QSL in and out

 I finally sent money for supplies to the incoming W0 QSL bureau. They have been really great keeping the cards coming My way even when the amounts have been small. Great group of volunteers ! Many thanks!
  I also have been using the ARRL outgoing Qsl bureau until now.Some of the information I had set aside seemed to be old- the cost and info on what and how to send to the bureau. I printed out the new instructions and the first line that caught My eye was the price increase! I have always sent a small amount of cards and the price was very reasonable. One of the advantages of being an ARRL member. Now it appears the price is based on weight and an added $7.00 charge with each packet of cards.OK. I know everything is more expensive but -really?? I have already started looking for a cheaper solution. Until then-the cards will keep getting piled up at My shack. Maybe that's another reason why the bureau takes so long!!
  73---Tim
UPDATE-- I  inquired thru an email group I'm a member of, what other options for sending QSL cards. Just so happens this particular group has an ARRL staff  as a member too. He wrote a very nice explanation explaining why the price increase was necessary. Postage costs overseas have risen dramatically and the league probably should have raised its prices a long time ago. He also mentioned about all the worthwhile programs the league supports and why membership is so important. All in all a very nice balanced explanation. I'm still sad with the price increase---- :(

Goodbye CC

We no longer are blessed with the presence of a Cat roaming our house as of November 9th.First time in 22 years. Our last remaining cat-Celia, is now in kitty heaven. We will miss her alot. Best hunter,very vocal ( in a good way) and extremely affectionate. She was also a rescue cat with a damaged front paw but that didn't stop her from any activity known to cats! Girls are off to college and My wife and I have decided for now to do without a cat presence in the house.Maybe later. Our dog Bella is the sole pet in Our lives for now.Being the only pet seems to suit Bella just fine!
 73--Tim

More Cards from W0 bureau

Received a few cards from the zero bureau. These were all fairly recent and ALL requested QSL returns! I have enough cards ready now to send a batch to the outgoing QSL bureau. Amazing to still be receiving cards even though My on air activities have almost stopped. It is an incentive to get back on the air.Maybe over the holidays!
73--Tim

ARRL 10m contest 2016

I was able to participate in this contest but only on Saturday. Friday and Sunday I had Family commitments which was okay because most of the limited action was on Saturday. I really wanted to submit a log so I had the radio on and every time I passed the shack would check conditions. It did seem like most of the action was just out of My reach of My station.Heard whispers and occasional signals but most just barely touched My s-meter.With limited activity and time only managed less than 50 Q's but it was fun to be back behind a microphone. Many logs I have seen posted rival mine in size :)
73--Tim

ARRL 10m Contest 2015 certificate

Imagine My surprise when this showed up in the mail.I won this exact category -low power ,phone only Minnesota section,in this contest in 2010 but wasn't expecting this. Conditions were not spectacular and My time was limited!Always fun to add some wallpaper to the shack so definately not complaining :)Receiving this award several weeks before the contest also helps Me to be motivated to participate!!
73---Tim

Las Vegas Trip and more

Iphone picture of the Paris Las Vegas Eiffel tower taken from across the street at Bellagio's. Our Hotel was at Paris Las Vegas which is a nice hotel and was kind of center on the strip.We were able to walk both North and South on the strip from this location.Vegas is definetely an experience and not a place for a judgemental person. I took it all in stride although was certainly ready to be back to the country!
CQ WW RTTY contest this weekend and I'm hoping to find time to participate although Our Girls will be back from college for a visit.i guess I will see what time I can find.Doing some preliminary checks with the radio and interface so hopefully i'm ready!
73---tim

More Bureau cards and a stray!

Just received more cards from the W0 bureau. Not a huge amount but fun to have a present in the mail.The oldest card is from 2011 and I even have one card not for Me.Card amount was correct but a stray one accidentally was added to My pile. I looked up the call on QRZ and its now on its way to its owner.Maybe He has Japan confirmed or maybe not!! Either way- now He will have Japan!
73---Tim

13 Colony Certificate and scanner antenna install

I received in the mail My 13 colony certificate for this years special event. Managed to achieve a clean sweep and contact the William Penn station but not the United Kingdom. I think that's five years in a row I've participated and I always enjoy chasing the stations around.
Recently I was asked to help setup and program a new scanner for Our system operations center. I didn't have enough time at work so I brought it home and played with it. During the setup of the new scanner I was reminded of a scanner antenna I bought used at a recent swapfest and never put in the air.Its a disconne type ,an Icom AH-7000, and it seemed to be in great shape.
I still have an old pipe on My pole building and a piece of "spare" RG-8u from the pipe to inside My shack so this should be easy to put in service. The coax has not been used for many years so I did a simple test with My MFJ-259b antenna analyzer by putting a dummy load on the pole building end and tested from inside My shack. Coax looks good so I mounted the antenna and again checked with the analyzer although it only goes to about 170Mhz and this wideband antenna should cover from 25Mhz-1300Mhz receive. The setup looks fine for the frequencies I can test and it will only be used as a receive antenna so I'm good to go!
Using an external antenna, especially when My scanner is located in the basement, makes a nice improvement. The little telescoping antenna provided with the scanner if used on the first floor or above does do a good job which surprised Me.
I hope to find time to give a quick explanation of programming the Uniden BCD996P2 scanner soon in a future blog post.
73---Tim

13 Colonies Special Event 2016

This is a sample of the certificate for this special event.

I have participated in this special event for five years in a row.This time I also remembered and started chasing QSO's on the first day. Several Years I only remembered towards the end and had to scramble to try and get a clean sweep.I did manage a clean sweep in 2013 and 2015 but both those years I missed the bonus stations --only managed both bonus stations in 2011 but missed the clean sweep. Sorry- the clean sweep is having a QSO with each of the associated 13 colony stations on any band or mode.
This year as always the station calls were K2A thru K2M representing the original 13 colonies plus bonus stations WM3PEN in Pennsylvania and a new one-- GB13COL in Durham,Great Britain.The event is run from July 1st at 1300 UTC and ending July 7th at 0400 UTC. Just happened to have Vacation from work July 1st and July 5th and of course here in the good old USA- July 4th is a National holiday. Plenty of days to chase these stations and still spend time with My family!
The first day -Friday ,July 1st I managed 5 stations including a bonus station- WM3PEN.The very first QSO was K2A from New York and the operator was Ken. I think this "Ken" is actually the event organizer but definately a good operator! Over the next few days I managed more contacts between chores and family time. Finally on July 5th managed a contact with K2H from Massachusetts for the 13 colony clean sweep. During this entire time I also was chasing GB13COL from Great Britain who was usually on 14285 but could only hear the state side stations clearly. Definately a disadvantage not having a better antenna or more propagation.I only have a ground mounted vertical or dipole for 20m and with sunspots hovering at zero most days, no propagation for 10 or 15m to level the playing field for a small station.
A very fun event overall and I congratulate all the operators who gave their time over a Holiday weekend to make this event bigger and better every year. If You haven't participated I suggest putting it on Your calendar for Next year! I'm sending for the certicate with the $5.00 donation so this event doesn't disappear from lack of support.Besides its a very nice certificate!!
73--Tim

Caribbean Trip 2016

Curaçao - one of the Islands We visited during Our cruise on the Royal Carribean ship "Jewel of the Seas". We also had ports at St Thomas,St Kitts and Aruba. It was another fun trip with My family and was very nice to have warm temperatures and fun in the sun.
We came back to snow and cold ! Not fun but April in Minnesota so not entirely a surprise. Had several Hams inquire if I had any radios with Me on vacation! There was no time for radios but maybe in the future. I have been watching the email reflector and realized I was missing several DXpeditions. oh well! Maybe next time.
73--Tim

More QSL cards

W0 bureau sent more QSL cards.Only a few requested return cards so those I filled out and have set aside till I have more.The oldest card was from 2012- which isn't the oldest requested/sent but close.The bureau is slow but can't beat the price!
Remember the DX contest this weekend!
73--Tim

CQ WW 160m SSB contest 2016

I had not planned on operating this contest because of limited time but decided Friday night to check out the activity. The bands actually seemed very good with many signals S9 and above so I thought what the heck--I started My logging program and entered the necessary information and started making contacts. I haven't had the chance to operate a contest for some time and found it again-to be very enjoyable.Top band is called the "gentlemans " band for a reason and the pace was very comfortable. I also reasoned how nice it would be to add some new states toward 160m WAS-- don't know if I did but at least I tried.
I didn't have a huge QSO total but only operating for a short time Friday night gave Me a contest "fix" and an enjoyable evening before calling it quits.No operation Saturday because of prior committments but there is always next year.The bands like 160m should improve as the rest tank with the solar cycle.
No DX but My inverted "L" radiating 100w performed satisfactory!
73---Tim

Serbia for #127

I contacted YT0Z during the CQ WW SSB contest on 10m in October of 2015 and He was a LOTW user- so his confirmation makes for # 127 ! Nice to have ATNO before the sunspot cycle tanks!
I've missed several contests and DXpeditions due to Family committants but hope to be able to start some radio fun times again soon. Winter is slogging along and Spring is within sight-- can't wait!
73--Tim

In and Out Bureau

I received an email today from a Ham Radio operator from Germany requesting a QSL reply to a card He had sent Me.I looked thru My log and seen a QSO I had logged but no indication of a received QSL. I started several years ago to log any and all QSL's received or sent . This process is otherwise very difficult to keep track of.Either the card was lost enroute or as is typical with Bureau transactions--still in transit from the year 2012!
I was aquireing a stack of cards to send to the ARRL outgoing QSL service so I added one more and sent the works.I also sent money to My incoming W0 Qsl service since its been awhile. That wraps up My QSL obligations for awhile--good feeling.Its still fun to receive QSL cards!
73--Tim

St Lucia for # 126 and NPOTA

Before Christmas on the 10m band ,J68HZ, Joel on the Island of St. Lucia was operating Voice. Looking at My DXCC worked I realized St. Lucia was not confirmed although I had worked several stations over the years from that QTH. J68HZ happens to be a LOTW user and confirmation happened on January 6th for DXCC # 126. A nice QSO but short which is real typical. Our Family vacation in March of last Year was a cruise and one of the Islands was St. Lucia.We had a nice tour of the Island and I remember it fondly.
I also took some time recently to try contacting some National Parks on the air activation and did have some success. These Activation I think will be a little more challenging than the Centennial celebration of 2014 because of the locations from remote areas at times. Antennas and rig setup might not be as robust as a station activating their QTH. Possibly its just changing conditions but I suspect its more to do with low power and less than optimum antenna set ups! Still will be fun to chase.
73---Tim

ARRL RU 2016

I've participated in this contest for several years and have a good time always.Usually its very cold out and its nice to be inside contesting. Solar conditions looked to be iffy with a solar event during contest time but I found conditions to be good. Fact is at the start at 1800 UTC if I could have continued the rate per hour I would have really ran up the totals. It didn't last but first hour doing S&P I was able to do 50 Q's per hour which for Me is smoking! A 25-30 per hour rate is more typical and for most of the contest that was My rate or lower on 40 and 80m.
I was very pleased with openings on all the bands from 10m to 80m. Fact is 40 and 80m were fair and I did make numerous contacts on both bands although 15 and 20m were the best through both days. Sunday did seem to have less activity and many, many gray call signs printing in the N1MM program indicating a previous contact.
My participation last year yielded 250 QSO's and early Sunday I decided to try and exceed that amount this Year. It was a scramble at the end- Dinner "bell" rang it was close but I managed 256 Q's--Yeah! Although I had less multipliers so My score was actually less than last years!
Very fun contest with lots of familiar call signs logged and many new ones too!
Murphy stayed away and PC,radio and software ran excellant
till next time--73--Tim

PS-finished this post then realized the title was wrong. I had put a date of 2015--duh!!

The last chicken

Our last chicken is gone. She was a white speckled Sussex named Marshmellow and was about eight years old. She had been the lone bird left since July and during the warmer months followed Me around when I was outside doing chores. She would even enter the pole building looking for Me thru the small service door. Towards evening when it was time to roost I would whistle and She would come running to the coop.We had talked about finding a place for Her since We believed loneliness would be a problem but She didn't seem too bothered by lack of companionship.
We have always enjoyed watching Our flock roam the yard catching bugs and just generally being care free birds. I suppose keeping them exclusively in the protection of the fenced chicken run would have kept all of them safe but would have detracted from Our and their enjoyment. Predators have been a huge problem at our rural location and have been bad enough at times to force Us to keep the remaining birds lock up for many weeks.We have been lucky not to lose a single bird inside the protection of the fenced in run until now! Several days ago a weasel managed to get inside and our last bird is now history.
It has been an experience good and bad raising birds. Loved the fresh eggs! Hated losing our pets to predators and old age. A good experience for the sturdy of heart ! :) I will say the birds antics made Me laugh many times and a chicken allowed to be semi free will exhibit a surprising personality and intelligence most people say they don't have! They be wrong!
73 and Happy New Year
I pray for peace but that seems
impossible for the Human race!
Tim