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New desktop publishing software opens up even more possibilities for the SARC Communicator, the digital periodical of Surrey Amateur Radio Communications. This issue is now available for viewing or download. Another new feature is a smaller version, best suited for mobile devices, available here for viewing or download. The advantage of the larger version being higher resolution graphics and photos. 

The best new feature, in my opinion, is the ability to provide you with a compete Table of Contents [below]. This should enable better accessibility from search engines. 

You will find some great articles in this issue, along with our regular columnists.

Now read in over 165 countries, we bring you 120+ pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and elsewhere. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

Download the January - February Communicator in 
LARGE or SMALL format, or read it on-line like a magazine

Previous Communicator issues:

Search for past Communicator issues

and a full searchable index is HERE.  

As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome. 

The deadline for the next edition is February 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at [email protected]

73,

John VE7TI
'The Communicator' Editor

The Table of Contents for the January-February 2025 Communicator issue:

The conditions for contesting were both great solar weather-wise and local weather-wise. The solar weather was very favourable during the entire contest which was nice. The sun has been very active these past few months and this weekend it was nice and calm. Local weather was just right for contesting as well...it was pouring rain and windy all weekend. Why is this great you ask..well during the contest slow periods no sun and the blue sky were calling my name to get outdoors. My goals for this contest were to have fun (check), run for 98% of the time (check), beat last year's score (double check) and hopefully have no radio or PC issues (check).

As always this was a very well-attended contest with lots of DX so even if you are not an avid contester there was an advantage to logging some rare DX. My radio was the Icom 7610 at 100 watts using the Hustler 4BTV vertical antenna. Max  CW speed was at 34wpm and toward the end I dropped it to 30wpm. For most of the contest, the Kp index was Kp3 and dropped to kp1 toward the contest end. The Bz index was in the plus for Friday and Saturday but headed in the negatives on Sunday. When the Bz dips in the negative numbers it accounts for problematic signal fading. At times the caller was there and then gone. 

I was very pleased all the way around,  the radio worked great, the PC and its software had no issues and the solar conditions behaved themselves. Mind you toward the end of the contest I  started to have a little brain fog and messing up similar CW letters such as H and S and on occasion transposing letters. This year I also made a point to not take things personally. What I mean by this is when asking for a few repeats because at my end I had either a close station wiping them out or another station calling me on top of the desired station. In the past when the station I was asking repeat from seemed to leave in a huff it used to bother me....well not anymore. In the past, I took things personally and that took the fun out of contesting....well no more. 

A very busy map of my contacts.

Some things that threw me off were stations coming back to me with "DE WXYZ". I would copy DE thinking it was the first two letters to only find out they were sending "DE" for "this is". I have my filter set for 400hz when calling CQ TEST and in crowded bands like in the CQ WW contest that is wide for me. I would have some stations come back to me way off my calling frequency. Most of the time I thought they were answering another CQ TEST close to me....but not so. I would end up adjusting the RIT make the contact and get back. But that was it and I am not by any means complaining just sounding off a bit. 

Well ok, just one more....those who when they send back their exchange would also send their call again which makes me think I messed up their call.  This became problematic when their call was "HSH" or "KH5" so made for unnecessary back and forth while others waited to contact me....or some would just step in with their call knowing the call was good the way I had it.  I also had fellow blogger Bas PE4BAS contact me during the contest as well.
When you hit 1750 CW contacts once you're done with the contest and in bed with your eyes closed you can still hear cw code in your head rolling around. I had a blast and am looking forward to the next contest.

Very happy with the outcome.

This coming weekend is the CQ Worldwide CW DX contest. You don't have to be a contester to jump in this contest. There will be some great DX  to be had so one can add contacts to an award you are working towards.  If you are a QRP op you can see how far your 5 watts will get you. At one time I even ran QRPp power and was amazed at the distances I made. The exchange in this contest is easy peasy a signal report (always 599) and your CQ zone. (Found here). If you are working your way up the contest code ladder this is a great time to log in some practice time. So double-click on your contest icon and roll in a few hours over the weekend in the contest.

Whether you call it Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF), Radio Orienteering, Fox or Bunny Hunting

The feature speaker at our May 2024 meeting was Robert Frey WA6EZV. Robert spoke on ARDF - Radio Orienteering - Fox (or Bunny) Hunting. Robert was first licensed in 1968, and his interests include DX  and ARDF, as an on-foot foxhunter, for over 20 yrs. He was member of the US ARDF National Team in 2000, 02, 04, and 06 competing in China, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and South Korea.

The presentation was recorded via Zoom so please excuse the video quality which is less than our usual presentations.

We have documented some of our own SARC  Foxhunts in years past, including this locally developed 80m fox receiver:

~ John VE7TI

Commemorating the 80th anniversary of
the Allied assault on Normandy beaches

From June 4 to 9, 2024, a number of crew members of the Plusscouts PA3EFR/J and other Radio Scouters will be traveling to Normandy (Omaha Beach) to support the international activities of the commemoration services around 80 years of D-DAY. 

Operators of this call are the operators of the PA3EFR/J-crew, a specialist group of Scouters, members of Scouting Netherlands through the national Fellowship called Plusscouts. In addition, we have invited some distinguished guests to join our team. This crew primarily brings TDOTA and JOTA to Scouting groups that are eager to get involved in the annual global Radio Scouting activities. Additional information on this years crew can be found on the Plusscouts Website. The station is valid for 2 points in the Dutch Radio Scouting Award scheme.

The good news is that we will be hosted again by the D-Day Museum at Omaha Beach. A radio shack in the backyard of the museum will be part of our radio station and associated radio scouting activities.

QSL cards will be sent out after the event. 

Some specific Radio details:

Radio waves (+- QRM)

1.882 MHz LSB

3.682 MHz LSB

7.182 MHz LSB

14.182 MHz USB

21.182 MHz USB

28.482 MHz USB

DMR TalkGroup 907 - JOTA

   It would seem from the blog reading I have been doing that CW seems to be on the rise within our ranks. I am not sure what it has to do with but Parks on the air, summits on the air and so on are getting popular these days and maybe folks are realizing you may get more bang for your buck with CW. If you have read my blog for any amount of time you know that I am "into" CW. Way back CW was a must if you wanted your ham licence to get onto HF. At that time I forced myself to learn CW to get my licence and that was it. I hit the needed 12 wpm for advanced and then put CW on the sidelines. 

I moved into a townhome and had to operate stealthily as the HOA cops were always out and about and antennas were a BIG no no. I set up an antenna in the attic the Alpha Delta DX-EE and it worked great. I was operating SSB in the Canada Day contest and having a blast. Later that day my next-door neighbour said she could hear "CQ contest" from her speakers!!! If I wanted my love for ham radio to continue I had to change things up. I had to drop the power and in doing so SSB was going to be tough for contesting. It was then I decided to take up CW again and go QRP with it. 

This meant basically relearning the code, I did it before but this time it was for keeps! Below is my journey with the code and some of the pitfalls and joys. I found the second time around learning the code was not like the first. This time I wanted to learn it and not have to and that made a big difference. 

Certain letters came easy such as M, O, T, E, C, Q and then there was J, H, B, S, F, L. As I started out I thought my frustration would subside as I learn more of the code. It did but I found it reared its ugly head for various reasons. Frustration comes with most learning and is not specific to CW. Learning a language, playing an instrument, or driving a car they all come with frustration but we press on. When learning anything one must understand that you may not become a pro. You may not be Peter Frampton, Mario Andretti or top-end CW ops. We may not be wired that way but we have to be thrilled with where our ability, hard work, work and family constraints fit us onto the scale of skills. 

What is the best way to learn the code....well it's personal and the short answer is we have to ferrite out the method that works for us. Understand this can be one of the most frustrating parts and if you are not committed to learning the code this could be your excuse to give up. Through trial and error find the way that greases your wheels to learn the code. I tried code-learning CDs in the car at home and so on that was a flop for me. Getting on my laptop for short sessions and having the program throw letters at me and I had to type in the correct letter did it. 

Things you will run into while on the journey: 

- Moving 3 steps forward and sometimes 4 steps backwards. Get ready for it will happen and understand it will pass. 

- You feel there are certain characters you will never get. Hold on and I guarantee you will get them some just take longer than others. I see parents who are all concerned that their little one is not walking at the same age as everyone else. I tell them to look around and see how many adults are not walking but crawling ...some take longer than others but we all will get there. 

- Counting the dits and dahs, I found this more so with the numbers learning. Understand it will happen and later I will tell you what I did to break this habit.

- So you know all the letters and numbers but why then all of a sudden are you have issues with certain letters or numbers that you had mastered? Understand this is part of learning and will happen. Remember 3 steps forward and 4 steps back. As you increase your speed this for sure will happen. 

- As you begin to listen to words or QSOs's your going to hear a letter and not get what it is. You then will stop to think about it and then get behind in your coping and frustration. This happens to all of us you have to learn what they said in the movie The Goodfellas "forgetaboutit", It's time to train your brain to skip over it and move on.
- As your speed increases you will have a tendency to assume the next letter and when it's not that letter you will be thrown off. Guessing the next letter is normal and you are going to have to ignore it and wait and see. This is very true with copying call signs. For me, it was I hear V and I think VE and it's VK. I hear D and I think DL and it's DF. Guessing ahead with CW will get you further behind. Let me be clear thinking ahead is not the same as listening ahead. 

Ok, enough of that for now let me go back to counting the dits and dahs and how I overcame that. I increased the sending speed to a point where it was impossible to count any part of any letter or number. This trained me to listen to the complete sound of the letter or number. With this over time came instant character recognition. We all know CQ in Morse and most of us don't hear individual C and Q but we know the sound of it and know it's CQ. 

For me, morse code is an adventure and my understanding is to get to your happy place with it in regards to speed and understanding. Why are you learning the code POTA, SOTA, Contesting or general QSO's or a combination of them? Depending on what you will be doing with the code will determine your learning path. For example, I love contesting. So accuracy, speed, letter and number recognition and being able to keyboard without looking at the keyboard. Other Morse code adventures require word recognition, sending code via a key and adjusting to weather and operating.
Enjoy the journey, have fun and keep expanding on the art of Ham radio.

SOME INFORMAL THOUGHTS ON WORKING CW DX

Recently, I came across some questions another amateur radio operator posed to a group of CW enthusiasts. Since I have an interest in Morse code, I thought I would explore these questions:

— begin quote —

1. When chasing some particular CW DX station needed for my DXCC punch-list, what are some things(s) that one can do to improve one’s chances of snagging that DX contact amidst a congested pileup? Is it truly the luck of the draw or roll of the dice? Or are there some time tested methods, less than obvious, that the experienced CW DX chasers have used that seem to improve one’s chances of snagging the DX contact? Yes, I’m aware that there are many variables to consider. I’m just looking for some general suggestions to improve my odds of success based on the experience of others.

2. If, let’s say, a DX station appends “UP 1” or “QSX 2” to his CQ call or just “UP” appears in a DX cluster spot listing, what is considered an acceptable amount of “UP”? I’m amazed sometimes at the amount of “UP” that I hear. LOL. Does a hefty amount of “UP” actually improve one’s chances? What does the DX op expect?

3. After a DX station sends their callsign how long should one wait to reply with one’s callsign? I hear stations respond immediately. But sometimes I hear others wait just a “bit”, and then respond to DX. And sometimes when the DX station is responding to a chosen station, other callers are STILL calling the DX op. What do most DX operators expect with regard to the response of a reply? Immediate? One-Mississippi …?

4. I hear stations reply to DX with their callsign once. Others sometimes twice. If I send my callsign twice I run the risk that the DX station has already begun his reply back to me with my sig-report while I’m still in the midst of sending my 2nd callsign reply. So … I should send my call just once?

— end quote–

Great questions!  And, the answers translate over to working DX pileups on voice, too.

Here are some of my off-the-cuff remarks, based on my limited experience DXing since 1990:
(I am an avid DXer, with 8BDXCC, etc.)

1. Listen, Listen, Listen: The DX station typically does work split – the DX station on, say, 14.023 MHz, and the DX station is listening anywhere from 14.028 to 14.033 (up 5 to 10). You first, of course, need to listen to the DX station, but, also to hear the stations that are calling the DX station! The trick is to be able to hear some of the stations that are piling up on the DX, and to determine if the DX is working a station, then tunes up a little, or down a little, from the frequency on which the last caller was chosen.

Once you know this, you want to position your signal so that the DX operator tunes to or very near where you are transmitting your signal. If the DX station does not call you but continues in the same tuning direction, you reposition your transmit frequency (always in the pileup window) and try again. If you do not know where the DX station is listening next, and especially if you cannot HEAR the DX station, you are calling blind and are in for a long effort.

If you have a way to see the waterfall at and around the DX frequency, you can often see the general spread of “UP” where the callers congregate. When listening (and, let me tell you, listening is key) to the DX station, watch the waterfall for the responding caller (the station in the pile-up calling the DX), as sometimes it is very obvious who is answering the DX. Watch this exchange for a number of new callers – and get a sense of HOW the DX operator is moving through the pile-up. Anticipate where the DX might listen next. Choose that “next frequency in the pattern of movement” and use that as your calling frequency.

2. Timing your call: this takes a bit of effort. I typically listen to my chosen transmit frequency, trying to call never at the exact same time as others, on or near my calling frequency.

3. I always send my callsign TWICE… something like this:

DX: DX1ABC UP
ME: NW7US NW7US
DX: NW7US 5NN
ME: R R NW7US 5NN TU
DX: NW7US TU, DX1ABC UP

There are some fine CW-oriented DXing books, PDFs, and websites that talk about this. For instance:

http://sota-dl.bplaced.net/articles/cw_chasing_tips_for_newcomers.pdf

https://www.cadxa.org/getting-started-in-dxing.html

I hope this personal observation of mine about working a Morse code pileup is helpful in some way.

73 de NW7US
https://NW7US.us

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