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

Tunisia Africa confirmed – 3V8BB

Contacts

Back in Sept 2008 I had a RTTY contact with 3V8BB in Tunisia Africa. I checked their web page often (which is now updated) and was never sure if I should send the card direct to the address in QRZ or to YT1AD which was listed as the most recent QSL via on their web page. The problem was the web page for QSL via wasn’t updated and didn’t cover the date range I made the contact. I decided to email YT1AD who was listed as the most recent QSL via and he responded that he was the correct contact. So off went a QSL card direct to YT1AD and in less then 2 months I received the card.

It’s my first confirmation with Tunisia so that makes 19 DXCCs confirmed via QSL cards in addition to the 102 confirmed via LoTW. Time to get my QSL cards “checked” and apply for DXCC with the cards and LoTW confirmations. I’ll get DXCC and DXCC 20m.

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

Mozambique confirmed via LoTW, 9H1SP and YL Ops

Contacts

Yesterday I noticed that Mozambique was confirmed on LoTW. The C91TX station was a DXpedition by the Texas DX Society. Thanks for uploading to LoTW and so quickly after the DXpedition. That brings myconfirmed XCCs on LoTW mixed to 102 and  20m to 99.  With 18 additional confirmations, I’m at 120 for mixed. I need to get my QSL cards approved by our local card checker and then send them in with my LoTW confirmations for my 20/mixed DXCC.

I also received a QSL card direct from 9H1SP in Malta. I had made a contact with Paul via RTTY about 1 month ago and sent for his card even though I knew he was a LoTW user.  Thanks for sending a QSL back so quick.

Also, this past weekend, I had a QSO with a YL operating the WW2SUB station located on the USS Batfish. She did a very good job in the QSO. In the last month I recall at least 1 other YL at the mic and that was a special event station for the 150th Anniversary of Mount Saint Joseph Academy and the 10th Anniversary of the Robotics Team there. The young gal at the mic also did a terrific job with my QSO.

73,
K2DSL

LoTW Triple Play Award #243

Contacts

I started a new job today so I didn’t check to see if anything had happened with my TPA submission. Late in the day, on my train ride home, I got a congratulatory email from Wa2LXE congratulating me on TPA #243. When I got home, I checked the ARRL LoTW site and sure enough, it lists K2DSL  #243  04-13-2009.

Thanks again to all the other ops that were on the other end of the 150 contacts as well as the fine folks at BARA such as WA2LXE and K2ZC for their encouragement and guidance.

73,
K2DSL

Georgia QSO Party

Contacts, Contests

Had a little free time on Saturday evening and Sunday morning so I made some contacts in the GA QSO Party. I thought I’d hear more operators on then I did but maybe it was the holiday weekend that caused there to be less folks on the air. On Sunday morning I was only on for a short time and there wasn’t a lot of activity so most contacts were Saturday late in the day/early in the evening.

Thanks to all the Georgia apps for the contacts. As always, QSO Party contest ops take the time to thank those calling in and it makes for a generally more pleasant QSO, even if it is still short.

The score summary from N1MM shows:

        Band  Mode  QSOs    Pts  Sec
         3.5  CW       2      4    0
         3.5  LSB      1      1    0
           7  CW      13      26   11
           7  LSB     23      23   18
          14  CW      12      24   12
          14  USB      4      4    2
       Total  Both    55      82   43

            Score : 3,526

73,
K2DSL

First contact logged with Sudan

Contacts

Saw a spot on the cluster for a DX station in Sudan so I switched over to 20m RTTY. ST2EB was listening up 5, so I watched how he worked. He seemed to be exactly 5 down from whatever station he was working. If the station was really up 5.1, he’d be down 5.1. So I set my split exactly 5 over the frequency we could hear him on and after 3 or 4 calls. He was coming in very strong with a near 100% copy.

I fired off an email, as per his QRZ page, before sending direct for a QSL card. It will nice to add this to the confirmed list.

73,
K2DSL

LoTW Triple Play Award completed !!!

Contacts

With the help of everyone below. I was able to complete the LoTW Triple Play Award (TPA) today with the final contacts being confirmed. It might seen obvious, but without the help of the 135 different operators that were on the other half of the 150 contacts, this would have been impossible. So my thanks go out to each of them for taking the time to make a contact with me.

I applied online today and I will post when I receive my number/certificate from the ARRL.

Edit: I did some quick Excel work to see how much others that already received the Triple Play Award helped me in achieving mine. 59 of the 150 contacts were made with others that, as of 4/2/2009, received their Triple Play Award. Those 59 logged Q’s were from 48 individuals which received their Triple Play Award already. The LoTW site was last updated back on 4/3, so in the 10 days following that, there might have been others as well that provided me Q’s.

EntityCWPhoneDigital
AlabamaKN4OKWA1FCNKE4KWE
AlaskaKL5ONL7VKL8DX
ArizonaKE8DMK7ACSW7ZR
ArkansasW5JAYWA5SOGN5ZM
CaliforniaK6IIIN6IEKD4HXT
ColoradoW0KITN0KEKT0DX
ConnecticutK1MVMW3IZK1ZZ
DelawareK1RYK1RYN3ME
FloridaWT4YNZ5NN4BP
GeorgiaWX4PRK4ODWF4W
HawaiiKH6LCAH6RRNH7C
IdahoW7ZRCK0IPN7UVH
IllinoisKS9WN2BJKS9W
IndianaN9DDKB9YGDN9DD
IowaK0NONT0FN0NI
KansasK0RUW0BHK0WA
KentuckyND4XKZ4GKO4XJ
LouisianaWB5TEQW5WMUKI5XP
MaineK1LOGK1LOGAC1O
MarylandN3THN3IIK3MM
MassachusettsKE1VK1YAN1MGO
MichiganKD8GOXW8MJK8ZZ
MinnesotaKE0NK0MPHK0TI
MississippiW8DMW8DMKK5OQ
MissouriKU1CWK0OUKO0Z
MontanaKB7QN9RVKB7Q
NebraskaN0OBN0OBK0IDT
NevadaNX7FW7PEBK7GQ
New HampshireK1BDK1QOK1RO
New JerseyK2ZCK2DLSK2DBK
New MexicoK1GMDWA5ZUPWA5ZUP
New YorkW2DXW2DXWA2MCR
North CarolinaN2TUKZ2IK4FX
North DakotaW0JERKE0AKD4POJ
OhioK8QWYN8KOJK1LT
OklahomaW5IFW5IFNX5O
OregonW7JYK7ZSN7MQ
PennsylvaniaKW3FK3WWN3YEA
Rhode IslandN1GKEN1HRAKI1G
South CarolinaKI4AOQKI4AOQAF4OX
South DakotaW0FVRK0PIR/MKD0S
TennesseeK4EDIAB4GGAD4EB
TexasK5PBRK5NZK5DU
UtahWA7YAZNN7ZZW7CT
VermontWB1ABQWB1ABQWE1H
VirginiaW6HGFWK4YK4GMH
WashingtonN7XRN7XRN6MZ
West VirginiaKZ8EAJ1MAB8RL
WisconsinK9WISN9ZDDWE9V
WyomingWY7FDWY7FDWY7FD

73,
K2DSL

Chagos Island confirmed and the Triple Play sprint

Contacts

Received a direct QSL card from VQ9LA confirming our CW contact so that’s another new DXCC confirmed for me. Saint Marti, confirmed this past week via a QSL card was also confirmed on LoTW, so I stand at 101 DXCCs confirmed via LoTW and 18 more via QSL cards for a total of 119. The 20m DXCC is at 98 confirmed via LoTW. When that hits 100 on LoTW, I’ll submit for DXCC just via LoTW and factor in the QSL cards at a later date.

For the Triple Play Award I continue to make progress. I’ve been able to log all but Deleware on CW. I’m hoping to try and setup a sked for that over the next day or two if it doesn’t happen on its own. All other contacts are confirmed other then Iowa and Rhode Island on CW which have been logged but need LoTW confirmations. Hopefully the ops I logged with will do that over the next day or so. Getting close!!!

73,
K2DSL