W4TMN

Doldrums

2010-06-02T05:55:00.000-04:00

I have been in the doldrums for the past few months. Between finishing my degree, illness, and just not having a whole lot of time, my ham radio exploits have suffered. I am not quitting the hobby, but I have been forced to cut back on it due to not having enough hours in the day. But, I am planning to get back into it as soon as I can! I really missed being in the Virginia QSO Party this year. It is the first year for a while that I have not participated, but I just did not have the energy.

Won't be long, however, for this sabbatical. Then I will be back with a passion!

73,

Hershel

It's catch up time....

2009-12-26T22:54:00.000-05:00

Well, I started working on getting caught up on things. Processed the envelope of cards I got from the bureau this week. There were no new ones, but I was able to get a few more cards for the countries that I needed additional bands for. I also started getting the information that I need to get some cards made up for QSL requests that I have received since the VA QSO Party. With Allyson's cancer, I got behind and never got the opportunity to get caught up. Now, with this week off, I hope to get caught up. I also have about 2 pounds of cards still waiting for me at the bureau, but they need me to send them some more envelopes. I hope to do that on Monday so that I can get the cards here and see what else I need. I am trying to use LOTW as much as I can, but I do like having the paper cards also.

I also want to do a little radio also this week. I will look on the cluster to see if there are any good DXpeditions going on in some countries that I need. So, who knows, my totals may benefit from this time off.

I have 8 weeks of class coming up starting on January 18th. Then, I will just be waiting for graduation in May. So, my plans are to do some contesting and DXing on the weekends until I switch over to the dayshift in July. Of course, in Jully, there is the IARU HF World Championship that I did not get into this year.

I am really missing Larry, W3MGL. It is not the same talking to him on the phone every night and not seeing him once a week like I had when he was here. But, we are planning a road trip to visit him hopefully in the spring. Hr is trying to get back on the air, so hopefully we can get some contacts in our logs over the next few months.

Well, hopefully I will be able to do some more ham stuff over the next few months.

Wow.....

2009-12-23T07:34:00.001-05:00

I just realized that it has been over a year since I have posted anything on here…..

Let’s see what has happened during the past year:

My wife developed cancer and had it removed

I have inched my way to the last class for my degree with graduation in May 2010

Transferred from midnight shift to day shift

Work never decreases, only increases

My daughter broke her leg

I made my first trip to Dayton

I was inaugurated as president of the Virginia chapter of NENA

PVRC won the gavel for Sweepstakes

My elmer W3MGL moved to PA and left me to fend for myself

And I still got into a few contests!!!

As I am on my winter break from classes, I am hoping to get caught up on some QSL work along with ham reading, getting caught up on this blog and getting some time in the shack to play radio.

In January, I am going back to midnight shift for 6 months with my weekends almost all free (only have to take off Sundays to play in contests that way). I am hoping to get back into some more contests during this time as long as my class will allow. Of course, the class ends just prior to WPX!!!

More later!

73,

Hershel

W4TMN

2008 Sweepstakes

2008-11-18T03:57:00.002-05:00

Well, another one in the books. It does look as though I will not be taking home first place in the section this year, unless something changes. One of my fellow PVRCers, Ed, will take the crown this year for Virginia. That makes it a much easier fact to accept knowing that at least PVRC holds the title.

From all indications, it appears that we had a very good showing from PVRC for this contest. I would love to see us taking the gavel back this year!!!

It's all over now but the waiting.......

Go PVRC!!!

I am still alive!!

2008-11-07T03:21:00.000-05:00

For those who may be wondering, I have not dropped out of contesting. I am finishing up my degree and I have only 3 semesters left. I am doing all I can to graduate with honors, and so far it seems to be working OK. I am rewarding myself for doing all of my homework by contesting on the weekend. I have missed all of October’s contests with the exception of CQ WW DX (SSB). I did not do as well in the contest this year as I did last, but it was fairly close. The conditions were terrible and I was happy to just score as high as I did this time. It was a real slugfest, but fortunately the last day was much better conditions. I will send more about this later. This is just a reminder to everyone that I have not become a Silent Key…..

IARU HF last weekend

2008-07-18T04:41:00.003-04:00

I didn't do as well as last year, but I got close.....As usual, my goal is just to beat last year's score. Toward the end of the contest, it looked like I had a pretty good chance to meet my goal, but it was just not to be. I was less than 20 Qs short, but the multipliers are what killed me, along with a string of 1 pointers instead of the big money Qs.

I didn't think I would ever hear anything more than zones 7 and 8 for the first half of the contest. I was working anyone I could, but the one pointers kept my score from going anywhere fast. I was wondering if I had fallen into a black hole and my signal could not get out. Conditions finally began to change and started racking up a few new multipliers and some more QSO points. Europe was late coming in and didn’t last long on 20. There for a while, I thought I might make more contacts on 40 than 20, but 20 remained the band for Qs, just not points.

The odds were against me from the start. Just a week before the contest, the G5RV came down in a storm. With no antenna, I was not going to make many contacts. Fortunately, I was able to get it back up somewhat close to what I had before on Friday morning, so at least someone would hear me. It is not up to where I want it, but at least I was going to get out.

I knew I was in trouble when I had to work overtime the night before the start of the contest. I got home only two hours before the start of the contest. Work this week was a bear and I had worked lots of overtime, so I had no time for testing prior to the start of the contest. I only got the contest set up on my laptop during a break at work on Friday night. The N3FJP IARU logging program installed easily on the laptop. The N3FJP programs are great to use, but unfortunately they don’t support all of the contests that I participate in, so I am going to have to add another arrow to the quiver. I was considering going with N1MM to get used to it, but it would not work right with Vista. (I don’t like Vista very much and this just gave me another reason to like it less) I chose to go with N1MM as an alternate logging program so that I will be more used to it when I finally get a change to play in the big show at W4MYA’s. So, unfortunately, software testing would have to occur another time. I did run across a couple of instances where some RF got into the external keyboard for the laptop when I was operating on 10. But other than that, everything seemed to work fine.....except propagation.

Due to the lack of sleep and bad band conditions, I never could get any good runs going. I did have a couple of periods where I was able to get a good rate (for me) going, but they didn't last long. S&P did not do any better for me. The Europeans just weren't making it to me on 20 the way I would have liked. I did find myself drifting off a couple of times before recovering and hitting another dose of caffeine. I was disappointed by the lack of Europeans on 20 and above. Of course, it was not their fault!!! I kept looking up on 20 throughout the night hoping for an opening to somewhere besides South America (I had worked all the South Americans I could hear) and snagged a couple of Australians. I had to get up and take a shower about 4am (0800 Z) to get me back into the game, but from what I heard, I didn’t miss anything.

I have had a good run for a couple of years being first place in the class in the section (thanks to N2QT doing so well last year!). It looks as though Mark did it again this year in a big way! All in all, it was fun. I had not had a chance to do any contesting for a while (since April) so it was good to stretch my legs. Unfortunately, I would have liked for it to be a better effort. But with all of the factors working against me, I am pleased with the result. Mark (N2QT) sent me a nice note the other day complimenting me on the job that I did with just a G5RV. I had never really thought that much about it. I guess I am like the little ankle biting dogs. I don’t have as much bite as I think I do, but I do want to run with the big dogs!!!

With next semester coming up, I have scheduled my classes around contest season……Am I a fanatic or what??? I have a very hard class coming up the first part of the semester. I will finish up 2 weeks before CQ WW DX. Then, the next class may or may not be too bad from what I am seeing. I am taking a gamble, but I am going to reward myself with a contest or two by getting all homework done before Friday night!!!

Getting caught up.....QSLs

2008-07-10T04:00:00.002-04:00

Since I started classes in January, I have received 3 envelopes from the incoming bureaus. Needless to say, between those and the envelopes I have gotten since the Virginia QSO Party, I had quite a stack to deal with. Add to that, my computer has been dragging.

This week, in my first week of no classes in some time, I decided to catch up on some radio things, such as QSLing. I split my computerized logs into years so that they would process faster. It is definitely not a problem with the N3FJP logging program, but my computer. Once I got the log split, then it was on to handling cards. I got all of the incoming cards done and am now looking at printing up cards to reply to those.

I have a bunch of DX cards that I need to print up and send to the bureau, but I will get to those after the IARU World Championship this coming weekend as I plan to add a few more DX contacts!!!

What happened to me????

2008-07-10T03:41:00.002-04:00

Well, the answer is......life. I went back to school to finish my degree that had been put on hold since my divorce. My wife, Allyson, is very supportive of this endeavor and I am very blessed to have her!!! She has been running interference for me and doing a very good job of compensating for my shortcomings around the house.

So, let's get caught up.......

First....The tower is still in my back yard, on the ground. I have a few weeks before the next semester, so I am putting forth a concerted effort to get the base poured during this time. It is my goal to get it finished prior to CQ WW DX, if at all possible.

Contesting, has been occurring, but not as often due to my class demands. I did get first place in Virginia for single operator, phone only, low power in the Virginia QSO Party. I did get into the Florida QSO Party and I think that I broke the phone only record for Virginia. I also participated in the Helvetia Contest and the Nebraska QSO party (my first time).

I am still working on improving my operating position and hopefully will be in great shape next year in this area. I want to build a good size desk to hold the equipment and to organize things better.

We are organizing a local chapter of the PVRC in the Williamsburg area and will hopefully have our first meeting soon. I am looking forward to getting more people involved in this part of the hobby.

I was re-elected as president of the Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio Club and have a number of goals for the club this year, including gaining members and regaining those who have fallen away.

Field Day for the Williamsburg club this year was a lot of fun. I did not operate as much as last year. I had a lot of offers, but chose to "share" the fun. I did not want to appear to be a radio hog. Of course, it was tempting to get on there and run for 24 hours, but that would not be fair to everyone else. But, the hours I did operate were fun and I am looking forward to kicking the CW station's butt next year. We had more Q's but they beat us on score....Next year, we will take away their bragging rights once and for all (especially, if we can train up some good phone operators in the next year).

Next semester, I must admit, I do have one tough class that will take a lot of time, but being the hard core contester that I am, I have scheduled that class to finish up prior to the start of the "major" contests in October. I am hoping that after that class, things should be easier (contest wise!!).

Those are the major high points over the last few months.....More to come later.

Getting caught up

2007-12-25T01:26:00.001-05:00

Well, I just realized I have fallen behind again. Work keeps getting in the way of my blogging!!!!

OK, here is the deal. The 10 meter contest stunk!!!! I scored less than last year (mostly due to my being out of the chair so much). But, the band was also terrible. There were good points, though. Larry and I got to spend some good father/son time together. I did get to see my daughter in her Christmas presentation. I did get to see my favorite cousin……

So, hopefully the bands will be better next year!!!!

I still have not submitted my logs to either the ARRL or PVRC. I need to get off the stick and do that soon.

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!!

The conspiracy continues.....

2007-12-09T15:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday things were going fairly well at Larry's during the 10 meter contest when my wife called me to say that an FBI agent would be at my house around noon and I needed to be there. Well, I left Larry's and went home that morning about 11:30. Actually, 2 FBI agents arrived and after we went out to a late lunch/early dinner, they went back to Washington DC. I was not taken into custody, and matter of fact, enjoyed my time with the agents immensely!!! In all seriousness, one agent was my favorite cousin and so it was worth every minute being away from the radio. My score suffered greatly for being away for 6 hours from the radio during the most active time on the band, but there is life beyond contesting!!!! Not much, but there is some.......

So, my only hope is that I will be able to make up lost ground on Sunday!

Where is everyone???

2007-12-08T06:42:00.000-05:00

I am at Larry's and 10 meters has been really dead. I keep coming in every few hours and listening, but had not heard anything until about 30 minutes ago when I worked Bob (W4MYA) and Duke (W1ZA). This one sure is looking rough. I am hoping that with the coming of daylight, things will get better. When I came over at midnight, I heard a couple of stations right at the noise level. The Jupiter could not pull them out. But, I am keeping my fingers crossed!

There's a big hole in my back yard!!

2007-12-07T03:44:00.001-05:00

While I was out with Larry (W3MGL) today, I ran across a friend of mine (Robert) from church that has a construction business. I told Robert that I needed to get with him about a price to finish the tower foundation hole. He said he was working up in my neighborhood and would come over to check it out later during the day. I went home and got a phone call from Robert saying that the crew was going to stop work at about 4:30 and he would be over after that with a mini excavator. Well, 4:30 came and so did Robert. He did not bring the mini, but the next size up. He was finished in 20 minutes. Of course, I have a little bit more hole than I need, but I will do some backfilling and may need to build a form. But I will wait to see and go from there. Robert said that he would not charge me anything for digging the hole. That is a good friend!!! My ex-wife used to call my business friends from church the “Baptist mafia” because we would often do things for each other and accept no payment or very little payment. I am grateful that we have a number of people in church who have the same philosophy. When Allyson was sick, they were coming over taking care of meals and the house for us until we got her home from the hospital. Those 8 weeks she was in the hospital were tough, but it made things much easier because of my church family. So, now it is time to look about some concrete!!!! Who knows, I could even be finished before the beginning of the year. I doubt it, and going back to school in January will put a damper on some radio activities, but I am going to do all I can.

It's a conspiracy.....

2007-12-06T04:11:00.001-05:00

This weekend is the ARRL 10 meter contest. It has been a favorite for me since 1994 when I was a Technician class with only 10 meter phone privileges. I am planning to work the contest from Larry’s (W3MGL) station and take advantage of his quad. I need to get him back into the shack, so I was hoping to at least have him come in and take a peek at me from time to time. I can’t remember the last time he had his Jupiter on the air.

So far, my Sunday School class party has taken a few hours from me during the start of the contest. That will keep me off the air until at least 10 or 11 local time. Now, I have found out that Emma (my fantastic 4 year old) is scheduled to be singing on Sunday night at our church service, so that will take the end of the contest out. So, I must concentrate on the middle!!! My only goal is to score more than last year. This should not be a problem, as Larry even beat me last year!!

So, I am hoping that this year’s contest will give me a better score, get Larry back on the air and be fun for all.

See you in the contest!!!!

Good reading..........

2007-11-26T22:57:00.001-05:00

I was earlier doing a little reading of one of my fellow Potomac Valley Radio Club member’s blog. K3OQ has an excellent blog and it is quite an enjoyable read. If you have time to sit and savor some reading, please take a look. It can be found at http://K3OQ.net

My hat is off to Jeff, for a simple, yet fun to read blog.

Doldrums....

2007-11-26T03:48:00.001-05:00

Well, here it is the weekend after Sweepstakes and while everyone else is banging out CQ WW DX, I was trying to get things caught up around the house. I am bummed out that I don’t have enough time to do all that I would like to do. One of the first orders of business is to get the tower up. The goal is to get the foundation for the tower poured by the end of the year, if at all possible. Since my time is somewhat limited, I am going to ask a friend of mine how much it will cost for him to finish digging the hole. He has a mini-excavator and could probably finish it in an hour. The two yards of concrete are going to cost about 300 dollars.

I have a Ham III rotor and control box here that I bought years ago. I am praying that it will work. I need to do some testing on it to make sure that all goes well there. The antenna spare parts are here in a box and once I get the tower base poured, that moves to the forefront. The antenna should be as good as new with a new boom section, all new plastic and rubber boots for the traps.

I am still trying to get space set aside to make a good operating position. I have some ideas on how to do it, I just need to draw them out and do some measurements.

Another thing on the agenda is my desire to get a PVRC chapter locally. We have a number of members here and have the start of a good group. Jim, WX3B, has been working with me on this and it is my hope that 2008 will bring this goal to a successful conclusion.

I would have loved to be in the CQ WW DX (CW) portion this weekend, but my CW skills have been lost over time. I passed my code test back in 1993 and barely used them at all. It was my goal to update to General, but then life got in the way…..John came along and then the divorce…then no place for radio for a while. Then I had space for a radio, but no time…..Then finally in 2005, I made time. That was a decision I am glad that I made. Radio has given me an outlet to relax. I know, it sounds silly thinking that hustling for QSOs and staying up lots of hours is relaxing, but it is. Of course, I will probably never be on the scale of the big guys like K1AR, K1DG, W6OAT, W4MYA etc, but it is my goal to work all that I can and have fun while doing it. So far, it is just that, and I intend to keep it that way. One day I will get back with CW and get the speed up to play with everyone on CW weekends, but for right now, I will just have to accept that I can only enjoy half of the contesting experience.

OK, enough of my rambling on at 4am. From 3830, I see that I am still hanging on to being in the top 20 for SS as SOLP. We will see how long that survives. I have not seen anyone from VA yet that has announced a score better than mine, but they don’t have to announce on 3830. So, it is just a wait and see until the results are announced.

10 meter contest next

2007-11-23T00:06:00.000-05:00

Well, now that Sweepstakes is over, it is on to the next one! That next one is the ARRL 10 meter contest in December. I am going to do something a little different. The plan is to operate from Larry’s (W3MGL) shack in this one. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is to blow some of the cobwebs out of his Jupiter. The second is to see if I can get him motivated to get in the shack some and operate. He has slowed down a bit and that is not good for a contester!!!

Of course, Larry has been doing this for as long as I have been alive. But, it still is tough for me to stand by and watch him not contest since he has such a good contest station. So, I am hoping to beat last year’s score in this one and at the same time light a fire under my elmer to get him in the shack once again.

Now the waiting begins......

2007-11-22T07:39:00.000-05:00

After last year's forfeit of the gavel, we in the PVRC were determined to avenge the loss. If everyone was fortunate enough to increase their scores by the same amount that I did, we might handily win the gavel this year. Of course, NCCC is not going to give up without a fight.

The wonderful thing about contesting is that we compete with each other like crazy during the weekend and are absolutely behind each other the rest of the week. One of the amazing things about radiosports compared to other competive ventures is that we help each other. For example, we work together to make sure that are exchanges are correct. We need each other to be successful. Every contester I have ever met has been absolutely wonderful. They truly are the best of the best as far as I am concerned.

With that said, the wait begins to see if the PVRC has won the gavel or if we will have to work harder next year.

GO PVRC!!!!

November Sweeps!!

2007-11-22T07:09:00.000-05:00

Well, Sweepstakes is now over. I have become strictly a SSB contester. Not because I want to, but because of the limitations I have with time to work on getting my code knowledge back and then up to speed to work a contest. But even though I am missing out on half of the fun of contesting, I am still having a blast!

My goal this year was simple. It was just to beat last year's score. I had almost done that by the time I left for church on Sunday morning. I was just a few QSOs shy of reaching my goal. I was able to get a good run going in the lower end of 80 meters and wound up with a nice total which is my personal best in Sweepstakes:

Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 466
40: 73
20: 73
15: 3
10: 0
------------
Total: 615 Sections = 74 Total Score = 91,020

As you can see, the number of QSOs are rather lopsided. 80 was definitely the band this year. 20 meters was great for DX, but not much stateside. 40 was full of foreign broadcasts and QRM. I was able to find a couple of holes in 80, plant myself and start running. I only had a short run of about 70 qso/hr. For the most part, it was more like 30/hr. It was tough finding somewhere to be. On Sunday, I went down to 80 early looking for a spot above 3800 to get all of the general class operators. I was at 3839 for a while and started to get a good run going when all of the sudden I started getting QRM from both sides. People were sliding up and down the band to find places where they could avoid QRM and I was getting pinched between them. My little 100W was no match for them. Pretty soon, I got crowded out.

I moved down to the lower end of the band and found another nice hole. All of the sudden, a well known ham started calling CQ right on top of me without even asking if the frequency was in use. It got so bad that I could no longer pull anyone out. I told one caller that I was going to QSY up to get away from it and he told me to do so and he would find me. I moved up 3 kHz and planted myself to the end of the contest. I did not have any more problems after that.

WX3B spotted me and got me a few more QSOs in the log. I did not know that I had been spotted until after the contest when I fired up the packet cluster to see if the PVRC was having an on-air meeting somewhere.

This score was my personal best and it was a lot of fun.

There were some moments during the contest that made it memorable. One was working KT0R. Dave died back in September and a number of his friends were operating in his honor using his call. I always worked Dave and his call is one of the most frequent domestic calls in my log. Another moment was working Paul, N4PN. Paul has a distinctive voice and I know who it is from just hearing his voice. He always sounds glad to hear me and greets me by name. He always encourages me. He is a wonderful contester and was running them hard on 40 meters when I heard him. Another old friend is Bob, W4MYA. Bob is a local (VA) contester that I had the pleasure of spending time with in the spring. He stopped running for a few minutes to ask how I was doing and how Larry (W3MGL) was doing. Bob is another one that always greets me by name and encourages me. Lastly, the contest moment: I had never run stations during SS before. I was always S&P. On early Sunday morning, I am running stations when I hear K1AR calling me!!! Now, normally it is me calling John. So, it made me feel kinda good that one of the world's best contesters was calling me and my little 100W and wire antenna.

Another great moment was hearing a true local contester (as in the same little town and not more than 5 miles away) working stations. Dave, K4DGW, has gotten the bug! Dave is mainly a CW guy, but he was working them hard during this one. I recruited Dave for the PVRC and it was so cool hearing him scoring points. I never got a chance to work him, but I did send him a text message during the contest letting him know how many Qs and Mults I had, but that doesn't count!!!

All I can say is that I exceeded my goal of beating last year's score handily. It was good to take a mental break and have fun. I needed it!!!

30 Great Contesting Tips

2007-11-22T06:30:00.000-05:00

I got an e-mail from Scot, K9JY, with a list of 30 contest tips that he has written. Needless to say, they are excellent and everyone needs to read them.

Here is where you can find them:

http://k9jy.com/blog/2007/10/10/30-days-30-ham-radio-contesting-tips/

Great job, Scot!!!

CQ WW DX contest

2007-11-22T06:22:00.000-05:00

Well, another new high this year for me. I won't be breaking into the top 10 by any stretch of imagination, but who am I to complain about reaching a new level???

Here is how the score looked:

Band QSOs Zones Countries
-----------------------------------------
160: 0 0 0
80: 67 14 37
40: 111 17 54
20: 236 20 77
15: 136 17 59
10: 37 8 18
----------------------------------------
Total: 587 76 245 Total Score = 506,217

Not too shabby for me. Of course, if I had the tower up, it is very possible that the 10-15-20 totals would have been much higher. I don't mind working 40 meters split, and often I find it is easier because the pileups are not always as great.

I did get a couple of new countries out of this one, so I have to get cracking on getting the cards out. 1A3A was a very pleasant surprise along with C50C. 1A3A was a new country and C50C added The Gambia on some new bands.

Catching up......

2007-11-22T06:18:00.000-05:00

Well, I have been out of commission for a while. Let's get caught up....

I did participate in the IARU HF World Championship in July. After that, I have done very little operating until the CQ WW DX contest in October. I am ashamed of that, as I always enjoy the California & Pennsylvania QSO Parties and I missed both of them this year.

I have not completed the tower project as of yet due to having to make a tough decision. The decision was, the tower or a new heat pump. Since Allyson would not be happy with a beautiful tower in the backyard, but no heat or AC, the choice was rather obvious.

Work is seriously getting the way of my radio hobby also, but I can't retire yet!!!

VU7MY

2007-06-15T04:44:00.001-04:00

Today brought a few QSL cards today. I was quite happy to see that my VU7MY card made it in the mail today. I have a number of cards that I need to get out myself and this was a good kick in the pants to get me going. I hope that I will be able to get at least the cards that I need to answer done this week. I also got a card from Slovakia that only took a week to get to me. I already had Slovakia confirmed and this one was a direct confirmation of a bureau card that I had sent!!!! I am really far behind on doing a number of ham activities and it has been a month since I have had the time to go in and turn on the radio.

W4J on the air!!!!

2007-05-05T03:54:00.001-04:00

Well, I took the special event call, W4J out for a short spin this evening……

I had reserved the use of the call for 1900-2200 local time.....I worked over 100 contacts before I had to stop shortly after 2100 to pick up my son from Hanover County. It was unfortunate because I was in the middle of a pileup on 40 meters that sounded wonderful!!! I came back and operated again from 2300 until midnight before going to work and added more contacts for a total of 161 contacts for today's operation. From the pileups that the packet cluster generated, I have every confidence that we will be able to reach the goal of 1000 contacts easily for this special event. I was able to work Larry (W3MGL) because I called him and told him where I was going to start operating and because his signal was booming into my house. Robert (N4RTQ) and I tried to link up but we were not able to do so. Once the pileups started, I was too busy to get on two meters to let everyone know where I was operating at the time and not everyone was looking at the cluster. I spotted myself and was able to let everyone know exactly where I was.

Twenty meters was the money band tonight. Europeans, especially those from the UK, are quite anxious to work the special event. I made easily 60-70% of the contacts on that band. I made a number of contacts on 40 meters until the broadcast stations started severely encroaching on 7.190. I was doing well on 80 meters but had to go
QRT so that I could work 2a - 6a, but the pileups were more manageable there. The pileups on 20 meters seemed to never end and it was a blast!!!!

Thanks to Russell, KU4FP, for putting another spot on the cluster for me while I was operating on 20 meters which sent another wave of eager people my way! Pileups are our friends (especially when we are the one being called!!!).......we must keep remembering that!

Once I get home from work, I am planning to stop in and say hello to everyone over at Larry's (KG4RGN) house for a few minutes after a nap. If all goes well and there is space available, I might even try to work a few more tomorrow night!!!

Take care and good luck in the pileups!!! I hope to work everyone who wants a W4J contact!

another one confirmed!!!

2007-04-26T02:30:00.001-04:00

My 5A7A card came in the mail today. I waited a while to send it out because of everything else that I had going on. It took less than a month to get back to me. I was sorry to hear that they had to endure someone referring to members of the team as Nazis. This was my first Libyan contact and I was able to work them three times on 80 meters. The last contact was by accident. I worked them once split and then once simplex. The last time I heard a weak station and calling CQ and called. They then called me back and gave their call and signal report. So, I was already committed, so I got them again. They only confirmed the first contact, but, I would rather have one than none!!!!!

End of an era.....

2007-04-25T23:37:00.001-04:00

I was shocked to see that Scott (W4PA) was announcing that K4JNY was leaving Tennessee and heading for California. I have worked Jeff a number of times and found that his signals were always booming here into the Tidewater area. I know that Scott said he will find somewhere else to operate from, but I am sure that he will do well wherever he winds up. But, it is unfortunate that I will now have to work a little harder to get Jeff in the log!!!!

2006 Sweepstakes (Phone) results are in!!!

2007-04-25T23:22:00.001-04:00

Well, I just looked up the Sweepstakes results and the individual results have finally been posted. I knew that it would not be long as they had posted the top scores and club results.

I wound up first in the Virginia section in my class out of 31 entries. That was rather surprising since I got a late start and did not operate the full time. Out of all the Virginia entries of all classes (86 total), I placed 20^th.

I was seventh in the Roanoke Division out of 59 in my class and 37^th overall in all classes out of 149.

There were 724 total entries in my class and I was 78^th. There were 1,542 total entries in all classes and I was 419^th.

So, I am glad to see that not only did the PVRC win the gavel, we also took Virginia!!!

2007-04-24T02:42:00.001-04:00

It has been a very good weekend, radio wise. I was able to work the French DXpedition to JW land. I was hoping to also work some Israeli stations in the Holyland DX contest because my only Israeli contact died before I was able to get his card back. I thought it was going to be rough, but conditions were such that I got more than I had thought possible. I wound up with 6 new 4X contacts!!!!!

From there, everything else was gravy…. I wound up working a number of European stations and a few South American stations. I was able to work in a Michigan station who was working the Michigan QSO Party and a few Canadians in the Ontario QSO Party. I was not interested in working a contest this weekend, just in giving out a few points since I could not put in a good effort. I was able to work a Turkish station along with a station in Cyprus, so I was glad we had a wonderful band opening on 20m to the Middle East. I had not heard anything from there for quite a while!!!

We found out this weekend that PVRC did, in fact, reclaim the November Sweepstakes gavel from the Northern California Contest Club. It was a slim margin to say the least, but it was friendly competition that was enjoyable to everyone. It was neck and neck and there were even rumors of recounts and lawyers and the Supreme Court having to make the decision (just kidding)……But the challenge will be can we hold onto it in 2007. NCCC will be coming after PVRC with new members, bigger stations and we will have to rise to the challenge. I am confident that 2006 was the start of an east coast run for the possession of the gavel.

Things are moving smoothly on the May special event station. We are hoping to have everything set up for operations from May 4^th until the 25^th. The card has been designed and is now been given a test printing. Everything is falling into place and we are getting excited about the prospects of a wonderful special event. We will be operating in teams of at least two to ensure that the newer operators follow all FCC rules and avoid any “liddish” behavior.

The Kenwood TS-570D is working perfectly and was able to pull out very weak signals this weekend so that I could work them.

I am hoping that this is the week that I will be able to start work on digging the tower foundation. I have a few things to get caught up on and then I should have no other big projects for a while. That will allow me to get this project done and the tri-bander up in the air. Of course, I have been saying this for some time as something always seems to come up, but I keep thinking positive!!!

Larry (W3MGL) has seemed to go into a funk since his wife’s stroke, so I am trying to get him back in the shack. He has not operated for some time now and I need to put him back on the air. His wire antenna came down in the recent nor’easter, but he still has the quad on the tower, so lack of an antenna is not an excuse.

The weekend ended on a high note with a QSO from a fellow contester who was flying high, literally!!!! NQ4I was cruising along at 41,000 feet over Texas when I talked with him at 14.200. I have worked Rick a number of times during contests, but never when he was flying, so it was an added treat!!!!

So, things are going well in the colonial capitol!!!

Lots of activity

2007-04-19T05:21:00.001-04:00

The club is anxiously getting ready for our special event station in May. We are working at getting our operators lined up and everything ready to go. My personal goal is for us to have 1000 contacts in the log by the end of the period we have the special event call (W4J). I don’t know if we will meet that goal or not, but it sure would be nice!!! Queen Elizabeth II is coming the week before our Jamestown special event so we want to have a nice warm ham welcome for her also using the special event call. I will be working the entire weekend of the Jamestown celebration, so I won’t be able to have much time to operate. I am hoping to at least work our special event station.

Millie (KI4MNE) has put up a ham blog and she is very excited about getting involved. She wants to learn more about contesting and DXing, so I want to do my part to get her going in those areas.

Hopefully, the weather will break and I can start digging the tower foundation. I really want to get that up in the air soon!!

Swains Island??

2007-04-06T03:49:00.000-04:00

Well, the end of my work week will be this morning at 6am. I am hoping that sometime during this weekend, I will be able to add Swains Island to my log. Unfortunately, it might be a little difficult because my schedule is going to be tight. Friday morning, I have to attend a recertification class at the police academy. Friday afternoon, I would like to get some sleep, but also spend some time with my family. Saturday afternoon, I will be one of the VE’s at our local club’s exam session. Then, of course, Sunday is Easter and I will be tied up with church and a family dinner before heading back to work on Sunday night. Since I work a weird schedule, it does give me a little opportunity during the day when others are working and some unique opportunities during the early morning hours, but often they are looking towards Europe or Asia during these times…..But, I am going to give it a shot……

Our local club

2007-04-04T04:09:00.001-04:00

I am excited about the next couple of months for our local club. We are again hosting our annual Jamestown weekend special event. This year, there is lots of attention on Jamestown and there are at least 3 other special event stations from Virginia that weekend. Of course, we can always claim our role as being the first special event station to be operated from Jamestown to celebrate the landing there. This year, we are talking about extending out our presence to the whole two week period that we have the special 1 X 1 callsign. We are proud to have operated from the original location of Jamestown since our first special event in 1995. That event was rather special as we had a large number of hams show up. I remember being there with Larry (W3MGL), Mike (W4NYY), Nick (N1HKK) (SK), J.D. (WA4RBC) (SK), Tom (KD4UZH), Ray (AC4PV) and a few others that I am sure that we missed. That first one was a long day, because we had to be set up by 9am and our truck off the island. We then could not bring the truck back on the island until at least 4:30pm. But, it was a lot of fun, and I would not have traded that experience for anything. Unfortunately, I will have to work anniversary weekend (they already told us all leave is cancelled), so I cannot go down and operate, but maybe I can operate from my home or another shack to keep the W4J call on the air.

Next, we are talking about getting some upgrade classes going and to also encourage elmering. That will go a long way and I am looking forward to seeing our people advance in the hobby.

We are also looking about getting our club breakfasts started again. In the past, these were always a lot of fun and they went a long way in building friendships.

So, it is going to be an exciting few months.

A new rig!!!

2007-04-04T03:38:00.001-04:00

Well, I decided that it was probably not worth getting the Kenwood TS-440S repaired as the cost of repairs would most likely be more than the value of the radio. So, I decided instead to see about getting another rig. In speaking with one of our local club members, he said he had just put up on our e-mail list two rigs he was offering for sale. I talked with him about them and decided to go take a look. I was in no hurry for a rig because I still had Larry’s IC-718 at the house to use until I got another rig, so there was no pressure. The choice was between an IC-718 and a Kenwood TS-570D. I already knew about the 718, so I gave the 570 a try. Of course, being familiar with Kenwood products, it was an easy learning curve. Well, needless to say, I went home with the 570D. I plugged it in and got started. Band conditions were terrible but I was able to work a new one (Greenland) and work New Zealand on 20 meters fairly late in the evening. Since then, I have not had much time to work on the radio, but hopefully I will get some time to enjoy a little radio this coming weekend. I think Larry is just as excited as I am about the new radio and he keeps asking me if I have been playing with it a lot, but I have just not been able to carve out enough time or band conditions to make any serious attempts at working DX with it, yet……

So, let’s hope for more sunspots, better band conditions and some free time!!!!

CQ WPX

2007-03-27T07:10:00.000-04:00

Talk about sweating this one.......My goals were the same as every contest, to beat the previous score and to have fun.

I should have known that this year's contest was going to be be bad when I broke my toe the morning before the contest. It was painful to say the least and I had to take Allyson to go grocery shopping to boot....

I was able to get home and get a nap in the afternoon so I would not have to operate in the contest with just 2 hours sleep. Unfortunately, I had a banquet I had to attend, so I knew that I was going to get a late start to the contest. I was able to get home and get on the air about 2 hours into the contest. I knew I was in trouble when the usual stack of Europeans were not on 40 meters. I went to 20 and worked a number of South American stations and some Americans. 40 meters began to heat up a little and I worked all that could hear my little 100 watts. I picked up a number of stations on 80 meters, so it was not a total waste and even picked up a single station on 160. I decided to try to get some more sleep and see what I could find to work on Saturday morning early.

Saturday morning brought a few good periods, but the Europeans just could not hear me. I would call them and they just kept calling CQ. I did pick up some contacts on 15 and 10 meters from the US, Caribbean, and South America. Things never did improve for Europe. It was like banging my head up against the wall. I was getting rather frustrated because I working everyone I could but they were all the one pointers and I needed lots of 3 pointers and beyond if I was going to get close to last year's score.

Saturday night, I was working some Europeans on 40 and 80 but it seemed like we were going to have another rough time. I put up with it for as long as I could and decided to get up early on Sunday morning as I always do and pray that the band conditions would be favorable to Europe. Well, I misjudged. I probably would have been better off staying up another 2 hours and sleeping in two hours later. Those two hours in the morning were pathetic, to say the least. I had one hour with 2 new contacts and another hour with 6 new ones. Not a very appealing rate. But, I hung in there and worked all I could.

When I got home from church, I turned on the radio and gave the first European on 20 meters I heard a shout. He came right back to me!!! 20 meters was alive!!! Now, I had to make up for some lost time. I put everything I could into working every station I heard on 15 and 20 meters. 10 was not producing anything I had not already worked. 40, 80, and 160 meters had nothing for me. I knew that I had to stop at about 4:45 to get back to church on time for a program there. So, I had a slip of paper with last year's results on it that I put on top of the antenna tuner and focused on making those numbers my goal.

There were tons of US stations on 20 meters doing their part to catch up also and I worked all of them that I could also. I knew that it was going to take everything I could work for me to pass last year's score. I kept praying that the big pointers were going to start falling into my lap. After about 1pm local time, things changed for the better. I wound up working a number of stations and the totals started adding up. When I came home from church, I was at 393 QSOs, 242 multipliers and 227,722 points. I needed to beat 444 QSOs, 291 multipliers and 339,306 points. The race was definitely on!!!! By 3pm I had passed the number of QSOs from last year, but I was lacking in multipliers and QSO points as many that I had worked were 1 or 2 pointers. I was doing some serious clock watching after 3pm. Would I make it or would my score fall short this year???? I was getting the QSOs but the multipliers were just not coming in the way I needed, so my score was not building rapidly. Then my son came out and said that I needed to type his school project before we left for church.......Now I am really sweating bullets because I know it will take at least 20 minutes to type this report.........

I am inching closer to where I want to be at 3:30pm. but it is not looking good and I am already preparing my excuses.......When, all of the sudden, propagation changes and everything I hear I am now working!!! At about 4pm, I finally reached the multipliers I needed to beat last year's score, but the score is still less than last year. Then about 4:10 I reached the goal of beating last years score. Now the only question was how much more could I pad it before I had to leave to type the report. I still had some good propagation and a few minutes, so I went all out in those last moments. At 4:15, I said I would pull the plug.....Then I realized I was still not at the top of the 20 meter band, so I tuned on to hear anyone else that I might have missed. I found only one Canadian hanging up there near the top of the band, so I worked him and called it a wrap......474 QSOs, 298 multipliers for a score of 345,382. I did it!!!! I had succeeded in my goal of beating last year's score. As for the fun part, it was fun, but it was also a little stressful as I am sitting there frustrated that no one was able to hear me outside of the Americas. But, talk about stress relief, when that total inched up over last year's I was tempted to let out a yell that the neighbors could have heard. It was a great source of personal joy to meet that goal. Those who are not contesters probably would not understand what it is like for you to not only have to compete with yourself, but also propagation. Of course, DXers would understand the frustration of trying to work that last one you need but not being able to get it.

So....that is where I am today. I am personally satisfied with being able to achieve this goal and I am thankful that my wife tolerates my little bit of contesting so that I can achieve a little bit of mental cleansing from this rat race that I often find myself in.

Virginia QSO Party

2007-03-27T06:46:00.000-04:00

I had only two goals for this year's QSO Party. First, my goal was to beat my own score from last year. My second goal was to have lots of fun!!! I was able to accomplish both goals with no problem.

This year I had 503 QSOs and 123 multipliers for a total score of 68,019. That beat last years score nicely. I was somewhat disappointed that I did not hear tons of Virginia stations on. But, I was pleased to hear a number of mobile stations working hard and I was able to snag a few new counties because of them. I did add a few new counties to my totals for Virginia, but I noticed that a few counties I worked last year were absent. So, I guess it was a trade-off. I always enjoy this contest because I love a good pileup and I was able to generate a couple of them during this one even though the band conditions were not the greatest. Larry (W3MGL) was not able to be in this one because of his wife's health, so it was not the same with him not being there. I have grown used to working him at least once during this contest and so I was a little sad that we broke with tradition, but I am well aware that wives are priorities!! I was not able to work all that I wanted to, but I did get a fair amount of time in (at least enough to top last year's score).

I was encouraged to hear a number of our local club members in the contest and to work them. I even worked one of our local guys (AI4QQ) on 20 meters!!! So, I know of at least 3 of the local club members who did a little in the contest because I worked them. I hope that a few more were sleeper entries.

I was able to have a fairly good run to the west coast on 20 meters and I wound up working a total of 43 states. I even had a guy from Alaska join in the pile-up! I found that 80 meters was the key to Virginia. There was some guys on 40 meters, but the bulk of my Virginia contacts were on 80. Unfortunately, since the band conditons were not the greatest, I was able to work Virginia, but some other contacts got lost in the QRN of the approaching storm and the QRM from a few guys who don't believe in giving anything more that 1.5 kHz spacing between us. It was not very helpful to have to ask people to repeat their exchange until the offending station took a breath long enough for them to come into the clear. I know that is the nature of contesting, but there were a few that were not listening or asking if the frequency was in use prior to calling CQ.

All in all, it was a lot of fun being the hunted and to be able to give out James City County. Larry and I were first and second place in the county last year. Since Larry was not in the contest, it will be interesting to see who gets the certificates.

This contest is always a good warmup for WPX.

ARRL DX results

2007-03-18T00:11:00.000-04:00

ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Class: SOAB LP
Summary:
Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
 160:    0     0
  80:   56    40
  40:   73    43
  20:  226    70
  15:   44    27
  10:    0     0
-------------------
Total:  399   180  Total Score = 215,460

In the middle of a contest

2007-03-18T00:03:00.000-04:00

Well, it is just after midnight and I have pulled the plug on the VA QSO Party for the night. I had a few nice runs on 20 and 80 meters tonight after getting a late start because I had to watch Emma since Allyson was at a bridal shower. The contest got off to a slow start for me, but then it heated up nicely. I am right now about 30 QSO's short of last year and have more multipliers than last year. I should be able to beat last year's results with no problem. I am going over to Larry's in the morning to help him get a couple of things done before he goes to the hospital to bring Toisie home. I am so thankful that he loaned me his IC-718. It is a good radio and appears to be more sensitive than the TS-440S. I am hearing lots of stations that I probably would not have heard using the Kenwood. But, it was not bad for a 20 year old radio. I still have not made up my mind on if I will repair it or replace it. I am just waiting for the right deal to surface.

I was getting tired at the end of my last 80 meter run and was making some errors. Not in the log, but on the air. So, I decided that it was time to turn in. I still have all afternoon and tomorrow evening after I get home from church. So, I should have a better result to send in.

I will post the results tomorrow after the contest ends..........

Catching up again.....

2007-03-14T00:01:00.000-04:00

It has been quite a while since I posted anything here, not because I have not been doing anything, but because I have been quite busy.

Let's see, Allyson had surgery on February 22 and I took a week off to be here for her. I was supposed to be at W4MYA's house the weekend of the 3rd for ARRL International DX contest. I was really pumped. But, Allyson was not doing as well as we thought she would so, I decided to stay close to home. I did not put forth an all out effort, but I did work maybe half the contest. On Sunday, I noticed I started having a sore throat and coughing. Tuesday, I went to the doctor and he decided to keep me out of work until Wednesday (March 7) and treat all of my symptoms. I kept getting worse, but went to work on Wednesday night. I had a mandatory supervisor meeting Thursday morning, but the Fire Chief, and my bosses all made me leave after an hour. I was just not able to shake this stuff. I went back on Sunday to the doctor and he made changes to the medications that I was taking, and I am showing some improvement, but I am still not back to even close to normal. I even had to have the Vice President of the radio club stand in for me tonight at the meeting just because I am still so weak and unable to function as well as I would like.

As if getting some terrible upper respiratory infection was not enough, the old Kenwood TS-440s appeared to give up the ghost during my last few contacts on Sunday. My signals were all over the board, people were saying that I was distorted and I was noticing that it was doing wierd things while I was operating. So, I am pretty bummed by that as I don't have enough money right now to go out and buy a new radio. I am going to borrow Larry's Icom for a couple of contests until I can get Kenwood to give me an estimate on repairing the 440S. Of course, because of my health, nothing got done radiowise around here.

I was able to get about two pounds of cards to the bureau, so the only outstanding DX for the bureau is the contest I just finished. I do have some that I want to send direct and hope to feel well enough in a few days to complete that task.

The tower is still not up as the weather or my health have not been cooperating. But, the weather appears to be breaking and as soon as I get a day off, I want to break ground for the tower. With the tower project complete, then things will hopefully go smoother.

I am keeping all my fingers crossed!!!

Some random thoughts - pre-Valentines Day

2007-02-10T02:02:00.000-05:00

Having Friday and Saturday nights off will allow me to spend more time with Allyson and the kids. So, it will be a balancing act. As always, I want to continue to give Allyson her "special time" either before or after the various contests that I do now so that she will not feel like I have abandoned her. And my daughter still has to have her "daddy moment" where we sing songs and pray before she goes to bed. She enjoys singing and so do I, so I want to encourage her continuing in this effort. Of course, I am trying to get her to stop wanting to sing Christmas songs now that it is February, but it is not going well with that effort. So, we have been singing rousing renditions of Jingle Bells for months along with other songs!!! And who says you can't have Christmas all year long???

I am very blessed to have a wife that tolerates the contest weekends, so I don't want to do something stupid to cause Allyson to become resentful or upset by my contesting. To give you an example of how much she spoils me in this respect, I was operating in one of the contests (I think it was Sweepstakes) and she knew that I was giving it a maximum effort, so she even brought a plate of finger food out to the shack. She is truly a blessing to me and I am so appreciative of her. She even offered to go pick up the building permit this week while I was sleeping so I would not have to do it, but I told her that Larry wanted to accompany me on that adventure on Thursday, so she said OK. I have to admit that I don't tell her nearly enough how much I appreciate her and everything that she does for me and our family. I try to tell her every day, but I truly feel that that is not enough. For a disabled person, she does very well. I truly married up. I got the better deal by far. There is not too much of a market for overweight, balding geeks, but there sure is one for beautiful, kind hearted and loving women such as Allyson.

I just hope that she continues to be as tolerant when all of the aluminum starts going up in the sky!!!!! I know that she will be, but she has never really seen an amateur tower and all of the trappings up close and personal. She is learning this stuff as we go along and she actually is picking up things well. She has no desire to become a ham, but she does enjoy hearing about the new countries and contests that I work. There is a good side to that. Since she has no desire to be a ham, I don't have to worry about sharing my station. That would really be a pain. I wouldn't mind her having a technician license so we could work 2 meters with each other but I don't know if she would go with it.

So, my life is very good on the home front. Of course, I wish that my oldest son, Justin, would get his license so that he could pursue possible ham scholarships, but I don't see that coming. John shows an interest, but I just can't talk him into committing to studying for the exam. And, of course, Emma is too young, but she is interested when she can talk with Santa!!!

The BUMS DXpedition

2007-02-10T01:44:00.000-05:00

I am kinda "bummed" out that I did not get a chance to work this one. I just completed changing over to a new work schedule that caused me to work 10 days straight and included a change in my sleeping pattern. Now that I am working the new schedule of 10pm until 6am Sunday through Thursday, I hope to be in a better position for working some new countries and getting my DX totals up, along with being able to work in some contests that I have never had the opportunity to participate in.

I was hoping to not only make contact with them, but to even attempt to use my Buddipole to do so, but it was just not to be. Plus, I was not really looking forward to freezing my butt off playing radio. It has been really cold her for about the past week and so that has also tended to limit my initiative to work on the radio. Maybe one day I will have the shack better heated, but for now, it can get very frigid out there!!!

So, I have missed one DXpedition that I really wanted to make contact with. Fortunately, I have Montserrat in the log for DXCC, but it is still a loss for me.

Interesting item

2007-02-10T01:32:00.000-05:00

I was reading Jeff's (KE9V) blog, Long Delayed Echos and he just put up a post about the HPS-1a Gamma HybridCommunications Power Supply. It sounds pretty intriguing and might make a great addition to my hopefully portable operations in the future. I will have to save up my money and see if I can afford one in the future. Of course, I have to weigh it against my needs. I have not done that much portable operation from the road. When I am travelling, it is usually with the family or for a work activity that does not often lend itself talking on the radio much. Allyson and the family did tolerate me doing some operation from Tennessee last year when we were visiting with my mother. I used Larry's portable setup for that and it worked great. Now that I have the Buddipole system, that eliminates the needs for wire antennas with the exception of the 80 meter band and I can even get a set of coils for that now. So, I might eliminate the wire antenna altogether. It is interesting item and something that I really need to consider in the future. Jeff appears to like it and I have found him to be a reliable source of information, even though he is more of a CW person than I am. I do hope that one day, he and I will get a chance to have a QSO, especially since I am working on getting my CW skills back up to a usable level again after the long period of their lack of use.

Larry a blogger???

2007-02-10T01:26:00.000-05:00

Larry (W3MGL) has set up a new blog called Geezer Notes. He has entered the cyber world and I am looking forward to seeing his thoughts over the coming months. He and I agree on a lot of things, except politics, religion and some parts of our worldview, but for the most part, you could not tell that he is not my father. He gets me in trouble from time to time and I keep him in hot water with his wife just as much!! But, it will be good to learn from his 60+ years as a ham and his over 80+ years of life.

So, good luck on your blog, Larry. I will be sure to keep up with your postings.

Things are moving along

2007-02-10T01:17:00.000-05:00

Well, things are falling into place. Thursday, Larry and I went and picked up the tower building permit. I was quite pleased that the permit only cost $50 since I am not a wealthy man. Of course, my priorities are my family and a minimal cost always helps when making changes or repairs to the station. Now, it is just a matter of getting a hole dug and filled with concrete. As we are expecting some frigid temperatures for about a week, I am going to see how things shake out.

Today, while I was taking a nap (because I had not slept since before I went to work last night) the replacement boom piece came from Cushcraft. I also ordered the parts to replace the boots on the traps and the end caps for the elements and booms. So, when the weather breaks, there is another project. The nice thing is that when the tower and tri-bander go up, the antenna will be just like new.

So, this means that things are moving in the direction we want them to take. Of course, this is not a month where there are the major contests that I participate in, so this will give me an opportunity to do some work on the station. I will be off for a few days later this month, so it could be that I might be able to get the majority of this work done then. We will just have to see how things go. It would be wonderful to start the month of March with a drastically new station!

YES!!!!

2007-01-31T01:26:00.000-05:00

I called a number of times to the guy at the zoning office on Monday to see if he could give me an answer regarding the building permit for the tower. He was never in, so I left a voice mail for him to call me. So, I called my local member of the Board of Supervisors for the county and left a message for him to call me. I also called the County Admininstrator, but he was not in and I decided I would call him back later if needed. I then sat back and just waited. Then, Monday afternoon, I got a call from the guy at the zoning office saying that he was going to sign off on his portion of the permit. I asked what the county attorney's office had said and he started reading some obscure section of the code, but not pertaining to what I was wanting, but I figured that if he was going to sign off, who cares!!! So, I will have to run down to the county offices sometime this week between sleep and work and see if I can pick up the permit. I might try to pick it up on Thursday or Friday as that would be the earliest I could do it. It just depends on the work load at the office. I know that I have to write evaluations over the next week or so, so it will not be top priority on my list. I will call the code compliance office tomorrow to see if everything is set and to get a price of the permit. Monday afternoon the supervisor called and said that he would make sure that this was something that the county addressed and he asked for the state code section so that he could get the county staff to get this taken care of.

Not only was it a tower day, but I also got an envelope of 35 cards from the bureau for my old call. There was only one new country in the stack, but there were a couple of cards for new bands so that was pretty good. I also received a number of cards from the 30 envelopes of QSL cards I sent out last week. A very good day QSL wise also!!!!

Last night and tonight (Tuesday night), I have been sorting my cards for the next batch to the bureau. It will probably be on the order of 2 pounds worth. Hopefully, I will get back some new bands from this batch. I also have a number of cards that I need to send out direct to DX stations for new countries. So, sending the cards to the bureau is just a start to getting caught up on DX cards. I will be taking a short break because I am hoping to operate the ARRL DX contest from W4MYA's super contest station this year. But then, I will have WPX to look forward to in March and that is a good one for DX contacts. Of course, any DXpedition is fair game also. I would like to be at the 200 worked level by next year at this time. I am close to 150 worked now, so we will have to see. Of course, with the addition of the tower and tri-bander, I am hoping that the totals will rise even more.

Lots of things to do over the next few weeks and months here and I hope that all of the effort will pay off soon with a good contest/DX station.

Catching up

2007-01-27T14:10:00.000-05:00

Other than the tower issue, ham radio has been on a back burner this week. I have been trying to get a bunch of QSLs out that needed to go. I sent out 30 envelopes on Tuesday to the contacts that are most in my log so that I can clean them up. I estimate that those 30 envelopes contained over 200 QSOs. I am also getting my cards together to send out for Libya, Burkino Faso and the VU7. Yes, I did get the VU7!!! I got them once as VU7RG and twice as VU7MY. I see the RG contact in the online log, but the MY logs are not online as of yet. So, I do have two new ones over the past month. That brings me up to about 150 worked. There are some interesting DXpeditions coming up over the next few months and I am hoping that the sunspots begin to cooperate!

Bureaucracy...

2007-01-27T13:59:00.000-05:00

Well, the wait has begun. Last Monday, I took all of the information that I had to the Code Compliance office for a building permit. That office was great and told me that they would issue a permit on the spot once I was signed off by Zoning and Environmental. I knew Environmental would be a piece of cake since I was just digging a 4 foot deep hole. Zoning was another question. The man who was reviewing my site plan said that I could only go to 35 feet because of code. He asked for engineering drawings, etc and I told them that they were left at the Code Compliance office. I asked if he had a computer that I could use to show him why I disputed his thoughts. When I showed him the state law that allows a 75 foot minimum tower by right, he got upset because obviously county code and state law are conflicting. He would not sign off on the plan until he cleared it with the county attorney's office. I called back on Wednesday and he said that he had not heard from the county attorney's office and was going to e-mail them now. If I do not hear something back soon, I am going to start the ball rolling on this side by contacting my member of the board of supervisors to start asking questions. The problem I have is that I work for the county!!!! So, if I stir up too much hate and discontent, it could come back to bite me. So, I am in a holding pattern and trying to get things moving on the tower. I want to get this thing up before spring, but things are not going so well with the zoning issue. I have offered to assist the zoning office with drafting a new code section that will incorporate state law and make it easier for hams to be given permits wherever possible, but was not very well received.

NAQP

2007-01-21T10:56:00.000-05:00

There were some real doubts about me being able to be in this one. I went to work on Thursday night and I was so sick that they sent me home. I stayed in bed for what seemed forever. I was taking everything that I could get my hands on to see if I could shake this head cold. It had affected by breathing and hearing. Of course, you have to be able to hear to contest, so I was worried. Saturday morning, I still felt like death warmed over, but went out and loaded up the logging program and fired up the rig. There was a Hungarian DX contest going on so I got N1MM configured and jumped in for a little while. I worked 7 or 8 and decided that was enough. I decided to be conservative and laid down again until about 20 minutes before the contest started. After a quick loading up of cold medications, I went to the shack. I was amazed that I heard the west coast on 15 meters and started there. After a while juggling 15 and 20 meters, I had to take a break. Then 15 died on me, so 20 was the band of choice. Then I started juggling 20 and 40. I was amazed how well people were managing on 40. There were tons of stations crammed into the little gaps between broadcast stations. After 20 died on me, it was just a matter of juggling 40 and 80 meters. I did take a few short breaks (that I did not count) and my required 30 minute ones. I even decided to give a try running stations on 80 meters for a bit, but I kept getting QRMed and had to creep up the band a bit until I ran out of room. During my run period, I was able to add a few mults that I needed on 80, so it was worth it. But, as with everything, it could not last and I was struggling during the last hour. I was alloted 10 hours, but I could only do 9.5 and that was probably too much as I feel really terrible this morning.

By comparison, in the August NAQP, I had 239 QSOs, 80 multipliers for a score of 19,120. This one was 366 QSOs, 100 multipliers for a score of 36,600. So, I achieved my goal of beating my last score. I actually passed the goal after about 6 hours in the contest, but I was feeling good enough to keep going (adrenaline rush, I think).

Those contesters who know me by my real name were confused last night by my using the name of Lee for the contest. Lee is so much easier to spell and less confusing than trying to give everyone the name of Hershel. Not only that, it is easier to hear when the band conditions are really terrible or there is lots of QRM. So, I did have a couple of people going for a minute or two like Jim, WX3B and Bob, W4MYA. But, they quickly recovered and all was well. I even heard Elvis on the air last night!!!

Larry and VU7RG

2007-01-18T17:11:00.000-05:00

Here is the shot of Larry working VU7RG. Unfortunately, I could not get his face and I definintely did not want to disturb him during this moment. What was amazing was that he got them on the very first call!!! That just goes to show you what a good station and antennas can do for you. Congratulations, Larry on the new one. Now just getting those other 3 for Honor Roll......

The field trip

2007-01-18T17:00:00.000-05:00

Here they are....two VIP's. My elmer (W3MGL) and a legend in contesting, Bob Morris, W4MYA. The first record I have of working Bob in a contest was in 1994. He has won numerous contests and ranks in the top ten of hundreds more. It was exciting to see his operation. He runs 7 stations, each dedicated to one band, so there are no antenna tuners. He has them all networked and has an impressive seven towers!!!! He also has numerous wire antennas. I hear him many times during contests and his signals are always booming here (of course!). Bob was a gracious host and even allowed Larry to work VU7RG while he was there. I felt like a young child sitting in the presence of a professor. Bob is very knowledgable and I was honored when he offered me a seat in the upcoming ARRL International DX contest - SSB in March. So, if all goes well, I will be at an awsome station for that contest. I am still enjoying the pleasure of spending time with one of the legends in radiosporting.

Today's big event

2007-01-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

Larry, Allyson and I are going out to breakfast this morning and then Larry and I are leaving on a great adventure. He does not know it yet, but we are going to visit a true contesting legend, W4MYA. I sent Bob an e-mail a while back and asked if we could come up for a visit and let Larry see his station and he readily agreed. We finally were able to settle on today for a visit. I just told Larry that we were going to see a guy in Richmond. I did not tell him who or why, so this should be a fun surprise for him. I can't wait to see the look on his face when we pull into Bob's drive. I am planning to take a few pictures, so I will put maybe a couple here.

The tower

2007-01-16T06:55:00.000-05:00

Well, I had planned on getting my permit yesterday. I was going to run down to the county complex with all of the paperwork I have and ask them what exactly they needed. There was just one problem. Well, actually two. First, I forgot that yesterday was a holiday. And, second, I had to go to the doctor's office on Friday for a rotator cuff problem. I have been in a great deal of pain for about a week. The doctor prescribed me high strength ibuprophen and muscle relaxers. The muscle relaxers do more than relax my muscles, they relax all of me. After taking the first doses, I was out of connection with the world for a day. But, I did get some needed rest!! So, I am having to watch when I take them so I won't be wiped out all the time. I am hoping to get to the county offices next week and be able to leave with permit in hand.

Local Radio Club

2007-01-16T06:52:00.000-05:00

Well, last Tuesday night I was elected president of our local radio club. It was not unanimous, but I am hoping that I will win everyone's trust eventually and make this club even greater. I want to especially work on the internal strife issue. We should be coming together for fun, not making fun. It was good to see a large turnout for the club meeting and I hope that it continues. I saw some people at last night's meeting that I had not seen in probably 7 or 8 years. I am fortunate to be serving with some wonderful people as club officers, so it should be a great year.

Kids Day 2007

2007-01-16T06:48:00.000-05:00

John operated in the Kids Day event again this year. He did much better than last year by making 15 contacts compared to the 4 he made last year. He is still getting "mike fright". He had a contact with a 15 year old YL who was wanting to talk and he found himself not able to talk to her. He had no problem with the exchange, but beyond that he did not know what to say. I told him to just talk naturally, but it was a problem for him. He is showing some interest and he might just get his license someday. He is going to go to Frostfest with Larry and I next month, so hopefully, he will get bitten by the bug while he is there.

Anxiously waiting...

2007-01-07T04:56:00.000-05:00

I have been following with some interest Scott Andersen's (NE1RD) blog concerning his upcoming Buddipole DXpedition to Monserrat this month. I have been feeling the anxiety of him trying to organize everything down to the smallest detail. I just finished reading his latest installment and we often forget about simple things, like food. Once he gets back, I want to pick his brain more about the logistics, especially since Larry and I are planning our own mini-dxpedition to the mountains of Virginia when the weather breaks. Of course, if the weather was like today (in the 70's), we could go on one of my days off!!!

I am interested into going on a DXpedition myself one day, so this is an interesting topic to me. Plus, since they are using Buddipoles, I want to see if I might be able to work them with mine!!!! That would be cool!!! A two-way Buddipole DX QSO!

Of course, I have to get through other things first. I need to send out the logs for the RAC winter contest. Then today is Kid's Day and John is definitely wanting to participate. So, I know what I will be doing this afternoon after church. This is his second Kid's Day, and like Dad, he wants to beat his previous score!

Local club issues

2007-01-06T18:47:00.000-05:00

Well, our local club is getting ready to have our annual meeting next Tuesday. My name has been placed in nomination for office and I have already signaled that I will serve if elected. Our club, in my opinion, needs a shot in the arm. We have the same bickering and back-biting that every other club has. We have the factions, CW/SSB, code/no-code, etc. It is my hope that in 2007 this club and every club across the country will get back to the essence of our hobby, that is, fun!!! We spend too much time arguing and not enough time learning from each other and promoting our hobby.

More contest news

2007-01-06T18:44:00.001-05:00

Well, I just got my January CQ magazine yesterday ( I was getting concerned because they are normally never this late) and found that I placed 7th in the US 4th call district for SOAB. I didn't think any more about it until this morning after getting home from work at 4am I was reading further and found that I am marked as earning a certificate in the Tribander/Wires category. It looks as though I placed 5th overall in that category. So, another piece of wallpaper as a result of a contest.

QSLs

2007-01-04T00:41:00.000-05:00

You know, one of the tedious parts of ham radio for those of us who are contesters is the QSLs. For me, as I am adding to my totals for DXCC and other awards, I need those confirmations. Unfortunately, I have made a number of contacts during 2006 (something on the order of 3,000 or so). That is a lot of cards. Fortunately, LotW has helped with the domestic cards. Unfortunately, not everyone is participating. I must admit that the security seems at times to be to be quite unnecessary and I think that the hoops that you must jump through to use the system is keeping many hams from using it. I currently have over 5,000 QSLs in LotW, but only 900 confirmed. Then, foreign stations have to jump through even more hoops, so many DXpeditions do not use the service. If there was some way for the League to make things easier for the DX community, I think that there would be more usage.

OK, I am off my soapbox now.......

I am now officially part of the DXCC!!

2007-01-04T00:34:00.000-05:00

Well, it finally arrived today.......DXCC certificates for both mixed and phone. So, it will be just a matter of framing it and getting it on the wall. Of course, I am hoping to add to the totals this year. I have heard the current 1A4A operation a couple of times and I am hoping to get it over the next week. Then, the VU7 this month will be another attempt. Wild Bill and the gang will be in Burkino Faso later in the month and I am hoping to get them in the log also.

So, there will be some good opportunities to add to the totals over the next few weeks. Wish me luck!!!!

Ringing out 2006

2006-12-31T02:28:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a whirlwind last couple of weeks. I have had a little time to play on the radio. I was able to make contact with Jim (WX3B) while he was operating the special event stations K3C and K3N.

I was never able to work (or even hear) the VU7LD operation. I was rather upset about that. I sure would have loved having a new country.

I made my first PSK31 QSO by accident!!!!! I was fiddling with the setup trying to get it to key up the radio, when I hit the CQ button. Next thing I know, I have a Cuban station coming back to me!!!! But I still have some issues as the rig is still keying up after it finishes transmitting. So, there is still work that needs to be done there. But, it was interesting!!!!

I have been working DX stations, but no new ones. So, I can't wait for the next DX contest so I can see if I can add a new one or two.

The holidays have put a damper on the tower project, but I am hoping to get the permit process started over the next week or so.

I did get a chance to work both W1AW and W1F for the end of the Hello Program that was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first radio broadcast in 1906.

I accidentally entered the RAC Winter Contest. This was not planned, but I heard someone calling "CQ contest" on 80 meters and I just had to check it out. I wound up making 20-something contacts while I was looking for DX and special event stations last night (Friday) and today (Saturday).

So, there it is......It is now officially getting close to the end of the year and I am hoping to work a few more before the year ends. I might enter the CQ DX marathon, but I will have to see. It just depends on how much time I can set aside to do it.

A QSO with Santa

2006-12-20T00:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday (Monday) Emma and I had a wonderful QSO with Santa (W6S). I must say that I enjoyed it as much as she did. I was surprised how she talked to Santa. I expected her to be shy, but she was not. She even got to see him on the webcam. She was very excited and it was an unexpected treat. Santa said that he had been doing this for 34 years and I must say that I was impressed on how well he handled the kids. I have got to send a card to his QSL manager and frame it for her when it arrives!

VE certificate

2006-12-20T00:05:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my ARRL VE credentials came in the mail. I am glad for this as I want to do everything I can to see the hobby grow and to encourage new people to join our ranks. So, with my new paper in hand, I am going to see if I can't get into my first testing session in April with our local club. I am also a W5YI VE, but I must be honest and say that I have not done a session with MPARC since I got my credentials. So, I need to get involved with one of their sessions also.

The FCC's latest R&O

2006-12-19T23:41:00.000-05:00

I have been reading a bunch of handwringing from people crying that the removal of the Morse requirement for licensing will bring about the end of ham radio. I have mixed feelings about the issue.

It is true that the removal of Morse will bring more people into the hobby. Some of those will be of a less than stellar quality, just like a cross-section of our society. But, I do not see us moving along the path towards CB radio. We are a self-policing group and the FCC still has an enforcement bureau. I do not forsee the FCC throwing up its hands and walking away from amateur radio like it has done with CB radio. Anyone who tries to hold out that we who are currently in the hobby are role models for what the amateur radio service should be have not listened to some of the rubbish down on 80 meters at night. I am embarrassed by what I have have heard there. But, thankfully, I have seen the FCC enforcement actions against some of these characters.

We must admit that our hobby is growing grayer. I am middle aged and am often one of the youngest hams at our local radio club meeting. We seriously need an infusion of new (and younger blood) into the hobby. It is up to those of us who have been licensed for a while to become elmers to our newer licensees and in this way we can prevent some of those bad habits that have been so feared in the past. Each of us (other than the embarrassing people mentioned earlier) have a part to play in the future of our hobby. Each of us has a particular portion of this hobby that we have become specialized in. Some of us focus on emergency communications while others focus on DXing and contesting. Others love the digital modes, while others love CW and have forgotten where their microphone is. Some have forgotten the code and focused on SSB. Our hobby is limitless and as Dave Bushong says it is truly 99 hobbies rolled up into one.

I unfortunately have forgotten the code by not using it and that is my fault. I was out of the hobby for a number of years (7, in fact) and never even turned on a radio during that time. But, now I am back and I am working on my code skills. Code may not be required for licensing, but I know there are many DXpeditions that spend more time on CW than on SSB. Since I want to enjoy the fullness of my specialities (DXing and contesting), I need to keep the code in my skills. So, over the next few months I will be working at improving my code skills and even taking the plunge and doing some CW contests.

So, in my humble opinion, they may take away the requirement for code for licensing, but the code will not be going away anytime soon!!!

The tower has arrived!!!

2006-12-19T23:34:00.000-05:00

Well, this gem arrived about 11am this morning and I was very happy to see it. Now the paperwork begins. I am hoping that we will get a couple of good warm days this winter and the tower can be up before the weather breaks. I have to see what the county requires for paperwork and then start jumping through the hoops. But, it is sure a welcome sight. I was amazed at just how light the tower truly is. With a rotor and antenna on it, it should weigh less than 150 pounds total. It is much more expensive than the Rohn 25G, but as it will not require maintenance, it should make up for the difference.

Speaking of DXpeditions......

2006-12-19T09:32:00.000-05:00

I talked to N2WB (Wild Bill) Sunday night and told him that I hope I have better luck hearing him on his DXpedition next month to Burkina-Faso than I am having with the current VU7 operation. He said that we should be able to hear them better. I truly hope so as I need that one for a new country!!!! I also enjoyed talking with Bill about the Peter I Island video that I got a couple of weeks ago. It is fantastic!!! You can order the video here.

I first heard Peter 1 back during the 1994 DXpedition, but was not able to work them. I was quite pleased to get them in February.

Upcoming DXpedition

2006-12-19T09:24:00.000-05:00

NE1RD and a group of other Buddipole operators including Budd himself will soon be heading for Montserrat. Check out the details of this DXpedition at: http://dxpedition-vp2m.com/ and give them a call!!! This might be the kind of thing that I could get Larry (W3MGL) to come with me on........Of course, he probably won't want to leave Virginia, but there is still a lot of places to go in-state!

ARRL 10 Meter Contest Results

2006-12-19T09:09:00.000-05:00

It's not enough for a big finish, but considering all I had going on that weekend, it was still fun. I just need more sunspots!!!!

ARRL 10-Meter Contest
Call: W4TMN
Operator(s): W4TMN
Station: W4TMN
Class: SO SSB LP
QTH: VA
Operating Time (hrs): 2
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
CW: 0 0
SSB: 58 20
-------------------
Total: 58 20 Total Score = 2,320

A Wonderful QSO

2006-12-15T23:50:00.001-05:00

Today while on my way to a seminar in Richmond, I ran into Curt, K9CH, who moved from Newport News to Hopewell this past summer. It was a wonderful QSO and I enjoyed catching up on everything with him. He is a professor who teaches communications and is just a fantastic guy. He gave a presentation on photography at the Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio Club meeting a number of months ago that everyone enjoyed thoroughly. He is a very talented person and a whiz with CW. He was John's (my youngest son's) first ever HF QSO and went the extra mile to make up a certificate for him and personally hand delivered it to him. There are a number of wonderful hams out there and I am priviledged to know and associate with many of them. I miss having Curt in the area for our almost daily QSO's.

On the way home, I was able to talk to Curt more until his wife, Edie came home and I let him get off the radio and spend time with his lovely wife.

So, it was great to hear Curt and to have his company as I motored in the Richmond area today. I am hoping that we can have more of these in the future.

Sad News from KE9V

2006-12-14T23:04:00.000-05:00

Jeff, KE9V, has said that he is going to shut down his blog......I was sorry to hear that as I enjoy reading his thoughts. But, fortunately, he is going to be continuing his podcasts!!! Even Allyson, who has absolutely no interest in becoming a ham, enjoys his podcasts. So, I am looking forward to continuing to listen to his well-done and thought out work on the podcast side of things.

But, even with the podcasts continuing, there is still a part of me that will miss reading about his interests and thoughts about many different topics.....

73 to ya, Jeff.............and thanks for not going totally QRT, just QRP!!!!

The Tower is Coming!!!!

2006-12-14T22:59:00.001-05:00

The folks at Universal Towers sent me an e-mail today saying that the tower went out the door today. They sent me the shipping company's tracking number and they are anticipating it arriving at my house on Monday. So, it is definitely time to get that permit to put it up in the air!!!

I am hoping that all goes well and the process will go smoothly. If so, we should be able to have the tower ready by the end of January if there are no hitches.

So, now it is about to get serious.............

10 Meter contest

2006-12-13T03:49:00.000-05:00

Well, I didn't get much time last weekend to operate in the 10 Meter contest and my score definitely showed it. I worked less than 3 hours and only made 58 contacts. This was not my best showing. There were a number of things working against me: a very busy schedule with church activities, an appointment with Santa on Saturday morning, sleep, family and propagation. The solar weather was terrible and the band seemed to be constantly shifting. On Sunday afternoon, I did get some trans-equatorial contacts, but they were few. I heard a Hawaiian station, but they could not hear my puny 100 watts. I then lost the Hawaiian in the static and started hearing West Coast stations. I worked a few and then the band shortened and I was able to add Minnesota and other 0 stations. Then the band shortened again and I had a pipeline to Minnesota!!! A couple more stations and then Michigan and Ohio were on the menu. The band got quiet, so I tried running stations and did get my QSO rate up to a respectable 40 QSOs/hour for a few minutes until the band stopped cooperating. After that, all I could hear is the despised bacon frying sound of static. So, it was very depressing. I still have to add the contacts to my logging program and send my entry to the ARRL. Hopefully, I will get this done over the next few days, along with posting my scores here on the blog.

Busy times!

2006-12-13T03:41:00.000-05:00

I ordered a 40 foot self-supporting tower on December 4th. I called Universal Tower yesterday and they said that it is expected to ship the end of this week or the first part of next week. It will be greatly welcomed here!!!

I have watched the 3Y0X DVD that I ordered here a few weeks ago. I would love to be able to go on a DXpedition sometime!!! Larry and I are planning our mini-DXpedition and all is going well on that front. We are going to do a test run at Larry's with the Buddipole set up in his driveway. If that turns out well, we are then going to go out to a location and see how many contacts we can rack up.

Tonight, I bought an automatic antenna tuner from one of our club members. I am looking forward to seeing how it helps my contesting. I have installed it and it seems to work just fine. I will give it a shot over the next few weeks and hopefully it will cut down on tuning time.

We had our club meeting tonight and we are definitely going to be setting up a special event station for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown next May. My work schedule does not lend itself to operating a lot from the special event stations, but I am hoping that I will get some time to go down and get on the air.

So, lots of things coming up.........These are going to be exciting times!!!!

WAS

2006-11-24T18:32:00.000-05:00

Well, I bit the bullet and applied for WAS today. I had to, because now I had no excuse. I have had the application paperwork for some time and have been eligible since the time I worked Alaska in the winter. I had just been dragging my feet. It was on my to do list, but I just had not done so. Today, I was downloading my LoTW returns and I found that a fellow PVRC member AJ1M had confirmed me so I did not have to send in that single WV card. I immediately went online and sent the application in to ARRL. So, I anticipate seeing that certificate roll in here in a few weeks. Now, if I could just get so lucky for my DXCC award!!!! But, I have the cards separated out and I just need to spend some time working on that one.

So, I now have one major award down and the other in progress......

November Sweepstakes

2006-11-23T19:03:00.000-05:00

This is the year that the PVRC is going to take back the gavel for Sweepstakes from the Northern California Contest Club. Larry and I planned to give our all for the PVRC. Unfortunately, Larry cannot do a full 24 hours. I had planned on a full 24 hours, but then I had to go to Pennsylvania because Allyson's aunt Shirley has terminal cancer and is only expected to live a couple more weeks. Allyson was going to go with her sister Christie, but then she would not make it home in time for John's baptism on Sunday. So, I went and had a good time. Of course, I did have my 2m with me and made a few contacts while on the drive. I was hoping to catch Jim (WX3B) on the Thurmont, MD repeater and say hello to him as I was driving through. Jim is the president of the PVRC and was very helpful in getting me voted in as a member earlier this year. I have found everyone in the PVRC very helpful and more than willing to help us small guns make an even louder noise during contests!

I was able to leave Lancaster, PA about 4:30pm on my way home. I was thinking that I would only miss about 4 1/2 to 5 hours of the contest that way. But, travelling with my 3 year old and my wife, it was not as easy as getting in the car and driving straight through. I will say that Allyson did not ask to stop often and for a while Emma was asleep, so I was able to get some drive time in. After a stop in Thurmont for a quick dinner, we were back on the road again.

I wound up getting home at about 10pm. I was hoping to be on the air by 10:30pm but I found that when I turned on the radio, the audio did not sound right. I checked everything in the shack and then headed outside where I found the feedline had broken over the past day in the storm that we had been having. So, solder gun in hand, I did a repair of the antenna and got on the air about 11pm. Fortunately, not everyone had gone to bed, so I worked as many by S&P as I could on 40 and 80. After about 2am, things started slowing down a bit and my rate was suffering. But, I hung on through the night until things got so slow that I decided to take a quick shower. Refreshed and ready to do battle again 20 minutes later, I got back into the fray. I walked away from the radio later in the morning long enough to wake up Allyson and go back to the hunt. When it got close to time for us to leave for church, I stopped and got dressed. John was going to be baptized and there was no way that I was going to miss this.

Right after church, I came straight home. Allyson had driven separately so I could get home quickly. Things went well up until the time I had to go back to church again on Sunday night. Again, right after church, we hurried home and I was able to get back into the hunt. I was very happy at the end of the contest when I realized that this was my personal best for Sweepstakes, even though I had operated much less than the alloted 24 hours.

ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB

Call: W4TMN
Cass: Single Op LP
Summary: Band QSOs
160: 0
80: 241
40: 83
20: 58
15: 10
10: 0
Total: 392 Sections = 73 Total Score = 57,232

So, my first contest as an Extra Class was better than my previous best, even though I did not work as long as I have in the past.

It was great to work a lot of the "big guns" during this one such as N4PN (always a wonderful QSO and a great contester), K0GAS, W6YI, KZ1O, KC1F and others!

I could not believe that I did not work a SC, SB, ND or AK this time. I can understand not working some of the Canadian provinces (I missed 4), but I normally get SB & ND. I heard only one SB and one SC and they were S&P like me. I heard an Alaskan, but they had a pileup that a stick of dynamite would have a hard time breaking. I heard not a peep of any ND station.

But, I must say it was fun, even though I was wiped out all day Monday!!

Equipment upgrades

2006-11-23T18:54:00.000-05:00

I have added a couple of Kenwood TM-271A radios to my equipment list. They are for the vehicles. I have started programming them for the various areas that I travel in.

I have added a Buddipole for Larry (W3MGL) and I to do some portable operations in the future.

I will be purchasing an aluminum tower soon from Universal Towers to put the tri-bander on so I won't have to deal with any more failures.

So, the contest/DX station is coming together nicely. I hope that this trend continues.

Extra Class exam

2006-11-23T18:46:00.000-05:00

On November 4th, I passed the Extra Class Exam. It was a real squeaker as I had not had the opportunity to study much over the past couple of weeks due to work, contests and family committments. I was ready to take the exam 3 times, if necessary. I told the lead examiner, W4NYY (Mike Conte) to just keep bringing me the tests as long as the money held out. I was not very confident of my ability. The more I studied, the more it seemed that I did not know. After I finished my exam, I just just sat there and closed my eyes (actually hoping I could sleep since I had to go to work that night!!!). They finally called me up and congratulated me. Needless to say, I was shocked. Joe (K4JJS) asked me if I knew how hard it was for the VE's to keep a straight face. Well, I was so excited that I nearly left the EOC without my jacket. I called Larry (W3MGL) to let him know and he was almost as excited as I was.

Now, I have all of the ammo that I need to pursue the DX and contest contacts that I need, frequency wise.

CQ WW DX - Phone

2006-11-23T18:37:00.000-05:00

What a weekend!!!! Allyson was very helpful in keeping distractions down to a minimum for me. I was able to spend lots of time working on the radio, but conditions were lousy. Saturday was pretty good, but Sunday was hard work.

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Class: SOAB LP

Summary: Band QSOs Zones Countries
160: 0 0 0
80: 1 1 1
40: 76 42 14
20: 219 71 20
15: 100 54 17
10: 1 1 1

Total: 397 169 53 Total Score = 236,652

It was my personal best for CQ WW DX, but it could have been better if I had the tri-bander up, my Extra Class ticket and more sunspots! Next year will be better. I did get a couple of new countries out of it: China, New Zealand and Dodecanese so it was not all bad!!

Pennsylvania QSO Party

2006-11-23T18:32:00.000-05:00

Pennsylvania QSO Party
Call: W4TMN
Operator(s): W4TMN
Station: W4TMN
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: VA

Summary:
Band Ph Qs
160: 0
80: 132
40: 143
20: 0
15: 0
10: 0

Total: 275 Mults = 63 Total Score = 19,725

It was a lot of fun, as always. The special call stations (N3SH) were everywhere. I racked up a lot of bonus points because of them.

Catching up

2006-11-23T18:27:00.000-05:00

I have not been able to do some catching up on the blog, so I am going to give the short and sweet version and then give more details later........

I have done the PA QSO Party, CQ WW DX phone, and November Sweepstakes contests.

I have purchased a couple of Kenwood 2m radios for the vehicles.

I am buying a Universal Aluminum tower for the back yard to put the tri-bander on.

I am still married, in spite of all of the above!!!

California QSO Party time!!!!

2006-10-09T21:24:00.000-04:00

Well, I did not have the use of the tri-bander for this contest. My only goal was to beat the 58 QSO's that I had in last year's contest. I was all set and ready to go on Saturday morning. I had the software loaded and working properly. The contest started and I was loving the fact that I was hearing a bunch of stations on 15 meters. Then it went all downhill from there. My computer started doing wierd things. My keyboard seemed to lock up. It was not wanting to work properly. The tab key would work, but everytime I hit the "6" key, the program would minimize and would not let me type anything more. I swapped out keyboards and that did not work either. I fiddled with it for a while and lost a number of potential QSO's because of the problem. Then, after it seemed to clear up, Allyson told me that the phone was for me. The contest was only an hour old and my boss was calling telling me that I needed to come into work because of the severe weather we were having. People were being evacuated from their homes and the phones were ringing off the hook in dispatch. So, I went into work. Almost 6 hours later, I returned to the contest. Conditions had changed and 20 was the band for action. I worked 20 as long as I could. When I switched to 40, there was no one there. So, I was prepared to call it quits about 9pm. I spent some time with Allyson and then went to look at my logs from last year. I noticed that 40 did not heat up until later, so I went back to check. There was some action there and was able to work a number of stations before the foreign broadcasters took over the band. I did not hear anything on 80, so I called it a night. After church on Sunday, things were hopping on 20 and 15 again, so I worked all I could until I finally had to take a nap. I was pleased that I almost doubled my score and number of QSO's this year. I worked all but 12 of the 58 counties this year, so I can say that I was pleased with the result, even though I had lost the use of the tribander. This is what the final stats looked like:

Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
160: 0 0
80: 0 0
40: 0 11
20: 0 75
15: 0 29
10: 0 0
6: 0 0
2: 0 00
--------------------
Total: 0 115 Mults = 45 Total Score = 10,350

I am happy with this, even though it won't be enough to win one of the bottles of wine in the contest!!! But, it does give me a goal to strive to beat next year.

WAE DX contest

2006-10-09T21:20:00.000-04:00

Well, I was finally able to get out my Worked All Europe DX contest logs. I had problems with the logging software I used and decided to re-input the few contacts I made into another program that would number everything correctly. I learned my lesson there.

Here is what the final results looked like for me......

Summary:
Band QSOs QTCs Mults
-------------------------
80: 0 0 0
40: 3 0 3
20: 24 0 14
15: 0 0 0
10: 0 0 0
-------------------------
Total: 27 0 17 Total Score = 875

Tragedy

2006-10-09T21:00:00.000-04:00

Well, it wasn't a hurricane or a even a tropical storm. But we had a nor'easter come through here this weekend. Winds were gusting up to 60 mph. When I came home on Friday the 6th, I found this waiting for me. Allyson said that she saw it coming over and it was a slow fall, fortunately. I did go out in the rain on Saturday and remove the tribander and rotor from the mast. There is some damage on the reflector end because it crimped a little bit of the mast when the weight of the antenna was pressed against the side of the mast. It does look to be repairable. Unfortunately, I was looking forward to using the tribander in the California QSO Party, but it was not meant to be. But, I am going to do my best to have it up in some form for the CQ WW DX contest at the end of the month. This antenna project has definitely been a big one, but I am hoping that I will be able to afford a tower soon so that we will not have to worry about these types of problems anymore.

Another dry spell

2006-09-29T08:55:00.000-04:00

Well, last weekend I did not get to play in the TX QSO Party after all. Between work, church activities and spending time with the family, I had no time for radio. I did get in there for a few minutes on Sunday afternoon and turned the radio on long enough to hear the last few minutes of the QSO Party. I was in the process of downloading the program from the N3FJP website when I realized that time was running out. Right now, I am sitting in a class in High Point, NC. I have been here since Tuesday and I am going through "HF withdrawals". I will get home tonight, but I am not going to turn on the radio. I have got to spend time with my wife and kids. My daughter, Emma, told Allyson yesterday that she wanted her daddy to "come home right now". So, that is what I plan to do as quickly as possible!!!

A long, dry spell

2006-09-23T11:26:00.000-04:00

I have been off the radio for a while, unfortunately. I had to go to Tennessee for my uncle James's funeral and I really did not feel like operating when I got back. That meant that I missed the Salmon Run that I was going to work with Larry. I was really looking forward to that. But, I will try to get with him and schedule another contest weekend with him soon. I did get on the radio yesterday for a few hours and had a good time. I found that I was last on the radio on the 11th. That was a whole 11 days off the radio!!! NOT GOOD for me! And then I have a trip to High Point, NC soon so I won't be on the radio then, but I will be able to have the weekend off to do a little radio. So, it was good to get back on the air. I did work a new one for me yesterday, Turkey. I worked my friend, Henry (TA9F). I have worked him before when he was in Miami using the call KA4UFT and had a long and fun QSO with him. I first thought he was at home and then I realized that he was in Turkey, so it was great to talk to an old friend and get a new one at the same time!!!

I also added France, Great Britain, Sweden, Iceland and Italy in the log. It was a nice afternoon radio-wise! I called one guy in Iceland and then he passed me over to his friend, so I got a two for one deal there.

I am hoping to work a little in the TX QSO Party this weekend, but I have our church's 50th anniversary dinner tonight and to work until 4pm, so I won't be able to work much, but I will work a few. I have never been in a TX QSO Party, so it will be interesting, I am sure.

Pictures of the tribander in place

2006-09-10T20:03:00.000-04:00

Pictures of the proud dad, mentor, elmer, senior member of the build team, and friend. (W3MGL). As you can see, he looks excited to be there!!!! Just ask him! He has been there through building the antenna to its going up.

Well, here it is!!! The first pictures of the tribander in place. As you can see, it is not as beautiful as a tower, but it is doing the trick. I went ahead and soldered a connector on the coax and put the antenna to the test on 20 meters for the Worked All Europe contest for a few minutes. Of course, the rotor is not connected, so I was shooting over the Pole and got some good contacts. I did my test and put it to bed until today. After getting home from church, I was able to work another 20 to give me grand total of 26 contacts. I was switching back and forth between the beam and the G5RV just to see how it was working. I actually got a better signal on the beam pointed north for Iceland than I did from the G5RV pointing generally east and west.

Today, after church, my sons and I moved the south end of the G5RV over a few feet to move it farther away from the tribander in case of wind blowing the two of them towards each other. John was the spotter and Justin was the safety guy. I had to shoot the antenna twice because the first shot actually flew over the tribander......NOT GOOD. But, the second shot was perfect and actually the whole antenna now is a couple of feet higher than it was previously.

Tomorrow, I will be rotating the tribander for the first time. It will be interesting to see what happens when it moves for the first time. Let's just hope that aluminum stays in the air!!!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

2006-09-09T22:42:00.000-04:00

Well, the tribander went into the air today!!!!! Joe (WC4R) and Larry (W3MGL) came over to the house along with a couple of my friends from church Christian and Ron. Ron brought his wife, Lori, with him. Allyson and Lori really helped out a lot during the critical stage of raising the mast to the full height. Allyson steadied the ladder I was on and Lori kept the mast from moving while Ron and I put it up to full height. Joe and Christian manned the guy lines and the whole operation took less than an hour. Joe and I shot the antenna launcher and got the end of the G5RV back into the air. So, now I am up with 2 antennas. I had to give the tribander a try even though I did not have the rotor connected yet. I was shooting north over the Pole and wound up working Germany, Iceland, and Wales, so I was quite pleased. You can definitely hear a difference with the tribander, even though it was not pointed towards Europe, but over the pole. Tomorrow, I have to do the final work on the mast and get the rotor cables hooked up. Larry wants to be here the first time I rotate the mast, so I might just hold off on that until Monday. It was so good to be back on the air again!!!!! Look for pictures of the new installation soon.

Next contest for me.....

2006-09-06T18:08:00.000-04:00

Well, I am not anticipating being able to do much contesting this weekend due to antenna work and the like. But, I am going to be working the Washington State Salmon Run on the 16th and 17th. Larry (W3MGL) and I are going to do a multi-op from his house using his call. We are going for the smoked salmon prize!!!! In the meantime, I am still trying to study for my Extra class ticket. This is definitely not a walk in the park for me, as I am trying to juggle work, playing daddy and husband, and studying. The anticipated date for taking the exam will be the first Saturday in October when the local club has a testing session. So, hopefully, I can squeeze it all in!!!

Picture of the tribander in its current state

2006-09-06T18:03:00.000-04:00

Well, I hope that this is the last week that the antenna will look like this. I am hoping that by this time on Saturday evening, I will be hooking it up to do a little radio!!!!

Goals to beat this year

2006-09-04T22:08:00.000-04:00

As the serious contest season is about to begin, as usual, I am looking at my scores to see how I can improve on them. Of couse, last year was my first year as a general class, so I had more frequencies to play with. Fortunately, the ARRL's website has great statistical data for their contests. So, it gives me a lot to look at and make my goals.

2005 CQ WW DX (SSB) as KE4GWV
Score 108,800
Placed 18th out of 67 entries for 4th call area SOAB LP

2005 November Sweepstakes (SSB) as KE4GWV
Score 40,176
Placed 5th out of 38 entries in class for Virginia
Placed 134th out of 709 entries in class overall
Placed 506th out of 1,441 entries for entire contest

2005 ARRL 10 Meter Contest as KE4GWV
Score 9,844
Placed 3rd out of 9 entries in class for Virginia
Placed 6th out of 22 entries in class for Roanoke Division
Placed 73rd out of 113 entries for all of Roanoke Division
Placed 55th out of 228 entries in class for US/VE
Placed 730 out of 1,225 entries in US/VE overall
Placed 87th out of 364 entries in class world
Placed 986 out of 1,912 entries world

2006 ARRL International DX Contest as KE4GWV
Score 114,756
Placed 4th out of 30 in class for Virginia
Placed 20th out of 64 in Virginia overall
Placed 5th out of 53 in class for Roanoke Division
Placed 38th out of 124 in Roanoke Division overall
Placed 60th out of 520 in class US/VE
Placed 400th out of 1,279 in US/VE overall
Placed 98th out of 970 in class World
Placed 613th out of 2,219 World overall

So, I have some room to improve. I did get a couple of first place finishes over the past year. I got first in James City County for the Virginia QSO Party and I took first place in the GA QSO Party for Virginia. Of course, it's not hard to be first in Virginia if you are the only entry!!!! But, these stats give me a goal to beat. At the bottom of the sunspot cycle, it will be a challenge, but I am looking forward to trying to do better this season!!!

Another picture of the tribander under construction

2006-09-04T21:55:00.000-04:00

This will be the last picture of the tribander under construction. The next pictures will be the ones I take tomorrow of it pointing straight up in the air awaiting the gang to come and put it up this weekend. I will be making some calls tomorrow to line up the antenna party. Of course, this is not the making of a major contest station like at K1TTT, W4MYA, or K3LPL, but it is definitely an attempt to make a competitive low-budget contest/DX station.

Keeping my fingers crossed

2006-09-03T23:47:00.000-04:00

I am hoping that we will be able to get enough help to get the tribander up this coming weekend so I can work a little of the WAE SSB contest. I am going to try to get with Dave tomorrow and see if I can borrow his antenna launcher on Tuesday so that I can least get on HF again. I hate being without HF and I at least want to be able to work the contest with just the dipole if I have to.

Here is a picture of the tribander being assembled

2006-09-02T23:39:00.000-04:00

Here is Larry supervising the operation and reading out the measurements. The picture quality leaves something to be desired since I took the photo with my cell phone. My wife had our regular digital camera, so I had to make do with what I had.

Ernesto pays a visit

2006-09-02T23:08:00.000-04:00

Tropical Storm Ernesto came for a visit yesterday. I was too busy at work to call home and see how things were fairing. On the way home, I called home and my wife said that everyone was OK. I asked how the tribander was and she had my son Justin take a look. He said it was all bent up and had fallen off the stepladder supporting the mast. Well, I checked on the antenna the second I got home. The stepladder had leaned over but had not fallen. The reflector was bent over a bit, but when I put the mast back on the ladder, it went right back into place. Unfortunately, my G5RV came down in the storm. It looks as though the wire from the northern end of the antenna was stripped off the insulator. So, I don't think I will have to add any wire to the antenna, but I will have to pull the rope down from the tree on the northern end and re-shoot it over the pine tree. I will have to see if I can borrow our club president's (KE4ZPZ) spud gun to shoot it. If he will let me borrow it, I will just re-shoot the whole antenna on both ends as the southern end is also much lower than it started out this spring. I would not have thought that the G5RV would have come down because there was a lot of slack in the antenna before the storm, but I guess the wind was really whipping around out there. I am hoping to get both antennas up in the next week or so. Unfortunately, I do not see myself getting them up this weekend, but hopefully next weekend. That will be in time for the WAE contest which I would like to try out the new tribander to see how it works. So, here I am, a ham with no HF antennas up at the moment. Of course, I could throw one end of the G5RV over a low limb and operate if I needed to for an emergency, but it is frustrating to not be able to operate. I have had this G5RV come down twice already since I purchased it this year. It does not seem as sturdy as the one I bought from Radio Works over 10 years ago. I still have that antenna, but I was keeping it as a reserve. I did take it to Tennessee in July and used it to operate from there, but I would like to have a sturdier G5RV, so I guess I will have to homebrew one the way I want it.

Ohio QSO Party

2006-08-31T17:59:00.000-04:00

Ohio QSO Party
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
80: 0 12
40: 0 38
20: 0 14
15: 0 0
10: 0 0
--------------------
Total QSO's: 64 Ph Mults = 39 Total Score = 2,496
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

It's not enough to win, but it was a lot of fun. I heard my friend Paul N4PN in there working them hard and, so far, it looks like he is the top scorer in the out of state category.

Glad the weekend is over

2006-08-31T17:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I definitely had an interesting weekend. Saturday, my family returned home and we had the tribander lying in the back yard ready to put on the 30 foot mast. I did operate a little bit in the Ohio QSO Party also. Monday, Larry (W3MGL) and I got things ready for Dave (W9NNK) and John (K6OWD) to help us put it in the air on Tuesday. On Tuesday, things started out pretty good. We got things together and then we found we needed better anchors for the guys. From there, things went downhill. John was not feeling well and had to leave us. Larry is a lot of moral support and a great source of knowledge, but at 80 years old, he is not much for helping with the physical labor! Dave suggested that we try another approach for lifting the mast with the antenna on it. So, I am going to make a saddle for a rope to ride over my roof and we are going to effectively use my house as a gin pole to raise the mast. Right now, with the holiday coming up, it looks like the earliest we could do it will be on the Saturday after Labor Day. So, still in good shape for contests!!! I am hoping to make the saddle this weekend, especially since it looks like it is going to be very rainy with the remnants of Ernesto travelling overhead. Then I am going to put out a general call out to the club for bodies. Hopefully, that evening we will have the tribander in the air!!!!

Upcoming projects

2006-08-15T07:36:00.000-04:00

I have a number of projects that I need to get done:

1. build a cabinet to keep the ham gear in & organize it better
2. put up the tri-bander in time for contest season

The tri-bander project is set to be finished in a couple of weeks, hopefully!!

What a weekend!!

2006-08-15T07:12:00.000-04:00

Because of my job, my weekend is actually Sunday - Tuesday. I had to adjust my schedule last week so I had off Saturday also. I was supposed to pick up my son John from his mother and meet her about 2 hours from my house. I had asked my elmer, W3MGL (Larry), if he wanted to join the rest of the family in the little adventure. He said yes, so we were off!! The only problem is that my ex decided to call and have John ask me if he could stay an extra day. So, I agreed. We then decided to have our own little adventure, which wound up having lots of ham ties. We visited my barber Sully, AD4RG, who cut my oldest son's hair and then did mine. Sully had not seen Larry for years, so it was a great reunion all around. Sully is now the EC for Middlesex County and has been a friend for many years. People wonder why I drive almost an hour for a haircut, but I am a loyal client. Sully did John's first haircut 10 years ago and John has only had his hair cut a couple of times by anyone else. We left from Sully's and had a wonderful seafood buffet at Carolina Barbecue at Gloucester Point. When we finished, we decided to drive along the beach at Yorktown where we found N1LO (Mark). Mark often operates from the park there and he had just finished operating and was going to play the banjo for a little while before he left. He showed us his rigs and told us how he operates and how a number of "homebrewers" meet there at the park to work, swap stories and have some great fun together. Mark is always coming up with ideas on operating and it was interesting to see some of his ideas in person. So, it was an unexpectedly fun day. Sunday, I finally worked YU6AO. I have been trying for a while, but just have not been able to get him. Actually, I worked him twice on 20m!! I did make a number of contacts, but in a casual manner as I was not feeling well. Now, most of the family has some type of summer bug that my wife brought home from our vacation. Yesterday, I had the interview for the Deputy Director of Emergency Communications position where I work. I realistically do not think that I have a chance for the position as I am not a political person and there is a lot of politics involved with the position, but I am going through the process anyway just to let my bosses know that I am interested in moving up.

Up, Up & Away

2006-08-13T00:12:00.000-04:00

Well, we are off and running with the blog.....We will have to see how it goes. This is a place for my musings about ham radio and contesting.....So, this is the first entry!