Cycle 24 ALIVE & KICKING !!

10 Meters 
is 
"RADIO-ACTIVE"

With the solar flux at 190 right now...

The bands have exploded this weekend !!

Last night 15 meters was open to Asia and the South Pacific

until well after 9pm local time.

I ran a pile-up of Europeans on 10 meter SSB yesterday... 

and did it again this morning ... 

with signals coming in at S9 plus at times !!

I had a 30 min chat with Bob /M3DPQ on 10 meters ... 

He was running a little Icom 703 at 10 watts !!

I haven't seen conditions like this in years !!

The "Magic" has returned ...

at least for this weekend.

M3DPQ / Bob

from his 10 watt qrp station

M7.4 Solar Flare: The Solar Flares just keep on coming. This time Sunspot 1302 churned out an M7.4 Solar Flare at 04:50 UTC Sunday morning (Sept 25,2011).

Solar Update: ( Via ... Solarham.com) Solar activity has been strong over the past 48 hours with numerous M-Class flares as well as now two X-Class flares around Sunspot 1302. The chances for an Earth directed Coronal Mass Ejection are increasing.
New Sunspot 1303 located in the southern hemisphere is also capable of producing M-Class flares.
More Flare activity will be possible within the next 24 hours.
Top 10 Solar Flares of Cycle 24: (Sunspot number in brackets)
X6.9 - Aug 9, 2011 (1263)
X2.2 - Feb 15, 2011 (1158)
X2.1 - Sept 6, 2011 (1283)
X1.9 - Sept 24, 2011 (1302)
X1.8 - Sept 7, 2011 (1283)
X1.5 - March 9 , 2011 (1166)
X1.4 - Sept 22, 2011 (1302)
M9.3 - Aug 4, 2011 (1261)
M9.3 - July 30, 2011 (1260)
M8.3 - Feb 6, 2010 (1045)
7 of these 10 flares in the past 2 months.

The Admiral (K8EAB) and his Glowbug !!

My old pal Wey / K8EAB ...

Using a 1-tube, 1-Watt XTAL controlled transmitter on 40-meter CW ...
This brief QSO was with Sam, N5QAB in Cherokee Village, Arkansas ...

441.9 miles ... not bad.

The Magic of radio will never die !!

N4LA in the Birkheads

First Portable Op of the Fall Season

Yesterday I decided to take advantage of the nice weather

and take a hike into the Birkhead Wilderness Area

that's located about 15 minutes from home.

The photo above is my hiking buddy ... Otis

My QRP (size) Dog !!

Otis is a Wire Haired Dachshund

Antenna Line

This is what I use to pull my antenna's into the treetops

It's simply a spool of masonry string with a handle

Purchased at my local hardware store.

Here is my portable antenna launcher !!

Yes ... its a golf ball on a string, with a fishing swivel on the end.

With a good arm ... you can easily hit tree limbs at 40 to 45 ft.

On most of my portable ops

I always carry a first aid kit that includes 

a small flashlight and a fire starter for emergencies.

And I carry a lightweight tarp ...

that I can use for a ground cloth or sun / rain shelter.

Here is a couple of items I recently added to my portable op station.

On the left ... is a small digital audio recorder for qso logging and notes.

On the right ... is a small ear bud / speaker amplifier.

I have found that the small amp 

really helps improve the audio volume of my Elecraft KX1.

especially if I use my small portable speaker.

This is a photo of my portable speaker system that I use

with both my KX1 and FT-857D

It opens up like a book when in use ...

It's not amplified... so it doesn't require batteries

It's smaller than my KX1 when folded ....

and very light weight.

The sound quality isn't bad either.

My portable operating desk ...

Simply a clipboard turned upside down

which secures my notepad at the bottom.

this way the pages won't flap around in the wind.

I also put velcro on both top corners

to secure my clock (on the left side)

and my cw key (on the right side)

My Lenovo Netbook

Great for any ham software you want to take into the field.

Plus the netbook case makes for a nice mouse pad !!

Size Comparison ?

This photo shows my 

Portable speaker ... folded

and

micro speaker/ear bud amplifier

compared to the 

Elecraft KX1

Here's another view with the portable speakers open.

I used a 28ft vertical wire w/ 4 X 16ft radials for my antenna

With this configuration ...

The tuner on the KX1 ...

showed a swr of 1:1 

on 3 bands

20 / 30 / 40  meters !!

MY Portable QRP Station !!

I made a short video of the qrp set-up

( See video link below )

Sorry about the voice audio

I tried the YouTube download twice...

but each time the voice audio was distorted.

I hope the next video will be better

Team K7S activates Mt Little SI for Summits on the Air with Elecraft KX3

New Elecraft KX3 Video ( Protype SN #001 ) ... Video via Steve / WG0AT

The day before SalmonCon 2011 nine ham radio OPs as Team-K7S climbed Mt Little Si near North Bend, WA. Little Si is a SOTA summit - # W7/KG-134. Part of the Elecraft KX3 design team Lyle/KK7P and Rich/AC7MA brought along their engineering prototype of the KX3. We eagerly jumped at the opportunity to operate this coveted trail-friendly radio for this was the first time the ham public had access to a working KX3 prototype! For 3-hrs we tried hard to break Lyle's engineering prototype SN001 but we failed! However we all had smiles on our faces as we returned to base camp that afternoon just knowing we touched a KX3.

SalmonCon is a QRP focused conference which mostly draws NW ham radio QRP affecionados. Resulting in several days of presentations, good food and fellowship amongst friends while camping at Valley Camp - North Bend, WA

VOACAP Online ... A Great DX Tool

VOACAP ONLINE ... 
A great tool for chasing DX !!
A great tool for checking propagation !!


Ever wonder when is the "best time" or  what is the"best band" to work that rare DX-pedition ?


While I was On St Lucia (J6) last December with the "Buddies in the Caribbean" ultra light DX group ... 
One of our team leaders (Guy / N7UN) introduced me to this really neat site called VOACAP Online ...
The team used it on a regular daily basis to check propagation into different areas of the world ... 
This program will not only tell you the best times to work the DX ... it will also show you the best bands to work the particular country you are looking for. 
You can add your different antenna configurations  and TX power levels as well ... best of all it's very simple to use.
I highly recommend it to both new and old hams that like to chase DX !!

Here is the link : VOACAP / Point to Point Prediction

....................................................................

Another tool that's really neat is the

 VOACAP Area Coverage Map 

Here is the link: VOACAP / Coverage

Message from Jari Perkiömäki, OH6BG & VOACAP Online team:-

A new addition to the VOACAP Online HF prediction toolbox are coverage area maps. The coverage area map service uses a familiar Google Maps interface, with an added possibility to choose TX and RX QTHs from a DXCC-type of a list of over 470 pre-defined locations all over the globe. Also entering a Maidenhead locator in the Name field and setting a coordinate point as the user’s default TX location are supported.
The result map shows the probability to achieve a CW QSO from a TX site to a grid of RX sites. The prediction is plotted on a map of equidistant cylindrical projection, together with the grayline terminator and the position of the Sun.

This service should be of particular interest to DX peditions and contest operators who want to find the most suitable times of operation on different bands. If a more accurate HF prediction between two locations is needed, then VOACAP-based point-to-point site should work best.

GET

"RADIO-ACTIVE"

73 de N4LA

The "Shelby Hamfest" 2011 ... North Carolina's Largest Hamfest

Saturday I rode down to Dallas NC

with my friend Larry Draughn / AE4LD

to attend the annual Shelby Hamfest

The  weather was great 

except it turned out to be ...

Hot & Humid as usual.

Ham turnout seemed to be about like last year

which in my opinion was ...  very good.

The only downside to this years event was ... 

due to storms the night before...

there was no air conditioning for the inside vendors.

And yes its was HOT inside.

As for Dealers ...

I was a little disappointed..

Out of the Big 3 ... Yaesu  / Icom / Kenwood

only Yaesu showed up !!

Ham Radio Outlet was there 

and

MFJ had the largest floor coverage as usual.

A big thank you to the ones that did show up !!

The new face at Shelby this year was 

" FLEX RADIO SYSTEMS "

and yes they drew a bunch of attention.

Now my question is ....

Where was Elecraft ??

They showed up at 

the Raleigh NC hamfest earlier this year.

And where was Ten Tec ?

They are located just across the border in TN ??

Come on guys ....

This is the Grand Daddy of them all in North Carolina.

And you decide to stay at home and not show up ???

What a bummer !!

Yes I'm a K3 owner & Elecraft lover

but 

My hats off to FLEX RADIO ...

Thanks for showing up !!

The "BEST" part of the Shelby Hamfest

has to be the flea market ...

Even the "Old Buzzards" won't miss out on this !!

Did you know ...

 there is now a company producing 

the old fashioned "Caged Dipole" ??

It's called the DX Blaster

What about a ....

6 element vertical phased array

on the mobile !!

This was no joke ... 

this guy had this monster antenna on his mobile.

and yes he also had a amplifier !!

As for a hamfest location ...

Dallas NC is a great location !!

Personally I like this location much better than

the old location in Shelby NC.

Thank you SARC ... Shelby Amateur Radio Club.

Randolph County's Finest  ... at the Shelby Hamfest.

L to R ... Butch ... Ruth ... Larry

3 of my local  (RARC) club members

Good Friends ...

Good Food ...

Good Deals ...

Thanks for another successful ... Shelby Hamfest

I can't wait until next year !!

73 de N4LA

The Signs ..... Fall & the "Low Band" DX season is almost here !!

As we grow older ... 

we'll always remember our parents and grandparents

 talking about the signs of the seasons.

So what are some signs that Fall is on it's way

besides the leaves changing color ?

The first sign I can think of is Spider webs ...

They are everywhere !!

The picture above shows a Black & Yellow Garden Spider

as it spins it's web across my back door.

These spider are NOT poisonous 

They are very colorful 

and

They are one of the largest 

and 

One of scariest spiders in North Carolina !!

The second sign I can think of is ...

Caterpillar Nest

I took this picture today 

while out hiking with my daughter ... Taylor

and my dog ... Otis 

73 de N4LA