SOTA activation of Lambs Knoll

Sun 08 October 2023

The day started with a good night’s sleep; an almost rare thing for me. I had planned on leaving at 9AM but when one wakes up at 8:45A you realize that’s not going to happen. We did leave the house around 10 o’clock so no big deal.

The drive to Lambs Knoll was supposed to take two hours and fifteen minutes. Including a quick stop for lunch, we were at our destination around 12:20P. Lambs Knoll was the site of a secret Cold War communications station, Presidential Emergency Facility Site 7 - Corkscrew, from the late 1960s until the 1970s (or later?). The site now houses the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The site is 536m (1,758ft) above sea level and is designated W3/WE-007 by the Summits on the Air (SOTA) organization (also designated K-6390 for the South Mountain State Battlefield State Park and K-4556 for the Appalachian Trail National Scenic Trail by the Parks on the Air (POTA) organization). The goal of the day was to activate the summit using portable HF and VHF radios.

We parked just outside the gate of the FAA complex and hiked around to the tower site used by the state of Maryland, County of Washington, and other tenants. A small foot path leads from the roadway, here, to the Appalachian Trail (AT) just above White Rock Overlook.

Lambs Knoll Ops

A small clearing (well, a less covered area) showed itself just before reaching the AT and that is where I setup my Elecraft KX3 and end-fed half wave (EFHW) antenna. The antenna ended up being much lower than I usually like, but contacts were made on 20 and 40 meters.

Once I had the antenna up and power connected, I realized I had left my CW key in the car. Luckily my family hadn’t left the car, yet, so they were able to bring it to me. While I waited I made a few contacts using voice and then setup for digital modes.

KC3UJB on the air

Twenty meters yielded nine contacts within the first thirty minutes. Voice only yielded two contacts with the remainder being on FT8. I switched to forty meters and made three contacts using FT8 and three more using CW. In all, fifteen contacts were made by me and three by Harlan (one on two meters and two on ten meters).

We packed up and joined the rest of our party just up the trail at White Rocks Overlook. Several other hikers were gathering there so we moved on after a few minutes.

White Rock Overlook

We tried to activate two additional summits but were not successful. We found where the trail head for Blue Ridge summit (W3/WE-013) should have been, but it wasn’t clear that a trail existed there. The Red Hill summit (W3/WE-019) is all residential, now, with no public lands available to operate from. I may have a way to activate this summit, however, so I’m not ruling this one out just yet.

We drove back to the base of Lambs Knoll and I hiked in to Rocky Run Shelter and camping area. After verifying the map data, I hiked out and then we headed to Frederick for supper.

After parking at the MARC train station, with the car charging, we walked along Carroll Creek towards the downtown area. Frederick Social was our destination where we we ate some very tasty food. Amanda was able to sample a few beers they had on tap and we watched part of a football game before heading out.

We arrived back home and everyone passed out from the busy day. Can hardly wait for the next adventure!

Contacts made on Lambs Knoll

{half-view-width}

Table 1. Contacts made on Lambs Knoll by WG3K
Time Callsign Band Mode Notes

16:52

KO4WDT

14MHz

SSB

P2P K-2206 Vogel State Park

16:58

W0MNA

14MHz

SSB

17:05

KB9HUO

14MHz

DATA

17:06

K4VHE

14MHz

DATA

17:07

KO4LEM

14MHz

DATA

17:10

KQ4DIA

14MHz

DATA

17:16

AD0DQ

14MHz

DATA

17:17

KM4IOA

14MHz

DATA

17:19

VE2JFM

14MHz

DATA

17:27

K4YJ

7MHz

DATA

17:31

AG4JO

7MHz

DATA

17:32

N2BTD

7MHz

DATA

17:41

K2FW

7MHz

CW

17:48

KK2B

7MHz

CW

17:50

K8ITU

7MHz

CW

By Sparks, Category: Radio

Tags: SOTA / POTA /

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The RadiobusterThe Radiobuster by Volney G. Mathison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a great book that I happened to stumble upon. I've been looking for a book that talks about life as a commercial radio operator but have found few. This book approaches my expectations although I wish …

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Confirmed DXCC Entity #149: South Cook Islands

Sun 01 February 2015

E51JD QSL CardThursday was QSL bureau day (the day in which I receive cards from the bureau).  If that wasn't exciting enough, I also received an envelope with a return address of "Rarotonga, Cook islands"!  Oh yeah, I finally got E51JD confirmed!  This is my 149th confirmed DXCC entity.

The stamp on …

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SKCC 1,000 Miles per Watt Award

Fri 23 January 2015

Update

It would appear that my K1 is stuck transmitting 6 to 7 watts no matter what the power output setting is.  I can only assume that the contacts I made for this award were not made using 100 mW but rather 7W.

I have already responded to the award …

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SKCC: I now have my Centurion!

Tue 20 January 2015

I received the following message from Ron Bower, AC2C, after submitting my SKCC award log last night:

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Gather 'round and pay heed to the news of this
day!

Let there be celebration to recognize a fellow SKCC member who
has advanced to the Centurion level of …

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Now on medium wave!

Wed 14 January 2015

160m on Kenwood TS-2000XYears ago I purchased a 40-80-160m dipole antenna in hopes of getting a good signal out on the lower bands. Unfortunately the antenna ended up being too large for my yard and I didn't use it.  Fast forward to now and I've got plenty of room for antennas.  When I …

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Fifty years of transmitting at BBC Woofferton

Thu 18 December 2014

I ran across a paper that was written discussing the shortwave broadcast station at Woofferton, UK, last year, and thought I'd share it.  It's a really interesting read and gives you a perspective of what it took to maintain such a station with a near-constant change to technology.  It's in …

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Calvert County ARES Emergency Coordinator

Wed 19 November 2014

W4OTN Calvert County EC badgeEarlier this month I volunteered to take over the position of ARES Emergency Coordinator (EC) for Calvert County. The previous EC had gotten busy in other areas and decided it was time to step down. I've held this position before but in a different location so while the job isn't …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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ARRL Sweepstakes contest and LoTW

Wed 19 November 2014

The ARRL Sweepstakes contest (phone) took place last weekend and I spent a few hours on the air making a few contacts. Although I didn't have much time to spend on the event I did add twenty new contacts to my log. Since I'm working on my WAS from my …

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Breaking the Arrow Antenna's diplexer

Sun 02 November 2014

The Arrow Antenna for satellites has an optional diplexer that allows easy operation of 2m and 70cm from a single feedline.  I've used this configuration for over ten years with no problems.  I'm not sure, exactly, what happened but the diplexer failed.  After ordering a new one I started digging …

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What a difference 3.5MHz makes.

Thu 16 October 2014

I was surprised at the difference three and a half megahertz made this evening.  While chatting with my friend Emily, N1DID, we started trying different bands to check for a better signal.  Fifteen meters was okay but twelve was better.  We decided to try ten meters for the heck of …

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Automated configuration analysis for Mozilla's TLS guidelines

Thu 09 October 2014

My friend Hubert has been doing a lot of work to make better the world a little safer.  Glad he's getting some recognition.  Here's a great article on testing your server for proper SSL/TLS configurations.

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What's that noise on 20m?

Thu 02 October 2014

Yesterday I was tuning around 20 meters and heard packet!  Wow, it's been years since I've used packet (outside of APRS which is a different animal when compared to this).  Turns out I stumbled onto the Net105 frequency with all of their users.  It's quite busy there and I've seen …

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Results of the W4OTN/R UHF repeater test

Thu 02 October 2014

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I bought a UHF repeater and put it on the air at the Mt. Hope tower site here in Calvert County.  This was a temporary test which allowed myself and other CARA club members (and anyone else) to see what UHF would do …

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W4OTN/R on the air

Thu 11 September 2014

[caption id="attachment_601" align="alignleft" width="300"]W4OTN/R Installed at Mt. Hope W4OTN/R Installed at Mt. Hope[/caption]

Earlier today, Dave W3PQS and I installed my UHF repeater up at the CARA site in Sunderland.  The repeater is on the air on the TMARC shared, non-protected pair which makes the system quite portable …

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UHF Repeater and APRS

Wed 23 July 2014

Image of UHF repeater station using a Kenwood TKR-820.Frequency
444.350MHz (+ 5MHz)
CTCSS 131.8Hz

Location Chesapeake Beach, Maryland

Image of a packet radio station using a Yaesu FT-8900, Kantronics 9612+, and MFJ-4125P power supply.Just a little project I'm working on.  I picked up a UHF repeater, controller, and duplexer at a RARSFest from a friend of a friend and I now have it here at home in Calvert County.  The repeater, along …

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FO-29 Success

Sun 06 July 2014

Yesterday I had a broken QSO with K9?H?.  We were running CW and between the fading, the Doppler shift, and my poor CW skills I couldn't quite get the full callsign and exchange. And then, of course, I was also chasing myself all over the transponder.  This morning was …

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First attempts at FO-29

Sat 05 July 2014

I had a good pass of FO-29 this morning so I figured I'd give it a try with my 2m/70cm loop antenna.  I wasn't expecting great things as this is not a gain antenna and I'm not sure how much of the signal is actually radiated up but I …

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Parabolic antenna beamwidth calculations

Sun 01 June 2014

Okay, I'm thinking about parabolic antennas right now.  I created a spreadsheet that would take care of all the formulas some years back but I can't seem to find it now.  I'm trying to find all the formulas that I need to get the information I need to make my …

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VOA Radiogram program 61 reception

Sat 31 May 2014

pic_2014-06-01_024620zJust copied program 61 of the VOA Radiogram on 5145.  The program was transmitted from the Edward R Murrow Transmitting Station down in Greenville, NC.  I've seen this place many times and am happy to have copied its transmission now.  I'm also lucky that I was watching Twitter just before …

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Shortwave reports via Twitter

Wed 14 May 2014

I use a program named Shortwave Schedules to tell me what's on the radio at any given time.  It used to just digest a CSV file from Eibi and tell you who was on and when.  Now it's gotten fancy (propagation maps for one). A feature I stumbled upon last …

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Crossing the 150 mark

Fri 09 May 2014

Yesterday I unofficially* crossed the 150 mark.  That's 150 DXCC entities worked.  I've actually worked 151 as I just picked up 3B8CF (Mauritius Island (AF-049)) tonight on 20m CW.  That means I've added 21 new entities to my log just this year.  I've also added quite a few new islands …

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GHz... where terrain matters

Sat 03 May 2014

Earlier this week the Calvert Amateur Radio Association (CARA) hosted its monthly meeting with a program by a local guru of mesh networking. Keith KB3TCB gave a presentation on what mesh networking is and what it can be used for.  I've known about mesh networking for some years but never …

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Simplex C4FM QSOs

Mon 28 April 2014

Tonight some members of the Calvert Amateur Radio Association met on 146.580MHz to test out simplex range of narrow mode C4FM as seen in the new Yaesu radios.  Five stations got into a round table discussion, all within about ten miles of my station.  I haven't purchased anything other …

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Five new DXCC entities in the log

Sat 12 April 2014

Since moving to Calvert County and getting my Carolina Windom up (radiating East-West) I've added five new DXCC entities to my logs:

  1. Kuwait - 9K2WA - 20m SSB
  2. Wallis & Futuna Islands - FW5JJ - 17m CW
  3. San Andres & Providencia - 5J0X - 10m SSB and 10m CW
  4. Kazakhstan - UN1L - 15m RTTY
  5. American Samoa - KH8/DL6JGN - 12m …

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New maritime mobile QSL

Tue 11 March 2014

While I haven't worked much in the way of DX since moving onto the boat I have worked some (and would like to work more!).  I've been contemplating using a different QSL card for those contacts and last night I opened up GIMP and started playing around.  I'm pretty happy …

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An alternative to QRZ.com

Thu 06 March 2014

If you've been a QRZ.com user for a while you probably noticed a lock-down of information in recent years.  The effort prevents amateur radio operators from using automated methods (like logging software) to collect contact information on their fellow radio operators.  And while you can easily establish an account …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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The Police State: History repeats itself.

Thu 01 August 2013

If you've done any reading of 20th century European history then this story will seem familiar.  Back then there were places where you had to be careful about what you said to whom.  It could really be anything you said to any number of people including close friends, family members …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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Spring morning propagation

Mon 01 April 2013

Whew, the last week or so has shown changes in the regular morning HF propagation.  At 1200Z I usually check into the Waterway Radio and Cruising Club net on 7268kHz.  During the winter WA6CCA near Washington, DC (~44km away) is usually loud but now I haven't been able to hear …

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CHIRP - Open source programming of your amateur radio

Sun 17 February 2013

[caption id="attachment_944" align="alignleft" width="300"]A screenshot of CHIRP CHIRP[/caption]

In the past I've been frustrated by a lack of Linux-supported software for programming my amateur radios. Sure, the Kenwood software that they gave you to use would kinda work under Wine but it's Wine and who wants to operate …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station Tour

Thu 27 December 2012

The SWLing Post ran a post on a Monitoring Times article about the VOA transmitter facility in Greenville, NC.  The article featured a friend of mine, Macon WB4PMQ, and provides a good summary of what you'll find at Site A.  I hope my readers will enjoy reading it as well …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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The Voice of Russia

Sun 18 November 2012

[caption id="attachment_446" align="alignleft" width="300"]Voice of Russia QSL Card Voice of Russia QSL Card[/caption]

In a recent rash of shortwave QSLs being received the Voice of Russia was not to be left out.  They sent me a nice QSL honoring their 50 years of manned space flight, 1961 to 2011 …

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My new club... Anne Arundel Radio Club

Sat 17 November 2012

Last night I ventured out to the greater Davidsonville area to meet some of the people I've been talking to on the local repeater and to join the club.  I've always felt that it was important to support the local club financially as well as with my time.  The members …

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Algeria - DXCC Confirmed Entity #122

Fri 16 November 2012

[caption id="attachment_449" align="alignleft" width="300"]QSL from 7X4AN QSL from 7X4AN[/caption]

I received confirmation for my August contact with 7X4AN, today.  Most excited to receive another "new one" I confirmed receipt of the QSL. Mohamed is one of those courteous CW operators that will happily slow down for you …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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QSLs Received: NMN and Radio Bulgaria

Mon 05 November 2012

[caption id="attachment_452" align="alignleft" width="300"]QSL from NMN QSL from NMN[/caption]

I checked the mail, yesterday, and was surprised to see a whole box full!  Not much in the way of junk mail but I did receive two radio-related mailings.  First was an envelope from "Commanding Officer, U.S …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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Beautiful music from around the world

Sun 07 October 2012

I love to use my little Grundig shortwave receiver to tune in the world, at night, in hopes of tuning in traditional music from lands I've never visited.  With fewer stations on the air it's becoming more difficult to find these stations.  I thought I'd share one station that continues …

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QRT

Sat 06 October 2012

Today I boxed up my radios, rolled up the coax, and removed all my antennas from their heights.  This is all in preparation for our move to Maryland in a few days.  We have almost completely packed up everything we own and either moved it to the boat, into storage …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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Confirmed DXCC entity # 119 and 120

Tue 25 September 2012

8R1Z QSLToday I received a QSL in the mail from 8R1Z in Guyana, South America.  I worked Lennox on 14 August 2012 and was quite pleased to have a return QSL from him in a month's time.  Contact was made on 20-meters SSB when conditions were good and the confirmation represents …

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Brass Pounders' League

Mon 27 August 2012

W4OTN's BPL CertificateLast December I was handling a lot of traffic on the National Traffic System nets.  I was the liaison between Virginia and 4RN, between 4RN and EAN, and was filling in on an open TCC slot.  Come to think of it, I was also handling quite a bit of traffic …

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A History of Shortwave Jamming

Fri 10 August 2012

Here's a great video on the history of shortwave jamming since the end of World War II: http://www.polskieradio.pl/68/2055/video/652120

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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Spring cleaning means... things for sale!

Wed 28 March 2012

It's Spring cleaning time, again, and I'm offering up the following items for sale:

  • [STRIKEOUT:Kenwood TS-480SAT HF transceiver.  Includes power cable, hand microphone, and original box.  $700 obo + shipping.]
  • [STRIKEOUT:Kenwood TS-790A with the UT-10.  144/432/1200MHz all-mode transceiver.  Includes power cable, hand microphone, and original box.  This …

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Antenna maintenance

Sun 18 March 2012

The weather was nice enough for me to get some of my antenna maintenance done that I couldn't do during the cold winter months.  First on the list was to completely remove the 23cm (1.2GHz) antenna from the top of the tower.  While I've had good luck working stations …

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2011 NTS Summary

Sun 01 January 2012

A recent discussion on the Radiogram listserv got me wondering about my traffic handling numbers since I started working in NTS in 2010.  Here's what I came up with:

In 2010 I handled 960 messages, sending 250 of my own.  In 2011, however, I handled 1658, creating 365 myself.  That's …

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December NTS Numbers

Sun 01 January 2012

NTS LogoDecember was a busy month for me.  Not only did I have a new harmonic join the family (callsign will be forthcoming in the next few years, I hope) but I also took some TCC shifts as well.  The NTS message numbers speak for themselves:

Originated: 3
Received: 212
Sent …

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First QSO of 2012

Sun 01 January 2012

The first QSO of 2012 was with a good friend of mine, Joe K4EIT.  Joe received his ticket late last year and I have been trying to hook up with him ever since.  With our schedules dividing us it has been difficult at best.  Today, however, the planets aligned and …

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HSMM

Mon 26 December 2011

HSMM, or High Speed Multimedia, networks provide IP-based wireless network communications over amateur radio microwave frequencies for the amateur radio community. Many different services can be offered across this network providing a wide range of communication operations to the users.

Communication Modes

Because this network is IP-based, the network will …

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DXCC Update for 2011

Mon 05 December 2011

The ARRL processed my DXCC Award update for 2011 in record time this year.  Since I received the Mixed DXCC award last year I have added 14 new entities to the confirmed list bringing my total up to 115 current (116 total).  Here's the running total including year 2011:

TYPE …

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Five Principles of Amateur Radio in the United States

Wed 23 November 2011

Did you know there were five principles of Amateur Radio written into the law that is Part 97?  Those principles are:

    (a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service
to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service,
particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.
    (b) Continuation …

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Leave your Internet out of my Amateur Radio

Wed 23 November 2011

I don't understand the use of the Internet in conjunction with Amateur Radio.  Echolink, Winlink 2000, and IRLP all setup a false sense of security for users.  Creating a dependency on something you cannot control means that resource won't be there when you need it.  Most recently the American Radio …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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SKCC WES

Mon 21 November 2011

I received my SKCC WES Participation Certificate today; very cool.  I've been a member of the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) for almost a year and had never participated in their Weekend Sprint (WES) which takes place every month for twenty-four hours.  I scored 115th out of the 199 entries …

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HamQTH.com

Sun 20 November 2011

image0Recently the owners of QRZ.com Callsign Database started restricting access to addresses and other data unless you were a registered user. If you used a logging program, such as CQRLOG, you would have to pay a yearly fee to access this mostly public information. I'd much rather give a …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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2011 DXCC Update

Sun 13 November 2011

Just submitted my 2011 DXCC Update to the ARRL.  I submitted fifty QSOs via LoTW and twelve QSOs via paper QSLs.

New DXCC entities include:

  1. 5B - Cyprus
  2. CE9 - Antarctica
  3. CP - Bolivia
  4. CT8 - Azores Islands
  5. CY0 - Sable Island
  6. EU - Belarus
  7. GU - Guernsey
  8. PJ4 - Bonaire
  9. TF - Iceland
  10. TK - Corsica
  11. T7 - San Marino …

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Temporary TCC Lima/Victor

Thu 03 November 2011

A while back I had told Marcia KW1U that I'd like to try a TCC slot one day to see what it's all about.  Yesterday was that day.  The Lima schedule goes from the second cycle of the Eastern Area Net (EAN) to the Central Area Net (CAN) and the …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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Brass Pounder's League - so close...

Mon 31 October 2011

About half way through the month of October I realized that I might have a chance to hit the five hundred message mark to qualify for the ARRL's Brass Pounder's League.  As the liaison from Virginia to 4RN and sometimes from 4RN to EAN I have the potential to move …

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CW Opportunties for Fun

Mon 31 October 2011

I friend of mine recently tested for the Technician-class Amateur Radio license and passed without trouble.  Not that this is surprising given his history in the communications world (fricken helium atom, Sir). What I find neat is his style of operating as a newly licensed ham.  I remember when I …

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N4I QSLs Available

Mon 31 October 2011

I received the QSL cards for the N4I DXpedition today.  Received QSLs have been answered and will go out in tomorrow's mail.

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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Automatically Controlled Digital Stations on HF

Wed 19 October 2011

According to Part 97 of the FCC rules (specifically §97.221 Automatically controlled digital station) automatically controlled digital stations have 134.5kHz of space to work in on the the HF bands (10 meters through 80 meters).  Breaking this bandwidth up into 500 Hz channels* we see that we have …

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DX Magazine 2011 Most Wanted Survey

Tue 11 October 2011

Have you completed the DX Magazine 2011 Most Wanted Survey?  If you haven't then your voice won't be heard when DXpeditioners try to make their plans to put the rare ones on the air.  The deadline for completing the survey is 15 October 2011.  Do it and do it now …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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XFBB and NTS Message Routing

Mon 10 October 2011

NTS traffic is addressed very simply:@NTS.  So if I was going to send an NTS message to the ARRL I would use 06111@NTSCT.  Simple, right?  And I'm assuming that most BBSs would allow you to route traffic based on the @NTSportion of the address but not FBB.  FBB …

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BBS Forwarding over HF

Fri 30 September 2011

After months of gathering pieces and trying to get time to tinker I think I've finally got everything figured out with connecting my PTC-II modem to my XFBB BBS so I can communicate over HF to distant lands.  Right now I'm only setup to guard and call on a single …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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Preparing to leave for Core Banks NA-067

Thu 28 July 2011

The Core Banks (Cape Lookout) DXpedition team will be heading to the island tomorrow morning.  We plan to have at least one phone and one CW station on the air this weekend (digital modes are an option as well). We will be QRV as N4I beginning Friday through Monday and …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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QSL from Radio Habana Cuba

Sat 09 July 2011

Cuba QSL cardFinally received a response from the QSL request I sent for last October.  In good form I received several "extras" along with the confirmation cards.  I didn't receive a response to the question I submitted so maybe that will be coming soon.

I'll add this to my other QSL from …

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CQ WW SSB - 15m Open

Sat 30 October 2010

15 meters is open to Europe from the east coast of USA.  You have to be greater than 4000 miles, less than 6000 miles, and the wind has to be blowing in the proper direction for those stations to hear me.  I missed on OH0 because they were just too …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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Amateur Radio Contest logging software for Linux

Fri 29 October 2010

I've been looking for a good amateur radio contest logging program for Linux. Little did I know that the solution was right under my nose!

fldigi is a great amateur radio program that will encode and decode almost any digital mode you can find out on the HF bands.  This …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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Art Chimes missing from Our World

Fri 15 October 2010

Okay, I've been caught.  I haven't been keeping up with a program I used to make a point of listening to every week.  Our World, from Voice of America, is a weekly technology show that was always quite interesting to me.  The show's host, Art Chimes, is a great guy …

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Bureau Cards Received

Fri 08 October 2010

Received bureau cards today.  All from Europe and no new confirmations but I always enjoy receiving the art work that is QSLs.  Confirmations received from:

DL5CJ
DC1MUC
DO7ND
F8FAZ
F5PU
DF7ZS
I4IKW
YR9P
EI9FVB
HA7TM
HA1TNX
9A5W
OK2WED
IZ5DKJ
DL8SCG
HB9CXZ
EA1ABT
OE2GEN

My Europe stack of cards is getting …

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Music on Radio Ukraine International

Wed 29 September 2010

I was surfing through the shortwave broadcast bands and stumbled upon Radio Ukraine International.  They were transmitting some very beautiful music and I was hypnotized.  This is why I really love shortwave radio.

I wish I had been around when orchestras were broadcast live to the world on shortwave.  How …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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Met my neighbor

Sat 04 September 2010

I've been meaning to introduce myself, really I have, but I just never got around to it.  My neighbor, one street up and over a bit, put up a 70-foot tower a number of months ago and put a very impressive beam on top.  That was an immediate indicator that …

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IP Voice and Amateur Radio

Sat 21 August 2010

Here's something I've been thinking about. If you have a VoIP phone system in your house with your own phone switch (like Asterisk) why couldn't you hook in a transceiver to monitor your local repeater or simplex frequency so you could monitor throughout the house without having to carry an …

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DXCC Mixed Awarded

Sat 07 August 2010

We stopped by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) on our road trip to submit my application for DXCC Mixed. The application was processed while we were at lunch and upon our return I was awarded my DXCC Mixed with 102 entities confirmed. The breakdown by band is as follows …

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Things to do: NTS and NTSd list

Sun 01 August 2010

There needs to be a comprehensive list of all NTS nets and NTSD stations. This list needs to be in text format and a "pretty" graphical format and should be available on the ARRL website under NTS.

This would make it easier for those of us on the road to …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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New CQRLOG installed.

Mon 26 July 2010

I just installed the new CQRLOG on both my computers. I noted that in the release notes that a change was made to the main logging screen that allows netbook users to more easily use the program. I was very excited about this as I do run a small laptop …

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DXCC!

Mon 26 July 2010

I have submitted my application to the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) for my initial DXCC (https://www.arrl.org/dxcc) award. The plan is to present my cards for checking to the ARRL on 6 August. I'm quite excited as this has been a long-term goal of mine.

I …

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QSL from TG9AHM

Wed 21 April 2010

image0

Received a nice surprise in the mail, today.  TG9AHM sent his card, a sticker of the Guatemala flag, and two smaller stickers showing the image from the front of the QSL card.  Very nice!  The stamps on the envelope were also a nice surprise and will immediately go into my …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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DXCC Entities #100 and #101 confirmed!

Wed 07 April 2010

Well, I finally received QSLs for DXCC entities 100 and 101!  HD2A sent his card for our 15m contact thus confirming Ecuador for number 100 and then YN2EA confirmed our contacts on 15m and 20m for Nicaragua and entity number 101.

It's official, I now qualify for DXCC!  Woot!  Only …

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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Hugh Martin, K4HMM SK

Wed 31 March 2010

Writing the title of this post was extremely difficult for me.  This morning I checked my email to find a message from Gregory informing me of Hugh's passing yesterday and the dates and times of his visitation and funeral.  I was shocked, to say the least.

Hugh was my boat …

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DXCC Entity #99 confirmed

Wed 24 March 2010

Received a card from ZB3R, Gibraltar, today which confirms my DXCC entity number 99.  So close to my DXCC I can taste it!

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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DXCC Entities #97 and #98 confirmed!

Mon 22 March 2010

I received a QSL card from JH7XMO in Japan for our contact on 06 March 2010 and then on LoTW I received confirmation from VP2MPR in Montserrat for our contact on 10 March 2010!  It's a good day.

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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New DXCC entities in the log

Wed 03 March 2010

Got lucky today. Saudi Arabia and Lebanon managed to make their way into my logbook today. Needless to say I was very excited to put them there. I also received confirmation, via LoTW, from New Zealand for a contact that I made a couple of weekends ago. So that puts …

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Kudos to the ARRL WAS Awards desk...

Wed 24 February 2010

Kudos to the ARRL WAS Awards desk for quickly processing my application for Worked All States (WAS) - Basic.  I sent in the three QSL cards, representing the three states that I didn't have confirmed via the LoTW, to the ARRL for checking.  Exactly one week after sending the cards to …

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Why is D-Star being pushed so hard for emergency communications?

Wed 24 February 2010

This morning I received the ARRL's ARES E-Letter (24 Feb 2010) and found it riddled with how Icom's D-Star system was so great and the answer to all our problems.  The entire letter seemed to be one big advertisement for Icom, actually.  What I can't understand is why the ARRL …

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Confirmed DXCC entity #92

Thu 18 February 2010

Received DXCC QSL #92 for Trinidad today!  9Y4SRR sent his card via his manager in record time.  Thank you!

By Sparks, Category: Radio

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2010 CQ WW WPX RTTY Contest is complete!

Mon 15 February 2010

After thirty hours of listening to "diddles" the 2010 CQ WW WPX RTTY Contest is over!  Band conditions did not let me down, this year.  I had excellent results from all bands and even scored a New Zealand contact!

Statistics:
435 Contacts
47 DXCC Entities
47 US States
17 CQ …

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CQRLOG

Mon 15 February 2010

Last week I went looking for better logging software.  I have been using xLog for the last year and it did a good job but I found it lacking in features that I wanted.

I found many solutions that did less than xLog in my search but finally found CQRLOG …

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Confirmed DXCC entity # 90

Thu 11 February 2010

Received a reply to my QSL for TL0A, today.  Glad to make #90 the Central African Republic!

QSL cards from Africa always make me stop and think about the world. I've received sunset pictures from South Africa, mountainous sea-scapes from Cape Verde, and various scenery pictures from Madeira Island, but …

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10m and 6m band opening

Sun 07 February 2010

Heard 10m was open this morning but concentrated my efforts on 6m as it is rarely open this time of year.  Worked NJ2F, N2WB, N3LL, W4LT, and K4MM, all from Florida.  I didn't really hear anyone else on but the Florida stations were saying that the bands were crowded!

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Ten-Tec Argosy

Sun 07 February 2010

image0

I picked up this little beauty at FrostFest yesterday in Richmond.  I've been looking for a backup HF radio for the shack but this one is quickly becoming my primary rig!  It came with a power supply, hand microphone, mobile bracket, and the manuals.

The audio is quite clear and …

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Amateur Radio in January's LINUX Journal

Mon 30 November 2009

I just received the January 2010 issue of LINUX Journal and was surprised to see a penguin with headphones, a microphone, and a amateur radio callsign!  Awesome!  There is a four page article which starts to show the relationship between open source software and amateur radio and how one can …

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Amateur Radio in next month's Linux Journal

Fri 06 November 2009

I just pulled down the December version of Linux Journal a couple of minutes ago.  I made it all the way to page 4 and read that next month's issue would be on Amateur Radio (or at least some portion there of). I'm excited to see that Amateur Radio and …

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Notification to ARES groups

Wed 26 August 2009

I've been thinking a lot about volunteer responders in the scheme of emergency management. Many of these groups lack a robust communications system without which you are going to be stuck in the mud.

So what about ARES groups. From the emergency managers point of view ARES is a communications …

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All antennas up in the air.

Sat 01 August 2009

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All antennas are up. I now have 11 elements on 2m, 22 elements on 70cm, and 25 elements on 23 cm. I was able to trim a couple of branches out of the nearby tree and now my antennas swing nearly free through space.

I've also noted that the only …

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New antennas up in the air.

Fri 31 July 2009

image0It was hot this afternoon but I was able to get two of the three planned antennas up. Tomorrow is the ARRL UHF Contest so hopefully I'll be ready (still have to trim a limb or two out of a tree).

Top antenna is 23cm (1278MHz) and the lower one …

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Received 23cm antenna

Tue 07 July 2009

Came home to find a long box on the doorstep. Opened it up to find my new 23cm (1.2GHz) antenna ready for assembly. In less than an hour I had my twenty-four element loop yagi put together and ready for talking. Now I just need to get some N …

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VHF/UHF Update

Wed 01 July 2009

Well, things took a slight turn for the worst last night. After receiving the UT-10 and the coax, N-connectors, and rotator control wire I realized that the pole I have stuck up in the air isn't wide enough to support the rotator. Apparently the pole is 1" in diameter and …

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New toys...

Sat 27 June 2009

I haven't posted anything lately but that doesn't mean that nothing has been happening.

First, a couple of weeks ago I found a Kenwood UT-10 1.2GHz module for my TS-790A. I've been looking for one of these for going on two years. Finally my eBay alert came through and …

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Found a UT-10

Wed 10 June 2009

Last night eBay sent me an e-mail saying it had located a UT-10 for me. I jumped on it! I've been looking for one of these for about two years. The price was right, too, so now I'll have 1.2GHz in the TS-790A in a couple of weeks! Oh …

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Proposed Rover Operation for ARRL UHF Contest

Wed 10 June 2009

I'm considering doing a rover operation for the ARRL UHF Contest this August. I'm still trying to figure out where I want to operate (Shenandoah comes to mind) but I should have my 1.2GHz (23cm) transceiver up and working in addition to the 432MHz (70cm) so it should be …

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Back but not ready for Monday

Mon 08 June 2009

I got back from Cary, NC last night around 6:30P. It was an exciting but extremely exhausting weekend. The Tour de Cure went off with only a few minor problems but none really related to the communications operation (which is what I'm in charge of). I was pretty excited …

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ADA Tour de Cure this weekend.

Fri 05 June 2009

I'll be leaving around noon tomorrow (EDT) for Raleigh, NC. This is the weekend for the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure of which I've volunteered for via Carolina Helping Hams for going on ten years now. This is an excellent event where bicyclists ride either 80 or 100 miles …

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Mini-DXpedition to Hatteras Island NA-067

Wed 27 May 2009

Mini-DXpedition to Hatteras Island NA-067 I had the pleasure of doing a mini-DXpedition over the Memorial Day weekend on Hatteras Island. The YL and I setup a 20m SSB station in the tent using a MFJ 20m SSB Travel radio, a hamstick rotatable dipole, a 12ah battery, and a 18w solar panel.

Overall, the test …

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10m Repeaters

Fri 06 February 2009

A few years ago, when I had just passed my General test, the solar cycle was still up to where I could hear 10 meter repeaters all over the east coast.  I used to chat with the owner of a 10-meter repeater on the island of Puerto Rico often.  The …

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Bureau cards received today

Fri 06 February 2009

I was surprised to see a bureau envelope in my mailbox today. I really wasn't expecting it as I haven't really been on the air that much but some how they had some cards for me.

Cards received today:
SP9LJD - Poland
NP2/AK2P - St. Croix Island
LX7I - Luxembourg
VE2AXO - Quebec …

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Why we still need shortwave broadcast in this world.

Thu 22 January 2009

The BBC is reporting that China censored Obama's speech on a number of websites.  This is yet another reason why the Internet does not, and cannot, replace shortwave broadcast.  Shortwave broadcast is very difficult, if not impossible, to block.  Governments have tried in the past to keep their citizens from …

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QSL from YV4DYJ

Tue 20 January 2009

Opened the mailbox this afternoon and found my QSL from Victor Cuesta YV4DYJ of whom I worked on AO-51 back in September.  Very cool.  Glad I was able to make this contact using 5 watts and my hand-held station in my front yard.

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Passport to World Band Radio

Tue 04 November 2008

I received my copy of "Passport to World Band Radio" (ISBN 978-0-914941-80-4) in the mail the other day. Since I received it I haven't been able to put it down. It is a heftier book that what I was expecting at over 500 pages of information on shortwave broadcasts. A …

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Shortwave Log for 16 Oct 2008

Thu 16 October 2008

16:00 21,470 kHz - BBC Africa Service - Excellent signal.  SF:71 A:7 K:1.  TX from Ascension
17:00 13,675 kHz - BBC World Service - Good signal.  SF:71 A:7 K:1 Unknown from where it is being transmitted. 18:00 13,675 kHz - BBC World Service …

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Shortwave Log for 15 Oct 2008

Wed 15 October 2008

19:xx 15,400 kc - BBC World Service - Very loud in VA.
23:00 9,885 kc - VOA - "Welcome to the VOA, in Spanish!"

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HF Allocations: Shortwave Broadcast v. Amateur Radio

Wed 15 October 2008

I was just curious what percentage of the HF band is being used for Shortwave Broadcast versus Amateur Radio. Here's what I came up with:
Shortwave: 6.145 MHz [1] or 22% of the HF band [2].
Start End Bandwidth
25.670 26.100 0.43
21.450 21.850 …

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Satellite Operations: Action items

Mon 29 September 2008

Things I need to purchase:

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Worked AO-16 from inside using???

Sat 27 September 2008

I just worked a pass on AO-16. Heck yeah it was early. But having the bird all to myself at 5:45 in the morning means I get to test my antennas without stepping on anyone else. I did work N8OQ but it wasn't easy. And I'm not really sure …

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Satellite Operations: Antenna Support

Tue 23 September 2008

Now comes the interesting part. How do I hold up my antennas so they can twist and turn as required? I don't plan to be in the same location in two years so I don't want to do anything permanent. I currently have a 30-foot pole up next to the …

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Satellite Operations: 2m and 70cm Antennas

Tue 23 September 2008

The most important part to a radio station is the antennas. You could probably lump in the feedline as well but I think I have that figured out for the moment.

So what antennas do I already have and what do I need.

Have:

  • 11-element 2m beam (single polarization, currently …

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Satellite Operations

Tue 23 September 2008

I'm ready to take the next step. I have a set of azimuth and elevation rotators and I even have a 2M beam. I think it is time I get serious about my satellite operations. Not that I don't have fun working the FM birds via my HT and an …

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Humor Posts via Packet

Fri 19 September 2008

Every day or so my local packet BBS receives a humor post from W1GMF in Massachusetts. I really enjoy the jokes but I'm really impressed by the path the message has to take to make it to Yorktown, Virginia. The path looks like: KR4MA N9NDS KB0OFD N0KFQ KB8DM N4JOA N9ZZK …

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September VHF QSO Party is over...

Mon 15 September 2008

Well, I survived my first VHF QSO Party. Last week I got the idea to put up my 11-element 2 meter beam in the horizontal mode so I could play around on SSB and CW. Then I learned of the QSO Party coming up and thought I'd test out my …

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ARRL September VHF QSO Party in progress!

Sun 14 September 2008

I meant to post this last night but I'm up and active on 6m and 2m SSB for the ARRL September VHF QSO Party.  I can almost say that I've worked everyone that I've heard but AA4ZZ in Boone, NC is going to make me a liar.  In my defense …

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ADA Tour de Cure

Wed 11 June 2008

image0Last weekend was CRAZY! 105+F heat index and over 300 bicycles somewhere between Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary and Oxford NC. Yep, it was that time again... The American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure. Where else can you find enough crazy people to ride their bikes somewhere between 75 …

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New DXCC entity confirmed

Fri 30 May 2008

Got a return QSL from EA6SX today. Before you say "You didn't have Spain?" you should know that this isn't exactly Spain. Turns out it this is from the Balearic Islands in the Med. Contact was made on 16 Mar on 17 meters.

Grid JM19ik
IOTA EU-004

Thanks Mike for …

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Shortwave to FM to CD

Tue 27 May 2008

Before travelling the seven hours back to Virginia, today, Amanda reminded me to grab some stuff off the Internet that we could listen to on the way home.

I went to my favourite radio programs and downloaded their latest (and some times a few more) podcasts. I burned the files …

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HF Noise Floor

Sun 20 April 2008

Last night John and I were up on 75 ragchewing and we noted the relatively high noise floor. Now it is 13:50z and the noise floor still seems high on some bands. Here are the current conditions:

160m - S5
80m - S3
75m - S5 with static crashes (nearby thunderstorms)
60m …

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Amateur Radio: Terminal Program

Sat 02 February 2008

So I have been looking for a simple "terminal" program to run that will allow me to interface to my terminal node controller (TNC) that I use for packet on Amateur Radio. I've found two programs that work but each of them has some crazy side effects that limit their …

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IARU's Worked All Continents - RTTY Award

Tue 30 October 2007

On October 20th I completed my application and sent my cards to the ARRL for verification that I had met the requirements for the IARU's "Worked All Continents" award. Exactly seven days later I not only had my cards returned but also had my certificate as well. Now that is …

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HF Propagation Extension for Firefox

Tue 16 October 2007

I just learned of a plug-in for Firefox that automatically polls and displays the current solar index and other propagation numbers right on the status bar in Firefox. N0HR Propfire is the name of the plug-in and it seems to work just fine. It will automatically poll to obtain the …

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November Sweepstakes

Fri 12 October 2007

It appears that I'll be working the November Sweepstakes with friends this year. Ed, KN4KL, will (hopefully) be sponsoring us at his house for the contest and will be joined by Jeremy, KO4SJ, and Jason, N4ZBE. There was even a rumor about Amanda, KI4IWS, joining in the fun. I guess …

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QSLs out for delivery

Wed 10 October 2007

Got 114 QSLs mailed to the ARRL Outgoing Bureau yesterday. Costs less than $3.00 for shipping so I'm happy about that. I also sent out a handful of DX cards via Airmail as well. All but five have been sent as I'm waiting for IRCs from the Post Office …

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QSLs from CQ WW RTTY DX Contest

Mon 01 October 2007

Would you believe that it hasn't even been 24-hours since the end of the CQ WW RTTY DX contest and I've already have 22% of my QSOs confirmed? I just checked the ARRL's LoTW and noted that I have 52 of my 240 contacts confirmed from over the weekend. Those …

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CQ WW RTTY DX Contest FINAL

Sun 30 September 2007

A man can only take but so much and I have gone well beyond that. I have figured out where I stand in the ham radio community, I am not a contester but rather a DX chaser. The CQ WW RTTY DX Contest goes for 48-hours and it is quite …

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CQ WW RTTY DX Contest - Day 1

Sun 30 September 2007

Well, actually it is day one plus four hours or so. I haven't been really "competing" but I have been grabbing the QSOs that I could. So far I've racked up 160 QSOs on 4 continents, 42 countries, 28 US states, 7 Canadian providences, and 16 CQ zones. Not bad …

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20m Vertical Erected

Fri 28 September 2007

Last night I put the final touches on the 20m vertical antenna I built the previous night. Looking over everything and checking it twice I thought I had everything taken care of. I looped a branch in a nearby tree and pulled the antenna skyward so that the base was …

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The ARRL Recognizes QSOs via the ISS

Mon 24 September 2007

Ten days ago I reported on my blog that the ARRL wouldn't recognize QSOs taking place via the ISS for DXCC or WAS. I got the response I was looking for today from Norm Fusaro, W3IZ. Thank you ARRL for letting this happen. Now I have QSOs to upload to …

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CQ World Wide RTTY DX Contest

Mon 24 September 2007

The CQ WW RTTY DX Contest will be this upcoming weekend (29-30 Sep 2007). This will be the first contest I will be participating in since moving into the new shack. I'm not expecting a lot of good DX results at the moment due to the past experiences with the …

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New HF Antenna

Fri 21 September 2007

I'm going to build a new antenna I found in the 2003 edition of the ARRL Handbook. This antenna was originally published by the ARRL in their September 1984 edition of QST in which Chuck Hutchinson, K8CH, explains his "Tree-Mounted HF Groundplane Antenna".

I will be building the 20m version …

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