Author Archives: robert

CWops CWT Silver Medal Achieved

Posted on July 21, 2023 by robert

As of early yesterday morning (3 AM), I completed CWT #90 on the year.  This earns the Silver Medal (which I achieved my first year).  I need 30 more contests to get to 120 and earn the Gold Medal (which … Continue reading →

Posted in CW, CWops, CWT, Propagation | Leave a comment

Solar Cycle 25 now out of prediction bounds…

Posted on July 11, 2023 by robert

As I type this, my side of the planet has undergone a sudden R2 radio blackout due to a M 6.8 solar flare.  Sadly no 40/20/15 meter contacts for the next few hours. As I was confirming the flare, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Propagation, Solar Cycles | Leave a comment

POTA Hunter Award for 900 parks

Posted on July 10, 2023 by robert

Yesterday I received confirmation for park #900 ().  This puts me closer to one of my goals for 2023, working 1000 parks. My goals for 2023 are: Teach a class (either Technician or CW Academy) Participate in 120+ CWTs for … Continue reading →

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Gold medal for 2022 CWTs

Posted on July 4, 2023 by robert

While I was taking the advanced CWops classes I started participating in their weekly CWTs (short one hour long CW sprint contests).  For the 2021 year, I finished with a silver medal (meaning I had participated in at least 90 … Continue reading →

Posted in CW, CW Academy, CWops, CWT | Leave a comment

Meanwhile, quality LiFePO4 batteries last and last and la….

Posted on June 2, 2023 by robert

After reporting the failure of my Miady 16 AH battery (lightly used less than 3 years old), I dug out my “backup” battery: a 9.6 AH K2 Energy battery, purchased in mid 2011.  That battery is 12 years old.  It … Continue reading →

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Spoke too soon re: Miady 16 AH LiFePO4

Posted on June 1, 2023 by robert

After “fully” charging the battery, I put it into service during a POTA activation.  Imagine my surprise when 10 minutes into the activation my radio shut down.  I suspected a battery failure, but didn’t have a backup with me. When … Continue reading →

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Self-discharge Miady 16 AH LiFePO4 battery

Posted on May 27, 2023 by robert

Back in 2020, I purchased an inexpensive 16 AH LiFePO4 battery from Amazon, made by Miady.  Initial testing indicated that it was optimistically specified, as it tested to be 15.24 AH, but that wasn’t bad given it was about a … Continue reading →

Posted in LiFePO4, POTA | Leave a comment

Thanks to Rob KD1CY for another SKYWARN class!

Posted on May 18, 2023 by robert

Rob KD1CY gave another SKYWARN class on May 13th.  That happened to be the 5th one I’ve taken (2011, 2012, 2014,  2018, and 2023), so that’s an indication of how good they are. Many folks don’t  realize that federal disaster … Continue reading →

Posted in SKYWARN, Weather | Leave a comment

First K4D RF on-air!!

Posted on April 20, 2023 by robert

Right after Elecraft announced the K4 line, I was interested, having owned a K3, then K3s, along with many of their kits and other do-dads.  But at the time, I figured it would take years for the K4 to become … Continue reading →

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Added Hawaii to POTA WAS list

Posted on March 26, 2023 by robert

The Parks-on-the-Air (POTA) program is somewhat unique in that they have 51 entities listed for Worked All States (WAS); the usual 50 plus DC as a “wildcard”.  I had worked DC, so when I had 49 states confirmed this January, … Continue reading →

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