Friday, October 28, 2011

WOW !! >>> Two All Time New Ones In One Week

Cocos Keeling Islands
VK9CX

With over 340 DXCC Countries worked since 1999....
I can't remember the last time 
I worked 2 new countries in the same week.
But It happened this week ...
As I put VK0KEV ( Macquarie Island )
and VK9CX ( Cocos Keeling  Islands )
in my log !!

I worked Babs on 27 Oct 11
at 12:00 Z on 15 meter SSB


DL7AFS (Babs) and DJ7ZG (Lot)
Will be QRV from October 19th till November  9th 
from Cocos Keeling Island.
6m - 80m - mainly in RTTY, PSK and SSB  
 QSL via DL7AFS

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

TX7M ... For A New Band Country

Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9'00" S, 139'30" W. The highest point is the peak of Mount Oave on Ua Pu island at 1,230 m (4,035 ft) above sea level.




I've been chasing TX7M 
for the past couple of mornings... at my sunrise.
I worked them on 80 SSB on Tuesday morning...
Then on 80 CW / 40 CW /30 CW / 20 CW this morning 
All for new band countries !!
As many of you also know  ...
They are using four Elecraft K3's and various Vertical Arrays
Looks like good ops and great radios ....
Make for a winning combination !!

Thanks
TX7M 
Team

73 de N4LA


Saturday, October 22, 2011

VK0KEV ... For A All Time New One !!

New DXCC Country
For N4LA

I have chased Macquarie Island for a long time...
and YES ... I finally put it in the log
If you haven't worked Kevin / VK0KEV ...
Time may be running out.
Kevin says he will leave the island in a few weeks.


23 Oct 11
I worked Kevin for an all time new DXCC country at 03:02 Z
On 18.153 SSB ( He was working split & listening 5 down )
Signal reports were 5x8 both ways
Sorry guys ... this one wasn't worked with qrp pwr and wire antennas
I worked him using 1 KW and my yagi at 100 ft


Here is Kevin ...
Operating as VK0KEV on Macquarie Island
54 30' S 158 57'E / QD95LM / AN-005

Thanks for a 
"NEW COUNTRY"
Kevin



73 de N4LA

Monday, October 17, 2011

QRP Rocks !!

I noticed over the past few days ...
 that lot's of QRP ops have been working the T32C DXpedition.
I have heard over and over how well T32C could hear.
So I thought what the heck ... I noticed they were on 10 meters calling CQ...
so I fired up my Elecraft K2 turned it down to 5 watts and threw in my call.
The first call did'nt make it ....
But the second call BINGO !!
I worked them at 22:13 Z on 28.018
Split ... Up 1
Now I know you're sayng  ....
Of course you worked them with a big yagi at 100 ft
Well this time that's not the case
I wanted to do it the hard way so I used my OCF sloper at 60 ft.
So T32C is in the log using 5 watts and a wire sloper.
It doesn't get much better than that !!
The Magic of radio ... what can I say.

73 de N4LA

Sunday, October 16, 2011

CW Tip # 5

Listen ... Listen ... Listen
Back To The Basics

Listen, Listen, Listen to well-sent code.  Listen at every opportunity as well as at planned practice sessions.  Listen to the radio, to tapes, to computer-generated materials.  Do it whenever you don't have something else to do which requires conscious mental activity: try it during lunch, while driving -- listen and enjoy it.  There are several kinds of listening  -- first, listening at any speed where we can understand all or nearly all of what is sent; next, there is listening at speeds where we can "read" maybe 75% of it; and finally there is listening to sending so fast that we can only catch some letters or a word here and there.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

New Beverage Antenna Install at AE4LD

I spent the day at my friend Larry's qth  ...
Helping him install his first ever Low Band Receive Antenna.
Its a 300 ft reversible beverage antenna.
The Transformer and end termination box 
was purchased from Bruce ( K1FZ )
Below is the link to Bruce's website

Here is Larry (AE4LD)
checking to see if the post at the termination end
 of the antenna is level.

As you can see...
Larry takes no short cuts
as a transit was brought in to 
line up the beverage supports.

Two types of antenna supports were used  ...
Here is the first type of support.
A 10 ft section of PVC pipe ...
with the antenna wires spaced 12 inches apart.
( Notice the big Opti-Beam in the background )

Here is the 2nd type of support
Electric fence insulators were used on the trees
Also spaced at 12 inches.

Here is the feed end of the reversible beverage
Electric fence insulators were used on both ends.
The two legs were then attached to a tree via 2 eye bolts.
The transformer will be mounted between the 2 wires.
It will be attached to to 2 antennas and also to a ground rod.

Here is the opposite end  or Termination end of the beverage antenna.
The 2 wire termination box will be placed between the 2 antenna wires
It is also connected to a ground rod located beside the post.
The antenna itself was made of electric fence wire.

Larry (AE4LD)
is 
Radio-Active !!


73 de N4LA

My New QRP Station !!

Elecraft K2/qrp
Here is my newest edition to the Elecraft line at N4LA
My new K2 ... built by my good friend Larry (AE4LD)
This is the QRP version with CW only right now.
I plan to add the SSB module ...
 and the internal antenna tuner in the near future.
It now sits in my 2nd/qrp operating position.

Whats funny is ....
 Charles GW0LVH

said ...

The best method I found to improve my CW 
was to throw away the microphone! 
If the mic is within arm's reach it is all to easy to cave in and use it. 
My new K2 has no MIC or SSB !!
73 de N4LA




Sunday, October 9, 2011

CW Tip #4

LEARN TO RELAX
Back To The Basics

ENJOY the experience of learning.  
Make each practice period fun.

Those who engage in the learning process with a carefree, unhurried, unworried attitude and enjoy it progress the fastest. So don't press your ultimate objectives, don't try too hard, this will hinder our advancement. Be content to go ahead a step at a time.  We need to let go any unconscious resistance, and permit our subconscious minds to function without interference. The more we give ourselves permission to let go of any concern and the more fun it is, the better we will do.  

CW vs SSB

Fact or Fiction



CW vs SSB
FACT or FICTION ?

This Info was obtained from the HF Pack Users Group

Via
Bonnie Crystal KQ6XA, VR2KQ6XA

KQ6XA Rule of Thumb: CW v. SSB Power Effectiveness Comparison


CW -vs- SSB Power Effectiveness Comparison
KQ6XA Rule of Thumb:
============================================
5 Watts on CW gets out like 100 Watts SSB.
============================================
1 Watt on CW gets out like 20 Watts SSB.
============================================
250mW on CW gets out like 5 Watts SSB.
============================================

For those who are interested, here is the background
of RF engineering/guestimation/field experience behind
this Rule of Thumb, and the given conditions:

Operators = skilled, talented operators
Language = American English
CW Speed = 15WPM
Bandwidth CW = 1kHz
Bandwidth SSB = 2.7kHz
Signal/Noise Ratio CW = -1dB SNR a Talented CW Ops
Signal/oise Ratio SSB = +12dB SNR a Skilled SSB Ops
5 Watts Power CW = 37dBm
100 Watts Power SSB = 50dBm
Difference = 13dB

Note: Some tricks can be played with CW or SSB to
skew this comparison. Things like bandwidth and
super-operator talent (contest ops), language
(Japanese is 3dB better than American English),
speech compression, morse speed (coherent CW is better),
and types of noise or fading present. For those
wondering about DSP noise reduction... most of the
super-ops who can copy either CW or SSB at abnormally
bad noise levels, don't use DSP noise reduction to do it!

I would love to hear some comments on this comparison
73 de N4LA

Monday, October 3, 2011

CW Tip # 3

INSTANT RECOGNITION

Back To The Basics

The first secret of increasing your receiving speed is to shorten the time it takes you to recognize each code character as soon as it has been completely heard.  The shorter that time interval is, the faster you will be able to receive.  Aim to make it instantaneous.  IF YOU DO NOT INSTANTLY RECOGNIZE THE SOUND OF ANY CHARACTER, YOU HAVE NOT REALLY LEARNED IT YET.  (That is the one character you need to practice on until you know it immediately.)  The goal of practice and drill from here on is to speed up your recognition of characters, and then of words, to the point where you can both "read" them easily without writing, and copy them down more and more automatically.

EJ8GQB BERE ISLAND IRELAND

Extreme Portable Ops  "UPDATE"  from my friend Olivier
Hello ...
I have evolved in SO2R (Single Operator 2 Radios) operation with 2 new antennas for the RUN station
SSB Contest preparations have started. I will be back on air from Ireland between 23rd October to 1st November 2011.
73 and regards
Olivier EI8GQB/ON4EI




An Elecraft K3 is used for the main operating position
Click on the link below for Olivier's QRZ Blog




New "Motivation" for CW Improvement !!

The Keys to my Success ?
GHD GT504 Standard Key

GHD GN407 Single Paddle

New "Toys" at N4LA !!