2013 Year In Review

2013 KL8DX Total QSO's as reported by Clublog

It's hard to believe that we have entered yet another year. Leaving 2013 behind is bittersweet. I very much miss operating from Alaska however, it's nice to be closer to friends and family here in the lower 48. My wife and I spent Christmas with many of those important to us but most importantly, we spent our first Christmas with our grandchildren. We are looking forward to spending many more holidays and long weekends in Ohio, where most of our family live. The only ham radio excitement I had while back in Northern Ohio was hooking up with my CW Elmer Ed, K8QWY on a local repeater! It had been ages since I have talked with Ed on VHF. Even though I did not get to see him and many of my other ham friends personally, it is my plan to touch base with them on future trips to the Buckeye. I ran APRS for most of the trip and was pleased with much of the coverage. In many cases, I had better APRS coverage than I had cell phone coverage. 

2013 was the year of change for this ham. From leaving Alaska to changing my callsign, this was change in the extreme. If departing remote Alaska and arriving to busy Boston was not enough, having to learn a new callsign and change all of my information kept me pretty busy. We are still unpacking boxes and sorting through the years of accumulation with a goal of downsizing by at least 50%. It's also an adjustment going from a 4 element tri-bander at 43 feet with an Icom IC-756PRO to a Yaesu FT-857D with 100 watts or less to an indoor Buddipole. I went from finding a clear frequency calling CQ and dealing with contest pile-ups and running stations for hours to 100% Search & Pounce.  

On a personal note, we went from living nearly tax free to tax overload here in Massachusetts. I've not sat down and compared apples to apples as it really doesn't matter as we are here. It's not all bad as we live next to New Hampshire and like many folks who reside here, we can shop north of the border saving some of that tax burden. So many cities and stores within 25 miles of our home and we have been enjoying the selection. And when it comes to radio, it's very different here. The biggest change is propagation. I'm no longer under the aurora curtain so there is normally something on the radio 24/7. I sure enjoyed the ARRL 10 Meter Contest and to date, I've worked a whopping 47 entities with my low power indoor antenna set-up. I had to create my submission log for the ARRL 10 Meter Contest manually, so after returning home from our holiday travels, I managed to finish up my log and submit it. Gives one a new appreciation of contest software that does all that paperwork for ya. I have plans of upgrading my shack computer so once I'm done with that task, I can hopefully get back to using Win-test. I have a few more computers to recycle and it will be time to get working on the shack computer upgrade. 

Anyhow, the photo at the top of the page is from Clublog of my 2013 activity as KL8DX. Only worked a bit over 2,400 QSO's with most being contest related from Alaska. I was not chasing DX, as I had while living in Ohio but my total while living in Alaska is also reflected by the Clublog DXCC overview. 

KL8DX DXCC Alaska 

Clublog is a great program and as long as it's available, I will support it and continue to upload my logs. It has actually caught several issues that my logging program either misidentified as a wrong DXCC Entity or simply helped me realize I busted a callsign. Just this afternoon, I created my AK2MA log and uploaded all of the contacts I've made since residing here in MA. But I'm happy with my 212 worked while operating from Alaska. Most were worked during contests but I did chase a few DXpeditions. 

I started working on my next QSL card prior to the holiday's but now that we are settled back into the new year grind, I will be continue working on my next design. I've already received a few QSL card requests so for those that might be reading my blog and sent a card, I hope to have some new cards printed soon. I also have two huge bureau drops for KL8DX to deal with as well. I'm hoping that since we are entering the coldest months of the year, I will have a bit more time for the ham radio administrative side of things. I've had visions of GlobalQSL and it is certainly worth consideration. From those I've heard that use it claim it puts more fun in ham radio as you're spending less time on QSL duties.

AK2MA Clublog Overview

So with only a bit over a few hundred QSO's in the ol logbook here at AK2MA, I have plans of some casual winter operating. As I write this, I'm watching the DX spots scrolling across a vintage version of Ham Radio Deluxe via KL7G, spotting many of the RTTY stations including a few of my old Alaskan neighbors in this weekends contest. I still very much enjoy RTTY in this age when there are so many digital modes available. Like Morse Code, it has that vintage feel to it (it that's possible while using a modern day computer with software and a soundcard). 

I have no plans or milestones set for 2014. I hope to do more portable operating and we will be on the hunt for out of the way places to camp and break away from the general public. If you had been following my KL8DX blog you will know that my Ameritron Amplifier has been out of service for the last few years. Carl, WL7BDO came down to my house while we lived in Alaska and helped me troubleshoot and diagnose my case of Ampluenza. I hope to send that off for repair and then as mentioned earlier, get my shack computer upgraded and rebuilt. I also need to start thinking of a new affordable (keyword) HF rig. I will hang onto my Icom IC-756PRO until there are no parts available but my goal is to set it up for digital contesting. I would like a main CW rig, that being a Elecraft K3, Icom or Yaesu HF rig. I'm not even sure when I will have a tower up again (won't be one at this QTH) but when I do, I want to have the station ready. In the mean time, I have my Icom 703Plus, Icom 706MIIG and my Yaesu FT-857D to play radio with. Unless I'm participating in a mult-operator setting at another QTH, my operating here will likely be casual and more Search & Pounce than anything. Once I find my data cable for my Icom's, I'm looking forward to getting back on digital. 

Now that we have entered into a new year, I'm hopeful that my adventures both on and off the radio continue. I'm sure 2014 will continue with some changes but I'm hopeful it will be less dramatic than 2013. I think my theme for this year will be less. I plan on much more QRP operating as conditions here are more conducive to low power operating. Not that Alaska wasn't a QRP contesting hotspot but many times even 100 watts would hardly make it across the state border. Both KL7AC and KL2R have posted some pretty nice numbers while operating QRP from the 49th. My station however lacked the exterior metal work that would help that 5 watt signal make it much beyond the neighbors house. Even though I no longer have my tower up since moving, ham radio is very much alive in our house. With the feedline running from the rig on our kitchen table, through our kitchen and living room, up the stairs and connecting to the antenna in the hallway during the weekends, there is no doubt ham radio is happening around here, just on a much smaller scale.    

Going Vertical & Breaking In A New Callsign

Hustler 5BTV unboxed (again)

As life continues, I finally had a bit of extra time to unpack my Hustler 5BTV. I still have a few boxes from the old shack to unpack but the end is in sight. I've been working on my QSL backlog of those cards I've received that are in need of a return QSL. The Alaska QSL Bureau sent me my last envelopes and told me they will be forwarding the remainder of my QSL cards to the 2land incoming QSL bureau. Since I'm not able to keep envelopes at the AK bureau, there will be even a longer delay for those responses. I've yet to investigate the 2land bureau but last I heard, they do things a bit different. As winter approaches, I will have time to investigate what I need to do to continue to receive my QSL cards with them. I'm sure I will be getting KL8DX QSL cards for several more years since I was pretty active. No matter how long it takes, I'm thankful for all of our bureau volunteers! 

Hustler 5BTV in the Yard

Since our holiday vacation plans took a unexpected turn, I'm spending a bit more time at home than planned. That allowed me to construct my Hustler 5BTV and place it in the yard today. My backyard is wide open and elevated and actually, a perfect setting for a ground mounted vertical. I need to only get my radials down before the snow arrives. But I wanted to take advantage of the sunny day and see what I could hear from this QTH. After putting up the vertical, I located two sections of feedline and ran it into the back door of our house which leads directly into our kitchen. I found my portable box of goodies and began unboxing my portable station on the kitchen table.

The AK2MA Temporary Ham Shack

Having not made any contacts with my new callsign, I normally try to get a few familiar callsigns in any new logbook first. My first CW QSO just has to be with my CW Elmer, K8QWY. My SSB QSO just has to be with KL1SF who is now in Arizona. I phoned Ed, K8QWY leaving him a message that I had my antenna up and wanted to see if we could make contact. In the mean time, I placed my antenna analyzer on the 5BTV and found I have a bit more work to do. All of the bands showed an unhealthy SWR with 20 meters being the best of the bunch. This could be for a few reasons. The first, I set up the vertical using the suggested measurements for one that had radials. I don't have them down yet. It could also be that I'm off in my measurements and I need to do some adjusting. The antenna was in great shape so I think it's more of a measurement / grounding issue than anything else. I'll continue to get the vertical tuned in as time and weather allows.

Feedline through the door

I had my coax run through the door which left for a slight breeze coming into the kitchen. Not bad for a summer day but with the temperatures in the 20's in late November, it did not take long for the kitchen to cool down. Once I got my Yaesu FT-857D out along with tuner and power supply, it was not long before I was hearing the sweet sound of CW (Morse Code) coming from my radio. Even my wife commented that was a sound she had not heard in a long while! I browsed over to the SKCC Sked Page and stuck around there eventually chatting with a few old straight key friends. But before I made any SKCC QSO's, Ed phoned me back! Ed recently put up a new antenna and he pointed his beam my way and we tuned to 20 meters. It was then that I was able to make my first QSO with Ed and he had a super signal into Eastern MA! One down and now only Sean to left to snag on SSB!

QSO's Continued

After working Ed on 20 meter CW, I then ended up with my next straight key QSO. There are several SKCC hams that I would call friends even though I have yet to personally meet any of them. On that list would be none other than Jim, KK7YJ. I was able to make a QSO with Jim, exchanging SKCC numbers on 15 meters. It was great to work Jim once again. Immediately after working Jim, I also worked fellow SKCC'ers KP4SJ and AE6DH on 15 meters. Success! That out of tune antenna was working, so I knew that once I got it tuned, it would work even better! I also realized that my noise level was tolerable living in a more populated area. I will have a much smaller station here than I've ever had. Something tells me I won't be nearly as active here as I was in Alaska. It's obvious being away from the key, my code speed has suffered some but as seen in previous breaks from the key, it does not take long to pick back up where I left off with practice.

I consider today a successful first run. My plan is for a few more antenna's (probably wire antennas) but I will be at the mercy of Mother Nature. Even though we are enjoying a much more mild fall / winter than we have encountered in many years, I'm losing time to get some crucial work done. Soon the ground will be frozen solid and I'm sure snow is not far away. Most of my spare time on the weekends were spent on our new Harley Davidson. Normally in November, I was plowing snow in temperatures well below zero in Alaska. So, do you blame me? Being in MA now is almost like being on vacation from winter.