Oh...for a rainy day!

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE good summer weather and we’ve been blessed with A1 weather the past couple of weekends in this neck of the woods. Warm temperatures, sunshine, nary a drop of rain in sight. Perfect weather…especially at this time of year...to start tackling that seemingly endless “to do” list of outdoor projects. Just the type of weekend that keeps the dedicated ham far away from the shack. So…..on such a weekend, when there’s a juicy contest taking place, perhaps a rainy day or two wouldn’t be such a bad thing! “Honey, there’s no way I can get to the gardening in this driving rain….I’ll just take care of a few projects in the basement.” (Purely coincidental the shack’s in the lower level). But, no such luck this time, the sun was high-in-the-sky, the mercury was pushing 28 degrees (that’s about 80 on the Farfenugen scare).

As stated before, I’m not an avid contester in the sense that I seriously try to compete, but there are a few contests that tickle my interest just to make some contacts, perhaps pick up some far- flung DX and, in my case, knock the rust off my CW skills. This weekend was the CQWW WPX CW contest (enough acronyms for ya?!). The object of these WPX contests is to work stations with as many different call sign prefixes as possible. Because of this, you may hear some unconventional call signs on the air. Last year, Canadian amateurs with the VE prefix were allowed to use the special prefix XM to mark the anniversary of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Conveniently, the window of time for this authorization included the WPX contests. I took advantage and signed as XM3CH. This year however, no such special authorizations were available, so it was plain ole’ VE.

No bother, as operating time was very limited thanks to that stinkin’ great weather. So, in between power washing the deck (amazing what it looks like after blasting off ten years worth of wear and tear), and pulling grass and weeds out of a badly neglected garden, I managed to work a grand total of 50 stations over the course of the 48 hour contest. On top of that the bands seemed to, how do I put this delicately…..well suck, much of the time. I see ole’ Sol was somewhat active this weekend, which may have worked out well for the 6 meter folks, but it didn’t help out 20 meters too much, at least while I was tuning around. Most of the stations worked were the garden variety A, K, N, W & VEs, but I did manage a few DX contacts with I (Italy), 9A (Croatia), a couple from EA8 (Canary Islands), F (France) signing with a TM prefix, CT (Portugal) and CE (Chile) using the prefix XQ.

EA8-Land. Can you say time-share? See any Yagis perched on top of those condos?

Once again, I was reminded of how wonderfully efficient CW is as a mode. At times, I can call a station until I’m blue in the face during SSB contests, but it’s a rare occasion in CW that I don’t get a response after one or maybe two calls to a station calling “CQ test”.

Each time I play around with either CW or RTTY contests, I realize my desperate need for a narrower filter, probably 300 Hz, to be able to knock out the heavy QRM and the adjacent loud signals that tend to badly attenuate the signal you’re trying to copy. This time, however I had some moderate success using the Digital Signal Processor (DSP) feature on my Yaesu FT-897. This, after reading a few tips on the Yahoo group dedicated to this radio. By activating the DSP and lowering the RF gain, I was often able to get clear copy of the desired station despite a loud signal a few Hertz away. Maybe not a true replacement for a good CW filter, but quite helpful none-the-less.

I’ll have to check the contest calendar for the next good CW or digital contest. Anyone know a good rain dance?

Yes.....I'm still around!

Well…..hmmm, let’s see, over six months since a post....egad! When I started this blog last March, I promised myself I would try for a new post once a week. That schedule was maintained fairly well through the spring and summer, but then ran afoul in the fall. Truth is, I’m a busy guy! Work and family concerns, especially during the fall and winter months, mean much less time spent hammin’.

It’s May now. Ironically, summer isn’t exactly prime time for traditional HF contacts as the longer daylight hours means less good DX opportunities, especially on bands above 20 meters. Alas, that’s when things at work back off a bit for me and I have a little more time for RF pursuits.

For my throngs of readers out there in the Blogosphere (okay I’ve probably lost everyone with the posting drought, but maybe someone will stumble upon it from one of the hotlinks out there), here are what few radio highlights I’ve had since last fall.

Christmas DX to the North Pole
My little '2nd harmonic' Kaden (turning the big 0-5 in a few weeks!) had a contact with Santa Claus back in December. We even used his callsign VA3KDN for the occasion. No he doesn’t hold the Guinness record for being the youngest licenced amateur radio operator (who is the youngest licenced tot anyway?), Daddy decided to get an auxiliary callsign a few years ago that kinda works with his name. Should he actually want to pursue his ticket down the road, I can transfer the call to him. He may very well not be interested in the hobby (my older son didn’t take much of a shine to it), but imprinting positive ham radio experiences at a young age like a talk with big guy at the North Pole can’t hurt! Kudos to the guys with the ONTARS net who make this very special contact possible every year for many young hammies.

Contests
I did manage to spend the odd half-hour here and there making a few contest contacts. The bands were swarming with QRM in March as one of the “biggies” took place…the ARRL DX contest, SSB version. What was the most often heard expression on the air for this one?... “5-9 Kilowatt” I don’t know why the H-E-double hockey sticks I bother with these contests. With a mere 100 watts into a wire, the frustration level often runs high. But every so often, my pip-squeak signal manages to find its was through the ether to a far off land. If lucky, I won’t have to repeat my call sign ten times using every variation on phonetics I can think of…. “Negative, it’s Victor’s Eating 3 Crazy Hamsters!" Then, or course, getting my 5-9 signal report (err, why did I have to clarify my call and exchange 18 times then?). I particularly enjoyed working those seemingly few DX stations that were running just 100 watts (kindred spirits!). Most of the time their signals were maybe S3 or 5 (yes…I gave them a 5-9!), but in most cases they probably had the advantage of a decent directional antenna.

CW vs. Phone & special calls
I’m starting to prefer the CW contests, where it seems I have a much easier time making contacts, although I desperately need a better CW filter than the stock one that’s in my little FT-897.

Hopefully I’ll be able to spare a little time for the Continuous Wave version of the WPX contest coming up later this month. I don’t think there are any special prefixes available to Canadian hams this year. Last year I signed as XM3CH. Actually in the SSB WPX recently I made a handful of contacts as VG3KDN (borrowed the kid’s call!). The special prefix was to commemorate the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Managed to miss the Ontario QSO Party in mid April due to a family commitment. I used to really enjoy this contest, but haven’t seriously taken part in the past few years. I think it was 2002 when I actually managed to scoop the award for my county. Then again, I think I was one of maybe three stations on from ‘HAS’ (Hastings County).

I did a presentation recently at our local ham club on EchoLink. I operate an EchoLink simplex link at the college’s amateur station VE3ALC. It’s been on the air a little over a year now only a few of the local hams had checked it out. Of course with EchoLink you can operate directly from your computer. The local simplex node is usually connected to a small network of other links and repeaters in the greater Toronto area, Niagara region and even to a couple of repeaters in British Columbia. All you need to do is key the mic on the local 2-meter frequency on which I have it operating…and every once in a blue moon, someone will actually come back to you! I’ve noted from the systems electronic log that there have been some interesting users connecting from places like Hong Kong and Indonesia…places I can only dream of working on HF! Unfortunately these stations were connecting in the middle of the night local time, so I doubt that they got a response to any call.

That’ll do it for now. I could go on, but I’ll save that for another post which should appear quicker than it took for this one. Thanks for checking in and happy hamming!

CW on the cranium

I spent some quality time with my radio and CW keyer this weekend, casually taking part in the CQ WPX CW contest. I say “casually” participated because I usually only have a few hours, here and there, over the course of a typical weekend to devote to such endeavours. In all, I managed 125 contacts. Pretty good for me…but keep in mind the serious contesters finish with contacts in the thousands. In fact I was number 2000 for the Hungarian station I contacted just before 8pm local tonight (and I worked a few with serial numbers in the 3000’s).

I’d be interested to hear from other CW operators…to see if you, perhaps have shared this rather strange experience I’ve had. I think I hear Morse code mixed in with the white noise that certain household appliances make. No…my transceiver wasn’t on autopilot and sending RFI into the toaster-oven. And, before you call the nice men in white suits to take me away to the butterscotch hotel with the padded walls….realize that I know there isn’t really CW emanating from the vacuum cleaner, hair dryer or air cleaner. But…my brain seems to pick up what sounds like high speed CW buried within that hum or whir of the particular household gadget. Luckily I can’t decipher anything…or I’d be checking myself into the loony bin (then again I’m not good at copying the high speed stuff anyway!). This phenomenon only seems to occur (thankfully) shortly after I’ve been doing some CW work. It reminds me of a time a few years ago when I was having fun working the FM satellites. I’d be intently listening to the downlink frequency with headphones a few minutes before the scheduled pass…and I’d swear I could hear the hint of voices buried in the static. But, it would be a few more minutes before the real voices started to fade up.

Yup, the brain can do funny thins to us hams. Now…if only the vacuum would QSL.

CW Renaissance

After several nights of sending a shaky CQ on the ‘novice’ section of the 40 meter band and only hearing static, I was beginning to wonder weather the used rig I’d picked up at the fleamarket was actually emanating something resembling RF. Maybe I hooked up the mobile antenna affixed to my apartment balcony railing incorrectly, and the guy in the apartment below was watching a shower of sparks rain down. Finally, late in the evening of June 8, 1988, after sending CQ three times on my trusty old straight key, I heard a relatively faint signal with the familiar rhythm of my call sign. Fumbling for the pencil, sweat beginning to form on my brow, my toes curling…that first QSO was finally underway! It wasn’t rare DX, but that first contact with KA8WMX in Ohio was just as thrilling as nabbing a new country now. Over the next two years I made only a handful of contacts because, quite frankly CW still scared the bejebbers out of me! While I was semi-confident in my ability to send, I was always apprehensive about copying. Truth is, I looked at CW as a necessary evil to progress as an amateur operator, kind of like castor oil to improve your health!

Back then in order to be able to upgrade to the advanced ticket in Canada, which would give phone privileges on HF, you had to have, I believe, a minimum of 100 CW contacts in your logbook within a one-year span. I felt that was a truly unobtainable goal for me. Luckily the licencing structure changed in late 1990 and I was “grandfathered” to the advanced level. So at that point, I picked up the microphone and rarely looked back.

It wasn’t until a few years ago, after unearthing my old Healthkit electronic keyer that I built when I was 14 back in 1975, that my interest in the ‘original mode’ was rekindled. I’d built that keyer long before I got my ticket, and it was a very rewarding when the thing actually worked! That experience also gave me a love for the smell of solder. (I’ve since learned inhaling burning solder is about as health as smoking an old lead window frame!) After blowing out close to 30 years of dust bunnies, it still worked! I’m not sure why I close to learn CW on a straight key prior to getting my licence, but I now felt sending on paddles would ultimately be easier. I had to essentially relearn the whole process. I downloaded a free program called Morse Cat (great program, and it's fun to watch the kitty tap the straight key!). I also tried to catch as many of the W1AW broadcasts as possible to brush up before daring my first CW QSO in many years.

Well that first contact did come and with that old Healthkit keyer to boot! Shortly afterward, I upgraded to a nice set if paddles from MFJ. I don’t make a huge pile of contacts on CW, but every once in a while, when I’m feeling nostalgic for simpler times, or just feel like a challenge, I’ll give it a shot. I’ve also dabbed in a few of the CW contests, most recently the RSGB Commonwealth contest held this past Saturday. I admit, I do ‘cheat’ a bit by having a CW program running on the computer to aid with copying, but I do send manually and try to copy with a pencil as much as possible. However, in contest situations, the wpm rate of some of the stations would make a machine gun sound melodic...so it’s pretty much an essential tool! One thing I know for sure, I need to invest in a good CW filter for my FT-897. It’s inevitable, whenever I’m trying to copy one station, another strong one fires up nearby and attenuates a good chunk of the band. Ah, CW exhilarating and frustrating at the same time (like parenthood!).