This coming weekend is a long weekend for our American friends as well as it is the yearly running of the CQ WW WPX CW contest weekend. If you are into CW contesting this is one of the big ones to get involved in. As for me, I am hoping for a nice rainy weekend as this will keep me in the operating chair longer. Last year I used my EndFed antenna for this contest as I had the Hustler 4BTV but it was not as of yet installed. 

Now I am curious to see how I do with the Hustler 4BTV compared to my EndFed antenna. I try to keep my CW contesting pencil sharp by taking part in the weekly 1-hour medium speed contests which max's out at 25 wpm and the CWops weekly CWT's which plain and simply just max's out! I also have daily practice with 2 contest simulation programs G4FON and Morse Runner.

 CW is my thing and contesting is my thing, so for me this coming weekend I will be doing my thing.

In this episode, we join  Martin Butler M1MRB, Dan Romanchik KB6NU, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT,  Edmund Spicer M0MNG and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and in the episode's feature is KISS Technology.

We would like to thank our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

• Congresswoman Lesko Reintroduces Bill to Replace Symbol Rate Limit with Bandwidth Limit
• Get Ready for Another ARRL Dues Increase
• Indian Amateurs Reunite Family after nearly 10 years
• ARRL Offers Assistance to Hams for RF Compliance
• RSGB supports International Women in Engineering Day
• Celebrating the Power of QRP
• ICQ Podcast Digital Group Granted GB23C
• RSGB team announced for YOTA Hungary
• ID-50E Dual-Band D-STAR Digital Handheld Radio

I had so many plans for my Hamvention 2023 visit on Friday and Saturday, May 19-20, 2023.  For example, I planned on many interviews including one with N3ZN, maker of great Morse code keys.  I also needed to visit the Card Checker Service of the ARRL DXCC program.  I had a handful of DX cards I was submitting toward DXCC credits.

NW7US, in ICU at the hospital, instead of attending Hamvention 2023.

But, I collapsed about 40 minutes after I got to the Hamvention, on Friday morning! I had just finished getting my DX QSL cards checked at the ARRL booth, then I collapsed. After only being at my first Hamvention for a brief 40-some minutes, I was taken by ambulance to an ER of a Xenia-area hospital.  My blood pressure was difficult to measure at the initial moments of being at the emergency room — it was about 60 over 40, and I had NO radial pulse.

After a CT scan of heart and neck, and blood lab work, I was transported again by ambulance to a hospital near Dayton. There, I was admitted to that hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) around 5:30 PM on Friday.

I’m writing this on Saturday, from my hospital bed, as I’m still in ICU in Dayton. I hope to be discharged tomorrow (Sunday, 21 May 2023).

The working diagnosis is Acute Kidney Injury (AKI), caused by a combination of issues starting with my parathyroidectomy surgery, a few months back. I had three of my four parathyroid glands removed because they were completely tumorous.  I wrote about that in my previous entry on this website.

Turns out my calcium levels were lower than they should be, causing problems throughout my body, but especially in my heart. Additionally, I was severally dehydrated due to two medications I had been taking because the VA doctors thought I should be on them.  But, these meds were working against me. One of those I don’t even need, but the VA had me taking. That one is FUROSEMIDE. The other is LISINOPRIL.  I don’t have high blood pressure, nor water retention.

At the ICU, I have stopped taking those meds.  I’m on an IV, getting hydrated, and getting calcium supplements.

My kidney function is improving but I’m going to spend another night in ICU until they feel confident I’ve made full recovery.  I hope to be discharged on Sunday, 21 May, 2023.

I hope all of you that were at this year’s Hamvention have enjoyed the fellowship of radio enthusiasts. Maybe I’ll meet many of you, next year!  I will make videos of Hamvention 2024, if all goes well in a year’s time.

If you were at Hamvention 2023, share some highlights in the comments!

UPDATE:  On Sunday, I was released from the ICU, and I am now home recuperating.  Monday is a bit rough, so am not at work, yet.  BP is normal, and I am on new medication for my heart so that I do not get dehydrated by the furosemide and lisinopril.  Here’s hoping for next year’s Hamvention, which I hope to attend.

73 de NW7US
https://nw7us.us
..

My article that describes last year’s SOTA/POTA/VHF contest activation from Pikes Peak appears in the June issue of QST magazine. This VHF/UHF activation occurred on the Saturday of the ARRL June VHF Contest and qualified for Summits On The Air (W0C/FR-004 Pikes Peak) and Parks On The Air (K-4404 Pike National Forest). The article highlights the use of the North America Adventure Frequency of 146.58 MHz.

I made 80 radio contacts that day, on the 6m, 2m, 1.25m, 70cm, and 23cm bands. Not a great score for the VHF contest but quite nice for a VHF SOTA and POTA activation. My primary piece of equipment was the ICOM IC-705, which enabled all modes on the main VHF/UHF frequencies.

If you are an ARRL member, look for the article on Page 58 of the print edition of June QST or the online version. Not an ARRL member? Darn, you should fix that if you want to read articles published in QST.

If you are an ARRL member, please look at the article and consider voting for it in the QST Cover Plaque Award. Thanks!

73 Bob K0NR

The post June QST: SOTA, POTA and VHF Contest appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

QRP Labs have announced the new QMX 5 band digital transceiver.

Initially the firmware supports CW and Single tone FSK modes, but may be upgraded to SSB in future firmware updates:

Available as a kit or fully assembled, you can bet that this is going to be the hottest QRP product of the year.
 

Further details:https://shop.qrp-labs.com/qmx

In preparation for something never done before in a CLE, the organziers are asking for your input. See their quest below. I will post the usual 'Hunting For NDBs..." blog outlining all of the rules in a few days but in the meantime, please see if you can help and hopefully participate in the monthly activity.

 Dear Beacon Listener

Joachim and I (Brian) are asking for your help!

We would like to know which active NDB is your NEAREST and which two others are also of special interest to you. 

Maybe you have visited the site of one or more NDBs or you have other special reasons to remember them.

Everyone is invited to send us their own three ‘votes’, so we hope to have a large number of special NDBs to listen for during the coming coordinated listening event (CLE). 

Your choices, with everyone else’s, will decide all of the NDBs in the Seeklist for the event. 

This is our FIRST  ‘YOU-CHOOSE’ CLE (and it will probably be our last!).

You do NOT have to listen yourself in our 292^nd CLE (26-29 May) though everyone will be very welcome to send a log if they want to -  but you will probably be interested in the results, showing who logged your own chosen NDBs and from where.

Please send your choices during the next 7 days to [email protected] (that email address sends only to us, your Listening Event Coordinators Joachim and Brian)

Please help us by using the following format for your votes:

       NDB1: (your nearest?)  Ident:  ABC  345 kHz   Location1        

Ideally, your 3 choices should be NDBs in your own Radio Country,  

       NDB2:                              Ident:  DEF   543 kHz   Location2      

or in ones that share a land border with it.

       NDB3:                              Ident:   GH   432 kHz   Location3        

(e.g. If listening from Oregon, try to choose from OR, WA, ID, NV and CA)

You can find our list of all the Radio Countries at:

          Chosen by (your name):   eg  Brian Keyte

                               https://www.ndblist.info/index_htm_files/countrylist.pdf

                 Your Radio Country:   eg  ENG                                               

                  I can be identified:        *YES / NO                                      

Joachim or I will send an acknowledgment for your ‘votes (see below)   to your sending email address.

 (If someone has already nominated one of your NDBs - unlikely? - we’ll invite you to choose an alternative)

 *The CLE results will NOT show who nominated any of the NDBs.

 However, in the Coordinators’ Comments afterwards we’ll probably mention some of the interesting reasons why NDBs were chosen.

 Please choose NO above if you would NOT want to be identified there.

 For those who also want to listen during the Event, we’ll send the CLE292  EARLY ADVICE  to NDB List in a few days.  That will be followed, after the ‘voting’, by our FINAL DETAILS, including the seeklists showing all of the chosen NDBs.

If there is anything you need more advice about, or if you have any other comments, please feel free to email the two of us at [email protected]

73

  Joachim and Brian