Gee, where did the time go?

It's been a while since my last post. I haven't been very active since last writing save a few occasions. The first was the SKCC Weekend Sprintathon. Have you heard of SKCC? If you like CW using a straight key, this is an excellent club that is free to join and offers a great opportunity to work other friendly hams using straight keys. The Sprintathon is a monthly contest where the goal is to contact other SKCC members and exchange information. This was my second contest and I made 22 contacts. That's not many compared to the big contests but this contest is definitely slower paced and a lot of fun.

Here are the results from the event I entered. I placed 92nd which is not bad considering the previous event, I had 3 QSO's!

My Score

The SKCC page is here: SKCC Page

After the SKCC Sprintathon, I kept it pretty low key. I did work a few SKCC members having some nice ragchews, but I was away for a week on vacation in Orlando, FL!

After getting back to Iowa, I did manage to work one QSO this past weekend. I worked KH6LC in Hawaii on 15 meters. I was on 15 because a SKCC friend in California needs Iowa for a SKCC WAS certificate and I was trying to listen for him. Well I ended up hearing Hawaii and Brazil and no California. I guess that's just how it goes sometimes!

No news on the WAS front. I still need DE, MO, MS, NH, and RI before I have my first piece of shiny wallpaper!

Well, on to wrapping up this week's assignment. I have three classes to go and I'll be finished with school! Yay!

73 all! Joe N0NS

And then there were five...

Needless to say, I have been pretty busy lately. I just wrapped up an Advanced UNIX class and rolled into a general elective class which has a lot of reading and writing.... For the few who do read my blog, thanks!

A big thanks goes out to James, N4EKZ... He sent me a QSL card from Georgia. That means I am down to five states before my Worked All States award is mine! Our QSO was fairly short. We both exchanged 569 on 40 CW. After we "volleyed" our name, QTH, and RST, the band dropped completely. 40 has done that to me a few times lately. A great signal goes to nothing within a couple of mintes. Regardless the contact was good and I have paper to proove it. James, if you read this, your card will be in the mail tomorrow.

Speaking of my card. If you get a card from me, the image is a picture looking out the window of an Airbus A320. I took the picture on a trip from Minneapolis back to Colorado Springs when I lived in Colorado Springs. The sunset made the coolest color effect on the clouds. If you QSL with me, you too can enjoy the view.

I have made a few PSK31 QSO's and even fewer CW QSO's lately. Some day I'll ramp my QSO rate up but I'm in no big hurry!

Well, I have to hit the books. 73 and take care all! Joe N0NS

And then, there were six...

Thanks to VE2PID operating portable/QRP in Vermont, I now have six states left before my WAS certificate is in hand!

Lately, I have been doing a lot of listening and not much transmitting. My class load has been a tad bit draining and when I'm done studying, I'm ready for bed.

Speaking of the bands, I believe we have definitely made a transition into the fall/winter mode of band condition. 20 and 30 are all but shut down when I turn the rig on at 9pm CST. 40 has been doing especially poor too. 80 has been open now which is nice to hear for once! I do have some local RFI interference on 80 meters which makes that band that much more challenging for me to use.

After the great RTTY run I posted about, I spent some time on the digital side. Out of 50+ CQ calls, I think I made 1 contact. I'm not sure if the conditions are bad or everyone is in bed, but that's how it goes sometimes!

Take care all... 73 Joe N0NS

RTTY For All

A few weeks ago I had a few hours to play amateur radio during the CQ RTTY contest.  I was very surprised to find the 20 meter band chock full of RTTY DX!  In a matter of two hours, I worked Poland, England, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, Netherlands, France, Alaska, Spain, Italy, and a few others.  It was one of those days when you turn the radio on and all signals on the band are especially strong.  The interesting thing is I was using my 1/4 wave ground mounted vertical and about 75 watts of power.  It was a blast!

Since then, I decided to spend some more time on the digital portion of the bands.  I have worked a few guys on PSK31 but I really enjoy using any other mode besides PSK31.  Why?  Well for one, with a soundcard and free software, you can work a lot of different ditigal modes.  Each mode has a distinct flavor asscoiated with it.  It seems like PSK31 is used overwhelminly and I hope to change that.  I'll let you know how it goes!

73 for now de N0NS  Joe

A few pictures..

My two year old son is learning how to use the digital camera. here I am in front of my computer in the basement by the rig. I hope you like my cherished t-shirt!

This is why I love Iowa. The open county roads are everywhere here and there is hardly ever traffic.

Back on the air!

It's been a while! I have hardly had the radio on and my last QSO was 20 days ago, until tonight that is. I started a new class which is basically UNIX for administrators. It has been very computer intensive and I have been trying to get my old PC's converted over to Linux for the class. I had partial success but that took a lot of my radio time. I also took a RF design class down at Georgia Tech (Atlanta.) What a great class! It's pretty amazing to really start to get ahold of how microwave RF propagates through transmission lines! I also was 50 miles north of Minneapolis this weekend visiting our good family friends. All of this combined made for very little time with the rig on.

I decided to fire the radio up and see what was shakin!

For one, today is the start of Fall and it gets a lot darker a lot earlier in the evening. I figured that would have some affect on my typical HF evening propagation cycle. As far as I can tell, it did! The evening thunderstorms are greatly diminished as are the signals on 30 and 20 meters. It could be a temporary condition but I suspect we are just rolling into the winter HF conditions. This is not all bad because I really enjoy 40 meters and also like the close in joy that 80 has to offer.

Since the last posting, I worked a Canadian who happened to be in Vermont. This is one of the remaining states that I need for WAS. I'm not sure what it is but for me, I really love to receive QSL's but don't seem to get around to filling them out and mailing them in any haste. I hope this blog post will give me the energy to pick up the pen and finish my paperwork.

Oh, by the way, my QSO tonight was with a ham in Tucson, AZ. I was running 50 watts on 7.062. I called CQ once and the gentlemen answered me right back. 549 his way, 559 my way. Right after we started the QSO, we had SSB QRM. I suspect he gave up and left or the conditions changed because I lost him right after that. The good news is I sent some RF through my coax and out into the atmosphere!

73 all, Joe N0NS

Almost There!

Well, my WAS totals are getting closer by the day. I got a surprise QSL card from Maryland, a contact I simply forgot to log even though I had the QSO written down in my notebook! That same day, I was on the SKCC SKED page and saw a station from Wyoming. Five minutes later we were chatting on 40 meter CW. A few days before that, I met up with a nice ham from Minnesotta on 80 CW. Three states down in a matter of days! I will update my official state QSO count when the cards arrive but I suspect that will happen soon enough!

In the mean time, I built a dummy load. I used 20, 1K Ohm resistors in parallel. I used a pickle jar and filled it with mineral spirits. It works great and has a 1:1 match from 1.8-28MHz. I am going to add a circuit that will inidicate my peak voltage which will then allow me to calculate power. I'll try to get a picture of this and my station when I get around to it.

I received my crystals I ordered on eBay for 30 and 40 meter QRP. The only problem is I haven't gotten around to order the rest of my parts for my homebrew QRP transmitter. There just isn't enough time in the day!

Take care all, I'm going to try to work some CW. 73 Joe N0NS