Greens Island is located in the southwest corner of Amundsen Gulf, 15 miles east of Paulatuk Northwest Territories,Canada. Its "Islands on the Air "designation is NA-182. John VE8EV will be operating from there as CK8G from about April 14th 2200z thru April 17th. I have followed John before thru His Blog when He has operated other IOTA's and Contests.
I was fortunate to make contact on 20m during his IOTA activation of Ellice Island ( VX8X ) and I tryed for Banks Island ( VC8B) but conditions and timing did not cooperate. He has also participated in many contests giving the much needed NWT contact.
Tonight while writing this I've been pausing to check the DX cluster He is usually spotted on and also His website ( Blog) which did indicate He had landed in Paulatuk,but did not specify the time.So far no" spots" but I'll watch and listen for a time on 20m.
73 for now- will update --Tim
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Insomnia.
Yes, happens on occasion. Can't sleep, so wander down to the shack , hoping for that rare DX. Too bad but the bands are back into a funk! Noise low end,silence above. No local repeater chatter even to occupy the time. I do enjoy playing with the new radio, but with little to listen to, eventually attention turned to a QSL card I received today. Its from January 9,2010 from a Canadian Ham operating Portable 7 from Quartzite,Arizona. His time and Mine of Our QSO differ by seven hours, don't know whats up with that but I do remember the QSO. Vertical to vertical antenna ,He was camping, I heard him call CQ with no takers so I answered. My report was 5x5 and I honestly could give Him a good 5x7. Nice Gentleman, Chatted about the usual, Rigs,power,antennas ,camping and retirement. I sent eQSL and LOTW, He sends a QSL card- nice. I'll be sending a card back-- wonder how the rest of His vacation was?
Tired, good night
73--Tim
Tired, good night
73--Tim
Friday, April 9, 2010
YI9PSE and split operation
I heard YI9PSE on 7065 tonight and they were listening up at 7175. They were very faint and lots of intentional? interference with CW ,tuner-uppers,etc. Lots of People showing their IQ!
Anyway-- not to complain,actually I was not chasing this DX expedition but it seemed like a good time to try split operation on the FT-950. Split on this radio is so easy! Didn't even check the manual, set Tx frequency on VFO-A and then transferred it to VFO-B by pressing the A>B button and bingo --TX frequency now set on VFO-B. Press VFO-B TX button,it lights up "red" and then set VFO-A Rx frequency. Done!! Could have just set VFO-B first and not transferred between VFO's but had set it to "A" first.
Want to know if TX frequency is correct without transmitting?? There is a button called "TXW" for doing just that-- checks,no transmitt. Again a real slick option! Gotta love this Radio!
I also hooked up My old trusty Kenwood TS-850 to the newly aquired Astron Power supply and threw a piece of RG-8 to another port of the antenna switch and compared between the rigs on a QSO on 40m. Gotta say even with the internal speaker the old Kenwood sure sounds fine. It also was showing s9+20 on the receive signal, needed to turn on 2nd RX amp on the Yaesu to get s9+20. Kenwood 850 has always been known for its great receiver!!
My new Yaesu still has so much more,but the 'ol Kenwood is like a comfortable old shoe! Wish money wasn't the issue--- but the Yaesu is very nice!! Get the picture?? Yup-- I'm a typical Ham,hate to let go!!
73--have a great weekend---Tim
Anyway-- not to complain,actually I was not chasing this DX expedition but it seemed like a good time to try split operation on the FT-950. Split on this radio is so easy! Didn't even check the manual, set Tx frequency on VFO-A and then transferred it to VFO-B by pressing the A>B button and bingo --TX frequency now set on VFO-B. Press VFO-B TX button,it lights up "red" and then set VFO-A Rx frequency. Done!! Could have just set VFO-B first and not transferred between VFO's but had set it to "A" first.
Want to know if TX frequency is correct without transmitting?? There is a button called "TXW" for doing just that-- checks,no transmitt. Again a real slick option! Gotta love this Radio!
I also hooked up My old trusty Kenwood TS-850 to the newly aquired Astron Power supply and threw a piece of RG-8 to another port of the antenna switch and compared between the rigs on a QSO on 40m. Gotta say even with the internal speaker the old Kenwood sure sounds fine. It also was showing s9+20 on the receive signal, needed to turn on 2nd RX amp on the Yaesu to get s9+20. Kenwood 850 has always been known for its great receiver!!
My new Yaesu still has so much more,but the 'ol Kenwood is like a comfortable old shoe! Wish money wasn't the issue--- but the Yaesu is very nice!! Get the picture?? Yup-- I'm a typical Ham,hate to let go!!
73--have a great weekend---Tim
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Rough Bands!
Well I've been very busy lately, hardly any time to even listen to My new Radio. The bands don't seem to be very good when I have had a chance to tune around. I've played with the noise reduction and BW,IF shift of the FT-950 and I have to say I'm very impressed. They've come along way in 25 years! I will write a hands on description when I have more time.
I stopped by a fellow Ham's House tonight to see His shack and pick up a Astron RS20 supply I purchased from Him. The supply had not been used for a while so powered it up no load, then light load and finally about half load. Seems to be working fine , tomorrow will run it full to see how it does.
Been another tiring week, so I'll keep it short.
73--Tim
I stopped by a fellow Ham's House tonight to see His shack and pick up a Astron RS20 supply I purchased from Him. The supply had not been used for a while so powered it up no load, then light load and finally about half load. Seems to be working fine , tomorrow will run it full to see how it does.
Been another tiring week, so I'll keep it short.
73--Tim
Thursday, April 1, 2010
First Impressions of the Yaesu FT-950
Minor issues with delivery but all parties involved came thru-- last delivery of the day but its here! Packing by Yaesu is superb, its truly a lump in the throat moment when I first saw My radio. Wow! Hope I can sell some items to offset the cost!!
I did not redo My shack like I originally intended, but instead the new FT-950 is in the same spot as the Kenwood TS-850 was in. Antenna 2 is hooked to a dummy load so no mistakes by Yours truly! I also powered it with the Astron RS20 even though this radio is rated 2a more draw than the TS-850. CW and RTTY might have to turn power down a bit but I mostly use SSB so should be OK.
Checked all connections a last time and powered up the radio. Using the manual, I adjusted the Microphone gain from the factory set level of zero to about 23 or 10 oclock. Did this into antenna 2 hooked to a dummy load and had "moni" on so I could hear Myself. I followed the manual and kept the ALC level on voice peaks within the ALC range. I knew eventually I needed a QSO to really check this but good for now.
Next I went systematically to every band and tried the ATU to several different antennas. All My HF antenna's are thru External tuners and these have tuner in or "bypass" positions so I can adjust them close. My first thought with the ATU is-- gee its noisy!! My ATU in the Kenwood was much quieter, but if the Yaesu tunes, whatever! The procedure is slightly different than Kenwood but again using the manual, I was able to tune different antennas to satisfy the Radio.
My first on the air contact was on 3.925mhz during the "Piconet"and My signal and quality report was good and as luck would have it, another FT-950 owner who I know from the area suggested We go off frequency and make some adjustments.
He suggested a higher "mic Gain" of about 35 or 11 o'clock and We also adjusted menu items 91-99 which are the parametric equalization parameters. These really depend on Microphone type,users voice and received stations preference. I have no doubt some will not like the sound at their end but for now if I sound as good as the staion I was working with I'll be happy. The Speech Processor was left default, which is good ,because I'll use it for contests and Dx chasing and this will make it easier!
This radio has a C-S button which allows the user to add any menu item as a quick access button. I added the menu item 111 which is power out since I like quick access to this. Something I will miss from the Kenwoods front panel dial, easily allowing Me to turn power up or down.
Overall I'm such a newbie with this radio, every time I use it , I find another feature I like. It easily blanked out some pesky noise that has plagued My station for some time easlily beating My older Radio in both ease of use and the total noise reduction! That I really like!!
73--Tim
I did not redo My shack like I originally intended, but instead the new FT-950 is in the same spot as the Kenwood TS-850 was in. Antenna 2 is hooked to a dummy load so no mistakes by Yours truly! I also powered it with the Astron RS20 even though this radio is rated 2a more draw than the TS-850. CW and RTTY might have to turn power down a bit but I mostly use SSB so should be OK.
Checked all connections a last time and powered up the radio. Using the manual, I adjusted the Microphone gain from the factory set level of zero to about 23 or 10 oclock. Did this into antenna 2 hooked to a dummy load and had "moni" on so I could hear Myself. I followed the manual and kept the ALC level on voice peaks within the ALC range. I knew eventually I needed a QSO to really check this but good for now.
Next I went systematically to every band and tried the ATU to several different antennas. All My HF antenna's are thru External tuners and these have tuner in or "bypass" positions so I can adjust them close. My first thought with the ATU is-- gee its noisy!! My ATU in the Kenwood was much quieter, but if the Yaesu tunes, whatever! The procedure is slightly different than Kenwood but again using the manual, I was able to tune different antennas to satisfy the Radio.
My first on the air contact was on 3.925mhz during the "Piconet"and My signal and quality report was good and as luck would have it, another FT-950 owner who I know from the area suggested We go off frequency and make some adjustments.
He suggested a higher "mic Gain" of about 35 or 11 o'clock and We also adjusted menu items 91-99 which are the parametric equalization parameters. These really depend on Microphone type,users voice and received stations preference. I have no doubt some will not like the sound at their end but for now if I sound as good as the staion I was working with I'll be happy. The Speech Processor was left default, which is good ,because I'll use it for contests and Dx chasing and this will make it easier!
This radio has a C-S button which allows the user to add any menu item as a quick access button. I added the menu item 111 which is power out since I like quick access to this. Something I will miss from the Kenwoods front panel dial, easily allowing Me to turn power up or down.
Overall I'm such a newbie with this radio, every time I use it , I find another feature I like. It easily blanked out some pesky noise that has plagued My station for some time easlily beating My older Radio in both ease of use and the total noise reduction! That I really like!!
73--Tim
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