Elecraft KX3 - wG0AT

The following YouTube clips show the new Elecraft KX3 in action.

Sure looks like a winner .....

SARL Winter QRP contest 2011

SARL Winter QRP contest 2011

For this leg of the event, I operated as a field station and we set up at the Rynfield dam close to home. SWAMBO - Liz accompanied me and helped me set up my 80/40/20 metre inverted vee. This time I used the 8 M telescopic fibre glass mast and in turn anchored the mast to the vehicle tow hitch. It worked fairly well and I might do the same in the future.

It was a nice clear winters day, but the temprature was only 10 Celcius, so I elected to operate from the inside the vehicle. Not ideal, but certainly more cosy than braving the cold outside.

For the first hour of the contest, I only used the tiny HB-1a and managed to make 11 CW Q’s, not shabby considering the size of the transceiver and the fact that it only puts out 4 watts. The receiver is really sensitive. I did find that it was a bit hard on the ears when QRN was present.

For the remaining 2 hours I used my homebuilt Elecraft K2. It performed flawlessly once again. Managed to make a further 20 SSB Q’s

Conditions were strange. Most contacts were in the region of 700 km to 1300 km. The closer stations  were mostly skip. I could hear a few of them, but they did not hear me. Maybe they need better antennas?   J

Breakdown -  QSOs by division:

Div 1 = 9

Div 2 = 10

Div 3 = 4

Div 4 = 2

Div 5 = 2

Div 6 = 4   (2 of these were very difficult)

I was very pleased to see all the CW activity. With a bit of luck, this trend will continue.

Contesting Part 2

A few thoughts on QRP contesting continued.

It is rather frustrating to see the apparent lack of interest in local contesting in general in South Africa. I have often wondered why this is the case?

Consider the following:

The contests provide us with the ideal opportunity to see the bands come alive with activity on what otherwise would have been occupied by only QRM and QRN.

The contests are not only for the full blooded contestants, but also beneficial to those seeking QSOs and new QSLs towards awards for example: WAZS and ZS-WAGS etc….  

The contest also gives a very good idea of how effective (or ineffective) our station and antennas are performing.

Most of the local SARL contests are so structured that the various disciplines of our hobby all get recognized and thus actively promoted.

Participation is actively encouraged in all its forms, whether operating from the comforts of one’s shack with all the gadgets and programs, or operating from the field with a very minimalistic setup and everything in between.

Maybe it is pertinent to mention that all stations regardless of power or antennas used, may take part in all the SARL contests. It is not required, but submitting a log would be appreciated for the purposes of statistics and log cross checking.

However, if a station wishes to actively take part and wants to be in the running for a place then he/she must abide by all the rules of the contest in question.

Contesting is Fun !!

SARL QRP Winter contest 2011

The SARL QRP contest: Saturday - 16 July 2011

Six days to go.

So far:

Eddie ZS6BNE - With his resonant vee and a tree….
Pieter ZS6XT - All fired up to defend his overwhelming lead….
Chris 9J2RI -  A sought after DX station, operating from good old SA….
Pierre ZS6A -  Using a K2, inverted vee and a shady tree….
Geoff ZS6GRL - MMWC we better watch our selves....
Johan ZS6AF - Sterba curtain beaming towards Gauteng ??

Who else??

FWIW I was on top of Table Mountain on this past Friday, all I can say is I envy the Cape chaps big time. They have so many beautiful sites to operate from.

It certainly would be nice to work the old QRP pioneers during the contest. Blow the dust of those paper weights and come and enjoy the fun.

QRP Contesting

A few thoughts on QRP contesting.

I guess it is no secret that I am a big fan of QRP contesting. There is no better way to prove the effectiveness of one’s station than during a well supported contest.

Sitting in the comfort of one’s shack having the ability to switch from one antenna to the next, using logging software such as N1MM, using foot pedal PTT, headset and boom mic, using the internet for spotting, using skimmers to assist in CW contests etc…. is just a awesome experience and it makes the contest experience so much fun.

On the other hand:

Sitting out in the sticks in the shade of a tree with a low tree strung dipole and using the very minimum: pencil and paper, a CW key and hand microphone (if we must) has a certain charm all of its own.

It is all about choices……

HABEX - AR flying high

The HABEX - High Altitude Balloon Experiment team had another very successful flight and I was pleased to be able to monitor and track the progress of the flight of the balloon.

The balloon carrying amateur radio has come a far way from its original attempts way back in the late 70’s known as BACAR. The balloons are now much improved and the advent of APRS has made the recovery processes much more reliable and interesting.

There are so many aspects to the balloon flights that it should fire up the imagination of all real amateurs. Understanding the abilities and limitations of the balloons, the meteorology and how that will affect the flight, the amateur payload and how it will be affected by temperature etc…. the list is almost never ending.

We often discuss the affect of antenna height on HF and what role it plays on the effectiveness thereof. If we consider the QRPp (very low power) beacon carried during the last flight. I heard the beacon fairly well from launch and the signal did improve as time went on. I suspect it was due to progressively more direct (ground wave) signals. It would be great if there were more stations further afield that monitored the beacon so that we could determine if the altitude played a role in the sky wave propagation or not.

The use of APRS is just amazing. Next time I will be decoding the live transmissions and won’t be relying on information provided by others. Using APRS.fi is great, but it relies on i-gates to relay the information to the internet and this is often the weak link in the system. I guess we need more stations that can track the live signals and then relay that info onto the web or to the normal 144.800 MHz packet frequency?

I am looking forward to the next HABEX flight.

http://www.habex.za.net/flights/11-07-02/index.html

SARL Winter QRP contest

The next SARL QRP contest will be held on Saturday 16 July 2011 from 2 pm to 5 pm SAST.

It is about time we have such an event, I am starting to get withdrawal symptoms. We have not had any QRP / outdoors (field) event for a while now.

Not that it is a requirement, but I might consider operating as a ultra light portable station just for fun.

Good luck to all.

Sure hope that the weather and propagation will be kind to us.