I'm back.................

So where have I been..........really nowhere actually I can't believe my last post on the blog was June 10 but at least I am still in the year 2015!! The blog has gone quite for almost 3  months and really so has ham radio here at VE3WDM. I have been very busy with work, here in Toronto we hosted the Pan Am games and I was directly involved with that.......to the point of around the clock standby. Before Pan Am there was the prep time and then after the post Pan Am "stuff" To be honest there was time at home but after getting home I just just to tired to turn the rig on or post on the blog. I have been reading all your posts and really enjoyed that. Now that things are slowing down a little bit of "normal" seems to be happening I'm back in the radio saddle. I did check my blog stats and readership sure has fallen to almost nothing but that makes sense seeing it's been same old same old regarding my blog content. So what is new here well most of the "new" things happen in the last few weeks as I started to slow down. First off I sold my Alexloop antenna it seemed I just was not using it  now that I moved to Toronto. I posted the sale online and it was gone within an hour! With the sale of the Alexloop I was able to purchase the P3TXMON add on to my Elecraft P3. This week I also upgraded my PC.  One of my hard drives gave up the ghost, the one with the OS on it!!. At the same time I figured it was time to move up to the next level with my PC.  So I looked at purchasing a new machine or just upgrading what I have. I decided to upgrade the PC as I have 3 fairly new hard drives in the tower, up to date video card, I just replaced the power supply and the DVD player has no issues. The decision was made to upgrade the motherboard, the processor and ram. So the new system is Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 motherboard, AMD 8320 8 core processor at 3.5 GHz, 8 Gb (2x4) of DDR3 ram at 1600 mhz. I really had not done this before so lots of reading on the internet and YouTube videos, surprisingly things went smoothly. I now have an Asus M3A76-CM motherboard, AMD Phenom IIx4 2.8GHZ fan cooled processor, 4 Gb of SDram, Zoltac GT620 64 bit graphics card, and D-Link 1GB lan card hanging around..........may put it up for sale.

Things are very slow on the bands

I have been on the radio now and then this past week the only one there was me and the static, there is nothing wrong with the K3 or the antenna the wrong has been the atmospheric conditions.  This weekend alone there have been 3 M class solar flares not making those in the CQ SSB contest happy campers. Not saying there is no DX out there as I have been reading from fellow bloggers and there has been some DX contacts but for me it's just not there. I was on the radio today and was not able to even raise U.S contacts just south of the boarder.
Lets hope the conditions some what improve this week…..

Shut down two days in a row!

A foggy view of Toronto from my setup

This weekend I planned on getting some radio time in Julie was going to see a friend who lives out of town on Saturday so I thought I would get out and get hamming. We live right on Lake Ontario and within a short walk and or bike ride there are some great locations on the lake to do some portable op's. On Friday night I charged up the KX3, set out all of the needed items for outdoor ops. Saturday came and off I went, I decided to walk and it turned out to be a longer walk then I thought. I arrived at my

Trail on the way there. 

spot and setup the KX3 along with my Alexloop. Just as I sat down to get some operating time in it started to rain! With no rain gear and about a 1/2 hour to walk back I packed things up and headed back. Well I tried it again on Sunday and this time I took my bike and some rain gear just in case. This time I set everything up and was ready to go until I tried to connect the Alexloop to the KX3…..it seems for some reason I removed the adapter that allowed me to go from PL 259 to BNC at home! There was no way to hook up my antenna to the KX3 radio so I decided the radio god's were just not smiling on my this weekend and I headed back home the long way to tour around the lake.  Lesson learned I now plan to make up a small 3x5 card with all that is needed for the trip.

Small river on my way home. 

One of the many beaches 

Shifting the focus…….

There has been a big change here since our move with regards to ham radio.   Antenna challenges, finding a spot for the radio, having the setup "eye friendly" to non hams who visit.  The antenna challenge seems to be solved with the MFJ 1788 loop antenna. There are still some hick ups with it, for example not being able to tune 20m below a 9.1 to 1 SWR. I have spoken with MFJ and they have given me some great ideas to try with the loop. (more on that as I venture into the loop's insides) The setup was solved with a great roll top desk all is hidden away and protected with a very fashionable piece of furniture. Now it's time to look at expanding my radio operations beyond CW but still very much not forgetting about CW it will still be a large part of my operating. CW is perfect for low power and simple antenna operating. BUT also with my new antenna it has a narrow bandwidth and needs to be returned as you move up or down the band. With practice the loop can be retuned very fast. I was wanting now to add a mode that would favour the loops narrow band width. The digital world came to mind.
The last time I was in digi land PSK31 was the ground breaking mode and I have come to understand by many of the blogs I read there are some new modes in town!! PSK is still around but it too has changed. There is also now SIM31 and 63,  JT65, Olivia and the list goes on, I have been out of digital for some time now and am not sure what all is out there. What I am looking for is something that uses a narrow bandwidth, (most digi modes do) only requiring low power, would be great to have a "conversation mode" and not signal reports and goodbye and not a mode that takes forever for exchanges as I have heard about some digi modes. Having said all that one thing I can remember about the digi modes is they can be lot of "fun" to setup with your rig and PC! BUT that is all part of the fun I guess. So you digi fans out there help me out with some suggestions as to an HF low power narrow bandwidth digi mode I can scramble my brains with. Oh and if it helps the bands I have available are 10-40m and the rigs I have are the Elecraft K3  and KX3.

Finally some WSPRing with the Alexloop.

A shot of the loop with the "T" fitting

I have been looking for a way to place the Alexloop  in the horizontal position as from my playing with the loop it seems to work better for me on the balcony in the omnidirectional horizontal position. Yesterday I was able to pick up a 1 inch "T" fitting mainly used for piecing together plastic pipe. I was able to feed the loops center support through the "T" fitting and place it nicely on the tripod. With just a little electrical tape to hold it in place it worked great. 
I finally set things up to get  WSPR up and going, so yesterday during the day and then into the evening I was WSPRing to see how my signal was getting out from the condo. Up to this point I have only used the Reverse Beacon Network or RBN which involved CW at 5 watts. I was not thrilled with the results and was really wanting to give WSPR a go. During the day I tried 10m and 20m I started out with 1 watt and in terms of WSPR that is some pretty high power. The antenna once again was the Alexloop in the horizontal position, at first attempt on both bands the Alexloop was indoors. It was not surprise that there were no spots at all it was time to move the loop out onto the balcony. Once setup I went back to 10m and it was about 2pm local time with no results again. I then jumped over to 20m and it was just U.S stations and very few I might add that received my signal. It was time to pack it in for the afternoon and some chores had to be done and I would get back on in the evening hours.
At 7 pm local time I was up and WSPRing on 40m and with great hopes as the band sounded good and I was decoding some WSPR DX such as EA3NEI. I once again was only heard in the U.S and this time I used up to 5 watts!! Maybe it was that conditions were poor out this way as they have been over the past week. Over the weekend if I get time I am going to give WSPR a go once again and see how it works out.

There is a chill in the air.

A view of Lake Ontario from the balcony

It's not news to anyone in North America that the temperatures sure have taken a dip whether you are in Canada or the south U.S. I was reading today that down in Myrtle Beach it was -4C, on the weekend the Green Bay Packers fans were freezing with the very low temps! This evening out this way with the wind chill it is suppose to hit close to -40C. By way of ham radio I am in the process of trying to Macgyver (referencing a TV show called Macgyver}something for the Alexloop to sit in the horizontal position on the tripod. This is only until the MFJ 1788 loop arrives. On Sunday I did manage to get the Alexloop on the balcony in the horizontal position.......for some reason that just does not sound right.......anyway I was able to get out on 40m but nothing on 20m. It was late in the evening and I was happy with getting some spots on 40m. It was a very short effort as the antenna was in a make shift setup for horizontal polarization...now that sounds better. For all you in North America stay warm and as for Europe I have been speaking with some of my blog bud's over there and the temps in some areas are balmy so enjoy those temps.
 

It's now between two antennas..........and some last minute exciting news!!!!

The weather here has sure cooled down and had 20cm of snow on Saturday this will at least make the ground white. At the old place there is a pile of snow but here in the city not so much.....speaking of not so much that has been the progress with my antenna situation in the condo. I have not really had all that much time to try anymore idea out. My next plan of attack  will be to place the Alexloop on the balcony in the horizontal position (in the cover of darkness of coarse) and see how that does for both receiving and transmitting. I have now narrowed my antenna selection down to two antennas, the MFJ 1788 loop or the MFJ 1780 fan box loop. I contacted MFJ and asked their opinion and was told the 1788 was a better construction and the 1780 was more portable but both are good antennas! Well that really didn't  help much. I called the local ham dealer and they do not stock the fan box loop and the 1788 has been on back order since October!!
I am tending to lean towards the fan box loop as it looks nothing like an antenna as the last thing I want are the condo cops coming after me. This unit is not really made for rain and is "portable" meaning I will have to take it in and out when using it. As for the 1788 it sure is more money but it covers more bands and is built better and I am a firm believer in you get what you pay for! So my delema is which antenna to go for.......
The 1780 fan box
1. It is cheaper but that may not be a good thing
2. It looks nothing like an antenna.
3. Very portable so small footprint.
BUT
1. Only covers from 14-30 meters
2. Not good in bad weather due to housing construction.
3. Has to be taken in and out.

The 1788
1. Covers from 15-40 meters
2. Solid construction
3. Able to be left outdoors year around.
BUT
1. The cost is more.
2. It looks like an antenna
3. May be hard to hide and hiding it may affect it's preformance.

Some exciting news regarding my signal getting out in this concrete jungle!
I was able to get the loop out and in the horizontal position and it worked great! The receive was very good and I was able to finally get spotted on the RBN. This are only U.S spots but with 5 watts and up to this point batting ZERO in the spot dept I am thrilled to see that my signal is getting out. Now I just have to fine tune things. At this point I have not tried WSPR but now that the horizontal position seems to work that is my next step to see how I do using WSPR.

world wide / zoom to US / zoom to Europe / zoom to North Atlantic

rows to show: 5 10 15 20 25 30 40 50 100 showing spots for DX call: VE3WDM search spot by callsign search callsign:         DX     DE     wildcard * allowed
de	dx	freq	cq/dx	snr	speed	time
W8WWV	VE3WDM	7016.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	7 dB	23 wpm	2305z 13 Dec
NY3A	VE3WDM	7016.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	9 dB	23 wpm	2305z 13 Dec
WZ7I	VE3WDM	7016.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	10 dB	23 wpm	2304z 13 Dec
W2MKM	VE3WDM	7016.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	11 dB	23 wpm	2304z 13 Dec
K1TTT	VE3WDM	7016.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	10 dB	23 wpm	2304z 13 Dec
W3LPL	VE3WDM	7031.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	1 dB	23 wpm	2255z 13 Dec
K1TTT	VE3WDM	7032.0	CW CQ [LoTW]	8 dB	23 wpm	2255z 13 Dec
WZ7I	VE3WDM	7031.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	8 dB	23 wpm	2255z 13 Dec
WE9V	VE3WDM	7031.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	6 dB	23 wpm	2255z 13 Dec
W8WWV	VE3WDM	7032.0	CW CQ [LoTW]	8 dB	23 wpm	2255z 13 Dec
W4KKN	VE3WDM	7031.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	4 dB	23 wpm	2254z 13 Dec
NY3A	VE3WDM	7031.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	9 dB	23 wpm	2254z 13 Dec

 

 

The reverse beacon network is KILLING ME!!!!!

The loop horizontal and nothing. 

In my last post I wrote about how my Alexloop was just not getting out in the condo, I was checking the Reverse Beacon Network as I called CQ at 5 watts from my condo and there was ZERO spots! Well from that post I received lots of great suggestions on how to get VE3WDM's signal from the antenna to the world. So here is what I tried........I mounted the Alexloop in the horizontal position in the condo and it netted no spots on the Reverse Beacon Network. I then put the Alexloop on the balcony seeing that we are 60 feet in the air I felt this was a sure thing. The last option for me was to place an antenna on the balcony as it was open season to the condo cops.  I placed (in the cover of darkness) the Alexloop on the balcony and called CQ on 20m and 40m and then check the Reverse Beacon Network. To my surprise there were no spots and now I am really stumped and frustrated. The Alexloop is out in the open 60 feet in the air and no spots what the heck is going on......do those dam condo cops have ham radio jammers!!!!!! Up to this point I have only use the RBN to check for spots but there is also WSPR and I have had some bloggers suggest I use this. At this point I am not able to get WSPR up and running as there seems to be some software issues. My goal now is to sort out the issues and give WSPR a go both with the Alexloop in the condo and out on the balcony. This coming weekend I hope to get on the air with WSPR and give that a go! Im really not frustrated I see this as a challenge, for me to get ham radio on the air from a condo will but only  help others in the same situation as me get on the air.

A mystery at the new QTH

Things are coming along

The boxes are slowly getting unpacked and things put away, the roll top ham radio shack is taking shape as well. I found I had a lot more gear than there was room for in the condo and may have to shed more gear! At this point there has been some bumps in the radio setup but all seems to be slowly coming together. I can't believe all the cables that are involved in having the radio talk to various hardware components. There has been one major mystery I am not as of yet to solve.....I have setup the Alexloop and added the K3 to the mix. I was able to get a great SWR and surprisingly a low to moderate noise level...BUT.....I was calling CQ on different bands with 5 watts but was not once spotted on the Reverse Beacon network. Hmmmm I then went "simple" I hooked up the KX3 to the Alexloop and again calling CQ at 5 watts was not spotted at all on the Reverse Beacon network????? I have tried to move the Alexloop closer to the window and the balcony door, the only thing that happened was the SWR was very hard to adjust on the Alexloop. I then move the loop about 4 feet from the balcony door and the SWR was great but no spots?
My setup is a stealth operation and really can't put the Alexloop on the balcony but I am 6 stories up and back in the townhouse I did have the Alexloop inside and it did very well so at this point I am stumped.

Learning more about the Alexloop

What turning the loop can do

As times goes on and I use the Alexloop more and more I am coming to realize that this antenna may not be a bad choice for my condo antenna. The loop is small and I thought may not preform that well, stacked up against my Alpha Delta DX-EE dipole antenna yes it does not far very well. BUT for limited space, fast to assemble and take down and stealth the Alexloop is a great contender. Recently I have been only using the Alexloop indoors and either on the main floor or my second floor shack. The power has been set to 5 watts and as was said in my previous posts I was able to get into Europe with some decent reports. This weekend using the loop antenna along side my K3 (Up to this point I have only been using my KX3) they seem to get along very well. The tuning of the antenna has been made easier because of the P3 and external monitor. I am able to tune to peak noise using the band scope or otherwise known as the Elecraft P3. Peaking the noise level this way has almost netted me a perfect SWR on all bands. There was only a very minor self tune I had to do in order to get the SWR flat.

Radio on a Monday

The temp antenna and op position

Well the weekend is done and I had Monday off so what a better time to turn on the KX3 and see what is happening out in radio land. I have been reading on Twitter how well 10m is doing so this was my first stop. The antenna is the Alexloop now positioned in my second floor radio room and not on the main floor. With my 5 watts of power I was able to make contact with CO8LY and CO2OQ both in Cuba! CO8LY was at 28019 calling CQ and had a mini pileup going I I waited and was able to make contact with a 599 report. He then moved onto the next station. I then came across CO2OQ at 28032 he was just ending a QSO and I gave him a call. Osmany came back to me but needed several repeats to get my call correct. His report to me was 229 but he was still able to pick me out to have a short QSO with  me. He was in and out but steady around 559. It would seem that 10m is still open and ready for biz. This was all the time I had as it was time to head out and see my Chiropractor and then off to the grocery store. If time permits I will be back on the air this evening after dinner but there are other things that have to be done now.

This weekend it was DX with the Alexloop!

SWR 1.1:1, power 5 watts and memory CQ message

With getting most if not all of my "to do list" done it was time once again to swing the Alexloop into action and have a nice late afternoon of ham radio and relaxation. Setting up the loop has become faster for me I'm getting the hang of the in's and outs of the loop. I also am able to tune the loop in less than 20 seconds and be up and running on different band segments. The SWR is anywhere from flat to 1.7:1 and the band width is very good and retuning is not needed unless 20 khz changes are needed. This weekend the Worked all Germany CW contest was going on so I wanted to be a point giver for the contest. With 5 watts, my KX3 and the Alexloop in the living room I was able to contact the following  all on 20m:

DK1NO
DK9PY
DR4A
LX/DF1LON

The radio bug was bitting..............

Things around the house are slowly getting packed away but the ham radio bug still bites. It's true what they say....."you don't know how much you miss something until it's gone.....or semi packed away" Ham radio is not gone from VE3WDM, the antenna may be sold and gone, coax all rolled up and boxed. The Elecraft K3 sits idle at the desk but all is not lost as the KX3 and Alexloop are calling my name!! On Saturday once our Thanksgiving preparations  were going smooth...the turkey was in the oven and the side dishes were slowly cooking it was time to feast on some missed ham radio time. The night before, I charged the batteries in the KX3 having them ready to go if the opportunity came about. It did on Saturday afternoon so I setup the Alexloop in the living room and fired up the KX3. It sure was nice to hear some atmospheric noise and even the woodpecker QRN from some offending appliance was ok as well. (the KX3's NB and NR took care of any offending interference)

I had been reading about some hot openings on 10m's from some of my blog buddies but I found 10m to be dead. I ended up hanging around 20m at the QRP watering hole. My power was reduced from it's normal 5 watts to 3 watts. Julie was on her Mac beside me and since our living room TV had been sold it was a Sony boom box radio entertaining her with tunes. The Sony radio along with it's antenna was only 10 feet from the Alexloop anymore power than 3 watts could be heard over the radio. The way Julie see's it CW is NOT music to the ears and it's much better to be on the radio and have Julie happy thus down went the power.
As for contacts I only made 2 short contacts as I did not have much time and was up and down checking on dinner. I was able to make it into Utah to WA7LNW and N3PDT in Missouri, not much but from the ground floor, indoor antenna and 3 watts I was happy with the contacts. I kept tabs on my signal using the Reverse Beacon Network and it showed only U.S stations were copying my signal. I was on again Monday evening and could hear PV8ADI from Brazil at S8 but I was not able to make contact with him.
The KX3 now is resting on the radio desk and the Alexloop is away in it's carry case until next time. I was please to get this short radio time in and the results were pretty good as well.

Some very big changes at VE3WDM

Goodbye crazy driving

The new temp antenna

I have been very busy these past few weeks and my lack of blog posts can testify to that. Julie and I have been bouncing around some very big ideas. We have some very exciting plans ahead of us that will both help our over all well being. It also will bring about some huge changes with my hobby but I am very happy to say that it's a challenge I can meet. Both Julie and I have over an hour drive each way to work. We get up very early, get home late and to be early each evening. Then there is the winter months with the snow and crazy driving. We have decided to put our home up for sale here in the country and move to Toronto. We will be living in a condo as our kids have moved out and are doing just fine. This means downsizing both with our home belongings and my ham radio. We want to get a place that is in Toronto and over looks Lake Ontario. Both Julie and I are very excited about this and with this move I will be 10 min's from work and Julie 15 min's. We will have a fantastic board walk just steps from out condo. It thrills us that all the advantages of the city will be not an hour away but minutes.

So how does this affect radio for me.....well my Attic DX EE has been sold and already is taken down! Not to worry I still have my Alexloop that I can set up in my radio room until we sell and move. I have some gear for sale and it is slow but sure selling. I have sold the Sub receiver in my Elecraft K3 as I will be very limited with antennas in the new place. I don't have any room for an antenna for a sub receiver.  So I have been going over antenna options in a condo. There are far and few BUT one main advantage I will have that I don't have now is height! In the condo we are looking at the 11th floor and
up. I am thinking of using at first my Alexloop and then going to the MFJ loop antenna. This will be a new adventure in my QRP ham radio challenge.

Changes are coming

QRP portable at Luther Marsh

QRP at Luther Marsh... note one of Julies cameras

On Saturday morning Julie and I decided to take a hobby trip (Julies photography and my ham radio) we were off to a place called Luther Marsh. We have never been there before so we Google mapped it and off we went.....what could go wrong.....LOTS. This was a place that Julie was recommended to go by some bird watchers. It's about an hour and a half from where we live but they say getting there is half the fun.....and boy was it. Our trip according to Google maps brought us zigging and zagging all over the map. Once the road adventure was done we ended up on a lonely dirt road with a gate saying " DO NOT ENTER" Hmmmm it was time to bring out the Iphone GPS and find out where the heck we where. Well it was about another 20 minutes of driving  and we did arrive at our destination. We loaded up the camera and ham gear into our "hobby stroller" and ventured down a path in the wildlife

A view from below

sanctuary. We were not alone on the trail it was me, Julie and 

Julie's shot of the day an Osprey

deer flies!!!  We did have bug repellant  but it just had no affect on them at all. I was not bothered but poor Julie had at least 10-15 buzzing around her head all the time....and biting her!! We turned around and decided to call it a day, on the way out we noticed a path and this path lead to a lookout about 3 stories high. We went up to have a look and low and behold no deer flies. We had our lunch up there and Julie was able to take pictures and I was able to have to some radio time.

I took with me my Elecraft KX3, Alexloop, tripod and a spare battery. It was great, there was no noise level at all on the KX3 and one would wonder if the rig had a receive problem. I started to call CQ and it was not long before VE1AB in Nova Scotia  came back to me. John gave me an RST of 559 and we had a nice long CW chat it seemed that John had been to Luther Marsh several times when in Ontario.  I did have to say 72 to him as my batteries had to be changed in the KX3. I then called CQ again on 20m and WW2SUB came back to me.......hey guess where he was???? This was the first time EVER I had contacted a Submarine . He was on the USS batfish. I thought my CW was off and it was supposed to be copied as battleship. When I got home and did a QRZ.COM search....it was in fact called the USS Batfish!

Camera and ham gear stroller (mainly camera gear)

Portable QRP = planning and adaptability

Last years shot of my planned location for today

It turned out to be a fantastic day  lots of sunshine and temperatures in around 23C. I was long over due and it was time to  pack up the KX3 and go on an outdoor trip with the rig. I brought along the Alexloop as well to give it a go outdoors.  Part of planning is making sure you have all that you need for the trip and not just radio stuff. There is water, one of those chairs you sling over your back, hat and sunglasses without these the trip could be not as comfortable. I arrived at my "spot" that I have gone to in the past found a nice parking spot in the shade. I then proceeded to unpack the car but could not believe the amount of mosquitoes that were buzzing around me. If planning had been better repellant would had been on the list but in all fairness at this time of year mosquitoes were the last thing on my mind. It was now time for adaptability and move to another location.

New setup in town

 There is no way I could have setup and been comfortable with the bugs at this location. I was now heading back to town and to another location. This one was along the river in town and always has a nice cool breeze off the river. I found my spot and setup did not take long at all and there was a table that was available as well. The Alexloop was very easy to setup and very fast to get it tuned up on 14.060. The KX3 was set to about 2 watts output and so began my CQ's. About 15 minutes into the portable operation the KX3 went

All packed up.

dead!! This has happen to me in the past with this radio and I knew exactly what is was! It was very poor planning on my part....the KX3 batteries were dead. Well not dead exactly but below the minimum voltage needed to operate the radio. That was the end of my out door adventure for the day and the radio is now at home getting it's batteries recharged. Monday is a holiday up this way and depending on the weather maybe I will give it a go on Monday.Going to have to look into a second set of batteries so I always have a charged set ready to go.

KX3 charging

Alexloop vs Attic dipole

Setup for test. (Laptop running Ubuntu update)

The propagation conditions have not been all that great over the last couple of days so what a better time to do some on air Alexloop vs attic dipole comparisons! Here is the setup I used my Elecraft K3 putting the Alexloop in antenna 1 on the K3 and left the dipole on antenna 2 on the K3. This way I can use the internal tuner for the dipole and remove the antenna tuner for the Alexloop with just the push of a button on the K3. The power output was 5 watts, figured I would go to the top end of QRP considering the atmospheric conditions being not so hot. The Alexloop was up in my radio room facing West out the widow and East through my house walls. The Dipole is in a "Z" configuration in the attic so it kinda is facing most all directions. The Alexloop frequency was 14.061 and the dipole was 14.059 and I was using CW along side the Reverse Beacon network. The current atmosphiric conditions at the time of the test were:
A-5
K3
SFI 157
SN 173
Below is the results of the test.....not so well it would seem the Alexloop netted zero and the dipole only one. So is seems for a more acurate comparison better conditions are needed.

Alexloop on the deck calling CQ

RBN spots (click to enlarge)

The weather once again was great and I wanted to take the Alexloop out onto my back deck to see  how it would do once again. The other day I had no spots at all but this day was a complete different story. I was operating  my KX3 at 3 watts. The antenna as was already mention is the Alexloop mounted on a tripod. I called CQ on 20m,30m and 40m it was the late afternoon and nothing could be heard at my end at all. I was spotted only in the States but conditions have not been all that great. I did hear some American stations on 30m but they were just at the noise level. By the spots on the Reverse Beacon Network my signal is getting out! I am excited to see how this antenna does once the condition improve.

A nice way to rest a sore back.

Relaxing on the deck.

Last evening myself and a bathroom mat had a little hip hop time.....translation.....I was standing on a bathroom mat lost my balance causing me to "hop" and out went the hip!!! Today it was no work, off to the Chiropractor and physio. The good news is no disk problems just muscle but I still have to be very careful as I do have lower back disk issues. So what does this have to do with ham radio....nothing....BUT this does...It was a very nice sunny day out and I wanted to relax on the deck and not become board, so I gathered up (very gently) the KX3, Alexloop, Sony MDR-V150 head phones and a pad of paper.

Some things I tried with the Alexloop

1. I emailed Alex regarding his opinion about adding some extra coax so I did not have to be that close to the loop. He (as always) emailed me back within 10 minutes explaining there should be no problem doing this. At first I did try 12 ft of RG 213 and found I could not get a decent SWR. I then tried a 6ft piece 

and all was well. This would allow me to sit at the patio table and not have the loop under the patio umbrella.

2. When tuning the loop if I was in front of the loop while adjusting it's capacitor I found I could get a 1.2.1 match on 20m..but..as soon as I moved my hand away from the loop the SWR rose to 2.1.1. I found by adjusting the loop from the back of the antenna the SWR was not affected. 

New loop to tripod adapter

3. In the past I was using plastic zip wraps to attach the antenna to the tripod. I made and wanted to try a new antenna to tripod holder made of plastic pipe and heat shrink. It turned out to work just fine and will allow me to set the antenna up much faster in the field. 

 

I called CQ on 14.060 for about a 1/2 hour and was not spotted on the Reverse beacon network. This does not concern me as conditions were not that great. It was not my plan to really make any contacts but the see how the loop fit on the deck. Also how the new adapter I made fit both tripod and Alexloop.  Regarding the Reverse beacon network not sure if it is up and running properly today. I tried to refresh the spots and it seem to get stuck trying to refresh.

My Elecraft KX3 has a ping??

This afternoon I was planning on setting up the Alexloop into the living room and try some operating with the KX3. I was wanting to see how the loop worked in the living room. I was going to bring it on the deck but there was the threat of rain. Out of the blue when I was on 15m  in CW mode whenever I keyed a letter and then released the key I would hear a very loud "ping" in the headphones. This only happened on 17m, 10m and 15m. I tried changing the headphones, using a dummy load and reducing the power to 0 but there was always a ping noise heard in my ear? I am not sure if I inadvertently changed a menu option that is causing this. This brought the living room KX3 operations to an abrupt end and off to the internet to see what was going on with the rig. I have posted the question on the Elecraft reflector as well as here on the blog.
Problem has just been solved seems if I have the rig on dual RX and VFO A and B are very close to each other I am picking up "me" on VFO B. Which makes sense and when in dual mod the head phones are split with VFO A in one ear and VFO B in the other. This would explain why the ping was only heard in one ear!