Quest for Georgia interrupted by Funshine!

Spring in Alaska - 2012

I wanted to chase a few of the Georgia QSO Party stations giving a few the Alaska multiplier. There seemed to be a huge turnout and lots of activity from GA. Even with my small station and 100 watts, I was able to snag a few of the mobile stations roaming the state giving out counties. The only mobile that I encountered that I could never work was N4ZZ. Each and every time, the pile-up was just too big for me to make it through. The band (20 Meters) was not that great anyhow so, that made it even more of a challenge to work the mobile and some of the QRP stations.

Once the dust settled, I only worked 22 stations in Georgia this weekend. Of those contacts, the mobiles I worked the most were AD8J, which I worked three times and W1NN, which I worked twice. AD8J was the easiest to work and had the best signal into my part of Alaska. W1NN was a close second. I also snagged the special event callsigns K4F, K4N and N4A. 

I did not have lots of time this weekend as I had plenty to do outdoors. With local temps peaking into the 50's, it's short sleeve weather in these parts. The snow is beginning to fade as the sun and warm temperatures return. Sadly, this means lots of mud but that's the cycle here. We go from winter season, to mud season and from mud season to skeeter season. Arriving about the same time as skeeter season is tourist season. We experience a brief summer season followed by hunting season and then back to winter season or as I like to think of it, CONTEST SEASON! Since we started camping, our summer season is also known as camping season, or portable operating season.

The photo above was taken with my Android phone as we traveled west on the Denali Park Road on Sunday. We took a drive yesterday and encountered several moose along with a large herd of Caribou. It was a beautiful day for a drive and although I wanted to chase many more Georgia stations, the outdoors was calling me louder than any signal from Georgia on 20 meters. As much as I would like to support every contest, there are just those times that one has to wave the white flag and surrender to Mother Nature.  It's been a long and cold winter and this ham is ready to experience once again, some midnight funshine! 

Mixed Bag of Fun Even With Absorption and Wind!

QRP ARCI Contest Rig

This weekend was one of those weekends where I did not have all weekend to play radio but for those hours I did, I wanted to operate in 3 separate contests. The first of the three was the PODXS 070 Club PSK31 Flavors Contest. This was a rolling contest by local time so the contacts I made were all Search & Pounce (S&P). The second contest was the QRP ARCI Spring QSO Party. I was excited about trying to work stations while running QRP (5 Watts). The bands started out pretty rough and I had stations CQ'n in my face however, 20 meters started to become a bit more cooperative as Saturday progressed and I was able to log a few QRP QSO's. My trusty Icom 703Plus (seen pictured above) was set at 5 watts output to my Mosley TA-34-XL 4 element tri-bander. With the exception of non-members, I don't know how much power the other stations were running. Non-members gave their power output rather than the required ARCI membership number. I recently renewed my membership after having it lapse a few months. I've become interested in running QRP and enjoy running it portable as well. Now that the weather is becoming a bit more favorable, I'm looking forward to some portable operating.


My third contest, I wanted to make an appearance in was the SKCC Weekend Sprintathon. I very much enjoy using my Navy Flameproof CW Key and this was a good weekend to blow the dust off of it. Saturday was by far the best day play in this contest as once Sunday arrived, the bands folded due to ionospheric absorption. It just so happened that an incoming weather system started to once again produce winds which created lots of QRN. So between the solar conditions and the wind, Sunday was a bit rough when it came to adding contacts to my logbook. 


With the Easter holiday, the bands were quieter than normal. We received thee inches of fresh snow on Friday so we are not out of the woods yet for winter weather. April will usually produce a good snow storm or two but once May gets here, it will be time to defrost the camper and get ready for summer fun! I also need to complete my HF radio install in our truck! Antenna has arrived and just a few more small parts are needed and I can begin that creative project. Thankfully, I have an understanding wife and I don't have to "Lobby for the Hobby." 

Propagation Returns - Slowly

JT65A

It was very nice this morning to hear European signals once again on 20 meters. I fired up JT65HF this morning and made a handful of contacts. I'm still having issues with this program shutting down when it's attempting to decode multiple signals. I've even set it at a higher priority and still have the issue. The original version I had never experienced this problem but the last few versions have seen the same problem on my XP machine. I can call CQ and sit on a frequency for hours without a shutdown as long as Enable Multi is unchecked. I don't experience this issue with any of my other multitude of programs I run, thankfully.


The sun is returning and the days are getting longer here in Alaska. Temperatures the last few days have reached near the freezing mark, sitting nicely in the mid 30's! March has not been an active month for me on the radio due to propagation and personal obligations. As summer approaches, the rig and shack will fall silent as activities will be moved outdoors. Not that I don't enjoy ham radio but I love summer! As the contest season wraps up, the summer season begins. You will never hear me complain about the midnight sun!

QSL's From Years Gone By

With the latest round of solar activity that has left the bands mostly quiet here in my part of the world, I have been scrolling through old QSL cards. I have wanted to preserve a few of these cards from years gone by. I have nearly every QSL card received, from my very first QSO to current day. In my nearly 24 years as a ham radio operator and mostly a DXer, I've chased those rare ones like so many others. I proudly hang my DXCC certificates on my shack wall and the one I'm most proud of displays my last DXCC endorsement sticker received, number 300. I have a CW only DXCC certificate which displays my last endorsement sticker received, that being number 275.

 I have more money invested in these cards than I care to think. From the purchase of my personal QSL cards, to airmail envelopes, to return airmail envelopes, not to mention the postage and green stamps or IRC's it took to get them. To the normal person, they are only a post card with some unknown information written on them. But for me, it represents my ham radio timeline. It also represents hundreds of hours spent tuning the bands and participating in often crazy pile-ups and contests. Many times, the easiest part was working the station. The hardest part was obtaining the QSL card or cards.

Remembering the days of stocking the New York phonebook sized Radio Amateur Callbook, using it to look up callsigns to send for QSL cards. I have, which I believe is the last printed copy from 1997, at a cost then of $39.95 for the International edition. There were normally two editions printed, one being the International and the other being the North American. There was no electronic QSL card confirmation process then, so you did it the old fashioned way. It was always exciting to send off QSL cards for new countries and even more exciting when the return envelopes showed up!

QSL Cards Received From Years Gone By

I have so many QSL cards it would take me weeks to scan them all so I have been picking a small handful from my collection to scan and archive. I've also been uploading them to my facebook account, sharing them with my other ham friends. If a ham has been around for a few years, many of these QSL cards will probably look familiar. I've been having fun just looking through, re-reading the information and comments. It's been fun remembering things like Box 88, Moscow, East and West Germany, or the Russian Woodpecker tapping across the bands. Using packet to connect to the local 2 meter BBS to read the bulletins in hopes of getting DX or QSL information. Like a photo which freezes a moment in time forever, a QSL card does the same for ham radio contacts. And like many of my old photos, my QSL cards are kept in a large box tucked in the back of the closet. These QSL cards represent where I've been, propagationally speaking of course, and my contacts with those many countries all around the world. 


Recently the DX World received sad news regarding the passing of Ron Wright, ZL1AMO. Ron may be a Silent Key but his memory lives on through this great hobby, helping many hams like me obtain new countries for our DXCC award. Ron is one of many who I've chased on the bands over the years and for his efforts, like many others, I will be forever grateful.  

The Bands Have Spoken!

It's official

I have tuned the bands about once an hour for the last 7 hours and have not heard one signal! When I turned on my Icom 756PRO, I hit the "Band Condition" button and this is what displayed on the screen. This is a high end option for radios normally used above 60 degrees North. Also optional is the "Flutter Filter" which when depressed, it attaches an add-on to the outgoing transmission giving that strange effect that makes your signal sound like it's traveling through water. Most note this type of signal quality on the cluster by posting signal reports like, "59A", etc. I believe these might come standard on the Icom IC-8800DX.  I know it's not yet April but my April QST should be arriving sometime soon.

The Visibly Green, Silent Sound of Spring

http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/cgi-bin/riometer/riom2_sel.cgi

Last weekend was the ARRL DX SSB Contest and I made only a few contacts over the course of the weekend. The bands were rough going here in Alaska. I have the deepest admiration for those Alaska contest stations who stuck it out over the weekend and struggled for each and every QSO. I know this simply by what the band conditions were like here and the amount of QSO's many of them were able to log. I personally don't operate SSB contests much anymore but there is no doubt in my mind, if I had attempted any effort last weekend, it would of been short lived. Contesting takes patience and I have little with poor propagation and even less with SSB. When combining those two elements, I'm normally off doing other things with my weekend.


Funny how things change when it comes to the sun and propagation. We had very little propagation on 10 meters for years. Then, out of the blue, the sun became active and with the increase in Solar Flux Index (SFI), 10 meters sprang to life! We enjoyed 10 meters for months and I know I entered a few contests operating only 10 meters in a single band effort. The sun started to quiet, 10 began to fade as the SFI dropped. But once again, those sunspots are beginning to crackle and make things interesting...


Living so far north, the attenuation effect on the bands during these solar events can leave the bands loudly quiet. The Geomagnetic Activity and absorption due to the effects of a Solar Flare or CME can make you wonder if there might be something wrong with your antenna. It is very possible to tune across each and every band and not hear a CW, digital or SSB signal. Just did that this morning actually. 

http://helios.swpc.noaa.gov/ovation/#

So what is there for a ham radio operator to do when there is nothing on the bands? Well, step outside and look up! My other hobby is photography and I very much enjoy photographing the Aurora. Thankfully with modern technology, it's easy to see when the AU is visible from your location. Often times, the biggest problem is getting to view the aurora when you know it's directly overhead. Just as the geomagnetic activity can attenuate signals, the clouds above can obscure one of the most amazing light shows you will ever see. With a little luck and clear skies, a northern ham has plenty to do when the bands are quiet. And it appears the current Sunspot #1429 will be making our propagation extremely challenging in the days ahead however, it may bring us the best aurora viewing of the year. My Icom may be quiet but my Olympus will be capturing that silence overhead as the green lights of winter remind me, there is more to life than ham radio. 

NAQP RTTY Contest February, 2012

This weekend was the NAQP RTTY Contest and I had planned on working as much of my 10 hours as possible. We were once again forecasted to have strong wind gusts this weekend but thankfully the wind held out to just about the end of the contest. 


I started out on 15 meters and found the QSB pretty heavy on that band. It was tough printing a few callsigns, especially when some would send their call only once. After working 15 meters, I moved on to 10 meters. The band was pretty rough but I managed a few contacts on that band before I headed back to 15 meters. QSB on 10 meters was comparable to what I had experienced on 15 meters.


After I ran stations on 15 and did a bit of S&P (Search & Pounce), I headed for 20 meters to get some more multipliers. I could not get a good run going on 20 meters so I parked and called CQ, then moved down the band a bit working a few stations then again park and call again. I stuck to 20 meters until the band faded and then moved down to 40 meters.


I did not expect to work much on 40 as the low bands are tough with my antennas. Thankfully a few stations have great receivers so I was able to log a few contacts on 40. I never heard any RTTY signals on 80 meters so once I worked all the strong stations I could on 40 meters, I threw in the towel.


I like this contest for a few reasons. The first being that the redundant useless signal report is not used. The second reason is for the 10 hour / 12 hour format. It does not involve giving up an entire weekend and after spending the last two full weekends in the shack, it's nice to be able to get something else accomplished besides adding more contacts to my logbook. A few did not make it into my log as I did not copy them confirming my sent information. I only had a few odd exchanges in this contest but like I have said before, as long as I can copy it, I appreciate any QSO! 


A breakout of my log is shown below. My contest log has been uploaded to LOTW and now that the wind is gusting over 30 mph, it's time for me to turn out the lights, shut off the rig and spend the rest of the weekend with my girls. Thanks for the contacts to those I worked.





Cabrillo Statistics           (Version 10g)           by K5KA & N6TV
http://bit.ly/cabstat


CALLSIGN: KL8DX
CONTEST: NAQP-RTTY
CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
OPERATORS: KL8DX


-------------- Q S O   R a t e   S u m m a r y ---------------------
Hour     160     80     40     20     15     10    Rate Total    Pct
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1800       0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0    0.0
1900       0      0      0      0     37      0     37     37    8.5
2000       0      0      0      0     54      0     54     91   21.0
2100       0      0      0      0     22     28     50    141   32.6
2200       0      0      0      0     60      5     65    206   47.6
2300       0      0      0     48     15      0     63    269   62.1
0000       0      0      0     46      0      0     46    315   72.7
0100       0      0      0     52      0      0     52    367   84.8
0200       0      0      0     34      0      0     34    401   92.6
0300       0      0      9     16      0      0     25    426   98.4
0400       0      0      7      0      0      0      7    433  100.0
0500       0      0      0      0      0      0      0    433  100.0
------------------------------------------------------
Total      0      0     16    196    188     33    433


Gross QSOs=434        Dupes=1        Net QSOs=433


Unique callsigns worked = 345


The best 60 minute rate was 78/hour from 2235 to 2334
The best 30 minute rate was 82/hour from 2220 to 2249
The best 10 minute rate was 108/hour from 2321 to 2330


The best 1 minute rates were:
 3 QSOs/minute    3 times.
 2 QSOs/minute   95 times.
 1 QSOs/minute  234 times.


There were 4 bandchanges and 0 (0.0%) probable 2nd radio QSOs.


Number of letters in callsigns
Letters  # worked
-----------------
   4       190
   5       173
   6        63
   7         4
   8         3


------------ M u l t i p l i e r   S u m m a r y ------------
Mult     160     80     40     20     15     10  Total    Pct
-------------------------------------------------------------
CA         0      0      5     28     18      8     59   13.6
WA         0      0      2     14     12      3     31    7.2
NY         0      0      0      8     13      1     22    5.1
OR         0      0      5     12      4      1     22    5.1
TX         0      0      0     12      6      1     19    4.4
IL         0      0      0      5     12      1     18    4.2
OH         0      0      0      7     11      0     18    4.2
FL         0      0      0      6      7      3     16    3.7
TN         0      0      0      7      6      0     13    3.0
MI         0      0      0      4      7      1     12    2.8
MN         0      0      0      4      5      2     11    2.5
PA         0      0      0      5      6      0     11    2.5
ON         0      0      0      3      7      1     11    2.5
AZ         0      0      0      5      5      1     11    2.5
NJ         0      0      0      4      5      0      9    2.1
BC         0      0      0      8      1      0      9    2.1
MA         0      0      0      5      4      0      9    2.1
KS         0      0      0      4      4      0      8    1.8
CO         0      0      0      2      4      1      7    1.6
IA         0      0      0      3      3      1      7    1.6
MO         0      0      0      3      4      0      7    1.6
WI         0      0      0      3      2      1      6    1.4
LA         0      0      0      3      3      0      6    1.4
VA         0      0      0      2      3      0      5    1.2
GA         0      0      0      3      2      0      5    1.2
NV         0      0      2      2      1      0      5    1.2
NH         0      0      0      1      3      1      5    1.2
NC         0      0      0      5      0      0      5    1.2
WV         0      0      0      1      3      0      4    0.9
CT         0      0      0      1      3      0      4    0.9
NE         0      0      0      2      2      0      4    0.9
SC         0      0      0      2      2      0      4    0.9
SK         0      0      0      0      2      2      4    0.9
AL         0      0      0      3      1      0      4    0.9
IN         0      0      0      2      2      0      4    0.9
KY         0      0      0      3      1      0      4    0.9
CM         0      0      0      2      2      0      4    0.9
ID         0      0      0      3      1      0      4    0.9
AB         0      0      0      1      2      0      3    0.7
MD         0      0      0      1      2      0      3    0.7
OK         0      0      0      2      1      0      3    0.7
AK         0      0      2      1      0      0      3    0.7
AR         0      0      0      1      1      0      2    0.5
MS         0      0      0      1      0      1      2    0.5
XE         0      0      0      1      0      1      2    0.5
SD         0      0      0      0      1      1      2    0.5
UT         0      0      0      0      1      0      1    0.2
ND         0      0      0      0      1      0      1    0.2
MT         0      0      0      0      0      1      1    0.2
ME         0      0      0      0      1      0      1    0.2
DE         0      0      0      0      1      0      1    0.2
NB         0      0      0      1      0      0      1    0.2
------------------------------------------------------
Total      0      0     16    196    188     33    433




U.S. Call Areas Worked
Area    QSOs     Pct
--------------------
   0      45    10.4
   1      24     5.5
   2      42     9.7
   3      23     5.3
   4      45    10.4
   5      33     7.6
   6      59    13.6
   7      63    14.5
   8      30     6.9
   9      30     6.9
--------------------
Total    394    91.0


Multi-band QSOs
---------------
1 bands     269
2 bands      65
3 bands      10
4 bands       1
5 bands       0
6 bands       0


------- S i n g l e   B a n d   Q S O s ------
Band    160     80     40     20     15     10
----------------------------------------------
QSOs      0      0      9    124    121     15

2012 ARRL DX Contest

2012 ARRL DX Contest

My initial plan for this contest was doing a single band entry on 15 meters. I have spent so much time on 20 meters the last few years, I wanted to change things up a bit. I like the single band entry for this contest as it normally leaves my evenings free to spend with family. Since Alaska is DX in this contest, my beam is parked to the lower 48 all weekend long. With my intentions of a 15 meter effort, I was even more excited to start the contest at the beginning. I normally miss the first few 2½ to 3 hours of the contest due to circumstances out of my control (at least until I retire). I fired up the computer and got the rig warmed up and started off right away on 15 meters. But that was not going to last long.

Aurora as seen on Saturday Night

Ironically, the photograph to the right is of a local power pole which sits directly in my path to the lower 48. We have seen some strong wind gusts in the last few weeks and something in the direction of (or at) this power pole has been loosened. I have some annoying powerline noise which is strong on 10 meters, a bit weaker on 15 meters, and just annoying on 20 meters. When I first started the contest on 15 meters, I found that this electrical noise was making it tough to hear weaker stations. After a few repeats I decided to check 20 meters. I found that the noise there was not as strong and I could still make out weaker signals. So, after making 65 contacts on 15 meters, I threw in towel and moved to 20 meters. I started from scratch but rather than asking for lots of repeats and never hearing weaker stations due to QRN, I decided 20 meters would be better.


I finished up Friday with a few QSO's and shut things down with anticipation of Saturday morning. I decided to sleep in a bit on Saturday and once I made it into the shack, it was not long before I remembered the morning propagation challenge of this contest. I was awake and ready to play at 1530z but I did not make my first QSO until 1732z with WA8V in Ohio. The reason being was that most of the lower 48 stations were still pointed to Europe and I could not get anyone's attention. Plus, the band was very good over the North Pole, so not only was the band crowded with the lower 48 stations, but European stations were just booming in! 20 meters was beyond standing room only as there was no place for this small station to retreat to but the nosebleed section. 


As I called CQ with little luck to work stations, I tuned around and was just surprised how strong the EU signals were off the corner of my 4 element beam. It sure would of been nice to have Europe that strong last weekend during the RTTY contest! Europe stayed strong well after 1830z. Once the lower 48 stations begin to turn their antennas west, things got a bit better for me.

HAARP Data ARRL DX Contest 2012

I noticed that the band was getting pretty tough on Saturday afternoon (2200z) and early evening. I checked HAARP's Riometer and noticed the absorption rate increase. I had been running stations and many on the West Coast had such a strong echo after 0230z, that many were tough to copy, especially if more than one station called. Lots of flutter associated with the geomagnetic activity. It was not long before the band was just too rough to operate on and I threw in the towel for the evening. I was hoping that things would be much better on Sunday morning. With what I was seeing on the charts, I kept a close eye outside and it was not long before we were entertained with light show from above. I spent a few hours outside on Saturday evening photographing the Northern Lights (photos used in this blog entry above). 


I had finished up Saturday with 611 QSO's in my contest log. I found that the conditions on Sunday were worse than Saturday morning. I was not hearing Europe that much with the exception of a few of the big guns. I tried calling a few lower 48 stations and many just CQ'd in my face. I figured that if Sunday was going to continue like this, it was going to make for a long day. 


I started calling CQ in the nosebleed section again (above 14.100) at the end of the row of continuous stations. I got run off my frequency twice, once by a NE3 station and a second by a VY2 station. I could hear them enough that it was effecting me but they were pointed to Europe and not hearing my 100 watts. If I had been running high power, I'm sure my presence would of been known. Just one of those things ya got to expect when you run a small station like mine and low power. 


As I worked stations on Sunday, I found the QSB to be very strong. I would really struggle to hear a station and the next would be 20 over! I had my volume up and down so much on Sunday not to mention it seemed I was hitting my preamp button frequently just to hear stations. I forgot to mention that I have been fighting a heck of a head cold this past weekend and weekend so that did not help things either. I would get a few stations calling and between the QSB, QRN, and my head cold, it made for more than normal repeat requests. 


On Sunday, I got to experience a huge amount of duplicate QSO's! I normally find out afterwards when I do some investigative work that it was due to being

Twitter Post by Glenn, K3PP on Sunday

spotted as KL7DX or some other DX station. This apparently was just the case. I heard my cell phone beep that normally alerts me to a Twitter post that I was identified in. To the right is what Glenn had to say about those apparent spots. Glenn confirmed by his Twitter post what I had suspected. Now mind you, I have busted many a call sign in my day but so many apparently saw the spot, clicked and called without listening first. I will slow my call sign down in hopes that the 8 stands out a bit more. Now mind you, I only run about 28 wpm so it's not like I'm blazing away on CW burning up the band. I'm not a high speed CW operator by any means but I try my best to correct those that are wrong so they don't lose the points. When the dust cleared, I had 44 duplicate QSO's on 20 meters out of the 828 that I had worked on that band. Thanks for the Tweet, Glenn!

Band & Score Summary for KL8DX

I'm pretty happy with my low power effort and even though my score summary reflects both bands, I'm submitting as a Single Band, 20 meters. This was a tough weekend to operate for sure and running low power was extremely challenging. I missed the following multipliers on 20 meters - Nebraska (where the heck was Nebraska??), and many of my typical Canadian Provinces - PEI (I normally get this one), LB, NT, YT, and NU. Some of the highlights were lots of familiar callsigns worked and several where those I refer to as having celebrity status. Also, lots of unique call signs worked this weekend so either I'm working new parts of the lower 48 or some new blood is diving into CW contesting! Very cool!!  Downside was the amount of dupes I had on Sunday. Also, I'm not a pile-up guru so I work through as best I can. Several times I would get a partial call sign from a pile-up and ask for that partial call to repeat. Others would continue to call making it tough to eventually work the station. An example would be if I had copied a WB2 out of those calling I would ask for just the WB2 station to call again. I would get several stations from other call areas continue to call making it tough to snag the station I was trying to log. I'm a firm believer in the DX Code of Conduct, especially the line "I will not transmit when the DX Operator queries a call sign not like mine." 


Thanks so much for all those that called or pulled my call out of the mud. The band was maxed more times than not with wall to wall signals well above 14.115. It was tough trying to squeeze in but that's all part of the fun of contesting. No matter how frustrating it can be at times, I find myself being drawn to the fast paced weekend craziness. When calling CQ, you just never know if that next call sign will be the multiplier you have been looking for, a long time friend you've worked hundreds of times, or that slow and new station looking to get their feet wet in contesting. There is no cure for my ham radio addiction but from what I heard this past weekend, I'm in good company.