Tag: qso

CW QSO

I jumped on the radio real quick last night before bed. After jumping around from 30M to 40M to 80M, I got an answer to my CQ from Tim, WD4GXD. Tim lives in Ruffin, a small town in the hills of western North Carolina, that I actually visited back in June of this year. We had a nice QSO, only wish it could have been longer. Tim was telling me that he had just picked up an IC-706 for mobile operations. He QRS’d so I was able to get almost 100% I hope to catch him again later for a longer ragchew.

I tried looking for a quick lunch time QSO, but had no luck. I think I might try and take the ARSIB out here to Fort Monroe and try to work a lunchtime QSO using a portable antenna. Might be fun.

Saturday…..

Finally checked into the VA MARS net. The net started late and I had almost given up on it. I’m going to try and check in again tomorrow morning. I need to get around to raising the height of my inverted vee – I think it will better help my signal get out.

I was able to catch W1AA (Henry and Whitey) and their activation of the Highland Lighthouse (USA 110) out on Cape Cod. Whitey, K1VV, is usually out ever weekend doing a lighthouse activation – always has a nice signal.

Had a very nice Radio Merit Badge class for a young Scout out at Fort Monroe in the afternoon. I setup my 10′ x 10′ shelter and the ARSIB. Initially I planned on setting the G5RV (like during the W4M Memorial Day Special Event) but the wind was quite heavy, so I opted to put up the homebrew vertical dipole. To get some height on the antenna, I attached it to the top of the painter’s pole. Before I had a chance to tie down the pole, a gust of wind knocked the antenna down. The fall caused the feedline connection to break off. Not good. However, with a little bit of wire and some electrical tape, I was able to reattached the feedline connection. Now the antenna was low to the ground and I was a little concerned about it’s performance. The Scout arrived and we started reviewing the Radio Merit Badge requirements. I was able to easily tune WWV on 15 MHz and was also able to find a CW QSO in progress on 40M. Also demoed a bit of CW using my MFJ paddle that has a speaker built in. After we’d reviewed all the requirements, it was time for the HF QSO. The Scout called CQ and after a few tries, received a reply from Charlie, N1MUQ, in Stamford, CT. Charlie had a booming, solid signal and the Scout was able to successfully complete the QSO. We then moved to my mobile VHF rig and the Scout had a nice QSO with Randy, WB7URZ located up in Gloucester. Even with the antenna setup issues, the Radio Merit Badge session was a success and I think both the Scout and I had a good time.

Lunchtime Update

Crystal Oscillator for the TAPR T-238+: TAPR made good on their promise to send me the missing 32MHz crystal oscillator. I need to stop by Radio Shack on the way home and pick up a 470 ohm resistor (R9) and I should be able to complete the construction of main board tonight. We will see if my kit building success improves.

CW QSO attempt: I was calling CQ on 7110 and received a reply from W8JCR, Larry. His signal started off strong but then he faded into the QRN.

QSL Card: received a QSL card from Jim, W2SY from my Blue Ridge Mountains DXpedition QSO.

Blue Ridge Mountains DXpedition

The Thursday before Labor Day Weekend I was able to get off work an hour early and headed up to Fort Eustis through a light drizzle (the early beginnings of Tropical Storm Ernesto) to pick up the RV. The beast was 29′ long and about 11′ high. A young gentlemen gave me a orientation of the vehicle which lasted about 45 minutes. First an initial walk around, then an explanation of how to flush the black and gray water holding tanks, how to connect city water, how to connect electricity, how to operate the generator, and how to operate the propane supply. All of this and we hadn’t even made it inside the RV yet. When we did make it inside, I was briefed up on how to operate the test panel, how to turn on the water heater, and a assortment of additional tips for easy operation of all the RV’s features. For instance…. don’t run the A/C while also running the microwave and the water heater takes 20 minutes to provide enough hot water for a shower. There was also a TV with an external antenna that cranks up into position. Nothing super complex, just lots and lots of stuff.

It was a slow ride on I-64 back to Hampton. Not because of heavy traffic, but because I was trying to get a feel for piloting the beast. The wheel was a little loose and it took a while to slow down. The rain didn’t help much. I arrived home and parked out in the street in front of the house. When untethered to an electrical hook up, the RV uses propane to keep the refrigerator going. To avoid depleting the propane, I ran a heavy duty extension cord out to the RV to give it a steady supply of juice.

We decided to watch the progress of Ernesto and wait to see if we’d leave Friday or postpone until Saturday. As the night progressed the winds picked up and the rain continued on.

Friday morning showed that the rain and wind were still continuing. My weather station indicated the rain had picked up around 2am and was maintaining a consistent heavy downpour. The radar showed the southern edge of Ernesto nearing the North Carolina border to the south. Even though the storm would clear our location by about 2pm reports from the roadways indicated things were a mess for motorists and we decided to move our departure to Saturday morning. It was at this time that I noticed the water out front was rising significantly. I could see the water level approaching the storage compartments underneath the RV. After shuffling the cars in the driveway, I splashed out to the RV parked on the street/canal, started it and did a loop around the block to position it to allow me to pull into the driveway. The short loop showed that a few other streets had flooded and small tree limbs and other debris was accumulating in the road – but nothing severe.

Ernesto passed by about 3pm and the standing water drained quickly. We did a quick clean up of all the fallen leaves and small branches in the yard and then repositioned the RV in the driveway for easy loading. From all reports, we were wise to delay our departure as fallen trees and the rain had closed down section of I-64.

Saturday morning arrived and we finished packing the RV and got on the road. Traffic was light and moved well. I kept the speed at about 55-60mph, still getting a feel for how the RV handled. After one break at a rest stop west of Richmond for lunch, we pressed on towards the Misty Mountain Campground in Crozet, VA. Enjoyed a nice QSO on a repeater in Charlottesville with Harry, W2HD. I later found out (according to QRZ.com) that Harry was a former president of ARRL! He chatted a little about being in the Navy but never mentioned the fact of his involvement with The League.

After checking in to the Misty Mountain Campgrounds HQ we arrived at our camp site. The hookups were pretty straight forward and soon enough we had the RV humming.

On Sunday we took the truck to explore the first fifty miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway. What a beautiful area! I was able to hit one of the repeaters back in Hampton from the first overlook along the Parkway. Pretty good for a 150 mile path using 50 watts on FM.


Sunday night I set up the ARSIB and tried to work both S9SS (Western Africa) and P43W (Aruba) but failed to break the pile ups.

Monday morning I had a nice QSO on 40M with Jim, W2SY up in Syracuse, NY. After enlisting in 1940, Jim served in the Army during WWII and participated in the Africa, Italy, and European campaigns. Jim gave me a nice 59 report and am glad I was able to get at least one HF contact before it was time to pack up shop .

The trip home encountered a little bit of rain, but traffic was also light and the trip was uneventful. Average speed on I-64 was probably about 65mph as I was feeling a little more comfortable driving by now.

All in all, I enjoyed the RV DXpedition. Next time I will set up the rig earlier and try to do more operating.

QSO with W2SY

I had my one and only Blue Ridge Mountains DXpedition contact with Jim, W2SY. After 30 minutes of calling CQ on 40M, trying to find space between all the nets, Jim came back to me with a nice 59 report and I gave him the same. I think we chatted for about 10 minutes or so. Jim, 82 years old, served in the Army during WWII, a veteran of battles in Africa, Italy and France. After the QSO, I packed up the ARSIB, antenna, and all the rest. The trip back to Hampton was safe and uneventful.

International Lighthouse & Lightship Weekend

I enjoyed activating the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse this weekend. Went out both on Saturday and Sunday. Had some great QSOs. Was able to work N1LO and AG4GO (operating as N4P) at the New Point Comfort Lighthouse…. that was cool. Also had QSOs with Denmark, Bermuda, and El Salvador…. all new countries.

Learned some lessons when setting up a portable operation:
(1) Don’t set your operating station up farther away from your antenna than the length of your feedline allows.
(2) Don’t print your log sheets with an ink jet printer… when you’re sweaty after setup and try to write in the log, sweat will make the ink jet print smear,
(3) If you have a shelter to keep you out of the sun, go ahead and use it.
(4) Make sure you have everything BEFORE you pull out of the driveway (i.e. your feedline, log book, headphones, and tools).

Good news… this was the first real deployment of the ARSIB. Everything worked very well. Even used the the ARSIB and the vertical dipole on 17M, in addition to 40M and 20M.

W4M – Day One

Wow! Day one is over – a total of 78 contacts to include two new states for me… Nebraska and Delaware. Worked a number of other states as well to include Washington, Texas, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, North Carolina, Missouri, Kansas, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Also a few into Canada.

Biggest lesson from today – operating a portable station away from a vehicle on generator power using a G5RV is a lot of setup work to do by yourself. I set my station up on the top of a WWII coastal artillery battery, taking advantage of the extra height and incredible view. However, this also entailed hiking up down a series of stairs with all the gear. Also learned some better techniques for using the G5RV. My intent was to use two painter’s poles nested one on the other with a 1/3 of the bottom sticking into the top one. I attached the center point of the G5RV and then tried to raise the pole to the vertical. The bottom pole’s top 1/3 ended up snapping due to the weight. What I should have done is run a line through the eyelet at the top of the top pole and then raised the center point once I had stabilized the pole into a vertical position. Also – I need to secure the guy-wires to the side of the pole, the guy-wires got needlessly tangled when I did finally get the pole into a vertical position.

The generator worked quite nicely – I had no issues with it at all. It started right up, operated quietly, and had hummed away nicely until I shut it down.

Overall, it was a good day and I learned quite a bit. Tomorrow’s operations should go a lot smoother.

Lighthouse activation

On Sunday I headed out to Fort Monroe and activated the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse with limited success. About 4 hours on the air and two contacts. The first contact was Colorado, a loud, booming 59. The next was Virginia Beach…. about 5 miles across the water. I need to come up with a better plan than my hamstick vertical. I’d like to do the next activation during Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day coming up on Memorial Day weekend.

Anyone have any antenna ideas?

I had a QSO with the Admrial!!

August 19, 2004

New surgeon general for Navy takes office

by Ellen Maurer
BUREAU OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY PAO

WASHINGTON (NNS) – Rear Adm. Donald Arthur became the 35th surgeon general of the Navy in a change-of-office ceremony hosted at the Washington Navy Yard Aug. 4.

The Navy surgeon general is the senior officer for the Navy’s medical and dental communities, leading the naval hospitals and medical and dental clinics worldwide.

Arthur relieves Vice Adm. Michael L. Cowan, who retired after 33 years in the Navy. Cowan has served as the leader of Naval medicine since 2001.

Guest speaker at the ceremony was CNO Adm. Vern Clark, who spoke about the advances made in military medicine to care for today’s warfighters and their family members.

“We will do everything we know how to do … to help you fulfill the promise you have made to the sons and daughters of America who wear the uniform – to provide health care, first effectively, and then efficiently,” Clark said. “We know you are committed to continuing building the foundation of Force Health Protection set in place by [Vice Adm.] Mike Cowan. I have every confidence that you will do an equally superb job.”

Arthur comes to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery from his former position as the commander of the National Naval Medical. He holds a doctor of medicine degree, a Ph.D. in health care management, and a degree in law. Arthur joined the Navy in 1974, and is qualified in flight surgery and undersea medicine, as well as surface warfare medicine, saturation diving medicine and radiation health.

“It is a tremendous honor to be to be part of Navy medicine,” Arthur said. “I pledge to continue the work that Adm. Cowan has begun … so Navy medicine can continue to respond whenever and wherever, against all threats – some of which we cannot combat with traditional methods.

“We must be prepared to predict, prevent and treat those things that might still come to us,” Arthur said. “We will do it as one Navy medicine, active and Reserve. And we will do it as one Department of Defense medical unit that is a seamless, integrated Navy, Army and Air Force medical system.”

Ending a CW QSO

From: “Scott Hedberg”
To: SolidCpyCW
Subject: [SolidCpyCW] Ending a QSO
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 08:40:11 -0500

I have a few CW QSOs under my belt now, but I’m a little uncertain over how to end a QSO. I think it is probably an issue of not being certain when to use the prosigns AR and SK.

My understanding is that with my last line of text – “TKS FER QSO CUL 73” I should put AR at the end. Then my next line would be “ DE KD7PJQ” followed by SK.

Is this the correct way to end a QSO?

73 Scott KD7PJQ

From : Box SisteenHundred
Sent : Tuesday, January 17, 2006 10:59 AM
To : SolidCpyCW
Subject : RE: [SolidCpyCW] Ending a QSO

No..

Prosigns (AR) AND (SK) come BEFORE the callsigns…

Examples…

WX HR NICE TODAY TEMP ABT 40 F = SO BK TO U SCOTT (AR) KD7PJQ DE KA8VIT KN

RRR OK SCOTT HV TO RUN = TNX FB QSO = 73 CU SN (SK) KD7PJQ DE KA8VIT Dit-Dit

Hope this helps…

Bill KA8VIT
http://ka8vit.com

From : Makos327
Sent : Tuesday, January 17, 2006 8:50 AM
To : SolidCpyCW
Subject : Re: [SolidCpyCW] Ending a QSO

Scott,

There are many opinions. Different guys will tell you different ways. It’s always been my understanding that it would be:

W2LJ de KD7PJQ SK – if you intend to amke more QSOs; and
W2LJ de KD7PJQ CL – if you’re ending things for the day/night.

There’s been a discussion on the CW reflector by the old time Ops that all that is needed is K. Just K and nothing else. No KN, no CL, no AR, no nothing.

As long as you identify at the end and use something -you’ll be okay.

73 de Larry W2LJ

—
Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to use the very least!

http://www.qsl.net/w2lj

From : Brian
Sent : Tuesday, January 17, 2006 10:00 AM
To : SolidCpyCW
Subject : [SolidCpyCW] Re: Ending a QSO

Scott,

I would tend to agree with the CW “old timers”…
Really all that I have ever heard is basically a 73 my call their call and then “K”.
I will usually end like so… Tnx fer FB QSO (or call) es RST =
73 es take care KD7PJQ DE KC9FAV SK Dit dit.

I have heard the AR prosign before it was passed back to me. Used as …however the conversation is going then AR KC9FAV DE their callsign “K”.

From : Dan KB6NU
Sent : Tuesday, January 17, 2006 11:14 AM
To : SolidCpyCW
Subject : Re: [SolidCpyCW] Ending a QSO

I’ve always considered SK and CL to be equivalent. That is, both are used when you’re turning the radio off (or at least not intending to make any more contacts) after the QSO is complete. SK is short for “silent key,” after all.

The ARRL webpage that defines prosigns defines SK as “out; clear (end of communications, no reply expected).” It doesn’t really say anything about whether or not you intend to make more QSOs, so perhaps Larry’s explanation is correct. It says nothing at all about the CL prosign.

The ARRL defines AR as “end of message (end of record copy).” I think that this is more properly used in message handling, and probably is not used properly when just ragchewing.

Having said that, I don’t use any prosigns. I just send the callsigns and then K if I’m letting the other guy make the last transmission and “dit dit” if I’m making the final transmission.

73!

Dan KB6NU

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