After my mediocre performance in the Fists Sprint a couple of weeks ago, which I blamed on my antenna, I decided that I’d better put up my 20m ground plan antenna again. So, this morning, just before the North Carolina QSO Party was to start, I threw a rope over a tree branch in the front yard and hauled up the ground plane. I spread out the two radials, snaked the coax into the house, and I was in business. The SWR measured 1.2:1.

From Tim, KT8K…

Here’s a test procedure to test the ferrite-bead chokes you buy at hamfests or Radio Shack.

I just finished working the 30 m band for the last hour, and it was almost like working the DX contest over the weekend. I made eight contacts, all but one a DX contact, including:

On the Elecraft mailing list, there’s been a flurry of messages recently about LCR meters. One of the units touted was a unit from a company called Almost All Digital Electronics. They have both a kit version ($100) and an assembled version ($130). A couple of the guys even bought and built it.

I chimed in with the opinion that instead of buying yet another meter, that they should just buy an antenna analyzer to make those measurements.

In the March issue of World Radio, Alan Pickering, KJ9N, did a little speculating on the state of the Internet and why now might be a good time for ham radio folks to start recruiting young people, who have seemingly lost interest in ham radio in favor of the Internet. He says, that as far as the Internet is concerned, the bloom may be off the rose. The reason: SPAM.

As I mentioned back in December, I’m now finally using the MFJ 941D VersaTuner II antenna tuner I bought many moons ago. At the time, I also noted that the metering wasn’t working. In no switch position, could I get the meter to move at all.

Well, about a week ago, I began to notice that every once in a while the meter would indicate some forward power. This activity usually lasted for only a single transmission, and on the following transmission, I’d again get nothing. Problems like this are usually just bad connections, so having a little time on my hands yesterday, I decided to pull off the cover and see if I could find the bad connection.

After sitting at the rig for nearly four hours working the Fists Winter Sprint, and achieving a solidly mediocre results, you’d think that I’d have had enough ham radio for one day. Well, you’d be wrong.

Contest are good tests, not only for one’s operating skills, but also for one’s equipment. Witness my experience yesterday operating the Fists Winter Sprint.

My friend and former boss, Jon Titus KZ1G, sent me this:

Every once in a while, I get the urge to build a computer interface for my IC-735. This isn’t as easy as it sounds as the Icom CI-V interface is not a standard RS-232 type interface. The signal levels are TTL-level signals and it’s a two-wire interface.