Time to Get Serious!

Well, Field Day is over and I had a blast operating from home as a “1E” on solar charged batteries. I made quite a few contacts, but my operating time was limited by life events like Church and Birthday parties. I love Ham Radio, but IRL I'm a Christian and a Grandfather and that takes precedence. The bands have been very good lately and I've made a lot of contacts. I was working 20 meters into Europe last night at midnight, and that's generally a very good sign that solar conditions are pretty good. This morning has been gangbusters on both 20 and 10 meters.


But, alas, I'm starting to feel unfulfilled. I thought that my Advanced Ticket would be enough for me, after all why worry about a few kilocycles (there I said it and it felt good!) at the bottom of the bands. I've never been very good at math and that's what's been holding me back from trying for the E-Ticket. I got to thinking about why it took me so long to get my Novice Ticket back in the day, and it was because I thought I would never be able to copy 5WPM. I just shrugged it off until I came back from Europe and my brother-in-law, AG4AF (then WA4IGL) encouraged me and I really put some effort into it. I bought an old receiver and listened to the hams having CW QSO's.


I bought a ham call sign book from the Heathkit store in Baltimore (now, if that doesn't tell my age, nothing else will!) and listened for a while every day. I found out that CW was easier than I thought, and I kicked myself for letting it get in my way.


Now, I'm in the same position with the math, and I'm going to lick this and get my ticket. After all, I'm retired and I have almost all the time in the world! Wish me luck, I'm diving in!

Things Are starting to Look Up Here in the Shack

I have no idea why my Ts-480SAT stopped communicating with the computer, but I have tried everything I can to re-establish the RS-232 link, but to no avail.  I have two different null modems and neither one of them works.  I also had a problem with working PSK-31 on the rig.  The internal digital interface would not operate properly, but I finally figured out that it was operator error. I got it working today using my UCA202 sound card and made a few contacts including a Peruvian Special Event station from Machu Pichu.  I hate to have to ship off this radio for repair, but it looks like that may be the final solution to the problem.  I'm heading down to Myrtle Beach for a week in July and I hope to use the Ts-480 portable and mobile on that trip.  We'll see.  In the meantime I have the TS-440SAT up and running fine.  The new 135 ft OCF dipole is working like a champ even though it needs to be clipped just a little bit.  The bands are a little better today; I made a few contacts on 20 and 30 meters.

It's A Small World After All

The bands have been terrible lately.  Mr. Sun is simply not pulling his weight, and I'm starting to get all my equipment ready for sale on QRZ.  I have made a few contacts today on 20 and 30 meters, but it's not easy to cut through the serious QSB.  But you know, just when you start to lose heart, something always pops up to bring you back from the edge.  I was on 10 meters the other day during the 10-10 contest and I heard a call from K5FBS and when the name Clifford A. Taylor popped up in the log, I just had to know if it was the Cliff Taylor I knew from my Army days in Germany.  Sure enough it was him and we had a marvelous chat about our time on the border back in the old cold war days.  I remembered at the time he was studying for his license and building a Heathkit SB-101 to operate from Germany.  He finally passed his exam and got a German call sign.  It tests my memory a bit, but I think it was DL4BO.  Cliff, let me know if that's wrong.

The Monster is Ready

The smell of Solder in the Morning!

Ready to Go Up!

After a lot of research, I've finally decided that an Off Center Fed dipole would be the perfect antenna for my operating habits.  I wanted an antenna that covers 160 through 6 meters that I can use with my SB-1000 amplifier without a tuner.  I looked at the Buxcomm OCF dipole at $300.00 and then started looking around the shack to see what I had available.  I found the dogbones for the end connectors and I had 150 feet of silky wire from the "Wireman" I bought four years ago for another project that never got built.  I ordered a 4:1 balun from Universal Radio and started putting together the tools.  My 50ft tape measure wasn't going to do the job, so I invested in a 100 ft tape from Lowes ($14.95).  I've wanted a butane powered soldering iron for a long time, so this was the best possible time to buy the Bernzomatic Kit ($19.95).   So with found items from the shack box and about $60.00 in purchases, I'm ready to haul this 135 foot monster up for a try.  It's 90 feet long on the heavy end and 45 feet long on the light end.  I have a pulley up at the 50 foot level of a large tree directly behind the house for the center connector and another pulley up for the heavy end.  The light end may be a bit of a struggle, but I know it's doable.

Up a Tree without a Paddle

I work a lot of digital modes, and I've noticed a lot of vertical antennas out there for my fellow digifreaks.  I've been wondering how a vertical antenna would work for me, because I do have some local noise, and I've just wanted to give it a try.  I had a brand new Unidilla 1:1 balun hanging around from some long-lost hamfest somewhere, so I decide to put it to use making a good solid 20 meter dipole to string up out in the backyard.  after some minimal trimming, it worked just like you'd expect a dipole to work.  But then I got the jazzy idea to string it up like a vertical.  I have this very large tree in the backyard directly behind the shack that's at least 50 feet tall. I already have a rope up there; it's where I have one end of my G5RV attached.  so I just hauled one end of the dipole up to the top and tethered the other end to the tree trunk about 20 feet off the ground.  Voila! a twenty meter half-wave dipole polarized vertically!
The first thing I noticed is how much better it listens.  A lot of the ambient noise I've been putting up with is simply gone.  I know it's early days, but either twenty meters opened up a lot or this antenna really has some gain.  I was able to feed the coax off the dipole almost horizontally, so that's another problem solved.  I'm going to try this for a while, and then think about a fan dipole for 10 and 15 meters up the same tree.

The Big Voice is on the Air!

The Outdoor Voice!

The shack looks like a tornado came through it today, but the deed is done.  I have the Heathkit SB-1000 hooked up and putting out a solid 500-600 watts on sideband.  I converted it some years ago to run on 115V so, I try not to crank it all the way up.  I've found in the past that 300-400 watts is the most I ever need to crash through any but the most severe pile-ups.  I have a nice Super Tuner, but I don't like to have to mess with it, so I prefer to use individual dipoles for 20, 15, and 40 meters.  The G5RV tunes all those bands and more, and I found that I never need more than 100 watts on the rest of the spectrum, and the autotuner on the TS-440 takes care of that.  I did make and put up a 20 meter dipole to test the amplifier, and it's doing a fine job.  I need to take it down and do a little trim work on it, but the SWR was very favorable.  I need to get out my antenna launcher tomorrow and get the thing a little higher in the air before I trim it.  Now antenna slinging is a chore I really hate.  I guess it's enough to just say it involves a sling shot, some .45 caliber musket balls and a fishing reel and line.  When I get everything all humming together, it'll be time to straighten out the cables and get the shack looking like the paradise it's supposed to be.

Stormy Weather

Well, the storms have come and gone.  We were lucky again, and the tornadoes skipped over us. My prayers go out to the families of those who were taken to God's bosom last night.  It's such a tragedy and the property loss is a terrible thing in this economy.  We had some wind, but if there was any lighting I didn't see it and if there was any thunder, I didn't hear it.  Our concern was that the severe weather was to occur between two and four AM, and we needed a way to listen for warnings.  I started to dig out my old WX radio (I think it's in the dry bag with all the rest of our camping stuff), but then WCNC's weather man suggested that we try this new app for the IPOD called weather radio. http://www.wdtinc.com/pages/imapweather_radio

It was just the ticket.  One of the things I dislike most about my old weather radio is that you get an alarm for every impending disaster.  We don't live in a flood plain and the flood warnings alone are enough to make you turn the WX radio off.  But with this new app, you can tailor it to alert only on storm warnings.  We got about six or eight storm alerts last night, and I can tell you it was nice to hear that they were only tornado watches and not warnings.   We did get to sleep last night, but I can assure you that this afternoon's nap will be much appreciated.

I see that the SFI is 108 and the absorption is down to 1.  Looks like it might be a good day for a little DX.  I've already checked 20 meters and there's a lot of activity there.  I had a great opening into the Caribbean on 10 meters yesterday.  Maybe the nap will have to wait!