Ka3tkw

My Week in Radio

• muted the APRS channel on my UV-PRO, so I don’t need to hear that squawking away
  • there is an option to mute digital, but it only works when it recognizes it’s digital
• been testing a doublet built from:
  • a split speaker wire,
  • 44ft end to end
  • a 4:1 balun
  • choke balun
  • 30 FT8 contacts on 20M at 1W for a park activation
• 80M EFHW today for better receive to place 21.6M-long EFRW
• worked contests:
  • PSK Fest: 15 contacts
  • RTTY Roundup: 70 contacts
• gave one of Tom’s cool little ATS radios to a friend’s kid, get him bitten by the bug

Others

• K3EA, Greg:
  • special event station
  • this past weekend:
    • rtty contest
    • psk31 contest
  • NA QSO party, CW next weekend
• WB3LNY, George:
  • working on some 12V power supplies
• VE3HOH, Pete:
  • ordered some radios
  • great tuner
• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • RS-40 pass at 8:40 tonight
  • 437.625
  • no special equipment needed
  • trivia net on wednesday
  • Saturday Hamfest in Harrisburg, W3UU
  • new commercial satellite:
    • AST bluebird 6
  • mod firmware for ATS v4 radio
    • waterfall
    • s17432
    • decodes CW and RTTY
  • DigiRig Mobile: $49
    • audio
    • PTT (no need for VOX), so better than just a USB sound card
    • connect lots of radios
  • lots of SSTV
  • ordered a UHF Moxon SSTV antennas
    • big in RC airplane world
    • range video LLC
• K3DMM, Denny:
  • not much luck with SSTV yet
• KC3VZU, Bob:
  • not getting to the ham fest
  • working on full-band radio in truck, replaced the mic
• W3MW, Don:
  • finishing wiring of antennas
  • getting shack back in order
• KC3ZBI, Ron:
  • doing paperwork to do a ham radio program for a local school
• KC3EWN, Curly:
  • new Arrow antenna
  • Icom W-32A, full-duplex, 5W
  • ready for satellite
• K3EA, Greg:
  • DigiRigs have wiring for old rigs
• VE3HOH, Pete:
  • watch 401MHZ and 401.025 for occasional satellites

Portable Doublet

I built a doublet experiment at a park today.

• split 6.25M of speaker wire to be a 12.5M-long, center-fed, non-resonant dipole, like my portable EFRW I usually carry.
• the rest is balanced feed line
• right to the radio
• tuned 20M and barely tuned 40M on my X6100
• 2W FT8 heard in africa and europe
• next try it with a 4:1 or 9:1 balun to match better

My Weeks in Radio

• feel lucky to be in this area with lots of repeaters and traffic
• flagpole with YAGI snapped in the wind a week or 2 ago.
• strung the slim jim in the tree a little higher
• playing with nicsure firmware on the RadTel RT-880G.
• saw a great youtube video on APRS bots:
  • MPAD being very versatile for: weather, callsign lookup, location report to email
  • ISS bot that tells you the next pass
• listened to a couple sweepstakes contacts: to lazy to try to communicate that much exchange QRP SSB

Others

• WB3LNY, George:
  • Tried La Grange repeater in KY, but no one answered.
  • Keep as active as we can.
  • Use it or lose it: they’ll take it away
  • linking repeaters may help generate more traffic
• VE3HOH, Pete:
  • working on some Yaesu FT-100’s
    • predecessor to FT-857.
• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • lunch Thursday this week
    • everyone share a radio gadget
    • lots of mini demonstrations
  • ISS scrubbed the SSTV after first couple days
  • ISS ham repeater is still good though
    • high pass monday, 4:45pm
  • Russian satellites doing SSTV
    • 435.890 ARCTICSAT-1: 2 good passes Monday morning
    • 5 minute cycle, so don’t be discouraged
• KK4KKW, Steve:
  • many times can’t make contacts while traveling: 2M or 10M
  • hearing people on HF, but not making contacts
• N7JMS, John:
  • digipi doing SSTV to get ARCTICSAT-1 images
• K3DMM, Denny:
  • doing some of the sweepstakes
    • got Hawaii
  • definitely trying morning pass of arcticsat-1
  • trying for ISS pass as well
• KD3BOV, John:
  • rain gutter antenna
  • getting started with the ICOM 2730

Swap and Shop

• WB3LNY, george:
  • new bird dummy loads
• VE3HOH, Pete:
  • rohn 25 tower sections:
  • guy wire and anti-sway section for the rohn 25
  • 432MHz yagis
  • 2M yagis for weak signal
  • 950ft of philly strand on a roll
• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • shortware receivers
  • moto 25W transceivers
  • 24ft camper for sale: $1500

My Week in Radio

CQ WW DX SSB Contest

• 12 contacts
  • including Canary Islands near Africa
  • heard lots of places that couldn’t hear me: Galapagos
• QRP (<5W)
• Logged in World Radio League website and phone
• exported a Cabrillo file in the right format to submit!
• POLO didn’t seem to collect the right fields

Great Ham Fest in Harrisburg

• Saw some faces from a couple different repeaters I frequent
• Tom’s satellite presentation was great, and we had a really good pass to hear the astronauts talking to the museum in Indiana.
• Bought a cheap power meter for HF and some connectors for it

My Week in Radio

• traveling:
  • cruise ships specifically forbid ham radios
  • practiced copying some CW
• listened to a little PA QSO party, but didn’t participate
• 21 has been lower power recently,
  • wondering if it’s my multiple antennas or the repeaters
  • definitely at least one feed line problem diagnosed during this net

Others

• K3EA, Greg
  • QSO parties coming up
    • Germany
  • CQ WW SSB
  • Vanawatu, SSB
• N7JMS, Jon
  • digi-pi
• KC3ZBI, Ron
  • talking to a classroom about radio
• KA0JQO, Kevin:
  • repeater power
  • when no double beep, then the repeater is putting out full power: 115W
  • when it’s beeping, the power is low: 20W.

Swap and Shop

• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • shortwave receivers

My Week in Radio

• KC3WWC changed to KD3EE
  • nice for CW
  • start over with a whole new log book
  • days to find and update everywhere
• packet radio for Winlink and BBSes including KA3TKW
  • like my old modem BBS days
  • phone + btech HT as TNC
• POTA, FT8 + CW
  • new Gabil whip with the sliding coil is very convenient
  • learning value of chokes in the right places: computer interference from RF
  • chasing CW POTA from home
• working a little more 10M now as we near autumn
• have a google calendar feed from https://contestcalendar.com/ keeping my calendar very full should the mood to do some contesting strikes

Others

• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • trivia net has new format: 5 digital
  • digipeaters
    • 145.010
    • 28.105
• K3EA, Greg:
  • heard hamsci presentation:
    • study from eclipse
    • upcoming study on meteor scatter
  • training session on the local club station
  • contests:
    • AARL Sept VHF this past weekend
    • WAE SSB contest
    • next weekend: QSO parties
    • following weekend: CQ WW RTTY
    • https://contestcalendar.com/ for more details
  • solar flux index and sunspots down this past week
  • normal/average propagation
  • some disruptions coming up: increased K index
  • minor storms coming tomorrow.
  • check clusters for current DXpeditions
    • Palestine/West Bank on the air for about a week, FT8+CW
  • no QSL cards this week
• WB3LNY, George:
  • local hamfest in Indiana
    • sold some LMR-400 + other things
  • new tower in place
• VE3HOH, Pete:
  • recovering from back injury
  • cleaning up radios
  • working on some amplifiers
  • getting some HF wires up
• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • Owen Garriott, W5LFL, was the first person to operate ham radio from space in 1983
  • easy sats:
    • ISS
    • SO-50: tues + wed 7:30pm
    • SO-124: tues + friday 12:25pm
    • SO-125: tues 11:25, wed 12pm, thurs 10:30am
  • looking for a presentation for next luncheon
• K3DMM, Denny:
  • worked PO-101 earlier in the week
  • Route 66 on the air: 12 of 19 cities, and 2 of 5 rovers
    • request a cert with even 1 contact
  • met fellow ham at RV show, recognizing antenna
• KC3ZBI, Ron:
  • had someone try to cut his coax
  • wondering about periodically reprogramming the keps in his OpenGD77 HT
  • Tom: every 10 days or so
• W3MW, Don:
  • VHF contest, but not participating
  • antenna work in nice weather
  • looking forward to december contest
• KC3NWN, Jim:
  • new alinco rig, 60m monoband, beam pointed to repeater
  • watched recent ISS pass
  • SO-50 often works for him
  • east stroudsburg hamfest
  • there’s AM on 17m
  • lots of simplex 2m and other VHF
  • QSL card from oklahoma on 17m

Swap and Shop

• VE3HOH, Pete:
  • rohn tower with guy cable, 8 sections

My Weeks in Radio

• traveling
  • Chino Hills State Park near Los Angeles
  • 2 activations
  • hiked and biked my gear in on my back
• Field Day QRP, emergency power, on the patio, at home, 650 pts

Others

• K3EA, Greg:
  • in charge of antennas at local field day
  • 13 colonies coming up: https://13colonies.us/
  • Marconi Memorial contest
  • see the calendar
  • monitor FT8 or calling on 6M
  • good HF this week
  • Guyana: 8R1TM
  • Russians in Mozambique: C94RRC, C93RRC
  • LotW is undergoing maintenance
• KB9AWS, Bernie:
  • hearing VHF openings in the morning
• KC5DRI, John:
  • conversations with truckers while traveling NC on simplex
  • travel using repeaters
  • got to dayton this year
• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • SSTV coming around july 4 from ISS, watch email
• KK4KKW, Steve:
  • POTA Hunting
  • visited SPARC for field day
• K3DMM, Denny:
  • heard lots of ISS contacts on field day
  • saturday is firecracker hamfest: postal picnic grounds
• KC3NWN, Jim:
  • contact from a mobile at camp right now
• VE3HOH, Pete:
  • local field day in macadoo
• KC3VZU, Bob:
  • setting up a wire antenna and an HF rig
• W3MW, Don:
  • lots of work getting antennas up
  • trying 10GHz, but blocked by foliage

Beacons and Online Tools to Predict Propagation

• Presented by Greg, K3EA
• RBN
• Pskreporter
• WSPRnet
• VoaCap
• Watch for openings on calling frequencies
• ARRL band maps
• Hamalert
• Hamclock
• DX clusters

A side note: SMRA hosts great presentations, so check them out some time.

My Week in Radio

• I like radios with open software
  • F4HWN 4.0 alternate firmware released for Quansheng
    • includes fixes for the spectrum analyzer that I contributed
  • R1CBU 0.29.2 just released for Xiegu X6100
    • includes fixes for bugs I found and submitted
• I tried some APRS to the ISS from the Btech UV-PRO
• Did a little RTTY for NAQP
• Contacted N4T DXpedition on 20M yesterday
  • My CW was pretty rough
  • I could hear them with the EFHW for 40M in a park,
    • but not the upgraded 107ft EFRW at home
    • probably orientation

Others

• K3EA, Greg:
  • contests, space weather, DX
• WB3LNY, George:
  • debugging power problems: tighten your lugs in your panel
  • “Pale Blue” is a company in Utah making rechargeable Li-Ion batteries with USB charging port.
• VE3HOH, Pete:
  • designing an NVIS for 40m, fan dipole
  • maybe also a 10m vertical in it.
  • nice presentation from KA3TKW, Tom, on working satellites
• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • new FM bird: Hades R, SO-124, no telemetry yet.
  • ISS repeater and upcoming passes
  • AO-123 is new, FM repeater: 435.400 FM.
  • Ham Lunch this Thursday, noon.
    • presentation: Beginners Guide to FM Satellites
• KK4KKW, Steve:
  • some HF, but repeater started dropping
• W3MW, Don:
  • trying to purchase a spectrum analyzer, but UPS isn’t delivering it.
  • starting up attic/roof work for antennas.
  • testing 10GHz setup soon
• KC3ZBI, Ron:
  • working on antennas for some upcoming contests

My Week in Radio

• I did field day with a group out toward Parkesburg
  • I saw a fancy satellite station for sideband, etc in action
• Attended the lunch on Thursday
• Had Direwolf monitoring a plain ol’ Quansheng to decode packet
• Btech UV-PRO
  • inexpensive
  • APRS location and messaging
  • KISS TNC over BT
  • WoAD on android
  • Winlink
  • Terminal to access BBS on KA3TKW
• Trying to build a tactical delta loop
  • 4:1 balun
  • 2 17 ft whips
  • 25 ft wire for the top
  • 3d-printed base

Others

• K3EA, Greg:
  • QSO parties
  • upcoming contests
  • Solar weather
  • DX
    • Wake Island on 10M
    • Gambia, 10-20m, FT8
      • our sunrise
    • Rowanda, 10-30m, FT8, CW
  • New DXCC programs
  • Cards from bureau
  • Will talk at march lunch about Hamcation in Orlando
• WB3LNY, George:
  • headed to Hamcation in Orlando
• KB9AWS, Bern:
  • New batteries
  • Appreciate the group you have, use the repeater
• VE3HOH, Pete:
  • Working on a combo nvis dipole for 40 meters
    • 20 ft above ground
    • Inverted V
    • Combo it with a vertial for 10M
  • Looking at military antennas for manpack
    • 30MHz-512MHz rubber duck on eBay
  • Looking at some low-power, remote receivers
• K3SWZ, Glenn:
  • Worked 20M helping test a new DX station in Kenya
• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • 145.825MHz ISS packet digipeater
• KB3MIJ, Tray:
  • Repairing some repeater hardware
  • Got a replacement generator for a site
• K3DMM, Denny:
  • Lunch on Thursday
  • HT with Arrow to make ISS contacts and SO-50
  • Try Arrow from inside
• KC3ZBI, Ron:
  • Lunch on Thursday
  • Starting figuring out LoTW
• N3LJP, Bill:
  • Looking for charger for AA, AAA lithium batteries that runs off 120V.
  • KC3BOB, Bob:
    • Hobby King is a good mail-order shop for battery needs
  • KC3WWC, John:
    • I like my EBL chargers off Amazon
    • Inexpensive
• KC3VZU, Bob:
  • Ham lunch, liked the presentation
  • Going to get HF rig up and running

Swap and shop

• WB3LNY, George:
  • Looking for a teletype
• VE3HOH, Pete:
  • Some yagis for weak signal work
  • Drake TR7
  • Kenwood 830
• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • 25W Motorola mobile rigs
  • RadioShack SW receivers
  • Panasonic SW portable
• KB3MIJ, Tray:
  • Jet turbine generator

My Week in Radio

• My favorite way to learn things: experiments
  • diagnose and repair a bad coax cable
    • no continuity on center conductor
    • plugged it into the nano vna, switched to smith chart
      • saw a big spiral around the outside
      • no change in the graph on the other side
      • compared to a working cable
      • it should have spiraled
      • maybe alonger spiral for a longer cable
  • 71 foot random wire with 5W is not needing the tuner
    • disconnected lots of different places and checked lots of SWR without those connections
• Tossed a wire into a tree at Swatara State Park today for some POTA contacts
• Operated the last 2 hours of the RTTY contest on 10m, 15m, and 20m.