Sundown DX Association

KB9MWR Speaks on “ARES/RACES is a Waste”

2009-12-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

KB9MWR Speaks on “ARES/RACES is a Waste”: "Steve KB9MWR makes some very valid observations on the ARES/RACES situation:

Everyone’s opinion on ARES/RACES will differ, but Steve KB9MWR has captured many of the issues with ARES/RACES and “Paraprofessional Emcomm” accurately in his presentation.
His points are 100% a fit with why I have been advocating the self-preparation plan Freecom as a replacement for Emcomm.
73
Steve
K9ZW
[...]"

DXpedition of The Year 2009

2009-12-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

Vote for the DXpedition of the year at:

http://dx-hamspirit.com/dxpedition-of-the-year-2009/

73,
Marsh, KA5M

ARRL SS Phone at KG5VK 2009

2009-11-25T08:50:00.000-08:00

Just a quick summary
I will post more facts, images and stats later

A Clean sweep was attained at 1020 local Sunday
by working KP4 on 15 meters

Here is the Contest Summary sheet...........

SSSSB Score Summary Sheet

Start Date : 2009-11-21

CallSign Used : KG5VK
Operator(s) : KG5VK, KG5U, KA5M, N5VU, K5SL, N5FH, N5SH

Operator Category : MULTI-ONE
Band : ALL
Power : HIGH
Mode : SSB
Default Exchange : M 72 LA
Gridsquare : EM32

Name : Steven L Smith
Address : 138 Amy Lane
City/State/Zip : Benton LAT 71006
Country : USA

ARRL Section : LA
Club/Team : Louisiana Contest Club
Software : N1MM Logger V9.10.3

Band QSOs Pts Sec
3.5 142 284 7
7 501 1002 22
14 792 1584 50
21 1 2 1
Total 1436 2872 80

Score : 229,760

With Hindsight, we should have spent an hour or so on 15 meters
I need to operate less and manage the station more.
Steve
KG5VK

College Special Event

2009-10-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

Hello,
To celebrate our college turning 98 years old this month, our student
amateur radio club N9GTC is running a Special Events station. The bulk
of the club is made up of non-hams working on their technician license.
(Most of the licensed club members graduated this past May.) As the
club adviser, I will be present during the Special Event operating time
so that all of the club members can get on the air. This is our
opportunity as a contesting community to show a group of technician
class (and soon to be technician class) operators what great fun
amateur radio is.

Our operating plans are;

Thursday, Oct 29, 1400Z-1800Z, SSB, 21.275 14.275 7.275.

Friday, Oct 30, 1400Z-1800Z, CW, 21.080 14.080 7.080.

They asked if we could do cw as well. I plan to load the exchanges in
the keyer and "translate" for them. Imagine that, some of them are
interested in cw...

If you have some time, please stop by the freq. and say hello to our
students. Imagine if you were a non-ham working on your license what an
experience like this could do to boost your enthusiasm. Some of the
college's administration will be stopping by to participate in the event
as well as they are big supporters of the club.

I hope you can stop by the frequency and say "hello". We will send out
a beautiful color certificate to all those that make it into the log.

Pat WW9R
N9GTC ARC Adviser
Gateway Technical College, CATI Campus
2320 Renaissance Blvd.
Sturtevant, WI 53177

MO2R, A Sweepstakes Perspective by KG5VK

2009-10-11T08:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I gave a presentation to the Louisiana Contest Club
on Multi-Op Two Radio (MO2R)
I posted my presentation on my web server here
This is a Power Point File

Comments and feedback are welcome !

73
Steve
KG5VK

a reminder of this great log analaysis tool

2009-10-09T15:46:00.000-07:00

click here

cheers !
steve

Reverse Beacon Network

2009-10-04T06:53:00.001-07:00

Welcome! - Reverse Beacon Network

Shared via AddThis

The National Weather Service will hold an Open House on Saturday, October 24

2009-10-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE October 1, 2009
National Weather Service, Shreveport, Louisiana ...

National Weather Service will hold an Open House open to the public...

The National Weather Service will hold an Open House on Saturday,
October 24, 2009 from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm, to allow all of our
customers, partners, and the general public to see our operations and
facilities.

The Mad River Contest Club

2009-10-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

A group of guys in Ohio really have their stuff together
They also share a great Handbook they created on ARRL Sweepstakes
Here is the link
ARRL Phone SS is 21 November 2009

I like these low profile Ham Hats

2009-09-18T05:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.astridsembroidery.com/Custom_Embroidered_Call_Sign_Hats.html

This week-end Sept 19-20 Lots of activity

2009-09-16T06:29:00.000-07:00

In addition to FT5GA Glorioso being on the air
the North American Sprint--Phone contest is this week-end
The Texas QSO Party

Woops !
The Texas QSO party is..........

The Texas QSO Party is SCHEDULED ANNUALLY ON THE LAST FULL WEEKEND (SATURDAY AND SUNDAY) IN SEPTEMBER. Operating times for the 2009 contest will be from 1400Z on SATURDAY, September 26 to 0200Z on SUNDAY. September 27 and from 1400Z to 2000Z on SUNDAY, September 27. Stations may work the entire contest period. All logs must be submitted no later than October 31, 2009.

2009 running of ARRL Phone Sweepstakes

2009-09-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

I am getting the station and antenna farm ready
for the ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, for years I have hosted
several ops here at my qth for a multi-op effort in this fun contest

The phone version of the contest is
2100Z, Nov 21(Saturday afternoon) to 0300Z, Nov 23 (Sunday evening)

I know of several ops that will be here are you one of them ???

Steve

Progress on the New Four Square..........

2009-09-07T16:28:00.000-07:00

The 75m Four Square is now finished

and...........

Just finished the new 4 square
the last part was to run the coax from the phasing box to the shack that measures dumped power
It was the most rewarding part as the good news is the system has at least 91 % efficiency
of transmit power out to the vertical
iow less than 9 % is dumped power back to the dummy load
because of inefficient coupling of the phased verticals !

I understand anything less than 10% dumped power is good.
at 3.640mhz the system is even more efficient (96%) less than 4% dumped power

It transmits apparently really well
but I think we will still be using beverages or the K9AY loop for receive and i have some work to do on those to improve our signal to noise ratios (I have been reading and studying the methods for this) Mainly decoupling the feedline from the rcv antenna system
and use of a second ground system away from the feed point

Steve

Webinar Schedule -- September/October:

2009-09-06T05:58:00.000-07:00

Webinar Schedule -- September/October:: "I am pleased to announce the Webinar schedule for September/October.
Things kick off next Wednesday (9/9) with KR2Q's 'When GIANTS First Walked
the Bands - The Early Days of Multi-Multi contesting.' Doug's presentation includes
timeless photos and a nostalgic look back at the early days of multi-multi
contesting. This is one of those presentations where you can put your feet
up and enjoy a great trip down memory lane!"

Manufacturer of Texas Bug Catcher Antenna to Cease Operations

2009-09-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

Manufacturer of Texas Bug Catcher Antenna to Cease Operations: "After October 31, 2009, GLA Systems -- the manufacturer of the Texas Bug Catcher antennas -- will cease taking orders for new antennas; according to their Web site, all orders received before that date will be filled. "Effective November 1, only orders for items that are in stock at the time will be accepted. Effective December 31, 2009, the toll free line, 1-800-588-2841, will be discontinued." No reason was given for the closure, but on GLA's Web site, owner Henry Allen, K5BUG, said "It has been a fun 30 years, but it is time to hang it up. I would like to thank everyone who has made this experience possible.""

FCC to Utilities: Don't Look to Hams to Pay for Your Testing

2009-08-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

FCC to Utilities: Don't Look to Hams to Pay for Your Testing: "In a case that goes back at more than 10 years, the FCC has told a Pennsylvania utility that the utility is responsible for paying for "efforts to locate and correct instances of [power line] noise." At least one amateur has been complaining to the FCC since 2000 regarding harmful radio interference possibly caused by power line equipment that is maintained by Pittsburgh's Duquesne Light Company (DLC)."

Station on Fort Worden's Artillery Hill Refurbished; Hams Have Celebration:

2009-08-27T04:55:00.000-07:00

Station on Fort Worden's Artillery Hill Refurbished; Hams Have Celebration:: "The radio station atop Artillery Hill at Fort Worden State Park is the site of a special event celebrating the 100th anniversary of this communications site. The celebration takes place from 8 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30. The public is invited to stop by during the park's open hours: 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. on Saturday and 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Using call sign W7R, members of the local Jefferson County and Port Ludlow Amateur Radio clubs will be on the air for the full 32 hours in the original brick building, completed in 1909, which is located on the fort's Artillery Hill, surrounded by the original gun batteries. In the early 1900s, this station, using call sign FX, was used by the U.S. Army to communicate with Alaska, supporting the Klondike Gold Rush, using a spark-gap transmitter. In the early 1930s, communication was by voice, code and Teletype, using an SCR radio set with a 300-foot wire antenna with a center tap supported by two 150-foot fir poles. During this weekend's event, radio "hams" will be operating off-grid, on single side band, CW (Morse code), and digital PSK & RTTY modes. Radio frequencies include 14.265 and 7.255 MHz. Volunteers from the radio clubs have been working to clean up the station, which has been victimized over the years by nature and by vandals. Alfred Chiswell of the Coast Artillery Museum at Fort Worden has provided much appreciated assistance during this project."

Keyboard mapping for WL

2009-08-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

This tip from Scott K9Jy.com

Keyboard Mapping

Many SO2R contesters will re-map keys on their keyboard to support SO2R contesting. This is done to simplify the number of keystrokes and hand movements needed to perform the SO2R functions.

WriteLog in version 10.45 and up offers a Keyboard Mapping function. Accessing the dialog box from the ‘Tools’ and ‘Keyboard Shortcuts’ from the top WriteLog tool bar yields the following dialog box:

WriteLog Keyboard Shortcuts

NAQP SSB Aug 2009 W5WMU Results

2009-08-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

Call: W5WMU
Operator(s): W5WMU, KI5XP
Station: W5WMU
Class: M/2 LP
QTH: Lafayette, LA
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
------------------------
160: 29 16
80: 125 30
40: 674 59
20: 1443 63
15: 189 44
10: 13 6
------------------------
Total: 2473 218 Total Score = 539,114
Club: Louisiana Contest Club

Solar numbers and other great information at an easy to view website

2009-08-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.solarcycle24.com/

I found this site easy to read and understand more about solar cycles

steve

something new in the contesting community

2009-08-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

A Wiki designed for Ham Radio Contesting

It allows for posts by authors and it is also like an on line forum
kind of a text book and a round table discussion area all rolled into one

A wiki offers awesome search tools, finding information in a wiki is what it is all about

So stop listening to me ramble about it and go check it out........
http://wiki.contesting.com/

Steve
KG5VK

The 2009 running of the NA QSO Party is tomorrow

2009-08-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

This timely reminder from a buddy of mine...........

Great contest - 100 watts max, no amps - single op only, no packet spots -
easy exchange, just your name & state.

If you can't operate the entire contest, no problem, just join in and pass
out a few QSOs.

73,
Marsh, KA5M

North American QSO Party, SSB: 1800Z, Aug 15 to 0600Z, Aug 16
Mode: SSB
Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m
Classes: Single Op (QRP/Low)
Multi-Two (Low)
Max operating hours: Single Op: 10 hours
Multi-Two: 12 hours
Max power: LP: 100 watts
QRP: 5 watts
Exchange: NA: Name + (state/province/country)
non-NA: Name
Work stations: Once per band
QSO Points: NA station: 1 point per QSO
non-NA station: 1 point per QSO with an NA station
Multipliers: Each US state (including KH6/KL7) once per band
Each VE province/territory once per band
Each North American country (except W/VE) once per band
Score Calculation: Total score = total QSO points x total mults
Submit logs by: August 29, 2009
E-mail logs to: (see rules, web upload preferred)
Upload log at: http://www.ncjweb.com/naqplogsubmit.php
Mail logs to: Bruce Horn, WA7BNM
4225 Farmdale Avenue
Studio City, CA 91604
USA
Find rules at: http://www.ncjweb.com/naqprules.php

this might be a new place to hang out when the bands are dead

2009-08-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.hamradioforum.net/

Soon November will be here and that means ARRL SS !!!!!

73
steve

great article on Short Dipoles !

2009-07-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.w8ji.com/short_dipoles_and_problems.htm

ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB 21 Nov 2009

2009-07-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB 2100Z, Nov 21 to 0300Z, Nov 23
Saturday afternoon thru Sunday evening (@9 PM local)

Mark your Calendars Now !

steve