQ contest from Japan. Ever since the Summer Olympics special event, I've been aiming at making a contact with Japan. Unfortunately, we've never heard any station from Japan when we seen that they were spotted on the DX Cluster. Well, I heard this station calling CQ contest on 14.317 and realized that it was a Japanese station (JR5VHU). So I tried a time or two but my timing was off. On the third go round I threw out my call and running a bare 100 watts, he picked me up. I was so elated that it didn't matter to me that it was a very short contact due to the station being a contester. I couldn't believe it, I had just made contact with Japan on 100 watts. I started doing my little Japan DX dance in the commanders chair and asked my XYL Robin (AJ4IJ) if she wanted to try. So she sat down and proceeded to make contact as well (her first Japan contact also). So she did the Japan DX dance as well. We finally convinced dad to give it a try even though the station was starting to fade. He almost gave up after the third try but went more time and made contact as well. It appears that the maintenance we had done had paid off. Robin made another contact with a Japan station (JH4UYB) shortly there after and we decided it was time to start calling CQ for the special event W4H.

It was about 8:00pm and I was all set up to log. However, Robin did not want to take the first shift calling CQ so we swapped spots and she logged and I called CQ. I found us an open spot on 80 meters as 20 was dying fast and there wasn't much happening on 40 meters other than noise and broadcasters. So 80 it was and I was able to find a spot on our special event calling frequency 3.850. My very first call and N1UK came back to me. We ragchewed for a few minutes and when we signed with each other he said he'd put me on the DX cluster. Sure enough he did and it wasn't long before the pileup started. It wasn't to bad at first. It was a slow trickle and I had time to give each calling station a little information about the event and how to receive QSL cards from us. I must have called CQ for about 40 minutes and made contact with 24 stations. I did talked to Mrs. Teresa (KI4ZQO), Mrs. Cathy (KI4YPO), Rick (N4JTQ), Bill (N4BHK), and Kevin(KG4LGL) . These are all local hams that are active on the 470 repeater and active on the 470ARG net. As a matter of fact, Rick is out NCS for the net and Cathy is the NCS for the 470 ladies round table.

So after about 40 minutes I was desperately needing a break and Robin was more than happy to take the reigns. She called CQ for about an hour and let me tell you the hornets nest of a pile up she had. There were a couple of times where everyone was calling at once and she couldn't make out anything to call for in return. She instead had to go back and call QRZed again just to try and pick out a call. Well in the hour she called CQ, she ended up with 46 contacts. Some of the most notable were with N3FJP (the maker/programmer of the logbook program we are using). She also had special event station N8F for the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald event contact her. In total now Robin has made a total of 51 contacts for the special event in 21 states.

Well after her hour she still had a pileup that wouldn't quit. However, she was needing a break and we tried to get dad to take it over. He declined and so I had to take it back over. I must have taken it for almost another hour and made another 30 contacts or so and ended up with a contact in Puerto Rico(KP4BAI) and many different states. Overall I now have made 88 contacts for the event and have worked a total of 32 states and 1 DX entity.

So with a week to go on the special event, I don't know if I will be able to get back on until Saturday. Hopefully though, Robin and Dad, along with other 470ARG participants will be able to get on during the week and call CQ for the event. I know that Rick has worked the event a little bit but I'm not sure of anyone else at this moment in time. Anyway, that's about all I've got for the present moment in time. I now await the QSLs to start rolling in. I just hope I can use the special event call towards my WAS award.

Anyway, until the next post,
73 and Happy DX de AJ4JD
Tim

Stealing AJ4IJ's Idea and My New QSL Card

Robin's (AJ4IJ) most recent post was of her WAS progress. In it she included a nice visual map showing what states she has confirmed to date. I thought it was a nifty idea so I decided to do the same. However, I decided to take it a step further and show my 5 Band WAS progress. As you can see below I have no confirmation in any other bands except 20 Meters. I have worked some 10 Meters and just one 40 Meter contact, I just haven't received any confirmation yet.

AJ4JD's 5 Band WAS Progress
Click on the map for a larger version

I also thought I would let you all know that I now have a new QSL card. I have to thank Robin for it as she was the creative genius behind the design and creation. We had both thought of doing collage QSL cards in which we depicted the beauty of East Tennessee. I hope we have accomplished our goal. Let me know if we have. Look for us both on the air if you would like to receive our QSL cards. We both QSL 100% Direct and we do not expect SASE's. Unless it's a special event, we feel that no one HAM should have to pay all the postage for QSL exchanges.

My New QSL Card

Well that's all I've got for now. Good DX everyone. See you on the bands.

73 de AJ4JD
Tim