I should be on the air starting sometime between 20:00-20:30 UTC (4:00 – 4:30 PM EDT). I’ll plan to operate SSB on two frequencies: 14286 and 7286 kHz. I’ll be on the air for one hour or so, if all goes well. Listen for my amateur radio call sign: K4SWL.
If you hear me on the air, please consider submitting a spot to the DX clusters!
After two months in Canada, I’m pleased to make some time this weekend to activate PK01, the Blue Ridge Parkway.
I’ll be joined by my good friend, Vlado (N3CZ), and we plan to set up at the Folk Art Center on the parkway around 11:00 EDT and be on the air by 11:30 EDT (15:30 UTC).
TROTWOOD, Ohio (WDTN) – The iconic venue brought sports, concerts, entertainment and special interest shows to the Miami Valley for 60 years is closing their doors due to not being able to overcome an internal legal battle that has spanned the last two decades.
“We are painfully aware of the loss this announcement will generate, which is why we have fought so long and hard to prevent it,” says Karen Wampler, Hara’s marketing director.
The loss will come in the form of $36 million in annual economic impact; youth, men’s and professional hockey programs; and the hundreds of events that called Hara home this past year.
“We had hoped to announce a new era at Hara, but are announcing the end of one, instead.” says Wampler. [Continue reading…]
The Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) regrets to inform our many vendors, visitors and stakeholders that, unfortunately, HARA has announced the closing of their facility. We have begun execution of our contingency plan to move Hamvention® 2017 to a new home.
DARA and Hamvention® have enjoyed many successful years working together with HARA Arena and we wish the Wampler family the best.
DARA and Hamvention® have been working on a contingency plan in the event HARA would become unavailable. We have spent many hours over the last few years evaluating possible locations and have found one in the area we believe will be a great new home! Due to logistics and timing issues, we will make a formal announcement introducing our new partner. This information will be coming soon. We all believe this new venue will be a spectacular place to hold our beloved event. Please rest assured we will have the event on the same weekend and, since it will be in the region, the current accommodations and outside events already planned for Hamvention® 2017 should not be affected.
We look forward to your continued support as we move to a new future with The Dayton Hamvention®.
Ron Cramer
General Chairman
Dayton Hamvention 2017
Challenges for a new venue
Two years ago, I spoke with a DARA representative who told me about some of the contingency sites they had in mind should HARA Arena close its doors. Many of us attending the Hamvention had a strong feeling 2016 would be the last year at HARA Arena.
Though HARA was (and has been) in a poor state, the site is very large and has one very unique feature: it’s all on one level.
The outdoor exhibits (flea market) portion of the Hamvention is very popular.
Most of the Dayton area contingency sites were on at least two levels with limited elevator facilities (a potential problem for the hundreds of attendees who use motorized carts).
I also learned that most of the Dayton area contingency sites had another problem: not enough space to have both the inside exhibits and the flea market hosted at the same venue. One contingency plan assumed the flea market might be relocated somewhere else nearby.
I hope the Site B will have the space for both the indoor and outdoor exhibits. Frankly, if these two portions of the Hamvention are separated, I suspect it will have a very negative impact on attendance numbers. Let’s hope this won’t be the case.
In terms of facilities, almost anything else will feel more modern and cleaner than HARA Arena. I just hope it can accommodate 20,000+ attendees as well.
When DARA announces the new site, I will post the information here. Simply follow the tag: Hamvention.
I am loving the new QRP Ranger power pack–it is the solution I decided on after publishing this post a few weeks ago. It’s a little pricey, but it’s built like a tank, very lightweight, includes a charge controller made specifically for the LiFePo cells, and made here in the USA. It also had a very readable LED display that my buddy Eric says is, “reminiscent of the displays on the Apollo 11 module.” He’s kind of right!
It’s so nice to have both a volmeter and ammeter on the front panel.
We just finished activating the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (I’m writing this post while Eric drives us to our next activation). I made 12 contacts running SSB at 8 watts. Eric made 16 contacts via CW at 5 watts.
We have planned two more activations this afternoon:
Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument at 16:30 UTC
Dayton Aviation Herital National Historical Park at 21:00 UTC
I’ll be calling CQ on 14.290 MHz and 7.290 MHz +/-.
Please hop on the air listen and/or answer my call if you’re a ham!
On my way this morning to FDIM and the 2016 Dayton Hamvention.
Since I own the Elecraft KX3, Elecraft K2 and the Elecraft KX1, I’m excited to see that Elecraft has announced a new addition to their product line: the Elecraft KX2. Elecraft will feature the KX2 at Four Days In May (FDIM) and the Dayton Hamvention.
I am attending vendor’s night at FDIM and the full Dayton Hamvention. I will post photos of the KX2 here–follow updates by bookmarking the tag KX2.
Full details from the Elecraft press release, via Southgate ARC, below:
New KX2 radio to be announced this Thursday at the Dayton Hamvention 2016
Hello to all,
We are please to announce a new radio to complement the KX3 and the KX-Line. Here are the details.
What: Elecraft announces the KX2, Ultra-portable radio When: Thursday, May 16th, 1300Z Where: Four Days In May QRP event, part of the Dayton Hamfest activities
Elecraft is excited to announce a new radio targeting the Ultra-portable market with a Fit-In-Your-Pocket size. Please see the attached brochure for details.
Pricing – KX2: $749.00
– Options and accessories: Please see the table below for pricing. Also see the FAQ for details.
Ordering/Availability
Distributors are encouraged to order both the KX2 and accessories now. The KX2 is already in production and early ordering will ensure your position for deliveries.
Note that the KX2 will be available in full, factory-built form only. There will be 2 internally-installed options available immediately. See the FAQ for more details.
Marketing Collateral Available
You will find a new section in the Elecraft Egnyte repository that contains:
– The attached brochure in editable form for you to translate and convert to local printing formats. – A KX2 Date Sheet – A KX2 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) in editable form – Hi Resolution images for use with your marketing and web site content
Special Note on the new KX2 Battery and Charger system
– Elecraft will be stocking the KXBT2 (Li-ion Battery) and the KXBC2 (Li-ion Charger) for your to order. – We have also arranged for you to purchase both items directly from our supplier, Tenergy (www.tenergy.com) – Please see the attached document, KX2 Battery info v1.0, with the details.
Along with many of the Elecraft team, I’ll be in Dayton to launch the KX2 but will be able to answer questions as needed.
Again, we are excited to offer you increased business opportunities with the KX2 launch!
[The following post was originally published on the SWLing Post by contributor, Robert Gulley AK3Q.]
An announcement has been made by Kurt, OE1KBC and reported by Don Trynor, VA3XFT concerning a multi-mode radio combining various digital modes. The radio/computer is called simply NEW RADIO and is a joint initiative of the ÖVSV, DARC and IARU R1. As stated in Don’s article:
the “NEW RADIO” that will operate on the 2m & 70cm bands and support the most common ham digital modes, including DMR, D-STAR and C4FM (System Fusion), plus analog FM. As reported in the article, the NEW RADIO has been created by hams for the ham radio community will feature a colour touch screen display, 50W of power output, a 1.8 GHz processor, a Linux operating system, plus dual AMBE+ vocoders, allowing for full-duplex, cross-band operation. Also, one of the biggest features of the NEW RADIO is that it will include a built-in LTE wireless modem and SIM card allowing it to be Internet connected while on the go. Apparently, with it being Internet connected, the NEW RADIO will be able to automatically download frequencies, offsets, contacts and other configuration information on the go, allowing for instant updates for users. (The full article may be found here.)
I certainly hope this radio really is “ready for Prime Time” soon as it might very well fill a big need by allowing use of multiple systems without the need to carry around a radio for each digital mode. I suspect many hams have hesitated to jump on the digital bandwagon simply because of not knowing which standard would have dominance. Nobody wants to relieve the VHS/Beta experience! (Yes, I am dating myself here!)
If anyone gets a look at this radio at Dayton I hope you will share with us your impressions!
I always enjoy meeting SWLing Post and QRPer.com readers who stop by our booth to introduce themselves.
Note: New Booth Location
We’ve been moved to a new table this year: SA0359 in the Silver Arena. Indeed, we may have two tables set up: one with Ears To Our World information and another with soldering irons to build HumanaLight kits.
If you’re not familiar with Ears To Our World and our mission to empower children and teachers in the third word through radio and other technologies, check out our website.
HumanaLights!
Note that this year we will also give away our HumanaLight kits to those who donate $15 or more to ETOW (while supplies last).
The LD-11 is basically a small, tabletop SDR transceiver. It’s like a miniature, simplified version of the Icom IC-7100 I’ve also been evaluating.
The LD-11 is an all-mode and all-band transceiver–meaning, it includes SSB, CW, CW-R, Digi, AM and FM modes on all amateur radio bands (160 – 10 meters).
Though the LD-11 isn’t advertised as having a general coverage receiver, it will indeed tune the entire HF band.
You do this by entering the LD-11’s administration mode. LNR describes this in the LD-11 product manual, but suggests you contact them for help the first time you do this. In the admin panel, you’ll find functions that allow you to set the band edges on each amateur radio band.
For a preliminary test of broadcast reception, I moved the lower band edge of the 30 meter ham radio band to 8.2 MHz.
After saving the settings and re-starting the LD-11 in normal operation mode, I could then tune the entire 31 meter broadcast band on the LD-11.
Hypothetically, you could either widen each amateur radio band to include adjacent broadcast bands, or you could simply set one of the ham bands to include the entire HF spectrum. To make it easier to navigate and tune through the bands, I’m choosing the former method over the latter.
Since the LD-11 has a proper AM mode, broadcasts sound great–especially via headphones!
Proper AM filters for broadcast reception!
Better yet? The AM filter width can be widened to an impressive 9.6 kHz! Woo hoo!
The LD-11 has four filter slots: F1, F2, F3 and F4.
The F1-F3 slots can be set to a fixed user-defined widths (common widths are default).
F4 can be altered to any available filter width without having to enter the admin mode of the transceiver. Simply press the “F” (blue function button) and the FILTER button simultaneously and use the encoder/tuning knob to specify the filter width in .1 kHz steps. Pressing the F and FILTER button simultaneously again, will save your filter width for the F4 position.
I’ve been using the F4 filter position for widths between about 8.2 and 9.6 kHz in AM.
It’s still early days with the LD-11, but I’m enjoying this little transceiver immensely. It reminds me of one of my favorite QRP transceivers of yesteryear: the Index Labs QRP Plus (though the LD-11 is much smaller, more versatile and has a much better front end than the QRP Plus!).
LNR Precision sold out all of their first run LD-11 units within moments of having announced availability. I’m willing to bet they’ll bring a few LD-11s to the upcoming Dayton Hamvention, though.
[QRPers: Please note that the following is a re-post from my shortwave radio blog, the SWLing Post.]
Heard Island (Image: VK0EK)
Regular SWLing Post readers know that I’m a ham radio operator (call sign K4SWL). Being a shortwave radio enthusiast, of course, I spend most of my time on the air in the HF portion of the amateur radio spectrum. Contacting distant stations and connecting with other ham radio operators around our little planet gives me immense joy.
Thing is, my life has been so hectic lately, I’ve barely been home during the Heard Island DXpedition (March 29th – April 11th). And the days I have been home, VK0EK’s signals have been incredibly weak.
In short: timing and propagation were all working against me. And VK0EK was soon to pack up and come back home. I was becoming desperate…and beginning to lose hope that I’d make any contact with this unique and rare entity in the isolated stretch of ocean between Madagascar and Antartica.
“Antennas with a clearing” on Heard Island (Photo by Bill, AE0EE)
My hope was waning. Then, Tusday evening, I gave a presentation about shortwave radio at the Blue Ridge Amateur Radio Club. On the hour-long drive home, I stopped by my good friend Vlado’s (N3CZ) to confess my troubles to the radio doc.
Now it just happens that Vlado has a much better antenna set-up to work DX than I do, and what’s more, (close your ears, fellow QRPers) he has an amplifier.
Most importantly, though, Vlado is a keen DXer. He’s got 330 countries under his belt, and ever up for a challenge, routinely pushes himself to accomplish more with less. In January, with members of the local club, he entered a QRP challenge; he had 100 countries worked by the following month, all in his spare time. And a few years ago, Vlado actually built a radio of his own design and worked 100 countries within two months (you can read about that here).
So, of course, he was game to help me make a contact…even if it was a long shot. A very long shot.
Juan de Nova
When I arrived at Vlado’s QTH around 21:00 local, VK0EK was impossibly weak, so we focused our efforts on 30 meters and FT4JA: the Juan de Nova Island DXpedition (another all-time new one for me).
A portion of the FT4JA antenna farm. (Image: FT4JA)
After more than an hour of calling, FT4JA finally heard my call and (woo hoo!) I was confirmed in their log.
But what about Heard Island?
After working FT4JA, we moved down to 40 meters where VK0EK was slightly louder than before. Well, maybe it’s not impossible, I thought hopefully. Just next to it.
Between QSB (fading) and tuner-uppers, my ears were bleeding trying to hear Heard’s minuscule CW signal–so faint, so distant were they.
After only about ten minutes of steady calling, Vlado made a sign to get my attention, and we strained to listen, very carefully.
VK0EK came back very faintly with just one letter incorrect in my call–it was enough that I didn’t catch it at first. But Vlado heard it, and after sending the call back a couple of times, then the report, VK0EK confirmed my call with a signal report, and I reciprocated.
Vlad and I leapt to our feet, yelling, “WOO HOO!” (and hopefully didn’t wake up any of Vlad’s neighbors).
Heard Island is actually running an online log that is updated live. We immediately looked there to confirm I was in their log, and was greeted with this great circle map and a line from Heard Island to my call sign in the States. Vlado made this screen capture as a momento:
Here’s to good friends and mentors
In one incredible evening, I snagged two all-time new ones–and I owe it all to my good buddy, Vlado. Most importantly, I’ve been learning so much from him as he patiently coaches me through some weak DX with serious pileups. Plus it’s just always fun hanging around Vlado, the best broken radio doctor I know, to whom “challenge” is…well, a piece of cake.
Thanks Vlado, for your enthusiasm and patience–I’m lucky to have a friend like you!
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