Category Archives: Misc

APRS Live from Dayton Hamvention

Misc

If you go to http://hamvention.aprs.fi/?zoom=city you can see all the live APRS activity happening around Dayton as folks folk in for the 2009 Hamvention there. For many, you can see their routes and if you click on them, get even more detailed info.

APRS.fi is a fantastic site and my favorite place to go to see APRS activity. You can zoom in/out, move around and switch between satellite or map view. The features on the site are immense, but just watching what is going around Dayton during the days leading up to the hamvention as well as when it is in full swing is fun.

73,
K2DSL

Google’s home page in Morse Code

Misc

Someone suggested checking out Google’s home page today. Here’s the relevant content:

Google Home Page

73,
K2DSL

Triple Play Award #243 Arrives !

Misc

Came home from work today and in the mail was a large envelope from the ARRL. Inside was my shiny new Triple Play Award #243 certificate along with a nice letter from NC1L and a form to order a plaque.  Thanks again to all the operators that made the contact and uploaded their logs to LoTW.

Also in the mail was the MFJ-557 keyer which I got on eBay. Real quick shipment and it arrived in perfect working order. Also enclosed were the Introduction to Morse Code CD’s the seller included. I hope to start the process this weekend.

73,
K2DSL

Learning the code

Equipment, Misc

I’ve been able to participate in CW contests and the Triple Play Award by using software to both receive and translate morse code into print as well as send it back to the other operator.  In essence, it makes CW very RTTY like for me. I can already hear certain words such as my call sign, CQ, 5NN, TU without looking at what was translated. I can tell when they come back with a portion of my call sign or have it incorrect just from hearing it and I know I need to resend it.

Of course, that’s not enough to help me work through if the exchange doesn’t go exactly as planned and the CW reader (I use DM780 though I’ve installed CWGet) isn’t able to interpret what is sent back. And it certainly isn’t enough of a solution to make me happy, so I will now embark on learning “the code”.  As a quick aside, it was just recently announced that there were more CW logs submitted for the CQ World Wide contest then phone logs. So CW isn’t dead, despite not mandating a code requirement in the US.

I have a few software programs and web sites to assist with learning the code but none of them seem to be working well for me yet. To be fair, I don’t think I’ve put in any real effort to stick with any one of them long enough to make progress. I also don’t have any keyer. Saturday night, I noticed a MFJ-557 Practice Code Oscillator bundled with some morse code audio CDs on eBay so I went ahead and did a Buy Now and got them. They will probaby arrive the very end of this week or early next week and I’m looking forward to putting in the time to learn the code.

73,
K2DSL

A nice Saturday inside and out

Contacts, Contests, Misc

Yesterday was a great day outside. It was as if spring had finally made its way to NJ. Had a bunch of stuff to do and it was nice to be outside. My daughter’s lacrosse team won their first game and she did a magnificent job as the goalie.

On the air, I made a few QSO’s with a handful of special event stations that were running. I still enjoy contacting them and sending for their QSL cards. I stopped by the post office yesterday morning to pick up some stamps, but they didn’t have any of the new Forever stamps which work now and with the new postage rate next month so I got some 42 cent stamps. I hope anyone that gets them responds in enough time to use them.

I also received a real nice email from N2FF, Frank Fallon. N2FF is the ARRL Hudson Division Director which is the division I’m located within. His email was to congratulate me on getting the Triple Play Award. He was #43 and I was #243. Thanks for the email Frank!

Yesterday was also the Michigan QSO Party. Though I didn’t have a lot of radio time, I ended up with 77 contacts on 40/80 CW/SSB. Below is my score summary from N1MM:

        Band  Mode  QSOs    Pts  Sec
         3.5  CW      14      28    7
         3.5  LSB     21      21    7
           7  CW      11      22    9
           7  LSB     31      31   19
       Total  Both    77     102   42

            Score : 4,284

I also heard NN2T, a very local ham to me, participating in the contest so we dropped down a few KHz and had a real nice chat.

Definitely a nice Saturday whether I was inside or out.

73,
K2DSL

The first K2DSL is found

Misc

I received an email from N2QT (Mark), a fellow contester, who was looking at a very old (January 1958 !!) CQ magazine issue and recognized a familiar call sign. Mark scanned the relevant pages from the magazine and sent it along to me to view. The article is about young women who are licensed amateurs. I think it is ok to quote the relevant content here:

K2DSL, Merceda Pilla, of Trenton N.J. is 16 years old and a senior at Cathedral High School. “Bunny,” as she is known over the air, got her Novice license in July ’53, a few weeks before her 12th birthday. With the help of her brother K2ART and encouragement from W2ZI, Bunny earner her General before the year was over. She in turn helped her dad get his ticket, K2JID. K2DSL uses a Harvey Wells transmitter and a BC-248Q receiver. She spends 99% of her time on cw, mostly on 80. She loves traffic handling and operating for CD. She holds two PSC for work during floods and other certificates include RCC, NJN, RACES and DVRA. An honor student and president of her student council, Bunny also enjoys horseback riding, ice skating, dancing, piano and teaching.

The article also includes a picture of Merceda. I did a quick search on QRZ and there’s only one Merceda listed and it looks like W6FCW in California is the same person and the date of births seem to coincide. There’s no email on QRZ so I will send out a letter via postal mail and include a copy of the article that N2QT so graciously spotted and passed along.

73,
K2DSL

3 new confirmed DXCCs = 100 !!

Misc

Even though I just recently posted about new DXCC’s confirmed for me, I have 3 more to report.

Uruguay is now confirmed on LoTW thanks to CW7T.

Bermuda and Dominica are confirmed via QSL cards received from VP9/W6PH and J79WWW.

That brings my DXCC counts to 88 on LoTW and 12 via QSL cards (missed listing Bermuda in the last post). That brings my confirmed total DXCC count to exactly 100!! I think I will hold off applying for now until I have a few more paper QSL cards or LoTW confirmations just in case any that I think confirmed are rejected. Thanks to all the ops that took the time to make the contact and confirm either via LoTW or by sending back QSL cards to me.

I also logged a new contact with PJ5NA on St Eustatius so I am sending off a QSL card to James for hopefully another confirmation.

73,
K2DSL

Testing the new Ham Radio Deluxe logbook

Misc

I was invited in to check out the next version of HB9DRV’s Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) logging program. I spent a bunch of time with it so far and posted a bunch of comments and issues I’ve run into. I think it will be a terrific upgrade when he releases this major update to his fantastic logging program.

73,
K2DSL

Ham radio thoughts when off the air

Misc

I’m skiing with the family in Vermont between Christmas and New Years. On the drive up to Mount Snow from New Jersey I noticed many homes with antennas. Not so easy to spot those with wire dipoles, but with yagis, towers and even veriticals, you could tell a ham lived there.

I’m also starting to see call signs and DXCC entities in license plates and other non-ham everyday things. I was behind a car with a license plate that started with VKx-xxx and thought Australia. I guess I’ve got the bug.

Happy New Year to all and I hope to work you in 2009, starting with the RTTY Roundup that kicks off a couple hours before we get home from our vacation.

K2DSL

Christmas & RAC Winter Contest

Contests, Misc

For Christmas I got a fleece pullover and a long sleeve t-shirt with my call sign and name on it from CallsignWear. Nice quality clothing and the personalization looks sharp.  My younger daughter did the tags for the call sign personalized items and one said “To Kilo 2 Delta Sierra Lima Love L5PDL, S9LIZ and M2Mer” . Very cute.

On Fri night, Saturday I participated in the RAC (Radio Amateurs of Canada) Winter Contest. I have just gotten a good (bad) cold and wasn’t feeling well, but I made 88 contacts on 80, 40 and 20, mostly to Canadian stations, though you’re allowed to work anyone. Sort of like a QSO party where you can still work other “states” but the big points are making a QSO with a Canadian station.

        Band    QSOs    Pts  Sec
         3.5      41     410    9
           7      16     162    6
          14      31     212    7
       Total      88     784   22

       Score : 17,248

There wasn’t a tremendous amount of operators on, probably because it’s right after Christmas. I thought there would have been more Canadian stations.

Happy Holidays!
K2DSL