dick | N4BC

Nice!

Conditions were really nice this evening. Plenty of action on FT8, CW, and SSB on 40, 30, & 20 meters. Lots of Thirteen Colonies stations active. I think I worked about seven unique stations, and several of those on multiple bands and modes. I probably would have worked a few more, but there were some pretty active thunderstorms on and off all evening, so I pulled the plug several times. I think there’s another day of activity left, so maybe I’ll see if I can get all thirteen in the log … probably not, though. No big deal if I don’t!

The storms played havoc with my barbecuing plans for dinner, too. The chicken went into the oven instead of onto the grill. Not a good idea to be outside waving a set of metal tongs around in a thunderstorm. I can remember being at a transmitter site when lightning hit the tower … it took a while before my heart rate calmed down. The fiberglass antenna cover for the antenna that was struck looked like a burned, peeled banana. That definitely increased my respect for Mother Nature.

Oh … I calculated my ten-digit grid square (don’t know why, other than just for the heck of it). In case you care, it’s FM17SB46MH. I think that puts you in the middle of my living room. Can’t be too accurate … HA!

73 and thanks for stopping by de Dick N4BC

Feeling Slightly Guilty

Friday and Saturday, I worked a LOT of FT8 on 10, 15, 17, and 20 meters. I have to admit … it left me feeling slightly guilty. It just shouldn’t be so easy to make QSOs at the bottom of the solar cycle when the band is pretty much kaput, otherwise.

One that I didn’t snag, though, was the Baker Island DXPedition. I caught a CQ from them on twenty meters FT8 (fox and hound mode in wsjtx), but by the time I configured the software, I never saw another CQ. I evidently copied their last CQ before closing down on that band. Bummer! I’ve seen pileups on other modes and bands, with bunches of stations calling them, but I didn’t have any copy on the DXPedition. I’ll just have to keep listening.

I did see a lot of CW activity on Sunday for the RAC Canada Day contest. The spectrum display looked pretty active most times I checked. Lots of participation. Unfortunately, I couldn’t play Sunday … too much going on. I spent the afternoon at my granddaughter’s ninth birthday party … man, where does the time go? I do know, it goes FAST!

Well, that’s enough rambling for today. See you later.

73 de Dick N4BC

Good Props …

Last night was pretty active on the bands. The lower bands were pretty noisy, but conditions were good on the higher frequencies. I could hear a lot on six meters, but my vertical just won’t load properly there. I’m going to at least put up a dipole for six this week.

As you can see, there were contacts to be had for the picking. I definitely stayed busy. I was sort of keeping an eye (ear?) out for the Baker Island DXPedition, since they were working FT8. I did see stateside stations calling them in Fox/Hound mode, but never saw any of the DXPedition’s transmissions on my screen.

Everyone laments that “the bands are dead … Woe is me!”, but as you can see, they’re there. As an example, twelve meters … there was not a single signal in the FT8 portion of the band when I checked. So, I said “What the heck … let’s try a CQ and see what happens.” It took several CQs, in fact, but eventually I had a mini-pileup going … two or three stations coming back to me on top of each other. Dick’s sage advice #1 — “If you’re gonna’ catch fish, you gotta’ put a line in the water.” Everybody listening = no QSOs!

So, the moral of the story is … put a signal on the air! Fling yourself out there! “CQ, CQ, CQ … This is <you fill in the blank>”. Be BRAVE! Any mode … Any band. JUST DO IT!!!!

73 and Good Hunting de Dick N4BC

Portable Antennas

WOW … 529 visitors yesterday. I don’t know where you guys are coming from, but thanks for stopping by to read my incoherent ramblings!

Ya’ know, I’ve been hauling around several hamstick antennas buried behind the seat in my truck, and have never really used them. I’ve got a mag mount to plop on top of the truck cab, but usually when operating portable, I set up an antenna of some sort away from the vehicle. I actually don’t even remember whether the hamsticks are tuned for SSB or CW, it’s been so long since they were used.

So … my project for today is to dust them off and tune them using my MINI-60 analyzer, so I can start doing my lunchtime ops again from the parking lot.

What triggered this flurry of activity was that I picked up a six meter hamstick at a yard sale. Six has been pretty active lately, so I want to get this antenna tuned up and useful. If I’m gonna’ do one, I might as well do all of them … right? I’m also going to LABEL them with the tuned frequency.

I realize that these are not high-gain, super-efficient antennas, but you know what? They’re better than no antenna. AND … they’re unobtrusive and easy to deploy during a short lunch break in the parking lot behind the shop. If I make it easy, maybe I’ll do more operating there.

73 de Dick N4BC

Antenna Analysis

There are lots of antenna analyzers on the market now … and at all price points. Here’s an extremely affordable one … the RigExpert AA-30ZERO. Barebones, but looks interesting, even if only from an experimental viewpoint. Eric, who has a great YouTube channel covering all aspects of ham radio (HamRadioConcepts), did a pretty thorough demonstration :

The boards are available from Gigaparts for $75 + S&H as I’m writing this. I’m getting one!

And don’t forget to check out all of Eric’s videos (and he’s got a LOT!) … he talks about antennas, radios, DMR, accessories… you name it!

73 de Dick N4BC