FT5ZM On the Air

Posted on by February 4, 2014
FT5ZM Amsterdam Island

FT5ZM Amsterdam Island

Well one of the most wanted DXCC entities is finally on the air.  After over a week of travel the team started operations today and the pile-ups were astounding.  I tried for nearly an hour to work them on 20 meters with no success.  The pile-up was nearly 15kHz wide.  One interesting thing I did was to hook up the I/Q output of the KX3 and feed it into CW Skimmer.  Within less than 5 minutes CW Skimmer had captured over 160 call signs.  Even with CW Skimmer running it was still difficult to pick the right spot to call.  I finally decided to try another time.

This evening I saw they were operating on 17m.  I went up to the shack and heard them loud and clear.  There was still a significant pile-up, but it was only about 5 kHz wide.  After about 20 minutes of tuning the pile-up I found a pattern in their operation.  After about 5 tries I finally heard my call sign and a signal report.  It was pretty exciting to work another All Time New One.

Hopefully over the next several days I will be able to work them on some other bands.  Their website is:  http://www.amsterdamdx.org/

DXCode_Logo_small

Feel free to join the pile-up.  Just be sure to follow the DX Code of Conduct and the pile-up will be fun for all.

 

 

73,

Fred, KC9QQ

The Spectrum Monitor

Posted on by January 25, 2014
Front Cover of The Spectrum Monitor

Front Cover of The Spectrum Monitor

 

Like many hams, I have also been interested in other aspects of radio and communication since I was a kid.  Some of my other interests include shortwave listening, scanning police and fire communications and vintage radios.  One of the best magazines which covered these topics was Monitoring Times, published by Grove Communications.  It was a big surprise last summer when Bob Grove announced that he was retiring at the end of 2013 and would be closing Grove Communications and ending the publication of Monitoring Times.

Just by luck I had just renewed my subscription for three years.  Of course Grove Communications gave all subscribers a refund for the remaining issues of their subscription.  The real loss was not being able to look forward to receiving each new issue because each issue always contained a wealth of information on scanning, ham radio, radio restoration and numerous other topics.

Fortunately, many of the writers from Monitoring Times have moved on to a new venture and are publishing an electronic magazine called The Spectrum Monitor.  The magazine contains  much of the same content that was in Monitoring Times, but with significant additions.  Since they do not have to worry about printing costs, the magazine is published as a full color pdf file which contains features not possible with a printed magazine–such as sound and video clips.  The sound clips are a nice feature well suited to those of us interested in communication.  Want to hear what that restored boat anchor sounds like?  Click on the link provided in the pdf file and you can actually hear it!

If any of you are like me and miss Monitoring Times you might want to check out The Spectrum Monitor.  Here is a link to their website:  http://www.thespectrummonitor.com/

I think you will be pleased with what you see.

By the way, I do not have any financial other interest in The Spectrum Monitor. This information is only provided because I feel there might be other hams that were also part-time or regular readers of Monitoring Times that would be interested in a similar magazine.

73,

Fred, KC9QQ

KX3 QRP in NAQP

Posted on by February 4, 2014

Well I decided to run my KX3 in the QRP class of the SSB portion of the North
American QSO Party.  This was the first time I had ever done SSB contesting at QRP power levels.  During the 2 day warm spell we had last week, I was able to repair and re-install my 80 meter doublet which had come down during the last snow storm.

The next step was to get the KX3 ready for a SSB contest.  To setup the KX3 for the contest I had to figure out how to interface my Heil Pro head set to the KX3.  I use a headset and foot switch during SSB contests so that I can keep my hands  free to type on the keyboard.  Connecting the Heil head turned out to be straight forward because the 1/8″ headphone and mike connectors will plug directly into the KX3 mike and headphone inputs.  However,  a KX3 menu setting had to be changed to disable the mike PTT button because the 1/8″ mono phone plug on the Heil head set will enable the PTT since the KX3 mike jack is a 1/8″ female stereo jack.  Elecraft provides a menu setting to disable the PTT function for this reason.

The next thing I had to do was interface my foot switch to the KX3.  I determined that the foot switch can be connected to the KX3 through the ACC2 connector.  The only problem I had interfacing the foot switch was connecting the 1/4″ male mono phono plug from the foot switch to the 1/8″ ACC2 female jack.  Elecraft sells a nice cable for the ACC2 input which plugs into the KX3 and provides RCA female connector (to key an amplifier) and a 1/8″ female mono phone input which can be used to access the PTT function.  Once I had the Elecraft cable all I had to do was make a 1/4″ F phono to 1/8″ M phono adapter.  I happened to find an adapter cable in my Junk box so I was in business.  The only other thing I had to do was a simple menu change to tell the KX3 that the PTT should activate when the ACC2 center pin is pulled low.

I found that operating QRP in a SSB contest is a bit more of a challenge than running 100W, but I was still able to work nearly all of the stations I called.  Sometimes I had to wait in line behind the high power stations but I usually did not have to call more than two to three times.  In most cases I was answered on my first call.  The main exceptions were the rarer states such as WY and DE.  I even managed to work Alaska and Hawaii during the contest.

Here is a summary of my QRP part time Search and Pounce effort:

BAND QSO POINTS SEC
3.5 12 12 10
7 57 57 26
14 50 50 23
21 42 42 15
28 26 26 7
TOTAL 187 187 81

SCORE 15,895