ARRL 10m contest 2023

 This contest started Friday night and continued thru Sunday although because of a solar flare Friday night was a non-event. There were many signals before the contest started but by time I checked later Friday the band was silent, so I switched off radio and went upstairs. Saturday was much better after sunrise with the band slowly filling up from 28300 to well past 28700 with both domestic and DX. I did notice a huge amount of splatter from adjacent frequencies but in tuning around could not always find the offending station. I wondered if some interference was atmospheric. Another interesting aspect was the lack of direction to complete a QSO- seemed many times the Yagi did better for receiving stations on edge or even off the back. Saturday was my best day with about two thirds of the total QSO's for the contest. Sunday tuning around I had a lot of gray spots on my band map and had to work a little to find new contacts. Sunday also was more normal with directional reception, but signal strength was up and down with one station commenting on how loud I was and the next commenting on needing to pull me out of the noise.

 It was a very fun contest with good conditions overall although instead of a strictly S & P operation I should have tried for a run or two. Oh well -158 contacts for 16,748 points was not bad. I haven't checked for any rare DX but I think it was mostly the usual suspects---I recognized many call signs!!!

73---Tim

ARRL SSB Sweepstakes 2023

 This contest started at 21:00 UTC November 18th and continues until 03:00 UTC November 22 and I forgot until 22:00 on Saturday to participate. It really didn't matter much since I only wanted to operate for a short time at the beginning. I've found being the new guy on the second day improves My chances of breaking pile ups. My actual operating time was short with many breaks helping decorate for Christmas some outside chores and other distractions. A nice casual contest which is how I like it!

 The exchange for this contest is a challenge for Me to keep straight and type correctly so I usually never attempt to get a run started but use search and pounce instead. My typing skills are very bad! I also do not have a HF amplifier and only have a 10m Yagi at 25 feet and no tri bander in the air. So, I always hope for a good 10m opening. My other go to antenna is a ground mounted HF6V ground mounted vertical which at times surprises me with its ability to cut through pile ups. 

I quickly checked the bands and settled on starting with 10m, eventually towards sunset changed to 15m before that band closed. Then I decided to pull the plug till the next day and head upstairs. Sunday conditions started rather slow and I almost called it quits but checked back later and had some renewed success on 20m which is usually difficult and eventually went to 40m after dark.

 I ended up with 105 QSO's and 54 sections for a total score of 11,340--not a great score and less sections than I've achieved in previous sweepstakes but it was still a lot of fun! I'm always grateful when My radios and antennas perform well. 

 73---Tim

Uniden HP 2 Scanner review

 I've now had this scanner for many months and I'm very pleased with the setup and capabilities of it. So far, I've only used this unit as a standalone and not with the Sentinel software which during initial setup it wants to install. You can bypass this by just continuing thru the menu to complete installation. I eventually will need to update the database so the software will be needed to do so.

 This scanner is very automatic finding channels and groups to scan in the surrounding area. You can increase or decrease the area included but I would recommend at first using the default. I tried increasing the area included and it was too much scan time needed and the unit gave a warning about this exact problem. The default settings seemed to work the best although some manual manipulation of new frequencies can be done if desired. 

 I have this scanner on most times I'm in the ham shack and a charge will last 6-8 hours and it will beep to indicate to plug it in for recharging. I've also tried the included antenna and also an external antenna I have mounted on an outside building. Surprisingly I preferred the inside antenna because having a greater range also picked up more marginal signals and some interference. 

 This scanner works very well for My needs, along with several ham radios I use. I also have an older scanner for some specialized frequencies that I don't always want part of a scanning group.

happy listening--Tim

MacBook Pro battery replacement

 

I am still using hand me down MacBook Pro PCs from 2010. I've replaced the internal batteries once before and it needed a replacement again. Luckily, I found the original seller on the internet where I purchased from before and the price was still very cheap. It included the necessary tools for replacement, and I watched an IFixit video for a detailed explanation. The last battery lasted for about 5 years so I think My MacBook will be beyond end of life by then!

CQ WW RTTY & SSB contests 2023

 I forgot to post for the RTTY contest so I thought I would include it here. Both contests were fun, and conditions seemed to be similar. The number of QSO's and points were close although the SSB part I managed to contact 33 zones , ten more than the RTTY part.

 The 10m band was again the money band for Me and that's where I spent the majority of My time.

I didn't spend much time after sundown in either contest but did try 40m early morning and had some success. The 20m band as always was difficult competing with the big gun stations and 15m when open was just okay. 

 Next contest for Me is probably November sweepstakes-- till then.

 73--Tim 

13Colonies Special Event 2023

 

  This was the 15th annual 13 colonies Special Event and the 13th time I have participated. It was another fun time and unlike previous years I was able to participate all seven days although July 4th was limited time. I managed to contact 5 of the 13 colonies on the first day and added to that amount each day. Some stations seemed very easy and available but several were very difficult to either find operating or hear loud enough to have a contact. New York and New Jersey were both difficult to find and contact unlike previous years when I contacted them usually within the first day. The three bonus stations as always were hard to hear and I didn't manage a contact although the WM3PEN station I did hear but the pile up was big so no QSO for Me!

 The last day I had 12 colonies in the logbook and was hoping to find K2I which was the New Jersey station when I found Him on 20 meters and there was no  pile up  and first call I got Him! I haven't achieved a clean sweep for many years so that was very satisfying. I do wonder if I should try one of the new digital modes like FT8 since this mode was being used by more stations operating than in years past.

 Fun time with dedicated operators giving up their time to make this event successful.

73---Tim

Arrl Diamond Terrace

 

I was organizing My desk and saw the Lucite replica brick of My W1AW Diamond terrace brick. I had totally forgot about this ! A fellow Ham radio operator at My old workplace was generous to include Me in his contribution many years ago to the ARRL Diamond terrace. If I ever travel out East, it would be fun to stop at Newington to check the terrace out and find My brick.

73-Tim

Uniden Home patrol 2 scanner

I've used scanners for a long time at home, from old crystal controlled units to newer easy frequency entry analog ones. When police, fire, EMS  and other agencies migrated to trunking , both analog and  digital communications, I still monitored many frequencies but missed the easy access to other agency communications.

 When I was still working full time I had access to a Uniden bearcat trunking scanner but it was not programmed. I spent after hours time learning how to program it for both ARMER and WISCOM channels-- Minnesota and Wisconsin statewide systems. It was fun and interesting to learn programming this scanner but very time consuming and I always thought I was missing some agencies.

 After retirement I checked into a trunking capable scanner for home use but the price was always an obstacle to purchasing one. I recently decided the price was low enough to buy the Uniden Home Patrol 2 scanner. The specifications mentioned both Apco-25 phase 1 and 2 capability, EDACS, LTR, conventional analog and P25 digital channels. We do not have any Apco phase 2 systems in the area yet but maybe eventually.

The postal service delivered the package last week and I've spent some time setting it up and learning its quirks. I will post later what I've learnt and My thoughts about its capabilities.

73---Tim
 

Butternut HF6V repair

 My Butternut HF6V ground mounted vertical antenna stopped tuning during the middle of winter. It worked well for RTTY roundup but several weeks later I noticed it no longer was hearing any signals on any band. We happened to be having one of the harshest winters in recent memory with lots and lots of snow and since this antenna resides in the woods the snow depth is 3-4 feet so I decided to wait till spring to work on it.

 Spring was late this year. Our area experienced a record setting snow season so I waited till May to venture into the woods and inspect the situation. I disconnected the tuning stub at the base and checked for continuity, but it showed an open back to the shack. Checking from the shack towards the antenna showed a short-- -so multiple problems. The 75 ohm coax matching stub connects to hardline from the shack so I carefully sliced, unwrapped and extracted the "n" connector and realized the transition on the stub coax was bad. I decided to bring the matching stub into the shack for easier reassembly.

  The female "n" connector had come apart and shorted the braid to the center conductor and the spade lug end which connects to the antenna base had broke--thus a short from one end and an open from the other. The snow load probably caused some of this so I tried to make this a more robust connection adding a small length of wire to the spade lug end so it will have more ability to move and the hardline to matching stub connection I supported better since it's on the ground.

 After reassembly and testing okay, I was pleased to hear signals on all the bands this antenna is engineered to tune. The summer noise levels are rather high but it's nice to have this antenna back in service and next winter will hopefully survive unscathed.

73---Tim 

Swapfest 2023

 I decided to have a sellers table at this years local swap fest like I did last year and spent many weeks going through shelves and hidden areas of the basement. I found enough items to sell and also lots of stuff I no longer needed so off to recycling or trash. The picture above shows a home made amplifier I was given 20 years ago and I had planned to fabricate a high voltage and filament power for it but ended up being too busy with many other projects so it sat forgotten. I decided to check with the Ham who gave it to me before trying to sell it and He decided to take it back since the parts and tubes are still valuable. Fine with Me--just want to downsize!

 The basement looks much better with the amount of "stuff" I took and sold or took to recycling. It's nice to have open spots on shelves and not have equipment on the floor. I plan to keep downsizing and not add new stuff. Less is better!!

73--Tim

Las Vegas trip

 

We stayed at the Flamingo hotel during Last week of March.It was nice to get away from the long Minnesota winter although temperatures were not warm enough to use the pool but was great for exploring.We ate well,gambled very little and just enjoyed being tourists.It was very busy everywhere and I wonder if spring break had anything to do with it.Fun time even with the crowds.

73-Tim 

Winter Field Day 2023

 I usually don't participate in this contest but I wanted to try several of My antenna's performance. My HF vertical antenna is not working from a very tuff winter of ice, rain and snow load.  I've been waiting for warmer weather before braving deep snow to inspect it. This next week might be the week --looks like warm up is on the way.

 Winter field day is mostly geared towards mobile, remote and local sourced power stations but just like summer field day it also has a category for home stations which is the category I chose. The antenna's performed as expected with the 10m yagi working the best and luckily there was some activity on 10m . The big dipole and even the inverted L were noisy and neither performed very well. The "L" is cut for 160m and does work on 75m but needs constant matching with any frequency change. My big dipole doesn't tune on 40 and 15 so I typically use this one for 75 and 20m only. I really miss the Butternut HF6V which works well on 40-10 and is the one I use on HF contests along with the 10m yagi .  A future project might be putting the old G5RV jr. antenna back up since it covered 40 and 15m okay.

 I only had less than 30 contacts with most being on 10m although I did add a few on 20m too. The other bands I listened on but had very little luck getting them to tune up so I gave up on those bands. I hope to have the vertical fixed before several future contests.

73---Tim

  

ARRL RTTY RU 2023 contest

 This contest starts at 12 noon CST on January 7 and runs until 6 PM Sunday. I was looking forward to participating using My new digital setup which did not disappoint--worked very well. Saturday conditions seemed to be good and I spent more time the first day operating. What a pleasure to have a good working digital interface and "murphy" did not visit during the entire contest time.

 I was busy on Sunday and only added a small amount of contacts but still did Ok-- 143 QSO's for 6578 points. The scoring for this contest is always on the low side because of the way points are added.

73--Tim

ARRL 10m Contest summary and Florida trip

 We enjoyed a family vacation to Florida staying at a VRBO home on a canal around the FT. Meyers area. This trip was planned before Hurricane Ian and luckily the area We stayed was not as damaged as the beachfront areas. This was our first time spending Christmas away from  Northern snow doing a "palm tree" Christmas and we enjoyed the warm weather.I think a future trip is already being planned by My family!

 I participated in the ARRL 10m Contest in December entering as low power SSB only. Band conditions were okay and I managed to participate long enough to have 106 QSOs in the log. Not a spectacular showing but it was fun .

 73- lets hope 2023 is a good year for all.

Tim