2013 Wrap-up and 2014 Goals

Posted on January 1, 2014 by robert

Happy New Year!!!

2013 was a good ham radio year, even with somewhat disappointing solar activity.  Last year I set the following goals:

  • Get 175 confirmed countries in LotW √
    (Have 193 confirmed in LotW and 2 QSLs for a total of 195)
  • Work 225 countries √
    (Worked 229 countries)
  • Get DXCC Digital (Completing DXCC Triple Play) √√
    (Completed DXCC Digital and DXCC 10m, leaving only DXCC 80m for 5BDXCC)
  • Get a WAS Triple Play (CW, Phone, Digital) √√
    (Completed Triple Play #936 and 10m, leaving only AK on 80m for 5BWAS)
  • Submit an article for publication in QST  X

Not too bad, meeting 4 of 5 goals.  In addition, I became a VEC, taught two technician classes bringing 22 new hams into the state.  In the 34 months that I’ve been back on the air, 5,214 contacts have been added to my log, and my DXCC Challenge stands at 775.  Plus I added a new satellite (AO-73) to my log.

I had a ball during Field Day, International Lighthouse Weekend, and the Scouting Jamboree on the Air.  My club was incredibly gracious and recognized my efforts for 2013 with a beautiful custom made lamp (complete with beautiful Eimac 4-250 transmitting tube).

Lamp  Plate

So what are the goals for 2014?

  • Teach a Technician Class and General Class
  • DXCC endorsement for 200+ countries
  • 250 countries in my log
  • 90 confirmed countries on 80 meters
  • 5BWAS (getting AK on 80 meters)
  • Add another 1,000 QSOs to the log
  • Design a Raspberry Pi-based servo satellite tracker

 

Posted in From the OM, History, Operating | 2 Comments

AO-73 Working Just Fine

Posted on December 4, 2013 by robert

I’ve left my rig on during the daylight hours to automatically collect telemetry packets, and have now received over 1100 of them.  And at night, I’ve had successful contacts with a half dozen people.

The biggest challenge continues to be tuners/swishers who fill the passband with “hello” or “dit-dit-dit…” trying to find their own signal on the downlink.  At this point many users have confirmed the observation that the uplink has to be shifted higher (up/+) by 8 to 12 KHz from the published UL/DL relationship.  Given that the entire passband is only 20KHz that’a a big shift and explains why folks don’t hear themselves.  The next challenge is that the orbital parameters are off enough that the uncorrected Doppler shift is approaching 4 KHz.  Recent reports have indicated that the object thought to be AO-73 is, in fact, a different Cubesat, and that AO-73 is actually one of two possible other objects.  The final determination of which is which will take time.

Personally I decode very few telemetry packets at night when the beacon is dialed down to 30 mW — the beacon is just at the noise level for my antennas (omni directional antennas with about 4.7 dB of cable loss).  But I am still decoding 60 to 80 packets a pass during the daytime when the beacon is running 300 mW.  Those extra 10 dB make a lot of difference.

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WB4SON Plates Arrive

Posted on December 3, 2013 by robert

Right up front, let me begin by saying “This isn’t your parents DMV”.  I was shocked to be in and out of the DMV in 30 minutes with my new Amateur Radio plates in hand.  The last time I went there, probably two decades ago, it was an all day affair.

I only experienced two minor problems.  The clerk had never dealt with an Amateur Radio plate before (plate type “18”).  He informed me that I could not put that plate onto a truck.  I was armed with the facts and handed him a copy of my plate application which included the RI law 31-3-39 that stated it could be used on any vehicle with a GVW of 9000 lbs or less, so he went to his supervisor who explained how it was done.

The second problem was my misunderstanding — I was under the impression that the fee would be $31.50 for new plates.  Instead it was $54.50.  This was because they needed to cancel my original combination registration and issue a new registration.  The new registration expires 3 months later than the original one did, so it wasn’t a total loss.

And as of this morning, the plates are on my truck.

WB4SONfront   WB4SONrear

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CAT: A Water-propelled Cubesat

Posted on December 3, 2013 by robert

An interesting KickStarter campaign has shown up called CAT.  The objective is to devise a water-propelled plasma engine that can be fitted to a Cubesat in order to boost it to a higher orbit — even into deep space.

You can learn more about CAT here.

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Triple Play #936 Completed

Posted on November 26, 2013 by robert

The ARRL issued Triple Pay #936 to me today.  A fun factoid is that a good ham radio friend of mine, Dave, WB4KDI, was issued his just a  day earlier.  I sort of goofed up in the submission process, asking for WAS-Phone before WAS-Triple Play, otherwise, Dave and I would have been side by side.

TriplePlayWAS

Posted in LotW, Operating | 5 Comments

First Successful CW QSO on AO-73

Posted on November 25, 2013 by robert

(What a great name for a satellite!!)

I’ve had four passes of AO-73 over my QTH that have been in the transponder mode, but for the last three of them, while I was able to hear many signals on the downlink, I was unable to hear my own signal.  I had run some tests with FO-29 today to ensure that all was well with my rig and antennas.   I did an UL Correction (which takes into account any frequency differences on my end and the satellite end of – 700 Hz).  However that really was because I was in CW mode (FO-29 has an adjusted DL/UL of 435.850.45 and 145.951.45)

Now AO-73 is a different bird.  Its published DL/UL is 145.960/435.140.  Despite Doppler correction on both the UL and DL, I was unable to hear my own signal in the Downlink.  On the third pass earlier today, I thought I heard my signal with a UL Correction of about 10KHz, but that seemed way to high (I am used to values more like +/- 250Hz to +/- 2500Hz).  On pass four I was able to verify that a large UL Correction of +8500 to +11500 Hz is required.  I hadn’t tried anything that large before, and therefore never heard myself.

With a correction that started at +8500 and finished at about +9500, I was able to make a QSO with NM3B, Wayne, in Saint Marys PA (FN01).

Posted in From the OM | Leave a comment

Received 47 Telemetry Blocks for AO73

Posted on November 21, 2013 by robert

Funcube-1, now known as AO-73, was launched early this morning (about 2:10 AM EST).  I heard a pass around lunchtime, but wasn’t setup to decode it yet.  Even without decoding anything, it was a valuable experience, as it proved the signal level was quite strong, and it enabled me to come up with a better estimate of the actual beacon frequency by averaging the AOS and LOS frequencies.  My estimate was 145.935.250.

After dinner, I downloaded the necessary software, located the TLE file, and had my IC-9100 setup with HRD running it in RX mode to Doppler correct the beacon based on my earlier estimate of the beacon frequency.  Within moments of the predicted AOS, I was hearing the distinctive beep every 5 seconds between packets. Over the next 12 minutes I was then in decode heaven (9:15 PM to 9:27 PM EST – 0215 to 0227 UTC).

Using the Funcube Dashboard I was able to fully decode 47 frames.  The signal peaked around S4 a few minutes either side of apogee, but was still decoding with no movement on the S-meter well beyond that.  The final telemetry frame is shown below.

FUNCubeCapEnd

You can see the data uploads I made in the “FUNCube Data Warehouse”.  More frames would have decoded were it not for a rather strong spur that happened to pop into the passband as the satellite was dropping back down toward the horizon and Doppler was shifting the receive frequency down.  I think the decoder captured the spur.

FunecubeCapture

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Just Completed a Triple Play!

Posted on November 21, 2013 by robert

After coming to the realization that I wasn’t going to get my final necessary WAS Phone contact in LotW, a requirement of the ARRL Triple Play award (that it be in LotW), I was stumped, but reached out to a friend of mine who lives in Alabama, Dave WBKDI.  He gave me a couple of suggestions, one of which was Dennis, K4NV.

I wrote Dennis last night asking if we might be able to setup a schedule on 40 meters, and he quickly replied.  It turns out he had just installed a new OptiBeam on 40 meters a few weeks ago.  We were able to easily make a contact on 40 meters just about a half and hour ago, and Dennis had the LotW entry uploaded to LotW before we were finished.

Now to figure out how to apply for a Triple Play online!

Posted in LotW, Operating | Leave a comment

Hopes for WAS Triple Play Dashed

Posted on November 20, 2013 by robert

It is with some irony that I note I have received 49 LotW confirmations for SSB contacts made during this past Phone SS Contest.  The one missing confirmation is Georgia.  I made contact with SIX stations from Georgia but not a single one participates in LotW.  Not a problem, I figure, I’ll just ask for a QSL.  Nope, sorry, the rules are quite clear.  ALL the contacts MUST be confirmed in LotW only, no QSLs allowed.

Dang.

A nice ham from GA has agreed to try and help me with a Sked.  My fingers are crossed.

 

Posted in From the OM | Leave a comment

And the countdown begins…

Posted on November 17, 2013 by robert

I spend much of the weekend participating in the Phone SS contest.  Unlike last year, when my goal was a clean sweep on both CW and Phone, this year’s goal was to simply complete WAS Phone, which is the final requirement for a Triple Play on WAS (I already have WAS CW and WAS Digital).

Since I had a clean-sweep last year during the SS Phone contest, in theory I should already have WAS Phone.  But that’s only in theory.  The challenge is getting the confirmations into LotW.

When I began the contest I needed a total of 10 states to confirm in LotW.  And at this point, a few hours after I went QRT, 4 have confirmed.  So 6 to go (CO, GA, MS, MT, ND, WY)!  I worked each needed state 3-6 times, so I have more than one opportunity for each.

So how did SS Phone go?  210 QSOs, 81 Sections.  Surprised I never heard Newfoundland (they were on 10 meters the entire time it seemed), and I never heard PR at all (odd because N/S DX paths make that a simple multiplier to get).

EDIT: 18 hours later only two remain to be confirmed, Georgia and Mississippi.

FURTHER EDITED:  Turns out that none of the 4 Mississippi, or 6 Georgia stations I worked during the Phone Sweepstakes contest participate in LotW.  Dang!  So I dropped 10 QSLs and SASEs in the mail at lunch.  My fingers are crossed!  (Also a QSL request for W1AW — my most prized QSL as a Novice 43 years ago).

AND A FINAL EDIT:  One of the Mississippi stations must have just started with LotW because I received a confirmation 2 days after the contest ended.  So maybe one of the six GA stations will do the same.

Posted in Contests, From the OM, LotW, Operating | Leave a comment