If you don't use it....then loose it.

Random shack with random goodies.

For the second time this year I took inventory of the ham shack, I am a firm believer of " if you don't use it loose it" I find it very interesting how one gathers equipment and accessories and some acquire  more dust than operating time. So once again it was time to put some "stuff" up for sale and see how they move. We have a great online swap net here in Ontario and I have had very good results using it. Over the summer I made about 900.00 with moving idle equipment. This time around with adding the Alpha Delta DX-33 antenna to the attic it made other antenna's redundant and thus up for sale. I have seen folk's (not just hams) hold onto things until they are worthless....it's just a waste. There are always others who can put to good use things I am just holding onto. Along with the antennas and some other things up to this point I have made 400.00 ham bucks!!

Great idea but bottom line...the cost...

Each year I go in search of a calender to mark down all the contests I would like to take part in each season. It is hung on the wall in the radio room and allows me to plan for the big all weekend contests right down to the 1/2  day short ones. I know there are some very good contest calender online like WA7BNM's and I have this as a bookmark on all my P.C.'s. But seeing a month's overview on the wall helps me make sure the contest does not sneak up on me. Nothing like surprising my wife with a 48 hour contest!!! Not sure why I never thought about this before but the ARRL has a calender with their contests as well as other major contests in it. I went to the website to order it with the exchange rate it came to 15.00. That is not bad at all considering the time I spend putting the contests in the calender each year. I then was shocked to see the shipping was 15.00, when I add the taxes to be paid and any duty the total for a calender is around 34.00!!!! It's looks like this year I am either going to print off WA7BNM's calender or make up another one.

The bands are alive with the sound of CW

Action on 20 meters

The propagation numbers have been flying high and the bands are open and hopping!! The above shot is 20 meters viewed on PowerSDR. It has not been this busy in some time even at 14.060 the QRP calling frequency I was able to pick up with out with any trouble KG1AFO, W4LVP K4YKI all in a QRP QSO's. In the other segments of 20 meters there both local (North America) and DX.  In the above picture where the yellow cross hairs are is the interference my Plasma TV is giving me. Even in that area I was able to copy  VA2DW and K4JJW who came in over the Plasma garbage!!

Do two wrongs make a right.....

  Last night while on the radio searching out once again T32C my PowerSDR showed a pileup off the T32C frequency. Well over I went and sure enough it was a pile up but not for T32C it seemed to be for 3XY1D in Guinea. Hmm I thought never worked that part of the world so maybe I will give it a go. Then out of nowhere came (in CW) "phoney" very loud and over all the traffic. But not just once..... every 10 to 15 seconds!! Then in  CW came a response "NO" to which the reply was "yes phoney".  This ruined it for me as I would guess many others. Now the call did sound funny but I looked up the call and there is a DXpedition there for October and November. As I QSY'd along the band never finding T32C but possibly finding 3XY1D. I had not been given a chance to work him because of an operator who some how was given the "DXpedition gold enforcement badge". What is worse.....an operator pretending (maybe) to be someone they are not just for the joy of forming a pileup....or......an operator who deliberately (for sure) transmits over others knowing he is doing so....or both? Two wrongs don't make a right!

Making the K2 portable........

KAT100 in new enclosure

In a previous post I debated to either jump on the Elecraft KX3 band wagon or convert my Elecraft K2 so it can be used both as a home base radio and also for portable op's. The bottom line for now is the KX3 is out and I am in the process of converting my K2.  The end result will be that I'll have my K2 for portable operations with an internal battery and internal QRP antenna tuner. At home the radio will then hook up to the external antenna tuner (KAT100) and if and when needed the 100 watt amp (KPA100). So I ordered the KAT100, KIO2 (RS 232 interface), KAT2, KBT2 (internal battery) and the

Apple iOS 5 from grrrrr to purrrr

Getting started

Well as most have heard Apple came out with their new iPhone last week. I was looking forward to the new iPhone 5 and disappointed when it was revealed as the 4S. Seems funny to me Apple let the iPhone 5 rumor build when in fact they planned the 4S.  It was just released here in Canada this week, there were folk lined up hours before electronic stores opened awaiting their new iPhone. As for Julie and I we bailed on the iPhone frenzy and picked up some months ago the iPhone 4. Our iPhone 3S's had seen better days and it was time to upgrade. So that brings me back to the new iOS 5 that Apple released last week. I checked it out and it will work on our iPads and iPhone 4 as well. There is improved features for text messaging, I would no longer have to dock to iTunes to get updates, improved camera,  a storage area called iCloud, some minor changes in the email and calender...these are but some of

Recycling a post....Are Toroids getting you all wound up.....

Since the fall is coming and kit building will be on the rise I wanted to recycle this post from last year...
When I decided a few years ago to venture into a new area of amateur radio.....kit building. I did  some research on the internet to see what I was up against. Having never built a kit and not really having any electronics background I did not want to get in over my head. So it was a simple kit to begin with but at the same time something I would use and not just become a home to dust bunnies. I decided on the Elecraft KX1 kit as it would I hoped turn out to be a functioning radio. One I could put to use in portable operation again this was another area of amateur radio I had yet to discover. So I practiced my soldering, put together some tools and one thing that kept waking me up at nights....(not really) was the TOROID WINDING!!!!!!! There is lots on the internet on how to go about winding a toroid. With the KX1 kit I found myself trying the different methods and at times  having to rewind some toroids many times. A few weekends ago during slow times in the ARCI contest I decided to do some toroid winding for my on going KPA100 100 watt option for my K2 Elecraft radio.

 I added Soft rubber to jaws of the vise

Chopstick method

T32C DXpedition....

After reading  some blogs how QRP power has made it out to T32C I was game to give it a go myself. Well I went to T32C's website which by the way is fantastic. It is full of information regarding the DXpedition as well as live up to date spotting information. I checked the frequency's  the website said they would be on and it was only late last night I could just hear them over the noise level on 40m. That was a close as I got to a signal from the team. I tried today and nothing and will give it a go this evening as well. I am hopeful that I will be able to pull off a contact but at this point it is very hard to do so if I am unable to hear them at my QTH. I also went to the VOACAP website and punched in my info.....and well the results for me making a contact with my power, (QRP) location and antenna (attic dipole) gives me a slim to none chance!!!

Seeing the big picture with PowerSDR

PowerSDR screen

Over the last couple of weeks the sun gods have been looking down on us and smiling with record breaking sunspots and flux levels. Bands such as 10 meters normally quite has opened up world wide. Just this past weekend I was able to work Europe with just one watt. I found with these great conditions and wanting not to miss out on band openings the rig has been on lots more and the blog writing has gone down just a bit. One tool that has been in my ham radio pocket for some time now is my SDR Panadapter. What is an SDR panadapter you ask....in a nutshell it is a displays a segment of  radio spectrum for

ARRL disappointment followup

In my last post regarding the ARRL and my disillusion of their discontinuing of most online courses I did not want to leave things on a negative note. We can complain about something each and every day but for me it's not about the complaining it's the solutions that matter. I turned to the internet to see what was out there regarding any online anything for Amateur radio!!! At Google typing in "online ham radio courses" netted my LOTS of study guides on how to become a radio amateur. As I weeded through the  many many many hits I came across some gem's. No they are not full fledged....the real deal.....online courses I was looking for but very good none the less.