Contest contacts

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Rob Smith

QSO Rate

QSO Rate

This past weekend, I had a some time to spend in the contest. Saturday, we went to an event is San Pedro called Steam Carnival, and Sunday, I had some things around home to get done. But there was still plenty of time to make a few contacts in the CQWW SSB contest.

Before the contest, started up the logging software (win-test), tested the equipment, and tuned up the linear for ten meters. For me, if I am able to start at the very beginning, somehow it makes me more interested in doing well in the contest. If I get a late start, or if I am not setup & ready prior to the contest, I am not as motivated to get started. This is especially true for those other contests that have a serial number in the exchange.

Friday afternoon, as the contest started, the band was filled with stations from Asia and the pacific. Starting at 28.300 Mhz, I tuned up the band and tried to work each DX station I could hear. Occasionally, I would turn the beam to South America. The station were packed up past 28.600 Mhz, and continued to 28.800 Mhz. Some stations were just too close together to get a contact with each of them. Many of the callsigns were familiar from prior contests, but it was good to hear a few new calls among the mix. I was not on for very long, but was on long enough to get me started.

I didn’t get back to the contest until Saturday afternoon. The logging software was still running, the antenna was pointed to Asia, and the linear was tuned up. Having had a start the day before, I was eager to get back into the contest. Once again, I went to 10 meters to dial up and down the band making contacts with those not already in the log. This time I stayed until the band started to fade out (or until I started to fade. I am not sure which…).

Sunday morning, I was able to get on the air shortly after the band opened to Europe. The stations were packed in all the way up to 28.900 Mhz., which was much higher in the band than I had heard in a number of years. After being in the contest for a few hours, I tuned across ZS9M and jumped into the pileup. It took awhile to get through the pileup, but after making a contact, it was time for something to eat. Then, something came up that kept me away for the remainder of the contest.

This year, it was not a serious contest effort. All the contacts were hunt and pounce. There were many long periods where I was not on the air, but I did enjoy putting some stations in the log. My log has been submitted as 10 meters, single operator, high power. Now to start thinking about the CQWW CW contest on November 29 & 30, 2014.

Posted in Contests, DX | Leave a comment

A Simple Project

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Rob Smith

Ground wire attached

Ground wire is attached to the copper pipe

It sounded simple. Add a common ground for the all of the radio equipment in the shack.

Some of my equipment, like the linear, had a ground wire attached to an eight-foot solid copper ground rod, but some items still needed a good ground connection.

My brother gave me a half inch copper pipe. I bought some ground rod clamps, mounting brackets, and the best copper wire I could find. There was not an easily accessible place to mount the copper pipe without re-arranging desk and equipment. So, under the desk looked to be the next best place that was close to everything and in an area where I could get to it.

After some measuring, I cut off about 10 inches of pipe, attached the clamps, and then began to fasten it to the desk. At this point, I was lying on my back, twisted under the desk. I didn’t have enough hands to hold the pipe, screw, and screwdriver all at the same time, and even if I’d had enough hands, I didn’t have room for them. Also, I couldn’t see the marks that I had made for the screws.

After a number of attempts, and a couple of new marks on the wood, I finally got the pipe attached. The hole in the wall is jammed with coax lines to the antennas, and it took some struggling to get the new thicker copper ground wire out to the ground rod. Once that part was done, it was easy. One end of the wire was attached to the ground rod, and the other end in the shack was attached to the copper pipe using one of the ground clamps.

It was now ready to connect to the equipment… but I used up all the copper wire.

Posted in Fun Pictures, General, Home Repair | Leave a comment

Makerspace

Posted on July 26, 2014 by Rob Smith
Makerspace

Makerspace electronic workbench

Recently attended the grand opening of a new makerspace in southern California. A makerspace is a place that offers access to wide variety of expensive tools that an individual might not otherwise be able to afford. In the Urban Workshop in Irvine, there was a laser cutter allowing you to use a software drawing program to develop the design, and then have that design etched into some material like glass. A 3D printer was also available for use, and another large machine for cutting designs into wood. There were the typical pipe bending, lathe, and metal & wood working machines as well. Tucked away n another room was an electrical bench. Along with a soldiering iron and power supply, there was a signal generator and an oscilloscope.

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Field Day 2014 Antenna Setup

Posted on June 29, 2014 by Rob Smith
Field Day 2014

The CW station at the PRC, JPL, & CatTech Field Day site 2014

Here are some of the members of the Pasadena Amateur Radio Club, JPL ARC, and Caltech ARC setting up their antennas. The beam show here has 2 elements on 10, 15, and 20 meters. Coming down from the pole on top is a 80/40 meter dipole, built just prior to field day.

The JPL and Caltch clubs combined their efforts to provide this CW station to the Pasadena ARC field day in a joint FD effort. We got the antenna up, but the dipole was too close to the pole, and one of the separation insulators came lose. Fortunately, there were enough engineers on hand to resolve the problem.

Setup started a 7 AM. After the antenna issue was resolved and a minor computer setup item was fixed, the station was on the air within minutes of the contest starting.

Posted in Contests | Leave a comment

Ready For Field Day

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Rob Smith

Field day should be fun this year. I will be stopping by the Pasadena Radio Club field day site. Both the Caltech and JPL amateur radio clubs will be sharing field day with the Pasadena club. It should be a casual operating style and allow for individuals to learn about or try some aspect of amateur radio that they do not normally do.

Posted in Contests | Leave a comment