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W0EA

What the Hell?

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 07:49:08 -0500

This weekend was my first chance to really go all out with my new SSB adapter for the K2 and my wife had to work so I had the whole day to play on Saturday. It was also QRP Afield, a contest set up by the NE QRP Club. Basically the purpose is to go out into the field and operate - basically a mini QRP Field Day. The weather here in Iowa seemed favorable temperature wise at about 65 but there was no sun and it looked like it could rain any minute. The dreary weather kept me inside for the day but did allow me to do some other things I had not planned.

The solar numbers looked pretty bad all day and the bands showed it, there were 2 QSO parties going on but not a ton of activity. QRPers were not many even on 20m during the contest. I did manage to work a few here and there and every hour or so, I’d go back to 14.060 and see if anybody had come up.

As for the SSB adapter, I have been trying all the digital modes I used to run when I was younger. PSK, RTTY, etc. So as I tuned around 14.070 and above, I heard a familiar ticking: it was Hellschreiber. The Feld Hell Sprint was this weekend and I found a couple stations CQing. I am very fond of Hell, I do not know why but it always struck me as a very cool mode. No need for a computer to figure out what the other station is sending, it is up to me to decipher the scrolling text. It is also a CW type mode, with ons and offs so it is much easier to run at high power without damaging your finals (I’ve run at 700w back in college with no problem). That said, I did keep it under 5w for this little sprint. I made a few contacts there - fun stuff!

As I spun the dial up the band some more, I ran across all the W7 stations calling CQ for the Washington State QSO Party, AKA Salmon Run. I surprised myself and became even MORE proud of my little K2 when I worked a number of them with only 1w on voice!

Througout the day, I kept my eye on QRPSPOTS.com looking for more QRP Afield guys or anything else that might pop up. Later in the day, NS0TA came up on the list announcing that they were about to summit East Point in Oregon. I have become enamored with the guys out West who have access to all these peaks for SOTA, very jealous! They were operating CW and Voice on 20m so I found their QRGs but the voice pileup was huge and I could not get their CW. Later on, I saw that they were QSYing to voice again and I sat and waited and hoped to be the first caller, and so I was! I cranked up to 10w to ensure the contact and got a 57 from the premier USA SOTA man himself, wG0AT, Steve. This was the first SSB contact I have had with Steve, though we’ve talked many times on CW and even in person a couple times. I’m hoping next time I’m in Colorado we can get together and do a mountain together, maybe even with the goats!

That pretty much sums up yesterday’s operating, and today looks to be about the same weather wise with a higher chance of rain, so it doesn’t look like any portable operating today either. Maybe I’ll clean the shack up... Here’s to dreaming!

See you guys next week, if not sooner!
73/72 W0EA

New Stuff

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 19:04:19 -0500

Today I ordered the recently QST reviewed Hakko FX-888 soldering station. My wife and I got a gift card from my parents for our first anniversary and its my birthday this month so she said I could order one. In the past I've used low power (30w) Walmart specials, and they have pretty much stunk. I also found that the solder I was using must be acid core - bad news! Needless to say, I was due for an upgrade, especially since I've been doing a lot more building lately. And with my Amazon Prime membership, the $4 overnight shipping has the new station arriving tomorrow! I chose the FX-888 because I know the name - I work at Rockwell Collins and we have Hakko desoldering stations in some of our labs (mostly use Metcal stuff elsewhere though) so I know its quality if we use it, and the QST review also helped convince me. Several of the members on the QRP-L mailing list also suggested that the Hakko stuff was good so here we are.

So with overnight shipping, my soldering station should arrive at my QTH just in time to begin work on the KSB2 - SSB kit for my K2! I will finally be entering the realm of the digital modes again in short order. With all this activity on WSPR, QRSS and JT65, I really wanted to get in on the action. This little guy is funded by a nice alternative reward (i.e. a gift card) from work for working a few extra hours on a project that had a very tough deadline. I'll mostly be using the SSB mode for digital stuff but I'm sure I'll do some sideband too, especially when I'm operating around non-hams like my in-laws. Makes it easier for them to enjoy it I think. I equate using CW around them to talking a foreign language to a buddy of mine while they stand by wondering what I'm talking about or if I'm making fun of them. I think it'll be more polite to use voice instead of CW.

Anyway, a fitting birthday present for this month: a new soldering station and a KSB2! Happy birthday to me!

72/73

QRP Fox Hunts!

Thu, 8 Sep 2011 19:46:42 -0500

As I have been doing QRP for the last 3 or so years, I commonly came across the concept of a “fox hunt.” I attribute this mostly to Larry’s (W2LJ) blog that I follow religiously. When I got really serious about improving my code speed early this year, I decided I would make an effort to join these hunts in the summer. I was pleased to find that there was a need for volunteers to be the fox (i.e. the one being chased) and that that person would require at least 25wpm proficiency so I took that as a challenge to make at least that mark. I threw my name into the hat and had my first stint early in the summer. By the time my turn came up to fox the hunt, I had already become proficient enough to do the requisite 25 wpm and probably a bit more, but that did not help my antenna situation much. The antennas at our rental are better than most, but not as good as the other foxii in the hunts. Just a couple of dipoles that are relatively low (20’ at the high end). Needless to say, I could have worked a lot more stations if they were higher but it is as good as I can do at this QTH. When we move into the house in October, I’ll put up something much higher, and for low bands so I can participate in the winter too!

Tonight is my 2nd stint as Fox and in an attempt to improve my station performance, I deployed my Par EndFedz EFHW antenna on Tuesday. The past 2 days of testing makes it seem like it will perform a bit better than my doublet for stations to the east of me, W1AW for instance, is at least 2 S-units above my doublet but a QSO with Steve, WG0AT, indicated that performance to the west may not actually be enhanced at all. Time will very soon tell.

Anyway, better get ready, the bugles are sounding and the hounds are approaching! See you in the hunt!

72