On Monday a number of us from DLARC (Delaware-Lehigh Amateur Radio Club) took a field trip to the ARRL Headquarters in Newington, CT and also work the W1AW station.

During the 4 hour trip, I worked a number of DX stations on 17 and 20m including Russia and Belgium. Having HF in the car definitely makes the time go quick, but logging becomes the difficult and hazardous part.

Once on-site, our tour guide took us around league headquarters where we visited the Logbook of the world (LoTW) and certificate department as well as Product Test Lab, Marketing & Advertising, and VEC departments. While there Laurie (KB3SIK) was able to find out the status to her recent upgrade, which happened to arrive in the mail that day. In the outgoing QSL card bureau, we found cards destined for NE3F, the local contest station in Reading, PA, which I found rather funny.

We also had a tour of the ARRL employee station, W1HQ which had a decent amount of gear including a SteppIR beam and 6 meter King Conversion amplifier. I’ll be adding W1HQ to my rare DX list.

It was nice to be put faces and names to the ARRL and see what they do from their perspective. They do alot with what they have and make use of every piece of equipment they have; Something quite apparent in the Lab and Art departments.

View at Picasa ARRL, Newington, CT11-Apr-2011 16:17, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa ARRL League Headquarters, Newington, CT.11-Apr-2011 11:13, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa Cubesat11-Apr-2011 11:57, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 87	View at Picasa W1HQ Employee station.11-Apr-2011 12:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 102	View at Picasa W1HQ Employee station.11-Apr-2011 12:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 181	View at Picasa W1HQ Employee station.11-Apr-2011 12:11, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 79
View at Picasa W1HQ Employee station.11-Apr-2011 12:11, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 179	View at Picasa W1HQ Employee station.11-Apr-2011 12:11, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 336	View at Picasa Radio under test11-Apr-2011 12:26, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 420	View at Picasa Radio under test11-Apr-2011 12:14, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800	View at Picasa Outgoing QSL Cards11-Apr-2011 12:52, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 115	View at Picasa Outgoing QSL Cards11-Apr-2011 12:52, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 125
View at Picasa APRS Beacon outside W1AW11-Apr-2011 16:15, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa ARRL Benches and memorandum bricks11-Apr-2011 16:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa ARRL Memorandum bricks11-Apr-2011 16:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa ARRL Memorandum bricks11-Apr-2011 16:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 50

After lunch at a local pizza place, we put in some operating time at W1AW, their visitor operator station. W1AW is also the station that provides the on-air ARRL bulletins as well as qualifying Morse code runs. I ended up running their Yaesu FTDX-9000D on 15m for a bit. The station has alot of different gear and operates a number of modes.

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View at Picasa W1AW – Amateur Radio Station11-Apr-2011 16:13, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, ISO 50	View at Picasa W1AW Beam Antennas11-Apr-2011 16:13, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, ISO 50	View at Picasa W1AW Beam Antennas11-Apr-2011 16:13, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, ISO 50	View at Picasa KB3SIK (Laurie) at W1AW11-Apr-2011 11:11, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa W1AW HF Beams11-Apr-2011 11:11, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, ISO 50	View at Picasa W1AW – Oscar Satellite Antennas11-Apr-2011 11:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, ISO 50
View at Picasa W1AW – Oscar Satellite antenna11-Apr-2011 11:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, ISO 50	View at Picasa N3QO, Jeff and KB3SIK, Laurie11-Apr-2011 16:07, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa K3GMT (Dave) working 20m and N3OW (Jay) working 15m11-Apr-2011 14:43, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 128	View at Picasa K3GMT (Dave) working 20m and N3OW (Jay) working 15m11-Apr-2011 14:45, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 341	View at Picasa K3GMT (Dave) working 20m and N3OW (Jay) working 15m11-Apr-2011 14:43, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 88	View at Picasa W1AW – ARRL Station11-Apr-2011 15:53, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 163
View at Picasa W1AW Bulletin Service radios – Icom 756 ProIII with PW1 Amplifier.11-Apr-2011 15:50, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800	View at Picasa W1AW Bulletin Service radios11-Apr-2011 15:50, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800	View at Picasa W1AW Bulletin Service radio11-Apr-2011 15:50, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800	View at Picasa W1AW Bulletin Service – Antenna Patches11-Apr-2011 14:54, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800	View at Picasa W1AW Bulletin Service radios11-Apr-2011 14:54, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800	View at Picasa KU3X, Barry and W3CE, Al11-Apr-2011 15:50, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 76

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View at Picasa Vintage station – Viking Valiant11-Apr-2011 14:51, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 126

View at Picasa Vintage Station – National11-Apr-2011 14:51, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 73

The remainder of the photos and video can be found here.

Another Timonium hamfest has come and gone.
Buyer turnout seemed pretty good, vendor turnout was slightly thinner than last year, although there seems to have been more tailgating than years past. Most likely due to better weather. I didn’t see too many capital expenses being made although I heard someone talking on the local repeater net saying he sold an entire silent key’s vintage Collins station. Laurie got a chance to use her new HT, which I was sure she really enjoyed keeping up with everyone. No large purchases this year, simple odds and ends and new antennas for our HT’s, but we got a chance to meet up with the 1900 guys from as far out as Pittsburgh and South NJ. Overall another successful hamfest! Can’t wait till next year!

View at Picasa The 1900 Group. Timonium Hamfest 2011

View at Picasa Laurie and I. 2011 Timonium Hamfest.

The following day, Laurie and I made some adjustments to our 2 meter stack by adding a tilt-over base which allowed me to change the polarity on the cubical quad. Now I can get into N2KEJ’s repeater in South Jersey.

View at Picasa Make shift tilt-over for aluminum military mastNIKON COOLPIX L100 , 4.7, 19.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 211

View at Picasa Cubex 2m Cubical Quad and Diamond CP22E verticalNIKON COOLPIX L100 , 4.3, 12.2mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 80

As I’m thinking about what to write about 2011, I’m realizing that 2010 was a pretty kick ass year in the hobby for me and I’m starting to realize I’ve done too much. Here’s a summary.

In February I was introduced to 160m and found a great group located in the PA/NJ/DE/MD area who are on 1900khz every night at 8pm. I would finally get to meet them face to face at the Timonium Hamfest in Maryland which would start an every other Saturday tradition of breakfast in Delaware with the guys.

The hexbeam I built back in the previous October (2009) survived the 2ft of snow we saw in March. I would find myself being invited to operate the ARRL DX contest at NE3F’s, which is always fun but also quite an endurance run. I also started operating HF mobile and ended up working VK7ZE on our way to our club station with 100w in a screwdriver antenna on 20m. He was working the states long-path, some 14k miles.

Early in April, I decided to try a 3 element Mosley TA-33 tribander and ended up selling my Hexbeam to Dave (K3GMT). Also in April, I went QRO with a Dentron Clipperton which would be a requirement for 160m in the summer. 1200watts with a set of 4 572B’s. The transformer makes a menacing growl when it’s cranked on 40m, truely a welcomed addition to the shack.

Early in May, Jon (N3INJ) called to tell me 6m was open, of which I didn’t have an antenna for. Within about 45 minutes, I had a 6m delta loop up in the air and started making first 6m contacts. Later that month Laurie and I made it to Dayton. This was our first and plan to make it a yearly event.

I started off the month of June by rotating the polarity of my 2m cubical quad to horizontal and start working 2m sideband. So far it’s been slow, but my furthest stations I’ve worked was Pittsburgh and Connecticut, but the ARRL VHF contest was a blast!

The 1900 guys and I would end up doing a Field Day Expedition to Assateague Island in Maryland. It took a fair bit of planning, governmental politics and a little bit of cash, but we pulled it off. We also pulled off toasting an Alpha amplifier and an Icom 7000. But we all made it out alive with a new experience under our belts and I experienced a pileup the night before on PSK from the beach.

Early in July, I installed the trapped 40/80/160 antenna and start getting S9+40-50 signal reports on 160m, something no G5RV would do. Later that month I would end up in,out and then back in the hospital for a perforated appendix, which made for good rest time for DX at home, but no HT’s in the hospital. I also missed out on IoTA weekend, bummer.

In August I started playing around with satellites and sold the Icom 746 and purchased a Yaesu 847. Just as quickly as I got into this mode, I was out of it, but I walked away with a QSO with Commander Doug Wheelock aboard the ISS while we were mobile.

September my HF configuration came full circle. I ended swapping out the Mosley for my previously rebuilt hexbeam. Luckily for me, K3GMT’s plans for it didn’t work out, and I have my creation back on the roof and working DX like a mad man. At the same time we relocated the 2 meter antennas to a newly installed guyed mast just behind the garage.

October 1st I would wake to find my shack in the basement flooded due to a large rainfall. A normally quiet sump pump would awaken in the night, but a tripped GFI breaker caused it to stop and leave me with a foot of water. No ham equipment was harmed, but the shack ended up being relocated to the dining room. Luckily for me I have a loving, understanding and licensed (general) YL. Speaking of which She and I worked the PA QSO party, but she has not yet given up my Icom 706. I don’t have the heart to take it back, and not that I need it, but it gives me an excuse to buy another rig.

The last quarter of 2010 has been fairly quiet. I’ve been voted into the board for my radio club, working towards DXCC, working more CW and playing around with APRS.

Laurie and I are both looking forward to a prosperous 2011, with me hopefully working HF mobile once again. Hi Hi.

I finally got the field day photos up on flickr.
[flickrset id="72157622018569465" thumbnail="square" overlay="true" size="medium"]

One of the trickiest parts about building a shack is how to set everything up that is both easy to use, makes the best use of the space and can facilitate additional operators (+1). Since upgrading to my HF privileges in March, it was just me and my 746. In short time my YL, Laurie (KB3SIK) obtained her General license and soon had her own HF rig. An L-shaped desk wasn’t going to cut it if we both wanted to operate. At least electrically we could do it with the help of 2 antennas and a set of ICE filters, but ergonomically it just wasn’t happening.

For the last 2 months I had this idea for as stacked desk design in my head. Just this last weekend I finally executed on the build. It measures 8ft wide and can facilitate 3-4 radios in 2-3 operating positions. I also wanted to later design in a 19″ rack under the main desktop for central power supplies, antenna patching/switching, audio processing, etc. The grounding wire interconnected the Alpha Delta switches is NOT the final setup. With some input from Jon (N3INJ), I’ll be using copper strapping as the final station ground bus.

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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.

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.

I hadn’t posted in a bit so I figured I’d do a little updating….

Missed out on Dayton this year, bummer. With starting the new job yesterday it was just too much to cram into a weekend. Next year is a must! I did however start playing around with Echolink. I setup a simplex repeater on 145.600 here in Allentown and we seemed to have coverage all the way up to the Hickory Run area. I linked it up to a ham out at Dayton who sets up a simplex repeater every year. And word was one of my local clubs linked up the 440 side of the D-Star repeater out there, but some of us just don’t have that ability just yet.

During the weekend while going over some operating proceedures with my YL, KB3SIK; 10 meter seemed to come alive on 28.400. I heard a VK station to the south west of me, only assuming he was actually from Australia, but found quickly he was located in Tennessee. But not bad for 10 meter from Pennsylvania!

So all that being said I did start the new job yesterday. I’m psyched and intimidated all at once. I think that’s what happens when you’ve been laid-off for 6 months. It’s a role I haven’t been directly assigned in over 4 years, having come back to the Linux admin side of the house from being a Network Engineer. The chops are still there and seem consistant. Now to fast forward the next 3 months to get up to speed so I actually feel like I’m contributing to the group.

Oh, more QSL cards on the way and a new vanity call sometime next week!

–jeff