A sure sign that spring is not far away is the adjustment of our clocks to Daylight Savings Time (DST) . Last year or so, some Alaskan political figure attempted to sponsor a bill (House Bill #19) that would allow us to quit adjusting our clocks for daylight savings time. So far, it has not seen the Governor's desk but maybe someday it will. There are arguments for and against but I personally would like to see it go away. I think the 21 reasons listed in the link to House Bill #19 are valid. Not that it has a major effect on my life with the exception of changing the numerous clocks, timers, automatic timers throughout our house and garage. But, there is always the saving grace of ham radio! We use UTC time or Greenwhich Mean Time and that never changes, thankfully! Those hams in the USA who use logging programs and contest programs on computers that display local time need to make sure that they double check their offset. My adjustment is 8 or a 9 hour difference depending on if I'm entering or leaving DST. With the daylight savings time move, now midnight GMT is 4 pm local here in Alaska. This weekend was a low ham participation weekend for me. My youngest reached her 21 year old milestone and the weather was also very nice so I spent most of Saturday outdoors with close friend Sean, KL1SF! Lots of sunshine with a clear sky and this time of year, with the return of the sun, outdoor activity will trump indoor most of the time. I was interested in the Feld Hell March Sprint (Lewis & Clark) but the higher bands are not open normally that early (1600z). I do begin to hear signals but normally not until after 1700z but that still gives me an hour. My low band antennas are substandard and are better for receiving than transmitting. But, I did manage a few Feld Hell contacts before the contest ended on 20 meters. That was the extent of my operating on Saturday. Sunday I participated in the SKCC Weekend Sprint but I only had a few hours to enjoy that as well. I was able to make just under 40 QSO's but the band (20 meters) was very poor with not a hint of a signal on 10 or 15 meters. When propagation is like that, it's easy to spend time away from the shack.
Probably the highlight for me this past week and weekend was working ZK3YA on 40 meters on March 10th and then getting ZK3OU on 30 meters on the 15th. Great operators with great ears as again, I don't have much on either band. I actually tuned my 80 meter wire for 30 meters to take advantage of a bit more elevation which seemed to help. The 30 meter operator got pieces of my callsign, first the "DX" then the "8DX" and then finally came my entire callsign. Thankfully, 30 meters is one of the few bands were the playing field is somewhat even. Granted, there are stations that have some nice metal for this band but many use wire antennas and with a output power not to exceed 200 watts, it becomes more skill than horse power to snag a DX station. Now, it sure helps when there is not much between me and the DX station but open ocean which is my saving grace working anything in the Pacific. I remember being in Ohio at my station there and having a time trying to work through the West Coast wall to anything in the Pacific. I suppose propagational fair play comes around when those out West attempt to work anything in Europe or Africa, short path anyhow. Either way, I was excited to work a new DXCC Entity and log them, ironically on a few bands that are normally challenging for me.
I've managed to change most of my clocks and work a bit of DX with a side order of some contest activity. All in all, a great weekend with some beautiful weather. As summer approaches plans will be made to repair some equipment, tweak and add some antennas, and enjoy the midnight sun from one of the most beautiful places on earth. From the views I got to experience this weekend, I don't think that 63 degrees is really that far from Heaven.
Recently I purchased my first hamwear for my travels outside of my normal stomping grounds. I'm not one who puts my callsign on my license plate or plasters it over the the front of a ball cap. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just prefer to remain a bit more anonymous. But I decided to take the plunge and venture into a bit more of the self advertising realm. My license plate suggests that I am a ham radio operator but does not give my callsign.
Recently the SKCC Club hooked up with Astrid's Embroidery to do their clubwear. The previous low life moron (different company) took a few orders and left with the money. This however is not the case with Astrid's. A quick check of eham dot net will provide a list of a few companies that do the same quality work with outstanding reviews. For me, I chose Astrid's due to their connection with SKCC.
Upon receiving my shirts and cap, I was extremely impressed with the quality and workpersonship (rather than workmanship) that went into each. And not only is their work great, the clothing appears to be very good quality as well. I liked their work so much, I just placed an order for my wife and an additional purchase for myself. Heck, my daughter liked them so much that I told her if she gets her "ticket", I would gladly purchase some for her. Hum...
I am not affiliated with Astrid's in anyway, just a satisfied customer. I will be putting this wearaphernalia to the test in the near future as I venture abroad. A way of advertising a club, a hobby, and a bit of who I am. Not shown in this photograph is a straight key on the other side of the cap. Now I just need to find a hamfest so I blend in!
Our antenna (Mosley TA-34-XL) has been up for several years, first in Ohio and then here in Alaska. I packed the station up from 8land and put my beam into operation here a year or so after our arrival. Same feedline, same everything.Lately the station has been having some issues from the tuner going out in my PRO to my AMP not wanting to work on 15 meters. And to top it off, I am seeing my beam is no longer in resonance where I had measured it oh so carefully a few years ago. Just like in the photo here, things are a bit blurry until you start the process of elimination. Today I noticed an unusually high SWR on 20 meters which made me drag out my Analyzer. When I hooked up my MFJ-259B directly to the feedline leading to my beam, things became a bit clearer, kind of.
It's obvious that my antenna is no longer resonant at the bottom of 20 meters where I had left it. As seen in the photo above, it is now resonant well outside of the 20 meter band. This alone tells me it's time to plan some summer maintenance. What is and where could the problem be? Only a bit more summer time investigation will tell.I have an external antenna switch that I run all of my antenna's to. I like them as it keeps my coax runs into the house at a minimum. Also, my feedline is getting old and is in need of replacement I'm sure. The antenna could have also moved from it's original measurements due to the extreme weather that hits this area. We get constant 55 mph wind gusts throughout the winter with gusts reaching 70 mph. I also see temperatures to -45F during the deepest and coldest months of winter as well. So many variables that could lead to problems. Routine maintenance here probably needs to be a bit more frequent. Either way, this aging station is in need of some work and although I tend to push radio to the side a bit during the summer months, this summer will need to be an exception. Now that the days are getting longer and the temperatures are beginning to warm, my operating will become much less. Summer may seem long but I find the window of opportunity here rather short. Summer seems so short in relation to winter, but that's life at 63 degrees north.
Sure hard to believe that March is here and soon our weather will start to change as the days get longer. Propagation will also begin to change and hopefully for the better.
In looking at the contest calendar this month, I don't have any major plans. Of interest to me is the ARCI QRP HF Grid Square Sprint. Looking further down the log you may find me in the Idaho, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Virgina QSO Parties. Depending on the bands, the BARTG HF RTTY contest looks like a possibility also. Nothing major, just giving out points and this month will be more of a casual operating month. I want to focus a bit more on my QRP activities and now that my second Buddipole order arrived, I can hopefully attempt another /P. In talking with Sean, KL1SF today on the way home from the office, he mentioned riding snow machines up to the top of Boot Hill in Healy. What a great place to operate from and a great view as well. I have not personally been up there but have seen Sean's photos. What a great idea! So, we shall see if the weather cooperates.
This past weekend I tried the new controversial mode, Ros. I was informed about the mode by Mike, N4QLB. A bit different mode I would say, but fun none-the-less. If set up correctly, it will automatically send reception reports, via email, to those copied on your screen, once their email address is sent. It seems to be gaining interest with the European digital crowed but it is also catching up here.
I gave it a spin and worked N4QLB with it.I had set up the email portion of the program so it did send reception reports to a few stations in Europe. An example of this is:
Operator Info:
Callsign: KL8DX
Name: PHIL PHIL
E-mail: akdxer@yahoo.com
QTH: Alaska (AK) Alaska (AK)
Locator: BP53lu
Station: IC-756PRO 4 element Mosley @ 43 feet
ROS Version: 2.1.5 Beta
Signal Info:
Symbol Rate: 16 bauds
Frame Acquisition: 12/20
Final Acquisition:
Frequency Shift: 23.4 Hz
Symbol Errors detected by Viterbi: 25/50
Metric: -18 dB
Vumeter Level: -3 dB
CPU Usage: 46 %
Congratulations for the QSO
I also received two reception reports from N4QLB. One of em looked like:
********** Please don't reply to this email ********************
N4QLB has received your Radio Message sent at: 19:18 UTC
Operator Info:
Callsign: N4QLB
Name: Michael
E-mail: n4qlb@cableone.net
QTH: Anniston, Alabama USA
Locator: EM73BR
Station: IC7000 into G5RV
ROS Version: 2.1.5 Beta
Signal Info:
Symbol Rate: 16 bauds
Frame Acquisition: 16/20
Final Acquisition:
Frequency Shift: 70.3 Hz
Symbol Errors detected by Viterbi: 24/50
Metric: -16 dB
Vumeter Level: -12 dB
CPU Usage: 55 %
Congratulations for the QSO
You can actually see the mode in action on YouTube at: ROS
So again, no big plans but I may send off my Icom 756PRO this month for some much needed service. Since I won't be needing it for 3 weeks or so, figured it would be a good time to get it repaired and tuned up. I always have my IC-751A which is not the best working rig and of course my IC-703Plus for QRP. As we get ready to spring ahead and turn our clocks forward an hour (for those that do, wish we didn't) my operating hours will begin to fall back as the days are nicer and the great Alaskan outdoors calls my name, in CW of course.
Dit-dit
My maiden voyage for PBMME, Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Event was somewhat of a last minute decision but I had a few days to plan my operation. This was to accomplish my first QRP outing with my Icom 703Plus and also using my Buddipole. I had recently purchased my portable keyer, the Mini Paddle by Palm Radio (photographed on top of my rig). One of the things I had noticed when it arrived was that the cable from the key to the key input on the rig was only a 1/8" plug rather than the standard 1/4" plug. I did not have the time to change out the plug but I did have one adapter (currently in use and I recently ordered a few more that have yet to arrive). With that in mind, I gathered up my equipment which consisted of my radio, keyer, battery, some jumpers and my MFJ-259B. I disassembled my Buddipole which was in my garage and packaged it up in its carrying case. Today was Denali National Park's Winterfest and my wife was going to participate. I was going to find a few places in the "front country" that would give me a good path to the lower 48 and try my first /P.
In checking the temperature it was ranging from -10F to -7F. I knew this would be a challenge with feedline but I wanted to give it a shot. I grabbed my cold weather gear and off we went. I dropped my wife off at the MSLC (Murie Science and Learning Center) and then I headed up to some high ground nearby.
I found my spot and parked my truck. I first opened up my Buddipole and started to put the tripod and mast together. I assembled the rest of the antenna but I started to experience some issues with the mast that came with the Buddipole. The mast expands to roughly 8 feet using telescoping sections that you twist to tighten or loosen. This turned out to be a bit of a challenge in the cold temperatures. This would not be a problem if the mast had an easier way to tighten each section as seen in this photo from the Buddipole website. The small handles shown to the side of each section would allow a heavily gloved hand to loosen or tighten each section and to keep moisture from hands off of the telescoping sections themselves.
The standard mast below is good but this allows moisture from a warm hand or snow (as in my case) to thaw and freeze making the expanding of the mast much more challenging. I'm sure not many operate at -10F but that will be a warm day for me during our Alaskan winters when I operate next year. I ordered a different mast from Buddipole with hopes that will work a bit better.
After getting the Buddipole set up out of the wind and as high as I could get it, I went to work getting my IC-703 set up. I removed it from the carrying case along with the A123 battery. I hooked up the rig and it came to life. I hooked up the antenna from the Buddipole to the Icom. The band sounded pretty good! I was hearing QRP signals from the lower 48 on or around 14.060. I thought to myself, this is gonna be fun! It was also very quiet where I was located with very little notice of QRN.
Next I removed my key from the box and hooked the cable up to the key. As I went to hook the key into the back of my Icom, it was then that I realized I did not have my adapter!!! The rig takes a 1/4" plug and of course, my key has the 1/8". I dug deep into my case but as I feared, I totally spaced the adapter. I did not even have a microphone (I don't operate SSB very often so I did not feel the need to take it). There I was, a quiet band and hearing CW signals so I was as helpless as a fish on shore at low tide. What was a bear to do...Grrrrrrrrrrrr
After making a few comments under my breath and speaking a language only spoken from my dark side, I admitted defeat and began to tear down my equipment. I did listen for a bit longer to see what signals I could hear. Something so small and simple left me silent and unable to communicate.
The Buddipole handled well at the low temperatures and I was really impressed how flexible the mini banana plug leads remained! They were totally flexible and if only I could say the same for the coax. I had to gently collect the coax as there was no flex to it at all. I tore all down and returned to my truck. My expedition ended before it began.
My unsuccessful excursion is a reminder to check and recheck all of your equipment prior to leaving. My house was on the other side of the mountain that I was operating from so it was not worth my time to travel there and back for the adapter. But rest assured, I will either have one or more adapters in my case or I will be changing out the plug to one that's 1/4" in size.
I ventured to my office where I put a few hours behind my desk until my wife was ready to leave for home. After picking her up, I explained my failure but in the end, I found a few good places for future operations. Rest assured, you will hearing KL8DX/p in future PBMME's but this one showed my lack of portable experience. Back to the den I went for another month.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
PB 197
This past weekend saw the annual arrival of the ARRL International CW DX Contest. As with many of the contests, it's always a good idea to skim over the rules of the contest for any changes. I always have to double check to see if Alaska is a state or DX country in many of the contests. In this contest, we were a DX Entity therefore, we only work stations in the lower 48 states. With that said, it makes my rotor happy as I keep my beam parked around 135 degrees to catch just about everyone down that way.
As I had posted earlier, this was the first time I used Win-test in a contest situation. Using N3FJP's software for years, the key assignments are a bit different as are the macro's. After spending a few evenings prior to the contest tweaking the software, I was ready to begin taking contesting to a new level. I found every aspect of this software awesome and it was well worth the investment for me. Now I'm looking forward to configuring it for RTTY. My final tweak with the macros was to get the cursor to jump past the canned "599" reports and get right to the state. I also wanted them to automatically log the contact after hitting my F3 key which was the final "TU" before calling CQ again. That one threw me off a bit as I had the $C at the end of the macro and it was not sending the other stations callsign. I moved the $C to the beginning of the macro and life was perfect.
I caught the beginning of the contest and 20 was in great shape. I only operated a few hours on Friday and spent Friday evening with my wife and daughter. I was going to be ready to hit it again early Saturday. I got up at my normal time (too early for most, especially on a day off of work) to find Europe just pounding in on 20 meters! I really could not start to work the lower 48 until propagation from Europe started to fall off. The lower 48 was still working plenty of Europe so it was my usual struggle to get their attention as most had their beams pointed toward Europe. With Europe still strong at 1830z, it was really hard to find a run frequency. Eventually Europe faded and the lower 48 stations started listening west and things picked up dramatically.
I wanted to keep an eye on 10 and 15 meters as I wanted to stray away from my single band life on 20 meters. 15 meters was outstanding both days!! Saturday and Sunday both had activity on 10 meters but a large part of that time, propagation favored South America skipping right over the lower 48. Lots of LU's and YN's heard very strong into Alaska. I was running on 20 meters but kept checking 10 meters and it came to life around 1900z for me. I quickly vacated 20 for 10 to start calling CQ. Seems 10 meters favored UT, CO, TX and AZ as I worked several stations in those states. 10 produced some much needed and unusual multipliers for me. Once 10 fell off, I would move to 15 meters.
My Ameritron AL-1500 started having issues on 15 meters during the RTTY contest last weekend and this weekend was no exception. It just did not want to load up on 15 meters and eventually just gave up on that band. During my Sunday run, I noticed the AMP had quit and I was only running about 25 watts (my normal drive power). I put the AMP into standby and cranked it up to 100 watts and ran the rest with low power. I hope to pull the AMP apart today and thanks to Rich, KL7RA I have a few hints as to what the problem may be. I had some fun working some pile-up's on 15 and I had a chance to do a quick recording of the fun. Nothing Dxpedition massive by any means but at times, challenging trying to grab a callsign from the group. Below are some of my quick snippits of 15 meters.
A typical Run on 15 meters (click Contest Recorder button below)
This next clip is my running a bit slower on sending but the frequency is starting to get a bit busier. Click on recorder button below for this recording.
This next clip is once again of my 15 meter run but the pile-up is getting a bit thicker. This is where my weekend activities will help me with management 101 someday. Click recorder below to listen. 
I experienced the usual problem of someone posting me as KL7DX. I figured as much when I started to get several DUPE calls. I investigated that after the contest by searching DXSUMMIT and searching for "KL" spots. Yep, that explained the near 20 duplicates in my logbook. Was really surprised how people often times jump on a cluster spot and rely on it being 100% accurate. Hint, KL7DX was not on in this contest (not that we both have not been on in the same contest before).
In working stations who have several people calling, there is always a trick or two that may help your signal be heard amongst the masses. Sometimes calling a bit off frequency could help distinguish your callsign from another. As in this clip below, you will be able to hear an example of this with N0IJ.
Often times, simple timing can be the difference. One persons lag could be another persons success as heard below with VA1MM. Needed him on 15 so it worked out perfectly!
With my comment being "DX" in this contest, I had a few DX stations try to call. One refused to give up until I worked him and that being an XE2 station. I have a macro set up for just that scenario but the message was not received. Better to work him than listen to the QRM while I'm trying to work stations.
Turned out Sunday I got a late start again due to a family obligation but the contest sure went out with a bang. With my AMP on the fritz on 15 meters, I ran full break in and it's much easier to manage several calling. I don't have QSK capability set up on my amp so often times I miss the first letter or two of a callsign, should the sending station be sending at over 30 wpm or send too quickly. After running SEMI break in for years, this took a bit of getting used to hearing what was going on while I was transmitting. A QSK example is below on the sound clip and you can hear me changing from SEMI to FULL during the first part of the recording.
I do a bit on Twitter and I follow several other ham radio operators. One of them happens to be Bud, AA3B. Bud does an outstanding job in contests with his station and operating skill. It just so happened in my few short clips of the contest, Bud showed up on one of em. See if you can hear Bud in this recording below.
All in all, this was another great weekend! Lots of great contacts and even though I did not operate a large part of the weekend and did not get a sweep on any band, I had lots of fun. I am always out to improve my CW skills and getting into the thick of it has sure helped. I find myself less nervous but I have a long way to go to be "contesting material". Figured I might have this down by 2019?Thanks for the contacts and God willing, I will return next year and hopefully the bands will be the same if not better. I would love nothing more than to work 10 meters all day long! Sunspots, gotta love em!Final result as posted to 3830. Lots will be uploaded shortly to LOTW and E-QSL. Good DX'n from the little DX station in the 49th!ARRL DX Contest, CWCall: KL8DXOperator(s): KL8DXStation: KL8DXClass: SOAB HPQTH: AlaskaOperating Time (hrs): 17.5Summary: Band QSOs Mults------------------- 160: 80: 40: 20: 802....... 58 15: 283........ 48 10: 43.......... 16-------------------Total: 1128... 122...Total Score = 412,116Club: North Coast Contesters
I was looking for a new and improved contest program and I fell for Win-test. I have used ACLog for years and it is good, but very basic. I was ready to step into the arena of contesting with something a bit more powerful. Several of the big contest stations up here use Win-test and they have had great results.
This is the age of getting software for free however, this program is not free. But as I pursue my interest in contesting, I needed something that would help me visually, and contestingly (yep, new word). Getting familiar at home with this program would also help me when I venture north or south with my desires to operate at a few of the other contest stations here in Alaska.
I am cramming with the functions and setting this up as my goal is to use Win-test this weekend in the ARRL CW contest. I hope there are a few patient souls out there as it will be a few QSO's before I get into the groove of new keyboard sequences but there is no better time to learn and play. If the contest itself was not challenging enough, now I'm stepping it up a notch.
I will report on my successes and failures (hopefully none) but either way, I'm looking forward to testing something new. 2010 has been a new software year for me. First I changed my log over to HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) and now this change for contesting. Two major contests back to back. I'm not sure I can take it but something tells me the software will do just fine!
This last weekend saw the annual CQ World Wide WPX RTTY Contest and it was one for the record books (at least here at ARS KL8DX). I was a bit concerned with how the weekend would play out with all the solar activity but I was hopeful that with a SFI (Solar Flux Index) in the Mid 90's, the upper bands would play well. I was hoping that an increase in solar wind would not blow propagation into another part of the world as it normally can at 63 Degrees North. I kept a very close eye on HAARP and Spaceweather.com not to mention Solar Cycle 24 dot com. It can also make my propagation path over the North Pole challenging, assuming it does not knock it out all together due to absorption. As it turned out, it was amazingly exciting but it took some planning once I got a feel for the bands at the start of the contest. I normally don't get started on Friday's until late due to my work schedule but I got going right away in this contest. I began on 15 meters due to propagation there and knowing 20 is always my strongest band, I wanted to play a bit on the less open bands for me (15 & 10 meters). I made just over 80 contacts on 15 before the band finally fell out and I then moved onto 20 meters on Friday afternoon.
I worked 20 meters until the path to the lower 48 fell out. I always enjoy working the tail end of 20 as the propagation window fades west. I am always looking for contacts into Japan to China and then listening for our neighbors in the South Pacific from New Zealand and Australia. I have to admit, I have a very large mountain in my path to ZL and VK land called Denali (Mt.McKinley) all of which is 20,320 foot tall. Working the South Pacific is not as easy for me as working the North Pacific, but it's do-able. With that said, I have to thank those hams in Australia and New Zealand for shouting up my way and getting my attention while I was working into Asia. It takes some tweaking of my beam to get ZL's and VK's in but with patience, I can normally find em.
I ended up finishing up Friday evening working Asian contacts and I waited for Europe which normally begins to show up as early as 0630z. By 0700z signals were starting to show promise and I tried to work several in Europe but I was not having any luck! The signals were strong coming over the North Pole but I could just get my signal to be heard even with close to 1500 watts. I have experienced this before so I threw in the towel until around 1300z.
I got up early Saturday morning and my prediction was correct, I had a better path and I was being heard much easier into Europe. I worked Europe until that path gave way to propagation into the lower 48. Once again, 15 meters did produce some activity in the afternoon but 20 meters was my strong band. I did start listening and playing around on 40 meters especially when I saw those 6 point contacts outside of North America! Now, 40 is not a strong band for me but this is where our friends in Japan and China come in. I don't have anything between them and me but open ocean so I can normally be heard that way. As luck would have it, I snagged a few good points on 40 meters. My main focus was 20 meters to get my numbers up but also taking advantage of 15 meters. 15 opened into Central and South American nicely as it did to the lower 48. Saturday night played out like Friday night exactly, and I once again decided an early rise would yield more logged QSO's for me.
Sunday morning's opening into Europe turned out to be even better than Saturday. I found lots of great contacts and several multipliers. As with most of the weekend, polar flutter was present and made it a bit tougher with the weaker signals but all in all, the path was very good. I made contacts into Europe pretty late Sunday morning before it fell to the wayside and the lower 48 came bouncing back in (but not that well until the very end of the contest actually).
As the weekend was coming to a close, I saw my score creep closer to the million mark. As the clock ticked and the contacts rolled in, I thought that for once, I may be able to score more than a million points in this contest! Those last 100,000 were rough bouncing back and forth between 20, 15 and 40 but contact number 887 of 902 was the one that put me over the 1 million point mark thanks to VE2XAA! That was a 2 point QSO AND a multiplier! I opted to spend the last 20 minutes or so of the contest doing Search & Pounce looking for any last minute multipliers. That paid off for a few more multipliers and I wrapped up CQ WPX RTTY 2010 with my last contact logging VA3TTU at 23:59z.
Having a small station, many of my successful contacts often rely on the other stations ability to hear my weak signal. Hats off to those stations, wow! Some were very weak but I opted to give it a shot and several times they came back with my callsign and we easily exchanged the necessary information. I adjusted my macros as needed depending on the band. If I started to get repeats for my QSO number, I increased my macro sending it three times rather than two. That seemed to work well. There is always lots of conversations about macros and I saw a bit over everything this weekend but in the end, I don't care as I would like to have a QSO even if you have to hand type the exchange slow. Macros can get you into trouble as it did for me near the end of the contest. I sent two wrong macros at once to KI6VC but thankfully he was understanding, laughed it off after I sent the proper exchange knowing full well it was late in the contest and we all by that time or experiencing RTTY burnout!
Many highlights include catching several of my Alaskan neighbors on the bands. Caught many old friends and new ones it's always a pleasure to add them once again to the KL8DX contest log! Now mind you, I would much rather be operating with W8AV down at PJ2T, but Alaska ain't half bad even during the winter time. I have always been able to take the cold much better than the heat.
Again, thanks for all those that called in and helped me reach this new point in my CQ WW WPX RTTY operating career. Log has been submitted and of course will be reviewed and once log checking is done, approximately one year from now, I should know how well I did. Alaska appeared well represented in this contest and it's an honor to be part of the Alaska DX & Contesting group up here! See ya next year, God willing!
CQ WW RTTY WPX ContestCall: KL8DXOperator(s): KL8DXStation: KL8DXClass: SOAB HPQTH: AlaskaOperating Time (hrs): 28.62Summary:Band QSOs Pts----------------- 80: 40: 55 256 20: 695 1659 15: 148 338 10: -----------------Total: 898 2253 Prefixes = 457 Total Score = 1,029,621
A sure sign that spring is not far away is the adjustment of our clocks to Daylight Savings Time (DST) . Last year or so, some Alaskan political figure attempted to sponsor a bill (House Bill #19) that would allow us to quit adjusting our clocks for daylight savings time. So far, it has not seen the Governor's desk but maybe someday it will. There are arguments for and against but I personally would like to see it go away. I think the 21 reasons listed in the link to House Bill #19 are valid. Not that it has a major effect on my life with the exception of changing the numerous clocks, timers, automatic timers throughout our house and garage. But, there is always the saving grace of ham radio! We use UTC time or Greenwhich Mean Time and that never changes, thankfully! Those hams in the USA who use logging programs and contest programs on computers that display local time need to make sure that they double check their offset. My adjustment is 8 or a 9 hour difference depending on if I'm entering or leaving DST. With the daylight savings time move, now midnight GMT is 4 pm local here in Alaska. 
