Category Archives: Contests

160 Meter Contest in the Bag

Posted on December 3, 2017 by robert

The contest ended at 11 AM local time, so it’s in the bag.  I finished with 302 contacts (only 17 DX contacts).  I was on for 5.75 hours on Friday and 5.25 hours on Saturday, so 11 total.  Probably spent … Continue reading →

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Wonderful Band Conditions for 160 Meter Contest

Posted on December 1, 2017 by robert

I’m only noodling around, running S&P mostly to find new states or countries.  Band noise floor is about -110 dBm, which is pretty quiet.  A few signals are 70 dB above that.  Most are 35 dB above the noise floor.  … Continue reading →

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Amazing LOTW Participation in NEQP

Posted on May 9, 2017 by robert

I just uploaded my New England QSO Party log to LowT and was expecting a few confirmations.  I was stunned when I saw that 60% of the 163 QSOs I uploaded were already confirmed not even 48 hours after the … Continue reading →

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New England QSO Party Fun

Posted on May 7, 2017 by robert

I don’t recall ever operating in the New England QSO Party before, but several emails were circulating encouraging activity, so I thought I’d give it a go.  Conditions were OK on the lower frequency bands — not a lot of … Continue reading →

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Winter Field Day — Satellite Success

Posted on January 29, 2017 by robert

I joined Newport County Radio Club, W1SYE, for their Winter Field Day again this year. The weather for New England was fantastic — in the low 40s dropping down to the upper 20s at night.  The only downside was a … Continue reading →

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Amazed at 400th Anniversary of Cervantes Radio Event

Posted on October 5, 2016 by robert

I am absolutely blown away by what the URE (Union Radioaficionados Espanoles – their equivalent of the ARRL) – put together to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes.  The event last for only THREE WEEKS, starting September … Continue reading →

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GOTA Summary – Field Day 2015

Posted on July 3, 2015 by robert

I’ve been organizing the GOTA operation for my club’s Field Day for the past several years.  Each year our goal is to max out our GOTA contribution, a goal that we’ve never met.  Depending on your definition, we either did … Continue reading →

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Field Day Irony

Posted on June 29, 2015 by robert

Well Field Day 2015 has come and gone, and I was able to snag another satellite contact to help garner some bonus points for my club (Newport County Radio Club) — Thank you NX9B, I was W1LY on the other end. Despite … Continue reading →

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Satellite Uplink Calibration

Posted on June 25, 2015 by robert

I finally had some time to ensure that my SatPC32 program was correctly calibrated to my Icom IC-9100 when using any of the three available linear transponder satellites.  While SatPC32 deals with doppler corrections (assuming the PC Clock is accurately set … Continue reading →

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Field Day 2015 Satellite Passes

Posted on June 24, 2015 by robert

With only a single operating FM satellite (FO-50), there is almost no chance to work it during Field Day.  The best chance is provided by one of the three operational analog satellites:  AO-7, FO-29 and AO-73.  AO-7 is an ancient … Continue reading →

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