AmateurRadio.com

I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I have posted here!  I have lots of interests and tend to bounce around between them.

But for 2016 I want to be more consistently in ham radio.  So I have set a goal…

There are about 45 weeks left in 2016, so my goal is to complete 45 portable activities this year and document them here on my blog!

Also, tomorrow, February 25th, 2016 I will be activating NPOTA TR07,TR11,TR14 (Oregon NHT + Santa Fe NHT + California NHT) from Lone Elm park in Olathe, KS.

I will be operating my KX3 5 watts CW (maybe SSB if time allows) into a vertical. 14.060+/- and 7.030 +/-. I plan to arrive about 19:00 UTC (1:00 pm local) and operate for a couple of hours.

If you hear me please spot me. This will be my first activation, and my CW is a bit rusty, so the sending speed will be slow! Be patient with me!

This park has historical significance because it was used as a major campground along these 3 trails. Originally it was about 80 acres, and so many trees were cut down by the campers it became known as “Lone Elm”.

That’s all for today, I will report back after the NPOTA activation tomorrow!

Nick KE0ATH Spinnin’ the dial!

It has been way to long since I have posted here on the blog, and really I have done very little operating!

This past weekend was the CQ World Wide WPX SSB contest.  My son Nick, KE0ATH has been trying off and on to make some contacts on 10 meters since he is a Tech.  I thought this contest would be great for him, so we carved out about 45 minutes on Sunday to get on the air.

Tuning around 10 meters we heard some stations calling CQ without many takers, it was late in the contest.  Some of the stations we worked had like 3,000 contacts, and were handing out #001! 🙂

We ended up working exclusively into South America.  Nick would give them a call, and when he was successful I would give them a call.  Great fun!

We have the KX3 set at 12 watts into my 66″ dipole fed with ladder line.  Tunes up great.

If you look at the picture of the rig, you can see the stand that Nick 3D printed for me to hold the KX3.  He designed it in Autodesk Inventor and printed it – it also has my call sign inlayed into it in the lower right hand corner.  It works perfectly!

We worked everyone that we called as well.

We worked just 6 stations, but it was fun.  Here is who we worked:

PY3KN Brazil
NR6O California USA
PJ2T Cuaraco
CE3CT Chile
HK3C Columbia
8P5A Barbados

It was great fun, and Nick had a blast working his first HF contacts!  Plus I picked up several new DXCC entities for myself!

Nick KE0ATH Spinnin’ the dial!

It has been way to long since I have posted here on the blog, and really I have done very little operating!

This past weekend was the CQ World Wide WPX SSB contest.  My son Nick, KE0ATH has been trying off and on to make some contacts on 10 meters since he is a Tech.  I thought this contest would be great for him, so we carved out about 45 minutes on Sunday to get on the air.

Tuning around 10 meters we heard some stations calling CQ without many takers, it was late in the contest.  Some of the stations we worked had like 3,000 contacts, and were handing out #001! 🙂

We ended up working exclusively into South America.  Nick would give them a call, and when he was successful I would give them a call.  Great fun!

We have the KX3 set at 12 watts into my 66″ dipole fed with ladder line.  Tunes up great.

If you look at the picture of the rig, you can see the stand that Nick 3D printed for me to hold the KX3.  He designed it in Autodesk Inventor and printed it – it also has my call sign inlayed into it in the lower right hand corner.  It works perfectly!

We worked everyone that we called as well.

We worked just 6 stations, but it was fun.  Here is who we worked:

PY3KN Brazil
NR6O California USA
PJ2T Cuaraco
CE3CT Chile
HK3C Columbia
8P5A Barbados

It was great fun, and Nick had a blast working his first HF contacts!  Plus I picked up several new DXCC entities for myself!

Map of Stations Worked in the Mini-CWT

Every Wednesday the CW Operators Club has a mini contest called the MINI-CWT.  It runs for one hour – 10:00 pm to 11:00 pm local time here in Kansas.  This time works great for me – kids are in bed, and house chores are complete!

This is the second time I have operated this contest and I had a blast.  Conditions on 20 meters were awful here – I didn’t hear one signal on the band except some digital signals.  So I immediately went to 40 meters and stayed there for the duration.

All told I worked 20 stations, for a score of 400 points- all stateside with one except being Canada.  I was really happy with this result!

When I worked the June contest I only worked 6 stations for a total score of 36 points, so I greatly improved tonight!

You can see a map of the locations of the stations I worked during the contest last night.  I created this using a site that I found that is really cool.  It is QSOMap.org – and it lets you upload an ADIF file and it maps the locations.

I really enjoy working contests.  Running QRP it gives you the opportunity to work some really good operators that also have excellent antennas.  Everyone I called last night, I worked!

Thanks to all the ops that pulled my signal out – you made it a fun night!

Also be sure and check out my N0HYD YouTube Channel!

Map of Stations Worked in the Mini-CWT

Every Wednesday the CW Operators Club has a mini contest called the MINI-CWT.  It runs for one hour – 10:00 pm to 11:00 pm local time here in Kansas.  This time works great for me – kids are in bed, and house chores are complete!

This is the second time I have operated this contest and I had a blast.  Conditions on 20 meters were awful here – I didn’t hear one signal on the band except some digital signals.  So I immediately went to 40 meters and stayed there for the duration.

All told I worked 20 stations, for a score of 400 points- all stateside with one except being Canada.  I was really happy with this result!

When I worked the June contest I only worked 6 stations for a total score of 36 points, so I greatly improved tonight!

You can see a map of the locations of the stations I worked during the contest last night.  I created this using a site that I found that is really cool.  It is QSOMap.org – and it lets you upload an ADIF file and it maps the locations.

I really enjoy working contests.  Running QRP it gives you the opportunity to work some really good operators that also have excellent antennas.  Everyone I called last night, I worked!

Thanks to all the ops that pulled my signal out – you made it a fun night!

Also be sure and check out my N0HYD YouTube Channel!

Nick KE0ATH working 2 meters

Now that my son Nick (KE0ATH) has his ticket, he is putting together a 2 meter “Go Box”.  First on the agenda was a nice J-Pole antenna.

He did some searching and found a J-Pole design that collapses down to about 20″ long.  The 1/2″ copper pipe segments are held together with a bungee cord run internally.

Nick found a couple different designs and combined them to meet his needs.  He plans to use this while camping, etc.

When you watch the video, check out his smile at about the 4:00 minute mark when he makes the first contact on his new antenna – priceless!

We had a blast building this together, and Nick learned several new skills – so it was a great success!

If you have any questions, be sure and give me a shout.  You can also see my other videos on YouTube here:  N0HYD YouTube Channel

73 – Burke

Nick KE0ATH working 2 meters

Now that my son Nick (KE0ATH) has his ticket, he is putting together a 2 meter “Go Box”.  First on the agenda was a nice J-Pole antenna.

He did some searching and found a J-Pole design that collapses down to about 20″ long.  The 1/2″ copper pipe segments are held together with a bungee cord run internally.

Nick found a couple different designs and combined them to meet his needs.  He plans to use this while camping, etc.

When you watch the video, check out his smile at about the 4:00 minute mark when he makes the first contact on his new antenna – priceless!

We had a blast building this together, and Nick learned several new skills – so it was a great success!

If you have any questions, be sure and give me a shout.  You can also see my other videos on YouTube here:  N0HYD YouTube Channel

73 – Burke