CW | N4BC

Good Weekend

OK, I was pretty happy with the performance of the new vertical. I cleaned up the installation and it looks OK now. I still have to bury the coax, but I did operate with it this weekend. l worked a few new countries/bands/modes and even a couple of US stations on 80-meter CW. I’m quite pleased with it.

The 17-meter band was quite good today. I listened to a Welsh YL working the states for a couple of hours, and she was booming in here. The Scandinavians were coming in well on most bands for the contest. All-in-all, a good weekend for working ham radio.

73 de Dick K4FTW

Post Field Day

I had real intentions of spending the weekend immersed in Field Day, but it was not to be. I was on call and of course, I never get called out … until this weekend. I spent most of Saturday escorting an HVAC tech at one of our radio sites. The A/C decided to pack up and die. By the time I got back home, I was just out of the mood. I think I worked a total of ten QSOs over the weekend, and that was from home, not from the club site. I did work N4BP on three bands. His was the strongest signal on all three when I heard him. I did have a few extended, non-contest style QSOs, and really enjoyed them … more so than the “1D VA TU” style.

I got a nice surprise in the mail this afternoon. The Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club mailed me a certificate for my participation in the Virginia QSO Party earlier this year. It says I was the “High Newport News Phone” entry. I suspect that was because I was the only Newport News city phone entry 🙂 . Hey, you take what you can get, right?

I figured I’d work a few on CW this evening, but conditions are not great. Noise levels are OK, but not a lot of signals on 40. Maybe it’s burnout after the Field Day weekend. I do hear a few, though, so maybe I’ll call a couple before bedtime.

73 es CUL
Dick K4FTW

Update

Even though it’s been a while since I posted, I have done a bit of hamming. This morning, I tuned around and found 9A3OS on 15M CW. He was literally the only CW station I heard on that band … and he was 599. Where was everyone else? Obviously listening — not transmitting.

I’m going to participate in the CQ WW WPX CW contest this weekend. Hopefully, I’ll pick up a few new ones. It’ll be hit or miss, though … it’s our wedding anniversary, and the XYL has plans! I’ll try to fit in some operating when she’s not executing her plans!!

I recently bought and assembled a K1EL WinKeyer USB and really am pleased with it. I’ve got it interfaced to the computer, so I’ll be using it in conjunction with N1MM software to give it a good workout during the contest. The only problem I had with it was no output on KEY 1, but KEY 2 worked fine. An exam with a magnifying glass quickly found an unsoldered pin on U3. Oops, my bad! A bit of solder fixed that just fine.

Well, I’ve got to run and take care of a honey-do … I took some time off from work this week to make a long Memorial Day weekend. I have to use a few days before the end of June. If you’re contesting this weekend … good luck! See you when I can!

Update to my update 🙂 5/28 …

I did get on for a while during the contest and worked 104 stations. I picked up a few new countries, so it was worth it. I did my duty a couple of days as grillmaster, making burnt offerings on my new Weber grill. It’s been so long since I grilled anything outside, that I had forgotten how much flavor charcoal and a few hickory chips can add to a plain old hamburger!

I spent a couple of hours trying to get my WeedWhacker running. It worked fine last summer before I put it away, but now it doesn’t want to start. I’ve got some weeds out by the fence that have stalks that could almost support an antenna!

‘Til next time …

73 de Dick K4FTW

7QP Contesting, NEQP

I spent a bit of time Saturday working the 7th Call Area QSO Party. I operated 20 meters CW and had a pretty good time. Conditions weren’t the best, but were adequate. I didn’t have time to do it justice, due to “honey-dos” on the schedule, but hey — any time on the radio is quality time, eh?

Sunday evening I had a bit of time, so got on for the last hour or so of the New England QSO Party. Lots of stations and pretty strong here in Virginia on 40 meters CW. I worked several and actually picked up a couple of elusive states for my WAS. Guess what? I checked this morning (the Monday after), and they were both confirmed on LOTW. How’s that for fast!

I used N1MM contesting software for only about the second time, and really like how it makes contesting so much easier. I remember the “good old days” with manual dupe sheets and paper logs. So much more fun now that you don’t need to concentrate on the housekeeping functions.

73, Dick

Longevity

I came across an ad for the QCWA. I’d seen them before, and had said “OK, nice, but that’s for old timers.” Then I realized … I’m an old timer now. I was first licensed in 1967 …that’s FORTY-SIX years ago! Man, time flies! So, I decided to spring for a membership. I’m now the proud owner of Membership Number 36139. I’m usually not a joiner, but I do like a lot of the things they do (scholarships) and they seem like a pretty good bunch of guys.

I got on the air for a while tonight and worked a couple of Russian stations on 20m CW. One was in Europe and the other in Asia. There were quite a few other stations on, but I’m just beat tonight … had a long, hard day making a salary doing radio work. And it looks like there’ll be more of the same all this week. Bah! Off to the woods camping with the Boy Scouts this weekend, though. YAY!

73 and cul …