N4EMG: CQ from North Carolina

ARRL November SS not in the cards for me

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:29:00 +0000

As much as I was looking forward to this weekend's ARRL November SS contest, I'll be a sideline spectator. For several days I had a nagging ear ache that suddenly became intolerable yesterday. I went to the doctor and learned that my left ear drum had ruptured. Quite painful.

I still don't know how it happened. The only thing that I can recount is a slight popping noise a week or so ago right before the slow ache started. It kept on like that for a few days and then suddenly took a severe turn for the worse yesterday.

And while there's vast improvement from yesterday to today, I simply can't tolerate having headphones on and, frankly, any loud noises really do a number to that ear right now. Plus, my concentration level is shot. It's amazing how a slight change in elevation...say from a sitting position to standing up can impact the pressure on one's ear. So no contest for me.

While I hate that I'll miss it, on the plus side it'll give me some time to do some shack maintenance and perhaps fill out some QSL cards that I've been meaning to tend to for several weeks.

Hope everyone has a good contest.

LOTW quirks

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:20:00 +0000

I've noticed a strange behavior with LOTW and I wonder if anyone else has run across it too? I'm pretty religious about uploading my log and I exercise great care in keeping things current. My normal logger flags new QSO's, so each time I upload a new file I'm assured that the contacts I'm sending are the newest of the bunch. Once the file is exported to run through TQSL, the flags are removed.

I've checked to make sure that this feature works properly and it does. I probably shouldn't go this far, but I'm almost anal about making sure this is correct. I'm sure there's no harm in a little overlap, but just one of my quirks.

So, why can I periodically upload my entire log and suddenly be rewarded with a couple dozen new confirmations? I was under the impression that once you uploaded a contact to LOTW, it was there...forever. When a match comes along, bingo, a confirmation results.

After having this happen several times, I went back and rechecked the logs that were uploaded. QSO's that were coming back as newly confirmed had been previously sent (multiple times actually). The coincidence of this happening is just too great. Plus, it's not one or two contacts each time, it's bunches.

I'm not knocking LOTW, I am indeed grateful that we have this method for confirming QSL's. But I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this strange behavior? Upload your entire log and see if you don't suddenly see several new QSL confirmations.

K1ASS

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:24:00 +0000

K1ASS. Yes, that's right. K1ASS. I looked the callsign up at QRZ.com and, much to my surprise, apparently it is not taken. Same at the FCC. In case you missed the pleasure of 40 meters CW last night, you also missed K1ASS. And you missed how quickly a fairly well-mannered pileup can deteriorate.

As the pileup grew more unruly, I heard him last night calling ZY0T. Over and over. Right on top of ZY0T's transmit frequency even though he was working split. In fact, here's some proof that he was on -

He did a number, let me tell you. For at least 5 or 6 minutes straight he obliterated any copy on ZY0T. Then, just as you thought he might have tuned away, he was back for another 3 or 4 minutes worth. As I wrote in an earlier entry, I truly believe that this has become a new operating technique. Destroy any chances of anyone else working a DX station. Maybe the goal is for them to drive away everyone else and then easily work the DX? Hmmmm. Seems quite effective actually.

My guess is that he wanted to see his call spotted...after all, a distinct call like that shouldn't be ignored!

Along with K1ASS, the frequency cops were out in force last night. And I'm hear to tell you, these guys took charge last night with a vengeance. I know some of these guys mean well, Lord knows that there were enough folks needing gentle reminders that ZY0T was working split, but "UP UP UP UP UP UP UP UP UP UP" is a little overboard. Especially when it causes the DX to repeat his exchange three or four times.

I'm not sure what possesses someone to self-appoint the cop status? I suppose that I wouldn't mind it so much if they exercised a bit of restraint. I mean, is it really necessary to call out everyone, every single time? Or could we have just a tad of moderation? Apparently that's just not how it works, is it? While they didn't generate quite the level of QRM that K1ASS attained, the cops were a close second. Clearly it wasn't for lack of trying.

Contentment?

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:22:00 +0000

I read a nice entry on KE2YK's Random Oscillations blog today entitled, "LID Operator With the $10K Rig - or - Which way to the inlet?. It caused me to think about a minor revelation that I had the other night.

I am not in the market for a new radio. I repeat, no new radio for me. In fact, I'm starting to think that it will be a very long time before I'm going to even entertain the idea. Why? Because of something that I realized recently while reading a copy of DX Power, written by Eugene Tilton, K5RSG. And here's where I had a revelation, so to speak.

First, I bought that book back in the mid-1980's. It isn't current. I found it the other day while digging through a bunch of old boxes that hadn't been unpacked in...well...20-plus years. I'm not sure if it has been updated or not. But the interesting thing was that it mentioned several popular transceivers of the day...Drake TR-7, Kenwood TS-930 and Ts-940, Yaesu FT-One, Collins KWM-380, and others. All of these are fine radios and still draw a lot of interest and have a very faithful following. Some will swear that they're still among the best.

Second, given the timeframe, there was certainly no mention of the internet and only a brief acknowledgement of computers as an operator's aid. A cursory discussion of packet spotting was given.

It isn't one of my all-time favorite books, but it is well-written and it isn't a bad read at all. If you're interested in chasing DX, it's certainly worth the time. In fact, certain parts of it were extremely intriguing. It was very interesting to read about chasing DX just 20-some years ago and to think about how that's changed. It's akin to reading The Complete DX'er...only the first edition, and without the great operator stories. You know, back when separate transmitter and receivers were the way to go. You do remember that, don't you?

So how does this relate to not buying a new radio? Well, I'm not in the market for a radio to begin with, but it got me to thinking. It made me realize that here were all these fellows who worked all this DX without DSP. Without internet spotting networks. Without up-to-the-second updates on DXpeditions. Without Twitter. Without dozens of conveniences that we take for granted now (and, yet, it was JUST 25 years ago). But they still had to battle pileups, still had to battle QRM and QRN, still had to contend with antenna problems, still had to contend with LIDS, and still competed in contests. And they did it with radios that might be considered good in today's world, but no longer great. Certainly not regarded to be in the class of the top radios of today's offerings, despite what some might argue.

And I bet they could have the same DX success today, with the same old radios. Why? Because many of them were real, world-class operators. It isn't the radio, it's the operator that makes the difference. A great operator can hear more on my old Heathkit receiver that I used as a novice than a LID with a K3.

I'm certainly not at all opposed to getting the latest and greatest. And before you say that I'm just jealous of people who can run out and buy super expensive radios, I dream about it the same as you do. And one day I'm sure I will be plunking down a sizeable chunk of change for something new. But for the time being, I think I'm going to concentrate on trying to hone my skills and appreciate what I have. And coming to the realization that I don't really NEED a new radio - and not for a good long time either - has given me a nice feeling.

Now, what about a new antenna? Hmmmm....

Age of ham radio operators

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:14:00 +0000

For some time now there's been ongoing discussions and blogging about the aging of ham radio operators, especially in the United States. Concern has been expressed about how to best attract and keep new operators and young people. In essence, how to compete with the internet, social networking, and all the other daily distractions that you and I and everyone else faces. Or, how to best combine and adopt those 'distractions' into ham radio itself, making the best of all worlds. Wouldn't a young person be more likely to become interested in ham radio if the internet was a big part of it? And wouldn't they be more inclined to stay a part of it?

Those are important topics, unquestionably. And, like it or not, we're increasingly facing those challenges every day.

But I have a problem with a particular part of the concern being expressed. Namely, the worry over the apparent discovery that US contesters are a good 12 years on average older than their European counterparts. I'm not sure just how accurate or valid those results are, but let's assume that they are correct. My next question would be, does this only apply to contesters or does it apply to all of the ham population? Is the average age of a US ham 10 to 12 years older than their European counterpart? I don't know the answer to that. But for the sake of discussion, let's assume that it's somewhere around that.

My question to you is, is this necessarily a 'bad' thing? Suppose for a moment that that primarily younger group of ham licensees in Europe (or anywhere) is substandard in terms of quality - with respect to operating habits and behavior. I'm not saying that it is, but just go with me for a moment. Would you rather have a younger group of poor operators or an older group of good operators?

Let me put it another way. In my line of work, we often evaluate and subcontract with outside engineering firms to do certain parts of our business. One of the criteria we examine is how much experience a firm has. If the average age of one firm is 50 and the average age of another is 36, I can tell you who gets bumped to the top of the list. Is that a definitive and always accurate barometer of that firm's capabilities? No, but more often than not there's some merit to it. Here's another. Do you want a doctor with 25 years of experience operating on you or a doctor with 5? Again, most are going to favor the doctor with more experience. That doesn't ALWAYS equate to the 'right' choice, but odds are in favor of experience.

Yes, I know, one can point out exceptions to both of those examples. But experience comes with doing something over and over. Experience comes with age. It has to. Because as you do things over and over, you get older, right? Just because European contesters are younger, are they better? Is the contesting world benefitting or suffering because of this? Does a group with 10 years experience in contesting fare well against a group with 20? I don't know, I'm asking. OK, I've beat that dead horse long enough.

I ask you to think about how operating habits have become since no-code licenses have become available. Can anyone say that they've improved? As someone who entered the hobby when there weren't pools of questions and answers readily available, took a code test, and then became inactive, returning 20 years later when everything had changed, I know the answer to that question. No, operating habits have deteriorated to mayhem at times.

But this isn't an essay to slam youth or debate about code/no-code. The rules are what they are and we have to live with them (or change them). But the only way to improve the quality of life on the bands is to promote better operating habits and let our on-the-air actions and behavior guide newcomers and those who aren't following "good operating practice".

Before we go off the deep end about how old we're getting and how ham radio is going to go down the toilet because of it, how about letting our experience and knowledge count for something? Just taking steps to get more young people involved isn't going to improve anything unless they learn and follow the right way. Do you want more people on HF who don't know what "split" means? Do you really think that a single multiple choice question (with the answer marked no less) in a study guide is going to teach them what "split" is?

This is where having an 'older' ham population should prove advantageous, wouldn't you think? Since we've been around the block, shoudn't we know the right way to operate? Isn't it our obligation to make sure that younger hams getting started in the hobby know this and that it becomes ingrained in them? Second nature.

So, just because the numbers show that US hams are older than hams in other parts of the world, why not turn that into a positive? At one time it was called being an elmer. I hardly ever hear that term anymore. Maybe its taken on a bad connotation that I'm not aware of? Maybe it sounds old-fashioned and "square"? Incidentally, my 13 year old daughter hates it when I use the word "groovy", so, naturally, I take every opportunity to use it in front of her (Daddy, you're such a doofus). So maybe we need to find another word besides "elmer"? Maybe it is the "groovy" of ham radio? But the point is, so what if our average age is 10 years older than European hams? Can we not share the knowledge that we are supposed to have from our 'advanced age' to teach others and better the experience for all?

Realization

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:36:00 +0000

When I read about the DXpedition to Glorioso Island I became very intrigued. On almost every list of the 'most-wanted' or 'most-needed' countries, Glorioso ranks highly. I've seen it as high as #4. When I saw how long they planned to stay I thought that I might have a chance, especially towards the end of their stay.

Yeah right.

With my extremely modest station I've had trouble even hearing them for any length of time. And forget trying to figure out any pattern to help guess when you might catch them on a particular band. About the only 'guaranteed' appearances that I've been able to deduce have occurred on bands that I have no shot at. I'm not sure what's made them seem so elusive?

It doesn't help when they (the DX) says "5-20 UP". That seems sort of wide to me and kind of presumptuous in the sense that they may generate pileups that interfere with ongoing QSO's. A 5-10 split would seem a little more reasonable. I've read that they've experienced equipment problems, both with radios and with keeping antennas in the air. And I hear that they have to take mandatory breaks to perform maintenance on the generators. That's what I "hear" and read.

But the most disheartening thing has been the continuous and intentional QRM. It seems especially harsh on 30 meters for some reason. Frankly, the QRM has been so strong and unrelenting that I can't hear them with any degree of certainty of who they're coming back to. And, if I can't hear them the majority of the time, I'm not going to just call blindly hoping that I'll get lucky.

I had hoped that the QRM'ing would taper off after a few days. No such luck. Several posts online are blaming the spotting networks. Maybe. I don't know. The entries I've seen have been over the top, rude, and often obscene. At this point, whenever I see them spotted, I'll give a quick listen but each and every time there's a bunch of LIDS on the frequency.

Unless something changes, I guess I'll miss out on this one. On the plus side, there does seem to be other DX on the bands that isn't receiving the attention of the hordes calling Glorioso, making it easier to work.

A new operating method

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:32:00 +0000

Someone needs to write a book on an aspect of ham radio that seems to be wildly popular but hardly addressed in any books that I can find. It's not a new mode - it involves modes already in use - and it doesn't require much skill, at least not from what I can tell. Maybe it does and I've not yet uncovered the secret. It's a new operating method.

As far as I can tell, it goes something like this -

You search the web for DXpeditions and make detailed notes about when they're supposed to start, times they intend to operate and the frequencies they plan to use. Then, as the time draws near, you make sure that your antenna is in order, that your linear amplifier is in top-notch shape, and that your keyer and microphones are all functioning perfectly.

The next part is easy. You wait until you see the DXpedition listed on the spotting networks. You make note of the frequency and quickly tune to their transmit frequency. There's really no need to worry about whether they're working split - you won't need the frequency they're listening on.

Then, as soon as you're able to hear the DX station transmitting, you decide whether or not you want to send an endless string of dits or dahs. Or, for extra fun, you can even alternate. You make sure that your amplifier is in the transmit mode and you let it rip. Right on the DX's transmit frequency. You do this as long as you're able to stand it. Or, perhaps you shove a book against the keyer and let it do the work for you.

And that's it! As far as I can tell, that's all you have to do. Sounds easy, I know. Surely there must be more to it and perhaps some of you can enlighten me as to whether or not I've got it completely right. I know there's some variations I've not covered. For instance, you can forgo the keyer altogether and use your microphone to transmit music or obscenities. I'm not sure what level of license you need to do this, or whether you need one at all.

It may sound as though I'm making light of this practice. I assure you I'm not. It's worse than I've ever heard it. What's the answer? I don't know. I'm at a total loss. How can this be dealt with? I don't know of any way to identify or pinpoint the people who seem hellbent on doing this. And as far as I can tell, they're winning.

Hex beam finally permanent

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:07:00 +0000

Since last December I've had a love-hate relationship with the multi-band hex beam that I bought from WI4USA. Initially I waffled back and forth on the performance - I seemed to be getting out just fine but the noise level was so high at times that I could barely hear who I was calling. Then it nearly was destroyed in a freak snowstorm. Then I suffered because of not being able to raise it above 25 feet. Then my rotor failed.

Well, enough whining already. I've now installed a brand new ham duty rotor and managed to push my mast up to 40 feet, placing the 20 meter wires around 45-46 feet. It now clears the roofline of my house and I'm beginning to feel better about its performance. The noise level has dropped dramatically, although there are still certain directions that are quite a bit noisier than others. Thankfully the interaction with my roof and gutters seems to have diminished. And its now as quiet as my wire antennas are - for the most part. And some signals are 3-4 S-units louder on the hex. My SWR has dropped as well, although I never felt as though I could complain much about that when it was lower, it fell within claimed specs.

But despite all the improvements, there are some realizations too. This weekend I could hear a fellow ham who lives in the same county working stations in the Asian contest that I couldn't even dig out of the noise. I could hear some - and even worked a few - but not many. Most were unintelligible. Clearly he could hear them (and they could hear him). Switching to other antennas, however, revealed that the hex was at least making those I could copy much louder. Without the hex, I wouldn't have heard hardly any Asians.

The realization is that he has a monstrous Force 12 yagi at 100 feet and I have a small antenna at 45. But it's still a step in the right direction. And not bad, especially considering how tough this continued low point in propagation has proven to be.

If I had it all to do over again, I think there's a good chance that I would have gone in another direction. But in fairness to the hex, I am able to work almost anything I hear in Europe and most of the Middle East and Africa. And the problem until recently has been actually hearing the DX. I don't anticipate doing anything to change the setup until the next sunspot cycle kicks in. By then I may be quite pleased with my little antenna.

What's your station's "ratio"?

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:23:00 +0000

I was reading an older post on Eham the other day and it really started to make me think about my own station and my spending habits. Over the past couple of years I've made what I consider to be some good purchases and some boneheaded purchases. And when it comes to the boneheaded purchases, the vast majority of them ended up becoming repeat purchases, as in I had to buy something else very similar to replace my initial mistake. Those kinds of deals can not only blow a ham's budget in short order, but infuriate you at the same time.

But the gist of the post I read was about how to build your station by following a simple rule of a ratio. The goal was not to build a superstation, rather to work towards developing a station that will be somewhat competitive in contests and certainly competitive in the DXing realm. As someone who enjoys participating in some of the major contests but often uses those to hunt for new DX or as a backup QSO for unconfirmed countries, this article was right up my alley, despite the fact that it was nearly 8 years old.

The author said that you should strive to have a 50:50 (or 1:1) ratio between what you spend on radios and assorted items (no mention of amplifiers) and your antennas. This struck me as a reasonable premise, since there's a similar theory that's used in audiophile circles, only it's a ratio of what you spend on your amp/CD player/turntable compared to your speakers. Why spend $5K on an amp, only to play your music through $500 speakers?

As with most Eham articles, the commenters spent a lot of time trying to shoot holes in this approach, but many agreed. And, naturally, it turned to the absurd (again, as with most Eham articles), why can't you have 45:55? What's wrong with 70:30? Blah, blah, blah.

But what this did is make me think about my own station and what my own ratio might be. I have 2 primary HF radios. I bought both on the used market, but I spent roughly $2500 for a Yaesu FT-1000MP with several filters and in like-new shape, and an Elecraft K2 in nearly pristine condition. I'm very pleased with both. Ignoring all the peripherals, like keyers, computers, monitors, switches, I then spent roughly $1200 on a multi-band vertical and a hex beam, including a 40 foot mast. Hmmmm, my ratio is nearly 2:1 in favor of equipment. I've spent twice as much on radios as I have antennas. Toss in those other assorted items and it gets even worse.

So what does that mean? Is my station crap? No, of course not. Even though I've blown this suggestion out of the water, I feel that I'm able to do pretty well on certain bands, even with conditions as they are. But it has made me realize that perhaps the other stations, the stations that I'm contacting, are doing the majority of the work. They're hearing me because they have lots of hardware in the sky or because I'm at the right place at the right time, or because I'm simply patient enough and listen a lot more than I call. It's certainly not because I'm delivering a killer signal. Average, at best.

And, fact is, if I only had ONE radio instead of two, then my ratio would be right at the recommendation.

Now, to see if I can get more hardware in the sky!

Failed Rotor

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 19:20:00 +0000

Yep, a closer inspection revealed that the light-duty rotor that I'd been using to turn my hex beam was toast. When I opened the bottom door to inspect if perhaps a wire had come loose, plastic gear parts fell out immediately. Once I removed most of the weight of the antenna from the rotor I found that it would still respond somewhat, but the motor was so weak that I could prevent it from turning simply from touching it with my hand. This kind of confused me since I sort of suspected that my rough handling of the mast when raising it the other day might have damaged the gearing, but the motor's weak behavior was unexpected.

Nevertheless, as I saw it, I had two options. Run out to Radio Shack...er, "The Shack", and buy another $70-$80 rotor to get things operational in a hurry, or plunk down the cash for a ham-duty rotor which would mean ordering online and a waiting period. Just how important was instant gratification?

There was another factor that came into play actually. I had someone at my house who could help me lift the antenna again and raise the mast back to the 45 foot level, but they were only going to be there for a few more hours...a few more hours today. That was almost enough to sway me to run out to buy another light-duty rotor (heck, I could buy nearly 4 of them for the price I was paying for ONE ham-duty rotor), but after thinking it through, why take a chance? Buy the right rotor for the job and be done with it once and for all. I also didn't relish the thought of lowering and raising the mast a couple of times a year to inspect, repair, or replace the rotor again.

But what all of this does convince me of is that using a small rotor intended for a tv antenna is NOT a good idea, despite what some manufacturers might say. Yes, the hex beam is a light-weight antenna and, yes, it seems to present a profile that doesn't catch the wind, but it is still somewhat unwieldy. A few folks on the yahoo group for hex beams had said as much and tried to warn the rest of us, but when you're trying to be cheap, well, you know how easy it is to try and save a buck. I've also heard/read that many of the less expensive rotors are now being manufactured overseas (ie, China) and aren't what they used to be. I don't know if I totally buy into that, I think it's an easy way to shift blame for what amounts to making a poor decision in the first place. All in all, I think these folks saying that you can use a light-weight tv rotor are doing people a disservice by saying it's feasible.

Anyway, hopefully I'll be back on the air by the middle of next week.

Hex beam raised to 45 feet

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:30:00 +0000

I've been talking about it for a long time but I finally got around to raising my hex beam to 45 feet. It had been at about 25 feet since I installed it last December. Man, what a difference it's made! The noise level that I suffered from has all but disappeared and I'm finally getting the kind of results that I had hoped for when I bought it. I had never doubted the transmit ability, but I had grown quite disenchanted with my ability to hear with it. The noise level, which I had always read was supposed to be very low with a properly configured hex, was so high that I was unable to copy many stations that were down in the mud. I was very disappointed.

Now I'm starting to think that I was getting too much interaction with the roof of the house at the lower height. Since the roof pitches away from the mast and the antenna, by raising it essentially 20 more feet, I believe I've eliminated that problem. The noise level is now no higher than on any other antenna that I have and I'm really seeing the gain work in my favor.

But now I have another problem. I damaged my rotor whenever I raised it. It will only rotate about 45 degrees now. Either something is binding or my efforts to raise it damaged some of the gears and its now hosed. The thought of lowering it again to check it out is giving me a headache, but it'll have to be done. I'm using a tv rotor, so there's no braking to speak of. Admittedly, the actual act of raising it was not without bumps and bruises, so it's quite conceivable that I caused the problem. Nevertheless, I think the claims that a tv rotor is fine to use on a hex are somewhat exaggerated, especially if you live in a windy area or don't treat it with kid gloves. I had considered buying a Yaesu G-450A when I last stopped at HRO in Atlanta, but like many things, they didn't have one in stock, would have to order it, and I left without pursuing it any further. Kind of kicking myself over that one.

But at least I'm finally realizing what I hoped would be the case when I bought it, good performance. I will say this, some of the parts were either a poor grade of stainless or not stainless at all. Several areas showed signs of rust or pitting. Little bit surprised at that. Nothing looked to be compromised by any means, but still didn't expect to find that.

Hidden Gems

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 23:37:00 +0000

Not much time for posting lately as I've been traveling for work the past 4 weeks. I did manage to sneak another stop in at Ham Radio Outlet in Atlanta (I needed to stop for gas, heh-heh, how convenient), but only bought some coax.

Today I found something that will help me continue to improve my station's grounding. I buried a couple of 8 foot ground rods outside of the shack before I started all of this traveling, but I've been unhappy with the piece of crap MFJ window pass-through that I bought a while back. The puny grounding screw is a joke, as is the rest of the assembly. I should have known better. When I opened the box I saw that the darn plate that contains all the coax connectors and grounding screw was placed cock-eyed across the piece of wood. If they can't get that square, what do you expect? I should have sent it back right then.

Anyway, while working today on a temperature controller I kept stepping on something that was laying in the floor. At first glance I thought it was a slat of wood. But after kicking it out of the way, I heard a distinctive 'clunk'. It was metallic. A closer inspection revealed that it was a 6" by 18" piece of solid copper. Its about 3/8 thick too. This will be ideal for a central grounding plate to tie all of my equipment too. The people who work there said it came out of a large generator and told me to take it. I quickly got it out of sight before they changed their mind :)

I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger and buy the assembly that I'd seen online now!

Pssst. Wanna buy some speakers?

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:42:00 +0000

This post isn't about ham radio at all. One of my other favorite hobbies is collecting and restoring vintage audio/hi-fi equipment. A couple of years ago I was perusing some of the more popular audio boards and read a few entries about a scam involving speakers that seemed to be happening in some of the larger metro areas, especially here in the South. The scam goes like this - a couple of fellows will approach you in a parking lot and introduce themselves. They'll go on to say that they've got some high quality speakers that they weren't able to deliver and the 'boss' told them to just get rid of them, rather than bring them back to the warehouse. In other words, get whatever they can for them and be done with it.

The scam is, the speakers are boxed and labeled as a reputable, high-quality brand of speakers, and actually appear to be genuine. But appearances are not as they seem and the speakers are junk. Generally the guys seem happy to take a couple hundred dollars for speakers that retail over $1,000 - $1,500.

Clearly they nab a lot of unsuspecting souls eager to score a quick bargain.

This scam happened to me two days ago while I stopped for gas in Nashville. I knew the story so I didn't fall for it, but I let them do their song and dance. It was actually rather tough to get away from them, and I finally just had to drive off.

Beware if you encounter any of these dopes, I'd hate for more people to get ripped off.

Hotel room + ham radio = disaster

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:59:00 +0000

I'm out of town this week working in southwestern Mississippi. Knowing that I'd be away from home all week I decided to bring my FT-857D (which I never use anymore at home), a power supply, an iambic key, a balun, assorted cables, and wire for a 20 meter dipole.

For the longest time I've been meaning to bring a radio and enjoy my evenings tuning around. The first night of traveling I was too tired to lug the stuff in from the van, but Tuesday night I stayed in McComb, MS, and was fortunate enough to be on the top floor (4th) of the Hampton Inn. I thought, "Great, couldn't ask for a better situation." To top it off, they screwed up my reservation and upgraded me to a suite, which meant double the typical room area - more room to spread out my antenna! In fact, the 33 feet spread out nicely.

Now, I didn't have high hopes for this setup and I figured that I wouldn't manage any contacts. But at home I can string a random wire out across the floor and hear stations with ease, so I figured I might have a shot. I didn't expect what happened.

I couldn't hear a darn thing. Not a single signal on ANY band. My noise level was pegged, S9+, so something was either generating a ton of noise or the walls were made of kryptonite. It was a brand new hotel, so who knows? I made sure that nothing was running in my room, no a/c, no tv, no fridge, but it made no difference whatsoever.

I've taken my radio to work, which has oodles of industrial, high-voltage machines running and had no problems picking up signals. Needless to say, I was more than a little disappointed to not be able to hear anything. I may try it again this evening as I'm staying in Georgia, just west of Atlanta. I'm on the bottom floor, but it's worth a try, I guess. Maybe there was something running elsewhere in the hotel in Mississippi that wiped everything out?

My to-do list

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:55:00 +0000

What's the weakest part of your ham station? If you had to pick something about your station that's not quite up to snuff, what would it be? And, why haven't you taken steps to change matters?

For me, there are three things that really bug me about my station. OK, there's really more than just three, but these are three that I've known about, thought about, and wanted to improve for a long time, but for various reasons I just haven't gotten around to it.

First, I need to improve my station's grounding. And while I'm making admissions, I went a long time without ANY grounding straps connected to my radios. Yes, I know, shame, shame, shame. That's been remedied and I've buried a few 8 foot grounding rods throughout my back yard. All of my antennas are now grounded. Perhaps not according to strict guidelines, but better than nothing. I'm slowly making progress but not fast enough. The builder of my hex beam suggested that I pay closer attention to ensuring a good ground and that's stirred my interest again. Maybe now I'll get off my duff and continue improving it?

Do I notice a difference by having more and better grounds? No, not really. But that's not the point, is it? I know I need to do this.

Number two - I need to raise my hex. I have the ability to raise the mast to 40 feet. It is sitting around 20 feet now, putting the antenna around 25 feet. Why haven't I done this? I can't do it by myself. I need to summon help, as in coerce my neighbors to help.

The last one is that I need to improve the ergonomics of my station. I have a great u-shaped desk that's sturdy and very roomy. It is so roomy that it allows me to pile stacks of crap all over it and still have room to move around and not feel cramped. That's not good, because it encourages me to keep piling more crap on it. My two primary radios sit on either side of a dual-monitor setup. What I want to do is build or buy a small riser that will allow me to place both radios underneath the riser and have my two monitors above. That way they'll be positioned directly in front of me.

Another boneheaded thing that I've done is to position my rotor on the right side of the desk away from everything else. Why did I do that? The power plug wouldn't reach any further when I set it up eons ago and that's where it has remained. Talk about lazy. Same for my antenna switcher. I have to reach over and lean completely across the desk to switch antennas. Why is it there? The coax jumpers wouldn't reach any closer to the middle of the desk. It'd take me a half-hour to fix, tops. Lazy.

My computer is tucked away underneath the desk, right where it should be. Except the side is off where I installed a 2-port serial port card. I ought to put that back on before the spiders start invading. My Winkeyer only has two cords, a USB cord and a cord from my iambic keyer. They're spread out all over creation like a couple of snakes, always in the way. In fact, cords are everywhere, power cords, keyer cords, coax cables, USB cords.

Whenever I walk into the shack I marvel at the huge desk and then shudder when I look at the mess that I've made and do nothing about. I guess it's more about operating to me. If I'm in the shack, I'm on the radio listening, not tidying up, not hiding cords, not moving equipment closer. I'm operating.

And, you know, maybe that's more important than a clean desk.

Hex beam woes continue

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Since installing my multi-band hex beam antenna just after Christmas of last year I've watched its performance degrade progressively and I'm puzzled as to why it's happening. Along the way, I've learned two very important points:

1. They don't like heavy wet snow

2. If you're going to buy commercially, do your research

Item #1, heavy wet snow, is something that I wrote about back in March when an especially wet snowstorm swept through my area and pretty much disfigured and nearly destroyed my hex. You can see pictures here. Surprisingly, once I took it down, damage was minimal.

Item #2, I thought I'd done my research on where to buy. WI4USA had a nice website and several testimonials. I spoke with him on two occasions and felt comfortable about my purchase. Since March I've attempted to contact WI4USA several times. His website is no more. Finally, this past Sunday, I heard from him via email. It seems that he lost his job in Atlanta, has moved to Memphis, and no longer can produce hex kits. I hate to hear that anyone has lost their job. I think all of us have come into contact with at least one person (often more than one) who has been affected by the economic situation we find ourselves in. Again, I hate to hear that.

WI4USA did offer some useful suggestions that I am going to try. Most centered around ensuring a good ground. After trying them, I will list what I end up doing and the outcomes here. I feel much better now that Thom replied and I appreciate the fact that he's not thrown in the towel. I wish him the best.

The situation is that the noise level is so high now that I can't hardly copy any stations. Swapping coax has no effect. My two other antennas, a G5RV and a Zero-Five vertical don't exhibit any where close to the same level of noise. And it is getting worse, almost daily. SWR checks on all bands reveal nothing, all normal or as expected. Clearly something is amiss. My next step is to take the darn thing down, take it apart, ohm out the center post, rebuild it, and try again. Along with Thom's suggestions.

Even after it suffered through the surprise snowfall it worked fine. The last time I can remember using it effectively was during the CQ WPX CW contest. It seemed ok then. More this weekend.

Uneasy predicament

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:30:00 +0000

What would you do if you ran across a really poor operator on the air...and you knew him? When I say "poor operator", what I mean is, someone who is probably not intentionally causing QRM but maybe they don't know any better and the QRM is a side-effect?

Would you tell him or her? Would you just let it go? I know if someone posed those questions to me, I'd probably say that it depends on the circumstances.

Well, I find myself in that predicament and I don't know what to do.

Here's the details - a nearby ham - and by "nearby" I mean that he lives within 5 miles of me - has been active on 20 meters lately. I don't know him well, but I have made his acquaintance. In recent days, he's been trying to work some DX stations on SSB and he's not having much success. Either they're not hearing him, he's not in the right place at the right time, or they're ignoring him because of his behavior.

He's incessantly calling out of turn, calling when the DX stations are calling for specific stations (not him), tromping over ongoing QSO's, and calling before the DX stations have ended their contacts . And it's not a random, isolated thing - it's an on-going, long term approach. And I've encountered it at least 4 times this week. In fact, each time that I've stumbled across him, he's committed some sort of screwball action.

To top it off, instead of using standard phonetics, he's using ridiculous words that a foreign speaking ham is unlikely to understand. This isn't his call, but let's say it ends in "LHU". Instead of saying Lima - Hotel - Uniform, or even London - Honolulu - United, he might say something like Long - Handle - Underwear. I know that's not a crime, but c'mon, he's not doing himself any favors and he's probably angering or confusing the DX.

There have been some, not many, on the air comments directed towards him by other hams trying to work the DX, but he seems oblivious or undeterred. Maybe he's not hearing them? I would think he has to be, since I'm hearing them. I don't agree with their approach to call him names, but I can understand their frustration. He's kind of spoiling the fun, you know?

Now, here's the kicker, the fellow has been a ham for a long time (extra class), licensed since the mid-30's, in fact. So, I'm sorta torn between the following:

1. Cut him some slack, maybe his hearing isn't that good.
2. Leave it be, maybe his station is marginal and he really doesn't know if the DX is coming back to him or not (ok, probably not true, if he heard them to begin with...unless he's relying on spots only).
Or,
3. Tell him because he ought to know better no matter how long he's been a ham.

I know if I were doing something boneheaded and didn't realize it, I'd want someone to tell me. How would I react? Hard to say, depends on what I've done. But my dilemma is, does he know what he's doing and just not care? If that's the case, then, indeed, it's wrong. I feel that I have an obligation to point it out to him, but at the same time, will I just make a bigger mess of things and should I just leave it alone and tune away?

What would you do?

Mandatory vacation and ham radio

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:57:00 +0000

For the past couple of years the company I work for has shutdown the week of July 4th. They've always "encouraged" that employees take vacation during this stretch, but didn't require it until recently. I don't really enjoy having to burn vacation like this because I certainly wouldn't pick the busiest and most expensive time of the summer to go somewhere. But since a number of our customers also close during this week, I guess it makes sense from a company standpoint.

This year, however, they waited until last Friday to make the official announcement. That was unbelievable. "Oh, and by the way, everyone needs to take vacation next week, we'll be closed." Not that several of us hadn't suspected as much, and a few of us had some inside info that indicated a strong possibility of it happening, but that's a really sorry way of handling the matter if you ask me. My wife had no chance of taking vacation where she works on such short notice, so we're basically hosed. That's the case with everyone I've spoken with.

But what will be, will be. So, trying to make the best of a crappy situation I decided to take a trip to Atlanta and visit Ham Radio Outlet. Last year, while working near Cleveland, I visited AES, so this was a good opportunity to compare. While the HRO store in Atlanta is a good bit smaller than AES in Cleveland, it was stocked to the gills. I don't recall really seeing anything at one and not the other. The Cleveland store probably had more stock in the back, just guessing.

The one aspect where I'll give the store in Atlanta a leg up is their radio demonstration setup. AES more or less had a half dozen radios set up in the corner, while HRO had an entire wall configured with all the major brand offerings. Very impressive. Two radios really caught my eye, the new ICOM IC-7600 and the Yaesu FT-2000. I spent a good bit of time toying with both. Having an FT-1000MP myself, I had a good level of familiarity with the 2000. I had no familiarity with the 7600. Given the time of day that I was there, about the only thing that I could listen to was 20 meters and I concentrated mostly in the CW portion of the band.

From an ergonomic standpoint, I felt far more at home with the 2000. I'm sure a lot of that was because of my experience with the 1000, but the ICOM felt, well, rather flimsy by comparison. First of all, it was quite a bit smaller than I expected. The Yaesu dwarfed it. The main tuning knob on the ICOM - a lot of positive comments have appeared on eham - was awful, in my opinion. Small and rather clumsy. The finger dimple was teeny-tiny and I had trouble spinning the dial. It didn't spin smoothly. If there's one thing that I'm kind of picky about, I love having a good feel to the main tuning knob.

Clearly the 2000 is a radio that you can look at and figure out rudimentary functions the first time you sit down with it. Knobs are everywhere. Forget doing that with the ICOM. The knobs are very small and a lot of the features are menu-driven. And I don't know the menu structure, so I was at a disadvantage and you'd have to discredit my comparison to the Yaesu accordingly.

Maybe it was that the 2000 reminded me so much of the 1000 - sure, steady, solid, BIG feel. It was also noticeably larger than the FT-950, which I hadn't realized.

From a performance standpoint, truthfully, I couldn't tell that much difference in the limited time that I had and the manner that I tested them. Signals sounded the same on one as they did the other, same levels, same sound, same, same, same. The display on the 7600 was very cool. The bandscope was very neat and I can see how that would be a really nice thing to have. Interestingly, they had the 2000 hooked up to a monitor, so the same thing was available for it too. But, clearly adding that capability would be extra cost for the 2000 and not the 7600.

But, again, given the time of day and the lack of signals, I didn't really get much opportunity to fiddle with the DSP capabilities, plus, customers were in and out, some looking over my shoulder - lots of extraneous noise around. Very informal test.

The 7600 was priced at roughly $3300 and the 2000 around $2300, I think. I don't know if the ICOM needs an external power supply - I think it does - and I believe that the model of 2000 that I was looking at has a 120 VAC supply built-in, like the 100-watt version of the 1000 does.

Not a bad way to spend a mandatory vacation :)

Zero-Five - all good things must come to an end

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:30:00 +0000

The Zero-Five streak is history!

What the devil am I talking about? I'm talking about the run of 68 consecutive perfect ratings of "5" reviews at eham.net for their 43' multiband vertical antenna. Review #69 was the review to change the course of history...it was a 3 out of 5. A three! Not even a 4, a darned 3! No more 5.

Well, in case you're really intrigued now, it appears that the bottom has fallen out completely...two reviews later, someone gave it a two! 2 out of 5! So not only is the streak dead, but the naysayers are coming out of the woodwork. Someone must've had sour grapes.

Those of you who follow my blog know that I use three different antennas on HF, a Zero-Five multiband vertical (43 feet), a WI4USA-manufactured hex beam (G3TXQ design), and a good ol' G5RV.

The Zero-Five was my primary antenna for all bands before I installed the hex beam. I only switch to the G5RV for those times where the noise level is so high that the signals on the vertical and the hex are nearly obliterated. Often the wire antenna often seems to help. Not always. When I was shopping for a replacement to my Hustler 4BTV, I took a long hard look at the Zero-Five before plunking down the rather sizeable chunk of cash it costs. In fact, one of the very things that made me the most uneasy was the 60-something absolutely perfect "5" reviews at eham.net. Seemed too good to be true. Like maybe the deck was being stacked, or a couple of ringers thrown in? But 60 ringers? In the end, unless you're writing all of those yourself, that's a lot of people to pursuade. There had to be some truth to it. And a little deception too.

I mentioned that to the builder/designer, Tom, N9ZV, and he said he understood my apprehension. He didn't really give me a reason why it was the case, but in the end I felt pretty at ease with his approach and I bought it.

Let me say this. On 20 and above, the hex is almost always a better antenna. Sometimes a far better antenna. At times there's really no comparison. There are times where I can hear and easily copy a station on the hex that I cannot hear AT ALL on the vertical. But this doesn't really surprise me. After spending the dough for the hex, I'm happy that's the case, in fact. My vertical is mounted in the clear with roughly 60-70 random length radials. I don't buy into the notion that you need to cut the radials a certain length. Most of mine are at least 35 feet or more. Some have been shortened by an errant lawn mower :) I feed it with LMR400, to minimize my losses. Does it really make that much difference? I don't know, but it makes me feel good.

Anyway, on 30 and 40 meters, the thing is absolutely killer. Those comments about being able to bust pileups with 100 watts - yeah, you can believe 'em. It's true. If I can hear 'em, it doesn't take very long. And I'm not kidding either. On 80, it drops off significantly and on 160, it isn't worth much at all.

So, for me, there's two questions. One, do I feel that I got my money's worth to be incredibly effective on TWO bands (40 and 30), so-so on another two (20 and 17), and lousy on four (10, 15, 80, and 160)? Well, since I'm going to use the hex on 20-10 almost always, and I don't hang out on 80 or 160 unless there's a contest going on...gosh, I don't know. 30 and 40 meters are pretty important to me and I LOVE being effective on those bands, soooooooo, I'm leaning towards saying, "yeah" - I think I got my money's worth. And once the sunspots start pouring in (heh-heh), I may even feel different about 15 and 10.

The second question, would I give it a 5 in an eham review? Well...no. I'd give it a 4. Actually, I'd give it a 4.5, but since that's not a possibility, I'd have to say "4".

I'm just glad I wasn't the first one to post and break the streak!

On a sidenote, in the past couple of days, I've noticed that the website for WI4USA no longer exists - there's a page that says "Coming Soon". I'm not sure what's up with that, maybe Thom has changed hosting companies or experienced trouble or maybe he's redoing his webpage?

Random thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:33:00 +0000

I have read several blog entries and reflector postings recently about "Xtreme" contesting. You can read more about it here: http://cqww.com/CQ_WW_Xtreme_Rules.pdf. There's a lot of good discussion about this on the CQ Contesting reflector. Along with this are several ongoing discussions about modifying or adding categories to various contests to award or recognize operators who are unable to compete the entire contest. For instance, an op might take his best hour or his best 6 hours and enter his results in a special category. Also, many suggestions have been made to increase the awards for low power entries. Seems that there's a push to encourage semi-serious contestors, who, undeniably, play a large role in helping Big Gun stations achieve their totals.

Being more of a purist, I'm kind of wishy-washy on what I've read regarding Xtreme contesting. But I recognize that if we, collectively, are going to advance ham radio through available and new technology we're going to have to try new things. Doesn't mean all of them will work out, but why not try? As many have pointed out, things that seemed outlandish just a few years ago are perfectly acceptable and considered 'standard' nowadays. Plus, it's not going to change how I participate. At least not right now.

I have stronger feelings about increasing the number of awards and creating special categories for competitors who can't go the full distance in a contest.

When I participate in a contest, I know beforehand that I stand a snowball's chance in hell of winning or receiving an award. There's no way. I'm not good enough. But does that stop me? Heck no. I still have fun. Would I love to be recognized for some accomplishment? Sure, who doesn't enjoy some recognition? But I don't want to be recognized for something "less than" what the contest is supposed to be about. And I don't want a special category created so that I might stand a better chance. It's like not keeping score in a kid's soccer game. What's the first thing out of the kid's mouth? "Who won?" And tell me this, does the answer, "You're all winners", ever work? Not a chance. Tell that to a kid who tried their hardest. Even 5 year olds want to know, who won?

The other night I went to my daughter's band concert. Afterwards, every kid got an award. Every kid. I suppose that creates a 'feel-good' moment (and a photo op for the parents) but afterwards, while driving a van load of kids home all I heard was how unfair it was that EVERY kid got an award, especially those who didn't try hard or contribute. Perhaps there's a lesson to be learned?

Now, of course, no one is talking about everyone getting an award or a 'thanks for participating' plaque from ham radio contests. So I've taken this to an extreme. And I'm not saying that the present categories are perfect, but if something prevents you from operating the full time of the contest, then so be it. Better luck next time. If you go all out for an hour and rack up some incredible amount of contacts, is that worthy of an award if you shut it down after an hour while everyone else puts in 12 hours or the full amount? Now that may seem harsh and, yes, it means that us low power semi-contesters won't be getting any awards, but I'm ok with that. I know some may feel strongly the other way and I respect that.

Interesting stuff.

Search and Pounce update

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:05:00 +0000

Back in the middle of April I wrote an entry about how effective Search and Pounce really is for a low power (little pistol) part-time contest station. What kind of scores are really possible with that kind of setup and approach? I had some good responses and comments and I thought I'd revisit that briefly, since there was a similar thread not long ago on the CQ-Contest reflector.

In CQ WPX CW I managed just over 500 QSO's - all S&P. That's NOT 24 hours of operating, probably closer to 12 actual operating hours, with several breaks and such. I have no idea what my rates were (I need to look), but that averages out to just over 40 QSO's per hour. Certainly nothing to set the world on fire, but considering that the bulk of those QSO's took place in the first 6 or 7 hours, along with a rush at the end, I probably had a few hours of decent rates.

Again, if I could ever manage to work an entire contest, then my figures might be more valid or comparable.

And I should add, I don't think I busted very many callsigns, but I KNOW that I busted some numbers. So that total will come down. For sake of comparison, some of the claimed numbers by an assortment of world-class contest operators ranged from a low of 90 to a high of 240. So, let's think about that for a minute. At their 'worst', provided their numbers are accurate, they're doubling what I'm doing. At their best, their rates are 7 to 8 times what I'm doing! Add to that the fact that many are probably using another radio to run, and it becomes even more impressive.

Talk about humbling. But I have to keep it in perspective. I'm not much of a contest op. I'm getting better, but until I join a club or decide to really get serious about it, I'm going to make marginal improvements. I haven't decided what to do yet. Also, when those fellows are talking about rates above 100, well above 100, then they're also talking about using the legal limit with antenna arrays that would make me drool. Not all, but most. I wonder what they would do with 100 watts and a vertical? Run circles around me still, I'm sure :)

CQ WPX CW

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:41:00 +0000

I did a bit of operating over the weekend in the CQ WPX CW contest. I enjoy this contest because everyone is fair game and since my station is far more suited to CW, I have more fun. I was especially pleased with the conditions, 20 meters was exceptionally good late into the evening and even both afternoons, I thought. Since Friday was my wife's birthday, I only managed about 50 QSO's in between dinner, cake, and all the hoopla. Between Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon I set a goal of 500 QSO's and barely made it. I was thinking that I'd operated in this contest last year but apparently not. They tend to run together.

The hex did outstanding on 20, I was quite pleased with the low noise level both days and I even managed some contacts on 15 and a handful on 10. 40 was also pretty good Saturday night but a bit noisier than I'd hoped. I didn't stay on too late Saturday, though, so it might've improved some after I signed off?

For the first time since early in the year I was able to work some JA's and even nabbed a station in Mongolia that I've heard many times and never managed to work before. Didn't hear anything else from Asia though. Worked a few ZL's. Most of the DX I worked on 20 and 40 was from Europe and Africa, and South America to a lesser extent.

Lot's of fun.

I went to the Durham hamfest a couple of weekends ago, DurHAMfest. Spoke to some nice people but the turnout and the offerings on Saturday morning were kind of sparse. It's really tough to be critical of ANY hamfest, I realize the effort to coordinate and organize is monumental and people are mostly volunteering their time to help out. But there was only a couple of regional vendors were set up inside, ones that you see at every area hamfest, and about 7 or 8 other tables with folks selling stuff. The outdoor offerings were not very large either, I wonder if the Memorial Day weekend cut into attendance? Or perhaps most of the area hams prefer to go to the Raleigh hamfest? I bought a book and some odds and ends.

But, like I said, being able to go to any hamfest is better than not being able to go to one at all :)

Where's all the K2's?

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Sat, 23 May 2009 00:50:00 +0000

Best I can tell, the Elecraft K3 was offered for sale back in April of 2007. That seems about right. I know that they had a deal where you placed an order then waited (and waited) for your radio to arrive. I saw recently on their site where they've caught up to the backlog and if you order now they can ship your radio right away.

Judging from the comments I've read and heard, it's a terrific radio that continues to just get better and better. Sure, I've heard some gripes, but I've not heard anyone say that they've been disappointed and want their money back. But this isn't about how great the K3 is, it's about the K2.

Now that the K3 is starting to become plentiful, where are all the K2's for sale? I figured that many hams would be selling their K2's in order to finance their new, shiny K3's. Or maybe they'd decide to go in another direction and buy one of the other spiffy new offerings from other manufacturers. So I figured we'd start to see a bunch of K2's for sale.

So where are they? I'm not an ebay junkie, but I regularly check for various radios, especially the K2, and over the past year I don't think I've ever seen more than 2 for sale at any one time. And those commanded a pretty darn good price, I might add. In fact, right now there's none for sale. At least I couldn't find any. If you look for any other radios, even some oddball ones, they generally show up. So what's up with the K2?

Well, I thought about that and here's what I've come up with. Owning one myself, I think that most folks consider it to be an excellent radio. I know I certainly do. That alone makes it hard to part with.

Next, I think people are reluctant to part with them because they built the radio themselves. After putting in all that effort, soldering parts, winding torroids, pouring through the thick manual, troubleshooting, calibrating - you get the picture - it's hard to sell something that you actually put together. Why it'd be like selling your first born.

Also, I think the folks who did buy the K3 or any other radio find that the K2 is a great second rig. Or its just perfect for field day or a trek to the beach or mountains. Or maybe it took back the number one position when the new radio wasn't up to snuff? Or in the end, the new radio wasn't any better after all?

Maybe they just can't part with the mojo?

Whatever the reason, I think it's curious and a real testimony to what a great radio it is.

On a completely unrelated note, as anyone who reads this knows, I travel a great deal for my job. I end up staying in a variety of places, some remote, some in the middle of good-sized cities. I am constantly amazed at how poor the wireless internet coverage is in most hotels. I find myself ecstatic when I check into somewhere and discover that they have wired access available. In writing this short enty, I've struggled to maintain a signal, despite being able to see the wireless access point from my room.

Sunspots?

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:00:00 +0000

With all the talk lately about sunspots, namely the lack of, I thought I'd confess something that might seem a bit unusual.

I've never been on the air during a period of high sunspot activity. Yes, that's right. Never. And I've been a ham for over 30 years.

How can this be?

First, I guess I should define what I'm referring to as "high sunspot activity". Well, I can't give you a quantitative number, like 50 or 60, or even 100. What I can say definitively is that the two periods where I've been an 'active' ham were both during sunspot minimums. And this is one of those periods. So, we're probably talking about, oh, say...zero sunspots!

And, second, I have no one to blame but myself. And work. And family. And all those other obligations that got in the way of ham radio. Oh, and moving 9 times in 6 years (long story).

So, while everyone is complaining about the lack of sunspots, or expressing their joy over a count of 15, I'll say that ignorance is bliss. Because whenever we do get some sunspots, regardless of how many, it'll be a new experience for me!

On other topics, I've been following the blog of W9OY http://w9oy-sdr.blogspot.com/ and his experiences with software defined radio, specifically the new Flex 3000. I'm extremely intrigued by this radio. For one, the price is very attractive (~$1600) and the capabilities seem out of this world for that price level. I'm not in the market for a new radio - my wife would shoot me - but if I were, this one would be right at the top of the list. I don't know how much I'd enjoy not having a tuning knob, although there are some possibilities to add a third party tuning knob. But I often use my logging program and the built-in spotting screen to tune, so the truth is, it wouldn't be that much of a departure. It is really appealing that there are no filters to buy, no additional hardware to buy for digital modes, and a large support forum. And I like the idea of being able to update the radio's capabilities nearly indefinitely. There are some drawbacks to the 3000, no receive-only antenna input, that's a bummer, although it is available on the more expensive 5000.

Also, the 3000 doesn't have a second receiver, and there is no option of adding one. Although I generally prefer using my K2 on a daily basis, it's really nice to turn on the FT-1000MP and use the second receiver to sift thru pileups and spot my transmit frequency, or find a clear spot, or keep an eye on another station simultaneously. A K3 had topped my wish list for some time now, but, the fact is, by the time you add all the options, including the second receiver, you're in a new price range altogether. And at this point, that price range is out of MY range. So for now, I'm sticking with what I have. But I've enjoyed learning more about the new 3000.

The Russians are coming!

noreply@blogger.com (Ed N4EMG) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:47:00 +0000

Has anyone else noticed the tremendous amount of Russian stations on 40 meters lately in the evenings? Hearing and working Russian stations in the past was never particularly unusual from where I live in NC, especially European Russians. But the past week or so they seem to be booming in like never before. In fact, I've been surprised at just how many of them are some of the strongest signals on the cw portion of the band.

I've tried working many of them QRP, with some success. The one thing that I've noticed whenever I listen to them work other stations is that they, as a whole, seem to pass out more realistic signal reports. Rarely do you hear the obligatory 5NN. Kind of refreshing and far more useful if you're trying to judge how effectively you're getting out. I know 5NN is easy, but I appreciate when someone gives a real report nowadays.

Also, they seem to prefer a "full" exchange, RST, QTH, and name, rather than RST and "TU". No complaints on this end, but wonder why that is? I guess it could just be coincidence, but of the couple dozen or so that I've either heard or worked in the past couple of days, I've noticed this pattern. Sure, it slows things down a bit, but it's also a little more personal.

Very glad that 40 seems to be doing well on that path.

I've also spent some time trying to figure out the DSP on my K2. When I bought it, the fellow who sold it to me said that he'd built the DSP module but never was able to make it work. Actually, when he advertised the radio he didn't list the DSP module at all and later, after I'd won the auction, he tossed it in. But he never elaborated on why he couldn't get it to work. Not long after I'd had it, I put the module in and it seemed to be ok to me. The radio recognized it and all the adjustments seemed to have an effect on received signals. But as time passed I found the regular filters sufficient and never resorted to using it.

But a posting on the Elecraft reflector rekindled my interest and I dug out the notes, searched through some more postings and began tinkering with it some more. I'm not crazy about the "watery" sound that it produces - I find that really distracting and keep thinking that something is wrong with my radio - but after doing some A/B comparisons on some weak signals, I'm starting to develop an appreciation for it. There's no doubt that it can help in some circumstances and I've been able to copy some signals using the DSP that I don't believe I could have otherwise. I think I'm slowly getting used to the watery sound too.

Evidently, however, I've managed to muck something up because whenever I turn on the radio now, it starts up with DSP enabled and in a rather strong setting to boot. It's not a big deal to turn it off, just a couple of clicks, but I must've done something to cause this and it's kind of annoying. I need to see if there's some way that I've managed to save that configuration to EEPROM, more than likely it's something along those lines.

One thing that I've read on the reflector that I'll wholeheartedly agree with is how difficult it is to resist constantly fiddling with the beta and decay settings. The end result is that my filters end up being out of sequence with how I expect them to operate :) But I'm glad that I revisited it and I'm not afraid to use it now when I feel the need.