RAC Winter contest 2014

I missed this contest last Year so I really wanted to participate this year. We had plans to be out of town this weekend for the Holiday celebration with My relatives so I only had Friday evening to try and get some contacts in the log.I also needed to pack bags and handle other chores before leaving early Saturday morning so ,yes very limited,-oh well!
I did start at 0000 UTC and quickly realized most activity was on 20m and some on 40m. Hardly any on 15 and 10m although periodically I did dial thru 15m and managed to snag the lone VE I heard on the band.Twenty meters had the most activity but thru the evening did make contacts on 40 and 80m also. I was not too chosy this yearand had 2 point QSO's with both Domestic calls and several DX I heard participating. Course the Canadian calls were the ones i mostly wanted.Previous Years I had alot of fun chasing the special RAC stations but with limited time this year only contacted the few I ran across by chance.
Conditions on 160,80 and 40m were noisy for Me, so I preferred to S&P up and down 20m looking for new ones.Having very little time, I tried to not try to break pile ups but instead grab the "lonly" ones. Only managed about 30 QSO's but at least was able to participate. Next Year it is on December 19th so I maybe can devote more time.
73--tim

ARRL Diamond Terrace

A good number of Years ago a fellow Amateur at work offered to include Me and several other Hams in the ARRL Diamond Terrace club which He is a member. His sideline Business membership offered not only Him but several other Hams the opportunity to have a brick placed at the ARRL Headquarters and this nice paperweight momento also. I was honored and jumped at the opportunity and can only hope someday to actually see it at the ARRL terrace in person.
  73--Tim    Thank-you WA0PLB  Hope your enjoying retirement :)

Guam #116

My contact during the CQ WW SSB in October again gave Me another DXCC confirmation thru LOTW.I think that makes about nine confirmations so far-wow! This one with Guam was with AH2R a Guam contest station and if memory serves Me right it was towards the tail end of the contest. Still waiting for several confirmations from the recent 10m contest but very glad to have previous contests be such a goldmine of contacts.Still chasing ARRL Centennial points when not busy with Holiday preparations.

73---Tim

Greece for DXCC #115

Hard to believe I did not have Greece confirmed before this but during the 10m contest had a contact with SV3DCX for #115. Also had contacts with Cyprus and Equador but no confirmation yet. I'm still chasing the ARRL Centennial points and having lots of fun doing so!
73---Tim

ARRL 10M Contest 2014

Conditions were beyond any 10m opening I've ever experienced and I wish I had more uninterrupted time to participate. I had been watching 10m conditions during the previous couple days and realized Friday night at the start I needed to be ready to go. Watching the Dx spots and listening before Friday showed a band that at this northern Latitude was closing 45-60 minutes after 0000 UTC so unless I could find many locals it would be very difficult to have a decent start.
I was ready Friday at the start and just like predicted the band was already closing at the start and My last contact for Friday night was a paltry 28 minutes after the beginning. I am only doing a SSB effort but was curious so I tuned down to the CW area and heard many signals so if I had been doing a "mixed" effort would have afforded Me more chances adding to the log--oh well!
Saturday and Sunday were a total different story. Conditions were better for Me Saturday but Sunday was still amazing. I feel extremely lucky to experience these conditions before the cycle winds down--wow. I felt occasionaly like a big gun station- breaking pile ups and having nice signal reports. Even had nice audio and signal report from one California Ham!
I did an S & P operation because of the time spent in short bursts in between other obligations. I usually find the fringes of the bands the most productive for Me so I started high and worked lower most of the time. Seems a little more casual away from 28.400, where lots of contesters tend to congregate.
I use two antennas for 10m- a Butternut ground mounted vertical and a Hygain 10m monobander at about 20 feet. I operate a Yaesu FT-950 at 100w and use N1MM classic as My contest logger. I noticed a big improvement with signals using the Yagi so almost all contacts were on this antenna. When the bearing direction would appear in My logging program I typically swing the antenna that way but during this contest that was not always the strongest signal. Many times broadside was giving a better signal than aiming directly at the other station--weird. Made for an interesting time!
This was a very fun contest and I contacted several new DXCC's so i hope they confirm thru LOTW. There were many memorable contacts but I think the most satisfying one involved a station in South Africa. I happened to hear a huge pile up and finally realized it was a ZS- South Africa but after just a few attempts i realized the futility of trying to break thru the east coast wall so I moved on. Incredibly tuning down I found someone tuning and lo and behold- I thought I heard him give a ZS call sign. I gave My call and He came right back and We exchanged the contest info and i asked again for His call.Yes- He was a ZS call and he was in My log.Cool!!
I had a respectable score of 34,694 and was very happy to have participated!
73--Tim

LOTW 113 & 114 confirmed

I have two more confirmed DXCC's from the September CQ WW SSb contest. I guess I have had close to 8 new one's from just that one contest- neat!! Top flag is from Costa Rica and I had a QSO with TI2CDA and bottom flag is New South Wales but the DXCC is actually Lord Howe Island which is an unincorporated territory of New South Wales. I had a contact with VK9DLX during the contest which makes Me smile because I tried outside of the Contest time and had zero luck. Contesting is cool !!
I've been chasing some Centennial points and will have a write up at the end of the Year about that endeavour!
73---tim

November Sweepstakes SSB 2014

I looked back and realized I have not participated in a November Sweepstakes contest since 2010. It is not My favorite contest but it is probably the most challenging domestic contest I participate in.The exchange of Serial number, precadance , call sign ,Year first licensed and Section to both send and receive is a challenge.During the contest I was constantly amazed at how easily the big guns could listen and fire back with their exchange. I tried not to hurry and I think it helped to keep the "shotgun" exchange at a more even pace.
 This weekend as usual ended up being a lot more busy than I had anticipated so I was in and out of the shack quite often.This really made it hard to get an exchange rthymn going so at the start I really struggled and at the end of My BIC time it seemed rather easy . The higher bands like 10m were in excellent condition while the lower bands,even 20m seemed noisy and difficult to hear the exchanges. I did not stay on much after 7:00 pm either night but tried to be on the air when 10 and 15m were open.I still find 10m the most fun because of the antenna options of vertical and horizontal (yagi) I can use.I found the Yagi to collect the better signals although occasioningly the vertical won out.
 As usual I only did an S & P contest and didn't waste much time trying to break thru the pile ups. I heard VE8EV on 15m but He was very weak and the pile was immense. Alaska and Hawaii were also working big pile ups so I passed them by but amazingly I had 3 Montana contacts! I was hoping to break 10,000 points which I did and had 49 sections out of 83 which wasn't too bad. Sometime I would like to be able to devote enough time to have a chance at a sweep. A coffee cup would be ordered for sure.
  Glad I participated . Sad to think that each Year the band conditions will diminish till they bottom out at the end of this cycle. Enjoy it while I can!
73--Tim
 

Tokelau Island makes #112

The recent CQ WW SSB contest was not only fun but productive for DXCC chasing. I contacted ZK3Q from the Tokelau Islands and they recently uploaded to LOTW to give Me confirmation number 112. The Tokelau Islands are a territory of New Zealand and are located South of Howland Island and NorthEast of Fiji and almost directly West of the Marquesas Islands.Looking at other islands in the area I notice Swain Island and the Kiribatis plus several others with recent Dxpeditions. Chasing DX really is a cool way to explore Geography and find the location of many unknown entities.
  The ARRL SSB sweepstakes contest starts tomorrow at 2100 UTC. I plan to participate when I am able.Looks like a busy weekend full of many obligations....so We see!!
73---Tim

TX7G for DXCC #111

I had QSO's with TX7G operating from the Marquesa Islands during the recent CQ WW SSB contest on 10m and I chased them before the contest and was able to achieve a contact on 12m. They uploaded Their logs to LOTW for My 111 DXCC confirmation. They were a well run operation and fairly easy to contact unlike the recent expedition from Tromelin Island- FT4TA. They have been very faint and with their location to Me I have the East coast wall to get thru and have had no luck! I believe today is the last day to try!
  73--Tim

4 more DXCC confirmed

Flags of the Balearic Islands -top left
Guatemala -top right, El Salavor- left
and Gurnsey right .
All these DXCC's were contacted during the recent CQ WW SSB contest and I'm also waiting for Mariana Islands,Guam,Ceuta & Melilla, Serbia and Marquesas Island -I had QSO's with TX7G in both the contest and evening before. I'm up to 110 confirmed DXCC's and I would guess more than 120 contacted. Logbook of the world is a great resource for confirmations ! I'm sure I would still be way back ,maybe half confirmed using  only using the "old" methods.
  Band conditions are still fair but alot of flares also. I see Tromelin Island is now on the air so i have another new one to chase. Also Madagascar too. Fun chasing DX!!
73---Tim

CQ WW SSB contest 2014

The conditions this year were amazing. I actually made QSO's at 29.3 MHZ and there were stations from 28.3 all the way to 29.3 on the 10m band. I only spent a short amount of time on 15 and 20m because 10m was so much fun but I'm getting ahead of Myself. I seemed jinxed for the CQ contests this year- first the September RTTY contest,one of My favorites and I have equipment issues after the first night. Then this contest-- I ended having contracted a terrible  head and chest cold Thursday night. My throat was on fire and it was actually painful to talk all weekend! So ,yes tough to talk and trying to participate in a voice contest!
  I did participate in shifts when able to speak  and when not needing to lie down :( The 10m band was too active to miss so I did manage numerous on and off times the whole weekend although I apologize to the far end for My gravely voice and I'm thankful they could decipher My information.
  This is the first contest when I've actually felt like a big gun contest station even with My meager antenna's. I used mostly My 10m Yagi which is at about 20 feet  because My ground mounted vertical was just not as loud! I pointed the Yagi towards Europe and the signals rolled in. Later towards South America and even eventually towards Japan. What a neat feeling to break thru pile ups although I also gave up on some rare ones too.
 Some new DXCC's were the Mariana Islands,Guam,Ceut-Melilla,Serbia,Gurnsey,El Salvador and the Marquesas Islands. Several I hope are LOTW users so I can have more confirmed DXCC's. My Final score was only around 50,000 points but still better than I hoped considering how sick I was the whole weekend. I hope these conditions are continue thru December for the 10m contest.
73---Tim
PS-- in the AM portion of the 10m band (which is just  suggested ,not enforced!) I answered a CQ from a station and some Ham broke in and called US "A**Hole" contesters!All of Us contesters tend to forget the other Hams who don't enjoy contest weekends. Mmmmm :((
             

Google Chrome,TQSL and other stuff

 After this last weekends contest I wanted to "sign" My log for uploading to the ARRL's LogBook of the World but I soon realized My certificate was no longer valid.I remember the last contest having trouble after downloading the latest version of TQSL. I somehow had messed up the whole process and had never fixed it. So I needed to access LOTW except for some reason after going to the ARRL homepage and clicking the LOTW page, IE gave Me an error of " Internet explorer cannot display the Webpage"
  So how was I to load a new certificate? I did try from My other PC and was able to get access to LOTW so I downloaded the Certificate from My account and saved to the PC which was not working. This for some strange reason still did not solve My problem with a bad certificate and of course did not solve the Web page access issue.So I decided to go right to the source and emailed the ARRL LOTW .
  I  received  two replies the next day and both turned out to be very helpful. The first one from a  LOTW Specialist made mention of a recent upgrade to the LOTW security and maybe My version of WEB browser was not up to date. Well it so happens it probably isn't-- IE 8 running on an XP machine. Also this email mentioned several other browsers- one of them being Google Chrome. So what the heck! I downloaded Chrome and-voila!! It worked and Chrome appears to load fairly fast and is easy to use.I was also able to import My bookmarks very easily-nice! So on this PC I now have two browser options.
  The second email was also from the LOTW staff ( volunteers?) sending Me My TQSL certificate which loaded like a charm :) So now I was able to sign My log and with the newer versions of TQSL ,upload it to LOTW server automatically. All in all a good experience .
  I will have a write up of the recent CQ WW SSB contest in My next post.
  73---Tim

Route 66 Wallpaper

This is the nice certificate I recieved from the Route 66 event in September.I only was operating for a short time on the last dayof the event but managed to make 8 contacts-one was even mobile. I will try to remember to spend more time next Year trying for a sweep.
  I've decided to start cleaning My shack will the eventual goal of a total redo. About the time i decided to start this, My spare PC failed so the decision to trash was made even easier.I really need a full upgrade on My PC's- been running XP on two and the failed PC had Win2000.Yikes!! Its at recycling now so the big clean out begins!! :)
 Wish Me luck-- I plan to try to operate several contests till Christmas vacation before I totally tear down but will be slowly cleaning towards that eventual goal.
73---Tim

DXCC's confirmed 104,105 & 106

Austrailia Flag and South Africa plus Corsica
recent RTTY contest gave Me Austrailia confirmed and last Years 10m contest in December gave Me South Africa and Corsica. Corsica is a French Island and i was surprised to have a contact with them. I now have 106 DXCC's confirmed and 113 worked.Proof again of the ease of confirmation thru LOTW!
73---Tim

Murphy visits RTTY contest!

The CQ WW RTTY contest was last weekend and I planned a very part time participation. THe weather was expected to be exceptional and We had Relatives visiting so I planned on several hours Friday night at the start and possibly some weekend mornings.The rest of the time I knew would be busy but I thought it was enough to achieve a goal of 20-50k points.
I was a little concerned when Friday night rolled around and I hadn't even checked My RTTY setup since the last contest I participated in many months before.After arriving home from work,eating supper,taking care of some chores I finally made it down to the shack about 20 minutes before the start at 0000 UTC.Luckily all seemed well and I could recieve and transmit into a dummy load just fine. I set up the contest in N1MM ,My contest logging program, and resisted the urge to download the latest revision.
Out of the chute I snagged a VK from Australia on 10 meters- He later gave Me a confirmation in LOTW ( wow-thought I already had a confirmation with Australia!!)in the next hours I also logged several Hawaii stations plus Uraguay,US Virgin islands,Brazil and Grenada. Not too bad but I was not adding stations to the log at any good rate.Heard alot including J5/OL8R from Guinea-Bissau and PZ5RA from Suriname who was heard here very srtong but they just CQed and didn't hear Me.
It had been a long week so against My better judgement I shut down for the night and planned to rise early to try and fit in some extra time before Relative actitity would begin.I hadn't achieved My QSO goal for Friday night but assumed I could make up for it Saturday!
Up early Saturday, breakfast,coffee and after taking care some small chores ,headed down to the shack and turned on radios and PC. Lots of signals on 40m so that would be My starting point but--wait?? Whats this? Why is N1MM constantly keying the radio? This has happened before and the culprit was My homemade soundcard interface. I proceeded to take the interface apart and started a visual inspection. Not seeing any obvious issues, turned My attention to cabling,com port,etc. Time was ticking by with no resolution so I tried restarting PC and power cycling the radio because at this point was getting desparate!
When I first assembled a interface for My soundcard I decided to include a backup of sorts. I ran associated cable thru an RS232 switchbox so i could use two separate radios although not at the same time. I tried switching and setting up the N1MM and spare radio for a RTTY contest. Still keying the radio so problem is not radio related but PC,program or interface. Next I tried the old Digipan program for PSK31 to see if i could narrow the problem down. Yes--No constant key so probably not a com port issue or interface.
That would leave either N1MM or the RTTY engine MTTY. First I decided to try downloading latest Revision of N1MM but that was no help and I was out of time---Bummer. That also would mean My contesting was done for the day.
Sumday morning I again tried to figure out the problem but had very limited time.I was hearing many signals on 10m so was near frantic to find a solution. I printed out the contest results so far and set them aside and bit the bullet and reiniated N1MM. It didn't wipe out the entire config so I ended up totally reinstalling the program. I finished this just before I had to quit but it appeared to fix the issue.wouldn't really know until i had more time to configure the program.
I did eventually prove the new downloaded N1MM worked flawlessy!! So what happened? I think My PC which is an older Dell running Windows XP and haveing second party Com board installed (plus My homemade interface?) maybe caused the program either on power down or start up to corrupt the program. Some bit latched and wouldn't clear?? Don't know !! I do know I missed one of My favorite contests and had to submit a paltry sized log.
My concluding thoughts are basically something good did happen. I've decided to redo My shack and make it easier to get at radios and PC and associated equipment.Oh and its also time to upgrade My PC!!
73----Tim

N1mm,TQSL and other topics

I operated the recent CQ WW RTTY contest and both before and after realized I was revisions back on several programs.My logging program -N1MM was many months behind so I did install release V14.9.0 which did seem to run OK although I eventually had some issues which I'll write about in the next post about the contest.
I also uploaded to LOTW and of course in doing so was informed of a new TQSL update. After the log upload I installed the new version 2.0.3 but soon realized it was not recognizing My exsisting Callsign certificate needed to sign logs. After much failed tries I asked for a renewal but this one would not install either!! Eventually I tried the "repair" portion of the TQSL download and tried a reinstall and-violla!! A worker! Not sure what caused the corrupt download but I'm glad its fixed.
Also realized My subscription to QRZ's XML subscription service was almost expired so I paid $29.95 for another Year. This service is needed for HRD logging program to "fill in" the callsign info. It does work good and its not a bad price for access to this information.
**** special note***
It appears that the Yaesu FT-950 which has been discontinued still actually has minimal software support.I noticed on the Yaesu website a new CPU main version upgrade--ver. 1.18 as of 3/27/2014. Looks to be a minor update but still :)Nice to know they still care about My trusty FT-950!!
73---Tim

Package for Newington

After My nice suprise from the Zero bureau, I took some time to go thru the QSL cards and determined which needed return cards.Some I had already exchanged with but some were from Hams asking for return confirmation. Oldest card was from a QSO from 2010! Patience is much needed but the cost is just right!:)
I also took some time to examine My recent log and pick some contacts I would like a card from. Some I bypassed because they only wanted direct mail or even money. Bureau members and QSL managers are My preferred mail options unless its a Dxpedition or very rare. Then I'll send direct!
I'm an ARRL member and the cost to send thru their Outgoing QSL bureau is very affordable. Twenty cards is three dollars-a great deal.
I enjoy exchanging QSL cards but I can't imagine just that option for verifying new DXCC's. Very glad for LOTW and EQsl.
73--Tim

Route 66 Special Event 2014

I happened to be in the shack and hear a station with a 1 x 1 call and checked on QRZ and realized He was part of the Route 66 Special event. I had heard some local Hams discussing this event last weekend but had no time to check it out at the time. Having some time this weekend I decided to check out the particulars and maybe make some contacts.
This event is sponsored by the "CITRUS BELT AMATEUR RADIO CLUB" from California and they have a nice Website for information. It is the 15th Year of the event and this Year it runs from September 6th 0000z to September 14th at 2359z on the 80m to 6m bands, even WARC bands, using CW,Digital and SSB.
They are operating 21 unique callsigns for this event-- W6A thru W6T, the last two being mobile stations. All are positioned along the old Route 66 Highway route or there about! A single contact with any of the stations makes one eligible for a nice certificate with a $4 donation. I like wallpaper so I will be sending My money!:)
Missing the first week of this event did lessen My chances of a clean sweep but My goal was to make as many contacts as I could fit in. Most of the stations were busy and had nice signals. Propagation was up and down and I only had several spotted I could not hear.As of this writing I have 5 in the log but the event is not over....
73---Tim

I ended with 8 total--even one mobile. Not too bad with limited time!

More Zero Bureau QSL cards.

Mailman delivered these this week from the Zero Bureau. Not alot of cards but still fun to receive. I have a blog post from August 25th 2012 explaining the bureau process I use if interested. The bureau is just one of the many tools a Amateur has to enhance the Hobby. Not alot to add- this blog has lately taken a back seat to other endeavours but I have no plans to abandon it for now. Please check back now and then- contest season is just around the corner so I will have write-ups on some of those radio  weekends!
 73--Tim

13 Colony Certificate arrived!

Several weeks after this special event ended and I sent the required monetary amount and information- here's what showed up thru snail mail!!A very well done certificate- each Year I participate I'm amazed at the quality of the event. Thanks to all who make this possible! Eleven states and both special event stations-- not a clean sweep but not too Shabby for a single day's participation! Wait till next Year :)
73---Tim

A Turtle and other happenings.

On a recent walk with Our Dog on the main road in front of Our House,I happened to see a turtle trying to cross the road. Traffic can be very busy so I decided to "help" the turtle cross. This ended up being not too easy since Bella- Our very curious Dog decided to help! Well We did eventually make it to the other side and I was very happy to have a break in Cars while We attempted this operation. The turtle wandered off towards the little stream running thru Our property and I felt good about saving a turtle.I felt even better when I later identified it as a Wood Turtle which according to the Minnesota DNR website is considered threatened.
Summer appears to have finally happened in northern Minnesota and along with it the many thunderstorms that accompany the hot,humid weather. Several severe storms has passed thru the area and We have been lucky with no damage. My Job with Communications has been busy with lightning damage but thats a Yearly summer event!
Our three chickens have been laying eggs again after the long Winter and after seeing many predators on several game cameras , We have kept then in the two chicken runs and not free ranging without standing guard. The birds actually seem to enjoy the company.
I have not been in the radio shack much although i have tried to participate in some 6m openings when I can. Last weekend I listened for VHF activity for the Wordwide VHF contest but heard nothing.I had also set up the radio to participate in the CQ RTTY contest but ran out of time and energy but did read several email comments about conditions being s0-so.Maybe didn't miss too much but,dang I do like those RTTY contests!!
73---Tim

13 Colonies Special Event 2014

This special event starts on July 1st and ends on July 6th and I totally forgot about it until the last day. Last year I accomplished a clean sweep and the year before only missed one station so when I realized I missed the first five days wasn't sure about a possible clean sweep. The weather up here was hot and muggy so at least time spent in the basement would be a relief and I wouldn't feel like i was neglecting any chores. I did accomplish a few outside activities between contacts on the radio. Conditions seemed good and all bands had some activity so I started on 10m and watched the spotting networks for the K2A-M stations being spotted. Turns out the most contacts for Me were on 20m but had several on 10 and 15m too.
About supper time I had most stations for a clean sweep including the WM3PEN and W3FT station which both had excellant signals in Minnesota.Fact is most of the stations were loud .After Supper i heard one of the last two needed- K2A from New York but He was running a little different than normal. He would ask for stations to call and make a list then tell everyone to stop and ask for the copied stations He called back one at a time. Ate up alot of time but- hey- He obviously felt more comfortable with this than by the numbers or running split. Unfortunately for Me- this meant a very difficult time getting thru--eventually i gave up when i saw K2B spotted on 20m too. His signal was not a strong and was mostly looking for DX! Bummer! I really needed to finish a few chores so decided to throw in the towel although I still had a few hours to try. Figured i did OK with 11 contacts plus the two extra stations but no clean sweep. I'll still send away for a certificate. This is a very fun event and I applaude all the operators who devote so much time to make it happen!!
Nice looking certificates too!!
73---Tim

Ghost Court

This is a Tennis court not far from Our House which has been totally neglected. We happened to find it while searching for available courts to practice at in Our area.The picture doesn't show it well but the closer of four courts is the best of the lot--and thats not saying much!Looks very spooky with the fog that was rolling in from Lake superior that day!
  I always think its sad to see Houses,buildings and facilities like this  fall into disrepair. Recently the older wing of the Elementary school where Our children went to school was demolished. I always liked the older part of the school better than the new! Must be My age :))
73--Tim

Grandma's Marathon 2014

We are lucky to live in an area which sponsors a premier marathon like Grandma's Marathon. Our Daughter ran Her first Half marathon Yesterday and was able to finish with a smile on Her face. She didn't train for the run as much as She would have wanted but did great anyway. First Marathon was a thrill for Her to complete. Weather was real typical for Duluth area-cool and foggy but for running it was maybe ideal conditions as the course record for the full Marathon was broken after 30+ years!
I also had an opportunity to listen to the local repeater and was impressed (as always) with the professional communications for the Marathon by the local radio club - The Arrowhead Radio Amateur Club! Congratulations on another well-planned and executed event - And also a Heartfelt Congratulations to Our Daughter for a well run race :)
73---Tim

ARRL June VHF contest 2014

A very stormy weekend and some inside work in the basement gave Me incentive to at least monitor and maybe participate in this Years June VHF contest. Conditions for the weekend were not spectacular but I managed to hear a small opening on 6m Sunday and added a few QSO's to the total.
I also snagged a few locals on 6,2 and 432. Participation did seem to be less than previous years so that was too bad but because of the little activity , I'm happy to report I finished My projects! Wahoo!!!
It's also interesting to note my choice of antenna for 6m-- using My 10m beam and tuner. Not great but passable. At the very end of the contest I happened to try tuning My actual 5 element 6m beam at 50 feet and lo and behold-- less than 2:1!!!
Wow-- this antenna has been out of commission for several years with high SWR and no one to climb and repair! Oh well-- maybe some e-skip this summer and I'll give it another try.
Not a great number of QSO's-- really needed a good long 6m opening!
73---Tim

Happy Spring

Saturday morning ,listening to the Iron Range Net on 3.919 ,waiting for My turn. Its looks like rain all weekend so several outside projects will have to wait.The conditions for radio I guess are starting to be less productive although I haven't been operating enough to know!I've been busy and missing some good propagation but maybe I'll have an opportunity for some 6m openings.
I don't have any new antenna projects planned but might do some maintenance on some wire antennas.No new equipment to add to My shack either.Thats all for now--have a great weekend!
73--Tim

Password Changes

OK, so after the recent Heartbleed fiasco ( The Heartbleed Bug is a serious vulnerability in the popular OpenSSL
cryptographic software library)I decided it was time to get more serious about passwords. I have strengthened My passwords over the Years as more vulnerabilities have appeared . I remember back in the day of "no password" or using a "default" or less than six character password. Those were the days! :)
There are several neat sites to help with checking and generating strong passwords. A neat ,free and easy to use site is www.passwordmeter.com
This site will check your password based on upper,lower case, numbers, punctuation,repitition,etc and give a percentage score. Another neat site is www.strongpasswordgenerator.com Hard passwords to remember are generated but it will give some hints to remember the password. You can also adjust the length and makeup of the password.
Several other sites to consider are "password managers" such as -Lastpass,Dashlane and Passwordbox which all have free versions and are rated high by several Tech sites. I have not done apassword manager yet to control My passwords but am considering it. One problem i have is the number of mobile devices and PC /Mac platforms. Some of My devices are muti-use for home and work so some conflicts could occur. With the continuing vulnerbilities cropping up all the time i will eventually need to try a password manager.For the time being I've changed,lengthened and secured all My passwords better but this only helps guard against hackers ,not vulnerable websites and stolen harddrives--
73---Tim

Goodbye XP !

Yes its that time to say goodbye to Windows XP. Microsoft officially stops support for most XP operating systems. Its been in My mind the best Windows operating system and the easiest to use. I have two PC's currently using XP and even Win2000 on one. We also use Apple products and eventually hope to be all Macintosh but for now Windows is working just fine--its also cheaper because of access to PC parts and the fact I've been able to cobble together My shack PC's.
I'm writing this in response to a message on My shack laptop running XP-- Microsoft Security Essentials will also be a causualty of the XP end of life. I hadn't thought about it but it does make sense however sad that is. So i downloaded another free Virus program to replace security essentials. It was a fine program but I do need the updated protection of a supported Virus program!
Not much new to report on the "radio" side of My blog. Sorry-- been way too busy with other endeavours! no contests-minimal radio net time and not much DX chasing. Quite a difference from previous winters. Speaking of winters--please let this one end.good grief- more snow predicted! Already at 104" for the season and climbing plus one of the coldest on record! Uncle--I cry Uncle! :((
73---Tim

Happy Daylight Savings Time !

Happy DST-or not! I always find it tuff to adjust to the hour change. Maybe if My alarm clock didn't wake Me up My adjustment period wouldn't be so bad. Retirement might ease this some.:) Until then work beckons!
I haven't been in the shack much this Winter so I've not had many topics to blog about. Its been one of the coldest Winters in recent memory so logic would suggest more time inside thus more shack time.This was not the case this Year.I really don't know what kept Me so busy other than lots of Family time and Work. Both are essential so I guess its been a very good year!
Temperatures have been in the low 30s and 40 F so the snow is starting a slow retreat. I'm really looking forward to Spring. Until then--
73---Tim

No FT5ZM for you!

I haven't even tried chasing the FT5ZM Dxexpedition till this weekend. Saturday morning I heard them on 14.185 listening up at 14.245 ? What's up with that?? Anyway couldn't break the pileup with my measly 100w into my ground mounted vertical and as the morning wore on they faded away. They ran some RTTY on several bands but I was busy with chores and just couldn't take the time then. I figured I would have later and even Sunday to try again. I was wrong since the bands tanked in the far north and I only was hearing whispers on any band so FT5ZM is not going to happen for me. Sad face but a bright spot- the last time a Dxexpedition was in that part of the world I never even heard a whisper! My antennas are definitely better. A little power might do the trick or just more time to chase- I guess they are QRT sometime tomorrow!
73-Tim

A hiatus

I didn't intend to be a non blogger for this long but that's the way it has worked out. I haven't hardly been in the shack and actually don't seem to miss operating. Work has been nuts and my family has kept me busy.missed the recent Minnesota QSO party for the first time in about 6 years but always next year. I've had a few comments on my various posts I've moderated and even several I maybe shouldn't have commented on:).
73 for now- Tim

ARRL RTTY RU 2014

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Minnesota
Operating Time (hrs):

Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
80: 14
40: 40
20: 72
15: 74
10: 57
------------
Total: 257 State/Prov = 45 Countries = 14 Total Score = 15,163

Club: Minnesota Wireless Assn

Comments:

Ft-950, 50w 10m yagi,265' dipole and butternut vertical
Rotor froze on sunday pointed south. Lots of domestic-few DX.Nice way to spend
an afternoon when its below zero!
Thanks for the Q's-- 73--Tim

This is what I submitted for the contest.
73--Tim

IPad full

Imagine My surprise when trying to download a new illustrated book to Ibooks on my Ipad2 it gave Me an error message  " something about not enough memory- adjust memory allocations in settings". What?? I had never had this issue on either My Ipad or Iphone.Checking in the settings area under general/usage showed only 241mb available out of 16g! Oops! This usage area also breaks down where the memory is being used starting from the largest to smallest. I guess I had way more music on this ipad than I was aware of--5g total.
  The question ended up being -how do I reallocate memory on an Ipad which is doing backups to Icloud? I did delete some "Apps" and old issues of magazines and removed some books I had already read which helped. I still wanted to resize My Music--lots of music I had aquired thru Home sharing with My kids and some was not really My listening type!
 Using Wi-Fi for Icloud backups and Itunes Syncing is convienient but for changes on certain applications like music is almost impossible.what to do?? Well i finally decided to bring up Itunes on My PC and directly connect to My Ipad. This seemed to work and didn't cause many issues other than totally remove ALL My music off My Ipad. Turns out Itunes for My Ipad was not set to sync any music to My Ipad!
  After checking Playlists and Artists/albums i wanted and re-syncing- viola! A smaller amount of music on My Ipad and way more room in memory. I also directly sync My Iphone to same PC and Itunes account and this seems to not cause any issues.In fact makes sharing contacts/music/books etc easy!!
  73---Tim