Sunday, February 28, 2016

South Carolina QSO Party

I had an opportunity to work the South Carolina QSO party this Saturday, and added the following counties to my list:  Greenville, Georgetown, Aiken, Hollywood, Berk, Oconee, and Spartanburg.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

ARRL DX Contest

Had an opportunity to spend some time in the ARRL DX CW 2016 contest.  Result are modest, but I was pleased given the time I could put in the chair:

Total QSOs 335, Multipliers 178, Claimed Score 177,288

I look forward to processing my log and some new DXCC entities.

I ended the night with a nice QSO with Pete K0SWI where we exchanged SKCC, FISTS, and CC numbers.


Monday, February 15, 2016

Solar Storm and Freezing Rain

I had a very brief time in front of the radio and hoped to make a few psk31 contacts on 40 meters.  Signals were up and down and I had no luck in about 15 minutes of calling CQ.  I was out in the elements for kid pick up.  The snow earlier this evening changed to freezing rain.  As of bedtime we have 0.8 inches of frozen precipitation.

I happened on a nice mapping tool by K2DSL - ADIF to Map.   I'll be sure to use this in the coming weeks.  

Sunday, February 14, 2016

It's all about the cold

We experiencing brutal cold for New England.

My conditions:  Low temp minus 10, high temp plus 9 today.

The National Weather Services posts for today were sporting Pink for Valentines day (not really, just the cold):




Saturday, February 13, 2016

OK This is a lot of fun.

Record life-threatening Cold is forecast by the NWS.  This seems like a great day to stay indoors and work radio.   There are many contests on this weekend with alot of on-air activity.

Trying CQ RTTY WPX.  20 meters is crowded with RTTY - I'm not getting many replies.  I think I have a virtual sound card problem.

Ok - this is A LOT of fun.
First MARAC County Hunters Net Contact with KB0BA and N0XYL in Craig County, OK.
Randy, AA8R, is a great Net Control.  Rapid fire action - getting QSOs in the log while mobile ops moving on to the next county:

K0PFV
--Butler, TX
KB0BA and N0XYL
--Craig, OK
--Nowata, OK

I spent much of the day working on my station.  I finally pulled the Kenwood TS590s out of the box (after returning from the shop over 1 year ago - replace USB board).  This great rig is up and running again.  What a great receiver.




So Much to Do and So Little Radio Time

QRP Fox Hunt , Feb 12, 0200z to Feb 12, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: February 13.

CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest , Feb 13, 0000z to Feb 14, 2359z; RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: February 19.

SKCC Weekend Sprintathon , Feb 13, 1200z to Feb 15, 0000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6m; RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (SKCC No./"NONE"); Logs due: February 21.

OMISS QSO Party , Feb 13, 1500z to Feb 14, 1500z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RS + (state/province/DX) + (OMISS No. if member); Logs due: March 1.

FISTS Winter Unlimited Sprint , Feb 13, 1700z to Feb 13, 2100z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; FISTS: RST + (state/province/country) + first name + FISTS No., non-FISTS: RST + (state/province/country) + first name + power; Logs due: March 14.

PODXS 070 Club Valentine Sprint , Feb 14, 0000z to Feb 14, 2359z; PSK31; Bands: 160, 80, 40m; Name + (OM/YL) + (state/province/country); Logs due: February 28.

NCCC RTTY Sprint , Feb 19, 0145z to Feb 19, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: February 21.

ARRL International DX Contest, CW , Feb 20, 0000z to Feb 22, 0000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; W/VE: RST + (state/province), non-W/VE: RST + power; Logs due: March 22.

Feld Hell Sprint , Feb 20, 2000z to Feb 20, 2159z; Feld Hell; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; (see rules); Logs due: February 27.

Run for the Bacon QRP Contest , Feb 22, 0200z to Feb 22, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + (state/province/country) + (Member No./power); Logs due: February 28.

SKCC Sprint , Feb 24, 0000z to Feb 24, 0200z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (SKCC No./power); Logs due: February 26.

Friday, February 12, 2016

WX Report

Low temperature this morning was 8°F. Today was cloudy with wind picking up tonight. No precipitation. Expect lowest temperature of season tonight.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

NARL 2 Meter Info Net and QRP Fox Hunt

Login to NARL Net with 6 other stations

WV1X Steven CT
WA1YNE Wayne CT
K1SCI Stewart CT
AB1GL George CT
N1DN Phillip CT
K0BOG Charles CT
K1HEJ Lawrence CT

Participated in 80m QRP Fox Hunt tonight.  I heard Tim KR0U in Colorado but wasn't able to work him this evening.  I did have better luck with the east coast fox tonight, Tom KV2X in New York.  Tom was a solid 599 into CT and he replied on my first call.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Maryland Slow Net

Lesson #36 Basic CW NTS Course http://www.bdb.com/~msn/
NR 36 R  VE2KRM  23  Lacolle QC  Fev 11
Huckleberry Finn
72 Mississippi road
Louisiana MO 42062
545 249 1842
ALWAYS PAUSE SEVERAL SECONDS BEFORE
RETURNING TO NET IN CASE
ANOTHER STATION IS WAITING TO
CALL YOU WITH TRAFFIC OR
TO TAKE TRAFFIC X
GERY m

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

NAQCC Sprint for February 2016

Great Sprint.  I struggled with stations just above my noise on 40m, but enjoyed many QSOs on 80m.  I tried using a my \"new\" used Vibroplex Anniversary Edition bug, and switched back and forth with my old faithful J-38 key.  73 Phil

Call         Band  Time  Station      SPC   Num/Pwr New_mult  Pts
N1DN         40    0132  WX4RM        NC    4597    1         2 
N1DN         40    0153  K9QV         IN    8224    2         2 
N1DN         40    0158  NF5U         TX    142     3         2 
N1DN         80    0206  K4JPN        GA    841     4         2 
N1DN         80    0211  KQ3Z         PA    3702    5         2 
N1DN         80    0242  K1IEE        ME    3966    6         2 
N1DN         80    0244  N2HTT        NY    7596    7         2 
N1DN         80    0245  N4FI         VA    104     8         2 
N1DN         80    0248  AI2T         NY    5       -         1 
N1DN         80    0251  WG8Y         NC    4405    -         2 
N1DN         80    0252  W2JEK        NJ    1135    9         2 
N1DN         80    0254  VE3FMW       ON    6954    10        2 
N1DN         80    0257  KC3RN        PA    7338    -         2 
N1DN         80    0258  NQ2W         NY    4839    -         2 
N1DN         80    0301  NF1U         CT    7982    11        2 
N1DN         80    0304  AB4QL        AL    777     12        2 
N1DN         80    0305  N1PQ         MA    2215    13        2 
N1DN         80    0306  KA2KGP       NY    555     -         2 
N1DN         80    0308  VE3DQN       ON    5846    -         2 
N1DN         80    0309  KB1WXC       MA    6268    -         2 
N1DN         80    0311  WA2JSG       NJ    3457    -         2 
N1DN         80    0313  W9CC         IN    183     -         2 
N1DN         80    0315  K4KRW        NC    1815    -         2 
N1DN         80    0319  WA2EDN       NC    5706    -         2 

Friday, February 5, 2016

First Real Snow Fall of Season

And it's already February, 2016
Storm total here 6.9 inches