Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Ok, that was spooky...

I was using Morse Runner tonight as a warm-up for the ARRL November Sweepstakes, when, out of the blue, I'm "called" by the fellow who gave me my novice exam 36 years ago - Jim, WA8RCN. I think VE3NEA (Morse Runner's author) must have added mind-reading capability to his code.

CW Sweepstakes Plans Set

I've got a second station lined up to operate for the CW weekend of the ARRL November Sweepstakes. Here's the general plan:

Saturday: lead off from home, signing KM6I. Equipment:
  • FT-857D + Hercules amp @ 500w
  • 80/40m: G5RV @ 60ft
  • 20/15/10m: 2 el wire yagi @ 40ft
(I need to use my old FT-857D so I can haul my K3 up to the second operating location - SS rules only allow a transmitter to be used with one callsign.)

After 12 hours or so of operating from home, I'll get a quick nap, then drive up to AD6Z's place, where I'll be signing NW6H. Equipment:
  • K3 + AL-1200 amp
  • 80m: high folded dipole
  • 40m: XM240 2-el Yagi
  • 20m: 5 el Yagi
  • 15m: 5/5 stack
  • 10m: 5 el Yagi
This is far and away the best station I've ever operated, so I'm really stoked to do well. On top of having all this great aluminum and copper in the air, the station is up at about 1700 feet in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Thanks to Kevin, the owner, for the chance to operate!

Monday, September 27, 2010

KM6I/40 on air

From now (Sep 27, 2010) until the end of the year, I'll be signing as KM6I/40 as part of the Northern California Contest Club's 40th anniversary event (an award is available!). For more information about the event, see http://nccc.cc/40th.html. To get the award, you need to contact 40 NCCC members.

Note that we won't be using these special callsigns during contests, but the contacts you make with NCCC stations still count toward the award even if they aren't using the /40 suffix. You can determine if any of the contacts you made with during contests are with NCCC members by looking at the list of NCCC member callsigns at http://nccc.cc/40thcalls.html.

I'm betting that if you operate either weekend of November Sweepstakes this year, you'll qualify for the award.

73,

- Gordon

Monday, August 23, 2010

Preparations for November Sweepstakes

I've gotten spousal approval to go for two full-effort weekends in the November Sweepstakes, including a full 30-hour CW split station effort at AD6Z's excellent QTH. So, to get my home station ready to go, here's my list of tasks:

  • Repair my triband wire beam - replace broken spreader arm. [DONE]
  • Upgrade K3 firmware and N1MM well ahead of time (get them installed by the CQP in early October). [DONE]
  • Secure the coax feedline attachment to the G5RV - the strain relief appears to have worked loose, so all the downward pull from the coax is on the PL259. I just know it'll pop loose in the middle of SS. [DONE - feedline replaced, too]
  • Give the station a good shakedown in CQP - aim for at least 10 hours of operating. [DONE - some new problems discovered]
  • Spend some time tweaking my transmit microphone EQ settings. [DONE]
  • Get WAV files recorded for phone SS.
  • Get my netbook set up to do logging tasks. [DONE]
  • Make a list of things I want to take with me to a guest station (e.g. K3, headphones, netbook, keyer, etc.) so I don't have any unpleasant surprises upon arriving. [DONE]
  • Clean up the shack. [DONE]
  • Hang some blinds in the shack - that afternoon sun is blinding. [DONE]
  • Fix RFI problem that kills DSL when running high power (otherwise I won't be able to supply spots) [DONE - switched to Comcast for internet access]
  • Get FT-857D working with N1MM on Netbook. [DONE]
  • Fix virus infection on desktop (Grrrr!!)
  • See about maybe adding a simple longwire receive antenna to use with diversity reception on the K3. [NOT DOING]
  • Run an RFI check with amplifier running at 500w on 80-10 meters.
  • See if the ANC4 noise cancellation unit does any good.
  • Write down antenna tuner settings for all bands and put cheat sheet on tuner.
  • Raise the triband wire beam on Friday and test. [DONE]
  • Get hooked up to VE7CC cluster and get spot filtering working. [DONE - needed to change the SH/DX macro to SH/MYDX/30]
  • Find a packet cluster that includes RBN spots.
  • Make a function-key cheat sheet that can sit on the keyboard. [DONE]
  • Get N1MM set up with two separate log databases, one for each callsign, including FN keys. [DONE]
  • Make "go kit" list so I can roll out to AD6Z's place in a hurry. [DONE]
  • Make a rate sheet from last year's CW logs. [DONE]
  • Come up with an operating plan. [DONE]
  • Get N6BV propagation PDF on laptop. [DONE - actually printed it out]
  • Put "SS" back in at end of CQ. [DONE]
  • Update Prefill and SCP files. [DONE]
  • Get set up to record contest audio.
  • Add "R" to S and P exchange [DONE]
  • Be Faster on S and P!!!!!
  • Do the Sunspot Dance

Monday, August 2, 2010

Anyone know what this LP array is?

This last weekend I took my kids to Sacramento on the Capitol Corridor Amtrak. On the way, just south of the Fremont train station, and visible from the right side of the train is a big HF log-periodic array. It's got about 17 elements, and is about 70 feet in the air. I got a photo:



Near as I can figure with Google maps, the street address is on Centralmont Pl. in Fremont:


Anyone know what this thing is used for?
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