#83 Cayman Islands

I was happy to see ZF1A from the Cayman Islands confirmed Our contact from the recent 10m contest.I've had other contacts with other Hams from the Caymans but this must be the first one using LOTW.I expect a few more to trickle in from other DXCC's and I plan to participate in the upcoming ARRL RTTY RU contest this coming weekend so I might add a few more then. I've also heard KC4AAA from the south Pole on 20m but the pile ups are big. He actually takes the time to talk to contacts instead of a quick signal report. It does make the pile ups  last longer but its fun to listen to the exchange.

73---Tim

2012 RAC Winter contest & E51E

This is the fourth year I've participated in this contest and have improved My score each year. This is always a congienial and fun contest and this year was no different. It started at 0000 UTC December 29th  and runs 24 hrs ending at 2359 UTC December 29th. As always My time actually contesting was but a fraction of  the contest period  with Me pulling the plug early Friday night and starting again  Saturday morning. The bands did not seem to be really good at this northern Minnesota location ,with 10m a now show! Probably should have tried 160m later Friday night but was just too sleepy.
  I did stumble a bit with My typing skills and needed to remember to change the frequency manually on N1MM because My CAT connection from My FT-950 to My PC is not working. This did cause a little "dupe" confusion! Very embarrassing! I also fat fingered the "O" and "0" several times--not cool! Besides those operator error issues,My equipment worked well! I ran this contest as a single operator ,all bands,low power and SSB only! I used My Yaesu FT-950 into either a ground mounted Butternut HF6V vertical or a 260' Dipole depending on the band.
  I had contacts on 160m thru 15m with the most contacts being on 20m. I was able to contact 12 of the 13 Provinces and territories only missing (NU) Nunavut and contacted 10 of the 14 RAC Official stations multiple times between the bands. I also had 3 DX stations and many USA contacts.Plus I had a station from Hungary I contacted who I found out was in a different contest! During My time on 15m I heard E51E from a small island in the South Cook chain and made a contact with Him--neat!
  This was a very fun contest!  Here are the results: 120 QSO's,28 sections for a total of 33,544 points.
During this contest also had some "lake effect" snow to make it a perfect Winter contest!
73---Tim

#82 Nicaragua

My contact during the recent ARRL 10m contest was confirmed with YN5ZO from Nicaragua for confirmed DXCC # 82. This was one of a few contacts during this contest I had hopes of a confirmation. I've worked Nicaragua before on both RTTY and Voice but until now I had not worked anyone who used LOTW. Still hoping for a few more !
  Christmas Eve Day-- where did this year go? I've had some medical issues this Year but overall I'm doing well with a good outlook towards 2013. On this blessed Holiday I'm thankful for Family ,friends,a steady job, etc,etc :)) May God bless You!  Hope to hear you on bands!!
 73---Tim

2012 ARRL 10m contest

I had planned to operate this contest as much as possible but I was quite sick for the whole week before so I ultimately only operated for a limited time. During the different days and time I did operate the conditions were very unusual. Sometimes it seemed like a VHF contest with the "E skip" type of pipeline propagation and other times like a meteor scatter event. Whole parts of the United States I never heard( Canada too) and other parts were like a direct pipe. The same could be said about South America and less so with the Carribean. I never heard a single European station which was really weird.
  The first night-Friday was the pipeline to Georgia and surrounding states. Next morning was South America and later Saturday evening was again the USA but more of the Northeastern seaboard States. I never had a chance to operate Sunday so I don't know what the conditions were like but I have heard the last several hours were good.
  This contest also gave Me a chance to compare My ground mounted vertical against My new 10m Yagi. The yagi is only at 20 feet high but definately out performed the vertical for almost all contacts. Propagation  might have played a role but I'm very satisfied with My new Yagi. Its great to have aluminum in the air even at a lower height. I did have many times of trying to break pile-ups where some QRO power would have been nice. I even tried "running" a frequency a few times but truthfully was too tired and weak to have delt with any pile-up!
  I added three Countries i've worked before but have never been LOTW users- I hope these new contacts are!! It would be nice to add some more DXCC totals! This was a very poor showing but under the circumstances I was just glad to participate. Did have a few "dupes" at Me- one was I believe two stations directly on top of each other. I didn't hear the others full call but He must have heard mine!
  Here's the damage-- 64 QSO and 32 mults for a little over 4000 total points. Below is a screen shot of the DXmap website of the 10m activity on Saturday. notice the western tip of Lake Superior doesn't show any activity reaching it! Yes--thats where I am!

  73-- Tim    more snow on the way this weekend!!!

Trinidad and Tobago added to total

I just noticed My contact with 9Y4D from Trinidad and Tobago was added to My LOTW account. We had a short QSO in October 2011 on 20m SSB. This gives Me 81 confirmed DXCC's of 101 worked. Slowly getting there!!
  While on the ARRL site I noticed big changes with LOTW now and in the near future. They have added a link to see current log status so We're not in the dark about processing times. For instance tonight looks like they are about 9 days behind!! Wow. It was indicated LOTW will be down for maintenance and new equipment soon-- This Friday? Hope it helps with the traffic and cuts down on the processing times.
  I'll write My 10m contest experience soon when i have time. Very limited contest for Me. Till then----
73---Tim

5T0SP and a pedestrian portable!

Its always fun and satisfying to contact a new DXCC and I was fortunate to contact 5T0SP in Mauritania twice so far. Mauritania is in western Africa just North of Senagal and this DXexpedition is active from November 24th to December 10th. I just happened to see them spotted on 40m at 0300 UTC running split on 7.160 and tuning there I found them about S3 on My ground mounted Vertical. Not a huge pile up but I had no luck with a contact so I continued listenening and spent time on the computer. Eventually I heard them increase to S7 or more so I gave a call- third time surprisingly was a charm. He repeated My call and I hoped He had it right because it sure sounded like a "J" was missing. Luckily  checking their website the next day verified it was correct . I also added them to 15m with just one call thr next morning!! Amazing!! They are also LOTW users so I will have another DXCC to make My total 81 verified and an even 100 worked.
 The same day I was checking 17m and heard an exchange between two portable stations. I listened for awhile and realized one was in My town. Steve- KD0ETC was operating pedestrian portable from a picnic table in a local park. The temperature outside was a balmy 20 degrees fahrenheit and He was having a great time! When He finished his QSO I contacted Him and had a very nice chat. He has operated portable from many local parks and even has a website explaining his set-up. It can be reached from his QRZ page. Maybe when I retire I'll have time for some warm weather portable operation.Sounds fun!
 73---Tim    Remember the ARRL 10m contest this weekend!!!
PS- just added 5T0SP on 20m SSB !

Remember upcoming 10m contest

The ARRL 10m contest starts at 0000 UTC December 8th and runs until 2399 UTC December 9th- - for Me that means this Friday at 6:00PM  CST to Sunday at 6:00 PM CST. Usually not much action Friday night although the bands have been open ocassionally so I'll try to check it out.
  I've been watching the email reflector I'm a member of and observed the recent 10m RTTY contest wasn't too great up north although the 160m CW contest sounds like conditions were pretty good and last weekends CQ WW CW contest was excellant! I thought about the RTTY contest this past weekend but have not been up to any radio activity. I've been very ill but on the mend now -- hope lots better by this weekend!!
 73---Tim

Another Email Certificate

Picture is not very clear but the certificate is from the Split Rock Lighthouse special event held in November.I've participated several years in a row and have received certificates from years past and each one is nice in a different way. Each has a history of the wreck of the "Edmund Fitzgerald" and also pictures of the ship,lighthouse and event participants. It also has My contact information of which I had two QSO's with them this year. All in all a nice momento!
 73---Tim

 

RAC Certificate

I received this certificate thru email from the Radio Amateurs of Canada for My participation in the RAC Winter contest 2011. I won 1st place for the US Zero call area SOLP SSB only. I've participated in this contest for about three years and last year I had more time to operate. Not a huge score to win first place but I was real pleased to receive this award. The winter contest is fun and relaxed and I enjoy it alot. I will definately try to fine the time to operate again this Year. It starts 0000 UTC December 29th and ends 24 hours later .
 73---Tim

CK6S QSL & N1MM new version

Received this nice QSL card from My 20m contact with the Calgary Stampede special event station in July of this year.I think this was happening during the same time as the 13 colonies event.
 I also updated My version of N1MM logger from 12.7.1 to the lateset ver 12.10.03. I also downloaded and imported the latest country file-- WL_CTY_DAT.  N1MM logger will bring up the correct website --its under the "tools" menu. Be aware some issues possibly popped up after the recent ARRL Sweepstakes contest so a newer version might be available soon. The programmers for this logging program are very swift to react to any known issues!
 73---Tim

Incredible Storm!

I've watched this storm grow from the hurricane that brushed by Us in Florida to the huge,devastating storm that Sandy became and My thoughts and prayers go out to all effected by it! This storm is even reaching Us again in the midwest although only a minor rain and wind event now. I've been watching the news and listening to the radio when I am able. Totally incredible-- glad our worst flood in June up here was only a fraction of this storm . I'll take a good old fashioned Winter blizzard over these rain events any time!
73--Tim

Just missed

I haven't posted or been on the radio because We've been on a family trip to Walt disney world. We had a great time but towards the end of the week started to see weather issues.Luckily it stayed East of Us although for a brief time We did have rain and higher winds but that soon passed.Yeah!! Missed out on the CQ WW SSB contest and it sounds like the conditions were very good. Next year!!
  73---Tim

Just been busy....

Yes! Its been very busy both at work and home so I haven't had any chance for radio other than an occasional HF Net! No storms lately so no wind damage but have had a small amount of rain which We very much needed. It also coincidently seemed to help My DSL speed increase  from 2 meg to well over 3.5 meg-- go figure!!
  I still need some time before the snow flies for tree trimming around My antennas- maybe soon.
 73 for now!--Tim

XML & HRD plus more DXCC and G5RV fix

Well I finally took the leap and subscribed to the QRZ XML subscription service so QRZ information will automatically populate My logging program. It did require upgrading from HRD ver 4 to HRD ver 5. Version 5 even does its backups to an XML file whereas the older version saved it to an Access file. Its very nice to have some of the info fill in but the grid locator information is not working . It was working but i tried to change the program to have some other fields fill in and lost the locator grids. I need to become more familiar with the new HRD 5 program.
  ARRL's LOTW finally caught up to all the downloads from the recent RTTY contest and  added My information. Surprisingly this gave Me 6 new DXCC's confirmed. Several I had logged many times but it was during this contest I finally contacted a Ham using LOTW!! I added Asiatic Russia,Austria,Cuba, Guadeloupe,Senagal and Venezuala to give Me 79 confirmed and 99 worked! I also added 36 WPX contacted to bring My mixed total to 403-- enough for an award!
  I also found time this weekend to repair the downed leg of My G5RV. The trees have sure grown fuller since that antenna was first put up. I spent some extra time trimming branches so its now in the clear! Checks great now with the analyzer!
  catch ya on the bands!
 73---Tim

2 New DXCC

Last  RTTY contest I managed to work 2 new DXCC out of 81 total DXCC worked. OE6MDF from Austria and FG5LA from Guadeloupe make it 99 total worked. Hope they confirm thru LOTW but I  also sent each a card thru the bureau .
  Strong winds last night broke one end of My G5RV antenna so tomorrow I need some time to fix it. Thankfully that appears to be the only damage! Snow flurries here tonight--brrr!!!
  73---Tim

CQ WW RTTY 2012

 Its been very busy lately but did find time for the RTTY contest. Will write more when I find time!

Band       QSOs      PTS       ZN      CTY      DX

3.5           1             1           1            1          1
7             45           74          7            13       23
14           61           106        13          19       27
21          83            163        13          24       22
28          77            167        13          24         9
total       267           511        47          81       82

score:  107,310

73---Tim

Mountain Lion and IOS 6

 Several years ago My family became true Apple Computer fans. Started simple with "Nano's", progressed to "Itouch" and then "Iphone" and eventually Macbook pro! If Your an Apple user then You understand the typical progression with operating systems and in this case upgrading from Lion to Mountain Lion on the Macbooks. Upgrading to Mountain Lion or OS 10.8 is a  $19.95 purchase thru the Mac store. I think a direct mail DVD is more money. This particular download went well although the little tiny progress bar at the bottom under the Mountain Lion icon is really hard to see! Follow instructions and have tons of patience-- this took about 8 hours thru a DSL connection at 2.5 meg!! The download size is about 4 gigabytes!
  The mobile operating system -IOS 6 is a free upgrade done thru Itunes for ,Iphone and Ipad and other apple devices. I upgraded a iphone 4S, iphone 4 and Ipad 2 & 3 with no problem. It did need the latest itunes-- 10.7 so be prepared for a double whammy! Itunes is about 80meg and IOS 6 is around 900 meg. It adds up at slower download speeds.The iphones I did thru itunes and the ipads thru Icloud. All of these went well and the users are happy!
 I next tried My old jalopy of an iphone- a 3gs running IOS 4.3. I first read reviews on the internet and they were mixed. I decided to still chance it. All seemed to be going well until it was time to reload the phone from the backup. I had a write to HD error!! Oh boy. Phone seemed dead and after a very long time I bit the bullet and disconnected it from the PC. Yup -dead phone. Rehooked to Itunes and thankfully I saw the Apple logo eventually appear and a load bar start. It did not like the most recent backup so I tried a previous backup and that kind of worked. It finally finished loading but I was missing most of My apps and information. Under settings I noticed it now did say I had IOS 6 loaded so it was partially good.
  I tried re-syncing and was surprised to see now most apps did reload, although in a haphazard fashion on multiple screens. I started moving the apps between screens to get them on fewer screens and then re-synced again and finally had My phone recognizable!! It also appeared to be working OK with the new features of IOS 6 available. It will be soon time to trade in this model for a new one-- but not now!!
 Would I try upgrading a 3GS ? I would only try after following the upgrade route of IOS 5 first. I can't help but think that might have been part of the problem along with a partially sick PC( a windows machine!). It also is OK to try Apple support-- I've used them a few times and they are very helpful and don't make You feel stupid!!!
  good luck upgrading-- final result is worth it!!
 73---Tim

W7WLL QSL

I usually have QSL additions for EQSL and LOTW weekly but have very few direct mailed QSLs even though I specify in QRZ I will respond to direct mailed QSL cards. Last week in the mail I received a card from W7WLL for a contact in November of 2010 on 20m SSB.Being slightly interested in the time from the original QSL till now I checked His QRZ biography. He indicated the practice of sending a direct QSL card for all new callsigns contacted! Obviously not a Contestor! It is an interesting practice to acknowledge new calls and very nice to be on the receiving end! If He is very active on the air, might explain the time spread from date of contact till now.His card from Me was in the mail Yesterday!
 I have to admit I still enjoy receiving QSL cards direct mail.Its very expensive to send this way and I really appreciate EQSL and LOTW for the monetary savings! On the other hand- the US Postal service could certainly use the business!!
  73--Tim

PS-- also had a chance to add VK2FAAU -Australia on 10m as DXCC contact #97  but missed South Cook Islands- E51JD ! Need QRO!!

FT-857 RTTY adventure

After purchasing My Yaesu FT-950, I have been for the most part using that radio for both SSB and RTTY contesting. My Yaesu FT-857 has been relegated as back up. The last RTTY contest I remember participating in was months ago and all was well. Recently I noticed My CAT port on My FT-950 is not passing frequency information to any logging programs. I tried from the FT-857 and it seems fine. I did some cable change out and other simple trouble shooting but until I open the FT-950 I won't know what the issue is.
  I decided to just quick set up My Ft-857 for the upcoming CQ RTTY contest so if I don't have a chance to fix FT-950 I'll still be able to participate.Well turns out "quick" was wishful thinking. I thought all the information on settings I had written down but unfortunately it turns out I had written down several different versions of settings. I also was having problems with My "kluged" together homemade interface. I had added several circuits to My interface for several radios and had never quite cleaned it up.
  Lots of experimenting with settings,hardware and cables I finally have a working setup. Some was just "memory fade" on My part with setting up the programs. This is the final solution-- My homemade interface for audio and PTT connected to com port 1 on the PC, plus a CT-62 from the data port on the FT-857 to com port 4 is the hardware hookup for handleing both PSK31 type modes and RTTY. The FT-857 menu changes are this-- menu 20--CAT, menu 37-- 50 (dig Gain)  , menu 38 -PSK31-U for that mode or RTTY-L if RTTY. VFO is USB or DIG for most Digital modes or LSB if using RTTY. Be aware that having VFO set to "DIG" seems to decrease output level but is not affected by volume control.
  I typically test all digital modes by first getting it working with "Digipan" to make sure the majority of the hardware and PC are working together. Then if using RTTY I switch to "MMTTY" before eventually incorporating My logging program "N1MM"
  Microham-USA has a good interface "how to" on their website - go to "support-- then "config examples" and pick a simple interface like the USB II and the program your using. It will show an example of setting up the com ports and software. I use N1MM and MTTY as the RTTY engine. It can be quite lengthy to explain but its step by step.
  Remember the FT-857 is an AFSK RTTY only radio. It will not do FSK but the receiving end will never know. The audio set up is a little more tricky and I do suggest trying this before the contest.
 good luck---73-Tim

Several old Receivers/radios

I spent a rainy afternoon assembling this work area of old Receivers/radios. I've owned most of these for many years except for the Hallicrafters S-40B receiver which I aquired several years ago from an ex-ham. I had never tested it before and once going thru the slow power up process using a variac and iso-transformer ,I was disappointed to find it has many issues. Another project!!
  The old brown bakelite cabinet at the top is a Zenith 78H20 am/fm broadcast radio.This one also has the old FM 48mhz band .It also has several issues and needs some work. On the far right is a Military radio a  BC-348-R which has been converted from 28vdc to 120vac . It works well and I've owned it for many years.
  The far left is a very recognizable Zenith transoceanic H500 , a great radio and My first shortwave receiver I aquired when I was in high school. It was also My first tube radio and I was very proud to repair it back then. It still works well!
  I hooked up a wire to the radios and wound thru the basement but it seems to be quite noisy. I had a longwire like this in the basement before but I also now have lots more wiring and equipment to cause interference. I might try hooking these up to one of My external antennas to see if the interference goes away.
 Still was fun to bring these back on a workbench and "shine" them up. I don't know when I'll find the time to work on them. Maybe after the snow flies up north!
73--Tim

Hawaii QSO Party and DX

It started raining Saturday Afternoon so that gave Me an excuse to stop work outside and play in the shack. The Hawaii QSO Party was this weekend and I was able to contact stations on 20m,15m and 10m. Some were nice and loud and others not so much! I did find it very nice to contact so many Hawaiian stations in such a short time and all of them finished the contact with- aloha!! Sweet!
  I also spent some time updating My HRD logbook with info from QRZ.com manually since I still have not spent money to have access to the auto updating. During this process I found a contact I marked wrong as Spain-- actually is Balearic Island for another DXCC contact upping My total to 95 DXCC unconfirmed. I also had time to peruse the bands and was lucky enough to have a contact with J88CG on St. Vincent for DXCC #96. He's a direct QSL only so I might not have a confirmation without added work. All in all a fun day of radio!
  73---Tim

The Bureau

Years ago when I was in High School, I was a part of the CB radio craze. I had a base station and mobile in the car and dreamed of far away contacts. . I was in a  Art/printing class and I designed and printed My own CB QSL cards-- this of course was long before personnel computers so it was quite an endeavour.
  Jump forward many years to My first Ham Radio license and My VHF/UHF technician privledges. This was just as the codeless tech license became available in 1992. ( think it was '92?). I actually had QSL cards arriving from My contacts on 6m and 2m. Wow--so I sent away and had some printed and started direct mailing these.
  Eventually I recieved HF priveledges and suddenly the DX world opened up to Me. Several Hams suggested becoming a member of EQSL and ARRL's Logbook of the World. I've been an ARRL member for many years so LOTW was a no brainer! EQSL also turned out to be a real nice electronic QSL service-- both of these are being used by many HAMs world wide.These seemed to be the easiest and cheapest QSL and contact verification and I didn't anticipate needing any other service.
  I occasionly had QSL cards mailed to Me direct and would promptly send one back. Then I started contesting and after winning several certificates, I started  to somewhat activily chase  award programs from the ARRL. It wasn't long before I realized that as good as LOTW is in verifying contacts ,I was still missing many DX entities because they did not use LOTW. Fact is  outside of contesting, sometimes I didn't even try for a contact upon reading in QRZ this Ham only QSLed Direct or Buro( bureau).
  Well I finally decided to check into the Bureau QSL service offered from ARRL and the W0 bureau. Turns out both services are fairly simple to start. I was advised by another Ham to first email My respective "sorter" from the W0 Bureau to see if I have any QSLs waiting for Me. This would help to know how much supplies I would need to start.. They have a website- www.zeroburo.org and the information is very good. The zero bureau is split into sorters for all the letters after the numeral part of Your callsign. Mine of course is "U" so I emailed the "U" sorter and several days later had a reply indicating I have cards waiting for Me.I next chose the amount of money to send according to the expected cards per quarter. I filled out an order form and was a little generous and sent $10.00 anticipating 12-60 cards per quarter. They will send Me cards every quarter ( 3 months) if I have accumalated more than 6 QSL's. Otherwise they will be held until the next quarter. Thus is one of the many reasons cards sent thru the bureau can take years to find their way home! :))
It does appear the different call areas each have a slightly different protocol so read the instructions carefully.Your service of course will depend on your call area and can be found on the ARRL website which gives the address for the respective websites.
    So thats the "incoming" QSL bureau and I now needed to setup My "outgoing" QSL's. The ARRL has a nice Outgoing QSL Service for members and has a pricing structure similiar to the incoming bureau's. They also have a detailed explanation on how to start, what DXCC's they cannot send to and other information. I filled out about 30 QSL's- some actually "via" a QSL manager either in the USA or not, others direct to the DXCC callsign. I sorted them according to the instructions, included proof of ARRL membership and added a check to cover the number of cards and put it into an envelope and sent it to ARRL headquarters with the proper address.
  Sounds complicated. It really wasn't too bad. Now I can anticipate receiving cards from the "buro" and never again need to hesitate when I see "direct or buro only" next to someone's call sign!
 There is also a program to verify these QSL cards for direct credit to DXCC and LOTW. After I navigate that maze I'll post the results. Happy DXing!!
 73---Tim

 

HK0NA QSL

Nice EQSL card from Malpelo Island Dxpedition HK0NA. They uploaded to both EQSL and LOTW.
 Very well done Expedition and nice Website!
  73---Tim

2o12L Customer service

Customer service is rather "tongue in cheek" since I believe all the operators associated with the 2o12L and 2o12W stations are volunteers so that makes My experience even more amazing! The last post I was very happy with My good luck contacting both London Olympic special event stations and the next day I checked the Online logs to check and see if I had been logged. I noticed they were being updated on a regular basis and sure enough there I was on the 2o12W log but I wasn't logged on either 15m or 20m for 2o12L.  I checked back later and even though it said the update had been uploaded since My log time-I still wasn't there!
  I checked the next day and next morning and still wasn't in the log! Bummer- Back to work the next day to My regular schedule so My chances for another contact would diminish greatly! I did see on the 2o12L website a contact email so I thought -what the heck and explained My situation and sent it. I didn't expect an answer for maybe days thinking it wasn't a high priority situation, but within 10 minutes I had a reply from Dave G4BUO, the HF Manager who said -yes they have been having some online log issues but would be trying another upload later today! Wow!! Talk about good service! Later both My contacts appeared in the log so I'm all set!
  My experience with this special event station was great as was the overall Olympics. Thanks "Great Britain" for a job well done!
  Don't know what I'll watch on Television now though .........
 73---Tim

Good Timing

In the last post I mentioned My bad timing with band conditions and missing attempts to contact the Special 2012 Olympic stations. Well that changed for Me on Saturday Afternoon when I happened to be in the shack tuning thru the bands and heard a station call CQ on 15m. I didn't hear their call sign but stopped to listen but as fast as they started they stopped. Not hearing much else on, I stayed on frequency and proceeded to check emails ,but again a station came on frequency,tuned and started calling. Two,oscar,one,two,london calling CQ- wow. Talk about luck! I gave my call,noticing the SWR was higher than normal because I hadn't tuned up yet, but 2012L came back to Me with a S7 and I gave My exchange and they were in the log!
  Next I rechecked the Dx Cluster and noticed 2o12W-- the Wales Olympic special event was also on 15m at 21.325mhz . Quickly I tuned up there and the pile-up was not too bad and they were in the log 3 minutes later!What luck!! Both using 100w into My ground mounted butternut vertical. Later I was also able to contact 2o12L again on 20m . I later tried 17m but could not break the pile-up. I'm still very pleased. The olympic stations will be actice thru the early part of September with the para-olympics so there is still more chances!
73--Tim

Interesting Week

This has been an interesting week ,although not much on the Ham radio side. I did play for a VERY  short time in last weeks 10-10 contest. I had some difficulty using the new logging program but it was strictly operator issues. Band conditions in the far north have been less than stellar. I half heartedly tried to contact CY9M,TO2D and the several Olympic stations but no luck. I can blame some on band conditions and also bad timing on My part. I'm presently watching the clusters for D64K, but not much Midwest activity yet.
  I did receive a tweet from DX World which indicated Malpelo Island- HK0NA had uploaded logs to LOTW and sure enough-- I now have added them confirmed as DXCC # 73 . It also makes 93 different DXCC's worked . Maybe a few more will trickle in to LOTW to add to the totals!
 This last week I found time to replace My 25 year old Garage door opener which had died. I plan to repair it and reinstall on My pole building but really needed the garage opener working for My family now. We also had two evenings with extended power outages which always makes Us mindful of the need for electricity for everything. We bought a few LED lanterns and I moved My good UPS to the upstairs to support Our DSL modem and Family PC. Next Power outage We will at least have Internet access .
  Our family also found time to go to the neighborhood Night out on Tuesday. A real good idea for meeting neighbors and finding out about the Township business We don't always hear about!
  Last evening We lost one of our Sicilian Buttercup chickens to a predator-- Sad!! Now we only have 5 birds left! They are now also under house arrest- -confined to the coop and fenced in run area. When we let them free range now it'll only be under Our direct supervision!!

73---Tim

DXCC # 72

I just noticed on My LOTW another DXCC was just confirmed to bring My total to 72 of 92 I've actually worked. This one was from 4/16/2011 -- India, VU2PAI. Glad to have another one. Contest season should again help the totals.
  I also am gaining on WAS and the new CQ WPX award program shows WPX Mixed I'm at 365 of 400 needed for an award and WPX SSB at 241 of 300 needed and WPX Digital I'm at 220 of 300. Another paper chasing award but its fun to see how close I am to more wallpaper!!
  73---Tim

This was also My 200th blog post! Been plugging away since 2009--yippee!

10-10 logging program

I hope to participate in this upcoming 10-10 Summer Qso contest but I realized My usual logging programs don't support these contests. Several paid programs have 10-10 support but I really can't justify buying a full blown program because of one type of contest. Doing a search revealed Genlog325 by Dave Mascaro. Its freeware ( although a donation is accepted) and supports not only the 10-10  family of contests but many more. It is simple with no CAT control of PC or rotors,does have PTT and keyer functionality, but seems perfect for My contest needs at the moment. Its a little over 6 meg of download and installed with no hiccups. I was able to easily set it up for testing data entry and contest type. I will continue to use N1MM as my usual contest logging program but I think this one will fill the gaps rather nicely!
73--Tim

Thanks to W3KM for a nice program and My "borrowing" his logo above for My blog!!

Happens in threes!

Have You heard the saying " happens in threes" meaning good and bad things? Well lately the bad thing to happen was  the Window Air conditioner needed replacing, then last night Our microwave Oven quit working. Then today after work I noticed the garage door was only open half-way. Yup -you guessed it-- door opener died!
  The good threes came in the mail-- received My 10-10 International certificate and was about to throw away the envelope when I realized there was more inside. I also received the cloth 10-10 patch and member wallet card-- three good! :)
  HF bands have been very poor up in the far north and now CY9M St. Pauls Island Dxpedition is QRT and no contacts for Me-bummer.Also trying for TO2D -Saint Barthelemy but conditions need to improve which I don't see happpening soon.
 73---Tim

13 Colony Certificate Received

This came in the mail Yesterday. Very fast turnaround and a very nice certificate. Too bad I missed the William Penn station and North Carolina but it was fun chasing them all. Been busy so not much "air" time but hope to chase some DX this weekend!
 73--Tim

10-10 # 76495

I was just confirmed thru Email My 10-10 International number is 76495. Certificate to follow. That was fast!! Just sent info recently. Now I have a number for the upcoming 10-10 SSB contest August 4th -5th.Full details on the  Web at http://www.ten-ten.org/. I was also able to participate in the Houston Texas net on 28488 last night. Fun. Had contact with several Hams and gained several more 10-10 numbers.
73---Tim

13 colonies,EQSL and 10-10

I recently participated in the 13 Colonies Special event and Georgia K2G was one of the states I had a QSO with. When I checked to see if I've had any recent activity on EQSL, this QSL was waiting along with several others. I also sent Money and My Contact information to receive the 13 Colonies certificate but don't expect to see it in the mail for a while so this was a nice surprise.   I send all My logs to EQSL and I print out interesting or rare QSL's from other members I've contacted. I flip an 8 x 11 sheet of paper so I can fit two cards on it. I put these into a binder and its growing bigger all the time. A nice cheap way of  collecting cards!
 I also recently finished contacting 10 members of 10-10 international so I sent money and contact info to  receive My own number. Hopefully I'll receive the number before the next 10-10 sponsored contest I want to participate in.
  Speaking of contests- The Recent RTTY and Wordwide VHF contest came and went without me making one contact. A family Reunion on Saturday and Church and other obligations kept Me busy on Sunday. A few times I  checked the bands for VHF signals  I didn't hear any! Maybe at this location I didn't miss much. I know I had a great time all weekend even if it wasn't Radio related!!
73--Tim

 

This and That

I noticed on the email reflectors concerning the recent HF contest some chatter about the new N1MM logging program. The new version appears to work great ,with very few complaints so i decided it was again time to load the latest and greatest. I have 11.12.0 and the newest is 12.07.01 so i went the the
N1MM site and loaded the new--only about 2meg .So far seems OK - although haven't tried it during a contest.Maybe next week for the RTTY contest . I don't have much time available next weekend which lately is the norm!
  Bands have also been very funky lately. Big flare last week and lingering effects over the weekend. We were out of town visiting so I didn't miss the lack of HF but i did miss a very impressive Aurora display-- dang!!
  I've also been patiently waiting to add 3 more 10-10 numbers so I can apply and recieve My own number-- really need 10m back!  Come on HF!!
 73--Tim

13 Colonies Special Event

This is the certificate sent for participation in the 13 Colonies Special event. A QSO with even one of the colony stations and Your eligible for this certificate. Nice looking-- they add a "sweep" endorsment for contacting all Thirteen and if a contact is made with WM3PEN ( Commemorating William Penn) a Liberty Bell seal is also added. This event has a well designed Website with good information and for the time I operated trying to contact all thirteen,the operators were first rate. Most signed with "GOD bless America" and 73's!!
  This event had originally been scheduled for July 1st-5th but because of storm/lack of electric conditions out East it was extended thru 0400 UTC Sunday ( Midnight EST Saturday. ) This was good for Me since I had no chance of participating till Friday night when I realized it was still operating. I spent about 45 minutes Friday contacting 6 colony stations on 20 and 40m. I saw  WM3PEN spotted but conditions were poor and I didn't manage a contact. I thought I was done because Saturday looked too busy but I managed to be back on the air for the last hour and a half before the Event shut down. I again managed 6 stations but failed to find the final one from North Carolina. I also missed the WM3PEN again as conditions were very tough!
  I have My log and information filled out and will send for the Certificate. Fun event and I think it runs around July fourth every year.
  73---Tim
PS- - The Calgary Stampde is also running a Special Event commemorating 100 Years-- I made contact with CK6S on 20m so I'll send for a card from them!!

Happy July 4th

Just a funny on a special  Holiday.  Please enjoy the holiday and remember Why We celebrate -- 73---Tim
 Thank-you to -- someecards.com

Tree Trimming

When I decided to install My 10m yagi I knew it was partially blocked by huge pine trees on the North and west sides but was more concerned with the East and south directions(Europe ,east coast and Caribbean ). Some small trees on the south and east sides needed to be cut since my Yagi is only up about 20' and these are above that.Luckily they are 4" or less diameter and mostly poplar type so no big loss. I'll cut them up for firewood this fall but I really wanted them down before then.  I used a rope to tie each one to help direct the fall and proceeded to cut! Lots of brush and small trees to work around but the resulting open sky area is great. I also need to do the same thing around My ground mounted vertical. Its amazing how fast these trees and brush grow up in the great north! Next time I'll try to time it for a cooler day-- 88 F is a little too hot for this kind of work!!
  73--Tim

10m quiet except for a net!

Tuned up and down the 10m band and its quiet except for a net from the Houston, Texas area on 28.488 at 8:00 CST. This group is S3-S7 on my Yagi at 165 degrees and I can hear them on the vertical but no meter movement. Interesting to listen to the Field day reports and conditions in Texas. Would have checked in but just having fun listening . I also don't have a 10-10 number and several other numbers they were exchanging. Here's several calls I heard-- WF5H,N5MT,K5WRN,KE5I AND N5JSL. Nice group of hams. OK ,I eventually threw out My call to make My prescence known and Mike, N5MT replied and gave a very nice explanation of the 10-10 number club. I might consider joining since 10m appears to now be a very viable band for Me.
  This net meets every tuesday night.
   73--Tim

Did I jinx the bands ?

So after I finally installed My new 10m yagi I had a few days of some activity and then- the bands went into the proverbial toilet! I swear--it wasn't my fault-:))  Hope they climb back out soon. Did have one 10m contact on field day,one on 15m and a few more on 20m. Bands didn't seem too good but had such limited time it was not easy to compare. Hope all participants had a good field day!

Duluth Flood

[Pictures from  the Duluth News Tribune ]    This is the third major rain event We've had in the last month - this particular one dumped 10' of rain and its just too much for an already saturated soil. We are lucky at our house to only have water in the basement although it did flood in an area that has always been dry. Wrecked some household stuff and electronics. I guess I need to flood proof this area too. My hamshack is on patio blocks and most equipment is on shelves. Many cars are swamped up and down streets and even some fell into sinkholes. Lots of totally flooded basements,homes and businesses and lots of washed out bridges and roads. So far no loss of human life but our local Zoo was flooded and lost some animals. Two seals escaped and even a female polar bear. yikes!!  Sun in the forecast- -can't arrive too soon for Me!
  73--Tim

10m monobander is in the air!!

I had several coaxes to move around to make room for the new 10m yagi. Used one of the RF Parts heliax connectors I bought and then weather proofed this connection first with a mastic tape,then scotch 33, then scotch kote ( liquid tape) and then coax seal. This seems to take care of any moisture issue for years! I also wrap this connection to a coffee can to keep it off the ground which also helps since this stretch of coax lays on the ground from My basement shack to the tower!
  My Wife helped lift the 10m yagi up the tower so i could attach it to the mast. I'm very glad i didn't even try the big tri-bander- it would have been way too big. This mono bander fits real nice. Its only at about 20 feet but already the first night I was able to hear the difference on a local 10m net. This group gave Me signal reports between this antenna and My ground mounted vertical. There was also some distant signals and for the most part the Yagi was the strongest. I heard a couple locals very well compared to the vertical. As I'm typing this , I'm listening to 28400 and signals are popping in .
  The installation manual gave several portions of the band to have this tune at and I picked the lower end for digital and voice.  Measurements should have it tune best around 28300 and after installation it tunes best around 28390--- perfect! It still is 1.5 at 28000 and up to 28500 so I'm very happy. On the ground on sawhorses as a sanity check it was tuning around 27600 so until it was up and installed I was a little worried!
  73---Tim

3830 Archives

The "3830 " archives is an email reflector for contesting results that both the "big" guns and "little" pistols enter their scores and comments into after a contest. Most major contests are represented here with a contest specific submittal form. I find this forum to be very informational and read most if not all entries after a contest I've participated in. The comments and scores help Me understand the different propagation and conditions other contesters experienced. Some comments are very well written and I can almost picture what the Author experienced! Other comments help explain the various conditions,good or bad, I also experienced. Give it a try-- its great!. Here's the Web address to read the latest. The submittal form can be found on contesting.com

http://lists.contesting.com/_3830/2012-06/index.html

73---Tim

HK0NA QSL received

Very nice QSL from the HK0NA Malpelo Island DXpedition. I was lucky and persistant enough to contact them on 5 bands SSB.  I haven't seen a LOTW entry yet but these expeditions are usually slow to upload those logs hoping for that last monetary donation. They will be #72 confirmed when they do upload.

 73---Tim

June ARRL VHF contest

I only planned to operate this contest and give out some contacts to several local Hams. I don't have a working 6m Yagi presently but playing with different antennas I do have , turns out My ground mounted Butternut vertical turns good at 50.125mhz!  I also have a 13 element 2m yagi at 50 feet and My new 432 yagi at a paltry 25 feet. I had several committments so had no chance to get on the air till after 0000 utc and was able to contact several locals and 6m was also just finishing a small opening.
  Sunday late in the day I managed to get back on just after 2100 UTC and 6m was wild. It sounded like an HF contest with Hams calling CQ on top of each other. They eventually were spread out from 50.125 to 50.300 !! Wow! Even with My less than perfect antenna I managed around 50 Q's before other obligations took Me away.Band was still open but it was fun while it lasted for Me!Even contacted a rover in New York! Mostly New England and east Coast stations!
  I also missed having My new 10m Yagi on the short tower which might have tuned Ok on 6m. I hope to have some help this weekend to finish that installation.
  73---Tim

10m Yagi progress

I have been assembling the Hygain 10m Yagi when I have time. It was starting to be large enough that having it in the pole building was not working so I brought it out and set it up on two saw-horses. Temperature was mid 80s and humid-yuck!! I did test it with My MFJ antenna analyzer knowing at only several feet off the ground it would not be accurate. Pretty much a go-no-go test but SWR was not too far off with a low null at 27.600mhz. I've adjusted the element and beta feed point length according to the section of band I plan to use this antenna for. I chose the low end- CW,RTTY, SSTV and low voice so null should be about 28.250-28.300 but useable up to about 28.500. I think when this is up at about 25 feet it will tune where it should.
  This is a nice antenna and has been fairly easy to assemble--good instructions. I only have one complaint- with the boom assembly. It seems the only way to not have the boom twist is to tighten the boom and mast bracket Hercules tight and chance smashing the pipe or bending the bracket. I might drill some keeper screws so it doesn't twist after its up in the air. I hope the final install will be soon.
  73---Tim

delivery!

UPS pulled into the yard minutes after I arrived home from work with My 10m mono band antenna from Hygain. I was hoping to have this last week but the status didn't,t change from " stock check " to shipped till after I called to inquire.its here now so I'm happy and have started assembly.
I also sent an inquiry to Vectronics to check om a new roller inductor for My tuner. It's also owned by MFJ just like Hygain-- we see !
73- Tim

Hy-gain LJ-103BA 10m monobander

I finally made a decision on what beam antenna to put in the air on my short tower. I have a Comet GP-15 vertical tri-bander at the top and right below that an old 432 Yagi. Both work well although the 432 needs to be higher. I also really wanted My ATB-34 tri-band on this tower but no matter how I try to figure a way to fit it up there---its just too big! I also too k down from the rafters a homemade 17m yagi but it too is big. Better than the tri-bander but still big. It also needs more than TLC-- it also needs parts and time I just don't have now!
  So -what to do? Well one thought came to mind was putting up a mono- bander for 10m. I check into a 10m net every Sunday, band has had some nice openings lately and several 10m contests are occur throughout the year. The boom size is only 8 feet as compared to 18 feet for a tri-bander and the longest element is 18 feet. Big but not overwhelming!
  Several manufacturers i looked at had mono-banders but the price was too high. Hy-gains LJ-103 is in My price range and has good reviews so I placed My order on Thursday. I guess they sold alot of these at Dayton!
  I took time this morning to finish the rotor/mast issue and now it turns the complete 360. I have some minor coax alterations and need to bring down an old CB vertical that is too close to the tower and will interfere with the new 10m beam. I'll tackle those when I have time. Excited for the new antenna to arrive. Finally aluminum in the air for HF. Maybe it'll also tune on 6m !!
 73--Tim

Baudette Loran-C tower down!!

I was up in the Baudette area this week for work and noticed the Baudette Loran-C tower is on the ground in sections. Not sure when this was taken down but last time I drove by in July 2010 it was still standing. I read that unofficially it has now cost 25 million to remove many of these old towers. Hope the savings of decommisioning is worth it. It does sound like testing is being done for a backup to the GPS system.

  By the way- the above picture is from the coast Guard site during maintenance on the guys when it was still in service.
  73---Tim

Roller Inductor damage



Roller inductor damage



close-up of damage





Superior Hamfest

The local radio club again hosted a Hamfest in Superior ,Wisconsin and I was lucky to find the time to attend. I had many eyeball QSO's with both Hams I've met many times and several I've only talked to on the radio. Another good part is the "for sale "stuff and I found several items to buy. I bought the above Vectronics HFT-1500 tuner for less than half the new price. Tuners and amplifiers can be good "used" buys but as always buyer beware. When I took this one apart at home I found  the roller inductor damaged from arcing. This is the second tuner i've bought used and the first time I've encountered any trouble. The cross-needle meter and digital bargraph work and after cleaning with alcohol and cotten swabs in the damaged area this works at low power. Since I currently have no amplifier, high power is not an option. I did buy this to support My inverted "L" at 160m so this should still be OK. MFJ is now the owner of Vectronics, although this one is older and made by the company when they were in Canada. Maybe a roller inductor replacement would be possible.
  I also found some good buys on Heliax connectors, some PL-259 and "N" adapters, a 50mhz-700mhz Polyphaser and a Icom AH-7000 discone antenna. It was a good time and as always I'm glad I took the time to attend.
  73---Tim

432 Yagi test

I finished running coax to the tower and attaching the ends. Added a long jumper you can see in the picture- its the "loop" seen at the end of the Yagi. With the added length it will work when I add the permanent mast and rotor.The picture shows My old/new 7 element yagi for 432mhz and My Comet GP-15 Vertical for 6m,2m and 70cm. The comet vertical is a great antenna and I highly recommend it!
  The Yagi is one I've had in the rafters for many years and decided to try and put it to use again. I managed to contact a local Ham who lives about 14 miles as the crow flies NW of Me. We talked vertical to vertical on the comet on 446 mhz FM and even though My Yagi is presently fixed at an easterly direction, We still managed a QSO. When its on a rotatable mast it should work just fine.
  I also has some success with several other Hams on both 70cm and 432mhz with the Comet antenna  and Horizontally polarized Yagi even though they are over the hill and down by the flatlands of Lake Superior! I'm definately pleased with this installation. A MFJ Antenna analyzer shows a coax loss of 2.5db at 432mhz for this long 100 foot run. It does mean My 20w from the radio will be more like 12w at the antenna but that appears to be enough!
 73--Tim

Used Heliax connectors

I bought these L44PW-P1 connectors from RF Parts. The top picture shows 3 of the 4 connectors as delivered with the coax stub still attached. The bottom picture shows after disassembly and cleaning. I've reused many styles of connectors over the years and have had good luck . I reinstalled this connector on a old piece of heliax and have since brought it into the shack and also attached to My mini-tower. After temporarily attaching a small 7 element 432/70cm Yagi on a fixed mast and connecting a coax jumper to the heliax run I was ready to test. Using a MFJ-269 showed acceptable SWR at 432.1 and also at 446 for FM simplex use. I still need to arrange testing with another Ham. Next I'll  be installing a heavy duty permanent mast and Rotor.
  73---Tim
 

60m listening

  Many evenings I find Myself in the Ham shack listening to various bands-- I usually try to find a net or happen on a good QSO, and have it in the background while reading emails, blogging and browsing. Tonight  like many nights the bands aren't real busy and I just happened to switch to 60m. I found my inverted "L" works well on 60m and tonight is no exception. Nice signals from around the USA and the noise level is low. A little "chicken band" type chatter but also some real nice QSO's. Don't forget about this little gem of the Ham bands. You might be pleasantly surprised.
  Recently received an order from DX Engineering for some stainless steel mounting clamps for My antenna project and today ordered 4 used Heliax connectors from RF Parts which i should have next week. I'm putting up a Yagi for 432 but not sure how well it'll play considering it resonates at 456! I tried to add to the driven element to bring it lower but so far haven't had much luck. Not done experimenting yet!
    In addition to 432 ,I will also try to add My tri-bander to this mast although I am wondering about the size-- its huge!! Would be real nice to have the aluminum in the air for HF !
  Have a blessed Good Friday and a Happy Easter.
  73---Tim

Faster DSL

 We recently checked into the availability of faster DSL at our house. We felt very lucky to have 1.5 meg at our country location. It was fast enough to stream netflix and have no stutter! Always looking for faster and with the recent switch from Qwest to Centurylink, My wife called and sure enough We could now have up to 7 meg. Up to is the key here! After some keystrokes at the Centurylink CO, We were now lots faster but not 7 meg-- more like 3 meg which is still a good improvement.
   With all the wireless, I decided to change the location of My DSL router from the basement to the 1st floor hoping for a signal improvement for the second story bedrooms. Too many times they switched to 3G without realizing it because the signal was too low-- about -84 and at times lower. After changing the router location they now typically are seeing -60 which is great! I also disconnected some phones and  connections not in use and rechecked the DSL speed. Now its a good solid 4 meg. Nice and noticeable improvement. If I had no other devices except the DSL router hooked up, I could envision a speed reaching toward 5-6 meg but We do need several phones . Still a nice improvement!
  73---Tim

Another DXCC and radio stuff

I checked LOTW tonight and was pleased to see I have another DXCC confirmed. FM5CD confirmed My contact from Martinique for number 71 confirmed. Slow but getting there. Really helps when I have a chance to participate in contests. too bad I missed CQ WPX recently-oh well.
 I've had some nice QSO's with locals on 2m SSB recently. We quite often have up to five of Us in a round robin. Lots of fun and good information being passed. Also been slowly working on a 432mhz antenna addition and that pre-work will eventually help prepare for the tri-bander I plan to put up on My short tower. More to come on those projects!
  73---Tim

DVS-6 module installation and testing

The DVS-6 Digital Voice module is easy to install just by following the instructions from page 120 of the FT-950 manual. Removing the 18 screws from the bottom take the most time! Note the module position in the pictures. Left connector has one less pin than the connector on the right. I did mark all the cables from the back of the radio for easy placement putting it back together. Once reassembled, follow page 64 for testing. Really neat to hear what I sound like on playback.I transmitted into a dummy load for testing. I'll try both microphones to hear the difference but for now just happy it works. No time to play in the WPX contest this weekend except for several contacts of some loud DX.

 73---Tim

Yaesu DVS-6 Digital Voice memory unit

Picture from Yaesu.com of DVS-6

 I ordered this unit today from a major Ham Radio Supplier for 59.95 plus shipping and handleing! I have in the past thought about a Voice keyer for contests but the price has always stopped Me. This price I couldn't pass up and it is manufactured for the FT-950 and fits inside.It has 5 memories with 20 seconds of storage each. Should be enough for Me to call CQ contest and rest My voice. I'll try to post a pictorial as I install this and do testing-- Fun!!!
  73---Tim

FT-950 and noise

 I updated software yesterday on My Yaesu FT-950 and because of this , all the settings are lost. Not a problem because I wrote all the menu settings down if not default. Each band setting like "My Bands" and band stacking are also lost. I also noticed tonight when switching between bands , the contour,notch filter and noise blanker were default off on every band. Just so happens My noise level is very bad without these on!  It might have been this noisy- S9 depending on band, for quite some time but I didn't notice when all the filtering is turned on! Wow-- what a radio! I'm constantly impressed and at times like this it is cool to reaffirm the radio's ability to amaze Me!! Some conversations on several bands were hardly even heard until I turned on the notch,contour and noise blanker which reduced the noise level to below the received voice. S9 to less than S3- incredible.
  Great radio!
  73---Tim

Yaesu Ft-950 software update

  Beginning of March the rules and frequency allotments had some minor changes for the 60m band. Power was upped to 100w (with restrictions, ) CW ,PSK31 and Pactor III are also allowed and channel 3 (USA) frequency was changed ! My FT-950 has the nice feature of downloading software updates and Yaesu included the 60m changes to its latest "Main" software update. I've updated several FT-2000s but I've never had the need to update My own radio till now. Fact is the radio came with a current EDSP version of 11.54 which is still valid but the main software was an older version 0112 and not the newer 0117. The current new version will include all previous update changes including changing ch-3 from 5.368mhz to 5.3585 mhz and permitting Cw transmission on 60m plus other miscellaneous changes.
  More information can be had from the Yaesu.com website- in fact part of the download includes very good instructions! I did go to the Yaesu site and to the FT-950 and the "files" tab. Scrolling down has many file options but towards the bottom is the file containing ( ft-950_PEP950_3-2-12.zip)called "FT-950 Software update v0117 and EDSP 1154". After downloading and unzipping I installed these files to a folder called "Yaesu downloads" under " My documents".
  By following the procedure for the main software update , the installation is very straight forward but a couple parts I want to point out!. First-- read the instructions all the way thru so you understand them well. I definately recommend writing down any menu parameters that have been changed from default! Very important because this update will wipe them out- plus "My band" data,QMB memories,band stacking and so on! Another point to remember is power both radio and power supply off and after hooking up serial cable and sliding PGM-Sw to the right you need to turn on power supply again but leave radio off!! Very important!! Radio is basically powered off except for circuitry needed for the upgrade.  Also remember to set com port and baud rate to 9600. A communications error will result otherwise. Following the instructions step by step should lead to a successful conclusion. After this upgrade I checked the memory area according to the manual and ch-3 frequency was changed and now 5 more memory channels were there , hard coded for 60m CW operation! I spent time re-entering memu parameters,band stacking and other info but now this radio is updated with the latest software and 60m is ready to use!!
  73---Tim
PS--VERY IMPORTANT!  Do not attempt to update the EDSP software on lot 43 and later FT-950s. My radio is a lot 39 version. Please read instructions provided by Yaesu for  more info concerning this!!
PSS-- refer to My postsfrom October 9,2013 and October 1 ,2014 for more FT-950 information about manufacturer discontinuation of this fine radio and some possible software support!

Apple Support

 My Wife's iPhone needed a software up date and to do this I needed to update iTunes to 10.6. Her PC is a Windows machine and recently had a very nasty virus which took great effort to clean-- needless to say I tried but failed! It came back and all appeared to be good until recently with an iTunes software update. The phone would sync OK, but update kept failing and i suspected a corrupted iTunes application. Since We have Applecare I accessed the Apple support site and followed the prompts, answering questions until the menu inquired on how i wanted to contact support. Seems I could "reserve" a callback time and date! The website indicated 8 reservations left for early evening and more for the night owls-:))  I reserved a time and gave My call back number and almost right on time a Apple Support person named David called Me! Neat-- He was very nice and knowledgeable and after about a 45 minute phonecall, I now have a working Itunes 10.6 program ready to update the iPhone!
   Apple always has great support service like no other! Maybe thats why they seem so successful. Great products and service--  :))
 73---Tim

Winter in a week!!

The winter that wasn't turned into the this!! Around 12" of heavy wet snow middle of the week and then another 11-14" on Saturday. The last amount was supposed to be less than an inch but conditions turned right for a healthy dose of "lake Effect snow"  a phenomonon caused by winds off of Lake Superior. Since I still hadn't finished clearing snow from the work week, Saturdays addition sent Me into full snow removeal over the weekend. Consequently My Ham Radio hobby took a back seat-- I was supposed to have time for the ARRL International SSB DX contest but it was cast aside to make room for snow! I did hear the bands were not great so it would have been a tuff slug for this little low power station anyway! Thats what I'm telling Myself-Hi,hi!!
 73---Tim

WAS and DXCC additions!

 The recent 160m SSB contest helped Me gain two more states towards WAS on 160m. Now up to 33 States confirmed thru LOTW on 160m. I might not have huge contest scores but it really helps award chasing! I also added another LOTW confirmed DXCC to bring My count up to 70. The new one, Bosnia-Herzegovina, I've had several contacts with but this was finally a LOTW user. He was not a 160m contact! :)Ham Radio Delux analysis shows I've worked 93 DXCC entities.Hope many more confirm thru LOTW!
  Remember the ARRL International DX SSB contest starts at 6:00 CST Friday ( 0000 UTC Saturday) and goes till 5:59 CST Sunday. Hope conditions are good. I need more new DXCC's!!
  73--Tim

2012 CQ WW 160m contest Results

 This contest starts at 2200 UTC which is 4:00 CST Friday for Me. I did turn the radio on but only found a few stations operating and they all were very weak. It's still daylight here now until almost 5:30 so I decided to eat Supper and do some chores and walk Our dog before trying the bands again. I finally was back in the shack after 6:00 CST and even though the band was noisy, I managed a steady stream of S & P contacts.Feeling conditions still were not optimum , I took several breaks on and off before calling it a night . I'm not a night owl , so I might have missed some of the best operating time, but thats the way it is!
  Saturday night wasn't much better, in fact because lots of the calls were the same from Friday night, the Q's were few and far between. I tried running several times but felt like I was speaking into a wind tunnel and had few takers. This contest is usually a fun one because of the congenial operators and most have excellant ears. I was amazed at how many could pick out My puny signal! I do wish conditions had been better. The noise and washed out signals left  the whole contest with a not completed feel! I did exceed My totals from previous years but not by much. I had hoped for a good improvement because of My inverted "L" antenna. I compared it with My dipole and the "L" was hearing more than the dipole by a large amount. I do think some TRansmit issues reared their ugly head-- My little B&W tuner appeared to struggle to the point I need to take it apart looking for arcing! Not good! Definately need a better setup for next year!
 totals- 72 Q's,32 mults for a score of 5,712-- no DX ! :((
73---Tim

5000 views and a New One!

  I just noticed My blog now has over 5000 views. Thanks to everyone who has paused to read My thoughts on Ham Radio. The two most popular blog posts to read are concerning the FT-950 audio setup and installation of My butternut ground mounted vertical antenna. Both of these blog postings I've revisited and added pertinent information for accuracy. Both were written for informational insight from a real honest to goodness Amateur! Please don't vilefy the messenger if any part is found to be wrong! I've searched many forum,blog and review to find information for many aspects of My Hobbies. I'm amazed at the amount of info available, so I've tried to add to that abundant resource. Again, thanks for reading My meandering prose!  :))
  Logbook of the world has verified another DXCC for Me-- New Zealand, ZL1BYZ for number 69! Its slow going when i'm totally relying on a LOTW confirmation and no direct QSLing! I will eventually get there! Have 93 unconfirmed DXCC according to Ham Radio Delux-My general logger. Getting closer to WAS on more bands too! Love this hobby!!!
73---Tim

2012 MNQSO Party Contest results

 I started searching the 75m band just a few minutes after 8:00am CST and logged several contacts before trying a "run" frequency. I typically do a search and pounce operation but this the perfect contest to practice running. Everyone is trying to find Minnesota stations and the pile ups should be small and manageable. They ended up being very manageable but way too short! The 75m band for Me was noisy and not too productive . I tire easily when the lull is too long and went searching for more Q's. Wasn't many to be found and going over the same ground I found a logging issue-- My logging program was not showing "dupes" ! I was using the MNQP logger which I've used for many years with no issues! This could be bad- will feel real stupid every "dupe" My program doesn't show. Maybe a fat finger with the letter "O" instead of the number "0" ? Nope- that wasn't it! I spent some time checking the setup and  after toggling several setup parameters it magically started working! I still don't know how I fixed it-but it appeared to be good to go!
  Since 75m wasn't producing well, I jumped to 40m and did manage a few good runs on and off. I also tried 20m and added just a few contacts but I just was not being heard very well! Later in the day also tried getting somes runs on both 15 and 10m but no luck! Eventually after a brief stop on 20m again ,I settled on 40m till supper time. After supper with Less than an hour left , I jumped to 75m for a few more until rounding out the last 15 minutes on 160m. I only gained 4 QSO's on 160 but two were with a rover I know so the finish was fun, chatting with them till the end as they raced to their final county!
  I had set a goal of beating My highest score and having more Q's and Mults than My previous results. This I was able to manage but had really hoped for many more contacts. After adding up all the "on" times ,I was surprised to see just a little more than 5 hours operating time out of 10 hours . Some of this was even with no contacts logged! I thought I had devoted more time but with other distractions I had missed about half of the total operating time. I guess this is very typical for Me!
  My biggest mistake in hindsight was not pushing 40m more. 20m and up just was not happening at My far North QTH and 75m was noisy and just did not produce well. 112 Q's,50 mults for a score of 11,200 left Me feeling thirsty for more! Next year!
 73---Tim

Goodbye TN2T

 I tried last night for one more attempt at contacting TN2T on any band either SSB or RTTY. They were not too strong again and the constant deliberate interference was just too much. I just don't understand the state of mind of these Hams who will interefere with a DXpedition so consistently.
  This particular DX seemed to draw the weirdos whereas HK0NA did not! Whats the difference? I don't know but because of the lack of this interference I was able to contact HK0NA on a fifth band--17m first try with My Butternut Vertical. Five bands-wow, hard for Me to believe after the struggle to try and get TN2T in the log just once!! Now they are QRT- thats too bad!
  I'm still trying for VP6T ,but time is again running short with them expected to pack up sometime Thursday depending on weather. Have not heard them lately.HK0NA is still operating till February 10th-- still time for RTTY and maybe 40m voice!! Happy DX hunting!
   73---Tim

TN2T chase

  Well I continued chasing some DXpeditions and added HK0NA to a fourth band- 10,12,15 and 20m so I considered this very successful. I hardly heard a whisper from VP6T and the only band TN2T was fairly good copy was 20m- 14.189. Now20m for a little station running barefoot , using a ground mounted vertical or even a dipole is hit and miss. Its always a rough go when the bands are busy or propagation bad or both.
This weekend I think at My QTH in the far North,conditions were bad! Yes- I had good luck with HK0NA, but i chased them on and off all weekend to finally snag four bands. All the DX I chased this weekend was a tough go--even tried finding them on RTTY!
  So today on 14.189 TN2T was working a very big pile-up and trying to spread it out 5-10 khz up. I've had some success breaking thru a big pile but not today. I tried many times all afternoon, but it seemed to be the never ending pile. Trying to see the multitude I was up against I listened from 14.194-14.199 when TN2T was talking the background noise was S1, but the minute He finished the swell began- rising to S9 and above. It was incredible! The whole spectrum from 194-199 was like a big wave!-Wow, no wonder i couldn't break thru! Then to make matters worse-- on TN2T's transmit frequency was the tuner-uppers,the constant carriers and the lids who thought He was running simplex!! Even if I had gotten thru, I don't know if I would have known with all the rackett!!
  Crazy! Well maybe i'll try a little this work week- time is limited!
  73--Tim