February 5th, 2010
Every Ham radio operator keeps a log. Each contact made is recorded either with a paper log or electronic. With the addition of the Internet being integrated with amateur radio, some of us automatically upload our log entries to the Internet. One of these sites is sponsored by Ham Radio Deluxe, the maker of the software when interfaced with your radio, allows your computer to completely control the radio. Now my friends and family can see my “real-time” activities on my amateur radio and view my log and see locations I have talked to from my humble flagpole antenna.
Here are the links:
http://www.hrdlog.net/ViewLogbook.aspx?user=K4BSC
You can see the countries I have talked to here:
http://www.hrdlog.net/Map2.aspx?user=K4BSC
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February 5th, 2010
Had an interesting program meeting at the YCARS clubhouse in January. Ric Porter, AA4SC, gave a presentation on DX on 2 meters, bouncing your signal off of the moon to communicate with other amateur radio operators on the other side of the earth. Seems the moon is in prime location on its orbit and is the closest to the earth for a few months. 2 Meters is typically used for short distances for tactical communications and local repeater use. The presentation talked about the theory, software needed, and antenna considerations. Since the signal is so weak, it is considered a digital mode of operation needing a computer interface.
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December 18th, 2009
Well, it’s time for my monthly post to the blog. What should I talk about this cold December night? Well, at this months business meeting for the York County Amateur Radio Society (Rock Hill, SC), I was elected President (Yeah!!!). I am really excited about the coming year. We have a really good core of member who attend regularly. They all seem to understand the club doesn’t run by itself and they all pitch in based on their talents and time available to make the club a success. I am planning for some good program meetings, doing more service events and some monthly activities in the radio room. I am also looking to do more to advertise amateur radio in the community. You might see some scout troops providing flag ceremonies at program meetings. We definitely will participate in scout activities such as radio merit badge classes, Jamboree on the Air, etc. There will be the Bike Race, Nets, Field Day, and many social get-together’ s. There will be Breakfast at Rosies Restaurant one day a month. There will projects around the clubhouse to do some needed maintenance and sprucing up.
CQ, CQ, Cee Que at the radio club house!!!
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November 11th, 2009
Had an opportunity to spend 5 days in the Great Smokey Mountains, in Maggie Valley, NC. My wife’s business enabled her to barter the use of a home half way up the side of the mountain. I took a week off from work and loaded my hobby into the car and the wife and I headed up there. This time I used the EagleOne portable antenna (http://w8afx.com/) I setup the Kenwood TS-480 with coax going out a sliding glass door and insulated the opening as best I could for the cold mountain nights. I put up the antenna tripod in a good level area in the driveway and staked it to the ground. I also attached three radials to each leg and then extended the 31′ mast with the wire inside. At the base of the antenna, I use an LDG 4:1 balun, using the built-in antenna tuner of the KW TS-480. Wow, what a great portable antenna. My first contact was N8W operating from the Seney National Wildlife Refuge at Seney, Michigan during the National Wildlife Refuge Week Special Event. Other stations I QSO’d that day were in Ohio, Spain, Italy, Maine, Georgia, and North Carolina on 40 meters SSB. What a great few days, driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway, visiting shops in Asheville and Cherokee, NC and enjoying the cool crisp November air of the mountains. It was a very enjoyable vacation.
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October 24th, 2009
Participated in the Boy Scout “Jamboree on the Air” (JOTA) event held at the YCARS clubhouse today. Had a good turn out as you can see from the picture. It went the full 3 hours but time seemed to whiz by so fast. They boys were very attentive, asked a lot of questions and were very engaged the entire time. I did a presentation on the different aspects of amateur radio and how it is used for emergency preparedness. Brian Dale – AD4XJ, gave a presentation on the science of radio such as wave length, frequency; and on radio safety. He also talked on the requirements for the Radio merit badge.
Steve Kelly - WB4QNI
Steve Kelly (in picture)- WB4QNI, brought in a display of different morse code keyers and a setup to let the boys see, touch and feel morse code. After this we went into the radio room where we had two stations setup. Brian showed them some digital modes such as SlowScanTV and PSK31. We then set them up with contacts on various bands using the club callsign, K4YTZ. I was on the UHF/VHF band and Brian was on HF. Each boy had a “log book” with them and they filled out information about each of the their contacts.
In terms of getting new HAM’s, yes! Brian and I are meeting with them again in December to do their Radio merit badge, and again in March. I will be teaching a class for them to get their technician tickets. (including their Dad’s!) This was very fun and Brian and I agreed, this was the first of many JOTA’s to come!
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September 20th, 2009
At the Shelby Hamfest on Labor Day, I stopped at the Lakeview booth (www.hamstick.com) and bought some hamsticks. I got the 10, 20, and 40 meter flavors. I have a huge magnetic puck that I screwed on the 20 meter and placed it on top of the car. It was dead around 11pm. Nothing, not even CW was heard (cloudy, humid, scattered showers around). I screwed in 40 meters and put it back on the magnetic mount on top of the car. I had some decent QSO in nearby states like Tennessee. and Iowa. And England came in 5×9 but he couldn’t hear me. I struggled with a QSO with K7IOC. He was 4×6 for his report and the report he gave me was 3×4. But WE DID get each other’s call sign, city (he was on an Island), names, and report. Did you catch that? I am in South Carolina and he is in Washington State!!! This was on my KW TS-480 in the car on a 40 meter Hamstick on the car. What is interesting is there is big metal garage door to the west of the car, about 5 feet away. I don’t fathom how the signal could have cleared the garage.
I will use the 10 meters hamstick for a local net at 10pm every Saturday night called the Hoodlum net. It works real nice for a NVIS antenna. Where I can’t work local states with the flagpole, the hamstick seems to catch some of the local traffic in North and South Carolina and Georgia better. I actually heard someone in my own city on the 20 meters hamstick. I still need to try it on a tripod with a radial that I have for the Bluestar portable antenna.
I would say the number of operators heard is not as great as the flagpole but you can still work DX and really far stations if you are patient.
Tags: antenna, portable
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August 3rd, 2009
Rather than having to scan for pictures in this blog, I am keeping my photo blog separate. I will help me better manage them with categories. I have started with some pictures of the flag pole antenna and a bike race where I provided service as a radio check point.
Enjoy:
http://www.aimhighest.com/K4BSC/Gallery/index.php?x=browse
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July 19th, 2009
10 meters has been a problem. There is a local net in the area called the ‘Hoodlum’ net on 10 meters. It runs at 10pm EDT every Saturday night. The flagpole just doesn’t pick up the local folks.
Solution: The KW TS-2000 has two HF antenna ports. I went to the local Truck Stop and picked up a CB antenna. (10 meters…). Came home, screwed it into a spare magnetic mount puck and mounted on top of the car. (never will drive around with this huge antenna on top of the car…) Parked the car close to the shack and attached it to my TS-2000 via a LDG KT-100 autotuner. Last Saturday night, I was able to join in the net for the first time. I was able to hear all the local participants, about 10 folks.
Now I have to remember to remove the antenna puck from the wife’s car before she drives off…
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May 22nd, 2009
OK, time to catch up on the blog. The shack is fully operational. I have successfully had conversations with amateur radio operators in many foreign countries and many states using my radio. The shack consists of Kenwood TS-2000, SGC 237 smart antenna tuner, Astron RS-35M power supply, Kenwood SP-430 speaker, Heil HM-10 microphone with PTT base, Ham Radio Deluxe Computer Control, DM780 Digital Control Software, and Gateway GT-6545E Computer running Vista. The antenna is the 24 foot Force 12 flagpole antenna.
The first time I fired up all the components, I was able to have a 59-59 conversation with an operator doing a DX-pedition in Costa Rica. What a christening after laying down only 4 radials in the grass. I now have 8 radials and will install 4 more this weekend. The logbook is getting populated now with many European, Canadian, Mexican, Central and South American QSO’s. I have also dabbled in PSK-31 and got some good contacts there. Reaching California from South Carolina with PSK-31 is rewarding and validation I have made a good choice for my stealth antenna. I can’t wait to see the results of putting down four more radials.
This is way too much fun!
Tags: antenna, DX, ham shack
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January 29th, 2009
when I first heard the terminology of the “HAM SHACK” I envisioned these ham radio operators out in some shack where they do their radio craft. OK, I get it. It could be an office in the basement, a desk area in the bedroom, a shed in the back yard, even on the kitchen table. Whatever configuration we setup our communications center, I still don’t have what I could call even close to a shack.
When I bought the house, I wasn’t a Ham. I had no idea I would someday need a space for antenna’s in the yard (I am in a highly covenanted neighborhood) or some some space to hang maps and setup computers, transceivers, power supplies, antenna tuners, amplifiers etc etc. You just can’t setup anywhere especially if the better half has her ideas of decorating. The other thing to consider is where are you going to put your cables, grounding, and holes in the floor/ceiling/wall to get your equipment to the proper antenna that propagates your signal to the Ukraine.
I did operate for awhile in the garage. In the spring and fall that was fine but my garage is uninsulated. The winters and summers are too extreme to comfortably operate without heat or air conditioning.
I also don’t have a window that faces the backyard, only french doors windows to the deck from the dining area. I have been cultivating some bushes on the side of the house and have purchased a feed through panel. My computer system is in an armoire in the kitchen, necessitated by my moving out of my office to accommodate my son that moved back in with us. Hopefully the evergreen bushes will cover the mess of wires coming out to various temporary antenna’s I may setup. (Remember the covenanted neighborhood. Thank heaven for flag poles! And now you know the rest of the story.)
Tags: antenna, feedthru, ham shack
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