Events, Morse Code, QRP, Uncategorized

A Few Hours in the ARRL 160 Meter Contest

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I was able to spend about three hours participating in the ARRL 160 Meter Contest this past weekend. I operated CW-only, using my Elecraft K2 running 5-watts, and my primary antenna was my low 195′ Inverted-L tuned with an LDG Z-11 QRP autotuner.

I concentrated on working new sections but even so managed to make 72 QSOs with stations in 30 sections; this translated into an hourly rate of about 24 QSOs per hour–not bad for QRP into a compromise antenna.  I worked stations in the states shown in the map below, plus Ontario. (My station is located in southeastern Ohio.)

Although my primary antenna was my Inverted-L, I also shorted the feedline of my windowline-fed 135′ doublet at the tuner and fed the antenna against ground; this antenna allowed me to make one QSO I couldn’t make with the Inverted-L.

I had been hoping to work a DX station or two and heard but wasn’t able to work just one non-US, non-Canadian station, a station in the Bahamas.

Events, QRP, Uncategorized

Upcoming “Top Band” Events

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Winter is the time to operate on 160-meters. Within the next six weeks we find not one, not two, but three 160-meter contests.

November 29, 2012 (0000-0600 UTC ): QRP ARCI Top Band Sprint (rules) — note that this the evening of Wednesday, November 28 in North America!

November 30 – December 2, 2012 (2200 UTC Friday – 1600 UTC Sunday): ARRL 160 Meter Contest (rules); this contest includes a QRP class.

December 29 – 30 (1500 UTC Saturday – 1500 UTC Sunday):  Stew Perry Top Band Distance Challenge (rules); this contest includes a QRP class.

If you don’t have a dedicated 160-meter antenna but have a 40m or 80m dipole/doublet, try shorting the feedline at the radio and work it against ground through an antenna tuner; this will convert your dipole/doublet into a vertical with a really big “top hat”.

 

Kits, QRP, QRP Radios

Ten-Tec holiday specials include QRP kits

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Ten-Tec is discounting their 1380 and 1330 QRP kits for the holiday season. They’ve also extended their discount on the R4030 QRP tranceiver (details below).

(Source: Ten-Tec)

The 1380 and 1330 QRP transceiver kits, which are regularly priced at $124.00, are $99.00 through Christmas.  These are great QRP kits and many are used on the air daily and in QRP contests.   It is great fun to work 80 meter QRP in the winter months,  so order yours today.  http://www.tentec.com/products/80-Meter-QRP-Transceiver-Kit.html

The R4030 transceiver is still at $188.00 from their list of $249.00 and this price will continue through Christmas.  This is a great trail friendly QRP transceiver with lots of features like an LCD frequency readout display, cw memories and much more.  This is a great price for a full-featured QRP rig.  Read more about the R4030 at http://www.tentec.com/products/Sale-Price!-Two-Band-CW-QRP-Transceiver-%252d-40-%252d-30-Meters.html

Announcements, News

The days of the IRC may be limited

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Unless protested, the International Reply Coupon will be phased out in 2013 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

(Source: ARRL)

If the US Postal Service (USPS) gets its way, it will no longer sell International Reply Coupons (IRCs) after January 27, 2013. According to the October 23 edition of the Federal Register, there is not sufficient demand for the USPS to continue offering IRCs to customers; however, per the Universal Postal Union (UPU) regulations, the USPS must continue to exchange (redeem) IRCs that have been purchased in foreign countries and presented at USPS facilities. The current Nairobi model is valid through December 31, 2013. Comments on this proposed change will be accepted through November 23, 2012.[…]

Read the full article on the ARRL website.

Announcements

Readers, I need your voice!

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Interested in a good cause?  Many of you may know that besides being a ham, I’m also an avid shortwave radio enthusiast and I run a radio based charity.

At the moment, we’re working hard to stop the Radio Canada International Sackville, New Brunswick, shortwave transmission site from being completely dismantled and taken off the air.

I’ve been communicating with the Canadian press and the Departments of Heritage and Public Safety. It’s difficult–if not impossible–to stop a political process that has already been initiated, but some of us are making an attempt nonetheless because this transmission site is so vital.

So I started a petition–it’s only been two days, but we have already received over 200 signatures from around the globe. Clearly, we’re not the only ones who believe that sacking Sackville is a foolhardy plan, and want Canadian powers-that-be to reconsider.

Here is the petition–take a look at the comments for yourself:
http://chn.ge/TRgSCX

Could you please take a few moments out of your day to sign this petition and have your say? It takes less than a minute. This will automatically email the appropriate Canadian politicians who could, at the very least, put a halt to the destruction of the RCI Sackville site.  Also, please consider sharing this with your QRP and ham radio networks, clubs, and email groups. The more voices, the more signature, the better!

Of course, you don’t have to be Canadian to sign (after all, I’m not), just someone who cares about radio and believes in its role in domestic security and international relations. If you are Canadian, consider writing a letter to Canada’s Heritage Minister, the Hon. James Moore ([email protected]), and your Minister of Public Safety, the Hon. Vic Toews, to let them know this requires immediate attention.

Feeling like Don Quixote today?  Join me. Towers up, windmills down!

73,
Thomas
K4SWL

 

Articles, Morse Code, News

NPR’s Robert Krulwich comments on EME and extra-terrestrial morse code

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(Source: National Public Radio)

Dot

Dash

Dot

Dash

This is the moon as Morse code.

[…]All over the world, ham radio operators and Morse Code enthusiasts beam dot, dash messages straight at the moon, then wait 2.7 seconds for the signal to bounce back. They call these “E.M.E.” transmissions, which stands for “Earth-Moon-Earth” or — more popularly — “moonbouncing.” I suppose it’s fun to smack little beeps against a sleepy rock 239,000 miles away and have those beeps come flying back at you. Plus, it’s easy.

[…]Not so long ago, a Scottish artist, Katie Paterson, turned Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata into Morse code, (yup, you can do that, too) and bounced it off the moon. Some musical phrases got trapped in moon craters and didn’t come back, which she found so intriguing, she put the ricocheted, fragmented Moonlight Sonata on a player piano and you can now see her MoonBounced, Morse-Coded piece being not performed by anyone, the keys going up and down on their own, on YouTube.

I’m a huge fan of Krulwich’s witty science articles and am thoroughly impressed that he brings CW into the popular press. Nevermind his tongue-in-cheek!

PS: As I wrote Robert, I think Artemis would love to hear the “sacred language.”

Read Krulwich’s full article by clicking here.

Events, Morse Code, QRP, Uncategorized

Upcoming Event — 2012 QRP ARCI Fall QSO Party

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This coming weekend is the 2012 QRP ARCI Fall QSO Party, one of the  most popular contests of the QRP calendar. This year, new entry categories are based on the antenna used; those participating with a simple wire antenna or a vertical won’t be competing against those using beams or other multi-element antennas.

The Fall QSO Party runs from 1200UTC on Saturday the 13th through 2400UTC on Sunday the 14th.

Here are the complete rules:

http://www.qrparci.org/content/view/8399/118/

I won’t be competing in the Fall QSO Party to win. Instead, I’ll do as I’ve done several times in the past–I’ll use this event as an opportunity for what might be my last outdoor “field event” of the year. A good friend and I will be spending a few hours at Mt. Gilead State Park in north-central Ohio enjoying what promises to be beautiful fall weather, good friendship, and an opportunity to enjoy CW in the great outdoors.

If you participate in the Fall QSO Party, you are very likely to hear stations participating in the Pennsylvania and Arizona QSO Parties. Here are the rules for these two events:

Pennsylvania QSO Party:
http://www.nittany-arc.net/pqppdf/paqsorules12.pdf

Arizona QSO Party:
http://www.azqsoparty.org/rules.html

 

Product Announcements

Kenwood TS-990S Brochure

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Click here to download the Kenwood TS-990S brochure.

The Kenwood TS-990 (photo: Kenwood)

For future information on the TS-990S, follow the tag: TS-990

Announcements, News, Product Announcements, QRP Radios

Ten-Tec Hamfest, Argonaut VI update

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Two Ten-Tec Model 539, Argonaut VI’s, will be on the air at the Ten-Tec Hamfest this weekend.

This weekend, I’m heading to the Ten-Tec Hamfest at the Ten-Tec factory in Sevierville, Tennessee.  This is, hands down, my favorite hamfest of the year. Not only is it completely free, but the ham radio flea market section has a higher percentage of real radio gear than any other hamfest with which I’m familiar. The event is being held today and tomorrow (the flea market is Saturday only). You can read details about the hamfest on Ten-Tec’s website.

Agonaut VI update…

I just got the following word directly from Ten-Tec Engineer, John Henry, regarding the Model 539 (Argonaut VI) transceiver; in a nutshell, they will not be taking orders at the hamfest as they had hoped, price is not fixed but ballparked, and rigs will be available at the hamfest for testing:

TenTec is not going to take early orders for the 539 at the TenTec Hamfest on 9-28/29-2012. Essentially the rig is performing to our specification level, but we have a few things to finish before we can ship them to customers, [such as] the user’s manual, FCC testing, etc.

We do have a pilot run of 25 units that will be visible to those taking the tour, and a couple will be set up for hams to use at the Hamfest this weekend. In about 1-2 weeks from now, some of the pilot run units will be distributed to hams for another round of beta testing.

Regarding the price of the 539, until we finish this last round of beta testing we aren’t sure if we have each and every cost factor taken into consideration. Never know what a broader field of testers will find that may increase costs. So, there is no final customer price yet. But as we have stated at all of the hamfests so far, we can still say it will be well below $1000, and we will still meet our goal of having the price of the 539 [plus] the price of the 418 to be less than the cost of the 599, at near the specification level.

The Ten-Tec Argonaut VI on the work bench at Ten-Tec

I plan to post photos from the Ten-Tec hamfest and report any other updates. Stay tuned!

QRP radios, product announcements, reviews, news and more. Low power amateur radio fun!