Find that maidenhead grid locator for an address

Contacts, Misc

At Finding Grid Square Locators last August I listed a few sites I used to find maidenhead grid squares for call signs I made a contact with. Having the grid square is important to me as I enter it in my log to show the distance between me and the contact as well as plot those contacts on a map.

One of the most useful was the QRZ Gridfinder application. I could enter an address and it would do a great job of finding the grid locator for that address. Doing it by address is useful for those contacts on QRZ that get pulled into my log that haven’t provided a grid locator in their info. That QRZ Gridfinder app hasn’t worked since the latest QRZ.com site redesign back around the end of 2008. With it not working, I was going through a set of web pages to find a lat/long for an address and then convert that lat/long into a grid square.

When I posted recently asking if anyone was going to address that useful site feature and try to get it working again, someone posted an alternative to use until the page gets fixed (assuming it gets fixed at all). The alternative is using a site I’ve previously used for APRS. If you go to http://aprs.fi and if necessary provide your call sign as a login, you can enter in the address you want in the text entry address box on the right side of the map page and press search. It does a good job at finding the location. I usually just copy/paste the address from QRZ for the callsign I contacted and paste it in. More often then not it finds the address, but in some cases, you need to trim DX address info if it doesn’t know the specific street address, but it gets you close enough.

Once the address is found, you need to move your mouse over map point that is placed. The upper left corner of the map will show the lat/long and grid square of where your cursor is. Move your cursot (+ sign) over the bottom point of the map pin and you’ll have the grid locator.

I’ve asked if the site owner would consider adding the grid location to the pop-up bubble window that is shown when it finds the address and adds the map point. That would make it even easier and more exact if that enhancement is considered and added.

73,
K2DSL

Foxhunt – we found it!

Misc

In our local club we have 2 foxhunts each year and today was the spring event. N3CRT, last events winner, was responsible for placing the transmitter and this time he placed 2 of them, automated, which each transmitted for 1 min and waited for 2 mins before transmitting. So every 2 mins, one of the transmitters was broadcasting. They were placed about 1/4 mile from each other.

It took a while for my team (included K2ZC and KC2QGL) to even hear the transmission, but once we got it, we could get pretty close. We got out a few times to try and determine the direction and we were usually correct. We used a combination of methods from vertical mobile antennas to hear the signal, a more directional antenna that K2ZC made up, and just a HT and its antenna. We got out of the car at a local park where the signal was very loud but it wasn’t the right location. Back in the car for a bit more tracking until we got close enough to start looking on foot.

While we searched for it, we heard that someone else had found the other hidden transmitter. We got close to where the transmitter was and could hear it without any antenna attached to a HT and we found it on the next transmission. I don’t know if doing geocaching for many years helped me look for things that just seemed out of place, but regardless, we found it!

We all then met up at a local pizza place to have some drink, food and talk about the hunt. I look forward to the fall hunt and maybe I’ll look for or make up some equipment to use.

73,
K2DSL

APRS Traffic Jam at Dayton Hamvention

Misc

Here’s a shot of the APRS map around noon on Saturday during the 2009 Dayton Hamvention.

APRS traffic jam at the 2009 Dayton Hamvention
APRS traffic jam at the 2009 Dayton Hamvention

Falkland Islands confirmed via LoTW

Contacts

I now have Falkland Islands confirmed via Logbook of The World thanks to VP8KF. I had made contact with Falkland Islands for the first time when there was a YL DXpedition there the end of January 2009, but haven’t received confirmation for those contacts. Yesterday I noticed that VP8KF had uploaded his logs from March 2009 covering the ARRL DX SSB contest and CQ WPX SSB contest which now confirms two 15m contacts and one 20m contact made during those contests. Thanks to VP8KF for confirming another new one for me!

73,
K2DSL

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

A batch of new QSLs received

Contacts

When I got home from work on Tues there were 2 envelopes containing QSL cards waiting for me. One was a QSL card received direct back from WW5L for a contact while he was in Saint Martin as FS/WW5L during a BuddiPole expedition. A BuddiPole is a tremndously versatile portable multi-band antenna that I’ve always admired.

The other envelope was from the North Jersey DX Association containing 12 QSL cards that were sent via the bureau. Many, but not all, were for RTTY contacts made over August and Sept 2008. There were QSL cards sent in return for ones I sent and others were sent without first receiving mine. Some I had sent after the contact and should be on their way and there were a few that I needed to write out last night and get them sent along.

Thanks again to all the ops that QSL!

73,
K2DSL

San Andrews & Providencia Confirmed

Contacts

I got a card in the mail today from HK0/EA7HEJ for a CW contact the beginning of March. That’s my first QSL for a contact with San Andres & Providencia. It is for a contact on 17m and I must have sent the card out before I made another contact on 20m the following day since I didn’t add that to the QSL I sent Wil.

73,
K2DSL

Volta RTTY Contest Summary

Contacts, Contests

Saturday was the Volta RTTY contest and I was looking forward to a day of RTTY contesting. Got on the radio at the start of the contest (8am ET) and there wasn’t a lot of activity, or was there? I had a horrible noise problem just on 20m. Other bands (G5RV antenna) were fine but 20m sounded like someone was frying an egg. I checked often throughout the day and the noise persisted.

With the noise problem, I had a hard time pulling in DX stations. US stations, most Canadian and Mexican stations were fine. Loud DX stations were a piece of cake and whenever I could hear someone they could hear me. So I worked what I could and took many breaks from the radio, popping back once in a while to see if the noise was there and if there were any new stations I could hear.

Around 6:15pm I got on for a check and the noise was gone, the band very quiet (except for RTTY signals) and I was able to make a few easy DX contacts before I had to leave to go to my younger daughters lacrosse game. How come the best activity is always when I have something else to do? After the game, my wife and I were heading into NYC to go into the NBC studio to watch Saturday Night Live. So my radio time was likely done for the contest since I wasn’t getting home until the very wee hours of the morning. That might not have been a big deal except I woke up the morning before at 4:30 from a wicked rain storm passing through and I was tired.

I don’t know what the noise was and it isn’t there today so I hope it doesn’t come back back, whatever it was. It was a fun contest in seeing how things are scored. It’s easily my highest score (1 million plus points submitted) even with just 67 contacts, off which 2 were 0 points. Seems this contest doesn’t count call signs in your DXCC with the same call area as you (in the call sign, not physically as N2BJ is in Illinois). But to see your points jump up drastically was a lot of fun and I will definitely participate next year, hopefully without noise and with more time to get on the air.

I logged 1 new DXCC from T77NM in San Marino. Since it doesn’t seem that he uses LoTW, I sent off a QSL card direct to him in hopes of getting a new one confirmed when he QSLs. I had 1 non-20m contact and that was a US station I logged just checking the other bands when I couldn’t stand the noise on 20m. Since it was the middle of the day, there was no 40m stations on but this one. Even though I wouldn’t win any award, I submitted my log as a 20m only effort. Below is my score summary from N1MM.

        Band    QSOs     Pts  Cty   Sec
           7       1       2    0    1
          14      66     657   15    9
       Total      67     659   15   10
            Score : 1,103,825

73,
K2DSL

K5D QSL Cards Arrive!

Contacts

In today’s mail, an envelope with 2 QSL cards from the K5D DXpedition arrived. There were 2 cards to cover the various K5D contacts I made. The difference between the 2 cards is one is a more standard QSL card and one is 2-card fold-out with the fold-out card having a picture of the entire K5D team, other pictures, info on the island and a short narrative on the DXpedition. You can see pictures of the cards at SQ8X’s web site as he designed the QSL cards. The back of the card isn’t show on that site and it contains logos of key sponsors and supporters as well as the names of many hams which much donated $100 or more I think to the DXpedition.

I requested the QSL cards on the K5D site after the DXpedition ended. Their Online QSL Request System is hooked up to paypal and for $5 or more (I donated $10), that was all you needed to do. I felt the donation was well deserved and I was glad to contribute. I’m glad to add these terrific QSL cards to my collection.

73,
K2DSL

Kaliningrad confirmed

Contacts

I’ve had a few contacts with Kaliningrad stations, but none ever confirmed before today.  The contact was made with RW2F during the ARRL DX SSB contest the beginning of March and within a week or so of the contest I sent a QSL card and $2 out direct to the Germany address listed on QRZ.com which happens to be DK4VW.  Today in the mail the return QSL card arrived and I now have Kaliningrad confirmed.

Thanks for the quick turnaround Ulrich!

73,
K2DSL