Greetings From NA-076!

Life doesn't suck.

Almost two months at our new QTH. Time to start thinking about antennas. The Tarheel screwdriver served me well in Texas where trees were few and wire antenna possibilities fewer. But now...

Among these marvelous, 100% organic antenna supports are three somewhat equidistant trees that should be adequate for a 100' inverted-V dipole. I'm leaning towards an Alpha-Delta DX-LB Plus for 160m-10m (less WARC bands).

Yes, a pre-built wire antenna that isn't particularly cheap ($190). Rolling my own is a possibility but I know I'll never get around to doing it, so I'm not coughing up extra money because I'm an appliance-operating novice, but rather because I want to get on the air, like, right friggin' NOW!!!

I had great luck with a DX-CC 80m-10m dipole, it was my main antenna for years in NJ. the DX-LB Plus is just a bit longer with an extra set of coils for 160m. The antenna and 100' of RG213 will cost about $300 -- not cheap but not a huge amount.

The Cushcraft R7000 is in storage; I think that will go up eventually as a second antenna. The Tarheel will be set up as well; it will also be perfect if and when I start operating from some of the islands here; there are 15 different entries shown on the US Islands Award directory for little islands in Levy County (including the one I live on). Have Boat Will Activate!

DXCC #204: S01WS Western Sahara, and a Farewell to the Lone Star State

On the phone with Big Brother KB2YAN last night when he says "Western Sahara on 40." So I tune the Tarheel and spin the dial. There he is, maybe 559. Dropped my call, heard it come back, in the log. Checked ClubLog just now and it's a match!

Possibly the last DX contact I will make from Texas as we're packing up and moving to Cedar Key, FL (IOTA NA-076) in a few days. A fitting end to my operations from the Lone Star State which gave me 193 countries worked and 158 confirmed (so far) in about 18 months of total operating time between June 2009 and September 2014.

I'll miss much about Texas -- the excellent people I've worked with at Time Manufacturing for four years, the exploring around Central Texas and Hill Country, the fun trips to San Antonio to see the SA Symphony Orchestra at the Majestic -- but above all I will always remember Texas as the place where my love of ham radio was rekindled. It was here that I first dove into PSK and other sound card digital modes, and where I finally achieved my goals of making CW my primary mode, earning DXCC and Triple Play, and confirming that there really is no basement at the Alamo.

Thank y'all!

July 2014 Wrap-Up

DXCC: Five new ones worked in July, but only added one in the Mixed Confirmed column (9V1YC Singapore). Just 20 new band slots confirmed, and 3 more on CW.

DXCC Totals
7/31/2014
	Cfd	Wkd		Cfd	Wkd		Cfd	Wkd
Mixed	166	203	80m	10	26	17m	49	84
CW	142	186	40m	107	134	15m	103	135
SSB	105	133	30m	55	89	12m	6	11
Digital	60	82	20m	124	168	10m	38	52

Last 10 New DXCC Worked
203	SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON	FP/OH5OHO	7/21/2014
202	GEORGIA	4L8A	7/13/2014
201	WEST MALAYSIA	9M2TO	7/9/2014
200	THE GAMBIA	C5II	7/8/2014
199	AZERBAIJAN	4J0SFR	7/6/2014
198	SINGAPORE	9V1YC	6/22/2014
197	SAUDI ARABIA	7Z1SJ	6/22/2014
196	OMAN	A42A	6/21/2014
195	MALAWI	7QNL	6/7/2014
194	ALBANIA	ZA/ON4CCV	6/7/2014

WAS: Rhode Island on phone is in the book, so now just need WV on CW for Triple Play.

Worked All States
Award	Total	Award	Total	Award	Total
Basic *	50	80M	27	17M	30
CW	49	40M	49	15M	39
Phone	50	30M	33	12M	2
Digital *	50	20M	48	10M	23

WPX
Award	Total	Award	Total	Award	Total
Mixed	533	80M	20	17M	55
CW	373	40M	244	15M	206
Phone	197	30M	58	12M	7
Digital	131	20M	298	10M	84

DXCC #203: FP/OE5OHO St. Pierre & Miquelon

I've found propagation to be pretty poor from Texas to the VO1/CY9/FP part of the world, at least for me. This is the first FP station I've actually heard and it was a pretty tough one to work. No ClubLog, QRZ, eQSL or LOTW.

DXCC #202: 4L8A Georgia, 15m DXCC, and the IARU HF World Championship

Another minimal contest effort with 67 QSOs, all CW. One of them was a new country for me -- Georgia, courtesy of 4L8A on 20m. I'll take it.

The contest also netted me my 100th confirmation on 15m (S567O in Slovenia). I'm now 3/5 of the way to 5-Band DXCC.

Update 4-Aug-2014: 4L8A comes through on LOTW for #167 confirmed (mixed)!

DXCC #201: 9M2TO West Malaysia

Working from home today, and lucked into 9M2TO on 15m around 2pm local time. Not what I would have guessed to be the best time to work into East Asia, but there he was. He last uploaded to LOTW on 21-May-2014, so we'll wait and see...

DXCC #200: C5II The Gambia

How sweet it is!

JA1UII and JE1WVQ have been QRV as C5II and C5JA from The Gambia. Until 09-July. That's in a few hours, and time was running out. I had a very weak copy on C5II yesterday evening, too weak to even drop my callsign. I figured that would be my last chance. But by luck or providence I happened to be home this afternoon and saw him spotted first on 20m (no copy at all), and then on 17m where I was able to log C5II for my 200th DXCC entity worked!

Triple Play #149 - One to go!

Rhode Island on phone -- and with it the phone portion of Triple Play -- is in the books! West Virginia on CW is the last one I need.

DXCC #199: 4J0SFR Azerbaijan

"Safari" DX-activators club station 4J0SFR heard on 15m CW late this afternoon very weak. I had to use almost all of the K3's magic bag of tricks to pull this one out of the static: bandwidth dialed down to 200 Hz, DSP Noise Reduction on the 1-3 setting, RF Gain throttled back, phones clamped to my head in binaural mode... all this made a very difficult to copy signal pretty darn readable. Got him after a few calls, sent my call a couple-three times to make sure he got it and once I heard it repeated back to me correctly I gave my "TU 599 dit dit" and hit the log submit button. #199 worked is in the bag. US QSL manager, no mention of LOTW on his QRZ page.

Of Triple Play and Antenna Maintenance

About time! I worked 13 Colonies special event station K2C in Rhode Island on phone and their QRZ page promises QSL via LOTW! That will be the last one for the phone portion of Triple Play. Now I just need West Virginia on CW. It kills me, I have QSOs in the log for both RI on phone and WV on CW (even have a card for RI), but the Triple Play award requires LOTW verification. Rules are rules. Unfortunately, West Virginia's second ARRL Centennial operating slot isn't until October 22, so to get this done soon I need to find another CW op in WV that uses LOTW. It could happen, I guess...

And another "about time!" -- almost a year after Tarheel sent me a replacement mounting bracket, I finally got around to swapping it out. The new mount fits perfectly. Now I can send the defective mount back and clear my conscious, as I promised to return it to them 11 months ago.

While I had the antenna broken down I did the recommended maintenance -- removed the plexiglass cover, clean the coil with alcohol and a ScotchBrite pad -- and took to the tripod's mast with some sandpaper to remove the black powder coat that I neglected to fully remove when I first set up the antenna in 2009. Now I know there is a good electrical connection between the mounting bracket and the ground radial plate.

I'm still missing a few radials, lost to the lawnmower no doubt, but I seem to be hearing a little better than I have been of late. Maybe it's just coincidental and the bands have simply improved the day I did antenna maintenance. It could happen, I guess...

Either way, I was able to add a few needed countries to my 17m count -- Romania, Belarus, Samoa, Philippines, Greenland -- as well as a few more of the 13 Colonies stations.

June 2014 Wrap-Up

Not a very productive month for QSLs, though it was nice to see the 9J2T Zambia DXpedition's LOTW upload come through (got 'em on 40, 30, and 20). Azores (CU2BV) and United Arab Emirates (A65BD) brings me up to 99 confirmed on 15m.

DXCC Totals
6/30/2014
	Cfd	Wkd		Cfd	Wkd		Cfd	Wkd
Mixed	165	198	80m	10	26	17m	44	76
CW	139	180	40m	106	134	15m	99	131
SSB	105	133	30m	53	83	12m	5	11
Digital	60	82	20m	121	165	10m	37	52

Five new ones worked, leaving me just two shy of 200...

Last 10 New DXCC Worked
198	SINGAPORE	9V1YC	6/22/2014
197	SAUDI ARABIA	7Z1SJ	6/22/2014
196	OMAN	A42A	6/21/2014
195	MALAWI	7QNL	6/7/2014
194	ALBANIA	ZA/ON4CCV	6/7/2014
193	GHANA	9G5ZZ	5/25/2014
192	ISRAEL	4X4AK	5/25/2014
191	EAST MALAYSIA	9M6XRO	5/18/2014
190	SAN MARINO	T77C	5/18/2014
189	PAPUA NEW GUINEA	P29NO	5/17/2014

Still no love from RI on Phone or WV on CW...

Worked All States
Award	Total	Award	Total	Award	Total
Basic *	50	80M	27	17M	29
CW	49	40M	49	15M	39
Phone	49	30M	31	12M	2
Digital *	50	20M	48	10M	23

...and a few more prefixes. Yawn.

WPX
Award	Total	Award	Total	Award	Total
Mixed	515	80M	20	17M	48
CW	355	40M	239	15M	195
Phone	188	30M	56	12M	6
Digital	130	20M	286	10M	83

eDX100

I haven't really been keeping track too closely, but it appears that 4Z4AK's eQSL that I received in May was #100 for me on eQSL.net. So in the end it took about 6 months longer to reach 100 confirmed on eQSL than it did using LOTW. Haven't decided whether I will apply for the actual award yet.

#100

DXCC #196, #197 & #198: A42A Oman, 7Z1SJ Saudi Arabia, and 9V1YC Singapore, and the All Asian DX CW Contest

Courtesy of the All Asian DX CW contest on June 21-22, I nabbed the three above-mentioned countries for all-time new ones, bringing me even closer to the 200 Worked milestone.

I also worked A65BD, my second contact with the U.A.E., who verified quickly on LOTW to give me my 164th country confirmed; and E20AX Thailand, another country previously worked but not confirmed. Waiting for ClubLog to be updated to see if I made it into the E20AX log OK before sending for a QSL.

My biggest bonehead move of late was to continuously call 9M6XRO, only realizing later that East Malaysia in not in fact Asia but Oceania! Sorry OM!

Update 06-Jul-2014: E20AX is matched on ClubLog. No LOTW, though.

Update 07-Jul-2014: A65BD is matched, too!

Update 31-Jul-2014: 9V1YC in the book!

Something Old, Something New...

My haul from this years Ham-Com in Plano wasn't nearly as bountiful as the previous two trips (a Tarheel antenna in 2009, and a Flex 1500 last year). Still, I was just as thrilled to see a copy of Martti Laine OH2BH's Where Do We Go Next? I missed out on this years ago, and it's been out of print for a while. I think I saw it on eBay once for an obscene price. The person selling this copy was asking $6. After I got home and sat down to start reading it I saw that it was signed and inscribed by the author to the original owner (I presume), Bill K9IW.

The only other thing I left Plano with, besides an ARRL golf shirt that my XYL bought me, was a copy of Circuit Simulation and Analysis. Been wanting to learn more about using circuit design software for some time. I have LTSpice installed on my PC but have no idea how to use it. I reckon this should show me the way.

DXCC #195: 7QNL Malawi

Finally heard 7QNL! He was so weak I was less than half-sure he got my call correct -- I heard "WW" and "T", so I figured I'd send an exchange and worry about working him again later if I heard him better. I got a "TU" back from him and logged it. Today the log match came through on ClubLog. Good thing, too, because it appears to be one of Remco's last QSOs from Malawi.

#195 worked all-time mixed, #176 on CW, #81 on 30m.

DXCC #194: ZA/ON4CCV Albania

A Belgian team is operating from Albania this week. ZA/ON4CCV was about 579 on 20m into Texas this evening and I was able to work him easily, just before a mad pileup ensued. Ten operators, so I expect they'll be all over the bands. No LOTW, apparently.

Update 16-June-2014: I checked ClubLog the other day and saw that I wasn't included in ZA/ON4CCV's log. I hadz sad. But today something told me to check again and...

Happy Dance shall now commence!

May 2014 Wrap-Up

While May wasn't a very prolific month for me with only 152 QSOs logged, it was rewarding. Closing in on 200 DXCC entities worked, hit the 500 WPX mark, and within spitting distance of 100 countries confirmed on 15m. Just five new ones worked in May, but three of them were confirmed quickly on LOTW (Papua New Guinea, San Marino and East Malaysia), while one other (Ghana) is matched on Club Log. And with W1AW/7 putting Wyoming in the log (and LOTW confirmation pending), I am now two QSOs away from Triple Play (RI on phone and WV on CW).

DXCC Totals
5/31/2014
	Cfd	Wkd		Cfd	Wkd		Cfd	Wkd
Mixed	162	193	80m	10	26	17m	40	74
CW	135	174	40m	104	134	15m	97	127
SSB	105	133	30m	50	80	12m	5	11
Digital	60	82	20m	117	162	10m	37	52

Last 10 New DXCC Worked
193	GHANA	9G5ZZ	5/25/2014
192	ISRAEL	4Z4AK	5/25/2014
191	EAST MALAYSIA	9M6XRO	5/18/2014
190	SAN MARINO	T77C	5/18/2014
189	PAPUA NEW GUINEA	P29NO	5/17/2014
188	SVALBARD	JW/SF0F	4/21/2014
187	WALLIS AND FUTUNA IS.	FW5JJ	4/14/0201
186	PALAU	T88QX	4/11/2014
185	TONGA	A35V	4/10/2014
184	FIJI ISLANDS	3D2FJ	3/28/2014

Worked All States
Award	Total	Award	Total	Award	Total
Basic *	50	80M	27	17M	28
CW	48	40M	49	15M	38
Phone	49	30M	25	12M	2
Digital *	50	20M	48	10M	23

WPX
Award	Total	Award	Total	Award	Total
Mixed	500	80M	19	17M	44
CW	340	40M	236	15M	190
Phone	188	30M	53	12M	6
Digital	130	20M	274	10M	83