My Year In Review, 2014

Massachusetts Setup

I figured it was as good of a time as any to address my year in review. As with any year, there have been ups and downs professionally, personally and hamally (Okay, just keeping with the theme). Since this blog is mainly about ham radio, I'll focus on that. My personal life has a direct effect on what I would consider the most rewarding hobby I have ever participated in, that being ham radio. Working in Boston for well over a year was a great experience. Leaving Alaska for Boston was (for me) going from one extreme to another. Something like working the HF bands (or trying) with ½ watt and an indoor basement antenna and then being able to work the HF bands at one of the many contest super stations across the country with stacked beams nearly reaching the flight paths of most 737's. Even though my job was essentially the same, that was the only similarity between the two locations. My radio (or shack time) was cut dramatically and I found little time to play radio when we headed east.

857D & My Navy Flamerproof

In looking at my logbook, I made approximately 298 QSO's in 2014 from my old QTH in Massachusetts, most QRP. The highlights were working the ARRL January VHF Contest, something I had not done in many years. Now mind you, I was working with an indoor antenna but it was fun to once again operate on 6, 2 and 432. Another highlight was playing in the ARRL DX Contest as a QRP entry. I've blogged about both of these so I won't go into details here but even with a limited station, it was fun. I got on as often as I could and I think I did pretty well considering my setup. I found the propagation on the east coast much better for QRP operation so that also made the experience much more enjoyable. As many contest stations will tell you, it's about location, location and location. 

New QTH

When my wife and I relocated to Oregon, it has allowed me a bit more free time to play radio, for now. Oregon is a beautiful place but I find my current QTH is not as QRP friendly as my last. Being surrounded by mountains and operating QRP with my same indoor setup has been much more challenging here. To date, I've made a whopping 28 QSO's from my new 7'land QTH. A mix of digital (JT65A) and Morse Code (CW) contacts. But, I'm thankful for those 28 contacts and my goal is to make many more as we enter into 2015. Plans can change but maybe I can put up an external antenna and get a bit more serious about operating as I once did from Alaska. I miss contesting.

Afternoon Commute

Having experienced life in the city, I'm excited about my new western adventures. I don't miss the traffic, the commute or the expense of Boston, but it's a very neat city. I experienced several firsts for me there having grown up in a small town community in the Midwest. I no longer need to use my WAZE app on my cell phone to find the least congested way home. People actually stop at red lights here and there does not appear to be a 5 second rule (increased from 3 seconds in the Boston area I believe in 2012). This year certainly has ended much differently than it began on all aspects for me. When opportunity knocks, sometimes what lies on the other side of the door is just what you're looking for. That door took me (us) 3,000 miles west. And of course I leave Massachusetts when I finally learn how to spell it. 

Probably the biggest highlight of 2014 for me was being able to finally attend the Dayton Hamvention. I won't dwell on the details as they are found elsewhere in this blog but hitting Dayton with my long time bestest of friends Sean, KL1SF was at the top. We have talked about it for many years and it finally happened. I don't see myself going back anytime soon but it was great to put faces with callsigns of other hams I talked to on the radio over the years.

Our Family Beagle 1999-2014

In life, we often times take things for granted and I'm guilty of that. My wife and I decided on getting a family pet many years ago. I just happened to be traveling down a back road (which I normally did not use) and I saw a sign that read "Beagles For Sale." I've had a love for this breed since I was very young. I stopped and spoke with the owner. A few days later, I stopped back with my wife and this one little tri-colored female won our hearts. We laid claim to her and it was not long before I was picking her up and taking her home. Like any young puppy, it took her awhile to get used to her surroundings but soon she ruled the house. When we began camping, she loved to go along and experience new surroundings. When we moved to Alaska, she toughed it out (her outside potty times were shortened dramatically during the winter months) but she loved to sniff and play in her new environment. When we moved to Boston, it was obvious her age was catching up to her. 2014 was the year that she would leave us and I think of her often with a tear in my eye. That was by far, the lowlight for me in 2014 and just writing about it leaves a lump in my throat. 

With the New Year nearly upon us, there is plenty of "New" for me in 2015! New friends, new coworkers, new QTH, new surroundings, new places to enjoy the great outdoors, new...well, the list goes on. These new things may take away from my operating time but I believe I can achieve balance and harmony when it comes to ham radio and the rest of my humanly obligations. At least for me, living out here on the western side of country makes it more possible. Life already seems so much slower and I'm enjoying every second of it. 

So, what else is new for me in 2015? After much thought, there was at least one more "New" for me to do. That is pictured below. The New Year really does symbolize "New" for me and in many ways. I'm looking forward to flipping that calendar over and jumping feet first into 2015. I see myself being a 7'lander for a long while. Just like AK2MA (Alaska 2 Massachusetts) had a meaning, this next vanity callsign has a more personal meaning. Dedicated to two things I miss greatly, Alaska and our family beagle. Enjoy today because you don't know what tomorrow will bring. Where does this winding road of life take me next and where do I go from here? Chapter 4 of course and it would be great to have you along for the ride.    

Retired

   HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Pouring Rain Outside, CW Inside in Straight Key Style

AK2MA Oregon Set-up

The many inches of snow changed over to rain overnight and its been pouring for most of the day. I decided that it would be a great day to get back on the straight key and attempt some QSO's. As I've mentioned, my portable set up is parked on the table with my Buddipole set up nearby. Not the best of configurations but it seems to work for my QRP efforts. (See photo)

I checked into the K3UK SKCC Sked Page and I was only there a short time when I received my first QSO request. I received several more requests and I was able to make good on all but a few of them. Since I'm running QRP with my indoor antenna, the other stations were doing most of the work. It was fun spending nearly an hour making contacts. Several I've worked many times over the years. I very much enjoy the SKCC Club and many a friendship has formed upon my joining their ranks. It's obvious that I was a bit rusty on the straight key and I needed to do some adjusting to my Navy Flameproof but I'll work the bugs out. By the end of the afternoon, I worked the following stations with my set-up; VA5CW, W2NRA, AA7WU, AA4H, KD8DEU, AH6AX, K4DJ, K6III, KZ5OM, WS1K and W6UT. East coast to west coast, 20 meters allowed me to have a bit of Morse fun today. One things for sure, I had no plans of spending time outdoors. 

My QRP, JT65A Saturday Effort and Snow!

Crater Lake Snow

Prior to moving to Oregon, I did a bit or research on weather. I still very much enjoy winter (my mother once told me, the older I get, the more I will dislike winter) and after 9½ years living in the Interior Alaska, I really never minded the bitter cold temperatures that I experienced. Even for the year or so we lived in central MA, we still saw cold winter temperatures with the coldest being about -19°F. I think the most snow I've ever experienced in my lifetime (till now) was the big Blizzard of 1978 in Ohio. When I began reading the average seasonal snow fall totals for Crater Lake National Park, I knew I was in for an entirely new experience. My wife was never a fan of the darkness during the winter months in Alaska, and certainly not the bitter cold -40°F to -50°F temperatures. So, this was a great compromise location to live. I could still enjoy winter, the days are much longer and the temperatures are much warmer. Marital harmony at last? Only time will tell. I do enjoy the much slower pace here over the east coast.  

JT65A on 20 Meters

Getting back in the shack saddle, I decided to fire up some JT65A on Saturday. My shack computer is packed away with the rest of our stuff in some storage building here in Oregon. I brought along our little Dell Inspiron Desktop computer which I loaded some ham radio programs onto. It suffers from the usual small computer configuration by only having one identifiable USB-serial port. This becomes a bit of a problem when you are trying to set up multiple programs to run at the same time and still want full rig control. I'm not really worried about it, as this won't be my main shack computer. I'm only putting software on this computer to get me on the air until we get settled and our stuff arrives. My Icom 703+ communicates fine, so sending and receiving JT65A signals work, I'm just not able to feed frequency data to the JT65-HF software when I'm operating. 

QRP JT65A

If you've read my previous blog, you will see my second story open concept shack layout. It includes internal Buddipole antenna, my Icom 703+ set up on the kitchen table (I do have an understanding licensed but non-HF operating wife) along with many other odds and ends. I'm manually logging QSO's at the moment but just started to load some logging software onto the computer. I still need to update my LOTW data to include this new location but I have time. It's time to get on the air and play a bit. Been a long several weeks. 

I tuned up the rig for 5 watts of output power and after setting up the JT65-HF software, I was CQ'n. I managed a handful of contacts and a couple answered but never came back. It was a successful first run of this mode here and I'm ready to move on to doing some PSK31 next.

More than just a rig's power setting...

One of the things with good weak signal software is some don't realize how much they can wipe out the band when running hot! There is more to running this mode than simply a power setting. When trying to copy weak signals (such as myself using an indoor antenna, as many are weak anyhow, depending on band conditions) it does not take much for me to lose a QSO if one of those hot running stations are nearby. And to top it off, the line you see just under -500 is my computer monitor. My widescreen is very nice but I'm unable to change the displays refresh rate in Hertz, so it's stuck at 60. Being able to change this setting could help eliminate this interference but again, this is not my shack computer so I need to deal with what I have. The screen also broadcasts numerous birdies across most of my bands. Sacrifices we sometimes have to make.

Heard and Being Heard

It's great to be able to see where you are being heard where you are hearing and how strong. The PSK Reporter website is a fantastic digital visual reference tool for any digital operator. Left is a screen shot of my Saturday operation (query ran today, Sunday). With the technology we have available today, it can sure help any operator understand propagation, adjust their rig settings and see the big picture. Obviously this would not be possible without the website owner and those who click their software checkbox to feed the data to the website. One of my other favorite digital reporting sites is HamSpots. HamSpots also allows for live operator keyboard interaction with the chat feature. 

My digital days are just getting started again and I hope to get on a few other modes as I get the software loaded onto this computer. My all time favorite is RTTY and I miss operating that mode, especially in contests. Hopefully as we get settled, I can put up a few exterior HF antennas and get back into contesting once again. With the holidays fast approaching, I'll have a few more days off to play radio. I'm hoping the bands cooperate and who knows, maybe I can bounce some weak signal JT65 off of Santa's ionized trail this week.  

APRS Broadcasting and Life Over 3,200 Miles and 6,300 Feet Later

AK2MA-9 now in 7'Land

Seems I've been having issues with my old Garmin GPS III lately. I use it to feed location data to my Kenwood TM-D700A while mobile. In a recent cross country trip, I was able to troubleshoot the issue with the help of my long time friend and APRS Guru Sean, KL1SF. Once we get settled, I need to replace it with a spare GPS III that I have or my V if the issues continue. I like the GPS III as it does Maidenhead grid location so it works great as a mobile unit if you want to work some HF/VHF and need your grid square. I was only able to broadcast my location during the final third of our trip due to my GPS III losing memory data.

With that said, there has been very little time for ham radio over the last several months. A career move to 7'land has landed me at our new QTH. The cross country trip went extremely well and the weather cooperated for all but the beginning of the adventure. But I am temporarily settled and I'm looking forward to getting my portable set up working here in Oregon. I think the elevation should hopefully help my QRP signal and I'm looking forward to once again hearing those strong Pacific signals that I used to hear when we lived in Alaska.

Having worked at sea level for the last year or more has me moving a bit slower at this higher elevation. Once I get on the air, it may take a week or more for my CW to get back up to speed. Primarily due to the lack of oxygen getting to my brain that passes those dots and dashes to the straight key through my upper extremity. I'm sure my decoding skill will be effected as well but probably due more to being inactive for the last several months. The time I spent commuting to and from work in Boston can now be used for the HF bands. 

Now starts the tedious process when one relocates with all the changes that need to be made. But one thing never changes, my love for the hobby and Morse Code. My equipment is still in my camper but my plans are to bring it all up here this weekend. With any luck, I will have my Buddipole antenna out of the bag and sending and receiving radio signals on the HF bands once again. My wife has been warned, it won't be long before coax is once again strung through the house and the sweet sound of CW will be heard throughout. Stay tuned for photos and propagation reports.   

Warm, Humid & Busy with the ARRL DX CW Contest in the Rear View.

Winding (Grinding) Road of Life

Here we are at the end of August and normally, I'd be excited about the upcoming contest season. The reality of it is, there has been little time for ham radio. That does not appear to be changing any time soon. My last QSO was a contest QSO during the CQ World Wide WPX CW Contest on May 25th, 2014! I knew it had been awhile but I did not know it had been that long. 

Living down here in the lower 48, it's still very warm and humid. Back in Alaska, they have snow in the forecast and it's weather I was used to this time of year. Summers seemed short but with the 24 hours of daylight, you packed in many an hour of summer fun before the September snows arrived. Here, summers are much longer as is fall, so there is more time to spend doing things outdoors, if you have the time. 

The weeks are long, the weekends are short and life has been very busy. We (my wife and I) spend hours and hours commuting to and from work each week, at least fifteen hours per week. That right there is my radio time. My weekends are for home activities and when the weather allows, we hop on the Harley and head for less busy roads, normally into New Hampshire. The photo above was taken by my bridal passenger as we made our way down a less traveled road enjoying the lack of commuter mayhem. 

I like to compare my current life to a weekend contest. Fast paced, lots of interference or QRM (traffic), some great runs (early morning commutes when we beat the crowd) and some grinds, those days when you are stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, which is most afternoons. I went from apps that ran APRS to apps the help me find the path of last resistance, like WAZE. When we lived in Alaska, I never worried about traffic! Here, it's key to getting some of my life back. If you're not familiar with WAZE, it's a live representation of traffic conditions and it can help you find the least congested path to your destination. If I did not use WAZE on a daily basis, I'd be losing even more of my personal life. I have no affiliation with the company, only a satisfied user. 

Why do I miss ham radio? Seems most everyone is pretty darn friendly, with the exception being the 14.313 idiots. Hams create software that would cost hundreds and maybe thousands of dollars in the real world and we can download them for free! Nothing is free here in MA! There is a tax, a fee, or a process for everything!  My yearly license plate excise taxes would easily purchase that new HF rig I've wanted for years! I miss communicating with the different HF modes and here, people communicate with horns and hand signals. European pileups were cake compared to life in the Boston fast lane. Kudos to those that live for it and enjoy it, but like SSB contests, it's not really my cup of tea (Pun intended).

AK2MA Single Band QRP Effort

In reviewing my ARRL DX CW Contest results, I obviously busted a callsign or two. I'm not a CW expert nor do I claim to be. I do try to get each and every QSO accurately logged but like many factors in my life, I'm still striving for perfection. The screenshot to the right is from the ARRL Contest Results page. When I look back at my setup, I can't help but be happy with my score. Low power, indoor antenna, minimal effort and I wanted to send a few extra points to the Yankee Clipper Contest Club. I can only imagine what I might have accomplished if I had my AK setup down here! But any contest effort is better than none. So in the end, how did I do? My 3830 pre-log checking post is listed below. I think I did pretty well considering QRP in a major contest is normally a struggle but working with my setup tested my patience and operating skill like never before. I'm most pleased that I kept all my MULTS (multipliers). Hopefully future contests will be logged at ARS AK2MA, where ever that might be. 



3830 Post Below -

ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: AK2MA
Operator(s): AK2MA
Station: AK2MA
Class: SOSB/15 QRP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 16.5
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160:
80:
40:
20:
15:   150        57
10:
-------------------
Total: 150      57         Total Score = 25,650

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Since moving to MA from Alaska, I've spend the vast majority of
my time unpacking and getting settled back here in the lower 48.
My antenna's and equipment are still mothballed and I don't see
any real station for me anytime soon. I've pulled my portable
equipment out and that's my current station setup.

Spending 9½ years as KL8DX at Denali, this was a very different
experience for me. And to make it more extreme, I decided to give
QRP a try. That in itself can be challenging but what made it even
more challenging was operating with an indoor antenna. I decided
on 15 meters for my single band entry as I figured that would offer
me the best conditions and the most multipliers for my QRP effort.
My evenings were busy so my strategy was to get the best bang for
my QRP buck.

It seems the Alaska weather has followed me. As in the case over
the last few weekends, I spent a large part of this weekend clearing
10+ inches of fresh snow which took up the vast majority of my contest
effort. I did not get on the air until Saturday morning so I knew going
in, this was not going to be a all out QRP effort.

I won't bore you with the details of my QRP struggles but operating on
this side of the pileup and running QRP has been a humbling experience.
So many great stations / operators / receivers that pulled my weak signal
out for a contest QSO. I missed more multipliers that were loud but could
not hear me, but I expected that. I'm still satisfied with my limited
effort. Sorry to EC2DX & IB9T for the dupes. My filtered IC-703+ handled
the busy band quite well. Many European stations had my Icom bouncing on
the kitchen table they were so unbelievably strong.

73, Phil AK2MA

Station: Kitchen table setup consisting of IC703+ @5W or less
Antenna: Buddipole Deluxe in upstairs hallway
Sofware: Mini Dell using N3FJP's Contest Log

Work: http://www.nps.gov/bost/index.htm
Blog: http://ak2ma.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.ourwindingroad.net/

Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/______________________________________________
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JT9, My Next Experimental Mode

First JT9 Decodes by AK2MA

I finally downloaded WSJT-X so I can experiment with JT9. Since I have run JT65A for a few years, this has a familiar feel to it. There are some differences in which I will need to familiarize myself with. Since I'm running QRP for much of my operating here, this will be another great weak signal mode to snag some juicy DX with. 

I decided to just monitor 40 meters tonight to see what I can hear. I probably won't attempt my first QSO with this mode until the weekend but I wanted to start getting familiar with it. The download was quick and the install was very easy. The program was decoding once I got the initial set-up completed (selecting the com port along with adding my callsign and grid square). 

Hamspots JT9 & JT65 Spots with my first DX spot - G3VGZ

Once I saw stations decoding, I set it up to report to the web those stations that I was hearing. This is where I will leave it run, in receive only mode. I prefer not to jump immediately into new software and start making QSO's. It's time now to sit back, read the manual (yes, that thing that we normally don't do) and then when I'm comfortable enough with the software, I'll throw out my first CQ's. I'm sure this will help me in my low band, QRP pursuit of snagging some countries that would otherwise be tough with my minimized set-up. 

I recently ordered a refurbished laptop which I plan on using as my main ham computer. Once it arrives, my desktop will be retired and the laptop will be my casual operating & contest computer. Since I won't have a dedicated hamshack for several more years, it's time I consolidate and downsize.  

Bouncing Around the Globe, QRP Style.

TV Tray Set-up

This weekend was yet another JT65A weekend for me. I saw that 10 meters appeared to be active so on Saturday, I set the Buddipole up for that band. It was not long before I was decoding some very nice signals out of Europe. My first QSO came shortly after 1800z with OK1JKV. I was running 3-5 watts all weekend, not exceeding my band defying QRP wattage. And as the sun progressed westward, the propagation did as well. I copied several stations that I would have loved to have a QSO with but a few of the signals were just a bit on the light side. Strong enough to decode but at -24dB, there was not much hope for my JT65A QRP signal with the others also calling the same stations I had an interest in.

Close but No Cigar

One of the exciting moments for me over the weekend was when I saw that VK2QQ answered my CQ. I was elated to finally hear and possibly work into VK'land! Sadly, that's as far as the QSO went. I went back to VK2QQ a few times with no luck. So, it was close but no cigar! I know that I will have future opportunities and if anything, I now know when to start listening. Actually, if it were easy, it would not be as much fun. If you click on screen shot to the right, you will see that VK7DZ was also working stations and I had a copy on a QSO a few minutes earlier from that station. 

QRP 3 Watts

As I've mentioned so many times blogging over the years, 10 meters is my favorite band. You just never know where it will take you when the band opens. You can work the band with pretty much any antenna with great results. Novice Enhancement opened up 10 meters to hams years ago and it's been a great watering hole ever since. It was one of the first bands I really cut my teeth on and some of the best DX I've worked has been on this band. The other advantage to this band is that it's very broad, running from 28.000 on up to 29.700. There is plenty of room to have fun no matter what mode you prefer to operate. 

AK2MA Table Top DX Station

With the weekend still pretty busy, I was able to let the JT65HF software decode and keep an eye on the band as I went about my other weekend activities. When I'm not operating, I will try to leave the software so that it uploads what I'm hearing. When I'm operating, I also like to see where I'm being heard so I keep my iPad handy connected to hamspots. It's always very interesting to see how well I'm being heard in various directions and by which stations. My little corner of the kitchen is just that, little. But for now, it suits me just fine. As I ponder the thought of permanently downsizing my station, I'm trying to put together the best small station that I can. I've been impressed with the 703's ability on the digital modes. It's obviously not my 756PRO but it's a great compact rig. 

DK2HX Indoor antenna to indoor antenna

When I logged into eQSL I had several cards waiting for QSO confirmation. One of which is pictured to the left. This was a bit unique as both Heinz and I were running indoor antenna's according to his comment at the bottom of his QSL card. Heinz was running 8 watts to his indoor magnetic loop antenna and I was running 5 watts (actually a tad less) with my indoor Buddipole. So, a perfect example what is possible when the band is open. A QSO over 3,500 miles away with a few watts feeding into indoor antenna's, both ways. With some good weak signal software and the right propagation, DX easily falls into the logbook just as it did for me this weekend. I'm hoping to venture on to JT9 here soon as well. I've heard a few hams mention it. That's the grand beauty of this hobby, there is something for everyone! 

Understanding My Propagation and Work'n a Few QRP

PSK Reporter Map for AK2MA

My personal schedule has been pretty busy over the last few weekends but I wanted to get on and play a bit this weekend. My goal was to get back on JT65 and work a few stations. Saturday was out of the question but I was bound and determined to get the indoor Buddipole hooked up to the IC-703+ on Sunday. I actually did get things hooked up late Saturday night and just let JT65 send reception reports to the internet while being parked on 20 meters.

Alaska

One of the great uses of weak signal software like JT65HF of WSPR (just to name a few), it allows you to study propagation patterns to and from your QTH. This is a great tool when you are looking for a certain section of the globe that has evaded your logbook. I have to think back to the days when there was no internet and to work a new one, you either monitored the local packet cluster via AX25 Packet, received a phone call from a fellow ham or just happened to stumble across that new one. How did we survive? Call me crazy but I actually miss those days. 

Japan

Using PSK Reporter, I was able to determine what I was hearing and when. Doing a bit of homework will pay off if you study how propagation works. Of course, there is a bit more to it, but understanding when a certain part of the globe might be heard from your QTH is a great start. I recently read a blog entry from KL2R that hit this subject directly. Larry outlined some great advice. Not that each and every ham needs to be a propagational expert (I'm far from being one) but it pays off when doing your homework. It's extremely helpful to know what you might hear when surfing Grey Line Propagaton or simply which band might be the best to use during a certain time of day or night. Beacons are another great tool. NW7US writes many articles explaining propagation and routinely writes predictions for upcoming major contests. It's extremely easy to drop an email and ask for a sked but you might be surprised what you can work if you put in a little bit of research. Of course, there are many factors that effect modern day communications but the more you understand, the better your chances of success.

JT65A & 15 Meters on Sunday, March 16th, 2014

And in speaking of success, I knew that 15 meters should yield some good propagation across the pond for my compromised setup. My setup is far different than what I had in Alaska. I'm currently running (on pretty much a regular basis) my Icom IC-703Plus at 5 watts or less to my Buddipole Deluxe set up in our upstairs hallway. Because I'm running QRP and using an indoor antenna, it can be a struggle to find my next new DXCC entity or that new state. I'm currently working on QRP DXCC both on the CW and digital modes. It's tough at times but easily attainable. Running QRP requires lots of patience and I'll be the first to admit, I lack in that arena. But as mentioned earlier, homework and persistence will pay off so I know I'll be successful.

Indoor Buddipole Setup      

I've had a few inquiries in regards to my indoor buddipole configuration. The picture to the left gives a view of my Buddipole Deluxe as I routinely set it up in the upstairs hallway. Running QRP, it's crucial that the SWR is as low as possible as I want as many of those few watts to make it to the antenna as I can get. It also helps that the antenna is on the second story so it's approximately 20-25 feet above the ground. Still far from anything great but as you can see, you don't need much to get on the air. As I've mentioned before, after running beam antenna's and power over several years, this has been a humbling experience for me. I set up the Buddipole using the suggested configuration (depending on band) and normally it will get me in the ballpark, even indoors. 

For now, this is my station but I'm thankful to be able to get on the air. I'm not sure when and if I will ever have a full station with exterior hardware on the air but as hams have proven over the years, where there is a will, there is a way. In the mean time, I'll continue to surf the propagational wave of DX in hopes of landing that next new one bringing me closer to that very meaningful certificate I hope to collect. Just like the lottery, you can't win unless you play.   

Interface Cable Located! Now the Fun Begins.

First Night of PSK31 on Indoor Buddipole & IC703+

Moving is never fun and it just so happens that things get lost or misplaced. I opened up our travel trailer today to see if I could locate my Icom interface cable that I used with my IC-703+. I came up empty but I did get a few things out that I needed. I was bound and determined to hunt it down. I knew it could not be far but I was concerned as I had opened up and unboxed all shack contents. I checked and double checked in several mothballed equipment boxes but nothing. I was stumped.

It just so happens that I carry my Icom IC-703+ and related equipment in a small, deep plastic pistol case. A cheap Walmart knockoff of the Pelican cases made by Plano. I checked my case a few times with no success. I decided to pull everything out of it today and whaa-laa! I found it in the very bottom of the case underneath the foam padding. I figured I had it close but I was just not looking in the right place.

I got everything hooked up and decided to run a bit of JT65, however my clock was always off by more than 8 seconds! Normally such issues were caused when I would utilize Google Chrome or browsed in the background. Since this timing issue was normally indicative of browser use, I closed down everything except JT65 and of course, Dimension4, for the clock sync. Still it would always be 8 seconds off so needless to say, I was not decoding anything. I had it working just fine in Alaska, so something had to of changed. I decided to run PSK31 instead.

I had my Buddipole tuned for 10 meters but I parked on 20 meters in receive only mode for PSK31. I was using HRD's DM780 to decode and upload the spots or my reception reports. The map above is what I was hearing on 20 meters today on my indoor antenna. 

I had posted a tweet regarding my clock issues and thankfully Karen, W4KRN reminded me that the program needed to be run as an Administrator in Windows 7. Sometime during one of my numerous Windows updates (I normally shut off updates on ham computers as updates lead to more hair pulling and heartburn than what they are worth) something must have changed. I checked and sure enough, it was not running as Administrator so once I checked that box, things were back to where they were before I departed the 49th. 

IC703+ Connected to Mini Dell running DM780

I'm excited for this interface cable find as running QRP I can start taking advantage of some of the weak signal software to gain some new countries and states on the bands. The small screen on my Mini Dell can be an issue with some programs but JT65 has a small GUI version built right in, so it does a great job. DM780 can be a challenge but I'm hoping to grab some more software and start playing. I will be running WSPR on weekend nights in receive only mode just to get a grip on propagation in these parts. There is a new JT mode I want to try as well. While many are participating in the SSB contest this weekend, I will be playing around on the digital modes getting things set up. From HELL to RTTY, I'll be stalking digital signals and possibly working a few, too.       

2014 ARRL DX Contest. What a Difference 3,250 Miles (Over 5,000 Road Miles) & 95 Watts Make!

ARRL CW DX Contest 2014

This past weekend was the ARRL DX Contest, CW version. This contest has always been one my my most favorites, second only to the CQ World Wide DX Contests. The ARRL DX Contest has stateside stations looking for DX and DX stations looking for stateside stations. I decided on Friday to make my first limited QRP effort in this contest. I knew that my weekend schedule would not accommodate more than a part time effort but I wanted to take the plunge. Since I was going to be running my Buddipole antenna indoors, I wanted to just concentrate on a single band effort. This way, I could tune the antenna and leave it for the remainder of the weekend.

Getting it Close

I set up my antenna on late Friday night. When it's set up, it resides in our upstairs hallway. Not the best setup but since it's winter, I have no desire to put it outdoors. Besides, this seems to work pretty well considering. I was able to get the Buddipole SWR actually flat! I found that when I rechecked my match on Sunday morning, things were very different. It may be been bumped by another household occupant so I had re-tune Sunday morning. I was able to get it down to what you see in the photo to the right. I could not imagine trying to tune any antenna without a good meter. Matter of fact, I'm in the market for a smaller, portable meter to use in the field. I like my MFJ but it uses plenty of batteries and it's not the smallest to tote around. Since I will be doing more /P operating down here, I want something backpack friendly.

I landed on 15 meters ready for my Search & Pounce (S&P) effort just before 1700z on Saturday. I found the band to be in great shape. Such good shape, I started the contest at 1 watt output from my IC-703+. It was great hearing so many European stations so darn strong! 
I began at the bottom of the band and slowly worked my way up.

Search & Pounce QRP Style

It was obvious the band was loaded and many of the stations had pile-ups, which is typical during the first part of the contest, I opted to bump my power up to the full 5 watts after my first 10 or 15 QSO's. On a quiet band, my 1 watt may have worked but with the crowd, I was easily pushed to the sidelines and not heard. As I encountered many a new country, I had to make a mental note and tell myself that many of them would have to wait until Sunday. As I slowly worked my VFO up and down the band, my contest log began to slowly add points with a bump in the score adding the occasional multiplier. I wanted to document a bit of my QRP activities so I kept the Samsung S4 handy for a few videos. Below is the video I shot of me working F6KNB with my rig set at 1 watt. I worked F6KNB approximately about 5 QSO's into the contest (for me).



QRP is bittersweet. It's often a struggle for both the station running QRP and then for the receiving station. Some who are in contest mode won't take the time to work with a QRP signal meaning any more than one repeat, they are moving on. It's a contest, so expect a level of aggression. Since I enjoy QRP, I always made sure I would listen for the little guy when I ran as KL8DX. Now mind you, in a large pile-up, you take the loudest first and work your way down the calling list. But there are those times when timing is everything! Yes, it's possible to sneak that weak call in between BIG stations calling and be heard. A good operator will take the time to make sure they get the call and exchange correct. I have to hand it to SN5X (and several others, but I only got a few on video) for taking the time work me and get our exchange right. The video below is of me working SN5X on ½ watt!

Walking the VFO up the Band

As the afternoon progressed on Saturday, I worked the contest until around a bit after 7 pm local, or midnight UTC time. I threw in the towel until the following morning due to those "other" obligations that tend to arise over contest weekends. By the time Saturday came to an end for me, I had worked roughly 48 stations. Again, to the average ham, that's obtainable in the first sixteen minutes at 3 QSO's per minute. But I was a happy ham due to the fact that as the propagation swung west from Europe, I worked several Central & South America stations not to mention those enjoying their winter getaway down in the Caribbean. But the highlight for me on Saturday evening was working JF1NHD and KL7RA.
KL7RA has a great station and I knew that if I was going to hear an Alaskan station in this contest, it would surly be Rich's station. I captured the next video showing how strong Rich's station was here both on Saturday night and on Sunday as well.

So again, my Saturday ended on a pretty positive note. I was hoping that Sunday would see the same great propagation allowing me many more QSO's. 

2014 Winter in New England. More on the way!

As I mentioned earlier, New England has seen a pretty snowy winter. I'm actually enjoying working outside doing my snow relocation activities and it's well above zero! I loved Alaska but plowing and shoveling snow at -30F can be a bit rough at times. So for me, this winter has been easy. Now, we have received more snow here this winter than we would normally see at Denali. Our snow in Alaska was normally very dry and light but this snow, especially this last storm dump, had some weight to it. Anyhow, a large part of my weekend duties was clearing the driveway, walks, decks and of course the beagle roaming area. We have a 14½ year old beagle and when there is more than a few inches of snow, I plow a large spot in the yard just for her. I'm sure she is also enjoying the warmer temperatures as well, especially since she has to do her business outside. 
Getting back on track, Sunday turned out to be great on 15 meters as well. I was back on the air shortly after 1100 UTC once again working my way up and down the band. On Sunday, I heard contest stations working as high as 21.138! I had several stations which were strong but I could just never get their attention. In one case, I was trying to work E7DX and I apparently had a little helper. You know the station, the DX station was trying to confirm my call and for what ever reason, he was having problems copying it. It was either due to my low power or adjacent QRM. Either way, I heard another station telling him what my call was! It was either a impatient station wanting to get me out of the way so they could work E7DX or someone who felt they were doing the right thing, which they weren't. 
By the time it was all said and done, I made 150 QSO's and worked 57 countries (entities). I used N3FJP's software which gave me a nice overview of my country breakout -
AK2MA's Contest Summary Report for ARRL-DX  Created by N3FJP's ARRL International DX Contest Log  Version 3.4  www.n3fjp.com
 Total Contacts = 150  Total Points = 25,650
 Operating Period: 2014/02/15 16:53 - 2014/02/16 23:28

 Total Contacts by Band and Mode:
 Band       CW   Phone     Dig   Total       %  ----       --   -----     ---   -----     ---    15      150       0       0     150     100             --   -----     ---   -----     ---  Total     150       0       0     150     100


 Total Contacts by State \ Prov:
 State       Total     %  -----       -----   ---                147    98  HI              2     1  AK              1     1


 Total Contacts by Country:
 Country                      Total     %  -------                      -----   ---  Federal Republic of Germany     14     9  Italy                           12     8  Poland                          10     7  Croatia                          7     5  Czech Republic                   7     5  Spain                            7     5  Serbia                           6     4  Slovenia                         6     4  France                           5     3  England                          4     3  Hungary                          4     3  Aruba                            3     2  Bosnia-Herzegovina               3     2  Brazil                           3     2  Finland                          3     2  Netherlands                      3     2  Ukraine                          3     2  US Virgin Is.                    3     2  Belgium                          2     1  Canary Is.                       2     1  Estonia                          2     1  European Russia                  2     1  Hawaii                           2     1  Japan                            2     1  Slovak Republic                  2     1  Switzerland                      2     1  Alaska                           1     1  Antigua & Barbuda                1     1  Argentina                        1     1  Asiatic Russia                   1     1  Austria                          1     1  Bahamas                          1     1  Balearic Is.                     1     1  Belarus                          1     1  Bermuda                          1     1  Bulgaria                         1     1  Cayman Is.                       1     1  Colombia                         1     1  Costa Rica                       1     1  Curacao                          1     1  El Salvador                      1     1  Grenada                          1     1  Jamaica                          1     1  Kazakhstan                       1     1  Latvia                           1     1  Lithuania                        1     1  Luxembourg                       1     1  Madeira Is.                      1     1  Morocco                          1     1  Nicaragua                        1     1  Portugal                         1     1  Puerto Rico                      1     1  Saba & St. Eustatius             1     1  Scotland                         1     1  Sweden                           1     1  Turks & Caicos Is.               1     1  Uruguay                          1     1


 Total Contacts by Continent:
 Continent   Total     %  ---------   -----   ---  EU            114    76  NA             16    11  SA             10     7  AF              4     3  AS              4     3  OC              2     1

My goal is to submit for the QRP ARCI's 1,000 Mile Per Watt Award. Going into this contest, that was going to be one of my main goals. Without plugging in the numbers, I think my QSO with SN5X or IR4M would be in the area of 8,000 Miles Per Watt. Several of the stations I worked with 1 watt would also easily qualify, too. 

I uploaded a few more videos to my YouTube page and one highlights the coax run from the QRP kitchen set up to the Buddipole antenna in the upstairs hallway. We are still organizing so the clutter will hopefully be short lived. The coax runs from the kitchen, through our living room and up the stairs into the hallway where my Buddipole was standing proudly. 

I posted my first 3830 summary with this contest. I've sent my log in to the ARRL but still need to upload it to LOTW after importing it into my regular logbook. I'm hopeful many will be confirmed electronically. Any that are awaiting confirmation on eQSL will be confirmed on my next log in. 

All in all, it was a humbling experience being on this end of the pileup. Lots of great operators / stations and I had a blast. The only thing that would have made it better was being able to use my Mosley TA-34-XL for the high bands. I would have surely ventured off of 15 meters as I see on 3830 that the propagation on 10 meters was pretty good as well. Hopefully I did not bust many callsigns and there were a few questionable contacts so I opted to not put them in the log. If I did not hear the confirmation that my information was received, I did not log it. The only problem I had was several missed the "A" in my callsign and heard me as K2MA. As always, I attempted to correct the DX station and I think only a couple may have been too busy to correct it. 

As far as the weather is concerned, we are under another Winter Storm Warning for Tuesday. Seems another 4-6" of fresh snow headed to my QTH. Thankfully, I still enjoy winter so it's no big deal. That added to a bit of QRN as our transformer was busy causing me interference with the snow and wind that we encountered this past weekend. With my indoor antenna, I no longer have to worry about Mother Nature, just the other occupants of our residence. As for the family beagle, she spends most of her day sleeping so she is no threat to the indoor antenna. Other than the occasional walk by, contest weekends to her are something she is used to. She knows all to often that I won't finish anything I'm nibbling on so she gets what I don't finish. The photo below is of our beagle since I switched to drinking decaf.

Contest Dog