Category: Uncategorized

October CQ Magazine


Got the new issue of CQ Magazine. Really enjoyed the article Revisiting My Roots: or “I have a radio; forget the price” by Bob Locher, W9KNI. I always enjoy the articles of Dave Ingram, K4TWJ. He’s got two in this issue, ones a product review and the other is on QRP.

NC and TX

Had two CW QSOs last night. The first was on 80M with WA4BNO from Charlotte, NC. The second was with N5PIR, John. I didn’t get very good copy from the QSO, but QRZ.com says John is from San Antonio, TX. Both the 40M and 80M bands seemed to be open last night. I heard pileups for a South African station and a Swedish station.

Carolinas Slow Net (CSN)

http://home.carolina.rr.com/w4eat/csn.html

The Carolinas Slow Net is a bi-section NTS net. It serves North and South Carolina.

Purpose: Traffic handling and training in North Carolina and South Carolina
Mode: CW 8 to 10 WPM
Frequency: 3695 kHz
Time: 2000 ET Daily
Net Manager: W4EAT Carl Starnes
PO Box 188
Stanfield NC 28163
704-888-4815
E-mail: cstarnes3@carolina.rr.com

Portable logging using Palm Pilot

Some advise from Larry, W2LJ: http://w2lj.blogspot.com/

I use QSO Diary by Ray Goff G4FON. It’s freeware and it works really well for me. Whenever you do a hot synch it backs up into a log you can view on your computer screen. While doing this, you can export your QSO Diary information as an ADIF file to whatever log program you normally use.

I have an accessory Palm keyboard; but I never use it. QSO Diary is easy enough to use with the stylus. I must admit that I never really tried this under contest conditions. I’ve been told that for contesting, there is an excellent program called Go Log. It’s not free, however; I guess I’m just cheap!

Here’s a good URL for Ham related Palm programs:

http://www.qsl.net/va3pkh/palm-ham.html

and here’s the URL for Go Log:

http://home.earthlink.net/~david.ek/golog/

73 de Larry W2LJ

Arkansas QSO Party

— CW/SSB/PSK31, sponsored by K1ARK, from 1600Z Sep 30-0600Z Oct 1 and 1800Z Oct 1-0200Z Oct 2. Frequencies (MHz): CW — 50 kHz above band edge; Phone — 3.980, 7.260, 14.260, 21.360, 28.360, 145-147; PSK — 3.580, 7.070, 14.070, 21.080, 28.120. Categories: SO and MS (HP/LP, QRP, Mixed, CW, Phone), Mobile, PSK. Work mobiles in each county. Exchange: RST, state or province, DX stations send DX, Arkansas stations send county. QSO points: PSK — 3 pts, CW — 2 pts, SSB — 1 pt. Score: QSO points × AR counties (AR station count states, provinces and AR counties). For bonus points and more information: www.arkan.us. Logs due 30 days after the contest to k1ark@arrl.net or to Bill Smith, K1ARK, 3032 Strawberry Dr, Fayetteville, AR, 72703.

2 QSOs tonight

I had two QSOs tonight on 40M. The first was Evan, K2QBN and the second was Robert, KI9N.

Evan was operating from Tampa, FL and after the initial exchange, he disappeared. Not sure if he got tired of my slow speed or was eaten up by the QRN monster.

Robert was from Hickory Hills, Illinois (he spelled out the state – “Illinois”), gave me a nice weather report and we had a nice QSO. QRN was starting to come in (made some QSB too).

Both are getting my new QSL cards which I received in the mail today!

FISTS Coast to Coast Contest: 1800Z, Sep 30 to 1800Z, Oct 1

Mode: CW
Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m
Classes: QRP, QRO
Max power: QRO: >5 watts, QRP: 5 watts
Exchange: FISTS: RST + Name + (state/province/country) + FISTS No.
non-FISTS: RST + Name + (state/province/country) + Power (include W)
Work stations: Once per band
QSO Points: 1 point per QSO with FISTS Club
Multipliers: Each FISTS Club once
Score Calculation: Total score = total QSO points x total mults
Submit logs by: October 31, 2006
E-mail log summary to: fistsc2c[at]yahoo[dot]com
Mail logs to: Paul Beringer NG7Z
4702 200th St SE
Bothell, WA 98012
USA
Find rules at: http://www.tomochka.com/k7fff/fnw_c2c06.html

Fall QRP Homebrewer Sprint

— CW/PSK31, sponsored by New Jersey QRP Club from 0000Z-0400Z Sep 25. Frequencies: QRP CW and PSK31 frequencies on 80-10 meters. CW and PSK31 are considered separate bands. Exchange: RST + S/P/C + output power. QSO points: commercial equipment — 2 pts, homebrew xmtr or rcvr — 3 pts, homebrew xmtr and rcvr or xcvr — 4 pts. Kits okay as homebrew. Power multiplier: 0>250 mW = ×15, 250 mW>1 W = ×10, 1-5 W = ×7, >5 W = ×1. Score: QSO points × S/P/C (counted once per band) × power multiplier. For more information: www.njqrp.org. Logs due 30 days from the contest to n2cq@arrl.net (text format, please) or Ken Newman, N2CQ, 81 Holly Dr, Woodbury, NJ 08096.