AmateurRadio.com

Even with a busy schedule, I am trying to make time for a few on-air activities and these might also interest others.

On Sunday, 4 August listen for Amateur Radio Fun in the Colorado Mountains or perhaps better known as the Colorado 14’er Event.  Hams from all around Colorado will climb many of the 14,000 foot mountains (known as 14’ers) as well as other SOTA summits to setup amateur radio stations and get on the air from the top of the world (or at least the top of Colorado).  This event started in 1991 by Bob Witte, KØNR and 20+ years later it is still a popular activity. 

2012 was the first year this 14’er event incorporated the over 1700 SOTA qualified summits in the state.  For those who want to chase from the comfort of their home ham shack, keep in mind that not all stations operating during this event will be doing so under the guidelines of SOTA. 

As for me, I plan to activate Genessee Mountain, W0/FR-194 and make it a combined amateur radio outing and picnic with my wife.   Genessee Mountain is an “two pointer” SOTA summit with easy access to the top and will be a nice, relaxing morning in the Rocky Mountains.

Just a few days after the 14’er event, my wife and I leave for an almost 3 week vacation in her home country of Belgium and England.   It’s been a long, rough and difficult first half of 2013 and we are both looking forward to our vacation.

Once we return from vacation I’ll have less than 36 hours to prepare for the Colorado QSO Party.  You might remember last summer I was working at a feverish pace to get the new basement ham shack finished for the 2012 Colorado QSO party.  Last year I made 281 contacts and my goal for 2013 is to try to break that number while having fun doing it.

The Colorado QSO party takes place starting 12oo UTC 31 August until 0400 UTC 1 September (Saturday 6 AM – 10 PM MDT) and is sponsored by the Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association. 

Keep your ears open towards Colorado and I hope to work you in either or both events. 

Until next time…

73 de KDØBIK (Jerry)

Or better late than never.  Yes, Jerry KD0BIK is still alive.  You might remember I was shooting to complete at least one QSO per day in 2012.  I’m very pleased to report that I accomplished my goal.  However, I regret I am just now blogging about it. 

Those who followed my blogs and podcast may have thought I was abducted by aliens.  I suppose if I could refer to a few work projects as alien, then that would probably fit.  Long story short, I was assigned a fairly large project at work which required some traveling and many long hours.  I pretty much put my blogging and podcasting efforts on hold and tried just to keep everything else pointing in the right direction. 

Also, I hadn’t been feeling well in late 2012 early 2013.  Much of what I was feeling was being caused by seven years on statin drugs to lower cholesterol.  This stuff is pure evil in a pill.  However, without taking the pills I would have to deal with the high cholesterol levels through diet and exercise.  Again to try to shorten this story and not get too far off in the weeds….I’m feeling great and I’m losing weight through diet and exercise.  Since April, I’ve lost over 25 pounds and on target to accomplish my first goal of less than 200 lbs by mid August.  Just a few more pounds to go. 

I provided a little more detail in PARP episode 61 (released just today) if you are interested.  By the way, I’m planning to revive PARP on a limited release plan of one episode each month.  Of course, I’m also hoping to get back into writing the occasional blog post.  I certainly appreciate all the emails and messages regarding my long hiatus. 

OK…so back on track.  Again, yes…I started 2012 with a QSO on 1 January and 366 days later, completed the goal with a final QSO on 31 December.  It was a fun goal, fun project and through it all I managed to work many new DX entities and certainly got on the air each day.  Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing happened in 2013. 

Would I tackle this again?  I think I may try again in 2014.  I didn’t attempt it again in 2013 because I knew I would be traveling and it would be difficult.  But perhaps 2014 I’ll try again.  Do I recommend others try it? You bet!  As I’ve stated before, setting this goal of getting on the air each and every day helped earn many new DX entities and just kept me focused on the hobby. 

The QSO breakdown for December is as follows:

Mode
Number QSO’s

JT65
36

SSB    
0

PSK31 
0

2m FM   
0

Additional notes of interest:

DX Stations Worked in November – 2

New DX Entities in November – 0

Total QSO’s for 2012 – 1428

Total consecutive QSO days – 366

Days left in 2012 – 0

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

This blog update on my 2012 Challenge of having at least one QSO per day is late.  However, I’m still very much on track and as I post this update, I have less than two weeks to go.  Barring the Mayan’s were correct or some other catastrophic issue occur, I should easily coast through the remaining time without a problem.

December is always a busy month for me.  My wife and I typically travel down to Texas to visit my family in early December.  This year was no exception.  I carried my Buddipole, Elecraft KX3 and my laptop and was successful at getting at least one JT65 QSO each day.  On the last evening a cold front moved into the area and I had to enlist my darling wife to come and help hold the Buddipole antenna tripod.  While I had concerns I might not be successful at getting contacts with this setup, the stress was for not.  Band conditions were fine and I managed to work many stations running just 5-10 watts out of the KX3.  The picture is my Buddipole setup as a dipole in my grandmothers front yard. 

Anyway, enough about December…here are my results for November. 

The QSO breakdown for November is as follows:

Mode
Number QSO’s

JT65
34

SSB    
19

PSK31 
0

2m FM  
2

Additional notes of interest:

DX Stations Worked in November – 3

New DX Entities in November – 0

Total QSO’s for 2012 – 1392

Total consecutive QSO days – 335

Days left in 2012 – 31

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

I have good news and I have bad news.  The good news, with less than 60 days to go, I’m happy to report I’ve managed a QSO per day for over 300 consecutive days this year.   The bad news, my streak of working one new DX entity each month has come to an end.  However, the 2012 challenge was not about working a new DX entity each month.  That was just simply a product of being more active in the shack.  I’m focused to continue to push and complete my 2012 Challenge.   

The QSO breakdown for October is as follows:

Mode
Number QSO’s

JT65
38

SSB    
15

PSK31 
0

2m FM  
1

Additional notes of interest:

DX Stations Worked in October – 8

New DX Entities in October – 0

Total QSO’s for 2012 – 1337

Total consecutive QSO days – 305

Days left in 2012 – 61

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

  This coming weekend, October 12, 13 and 14 the ARRL National Convention at Pacificon will take place in Santa Clara, California.  The organizers of the 2012 Pacificon event have worked hard to make this years event the best ever.

You’ll find all the usual activities you expect to see and hear at these types of events including top-notch forums, events, vendors and even an astronaut.  How cool is that? 

I’m especially excited and honored to be a part of a special Friday evening event titled “Pacificon Night of New Media Elmers”.   This event brings together some of the most beloved podcasters in the world of amateur radio in what I believe is the first event of its kind. 

I will join Randy Hall K7AGE, Chris Matthieu N7ICE and Gordon “Gordo” West WB6NOA through a Skype connection from Colorado for this very special night.

New Media is sort of the all encompassing term to describe podcasting (both audio and video) and blogging.  I’m truly honored to share the ranks with dozens of audio and video podcasters and hundreds of bloggers who frequently write and record audio and video all in an effort to help Elmer and promote the hobby and service of amateur radio.

I’m sure Randy, Chris, Gordo and myself are not strangers to you.  But perhaps if you are new to the hobby, a very brief introduction might be in order.

Randy Hall K7AGE resides in Grass Valley, CA and has been creating videos for YouTube since 2006.  His most popular video content has been his complete instructional videos on the digital mode PSK-31 and how to work the amateur radio satellites.   It was Randy’s YouTube video series on PSK-31 which inspired me to upgrade from technician to general so that I could use this wonderful digital mode.

Chris Matthieu N7ICE resides in Phoenix, AZ and is the founder of the first amateur radio social network and very popular 73s.com.  Chris also creates instructional videos on his HamBrief.tv website.   Chris has a level of enthusiasm and excitement in everything he does which is extremely contagious. 

Gordon “Gordo” West WB6NOA resides in Costa Mesa, CA and has helped many get their start in amateur radio through his license study materials.  Gordo also appears each week as co-host in the popular Ham Nation video podcast.

Jerry Taylor KD0BIK – Yep…that’s me!  Realizing I had a face for radio, I have mostly stuck to an audio only format for my Practical Amateur Radio Podcast which I launched in 2008.  I do from time to time post supplemental video material on my YouTube channel.  Between the audio podcast and video content, I’ve created over 100 audio and video episodes in the past 4 years all in an effort to help entertain, encourage, educate and inspire others.

I’m told the “Pacificon Night of New Media Elmers” event will be recorded and just as soon as all the post production work can be completed and the finished product uploaded, I’ll be certain to pass along how you can watch this special presentation.

For now, please watch the promotional video below.

Watch this video on YouTube.

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

As the subject line reads, I’ve reached the final quarter of 2012 in my 2012 Challenge of having at least one QSO per day.  This update is for the month of September.

September was a busy month for me with a total of 346 QSO’s.  This surge in QSO numbers is of course due to my participation in the Colorado QSO Party.  I also spent a great deal of time organizing the new ham shack and even found time to attempt and successfully activate my sixth SOTA summit.

While it was looking grim on adding a new DXCC entity in September, Uruguay entered the logbook on 28 September to keep my streak alive of also adding at least one new DXCC each month in 2012.   I also had a fairly active month in working DX with 18 QSO’s logged. 

The QSO breakdown for September is as follows:

Mode
Number QSO’s

JT65
38

SSB    
302

PSK31 
1

2m FM  
5

Additional notes of interest:

DX Stations Worked in September – 18

New DX Entities in September – 1

Total QSO’s for 2012 – 1283

Total consecutive QSO days – 274

Days left in 2012 – 92

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

It’s been a while since I posted any new news regarding the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast (PARP).  However, I did want to pass along two points of interest.  First, PARP 59 was released yesterday.  PARP 59 is titled “The Well Equipped Ham Shack”.  In this episode I share some thoughts on items to consider other than the usual transceiver, tuner etc. 

Second, I received an email yesterday from a fellow ham who just discovered PARP.  He introduced himself and explained he was hearing impaired and asked if written transcripts were available.  He was aware of the quality of content in my PARP episodes but is unable to listen to my audio podcasts. 

Some may know that I prepare a written script which I read from for each of my shows content.  I do this for several reasons.  One, I believe those who can sit down in front of a microphone and just begin talking without stumbling, stammering, inserting hmmmms and ahhhhhs truly have a gift.  I’m not one of these individuals and I’m OK with that.

Second, while I understand the content I discuss…..I try very hard to ensure what I put out for my listeners is accurate.  Yes…sometimes I make a mistake…but after all I’m only human.  For me, writing out a script just helps make sure I have all the information I need to communicate already available to me in the script.  Since I already have the written script I use to record my audio podcasts, it was really simple to fulfill the request for a transcript. 

Going forward, each regular monthly PARP episode as well as the weekly PARP Plus editions will include a link in the show notes to a downloadable transcript in Adobe PDF format.  Just visit MyAmateurRadio.com and view the show notes.  You’ll see a link labeled “Transcript”.  I’ve also linked all regular monthly PARP episodes recorded in 2012 and 2011 with their transcript.  I’m working on 2010 and 2009 as I have time.  Unfortunately, I can only go back to episode 16 as the first 15 scripts have disappeared.

I hope you’ll help me share this news with any of our fellow hearing impaired hams you may know. 

Thank you for your time.

Until next time…

73 de KDØBIK