VE3WDM's QRP HAM RADIO BLOG

Got some QRP time in this past Sunday.........

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:59:00 +0000

Lets play radio

This past Sunday I sat down and got some radio time in, it seems there is so much that can come up to pull me away from some K3 time. I wanted to make an effort to sit at the rig today, relax and call CQ on 14.060 and to see what happened. I cranked the K3 up to 5 watts and let the CQ ring out over the airwaves!! It was not long before Peter KG4GR came back to me he is located in Iowa. I was exspiraneing some type of AC QRM most likely from the 230KV hydro lines at the back of our home. The noise blanker on the K3 seemed to take care of it but Peter was in and out and I got the impression I was the same with him. Maybe
it was this huge solar eruption of the sun the other day that was still having it's affect on the bands. In the past I had checked out the solar forecast before hitting the air waves but I found it used to cloud my ambitions. So now I just go for it without checking or if I do I don't let it affect my operating time. Anyway.........Peter's signal gave me a chance to try out the K3's APF (audio peak filter again. I have had some troubles in the past with getting this feature just right and it does I am told take some practice. Well it sure did help with Peters signal. I had a nice QSO that had to be cut short as another station unknowingly was calling CQ. I then gave things a little rest and started to read and comment on some blogs I still had the rig on and the head phones around my head just in case China happen to be calling CQ......HI HI. Once again I called CQ and WD9F/QRP came back to me.....and this QSO was a very humbling experience . For some strange reason my brain went into neutral, I just could not get my ears around the /QRP in the Woody's call!!! I asked him for a repeat...still did not get it and at the end of each transmission I would try his call and end it with ?. Well Woody was very polite and patient and dropped the /QRP and stayed with his call only. Once he did that it clicked what was going on. Boy did

WD9F/QRP

I feel foolish and as the QSO went on my foolishness bloomed. I was a bit flustered once I figured out his full call. Then it happened the QSO went off the standard exchange and into a CW conversational QSO. Woody spoke of how he reads my blog and enjoyed my last post about the late QSL card. That was the end of my brain and the connection to my left hand at the paddle!!! It was like the keyer was working on it's own and not in a flattering way. Woody was very polite and weeded through my if you could call it "code". All I can say is nerves got the best of me. Oh well just have to keep plowing along and the weekend is coming and time to practice the brain vs left hand communication again.

A QSL card that was almost a quarter century in coming!!

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:25:00 +0000

A contact from 23 years ago

A QSL card arrived Friday not an usual thing for me but this one was almost a quarter century in coming!! The card was in an envelope on it's own most of the time QSL cards arrive in a stack of 50 or so from the buro. The card was from Louis N8LA and on the back of the card he apologized for the delay in sending me his QSL up to this point all was normal, then he thanked me for my QSL card. WHAT a QSL card I
have not sent out QSL cards (all electronic cards now) for over 10 years. Now I was just a bit confused...maybe this was a mistake....he must had copied a call wrong and sent me a card......Then I look a closer look at the front of the card..... this card was from 1989!!! To say the

The back of the card

The station 23 years ago

least I was shocked. On the back of the card Louis told me he no longer lives in Michigan but St.Louis now. At the time he was running the Ten Tec argonaut 515 QRP at 3 watts. The antenna was 80m inverted V at 40 ft. I looked up Louis on QRZ.com and he still has the same rig the 515. He is an avid QRPer with memberships with MI QRP # M-0078; QRP ARCI # 4508; GQRP # 5048; NAQCC # 2358; Flying Pigs # 1974; SKCC # 4327; Fists # 13757; 10-10 # 16161, VP # 868; Member of St. Louis QRP Society, Morse Telegraph Club, and ARCH Radio Club. I had hoped I kept my logbook from back then as I wanted to find N8LA in the log. I did find the log and he was my 26th contact in my ham radio adventures. I had been licensed for just over a month at the time. My code would have been around 5-8 WPM as nerves would had play a roll in my coping. My rig was the Icom 735 the antenna was the Cushcraft R4, Bencher paddle along side the Kenwood AT-230 tuner. Now how cool is that!!

The log (N8LA at top of log) and QSL

My YouTube debut......

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:15:00 +0000

The other day I received an email from the Elecraft reflector site mentioning Plasma TV's and the problems they can cause ham op's. I do have a Plasma TV and it sure does affect things here at VE3WDM so this thread interested me very much. As you know from reading my other posts I do have the MFJ 1026 noise cancelling unit and I have had good success with it. The post on the Elecraft reflector had a great link to a load of information on how the K3 and the MFJ 1026 can work together very well. Well since I have the K3 and the MFJ 1026 I investigated the link. I found a very cool way to hook the both units together that
has some good advantages over the way I am now......or was using.

With this configuration I am able to just push the RX ant button on the K3 and both units are inter connected. Also the way the MFJ 2026 is adjusted is a little different than I had previously adjusted the unit. I tried it and it is very easy, fast and works great!! So what are the advantages of hooking up your MFJ 1026 this way....well you never have to worry about the RF from your transmitting antenna getting into your receive antenna. With this hookup they are totally isolated. To include the MFJ 1026 it's as simple as powering up the MFJ unit and pushing the RX ant on the k3 and then some simple adjustment of the MFJ unit. Finally I decided to use my Iphone to video the results of the MFJ 1026 and the K3 and how they dealt with the Plasma TV noise. You will have to excuse the reflection of me in the Elecraft P3 and the audio may not be that great either but give it a go as it does show how the Plasma TV's interferance can be dealt with.

QST is going digital..............

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:39:00 +0000

This afternoon when I checked my email there was a very interesting email from the ARRL. In June of this year QST is going digital!! Well almost they are still going to offer their paper addition but ARRL members will also have access (free of charge) to the QST digital version. The digital version will have some content that is only offered in the digital layout along with videos and hyper-links. Now if you are a regular reader of this blog you may remember back in August of 2011 I posted about Monitoring Times digital addition. They were offering a digital only subscription at a cheaper price than the paper version. I went for it and well...it was the reason the alarm bells went off
when I read my email from the ARRL's regarding the introduction of a digital version of QST. I have to admit I have had the digital version of Monitoring Times for 5 months now and well this digital thing sounds very sci-fi and geeky...BUT......it just has not worked out for me. For example on December 17th I was emailed the new Monitoring times issue.....it's still in my Hotmail in box a month later. It's almost time for the next issue!!! There sure are some cool things about the digital issue with the hyper-links and instant emailing feedback to articles.
I have come to the conclusion there is nothing like the paper version. There is something to say for pulling out a periodical when you have a spare minute. With the digital version I found this very hard to do. It's not easy to roll up a laptop or Kindle and toss it in the glove box of the car. I think QST has the right idea offering both for the same price and not making you chose between the two. I am looking forward to June and see what this digital version has to add to the paper version.

PSK is up and running....for real this time!!

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:59:00 +0000

1st PSK QSO with K5ZG

I want to thank all those who posted comments and emailed me direct to help my PSK journey along the road to success. Today I sat down and read all the comments and considered the feedback which helped me get a plan going so I could be on the air with PSK. So what was wrong....well the good old Elecraft K3 was for some reason not set up the way I thought it was. I went back into the manual to see what the recommended settings were. The K3 when in DATA A mode (which is the mode that is recommended for PSK) the Line out to the Tigertronics Signalink is not taken from the MIC but the rear LINE OUT on the K3. That was the first

problem it was not. I am sure I selected LINE OUT rear panel....but the menu does not lie!!! it was set to

fldigi and KI4BIY

something else. So that was changed and I gave some PSKing a go.... but still nothing!!! So it was back to the K3 settings again, this time I had to check to make sure DATA A was set to DATA A. I thought it had to be as the LED readout on the K3 reads "DATA A". I checked and DATA A was set to PSK D what ever that is so I set DATA A to DATA A. It was then that things seemed to be looking up. I saw a station (K5ZG) calling CQ on the waterfall, I gave him a call and he came back to me!!! SUCCESS I made my first QSO on PSk but the QSO was not complete as QRM and the band conditions were changing and he faded away before the QSO was completed. I then closed down DM780 and opened up Fldigi to see how that worked. It was about 20 min's or so later I made contact

My PSK reports with 5 watts

with KI4BIY. The problem here was not the band conditions or the contact but I was using Fldigi and had NO macros setup. So it was live PSKing but I was able to have a very nice QSO. This gave me the confidence the program was now working. There is one question I still have, when I transmit my output power can start off at 5 watts but as the transmission progress the output can climb as high as 12 watts before leveling out. I can readjust the output and get it to stay at a steady 5 watts but it takes some adjusting and readjusting of the Signalink TX. Any thoughts on this.....is it normal or are there more adjustments to be made??

PSK31 up and running.......

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:49:00 +0000

Giving PSK a go

On Wednesday I spent some time familiarizing myself with HRD's DM-780 and getting some custom macros setup. In time I am going to try out Fldigi and see which program I like better. The only reason I started with DM-780 was the K3 is all setup with HRD so I am half way there when it comes to PSK. So how did it go...well I am operating at 5 watts and there were some stations calling CQ but I was not able to grab their attention with my replies. I setup DM-780 to send info up too PSKreporter but up to this point and including today I just don't seem to be spotted at all. I am not sure if my setup with PSKreporter is wrong or I my signal

Action on the band

is not getting out. I do see on my LP-100 watt meter there is 5 watts getting to the antenna but whether it is readable or not I am not sure. Besides I am still getting the hang of PSKreporter as well so it could be operator error at this end. Also today I was involved in the NAQP CW contest but am now just taking a bit of a break. I was calling CQ on 40m CW a short time ago and KC9SNC came back to me. Our QSO was going well and the CW speed was very comfortable for me.......then came the contester's right over our QSO!!! Now they may not have heard us as I was QRP at 5 watts but that brought the QSO to an end. I did email Matt and gave him some more info about my station and that we may have better luck next time. So up to this point I have not been able to make a PSK contact maybe I will give Fldigi a go on Sunday and see if I can bag my first PSK QSO. It's now time to head back to the NAQP CW contest......and try not to QRM anyone who is not involved in the contest!!!

Setting up digital modes or going to the dentist what's better.......

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:02:00 +0000

HRD DM-780

Another day in the shack but not really on the radio as so much as setting up the radio. I decided to take the plunge and go head first into setting up a digi mode. PSK was my weapon of choice. I did some looking over of notes last night to get my mind into it. The software I have preloaded on the PC is Julian's Kcomm, fldigi and HRD's DM-780. One of the trying tests for me is to get the radio to communicate with the
software. I was not disappointed.... figuring out the com port, stop bits, CAT settings,

Kcomm with fldigi

handshake or not....and the list goes on was a challenge. Then there is the sound card setup and settings!! Some of the troubles I ran into were.....not being able to get the K3 to key up when the software said it should. After overcoming that the K3 had no problem keying up but then would not un-key at the end of the macro!!! After solving those two hurdles I then had troubles getting the 5 watts output I wanted to have. It turned out to be a jungle of sound card tuning and radio tweaking. I was not sure how I did it but I am now able to have a solid 5 watts out on all bands and simply adjust the K3's power control if I want to increase the power. I won't try to figure out what I did as when I do for some reason I un-configure the configured. The software I decided to stick with was DM-780. Kcomm is great and works well with the

fldigi with flr

K3 radio. The setup of communication between the radio and software was the easiest of all the software I dealt with. I was not able to get the waterfall going I did integrate fldigi waterfall but it seemed to run as two separate programs. I was getting frustrated at this point and really never looked into getting around this issue. One great feature of Kcomm are the macro's that control aspects of the K3. With running fldigi on it's own I was not able to get the K3 out of transmit when the macro was done sending....again frustration was setting in. I am sticking with DM-780 but have to do some reading on how to customize the macros and some other minor settings.

Resting and radio........

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:43:00 +0000

CT1IUA on the beach

Good afternoon fellow bloggers, went to see the Chiropractor and Physiotherapist today regarding my back troubles. The news was...... come back and see us and in the mean time REST!!! Well for me it is very hard to sit still and Julie can attest to that. One way to make sure I sit still and rest is to softly hobble into the radio room. I started out the day on WSPR I was transmitting 1 watt on 20 meters. The big reception report for me was from FR5DN on Reunion Island. At 1 watt that made it 9463 miles per watt for my attic dipole. I also tried some CW on 30m and 17m. Now my DX-33 dipole is not resonant for either of these bands but the K3 does

PV8ADI at the desk

have a tuner so I gave it a shot. Things did not work out very well although the bands seem to be open my signal was just not happening. The LP-100A meter here was showing an SWR up to the antenna of 8.89:1 on 30m's and 9.3:1 on 17m's. The K3's tuner was able to bring it down to 1:1 so the K3 was happy. Later in the day it was off to CW and I checked DX summit's cluster and found a spot for CT1IUA in Portugal. I spun the K3 over to the spot and there was a nice pileup trying to make contact. I gave it a go and was able to snag CT1IUA on my first call with 5 watts. I then saw a spot for PV8ADI in Brazil I spun the dial in that direction and there was not really anyone calling him. He in fact called CQ several times without an answer. I gave him a go at 1 watt but that did not seem to do the trick. I then went to 2 watts and he was able to make out my call with 2 repeats. Funny though I still got a 599 as a report. So at 2 watts that makes it 1529 miles per watt on that contact. I did notice there was lots of action on PSK on the cluster so this evening I hope to get PSK all straightened out this evening with my rig and the software. That way on Tuesday I can maybe do some digi contacts.

Down but not out!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:28:00 +0000

Today while putting some laundry way in the bedroom I threw my back out. I simply hung up a T-shirt in the closet and that was it. I was on my knees and down for the count, this has happened in the past and I do see a Chiropractor one a month for up keep. Now it will be off to the Chiropractor to slowly get better. I will be off work but at this point not sure for how long. I do know there will be no lifting, house work or sudden anything with movements. Hmmm radio does not require any of that!!! So it looks like here at VE3WDM part of the healing will be radio and rest....:)

QRP ARCI Pet rock contest over.......

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:10:00 +0000

This was a very cool contest only lasting 3 hours on a Saturday morning giving me with some nice radio time and time to get other things done as well. The QRP ARCI Pet rock contest (please if you know why it's called the Pet Rock contest let me know) is a great way to make some nice QRP contacts. One thing I did find is you sure do put the rig's filters through the paces as you try to copy some signals that are very close to the noise floor. I was not in this one to win it or even come close but to log some contacts and look them up on QRZ.COM to learn about who I just contacted. The contest started at 10 a.m. local time, there was nothing on
10m, 15m gave forth some contacts but the best band was 20m. In this contest it was nice leisurely CW not like the world wide contests were CW sounds more like machine gun fire! Also during the occasional contact more was given than the required exchange info.....SAY IT AIN'T SO........we tossed around our names, rig and at times a hearty 72. ( that was not a typo 72 is the 73 of QRPers) This was the first time the Elecraft P3 was used in a contest and it was a great aid. It would show you what looked like just the noise floor but in the water fall below on the display a signal is made very apparent. Then along with the K3's APF (audio peak filtering) the signal just jumped out and a contact was made. This really was the first time I was able to see how great the APF was on the K3 I had tried it in the past and to be honest was not impressed but that has changed.
Power output    5 watts ( I can say I operated QRO compared to others)
Total contacts          9
Total points             2352
It's no record breaking contact count but this short contest was a blast there were some contacts I just could not put in the log as I did not get the full exchange due to fading. Also at times I got so excited about making a contact it wasn't until the contact was complete and it was ready to be entered into N1MM that I realized it was a Dupe!!! But not once did I get the CW sent to me B4...sorry for not paying closer attention gents and ladies regarding this but thanks for your understand.

Making QRP to QRP contacts.....

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:39:00 +0000

VE1BA's shack

Well on Tuesday it's back to work and one of my 2012 ambitions....don't like the word resolution with me it is linked to a list of "non-goals". So for 2012 the buzz word is "ambitions". Well as I was saying the new ambition is to get on the rig more. This afternoon I did just that and had some two way QRP contacts. The first was with John VE1BA down in Nova Scotia. He was running 2 watts into an FT-817. At the time I thought I was running 500mW's but the K3 was set at 5 watts. So that gave me only 153 miles per watt. We had a short but nice chat on 20 meters. I had a chance on the K3 to use the APF filtering as John's RST was 229. The APF worked great as he jumped out from the noise floor.

I then called CQ on 14.060 and Mike N0ZH came back to me with a 559 signal. He gave the the same signal report. It was not long before Mike started to fade in and out and very hard to read. So my QSO to Missouri came to a fast end. For this QSO the K3 was at 1 watt with a better miles per watt at 694 miles. I did hear KF5HGL calling CQ I started returning his CQ at 500mW's and climbed all the way up to 5 watts and he was not able to copying me. So either conditions were changing or it was not time for me to make a QSO into New Mexico.

N0ZH's shack

A year in review.......

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:37:00 +0000

So how was 2011 here at VE3WDM,

I have always been a QRP operator but for the first time I decided to drop my output power to less than 5 watts. By the end of 2011 the output had dropped to 500mW's or less with great success as well.

I took some time to look around the shack to notice how much "stuff" I had that was just taking up space. I then put up for sale items I was not using and made enough for some new toys.

I discovered WSPR and all that you can do with it.

I was able to upgrade the shack. The Elecraft K3 was upgraded with a second receiver and matching filters. Along with some added treats.

My main contest antenna was the Sidekick from High Sierra antennas. It was a great antenna that gave me coverage from 10m to 80m. The problem was it could only be outdoors when I was on the radio due to antenna restrictions. I tried the Sidekick in the attic along with my 20m dipole but it just did not work.

I sold the Sidekick and ordered the Alpha Delta DX-33 and installed it in the attic. I am now able to work 10m to 40m anytime I want and not worry about an outdoor antenna.

I found time to get some kits done and added to the shack.

I also had some Plasma TV interference so I purchased an MFJ-1026 and that fixed the problem it's a great unit.

I did more portable op's this year with my Elecraft KX1 and had a great time.

There was my trip of a life time to the UK and ham radio came along for the ride as well.

There was some wall paper added WAS awards, 1,000 miles per watt at 8,325 miles per watt. I then topped that record with 16,737 miles per watt.

Much more went on but these were the highlights here at VE3WDM!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:38:00 +0000

Idiom Press CMOS-4 Keyer.........

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:09:00 +0000

Sorting the parts

Good afternoon all, just the other week I finished building my Idiom press CMOS-4 keyer. When I was investigating the keyers from Idiom press there was another keyer called the K5 which had 6 programmable memories. The K5 did not seem to come as a kit and it was more pricey as well so I settled for the CMOS-4 kit. I ordered it online with my credit card but unlike other kits I have ordered from other companies this time around I was never sent confirmation of shipment or a tracking number....nothing......it just arrived here at the
house one day. Anyway, I had read many great reviews about this keyer and has seen some YouTube demonstrations of it was well so I was eager to get it built and running. If you have read in

RCA troubles

my blog in the past the first thing I like to do with any kit I get is do the inventory of parts. It lets me know all is here as well familiarizes me with the parts. This kit like all the others had part numbers for the parts but for some reason the list gave you a part number and told you it was a 15 ohm resistor for instance and that there were 20 of them and that was it!! So these 15 resistors were they R1, R20, R3 or what, as the kit had other resistors with other part numbers and values assigned to them. So for all the parts I had to go through the build

Resistor and diode layout

instructions and identify that transistor part number ZC4005 which was a MPSA92 transistor was in fact Q1 in the assembly instructions. Each part had to have this done and I then put the parts in a bag and labeled the bag with the assembly part number on it. The assembly instructions were very clear but more pictures would be very helpful during the build. Steps that involved an odd detail were marked out very clearly and at times in BOLD print. One part issue during the build was an RCA jack that would not fit through the per-drilled hole. This is not a disaster but a bit of a pain having to get the cordless drill out to open up the hole. The only other issue I ran into and should be rectified in my humble opinion is.....there are some diodes that have to be installed and there is a polarity to follow. To make this easier the

Diode circles missing at bottom

silk screen on the PC board has a large circle place over one of the diode holes. This is to help with placing the diode on the PC board with the right polarity. Well for some reason there are 3 areas D2,D3 and D4 were the circle did not make it onto the PC board. You are told of this in the instructions and shown on a layout diagram with the proper polarity. How about fixing the boards as well.........Those were the only issues I had with the build. The kit tested great once it was done and if you do order the CMOS-4 as a kit or already built make sure you read the operating manual cover to cover. This is were the kit really shines great detail has been put into the manual. Because this keyer is a real stand alone keyer all programing is done with your key no computer is needed. In the manual you are given exercises to do and make sure you do them!!! This will get you accustomed how the keyer works and how to program it as well. If you are in the market for a keyer this is one to take a close look at. In this post I wanted to include some assembly pictures as I found on the internet there were very few. As you are going through the build a picture would really help at times.

DC power jack very close to speaker

Adding wires to board

All wires added

Push button setup

Battery pack added

An afternoon of frustration.........

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:34:00 +0000

Finally some snow for Christmas......

Well it's Tuesday and it's the last day off for me before going back to work. The day has been spent in a very leisurely fashion. The only outing today was early morning to the Chiropractor and that was it. The weather has turned to snow here for the first time this winter snow is staying on the ground. I thought it would be a great day to spend at the radio as the Christmas season for me has been very busy with "stuff" ohter than radio. I tuned the K3 to 14.060 and found K9EEI calling CQ. So at 500mW's I answered his CQ, Carl was 599 here with his 5 watts and I was 569 into Illinois. At the end of our pleasant QSO we exchanged emails as well. Now during the QSO for some reason my keyer was acting up. What I mean by this is it would send radium dot's one after the other without me keying the keyer. The keyer that I have is the Begali contour which is Iambic
paddle with magnetic return. I played with the adjustments some time ago without testing it....thus the strange behavior of the key. It was time to adjust the key and on the Elecraft K3 you can put the rig into test mode. This way you can adjust the keyer with out transmitting on the air. After adjusting the key it was time to do some WSPR and maybe some PSK31. I wanted to see how the bands were doing so it was WSPR first. I have a sheet of paper on how to set up the radio for WSPR. (soon I am going to make up a macro so setup is just a push of a button on the K3) Well for some reason I was not transmitting a signal!! I checked and rechecked the settings of both the computer, K3 and sound card. All seemed to be good but still no signal so it was off to PSK31. I was able to decode signals on 20 meters and it seemed pretty active. After setting up things for PSK31 I again had no transmit !!!! I tried a little of this and some of that but nothing. Now I was muttering to myself how much a pain in the @#$& the digi modes were. Well it was back to good old CW and they can stick the digi modes for now. Back to CW and about 2 hours wasted playing with the silly digital modes I keyed my trusty Begali key.....NOTHING....I was not transmitting!!! Then it hit me the dam K3 was still in test mode from me adjusting the keyer!!! Sometimes these added features can be a real pain. Next time I will just switch to the dummy load and transmit into that........ like the old days.

Merry Christmas and best wishes to all!

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:49:00 +0000

Myself , Julie and Oliver wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

New 1000 mile per watt record.........

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:46:00 +0000

The excitement had me fill in the wrong band a new one is coming for 14 MHZ (click for full size)

Attic dipole (click to enlarge)

One of my goals during the CQWW CW contest was to drop my power and beat my last 1000 miles per watt record. Up until this past contest
my miles per watt all time high was 8325 miles per watt!! Now you also have to remember I am not running a huge tower loaded with eye candy beams. My radio waves into ham land are done with an attic dipole in a "Z" configuration (Alpha Delta DX-EE), so it has a nice wooden roof above an insulated ceiling below. Yes it is not the latest and greatest of antennas but I'm not doing to bad with it. During the contest I dropped the Elecraft K3's power to 500mW's to see what I could do. To my surprise ZS4TX came back to me... I made contact and exchanged contest info. After the contest I emailed ZS4TX (Bernie) and he was shocked that I was running QRPp at 500mW's. My signal according to Bernie was above average into South Africa. So my new "to beat record" is 16,737 miles per watt I more than doubled my last record!!!

The folded or "Z" part (click to enlarge)

The Ubuntu Linux learning curve...........

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:31:00 +0000

Some weeks ago I blogged that I was installing Ubuntu on my laptop as I was going to give another operating system a try. It's been over a month now and the learning curve has been slow. It's not because Ubuntu is difficult and arduous it is Bill Gates who has a firm hold on me. We all learn new things different ways and the trick is to find how best you learn. As for me the best way I learn things depends on what I am trying to learn. When it comes to operating systems...well.... it has and always been the Windows systems. When one of Bill's OS's where changed there was the frustration factor of just trying to make it work. This is where I am at with Ubuntu; I have downloaded some programs and once downloaded for the life of me I can't find them. It occurred to me the other day that I am looking for these programs with a Windows mindset. I began to head over to Youtube to check out some learning videos. The problem here was I would have to keep stopping,
trying what they said then getting back to the Youtube video and then back to the same spot in Ubuntu again. That was just a receipe for frustration as this game plan was far from smooth going. It was off to some user groups but that turned out most of the time to be a hunting trip. I would end up going to so many links that the original question was forgotten and at my age that process does not take long. I came to the conclusion the written word in the form of books was the way to go to solve this monkey on my back. I hope to become more familiar with the Ubuntu OS now and get past the wall I have come up against. Over the Christmas break I will be taking a leisurely approach with the help of some books and hands on learning to get Ubuntu in check.

The Elecraft P3 has arrived......

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:29:00 +0000

The shipment arrived

Ready to go

The postal service came through for me and not only was the Elecraft P3 here before Christmas it made it to my home in a record 5 business days. The package arrived on Thursday but I had to wait for Saturday to open the boxes and drool!! Before the P3 arrived I had downloaded the manual and assembly instructions to go over things. I did have plans of participating in the ARRL 10 meter contest but the P3 blinded me to the contest. The two boxes were very well packed with bubble wrap on all sides and the contents of each box again
surrounded in bubble wrap. I sat down Saturday afternoon as the morning was dedicated to putting up the Christmas tree and decorating our home. As always I took inventory of all the parts I encourage anyone who orders any kit to make sure you do the inventory. This kit is another of Elecraft's solder-less kits. It comes with the boards (front panel board with LCD, rear I/O board and rear RF panel

Front panel done

board) all ready to go the only real assembly is the mechanical side of the P3. By spending some time putting the kit together yourself you save some cash. The first step was to install some stand offs onto the front panel board these are used to secure the front LCD board to the front plate assembly. The fit of the front panel board into the front plate was perfect no binding or poor alignment of screws into stand off threads. I have found with all the Elecraft kits the attention to this type of detail makes the kits a joy to put together. It was then time to assemble parts of the enclosure and rear panel. The installation of the I/O board and RF board in the rear panel went very smooth. As the end was near it was time to install the 40 pin ribbon cable. The instructions for this were very detailed and clear. A red stripe on the ribbon cable was to be

I/O board installed

Back panel

oriented toward certain parts on both the I\O board and the front panel board. Failing to plug the ribbon cable in correctly would result in damage once power was applied. Lastly there was a TMP coaxial cable from the main board to the RF board and except for a few more chassis screws the P3 was done. The total time was about 2 hours with some breaks and taking my time. This unit is plug and play with the K3 radio. To get the P3 mated with the K3 there was a power cord that plugged into the K3. This way when the K3 was powered on so is the P3. ( there are other options for power up and only involved changing a plug in jumper on the P3) The IF feed comes from the K3 to the P3 with a supplied

The finished product

BNC coax jumper. Finally there is RS232 DE 9 cable (again supplied by Elecraft) between the P3 and K3 so they can "talk". I then brought my RS232 from the PC to the P3. This allows me to update the P3 over the internet and the P3 utility can communicate the P3. I have not had to much time to play with the P3 as Sunday was dedicated to shopping and resting as I worked all night Saturday.

Hooked up to K3

One on one with the PC.........

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:38:00 +0000

The CQWW DX CW contest was a blast and before the contest I did some thinking as to how I could best take advantage of the computers that I have at VE3WDM. I brain stormed the week before and came up with the idea that my main desktop PC would run my K3, logging program and propagation stuff. I could use a net book laptop to look at QRZ.COM, email and so on. So it was decided one monitor would look after the main PC "stuff" and the other would be hooked up to the net book and run the other "stuff". This plan worked great and I
was able to multi-task during the contest between two computers using two nice LCD monitors. The next day after the contest the net-book was snuggled in it's case and it was time to use

During the contest with both monitors

both LCD monitors on the main PC as it always had been done....As the PC booted up the one monitor display read "not connected". I then preceded to connect reconnect and change out the video cables but nothing had worked. I was still getting the "not connected" message floating around. I then in WinXP had a look at my video card. Maybe I just had to tell the PC to recognize the other monitor again. In the process of trying a dual monitor setting I did not read the warning that was counting down from 15 seconds. I just said "ok". Well now both monitors were blank with the message "not connected" Well that went well!!! It was off to Google to solve my troubles. Seems the net-book could had changed the monitor refresh rate and or resolution settings. Settings the main PC was not able to recognize and thus the message "not connected". According the the advice derived from Google searches I have to boot in VGA only mode. It was simple, I was told "wait for the Windows logo to appear and press F8". Easy if both monitors were not blank!!! So began the many restarts guessing when to press F8. Well in time I was successful and was able to get into VGA mode and repair both monitors. All is working well now and lesson learned. It turns out the net-book changed both the refresh rate and the resolution.

Elecraft KX3 control panel PDF released.......

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 22:50:00 +0000

Well those of you who are waiting for the Elecraft KX3 to go on sale have been given a tease.....there is a download of the control panel now available!! Looking at this gem will help sooth the wait for the unit to go on sale. So put the kettle on for some tea, sip and enjoy the first KX3 PDF I am at this time not getting one but the PDF info is just GREAT!!!

Elecraft P3 pan adapter

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:49:00 +0000

I have been debating this one for a long long time and that is do I or don't I want (want not NEED) the Elecraft P3 pan adapter. There were two factors that drew me away from this unit, the price and the size of the screen.
Well I have sold some unused "stuff" here at VE3WDM so the funds are there. I contacted Lisa at Elecraft and I was told that in a few months there is a board coming out to put the P3 video up onto your monitor along with other goodies that it can do as well. For example decode on the monitor CW, RTTY and PSK31 to name a few. So

on Friday I called Elecraft and sealed the deal. I hope it comes in time for Christmas and in keeping with tradition I ordered the kit version!!

CQWW CW at 500mW's

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:21:00 +0000

Contest time

Well another CQ WW DX CW contest is in the books here at VE3WDM many out there who participate in contests like to set goals. I'm no different but before I set my goals I like to make sure I understand reality first. I am never going to win in these world wide contests I just don't hang in there long enough to get a world class QRP score going. Also I just don't have an "out of this world" antenna setup, I am running with an indoor attic fan dipole. So with that understood my goals for this contest were as follows...
1. Relax and have fun contacting hams all over the world.
2. Run most if not all the contest QRPp at 500mW's.
3. As I finish a contact check out the ham on QRZ.COM and learn about them and their station as I cruz for another contact.
4. Beat my miles per watt record of 8325 miles per watt.
5. Try to beat the 300 contact wall.........never stood a chance as I was doing to much of goal number 1 and 3!!!

So how did things go???

I got a late start on Saturday around 10:30 a.m local time, yes the contest did start on Friday but that was dinner and a movie at home with Julie. I was very impressed how open the bands were like 10m and 15m's those two bands were my staple bands for the whole contest. Below is a highlight of the top contacts for the weekend all with 500mW's.
contact Miles    Miles per watt (.5 watts)    Kilo's

1. ZS4TX 8368    16737.20    26935.91
2. EM2T 4742    9484    15263.91
3. 4O3RR                 4695.2             9390.32                                         15112.26
4. IR8C                    4568             9137.34     14705.12
5. HG1S                   4415                 8831.18                                         14212.41
6. 9A1P    4360.22    8721.85 14036.46
7. S50K    4358.0    8717.05    14028.74
8. IR8C 4290.22    8580.43     13808.86

Keeping track of mileage

Over all I made 106 contacts out of that 84 contacts were made with 500mW's 21 with 5 watts and one contact on 40 meters with 50 watts. It seems that on 40m I just was not cutting it and to make a contact I had to raise the power to 50 watts. So that was the last contact on 40 meters. As for beating records I was thrilled to contact ZS4TX which got me 16737.20 miles per watt!!!!! Not only that in this contest I was able to make 30 contacts that topped my 8325 watt per mile record. Now running 500mW's did bring my QSO count down as there was lots of repeats I had to do. I just want to thank the op's out there who stuck with me and asked over and over again for my call instead of just moving on.

Earlier I did say that I was never going to win a contest but in closing I have said this before in the blog..............there should be a QRPp category. There is QRP but running 5 watts is different from pumping out Milli-watts. Well change does take time and maybe in time there will be a spot just for QRPp.

The contest ended for VE3WDM as follows

Number of QSO's Multipliers Total points

106 77 23,408

Update on CQ WW CW contest

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 01:37:00 +0000

The Elecraft K3 in action

It was a late start to the contest it was 10:30am local time Saturday when I got into it and the bands were just hoping!! I started on 10m and over the coarse of the day just jumped between 10m and 15m. In the past 20m was the staple for me and most of the contest I would just camp out there. So far in this contest I have not even seen 20m as the other two bands were great with DX. I am operating 99% of the time QRP at 500Mw's. I am very surprised at the results and how far such little power can go from my attic dipole. Now and then I would pump the power up to 5 watts if I they were having trouble making me out. Now running this low of power does mean lost of repeats on my part (thanks so much for all the op's and their patience) so my QSO rate is really down. I did try 40m this evening but it's very busy with station that are running loads of power. The one station I did contact in Europe I finally made it to him at 50 watts. That for me is WAY to high as far as power goes I am just not sure at that level if I would am causing any interference to neighbors electronics. So I just shut things down for the night and am hoping to get on Sunday nice and early and take advantage of 10,15 and possibly 20 meters. Hope to see you in the mix up!!!

Signalink = fantastic...getting it to work....frustrating

noreply@blogger.com (VE3WDM) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:40:00 +0000

This week has been dedicated to setting up for the CQ WW DX CW contest this weekend. Making sure the contest logger works (N1MM), try out the CW macros along with the K3, test out the antenna on all the bands and finally make up some goals. I find by doing some prep work before the contest Murphy does not rear his head as often during the contest. Early last week my Tigertronics Signalink USB came in and it was my ticket to get into the digital world. Years ago I had a Yaesu FT-1000MP MKV I had the Rigblaster Pro along side it. I dabbled in PSK and was into RTTY contesting at that time. I had hopes of setting things up and getting on the surf board of Digital communications last weekend.
Well that dream was short lived, the memories came back of sound card setup, adjusting the ALC level and basically getting everything just right for the digital engine to purrrr. Over the weekend the setup was not purrrring at all it was more of a hisssssss. The connections between my K3 and Signalink were smooth going. The PC recognized the on board sound card in the Signalink. At first I ran into some trouble setting up the CAT connection between the K3 and software (Ham radio delux's digital master 780) I was able to decode PSK signals with Digital Master, in transmit with the K3 set at 100 watts I was able to use the TX control on the Signalink to raise the output power to what I wanted (5 watts). The unresolved problem is I am not able to get any ALC reading on the K3. I know the ALC is very important to a clean signal. I have given up trying to solve this problem at this time. I am as I said concentrating on the CQ WW DX CW contest.