Dayton 2014 Part 2

My 2014 Dayton Purchases

My purchase moments while at the Dayton Hamvention® are those items you see in my photo to the left. My main planned purchase was going to be a portable antenna analyzer that could be easily carried with my current Buddipole setup. MFJ had one I was extremely interested in but I ended up with the iPortable IP60z. The early reviews on this unit were not very favorable but I know a few who have tested it with good results. So, I opted to purchase it. Things I like, this little unit covers the HF bands plus 6 meters. It is powered by a 9 volt battery so carrying a spare will keep me from finding it useless miles from the truck. And finally, the size and portability of the unit. I have the BIG MFJ analyzer but this will at least help me tune my portable antennas in the field. When you are running QRP, you want every watt to count. 

Peanut

Next is my Buddipole Choke Balun which will help keep any unwanted RF from traveling down my feedline. I do on occasion run more power than QRP so this should help keep my audio from sounding funny and my rig from glowing. I purchased both from the Buddipole booth at Dayton. The highlight was purchasing these items from Steve, wG0AT. In 2010, I had some work related training in MO. My wife and I flew into MO and afterwards, we hit Ohio to visit friends and family. From there, we headed out to Colorado for a few days on our way back to Alaska. I had dropped Steve a note asking if it was okay to stop by. Steve gave us the thumbs up after getting approval from Rooster (SK) and Peanut. It was such an honor to spend a day with Steve and the goats climbing Mount Herman! Steve did a great video of our operation and I have to say, I was bitten by the QRP bug from then on! Thanks, Steve!!! I detailed a bit on my KL8DX blog. 

My final purchase was the interface and software by rt Systems which will allow me to easily program my Kenwood TM-D700D radios. I can now keep everything on my computer and when traveling to various locations easily upload my saved frequency information for various repeaters and simplex frequencies. Sean helped me decide on this purchase so it came highly recommended. 

Now, hitting Dayton was extremely memorable but it was great to finally put faces with callsigns. It was a pleasure to finally meet the BIG HAMMER himself, Tim KG8OC. With Tim, was his wife Sandy (KB8WJT) so it was a pleasure to meet her, too! Also highlights were finally meeting Karen, W4KRN and Curt, WA2JSG. Like Tim, I got to QSO with those two pretty frequently when I was in Alaska during SKCC events. Also with Curt, was Jim, K8SSS who I also worked a few times on the straight key while I was in Alaska. 

Through Facebook, I set a sked with Craig, NM8W. I used to work with Craig's cousin back in Ohio. Also, it was finally great to meet up with Warren, VA3UG. I've worked them on the bands as well and it was sure great to spend a bit of stadium seating time with them. Craig had his son with him so I bet there is a future ham in that household!

Grand kids

After Dayton, we made a quick trip up to see or daughters and grand kids. The advantage of being many thousands of miles closer is being able to see our grandchildren more frequently. You can sure bet I will introduce them to ham radio when it's time. The trip seemed short but it was extremely fun. I didn't get to do all that I wanted to but there hopefully will be future trips. I'm going off of memory as to those I met so hopefully I'm not forgetting anyone. 

The culmination to our Dayton adventure was the Dayton Contest Dinner on Saturday night. Sean. KL1SF and I sat with a few of the Alaska group. It was great to meet Kevin, KL7KY! I've heard Kevin on the bands for several years so it was nice to actually chat with him off frequency and meet him. Kevin was accompanied by Jeff, KL7JVD and Tim, KL7WV (aka W3YQ). Tim and I have a mutual Buckeye State connection, Dan W8CAR. I actually ran into Dan after Contest University so it was great chatting with him, too. 

Of the Alaska group, I had my eye out for Rich, KL7RA. Rich invited me into the Alaska contest group shortly after I had arrived to the 49th and with their help, I was able to dive into contesting and never look back. Being affiliated with the group really helped me grow as a contester. I wanted to finally meet Rich and thank him personally for helping me and also for allowing me to be part of the best group of contesters I know. Mission accomplished! I owe much of my success to them and for that, I will be forever grateful. 

My APRS Alaska Departure

It's hard to believe that a year ago, I was on my way to the East Coast. The APRS map shows my final packets sent while leaving Alaska. I think about Alaska often and sadly, I have not made a contact in many weeks! Life is just so busy here and with long commutes, long work weeks and short weekends, it feels as if there is no time for ham radio. My weekends are booked for the next few months and I'm looking forward to putting to use those items I purchased at Dayton. Yes, they are still in the bag I brought them home in. Rest assured, operating day will come again but for now, I will throw out an APRS packet burst from time to time. That will be the extent of my operating but if I can pull out a few minutes on a nice weekend, I'm looking forward to some /p operating. Could be wishful thinking but only time will tell, or that lack of...       

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.       

SKCC's February Weekend Sprint-a-thon

Stacked 

This weekend was the SKCC February Weekend Sprintathon (WES). I know the bands were busy with RTTY and had I still lived in Alaska, I would have been diddling my way across the bands in another low power RTTY effort. Ironically, I just received some RTTY wallpaper and wrote about it on my KL8DX blog. But since I have no way of running RTTY here yet, I decided that any free time I had was going to be directed toward working CW with my straight key.

I began Saturday with only my Yaesu FT-857D. When Sunday rolled around, I decided to pull the Icom IC-703Plus out of the portable box and set it up. I had the power output set for 1 watt. I have a 3 position antenna switch which I use to switch between the rigs. It's an eBay special so the isolation stinks, but it works as it's a quick and easy way for me to switch between rigs. The Yaesu allows me to dial down to 5 watts, however I find the need to go even lower from time to time. 

Rigs 2 Keys

Getting back to the WES, I found that my indoor set up was hearing best on 15 meters. Since I use my Buddipole antenna indoors, I normally will set it up for 40 meters first and then tune around on the different bands. Once I find the band with the most activity, I will re-tune the antenna for that band. Needless to say, there is no quick band switching for me. I started off Saturday on 40 meters, briefly went to 20 meters for just a few contacts and then headed to 15 meters where most of my weekend activity took place. I enjoy the high bands because when the bands are open, I can easily work thousands of miles away. I know that 15 was in great shape for me and my puny setup so there is no doubt it had to be good for those who had outdoor antenna's. 

With shopping on Saturday morning / afternoon and my normal weekend duties to complete on Sunday, I did not have lots of time to devote to the key but I was able to log 57 straight key QSO's. I worked a handful of European stations on Sunday morning on 15 meters.  It was great to finally run into several stations that I've not worked since I pulled the plug in Alaska. The weekend highlight was working my buddy Martin, W3MLK and then toward the end of the contest, working Karen, W4KRN. Pete, N1ABS welcomed me to the neighborhood and by the time the WES was over, I added a few new SKCC numbers to the logbook, too. I wrapped up my effort on 40 meters, the same band I started. My last QSO was with Dan, W9DLN for a WI multiplier. Not band considering and my longest QSO on 40 meters for the weekend. 

CW, The KEY to Success

I miss my 4 elements and my Icom IC-756PRO, which I could pull out of the box however, I'm enjoying my portable set up for now. I do miss working JT65, PSK31 and the other digital modes! I wish I could find my interface cable for my Icom! I'm also not able to find my Cellpro battery charger so that I can charge my A123 portable batteries. Until I can get them charged, I won't be operating /p anytime soon. But for now, I'm just happy being able to get on the air from time to time and having the success that I do. I worked 35 different SPC's (States, Provinces or Countries) this weekend so for me, CW was my KEY to DX success!