Not Quite Dayton...

Hey Gang,

I went to my first HamFest today. Yes, it's true, I've never made it to a HamFest before, but since I'm getting back into the hobby, I thought I would make the effort to get there early and check it out.

The Wichita Hamfest bills itself as Kansas' largest hamfest, and it may well be, but it is still a small affair. It only runs from 8am til 1pm and occupies a small bingo parlor. There were two professional ham vendors, one the local candystore, and an Elecraft vendor. No K3 in sight, but the literature was displayed with their other rigs. I couldn't afford one, nor do have the technical knowledge to build a unit from a kit. They sure were pretty though!

I was hoping, but not expecting, to find a small CW rig I could by for less than $225, but I didn't see anything.  There was only one straight key and two paddles sets for sale. I was also hoping to find some ladderline and/or some wire for antenna making, but no luck on that front either. I looked at the used rigs for sale, thinking maybe I'd buy a completly solid state rig, if I could find a good deal. I wanted something that was a bit more reasonable for dragging around than my hollow state TS-820s, but I didn't find any deals. I almost bought a hat with my callsign and name, but in the end, I only spent $2 for the cover charge.

I did meet a couple of new people and talked to a couple of hams I hadn't seen  in years. Nancy and Bob (I should have got their callsigns, darn it) were there and they are the nicest people! I love her Georgia sweet-as-pecan pie accent. Bob is putting out a small email newsletter. I gave them my email and I hope to hear from them. I learned the local club has really dropped in its membership from when I joined. It's down from around 180 to about 40 or so, according to Nancy, although she admitted her information was out of date for accurate numbers. The local club did have a table there, but I didn't recognise the guys sitting there. I was invited to joing W0VFW, an Amateur Radio station set up in a local VFW hall. I am not a Vet, but my dad was a WWII Vet (Most people don't believe me when I say that because I'm to young to be a baby boomer). I am eligble for auxillary status, although I'm not sure I'm required to be a member to participate in the radio group, but it's encouraged. I believe I will look into a membership next week.

I also met with a former RACES friend, and we discussed our dissatification with the group and why I left. Enough said about that. this is postive blog, after all. The were also a couple of old acquaintances there I caught up with and I enjoyed our eyeball QSOs. The event, as small as it is, is still well attended by the local hams. I'm really glad I went. It was a fun experience, even though no one seperated me from my money.

Ready to Buy A Portable HF Radio

This last weekend I was out of town. My wife and I went to McPherson, Kansas for the Highland Games and Scottish Festival. My wife's brother runs his own Games here in Wichita, and the local Renaissance Festival as well. I'm of Scottish extraction as well, and I enjoy visiting the games. However, mostly we help my brother in law running his booth or whatever as he is out meeting people and getting making contacts. I admit that I get bored just sitting around. It is time like these that I really want a portable op radio. 

I had considered taking my clunker Kenwood, but its a monster at 38lbs. I would love something I could carry without throwing my back out. The Yaesu FT817 is a dream radio for me, but out of the budget as well. I am going to get me an HB-1B, or other small radio. I have the cash and I've started looking. Below is the Ten Tec R4020, a two band version of the HB-1A.

I also talked to my brother in law about doing a special event station at one of his productions and he was receptive to the idea. I will have to see if there would be any interest from my fellow hams. I don't associate much with the local hams anymore, something I should remedy.

73,
KC0KSV

WOOHOO! Sunspots!

Gang,

We got us some sunspots percolating on Ol' Sol. Looks like we got about 167 of 'em! Cycle 24 is heating up! Let's get out there and work some radio!

Here is an image from Nasa's SOHO website. This image was captured about 3:25am CDT (isn't insomnia wonderful)

And another pic

I am very excited about this. My weekend (so far) is clear, and I'm going to try and make some contacts this weekend!

Hope all y'all have a great time, too!
73,
Sam KC0KSV

The Clandestine Radio Operators

I was in a Barnes & Noble book store yesterday perusing the history section when I found a book a book titled "RESISTANCE: The Clandestine Radio Operators SOE, BCRA, OSS" by Jean Louis Perquin.

This book was written by Frenchman whose father had fought in the Resistance in France during WWII. The book, naturally, has a French focus to it, but most of the gear used was British, American, and exiled Polish rigs.

All of the stats in the book are in metrics, which is annoying for me, but since most of the world uses that measurment system, I guess I shouldn't complain.




The book covers where the agents were trained and gives some stories of people who were agents. It has a lot of photos of rigs, a lot of new pics taken in museums and private collection and a great deal of field photos of agents using the rigs.

The suitcase radio above is a British Mk I introduced in late '41. It was a 60w rig.

This is one of the many period photos showing the spy rigs being used in the field in France. The book, as mentioned, focuses on the French, but also includes photos of Norwegian and Greek Resistance radio operators

Another picture of field use. Notice the British made Sten 9mm Submachine guns they are holding.

A couple of more rigs. Sorry about the photos, the glossy paper makes it difficult to get a decent shot.












Another cool thing about this book is that it shows how they powered their equipment. Here is a picture of a tripod with a bicycle seat on top and a generator powered by bicycle pedals.

A rig powered by a
handcranked Generator.

I think this power system is really cool. The tank with the hoses is a boiler that hooks to the box wich is a generator. This steam powered generator was used to recharge 6V batteries. All the field agents needed was wood and water to recharge their batteries. I would love to have something like this for field day!

The bicycle has a generator attached to the rear sprocket.

ll in all, it is a very neat book. It's pricey at $34.95, but it has a load of great pictures. It has the basic stats for the rigs, but it is not very technical in nature. It was also translated from French to English, and the translation has some minor flaws. Publisher information is: Historie & Collections-5, avenue de la Republique-F-75541 paris CEDEX 11-Tel. +33(1) 40 21 18 20 - www.histoireetcollections.com

Now That's Ham Radio!

I've been following fellow Ham's blog and reading about Irene. Sounds like it was bad, especially in Vermont, but it also could have been worse. Way to go all you Hams who jumped in to provide EmComm for your communities. Now that's Ham Radio!

Personally, I've been too busy to be on the air. Life is interfereing with my hobby again. I'm sure it's a cruel game being played by the Radio Fates! My good friend and fellow PI, Jake "Tora" Lawson called me in on a stakeout. Copper thieves have been hitting businesses on N. Main here in Wichita, and we set up to catch them. If your read my other blog, http://WichitaDetective.blogspot.com/ you can read about those misadventures.

I got a BS in Business Management and now I'm going for Criminal Justice degree. By going to school, I complete the Continued Education requirements for PIs in Kansas, and it's tax deductible. Unfortunately, one of my classes is on Thursday night, so no more Fox chasing for this hound.

Friday, my brother and I are leaving for Illinois. Our half-sister passed away from an apparent heart attack and we are attending the funeral. It will be about an 8 hour drive from Wichita. I don't think I will be able to go use my radio this weekend either, but there is no helping it.

The Tuna Tin 2 Didn't Tune

Somewhere around 2002-2003, I bought a Tuna Tin 2 kit and built it in a couple of evenings. It was my first transmitter kit. As my interest in Ham Radio waned, I put it on the shelf and it became a dust collector. I never gave it the "smoke test" to even see if it worked.

The poor beast has been ingored, banged around, and stuffed in whatever convenient place I could find, like my glovebox, for the last eight or nine years. The only modification from the original build that I did was to replace the 7.040 crystal with a 7.055, so I would operate in SKCC territory ( I proabably should have got a crystal set to a frequency between 7.100 and 7.125mhz to operate in the old Novice portion of the band where the slow coders hang out.). Yesterday, I went to the local candy store, (a Radio Shack that actually carries Amateur Radio stuff) and bought some BNC to PL 259 adapters, along with some other stuff, and I decided to give the rig a smoke test. My power supply was a universal wall-wart type, that I clicked over to the 12v setting. I had an old 1/8 plug that I soldered  speaker wire to and then I hooked the other ends to my straight key.

Needless to say, it didn't work. A fact I don't find surprising, nor is it discouraging. This is a very simple circuit and I will do my best to troubleshoot it. This type of effort, trying to find out what went wrong, is probably the best way to learn. Not the easiest, but the best. I hope to get the little beggar pumping out its mighty 500ma, whatever it turns out to be, and I hope to learn a little about circuits as I make it happen. I suspect my power supply, and I'm going to buy the recommended battery pack this weekend when I get a chance. I'm also going to replace the used 1/8" plug with a new one. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll break out my multitester and start checking the components.

Wish me luck,

Sam

KC0KSV

Sometimes It's Discouraging

How people act on the bands, I mean. Last Thursday, I was trying to participate in the weekly QRP Foxhunt on twenty meters, and I was having a hard time finding the foxes, and then I did hear one, but someone was whistling over the top of them. It is hard enough for a slow coder like me to run with the hounds at the best of times, but I was completely wiped out by some jackass whistling. Not only did he violate regulations by deliberately interfering with someone else's transmissions, but he was using voice in the digital/CW portion of the band. I had had a hard day and was tired, so I just turned my rig off and went back upstairs.

I was so discouraged, busy, and distracted that I only got back on the air on Sunday. Besides checking into the 14.300 Maratime Mobile Net, via relay due to band conditions, I accomplished little. I sent CQ for a 1/2 hour at 5watts and again at a 100 watts, but no takers.

I hope to try and snag another pelt this week, but we'll see.

The Radio Fates are Mocking Me

After snagging that pelt during the weekly QRP Foxhunt, I got really jazzed about working some more QRP! My insomnia kicked in Thursday night, so I snuck out of bed and down to the shack to make a few contacts. I was unsuccessful and after an hour I snuck back into bed trying not to wake the XYL. With visions of far away contacts with my rig set to a bare 5 watts, consuming me, I waited for the weekend and radio time. But of course, The Radio Fates scoff at my puny efforts. Stuff came up and I couldn't get down to the shack for hours and hours. Finally, I get to the basement, hoping to work the Battle of Wilson Creek special event station and a couple others, and the propagation is just terrible. I never heard W0C, or very many other stations unless they were running amps. 40M had S8 noise last night and today, but 20 meters seemed to be active, but I called CQ for thirty minutes today (and a hour last night), and no one answered, even when I went QRO to 100 watts. Thus, The Radio Fates taunt me with a little bit of success and then mock me with a hundred distractions and poor band conditions. Curse you Radio Fates!

I am collecting the bits and pieces of equipment I have that have been packed away when I dropped out of the hobby. The one think I'm going to need to build my new mast is the one piece I'm dreading to get. It is my antenna base. Its a homebrew jackstand for airplanes. I picked it up at the local scrap yard for $15. It weighs a ton, but it works very well for the purpose I got it for, that is to hold up a mast without me having to do a permanent installation. My poor back hurts just thinking about lifting that mostrosity.

Once I have all the pieces, I will trim the trees back to make room the Alpha Delta LB Plus dipole. I'm hoping with a taller mast and a more professional antenna, I can get at least 2db gain over my current set up. I've listened in on a few QSOs, and stations that are given (legitimate, not contest) RSTs at 5/9+, I'm hearing them at 5/7. I particularly noticed this when a Ohio station was talking to a New Mexico station and the signal would have come straight through Kansas. I've also noticed I'm at least 2db lighter on receive when I check into the Maritime Mobile Net. This 2db discrepancy is way too frequent to be just a anomaly. Hopefully, my LB+ will restore my lost gain.

TALLYHO!

I got my first pelt ever tonight in the QRP Foxhunt, WOOT, WOOT, WOOT!

I worked Paul AA4XX at 0229 Zulu, less than a minute before the contest ended! I called the other fox, Al K2ZN for fifteen minutes or more, but I could not work him, even though he had a very nice signal into Kansas. Paul's signal was much weaker, but clear enough and I snagged my pelt from him. I'm a very happy camper tonight! I must send out a big thank you to Paul for slowing down for this slow-coder!

Let's see, Wichita, Ks to Raleigh, NC is 1270 miles and I was using a full QRP gallon at 5watts, so that is 254miles to the watt. Not really impressive by QRP standards. I am going to set a goal tonight of working at least 1000 miles on a single watt. That will be a big challenge, by golly!

I realized after my earlier post today, that I did just what Kenwood did, assume you know everything that I'm talking about. If you are not familiar with the hobby, or if you are a beginner, I should explain some of the terms. If you're an experienced Ham, you already know this stuff.

RIT is Receiver Incremental Tuner. This feature allows you to listen on one frequency while broadcasting on another. This is called working "Split".

SPLIT - When a station is planning on having a large number of people calling them, this is called a pile-up, they will broadcast on one channel, but listen on another channel and the people calling will be an mirror image to the main station, calling and listening on opposite frequencies. Why work Split? It facilitates the exchange of information as, theoretically, only the main station is talking on the one frequency and the calling stations are talking on the other. This allows the calling stations to hear the main station without interference from other stations that are calling.

QRP - Originally this meant "reduce your power" or "Should I reduce my power", but its most common usage today is to identify a station that is low power. A full QRP gallon, i.e. the maximum wattage broadcasted and still considered to a QRP station, is 5 Watts. Hams have the legal priviledge of using up to 1500 watts, at least on most bands. 1500 watts is a full QRO (High Power) gallon. Within Ham radio there are many sub-hobbies, or niches. Some people only want to look for foreign stations, others use satellites to communicate, I like working special event station, and so forth. QRP operators use low power equipment, usually small and light, and rely on technique, experience, and skill to make contacts.

QRP Fox Hunt - A contest where two stations, and they could be anywhere in the US, and I suppose Canada, act as foxes. They send out a broadcast and the other people are looking for them, called hounds. When a fox hears a hound calling him they will make contact and exchange information. The hound is said to have taken a "pelt". None of the stations can broadcast more than 5 watts of power. This is challenging, but it makes you a better operator.

Am I Going to the Dogs?

I don't know yet. Tonight is the weekly Fox Hunt on 20 meters, but I don't know if I'm going to chasing them with the rest of the hounds or not. It seems something comes up every Thursday night, grrrr.

But then, I'm not a great CW operator either. My speed at CW is limited, improving, but limited. The only hunt I've been able to run in so far was the first of the summer season. I only heard one fox near the end of the hunt, but he didn't hear me. That meant I spent and hour and half just listening to static. But was the night a failure?

In one sense, yes. I couldn't copy very well at the speeds they were sending and I had trouble figuring out how to work split. And, of course, I failed to make the contact. Thus, we can consider the night a failure.

However, in another sense, I learned something. By participating, however poorly, I got just a little better and my knowledge increased just a little bit. Because of the need to work split I was forced to experiment after the hunt with my rig. It seems my RIT knob was off center slightly, and thus I could never dial in the split because the gap was too wide. I now know you have to "zero" the knob out, and adjust from there.I didn't know this before because I've never used the RIT before. By rereading the operators manual, which isn't that helpful since it assumes you know how to operate a RIT (and it only really gives a "dictionary definition" of what the knob does), and just playing around I found out why it didn't work for me. So, I have gained more knowledge and improved my operating capabilities. Thus, I can consider the night a success.

One of the reasons for me writing about my misadventures in ham radio is to encourage other people trying to learn about Ham radio to keep at it and succeed. Like most people, I hate to look stupid in front of my peers and there is always some desire to not try and avoid ridicule and there is definitely a bit of hesitation to announce to the world my failures and ignorance such as writing about it in a blog. But I think people who scoff at the efforts of others have their own failings and their own ignorance, the only difference is that I'm trying to remedy mine. Now, really, most of the people you find in the Ham world are pretty nice and encouraging. Some are not so. I can imagine them rolling their eyes and saying, "This guy is an Extra Class operator and he doesn't know how to use  RIT on his own rig? What a moron."

What do you say to that? The answer, of course, is nothing. You keep learning, you keep building, and you keep sharing.

73 Y'all
Samuel
KC0KSV

A Hygain 20m Antenna

I am selling an 20m beam antenna and I'm posting the pictures here for convenience sake. The electrical element will have to be fixed or replaced. These pictures show the condition of the mechanical parts.

The elements, eight total (4 on each side) longest is about 17ft 8"

A close up of one of the pipe clamps showing oxidation and staining.

The element

A close up of where the elements attach to the boom. Obviously, some of the hardware is missing and will have to be replaced.

It's hard to read, but it says Hy-Gain

The three parts to the boom. Obviously the long boom can be taken apart, but as it stands, long boom 14ft 8in and the two smaller pieces are 6ft 8in

The clamp showing some damage.

Well, that's about it. Obviously, I'm selling this to someone who has the knowledge to refurbish this antenna. The drive element did not work when I bought it, and I don't know what it takes to fix it. Some of the hardware will need replaced, and the metal could probably stand a good bit of buffing to get rid of some the staining and oxidations. My asking price is $50

The Radio Fates are Against me

It has been too long since I've even turned on my radio. The fates seemed aligned against me getting on the air. We had a humdinger of a storm come through a couple of days ago, and I had to detach and de-plug my rig so it wouldn't get fried by lightning. We needed the rain desperately and the relief from the heat. Last week it was 112 degrees here. We have had storms all around the city in the last couple of days, but none have rolled over us. I've seen storms in a line split as they approach the city and even reform after passing us without us getting a drop. Other storms disappear when they get withing  a few mile of us. My completely unscientific opinion is that the heat absorbed from the sun by the city has an effect on weather conditions when they approach. We don't have a big population here, but the city is spread out. We don't build up in Kansas, we build out. I think this heat effects the weather and the weaker the storm the more it is effected by city's heating effect. Again, I can't prove this theory, but at least it explains a common phenomenon.

One of the most aggravating things about not getting on the rig is I can't make my one QSO-a-day on CW. I do not think that there is any training aid out there that is better than just firing up the rig and sending a CQ and working someone else on CW.

I missed the QRP Foxhunt again this week, as I had to have some reports done for a client the next day. Sunday I played guard dog at a grain mill that was being fumigated from 6am til 5pm. Nothing like slow broiling in your car for 11 hours straight in triple digit heat. At least it wasn't as bad as the last time, because I had shade most of the day Sunday.

I was really, really wishing I had an HF rig in the car. I thought about the feasibility of hauling my 38lb Kenwood and a mast to hold up my homebrew 40 meter dipole out to the site, but decided against it. Having thought about it, a QRP rig that could be run off my Suburban's battery or solar with a vehicle mounted antenna would be just the trick. I really wanted one of those HB-1A stations, or PFR3, but I got married two years ago, and with the stepkids and a wife, it is just not in the budget. I think 20m and 40m would be my major bands of operation, but maybe 30m as well. I am not WARC capable, so I've never used 30m.

If the storm clouds north of city go away, I might get to fire the rig up tonight and make a few contacts.

Wish me luck!
Sam
KC0KSV

Baby, I Got the Blues

I didn't have much chance to play on the radio, or least on amateur radio this weekend.

I did have a nice QSO with WX5J, Nick in Helena, Arkansas, right near the Mississippi River in a geographical region known as the Delta. I heard Nick talking to some other OM and when he cleared I jumped in to talk to Nick. You see, I've been to Helena, AR a couple of times. Helena is famous for the Blues, and I truly love Blues music. Black people, escaping the harsh repression of Mississippi, would cross the river into Arkansas to have a good time, and that meant Blues music. In 1941 KFFA became the first radio station to play what was then known as "Race Music" everyday on King Biscuit Time. They have have had the same DJ since 1950, Sunshine Sonny Payne. I've met Mr. Payne and was even on the King Biscuit Time radio program as a guest, as you could be too, if you drop by the Delta Culture Visitor Center. Look up all the info at http://www.deltaculturalcenter.com/ and even listen to the King Biscuit Time show!

Helena has a world famouse Blues Festival every fall, which I've never been to, but want to badly. Nick is a musician and a Blues afficianado as well. So, it was a very fine QSO and one of the reasons I enjoy Ham Radio, you get to meet people like Nick.

Saturday, I got up late and was too busy to get on the radio, and Sunday I had a gig starting at 5am. I'm a Private Investigator by trade, and sometimes I get called in to do property protection, which is what I did from 5am til 5pm on Sunday. It was pretty rough, even though I was just a glorified security guard. I had to sit in my car the whole time and it got up to 106 degrees Faranheit (41 C) while I was there. That's hot!

I had the back entrance while my friend had the front entrance. He's not a ham, and the agency didn't give us any radios, so I took some FRS radios I've had for several years that I bought on sale and have only used once. I took all four radios and two chargers, but my inverter I use in my car only had one plug in (I remembered, incorrectly, that it had two) and the batteries didn't hold a charge for very long. I think the batteries are weak from not being used. Still, I was able to keep the radios going with just one charger. It really helped having the radios. Neither of us had gotten any sleep the night before and sitting around in a hot car watching an empty parking lot and gate makes you want to snooze! Having the radios allowed us to shoot the breeze and keep ourselves awake. I was really wishing I had a mobile HF station while I was out there to help pass the time. Twelve hours is a long time to do nothing, really. I'm just thankful for I those little FRS radios, which worked surprisingly well, all things considered.

Whew, Glad it wasn't serious

Last night I tried to tune my rig, but the CW key stopped working. I tried another key, it didn't work, so then I resoldered the cable (at the orginal wire to plug contact points) thinking a wire had broken near the plug, I shortned the wire and then checked with my multi-tester to make sure it was conducting, but it still didn't work. Today I went to Radio Shack and bought a new 1/4" mono cable plug with two tabs to solder the wires to the plug. When I compared the old and the new, I realized the person who had soldered the original plug used a stereo plug with three contact tabs. Apparently, one wire on the original plug had been soldered to the wrong tab and the correct tab was bent over to short it out against the incorrectly soldered tab, which was a quick, but poor fix, and by me moving the key around I broke the connection. I have never paid attention to plugs before, and I really didn't know how they worked, other than they made an elelctrical connection. Now I know, since I had to troubleshoot the problem. A tiny bit more added to my understanding of the hobby. The new mono plug works just fine and it turned out to be a $4.00 fix. I am very glad because I can't afford a big repair bill right now and my repair skills are extremely limited.

I listened for the Special Event Station commemerating the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Bull Run, but I didn't hear it, but my brother came by and I couldn't work at it too long. Hope to hear them tomorrow. My brother and I reenacted the battle on my dining room table. It's an old game I've had for years called "Across 5 Aprils" and the battle of Bull Run is one of the five battles you can play in the game. The other battles the game has is Pea Ridge, Shiloh, Gettysburg, and Bentonville. It is a great way to learn about the battles! I want to play out each of those battles on the 150th anniversary date of each battle.

WOO HOO!

I finally broke through the pile-up on 20 meters to work Z4S Special Event station for the last launch of a Space Shuttle! I've been hunting that darn station for nine days. I could never break through the pile-up until just a few minutes ago. Heh! I'm Stoked.

Yesterday, some Mexican Hams, who apparently use the 14.280 frequency for a regular net and they consider it their frequency. So they told K4S to leave the frequency and when they didn't blasted right over them with powerful amplifiers. According to international law, no one owns a frequency and deliberately interferring with a lawful station's transmission is against the rules. Not that anybody will do anything about it. I can only say that my opinion of those hams is very, very low.

Besides working Z4S, I also copied some code practice from W1AW. I started to struggle during the 13wpm, especially when the QSB took out the signal. Still, I got my practice in for today. May do some more this evening, not sure what the wife has planned for me to do tonight.

73
All

Go Figure

I tried for better part of an hour I tried to make Contact with Z4S, but I couldn't break the pile up. Just a bit ago, I broke through to Belgium and contacted ON7USB. I did it on the first try! Wow, this radio stuff is crazy.

Belgium is not a new DX for me, I've worked it once before. I counted up all my DX and I've got a total of 27 countries and the South Pole. I don't plan on applying for the DXCC award, but I do want to make the 100 contacts. I don't QSL, so I don't have the paperwork to complete a DXCC application anyway. Somebody once told me that if I don't have the paperwork it doesn't count. Well, it counts to me and I have no interest in trying to impress others. The people who know me know that I don't lie.

Now, I don't begrudge anyone who does collect such awards. Everyone has their thing, and I'm not one to put it down, whatever it might be.

I also had a nice QSO with KV4BG for about twenty minutes on 40 Minutes before the band dropped out and all I could hear was the mud. I hate that. I really enjoy a good ragchew and Ira seemed a nice person to talk to, really. I hope I work him again.

73

July 16th

I just spent 45 minutes trying to break the pile-up on 14.280 for the K4S Special Event Station commemerating the final launch in the Space Shuttle program. i was unsuccessful. With my antenna being substandard and my puny hundred watts, I'm not going to beat the guys with beam antennas and 1000 watt amplifies. I will try again later, maybe tomorrow.

I've been working on my CW mostly. I made two QSOs in the last couple of days. W9ZN, Bill in Chicago, Il and W9OAW, Gabe in Ashland, WI. I shouldn't say it, but my code reading abilities, being what they are, thought Gabe was sending Assland, WI. My Bad :oP

After Mass tonight, I hope to get over and get some of my poles stored behind my brother's garage. I'm going to try and get a better/taller mast up and hook up my Alpha Delta LB Plus dipole. Maybe that will improve my signal. Based on the reports I'm hearing, my current set up is costing me at least 2 Db on recieve and maybe more on transmit. This must be rectified!

73 All

Best Laid Plans

I didn’t get on the air tonight due to a confluence of events. My wife’s serpentine belt broke and what I thought would take ten minutes now involves me removing a motor mount to put it on. It makes me want to slap and an engineer. Grrrr! While I was working on that company showed up and a friend called me to tell me that he’s leaving town. My company didn’t leave until after the weekly QRP Foxhunt. Thus, I am not on the air tonight. I’ll try tomorrow

I did a bit of CW last night. My copying skills are pretty rough. I worked W9ZN, Bill out of Chicago. I only followed about a quarter of what was sent, to be honest, just enough for me to fake it through the QSO. I thought it would be a good policy to do a QSO every night just for the practice of it. Well, it didn’t happen tonight, darn it. So much for my best laid plans.

Z4S is apparently still broadcasting. They are special event station in Florida near Kennedy Space Center commemorating the last launch of the shuttle program. I remember the first shuttle launch very well. I played sick so I could stay home from school to watch it launch. As some one on twitter remarked about the shuttle program, it isn’t that I’m sad about it being the end of an era, I’m sad because there is no era to replace it. I worked its sister station Z5S in White Sands, New Mexico last week easily, but Z4S couldn’t hear me in the few times he wasn’t working a pile up. I would really like to work Z4S and match the pair and collect the wallpaper. I’ve never been much for collecting wallpaper, but I think I will start a file of historical events celebrated on amateur radio. The Olde Virginia Hams will be activating the Bull Run battlefield as a special event for the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Bull Run. On the July 4th Weekend, I worked 8 of the thirteen original colonies during the Thirteen Original Colonies Special Event. There isn’t much this weekend. Something about Laura Ingalls Wilder Festival Special Event and something about the world’s largest Holstein cow, believe it or not.

Coming Back After All These Years

My name is Sam, and my amateur radio callsign is KC0KSV. I've technically been a ham for 10 years now, I just renewed my license last month. I am an amateur extra class license holder, which doesn't mean as much as it use to, but it does allow me access to all of the frequency spectrum alotted to hams.

I started in ham radio because I wanted to be a weather spotter for Sedgwick County Emergency Management. To be a weather spotter meant I had to be a ham. I got my Technician license and bought a used Yaesu dual-bander to put in my truck in May of 2001. The following August I upgraded to General and in November of 2001, I upgraded to Extra class. I found all of the tests ridiculously easy, except for the 5wpm code test, that was a bear. My Extra test took me 10 minutes to complete and I missed two questions.

I dropped $200 on a used Kenwood TS820s that I'm still using and another $150 on an Alpha Delta LB Plus multiband Dipole. With those, I was on the air. I staid with RACES for a couple of years before I decided to leave the group, if their leadership changes I would like to go back. Without the impetus of doing EMCOMM, my interest in radio waned and when an ice storm took down my antenna in January of '05 I hadn't used my HF rig in six months, so I just threw the antenna in the garage and forgot about it.
When I replaced my old pick-up with a newer vehicle, I never bothered to put the 2meter rig in, and I let my local club membership drop and I left ham radio behind.

Fast forward five years and I'm now newly married and newly laid-off from my job at Cessna. I injured my lower back so bad I was unable to walk for three months without a handful of painkillers and assistance. With no insurance, no one would help me much. The ER sure treated me different. There was, and is still, nothing to do but try to heal over time. I followed some emergency preparedness forums on my BlackBerry while I was recuperating. Ham radio came up and I followed those discussions. Bored, I looked around on the net and discovered Larry W2LJ's blog about his QRP operation and how much he loves ham radio. I went to the beginning of Larry's posts and read them straight through. I still look forward to Larry's post. Larry impressed me not only as ham, but as a person as well. We also have a lot in common. We are both devout Catholics, politically conservative, Revolutionary War afficianados, CERT members, and ham radio license holders (although I was a ham in name only). If you ever work me on the bands, you can blame W2LJ, he was the one that inspired me to get back into to the hobby.

Between 2010-2011 I mostly just read blogs and things about ham radio. I did, however, start looking for my ham gear that had been packed away when I moved in with my wife. I couldn't find my antenna, and with my personal econmics being what they are, I couldn't really replace it. I have two stepdaughters now, and there is actually a law that says you have to feed children everyday, three times a day. Who knew?

I tried to make a windom antenna with the coax set up as air wound choke balun. It worked like crap. I let the rig sit some more, but Larry and some other ham bloggers had stirred my dusty little ham soul. I made a commitment to get on the air for Field Day 2011. I went to the local candy store and bought a 4:1 Balun and converted my crappy windom into a dipole cut for 40 meters. It worked. I could work 15,20,40, meters. A week after Filed Day I found my Alpha Delta plus antenna in my brother's garage. Now where is that darn 2 meter whip??? I'm still using my homebrew 40 because I'm finding it difficult finding a place to string up that Alpha Delta dipole, it is so long.

My wife's family has a communal cabin on Fall River Lake, about 90 miles east of Wichita. I decided I would operate FD there as a 1 Alpha station, using two of those emergency jumpstart batteries and an inverter. Alas, my wife's car developed problems. I'm not much of a mechanic, but I have good friends who are, so I tore open the engine to replace the bad gaskets and intake manifold and my friend Greg helped me put it all back togther. He saved me at least $400 in labor and parts, and very probably more. I am grateful to my friend, and I am grateful for my friend. I have no complaints about the money I did spend to fix the car, but it meant I was going to be operating as a 1 Delta station from my basement on Field Day.

So June 25th arrives, and I'm down in the basement ready to go. My goal is to work at least 100 stations during FD. 1pm hits and the bands come alive. I start hitting everyone I hear calling CQ. My antenna is not optimally placed, and band conditions were short, and I have a hard time hitting either coast. Larry and his gang of merry brass pounders operate QRP, or 5 watts or less. I was operating 100 watts and still had trouble working stations. I also operated phone the whole time and left my old straight key alone. My CW skills are lamentable. I hope to improve them to at least 20wpm, but for now I will stick with the microphone.

All in all, I had a blast on Field Day! I can't wait for next year to do it all over again. I hope to be more prepared to operate at least as a 1 Echo station next year. Ideally, I will be brass pounding from my wife's uncle's nice aluminum dock. In my crafty little brain, I can see myself under a pop-up canopy (complete with mosquito netting) operating my rig on folding table with a couple of those jump start batteries and a cooler full of diet coke and sandwhiches. I'm thinking about a floating antenna. I could mount a vertical antenna on the lid of a plastic 5 gallon bucket with rocks, or something, to act as a ballast to keep it upright. I could thread the radials through the center of those foam noodles the kids play with, using pvc pipe to connect the noodles together. I wonder how much of a boost I'd get from a fresh water lake? I know salt water is an excellent ground to bounce signals from. This is probably not going to happen, but it would be cool if it worked out.

I think this post is long enough. I got some more stuff to talk about, but I will wait to post it.

73 y'all!