On Sunday, May 6th, 2018 I rode my bicycle to a construction site with a good location for working portable. I set up my SOTABEAMS dipole and used my YouKits HB1B Mk III to make some contacts. The New England QSO Party event was being held that weekend and I worked 6 stations in a fairly short time.
It seemed like the sidetone of my HB1B devolved into lots of clicks and very little tone after a while. Not sure why but it was annoying. A great day for ham radio!
Sure, you can turn on your radio and spin the dial to see who you can hear right now. But, WHO SHOULD YOU BE ABLE TO HEAR?
The voacap.com website is an amazing tool. Use it to find out who should be able to hear you right now. Want to know the best band and time of day to contact a certain location (or DXpedition)? Watch this video and you’ll never play radio in-the-dark again.
I made a couple of FT8 contacts from here in St. John. I captured them for a video and then realized I probably needed to make a video about how to get started with FT8!
So, this video shows you how simple it is to configure and use the WSJT-X software to do FT8. I follow that up with some screen captures of contacts with Greece and France from my temporary vacation QTH here on the island.
I’m on vacation for a couple of weeks. I brought my KX2 to the Caribbean and made this quick video to show you my contact with Easter Island. I also show you my setup – which includes an unusual antenna. I hope to make many more contacts, as time (and the wife) permits! – Cliff
For more info on the antenna… see Page 9 of this manual… http://www.elecraft.com/manual/E740054%20KXAT1%20man%20rev%20B.pdf
The ARRL DX SSB contest was held this past weekend. Band conditions to Europe were No Bueno. I fired up my FlexRadio 6300 and made 4 quick QRP contacts to the Caribbean. Don’t forget that 5 watts are only about 2 S-Units quieter than 100 watts… so, as long as the receiving station has a reasonably low noise floor, you will be heard!
I heard a station calling CQ from Morocco and used my awesome little Elecraft KX1 to snag him… with only about 3 watts.
Sadly, the amazing little KX1 has been discontinued by Elecraft.
If McDonalds can keep bringing back the McRib, can’t we get Elecraft to bring back the KX1?!
Outdoors at a public park, I used a KX3 set to 1/10th of a watt… 100 milliwatts… to work a station in Finland. They were loud to me so I had a feeling I’d be able to get through. Now, this is a SuperStation in Finland with great antennas. My signal was ultra-weak but the QSO is in the logbook!
When you send Morse Code, it’s best to provide the proper amount of space between letters and words. This makes your code much easier to understand. In this video, I talk about the timing of Morse characters, proper spacing between letters and words, and options for handling the end of a thought/sentence.
Just because we’re putting out less power, it doesn’t always mean that our signals are weak. If propagation is good, even 1 watt can sound great. Check out these two examples… – Cliff
If you want to work a DX station in a pileup, you have to learn how to Work Split. In this video, I explain the process, give an example with a diagram, and then show how to Work Split with a KX1, KX3, and a FT-817.