Tag: cw

…. but it wasn’t there!

Had a nice 80M CW QSO last night with Tony, KN4VL. There was some QSB and QRM, but we hung in there for about an hour ragchew. Tony is a retired Marine and has children and grandchildren in the armed services. I think I’m slowly making progress on the CW front.

Yesterday after work I wanted to swap out the feedline on the Carolina Windom from RG-58 to RG-8X. My plan was to lower the matching unit which has an eyelet on top that I used to raise the matching unit up to ~50ft with some heavy duty line.


I loosened the line and attempted to lower the matching unit, but the line was getting hung up in the tree branches above. I let the end of the line go and began to gently pull on the RG-58 feedline to slowly bring the matching unit down to a point where I could reach the line isolator (hanging 22′ below the matching unit) so I could swap feedlines. I got the line isolator down to my level and successfully swapped the feedlines. I then went to grab the end of the line to pull the matching unit back into the treetops, but it wasn’t there! Then I looked up. The line had been shorter than I thought – when I had pulled the matching unit down using the feedline, I had not realized that the line was so short and now the end was dangling a good 15′ above my head! I got out my ladder to try and reach the line but it wasn’t tall enough. I then tried standing on the latter with a rake, in an attempt to snag the line and pull it down. No luck. I had an idea. I grabbed one of the 10′ PVC pipes that I use for my G5RV during a portable setup to support the ends. The top of the pipe has a hole drilled through. I then grabbed about 20′ of small gauge wire, threaded a loop through the hole at the top of the pipe and then took the pole back out to the dangling line up in the air. I was able to get the end of the line through the loop, then pulled the ends of the small gauge wire tight, grabbing the line. I pulled the pipe down and the line came with it. I felt pretty stupid, but I was able to get the Carolina Windom pulled back up (now with the new feedline) and my station is up and operational.

While I think the new feedline has helped improve my signal a bit, I’m still having problems on 17M, 15M, and 12M. 17M I’ve always had issues with and from what I read, it might be an issue with the radio itself. I’m usually able to work PSK31 and Phone on 17M without the tuner, but when I dip down in the CW portion the SWR is much too high. Both 15M and 12M will not tune. Also the SWR is too high to use without the tuner. On my inverted vee, both 15M and 12M are usable. So – I know I will need to play around a bit to get everything working.

This weekend is the 2006 CQ WW DX Contest (Phone). I want to use the contest as an opportunity to complete my initial DXCC requirements. The Carolina Windom is good to go for 80M, 40M, and 20M – so I should have plenty of opportunity to work those DX stations.

At lunch today I was tuning around 20M, 17M, and 15M – lots of activity…. lots of stations testing equipment in preparation for the contest.

I need to do two things before the contest kicks off:
(1) fix the power cable to the radio. When I did some shack clean up, I moved all the equipment onto a new Alinco DM-330MVT power supply using the RigRunner. But I was having some problems with the adapter that goes on the back of the IC-706. I need to pull the power cable off, recheck the PowerPole connectors, and the four pins that connect to the IC-706.
(2) setup the ICOM CT-17 so I can save little time by having my frequency automatically saved when I log QSOs on the computer.

…. the question is – can I get both of those done before the 2000 (local) kickoff of the contest?

Busy In The Shack

WX Station: Yesterday after work I was able to reroute the cable for the wind direction/speed sensor from the radio room over to the garage. This included a quick trip up to the roof. I now need to figure out where I’m going to place the rain gauge. The location is tricky because I don’t want it under trees and it should also be accessible for maintenance/cleaning. Today I need to try and move the webcam from the window ledge outside the radio room to the garage window.

CW contacts: I had two on 80M last night, the first was from MI and the second was from AL. Band conditions were pretty bad. Yesterday at lunch I had a short CW QSO with a Polish station on 20M. I guess that’s my first CW QSO to Europe. The station was sending fast, so I only picked up about half of what was sent.

W4M Memorial Day Special Event Station: in a continued attempt to close out all the loose ends from the W4M special event station, I am now sending out QSL cards to all the remaining contacts that I have not yet sent anything to. These remaining folks never sent me anything, but I’d rather send them the W4M QSL card than hang on to a bunch of extra cards. I’m also including a return SASE for those in the US. I completed 30 last night and would like to do 40 tonight. I just want to get a QSL card out to every contact and then officially close the book on the W4M special event.

Sunday in the shack

I was successful in transferring the WX station duties to the computer out in the garage. I first had to get the Davis Weather Monitor II talking with the computer – which was accomplished after I changed the COM port speed to 2400 baud. I then transferred all the Weather Display files from the computer in the radio room out to the garage. The Weather Display software started up, green lights indicating that it was taking data from the Davis Weather Monitor II. But I didn’t have any sensors plugged in yet, so the only data being displayed was the indoor temp (now the garage temp) and the barometer. The outdoor temp sensor is located near the garage, so I was easily able to reroute the cable into the window of the garage and connected it to the Davis Weather Monitor II box. The outdoor temp came up right away. The next challenge was setting up the FTP for my weather webpage. The Weather Display software has great wizards that walk you through setting up different aspects of the software – the FTP setup had such a wizard. And now the webpage is getting updated every 5 minutes. Great! I still need to (1) reroute the wind direction and speed cable to the garage (requires me to get on the roof), (2) find some place to put the rain gauge (may require me to get on the roof), and (3) get the webcam hooked back up.

Spent some time cleaning up the radio room. I finally unpacked the MFJ-989C tuner that I got to go along with the Heathkit SB-220 amp. Neither are setup – that’s a project for another day.

I was also able to make contact with MI3JQD, operating from Northern Ireland… and a CW contact on 30M with John, K9??? in Indiana.

Saturday

I’ve been recovering from a cold, so I have been on as much as I’d like. I had a couple notable QSOs today:

W7DK/90: The Radio Club of Tacoma’s 90th Anniversary special event station. An ARRL-affiliated Special Service Club since 1920, the Radio Club of Tacoma will mark the occasion with a homecoming dinner October 21 and a week-long operating event with certificates. Special event station W7DK/90 will be on the air October 16-22, and for part of the event will put its “old oak rig” — a circa 1930 breadboard-style AM transmitter — on the air. “We have done some historical research, and it’s been very interesting,” says the club’s Peter Baker, AD7EU. One item that turned up was a W7DK QSL card from 1938.

JOTA: Jamboree On The Air — a nearly 50-year-old tradition — provides an opportunity to showcase Amateur Radio for Boy and Girl Scouts and Guides, Cub Scouts and Brownies around the world, some of whom will be part of the next generation of radio amateurs. I had a nice QSO with two Scouts up in Wisconsin. One Scout was a 2nd Class and the other Life.

CW QSOs: the first few on 20M and 30M had the op at the other end blazing away a little to fast for me. I then went down to the good ol’ Novice sub-band on 40M and had a nice QSO with Fred, KC2IOD. His callsign looked familiar and sure enough – I worked him when I activated the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse (USA-567) back in February.

FISTS: I received the latest issue of the FISTS periodical. Lots of good reading.

Sunday night QSOs

I had two QSOs last the night. The first was am 80M CW contact with Ken, K5GAT and the second was a 40M PSK31 QSO with Ron, K0??? in Kansas City, MO. The CW QSO went well – again I noticed much less noise on 80M than I have been used to. We both exchanged an RST of 569. I was also able to use the 500Hz CW filter as well as IF shift to sharpen the reception of the signal. Ken is in Naples, TX and he gave a WX report of rain. On 80M both the SWR and power out appeared to be normal on the new Carolina Windom.

I then went up to 40M to take a look and see if there was any PSK31 DX. I saw a CQ from K0??? and answered him. We chatted for a bit. He was trying to find a friend of his from St. Louis that he had a sked with and thought that the 40M skip was bouncing him over St. Louis and asked that I try to call him. I did but did not have any success. On 40M both the SWR and power out looked good.

I’m really hoping I’ll be able to hear (and maybe contact) Australia or Asia with the new antenna – we’ll see. So far it appears to be functioning very well.

Weekend Wrap Up


I finally got the RadioWorks Carolina Windom 80 up in the trees! Again, a wonderful job done by the CSV19 Pneumatic Antenna Launcher. I used it four times, each time it performed perfectly.

The matching unit is up about 50′. I was able to put the 82′ leg over the house and tied off to a tree in the front yard. The 51′ leg went out the other direction tied off to a tree behind my backyard. Each leg is tied off at about 35′. Unfortunately, the antenna is not in a completely straight line from end to end, but I think its the best I’m going to get. So far I have noticed a lower noise level than my inverted vee. I participated in the MARS training net tonight and was able to hear all the stations very well. I also had a 20M USB QSO with Argentina and a 40M LSB with southern Florida.

I had a few CW QSOs Saturday night. I hoping to have a few tonight and test the new antenna a bit more.

Lunch contact

I had a short QSO with Ray, W3YBF during lunch today. After my second call of CQ on 7.114 MHz, Ray came back with a nice 599 signal. He started out sending faster than I could copy, but then slowed down. I wish had had more time for a longer QSO.

I’m also slowing sending out the remainder of the certificates and QSL cards from the W4M Memorial Day special event station. These are to folks who have not sent a SASE (or anything else), but I figured I might as well send out the certificates I’ve printed and the QSL cards that I have.

Saturday QSOs

I had a 40M CW QSO with Lee, WA1YDG from Hanover, MA. According to QRZ.com, Lee holds a Novice license… which is pretty unique. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had a QSO with someone with a Novice license.

Also got W1AA on 40M LSB – they were activating a lighthouse (USA-820?).

This afternoon I got on 30M briefly (after I got no response on 40M) and had a QSO with Brian, WB9TPA. Lots of QSB and QRM. Finally was able to get his name and his QTH (WI). He was using a straight key (… maybe a bug?) – it seems like it is hard for those folks to slow down (QRS). Their dots and dashes sometimes get distorted.

Lots of wind and rain last night and today, but so far the new rope support for the center of the inverted vee is holding up. If the weather is nice tomorrow, I will try to put up the Carolina Windom.

FISTS Fall Sprint

— CW, sponsored by FISTS CW Club from 1700Z-2100Z Oct 14. Frequencies: 80-10 meters. Categories: SOAB (QRP and QRO), Club. Exchange: RST, QTH (S/P/C), Name, FISTS number if member, nonmembers send power output. QSO points: member — 5 pts, nonmembers — 2 pts. Score: QSO points × S/P/C (count S/P only once, count DXCC each time). For more information: www.fists.org. Logs due 30 days after the contest to w8pig@yahoo.com or Dan Shepherd, N8IE, 1900 Pittsfield St, Kettering, OH 45420

TOEC WW Grid Contest

— CW, sponsored by the Top of Europe Contesters (TOEC) from 1200Z Sep 30-1200Z Oct 1. Frequencies: 160-10 meters. Categories: SO (no packet) -AB, -SB, LP-AB, QRP-AB), MS (10 min band change rule), MM, Mobile (SOAB) — work mobiles from each grid field (i.e., JP, KO, EM). Exchange: RST + grid square, i.e., JP73 (log must show all grid fields activated). QSO Points: own continent — 1 pt, other cont — 3 pts, QSOs with mobiles — 3 pts. Score: QSO points × two-letter grid fields. For more information: www.sk3bg.se/contest/toecwwgc.htm. Logs due 30 days after the contest to contest@toec.net or to TOEC, Box 178, SE-83122 Ostersund, Sweden.