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!

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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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