Posts Tagged iaru

Weekend update.

Posted by jeff in Contesting on July 14th, 2009

This last weekend was a ham radio packed weekend. On Saturday morning I arrived at the club station (aka The Milk House) with 746 in hand and setup for the IARU HF World Championship. Dave, K3GMT; Howard, KB3RTB; and Ben, KB3CTX would also setup to join in the competition. Collectively as operators we knew we were far from any award winning experience, just the fun of competing.

By 9:30AM some of us were on the air, myself on 15 meter where activity was starting to build as the band was opening. Throughout the day I would eventually end up on 20 meter where I would find the DX chaos. Approximately 12 hours into the competition a large thunderstorm began to role in causing us all to take an unintended break. This would be the end of the competition for me with 102 QSO’s logged with approximately 7300 points.

On Sunday Laurie and I went up to Sussex county NJ to a hamfest where we put on a D-Star TV demo with DLARC member, Howard (KB3RTB) and a number of NJDSTAR members. A lot of attention was drawn around the booth as the first pictures were transferred. While there I purchased the parts to build a D-Star hotspot and picked up a Heathkit SWR/Wattmeter for Laurie’s rig.

Photos to come.

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2009 IARU HF World Championship

Posted by jeff in Contesting on July 7th, 2009

The IARU contest is this weekend! It starts 1200UTC Saturday (8am EDT) and ends 24 hours later. Some important information below.  Should I rush to get those roofing filters?? Hmm.

Contest Rules

IARU Zone Map

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Hamfest Weekend!

Posted by jeff in Website Specific on July 7th, 2009

This last weekend (July, 4) was the start of hamfest weekend here in Eastern PA. On Saturday we traveled to the Harrisburg area to visit the Firecracker Harrisburg Hamfest and Eastern Pennsylvania (EPA) Section Convention. This was one of the better hamfests in the area. Tailgating was out in a field and there were very few garbage vendors. While there we picked up a Heathkit speaker for Laurie’s (KB3SIK) vintage rig and I picked up a 2meter mobile antenna and thru-the-roof NMO mounts. Of which I broke on during install. 3/8″ of brass isn’t very strong.

On Sunday with a heads up from K3GMT, we drove up to Wilkes-Barre, PA to the Murgas ARC Hamfest & Computerfest. This one was less than stellar. While I appreciate the attempt, having vendors selling their completely unrelated, miscellaneous junk is always a disappointment. If I remember I saw someone trying to sell a guitar and amplifier and someone else trying to sell a Laurel and Hardie doll. WTF!? On a positive note I was able to find the Sauder’s Electronics table and purchase some 3/4″ NMO mounts. Much beefier and look forward to drilling the holes in my roof later this week.

Next Sunday (July 12) is the Sussex County Amatuer Radio Club Hamfest. I hear this is the one to visit. I’ll have to make time since I plan on participating in the IARU HF contest.

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ISO: Logging Software

Posted by jeff in Logbook on July 3rd, 2009

With Field Day 2009 having ended almost 2 weeks ago, and the IARU contest next weekend, I’m finding myself in search of a new logging software.

Since my start in HF back in March, I’ve been using the first logger I started with, EasyLog 5. It’s a good clean program with alot if features, although having used WB3W’s Field Day logger, I’ve gotten a little used to the large text and simplified operation.

When it comes to contesting, it’s all about speed. So I was on the search for a logging software that had a clean interface that was stable and pretty to look at. Kind of what you find in a relationship.. :) I also wanted something that did a lookup on the operator details when their callsign was entered. My eventual selection would also have to pull frequency from the radio as well.

I’m happy to say, I’ve found the logger that best suites my needs; N3FJP’s Amateur Contact Log v3.0. ACL (for short) is light, clean and fully customizable. Within minutes I had it polling frequency from my radio, resolving callsigns from the QRZ internet service and fully customized colors, input fields and the log view. It also has DX cluster with alerting built in as well. By browsing around a bit in the software, their appears to be a voice keyer as well as CW keyer with winkey support as well as an interface for Logbook Of The World (LoTW). For the $19 USD he’s asking for registering, I believe the software is well worth it.

In addition to the ACL, N3FJP also has an IARU logger which I will use next weekend.

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