Radio

This was my third year of the “Twelve Days of QRZ” event that runs from December 1 through the end of February. The object is to have QSLs, that is, confirmation of radio contact, either on QRZ or Logbook of the Web, on twelve separate days. It is pretty easy to get the base award, especially via digital contacts, and I did that 12 days after getting a new antenna launched after the bomb cyclone had knocked it out of the tree. (It took a while to clear out debris so I could do that.) ...

Before I forget, I wanted to jot down some notes about the Parks on the Air exercises I just did in Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Final statistics: Iceland: 11 parks activated (9 the first time anyone had), 382 QSOs, 277 confirmed (as of writing) for 41 countries. For the Faroe Islands, 172 QSOs, 121 confirmed, 37 countries. I also found my 10,000th geocache. Pre-trip preparation Paperwork. The ARRL is a starting point for US hams operating internationally, but their site is primarily a collection of links to documents you’re supposed to pore through and understand. The material can be exceptionally boring (T/R 61-01 zzzzzzz). The Iceland club had a nice summary, only lacking a specific link to the permit needed. (The permit was free, and quickly obtained.) There was a club for Faroe Islands, but it and the Danish authority were challenging to browse with Google Translate. I was unable to find anything specific, and hoped it wouldn’t be a big deal. Equipment optimizationthrough Trial POTA activations*.*This was also an opportunity to work out kinks with my laptop, re-familiarized myself with the KX3, tried different antenna options, and set up a flow for logging. Identify potential POTA sites. Logging is complicated. I had a TF/WT8P from last year, and added OY/WT8P, which was “announced” and led to conversations with DX Daily (who publishes information about DX operations) and a ham who offered to manage sending paper QSL cards. ...

In the seven years since my first radio contacts, I now have a process for logging amateur radio contacts. However, it wasn’t until I started working remotely more that I appreciated how **logging amateur radio contacts accurately is complicated.**This inaccurate logging was the cause of much frustration during the final throes of my completing the ARRL Triple Play where, for example, the Parks on the Air person I worked “in Michigan” would log their home state (not Michigan). I now understand why. ...

I wrapped up another field day with my friend Paul (W7PEZ) in Eastern Washington. For the two days, I had 204 contacts, broken out roughly as: Yes, I worked SSB. It was kinda Frankfurt United Norway WT8P is sporting the 6-day salt and pepper look Paul worked 200 contacts, nearly all CW. Both are personal records. Neither of us were “running,” which would certainly have bumped up the totals, nor did we operate all the time, because most of the fun of Field Day is Everything Else. ...

In geocaching, there are a lot of “challenges” published, where in addition to signing the log, you have an alternative logging requirement (“ALR”) to perform some feat. These can be as simple as “find 10 mystery caches” or “find a cache for every letter in the alphabet,” or more complicated. In my 15 years, I’ve done a lot of these, and some of my favorites: John Day Fossil Beds, Sheep Rock Unit, Oregon ...

My first HF radio, the Elecraft KX3, was air-cooled and got me spoiled to the relatively quiet operation. The K4D, on the other hand, has two fans. Although the “base” ventilation speed has been lowered, there’s also some whining from the bearings. Most hams can’t hear it, I, unfortunately, can and don’t enjoy the sound. I’d previously replaced the ones in my VHF/UHF radios, and reasoned there would be a similar process, but I’d been holding off until (a) the warranty expired, (b) I could find a fan that would fit and (c) someone else did it first, because I don’t want to the guy who finds the way to mess this up! ...

In addition to all of the geocaching I planned, I also thought I’d try activating some parks. Parks on the Air (POTA) is a program inspired by the ARRL National Parks on the Air program in 2016 by Sean Kutzko (KX9X) and Norm Fusaro (W3IZ). The idea is simply “everyday is field day,” that is, you take your radio crap to one of thousands of state or national parks, make ten contacts, and thus “activate the park.” Unlike Summits on the Air (SOTA), one can usually drive close enough to a park, which makes it more accessible. ...

Paul (W7PEZ) and I worked field day as 2B EWA, that is, we set up with battery-powered equipment, everything self-contained. The national forest site near Cle Elum was fantastic – great view from a ledge, higher elevation (near 4000′) so it was cooler, very quiet, and trees to mount antennas. 100w versus 12w Paul brought his ICOM 7300 (HF) and a Yaesu 857 (HF + VHF + UHF), but stuck with the ICOM. I used my Elecraft KX3. Neither of us was mentally ready to have our brand new K4s in the field just yet. ...

When the immunization rate in western WA got high enough, the state began opening up a little, leading our first requests to support public events in nearly 18 months. Since June, I’ve worked at (basic first aid, ham radio work) four marathons: three Light at the End of the Tunnel and the Jack and Jill’s Downhill Marathon / half-marathon. These marathons use the Palouse to Cascades State Park (aka “John Wayne” aka “Iron Horse” Trail) from Hyak to Rattlesnake Lake, joining the Snoqualmie Valley Trail to North Bend. The gentle, downhill route has some great scenery and can potentially lead to a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon. ...

During the latter part of my Basic class, when students were becoming more engaged, we ran into several problems with the email and text messaging. As an experiment, we used Slack in my intermediate class the most recent term. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. In the spirit of trying to give back, I thought it would be helpful relating our experience. 73, Jim WT8P Email works for some specific situations such as contacting the entire class and sharing detailed information. There were occasions where my missives were too long and detailed. Some email clients (e.g., Outlook) make it difficult to find messages. Email is poor for any real-time event, such as a student who was on the air right now and looking for contacts. ...