W1WRA's blog

CCC in China

2008-08-11T07:21:00.001-04:00

(This post is not really ham radio related, but I will post it anyway)

This post is probably on the old side now, but I am going to post it anyway. The Chaos Computer Club, a hacker club from Germany has been passing out USB keys to help journalist bypass China's firewall.

The software on the USB key can be found here. The FreedomStick is a nice way for anyone to do quick anonymous browsing on a Windows based PC. FreedomStick is based on Tor . Click on the Tor link for more info on how anonymity is archived.

CQ 15 meters

2008-07-09T22:43:00.002-04:00

Looks like 15 meters was open a bit tonight.

I did something I have not done in sometime: I called CQ. I know that may sound silly. I used to call CQ often when I did a lot of 6 meter work. But I heard a strong station on 15m who was having a local QSO so I went down 5 KHz and started calling CQ. Made about 8 contacts before the band went flat and died on me.

This is just a reminder: No one knows if the band is open if no one is talking. While I will probably go back to hunting for stations to QSO with, I think I am gonna start calling CQ again, especially on bands like 15m/10m.

Quick update, Happy 4th of July

2008-07-04T12:36:00.002-04:00

Last weekend was Field Day.

I setup a laptop connected to a large battery, and hooked the rig up to a 55 AH battery and had some fun. I operated 1E EMA. Made 118 QSOs total making contacts on 80m,40m,20m,15m,and 10m. Hopefully everyone else had a fun and safe Field Day.

Have a safe 4th of July.

73 de Bill
W1WRA

Radioactive

2008-07-03T14:37:00.000-04:00

Andy Hardy (1939) and Ham Radio

2008-06-27T07:12:00.001-04:00

Long Overdue update

2008-06-25T10:53:00.002-04:00

Greetings.

I have not updated this blog in awhile. Looking at the logs there is an easy answer for why: I have not been on the radio too much lately. I have been making a couple of contacts again, and hope to start getting more "radioactive" as it were.

A few weeks ago I got a stack of cards via the bureau. That was nice. Got a handful of new countries confirmed on 15m, 17m, and 20m. I still have a small backlog of older QSLs I would like to get out soon.

In my attempt to get back into the hobby a bit I re-setup my home APRS setup. It is a modest setup: KPC3+, iCOM 2100h, magmount mobile antenna on a 4 drawer metal filing cabinet, and my old trusty Dell. The home QTH is W1WRA-4 (my mobile which I use from time to time (Kenwood tmd-700a) is W1WRA-9). I am surprised how well the APRS station appears to b working. Will be interesting once I introduce an outside more permanent antenna solution.

Field Day is coming up this weekend. I will put my station on the air using battery power. Should be a fun time.

Until next post, 73.

Shhhh... WSPR

2008-04-24T06:14:00.002-04:00

After seeing WSPR pop up a coupld of places recently I decided to set it up.

WSPR (pronounced "whisper") stands for Weak Signal Propagation Reporter, a program that implements transmitting and receiving for a digital soundcard mode called MEPT_JT, an acronym for Manned Experimental Propagation Tests by Joe Taylor, K1JT.

It took me a little fiddling to get it to work right, but It seems to be working. Here are a couple of stations I heard last night:



Date         Call Frequency SNR Drift Grid dBm W by loc km mi
 2008-04-24 10:16   F6IRF   10.140265   -24   -1   JN35au   +36   3.981   W1WRA   FN42ip   5922   3680 
 2008-04-24 10:10   W1BW   10.140229   -10   -1   FN42hl   +20   0.100   W1WRA   FN42ip   19   12 
 2008-04-24 10:08   K1JT   10.140152   -24   -1   FN20qi   +30   1.000   W1WRA   FN42ip   377   234 
 2008-04-24 09:24   CT1BYK   10.140216   -29   -1   IM59pf   +30   1.000   W1WRA   FN42ip   5150   3200 
 2008-04-24 05:48   F9HS   10.140208   -19   1   JN23at   +30   1.000   W1WRA   FN42ip   5882   3655

Sorry for the format being slightly off. I have been running mostly in RX mode, and will sometimes turn on TX mode for a bit. I think I will let it receive during the day to see what other stations I can hear.

Retro Messaging

2008-04-18T08:06:00.002-04:00

So I have been geeking out a bit lately. Here are a couple things I have been doing:

Setup my Macbook to dual boot Mac OS and Ubuntu (a great writeup on the howto can be found here) So far everything is working out pretty well.

I compiled TIN and started reading some radio related newsgroups. While the noise floor is high, there is still some signal in there. My usenet provider also has text articles that go back to 2003 which makes watching old threads, etc interesting.

Rounding out retro messaging, I recently downloaded SyncTerm. SyncTERM is a nice multi-platform BBS terminal program. I have been slowly finding a couple of BBSs to telnet/ssh to. This really brings me back to 1986 with my 1200 baud modem. A couple of BBSs I have been checking out are:

scannerbbs.dyndns.org
bbs.k5jat.com
rrx.ca

If anyone has any other BBS suggestions let me know.

Speaking of BBSs, sometime next weekend I think I will dig out the KPC3+ TNC and see if there are any packet BBSs left in the area. I know APRS is very active in the area, and I know a couple of DX CLusters are still on the air. I wonder what else might still be around.

ARRL LOTW Busy

2008-04-12T09:06:00.003-04:00

Looks like people like to use ARRL's Logbook of the World on Saturday mornings.

Screenshot taken at 9:04 am EST.

Radio Status Page

2008-04-07T06:38:00.003-04:00

Well I think I am going to try to put a ham website up again. I will probably feature this blog there plus other content. One thing I did do yesterday is update my radio status page - http://www.w1wra.net/radio_status.html . It is kinda neat. When I am on the radio it will refresh every minute showing frequency, operating mode, and if I remember to turn it on an updated picture.

I did not play too much ham radio yesterday but I did make a few interesting contacts - Cayman Islands on 15m, Crete on 20m, and France on 40m. My France contact is really my first 'dx' on 40m. I tend to ham it up during the weekend days so the logs are full of 20m/17m/15m contacts.

I did do some other fun radio stuff yesterday. I went out and got a small 2 shelf shelf, and rearranged the shack a bit. I now have a few of my scanners back online. I still need to get my pcr-1000 back online but the base scanners are in place, and I setup a couple of HTs as well. I also moved my power supply and voltage regulator over to the shelf. Things are getting a bit more organized. Only thing tat is missing now is a new large battery(ies?) for a 12v backup power source. I will have to hitup an upcoming ham radio flea/swapfest soon for one. Perhaps NearFest ?

Finally, I have been slowly practicing to take my extra exam. I have not had too much time to put into it, but I am practice testing in the high 60s/low 70s. I am going to try to put 15-30 minutes a day reviewing material so I can upgrade soon during one of the upcoming hamfests or ve session. Wish me luck.

73 de Bill
W1WRA

Quick Update

2008-04-06T02:58:00.003-04:00

Just a quick update.

I have not updated the blog in forever. I have been active on HF lately. Yesetrday I worked a number of stations during the SP and MO QSO party. Also worked some 10 meter DX in Argentina.

I have also been hanging out in ham radio related IRC rooms (hi guys), as well has starting to play with echolink again. One place you will probably find me is the dodropin conference. I hung out there for awhile this evening and they seemed like a good bunch of guys.

73 for now
Bill

Lightning!

2008-03-11T21:25:00.001-04:00

VHF contest, update

2008-02-05T07:25:00.000-05:00

A late update, but I participated if the January VHF contest. I was a part of the KW1AM multi-op contest station. I have known Larry (N1ROZ) for many years. It was the first multi-op I participated in and it was a blast. Due to the cold weather, the higher band antennas were not mounted on the towers. We operated 6m/2m/1.25m/70cm. On Sunday morning the 2 meter amp blew up, but it was still a good time. Hopefully for the June contest all the bands will be up and going. I was invited back for June, and I think i will take the journey down to CT again for more good times.

The blog has not been updated in awhile because other than the (semi-)recent contest there has not been too much going on with me and the hobby lately. I will work some 20 meter DX on Saturday morning/afternoons, but other than that the hobby has been slowish. Once it gets warmer again I plan on putting up some new antennas and perhaps get a bit more active.

Stay warm, dry and safe.

73 de Bill

W1WRA

"Radio Hams"

2007-12-17T06:49:00.000-05:00

Twilight Zone: Why Amateur Radio is Bad

2007-08-14T11:02:00.000-04:00

LOL (HI HI ), etc...

IRC please...

2007-08-14T10:36:00.000-04:00

So I went to the main local post office the city over from me this morning. I went to their main post office because they are a larger city and I assumed they would carry IRCs. I wait in line and then ask for IRCs.

"They do not use those anymore."

Well my knee jerk reaction was "The UPU differs with your opinion.".

The clerk asked a coworker who had not seen IRC in years, and also believed they were no longer in use. They suggested I visit a satellite post office in the downtown area.

I travelled to said post office. I was bracing myself for the answer when I asked again "Do you sell IRCs?".

"Why yes. In my 9 years working here I only sold 1."

Elated I responded "Great! I will take 50 of them please.". Well, the post office only had 4 on hand. I bought the 4 and requested that 50 more be ordered for me. The icing on the cake was the clerks POS would not let her sell me the IRCs. After a phone call it appeared to have been an operator error.

Fun fun morning. At least I now have a post office that knows what an IRC is, and will order me some as needed.

73 de Bill
W1WRA

QSL Card Cabinet

2007-08-05T09:29:00.000-04:00

I was at IKEA with the XYL yesterday. We were walking around and both saw this cabinet and at the same time said "You know what that would be great for?".

We were right. Standard size QSL cards fit great in the little file cabinet. The number of draws is great. I have all my supplies and cards neatly stowed away. I have not been on the radio much this past week but I am catching up more on my QSLing. I am close to being done. Just sent out a batch of cards through the ARRL Outgoing Card Service. I hear it is slow, but I tell ya the price seems to be right if you plan on sending out a bunch of cards overseas. I directly sent a card to Germany recently and it cost $0.90. That can add up quick, especially if you are sending a SASE along. I have a number of overseas cards I need to send out direct and those will be sent out this week.

73 de Bill

W1WRA

Catching up on QSLing

2007-07-31T10:20:00.000-04:00

Wow I have not posted in awhile. One reason is I have been busy on the radio. I will try to post an activity update soon. However if anyone has QSL'd me recently or have been expecting a QSL from me you are in luck. The past day or 2 I have been catching up on all my QSLing. I have a handful more cards to get out. So if you have been waiting for a card it should be arriving soon.

73 de Bill
W1WRA

What makes an engineer and/or ham radio amateur??

2007-07-05T07:42:00.000-04:00

Weekend radio fun

2007-07-02T07:16:00.001-04:00

This weekend was a good radio weekend. I started the weekend working Crete, Northern Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Serbia on 20 meters. I then proceeded to work my first 20 meter split contact down into Australia (Lord Howe Island). Very neat indeed! I also made my first 17 meters contact, which happened to be to Italy.

July 1st was Canada Day, and I also made 7 Canada Day RAC contest contacts.

I also finally fixed my 2m/70cm antenna situation mobile. This means I am back on APRS operating as W1WRA-9, and can rag chew again on VHF while mobile. Now to whip the 706mkiig back into shape in the mobile. Hmmm....

73 de Bill
W1WRA

New boom, and usb to serial woes solved

2007-06-28T08:03:00.000-04:00

Greetings.

I added a couple of items to the shack yesterday. First item was a Heil PL-2T Topless Boom as well as a SM-1 Spider Shock Mount. I am very pleased with the mount and boom. I was previously using a normal desktop stand. With the boom in place it frees up some nice desktop real estate.

I also received my USB to Serial adapter. Not all USB to serial adapters are created equal! This is especially true if you are running a Mac. (more on using my Mac in the shack in a future post). But if you need a USB to serial adapter for your PC or Mac (or linux for that matter) I HIGHLY SUGGEST getting a Keyspan USA-19HS adapter (see here
or here). It may not be as fun as going through iterations of multiple adapters like myself, but you'll thank me later.

After adding my new accessories to the shack I proceeded to work Iceland, Spain and Denmark on 20 meters.

I have also been checking into some local nets on 80m in the mornings (like Southern New England net and ECARS). I am not good at keeping net schedules but I always like to check in and say hi when I catch one in progress.

That is all for the post.

73 de Bill
W1WRA

Ham Radio Set

2007-06-27T12:18:00.000-04:00

It's just a ham radio set!

On the HF Bands

2007-06-24T22:58:00.000-04:00

Well I haven't posted in awhile since work has been busy, blah blah... Anyway this is my ham radio blog so I digress...

Today I hung up my first HF antenna at the QTH. I put up my Cobra UltraLite junior wire antenna. I got the antenna up about 30 or so feet. One nice thing about the antenna is my Kenwood TS-2000x's built in tuner can auto tune the antenna 80-10m with no external tuner required. After tuning around the bands I noticed that 20 meters was pretty open. I worked Bosnia, Czech Republic, Italy, Belgium, and Estonia. I would have to say the antenna hanging project was a success.

I rounded out the night with a 80m contact with my buddy W1LUC who I upgraded to general with. All and all I would say I am pretty pleased with the setup. I will talk a little bit more about my setup in a future post.

73 de Bill
W1WRA

W1WRA/AG

2007-06-03T12:20:00.000-04:00

Greetings from Maine.

I am up visiting my friend W1LUC. Yesterday we went over to the 20th Annual Bangor Hamfest 2007 sponsored by the Pine State Amateur Radio Club. Both myself and W1LUC took and passed the element 3 exams.

I got W1LUC a G5RV antenna for his birthday (along with a couple of non-ham radio goodies). We strung her up and the bands were alive. Although we would like to see the antenna moved some, Belgium was coming in nice and clear.

See you all on the HF bands soon.

73 de W1WRA

Black&Decker StormStation Rechargeable Power Source/Radio/Light 38.89 $0Shp

2007-05-27T09:24:00.000-04:00

Ok, so this post is not directly ham radio related. But having power in an emergency situation is important. I was scanning around the net and stumbled upon this. It is a Black and Decker rechargeable power source. List price - $168 - your price $38.98 with FREE shipping (WalMart sells this unit for $98.76. This device would be a great way to power/recharge your HT/QRP station during emergency situations. A couple of bullet points that are interesting:

Rechargeable emergency power source/radio/light with locater light that goes on when power goes off
25-watt power source for low-wattage devices; AM/FM/TV audio/weather-band radio; detachable flashlight

I'll write a review once this unit arrives.

73 de W1WRA