Extra Class question of the day: contesting

February 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

E2C01 asks, “Which of the following is true about contest operating?” The correct answer is “Operators are permitted to make contacts even if they do not submit a log.” This is a fun way to get your feet wet in contesting and helps the operators participating in the contest to achieve higher scores.

Having said that, you should submit a log, even if you only make a handful of contacts. At WA2HOM, we participated in the CQWW SSB contest last fall. We only operated for a short time, as we can only operate when the museum is open. Even so, we recently received a certificate for being the highest scorer in the single transmitter, multi-operator category in the 8th call district. As it turns out, we were the only entry in this category, but so what? We’re champions!

Now, let’s look at the wrong answers:

  • Interference to other amateurs is unavoidable and therefore acceptable. It’s bad practice–as well as illegal–to cause harmful interference whenever you’re operating, even during contests.
  • It is mandatory to transmit the call sign of the station being worked as part of every transmission to that station. Part 97 requires only that you identify your station, at least once every ten minutes during a contact and at the end of a contact. Even during normal operation, you don’t have to give the callsign of the station being worked.
  • Every contest requires a signal report in the exchange. Many contests no longer require a signal report in the exchange.The reason for this is that the signal reports exchanged are rarely true signal reports. That being the case, why bother to exchange them?
Filed Under: Contests, Extra Class Question of the Day

International Museums Weekend, June 16-17 and 23-24, 2012

January 15, 2012 By 2 Comments

Since I’m the station manager for WA2HOM, I’m always interested in ham radio events that take place at museums. I am, therefore, excited to note that the operating event, International Museums Weekend, will take place on both June 16-17, 2012 and June 23-24, 2012.

This has been primarily a European operating event, but I’m hoping that we can also get something going here in the U.S.  I know that I plan to participate in this event at WA2HOM.

Here’s how the IMW’s website describes the event:

The intention of the event is to set up amateur radio special event stations at as many of the museums as possible throughout the whole of the world. I would hope for an HF, VHF, and if at all possible, a Ui-View (APRS) packet station to be set up at each museum site, but the scope of your station is entirely up to you. The choice of museum is also left very much up to you, however aim for the largest and/or most unusual you can find.

The museums taking part over the years have included ships, castles, air museums, Napoleonic forts, pumping stations, wireless museums, racing museums and many others. For the purposes of the event, the word ‘museum’ is loosely interpreted. There really is no shortage of venues in which such an event can be staged, no matter where in the world you might live.

Related video
Just coincidentally, I received in an e-mail a link to a video that  documents two QSOs from a portable station to two museum ships.

Filed Under: Special Events

Next VOIP Conference, Friday, May 12, 2012 in Reno, NV

January 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

From Kent, W7AOR:

The next VOIP Topical Conference is Friday, May 4, 2012 at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno.

Since 2001 Nevada Amateur Radio Repeaters, Inc. (NARRI) sponsored the Annual VoIP IRLP Conference that is held in the Spring. Prior to 2012 the conference was held in Las Vegas as a separate event. Now it is part of EMCOMMWEST event. Each year the meeting has broadened its scope and now includes all the major VoIP systems in use by the amateur radio community, i.e., IRLP, Echo link, EchoIRLP, All Star, D-Star and DV Dongle. Report on success of the Pacific Division D-Star Emcom Net held on Western Reflector REF014B. See the program for topical speakers.

Here is a summary of details:

  •  Place: Grand Sierra Resort Conference Area
  • The conference area is in the lower level – take elevator down from main floor.
  • Date: Friday May 4, 2012
  • Time: 9 am to Noon and 1 to 4:30 pm
  • Program: elaborates on the various VoIP systems with presentations and demonstrations. See past VoIP conference session at http://www.narri.org/voip_conference.html
  • Venue: 10th Annual Topical VoIP Conference
  • Cost: $25 per person. No one allowed without payment, no exceptions.
  • RSVP: Pre-Registration is Required by April 16, 2012.
  • Registration: Not available at this time. Will begin on February 1st.
  • Hotel Rooms: www.EmcommWest.org/accommodations.html

Please direct your questions to Kent W7AOR,w7aor@narri.org or phone 702-452-4412.

It is the hopes of NV Section leadership that this combo will alternate yearly between Reno and Las Vegas. Look forward to seeing you in Reno for the 10th annual VoIP Conference and EmcommWest.

Filed Under: Operating, VHF/FM/Repeaters Tagged With: ,

WA2HOM: Championship Contest Station?

January 10, 2012 By 2 Comments

In the mail today, I received something totally unexpected—a certificate proclaiming WA2HOM to be the first place finisher in the multi-operator, single-transmitter category of the 2011 CQ World Wide WPX contest.

CQ WPX Certificate

With such a low score, I don’t supposed that we had many competitors in that category, but it’s still pretty cool.

Filed Under: Contests, Hands-On Museum

Will NTSB Recommendation Affect Ham Radio?

December 14, 2011 By 8 Comments

National Transportation Safety BoardYesterday, the National Traffic Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that “the 50 states and the District of Columbia:”

(1) Ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task) for all drivers; (2) use the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration model of high visibility enforcement to support these bans; and (3) implement targeted communication campaigns to inform motorists of the new law and enforcement, and to warn them of the dangers associated with the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices while driving. (H-11-XX)

As usual, there has been a big hue and cry among radio amateurs who fear that this recommendation is going to somehow find its way into laws that ban use of mobile radio equipment. In my humble opinion, we really don’t have to worry about this.

In nearly all, if not all, states where laws have been enacted restricting the use of personal electronic devices, ham radio has always been exempted. One of the main reasons for this is that the National Safety Council recognizes that there is no evidence that operating an amateur radio set poses a significant crash risk. The ARRL and the ARRL members in states where this legislation has come up have been quick to point this out, and we will be quick to point this out again.

The accidents cited in the recommendation are certainly terrible events, and banning cellphone use while driving may certainly be a legitimate thing to do. Having said that, none of the incidents involved amateur radio or any other two-way radio operation, and we should be quick to point that out.

And one more thing: drive carefully, whether you have a microphone in your hand or not.

Filed Under: Operating, The Service

A special (event) day at WA2HOM

December 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I had a special day at WA2HOM today…a special event day, that is.

First of all, it was SKYWARN Recognition Day today. There were more than 100 National Weather Service amateur radio stations on the air today (see map below).

SKYWARN Stations

More than 100 NWS amateur radio stations were on the air today for SKYWARN Recognition Day.

I managed to work eight of them including stations in FL, IL, KS, KY, MA, TN, TX, and VA.

I also contacted several stations participating in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Amateur Radio Clubs Special Event. This operating event was held in conjunction with the SEC championship football game. I was able to work three of the stations: AA4UT (Univ. of Tennessee), W4DFU‘ (Univ. of Florida), and W5YM (University of Arkansas). It was great to hear so many college club stations on the air.

One thing that I found a little curious is that the event lasted only from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm.  Then, it hit me. The game must have started at 1:00 pm. D’oh!

I worked two stations commemorating the attack on Pearl Harbor. The first, N4WIS, was aboard the battleship U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk, VA. The second, W2W, was located at the National Electronics Museum in Baltimore, MD.

When I wasn’t busy working the special event stations, I managed to sneak in a couple of DX contacts. The first, VP2MOR, was on the island of Monserrat. The second, NH7U, is on the island of Molokai in Hawaii. It was kind of neat to work NH7U as I’ve actually been to Molokai.

In addition to all these great contacts, I was able to give a couple of demos to interested museum patrons. That rounded off a really special day down at WA2HOM.

Filed Under: Hands-On Museum, Special Events

Operating Notes – 11/30/11

December 1, 2011 By 1 Comment

Here are a few random notes about my operations over the past week or so:

  • 9G logged. Mark, W8MP, is a friend of mine who has appeared in this blog in the past. He’s a Delta airlines pilot, and he’s begun flying to Accra, Ghana, of all places. Since service to and from Accra isn’t like service to and from Chicago (or even Walla Walla, WA, for that matter), once he flies there, he’s stuck there for a couple of days. So, on a previous trip there, he looked into getting a Ghanaian ham license and was issued the call 9G5MP. This last trip, he actually took some ham gear and set up operations. We worked him from WA2HOM last Saturday. We have some other ideas about encouraging ham radio in Ghana, but we’ll talk about that in future blog posts.
  • Canadian AM on 7.115 MHz? I forget why exactly I was tuning around 7.115 MHz, but the other day, I heard a couple of Canadians working each other on AM. It’s certainly legal for them to be there, but I still thought it was kind of strange.
  • Watch those band limits! Speaking of 7.115 MHz, on Monday morning, I happened to be in the shack, and I heard a U.S. station talking to a Canadian on 7.115 MHz LSB. Again, it was perfectly legal for the Canadian to be there, but not the American. I e-mailed the American and politely suggested that he shouldn’t be working LSB so far down the band.
  • I’m not really a band cop, but…. Tuesday evening, sometime after midnight–which I guess would actually make it very early Wednesday morning, I hear a CW beacon on 7.02825. The beacon repeatedly sent the stations callsign, power (200 mW), and the operator’s e-mail address. Again, I emailed the guy and politely suggested that he might not want to operate that beacon on such a popular CW frequency. He emailed me back and asked for a signal report. I didn’t hear him this evening, so maybe my polite suggestion worked.
  • AGE HR IS 90. In the last couple of days, I’ve worked two guys who were 90 years old, K2MV and W0LCI. Both of them were clipping right along at 23-25 wpm. I hope I’m still that good when I get to be their age.
  • Who says kids aren’t into ham radio? Yesterday, I got a card from W0W, the Kid’s Day special event station of the Boulder Amateur Radio Club Juniors. The QSL was printed on 8.5 x 11 card stock and included several pictures of kids having fun with ham radio. This evening, I talked to Phillip, KD8RFR, a 19-year-old, who got his ticket less than two weeks ago.
Filed Under: Operating

Ham radio on the Internet – 11/29/11

November 29, 2011 By 1 Comment

Here are some cool things I found on the Net recently:

Radio tutorial – building your first station. This YouTube video tutorial by N7FTP gives some good advice on setting up your first ham shack.

Wi-Fi and the Bad Boys of Radio (review). I haven’t yet read this book, but this review certainly makes me want to do so. The book was written by Alex Hills, who played a part in the development of WiFi technology.  Alex, AL7K, got his start in radio as a ham radio operator. From there, he went on to broadcast engineering, and then to a position with Carnegie Mellon University, where he worked on WiFi technology.

Radio hams pick up Mars rover Curiosity’s signals. This story describes how some German amateurs are working with NASA to receive telemetry from the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, which is heading towards Mars carrying a one-ton nuclear powered robot rover named Curiosity.

Filed Under: Building/Homebrew, Gear/Gadgets, People, Satellites

Operating Notes: DX, DX, and More DX

November 16, 2011 By 2 Comments

PV8ADI's three-element, 40m Yagi

The news, of course, is that the bands have been just fantastic lately. You almost can’t help but work DX. Yesterday, for example, I went down to the basement about 4pm to get something, and thought I’d scan the 30m band. I heard and worked both CN8IG and HB9STEVE.

If that last call sign sounds a bit odd, it’s because it’s a special event station set up the Team HB9ON Radio Group to celebrate the life of Apple computer founder, Steve Jobs. Their QRZ.Com page says, “Commemoration operation will occur sporadically throughout the month of November 2011. Most of the activity will be done in CW mode but we plan to operate SSB thanks to some of our friends.” So, you still have a chance to work them, if you want to.

Later, on 40m, I was trying to find a nice ragchew, but instead ended up working:

  • PV8ADI. He always has a big signal here. If you look at his QRZ.Com page you’ll see why. He has a three-element Yagi on 40m.
  • DL1NKS. I called CQ on 7019 kHz and got a replay from this German station. After we finished our QSO, UR5NQL jumped in and I had a short QSO with him.

I finished the evening with a short QSO with my friend, W4MQC, down in Florida, but he was getting pounded by some SSB QRM from stations in Central America. It’s time to get on the air and work some DX, even if you only have antennas for the low bands.

What DX have you worked lately?

Filed Under: DX, Operating

Contest were the order of the day this weekend

November 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Contesting was on the amateur radio schedule this weekend.  In typical KB6NU fashion, however, the contesting was very casual.

On Saturday, I didn’t get down to WA2HOM  until noon, and shortly after I fired up the rig, Ovide, K8EV, showed up. We talked for about an hour, during which we made no contacts. After Ovide left for lunch, I made a few contacts in the Ukranian DX contest. Nothing spectacular except for an A65 station. That’s a new country for the WA2HOM log.

In the evening, I got on 40m and made 100 Qs in the ARRL Sweepstakes. I wasn’t going to stay up so late, but as my totals began to climb, I decided to stick it out until I made 100 contacts or scored 10,000 points. At 1am, I hit the sack with 100 contacts and nearly 11,000 points.

On Sunday, I had a couple of things that I wanted to do besides working the contest. One was to practice my bowling. I’ve just been terrible for the past couple of weeks, and it’s been embarassing. Another was to build a 10m loop antenna.

Well, I couldn’t resist. Before going to the bowling alley, I made several contacts on 15m. When I got back, I ate some lunch, and then actually built the antenna.  Before I got around to hanging it up outside, I got sucked into working some more of the contest. I spent the next several hours working the contest, quitting at 4pm to make dinner. At that point, I had 150 contacts.

After dinner, I watched a movie with my XYL, but when the movie was over about 8:30pm, I went down to the shack again. I was surprised to hear the contest still going on. I had assumed it was just a 24-hour event, but Sweepstakes is a 30-hour contest. So, of course, I had to work the last hour or so.

It was fortuitous, too. I managed to work three or four new multipliers during that last hour and a half.  When all was said and done, I ended up with 189 contacts, 66 sections, and a total of 24,948 points. I think that next year, I’m going to try for a “clean sweep.”

Filed Under: Contests, DX
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