My take on 63 Degrees of Propagation

LOTW DXCC Statistics To Date

2012-02-01T21:33:00.002-09:00

LOTW WAS Totals

I decided to take a peek at my Logbook Of The World (LOTW) totals when I heard that the VP6T DXpedition was uploading logs rather than holding on to them. When I checked, my one QSO with VP6T was in fact already confirmed on LOTW. Thank you to that team!!!

I have always been amazed at some of the high DXCC confirmations that I've seen other stations have using LOTW. I very much appreciate LOTW and the fact that there is no monthly or yearly fee to use it and the only cost is when using contacts confirmed on LOTW to gain an award. With the ever increasing price of postage, this sure has a positive effect on my wallet! Like banking or purchasing anything online, once you get your account set up, it's pretty easy to manage. My current totals are shown above. No Honor Roll here but it hopefully won't be long before I'm knocking on the door to 200 Entities confirmed via LOTW. It's always a nice surprise to log in and see an increase in your confirmation totals.

That's Just Cold!

2012-01-29T18:04:00.001-09:00

January 2012 Monthly Temps at KL8DX - KL8SU's QTH

2012 has started off with some pretty cold temperatures. Alaska has been breaking lots of weather related records this year. This includes total snowfall and of course the bitter cold. Due to our somewhat elevated location, we don't see the deadly cold temperatures that some due around us. It's hard to believe what even a 1,000 feet of elevation will do for temperatures. With that said, since we are above and south of the town of Healy, they see some bitter cold temperatures there. When Sean, KL1SF lived in Healy, I could always check his weather station and it was not uncommon for his station to be showing 10-18 degrees colder than ours. There is truth to that rumor that cold air sinks. We have had been under the influence of high pressure here in the interior that has kept us clear and cold. The downside of this is the cost of heating our igloo and keeping the lights on. I know, in a previous blog or two I was complaining about the wind. Truth be know, I will take the cold over the wind any day. I don't have to worry about the cold blowing my tower over.

Even though Alaska is one of those oil rich states, our fuel costs here are some of the highest in the country. We use heating oil to heat our house and garage. We also use propane for our stove and hot water heater. Propane is delivered out of Fairbanks, which is 2 hours north of our location. Heating oil is delivered from a company in Nenana, which is an hour north of here. We received deliveries this last week and propane was $4.599 per gallon and heating oil was $4.215 per gallon. Propane can be a challenge as propane's boiling point is -44F. So anything colder than that, it will not make gas and our propane appliances won't function. Thankfully our heating oil blend keeps flowing at that and much colder temperatures.

Electricity is bittersweet here. When we lived in Ohio, it felt like any wind or storm would effect our power by knocking it out. Here in our part of Alaska, the infrastructure is outstanding. As an example, we receive wind gusts exceeding 60 mph here on a regular basis and the power does not even blink! The downside to this is our current price (which just went up in January) is that we pay $0.2366 per KWH.

In looking at our weather station data above, the difference between the high and low January temperature shows 78.7 degrees. Our high temperature was just a few degrees above freezing. So needless to say, when our temperatures are this cold for this long, it has a lasting effect on the wallet. Fixed costs are obviously a priority, so my amplifier, which is in dire need of repair, will not likely see use again until mid to late summer. Just to ship it back to the factory (one way) will be roughly $125.00 - $140.00. I could have $300 invested even before the factory cracks the case.

Just like winter is tough on the budget, solar winds can be tough on the bands. Living so far north, geomagnetic activity can hamper signals dramatically. Lately, I have "tuned the bands" and not heard even one station in the evenings. It's been very hard to even work the daytime high bands with just 100 watts. Then factor in a few DXpeditions that are going on right now, I could really use the AMP for a bit more horsepower. But, every squirrel finds a nut someday, right? I was excited to work VP6T on 15 meters a few nights ago. Thankfully once again, there is not much between them and me but open ocean. I still had to make it through the pile-up and I was excited to hear them come back to me! Determination pays off.

I had high hopes of working some QRP the last few weeks but the band conditions have made it rough to even work with 100 watts. But like the weather, better days are ahead. You gotta take the good with the bad. Just like living here in Alaska,it's still worth every penny. I'm thankful that we (my wife and I) have jobs in today's economy but I'd much rather be living paycheck to paycheck in Alaska than on easy street in some place and I did not want to live. I know that this lack of propagation will end before long and I will once again hear strong signals on 10 meters. When we lived in Ohio, I could normally find activity on some band during the day or evening hours. But, it's worth a few propagationally challenged days to live here in Alaska. Even when I open up that large heating bill or tune the bands and not hear one station, I just remind myself of how lucky I am to live and play here in Alaska.

Uploading The Past Part Deux

2012-01-16T21:45:00.001-09:00

KE8RO/KL7 LOTW Confirmations

As I had mentioned in my previous blog entry, I was on the hunt for my .adif file that would allow me to upload my 2002 QSO's from Alaska. Thanks to Sean, KL1SF for lending me access to his fine equipment! I was not sure if I signed /KL7 as a prefix or suffix and I obviously sent it as a suffix. So, after getting my file created, it was a matter of uploading the contacts and the confirmations are seen to the left. I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend Andy, VE9DX as one of my confirmations! So my quest to upload my previous logs has been completed. I have enough certificates now that I have to carefully pick the correct one when uploading my current logs. Not that painful of a process and extremely quick response back from LOTW (Logbook Of The World) and the ARRL.

I have been working on logging all of my already confirmed counties from received QSL cards. I'm nearly through my current on hand batch of QSL's and then I will dive into my previous callsigns to see what I have confirmed. I've easily hit the 500 + confirmed mark but with well over 3,000 counties in the United States, I have a long way to go! But, ya gotta start somewhere, right? It just took a little nudge from Ed, K8QWY to get me organizing my files.

I received all of my ordered parts from Powerwerx so I'm ready to get started on my mobile installation of both my UHF/VHF and HF rigs. I'm looking forward to getting back on mobile APRS again. My last broadcast from the mobile was at the Ford dealership in Fairbanks, Alaska the day that we traded our F-150 in for our current truck.

Since the current geomagnetic activity has rendered the bands useless as of this writing, I'm working on catching up on a few QSL requests and some backing up of logbooks and data. On our trip home from Fairbanks today we got to see the sun in all its glory! So glad to see the fireball in the sky making a return. It will be many more weeks before the sun will be warm enough to melt anything up here but just knowing it's returning cannot help but put a smile on any Alaskan's face.

Uploading The Past

2012-01-11T20:32:00.001-09:00

KE8RO/TF from 1997 & 1998

I recently was doing some computer work on the "family" computer and located some of my old .ADIF files from previous logbooks. Once I found these, I noticed I had logs exported from my previous Icelandic operations and also my visit to Alaska in 2002 operation. It was great that I got to experience both of these operations with my long time friend (hell, my almost brother) Sean, KL1SF. Our operation was from Keflavik, Iceland and my Alaska operation when I was a tourist, was from Healy, which is north of where I now reside.

With that said, I renewed my previous callsign first, KE8RO using TQSLcert with LOTW (Logbook Of The World). Once that was renewed, I then applied for my new TF (Iceland) operation under my KE8RO callsign using TQSLcert (TQ5). I submitted my request prior to heading to bed and it was waiting in my inbox the next morning! So, it took a bit of tweaking to my .adif file but after uploading, I had these QSO's (contacts) confirmed (see photo above)! Not bad considering the age of the QSO's. I uploaded a total of 278 contacts.

I'm happy that these contacts will now be preserved and hopefully this inspires some to upload their old logs. You just never know what's sitting there awaiting a confirmation. My only issue now is finding my KL7/KE8RO .adif file! That one has gone missing but I may have some software that can pull it out of one of my old logbooks which did not export .adif files. Either way, I'm on a quest to get those contacts uploaded next.

We just had another Chinook blow through with wind gusts exceeding 60 mph here at our QTH (location). On the backside of this system is the snow, which we are receiving now. I normally crank my beam down from it's normal 43 foot height but this wind was originally forecasted to gust only 40 mph and once it was upgraded, it was too late for me to safely lower the antenna. But, it appears all elevated metal came through with flying colors, thankfully! Many have commented about seeing the snow that some parts of Alaska has recently received, such as in Valdez and Cordova. We don't even get close to that type of snow amounts here and in seeing the pictures, it's just unbelievable what that amount of snow looks like! I'm wishing all the best to my ham friends (and fellow Alaskan's) effected by such crazy weather! I complain about the weather here from time to time but really, I can't complain when I see what others in this great state experience. Winds exceeding 100+ mph and unbelievable amounts of snow!

Last weekend I participated in the SKCC Weekend Sprintathon as K3Y/KL7. I enjoyed exercising my Navy Flameproof Straight Key and passing out the K3Y and Alaskan multiplier. I was also impressed with the number of QRP stations I worked! Being a QRP (low power) operator, I always try to pause for those low power friends. When the high bands are in good shape, great things are possible with QRP. I will try to sign up for a few more stints as time allows. Oh, and I also got my brand new Yaesu FT-857D hooked up and a straight key wired for it (J-37 thanks to Larry, N1TX) and I'm looking forward to my first CW QSO with it. Not sure yet who will be my first CW victim but I have someone in mind. My first SSB contact will be with (of course) KL1SF/K7, in AZ. It will be short lived in the shack as it will eventually find a home in our truck.

I've been working on some recently received QSL requests and I need to decide on my next photo QSL card. I have used photos I have taken during my travels here in Denali National Park for all of my photo QSL cards to date. I change up my cards for each order, using a different photograph. Just gotta make up my mind as I'm nearly out but I do have a very nice stack of QSL cards from gg Graphics that I plan on putting to good use. Great service and very nice cards. I have 1,000 of them so chances are, if you work me, you may just get one if you QSL via the bureau. Since photo cards are a bit more expensive, I normally use them for direct requests and I have a second design for my thousands of requests I get via the ARRL QSL Bureau.

I have a busy weekend planned but I hope to do some operating in the NAQP CW Contest. I won't be able to operate the entire time but hopefully I can put a few of my Twitter followers in the ol logbook. Oh, and yes contesters, Alaska is a state in this contest!! Yea I know, it can be confusing at times, even to us...

Looking In the Rearview and my 2012 Theme - Doing More With Less?

2012-01-02T21:36:00.002-09:00

In looking at the last few years of my activity, I can see that 2011 was a more active year than the previous year by just about 50%! I think the main driving force behind this is the great propagation experienced on the high bands. Once 10 meters began to open on a regular basis, it was like comparing the few over the air TV channels we get to satellite TV. It just made me sit back in amazement! I would dedicate hours playing on 10 meters, the band that has been so silent for so long. 2011 was all about 10, numerically speaking. The fantastic 10 meter activity led to my inactivity in other areas. My doctor keeps telling me I need to be more active and I took her advice! I made twice as many contacts in 2011 as I did in 2010! Something tells me that is not what she had in mind.

When I sit back and think if there was one moment that stood out amongst all the rest, I can't think of just one. So many great contests, several great DXpeditions worked, lots of repeat QSO's with friends from all over the globe. If there was one DXpedition that stood out I would probably have to say it was T32C. A group of fantastic operators who made lots of DX'ers happy all over the world. In recent years, there have been several "class acts" when it comes to DXpeditions and T32C is right there at the top in my book. Oh, and I'm running out of all space for framed certificates received from contest efforts. I have a small station and remember, you can't win if you don't enter! Send in those logs! I will at least send in a checklog unless of course I totally space sending a log in. It happens.

And in speaking of sending in logs, how bout that LOTW overload which began with what, CQ World Wide SSB? Now if that is not a sign of hot propagation, I don't know what is. I for one am a firm believer in electronic QSL's, specifically LOTW. With another postage increase in our future, I could not afford QSL'ing on my tight budget. I'm thankful these electronic services are available and the only cost is perks or award submissions.

And 2011 saw, what seemed to me, so many references to the DX Code Of Conduct. A good thing yes, especially if an operator takes these to heart. I have them now sitting next to my HF radio and reference them often. If anyone has been on the receiving side of a pile-up, they can appreciate them! Do yourself a favor, if you have not reviewed the DX Code Of Conduct, please do so. Just imagine how civilized the pile-ups would be if everyone followed them! Will that day ever come? I'm not holding my breath but I also want world peace.

2011 to me also saw myself becoming familiar with spots from W3LPL. I only wished I had half the receiving power of that station! You can run but you can't hide! I have run for nearly an hour without being spotted on the "packet cluster" (dating myself), prior to W3LPL. Now when you call CQ, you need to fasten your seatbelt and hang on. The pile-ups can be instantaneous. Yes, Skimmer has been with us for awhile but now DX spots feed directly into the web cluster and it's amazing how quickly you get posted when calling CQ. Depending who you talk to, this is either a bad thing or a good thing. One of the neat ways I like to use this technology is by typing my callsign in the Reverse Beacon Network and this will tell me where and how well I'm being heard after calling CQ. Or even after being on the air in a QSO. I've been in this hobby for 23 years and the advancements I have seen just in my time are crazy. You can now look at a radio and see any activity on a band thanks to a spectrum scope! I no longer have to tune the band by turning my VFO looking for stations! I can just look at my spectrum scope and see it visually! The spectrum scope did for ham radio what remote control did for the television...well, kinda maybe?!

In sticking with my theme (aka: New Years Resolution) as I like to think of it ( maybe if I refer to it as a theme, I may stick to the plan?) I plan on doing something which to me, is as hard as the day I quit smoking. Do less ham radio. I want to focus on high activity times and spend less average operational time in the shack. Seems we are hearing that all the time these days, "Doing more with Less." So, I will try to make more contacts but with less time in the shack. Probably with contests and weekend activities. I figure I can accomplish this theme if I limit my "during the week" shack time. Something I'm sure my family may appreciate and if I actually do something with that time. The fruits of my labor may pay off in more ways than one. Until they come out with the ham radio patch, it's an addiction I find hard to walk away from without having side effects or withdrawal.

Trends or fads are a fact of life. I always wonder how there is still a market for TNC's when we have sound cards which come with most computers and not to mention new TNC's bring some serious coin! In today's economy, how is there a market for a $10,000 radio or a $5,000 dollar antenna? Cell phones are no longer cell phones and these funny square boxes keep showing up all over the place which tell our cell phones were to go! Go ahead, click on this one, I know you want to just to see where it takes you! If you don't know what this is, don't worry as you probably lead a simpler life and I'm envious. Just like the hair styles of the 80's, these will probably be a thing of the past in a few years. But wait, look how many things we grew up with that are making a come back!

So, I'm not sure if my ham radio diet will be successful but a leaner and more productive station is the plan. There were times I was thankful when I turned the radio on and heard nothing but static. It allowed me to give a large sigh and go do something that needed to be done around the house. But now I turn on the radio and I hear stuff on 10 meters, so it's so tough to just say no and walk away! I'm still trying to get it in my mind that we are already in 2012 and I'm writing about my 2011 reflections. But hold the phone!!!! The end of the world is 12/12/12, right? Or according to some anyhow. Forget it, I'm gonna play radio as much as possible! Come on sunspots, let's see days when 10 meters is open all day and all night long! I want to enjoy this great propagation as much as possible! If you lead this camel to water, it will drink! Pour me a glass of rare DX and I will sip it all night long! The sweet taste of DX success.

Ham radio, like a fine wine, is good in moderation. I've been DX drunk thanks to 10 meters for the last few months and I have enjoyed every opening. I appreciate all who read this blog and for those ham operators out there, I honestly hope that 2012 is a DX successful year for you. May your country (Entity) count increase twofold and may your bureau envelopes be bursting at the seams. I hope your LOTW and E-QSL totals climb each and every time you log into your account. Let's hope that your neighbors decide to do the right thing and donate their HDTV's to third world countries and replace them with LED and RFI friendly versions. Yeah, okay...remember what I said about world peace? I'm not giving up hope.

Happy New Year and all kidding aside, I hope it's one for your record books. I'm not sure if we will experience an all night 10 meter opening but if so, I'm crashing my ham radio diet. Until we can control propagation, I gotta do what I gotta do. I wonder if there is an app for that?

WSPR'ing in the End of 2011, SK'ing the Beginning of 2012

2011-12-31T16:40:00.001-09:00

WSPR Mode December 31st, 2011

I have been running WSPR for the last 48 hours or so checking propagation to and from Alaska. I find this extremely helpful especially for a small station like mine. Gotta take advantage of the wave of propagation when it flows the best. It's been interesting that on several occasions, I can hear long before I am actually heard. I have been running 5 watts when operating this mode and the results are what I had expected since I have been operating up here for over 8 years now. Funny also is how it's very tough to decode anything over the pole even with a slight hint of aurora. I can see the traces but it just won't decode. I had a sked today on 20 meters for a county hunter who needed his last Judicial District here in Alaska. I'm happy to say our sked went as planned and I was able to give him his last, the 4th. I was checking 20 meters to make sure we could complete our contact.

One of the neatest times of the year is Straight Key Night (SKN). I worked several different modes today and I hung out a bit on the K3UK LOTW Sked Page giving out contacts to those that may have needed Alaska on a certain band or mode. Once the clock hit midnight UTC time and I had finished my digital QSO, I went off to hunt down my first SKN contact.

2012 SKN

While tuning across the band, it was full of straight key activity. January is a busy month for the Straight Key Century Club as they continue with their month long K3Y event. To me, this rings in the new year more so than seeing any ball or walleye drop!

I tuned around and heard my first strong SKN Night CQ. It was from AA8MI. It just so happens that Gene was at Perrysburg, Ohio! I lived and grew up not far from Gene in the small town of Lakeside-Marblehead. Gene was operating his Icom 746PRO and using a Kent Straight Key. We exchanged some great information back and forth including weather, radio equipment, age, ham status, and the fact that Gene and his wife hope to make it to Alaska to see the aurora once he retires. I let Gene know that this was aurora season and if his wife wanted to see the lights of winter, she had better dress warm as it was running -31F to -32F degrees. Our QSO lasted roughly 20 minutes and I signed with Gene.

So, 2011 may be exiting cold but 2012 is entering colder. I have to say, I think working Gene brought me good luck for 2012, as what would the chances be that I worked someone on SKN night who lived so close to my old home. Made my night for sure. SKN continues but we have festivities to attend and friends to share some time with. This last blog of 2011 will be continued in 2012 with probably an overview of my weekend activity. To all who read this blog, thanks for stopping and taking the time to read my ramblings. I am very blessed and I hope that 2012 brings you all that you desire and more. 2012 could be an interesting year for us with some potential changes and travels possibly coming our way. All we can do is wait and see. From a chilly Alaska, we send you our warmest greetings and Happy New Year!!!

County Hunting in 2012, Means Digging Into My Past

2011-12-25T13:44:00.001-09:00

6 Meter Grids Worked & Confirmed as KE8RO

I was recently gifted a membership to MARAC by my long time friend and CW Elmer Ed, K8QWY. I have been interested in county hunting for a few years but DX'ing and contesting to increase my DXCC totals has always been at the top of my priority list. I consider myself a DXer by trade and the rest is icing on the ham radio cake! With the additional gifting by K8QWY of the MARAC Logger, I have decided to start populating the database with what I have confirmed to date. Once I get all of my "on hand" QSL cards entered, this will give me a foundation to build on as I strive to achieve the Worked All Counties Award by CQ Magazine, and more.

Anyhow, in digging into my collection of QSL cards, I found some of my old award tracking records. At the time, I was using LogPlus to track my contacts and awards. To this day, I think LogPlus was the best logging program I have ever used. As mentioned in previous posts, the owner decided to throw in the towel on the program and never look back. With that said, I still maintained some hard copy records of my accomplishments and I still have my old version operational for look-ups. The photo above shows the grids I had worked / confirmed on 6 meters. Living in EN81om, it was a great location for UHF/VHF not to mention HF DX'ing! I achieved VUCC on 6 Meters prior to departing Ohio, and I was very close with 2 Meters and 432!

2 Meter Grids Worked & Confirmed as KE8RO

The map to the right shows my 2 Meter contacts. I was running a 13B2 at approximately 60 feet or so and I did manage to have a bit of help (when I needed it) from a Mirage 300 watt amplifier. Living on the shore of Lake Erie made for some great inversion related QSO's. I also enjoyed auroral QSO's as well and when there was aurora, you would always find me on 2 meters with my antenna pointed north. I would be listening for that distinct tone stripped sound of AU CW. I had lots of fun working the various UHF/VHF contests which not only added to my grid count, but yielded some great beam spinning fun! My rotor got a work out as I would hear grids in all directions.

432 Meter Grids Worked & Confirmed as KE8RO

My 432 set up was a 17 element antenna just above my 2 meter antenna. 432 was a bit harder but I did have an amplifier which allowed me to push about 100 watts on that band. My 432 grids are shown to the left and I think this was one of my most favorite bands. I did not have as much QRN (Noise) on this band as I had on the other two, so my weak signal receiving ability was a bit better. I'm looking forward to the day that I can once again start collecting grid squares on 2 Meters and 432. When I arrived in Alaska, I sold off all of my UHF/VHF gear with the exception of my feedlines. I did not see a need to keep it and I figured by the time I got back on those bands, the radios would be a bit better than what I had so what an excuse for new.

So, what do you ask does all this have to do with county hunting? Well, since I don't have these bands keeping me busy, I guess I have some extra time to devote to chasing those I need. I am on the hunt for all of my stateside QSL cards that show counties and I am starting with all that I have confirmed with my 8'land callsign. Once I get those entered, I will then dig into my massive collection of stateside QSL's that I've collected since I began operating up here in Alaska. Since I had 307 countries confirmed by the ARRL prior to departing Ohio, I plan on organizing those QSL cards in a photo album after scanning them. Both great winter time projects.

My DXCC needed List from Ohio

And in speaking of DXCC, I am not chasing countries like I had before as it's so darn expensive just to get a foreign QSL card. I'm a fan of LOTW and I am trying to get as many as possible via electronic means first. When I decide to apply, I will then chase down those I need with hard copy QSL's. I don't expect to ever get as close to the Honor Roll as I was in Ohio. Those remaining on my needed list from Ohio are shown on the right. Even with my 9 years of activity here, I have only just under 180 countries confirmed via LOTW to date. Having moved to Alaska from Ohio, I had to wipe the slate clean and start all over again.

So, my desire to begin 2012 with a new challenge, that of chasing new counties, led me into my stash of QSL cards which led me down the path of memory lane. I have kept every QSL card I have ever received over the years from each and every valid contact. I'm hoping that once the dust clears and I get all of my on hand stateside QSL cards into the database, I will have put a nice dent in the number of counties I need to chase. I will be a bit more attentive in the state QSO Parties in 2012 for sure. I have been lucky enough to receive some very nice certificates and a plaque from county hunters for helping them with the 4th Judicial District here in Alaska. I'm hoping to be able to do the same someday. But for now, I will be thumbing through old QSL cards from days gone by and looking forward to all those in my future.

The other great side effect of chasing countries all these years is the awesome stamp collection I have! I'm hoping my kids will someday find them as interesting as I do. Like many hams, my hope was to have them interesting in ham radio but sadly, their cell phones are the only communication devices they are interested in. I'm not losing hope though. Since becoming a grandparent, I have a new audience I can focus on in the coming years.

Windy Weekend Leads to New Video and Few RAC QSO's

2011-12-18T21:48:00.001-09:00

Well, another windy weekend around these parts! With so much noise and

having to rotate my beam so the wind would blow threw it, my RAC effort was

sadly, minimal. My 50 QSO breakout is below;

Contest         : RAC Canada Winter Contest
Callsign        : KL8DX
Mode            : CW
Category        : Checklog
Overlay         : ---
Band(s)         : All bands (AB)
Class           : High Power (HP)
Zone/State/... : 001
Locator         : BP53LU
Operating time : 2h09

BAND Q PH Q CW P PH P CW POINTS   AVG
------------------------------------------
160     0     0    0    0       0 0.00
   80     0     1    0    1      20 20.00
   40     0     0    0    0       0 0.00
   20     0    27    0   10     284 10.52
   15     0    16    0    6     170 10.63
   10     0     6    0    3      62 10.33
   50     0     0    0    0       0 0.00
144     0     0    0    0       0 0.00
------------------------------------------
TOTAL     0    50    0   20     536 10.72
==========================================
           TOTAL SCORE : 10 720

Dupes are not included in QSO counts neither avg calculations

Operators       :
Soapbox         : Checklog

Powered by Win-Test 4.8.0        http://www.win-test.com

Since my operation time was short, I decided to put a video together from

the ARRL 10 Meter Contest. It had been over a year since I uploaded a video to my YouTube page so I was long overdue. As Carl, WL7BDO said, it's my "Ten Minutes of 10".

I enjoy doing these videos so hopefully it won't be as long for my next production.

ARRL 10 Meter Contest - Half the Height, Twice the Fun

2011-12-13T21:39:00.001-09:00

Chinook System December 9th & 10th, 2011

My long time friend and old neighbor Sean, KL1SF headed back to Alaska for a week on a work related trip here at Denali. Sean stayed with us and we got to spend a few hours with him last week. Sean arrived after our last blow and departed prior to this one on Friday night. As noted in an earlier post, I watch the Weather Underground Infrared data close for these systems. The last two systems will be ones you will be hearing about in next seasons Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers not to mention maybe Alaska State Troopers and any of the other handful of Alaska reality shows. Weather is always a topic of these shows and winters here are tough on most everything and everyone. Weather can changed very quickly here so I check it several times daily. The map above shows the approaching system as viewed last Friday. I knew my weekend attempt in the ARRL Ten Meter Contest was going to be a challenge.

I started the contest off with calling CQ and working a few stations eventually moving upward doing some S&P (Search & Pounce) only to stop and call CQ again. At about 0205z, I threw in the towel as I wanted to spend a bit of time with Sean, KL1SF before he had to rush north to catch his plane. I also wanted to drop my antennas for the approaching storm. The band was still active with lots of JA's (Japanese stations) as well with West Coast USA stations.

The next morning, I waited for the band to open up and I got my start at 1739z or so. I basically S&P operated until 2004z when I squeezed into a hole and called CQ. The funfest began as it was not long before I acquired a pile-up. I ran stations until 2145z and I was surprised at what I could work with my beam at around the 20 foot level. The winds were cranking and I had lots of QRN (Noise) from local powerlines and other sources but I managed the best I could. Again, pile-ups are nothing like a DXpedition type but when you are not a seasoned contester, they can be brutal at times. Some of the frustrating parts were getting a partial call, then asking for that station only and others just continue to call. I even had a W2 station call me, I sent my report and then he wanted MY callsign prior to sending his exchange! I'm thinking to myself, aren't you supposed to know who you're calling before you call? I sent his exchange again and he once again asked for my call. I manually typed my callsign slowly and sent it twice and he sent his and then moved on. During these runs, I had stations move directly next to me, one a JA7 and another time a W8 station which forced me to finally move off and find another frequency. Not sure how they could not have heard me or the many others calling me. I knew low power was going to be a challenge but adding QRM and then QRN on top of it all made for a stressful weekend.

Saturday was good considering the weather, wind, and band conditions. By the time I ended on Saturday night, I was missing the following USA states; MS, MO, ND, and SD. Canada, I was missing several but that's not uncommon for me as I normally don't come close to a clean sweep of the Provinces. As far as Mexico, I had not even started to work those multipliers! I had the worst luck finding XE stations this past weekend and not sure why. It was not for a lack of looking for sure but I was happy a few called in.

Sunday started out then fell out. I heard W3UA on 10 meters working stations with a marginal signal. I tried call him but no luck so I just listened for a bit. KL2R was the strongest on the band, ironically. I listened to Larry call CQ for a bit with no luck. I then tuned the band and found it flat. It was that way until around 1740z. First station worked was K5KFT and after S&P'ing for a bit, I found a frequency to call CQ again. It was not long before the masses showed up and I was once again faced with working through a pile-up. I wanted to make an attempt to do more S&P'ing in hopes of finding multipliers in between runs. Each time I did, I added a few more to the log.

The highlight for me was working everyone that called! So many familiar weekend friends and it's always a pleasure to hear them on (too many to list). The cool DX contact was 9M6XRO calling me near the end of the contest. Over the course of the weekend I also seemed to have worked several new stations for the first time. Glad to see some new blood enjoying the CW mode.

Some of the lowlights for me are for sure the weather and of course the QRN on Sunday. I was able to put my beam back up on Sunday morning once the winds died down a bit. I had 60 Mph wind gusts here over the weekend so that really stirred up the neighborhood. I had a K9 station park next to me and his station sounded horrible. I could not filter out his very wide and nasty sounding station so I eventually had to move. All in all, it was your typical contest weekend with crowded bands. I always complain about dupes, which I again experienced this weekend and I myself owe N5ZK an apology. I called him after mistyping his callsign into my contest program. I typed K5ZK by mistake and of course, it said I had not worked him before. Well, after working him I realized my mistake. I always work dupes as I know it's gonna happen but the annoying ones are those who just yell and work me after clicking on a bad DX Cluster spot listing me as KL7DX. I think folks just need to listen for a second to verify the callsign before sending. I send my call after 99.99% of my contacts and this time, I even slowed my call down after sending TU after each contact to help pick out the "8" in my call but it seems it did not help. Sadly, I do this for them as it will be the other station most of the time that loses the points or multiplier.

So, Saturday was a blast, half the height but twice the fun as far as my antenna and operation was concerned. It was great to get my beam back to its normal 42-43 foot mark on Sunday for sure. Oh, and I had to laugh. I had an 8 station call me and his old rig was drifting more than my driveway. I normally lock my VFO and hit my RIT button on my Icom when I'm running stations. I had to tune up the band and follow him just to get his exchange. I noted it in my notes log of the contest and had to chuckle when VE8EV also mentioned the same station in his 3830 post.

Contest overview from Win-test

Before each and every contest I, like I'm sure all the other Alaska stations have to do, is check the rules. Any good operator should check them before each and every contest for changes, etc. Alaska is one of those states that sometimes we are a state and sometimes we are DX. It just depends on the contest. I had a K6 station keep asking me for my "NR" in my exchange since in this contest, the exchange I sent was the canned "599 AK" and not a number like the DX stations had to send. It was frustrating at first but I just wanted the K6 to know, it's confusing to us at times, too. So, before each contest not only do I check the weather, I check the rules. I would suggest the same :0)

My final score is listed below. I'm happy with it for the amount of time I was able to operate. I'm hoping next year will see a all night opening to Europe! Could be wishful thinking but after working the contest last December, I would have never guessed that this December was going to be this good! Even running low height and low power for most of the weekend, it was still a blast! I did venture up to SSB for a few minutes just to listen. That was enough for me and I headed south for the rest of the weekend.

Thanks to everyone for each and every contact! I want to wish you the safest of holidays and a DX filled New Year! It was one to remember for me and another busy one as well. The QSL's continue to flow in at a steady pace each week so the administrative work is a bit more than I would like, but all part of the fun.

So what's my plans for 2012? Gotta wait and see but we may take a trip back to Ohio and even considering Dayton 2012. I have family who lives nearby so having a place to stay is half the battle. At lot can happen between now and then but since our oldest daughter has made us grandparents for the very first time, I have a desire to head back and right around the Hamvention, would be perfect timing I would say. Just gotta wait to see what plays out with work and life as that's several months away. 73 my friends and thanks for a memorable year!

Contest : ARRL 10 Meter Contest

Callsign : KL8DX

Mode : CW

Category : Single Operator (SO)

Overlay : ---

Band(s) : Single band (SB) 10 m

Class : Low Power (LP)

Zone/State/... : AK

Locator : BP53LU

Operating time : 15h12

MODE QSO DUP DXC MLTS POINTS AVG

---------------------------------------

CW 883 9 16 63 3532 4.00

SSB 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

---------------------------------------

TOTAL 883 9 16 63 3532 4.00

=======================================

TOTAL SCORE : 279 028

Dupes are not included in QSO counts neither avg calculations

Operators :

Soapbox : 10 Meters continues to amaze me!

What goes up, must come down, only to go back up again.

2011-12-09T09:52:00.000-09:00

Alaska Weather via Weather Underground

One of the many weather extremes we deal with here in Alaska is wind. It's not uncommon for places in southern Alaska to see winds exceeding 100 Mph. For my area, winds in excess of 80 Mph is not uncommon, especially during the winter months. We seem to be in this repetitive pattern lately of Chinook systems moving in from the south creating strong winds. This was the case about a week ago. I live inside the northern shadow of Mount Healy, so I don't get the full effect of these south east winds however, I get my share. With the storm pictured here, we saw wind gusts to 65 Mph at my QTH on December 3rd and 4th. As any ham knows, wind does not play well with any type of outdoor antenna. Just knowing we had these weather patterns made me purchase the Hazer system for my Rohn 25 tower.

December Chinook covering most of Alaska

Having the ability to lower my beam and wire antennas helps me sleep at night when we receive these types of weather patterns. The maps at the right are from Weather Underground and I specifically use the Infrared map to track these systems as they approach Alaska. Since living here, this last Chinook was probably one of the strongest we have encountered yet. These will normally last 48 hours before moving eastward. I lowered my antenna to the roof level with the approach of this system. Since I use my Hazer to attach the apex of my wire antennas, a few of these antennas will actually lay on my roof. With storms like this, we will see dramatic temperature changes as the wind brings warmer air! We can go from -25F to +40F in a matter of hours! With this storm system, we received the wind, then as it started to die down, we received rain, followed by brief freezing rain and then snow. It was not long before 12 inches of fresh snow blanketed the area. This left a nice layer of ice underneath all that fresh snow.

Extreme gust close to my QTH

When it was time to send the beam back up the tower, I found that the resting foot of my Hazer was frozen and I was unable to release it so I could move it upward. I also found my hand crank was frozen, too. Thankfully I keep on hand a few cans of de-icer and with my XYL's help, about 45 minutes later, I was able to send the Hazer skyward. But, my problems did not stop there. My wire antennas were laying on my roof underneath 12 inches of snow and laying in a layer of ice! I also had one leg of my 40 meter inverted V wrapped around several branches in a nearby spruce tree. It took us awhile to get the antennas freed from trees and out from the ice but thankfully we were successful. The antenna was only up for a day and a half before the next system arrived early this week. Needless to say, down came the antennas once again.

As I type this, I see another Chinook moving in for the weekend. My antennas are still nested from this weeks blow which only saw wind gusts here at my QTH to 51 Mph. This next system is forecasted to have 60+ Mph winds yet again, arriving tomorrow (Saturday) late afternoon. Sadly, this will most certainly effect my effort in the ARRL 10 Meter Contest ! With any luck, I will be able to operate the first part of the contest but I'm sure Mother Nature will shut me down yet again before the end of the contest. But lowering my antennas will hopefully ensure that I can once again raise them, allowing me to participate in future weekend ham radio festivities. There should be lots of activity from the 49th this weekend. Best of luck to everyone and with any luck, I might get a few of ya in the logbook!

What could be better than a contest certificate in your mailbox?

2011-12-01T22:02:00.006-09:00

ARRL 10 Meter Contest 2010

Contest : ARRL 10 Meter Contest 2010

Callsign        : KL8DX
Mode            : MIXED
Category        : Single Operator (SO)
Band(s)         : Single band (SB) 10 m
Class           : High Power (HP)
Zone/State/... : AK
Locator         : BP53LU
Operating time : 8h10

MODE   QSO DUP DXC MLTS POINTS   AVG
---------------------------------------
   CW   311   3 10   35    1244 4.00
SSB   124   0   5   19     248 2.00
---------------------------------------
TOTAL   435   3 15   54    1492 3.43
=======================================
         TOTAL SCORE : 102 948

As the CQ World Wide CW Contest is history for another year (see previous blog entry) it's time to focus on a few contests that are coming up. It's always a pleasant surprise when I make the trip north to Healy and check our Post Office box there. My wife normally walks in to get our mail and when she exits the Post Office with a large white envelope, it gets my attention. When a contest award certificate shows up she normally says, "You got more wallpaper." This past week I received a certificate for my 2010 effort in the ARRL 10-Meter Contest. I knew that this certificate was coming as I read the results in QST but it never dampens the excitement of receiving the award. As my wife sorted through the mail on our drive home, she told me that it appeared I received more than one piece of wallpaper! Once I got home, I opened up both envelopes and I also received my certificate for my effort in last years CQ World Wide CW Contest! I operated all band but submitted Single Operator Single Band 10 Meters. My breakout is listed below.

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW 2010

Call: KL8DX
Operator(s): KL8DX
Station: KL8DX

Class: SOSB/10 HP
QTH: Alaska
Operating Time (hrs): 15.75

Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160:
80: 2 2 2
40: 20 5 4
20: 698 17 48
15: 103 10 10
10: 128 9 11
------------------------------
Total: 951 43 75 Total Score = 245,676

Club: North Coast Contesters

So, there is something better than receiving a contest certificate in the mailbox! Receiving two of em!

CQ World Wide CW 2011 - 5 Star Weekend!

2011-11-28T06:28:00.001-09:00

Log Snapshot ARS KL8DX CQWWCW, 2011

This past weekend was the weekend of all weekends for DX contests. The CQ World Wide CW Contest took place and contesters from all over the world sent the sweet sound of Morse Code across the airwaves in this 48 hour, Indy 500 style, contest. Stations from all corners of the globe prepare their equipment and stations weeks in advance in hopes of achieving DX contest success. From mult-operators to the QRP, this contest has something for everyone who is willing to send and receive CW (Morse Code) in a contest format. Like any contest, this is fast paced fun and when propagation cooperates, there is not a part of the globe you can't hear on the bands.

Contests are many things to many different people. Some use them only to chase new award contacts such as new DXCC countries or even states. Some get on to actually compete with stations on a regional level or even a global level. There is almost a contest involving every mode available to ham radio operators and like many sports, you either love em or you hate em. From a DX'ers standpoint, I love this contest due to the ability to add new countries (dating myself as they are now called Entities) to my DXCC totals. From a contester in training standpoint, this is the chance to hone those skills that push my CW ability to the maximum (which is not fast by any means) along with learning how to deal with QRN, QRM, and using my equipment to the best of it's ability.

To prepare for this contest, I set up my contest program and got my macros the way I needed them on Wednesday evening prior to the contest weekend. I have a small station so that was the extent of my prep work. I started a bit late come Friday afternoon (contest starts in Alaska at 3 PM local time) but not as late as I had first expected with my first contact at 0032 hours. As with any contest, it takes a bit for my nerves to get settled and for my CW decoding speed to function. My only strategy was an attempt to do a bit more S&P (Search and Pounce) for multipliers and not call CQ as much. Being that I'm in CQ Zone 1, as with all of the CQ Zones, we are a multiplier to everyone. And not only are we a CQ Zone multiplier, we are a country multiplier being in Alaska. I think Zone 1 was well represented this past weekend and I doubt was missing from many logs.

Contest Score Summary for KL8DX

As far as the contest for me, I decided it would be an all band effort. I normally enter in a single band in many of these contests but looking back to last year, I operated all band, high power. My operating time in 2010 was 15h43m running high power and I achieved 951 QSO's (minus dupes) for a total claimed score of 245,676. I was out to beat my previous years score but I was a bit worried as this year, I had to enter low power. My amplifier refuses to put any power out on 10 or 15 meters so I was at the mercy the propagation and the other stations receiving ability. I joke that a low power entry this far north is like running QRP in the lower 48. With that said, there were lots of stations who pulled out my low power signal when I didn't think there was a chance of adding them to my log when I was hunting multipliers. So totally impressed with so many great operators and stations out there!

I began Friday night (technically Saturday in contest speak) by doing mostly S&P. I wanted to look for multipliers early on, expecting none to be finding me when I decided to park and call CQ. So I often feel the contest really begins for me on Saturday morning after I roll out of bed. Yes, I don't operate an entire contest weekend and I normally get sleep during Friday and Saturday nights. I think the reason I don't operate an entire weekend is my low band antennas are far from adequate and those would be the antennas I would use to work stations throughout the night time hours. When I woke up Saturday morning, I checked the bands and looked for a small hole that I could call CQ. The same happened Sunday, looked for multipliers toward Europe and then find a place to park for awhile.

I like the Single Operator format in this contest as anything goes. No restrictions to speak of when it comes to operating off times, band changes, etc. I normally take notes over the weekend so I can refer back to them when doing my contest summary. These are normally one liners on a piece of scrap paper. Some of those one liners were;

Local low temperature -26F to start with on Friday, ended up with a high temperature of +18 on Saturday and +15 on Sunday. Research the effects of hot bands on global warming and local temperatures.
Saturday night, echo effect on 20 meters was rough! Many stations sounded like they had twins and both were calling at the same time.
I like to type because most people can't read my handwriting. I like to send CW in contests using my keyboard since most probably could not read or copy my manually generated CW. I continuously hit the wrong function keys on my keyboard. There is no hope for the contesting public when I get on the bands.
What, no Europe on 10? Hearing a few on Sunday morning but nothing workable.
Wait, scratch my last, just worked G3TXF on 10 meters! Awesome!
Holy crap, I just worked OH8X, KL7RA, and TM6M on 10 also! I need oxygen!
Hearing Zone 27 on 40 meters but can't work any of the stations I hear. They are strong, but they can't hear me. Time to put in a funding request with the XYL for better low band antenna's.
Wait a minute, scratch my last, I just snagged NH2T along with AH0KT on 40 meters with a side order of VK4KW in Zone 30! Damn, there must be some truth to this grayline propagation stuff! Research when time allows but should not be a problem as funding request mentioned above will most likely be denied.
Wonder if I'm the only one who gets CB'ers on my run frequency? Wonder what all those "Extra Channel" freaks are thinking now with all this beeping stuff going on?
Must have been spotted as KL7DX again, getting lots of dupes! Corliss will have to use her reject button again. Make note to send Corliss some Christmas cookies for the overuse of her reject button on QSL requests for KL7DX.
Okay, this lower power stuff ain't so bad after all! Having to run the space heater in the shack due to amplifier sitting cold and lonely on the table due to operator abuse. Make note to submit funding request with XYL to get amplifier repaired. Probably will get funded due in part that heating the igloo using the amplifier is much cheaper than using the oil fired furnace especially with heating fuel at $4.24 per gallon.
Need to sign up for a Pile Up Management class! How in the heck do some of these DXpedition operators do it? My nerves are about shot and I could really use an Elixir right now.
Wow, best effort EVER! Remember to thank all the operators that called in making it possible!
Just made my best rates ever working CW in a contest! An endless flow of callsigns on 10 meters! I love 10 meters!

CW Run Rates for ARS KL8DX

So that was the highlights of the contest with my one liners on my piece of scrap paper. As it turned out, my fears of running low power were put to rest due to the awesome band conditions. I have highly respected the group at KL2R, lead by Larry, N1TX due to their abilities with their low power efforts. With the solar cycle on the upswing, my amp will finally get a well deserved break once it gets repaired. I have always felt that my station is only as good as my antennas and my Mosley continues to impress the dickens out of me! But either way, achieving a personal best rate of 154 Q's per hour just made my weekend! Yes, it's nothing compared to the seasoned contest operator who can easily pull double that but for me, that's something! CW has been challenging for me since the beginning but I will continue to practice and try to learn from each and every contest experience.

In conclusion, this was my best effort EVER in ANY contest I have participated in. The high bands were awesome (glad they recovered from the radiation storm that effected the bands on Saturday / Sunday) and I am so appreciative of everyone that called me or attempted to log me. I'm in these contests to have fun as my station is not big enough to compete. I had 32 dupes total over the course of the weekend. I have not looked at the DX cluster yet but I assume it was due to being spotted as KL7DX. I DO work dupes just to keep things moving rather than to set up a macro that says "Wrkd B4" and go back to CQ'n.

I must apologize to those that were effected by my keyboarding "WTH" moments, with UP2L coming to mind not to mention my hiccups on 20 meters toward the end of the contest. I appreciate everyone's patience and effort in logging or being logged for ARS KL8DX. I'm still riding high and I can still hear the sweet sound of CW in my head. After the contest, I started to catch up on laundry and I could swear my washing machine was sending me a signal report. I will be uploading my log to LOTW soon but will probably wait to see how LOTW handles this batch of millions of QSO's before doing so. And in speaking of washing, I will sure looking forward to seeing the contest results as once my log has been washed of bad or broken calls to see where I actually ended up. I'm sure there is no "Golden Log" here but with continued efforts, I might actually get there someday.

Mixed Bag of Digital & Code and Can I Have a SOTA with That?

2011-11-14T07:24:00.001-09:00

WAE RTTY Contest November 2011

As we enter into winter, it's much easier to find time to play on the radio. There are several times throughout the winter contest season that one weekend will play host to a few fun contests. I will try to divide my time to play in as many as possible. This weekend was the WAE DX RTTY Contest followed by the SKCC's Weekend Sprint. I decided early on that I was going to participate in both. The SKCC WES is a 24 hour contest during the last part of the weekend so I planned on starting out working the WAE DX RTTY Contest which was all weekend.

WAE RTTY Score Summary

This was a fun RTTY contest due to being able to send and receive QTC's and also not having any continental limits. Q Codes, commonly used in CW and Digital, and are abbreviated ways of asking or answering a question. In this RTTY contest, stations can send and receive a maximum of 10 QTC's, and if accurately sent and received, both stations receive extra points. QTC's can seem a bit intimidating at first but with today's contesting software, it's actually very easy. I personally use N1MM Logger which makes this process a breeze. In short, all you need to do to send and receive QTC's is set up few macros specific to asking or answering a QTC query. In N1MM, hit Ctrl-Z once to bring up the QTC receive screen and hit Ctrl-Z again to bring up the QTC send screen. If your receiving, as the information is passed, you just click on that information in the data window and it will automatically be placed in the proper QTC line in the QTC reception window. The software is smart enough that if there was a decode error, the problematic line will show up RED alerting you to the issue. You can then ask for a repeat of that specific line. When sending QTC's from the sending screen, it's just as easy. This is a summary of how to do it within N1MM only, but doing a search using "QTC" or "WAE" in the N1MM help fill will bring up a well written explanation of how to set up for QTC's. As you can see from the graphic to above right, I was able to send and receive a few.

The high bands were fantastic this weekend yet again. I set a goal of at least 500 QSO's (Contacts) and I achieve that. As normal, my polar path was much better in the early mornings. I managed to work into Europe both Saturday and Sunday morning but I found this to be a bit tougher using low power. Often times the AU flutter can hinder decoding signals so adding a bit of power behind my low profile signal will often yield fewer repeats. I made 508 actual QSO's by the time I threw in the towel to begin my late entry into the SKCC Weekend Sprint. My total time on for the RTTY contest was 16:23, which left me well below the 36 hour maximum operating time.

The SKCC Weekend Sprint began actually on Saturday at 3 PM local time (0000z) for me however, I did not begin my participation until Sunday at just before 8 AM local time. My first contact was at 1652z on 15 meters. I made a few contacts on 15 meters as 10 meters had yet to open. My first contact on 10 meters was at 1738z and my plan was to stay on that band until there were no more contacts to be had. That's exactly how it played out! I was lucky enough that the band was so good that I had a steady stream of contacts after calling CQ until 2336z, when I made my last 10 meter contact. Yep, that's 7 hours of using my straight key (Navy Flameproof) and there was not much left of my wrist when I was done. Due to past injuries, I had to wrap my wrist just to make it through, but it was worth every minute of it. When the dust cleared, I made 116 contacts total. It does not sound like much considering that's easily achieved during a CW contest weekend in 1 hour, but when you're manually sending, trust me, it's a few! The highlights were many but it was great to see so many QRP (Low Power) operators make it into my log. I worked several new SKCC operators and many old friends encountered as well.

The main highlight for me this past Friday was working wG0AT, along with N6UHB and KD0PNK, who were running QRP atop Bald Mountain during SOTA (Summits On the Air). They were atop Bald Mountain, FR-093, 39.1377°N / -104.8489°W. I had the honor or operating with Steve early last year from Mount Herman and it was by far one of the greatest highlights of my ham career. Steve made a great youtube video of the event and it can be found here. Kudos to Steve, Chuck, and Naomi on their successful activation and also, thanks for the QSO's!

With our travel trailer deep into its winter slumber, it's great to stay warm by making hundreds of contacts with old and new friends via the HF airwaves on any mode. My next effort will be for CQ World Wide CW at the end of the month. I'm not too far from making my 50,000th QSO since operating here in Alaska. I expect the logbook to reach that milestone sometime before summer of 2012. Sounds worthy of a special QSO confirmation, Alaskan style.

SS - Can You Give Me Some Space?

2011-11-10T19:20:00.002-09:00

Sweepstakes Fun

Last weekend was the ARRL Sweepstakes and I took advantage of the high bands to work a few stations. This contest has a format that can be intimidating due to the required exchange. Stations must accurately copy a consecutive serial number, precedence, callsign, check, and ARRL/RAC section. All this must be copied accurately to obtain credit. It's very hard to "guess" and fill in the blanks if you missed any part of the exchange so it really presses an operator to get it right before moving on. And when you listen to the contest, you will find there are many high speed CW operators that send and receive this data at a mind boggling speed. So when you add speed to a long exchange, it takes contesting to the next level. I'm glad this contest does not sport the normal "5-9-9" useless signal report but it actually throws a curve with the extra exchange information.

My CW (Morse Code) is far from fast so I normally have to ease myself into this contest. It takes me more time to get my flow going on the keyboard between all the fields than it does anything else. The callsign kinda gives you a buffer if you're running a bit behind, more so on S&P (Search and Pounce). I use the default Win-test settings which utilizes the Space Bar to jump between fields. I'm so used to using the tab button, it takes me a few QSO's to just get my mind and fingers to communicate correctly with the Space Bar. But once I get my rhythm, it's all about copying the exchange accurately.

I only had a few stations that sent their exchange data other than what is suggested in the rules. It can throw me off when I'm Space Bar hopping across the fields entering data especially if the other station is sending quickly. But you're gonna have these variables in contesting and in a way, it's good to expect the unexpected from time to time. It's kinda like working a contest at 3 AM and there is not much on the band. You've been calling CQ for what seems like hours with no response and then out of nowhere, a station calls you so loudly that it almost knocks the headphones off of your head and you off your chair.

I did have one station that after I sent my information, he immediately went back to CQ'n. I was left with that empty feeling of, "Am I in his log or am I not." A simple "TU" or "73" or something would of made me feel a bit better before tuning up the band.

My main personal peeve was when stations would not space between their serial number and their precedence. A cut number is not uncommon in a contest and the most frequently used in this contest was "T" for the number Zero. But when you have the letter "A", which is a possible precedence letter and you don't space between your serial number and precedence, my brain wants to think it as the number 1 rather than the letter A. My brain recovers when the station sends their callsign and I realize the letter was not a number but actually a letter. For a seasoned CW operator it's probably not a problem but for me, I need some space between those darn things!

I really like the work only once format of this contest as well. Again, something out of the norm as you normally can work the same station more than once as long as it's on a different band or mode. For me, this contest was all about working on my CW skills and trying to get better on the mode I enjoy the most.

I enjoy this contest more and more, especially now since I have participated. I used to avoid it like the plague thinking I would get run over by the contesting freight train. But, the operators are very skilled and repeats are a-okay! It's better to ask and make sure you get it right otherwise, it's a point-less QSO. It may have just been me but my personal observation was that the operators who were sending more my speed hung out a bit higher on the bands. I was not in the contest to work hundreds of QSO's but just to see if I could work all the sections. As the graphic here shows, I missed the following sections;

Sections

RI, AR,WI, NL, NE, SD, and NT. I can

understand NT and NL but the rest? Not sure how they escaped me but without using the cluster, it can be like finding a needle in a haystack. The band was there but I once again came up plenty short of a clean sweep! A humble congratulations to all those stations that did manage a full clean sweep. A great accomplishment for sure, especially hard if it was a single band effort! I know I made some errors but with continued practice and participation, I can only get better!

2011 CQ World Wide DX SSB Contest - A Common Theme

2011-10-31T09:44:00.004-08:00

CQ World Wide SSB Contest log 2011

I have steered away from SSB contests in the last few years as I really prefer CW and Digital. A personal preference as I guess the bandwidth, splatter, and more have moved me to only giving out QSO's in these contests to friends, contest stations, and our Alaska group. With that said, since 10 meters (28MHz) has been so active lately, I decided to give the CQ World Wide DX SSB Contest a run. I was not in it to compete by any means but my goal was to work as many DXCC countries as possible to help achieve my DXCC on 10 meters. I also wanted to work all 50 states so I would have WAS (Worked All States) on SSB, 10 meters. I hope to snag my WAS with CW on 10 meters if the band allows next month during the CQ World Wide DX CW Contest. I do have 10 meter WAS but it's currently a mixed mode of CW, SSB, and Digital.

I got a bit of a late start due to employment commitments but when I finally was able to settle down in the shack, I turned on the radio and was extremely thrilled with what I saw on the spectrum scope of my IC-756PRO on 10 meters. I was further astonished at the signal strength of many of the signals I heard!

The contest started off with some great DX to Asia and the South Pacific! Some very strong and nice signals and several new countries were snagged on 10 meters! I worked the band until my last QSO which was logged at 0210z. I would not return until Saturday morning (AK time) or 1700z.

My goal for Saturday was just to find a clear spot and call CQ toward the lower 48. I was totally surprised at the pile-up I had and it was very tough at times to pick out just one letter or number of any callsign. I picked through and worked as many as I possibly could with my best rate being 234 per hour, which I achieve twice (see photo above)! So many familiar callsigns and many I had worked on 10 meters over the last few weeks! Great seeing so many old and new friends! I worked the daylights out of 10 meters (within my small station limitations of course) until 0159z. After I sat back and had a rethink of the day's activity, I beamed Europe and squelched out my rig and turned the volume up. My hope was, if 10 meters opened to Europe, the sounds of SSB would wake me up.

My plan worked as around 1145z (3:45 am local) I was awakened to a strange sound. That sound happened to be my squelch breaking with sounds of European SSB with a nice dose of AU flutter with it. I made my way from the bedroom to the shack and was excited to see activity on my spectrum scope and hearing Europe starting to roll in. I fired up the AMP and once I got my bearings, I started to S&P (Search and Pounce) on stations in Europe. This was tough as most of the stations I called had a problem hearing me at first or could not hear me at all. Many CQ'd in my face after repeated attempts to gain their attention. The path did get a little better before it closed over the pole and I was able to put 67 European stations in the contest log! My last QSO was at 1421z, and since the lower 48 was still pointed at Europe and signals were weak, I decided to go back to bed and get a few more hours of sleep.

HAARP Data for Sunday

I woke up a few hours later and when I came into the shack, I found 10 meters was flat! I was totally bummed. It was almost as if I had woke up on Christmas morning and ran down to the Christmas tree to open up tons of gifts only to find a sign on the tree that Christmas had been canceled! What the heck happened to 10 meters? Carl, WL7BDO had posted a note to the local group which explained everything! Some geomagnetic disturbance sent the band silent (see graph to the right). The information from HAARP confirmed that I might as well just go back to bed! I was hearing activity on 15 meters so the MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency) just was not high enough yet to include 10 meters. I kept my fingers crossed that the band would eventually come back and I could continue my hunt for new countries.

I fired up at 1830z and after squeezing in between a few stations, I called CQ ending up working only a handful of stations. I heard a loud "pop" which came in the direction of my amplifier! I heard this even with my headphones on! My ten year old AL-1500, which has been abused heavily while contesting and DXing up here in Alaska, finally decided it had enough of the 10 meter excitement. I was getting no power out and it would not tune on 10. I popped the cover and being electronically challenged, everything looked normal but I knew internally, it was not. I threw in the towel at 1905z and decided to go pull the batteries from our travel trailer. I had been missing a few Zones that I felt were manageable and was hoping to pick them up on Sunday. I was sure I could not compete in those pile ups without a little extra "umph".

After doing some outside work which I needed to get done as I knew our first round of sub zero temperatures were arriving the next day, I ventured back into the shack and started my low power finish. I fired back up at 2230z and after trying to get a few unsuccessful runs going, I hunted down my last few Zones I thought I could add to my list, 6, 10, and 31! Much to my surprise, I found a few Mexican stations that had minimal pile ups which gave me Zone 6. It was not long afterward that I found two Hawaii stations which landed me Zone 31. KH7X gave me a chuckle and he was super loud here so Zone 31, which I could not find on Saturday, fell into my log on Sunday. I never found Zone 10, however I did manage some juicy DX working low power. I would have to say ZK2X was probably at the top of that list for my last hurrah.

ARS KL8DX Score Summary

In the end, this trek to complete my DXCC fell short in I'm tickled to have worked 63 new countries. I'm also pretty happy with my 28 Zones worked. I am hoping I worked one ham in each of the 49 remaining states that uploads to LOTW (Logbook of the World) and it would be great to see that mode completed on 10 meters for my WAS. In reading many of the 3830 posts, I saw a common theme, several commented on the outstanding high band conditions and I also see many stations also took advantage of 10 meters being in the greatest shape in years and like I did, entered as SOSB (Single Operator, Single Band) on 10 meters. I was shocked at some of the number of QSO's worked on 10 meters from the big contest stations. KL7RA here in Alaska kicked some serious propagational butt and several other AK stations posted some awesome scores as well. My 14 hour and 36 minute run on 10 meters was worth every minute. Some of the really great DX heard on 10 meters but not worked was ST2AR, VI6NC, and XV1X! Ah, I can still hope that someday I will get them on 10 meters!

My favorite comment of the contest weekend had to be in response to my calling a station on his frequency and his response was, "Kilo Lima Eight Delta X-ray...hey, I follow you on Twitter"! I might have been giddy after working several hours in the contest but that one made me laugh out loud. Yea, maybe you just had to be there...

To Infinity and Beyond!

2011-10-23T22:48:00.002-08:00

10 Meter Contacts 10.23.2011

To coin the phrase from the very cool Buzz Lightyear, "To infinity and beyond" is how I felt about the 10 meter propagation this weekend! I once again ended up on the high side of 28MHz working SSB which yielded several hundred contacts. The pile ups were simply fun yet frustrating as I did not have time to work everyone that had been calling. Glancing at my logbook between Saturday and Sunday, I made 257 28MHz meter contacts on Saturday followed by an additional 298 on Sunday! So many great contacts with so many great hams! I really have to give credit to those who stuck it out as I was told several times that stations were trying from 1 to 2 hours to work me and I'm probably sure there were others that tried longer.

There were so many highlights from this weekend there is no way I could possibly list them all. It was exciting to work some very young hams, from the ages of 7 (yep, seven) to 13 years of age! I'm envious of those young hams in that I did not discover ham radio until my 20's. But the important thing is that we all did at some point or another. Novice Enhancement opened the world for me, indirectly (covered in a previous blog entry).

Other than persons tuning directly on or near the 10 meter frequency I was using, the pile up remained manageable and most everyone was extremely patient. I made several recordings from the weekend and I'm hoping to put together my next YouTube video with some clips from those recordings. It might amaze you what it sounded like on my end. It resembled a contest weekend for sure, just a much slower pace.

Every once in a while I will get a stronger station asking me to listen up for a friend, smaller station, or a DX station that they can hear but I'm not able to due to the many people that were calling. I have to give a shout out to the ham that gave me the heads up on 6V7Q calling me! I asked everyone to stand by as I listened for the 6V7Q and to my surprise, I could hear him off the side of my antenna. I turned it toward Africa, Senegal in West Africa to be exact, and I had perfect copy. After working him, I went back to my pile up duties toward the lower 48.

I once again was astonished at the propagation pattern. I was hearing literally ALL of the lower 48 the same signal strength. Someone from Maine would call me and they would be 59 and then be followed by a West Coast station who was just as loud. No greyline needed on this band!

The main thing for me is, I'm a small station and I always enjoy handing out Alaska contacts to those that need them. I heard so many times this weekend that I was a persons first contact with Alaska, or they had needed my county or needed a contact with me for some other award. Personally there is no greater satisfaction than to hear the excitement in a persons voice that they made it into my logbook. That is what keeps me in my chair for long periods of time, not to mention experiencing propagation on a band that for years was nothing but static for me. From reading this blog, you might be able to tell that I am just as excited about each and every contact.

With the great propagation this weekend on 28MHz, I was able to finish my WAS (Worked All States) award not to mention with the help of Wes, W1LIC, I was able to get my last state needed (Maine) for LOTW WAS using PSK31. This type of band condition is what ham radio dreams are made of! Now lets hope the conditions hold through the BIG contest coming next weekend. My plan is to stick very close to 10 meters with a side order of 15 from time to time. I know I spoke with many familiar contesters over the weekend who were getting ready for just that. I think they all shared in my excitement about having 10 meters productive which will really help the scores and multipliers!

Again, I appreciate each and every contact and for those that made in into my logbook, you made my day as much as I hopefully made yours. To those I missed, I can only ask that you keep trying when you hear me on as I really do want to add you to my ever growing logbook of contacts. There is so much truth in the saying, "Friendship through Ham Radio" as I have made many friends over the years in this hobby, most of which I have yet to meet personally. I might be bad with names but I can almost immediately recognize a familiar callsign. I'm thankful for many things but most thankful for my wife's understanding which allows me to spend countless hours behind my Icom 756PRO.

Oh, and before I forget, my most favorite quote of the weekend...

"I found it easier to work TX7M than to work you here on 10 meters".

~Grin~

10 Meters Stays Hot While The Weather Gets Colder

2011-10-20T21:56:00.001-08:00

Winter Blanket

As winter moves in the cooler temperatures and snow, 10 meters remains active on a daily basis. Even though I can't operate every day, I see the spots of other Alaskan's being heard from various parts of the lower 48 and beyond. I have worked and confirmed 49 states now on 10 meters with Delaware being my only outstanding LOTW confirmation needed for WAS (Worked All States). The quest continues as time allows and I think I saw 40 states confirmed on 10 meter RTTY as well. So, gotta take advantage of the band when it's open. Looks like it could be an interesting CQ WW SSB Contest coming up and I just might operate it if ten meters is part of that weekend excitement! I don't like SSB but it will be fun chasing all those stations from around the world on 10 meters. I'm far from any DXCC award on 10 meters from here but hey, a good weekend in a major contest may bring me that much closer if not taking me across the finish line.

It's great to look at my logbook and seeing all those 28Mhz QSO's and the QSL cards are once again flowing into the mailbox. I just ordered another 1,000 QSL cards and my 2nd order will be taking place in the coming weeks for an additional that I'll use up during the course of the winter.

If you have not been on 10 meters, you're missing the fun. My chase continues with T32C and I have snagged 20 out of the (now) 34 band slots. I have heard them on 10 FM but I have not been successful in working them on that mode. I'm hoping to get them yet on 10 and 12 meter RTTY but after that, I don't have much more this small station can do. Now that they have worked most everyone world wide, the catch is a bit easier. Patience often times pays off and waiting for the crowds to decrease has helped to log them on some of the harder bands for me. Not sure but maybe the snow is helping my ground reflect my small signal abroad. Actually, gotta give credit where credit is due, it's the great operators of T32C!

Just As I Remembered You...

2011-10-10T20:42:00.001-08:00

10 Meter QSO's from KL8DX Oct 10, 2011

We have been blessed lately with some very good propagation on 10 meters (28Mhz), kinda like the old days when I first got into Ham Radio. Today seemed like the culmination of weekend activities for 10 meters. I did not realize when I first turned on the rig this morning that I would eventually deal with a non stop pile-up for 6 hours. That is exactly what happened between my first QSO beginning at 1817z and my last ending at 0018z. This was a day to remember and it was one for the record books here at ARS KL8DX. Yep, 10 meters has not been this productive for me since moving here eight years ago. We have had openings from time to time but nothing to this degree and this many days in a row. I left the shack exhausted but the log was over 230 contacts bigger than before I started today.

I'm not one for SSB but as I have mentioned before, I can always find much more activity on SSB than I can on CW with 10 meters. For this very reason, I will normally call CQ on SSB when I'm looking to drum up a bit of excitement. Well, today not only did I drum up a bit of excitement, I hit the bees nest of propagation.

Notice 10 & 12 Meters

It's hard to predict when the some bands will open while others are a bit more predictable. I think that simply living in Alaska takes these predictions to another level. When dealing with the aurora, absorption, weather, terrain, and a few other out of our control situations, predictions are even that much more difficult. I have to laugh a bit when looking at the "Calculated Conditions" at the right. As seen predicted here, 10 meters has been far from "Poor" in my book and if anything, exactly the opposite. When talking 10 meters, I think of the Solar Flux Number first and the A & K Indexes next when predicting when 28Mhz may yield some activity.

The Google Earth® map at the top reflects most of the contacts that I made from my QTH on 10 meters on the 10th of October, 2011. It just so happens that the 10-10 International Club had their 10 Meter Sprint going on so I actually did something I had not done in ages, give my 10-10 number out several times! This is how I remember 10 meters, all day activities, hearing stations in nearly all directions and exchanging 10-10 numbers while hunting new states. I am working on my WAS (Worked All States) using LOTW only and when I uploaded my log at the end of the day, I had 46 states confirmed. Just a few more to go. I did work those states today but I did not look to see if they were LOTW users. I really appreciated everyone's patience and the pile up did not stray out of control. I know there were many that tried working me that were unsuccessful. I spoke with several stations that told me they had been trying to contact me for over 2 hours! Now, that's a sign of a patient DX'er! Hats off to you'all!

I had a blast today actually talking with many on 10 meters. I operate contests most during the winter so it's nice to exchange something other than the typical contest format for a change. Yes, I could of run 10 meters like a DXpedition and operated split and just gave out signal reports but I have to admit, I do that so often it's nice to take things a bit slower and longer from time to time. I truly appreciate ALL QSO's and ALL that attempted to contact me today, successful or unsuccessful. I very much know what it's like to be on the "other side" of the pile up, trust me.

My T32C Stats as of October 10th, 2011

In speaking of the "other side" of a pile up, my quest continues to get T32C on as many bands and modes as possible. I am missing two QSO's from what I see reflected in the chart at the left. This could be SLIM activity or a busted callsign. One was 10 meter RTTY so it was tough not to see that one show up. I suppose because it is 10 meters and the openings on that band are not as predictable as I had mentioned earlier. But, the good DX'er has patience and continues the hunt and does not give up. I will do just that! I will watch the spots and hopefully land T32C on a few more modes before they depart the island and head back to civilization.

I snapped a few quick screen shots when working them on RTTY for both 17 and 10 meters. Because my contact did not show up in the log, I'm assuming a SLIM operation rather than a defect in the logbook. The 10 meter QSO I had with them is shown below. Maybe in the end I will be lucky and find out I did in fact snag them but I'm not holding my breath. My quest continues as it does for many.

As winter has arrived I get excited for what this contest season might have to offer. Something tells me that if this trend continues, this will be one exciting contest season!! I consider myself a seasoned DX'er and a contesting greenhorn. This hobby has something for everyone and days like we had today just keep me coming back for more!

Hello again 10 meters, I have missed you.

Wall Paper 1 of 3

2011-10-05T21:27:00.001-08:00

CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest

I received a large white envelope in the mail this afternoon and when my wife returned to the truck, she said, "You got more wallpaper." Seems she is beginning to identify these. She even likes to hold it up to the light and peek through the envelope to see what contest and what my score was. I read the results recently in CQ Magazine so I knew this was coming and I'm actually expecting two more yet from other contests.

I have not looked to see what I busted but it's obvious from what I submitted, my score dropped a bit. I don't remember too much about this contest off of the top of my head but I remember 20 meters was pretty darn good. I poked through my emails and saved my 3830 post which I will post below. That gave the summary of the contest immediately afterward. I have come to enjoy reading the posts on 3830, reading about propagation and the contest from hams all over the globe. Due to the small amount of hams who enter contests here in Alaska, my chances are normally pretty good of getting some kind of wallpaper. At least I think it's better here than if I was operating in the lower 48. My station is small so I am thankful for any advantage I can get. But as I have said before, I'm not in it to win it (too small to even think about it) I'm in it to have fun! And yes, I remember this contest as being fun! Good thing is, the wallpaper I have been able to accumulate has helped insulate my igloo here in Alaska.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest

Call: KL8DX

Operator(s): KL8DX

Station: KL8DX

Class: SOSB20 HP

QTH: Alaska

Operating Time (hrs): 29.49

Summary:

Band QSOs

------------

80:

40:

20: 1059

15:

10:

------------

Total: 1059 Prefixes = 537 Total Score = 1,316,187

Club: North Coast Contesters

Comments:

That just happened! Seriously? A contest weekend with propagation?

And was it!!!

It's obvious this is the biggest RTTY contest of the year. Less than

standing room only on 20 meters. I saw RTTY signals at times from 14.058

to 14.140, solid!

Extremely fun to have two great evening/morning openings into Europe.

I could not get a run going but it seemed that most could hear me when

I called. Some AU on signals but most of the time there was no problem

with decoding any of them.

I decided a single band effort at the beginning. With the band

conditions, I should have tried all band but I stuck to my original plan.

I am not disappointed at all, as I have topped my all time high score and

also total number of QSO's. A small station effort and my operational

times made the best of the great propagation.

Gotta sort through my notes and I will do a detailed overview on my blog

site. My butt needs to divorce my chair and I need to work on getting the

blood flow back into my legs. So many great highlights, so many familiar

callsigns, and only a few low lights. I think Alaska was well represented

this weekend as I was lucky enough to work several of my long distant

neighbors.

Thanks for each and every QSO. Temperatures this morning were -30F and

I believe we will be colder than that tonight. It was warm and cozy in

the shack and extremely easy to stay focused on chasing multipliers and

calling CQ for hours at a time. I can't believe how fast 30 hours went.

Rig: Icom 756PRO

Antenna: Mosley TA-34-XL @ 43 feet

Amp: Ameritron AL-1500 @ 500 watts

Software: N1MM Logger V9.9.6

73,

Phil KL8DX

Denali National Park, AK

Thrill of the Hunt

2011-10-05T05:02:00.001-08:00

T32C Christmas Island QSO on 40 Meters

Last night I began the chase of T32C, the great operators activating Christmas Island (East Kiribati). This is yet another DXpedition with great operators behind the radios. They are managing the masses very well on all modes and bands from what I have experienced. There have been many memorable DXpeditions but this one is yet another that ranks at the top for me.

Stats for KL8DX and Alaska

I have a small station and it helps that I don't have much between myself and the T32C team except for open ocean. It has helped me snag them on several bands and several modes. With modern technology that it is, the logbooks from this DXpedition are being uploaded to the T32C website on a regular basis. This allows for operators like myself, to check that each and every QSO made is in their logbook. This can help greatly with duplicate or "insurance" QSO's and I'm glad this and several of the past DXpeditions have had this ability. I'm sure it comes with a cost, so obviously one of the reasons I will be donating what little I can to financially help them.

My RTTY contact, since I just made it, is not reflected above. Also missing is a 40 meter SSB QSO. If that contact does not show up, they either busted my callsign or something happened during the upload that my QSO fell out. If my 40 meter QSO does not show up, I will try again hoping it will not be a duplicate QSO.

My hats off to the T32C team as they continue their all band grind to satisfy hungry DX'ers from all over the globe. I can only imagine what the pileup sounds like on their end. What a thrill it must be to experience a DXpedition like this, something I will probably never get to do. When it gets down to it, you can have plenty of financial support, the best equipment, the best propagation but in the end, the operators are the ones that make DXpeditions successful. T32C in my book is very successful!

The hunt continues...

October Arrives

2011-10-02T19:51:00.002-08:00

Waiting for 10 Meters to Open

I have officially moved my QRP equipment back into the shack for the winter. This does not mean that it won't find it's way out during a Polar Bear weekend in the next few months. What it does mean is my IC-703 Plus has found a home on the bench again. I'm ready to start QRP'ing from the shack.

This past weekend I had been busy working around the house. 10 meters was booming on Saturday with the California QSO Party! The highlight was working Scot, KA3DRR on 10 meters! Scot was very loud on 10 meters, the loudest I think I have heard him on any band up here. I worked a few other stations when I had the chance but I'm looking forward to hearing how Scot did.

It figures, when I want to do some antenna work the wind will begin to blow. This weekend was no different. We hit 40 mph gusts today so needless to say, my tower and outside work did not get completed yet again. I did manage to get some other home and list projects completed but ham radio took a backseat to everything else.

I finished up my last batch of bureau QSL cards and they are ready to ship out. I have also finished my direct cards. The hunt now is on to search through my photo archives looking for the photo to use on my next batch of QSL cards. I'm also looking at different printers. With the hundreds of cards I get from all over the globe, it's great to see some of the outstanding quality one can get from a talented printer. I change mine up on every order so we will have to see what I can come up with.

As winter fast approaches, I'm still way behind on my radio projects. I did get the shack cleaned today. Never knew so much dust could accumulate in one place. Now with the contest season fast approaching, there won't be time for the dust to accumulate as I'm looking forward to warming the shack and chasing the sounds of contesting across the ham bands.

CQ WW DX RTTY Contest, September 2011

2011-09-26T09:21:00.002-08:00

KL8DX Score Summary

This past weekend was the CQ World Wide RTTY DX Contest. I look forward to this contest each and every year however, this year I had to work for most of the weekend. This limited my activity dramatically and by the time the weekend was over, I was only able to operate 6¾ hours. But as with any contest, even a short amount of operating time can be fun. This weekend was no different but Sunday turned out to be one BIG surprise.

The Solar Flux Index topped out at 190 and the A & K Indexes hit the sweet spot allowing lots of 15 and 10 meter activity. I never ventured to 15 meters but when I checked the 10 meter band on Sunday, I about fell out of my chair with the signals I saw on the spectrum scope of my IC-756PRO!

My operating began about 1½ hours after the contest began. I started out on 20 meters and was able to hang out on the band for about 15 minutes. I returned around 0400z and found a clear frequency (or somewhat clear) on 20 meters and began calling CQ. I worked stations until around 0505z. I did not make it back to the band until 2230z where I once again called CQ after squeezing in between RTTY signals. I stuck around until 0125z. I had a sked to chat with my long time friend and old neighbor, Sean KL1SF/K7. I ended up enjoying a lengthy QSO with Sean on 20 meters. After our QSO, I jumped back to RTTY from 0420z to 0448z. I was off the air until Sunday.

When I returned home I immediately turned on the radio and I saw lots of activity on 20 meters. I decided to check 10 meters and was shocked at the activity I saw on my spectrum scope! 10 meters, really? I warmed up the AMP and prepared my wife for my few hour absence as I was going to work the remainder of the contest on 10 meters! I got back on the air at 2048z and the fun began!!

Once again, I was amazed at the strong signals and multiple propagation paths experienced on 10 meters! A pipeline to South America, several points of the lower 48 from the East Coast to the West Coast. I felt like I had won the DX Lottery! I have experienced some 10 meter openings and I thought my last was the best but this opening topped that one. I have to say, the openings keep getting better and better on 10 meters lately. I can remember spending hours on 10 meters when I lived in Ohio, and I even obtained DXCC on 10 meters from back there. I can only hope that as the solar cycle continues ahead that the band conditions for 10 meters keep getting better.

In speaking of Ohio, it was great to run into my long time friend Dan, W8CAR. I was able to work Dan along with many other Ohio stations! Rick, WB8JUI is also a regular in my log during the contest season and it was great to work him on 10 meters as well. Both live not far from my old QTH. I was hoping to catch Dave, KE8M on 10 meters but I only worked him on 20 in this contest! Maybe the next one Dave??

I worked lots of regulars on 10 meters but the highlight was the DX. Some were total surprises as I had never before heard them on 10 meters or the fact that I had been pointed to the lower 48 and I worked them off of the side or corner of my beam! Extracting a list of DX stations worked from my log I find the following;

LS1D
VP8NO
VP9I
ZX2B
HK3Q
EF8M
XE1GRR
XE1EE
XE2CQ
XE2K
LU8EOT
LW5ER
ZY2C
LU7HN
ZP5AA
XE3N
LW9ETQ
DS4GKG
PY2VZ
PY2SRB
JE8CLT

VP8NO and EF8M received my 10 meter RTTY "Wow Factor" from this station.

I sent my log off to the contest robot but I decided to enter as a single band

10 meter entry, only because I could. I enjoy contesting for sure and being a

seasoned greenhorn to contesting, I'm a DX'er by choice. I will take 200 QSO's

on 10 meters over 1,400 QSO's on 20 meters any day! In the end, it's not about my final score, it's about having fun. I won't forget that RTTY buzz of stations calling me for a very long time. Thanks to all those that I worked and also to those for trying who may not have made it through. My LOTW stats this morning showed that I went from 36 states confirmed via LOTW on 10 meters to 41! I'm hoping that number increases and my 10 meter WAS, which was once not a reality in my book, may actually become one! Thank you 10 meters for making my weekend!

Sunday was Ten Funday

2011-09-18T21:22:00.000-08:00

The day began as usual with my daily chores but little did I know, today was going to end up a bit different than I had planned. After finishing my morning duties, I decided to check the radio one last time before I headed outdoors. I saw some 10 meter activity so on a whim, I decided to check the beacon portion of 10 meters. I normally start at 28.300 looking for K6FRC/B however, there was no signal there. I did however see a signal just below that and low and behold, it was a beacon! I copied the beacon around 1810z to be NS9RC in Illinois. This was the first time I had heard that beacon. I tuned around a bit more and heard other beacons as far east as Michigan. I hit the power on the amplifier and I went scouting for stations.

I don't operate SSB much but when 10 opens, it is always easier to find stations on SSB. My first contact was with TI8II, who was booming in. It was apparent that the propagation path was to Central and South America after tuning the band. As I tuned around, I was hearing stations in the lower 48 too, not as strong but they were easily heard. I found an open frequency and called CQ.

It was not long before I had a few stations calling me and I was surprised to find out that I had a very good path into Florida. I worked several stations in Florida and Georgia but to my surprise, I also worked stations north and west of those states! Ten meters was open here from roughly 1830z through 0145z! In that time, I worked SSB, JT65A, RTTY, and CW. By the time the dust cleared, I worked the following states or Canadian prefixes; FL, WI, MN, OK, VA, MO, NJ, IL, NE, AR, CO, NC, KS, IA, PA, MI, IN, GA, LA, MA, SC, along with VE4 and VE3 land. At the end of the day when I uploaded my log to LOTW (Logbook of the World), I obtained 4 brand new states confirmed toward my WAS (Worked All States) award.

In thinking back, I believe this was the longest I have ever heard 10 meters open in the last 8 years. The solar flux hit 150 today almost beating the yearly high of 155 set back in March. Hard to believe we went from hardly being able to hear a peep on the band yesterday to a full blown 10 meter funfest today. Ah, the fun of Ham Radio!!

It was beautiful outside today and my original plans were working on my WARC beam (Hexbeam) project but when the 10 meter band opens, it trumps most any planned activity. With the large amount of sunspots lately, we can only hope this great propagation continues. You can sure bet in the coming days I will be keeping an eye on the Solar Flux, A and K indexes, and the DX Cluster. I worked several stations today who told me it was the first time they had worked Alaska on 10 meters. I have 15 states yet to hear on 10 meters but you can sure bet, I'll be looking for them.

Fall Arrives

2011-09-11T08:39:00.001-08:00

Fall colors have peaked and the Sandhill Cranes are flying overhead on their way to their winter destinations. This summer like all the previous seemed short and I once again have lots to accomplish before the snow arrives. We have been camping this summer so between wet weekends and camping weekends, that left very few (if any) to get anything accomplished around the house.


Picnic Table QRP

I make sure that I have my Icom 703Plus when we depart on camping trips and when time allows, I always enjoy hooking up the rig to see what I can hear and work. I normally hear much more than I can work but that's the challenge of QRP.

I took this photo of my setup while we were camping on the Kenai Peninsula on one of our recent trips. I was surprised that the campground was pretty quiet! Probably due to the fact that with summer winding down, the campground was only partially full and we did not have anyone camping directly next to us when I set this up. There is nothing more fun than to hook up a rig and sit in the warm, bright sunshine playing radio. Very relaxing and also fun to see what I can hear from a different location. On the morning I took this photo, I was hearing Europe, Russia, and some lower 48 stations but mostly stations across the great pond. I tried a few CW contacts but my signal just was not making the trip but I did manage one PSK31 QSO using HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) and DM780.

Even with only one QSO in the logbook, it was well worth setting up the portable station and listening to the band (20 meters). If we have our travel trailer in tow, you can sure bet that I have my portable set up with me.

2011 ARRL DX CW Contest Results

2011-07-26T21:05:00.001-08:00

Top 10

One of the most exciting parts of the summer season is reading about some of the previous winters contest results. The August issue of QST yielded some very nice news for this station anyhow. When I saw that the 2011 ARRL DX CW Contest results were listed, it was the first page I turned to. I have to say, I think this was the first time that my callsign appeared in the Top 10 section of any major contest. Now mind you, I was #10 but hey, it gives me a goal to beat in the coming years.

I often times do a 20 meter all band entry for a few reasons. One, it's obviously my strongest band. Second, depending on the contest, it allows me to get some rest in the evenings and spend some quality family time during low rate or no propagation times. And third, I can normally catch some great DX and the propagation path is pretty predictable. With a small station, I don't think I will ever see a plaque end up on the shack wall but a framed certificate is always satisfying wallpaper.

With some great advice from the Alaskan Contest Group, I have watched my scores in contests steadily get bigger. I can never compete with half of the stations here in Alaska but sometimes you just need to pick your entry and run with it. I may not have even received a certificate if I had done an all band entry or even a low power entry. I decide on my entry class normally at the beginning of the contest rather than preparing for it in advance. This is only due to the very challenging propagation for a small station like mine. I am also limited by my antenna's and equipment. So, if the low bands are very favorable and it appears I may be able to make some worthy points there, I will chose an all band entry. But again, I often take advantage of my strongest band being 20 meters and enter single band. I'm in it to have fun but it's also nice to win something from time to time.

Continental Leaders By Category

It's one thing to win your section or state but it's another to win your continent. I'm lucky for sure and it's all due to my operating strategy and of course doing the single band entry and sticking with it. I normally call CQ more than I search & pounce so I'm always thankful for anyone who calls me. It just so happened that we had great propagation during this contest and I was able to log well over 1,100 QSO's and only losing one or two to busted callsigns! I'm more proud of that than probably anything as CW is always challenging but practice does pay off. Nope, I'm not a high speed operator by any means and I prefer to stick around 28 wpm during contests as this is where I feel most comfortable.

I have yet to receive the certificate but you can sure bet it will be proudly framed and placed on my shack wall with my others. I also did pretty well in the CQ WPX RTTY Contest but I will blog about that at a later date.

Contesting is not for everyone but I find it's a great way to become more familiar with several aspects of this hobby including your equipment, how propagation works, handling pile-ups, operating in favorable to unfavorable conditions, strategy, and more. At the end of the day, it's all about having fun and I can honestly say, I sure did!

Six & 10

2011-07-25T10:59:00.001-08:00

I could not let July slip by without some sort of post! Yes, it has been a very busy summer but I do get to turn on the radio from time to time. I have Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) filter to send me text messages when any Alaskan station is spotted on 10 & 6 meters. Now mind you, I had no idea how many Alaskan callsigns were in the lower 48 but I have found out recently when those stations were active on those two bands, not to mention a beacon (I won't get on my rant about that one again) with an Alaskan callsign over on the East Coast.

July 21st yielded some 6 and 10 meter activity for me. It was short lived but a brief opening on those bands are better than no opening any day. My 6 meter antenna is still very low profile and hopefully by winter I can correct that. I did purchase the feedline I need to move that antenna higher so my excuses are getting smaller and smaller as to why I have not yet moved my 6 meter beam. Either way, I made ten contacts on 6 meters and three contacts on 10 meters with the highlight being able to work my long time friend Sean, KL1SF who is now at the Grand Canyon. Sean and his family were here for a week visit prior to me working Sean on 10 meters. It was a memorable week for sure and spending time with friends who are more like family is always great!

With the sun moving south, it won't be long before we see the colors changing to a fall scheme and I will be doing my typical mad rush to get my outdoor antenna work completed before the snow arrives, which normally catches me by surprise. I do procrastinate but only during the summer months as I suffer from acute midnight sun fever and there is only one cure, being outdoors doing fun stuff!

Midnight Summer Funshine JT65A Style

2011-06-27T05:48:00.000-08:00

June 2011 JT65A

I would imagine that most Alaskan's enjoy the midnight sun. As the case this morning, I was not able to sleep so I opted to play on the radio a bit as it had been awhile. As with many stations, mine his showing the signs of aging. Recent problems are JT65HF just shutting down and disappearing along with audio input problems not to mention HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) stops talking with my rig shortly after I fire up the program. This is not a problem with the software itself, but some windows glitch I have going on that has begun after one of my last updates. All the more reason that I should have a stand alone computer for just ham radio and ham radio only! But since summer is here, it is not a priority for me to troubleshoot my latest problems as I have been spending time outdoors! Yep, we are still alive up here in Alaska enjoying the midnight sun! As the 4th of July holiday weekend fast approaches, I already have to ask myself where the last 60 days have gone. There seems to be truth to the fact that time goes faster the older we get. I think that is accelerated when living in Alaska, especially during the summer months.

My morning insomnia led me to the shack and I decided to play a bit on JT65A on 20 meters. Even with a few hiccups, I was able to make a handful of contacts (screen shot of a few of those contacts above). Oddly, there was not much on CW (my preferred mode) but the signals on JT65A seemed pretty good. So alas, a few more QSO's added on this partly overcast Monday morning.

I want to thank those few who read this blog and I also hope you are having an enjoyable summer. Propagation here has not been all that great but again, I am basing my opinion on the few times I have operated over the last two months. I had to miss Field Day this year at KL2R and that was going to be the highlight of my summer operating. But hopefully things will work out better for next year as I have had fun up there for the last two.

Station upgrades still have yet to take place but they are moving higher on my priority list. The voice of mother nature is much louder than any signal I could possibly hear on my Icom 756PRO at the moment. Do you blame me?

Wild Ride & Fired Up

2011-05-22T09:10:00.007-08:00

KE1THR-4

I have a minimal APRS Digipeater to Fairbanks, Alaska that I hope to upgrade a bit this summer. My path has degraded some so my effort will be to put up a small beam or higher vertical to make the haul across the mountain range to the N1TX Digi at Two Rivers. KL1SF had a digipeater (KL1SF-3) north of Healy, and we removed his digi when he relocated permanently to Arizona.

Now that summer has arrived (or at least, I think it has) I try to monitor the local APRS traffic. It's not uncommon to see other hams visiting Denali running APRS. Yesterday I noticed a callsign pop up on my Kenwood TM-D700, that being KE1THR-4. In researching the callsign, I found some very interesting information about him. Keith, KE1THR is riding from Alaska to Texas. You can find a bit more information about his adventure at THIS website. I will make it a point to follow Keith along on his adventures via APRS. Best of luck to Keith on his wild ride and safe travels as he pedals his way to Texas!

Wildland Fire 05/21/2011

Fire season has begun and we saw our first close Wildland Fire easily visible from our QTH (location). It has been breezy and dry and let's hope that this is not an indicator of what the fire season is going to be like. I read the local paper out of Fairbanks yesterday and the front page seemed to be nothing other than fire here and fire there. Alaska burns every summer with some being much worse than others. I'm extremely thankful for our many firefighters!

The Sweet Smell of Summer!

2011-05-15T20:31:00.001-08:00

We have finally left winter behind as we have had no snow for the last week. The days are getting longer and the temperatures are getting warmer. The snow is melted away except for those areas on the north side of the house and garage. The Robin's have arrived and the lake is changing from ice to water. With the change of season comes the change in bands. The high bands are open longer as 10 & 6 meters begin to wake up.

I have our travel trailer all prepared for our summer adventures and I'm looking forward to some portable operating. It won't be long before I put my Hexbeam up and I begin to enjoy 17 and 12 meters with a beam! I'm hoping to start that project by next weekend, hopefully!

My operating has been hit and miss with a few hours here and a few hours there. I worked over 100 stations this weekend in the VOLTA RTTY Contest when I had time. I would take a break from my outdoor activities, drop by the shack and work a few stations then return outdoors. The path to Europe was pretty darn good and I heard European stations day and night.

As the midnight sun returns and the days get longer, my operating time gets shorter. I have to enjoy the sun while I can. Summers are short enough and having the window open to the shack while listening to the sweet sound of CW is just refreshing! It will be even more refreshing from some remote location operating portable. I'm looking forward to posting a few new YouTube video's and of course, more blogging of our summer fun which radio will always be a part of the plan.

Weekend Forecast from Michigan to Europe

2011-04-18T20:38:00.003-08:00

Michigan State QSO Party Counties Worked

This past weekend was the Michigan State QSO Party. The only band that I had good propagation for the contest was 20 meters (go figure). And it was up and down but at least I had a path for most of the contest. My goal was to Search & Pounce only and to work K8MR/M (mobile) as many time as possible. I have worked Jim, K8MR for years in various contests. I also wanted to support the Michigan hams and the other mobiles especially being a lifetime 8lander myself (Ohio) prior to moving to Alaska. Jim is a fellow Buckeye who has driven thousands of miles activating counties in several QSO Party contests. My surprise encounter was when I worked N8LC and another long time frequenter of my logbook Dale, K8RO was at that key! My old callsign was KE8RO and I would run into Dale often during the UHF/VHF contests. The colored counties reflected in the map above are the ones that I was able to work (stuck with CW for about 98% of my QSO's) so I hit the 50% achievement mark I would guess. Many of these were due to the handful of mobile operators driving from county to county and kudos to them!.

My score summary was:

CALLSIGN: KL8DX

ARRL-SECTION: AK

CONTEST: State QSO Party - MI

CATEGORY: MULTI-OP ALL HIGH MIXED

CLUB: Northcoast Contesters

CLAIMED-SCORE: 5,490

SCORE-SUMMARY: BAND CW QSOs PHONE QSOs

SCORE-SUMMARY: 80 0 0

SCORE-SUMMARY: 40 0 0

SCORE-SUMMARY: 20 59 4

SCORE-SUMMARY: 15 0 0

SCORE-SUMMARY: 10 0 0

SCORE-SUMMARY: ------- ----------

SCORE-SUMMARY: Tot QSOS 59 4

SCORE-SUMMARY:

SCORE-SUMMARY: QSO Pnts 118 4

SCORE-SUMMARY:

SCORE-SUMMARY: Total Points 122

SCORE-SUMMARY: Multipliers 45

SCORE-SUMMARY: Final Score 5490

I did record one instance of what Jim, K8MR sounded like here in Alaska while he was mobile in Michigan. This recording was when Jim was in Crawford County around 0027z. You can hear this recording in .wma format or .mp3 by just clicking the link of the format you wish to download. You may have to crank up your volume a bit as my recording is done through the headphone jack of my Icom so to save my ears while recording, it's a bit toned down.

Now that the sun is making a return, so is the longer hours of propagation on 20 meters. The last few nights and mornings have seen some great European propagation on 20 meters. I was also hearing stations on 15 & 17 meters! I listened to 10 meters a few times over the weekend but not a peep. Hopefully as the solar cycle peaks in the next few years, 10 meters will be a band that will yield some activity well into the evening hours.

I have been practicing my CW for years but have never perfected it. I still enjoy pointing my HF beam over the North Pole and CQ'ing for Europe! I can normally generate a few calling, enough to work split anyhow. I was able to work several stations on Sunday and then again, Europe was booming in on 20 meters Monday morning when I got up! Highlight was working Stan, SQ8X in Poland. I had been chatting back and forth via Twitter and email with Stan for a sked. I sent Stan a note on Twitter that I was hearing Europe on 20 meters yet (1700z) and that we should try. I sent off the frequency and to my surprise, Stan's CW signal came booming through my headphones! I easily worked Stan on 20 CW (Morse Code). And immediately after working Stan, Andrea, IZ2LSC called from Italy! Andrea was also booming in so two of my Twitter followers were now in my logbook. Nice way to start a Monday!

I had plans of operating portable /QRP in Denali today (at Primrose) but the K index shot up and the Aurora Index hit 8 just prior to my departure. I left the portable equipment at home and my wife and I headed out anyway. It was a beautiful afternoon with a slight haze. We did not get to see Denali but it was still worth the trip to Teklanika Rest Stop.

By this time next month, our RV will be summer ready and the camping season will have begun! I'm looking forward to plenty of portable ham radio fun under the midnight sun!

Curing Cabin Fever by Analyzation

2011-04-11T17:39:00.001-08:00

Buddi-Vert

Since the bands have been less than optimal this last week or so, I decided to get my portable setup ready to go. We will be camping in another month or two so I wanted to make sure I was ready for that first trip with my annual inspection of my portable antenna (Buddipole) and other hardware. I was experiencing some issues getting my SWR down while using the Buddipole as a vertical. With some experimenting this weekend, I was able to get things lined up and back in business once again. One of the crucial points is the right length of counterpoise. This was my critical issue when I last used this antenna I'm sure. It was very cold outdoors then and I did not have the time nor did wires and feedline become friendly in temperatures below zero. I took advantage of the lower 30 degree temperatures this weekend to work on getting this tuned.

The Buddipole has worked well for me as I was looking for something portable that I could carry along with my IC-703 Plus running portable QRP (low power). Since I am contemplating a new 100 watt portable rig for the camper, I'm also looking for a vertical antenna that would work in a tight place such as a campground, something that requires no radials that I can mount off of the ladder on the rear of our travel trailer. I also need a telescoping pole to about the 30 foot mark that I can hang wire antenna's from. Wanting to chat locally here in Alaska, 75/80 meters is the band of choice. I'm still shopping and the research continues for that magic antenna that does 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20 meters in a vertical format. I want something without radials only because, in a tight campground, I would be limited at the amount of wire I could string out. This won't be a problem when we are camping in the back country but we do anticipate hitting some campgrounds this summer.

My operating recently has been hit and miss as I have been busy doing other things. My activity as of late has been CW and JT65 on HF. I am looking forward to the temperatures warming up another 10 degrees so I can begin the project of putting up my Hex Beam. I'm looking forward to getting on 17 and 12 meters with a beam and of course, I will have another antenna for 20 if needed.

The days are getting longer and the sun is beginning to melt our accumulated snow from this past winter. We will have a few weeks of mud but when things begin to dry up, it will be time to hit the trails and enjoy the best time to be in Alaska. I have already noticed that 20 meters is staying open later. I have plenty of antenna work to accomplish this summer.

Fine Tuning

One of the best investments I have made is my antenna analyzer. A great investment for any ham and it sure takes the ass out of assumption when trying to guess where any HF antenna is resonant. If this was just about 50 percent smaller, it would be perfect. I keep a healthy amount of AA batteries on hand just for this unit. I just wish life was this easy to tune.

My wife keeps telling me I have the knack of tuning her out but if she had one of these, she might be able to see what frequency I'm tuned in to. Little does she know that I am on frequency with her, I just exercise my use of internal filters on a regular basis. Being a CW operator has helped me achieve a natural 250Hz filter. As with any filter, I tell her it's not that I am filtering her out, I just narrowing my focus on what I really want to hear. This natural filter is often used during those times that the TV is airing something I really want to watch. Outside of that, I'm tuned in to most everything that is going on around me. At least, I think so...

Spring Arrives (Maybe) & Last Years ARRL International DX Contest - CW

2011-03-21T16:35:00.003-08:00

There are sure signs that summer is not far away and spring has just made an appearance. As I write this, we are locally seeing temperatures in the mid 30's! Yea, that's like 50 degrees in the lower 48! I'm trying not to get too excited as I'm sure we will still have snow and cold days ahead. I decided to start thawing out our travel trailer and getting things back in order for this summer. I'm looking forward to more camping and more portable operating once the backcountry roads are plowed, graded, and have dried a bit. I have been looking at some 100 watt rigs for portable use as well (when not QRP'ing) and I believe I have settled on the Yaesu FT-450D. I like this rig for many reasons but my close friend Sean, KL1SF/K7 has the "AT" version and it sounds good. The "D" having an internal keyer, CW filters, and tuner make it a good fit for me. Now I just need to scrape together a few bucks so I can purchase one! Shipping to my QTH (as recently quoted) is $60.00. One of the pains of living in remote Alaska, we don't qualify for any free ground shipping in these parts when it comes to radio equipment. I also have plenty of antenna work to get going on once the snow disappears a bit.

I received in today's mail my certificate for the ARRL International DX Contest (CW) from last year. This years contest is here and gone and with the 2010 certificate was an apology due to it taking over a year for the ARRL to send out certificates. I have always wondered why (especially now since we have electronic log checking and a very high percentage of electronic submissions) that it takes so long to find out results of contests. I know there are still those that submit hard copy but those days need to be retired in my humble opinion. I'm all for being green and saving a tree!

And speaking of saving a tree, I see in CQ that they will be offering a online version of their magazine in the near future (page 40 in the March edition)? What a grand idea! I would much rather have and electronic version I can download and keep for future reference. Having PDF copies of my monthly CQ and QST magazines would be just fine by me! I don't keep any of my magazines so to me, an electronic version would be perfect. So, I'm glad to see CQ doing this. Not only would it save in postal fees, but it would sure save a few trees.

Now that summer is approaching it will be time to hang the "Closed for the Season" sign on the shack door. I will be active from time to time but I'm sure looking forward to spending as much time outdoors as possible. We are stuck indoors all winter so taking a few months off from the shack would not be a bad thing.

Well, Are You Prepared...?

2011-03-14T20:30:00.000-08:00

With all of the sad news out of Japan and as time progresses, it seems the news does not get any better. I work lots of JA's in each and every contest and I have to wonder how many of those familiar callsigns I won't hear again. My heart goes out to Japan and all those effected by this disaster. Although not having to worry about the direct effects of a Tsunami, I do keep thinking about the next earthquake. Around these parts, it's not will it happen, but when it happens. Living not far from the Denali fault line always has me asking that same question.

Before moving to Alaska, earthquakes were something I never experienced but heard lots about on the news. I have since felt several earthquakes and the strongest only rated around a 5.4 or so. I'm surprised at how many folks who live around here do not carry earthquake insurance, something I gladly pay extra for. The Denali fault produced a 7.9 earthquake in 2002, the year before we arrived here. As much as we like to think we can predict such things, the truth is, we really can't. I think there are tell tale signs that researchers can uncover but in the end, we all expect the worst but hope it never happens.

I believe being involved in ham radio has given me a sense of satisfaction that when we do receive a large earthquake and my equipment survives, I would at least have contact with the outside world. I have been building my portable station along with different sources of power. With the wake of disaster in Japan, it got me thinking how ready my station really is. It seems it takes something BIG to get us thinking and many times, these events are tragic. Just like how we are reading and hearing all over the news how countries are reevaluating their nuclear programs.

Ham radio has been the key source of communication in many disasters and there is not doubt in my mind that hundreds of hams are ready at a moments notice. But, how prepared are you? If you lose your tower, do you have portable antenna's and portable power? If you have no gasoline, do you have a way to charge batteries to keep your equipment running? Natural disasters are a sure thing and depending on what part of the world you are in may depend on the type (or types) of disasters you could face. My main concern here is earthquakes, extreme cold, and avalanches. One of the many things I have learned living in such a remote part of the state is being prepared. I am far more prepared living here than I ever was living back in Ohio. In Ohio, most anything I needed was just a few minutes down the road. Here, I have to drive 2 hours to get to the nearest Wal-mart, major grocery store, hospital, etc. Living here has made me grow up and see the light. Alaska, like many places, is about extremes, especially when it comes to the weather.

When you look at the USGS map of Alaska and see the amount of earthquakes we have here it's unbelievable. Most are small of course but even the larger ones do not make news because we don't have the population here that other places do, like California or Japan. When you have millions of people living in these seismically active regions, if something like that happens, it's BIG news because so many are effected. Anchorage alone is only home to 280,000 people as reported in the 2008 Census.

I hope the very best for our friends in Japan, and this is something that will effect the world for a very long time. I'm taking another look at my preparedness and my ability to operate during an emergency. It would not only benefit me, but it would benefit my community. Coming from an emergency services and similar background field, it's good to be prepared for anything but in the end, it's hard to be prepared for everything!

Aurora Invasion

2011-03-11T20:21:00.001-09:00

Aurora at the QTH of KL8DX & KL8SU

We have been blessed with clear skies over most of Alaska for at least the last week or more. Couple this with the high solar activity and you have one great light show potential. It also brings the potential of the sweet sound of those unique aurora signals on 6 meters. I heard my first AU signals on that band this week as it has been ages since I heard that raspy CW sound on 6 meters! But, my attention was drawn to the great outdoors as I drug my Olympus to the front yard to snap a few photos of the event. And as any proud ham would do, I situated myself in such a way as to capture my trusty 4 element Mosley TA-34-XL in the foreground. With a warm cup of coffee and a fully charged battery, I stayed outside last night for over two hours taking various photographs of the aurora overhead.

Auroral Propagation

These events reminded me of the days when we lived in Northern Ohio, when I would race home and turn on 2 meters (144 MHz) along with 432 so I could work Auroral CW. That unique sound was mesmorizing to say the least and I could almost always work a new grid square by bouncing my signal off the aurora. The display would have to be pretty intense to visibly make it down to my old location so it was easy to play radio when the auroral activity peaked but here, you just want to head outdoors and watch the light show directly overhead. It may be cold outside but watching the green lights of winter will always warm the heart.

Solar Flux Index Leads to 10 Meter Fun!

2011-03-07T18:20:00.004-09:00

What a great Monday it was! Monday can be a bit tough for anyone but a Solar Flux Index of 153 will sure make any Monday better. 10 Meters (28MHz) started off with several beacons being heard from various locations in the lower 48 not to mention several heard in Mexico. Once the beacon spots started to show up, the band came to life. I personally only made 9 contacts on 10 meters today. I was busy working through my stack of QSL cards I had received from the Alaska QSL Bureau. I did more listening than hunting. I would normally go fishing (find a frequency and call CQ to see what I could catch) but I opted to just tune around and work a station here and there.

I have HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) set up with alarms that will text and email me should Alaska get spotted on 10 or 6 meters. Since I leave my logging program up and running 24/7, as long as I don't lose my internet connection, this is a great way to catch these types of openings. The only sad part is if a text is received, and you are nowhere near your radio.

The cluster is many things to many people. The beauty of the cluster these days is the ability to filter and set alarms for specific callsigns or countries. I was a bit miffed today when I saw the following message from the cluster;

HRD DX Cluster

--------------

DX Callsign ......: KL8DX

DX Locator .......: BP53

DX Country .......: AK-Alaska-Nome-KL7

Frequency ........: 28000.0

Date .............: 7-Mar-2011 1921Z

Spotter ..........: WD9DZV

Spotter locator ..:

Spotter comment ..: NO /B DX SPOTS ONLY!!

My first intention was to fire a response back but I figured I would be a bit more adult about the matter. Obviously, WD9DZV is the keeper of the world wide DX cluster system. The cluster is used for all bands, all modes, by amateurs all over the world. I see satellite spots, UHF and VHF spots, beacon spots, day in and day out. I, unlike WD9DZV, know how to use software to my advantage when it comes to filtering those things I don't want to see. And since when is Alaska NOT DX? Last I checked, this 49th State is listed in the ARRL DXCC listing. I don't spot for me, I spot for those letting them know that there is a path to Alaska!

Ten meters does not open into this part of the country very often so we take full advantage of each and every opening. I know I'm not the only Alaskan who enjoyed the fruits of the propagation tree today on 10 meters. Let's hope this is just a hint as to what is yet to come. I would love to finish my WAS (Worked All States) award for 10 meters not to mention get my DXCC on that band from this location.

When you hear 10 open, don't forget to point those antenna's toward Alaska! Oh, and I will continue to post beacons in the hope that folks in those locations will do just that, point their antenna's toward the many hams in Alaska!

QRZ?

2011 ARRL CW DX Contest - The Rest of the Story

2011-02-21T08:45:00.006-09:00

ARRL CW DX Contest 2011

February has two very busy weekends for me and those are the CQ World Wide WPX RTTY contest mentioned in my previous blog entry and this past weekend, the ARRL International DX Contest. With the sun being as active as it had been in the past several days, I was not sure what to expect for this past weekend. It was obvious that the Solar Flux Index (SFI) was the highest I had seen it in months but with the solar flares, I was unsure what conditions we would have for operating here in Alaska. It was reported that we would see the effects of three separate solar wind blasts and often times when this happens, we are treated to beautiful auroras but poor band conditions. I operated three bands last year, 10, 15, and 20 meters, so I opted to take the safe way out and just do a 20 meter single band entry. This way, if the bands were poor, my efforts would be focused on my strongest band. I am still unable to run anything more than 100 watts on 15 meters, so that would also effect the outcome of any effort placed on that band.

It worked out that I was able to get started right away on Friday afternoon (Saturday) at the beginning of the contest. I had a pretty full weekend planned so I also knew I could not do a full outright effort. Another reason I wanted to only focus on 20. Several stations were on the band holding their frequencies and once the clocked ticked midnight, the race was on. I found a hole to operate in on 14.041 MHz. I would much

ARRL DX CW Run Rates

rather call CQ than to Search & Pounce (S&P) any day. As I struggle to get better at operating, I think this really pushes me to the next level as often times, I get more than one station calling and it can be very challenging to pull just one out of the mix. When I am hunting stations with S&P, sometimes I can hear them well but they can't hear me. If I am parked calling CQ, then if they are calling me, there is no doubt they can hear me.

I stuck to that same frequency from the beginning of the contest until around 0300z. I threw in the towel until later that next morning, 1700z. Again, I was unsure what the next day would bring but being an early riser, I was hoping I could catch the band as soon as it opened. I knew I would find the morning challenging as many of the lower 48 stations are pointed to Europe and often times, I can hear them well but they cannot hear me off the back or corner of their beams. One of my classic experiences with this was when I called NE0U. He was loud here but it took me a few calls for him to get who I was. He sent a few "dit dot dit dit's" as he turned his beam toward Alaska and he went from 529 to 599 plus. We easily worked and he went onto working Europe. But thankfully it was not long before the band opened up and I was calling CQ with stations answering me. In the photo above, you will see my operating times and run rates. I have been working on my CW abilities for many years but have leveled off and just can't go to that next level. My max rate was 120 per hour as seen above. That is about my max. I find that using Morse Runner is a great way to work on your CW decoding skills in a contest setting. I can't say enough about this program but even when warming up with it, I'm still not able to do much better than that. No records will be broken from this station with the exception of personal operating records.

The contest turned out being much better than I had expected as far as band conditions and contacts. The band was extremely full so you always have to deal with people jumping on your frequency without sending QRL (something I always will do) or people moving in close. I made good use of the CW filters in my Icom 756-PRO this past weekend and toward the end, my 250 Hz filter was locked in place. 20 meters always seems to get super busy right at the end as many people are cramming to make their final contacts. I have an average station (one rig, one beam at around 40 foot, and some wire antennas) so I get pushed around pretty easily. More than once, I had to vacate my operating frequency as I was pushed out. But that's all part of the contesting experience. Often times this is a blessing as I will normally S&P and I can end up with new multipliers anyhow.

Sunday Quiet

The last states I needed for my lower 48 sweep were DC and WV. My first DC station was NN3RP and was I glad to have Rafael call in. To my surprise, I also got DC contacts from W3DQ and KB8UUM. So it turned out the WV was my last state and I was on pins and needles until AA8UL saved the day and called. Same applied, I had nothing to worry about as by the end of the contest, I worked a handful of WV stations. But as with any of these contests, the lower 48 is normally not the problem, it's Canada! Once again, I was stuck at 58 multipliers and missing NF, LB, NT, YT and NU. I was hoping for YT but that never happened. Maybe doing a bit more S&P would of helped me come up with one or two? Either way, I missed those much needed multipliers.

Many times throughout the weekend, flutter and echos added a bit of difficulty in copying stations. As seen in the graph above from HAARP, there were some challenging times but we took a hit on Sunday as seen from the graph above. I remember 20 meters going short and then for about two hours, there was not much heard. The absorption went up around 1945z and did not stop until around 2115z for me. My spectrum scope went from crowded to flat! Only a few stations were heard. I took advantage of no propagation to eat lunch and catch up on a little work but thankfully the band came back for the last few hours. Lower 48 may not experience this effect as much as we do here in Alaska but when the switch gets flipped, it's amazing how fast propagation can fade away to nothing.

In looking back, I should of probably went with working three bands which would have really helped my score and helped the North Coast Contesters with the club score (I believe it counts, in some contests, I live too far away). I opted for 20 meters, which is a sure thing if we have propagation. I have not looked at my past contests but even though this is not the highest score I've accomplished in this contest, I think the QSO's for 20 meters were my best, or any single band effort for that matter. I did have more QSO's last year with a higher score due to operating 10 & 15 meters along with 20. If I had operated 15 meters, there is no doubt my highest score would of been achieve this past weekend.

When the smoke and dust cleared, I made 1164 contacts on 20 meters working 58 States and Provinces but I had a whopping 38 duplicates!! I often get confused with KL7DX, but this weekend was the worst I have experienced. I normally don't send faster than 28 Words Per Minute (WPM) on CW when I'm parked and calling CQ but I backed that down to 26 WPM. With Win-test, I can slow or speed up various parts of my report so I think I will experiment with slowing down my "8" so it's very obvious while keeping up to speed the rest of my callsign. I'm not sure what I can do different but the problem is not on my end. In looking back, I see that I was spotted only once as KL7DX but maybe that is all that it takes. I made several keyboard mistakes so some got more than they asked for in their report or maybe got their report twice. My receive was cutting out do to a relay issue which I believe is with my AMP, so I had to ask for a few more repeats than normal. All in all, it was a blast and one of my favorite contests came through yet again. If you are an award chaser, it's easy for most anyone to get Worked All States (WAS) in this contest weekend.

With each and every contest, I learn more and better my score. I owe a large part of my success to the Alaska Contest Group lead by KL7RA and several of the other regulars you hear on from up here. I have also learned lots at Field Day, compliments of Larry, N1TX and the KL2R gang. There is an art to contest operating and I'm here to tell ya, I don't have an artistic bone in my body. But in the end, getting on and operating is the best experience of all. Take the good with the bad, and never give up. I may have reached my maximum CW operating speed (or summit as I like to refer to it since I appropriately have Denali in my backyard) but surely I haven not maxed out the fun! My stations too small to be a serious threat to anyone but I'm serious when I say, CW is the KEY to DX success!

CQ World Wide WPX RTTY Contest 2011

2011-02-14T12:24:00.010-09:00

CQ World Wide WPX RTTY Contest

This past weekend was the annual CQ World Wide WPX RTTY Contest. I had not operated RTTY with any seriousness since last years event when I smoked a trap in my 4 element tri-band antenna by feeding it a little too much power 15 meters.

CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest

Call: KL8DX
Operator(s): KL8DX
Station: KL8DX

Class: SOSB20 HP
QTH: Alaska
Operating Time (hrs): 29.49

Summary:
Band  QSOs
------------
   80:     
   40:     
   20: 1059
   15:     
   10:     
------------
Total: 1059  Prefixes = 537  Total Score = 1,316,187

Club: North Coast Contesters

Full Band as seen by Icom

I had decided to do a single band entry on 20 meters, my strongest band. I decided this since I did an all band effort last year (well, all band for me anyhow). I wanted to change it up a bit for 2011. My low band antennas do not do very well so I wanted to take advantage of my strongest band. I also contemplated a low power entry but decided to run with high to take advantage of as my QSO's as possible. I saw the space weather forecast and we were due to see the effects of another solar wind but that was not likely to hit until after the contest.

I got a late start on Friday afternoon but that was only by about 40 minutes or so. As with any contest, I prefer to park and call CQ. This is where my Icom shines as I run FSK and filter down to 250 Hz. I can normally find a hole someplace and I prefer to hangout in the nosebleed section. I worked lots of lower 48 stations and also a few Japanese stations before the band closed down on Friday night. I was patiently waiting for Europe to start showing up on the waterfall which is around 9 to 10 PM local time (0600z to 0700z).

By Friday night, European signals were pretty darn good. It was obviously one way propagation as I was hearing them good but apparently they could not hear me. I found a frequency, called CQ until I exceeded my preferred quota with no responses. I decided then to call it a night and try early in the morning on Saturday. My experience has been that my path to Europe is much better under these conditions around 1200z and later.

I woke up Saturday morning and immediately started to Search & Pounce on European stations. I was glad to see that they were at least hearing me finally. It's great to work the European stations due to the fact they are 3 point contacts (on upper bands) and almost every QSO was a new multiplier with all the prefixes from the different countries. Strangely though, I could not get a run going for the life of me but I could work almost everyone I could hear. So, I tuned up and down the band working as many stations as possible in Europe and points east.

I worked Europe until the band faded over the North Pole and I turned my antenna toward the lower 48. Once again, I found a small hole and called CQ and opted to run stations rather then exercise my VFO. Again, I prefer to stay
away from the PSK31 (14.070) and weak signal (14.076)

Run Rates for KL8DX

frequencies. I operate those modes and as with any contest, I try to respect that bandwidth to those modes. This also includes the beacon frequencies. I follow a site on Twitter that announces heard beacons and oddly enough, none were heard during the entire weekend contest. This I'm sure is due to the QRM created on or near that frequency (14.100). During CW contests, you will hear CW in the digital spectrum and it's no different with digital as it heads south into the QRP CW spectrum and lower. Working a major contest (or not) is like shopping on Black Friday! It's gonna be crowded, it's gonna try your patience, and you will find both rude and polite operators. Above is a snapshot of where I ran and the lowest I got in the 20 meter band was 14074 but I did not stay long. This was pointed toward Europe and I parked here to draw a few stations that were S&P'n just above that and were new multipliers. These stations did in fact find me and I moved onward and upward.

By the end of Saturday night I had 700 + QSO's. I re-read the rules on Saturday night (thankfully) and realized that single operators were only allowed 30 hours in this contest. I checked N1MM to see how many hours I operated and found I only had about 10.5 hours left. I saw that signals were sounding pretty good from Russia and Europe late Saturday night so I decided to do the same, wake up and get on the air around 1330z on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning was a carbon copy of Saturday morning, great propagation abroad and more 3 pointers and multipliers were added as the morning progressed. I only experienced one LID moment and that was when EA5IY decided to call CQ and run stations on the frequency I had been on for short while (14.130). And yes, he knew I was there.

ON4TO

Also, an interesting moment while doing S&P on 20 meters. I had just worked ON4TO and right behind me, I saw KL5DX call him. I immediately could tell that ON4TO was confused (see screen shot above). I suspect that he figured he "busted" my callsign as I saw him give KL5DX the same serial number he gave me. I also saw the delay when ON4TO realized that serial number that I gave him and what KL5DX gave him were very different. So unless ON4TO figured it out and shows in his log that he sent the same number to both KL5DX and myself, it appears I will have this one struck from my log. I get confused with KL7DX quit frequently but this QSO cost me 3 points and a multiplier not to mention it cost ON4TO the same since I believe I was the only "KL8" active in this contest.

I had a similar close call experience which made me laugh out loud. I was calling CQ and I had W2YE and W2YC calling me at the same time (I did not realize it until afterward). Both were the same signal strength and I was getting parts of both. So, as I normally do, I asked for the W2 only. Both responded. I asked for the W2Y?? again and both responded. Finally, W2YE was decoded on my screen and after working him, W2YC came booming in. Both are in my log and I had to chuckle at the thought of what the chances were of both calling me at the very same time.

From my score report at the top, you will see I worked 537 different prefixes, roughly half of my log was unique. At the top of that list was EV85DOSAAF! Not sure I would run a contest with that callsign as it's not user friendly to N1MM anyhow. Not much information on the web about this operation other than the QSL manager.

ON Air Time for KL8DX

In the end, I could have operated a few more minutes but I did not want to push going over the 30 hour mark. The Aurora and QSB did leave a bit of gibberish on my screen a time or two so I hope I did not bust too many callsigns. I am not sure what was up with the duplicate QSO's but I had more in this contest than any other. I'm not sure if someone caught my callsign in passing and saw it as something other than KL8DX and just immediately called or what. In looking at the cluster after the contest for KL8's, I was spotted as KL8XX, so I assume that could of been part of it but that was at the very end. Most stations probably clicked and called without first verifying my callsign. My strategy when that happens is to ignore them once, call CQ again with my callsign or work another station and if they continue to call, I work work them in hopes they will move on. I won't NOT work dupes as many operators have a macro that states something like "worked before" and they continue to CQ. I can bust a callsign just like the next guy so I don't mind logging them again, respectfully.

I beat my all time record score and number of QSO's in any RTTY contest. The score can start to climb if you work the low bands were those QSO's are worth more points. The propagation was outstanding which allowed for so many QSO's. I'm thankful for all the small stations like mine that get out and play in this contest. From large stacked arrays to the ham who is using an indoor antenna and low power, I'm grateful for each and every contact! Contests can be intimidating but they become addicting. I have read so many threads regarding the use of macros but in the end, I don't care how you have yours set up as long as you call me. I had a few stations send their entire information first before I acknowledged them while others had several line feeds or went on to say 73 and thank me for the contact. Actually, I find these less than common macros a bit challenging or maybe a bit refreshing from the normal every QSO grind. I think it's good to change it up once in awhile but that is my opinion and many operators have heartache over something other than non-perfect, textbook macros. Don, AA5AU has a great RTTY information site that I would highly recommend to any station who is new or wants to start off experiencing this mode. Contests are about accurate, short and sweet exchanges. Remember, it is a contest so it's best just to send what is needed and nothing more, in a format that works.

I have been deeply involved with digital between JT65A and now RTTY. I think it's time I blow the dust off my key and get back to my most favorite of modes. Sadly, I have a very busy schedule over the coming weeks but I hope to be on any chance I get as I need to work on my CW speed for some up coming contests. Our temperatures dropped to -30F this past weekend but I am hoping this is the last deep freeze as the sun is returning and they days are getting longer. I'm looking forward to putting up my Hex beam and also doing some camping with a touch of remote QRP activity, both CW and digital. That's the beauty of this hobby, you can take it with you and it's always willing and ready when you return. To those I worked in the RTTY contest, thanks for calling and sorry to those I missed or could not decode.

A Bittersweet & Warming Weekend

2011-02-06T13:02:00.001-09:00

Sunshine above Mount Healy, Alaska.

Alaskan's look forward to the return of sunshine after doing without it (or seeing very little of it) for the last few months. The sun is now higher than Mount Healy which is just to my south (as seen to the left) and soon we will be able to enjoy the direct sunshine all afternoon. The sun brings hope for longer and warmer days after experiencing a dark and cold winter. Alaskan winters can be pretty harsh but the summers make up for a large part of that. The Midnight Sun is something that I will never get tired of. When the day comes that we depart this great state for our southern retirement ground, I will sure miss it. Some people have problems adjusting to 24 hours of daylight but I welcome it with open arms! I can only hope someday when my wife and I retire that we spend our summers in Alaska and winters someplace a bit more...let's say brighter and warmer.

The sun can bring warmth and enjoyment but as I have mentioned so many times, the sun can produce plenty of silence for the northern exposed ham radio operator. This was this case this past weekend. The effects of a solar wind caused a geomagnetic storm that rendered the ham bands useless for me.

HAARP

HAARP showed lots of absorption and it was obvious after checking the website and listening to the bands, my hopes of operating in the MN QSO Party and a few others were shattered. Only the strongest signals were heard and on a few occasions, the signals would be there one minute and gone the next. Even as I write this, signals are extremely weak and most that I am hearing are from the far left coast.

Aurora as seen from KL8DX & KL8SU's QTH

The bittersweet part to this story is that during the winter we experience these geomagnetic storms. Often times we are treated to an auroral display that can last for hours. As we approach spring, these displays get a bit more pronounced. I was able to spend time outdoors last night capturing a few photos of the green lights of winter overhead. It is frustrating sometimes when you look forward to a weekend of radio activity and a geomagnetic storm puts a damper on your efforts, however it's always great to see the Northern Lights, too. Many have never experienced the Aurora but when the conditions are right, the Aurora can be viewed well into the lower 48 states (I have photographs I took of the Aurora when we lived in Ohio). I'm just thankful we had clear skies this weekend so we could at least enjoy the light show. What's depressing is when there is no radio activity and the clouds overhead keep you from viewing this magnificent wonder.

The sun can make the heavens shine bright even on the darkest nights. As I have written before, the summer midnight sun and the green lights of winter are my most favorite. I'm glad that during these geomagnetic storms the bands head south otherwise, I would miss events like last night. It might be cold outside but the green lights of winter warm the heart and soul. At least for me it does.

SKCC QRP Defeat...again

2011-01-31T15:10:00.000-09:00

During the month of January, the SKCC organization has their yearly K3Y Special Event. This year was no exception. They look for volunteer operators from each of the US Districts including Hawaii and Alaska. I normally throw my hat in the ring to operate as my way to support the club. This year was nice as I believe we had a record number of Alaskan operators doing their part to operate K3Y/KL7. With my limited time to operate, I only netted 267 QSO's while operating K3Y/KL7. Life tends to interfere with ham radio on a regular basis. It does for you too, right?

This year my goal was to try a "Sweep" working all ten US Districts along with Alaska and Hawaii, with 5 watts or less. I made it operating high power rather easily but I got a late start operating QRP, as I devoted more time to being chased than chasing. When the dust cleared today, I came up short yet again. I managed to work all but K3Y/1, K3Y/5, K3Y/9, and K3Y/KH6 while operating on 5 watts or less. So I missed my sweep by a few. Sadly, my attempts to snag the last two failed on the very last day of operation. The band was there, I could hear the stations operating their respective K3Y districts, but they could not hear me (I was hearing them on an average of S5). If I was hearing them S5 and they were running 100 watts (or more) and they could not hear me well, you do the math. If you double your power, how many S units do you gain? Exactly!

QRP can be very frustrating at times and there are those that probably think that QRP operating from up here is...well...just insane. If you have not operated from Alaska (or near the Arctic Circle in EU, Canada, etc), you probably don't know what I'm talking about. I've mentioned it before that 100 watts is challenging so trying to do it with 5 watts is nearly extreme. But, with the right propagation, the right receiving station, this can be done. I feel operating QRP, the receiving station takes most of the burden when it comes to logging a QRP QSO. QRP to QRP however, it's a shared effort. The QRP station needs to know how to predict the right times to operate but in the end, it's the receiving station that often times has to pre-amp and filter up to pull that QRP signal out of the static. Then add in QRN, QSB, QRM...well, you get the picture.This has been debated by many but that's my opinion being on both the receiving and sending side of QRP activities.

It takes a patient soul to be able to operate QRP and often times, just as patient of a receiving operator. But, when conditions are just right, a long distance QRP QSO can be the ultimate rush. Now obviously there are things you can do to make these QSO's easier, such as larger antenna's or simple elevation. When I operated with Steve, wG0AT from atop Mt. Herman, it opened my eyes to what 9,000 feet of elevation can do to reception and how far a QRP signal can travel. Sure beats my 1,800 feet!

In the end, QRP is lots of fun and I'm looking forward to doing much more with CW and digital. I am envious of the lower 48 stations who operate QRP as I will watch the QRP Spots Page seeing them spot and work stations when I can't hear a one. But, location has plenty to do with it as well. Just look at what the guys in the Caribbean can work! They not only have some of the best propagation, but they have the great weather and beaches to go along with it. Of course, it must be hard to stay in the shack in such a tropical paradise but it's rather easy to stay in the shack in Alaska during the winter months. Then again, playing radio while sitting on the beach with a warm ocean breeze sounds like paradise to me! And speaking of wG0AT, he and the Buddipole team are once again doing that very thing as they should be enjoying the warmth of Dominica as I write this. Hope to log a few of the gang...

Weekend Weak Signal

2011-01-30T20:28:00.004-09:00

I spent a large part of the weekend focusing on JT65A yet again. This mode is extremely fascinating to me due to the weak signal decode ability that it has. I also did a bit of PSK31 looking for that last state I need for LOTW WAS, Maine. Came up short yet again with Maine but I know someone willing to send Maine my way on PSK31. He has offered, I just need to set up a sked. I was hoping to get it by chance, but I think with another high speed solar wind due to strike again in the next week, I had just better take advantage of the offer.

The map above from PSK Reporter shows some of areas I had propagation to over the last 12 hours. You will see some European stations on this map from earlier this morning. I had become frustrated with PSK31 as a digital mode to contact European stations as the software and mode does not do well with polar flutter. JT65A is much better with this but even it has limits with polar flutter. I found this to be the case this morning as I attempted to decode a few stations on the other side of the North Pole.

You can see I had several moderately strong stations in the waterfall but I often times would go one to two minutes between a decode (screen shot to the right). PSK31 would not have decoded a trace but at least JT65A does better with this condition. Again, with the echo and flutter, it does have some limitations but at least I can work stations under this condition. I messed around with the audio input settings (a bit high as seen here) but even the signals show a much wider trace than normal. I believe this is a visual indicator of the flutter and echo I was hearing. Either way, this software / mode does extremely well and I have tested it on my strong and weak bands. It has allowed me to work parts of the lower 48 or other countries I did not think I had the ability to work due to my station limitations. It's awesome to be able to have a valid contact with a station that is as weak as -24dB! Not possible you say? Just give it a try and you will see..

Here is a perfect example of the ability of JT65A (using JT65-HF software). I do not have a 160 meter antenna but my Hustler ground mounted 5BTV will actually tune this band. While typing this blog entry, you will see I decoded W3ZUP in FM19. He resides in Maryland, which is over 3,200 miles away from my QTH. The software decoded him with a very weak -25dB signal using my vertical! Now, how impressive is that? Not only did it decode him once, but it decoded him a second time at that signal strength!

~~~~~~~~ ¥¥¥¥¥ ~~~~~~~~~

I guess since I have written about this mode a few times, you can sense my excitement about it. But I'm sure others also feel as I do. This gives us small stations a way to work states and countries we never expected to work. Heck, I have worked farther on 80 meters than I have ever worked before. I did not think that WAS (Worked All States) was a possibility on 80 meters for me but with this mode, there is hope! The JT65A crowd is growing daily so the more stations that are on, the better my chances to accomplish my award goals. Plus, there is something about calling CQ and seeing someone coming back to your call and the anticipation as you wait to see who it is, approximately 50 seconds later.

Digital QRP - Check!

2011-01-17T19:39:00.002-09:00

I have been on a quest since the purchase of my used Icom IC-703Plus and my recent purchase of a Dell Mini 10", to get it working on the digital modes. I not only enjoy CW QRP when we are out camping but I wanted to go the next step and start doing some PSK31, JT65A, Olivia...you know, the main modes good for weak signal. I also want to give Feld Hell a run QRP, too. I had a spare Rigblaster Plus which I keep on the shelf in case one of my other two fail. In doing a bit of research, I stumbled across an all inclusive interface cable which would give me rig control and get me talking with HRD, MMTTY, N1MM, and JT65-HF. It was while doing a search on eBay where I eventually purchased the needed cable. I then went to the sellers website where I found the support documentation I needed to get things plug into the right places. You can learn more about the cable I purchased at;

http://www.xggcomms.com/

It took me longer to download HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) than it did to get my radio transmitting PSK-31 with my Mini Dell. Like a kid in a candy store who can't wait, I called CQ on PSK31 and K7MSC came right back to me! My first digital QRP portable station QSO! I chatted with Mitch for a few minutes, or at least until a station moved in on top of us and ended our QSO. Mitch gave me the information that I was looking for in regards to my signal, S/N and IMD along with a signal report. I was pretty darn happy! It was time to move onto JT65!

I fired up JT65-HF and I noticed that the software was not fitting my screen properly. I was missing the bottom half of the program. When I attempted to push or move it up, my Dell Mini refused to let that happen. I could move it to either side and down, just not up. I checked the JT65-HF reflector for similar posts and found a conversation involving Allan, ZS1LS. I saw Allan was also using a Dell Mini so I sent off a quick e-mail asking how I could resolve my problem. Allan explained that there was a separate .exe with a smaller GUI.

Sure enough, when I went looking, there was that magic sg-jt65-hf.exe file! Once I changed out shortcuts to the proper .exe file, I was in business! Well, almost...

I found JT65A signals on 20 meters but I was not decoding anything. It's extremely important and almost a criminal act if your PC clock is off by a few seconds. Well, I was not decoding because my Dell Mini was off by more than 5 seconds, ouch! I downloaded and installed Dimension 4 v5.0. I run on most all of my computers Atomic Clock Sync but it did not sync often enough. The Dell Mini clock is horrible at keeping accurate time so it needs a nudge almost every minute or two. After I got my clock back in sync, magically callsigns and reports started to appear on my computer screen. I was in business! Or so I thought...

I had HRD running along with my logbook and when I went to set up my JT65-HF software, I had it grab the QRG (Frequency) from HRD. These programs are easily married and live wonderfully together! When I went to send my first transmission, nothing! I tried to configure it for different serial ports but nada! So, in troubleshooting the problem, I closed out HRD and the logbook and when I went to transmit using JT65-HF (using Com3) it worked like a charm! So, it's obvious that I need to resolve a conflict There are four USB ports on the computer so I may have maxed out my com ports on this little computer. Won't know until I dive in a bit deeper. I need to check with the group (or with Allan again) to see if anyone else is using a similar setup and having success. But for now, I can transmit on the modes I was looking for and I just need to add and tweak some macros! I tried all available (or unavailable) com ports in the JT65-HF software with no luck!

In conclusion, the interface cable will be much easier to tote along than an interface such as my Rigblaster Plus. The Dell Mini can give me an easy 8 hours of operation between charges and it's very small. A perfect fit for a backpack and my QRP equipment! I now just need to wait for the return of the midnight sun so we can go camping and I can spend some time on the Denali Highway, enjoying some quiet radio time. But, with the Polar Bear club activities, I hope to be out this winter yet. 27 below zero yesterday, a high today of 3 above, the weather is worse than the propagation around here at times not knowing what it wants to do! I'll keep ya posted. Oh, FSK RTTY is also something I want to get configured. If it were summer, these troubleshooting projects would be on the shelf!

72 de KL8DX/QRP

Propagation Study Continues

2011-01-16T22:14:00.002-09:00

PSK Reporter

I have really been enjoying JT65A on the low bands. I have used WSPR as well but the advantage of this mode (JT65) is that you can make contacts with other stations and these contacts count for awards. For the last several days, I have been leaving JT65-HF up on various bands to see what type or propagation I have and when. As the days start to slowly get longer, the bands will slowly change as well.

Saturday night, I left the software running on 20 meters and I noticed that European stations started making a steady appearance around 1300z (yea, I'm in a deep sleep about then). The peak of the EU propagation seemed to be around 1500z to 1600z. It started to drop before it finally fell out around 1700z. In the map above you will see many of the stations I heard directly at my location. Many of these stations were running some pretty low power. Living in a propagationally challenged part of the world, I have decided that I am going to attempt to find the best path at the best time. Now mind you, a larger station will be hearing more earlier and hearing later but this test is specific to my station so I would consider it personalized. I have mentioned propagation in my blog many times before but if I want to make contacts and complete skeds with other stations, I need to understand the best time to be successful. It is also useful information for contests especially to determine when the best time to find open propagation to certain parts of the world are. I am most intrigued with my polar path into Europe.

I am not even going to begin to admit that I know the first thing about propagation because I don't. I just need to find out what works for me and the limits of my small station. With JT65A (and other programs like WSPR, etc) you receive a report from the station you're working (or that's hearing you due to many stations uploading reception reports to a dedicated website) on how well your signal is being heard. This is what I find extremely interesting. It has helped me realize that with my low band antenna's, I am sure hearing much better than I'm being heard. Now I need to understand why and attempt to make this a more even playing field by making external adjustments or changes. Of course, we are all at the mercy of space weather and more, in regards to propagation anyhow. It's not uncommon to have the band fold here in a matter of minutes due to absorption (as seen in the HAARP chart above). This chart was from the last 36 hours of this posting and you can see some of the challenges. We have a saying, "Red is Dead".

Having access to this great information from various websites like HamSpots, PSK Reporter, or simple screen shots from stations on the other end of the QSO, can sure help shed some light on the abilities of my station. The screen shot to the left was from my friend Andy, VE9DX in New Brunswick, Canada. This was how well Andy was hearing me and after obtaining Andy's station information, it helped me understand a bit more about my path to the east. It seems my antenna radiates better directly east or just north of east favoring northern USA and Canadian stations and of course Europe. This can be changed with a simple rearranging of my antenna configuration or by using more than one antenna. I am also surrounded by mountains so again, testing my paths will help me determine the best antenna configuration to use. My best propagation is from approximately 80 degrees to 240 degrees. Beyond that, those remaining locations on the globe can be pretty challenging for me (on 20 meters anyhow, my strongest band). Now that I'm getting into QRP operating, this is extremely valuable information.

Having a small station, you must take advantage of every useful tool available if you want to be successful. I have worked many stations on the other side of the US that were only running indoor antennas with no more than 100 watts. You don't need 200 foot towers and large antenna's to make long distance contacts. How often do we look at the weather forecast and make plans because the weather is going to be nice, or even cancel plans because the weather is going to be crappy. The same applies to ham radio and propagation. Take advantage of all these great resources and you will find it's like a good book, hard to put down after you get started. I have opened the book of propagation and I have only read the first sentence. So much more to read, so much more to learn...

Buffet of Ham Radio Fun with a Sad Ending

2011-01-10T20:11:00.003-09:00

This past weekend had a bit of everything for the contesting type. I wanted to operate in four different contests, the NAQP CW, the PODXS 070 PSKfest, SKCC WES, and the ARRL RTTY Roundup. And to top it all off, I was going to operate as K3Y/KL7 in the SKCC Weekend Sprint. So, with all that going on, I could not just focus my efforts on one contest but had to spread my operating across a few modes as a few of the contest times overlapped. My operating began in the NAQP CW contest. It was apparent that the bands were very poor due to the effects of a high speed solar wind. Running 100 watts from Alaska during this type of geomagnetic activity is like running QRP using 1 watt to a coat hanger. After a few attempts at trying to get a run going, I gave in and flipped the power switch to my AL-1500. I knew it was going to be a rough weekend! And yes, if I do submit my log, it will be a checklog due to using high power (NAQP is only a low power contest).

After parking and calling CQ and nearly wearing out my F1 button on my keyboard (CQ NA), when all was said in done I flew the white flag at 2240z. I operated three hours and only made 126 QSO's and worked 33 multipliers. Yea that's rough but I understand that contesting is not always easy. I'm not saying I gave up, just moved onto the next contest is all.

I made my first PSK31 contact at 2305z as it took me a bit to get the station set up to run digital. I worked the contest until the end, my last QSO being at 2359z. When the dust cleared in just under an hour, I worked 27 contacts on PSK31, with one being a dupe. It seems I was having better luck on PSK31 than I was on CW!

As far as the RTTY Roundup, I only made a handful of contacts between 0110z on the 9th and 0135z. I made a whopping 11 contacts on RTTY before deciding to move on. I had not operated RTTY in ages so it was good to get my feet wet again. I do plan a low power run in one of the up coming major contests.

Sunday was dedicated to operating K3Y/KL7 for the SKCC club. I operated for 6 hours on Sunday making 63 contacts. Again, very poor band conditions lead to a slow rate. Obviously working manual CW my rate is going to be substantially lower. I'm am not very good with high speed CW so my average rate during a contest is only around 130 an hour on a very good day. I described myself as a DX'er and a greenhorn contester. I won't be breaking any records or hanging any plaques on my shack wall. I'm in it for fun and have been lucky enough to score a bit of wallpaper for my efforts.

My Monday operation for K3Y/KL7 was from 1900z thru 2359z. The band (20 meters) was a bit better today but still not very good. I was experiencing lots of QSB and it was obvious I was being heard much better than I was hearing. Still with that said, I was able to struggle and make 45 CW contacts.

QRP operating is a bit different and it can be really tough at times to pull those stations out. I am getting into QRP myself so I am beginning to understand the challenges with running lower power however, I think operating from here with QRP levels multiplies the difficulty by 10. Granted, when the band is wide open, it's open. But on an average day, life is tough here with 100 watts. Just ask any Alaskan station that has operated low power in the NAQP contests. I bet they all tell you the same! But, I enjoy helping other hams complete their quest for a new state, DXCC country, or county award. But when I get comments like;

"Phil, thanks for being there for us during this month of K3Y. What fun it is.
Once I got the sweep, I've now moved to do it again, QRP (4W) It's all about
band condx's and good op's like you. thank YOU!"

It makes it all worth while. I had a few more positive comments on the SKCC Sked Page. So even though it was a struggle, it was well worth the effort to not only support a great mode, but also support a great club and doing what ham's do best, helping others! Oh and I did have fun, too.

In reference to my sad note, I had worked several stations in the NAQP using the name "Tom". Little did I know, until I started to read the 3830 posts, that it was for WX4TM! I was floored when I read that! I had not heard the news that Tom became a Silent Key. Tom was always extremely kind and we talked about Alaska through email and on radio, even stopping during contests for a brief chat. Had I known, I would of been using Tom as well in my exchange. Tom, you will be missed and there will from now on be a void in my logbook. Thanks for all the QSO's!!!

Hello 2011, can I go back to 2010? And hanging my KMPW Wallpaper!

2011-01-03T20:27:00.003-09:00

In a previous post I mentioned one of my first QRP awards and that was ARCI's KMPW award. I'm proudly displaying that award on my shack wall. I am becoming more active in QRP and it's sure a challenge running low power, especially from here in Alaska. I ordered a cable that will allow full rig control and FSK so I'm looking forward to possibly doing a bit of contesting QRP as well. Stay tuned for that one!

2011 started off a bit rough. I worked my first stint as K3Y/KL7 which went very well. I made 60 contacts in 3 hours, which is not a lot but when you are manually making the CW contacts, it's not too bad! After the contest, I was spending a bit of family time in our living room and I noticed one of the guys to my tower appearing to have excess slack. We were receiving the effects of a winter Chinook which blows in from the SE and brings warm air up from the Gulf of Alaska. Now mind you, I live in a windy area anyhow but my highest gust received was 62 mph this past weekend. Sometime during this wind storm, the bracket securing my main tower to the house literally sheered in half! After realizing what had happened, I asked my wife for her assistance and we made a mad dash outdoors to get the tower secured as best we could in the high winds.

My first order of business was dropping my beam down to roof level. Once that was accomplished, we secured the tower by adjusting guy wires and also adding a few lower guys. Thankfully, the tower stayed vertical and once the winds dropped down to 30 mph and less, I ventured out to see what I could do to get things back in operation.

I started to dig out the tower base which was under several feet of snow. I have a tilt base Rohn 25 and I had discovered that with the securing bracket broken, the rocking motion of the tower due to the wind loosened two of the three bolts securing the tower to the buried tilt section. I secured the bolts and afterward I was able to get the HF beam back to the 43 foot level. We readjusted and secured the guy wires but I also found that my 80 meter inverted V was damaged. One of the legs snapped at the balun. I was able to fix that from the roof and after some rearranging of wires, the 80 meter wire was back in service.

The bracket securing the tower to the house will have to wait until spring. I will be paying very close attention to weather forecasts for the rest of the winter. It's not uncommon to get wind of 50 to 55 mph here, we are used to that. Anything less than 50 mph is considered a breeze in these parts. It's the winds that exceed 60 mph that get my attention. Having a Hazer system on a tower makes it much tougher to guy and secure as you need for the Hazer to be able to track up and down the tower. Even though 2011 came in rough, I'm hoping it means that things can only get better from here. Now I'm looking forward to next weekend with some major contests on the horizon. My excitement might be short lived as I see we are about to receive the effects of a coronal hole throwing a high solar wind in earths direction. If that's the case, we might have some good auroral photographing opportunities as the bands will probably be very quiet.

Look'n in the Rearview at ARS KL8DX

2010-12-31T15:19:00.009-09:00

Hard to believe another year has passed us by. Even though the year still consists of 365 days, they sure seem to go much faster the older we get. This New Year's Eve got me thinking about this past year and like many do all over the globe, starting to think of 2011 and resolutions, or goals as I like to refer to them. So, in looking at 2010, I will highlight the major events that come to memory. I will also think about my plans for 2011. I have no goals for 2011, as in chasing certain awards or achieving a certain score in a major contest. I'm in this hobby for fun and to make friends worldwide. I work so many familiar callsigns, but can never mentally remember the names of each and every operator. Ham radio is about callsigns and not necessarily names, right? It is interesting when we go to introduce ham friends to other ham friends and only use their callsign.

Statistics

In looking back at my data for the last four operating years (been here over seven), it's obvious that 2010 was not a peak operating year for me. That is due to a few factors, but mostly I did not participate in as many contests as in previous years. I also did have a few months off when my beam was out of service. The actual QSO numbers for me were:

2010 = 5,248
2009 = 11,417
2008 = 10,144
2007 = 3,259

So in 2010, I had less than half the contacts I had in 2009. Is that a bad thing? No. It means I juggle my radio time with family and work like many of us do. What these numbers do not include are my activities as K3Y/KL7 and Field Day, when I had the privilege of operating at KL2R. I also did not add my QRP QSO's in here for 2010 from my QRP logbook. My total QSO count now since moving to Alaska is approaching 32,000.

Highlights & Lowlights

Again, there were many ham radio highlights in 2010, but I will grab the first few from the top of my head. I will begin with the lowlights;

My long time close friend, coworker, and neighbor (along with his family) left Alaska for Arizona. That would be KL1SF and KL1MF.
The aged station showing it's age, as my Icom 756PRO needed repairs when the tuner went out. Still cheaper than a new rig and well worth the repair cost.
My Diamond vertical ending it's life in one of our ever frequent wind storms. It also happened at a time of year that I need to wait until spring to replace it.
The damage to my 15 meter trap on my Mosley TA-34-XL, operator HUA.
My APRS radio biting the dust, so my faithful digipeater runs silent.

Now, there were many smaller scale lowlights but these are right at the top of the list. Now onto the highlights;

Meeting and spending a day with wG0AT in Colorado. Wow, was that a blast. Steve, Rooster, and Peanut kicked my butt hiking to the top of Mt.Herman! My wife was just as excited to meet Steve, his wife, Rooster, and Peanut. Steve did a great video of our adventure and you can find that on YouTube here. A rare glimpse of KL8DX. Also a BIG thanks to Steve for retrieving my shades!
The 10 meter openings during CQ World Wide CW and the ARRL 10 Meter Contest! 10 meters is such a wild and crazy band and us Alaskans were blessed with some good propagation on 10 meters! Finally! I won't mention 6 meters as that would be listed above in lowlights.
Breaking a million points in the CQ World Wide WPX RTTY Contest.
Being part of KL2R's Field Day 2010.
Purchasing a travel trailer and QRP'ing in style (inspired by KL1SF & KL1MF).

2010 was a heavy QSL year for me. I had many large bureau drops (hundreds) as well as several hundred direct QSL requests with many foreign. I prefer to use LOTW, but I answer any and all direct requests that follow my QSL directions as posted on QRZ.com. I have seen discussion lately on QSL practices and some folks bashing those that require an SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope) to get a QSL card. It's obvious that those people don't get hundreds of QSL requests each year. At the rate of USA postage, currently at $0.44 cents for the 1st ounce, it would make this low middle class operator go broke. Let's not mention that $0.98 cents for Airmail!

When I get a lot of direct requests, just the SASE alone helps me keep things organized and saves me on the costs of envelopes as well. I have not sent out for a QSL card that I have wanted in well over a year, maybe two. Don't get me wrong, I like receiving QSL cards, but I'm not collecting them. Would you hitch a ride with a friend to work or use their car without offering to pay for gas? The QSL debate drives me nuts. If YOU want the card, don't bash the station you're trying to get a QSL card from just because they want additional postage or a SASE. I have spent many an hour filling out QSL cards and I could easily just say I don't QSL and spend more time on the air. My final words to those complainers, "Suck it Up!".

2011

So what is in store for KL8DX & KL8SU in 2011? Well, a higher power knows the answer to that, but for now my agenda consists of the following;

Install my recently purchased and assembled KIO Technologies Hex Beam
Purchase a replacement for my Diamond vertical
Get my APRS digi back online with the radio I recently purchased. Thanks to KL1SF on his offer to fix the old one, radio is in the mail my friend!
More QRP operating!!!!! I want to put some QSO miles on my IC-703Plus.
Some feedline replacement and some much needed maintenance on most everything here.

In Conclusion

My operating time, QSL'ing time, and QRP time takes away from family time. We try to juggle life, finances, and more to make it work. It's been a tough few years financially, but I have to say the biggest one I need to thank is my wife, KL8SU. She never has once complained about a sked, contest, weekend excursion, or the purchase of something I needed for this great hobby.

This hobby is not cheap, and I'm still baffled that there is a market for a $10,000 radio. Yea, I dream of an Alpha Amp, or an Icom 7600 or a K3, but that will not happen anytime soon. I am content with what I have and I do get several sked requests, several that I cannot make. This is only because I don't have enough hardware. I'm a low profile station, but I'm always willing to try if I can. This hobby is all about helping others, too. Maybe that is a good New Year's Resolution? Donate a bit of money to that software developer who developed that awesome program you use each and every day that you got for free! How about helping another ham by introducing them to a different mode? Helping someone with fixing their station? Just a few more hours left in 2010 (as of this writing) so why not make a resolution (goal) that's ham radio related for 2011. Pay it forward for 2011, personally or financially.

My BPSK31 WAS Quest Continues & my JT65-HF Experience

2010-12-26T21:06:00.004-09:00

As written earlier, I had decided on the few extra days off toward the end of 2010, that I was going to work on completing my Worked All States (WAS) on PSK31. My long time friend and CW Elmer, K8QWY, set me up with W1EVU. I needed RI, VT, ND, and ME to complete my award (I forgot to mention, with LOTW contacts only). With the help of W1EVU, I got my VT contact and by getting on the bands and being spotted by a VE station, I was also able to snag ND, WA0HPN. I was also lucky enough to QSO with N2ULF for my RI contact. So, as of this writing, I'm down to Maine and I spent a large part of this morning calling CQ ME LOTW. I was able to make a few digital operators happy today as they needed Alaska, so it all was good and I was glad to help a few fellow hams.

PE4BAS, Bas, mentioned in a comment on an earlier post about the JT65-HF software (seen above). JT65 is a mode that is very popular on the HF bands lately and this software is a bit easier to use for the beginner, like me. That in itself has probably led a few to "take the plunge" and give it a try. My experiences have been very positive running this mode, especially with this software. I started off doing mostly S&P (Search & Pounce) so I could get used to the software but I braved the band today and called CQ. I had lots of fun and I worked several stations. Sometimes ya just gotta take the bull by the horns and dive right in. I also like the fact that this software plays nicely with HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe). Since JT65 is a mode accepted by the ARRL's LOTW, I'm looking forward to chasing states on this mode as well. If you are into digital communications like I am, you might want to give this a spin. The help file does a great job at explaining the software and exchanges. JT65, it's not just for meteor scatter or moon bounce anymore!

Oh, and before I forget, after writing this, a very quiet 20 meters yielded the following QSO's. I love this weak signal stuff!

A Little RAC, Rookie, JT65A, and QRP's 1000 Miles Per Watt Experience

2010-12-20T20:51:00.003-09:00

In looking at the activity this past weekend, there were a few contest type activities that I was interested in operating. But before I get into that, I decided to pull the JT65A software up again since it is a good weak signal mode and the bands don't seem to be open very long these days. Like every good ham radio operator, I read and re-read the directions but found one website to be a bit more informative. My biggest hang up was trying to figure out the software and learned a bit about right click and left clicking callsigns. Once I figured that out, things started to fall into place but not until after I made a contact with KF7CQ, or at least I think I did :0) Anyway, I plan to do a bit more with this mode in the coming weeks.

As far as the contests went, on the top of my list to participate in were the RAC Winter Contest which I participated in last year. This is a fun contest but I normally get skunked when it comes to getting all the Canadian Provinces. I have several VE stations I work on a very regular basis in the major contests so I like to try to send a point or two their way in their RAC. I ended up only making 82 contacts and catching 8 multipliers. I spent the last part of the contest chatting with my long time friend and old neighbor, KL1SF, on 20 meter SSB. I had to take advantage of the good band conditions and we closed 20 meters that evening of the 18th. We ended up chatting for 3 hours, which is the longest I have talked on SSB, ever!

After the RAC contest I also wanted to participate in the ARRL Rookie Roundup and the ARCI's Holiday Spirits Homebrew Sprint. I ended up working only a handful or stations calling "RR" in the Rookie Roundup and all were on CW (very cool). I then tuned up to the QRP section of 20 meters and started looking for QRP contacts. I switched rigs and fired up my Icom 703Plus and set the power at 5 watts. Now mind you, 100 watts can be ever so challenging from Alaska, so 5 watts might be a bit stressful for this operator. Either way, I have wanted to get into QRP operating so I'm reading "Patience 101 For QRP Operators" and I will let you know how it works. Inspired of course by wG0AT!

I set up my camera and shot a bit of video as I have thought about doing another Youtube video. I have one in the works and will hopefully work on it throughout the holidays. But anyhow, I found a few very strong signals operating the QRP contest and the very first was N4BP who just smokes into Alaska. I actually worked N4BP on 15 meters as well. The second strongest QRP signal went to K7TQ. I had a few others that were very close to 599 but these guys were rocking into AK that afternoon. But I have to say the highlight of this contest was my last QSO, HP1AC, who answered my CQ. As 20 meters faded, my thought went out to one of the possible awards that ARCI offers, known as the KMPW Award. I wondered if the last contact with HP1AC would qualify me for that award. Thankfully, ARCI has an easy way to figure this out on their website. I keyed in the information for my contact with HP1AC. What'cha know, I squeaked by with 10 miles to spare! But hey, I'll take it! Needless to say, immediately after the contest I completed the award form and had it ready for the mornings mail run. Cool! I think I might like this QRP stuff after all. Making the 1000 Miles Per Watt Award kinda made my weekend. My next goal is to obviously make it much farther. And speaking of QRP, I did chase a few Polar Bears around the bands this weekend! Highlight was working Ron, WB3AAL while he was portable and QRP from way on the other side of the US! I also worked John, N0EVH, Bear Den to Bear Den. But the coolest contact went to working Mike, KD9KC, who was portable atop the "Rough and Ready Hills" in New Mexico. I made a SSB contact with him on 15 meters.

So, even though I did not make hundreds of contacts, this weekend was productive and fun! With the short band openings these days, I will take all the propagation I can get! I think this wraps up my planned 2010 activity other than working a bit of PSK31 to complete my LOTW WAS as I'm down to only needing three more states. I have a sked for one of those so I will probably be more active on that mode.

I want to take this time to wish any of my small number of readers a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to Straight Key Night and then I will take part in the SKCC's K3Y Anniversary event. I really enjoy my Navy Flameproof keys and as long as my tired wrists can hack it, sending CW the old fashioned way is one of my favorites. I enjoy not only participating in the K3Y event as an operator but also as one chasing the call districts. I hope to do it QRP this year as well, so I have my work cut out for me. Look for me as K3Y/KL7 along with a few of my Alaskan SKCC neighbors who volunteer their operating time as well in the month of January. It's a month long event and sure to get you hooked on completing contacts with K3Y stations in all districts. Remember, CW is the Key to DX success! Just ask me, I'll tell ya.

Reverse Beacon Network

2010-12-19T23:16:00.002-09:00

I enjoy tuning around looking for beacons, especially on 10 meters but another great way to see if you have propagation is the Reverse Beacon Network where you can enter your callsign and see if any of the monitoring stations hear your signal when calling CQ. With Skimmers (a multi-channel CW decoder and analyzer) being the next step to DX Clusters, there are "ears" on pretty much all bands. From time to time, I call CQ and see if I am being heard by any of these. I won't get into the debate of Skim or not to Skim, but I find it a neat propagation tool. Here I took a look at where my signal was being heard on 10 meters. It lists what station was hearing me, my transmit frequency, the date and time, signal to noise ratio, and the speed I was sending CW. This is a band that is not open on a regular basis so it's often fun to listen for beacons and just give out a CQ. Just because a band is quiet does not mean that it's not open. I normally find more SSB activity on 10 meters than I do CW. Let's hope with the peak of this solar cycle that will someday change. But for now, major contests are a great time to score some extra QSO's on what to me is also another "magic band."

VP8NO on 10 Meters? YES!!!!

2010-12-13T19:56:00.004-09:00

So, I was pounding away calling CQ on 10 meters and a good signal was heard sending their call. I copied it as VP8NO. I entered it into my contest program and of course, any VP8 would get my attention as it would most people! I'm thinking to myself, could this REALLY be VP8NO on Falkland Islands? As with any questionable contact, you work it and worry about it later. I mean, a VP8 calling me and on 10 meters to boot?

After the contest, several things went through my mind. I checked the VP8NO callsign looking it up on DX Summit. I see one spot for him and it was by a Russian station. My excitement started to fade as the callsign may have been a pirate. Imagine my excitement tonight when I popped into my LOTW account and seeing the contact confirmed when I specifically looked it up! This is by far at the top of the "cool" contact list during the 10 meter contest. We are talking over 9,300 miles between his station and mine. Now in my opinion, that's worth bragging (blogging) about! Man I love this hobby and CW rocks!

From Hell to SKCC And Let's Talk About 10, Shall We?

2010-12-13T09:42:00.002-09:00

This past weekend saw the coldest temperatures at our location since this winter began. The thermometer dropped to -22F and everything was coated with Hoarfrost. This makes for a beautiful landscape and it also adds a interesting touch to our antenna's. I don't mind winters in Alaska, especially since I have a hobby that keeps me mentally enlightened during the short days. This would be the ham radio contest season.

Like with every contest season, I have those major contests that I hate to miss. I try to operate in most of the major CW and digital contests. From time to time, when I'm feeling brave, you may hear me on SSB. But either way, when most people are dreading winter, I look forward to it as the contest season is a chance to break up a cold and dark winter weekend and achieve hundreds (or thousands) of contacts that always help toward my award endeavours.

The ARRL 10 Meter Contest is one that I did not have high hopes for but with being able to work over 100 stations during the CQ World Wide CW contest on 10 meters, I had a glimmer of hope. Now mind you, I have a small station but I have known since moving here that my path to the lower 48 and Europe is pretty good. I also know that my Central and South America path is very reliable as well. My only challenge is the South Pacific and I think it has something to do with that large 20,320 foot mountain in my way. As I had mentioned in my earlier blog, early beacon reports made it appear the weekend was not going to be a bust but the spaceweather did not look promising.

I prepared the station on Friday about and hour before the start of the contest. I got Win-Test set up and I was ready to go. When the contest started, I tuned the band and not a station was heard. I kept tuning and it was obvious that Friday night was going to be a bust. I figured I would wake up early on Saturday and wait for the band to open. Thankfully, I had the Feld Hell Sprint and also the SKCC Weekend Sprint to fall back on if the 10 meter band never opened. I worked a handful of stations in the Feld Hell Sprint and then finally moved to 10 meters in the hopes of catching any opening immediately. So much easier to see band activity with modern equipment. My first rig, an Icom IC-735, never had a spectrum scope so the days of tuning up and down the band are long gone. Now it's more of a visual exercise.

On Saturday, 10 meters began to open for me around 1925z. I made my first contact at 1937z with W0YK followed by PU5AAD in Brazil. It was not long before the contacts began to roll into my log! Propagation favored the West Coast but as the day progressed, the propagation path worked eastward. I started hearing 4's, 5's, and it was apparent the pipeline to South America was hot! Argentina and Brazilian stations were booming in! My last contact for Saturday was at 2305z with K6LRN. I finished my day with a bit of SKCC CW and threw in the towel.

On Sunday, I was hearing VE8EV on 10 meters and I finally was able to catch up with him at 1718z. This was more of a short local skip experience as he was pretty consistent into my location. The actual band opening began at 1831z on Sunday with my first contact being at 1842z with NK7U. My paths on Sunday were similar to Saturday but I was hearing a bit better to the east. I was also hearing deeper into the SE and there was a point I had a strong path to Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama. I also decided since I had several requests for SSB contacts, to run a bit on SSB. That yielded my best run rates oddly enough and also helped since multipliers counted again on SSB. I thought this was a good strategy for a higher score even though those QSO's were worth only 2 points as opposed to the 4 point QSO's on CW. It was all about the multipliers! There seemed to be lots of QSB on Sunday but requested repeats helped fill in the blanks.

In the end, my activities on CW showed I worked the following multipliers (see Win-test shot below)
.

Everything you see in blue was worked. The breakout is at the top showing 35 out of the 100 possible multipliers worked.

On the SSB side of things, you will find that I worked the following multipliers (see Win-test shot below)

Once again, everything highlighted in blue I was able to work. Much fewer but I did not spend that amount of time on SSB as I did CW. My rates on CW were nothing to write home about as my peak rate was 60. Oddly enough, even though I worked fewer multipliers on SSB, my best rate was 101! My main SSB activity window was from 2001z to 2115z on Sunday.

In the end, this contest turned out to be much more than expected. It did not hurt that the expected solar wind did not hit the earth and that predictions reduced geomagnetic activity to less than 25%. That was good news as absorption was not going to be a factor. It was a wild ride while it lasted and it brings expected excitement for future contests on what 10 meters could provide. My 3830 submission is listed below. Thanks to those I worked for all the QSO's and to those I did not work, let's hope propagation will be in our favor during future contests.I would really like to complete my 10 Meter WAS (Worked All States) award before we decided to relocate to a warmer Harley environment in the years ahead.

ARRL 10-Meter Contest

Call: KL8DX
Operator(s): KL8DX
Station: KL8DX

Class: SO Mixed HP
QTH: Alaska
Operating Time (hrs): 8

Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
CW: 311 35
SSB: 124 19
-------------------
Total: 435 54 Total Score = 102,948

Club: North Coast Contesters

Comments:

What a ride!!! Now that's the way to end 2010!

I tuned into 10 meters at the start of the contest but as expected,
not a peep heard. The contest did not start for me until 1925z on
Saturday. The first few signals were noticed on the spectrum scope
on my IC-756PRO at that time. It was not long before the band sprung
to life.

On Sunday, ten meters opened a bit earlier, 1831Z for me. Sunday not
only opened earlier but I think the band was stronger. The CQ WW CW
contest started the 10 meter activity as I was able to work over 100
stations. This weekend blew that weekend off the map!

10 meters never produced any propagation for me into the NE but the
SE was booming in. It seemed we had a pipeline to South America as
well.

Several stations asked for SSB contacts so I ended up doing a mixed
entry. I normally stick to CW and avoid the SSB contests anymore but
my best rate was actually on SSB. 10 meters is, and will always be,
the exception to my SSB avoidance rule.

The QSB got a bit tough at times and that was the main reason for many
of the repeat requests. It was also challenging to break through the
back of the lower 48 antennas as many were pointed to Central & South
America.

I filled in my weekend operating fix by participating in both the Feld
Hell Sprint and SKCC's Weekend Sprint when 10 meters had no activity.
Our temperatures dipped to -22, so it was a perfect weekend to stay
indoors and play radio.

The highlight for me was the entire contest! With only 6 meter contacts
being rarer than 10 meters, any contact on 10 is a highlight. To me, the
entire weekend was priceless! I just can't wait to see what the next few
years bring for 10 meters. WAS for me? Only time will tell...

Thanks for the QSO's and I hope each and every one of you has a safe
and happy holiday season.

73,
Phil KL8DX
Denali National Park, Alaska
Icom 756PRO
Ameritron AL-1500
Mosley TA-34-XL @ 43 feet
Win-test 4.7.0
Website: http://www.livingindenali.net
Blog: http://kl8dx.blogspot.com/

10 & 15 WSPR on December 08, 2010

2010-12-08T20:07:00.006-09:00

In taking Larry's lead (N1TX) where he was operating WSPR mode for three days at KL2R prior to the 10 meter contest, I decided to do the same but for only one day. I started out on 10 meters today but I was not seeing any activity (other than KL2R and myself, hearing each other). I decided to pop down to 15 meters and after I set the station up on WSPR, I waited to see what the propagation looked like. It was not long before I started to see traces of other stations showing up and before long, stations were booming in. I was running 10 watts to my 4 element Mosley at 43 feet. Above is a snapshot of the propagation path I had today on 15 meters. Needless to say, I think it was very good as my arctic rain of DX RF was falling to the lower 48 and beyond.

I went back to 10 meters a few times and eventually started to listen for beacons. The reason being, there were not that many stations on WSPR in the lower 48 on 10 meters. I tuned around and heard a handful of beacons from various locations. When I hear a beacon on 10 meters, I normally post it to the cluster. Reason being, to let everyone know there is a path into Alaska and to turn their antenna's northward (if possible). Some of the 10 meter beacons I copied today are listed at the bottom. It made me realize that there is hope that I will be able to work more stations on 10 meters during the contest this weekend! Could it be? Maybe a bunch of stations heard and worked on 10, again? Is it possible I could get more states for my WAS on 10 meters?

My excitement was short lived when I read spaceweather dot com. Yep, the effects of a solar wind is due to reach earth on or about the 10th of December. What does that mean for the contest weekend? Well, we shall have to see but one things for sure, I will make sure my battery in my iTouch is fully charged as I may be watching music videos rather than callsigns falling into my log this weekend.

28296.1 KA7BGR/B     CN82 > BP53                        2246 08 Dec

28300.0 K6FRC/B      CM97 > BP53                        2233 08 Dec

28245.7 N7JS/B       DN41 > BP53                        2202 08 Dec

28196.2 LU4JJ/B      GF08 > BP53                        2133 08 Dec

28193.0 VE4ARM/B     Light into BP53                    2125 08 Dec

CQ World Wide CW 2010

2010-11-29T14:15:00.004-09:00

The last weekend in November is an exciting time for the contesting and DX'ing communities. The CQ World Wide CW Contest is one of the most popular contests on the calendar. Stations get on the air from all over the world and in 48 hours, they attempt to contact as many other stations as possible, searching for new Zones and Entities. Contests normally fill up the bands and at times, draw complaints from those not participating. I won't get started on that debate but no matter if it's a RTTY, SSB, CW, or any other contest, if the bands cooperate, these weekends can be lots of fun (not to mention you could work lots of new states, countries, zones, etc). Here is my final breakout from this past weekend.

Contest         : CQ World Wide DX Contest
Callsign        : KL8DX
Mode            : CW
Category        : Single Operator (SO)
Overlay         : ---
Band(s)         : All bands (AB)
Class           : High Power (HP)
Zone/State/... : 1
Locator         : BP53LU
Operating time : 15h43

BAND   QSO CQ DXC DUP POINTS   AVG
--------------------------------------
160   0    0     0     0     0    0.00
   80       2        2 2 0       2 1.00
   40 20 5    4 0      52    2.60
   20 698     17 48    8    1525         2.18
   15 103 10   10 0     227          2.20
   10    128      9   11 2     276           2.16
--------------------------------------
TOTAL   951    43 75 10    2082    2.19
======================================
        TOTAL SCORE : 245 676

I got a late start as I was just getting my station back together from realizing my repairs to my beam were in fact, successful. My beam was nested just above the roof so it took some time to get the feedlines, wire antennas, guys, all back in place. I did not finish completing this task until after the contest but I got enough done in the beginning to get me on the air.

It had been several months since I last fired up Win-test and took it for a drive down contesting lane. Since I don't operate much during the summer time, I had to retrain my brain to remember the finer details of this program, not to mention getting my macros all set up. Once that was done, I was ready on Saturday morning to jump in with both feet. My CW was rusty from playing this summer so my speed comprehension was not the best. This always changes by the end of the contest, after copying high speed code all weekend!

I started out by making a few contacts on Friday night on 40 and 80, but those were mainly helping me get the software playing the way I needed. My goal was to wake up the next morning (Saturday) and start fresh with a run. I prefer to find a somewhat clear frequency and call CQ in the hopes that I will get spotted and the masses will come to me. Normally that works, especially when you are in a state that counts as a multiplier, sometimes double, depending on the contest of course. You can't be shy when operating from Alaska, as once you are found, oftentimes a pile-up you will find.

The Win-test screen shot on the right shows my final log tally and underneath the grayline map, you will find a snap shot of my operating times and rates. Again, nothing to write home about but what that does not show you is the excitement I had on 10 meters (28 MHz). At the very top of this blog, you will see a Google Earth depiction of some of the contacts I made on 10 meters (for those I could find grid squares for). I was overly excited to make 128 contacts on 10! In Alaska, this is something I never expected to see in my log. K3LR was looking for Alaska on 10 meters and I went to 10 in hopes of catching them. I could not hear a peep out of K3LR but I did notice some other activity on the band when doing a quick glance at my spectrum scope on my Icom 756PRO. I found the band open to South America! Since I was not really competing in this contest, I decided to scan around on 10 meters and see what I could work. Some of the calls I worked right out of the starting gate were, HD2M, CE1/K7CA, LP2D, CE3FZ, CW3D, LW2HBF, LW4HBR, LU7HZ, just to name a few. I started to hear the lower 48 and I began hearing and working stations from the East Coast to the West Coast. Yep, I was in propagational heaven! Most of the stations I worked on 10 where from that run on 10.

My 10 meter opening lasted from 2053Z on the 27th, thru 2322Z. I picked up a station or two here and there afterward and even managed a few contacts on 10 the following day but this was by far the best opening I have experienced up here. I normally watch the beacon spots and tune 10 meters from time to time but this contest, I got lucky. You have to understand, 10 meters to an Interior of Alaska DX station, is like getting snow in Texas. It does not happen very often but when it does, it's lots of fun! I'm also hoping this is an indication of what is yet to come for 10 meters, now that the sun is beginning to be a bit more active.

And in speaking about the sun, a solar event kicked up absorption here in Alaska and on Sunday, the bands fell apart for a large part of the morning. They bounced back but nothing like Friday through Saturday night. All in all, this was a great weekend and I only wished I had more time to operate as this would have been the weekend for me to beat my personal high score in this contest.

One of the highlights for me was ZL8X calling ME on two bands! I had not chased their DXpedition as I was waiting for the beginning madness to fade off. And again, the biggest "falling off my chair" moment was when they called ME on 10 meters!!!

Alaska was once again well represented and it's always a pleasure to participate from this great state. It's hard to believe we just passed our 7th anniversary of living here in Alaska and working at Denali National Park. Not only does this hobby allow me to chat with people from all over the world, I have had several hams contact me and I have been able to meet them personally when they are on vacation here in Alaska, visiting Denali. I promote this park worldwide through my hobby and come to find, many I have talked with have visited here. The only thing bigger than an exciting weekend of DX'ing is Mount McKinley (Denali) at 20,320 feet, the tallest mountain in North America and it's right here in our backyard.

I appreciate all that called and gave me contacts and as always, I'm sure there are those I missed. It's great to be back in the saddle again and I'm looking forward to the rest of the contest season. It's dark and cold in Alaska, so it's very easy to spend a weekend on the radio making hundreds of contacts. In the summer time, I like to post a note on the shack door, "Closed For The Season".

Let's Contest Shall We? The Mosley is Back!

2010-11-26T18:10:00.003-09:00

I have been tearing into my shack and working on doing some much needed maintenance. I was playing around with Win-test and noticed when I was doing antenna comparisons, that my HF beam was currently on position 2 of my remote antenna switch and NOT position 1, as I had previously thought. I don't have the five slots named (marked). With a bit of old age and my ongoing memory (or lack of) issue, I discovered that the repairs I made to my beam put it back in the game. If I had used my MFJ antenna analyzer, this would of been apparent to me when I first checked it but I accepted defeat when in fact, I had won. I cranked up my antenna to its normal operational height and the signals sounded like I remembered them. I have a bit more work on my guys to get them back to normal but that won't take long, I just ran out of daylight.

I started using Win-test a few years ago but as with any software, if you don't use it all the time, you need to remember some of the finer settings (like macros). I spent an hour getting it configured and becoming reacquainted with the program with hopes of having some fun in the CQ World Wide CW Contest this weekend. My CW is a bit rusty but banging out several hundred contacts should do the trick.

The Hex Build

2010-11-22T08:56:00.000-09:00

I recently received my Hex Beam from KIO Technolgy and was finally excited to retrieve it from the boxes it arrived in. It was carefully packaged and here pictured, are the parts laid out on two sawhorses. I used the sawhorses as the foundation by which to construct the antenna. This antenna is large enough that it's an outdoor project however, it can be easily deconstructed for the move to the tower as I built it in my garage.

The instructions are easy to follow and if you take your time reading, this is only a two hour project, three hour at the very most. If you have built one of these before, you can easily throw this together in an hour. I found that you really need to be most mindful of attaching the fiberglass spreaders to the base plate. Since these are not reinforced, you have to be careful when tightening them into place. Everything is well marked and the only issue that I had with mine was, one of the stop clamps were missing from a spreader. I had a few on hand so it was an easy fix.

I'm excited to add this antenna to my operational stock as it will give me another antenna for 20 meters but I'm even more excited to have a beam on 17 and 12 meters! I would imagine, once my Mosley is fully functional again, this beam will be used mostly on 17 and 12. I only saw the need for a 3 band antenna as I have 10 and 15 meters available on my Mosley and I have 6 meter antennas. I'm also looking forward to testing this out in our extreme weather conditions. As seen from an earlier post, the fiberglass on my 2 meter / 440 vertical finally failed. With our high winds, extreme cold temperatures, this arctic environment is sure the place to test such things.

The beam is built and once I get everything off of the tower it will reside on, I will partially disassemble it and move it outdoors putting it all back together permanently. It is light and it should not be too much of a problem getting onto the mast. It will need to be raised with the bottom of the base plate against the tower and then lifted over top and placed on the mast. Due to the light but hearty construction, I don't expect much of a problem accomplishing this feat. It's wide enough that it could be a challenge if I had guys to contend with but that won't be an issue on my small tower. I'm sure I will need the assistance of my wife and as always, she is more than happy to be my ground crew manager.

All in all, my first impressions from the purchase and build of this antenna would rate it a 9.8 on a scale from one to ten. I think having a reinforced section of the 1" thick fiberglass spreader where it attaches to the base plate would be a plus as it's obvious that even slightly over tightening these will cause the fiberglass to crack. I was also missing the one stop clamp on a 3/4 inch spreader but again, I had a similar one on hand.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend this company for their customer service, prompt and safe shipment, and ease of an antenna build. I like the fact that everything is pre-measured and well marked. Once I get this antenna in operation, I will post an overview of the performance. This antenna will only sit at about the 30 foot level so it won't be high but from other reviews, I'm hopeful that this will put many contacts in my logbook for 17 and 12 meters and also act as a back-up to my Mosley for 20 meters. I chose this company mainly from the reviews on e-ham dot net and also from some information I found on YouTube. I have no investment in this company other than telling it like it is. Stay tuned for part two of the Hex Build. Now I just need some free time and for the weather to cooperate. Something tells me that won't go as easily as the build did.

As Luck Would Have It...

2010-11-15T20:51:00.000-09:00

I braved the weather and a large amount of snow on our metal roof to replace the repaired driven element on my Mosley HF antenna. I took my time as this is not the place to be this time of year but thankfully with the help of my wife, all went well. I told her I was going to see about getting on the roof and I phoned her when I made it up there. Needless to say, she was not real happy with me but due to her marital obligation, she helped this bravely, stupid ham. My jacket pockets were filled with tools but I forgot the screwdriver but it all worked out in the end.

After hooking the antenna back up and safely getting my butt off the roof, I was excited to see the results. I have wondered what my chances were of only having the one trap meltdown on my beam. When I got into the shack, I found a very high SWR on all bands so apparently, I have more issues that I probably won't have a chance to troubleshoot until spring. I was looking forward to seeing it back to normal and putting out my usual moderate signal from Alaska. Seems that won't be the case as it will remain nested for the rest of the winter.

On a positive note, I did get my Hexbeam in the mail last weekend so I will begin to put that together. With any luck, I can temporarily set that up and who knows, maybe even get it parked on the small tower which is on the left side of the photo above. That will be the final resting place for the Hexbeam once I get it constructed.

This is probably a sign from someone my wife is connected to. She knows that if I am not playing radio on the weekends, I will want to finish our home improvement projects, mainly the master bath and the arctic entry. Something tells me she will be getting her wish. I will be on with my vertical and I will possibly put up a wire for 20 meters that will get me through the winter months. But one things for sure, once the spring thaw arrives and the temperatures warm up, I will begin my much needed upgrade of the station. I plan on replacing feedlines, continue my fix of the 4 element, and install another 6 meter antenna along with adding my replacement UHF/VHF vertical. I can buy a few pieces and parts as the winter goes along so I will have my stock ready to go before the skeeters arrive.

I continue to work on my APRS project which should be completed by next weekend. I will hopefully get a wire antenna up here soon for 20, so maybe the winter won't look so bad after all. However, I'm still obligated to get the home improvement projects done. I'm bound by contract, that same marital contract that is...

APRS & Hexagonal Beam Addition

2010-11-07T12:17:00.001-09:00

ARS KL8DX has been rather quiet over the last few months. Reason in part due to my HF energy overload sent along to my TA-34-XL. I have the director back together after receiving my replacement part quickly from Mosley. The weather however has kept me from putting my 4 element back in service. It has been hard to miss a few of the major contests that have taken place over the last several weekends but with any luck, it won't be long until I get my signal broadcasting outside this great state of Alaska. With the fact I have not been able to really get on HF like I would want, I have been concentrating my time on APRS. This summer I purchased two Kenwood TM-D700A's from a ham in southern Alaska. My plans are to run one mobile and the 2nd will be used in the shack. I also plan on putting a DIGI here that will rebroadcast any APRS activity northward. I needed some pieces parts to complete this project and now that they all arrived, I'm about to do the mobile install.

Living where we do, I enjoy ham radio as there are many places that we have no cellular service but we have 2 meter or 440 coverage. Of course there are many places in our area that don't have either but this is just another form of communication that helps fill that void.

I found the Kenwood a bit complicated but once I got used to the menu system (pretty much an Icom person myself) things started to make sense. It took a bit of reading and I also had my long time friend and old neighbor Sean, KL1SF, on echolink. He helped me with a few of the settings and today, I put it all together and everything worked as it should. I downloaded the free Kenwood software from their website so I just need to copy the settings so I can upload them to the 2nd rig when I put it in service (with a few tweaks of course).

Losing my ability to use my 4 element HF beam over the last few months has made me look at other antennas. I wanted something that was small, that had good reviews, that could be used as a back-up or in addition to my Mosley. After doing research, I opted for the Hexagonal Beam by K4KIO. I had this configured for 20, 17, and 12 meters. My goal is to use this for Asia during the winter contest season on 20 meters when I don't want to crank my beam 180 degrees from the lower 48. It will also give me two bands that I want to be a bit more active on. That beam should arrive this next week and I will construct it as time allows in the ol garage. It does not look like it will take too long to put together but the weather will probably keep me from getting it on the tower for a few months. But hey, I may be able to set it up temporarily and give it a spin.

With the holidays fast approaching, other priorities will take the front seat to this great hobby. Sometimes, life leaves no time for ham radio but that's the beauty of it, it's always waiting for you when time allows. Twenty-two years later, I enjoy this hobby as much as I did when I first took my Novice test back in December of 1987. It won't be long now before I will be eligible from AARP and QCWA! Where has the time gone?

Penetrox & Smoked

2010-10-24T14:39:00.002-08:00

If you have been following my blog, I have mentioned that I began experiencing some problems with high SWR after a RTTY contest last year. I looked at some supporting documentation available from Mosley that helped me narrow down the issue to 15 meters. Each trap consists of two coils, with the inner trap catching 10 meters (band is still flat across the board), the second coil traps 15 (SWR off the scale) and 20 as it turns out, is a summation of the element (about 4.0 to 1 SWR in the SSB portion). Keeping that in mind, I knew I had to drop my beam and start pulling traps off of my elements to see which was producing my problem. Alaska has been seeing some pretty warm weather here due to a SE wind pattern so I took advantage to drop my driven element off of the boom to dive into the traps. I accomplished this yesterday and today I pulled the element apart.

If you have never used Penetrox, I would highly suggest it. One of my long time friends and one of the hams that helped me get my start into this hobby suggested Penetrox. I have been using it ever since. When placed on connecting parts, it helps prevent oxidation without effecting the electrical characteristics of your antenna. I have had my beam up for several years now and when I pulled a piece of the driven element out of the trap, I found it to be in the same shape as it had been when I put it together a few years ago (see photo above). I will not build an antenna without this stuff!

I proceeded to pull the traps off of the driven element and I found that the Penetrox did an outstanding job there as well. In the photo above, I just wiped off the excess (bottom trap in the photo) and it shines like the day I assembled this beam. Now, keep in mind, I used this beam for several years when I lived in Ohio. It operated there, made the trip to Alaska, and has taken a beating with extreme weather we experience here. I'm happy to say, with continued preventative maintenance, this beam will probably outlast me.

As I tore into the one of the traps on the driven element, I could detect an odor that pretty much confirmed my suspicions. I also had a bit of difficulty getting the trap apart on one end. As I was finally able to muscle the inner workings of the trap from the housing, I found the following damage showing

what happened during the RTTY contest I had been operating. I happened to make my best score yet in a RTTY contest but success came at a cost.

When I pulled both traps apart, I found only one had this extensive damage. I wonder what my chances are of having the problem in only one trap? I won't be able to tell until I either inspect each trap individually or repair this one and put it back on checking the SWR curve with my beam to see. The other issue is, the insulator is riveted onto the tube (as seen in the photo above). So, it seems I will be touching base with Mosely looking for parts. If I wanted to get replacement traps from Mosely, they quoted me a price of $478.60 for this beam. Thankfully, replacement coils only run $39.50 each! Living on a tight winter budget, you can sure guess which parts I will be ordering!

I would purchase another Mosley antenna in a heartbeat! It has done well but even the best antenna's have their breaking points. This beam has survived extreme cold, high wind gusts over 70 mph, ice, and more. In the end, it was RTTY at high power that did it in. You need to know the limits of your equipment. From the Mosley website, the following graphic below describes the limitations of the Mosley TA-34-XL antenna which I should have paid a bit more attention to prior to banging out a RTTY contest on legal limit high power all weekend long. I am proud to say, the beam did not fail until many hours of high power RTTY operating (actually, the last few hours). I can't see myself owning any other manufactured antenna during my ham career.

So, I can only hope that I can repair this trap and get it back in operation before the extreme cold and snow arrives. If not, I can always print this photo and keep it close as a grim reminder of what happens when you ask more from your equipment than it can take. My Ameritron AL-1500 might be enjoying the rest but I'm sure not enjoying the lack of activity. If I don't get this beam fixed, I may have to take up a new hobby for the winter as my 5BTV just ain't the same even though it's a good antenna.

Fun Summer, Rough Winter

2010-10-03T13:30:00.002-08:00

I live in a pretty windy area and it's common to receive 50-60 mph wind gusts here. Any issues with guying or antenna's that are not well constructed will show themselves in a matter of time. Just yesterday, one of my antenna's "bit the dust" and will no longer see action. This would be my Diamond 2m/70cm dual band antenna. While I was working in our kitchen, I heard a loud bang of something striking our metal roof. I have my HF beam lowered for troubleshooting and thought it may be on of my wire antennas that happen to be hanging low. Upon close inspection, I found that the 54 mph wind gusts took it's toll on my X500HNA.Snapped the fiberglass underneath the bottom element which sent the top part flying. After striking my roof, I found it laying on the ground near the back of our house.

The Diamond antenna site states this antenna will withstand 90 mph wind with no ice. Well, apparently a common winter wind of 50-60 mph must equal 90 mph as my antenna failed this winter. Sadly, I don't have a spare on hand and this won't see a replacement until next summer. On the positive side, my long time friend and neighbors, KL1SF & KL1MF, have relocated to Arizona, so I would not be doing much chatting anyhow. But, with that said, I had plans of operating as a digi for APRS and now that will have to wait as well. I do have a Cushcraft 124WB that I may try to place in service but not sure I can beat the weather.

Continuing with my antenna saga, my HF beam appears to have a trap issue. Close inspection of the beam shows no problem and even though it has taken a much worse beating that my dual band vertical, it has held up wonderfully. Last year during a RTTY contest, I was running high power and my gut feeling tells me a trap received a bit more than it could take. Mosley's website has a trouble shooting guide and from what I have reviewed, my 15 meter trap(s) have failed. So, I have a note into Mosley to find out about replacements. Yes, I could take them off and fix them but I would like to have a spare set anyhow. I have a flat match on 10 meters but 15 and 20 are poor with 15 being a super high SWR. So, there is no doubt in my mind a trap failed due to an over active AL-1500 in one of my RTTY contest pursuits.

What does this all mean for my station? I will be much quieter than normal this winter operating from my ground mounted vertical and a few wires if I can't beat the weather with getting my HF beam fixed. Possibly not a bad thing as I have lots of remodeling work to do around our house. I may have to find another hobby or actually, I was thinking of gutting my shack and remodeling it. A few other locations in our house have a higher priority but with the looming dark and cold season, I could get plenty accomplished if I gave up my normal contest weekends for remodeling. I will be on, but my signal won't be as strong and you probably won't find me on as often if my antenna repairs fail to beat the arrival of our normally harsh weather.

In conclusion, I'm extremely happy with my Mosley TA-34-XL and it has withstood the extreme weather conditions we experience here in our part of Alaska. The Diamond however did not, and it will eventually be replaced. In the mean time, as you can see from the photo above, I won't need a wind sock as I will always be able to tell which way the wind is blowing as the guts to my Diamond will be flapping in the wind.

No PB&J (Peanut Butter or Jack)!

2010-09-21T20:17:00.002-08:00

This past weekend, my wife and I headed out for our last weekend of camping on the Denali Highway. The weather the last few weeks here in our part of Alaska has been awesome! We were hoping to squeeze in one last trip with our new travel trailer before we winterized it. It was also the last weekend for the Polar Bear Club to have their last summer event. I thought this was a great opportunity to enjoy some of the great Alaskan outdoors and also do a bit of QRP portable operating. We headed out Saturday and planned on returning home on Sunday.

I did a bit of the Feld Hell Club's Hiram Sprint and while I was making trips around getting the trailer ready, I was calling CQ now and then. Before the contest ended, it was time for us to depart. We had an uneventful trip out to where we were going to camp for the night. I got the trailer set up and it was not long before I heard signals on the air, most being those operating the Washington State Salmon Run contest (CW of course). It sounded pretty good but my operating would be short lived.

After getting my station set up, I found I had an extremely high SWR on my portable antenna. I had never before experienced this issue with my Buddipole so I began to try different configurations and troubleshoot my problem. I was not making much headway before being interrupted by a passing motorist who had an apparent flat tire (pretty much shredded). It was a young gal who was traveling by herself and after stopping her car not far from our trailer, she came walking back to my location asking for assistance.

The Denali Highway is mostly non-paved and is very well known for damaging many hundreds of tires each summer. I don't feel comfortable driving on the highway with only one spare, let alone none! And this was the case of this gal from California. She was driving a small Datsun 280Z, 1980's vintage, and she had no spare tire, or jack for that matter!

To make a long story short, I spent quite awhile getting to the point where I could get her car jacked up and her tire removed. She was able to flag down a passing motorist and catch a ride to Cantwell. A few hours later, she returned with a new tire on her rim. I assisted her with putting the tire back on her vehicle and getting her on the way.

After watching this very nice gal from California drive off, it was only a matter of minutes when I saw a truck pull off of the roadway behind where we had been camped. Turns out, it was a co-worker of mine! He was out enjoying the nice weather and was looking for photo opportunities. I chatted with him as we watched the sunset and after he left, I spent the rest of the evening with my wonderful wife and our family beagle.

The next morning, I enjoyed the sunrise and once everyone was up and had breakfast, we decided to head on our way. I opted not to operate as we had a schedule to keep due to a busy week ahead. Things did not work out as planned for me, but my plans worked out for someone else. I was able to help someone in need on the Denali Highway. We made it home without any tire events but I hope to do some operating as Polar Bear 197 in the coming winter months. We have winterized our travel trailer but after I get my antenna issue resolved, I will hopefully be back on the air as /P with my QRP signal from some place in or around Denali. You may wonder why I mentioned Peanut Butter in my title and that was going to be my sandwich of choice while I was operating. That was replaced with a warm, sit down supper with my wife and our dog (who you see in the photo above). I may not have PB&J on my next adventure but I will for sure have my radio!

Raining CQ Wallpaper

2010-09-11T12:59:00.003-08:00

In checking our mailbox this weekend, I once again found a large white envelope addressed to my station. It was for my operational effort in the 2009 CQ World-Wide DX Contest - CW of course. Since my strongest band is 20 meters, I often enter the Single Operator, Single Band, 20 meter category. There are several categories but this one by far allows me to take full advantage of my strongest band, assuming propagation allows it. In looking back at my 3830 submission I see I wrote the following after the contest;

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: KL8DX

Operator(s): KL8DX

Station: KL8DX

Class: SOSB/20 HP

QTH: Alaska

Operating Time (hrs): 26

Summary:

Band QSOs Zones Countries

------------------------------

160:

80:

40:

20: 1646 27 70

15:

10:

------------------------------

Total: 1646 27 70 Total Score = 355,990

Club: North Coast Contesters

Comments:

This contest has it all, from excitement to frustration. My original

goal was to work an all band entry but that changed on Friday. Seems

our constant weather pattern as of late has been low pressure after

low pressure from the Gulf of Alaska. As it works its way into the

Interior, along comes the strong winds that accompany it. That kept

me off the low bands on Friday and I opted to start then as a 20 meter

single band. As the weekend progressed, the winds died down but I

decided to keep my pace on 20 and only QSY'ing for those that requested.

And as I write this, we are just now feeling the effects of yet another

storm forecasted to bring 75+ mph wind gusts over the next 48 hours.

Many great highlights and lots of on air friends encountered. I'm

still a greenhorn at pile-up management but had fun so I appreciate

the patience of everyone. Add in northern latitude conditions, some

interesting echo effects from signals, it can make for some really

tough times picking out a callsign, or even parts of a callsign.

Band conditions were pretty good into Europe this first night but even

with high power, it took some calling. The second night, the path over

the North Pole was far from good and it seemed like the only good

propagation from Alaska was into Zone 33. I was excited to snag 35

though which was surprising! Nothing heard toward Europe on 15 meters

from my station. As for anything toward Asia, I normally work them

off the back of my beam so a few more repeats are sent their way.

I kept checking 10 meters and I did not hear a peep on that band all

weekend. Tried one QSY to 10 but that yielded nothing. I also tried a

few QSY attempts on 15 but I got skunked there as well. On Sunday, I

kept getting several dupes so I confirmed my suspicions after the

contest and found a station posted me as KL7DX and not by my actual

callsign. It happens frequently.

I will update my blog with more contest details but in summary, this

turned out to be my best effort ever in a contest. Not much by contesting

station standards but from my small station, I'm excited to once again

reach another goal and milestone in my casual contesting career. I have

received lots of great information from the Alaska DX - Contest group

for which I am deeply appreciative.

Thanks again for the QSO's and may the holiday season bring you joy, good

health, happiness, and of course, plenty of DX.

73,

Phil KL8DX

Denali National Park, Alaska

Radio: Icom 756PRO

Antenna: Mosley TA-34-XL @ 43 feet

Amp: Ameritron AL-1500

I obviously busted a few callsigns but that is sure easy to do when my CW is not the very best at higher speeds. But, contesting is a great way to better your operating skill. As we well know, the bands aren't always 599 all the time. I like the challenge as it helps me become more familiar with propagation, filters in my Icom, and just dealing with multiple stations calling me at once, which tests my mental filtering ability. I prefer to park and call CQ and manage stations rather than search and pounce but if my run totals fall low, I'm turning the VFO! The Alaska contest group here have been very helpful in providing me with operating tips which is crucial in this propagationally challenged part of the world.

With the help of contests, I have been able to achieve my WAS (Worked All States) on the 3 major modes (SSB, RTTY, and CW) not to mention my DXCC, which I will be submitting for here in the coming weeks with my LOTW contacts. My hopes are to continue my quest at operating the major contests this coming winter as there is not much more to do when it's 30 below outside and dark. I would love to have a "golden log" which I have yet to achieve. But, with goals and hard work, I'm sure it's possible. Gives me something to work for but either way, I'm proud to hang another CQ certificate on my wall of the shack. QRZ?

Worth A Million Plus

2010-09-06T13:23:00.004-08:00

My certificate just arrived in the mailbox from my operating in the 2010 CQ World Wide RTTY WPX Contest. I knew one was coming as I read the results in the July issue of CQ Magazine. I am always curious how I did. Alaska, in comparison, does not have as many contesters as most states but the few are the ambitious type who are very competitive. Below is my 3830 submission shortly after the contest. As you can see, I had a few removed in the scoring process but I'm still excited about my result.

CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest

Call: KL8DX

Operator(s): KL8DX

Station: KL8DX

Class: SOAB HP

QTH: Alaska

Operating Time (hrs): 28.62

Summary:

Band QSOs Pts

-----------------

80:

40: 55 256

20: 695 1659

15: 148 338

10:

-----------------

Total: 898 2253 Prefixes = 457 Total Score = 1,029,621

Club: North Coast Contesters

This mode is one of my favorites but it can be extremely rough on the equipment. I'm not sure my AL-1500 has been right since this contest. As you can see, my operating time was 28.62 hours according to N1MM Logger. I was allowed to operate 30 hours as a single operator and wish I had put the entire 30 hours in. 40 meters is by far not a strong band for me but I was happy with what I was able to work.

My "hind sight is 20/20" moment after contests are normally if I spent too much time calling CQ and not enough time looking for multipliers. Depending on the contest, this can be crucial, especially to a small station like mine. You won't see any records broke by ARS KL8DX. I'm in it for fun but it's always nice to receive the culminating wallpaper for ones effort. With not very many KL8's roaming the streets during contest rush hour, I normally have people looking for me in prefix related contests. Sometimes I can be a double multiplier (depending on the contest) and once I'm spotted, I can't work stations fast enough. But again, I'm a DX'er by trade and a very amateur contester. My CW is far from fast and I'm still perfecting my digital macros. I hate SSB contests the most, probably due to the many very wide stations that I have problems tuning out when I'm next door to one. At least with RTTY, running FSK, I can narrow filter down and have some chance of hearing a weak station calling me, or coming back to me. The same applies to CW contests. For that very reason, you will find me in very few SSB contests.

I strive to learn from each and every contest with hopes of becoming better. I have never operated a full 48 hours in any contest and I guess the reason is, I'm there to have fun. So many factors weigh in which will determine how much time I will spend in any given contest. The main is the band conditions. I refuse to spend an entire weekend in my shack to yield a small amount of contacts. I can make better use of my time. Propagation is a huge factor living this far north and it always seems the solar wind kicks up over a contest weekend. Why is that?

With that said, I attempt to compete against myself from year to year. I will always try to beat my previous years score. This is the first time I have ever scored more than one million points in any major contest. Not a big accomplishment to many but I'm tickled with it. I think my 40 meter run was extremely beneficial to crossing this milestone. Again, strategy is a huge key determined by many "at that moment" factors.

In the end, I scored a grand total of 891 QSO's with 451 multipliers for a total score of 1,003,475. Had I busted a few more callsigns, I would have not made the million point club (not that there is one). I can honestly say, as far as contests go, this was almost the best my small station could do in the time I operated. I believe my strategy played out well and luck was on my side. In the end, it was all those who called me and hung in there that made this score possible. My station is small so the signal is normally not very strong so thanks to those who go the extra mile to pull my weak signal from the atmosphere. My million plus certificate is now hanging proudly on my shack wall which seems to be filling up with certificates. No, it's not that I have received that many, it's because my shack is pretty darn small.