A JT65A Monday

JT65A 10 Meter Contacts 11/12/2012

I spent some time on 10 meters yesterday with the ever popular mode JT65A. My power output began at 19 watts but I backed it down to 14 watts as I exchanged reports with the stations I worked. It seems this mode on HF is becoming very popular. There is a bit of a learning curve with not only rig settings but the software itself. But once you watch a few exchanges, do a bit of research, it wouldn't take long for anyone who has the ability to do digital communications to be up and running on this mode. I've found it extremely useful for the low bands were my HF antennas are less than adequate. It has helped me work states that I never thought I would get, not to mention some good DX as well.

JT65HF Screen Shot

I won't get into the meat of this program as there is plenty of "How To" articles on the web. Having an Icom 756PRO, the main key is making sure my Compression is off and there is no movement on the ALC meter when transmitting. Depending on the band conditions, I will run no more than 20 watts and normally 15 watts or less. Other key factors are making sure your computer clock is in sync and I use Dimension 4 to keep me "on time." I have found that when using Google Chrome, it very much slows down my computer clock and if I'm on the internet browsing the web, I need to sync my clock before using the JT65HF software. I don't want to overuse the time servers so I adjust my sync times accordingly. I'm familiar enough with my aging computer, I know now how often I need to sync when operating. I only need to sync more often if I'm multitasking but I try to avoid that. 

I think one of my main complaints and it's happened several times, are stations calling me when I'm not done with a QSO. It's pretty easy, once you get the hang of it, to know who is calling who and who called CQ just by the sequence of exchanges. It's also pretty easy to know when the end of the QSO is. JT65HF seems to easily get confused if you have more than one station calling, rightfully so. I also had a station move in directly next to me who was very wide and that left me ending up asking for several repeats until the station moved on. Even with my receiving bandwidth to the lowest setting and using attenuation with my Icom,it was a rough QSO but thankfully the station that called me stuck with it and in the end, the QSO was successful. 

Either way, this is such a fun mode and if you have not given it a try. It's getting popular enough that it can be tough finding a clear place to call CQ. I enjoy using it with the Hamspots website. It plays like the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) in that you can see who is hearing you and how well you're being heard. I use this information to help with awards I'm chasing and also to make any power adjustments on my end. It's surprising how well this mode works for weak signal. If we have aurora, I can see the effects on the waterfall and the software can have some problems decoding the data. This is to be expect but I find it a bit more forgiving with aurora than PSK31 but not as good as let's say, Olivia. There have been several times that my reception reports have been uploaded to Hamspots and the stations calling CQ can see that my station is hearing them. I've returned to the shack to see where stations have called me but I was only receiving and away from the rig. 

I had lots of fun yesterday and the Google Earth photo at the top shows you where I worked with 14 watts on 10 meters. These were the actual QSO locations and it only confirms my normal paths to the lower 48. I'm fortunate enough to be surrounded by beautiful mountains but thankfully, my path to Europe and the Lower 48 is pretty darn good. My location is not as good as if I were living on the Kenai Peninsula but I have no complaints! As mentioned before, I'm addicted to 10 meters so if that band is open and I'm occupying my hamshack, you can more than likely find me on 10 meters! We hams need to enjoy the solar peak while we can as it won't be long before 10 meters becomes ever so silent once again, especially up here.  

Sweepstakes Baby...Literally!

10 Meter CB band?  NOT!

This past weekend was the ARRL November Sweepstakes (CW) Contest. I had very limited time but with the high bands being so active recently, I knew I wanted to focus any activity there. Anyone who has followed my blog would know that if 10 meters is open, you will more than likely find me there! This past weekend was no exception. For the few short hours I had to operate, 10 was my main focus followed by 15 meters. I find the Sweepstakes very challenging as it's more than the canned 599 01 type of contest exchange. The exchange requires a serial number, precedence (power level & class), your callsign, check (year first licensed) and your ARRL Section. Shew! Adds a bit of stress as I'm CW challenged anyway and at the speed that some were send this weekend, it takes a sharp ear and fast fingers to get it right the first time. My favorite band was just "okay" as there was lots of QSB so with the longer exchange, it led to me asking for a few more repeats. 

Most of my time was Search & Pounce (S&P) and did so while doing other household duties. I think of the 7 hours or so my contest program reported me working, I probably actually worked less than 5 of those hours. It was due to large amounts of open air time in between contacts so with the 30 minute required off times, my log would be nothing more than a checklog. More on the main reason soon. I also must congratulate team KL2R for there sweep this past weekend! It was down to the wire but they pulled it off! Also a great job by several of my Alaskan contesting neighbors! 

Contest         : ARRL Sweepstakes

Callsign        : KL8DX

Mode            : CW

Category        : Single Operator (SO)

Overlay         : ---

Band(s)         : All bands (AB)

Class           : Low Power (LP)

Zone/State/...  : AK

Locator         : BP53LU

Operating time  : 7h22

 BAND   QSO DUP SECT  POINTS 

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

  160     0      0       0       0 

   80      0      0       0       0 

   40      0      0       0       0 

   20     14     0      10      28 

   15     83     1      33     166 

   10    111     1      24     222 

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

TOTAL   208   2      67     416 

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

    TOTAL SCORE : 27,872 

One of the annoying parts of operating 10 meters is the CB chatter one will encounter and often times, it's around 28.050 or normally in the area I run during contests. This past weekend was no different! I actually heard some CB'ers talking about their radio knowing full well they were in the ham band. This was on Sunday, first beginning on 28.306 and then they ended up on 28.295 beginning around 2120z. I recorded a small snippet of their conversation. You may have to turn your volume up a bit.

10 Meter CB Recording as .wav file.
10 Meter CB Recording as .wma file.

One of the main reasons I did not have lots of time this past weekend as my oldest made us grandparents for the second time! So, we have a Sweepstakes Baby in the family! I love living in Alaska but it's times like these that I wished I lived much closer. Logistics to and from Alaska is expensive and lengthy.

Our Grand Daughter Born Sweepstakes Saturday

So with the arrival of our second grandchild I'm hopeful that since she was on a contest weekend, I might have a chance of making her a future ham! It was not long ago that my kids were this small and I'm still trying to figure out where the time went. I'm also finding it hard to believe that next month will be the 25th anniversary of my studying and passing my Novice Exam! I took the theory and code tests mid December and passed with flying colors. I plan on doing a blog entry on that later. QCWA membership will probably happen sometime after the first of the year. I've been looking for my original licenses which I believe survived move up here. Need to get find them, scan them and make sure I don't miss place them...again. 

One of my most favorite contests of the year is coming up in late November, the CQ World Wide CW Contest! I'm looking forward to operating as much as possible and I'm hopeful that any solar outbursts don't arrive on that weekend. I would love to break 2,000 QSO's for that weekend, which would be a personal best.  My main logbook is fast approaching that 50,000 QSO mark and I'm getting excited about that milestone. It will be fun to see who that lucky ham will be. I'm not sure it will happen over that contest weekend but if it doesn't, it won't be long there afterwards. I think I'm gonna send that lucky ham not only my QSL card, but something Alaskan maybe?  I have a few ideas but I will have to wait until it happens to decide. November marks our 9th anniversary on our arrival to the great state of Alaska. As we head into our 10th year, we have to wonder what our future may hold. Something tells me our visits to see our grandchildren will hopefully not be as infrequent. 

To Infinity and Beyond!

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~

Sunday was Ten Funday

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.