Ham Radio at N4EK

re: 2011 Florida QSO Party

2011-05-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

The 2011 FQP is now history. I had a great time this year. I was able to put in about 9.5 hours mostly on Saturday. The conditions were good but 15 and 10 meters never really opened up which would have been great. I ended up with 560 qso's with only 52 on phone. I decided to maximize my score by making as many CW qso's as possible and it was easier on the ears. I had a great run on 40 meters Saturday night with about 140 q's in a run. Lots of Europe on with Poland leading the pack. For some strange reason I had a lot of dupe calls with many coming from well known contest ops. Final score was 201,000 points. Kept the keyer speed about 24 to 26 wpm which is a good speed for me. Well, looking forward to next year with better conditions all across the bands.

73, N4EK

Receive Antenna Project

2010-09-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

With the approach of the fall and winter seasons here in Florida, I am getting ready to install a new lowband
receive antenna system. I will be installing a DX Engineering two direction beverage antenna which uses ladder line for the antenna wire. It will be directed towards Europe and the South Pacific. I have been clearing tree branches that have grown over the last couple of years to make room for the new antenna and additional supports. I hope to have the project done by the middle of October.

73 and good DX from N4EK!

New Radio at N4EK

2010-08-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been quite awhile since I posted to the blog but it has been really busy here at the N4EK qth. We have done alot of upgrades to the house including new laminate floors which required completely removing all the radio equipment so the new floors could be installed. Shortly after that a trip to the Orlando Hamfest resulted in an upgrade to the main radio from a Yaesu FT1000MP to a TenTec Orion II. I'm really happy with this rig but I am still in the learning mode and finding out more everyday how to better utilize this rig.

73, Ed

Florida QSO Party 2008

2008-04-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the 2008 Florida QSO Party contest was run and I had a pretty good time this year operating low power mixed mode. I made a total of 563 contacts on 40, 20 and 15 meters. 370 of these were on CW. The 15 meter band never seemed to have much activity on when I checked so I only logged a total of 7 q's on that band. If I did not have to loose anytime on Sunday I probably would have hit the 700 q mark. All in all it was a good weekend considering the low sunspot numbers we are now experiencing.

73 ,

N4EK

Antenna Repairs and CQWW SSB

2008-03-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

Well I got the 160 meter inverted L repaired and the trees off the beverage antenna after all the bad weather from a few weeks ago. I did not work the CQWW SSB contest at all this time. I guess I wasn't in the mood and I'm starting too like CW tests more since they tend to be easier on the ears. At the end of March is the CQ WW WPX contest for phone. Maybe I will give that one a go since it is one I have never participated in that I can remember. In the mean time I been making some contacts with Clipperton Island since I needed them on CW. Till next time good DX to all.

73, Ed
N4EK

CQWW 160 SSB Contest a bust!

2008-02-28T07:10:00.000-08:00

Well the 160 meter ssb contest was not to be this year. On Friday afternoon, Feb.23rd we had some strong weather fronts move through which brought some strong thunderstorms. I don't like to be holding a key or wearing a headset when there is lightning in the area. Although the weather cleared up on Saturday I just was not in the mood to get on. On Tuesday Feb. 26th we had more strong weather move through with 60+ mile per hour gusts. A lot of trees broke off on top of the beverage antenna and the vertical portion of my inverted L broke off from the feed insulator on the remote tuning box and is now up in the top of a pine tree. Time for some more repairs. This weekend is the ARRl DX Phone contest. I will have some time to operate in this one except for time away on Saturday and Sunday morning. I will be operating as SOABLP. Hope to hear alot of good DX on with great band conditions.

73, Ed
N4EK

ARRL CW DX Contest

2008-02-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend proved to be a very busy one with lot's of other things happening besides the ham radio contest. I was able to get on a little on Friday night but had an early wakeup call for Saturday morning. I could not get back on till almost 12 noon. The same thing happened on Sunday so operating time was limited. I also was dealing with a high noise level which is very unusual in my area. It was really bad when ever I turned my beams east or southeast. Time to get out the AM radio and do some noise tracking. So i ended up with 185 q's and maybe some new DX countries worked on 80 meters. The beverage RX antenna was playing real well on 80 and countries out of Europe were really banging in on Saturday night. This coming weekend is the CQWW 160 phone contest. Maybe the conditions will be good with no weather fronts moving through the area which should make for quite band condtions.

73, Ed

N4EK

Orlando Hamfest

2008-02-11T11:13:00.000-08:00

The 2008 Orlando Hamfest is now history. It turned out to be a great weekend weather wise, not too cool and the sun was out most of the weekend. I managed to pickup all the small goodies I needed for various projects in the shack and a few things I want to build. The Florida Contest Group lunch and meeting was well attended with 69 members present. The group now has a total of 214 members and is growing all the time. All members introduced themselves and the new ones got a chance to tell a little about themselves. The group also received a plaque from the Alabama Contest Group for the most entries into the Alabama QSO party. Now it is time to get ready for ARRL DX CW Contest this weekend.

73, Ed
N4EK

CQWW 160 meter logs

2008-02-07T06:25:00.000-08:00

On Monday I uploaded my log from the CQWW 160 meter CW contest to CQ and to LOTW. I got QSL's for about 25% of the contacts which is a good percentage. I also uploaded the log to my computer which runs WIN-EQF for a general logging program. The ARRL CW DX contest is up next on February 16th and 17th. This weekend is the Orlando Hamcation and we will be heading there for the weekend. I will be looking for a few goodies that I need and attending the FCG meeting. This morning I have some repairs to do on one of the top guys on one of my towers so it is time to break out some tools and get to work.

73, ED
N4EK

CQWW 160 Meter CW Contest Results

2008-01-29T12:13:00.000-08:00

The CQWW 160 Meter CW contest for 2008 is now in the logbook. The computer showed about 8 hours of operating time. Since I had other things to do on Sunday, I made a few quick contacts on Sunday morning and spent about 45 minutes Sunday evening just before the end of the test. Total qso's was 225 with 15 DX countries and 42 states and Canadian provinces contacted. Total score 34,428 points. The best run i had was on Saturday evening between 0000z and about 0125z. I ran about 60 contacts before things started slowing down and i went back to search and pounce mode. All in all, it was a decent contest for me on 160 meters. I hope to get more radials down on the transmit antenna before next winter. Next up is the CQWW 160 meter phone contest in February. Time now to send in the logs to CQ and LOTW.

73 for now,

Ed N4EK

CQWW 160 Meter - First half!

2008-01-26T08:03:00.000-08:00

Well, the first night took off pretty good in the first hour and then the rate slowed down. So far I have 38 states and 10 DX countries in the log. Conditions were pretty good and the K9AY loop receive antenna was nice and quiet compared to the inverted L for transmit. All contacts so far have been made using search and pounce. Today there is a possibility of thunderstorms tonight so we will see what happens later today. If I can get on tonight i will try some running. Stay tuned for the results on Monday.
73, Ed N4EK

J5C DXpedition to Guinea-Bissau

2008-01-24T12:20:00.000-08:00

The DxPedition to J5C, Guinea-Bissau ended on January 22nd. I had worked another group J5Z on phone back in Sept. 2000. So my main goal was to work this team on CW. I managed to work them on 40m, 30m and 20m cw. I stayed on low power for all three contacts, about 100 watts using Hygain monobander beams on 40 and 20. I used a Cushcraft R7 vertical for the contact on 30 meters. The rig used was one of my Yaesu FT1000MP's. I had the Alpha Power 91B amplifier standing if necessary but never needed it. The team on this trip had some great operators. The next big Dxpedition will be to Clipperton Island in the Pacific just a little southwest of Mexico. Stay tuned for more dx..

CQWW 160 Meter CW Contest

2008-01-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

This weekend I will operating in the CQWW 160 Meter CW contest. I will be checking my computer logging program setup and also checking out my antennas. This contest starts on Friday evening and runs for forty-eight hours till Sunday evening. Lets hope for good conditions and low noise levels.