100 years ago

Last night, I received an e-mail from Bob W3BBO about an item he saw in The County Hunter News.  The article was written by Bob Voss N4CD, and it concerned a book written 100 years ago, entitled  "Bert Wilson, Wireless Operator".  The book has been made available through Project Gutenberg.

The book was available in various formats, including kindle format.  Bob and I are both kindle owners and avid readers, especially (although not exclusively) when the topic is Amateur Radio.  I downloaded the book last night and began reading it today.  Even though the book is 100 years old, it is a fun and easy read. It's not terribly long, and I'm already a third of the way through.

You do have to keep in mind that this was written in 1913.  The author, J W Duffield makes an early mention of "the unfortunate accident and loss of life" that happened "last year". Of course, he's referring to the Titanic, without directly mentioning the ship by name.  The language is a bit different, with a lot of "By Jove"s, "Great Scott"s appearing throughout.  Friends are referred to as "fellows" and there's a lot of back slapping that occurs instead of the "high fives" that we have become so accustomed today.  Further examples - baseball teams are referred to as "nines" and ball fields as "diamonds", all fitting descriptions, but all very old-timey. There are also some very un-PC descriptions of things in there, so if you're offended by that kind of thing, please be aware. We are talking 1913, here.

But as I've mentioned before, it is a very entertaining little story. I can only imagine that the target audience back then was the same audience for which the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift books were written in my younger days.

In fact, if you go to Project Gutenburg and type in "wireless" into their search box, there are a couple dozen various books that you will be led to.  Some appear to be fiction, while others definitely are not.  But they are all free and readily available to be downloaded for your reading pleasure.

The other thing that I wanted to mention is that there's another unbuilt HW9 up for bid on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Unbuilt-Unassembled-Heathkit-HW-9-Deluxe-QRP-Transceiver-Kit-/321078183712?pt=US_Ham_Radio_Transceivers&hash=item4ac1c04720

A couple of weeks ago, John AE5X mentioned an auction for one of these.  That kit ended up selling for close to $2000.00.  This one is up to $305.00 with 5 days to go.  I am pretty certain that any unsuccessful bidders from the first auction learned a lesson about holding their cards closer to their vests.  I am predicting that bids will probably (and I mean probably, but I might be wrong) not move much until right before the end of the auction in an attempt to keep the winning bid lower than the $2000.00 neighborhood.  It will be interesting to see how much this unbuilt Heahtkit will end up selling for.

Almost makes me want to buy a K2 and just stash it away somewhere for my kids to sell in about 30 or 40 years.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

A day early again!

I got confirmation from Elecraft on Monday that my K3 was shipping UPS 3 Day Select. So you have to figure - Tuesday, Wednesday, and delivery on Thursday.  In fact, that's what the official UPS Tracking Website confirmed for me - delivery by the end of the day on June 28th.  So imagine my surprise when I got home to find a big brown box waiting for me.  Inside was:

Serial number 6625 - just waiting to be built!

Also included inside are the K3 ATU, the 400Hz, 8 Pole Roofing Filter, and the handheld microphone. I also ordered a microphone for the KX3 while I was at it.  And no, before anyone gets all excited, I am not renouncing CW!  I got the microphone(s) for two basic reasons.

1) Doing Ham Radio demos.  I have found that demos go best when you show folks CW and SSB.  There's nothing like putting a mic into the hands of someone and allowing them to speak with someone halfway around the country, or the globe for that matter.  It's something that THEY can relate to.  Morse Code is "cool" as I have been told by a lot of kids - but letting them talk to someone in far off Uzbekafgonalakistan is the ultimate "Wow".  (A note to my lawyer - yes, that is a made up country name).

2) Special Event stations - I really used to like to hunt them.  A lot are not on CW at all these days, a lot are phone only.  Hence, my decision to buy some microphones.  Take for instance the "13 Colonies" Special Event that is held each year around Independence Day.  Last year I was able to find exactly ONE state (MA) on CW.  Maybe I won't work many; but at least now I can try.

I really have to tip my hat to you SSB QRP guys.  You guys have supernatural patience!  Except for the rare instance, I will stick with CW for a 99% majority of my operating time.  I don't have your kind of patience.

Tonight was preoccupied with other matters. Tomorrow night, God willing and the creek don't rise, I will begin by doing a complete inventory.  I don't expect anything to be missing as K3s are not rushing out the door as the same rate as KX3s.

Oh, and by the way, in case I didn't mention it ..... the K2 is going NOWHERE!  I am NEVER giving that radio up!

Even though the sunspot number is a paltry 28, I had a good night on 20 and 30 Meters.  Germany, Lithuania, Ecuador and The Ukraine were all easily reached with 5 Watts. I even managed to bust a mini-pileup to work the Lithuanian on 30 Meters.  That felt really good!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Holy Flea Power, Batman!

I turned on 17 Meters tonight, hoping to hear K6JSS/KL7 from Alaska on.  In all honesty, the band is quiet but once again, T32C is there loud as a bell.  In fact, the op was working simplex - not split, and he wasn't getting many takers at all.  15 - 20 CQs between callers?  You can tell this DXpedition is coming near an end.  I'm sure the team has to be ecstatic with the job they have done.

So, I decided to try something.  I cranked the power on down to 900 milliWatts and put out my call.  They came back to me first shot!

Just who is on this DXpedition anyway ..... Steve Austin with his bionic ears?  I figured I was going to give it a max of about three tries; AND if he came back with only a W2?? or a W2L??, I would not strain their ears any further with my somewhat selfish experiment.  But there it was, first try and full call.  That's over 6,000 miles per Watt.  And yes, all the credit goes to the wonderfully amazing ops at T32C.

BTW, equipment here was the K2 to the Butternut HF9V.

This QRP and radio stuff continues to delight me!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

KØK in the log!

Jim W4QO as KØK,  was working stations coming at him with savvy and finesse.  I made it into his log at 0234 UTC with a 579 report.  Here's some video of Jim going at it after we made contact. Conditions on 40 Meters was great - low background noise and loud signals!

By the way, you might notice that this video looks a bit cleaner and sharper than ones I've previously posted.  Our old Polaroid digital camera was stolen recently.  Marianne's and my birthday fall within two days of each other, so this year we "gave each other" a new digital camera.  This was taken with a Kodak EasyShare C195 that we purchased on sale at Target.  We're very pleased with it so far.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

K6JSS/4 - North Carolina

I just finished working Joe W2KJ as K6JSS/4 in North Carolina to keep the streak alive.  Joe mentioned that he was on 40 Meters on QRP-L.  I nabbed him first call after he finished a QSO with Jim W1FMR.  There was a ton of very close, loud QRM.  Once again, the K2's crystal filters came to the rescue.  And I didn't have to tighten up all that much.  The first filter setting blocked out the offending signals, allowing me to hear Joe's wonderful 2 Watt, 589 signal.

The QSO was completed using the 88' EDZ.  I must say that, in the few weeks that it has been up, that I am pretty pleased with it.  It seems to work a ton better on 30 Meters, where I zero success with the G5RV on that band.  Granted, it's not a 100' tower with a yagi at the top; but it is what I have space for and can afford.  So in that regard, it's great!

Looks like we're going to dodge a bullet here, as the April Fool's snowstorm predicted for tomorrow will be a rain event here.  Snow will occur in NY state, primarily along the Hudson River Valley.  You know?  It's going to be April for crying out loud!  Time for flowers and bunnies and duckies to be prancing out on the lawn - not more white stuff!  I've had it with the winter of 2010/2011 and am ready for Spring and Summer time.

Hey - a last thought ...... don't forget that this weekend is the QRP-ARCI Spring QSO Party.  Rules and details here:

http://www.qrparci.org/content/view/8347/118/

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

SDR Cube in action

George Heron has made a couple of Flip videos of his new SDR Cube in action.  The URL link is way long; so if you want to see them - click here.

There are six video segments for you viewing pleasure.  Looks like a neat little radio.  I was looking at the circuit boards and see that they are all SMD.  To get that much radio squeezed into such a small package, it's no wonder!  And there are times I think my K2 is too small!  As a Ham who has been around a while, I guess that I am too used to my radios being big and having a lot of knobs.  But this definitely looks like a lot of fun.

I had a nice QSO tonight with Jerry N1QLL on 40 Meters.  The band was nice and quiet without any local neighborhood QRN.  Jerry lives in a small lobstering and fishing village on the coast of Maine.  I've had the good fortune to have visited Maine twice in my lifetime.  It truly is a beautiful state!  I visited Bangor once and Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park another time.  That was back in my Novice days; shortly after being licensed. Back in those days, I was into photography as a career, and  I have some really nice medium format transparencies of my visits.  None of mine are as nice as the photo below:

Jerry was using a Ten Tec Omni 6 to a Windom for our QSO; but he's about halfway done building his own K2.  He wants to use if for camping, activating light houses and that sort of thing.  I wished him good luck with the rest of the build and commented that my K2 is now six years old!  It's hard to believe that I've had it for so long.  Seems like just yesterday that I finished it and had that first QSO.

I also worked  Jose EA7LS who is operating portable in the Dominican Republic.  For whatever reason the G5RV wasn't doing it for this QSO; so I switched to the Butternut to get HI7/EA7LS into the log.  It's nice to be fortunate enough to have two outdoor antennas to choose from depending on conditions. Whenever I get frustrated that my antennas aren't doing the job for me; I just remind myself of my Ham brothers who are restricted to using REALLY compromise antennas; and I am very thankful for what I have.  All a matter of perspective, I guess.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Holey Moley

I was directed to this site by Mike VE3WDM's blog.

http://www.73cnc.com/73cnc/elecraft.html

The knobs are BEAUTIFUL, without a doubt - but you can buy an entire SW+ Series kit from Dave Bensen at Small Wonder Labs for less than the price of just one of these babies!

The embedded video sure does a good job of demonstrating how superb these are. But if I start buying stuff like this there is NO WAY that I will ever be able to afford a K3, much less buy after market knobs for it.

However, for those of you who can afford them; go for it and more power to you!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

2X QRP DX QSO

As things turned out, I did not get the opportunity to head out to the local park with my PFR3A, Fuchs tuner and 69 foot hunk o' wire. I wanted to get the wire up in the tall trees and see how the QRP Project Fuchs tuner behaves. Maybe one day this week or over the long Labor Day weekend.

But I did get some on air time this afternoon, listening for John K3WWP and Mike KC2EGL who were doing a portable outing from a park in Kitanning, PA. As it turned out, I never heard them. But I did go on 20 Meters for a bit and called CQ near the QRP watering hole.

Nyaregyhaza, Hungary

My effort was greeted by a call from Laci HA7UG in . Laci was a solid 579 into New Jersey and I received a 569 report back. Laci and I were both at the 5 Watt level. We exchanged the basics and then the QSB started bothering us, of course!

The only thing better than a DX QSO is when it's a two way QRP DX QSO! It's amazing to think of 5 Watts travelling over all that water and land. It works out to be only 881 miles per Watt; but it's still quite a feat in my book.

Other than the QSO with Laci, it was very quiet on the bands today. There were no major CW contests going on; or at least I didn't hear much in the way of activity. 40, 30 and 20 Meters all seemed very quiet today - almost dead.

So I shut down the station, and Marianne and I took Joey and Cara to the community pool for a few hours. It reached 93F (34C) here today; and they really enjoyed it. Then when we got home, I got a surprise when I checked my e-mail and saw one from my good friend, Bob W3BBO in my In Box. He wrote to tell me that he saw that I was on 20 Meters working DX stations. I was taken aback as to how he could have possibly have known that; when I further read that he was checking out the DX Clusters this afternoon and saw that Laci had spotted ME! First time I've ever been the DX!

Cool beans!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

160 Meter capable

My K2 is now 160 Meter capable - but not without a few heart stopping moments along the way - all caused by myself, of course.

I've posted previously about my phobia with opening up the K2. My philosophy is, "If it ain't broke don't fix it" or put another way, "Why jump out of a perfectly good airplane?". But, if you want to add options to a K2, you have to open it. I guess another way of putting it is, "If you want to make mayonnaise, you have to break some eggs". So I took a deep breath and proceeded to crack a few eggs.

In whole, the procedure wasn't as bad as I had feared. I installed the 160 board without any difficulty. As it turned out, all I had to do was remove one jumper from the K2's RF board, add three capacitors and do the actual physical installation of the board. I was lucky enough that my K2 is of recent enough vintage that I did not have to swap out two designated capacitors on the RF board. The existing ones were of the right value. I don't enjoy replacing components. Too much chance to do damage to the circuit board - and that's with 22 years of electronics repairs under my belt. I've seen "simple procedures" turn into deep doo-doo.

The alignment, such as it was, was a piece of cake. Using my OHR Wattmeter, I was able to peak L3 and L4 for maximum power output on both 80 and 160 Meters. If I so desire, I can go past 10 Watts out on both bands without breaking a sweat.

The bad things started happening when I started buttoning things back up. The first piece to be put back together was what Elecraft calls the heat sink. The K2's two PA transistors attach to this sheet o' metal (which also acts as part of the housing) in order to transfer heat away from themselves. However, there are two fiber spacers that go between the transistors and the circuit board in order to insure that the transistor bodies A) stay away from the circuit board and B) stay close to the heat sink. Of course, in the process of putting things back together, one of the two fiber spacers went into orbit.

I got out the heavy duty flashlight and checked the basement floor for what seemed like an eternity. I checked my pockets, I checked my socks, I checked my sneakers, I checked everywhere, to no avail. Then I did what some "Old School" Catholics do when they lose something. I said a short prayer to St. Anthony, to ask for his aid in helping find this minuscule piece of insulating collar. In a short while, I was hit with an inspiration. What if the darned thing had never hit the floor? I decided to check the pockets of my antistatic mat. Sure enough that's where the little bugger landed! No need to call Elecraft and wait for a week while new ones were delivered. Thanks, St. Anthony!

Having everything put back together - heat sink, bottom cover, top cover - I connected the antennas, plugged in the key and external power supply. I turned the unit on and ....... no receive audio! What the ........ ??????? (Break out the defibrillator, Honey!) Plugging in headphones ensured me that I was still able to hear received signals; but ...... ????? I disconnected the top cover completely and ran a 9 Volt battery across the speaker terminals. I heard the satisfying crackle which indicated that I had not somehow damaged the speaker. But that probably couldn't be anyway, as I was not getting anything from either the internal or my external speaker.

Slow down, take a deep breath and figure out what's wrong. The thing was working a half hour ago - what stupid thing did I do? It had to be something stupid that I had done.

Sure enough, it was.

When plugging in the wires for the speaker, I had placed the connector on the two pins where you would hook up the internal battery - if I had one! I removed the connector and placed it where it was supposed to go and viola' - sweet audio came racing out of the speaker(s) both internal and external depending on which I had chosen. (You can take the defibrillator back to the hospital, Honey!) I was listening to N1ZZ call "CQ DX" via CW for a few minutes and then went up the band a ways and went into LSB mode to listen to some ragchewing. Everything sounds great! I can even get the K2's internal ATU to get the G5RV down to about a 1.3:1 SWR. But I'm not kidding myself into thinking that that's a long term working solution. Gotta get that 160 Meter vertical built before winter sets in - but I'm sure that will be another story.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

20 Meter Foxhunt fun!

Wow, what a rush!

The two Foxes for tonight were Paul NG7Z in Washington and Sam N4SAM in Alabama. As I thought, Paul turned out to be the easier pelt to snag. He had a good signal into NJ (especially with the ALC off!) and I managed a QSO at 0133 UTC.

I thought that was going to be it for the evening. I thought that Sam in Alabama was too close to New Jersey for a 20 Meter QSO, and for a long time I couldn't even hear him - or the pack chasing him.

But, as QRPers are fond of saying, patience pays off. During the last half hour of the hunt, I started hearing Sam. He was very weak; but his signal strength began taking an upswing. So I started calling, and calling, and calling.

I finally decided to switch antennas from the HF9V to the G5RV, even though I could hear Sam better with my vertical. So I began a sequence where I would transmit via the wire; and then would hit the K2's antenna switch button to go back to the vertical for receive. With four minutes left in the hunt, I managed a QSO with Sam! I was only a 449; but hey, we made a complete exchange of information and it counted.

A minor accomplishment, I guess, in the big picture of things; but it sure was fun to achieve something that was difficult!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Just as I thought!

I managed to snag a pelt from Don NK6A in California. I heard the Hounds chasing Arn K0ZK, in Maine; but did not hear even a whisper out of him. So it's a "1fur" in New Jersey tonight.

BUT ...... I did manage to build the entire 160 Meter board for the K2 while I was listening for Arn. Funny, but I seem to have misplaced the panel mount BNC connector. I have no idea where it got itself to. Luckily, I have one with a Rockmite kit that I never finished; so I will use that one. I will order a replacement for the Rockmite and a few spares in the meantime.

So now all I have to do is open the K2 and do some minor surgery to install the 160 Meter board. I hate tearing open a perfectly working radio! I will probably swallow hard and bite the bullet possibly Friday night and get it installed and the K2 buttoned back up before this weekend. I have the QRP ARCI SK Memorial Sprint on Saturday as well as the NJ QSO Party this weekend.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!