Radio W4KAZ Thanks for stopping by the virtual KazShack. Feel free to comment - I often approve them.
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By w4kaz, created on 2009.08.14 at 06:21:27 | last changed on 2009.08.13 at 14:29:17 | Tomorrow is NAQP SSB, and I’m going to get a chance to operate as part of the NC4KW multi over at N1LN. Sweet. Except the WX may be terrible. Not so sweet.
Only a partial part-time effort for the CW NAQP two weeks ago. After re-assembling most of the station following its dis-assembly for Field Day and IOTA, the NAQP CW was a bit of a non-event. A low motivation level and family plans also interdicted what is normally a favorite contest. There’s a bit of August thunderstorm induced shyness at work too, but that part bypassed the KazShack QTH his year.
Running was never seriously attempted, and the one short run showed a slow rate. I was happy enough to bail on running – low motivation. On the other hand, two radio Search and Pounce shows a lot of promise, and will be especially fun if propagation conditions improve to the point where there are good solid openings on multiple bands. Even so, the SO2R S&P showed rates that are better than my normal run rates. I easily had a 40 QSO hour, and the 10 minute rate hit 61/hr once, and was in the 50’s several times. Nothing great, but a substaial improvement for emanations of the KazShack. My previous best CW S&P rate with a single radio seldom climbed above the 45/hr 10 minute rate.
Interesting. The conclusion I draw is that SO2R is a genuine advantage, even to a mediocre unmotivated operator. It is easy to see how the genuinely skilled operators can benefit even more from a second radio. Probably helps keep them from dying of boredom too.
It was also a nice changeto catch a few QSO’s on 15m. It would be fun to see 15m become more reliable again, it is a fun band.
The station needs to be examined, because it seems there was a new RFI problem. During NAQP, the internet connection dropped several times. Need to test each radio/antenna/band combination to find the culprit, and hopefully it isn’t everywhere. Also need to check all of the station connections. Something is not right since station re-assembly, as this problem did not occur during CW WPX in May. It seems likely I missed tying in a ground connection somewhere. Also need to check the ethernet hub and shack cables.
On a coincidental note, N4AF was my first QSO, and AA4XX was the last. N4AF founded the NC PVRC chapter, and has been a PVRC member for over 50 years, and AA4XX is our chapter’s newest member, having joined the chapter at the July meeting. No cosmic perturbations have resulted from this mystic alignment – I just love a good coincidence.
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
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160:
80: 37 20
40: 26 21
20: 20 17
15: 17 7
10:
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Total: 100 65 Total Score = 6,500
By w4kaz, created on 2009.07.30 at 06:33:15 | last changed on 2009.07.29 at 07:35:29 | Another season of field operation bites the dust with the completion of the IOTA contest. This year we operated again from the South Core Banks location near the Cape Lookout lighthouse as part of our N4A activation of the Core Banks. Our team for 2009 was N4YDU, W0UCE, N3ND, and W4KAZ.
Radio conditions were quite horrid during the first eight hours of the contest. Very high levels of QRN(noise) on 40m and even on 20m. We were seeing storms pass to either our west or our east for much of Saturday morning and afternoon. We were fortunate none developed directly overhead, but the surrounding static crashes made copy difficult. 20m also had a lot of QSB(signal fading), adding to the copy problem. 10m and 15m were completely unproductive both before and during the contest.
Our cabin was different from 2008, and the amount of space around it was less. That resulted in our antennas being a bit closer to the ground than they might have been otherwise, but we worked within the space available. The run station had an 80m dipole and a 40m dipole, with the 40m dipole oriented to favor europe. The dipoles were at about 33 feet.
The mult station sported a half sized G5RV, and its apex was at about 24 feet.
While radio conditions were less than optimal, or even less than the past year, the creature comfort level improved quite a bit. W0UCE provided food fit for royalty, and “Chef Archie” gave us several quite enjoyable meal creations.
Despite poor conditions, we managed to log approximately the same number of QSO’s as our official score from 2008, and possibly a few additional multipliers. I would expect to lose some in log checking, so no guess about final score.
Fun.
By w4kaz, created on 2009.07.17 at 05:28:26 | last changed on 2009.07.23 at 19:30:56 | IARU is a contest that gets better participation outside of the US. Its early summer time frame gives it a different twist for radio propagation, and it is only a 24 hour contest. The time frame means that you may only get one chance to work certain regions, so if you snooze you lose. But unlike a DX contest based on country borders and continents, it also allows for the US stations to work each other. Another thing that makes it enjoyable is the dual mode nature. It is a little bit of everything. Unique.
This is normally a favorite contest to work from the shack, although I seldom press it as hard as I might in others. I was not really looking forward to it this year because of continuing poor propagation, but I brightened up when N1LN and N1YXU decided to host a Multi-Single at their QTH. (and many thanks to N1YXU and N1LN for hosting the event!)
I needed to split my time for last Saturday anyway, so I asked Bruce to put me on the graveyard shift, which he did. He had rounded up quite a few people for staffing the active station. As it turns out, the crew was a good mix of CW and SSB talent. AA4XX and EA5DFV both joined in to the fun. Paul, AA4XX is a local ham who enjoys QRP operation. Our friend Jose’, EA5DFV is contest op for Spain who is vacationing in the area visiting his family. It was really good to get to know both gents better.
Jose’ also pulled the graveyard shift. He and I were up for the duration of the evening. W0UCE covered the first part of the evening for CW, and N1LN got up in the early morning to finish up the contest with us.
My own head was mostly “in a box” for the evening, so I had a great deal of difficulty concentrating. That made for less running and more S&P. Conditions were very noisy, which is a situation I usually struggle with when I am alert. I’m afraid my performance probably was an overall drag on the team.
On the positive side, I gained the benefit of being mentored by an experienced EA op. Jose’s insight into the thought processes he would be using if he had been at his home QTH were very enlightening. We began searching for multipliers as morning approached. This probably was a good choice for the score, as the run rates we were getting were low enough tha even a single mult was worth the 10 to 15 minutes on the other band.
The early am hours(0700z) were fun for me because of the openings to the Pacific area. This is somethig I don’t get much of with the LP/wires set up at home. At N1LN’s I began hearing VK’s on the middle 20m antenna. Later in the morning(1000z) the JA’s were coming in on the top antenna. But there was also some sort opening to the VK’s on the compass heading for the JA’s at that time. When I switched to the lower antenna pointed directly at them NOTHING was heard.
As always, the social aspect of the evening was just fantastic. Bruce and Laurie are wonderful folks. I made sure to put in a reservation for Chef Archie’s(W0UCE) dinner. We made wise cracks at UCE’s expense all evening, but the meal he prepared for the group was one of the best I have had in ages. Chef Archie gets four stars from el Escribano Inexacto.
The N1LN 3830 write-up.
By w4kaz, created on 2009.07.04 at 05:12:58 | last changed on 2009.07.06 at 10:01:21 | 2009 FD was an expedition out to the Western NC Appalachians. N4YDU, N4PY, K4CZ and myself operated under N4PY’s call in Stone Mountain State Park. NC, not GA. Not at all the same as Stone Mountain in Georgia, as our own ancient granite lava dome does not sport the bas relief artwork.
The WX here turned out very well. Saturday was on the warm side, but Sunday was cooler, and rain was not a problem. Not a cloud in the sky. Happened to also spend Monday and Tuesday in Boone, and the WX was the sort the chamber of commerce there uses for advertising – it was that pretty.
The shelter reserved for the FD purpose was perfect for a 2A setup, which was fortunate for our planned 2A operation. We were able to mount all of the planned antennas, and were able to find a suitable spot on a down hill slope for the generator.
This year’s score was down from last year’s 3A effort, and we had only four operators this year. We wound up with about five hours of downtime of the 48 hours of time available(24 hours on each station). That allowed us to log 1946 QSO’s(including dupes), which came out to be 6564 Qso points. With bonus points we should have a final score of around 7200. Not too shabby for just four guys.
Everything seemed to go smoothly from set up through tear down. We had about 500 CW QSO’s on both 40m and 20m, but for my own part, the 40m Q’s were much more difficult due to high noise on the 40m antennas.
The Good:
The Stone Mountain site was perfect. Set up went smoothly. WX Conditions were good. Radio conditions were fair to good, which means much better than 2007 and 2008. No bear vistits, slithery reptiles with noisy tails, or two-legged snakes. Very few biting bugs.
The Bad:
Long drive to the site(except for N4PY). Campground was nearly full early Friday. Bugs really seem to prefer CFL lighting – perhaps its a correlation to their communist hive mentality at work. Big scary spiders…Augh! Lost track of the baluns, needed one of them on site.
The Ugly:
High noise levels on 40m. This was unusual, as the 80m noise was not as high. The noise on the E/W antenna was S7+ and was S5 on the N/S antenna. The N/S antenna was plagued by RF feedback (I somehow misplaced the baluns during packing/repacking). If I were to do it again I think I’d give the 25KV utility hub a good scan with an AM radio to verify it as the source of the QRN, then see how the antenna placement might be improved. Perhaps the high band antennas could be placed nearer to the utility box(i.e. where the 40m antennas were). 20m up might be more resistant to the RFI.
Packing Notes:
- Missing the baluns.
- Didn’t need the filters.
- No more CFL light bulbs for FD – bug magnets!!!!
- Need extra lightweight cords for the FD lighting
By w4kaz, created on 2009.06.17 at 05:49:08 | last changed on 2009.06.14 at 22:29:53 | The FD results for the 2008 FD were put online back in February. But as we bear down on FD 2009, time to review. The N4PY crew managed to win the Roanoake Division in class 3A. We finished in 10th place overall of class 3A., and 63rd for all entries regardless of class.
Not too shabby for seven guys in a completely new and untried location.
We were beat out locally by the OCRA crew, who put up a really good score operating in the 5 watt battery class. Also K4QPL squeaked by us with about 50 more QSO’s in class 2A, although we had more points.
But on a “QSO per Peep” basis we did rather well. There are only a handful of other stations that managed to lay out as many QSO’s per person with as few people as we did. Most of those were two man set-ups. Sweet.
Maybe if we find a BBQ staff N4YDU will be able to add another 1000 Q’s to the total.
- 1st of 8 and of 21 ,class 3A, in the NC section andRoanoke division
- 4th of 73 overall in the NC section
- 11th of 188 overallin the Roanoke Division
- 10th of 303 in class 3A nationwide
cqfd cqfd cqfd…..
By w4kaz, created on 2009.06.05 at 06:58:08 | last changed on 2009.06.05 at 06:59:16 | WPX from the cheap seats……
I was a little disappointed at first, since I missed most of the better band conditions. Mostly operated during the early evening and both afternoons. After a good night’s rest and most of a week later, it turns out the contest looks better than the first impression.
This contest was mostly a shakedown cruise for a lot of shack and antenna system changes revolving around setting the place up for SO2R. The shakedown was a success.
All of the home brew items seemed to function well. One minor glitch in the SO2R box. It would appear that I managed to wire the left and right channels reversed. Good thing the headphones I prefer are “ambidextrous” – that work around was easier than sitting backwards. 😮
Two sets of home brewed band pass filters worked well with low power, even though the KazShack antennas are practically touching one another. The set of K4VX filters were augmented with coaxial stubs. The worst case interference is between 40m and 20m, where the harmonic is about S6. 80m/40m are completely free of any interference, and 40m/15m are also friendly.
The big lesson learned was that SO2R will be a lot of fun, once I become proficient at SO1R. It became obvious that I am NOT yet a proficient operator, not that I had any doubts there. It was great to be able to S&P while running at low power, but I did flub some Q’s on the run radio by being distracted.
Having the audio from two radios, one left ear, the other right ear, was not as large a problem as I expected. I wired the audio controls for the SO2R box into a small remote box that snuggles up next to the keyboard. On it I wired a momentary contact switch for each band. The buttons make it easy to put either left or right radio temporarily into both channels on the headset for digging the weak ones. I had the switches, didn’t have a pot for a mix control.
For the most part, having audio from the left radio in the left ear and the right radio in the right ear was less difficult than I expected. It seemed very similar to listening to a big DX pileup. The only time it was confusing was when the left and right stations were zero beat, and CQ’ing simultaneously at the same speed. Hearing the zero beat CQ’s then suddenly go off into different call signs was disconcerting.
I really enjoy S&P operating. The SO2R set up really does make S&P twice as much fun. I don’t normally use spots, but I’m curious to see what sort of rate I can manage banging spots with two radios. Probably try that in 2009 Sweepstakes.
Things to fix: Fix the SO2R audio switching. Additional stubs for 40m and 20m. More SO2R practice.
Things to try: When running at a decent rate, try using the second radio to load the band map with spots. Then if I lose the run frequency, sweep through the second radio spots while hunting for another run frequency. Until I’m a better operator, it is too easy to lose the run frequency trying to work a station on the second radio.
The Good: No problems with any of the KazShack or antenna changes. Bandpass filters worked. The SO2R box handled switching radio control properly. The dipoles at 90 degree offsets worked for bringing stations up and for nulling interference. The new 20m antenna could hear an AK station at about three S-units higher then the original antenna, which could scarcely copy him. More total QSO’s than expected. Actually held a run on 40m from the run poachers. I made about 50 second radio QSO’s while running on the other radio.
The Bad: Not much productivity to Europe. Missed the 10m and 15m openings. Most of my operating time was in the off-peak times.
The Ugly: Got sick as a dog and bailed on Saturday evening. Being sick was probably why I was so tired Friday night too.
Summary:
Band QSOs
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160:
80: 3
40: 241
20: 218
15: 38
10:
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Total: 500 Prefixes = 304 Total Score = 376,048
Next up ......Field Day!
By w4kaz, created on 2009.05.24 at 06:05:58 | last changed on 2010.09.28 at 17:14:15 | Whilst toying with some new KazShack toys, I found out an interesting and useful fun fact. The 80m folded dipole does a great job at ignoring some of the AM harmonic mixes. Death to harmonics! W4SAT seems to have the best on-line description of a folded dipole.There is very little written on the internet about this great antenna option. My own original post has a link to a web reprint of the original ARRL design article.
The KazShack is less than a mile from the 50KW WPTF(680) transmitter, and only about two miles from the 10KW WRBZ(850) transmitter. This results in all manner of harmonics and harmonic mixes that I can hear and identify. Pretty much any combination of the numbers 680 and 850 added and subtracted together produce a frequency that have audible audio artifacts that can be identified as from either AM station. Some of the mixes are much worse than others. Some are barely audible. The mixes that fall within the ham bands are obviously the ones of the most pertinent concern.
While playing with some new home brew band pass filters filters and the SixPak, I flipped the radio to 80m. While connected to either 40m antenna or the 20m antenna, I could hear a loud garbled mix centered at about 3570. The WPTF audio was clear. The WBRZ audio was also identifiable, although very garbled. That works out to the 4th harmonic of WPTF mixed with WBRZ’s 850. (i.e., [4*680]+850=3570)
This seemed really curious, since this never seemed to be a problem before. On the 40m antenna broadside to WPTF, the mix was S9+, and at least S7 on the other 40m and 20m antennas. So, it will probably blow my socks off when I switch to the 80m folded dipole, right?
Nope. Switching to the 80m folded dipole, the mix disappeared completely. No more WPTF audio on 3570. No more WBRZ. Both were Gone. Zip, zero, nada. Hmmmm.
Then I rememberated reading that folded dipoles were useful on their primary frequencies and their odd harmonics. So an 80m folded dipole could possibly be pressed into service on 30m, but it is deaf as a dummy load on 40m. That was a fact I have proven experimentally, both on purpose and by accidently flipping to 40m and wondering where all of the signals have gone(duh-uh!). The 80m antenna was rejecting the WPTF fourth harmonic well enough to eliminate the two station mix.
It would appear that a folded dipole also helps to reject the even sub-harmonics as well. This would probably have been obvious, but the thought had never crystalized within my addled gray matter before that moment. That fact could prove very useful for several settings. SO2R. Field Day. Field DXpeditions. IOTA. Sweet.
So, one additional yet seldom documented method to reduce the n/2 sub harmonic is to use a folded dipole. I would expect the folded dipole will also attenuate an interference your transmitter is generating on it’s 2nd harmonic, so switching either antenna to a folded dipole will probably help. This won’t help a 40m/15m problem, but applies to the other common harmonic situations.
Every little bit helps.
By w4kaz, created on 2009.05.12 at 06:43:37 | last changed on 2009.05.12 at 06:43:37 | PVRC club members received word from PVRC president Ken, K4ZW, that PVRC will be introducing a series of Webinars on various contest subjects. Jamie, NS3T has a news release posted with a bit more info. Most of the webinars will be available to all contesters, although I suspect there may be a few club internal “stategery” sessions held more tightly to the vest.
I sprung for the original PVRC 2005 “Contest College” DVD, which has a lot of great information on it. Not every subject was a priority interest to me personally(e.g., VHF contesting), but each was well conceived and delivered. Really wanted to make the original PVRC “Contest College” in VA, but could not.
PVRC Contest College evolved quickly beyond the club into Contest University at Dayton Hamvention, and has already been taken internationally by K3LR, drawing on local talent for lecture sessions. Given the hundreds of years experience held in the minds of so many great operators and technical folks, this is a great idea.
A repository of simlar webinars would be a great asset. It will be of greatest benefit to folks who are in rural areas, and not able to get the sort of elmering that can be obtained by joining a club, or who cannot make a long pilgrimage to CTU at Hamvention.
Built it, and they will come….
By w4kaz, created on 2009.04.10 at 06:12:02 | last changed on 2009.04.10 at 09:28:50 | Scores for the 2008 CW Sweepstakes have been published on the Web. The Sweepstakes LCR report is always worth looking over, since my error rate is still far too high on CW. For 2008, it looks like 44% of my errors were on the check number. The errors on the exchange was about 45%, and I busted only four callsigns. The score suffered dramatically, but I showed some incremental improvement over the 2007 Sweepstakes. I didn’t match the improvement in error rates I managed in the 2007 IARU, but it was better than the error rate of the 2007 CWSweeps.
The callsign copy needs to be 100%, but I made progress in that area over 2007.
The big problem seems to be busts on 7&8 and 2&3. Not a surprise. That mistake is accounting for the bulk of the cross check number busts. It is also the biggest problem in the exchange busts, where the year license is busted because of 7&8 or 2&3 busts. By correcting this copy error I will clean up almost 80 percent of my over all bust rate.
The other remaining errors are a mixed bag. There are several transposed digits in year licensed(e.g., where I logged 67 instead of the correct 76). This is a typing dyslexia that I often can catch as it is happening. So more attention to detail is needed when typing.
The rest are just generic inexusable errors. The callsign busts are fixable. “agn? ?”
Overall, I’m disappointed in the lack of overall improvement in clean copy. The score suffered mightily. But it still holds up as my best ever CW score, despite the inadequate copy. Besides, it was a blast.
K8AC, AA4NC, and N4AF all won their categories here in the Roanoke Division. Cool.
By w4kaz, created on 2009.02.22 at 20:29:07 | last changed on 2009.02.22 at 21:11:51 | No goals to acheive for this one, just some fun spinning around the bands.
I am sorry I missed operating on Friday night. Saturday night turned up a lot of EU countries on 80m. I’m sure there are a few new ones, since I’ve seldom really worked 80m as seriously as I did Saturday. The side effect was neglecting 40m, as well as missing out on Friday evening.
Started in the late afternoon Saturday on 20m. After the first 15 or so S&P Q’s, I found the NY4A ops and parked to read their mail around 19:50z. It’s probably the easiest way to get a good idea about propagagtion, because Howie has a great signal into EU. Normally, I hear only every third or fourth station, sometimes less.
But Saturday was different. The 100w EU stations had good signal strength, and over a 10 to 15 minute period I was hearing almost everything the NY4A op was working. Hmmmmm.
Sliding up the band, I found a hole around 14081 to try running. I had a nice 40 minute run, then the floor seemed to drop out. The run rate wasn’t fantastic, but it was better than S&P, and it was good run practice. Logged 35 Q’s, mostly northern EU. Later on, there was a JA on 14023 who was about 559 here in central NC. He had a huge pileup, and could not hear the tin whistle from the KazShack. Seemed to be working the Left coast and stations in the Black Hole. I never found any AK stations. A quick spin across 20m at 0100Z turned up KH7S. At that time, he was the only station I was hearing, but he was solid copy. It seems likely that his copy on W4KAZ was somewhat less robust.
Getting a run going on 40m and 80m was just not accomplished. QSB was a problem on 80m. A G4 that called in on a run gave up on it. The QSB got the suffix of his call every time. But for the time I had available, the S&P was fun. I didn’t turn on the packet, so it was fun hunting the pearls. I don’t know how conditions seemed to the big guns, but it was quiet here. Propagation seemed pretty good on 20/40/80. 160m was quiet too, and I was able to work several of the Carribean stations. Did not stay up late enough to try to get the EU sunrise.
The Good: 20m condtions seemed slightly better than they have been, but still nothing fantastic. Working KH7. New DX on 80m. 160m antenna seems to get enough signal out to at least be heard.
The Bad: Missed operating on Friday night. Unable to establish a run on 80m. Insufficient patience for running at a slow rate.
The Ugly: Flubbed exchanges.
To Fix: Mostly the lid operator. 😮
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
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160: 5 5
80: 53 34
40: 40 22
20: 95 39
15: 13 8
10: 0 0
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Total: 207 108 Total Score = 66,744
Station:
- Elecraft K2, WriteLog logging
- 80m dipole @ 50 ft, N/S
- 40m dipole @ 45ft, NE/SW
- 20m dipole @ 50ft, E/W
- 160m Inv-L with 20 very short radials
- K9AY RX antenna
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