Well THAT didn’t last long…

Posted on January 16, 2018 by robert

Sure enough, within an hour or so, some work was done on the IGC website, and the positions reported have changed around a bit.  For example, here in RI, I’ve moved down to 2nd place.

The key parameter now is “Total Grid Score”, which appears to be tracking unique grid-band points.  Note that I am still in the lead in terms of “Total Unique Grids” at 143, but Russ is in the lead if you take into account his grid-band points.  I am unsure what the significance of “Total QSL’s” is, nor what it is tracking.  From 0000Z on Jan 1 2018, I have a total of 202 LotW confirmations.  Of those, 12 were for contacts made in 2017 or earlier, so that is a total of 190 confirmed QSOs for 2018.  This does not compare to the 178 figure reported above (perhaps it is QSOs with unique call signs?).  I can believe the 169 Total Grid Score as there are several cases that I’ve worked the same grid on multiple bands.

Hopefully the IGC webpage will be changed so the “Total Grid Score” is between the “Call Sign” and “Total Unique Grids” column, and some explanation will be added as to what “Total QSL’s” means.

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Lots of progress in the past week

Posted on January 16, 2018 by robert

The International Grid Chase continues.  I’ve managed to put in a few hours each day of the new year to get on the air.  I’ve probably had about 20 QSOs a day, and somewhere around half of them have confirmed in LotW (international stations are notoriously bad about confirming in LotW).  For the moment at least, I’ve managed to crawl my way up to the #1 spot in RI, and 973 out of 15,000+ globally.  Several of the other RI fellas are quite active and will probably reclaim the lead soon.

A side benefit of grid chasing has been a small uptick in my DXCC Challenge band-point count, and three new states on 160-meters.

Posted in 160-Meters, DX, Grid Chase | Leave a comment

Grid Square Hunt Marches on

Posted on January 10, 2018 by robert

In the past 10 days I’ve worked about 200 stations in the grid chase.  A big issue is that less than half of them are confirming via LotW, which is the key for the contact counting.  RI, being a small place, still has several stations in the hunt.

I plotted the first 70 Grid Squares that were confirmed today just to see the spread.  Here’s what it looks like on the map:

And in terms of what is going on in RI in the contest:

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Ryan has Success with CAS-4B QSOs

Posted on January 3, 2018 by robert

I mentioned that I’ve been mentoring a neighbor that lives a few houses down the street from me.  Ryan is 11 years old and in the 6th grade.  Ryan hopes to be a meteorologist when he grows up and understands the role that Amateur Radio plays in obtaining information on the ground and in real time, so he’s hoping to get his Technician license later this year.

As we get together every couple of weeks, I try to have a planned on-air activity for him that I can use as a vehicle to discuss some of the rules and regulations, as well as what is required to complete a successful contact.  Today was Ryan’s first chance to make a contact via a satellite — in this case CAS-4B.

I had spoken with Fred, K8II, on a prior pass, and Fred promised he would listen for Ryan’s CQ.  Sure enough he heard Ryan, and they chatted for about 5 minutes.  After Fred signed off, Glen, NK1N, in New Jersey gave Ryan another call (we also heard WB3CSY calling but had lost the bird by the time we finished with Glen).

Thanks to Glen and Fred for helping to make today a special day for Ryan.  He was smiling from ear-to-ear.  Not too many 11 year-olds can claim to have spoken to someone via a satellite!

Posted in AMSAT, CAS-4B, Satellite | Leave a comment

ARRL International Grid Chase Underway!

Posted on January 3, 2018 by robert

Don’t forget that the ARRL International Grid Chase is now underway and runs all of 2018.  While there is an implication that this is a “special” event, it really isn’t.  Any contact you make that is confirmed in LotW counts.  So normal QSOs, contest contacts, etc. will all count.  Here in RI we are off to a fast start with 15 folks in the running so far:

You can check your score here:  https://igc.arrl.org/leader-board.php

 

 

Posted in Contests, Grid Chase, Operating | Leave a comment

Straight Key Night (Day?)

Posted on January 1, 2018 by robert

A New Years Eve dinner and party kept me off the air last night, but I made a point of dusting off my old J-38 key, and firing up a QRP rig that I had built to put 4.5 blazing watts of power out to my loop antenna.  The RBN values weren’t too bad (but I discovered in the process that my QRP rig thinks it is about 0.4 KHz higher than it really is).

Anyway I had a couple of nice chats, including a long one with Randy KB4QQJ running Special Event Station K3Y.

 

Posted in Operating, QRP | Leave a comment

Happy New Year! Goal Review

Posted on January 1, 2018 by robert

2017 was a very productive year for my ham radio hobby.  At the beginning of the year I set the following goals:

  • Teach a Technician class
  • 265 confirmed countries
  • 1250 Challenge band-points
  • Successful ARISS contact at BHHS
  • Complete 1 QRP Kit
  • Convert from HRD to DXLABS

The only goal that wasn’t competed was 265 confirmed countries — I only managed 262.  It’s going to be slow going from now on.

I taught a very large (for me) Technician Class in Oct/Nov.  I had over 30 students, 26 eventually took the exam and passed.  23 techs and 3 generals.  19 of them have joined my club, so it was a good year for NCRC as well.

Speaking of NCRC and classes, I was presented with an Educational Award at the end of the year.  While I don’t have an exact number, I’ve taught somewhere around 10% of all the hams in the state of RI at this point, and am marching on (my next set of classes is scheduled for March 20).  The award has established a scholarship fund in my name.  Needless to say, I was VERY touched by the recognition.

The ARISS event at BHHS was successful, although as it turns out I had nothing to do with it (Mike K1NPT did a fantastic job).  It was changed from a direct contact to a Telebridge contact via an Italian ham, so no RF was required here in RI.  That said, I did join the ARISS organization as a Mentor, and have been coaching the Museum of Science and Technology in Syracuse NY through their first ARISS proposal and contact, so I’ll count that as a check mark too.

I did convert from HRD to DXLABS and started using the latter for a few months.  However, eventually I went back to HRD which just seems to work better for my style of operation.  JTALERT relaxed the HRD ban a bit, and a few versions have supported logging which is one of the key reasons I wanted to switch.

I accomplished a few things of note during the year as well.  I worked seven new (to me) Amateur Satellites (XW-2A,B,C,D,F, CAS-4A, and AO-91).  I rebuilt a HP3225A synthesizer that will allow me to participate in Frequency Measurement Tests (FMT) in the future.  I had confirmed contacts every month of the year, and I continued my five year streak of publishing at least one blog entry every month.

My goals for 2018 are:

  • Teach a Technician Class
  • 265 Confirmed Countries in DXCC
  • 1,275 Challenge Band-Points
  • 160-meter 40 DXCC AND 45 WAS
  • Compete in a FMT
  • 3D Print an electronics project case

Happy New Year!!!

Posted in Education, From the OM | Leave a comment

Year-end DX/WAS Summary

Posted on December 31, 2017 by robert

2017 was a slow year for DX & WAS.  I suspect due to a combination of working most of the easy ones and a rapidly declining Solar Cycle 24.  It is hard to imagine how poor things will be for the next three years, until Cycle 25 starts to pick up (If Cycle 25 ever happens!! The magnetic field strength of the sun has gotten so low it is approaching the point where it can no longer sustain spots. Because of the weak magnetic flux, there are some that are predicting we might not have another solar cycle until 2100.)

I’m finally starting to keep track my 160-meter activity, as I’ve made some progress during 2017.  My 160-meter DXCC count is up 9 countries to 38, and WAS is up to 42 from 37.  I have worked every state except AK and HI (I do wish more people would confirm using LotW), and I’ve heard HI, so there is hope that I might someday get 160-meter WAS.

I’ve finished the year with 262 confirmed DXCC contacts, an increase of 4 from the end of 2016, and my Challenge count is now up to 1,262 band-points, an increase of 27.  Getting to 1,500 will be hard.  If one excludes 160-meters, that would be 8 bands requiring 188 countries per band — even with 160-meters, it is 167 countries per band.  Bottom line is I suspect I won’t be getting to 1,500 band-points until close to the peak of the next solar cycle in 2024, assuming Solar Cycle 25 starts around the end of 2019.

12-meter WAS still continues to be elusive, and it would be highly optimistic to think I would work WV any time soon as there has been almost no 12-meter activity.  I’m sure that there are openings, but there aren’t enough people on the band to make it show up on the spotting networks.  So I’ll be stuck at 7-band WAS for the foreseeable future.

My Satellite activity as inched up a bit:  WAS is now up two to 24 and DXCC is up one to 6

Posted in 160-Meters, DX, Propagation, Satellite, Solar Cycles, WAS | Leave a comment

Configuring TM-D710GA for APRS Indoors

Posted on December 20, 2017 by robert

That last word “Indoors”is the clue…

The TM-D710GA has a built-in GPS.  Not surprisingly, it does not receive indoors, and it has no provisions for an external antenna (only an external GPS receiver).

I had setup the radio for A-side APRS, and B-side Club Repeater (also on 2 meters).  Diving into the menus I entered a fixed GPS location and time, since I wasn’t receiving the GPS signal.  Try as I might, I could not get a Beacon out of my radio.

Turns out the problem was the lack of GPS sync.  Turning off GPS resolved the issue, and I now have the radio configured to beacon whenever I press the “BCON” button.  Sweet.

Posted in APRS, Gear, TM-D710GA | Leave a comment

A Few More AO-91 QSOs

Posted on December 5, 2017 by robert

There was another high pass of AO-91 around noon today, from 1716 to 1730 UTC.

I worked Dave NA2AA (FN20/NJ) at 17:23 and Phil W1EME (FN32/MA) at 1726.  I only had audio copy from about 1722-1726.  Even with a mast mounted preamp, my egg beaters are not doing well with this bird (no leaves on the trees either).

 

Posted in AMSAT, AO-91, Satellite | Leave a comment