When I started the practical amateur radio podcast on May 8th 2008, I really had no idea how long it would last or how big it would grow.  Four years later (and my 5th season podcasting) I still continue to receive emails thanking me for doing what I do.  I’m also frequently reminded of why I podcast, when I receive emails letting me know a new ham has his or her license as a result of the podcast.  I very much enjoy creating the audio podcast, the video supplements and blogging.  I consider it an extension of the hobby. 

This blog post is what I referred to in episode 55 (just released today), as part of the PARP Birthday Trifecta.  In other words, I typically use my Podcast, my YouTube Channel and this Blog to Elmer and promote amateur radio to anyone who will listen, watch and read.  These avenues are referred to as new media. 

Pacificon 2012

Speaking of new media, I’ve been invited to attend the 2012 ARRL National Convention and Pacificon in October of this year.  I will participate in a panel discussion titled, “Amateur Radio New Media Elmering”.  I’m very excited to share the stage with other “Big Names” in the new media elmering space.  I’m sure you’ve heard of all three…

Chris Matthieu, N7ICE is the founder/creator/developer of the amateur radio social networking site 73s.com.

Randy Hall, K7AGE.  Randy is best known as that YouTube guy.  Randy is approaching his 6th year of using his YouTube channel to Elmer.  His total video views surpass the 2 million mark. 

FInally, the three of us will be joined by Mr. Elmer himself…Gordon West, WB6NOA.  Gordo has helped thousands earn their technician license (and upgrade to general and extra) through his exam prep guides and excellent audio material.  I’m proud to say I’m a three time graduate of Gordo’s material. 

I’m truly honored to have the opportunity to meet these three gentlemen and share the stage to discuss our share passions for helping others and promoting this wonderful hobby.  I’ll make certain to continue to provide updates as we get closer to the October timeframe.  I hope to see you at Pacificon.

A Gift to You

In an effort to help celebrate PARP’s 4th birthday, I asked three popular amateur radio vendors to help me celebrate.  In return, each have provided coupon codes you may use for a limited time to save money when purchasing items from their website.  Consider it a gift to you.

It just so happened I was able to tie each of these three vendors into the educational/discussion segment in episode 55 of the practical amateur radio podcast.  The topic of episode 55 is about programming your radio. 

I would like to thank Nifty Ham Accessories, RT Systems Inc. and RFinder – The Worldwide Repeater Directory for helping me celebrate the 4th birthday of  the practical amateur radio podcast.  Please listen to episode 55 to learn about the coupon codes from Nifty Ham Accessories, RT Systems Inc. and RFinder – The Worldwide Repeater Directory.  

Until next time…

73 de KDØBIK

Last week I created a YouTube video to document some experimentation I had completed with the KX3, my iPad and the iOS PSK-31 app called PSKer.  This week I made some modifications to my setup.  This included adding a USB extension cable and I experimented with the VOX settings of the KX3. 

Watch this video on YouTube.

Thank you for watching!

73 de KD0BIK

As I briefly mentioned in my blog post titled KX3 – The First 24 Hours.  I spent a little bit of time experimenting with the iOS App titled PSKer.  This experimentation included operating it in an over the air method.  Meaning I have no audio cables running between the iPad and the KX3.  I’m simply relying on the iPad built-in microphone to pick up the audio signal from the KX3 speaker for receive and using the iPad speakers and the KX3 microphone for transmit.  The image below is a snapshot from the PSKReporter website.  I’m running 5 watts into a ground mounted Hustler 6BTV.  My transmitted audio IMD is –34 as recorded by my KK7UQ IMD Meter in the shack.

Of course, an optimum setup would include some sort of audio interface to directly connect the KX3 and the iPad.  While I’m still looking into these options, I’m fairly pleased with the performance in the testing.  Also, while I had always envisioned this process to be a bit awkward by having to hold in the PTT mic switch and fumble with typing on the iPad.  The KX3 makes this much easier with an XMIT button.  I can press the XMIT button on the front of the KX3 and the rig will switch into transmit mode until I press it again.  I think this is better than using VOX.  All I need to worry about is making sure the microphone is positioned near the iPad speakers and the iPad is near the KX3 speaker.   More about the KX3 speaker in just a bit.

While I would not opt to use this setup in the ham shack.  I’m thinking this will be perfect for SOTA activations.   Again, I think a direct cable solution is optimum, I’ve not seen any schematics or plans anyone has designed to date.  At a minimum I believe the iPad needs to receive audio from the KX3 via a cable.  During the maiden SOTA activation for the KX3, I realized just how weak the KX3 speaker is in an outdoor environment. 

With a light breeze and the KX3 sitting on a foam pad on the ground, I had difficulty hearing stations on SSB.  I had to use my ear buds and even those proved to lack the quality when connected to the KX3 (as compared to my 817).  Of course, what do you expect with a $2 pair of cheap ear buds.  I will look into other alternatives before the next activation.

Final comment on the KX3 speaker.  I don’t fault Elecraft.  As I mentioned in my blog post titled KX3 – The first 24 hours, Elecraft has stated from the beginning that the quality of the built-in speaker will be compromised due to size and recommended either external speakers or earphones/headphones when using in a noisy environment.  I’ve done a little research on the Chill Pill mobile speakers.  These have been discussed on the Elecraft Yahoo reflector with mostly positive reviews.  Weighing in at a mere 7 ounces, they won’t break my back or take up much room in my pack.  

I did some testing earlier to see if I could feed audio from the KX3 into the iPad and the PSKer app.  The picture below is the setup I used.  The white piece is the iPad Camera Connection kit.  This connects to the bottom port on the iPad and provides a standard USB connection.  Connected to this (via USB) is a Plantronics USB soundcard adapter.  I plugged a short stereo patch cable into the KX3 headphone jack and the other end into the microphone input of the Plantronics USB adapter.  I connected a second stereo cable from the KX3 mic jack and the other end to the headphone jack on the USB adapter.This does work.  But….

The weak link in this is the connection at the iPad.  The iPad Camera Connection kit (the white piece) with the added length (approx. 3 inches) of the Plantronics USB soundcard device makes it hard to keep it all plugged into the iPad.  On a SOTA activation I am sitting on the ground and will have the iPad in my lap.  I can easily see where the connector will get unplugged. But as you can tell it does work.  In the picture below I have my iPad running the PSKer App connected to the Elecraft KX3 via the Apple iPad Camera kit and the Plantronics USB sound card device. 

I recently created a YouTube video where I discussed this setup and the items I used to connect the iPad to the KX3.  I’m going to continue to experiment with other options and will blog about these findings at a later date.   You can watch the video below.

Watch this video on YouTube.

 Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

Q1 plus one (April) equals four months of at least one QSO per day in 2012.  While April won’t break any QSO records, it was still a very busy and productive month. 

While my QSO a day project is just that, having an on-air QSO each and every day in 2012,  I had a few other notables I wanted to mention.  In addition to my blogging and podcasting efforts, I’m also active in Summits On The Air (SOTA) and serve as regional manager for the central portion of Colorado (W0 region).  Part of my responsibility is to promote Summits On The Air and by doing so I conducted three presentations in April.  Two of the three presentations were to local amateur radio clubs in the greater Denver area and the third was via Skype to an ARC in Washington state.  One of the local SOTA presentations included a demonstration activation which I conducted.  I also completed a second SOTA activation on my own.  Between the two SOTA activations, this netted 26 QSO’s.

I also spent a few hours working QSO party stations in both the Missouri and Florida QSO parties.  QSO party QSO’s totaled 35.

Finally, in addition to the presentations and conducting at least one QSO per day in April.  I also worked several weekends on the basement ham shack project.  The basement ham shack is coming together nicely.  We have all the drywall boards on the walls and ceiling and starting on the taping, mudding and sanding of joints and screw holes.  This is what I’ve often referred to as the “messy phase”.  But this work must be done before we can get to the painting phase.  I’m hopeful by the end of May we will be ready to paint.

Stay tuned as I hope to complete at least one SOTA activation in May.  Also, I’m working on some really cool content for episode 55 of PARP.  I plan to get this episode out prior to Dayton.  

The breakdown for April is as follows: 

Mode
Number QSO’s

JT65
31

SSB  
64

Additional notes of interest:

DX Stations Worked – 3

New DX Entities – 1

Total QSO’s for 2012 – 478

Total consecutive QSO days – 121

Days left in 2012 – 245

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

Can you say road trip?  I love to promote what others are doing in the hobby of amateur radio.  Please do me a favor and visit, bookmark and subscribe to the brand new blog site of Connie Bird, NR4CB.  Connie is about to embark on a summertime journey that most of us can only dream about.  Connie’s blog site is titled Are We There Yet?  The site will serve as her written journal as she travels over 6000 miles through two countries, two Canadian provinces, one district (DC), twenty-three states and as many ham radio QSO’s as she can manage.

When I was a teenager, my uncle (K5SOR) and I would embark on similar journeys as we traveled and explored the western US.  It was on these trips when I realized I truly wanted to one day call Colorado home.  Of course, this was well before my time in amateur radio.  But I do recall my uncle working CW mobile and while camping he would typically throw a wire in a tree and check into his HF nets. 

Again, please visit Connie’s site.  Bookmark and subscribe to the RSS feed.  Her journey will begin in late May/early June.  She plans to kick things off by presenting a forum titled “On Air, Online, and Eyeballs: The Social Side of Ham Radio”, at the Atlanta Ham Fest on Saturday, 2 June.  She then plans to travel up through the eastern portion of the US making her way up to the Boston area for her brothers wedding taking place on Field Day weekend. Of course it doesn’t stop just there.  She hopes to operate as a guest operator at W1AW and onboard the USS Yorktown later in the summer. 

I would personally like to thank Connie (in advance) for sharing her experiences and her journey with all of us.  Of course, I also wish her the best of luck and very safe travels.  You may also follow Connie on Facebook and Twitter.  Perhaps I can convince Connie to take 30-45 minutes out of her journey and provide the listeners of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast an update later this summer.

Until next time…

73 de KDØBIK

As previously mentioned, my KX3 shipped from the Elecraft factory on Tuesday afternoon and was delivered to me in Denver, Colorado via USPS Priority Mail Service.  I’ve gotta say for the price, USPS Priority service is the best way to go in most cases.   Of course this blog post is not about shipping services and I’ll move on.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve seen some awesome Youtube videos from hams who have received their new KX3.  I see no reason to re-invent the wheel, just search Youtube for Elecraft KX3 and you’ll find these. 

My Elecraft KX3 is serial number 57.  Perhaps s/n 59 would have been cool, but I’m happy nonetheless.  I spent a little bit of time with my KX3 the first evening.  I took the time to attach Anderson Powerpoles onto the supplied power cable.  I adjusted the tilt legs on the back.  Which by the way, in recent days I’ve noticed a lot of discussion on the Yahoo KX3 reflector dedicated to the discussion of the tilt legs.  I’ve seen no issues with any binding of the thumb screws.  You just need to gently loosen the thumbscrew, lower the tilt leg into position and then re-tighten the thumbscrew.  Repeat for the other side.  It really is that simple.

I grabbed a short coax jumper and connected the KX3 to my Hustler 6BTV.  I clicked the band switch until the KX3 was in the 40m band and turned the VFO.  While doing so I read through the manual and tried out many of the features of this remarkable radio. 

For the most part, my KX3 will be used for SOTA or Summits On The Air and will replace my Yaesu FT-817.  At this time, I’m not planning to purchase the Elecraft amplifier which would most certainly turn this little radio into a nice shack rig.  I already own a Yaesu FT-950 which I use primarily for SSB and run digital modes from my Yaesu FT-897.  I’m happy with what both of these transceivers do for me in the ham shack.

In all honesty, I was also pleased with my Yaesu FT-817 for field use.  I purchased it new about 4 years ago and it’s been a trusty companion for both SOTA activations as well as general portable use.  So why purchase the Elecraft KX3?

Like many of you, I began hearing about the KX3 around Dayton 2011.  I watched the videos and did some research into Elecraft.  Everything I read, heard and watched pointed to the KX3 being a fantastic radio.  Then in the fall of 2011, I was bitten by the SOTA bug.  Chasing quickly turned into activating and now I’m lucky to have the opportunity to assist one of the coolest SOTA activators I know.  Of course, I’m talking about Steve Galchutt wG0AT.  Steve appointed me as the Central Colorado regional manager.  My role is to promote the Summits On the Air program as well as amateur radio.  To date, I’ve conducted three face to face SOTA presentations to local amateur radio clubs in the greater Denver area.  I’ve conducted one via Skype to a club in Washington state and I have many more lined up.  This opportunity has truly allowed me to broaden my Elmer opportunities beyond my blogging and podcasting efforts.  Thank you Steve.

So as I learned more, I realized the KX3 would become a much better SOTA performer for me than the 817.  Allow me to point out a few of the differences.

Weight – Advantage KX3

My Yaesu FT-817 weighs in at a little over 2.5 pounds.  This includes the internal FNB-85 9.6v battery pack. 

The KX3 with 8 AA batteries weighs in slightly less than 2 pounds.  While I don’t plan to operate the KX3 solely on internal power, I may not install internal batteries.  Note:  I didn’t purchase the optional KXBC3 charger. 

Size – Advantage KX3

The size differences between the 817 and KX3 are minimal.  The 817 measures in at 7 3/4 x 5 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches.  The KX3 is much more compact with measurements of 8 x 3 1/2 x 2 3/4.  Unfortunately, the comparisons I did a few weeks ago with my 2×4 prototype don’t match real KX3 comparisons.  I can still use the Lowepro Apex bag but will not pack the battery pack in side. 

Durability and Ruggedness – Advantage 817

I’ll admit this was one category I thought long and hard about.  The Yaesu FT-817 is a rugged little radio just like it’s big brother the FT-897.   I handle all my gear with care, but accidents do happen and certainly portable operations increase this chance greatly.  

Now please don’t confuse this with poor construction or design.  The KX3 design just has a larger control panel footprint.  This is great and what leads to my next category.  However, a little more surface area to get damaged from an accidental drop or other mishap.  I’ll just be extra careful.

LCD Display and Control Panel– Advantage KX3

I’m 45, will turn 46 in October.  I’ve been using reading glasses for the past 4-5 years.  Each year my prescription is bumped up a little.  I’m to the point where I can’t read anything without either holding it at arms length away from me or making sure I have my reading glasses with me. 

The LCD display on the 817 is a tiny 1.5 x 1.0 (rough measurement) screen.  However, the LCD on the KX3 is 4.75 x 1.25.  I can read the frequency or any of the other items without my reading glasses.

Portability and SOTA Readiness – Advantage KX3

While the Yaesu FT-817 is an all mode transceiver including HF, VHF and UHF operations as compared to the KX3 which today is HF/50MHz only (internal 2m module coming soon).  The lack of 2m or 70cm operations does not impact me and the way I will use the rig.  I carry the Yaesu VX8 for APRS tracking and will use that radio for any V/UHF operations.

Speaker Audio Output – Advantage 817

Elecraft has stated from the beginning that headphones or external speakers would be a must for a noisy environment.  The speaker in the KX3 is tiny and I honestly don’t see how this could have been avoided.  However, I view this as a non-issue.  I use a lightweight pair of over-the-ear ear buds for SOTA activations.  This is important as in windy conditions or even noisy band conditions, a headset or ear buds will help. 

Other Features and Functionality – Advantage KX3

I’ve truly enjoyed operating QRP and have honestly gained much more respect for QRP operations in general since being active in SOTA.  Working DX from on top of Mt. Herman (W0/FR-063) opened my eyes to what a little bit of power and a properly tuned antenna can accomplish. 

While the KX3 does offer extra transmit power from the 817, I will keep it set at 5 watts and only increase to 10 or 12w when needed.  In addition, while I’ve never packed my LDG Z-100 Auto tuner on a SOTA trip, I did order the internal ATU in the KX3.  However, I firmly believe a successful SOTA activation starts with a properly tuned antenna and will continue to stick to that process.

The VFO knob is most certainly a major difference between the KX3 and 817.  You can really crank up or down the bands with much greater precision and speed on the KX3.  In addition, the KX3 allows for direct frequency entry.  This makes easy work of tuning up and down the bands. 

Of course, another feature set that completely blows the 817 out of the water is the ability for the KX3 to decode PSK/RTTY and CW signals.  I’ve played around with this and the PSK decode is spot on.  The only problem is watching the text.  The text is displayed in an 1.5 x .5 inch area of the LCD screen.  It goes by pretty quick.  I’m experimenting (with much success) using the PSKer iOS app.  I plan to blog soon about this testing. 

In closing, and in all fairness to the Yaesu FT-817, the 817 is a great little SOTA rig.  There are many SOTA activators and other portable enthusiasts who will continue to benefit from the performance the 817 can deliver.  Just how much improved performance I’ll gain from the KX3 on a typical SOTA activation has yet to be seen.  I plan to correct this and schedule a SOTA activation in the near future. 

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

Date:            21 April 2012
Time:           Approx.    1600 UTC – 1800 UTC
Region:        CO-Front Range
Elevation:    2640 m / 8661 ft – 2 Points
Call Sign:     KDØBIK
Frequencies:     14.342.5-ssb, 18.157.5-ssb, 28.327.5-ssb,  +/-  146.52-fm
I may also try PSK31 on 20m (14.070)

Equipment: Elecraft KX3 (maiden activation / Buddipole versatee vertical

APRS Track: On Road / On Trail

The more I played around with my brand new (less than 48 hour old) Elecraft KX3, the more I knew I had to plan an activation for this weekend.  This will mean I’ll probably miss the combined QRPTTF + SOTA event scheduled for Saturday, 28 April. 

Centennial Cone is a two point SOTA summit and is located just slightly NW from Genesee Mountain (WØ/FR-194) that I activated just a few weeks ago.  At the present time Centennial Cone has had no other activations.  So this will be my second summit where I was the first to activate. 

I’m going to setup and operate on 20m SSB.  However, I may also attempt to operate PSK31 via my iPad and the PSKer iOS App. 

Well I need to wrap this up as I need to double check my gear and get it all ready to go.  I look forward to working you on my fourth SOTA activation.

73 de KDØBIK