I just walked past the Kenwood booth where they’ve prepared a place for the TS-990S. I have a feeling it’s going to be very busy here tomorrow morning.
I will fight my way through the crowds and grab a few photos of the real thing. Check back here tomorrow!
Tagged: TS-990s
Power Film Inc. is a developer and manufacturer of thin, flexible solar modules. The company designs, manufactures and retails their products in Ames, Iowa–a quality made-in-USA product.
Last year, at the Dayton Hamvention, PFI’s booth was very popular. Why? Their sale of small, rollable and foldable solar panels, absolutely perfect for field use, drew crowds of hams, DXers, campers, and/or frequent travelers. Needless to say, sales were brisk.
While browsing their website recently (just for fun), I came across their PowerShade™ Solar Field Shelters. They’re available in 1 kilowatt and 2 kilowatt versions at 15.4 V or 30.8 V. Wow…
This paneled tent is primarily focused at the military market. Perhaps exclusively. And I readily admit, it would be overkill for QRPers, even for a multi-op QRP Field Day. After all, aren’t we about “less is more”–?
But is it wrong for me to fantasize about this wonderful 2 kW creation? A tent-topper that sucks in Sol’s readily-available energy and, with the assistance of a battery bank, produces enough juice to fuel several QRP rigs?
I dunno. I’m too busy fantasizing to care…!
OzarkCon is a fun and informative QRP conference held every year in Branson, Missouri. This year, the conference is being held at the Stone Castle Hotel and Conference Center on April 13 and 14th. Registration and room rates are very reasonable.
You can register for OzarkCon 2012 online.
OzarkCon at a Glance (via their website):
Get your winter gear on! The FYBO (Freeze Your B___ Off) Winter QRP Sprint, sponsored by the Arizona ScQRPions, is being held Saturday, February 4, 2012, from 1400Z-2400Z.
The rules are simple, and you even get multipliers for your (low) temperatures. Lots of fun, lots of QRP.
Read the full set of rules at the Arizona ScQRPions QRP Club website.
For many, the CW event of the year is Straight Key Night (SKN). This is the time of year that you dust of the straight key and hit the bands with fellow hams who are using the most time-honored tradition for sending CW.
Regardless of your sending and receiving skills on CW, SKN has a lot in store for you. Since this is a non-contest event, fellow operators are more patient with making contacts and more likely to rag chew. For many, this is the first time they’ve used their straight key since the previous year’s SKN, thus CW speeds are more comfortable for the novice across the band.
Straight Key Night is held every January 1 from 0000 UTC through 2359 UTC.
The ARRL has a great article about SKN–check it out and get pumped for a full day of straight key bliss.
The NAQCC Sprint is a monthly event that caters to the CW veteran, the CW newcomer, straight key and bug fans. All are welcome to participate (this includes QRO); but you must use QRP power levels to compete for awards.
The sprint will be held Wednesday, October 12, 0030-0230Z (Tuesday PM, EST).
For rules and general information, please check the NAQCC’s website.
The NAQCC has a great newsletter and monthly events open to all. You can join the NAQCC for free–for life–by visiting their membership page!
Try your hand at hunting foxes this fall in the UBA HF QRP Foxhunt.
The contest is held each Monday night 1930-2030 UTC during October and November 2011.
Rules for the contest can be found at the UBA HF QRP Foxhunt website.
If you live near Santa Clara, California you still have time to register for the 2011 QRPacificon, sponsored by the NorCal QRP Club. By registering you will be included in the Saturday evening drawing.
Friday night we will kick off the festivities with our no host banquet again hosted and arranged for us by James Bennett, KA5DVS. James will be our host and provide more details later. If you would like to join us plan to meet in the hotel lobby at 6:30 on Firday.
We will start presentations at 8:00 Saturday Morning and will have a great lineup of speakers. Presentations will run throughout the morning
8:15 Jim Duffey KK6MC
Jim’s talk will be on VHF and UHF antennas for QRP-Portable operation
9:30 Tony Parks, KB9YIG
Softrock SDR design and the RXTX Softrick transceiver
10:45 Rex Harper, W1REX
PIC or PICaxe? What IS the big whoop? Why should every ham ‘play’ with a PICaxe?
Saturday night will feature
Registration is free. More more information about QRPacificon please visit www.norcalqrp.org
(Source: NorCal QRP Club)
In the spirit of a segment from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno which aired in 2005, Marion County, Ohio, amateurs staged a face-off between CW operators and local texters to draw public attention to their 2009 Field Day event.
And it worked.
Mind you, neither CW op [my good friend and fellow RAT, Mike Hansgen (K8RAT) and Bill Finnegan (NR8I)] knew the event was taking place and thus, did not practice beforehand.
If you are attending Pacificon, the largest ham radio convention on the west coast of the US, you should consider attending QRPacificon as well. It is a great way to hear some of the experts in the field of QRP and meet fellow QRPers. Information can be found on NorCal’s website.
Below, I have pasted an informative message sent to QRP-l, from James, KA5DVS:
Folks,
We are only 2 days away from the start of Pacificon in San Ramon, CA and the start of our QRPacificon activities.Brief Schedule:
Friday: No host dinner at 6PM followed by homebrew show and tell with prizes
Saturday: Speakers 9AM=11AM and 2PM-4PM, Indoor Flea Market and Vendor night 7PM-?It all starts at 6PM Friday evening with a no host dinner organized by Jim Duffey.
The restaurant is the same as last year:EL Balazo
250 Market Place
San Ramon
(925) 328-0510
Click here for mapWe will meet in the lobby at 5:30 and head over to the restaurant.
After dinner, we are sponsoring a builder show and tell with prizes. Bring your homebrew creations to show off and be judged. We will have categories for tube gear, test gear, radios, etc. Prizes will be given for the best in class.
Saturday morning starts with coffee at 9AM and we have a great speaker lineup:
9AM
Douglas Quagliana, KA2UPW
Introduction to Amateur Radio Satellites
Douglas holds an Extra Class Amateur Radio license
and has been chasing amateur radio satellites since 1996.
His writings have appeared online
and in amateur publications including QRPp, QRP Quarterly,
and the Proceedings of the AMSAT-NA Space Symposiums. His
other amateur radio interests include digital signal
processing, APRS, QRP, and mobile HF. His current amateur
radio work includes a 38k4 baud DSP soundcard modem and a
matching telemetry program for the amateur radio satellite
AO-51 (Echo). Douglas holds a Bachelors Degree in Computer
Science from St. Bonaventure University and a Masters
Degree in Computer Science from Stevens Institute of
Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. He has one patent.10AM Dave Farden, AA0ZU
Homebrew mobile antennas amd operation.
Dave Farden, AA0ZU, was first licensed in 1963 (WA0HAU)
at the age of 14. He has been operating HF mobile, on and
off, since 1965 with a wide variety of vehicles, rigs, and antennas.
The hobby became a career: he is currently a Professor of Electrical
Engineering at North Dakota State University, with professional
interests in communications and signal processing.Dave joins us from North Dakota and will be talking about his homebrew mobile
antennas and experiences operating mobile in North Dakota. If you have worked
a mobile station in North Dakota, especially on the low bands, it is very possible
it was Dave.2PM: Jim Duffey KK6MC
Jim needs no introduction. He has been a previous speaker at Pacificon and always
delivers a great presentation.3PM: Dan Tayloe:
Dan Tayloe has been in ham radio for over 35 years. From day one, Dan
has always been a builder. Dan likes to build more than he likes to
operate. For the last few years, he has been heavily involved in
designing very high performance, very low power direct conversion
receivers. In his spare time he works for Motorola as a cellular>telephony
systems engineer. Dan is married to a very understanding XYL, Vicki, who can
usually be found negotiating for him at hamfests.My presentation is called “Receiver Audio Filter Design – Approaches for
Improved Receiver Audio Performance” I will be mainly taking about R/C
active filter design, but will also touch on other topics like filter Q
and ringing, the need for hearing protection, effects of op-amp
distortion on high performance filters, and impacts of dual overlapping
filters.After the speakers wrap up at 4, we will break for dinner.
We will regroup at the hotel at 7PM. This year, we will not have the Auction but will provide table space
for you to sell any QRP related equipment you would like at our indoor flea market. We will also
have a number of QRP equipment vendors present.On behalf of the entire Norcal QRP Club staff, we hope to see you there All QRP activities are provided courtesy of the Norcal QRP club and are free of charge.
You only need to pay your admission to the Pacificon event to attend.
Pacificon tickets and information are on their website www.pacificon.org72/73
James
KA5DVS