May Polar Bear Summer Picnic Event

On Saturday May 22nd, 2010 my wife and I headed out to the Denali Highway, which on this side begins in Cantwell, Alaska. She had no idea until that morning of my plans. I grabbed up my portable station, my Buddipole antenna while she packed our picnic lunches and off we went.

The weather was warm but it almost looked like it could shower but as it turned out, not a drop fell. This was our first trip this year on the Denali Highway. The Denali is known for chewing up tires as most of it is unpaved. The State of Alaska maintains the road during the summer months. There was very little traffic on the road and it turned out to be a wonderful day to hit the road.

After I passed mile 98, I found a nice spot off of the north side of the roadway to park our truck. I decided since we left without our wildlife protection, we would stick close to the truck. The tailgate to our Ford was going to be my desktop and this was my 2nd outing with my Buddipole.

It only took me a few minutes to get the rig out and powered up and the antenna erected on 20 meters. The band came to life and I immediately headed for the QRP frequencies that the Polar Bear Club members hang out (CW). I was not hearing a peep from 14.060 thru 14.064! I tuned down the band and was very surprised to hear some very strong signals out of Japan and Europe. I figured it would be pure luck for me to work another Polar Bear, especially a portable operation to another portable operation but I was determined to try.

As the afternoon progressed, I continued to call CQ on 14.060, 14.061 and 14.062 several times with no luck. I then headed down the band and came across a big signal from Japan, that being JA1NUT. I answered his CQ and I had a several minute QSO with Shin. I have heard him many times and Shin is always loud into Alaska on most of the bands. Shin gave me a report of 549 and peaking a bit higher at times. After a great first contact from the Denali Highway, I continued to tune the band, call CQ, and listen to those in the "UN" contest. It was so nice not to have a hint of QRN on the band! What a difference there is to being out in the middle of no place, Alaska.
In the end, I never did hook up with any of my fellow Polar Bear members but I gave my Buddipole and portable set up a good going over. I recorded lots of small snips of video. I just downloaded some editing software so my plans are to join the video crowd and start uploading to YouTube. Like any new software, there is a learning curve. I will post on my blog when I get the video done but with a hectic week and holiday weekend looming, not sure I will have time to get it finalized prior to the holiday weekend. I'm looking forward to many more outings and also sharing video clips of our excursions. Even though the bands have been pretty poor lately, I knew this was going to be tough. In the end, even if there was not a signal on the band, just the drive and experiencing the great views of the Denali Highway would of made it worth the trip anyway. But when you have propagation, good weather, and beautiful views of mountains and wildlife, it just don't get much better than that! Nice to work some DX with a small herd of Caribou nearby.

Long Days and Summer Plans

The bands continue their poor conditions (at least at my QTH) but I'm looking forward to doing a bit of portable QRP when propagation allows. My future plans as of this writing is participating in the CQ WW WPX CW Contest followed by heading to Fairbanks and operating at KL2R for Field Day! After all that, it will be time for some antenna work (not to mention sending my trusty 756PRO to the doctor).

Since the winters are so long, dark, and cold around these parts it is hard to stay indoors and seated behind a radio anyway. The only summer excitement that I have regarding propagation is some good 10 meter or 6 meter openings. I have been watching the cluster a bit lately and see that 10 meters has been producing some activity (lower 48 way). This time of year, I will often leave my rig parked on 10 meters and after adjusting the squelch and leaving the audio cranked, I will go about my duties around the house. I have HRD set up to send me a text if any Alaskan station is spotted on 10 meters so lets hope I have it configured correctly. If there is an opening, I sure don't want to miss it. I would love nothing more than to work a great 10 meter opening for hours! I have yet to experience that on 10 meters from my QTH but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someday I will.

I have been keeping up with my direct QSL card requests but I do have some catching up to do with my last bureau drop. I recently ordered my next batch of QSL cards so upon their arrival, I will make it a point to get those done and sent back off to the ARRL.

So far this summer is shaping up to be pretty nice. It appears the wildland fire season is off to a good start as we have smoke in the air this weekend. I'm hoping that we won't have another smoky summer. I have spent way to many hours indoors over the last several months, now I want to get outdoors and play!

63 Degrees of Loud Silence

Image from HAARP Riometer 05/08/2010 @ 2250z

Living in Alaska is awesome to say the least and it sure is a land of extremes. So many TV shows have attempted to capture life in Alaska. We have DSL and we have satellite TV but there are times when we have very little HF propagation. Thanks to HAARP these radio challenged days are easily identifiable when checking the HAARP Riometer. This alerts us hams to absorption of radio signals. We talk all over the globe when our signals bounce off of the ionosphere but when we experience lots of absorption, it makes for lots of quiet.

Since returning home from vacation the HF bands have been extremely poor. I looked at the last week of HAARP data (seen from the graph at the top left) which explains everything. This was one of the eye opening propagation experiences I had after moving up here from Ohio. In Ohio, it seemed I had propagation most all the time, to some part of the world anyhow. Up here, that's not always the case. When you factor in the Solar Flux Index along with the A&K indexes lately, it is a grim reminder that living so far north can be propagationally challenging. Thankfully, the midnight sun is returning so there are other things to keep a ham occupied up here. But what I tell everyone is, "When HAARP shows red, the bands are dead". And that they have.

I'm not totally heart broken because of the poor band conditions as I have plenty of other things to keep me busy. The snow is nearly gone and the lake ice is giving away to open water. The Robin's have returned and spring / summer is a sure thing now. I am working on getting our ATV's running for another summer of fun. Oh, and I can't forget about spring cleaning!

I just put the final touches on my next batch of 500 QSL cards as I change my card each and every order. I am also about to design my /QRP QSL card. This last drop from the bureau will use up the remaining batch of cards that I have on hand so it was time to put in a fresh order. I go through QSL cards pretty quickly here due to my level of activity and where I live. I have been itching to get out and do some /QRP portable operating but if I'm not hearing anything at home, I sure won't be hearing anything operating portable. So in the mean time, I'm keeping busy doing other things and working on some radio projects. Just because you are not hearing Alaska it doesn't mean that we have all packed up and left for vacation. As the weather can effect our plans, spaceweather can do the same for our radio time. It's great to see that the sun is waking up and the solar cycle is becoming more active. Let's just hope that all of these days of quiet bands will yield some super fun activity in the near future. If anyone is taking orders, I would gladly order up some 10 meter fun with a side of 6!

7QP & N1MM

I decided to give N1MM Logger a run on CW this weekend. It took me just a few minutes to switch the station over to CW and get N1MM working with my IC-756PRO. Soon I was sending CW and after tweaking my macros, I was set to give it a try.

With several logging and contest programs available today via the web, N1MM has to be the most popular in my opinion. This is due to the numerous contests that it supports. Also, this program continues to be supported and sees upgrades more than any other program I have used over the years. It's free to use but anyone using it should support the author with some kind of monetary donation.

The program worked wonderfully in both S&P (Search and Pounce) and running modes. I did encounter one station who was mobile and he was not sending that he was mobile. I worked him the first time and when I ran across him the second time, I realized only then (he had a good signal into Alaska) that he was a mobile station after he sent his new county location. When I entered his callsign and new county, the program recognized it as a new multiplier but did not give me any points. That was not that case with a station running /7 who was mobile. When I logged multiple contacts with him, it scored it correctly. Just those little things that you need to watch for. Not any fault of N1MM by any means. I wish those stations who don't sign that they are mobile would do so. I log them as I hear them.

N1MM's rig control worked smoothly. I also connected to the local Alaskan Packet Cluster and it worked great. I had to update the internet address as the one listed in the program was wrong but once that was corrected, it stayed connected and posted my spots when sent.

This was my first run at using N1MM with rig control in a CW contest. There has been another release since I downloaded my last version, which I intend to grab here in the near future. It may take a few minutes to get it working with your station using rig control but my basic set up using a Rigblaster Plus works great on FSK RTTY and now CW. N1MM has a huge help file accessible under the menu at the top. A quick search finds most any answer to your questions. All in all, N1MM and the 7QP were lots of fun. I did not make hundreds of contacts but both the software and contest made for lots of fun. I did not do the multiple QSO Party run with it but that may be my next adventure. It happens pretty often when there is more than one contest a weekend that I would like to participate in. I made a screen shot of my software settings for future reference so I'm looking forward to future fun with N1MM.

Hanging out with the "CAR"

On my recent trip back to Ohio, I found myself short of time to see everyone that I wanted to see. I knew I would be traveling by an old friends house in Castalia, Ohio (literally) on my trips over to Norwalk from Marblehead. I have always liked the "back roads" when it comes to traveling. It might take me a few more minutes to reach my destination but the drive is always more pleasant. With that in mind, I dropped a note to Dan, W8CAR letting him know I would be in the neighborhood a few times during my vacation. Dan invited me to drop a call when in the area and I did just that. On one of my trips through "Duck Town", I gave Dan a quick call and he invited me to come on over.

It was great to see Dan and also spend some time with him catching up. Dan is one of those hams who I have looked up to for many years and he has never hesitated to give me advice or help me when I needed a bit of direction. I would often times work Dan during HF, UHF, and VHF contests. Dan is a great DX'er and Contester. It was really fun to talk "shop" with Dan for a few hours, hang out in his shack, and simply talking radio.

Even though I live over 3 thousand miles away from Dan nowadays, I still catch Dan on the radio! That's what I love about this hobby. I also catch several members of Northern Ohio DX Association and the North Coast Contesters. Living farther away just makes our contacts a bit less frequent and non-existent on some bands (like 2 meters and 432, which I really miss). But I'm always looking for Dan as he puts in a great signal into Alaska on a regular basis. I get excited when I hear W8CAR come bouncing out of my speaker on CW or if Dan says "HI" while operating K8AZ during contests.

Contacts with Dan and any of my long time friends back east are worth more points than I can ever get in any contest. And to them I say, "Thanks for your friendship and keep those antennas pointed toward Alaska!"

QRZ?

Vacations over but the Goats were the best!

As you can tell, I have been away from the shack for a bit (a month anyhow). Work related travel followed by some vacation time kept me on the run. My wife and I ventured to the lower 48 and did a bit of traveling and catching up with friends and family. I wondered how I would survive without ham radio but I did manage to drag along my hand held. I made a few contacts while I was in St. Louis, MO and one of those contacts was with Jerry, K0TPP who I had worked on PSK31 back in December of 2009. I also was able to catch the FARA (Firelands Amateur Radio Association) net one Sunday evening while in Northern Ohio, my old stomping grounds. But the highlight of my ham radio portion of our vacation was meeting in person Steve, wG0AT, and his side kicks Rooster and Peanut.
My wife and I had wanted to venture to a state we had yet to experience and we chose Colorado. I had contacted Steve to let him know I would be in the area and was hoping I could meet with him. Steve answered my email almost immediately and was open to a eyeball QSO! Better yet, Steve mentioned a possible hike up Mount Herman where he operates frequently! To those that don't know of Steve, Rooster and Peanut, Steve is a QRP, backcountry, mountain climbing do it all kinda operator. I have followed Steve's adventures on YouTube and was able to work him on one of his Mount Herman adventures. Steve was the main person who inspired me to purchase an Icom 703Plus and put together a backcountry portable station. I will be using it several times throughout this summer for the first time. My goal is to work Steve from a mountain top here in Alaska.

When we arrived at Steve's QTH, I could not believe I was actually meeting Steve in person! Here I was meeting the man whom I have admired for many months. And I also got to meet Rooster and Peanut, his goats. After a short while chatting, my wife headed off to do some shopping and left Steve and I to our planned adventure of climbing Mt. Herman. I was unprepared as we had traveled heavy as we had planned to be gone for 3 weeks. Steve had an extra backpack and munchies and it was not long before Steve loaded up the goats and off we went to Mt. Herman. Steve drove us up pretty high on a very narrow road with extreme drop offs. Once we parked at the trail head, it was off on our journey to the top of Mt. Herman.

Now, one of the first things I noticed is that the air is thin in Colorado! Thankfully, Steve along with Rooster and Peanut kept a slow pace for this Alaskan. I'm sure it was a slower than usual ascent for Steve but with great conversation, wonderful views, it seemed we hit our operating location before I knew it. Steve set up his Icom 703 and Buddipole and it was not long before the sounds of CW were coming from his radio. Steve let me drive the rig and I tuned around listening to see what I could hear. I was hearing stateside stations but as I tuned to the lower portion of 20 meters, some good European DX was heard! Some great signals out of Europe and Africa. I called a few and worked one who to my surprise, came back on the first call. Steve was capturing all of this on his camera and it is now featured on his YouTube channel. The sun was shining and propagation was great at 9,000 feet! Wow, if I could only get my antenna that high!

There was some thunderstorms in the area so eventually we called an end to operating as the rain drops started to arrive. We packed up the gear and headed down the mountain. We once again talked about ham radio and I enjoyed Steve's company along with Rooster and Peanut. We were back at the truck before I knew it (trust me, it's longer than it sounds) and we were headed back to Steve's QTH. Once there, my wife arrived shortly after and had her photo shoot with Steve, Rooster, and Peanut (yes, she is a ham fan, too).

I will be forever grateful for Steve's hospitality and for taking me along on one of the most fun ham radio adventures I have ever been on. It was a rough climb for this desk jockey but I survived! I did manage to leave my sunglasses on the mountain and Steve, being the kind person that he is, hiked back up there the next day and found my sunglasses! You will see Rooster wearing my sunglasses in the video and that is how he managed to get them. I have to say, Rooster looks better in them than I but if I told Rooster that, he may have not wanted to give them up.

In conclusion, the day I spent with Steve, Rooster, and Peanut was by far the highlight of our vacation. I can't thank Steve enough for his kindness and for the adventure. I can only hope that one day I can repay the favor by showing Steve around my backyard. I can't promise as good of propagation but I can promise some breathtaking views.

N1MM Logger Part Deux

This weekend was another teaser for summer as there was lots of sunshine. The bands left a bit to be desired but with the help of Sean, KL1SF and his suggestion using EXTFSK, I was able to get the latest version of N1MM Logger working. I had an older version of N1MM logger that I exclusively used for RTTY contests. Now that I have transitioned over to using Win-test, I have found a few contests not yet supported by their software. With that in mind, I decided to see what I could do with the latest version of N1MM Logger.

As mentioned, I have run N1MM Logger for a long time but when I went to use the latest version, I could not get it to work with my Icom 756PRO. I used the same settings with nothing but a dead carrier when attempting to send RTTY. My close friend Sean, KL1SF mentioned he had to use EXTFSK to get his working. So, I downloaded it and after some tweaking and setting adjustments, I was sending mark & space just like before. Seems the EXTFSK is an add on that when used, it allows software control of FSK and PTT for the MMTTY engine. That was the ticket!

I went a step further and set up rig control with N1MM as well. Now that makes for much better contesting! I am a bit slow getting around to upgrading software and getting with the times but I am normally glad when I finally take the plunge. Another dive into upgrading software and I only wish equipment was as easy. My station is getting old and tired and my equipment is letting me know that. There are times when I wish I was a testing ground for new Icom radios and Ameritron amplifiers (I dare the other manufacturers to make me switch). I dream every time I open my QST or CQ magazine but my equipment is a direct reflection of what I can afford, just as it is for many others. I have a very small station but at the end of the day, I have fun with what I have so I guess, that's all that matters. With N1MM working wonderfully, I made about 70 contacts in the BARTG RTTY contest. Mostly search and pounce but with the way N1MM Logger was working, I'm excited about the next RTTY contest, whenever that may be.

The latest round of nice weather keeps reminding me that my operating will soon drop to a minimum as we venture out to enjoy the Alaskan summer. Either way, I have summer maintenance that needs to be accomplished if I even plan to participate in next winters contest season. I'm approaching 30 thousand contacts in my logbook since moving to Alaska 6 1/2 years ago. I'm happy with that number even though there are contest stations out there that can do that in a season. I'm hoping to be around here long enough to enjoy some great 10 meter propagation and with the upswing of the sunspot activity, hopefully it wont' be long now. The sun is entirely responsible for all my fun, both on the bands and outdoors. When the day comes that I have to choose between operating my ATV outdoors or working a 10 meter pileup for several hours, I'm not sure which way I will turn. My guess is, I won't have any mud on my pants at the end of that day.

Time for Change - DST that is!

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.