FT8 is supposed to make DXing easy, why is it so hard?

FT8 has been a revolution. The technology has made DXing really easy. Or has it? I continue to be amazed at how much difficulty people have working DXpeditions on FT8. 

Last year, there were DXpeditions to Bouvet (3Y0J), Crozet (FT8WW) and Sable Islands (CY0S). The most recent DXpedition to Glorioso Islands (FT4GL) has brought it all back to me.

Let's start off with a few observations on people trying to work these DXpeditions:

• Wrong Cycle - It's amazing the number of folks trying to work DX that are calling on the wrong cycle. FT8 has even and odd cycles. Even cycles start at 00 or 30 seconds, and odd cycles start on 15 and 45 seconds. You always call on the cycle the DX station is NOT transmitting. Indeed, if you double-click on a decode of the DX station, WSJT-X will set up the correct cycle. So how are people getting it wrong?

• Endless Calling - I've noticed some stations keep calling the DX after the DX station has QSYed or QRTed. A little bit of hopeful calling isn't unusual on Phone or CW, or even RTTY. But stations continue to call much later -- like an hour later, and they are still calling.

• Calling without Response - Some stations don't respond when the DX station calls them. They keep calling instead of advancing to the next step. This can get really bad. During the FT8WW expedition, I saw FT8WW keep responding to the same station for more than 10 minutes. Each response had a different signal report. This made it clear that FT8WW was heading this caller quite well, but the caller wasn't hearing FT8WW at all. Instead, that station took up a valuable response slot for 10 minutes -- denying perhaps 20-40 stations from working FT8WW.

• Confusing Fox/Hound (FH) and MSHV - Most DXpeditions using FT8 use either FH or MSHV in order to maximize the number of contacts they can make. It is easy to get confused with these two modes. They appear similar. Both allow for the DX station to transmit multiple FT8 carriers at the same time. FH imposes additional behavior to both the Fox and Hound ends of the contact. In particular, there are audio-frequency dependencies that FH enforces. But, it is perfectly possible to work a Fox station even if you are not in Hound mode. MSHV requires no special modes. And yet someone accused people of DQRM, calling FT4GL below 1000 Hz, when the DX was using MSHV, not FH.

What causes all these odd observations? I believe they all resolve to a single cause -- people are calling DX they cannot hear. That's right, people are calling DX stations they aren't decoding at all.

This is fundamentally wrong. I wrote about this years ago on how to bust a pileup. You cannot work DX if you cannot hear them. If you aren't decoding the DX station, stop calling. Yeah, that's hard, but your calls won't net you a contact, and you may be actively depriving someone who can hear the DX from making one. 

I think FT8 has made some people lazy. They hear some DX station is active on some frequency, probably through a spotting network. So they switch to that frequency, set their watchdog timers to an hour or more, and enable their transmitter. Then they go off and drink a few cool 807s while their computer works the DX for them.

Farfetched? No, it explains all the observations above.

Be a good FT8 operator -- don't call DX when you cannot decode them. Wait until you can decode them reliably, just about every cycle -- then start calling.

Remote Operation - Level 1 (RemoteRig RRC-1258MkII)

RemoteRig RRC-1258MkII at Radio

Last spring, I wrote about using RealVNC to remote control a computer in my shack allowing me to make FT8 contacts on 6m. I have made many contacts using that remote system, including several new countries and grids.

I want to be able to operate the Gwinnett county station remotely -- on any mode or band, as if I were sitting there. Doing this required several connections over the internet, and, being behind on other software projects, it seemed a daunting one. 

A company called Microbit (www.remoterig.com) has a solution. The RRC-1258MkII is a pair of devices that establish multiple audio, serial and control links over the internet. One unit sits with the Radio, the other is called the Control. They are similar boxes, with subtle differences: the Control box as a CW speed knob, but the Radio box does not. These units work with a number of radios, including the Elecraft K3. 

One operating mode is K3 Twin. In this mode, the Control K3 acts as a front-end to the remote Radio K3. All the knobs and buttons operate the remote radio. Indeed, Elecraft made special, stripped down, non-RF versions of the K3 for this purpose (K3/0, later the K3/0-mini).

This seemed perfect, as I owned two K3 radios. Obtaining the RRC-1258MkII was more difficult. Microbit is based in Sweden. Due to the pandemic and subsequent supply chain issues, they no longer sold them in the USA. I had to find them used. 

I managed to find Kirby, VE6IV, who had a set surplus to his needs, and we agreed on a price. Then ensued a much longer negotiation on how to get the funds to Kirby in Canada. Eventually, we figured it out, and a week later, the devices were delivered.

Configuration

Configuration was not plug-and-play, by any means. These boxes are designed to connect to 10/100BaseT networks. I found an old router and set up a local network to do the initial configuration. First step was to update the firmware. This did not work over the network, and I had to use the USB connection. After a few tries, I successfully updated both units to the latest firmware. 

The local web server in each box allows configuration of the other parameters. There are dozens of settings, and the manual leaves a bit to be desired explaining all the details. 

First order of business was the IP configuration. I opted to define a static IP addresses on my local network. 192.168.1.64 for the Radio, 192.168.1.65 for the Control. You can use DHCP for the Control, but it is easier to change configuration settings when you know the address. 

The Radio device needs to be accessible from the public internet. Since I don't have a static public IP address, I opted to use dynamic DNS. RemoteRig supplies such a service, at ddns.remoterig.com. They automatically set up a host address based on your serial number. 

I set the web site username and password, as well as the SIP password. Audio was set for 16 bits and 8 kHz dual channel. The COM ports were set with COM1 inactive, COM2 in logical parallel with COM0, and COM3 inactive. 

Setup

Next step was to integrate the Radio unit into the Gwinnett station. I still needed to use the station locally. I found that I could connect the local computer through the COM1 port on the Radio unit and still be able to run WSJT-X locally. One caveat - the RemoteRig devices don't pass through the DTR and RTS signals, so you can't do CW keying from the serial port. You also can't update K3 firmware. Both of these require direct connection of the computer to the rig.

The manual shows the Radio unit connected with seven different cables, but only six of them are described in the manual. The seventh cable connects from the I/O port on the back of RemoteRig to the ACC jack on the K3. The Radio unit turns the K3 off when you disconnect remotely. Without this seventh cable, you cannot turn the K3 on when you connect. That took some experimentation to figure out.

Initial Connection

Puzzling out the rest of the operation was easier on the local network. I programmed my Control unit to connect directly to the Radio unit's local IP address. Initially, I couldn't get anything to work. I would have brief periods where the Control unit would connect. I could hear the audio of the radio, and then it would disconnect. Nothing was happening with the Control K3.

Part of the problem is my Control K3 had been upgraded to a KIO3B, so it did not have an RS-232 jack. Generally, I used the USB port. The KIO3B has an RJ-45 jack labelled RS-232/P3, and I had a cable designed to plug into the P3. I used that cable, but it didn't work. I decided I needed a special cable from Elecraft, part #E980297, an RJ-45 to DE-9S. 

The new cable didn't work either, and that lead to more sleuthing. I tried using the K3 Utility on this cable, and it didn't work either. I then discovered that the CONFIG:RS-232 menu had to be set to 38400 b for the serial connection to work. That was part of the problem.

A bit more checking and I determined that the RemoteRig COM2 jack required a null modem cable between it and the K3. I had that, and it required a male/male DB-9 adapter. Both these items were in the batch of cables that Kirby shipped me. 

With CONFIG:RS-232 and the correct cabling, the Control unit placed the Control K3 into TERM mode. I successfully connected locally. 

Remote Connection

Connecting through the dynamic DNS address was the next step. I figured I had to change the SIP Contact parameter on the Control unit. That was correct, but it would not connect. Then I thought perhaps it didn't work because I was trying to connect on the same IP address on the public network. So, I packed up the K3 and the Control unit and took them back to Warren county. But, it didn't work there, either.

This was frustrating. Then it occurred to me that perhaps I had to re-program the firewall of my Gwinnett county router to let certain traffic pass. I lamented that those experiments would have to wait until I could pack it all up and go back to Gwinnett county to fix. Then it dawned on me that I could use the RealVNC connection to my shack computer to re-program the firewall remotely.

Programming the router was not simple. I used the IP Allocation mode of Default Server to direct all incoming traffic to the Radio unit IP address. That worked! I was able to connect and control the station.

This configuration worried me. RemoteRig uses four UDP ports, plus TCP port 80 for the web server configuration and port 23 for telnet configuration. Having those TCP ports open on the public internet seemed like a bad idea. A single password protected access, which seemed to invite hacking.

Instead, I wanted to pass the traffic on the four UDP ports and block everything else. This was accomplished by setting up four custom "gaming" services for each UDP port. I then assigned these services to the RemoteRig Radio IP address. Bingo.

Operation

Operation is pretty straightforward, even though the RemoteRig manual isn't. To activate the system, you simply turn the Control K3 on. Within 20-30 seconds, the devices connect across the Internet, the remote K3 is turned on and the Control K3 goes into TERM mode, and audio starts streaming into the Control unit. All of the knobs, buttons and indicators on the Control K3 operate the remote K3. 

When you are finished, you turn the Control K3 off, and the remote K3 also turns off. If you happen to lose your internet connection, the remote K3 turns off in about a minute. 

During my experiments, I was able to confirm operation of WSJT-X using the remote shack computer. I've also been able to transmit CW, using the paddle check on the Control unit. So far, though, I haven't figured out how to transmit voice signals. Most likely, I have another cable or configuration problem. 

Limitations

The system has a few rough spots. The audio volume is controlled from the Control K3 volume control. Certain operations stop the audio stream -- switching into or out of SUB receiver mode, or into or out of DIVersity reception. Moving the volume control brings the audio stream back. 

In my set up, the audio occasionally has small drop-outs, perhaps when a UDP packet fails to arrive in time. For this reason, I would not recommend using RTTY across the audio connection. One can operate a remote computer to run RTTY, just as I do for FT8. There may be a configuration option to help this.

Next Steps

While I can operate my Gwinnett K3 remotely now, I need to automate other parts of the station. I cannot change antennas, rotate rotators or switch the K9AY direction. I'm working on solving those problems.

Update: Sad News

Unfortunately, about two weeks after I started writing this article, my Control unit fails to power up. I apply power, but the PWR LED does not come on. I've tried with two different power supplies, no luck. RemoteRig support indicates this could be a failure of the CPU. Sadly, they don't offer repairs in the USA, and will have no replacement units available until May, 2023. 

In the meantime, I'm back to Remote Operation - Level 0.

Forty Years of Personal Computing - Code Practice Program

In the spring of 1980, as my first year at Georgia Tech was coming to a close, my parents were coming to pick me up and take me home to West Virginia in June. My brother Ben suggested during the trip, we could take the FCC exams for Amateur Extra class. At the time, we were both General class, and all exams were administered at official FCC offices, such as Atlanta.

I wondered how I might practice for these exams. Although I was a member of the Georgia Tech club station W4AQL, getting access was a hassle. I hadn't been on the air since I'd come back to Tech in January. I was afraid I had forgotten Morse code entirely. My solution was to write a code practice program for my SWTPc 6800 Computer System, using the Kreepie Peepie. 

The program is small, just over 200 bytes long. It creates a five character code group by choosing characters randomly. Then it sends the group, complete with a word space. A check of the serial port determines if someone has input a character, indicating a request to stop. If not, it continues to generate and send the next five character group.

The characters themselves are sounded out by toggling a bit on the Kreepie Peepie. A wait loop of roughly a millisecond is used. This gave a pitch of about 1 kHz. The wait cycles are repeated a sufficient number of times to sound out the element (BAUDV). Silent periods used the same timing element, without toggling the Kreepie Peepie. This made it easy to adjust speed by changing the BAUDV location. I had this programmed to 64, which came out right about 20 wpm.

I'd typically run the program for a few minutes, copying as many of the five character groups as I could. It was enough. I passed the FCC 20 wpm exam.

Schematic for the Little 40m Receiver

I'll admit that it has taken far too long for me to publish this schematic. I wrote the original article about a small solid state receiver in January of 2009. I promised a schematic, but I never published it. 

The original sketches of the schematic are too embarrassing to publish directly, so I had to re-draw the schematic neatly.  I started on it last summer, but I finally finished it very recently. 

Just click on the image to the right. 

A couple of notes on the schematic.

The IF Out label on the right side of the page connects to the IF Out label in the lower middle of the drawing. 

I didn't have a 7808, so I used a 7805 regulator with a stack of four 1N4001 diodes that gives about a 7.5 volt supply. You could use a 7808. In fact, I purchased one a while ago, but I've never modified the rig to use it.

You might have to adjust the values in the S-meter circuit if your meter movement isn't a 600-ohm 250 uA device like I used.

I don't have a block diagram, but the sections are straightforward:

• SA612 Mixer / Oscillator
• Crystal ladder filter
• MC1350 IF Amplifier
• SA612 Product Detector / Oscillator
• LM 386 AF Amplifier
• LM 358 AGC Amplifier / S-meter driver
• 2N3906 Mute driver

I built the rig in stages, starting with the AF Amplifier, then the Product Detector, IF Amplifier, Crystal Ladder filter, Mixer. I then added the AGC Amplifier and the S-meter driver, and finally the mute driver. 

The Crystal Ladder filter is based on 4.915 MHz crystals. The Oscillator is 7 MHz above that, nominally tuning 11.915-12.065 MHz. I've been thinking about adding a switch with a different oscillator and bandpass coil to cover 30m. 

Schematic for the "Novice" Transmitter

Schematic for the "Novice" Transmitter

I guess it has taken a while. I wrote about my Novice transmitter over ten years ago in January of 2019 as one of my first articles in this blog. But I never published a schematic.

Well, the wait is over. This summer I took some time to hand-draw a schematic reasonably neatly. At least neatly enough for someone else to make heads or tails out of it.

The result is in the image on the right. The circuit is pretty simple.

A couple of notes on the tank circuit. The coil is 1 3/4" diameter, 12 turns, about 7/8" long, which computes to be about 6.4 uH. A typical pi network for a 6146 at 7 MHz should be L = 6.2 uH, C1 = 90 pF, C2 = 500 pF. So it seems my design is pretty close.

The keying arrangement is unique. The oscillator is cathode keyed, but the PA is biased beyond cutoff for Class C operation. When properly the grid tuned circuit is properly adjusted, there is little to no chirp.

This radio works pretty well on 30m, too. The crystals I have for 30m are HC-49U crystals soldered in FT-243 housings. These drift a little bit key down, likely due to the high crystal current. I added a 100 ohm resistor in series with the crystal to limit the current.

VP6D on 30m CW

Odd things happen. During a long DXpedition, like the current VP6D expedition to Ducie Island, they are bound to happen. They happened during the K1N Navassa Island expedition, for example.

Last night I'm trying very hard to put VP6D in as many DXCC slots as I can. I hadn't worked them on 30m, and they were running RTTY. 30m is often tough, since everyone runs 200 watts, tops, and my 100 watt signal doesn't really stand out. RTTY makes it even harder. I called for a half an hour with no luck. And then VP6D disappears.

I continue calling for a little bit. It's a sort of anxious hope that sometimes works. Maybe they had a generator die, and the first thing the operator will hear when the generator comes back to life will be my callsign. Right? Well, it could happen.

After a couple of minutes I stop calling. I'm sitting there with the headphones on. The left ear is listening to 10142 kHz at about 450 Hz wide, the right is listening up around 10144.5 kHz, about 2 kHz wide. And, I'm hearing nothing. Nothing at all.

About three minutes after I stopped calling, I heard a signal. It sounds like a CQ. A CW CQ. It's off frequency, so I can't really tell. I'm not set up for CW. I'm in DATA mode, with settings all flipped around with wide filters. But - there it is again - in my right ear, it sounds like VP6D calling CQ, in CW.

Switch things around to CW, with a narrow filter, and then tune for the right frequency. I'm sure I'm going to miss it, but no, I find him. There he is CQ VP6D UP2. Plain as day on 10144 kHz. That's not where you'd expect him to be at all. No, the published CW frequency is 10105 kHz. This frequency is out of position for CW, but there he is, calling CQ VP6D UP2. And no one is answering. No one.

This is my chance. I go into split, up 2, and give him a call. But, again, CQ VP6D UP2. A couple of times. No answer. So, I figure, hey, maybe he's actually listening up 1 and doesn't realize his memory keyer doesn't match. I dial in up 1, and call. No dice. After a few calls, I wonder where he's listening really. Maybe he's listening up 2 from 10105 kHz. I give him a call on 10107 kHz. Nothing. Perhaps he's listening on his own frequency?

At this point, he's been calling CQ on 10144 kHz for two solid minutes and no one has answered him. I figure it's worth a try without being a DX lid. I turn off split and dump in my call: AA4LR. AA4LR 5NN comes the response. R 5NN TU, I reply.

And bam, quick as that, he's in the log.

He goes back to calling CQ VP6D UP2. I listen for a couple more minutes, but no one is calling him. I post a spot on dxwatch.com and listen for a couple more minutes. Still no one. I begin to wonder if he's just clueless to where he is in the band, and that no one is looking for him there. So, I dare to send again on his frequency: FREQ? He responds to my question by sending 10144 twice. So, yeah, he knows where he is. I post another spot, hoping some other DXer will find him, too.

After about 10 minutes of this, he goes silent. A minute after, I find him down on 10105 kHz, once again calling CQ VP6D UP 2. And, people are calling him, and he's answering. Good, that's what's supposed to happen.

Looks like I'll may be the only one who worked VP6D on 10144 kHz CW. Cool.

WinKeyer 3 Serial

The finished product.

What's the use of having an excellent soldering station like the Hakko FK-888D if you don't have something to build?

I recently splurged about $40 and bought a WinKeyer 3 Serial. This is a very nice little board that has a WinKeyer 3 chip powered solely by the RS-232 signals on the serial port. I figured this would end all the timing problems I have with keying the rig from a serial port RTS line.

I would have preferred to buy the similar WinKeyer USB Lite, but unfortunately, that product has been discontinued. I suspect it may be because the Lite cut into the sales of the more expensive WKUSB-SMT.

The WK3 Serial Kit.

The kit arrived in a little plastic pouch. There's no manual, but there's a little slip of paper with a URL to download a manual. Not a problem. I just parked one of my computers on the workbench to read the instructions.

Assembly went quickly. I actually ended up following the steps out of order. I guess I should pay better attention, as the first part I assembled was the IC socket. I skipped assembling the resistors and diodes. Oops.

I quickly realized my error and went back and assembled all those parts. This is not a Heathkit. It's more like "insert all the resistors, solder, insert all the diodes, solder, insert all the capacitors, solder" type of kit.

Flip side of the kit. Not
many parts in this one.

For me, this was a piece of cake. Given how simple this kit is, it wouldn't be hard for a much less experienced kit builder. I elected not use use the speed potentiometer at the moment.

Once assembled, testing is a matter of hooking it up to a Windows machine and using a test application.

K1EL provides two programs: WKtest and WK3demo. The WK3 Serial Kit manual has a link to WKtest, although this appears to be an older application. WK3demo is the preferred application to use, at least according to the web site. I tried both, and they both worked.

This kit fired up and worked right after assembly, so no troubleshooting was necessary. I could easily program CW text to flash the on-board LED. Perhaps the hardest issue I had was figuring out exactly which USB Serial device I had hooked it up to.

Now that it's assembled and tested, I'll need to find a suitable box to mount it in, and wire up connectors to hook it to the rig. I didn't manage to complete this before the WPX CW contest, so perhaps next time.

The Venerable Elecraft K2/100

Elecraft K2/100 with KAT100 tuner, as it sits on the desk.

I cannot believe it has been fifteen years since I built the Elecraft K2/100!

When I first got interested in amateur radio, in the mid-70s, I wanted to build my own rig. While I studied for my novice, an elmer of mine insisted that each ham should build his own transmitter. He gave me some parts, and I made an honest attempt, but the "Novice" Transmitter didn't actually work until many years later.

Later, while preparing for college, I tried building a QRP transceiver I might use in the dorm. I built a 7 MHz FET VFO, a direct-conversion receiver, a 3 watt transmitter, and a even a KOX or Key-Operated Switch to do semi-break-in with side-tone and an relative power and S-meter.

This design never did work. Never heard a peep out of the receiver. While the transmitter produced a couple of watts output, it couldn't decide if those watts were on 7 MHz or 14 MHz. The key mistake I made in my youth was building the entire project before testing anything. The VFO worked, the KOX worked, but that was about it.

I had tried to build my own designs, without a lot of success.

I noted the Elecraft K2 introduction in 1999 with interest, but I wasn't excited. While relatively inexpensive, it only produced 10 watts output. I needed a replacement for the venerable Kenwood TS-430S, and that meant 100 watts output. When Elecraft announced a 100 watt PA for the K2 later in the year, I was hooked. Best of all, I could buy the rig in installments, adding options over time.

I joined the Elecraft mailing list, and read everything I could about this great little rig. Sold! On March 1, 2002, I placed an order for a plain Elecraft K2/10 and would receive Serial Number 2548.

On arrival, I spent and hour or two each night building. This wasn't something you could knock together in a couple of evenings. I wanted to do a good job as well, to savor the process, instead of just slap it together. In total, the basic K2 took me nearly 30 hours to build.

Wayne Burdick (one of the Elecraft founders) at some point asked me for any building notes or comments on the K2. This gives you an idea of how grassroots a company like Elecraft is. I sent him a series of four notes with my impressions and some detailed comments. I don't know if he actually used this material to improve the K2 assembly manual, but it's a nice thought.

The K2 is no Heathkit. A real Heathkit would have more drawings and diagrams at each stage of assembly. But, hey, Heathkit is out of business and Elecraft is not.

Any K2 builder can spin yarns about the joys of winding toroids. There are dozens of them in the K2. Frankly, I didn't have that much trouble winding toroids. Tinning the toroid leads, on the other hand, was a real pain. Especially when I didn't tin them up quite far enough and had to do it over.

After 20 hours of construction, I did the Alignment and Test II section and was listening to 40m signals coming through the receiver. Given my previous experience, this was very exciting. You have such a feeling of accomplishment when something you built actually operates.

For the most part, the K2 worked flawlessly after construction. I did have a problem with flaky AGC action, which was fixed with a resistor substitution and a replaced transistor. I also had an intermittent INFO 080 (the dreaded AUXBUS failure) which was caused by a bit of waxy burnt flux between two pins on the control board. The Elecraft mailing list and support email address gave me the information I needed to diagnose these problems.

With the basic K2 built, I started ordering and building options. The KSB2, the SSB module, was up first. The KSB2 has the densest board of all the K2 kits, making it the hardest to assemble. And the FT23-43 cores were so tiny, I originally thought they were fiber washers.

After the KSB2 came the KAF2. I had read enough to know that the K2 audio had an unpleasant hiss that was knocked out by the KAF2 audio filter. Beyond that, however I never found the audio filter to be that useful. While the KAF2 also has a real-time clock, I never found much use for it.

Next was the KNB2, the noise blanker. Having used the one on my Kenwood TS-430S, I felt that a noise blanker would be a required option. But the KNB2 isn't terribly effective at eliminating the noise sources I most often encountered. I was able to determine it was working, and later managed to make modifications to improve it's effectiveness.

The last option for the basic K2 I built was the K160RX -- which has to be the simplest option board I've built. Once installed, I had a very functional K2, with 160-10m coverage, CW, SSB, Noise Blanker, Audio filter. All I needed was to wait for the KPA100 option.

And, indeed, as soon as it was available to order, I placed my order the same day. And then I waited.

Fate intervened, however. While I was waiting for the KPA100 to ship, I was laid off from my job. This was the summer of 2002. The internet bubble had burst, and there were several shocks to the economy, what with the 9/11 tragedy, and the Enron and Adelphia Cable financial scandals.

Without employment, spending hundreds on the KPA100 didn't seem wise and I cancelled my order. I feared I might need to sell my K2. It took me nearly four months to find a new job, as the market was really tight. But as soon as I had a new position in hand, I re-placed my KPA100 order.

I had some trepidations about the KPA100, but it went together pretty easily, and it worked like a charm right from the start.

At this point, the K2/100 became my main rig. With computer control -- something that I had coveted for years -- contest band changes became much easier. I loved it.

Close up of the friendly face of the K2. 

Once built, for a few years I was regularly tearing into it to make modifications. The improved 2nd XFIL mod, the KI6WX improved CW filter rejection mods, alternative AF gain control. The massive A-to-B upgrade. The BFO temperature stability mod. Redoing all of the crystals with the K2KSB2XTALS mod. The KSB2 firmware update to v1.08. The PLL temperature compensation mod. The KPA100 Rev B upgrade with upgraded shield. K2 firmware update to v2.04. K2 Keying modification. The QSK improvement modification. KPA100 current consumption mod. The power control mod.

During these first few years, I also added the KAT100, the KDSP2 and my favorite, the Finger Dimple. The KAT100 really made the rig more versatile. The KDSP2 helped out on SSB with some needed bandwidth filtering, and the auto-notch filter. But the Finger Dimple made tuning the rig a much more comfortable proposition.

From Mid-2005 until 2010, K2/100 served as my main rig without any modifications. 2010 brought a flurry of final mods. The VCO Shielding mod. The KPA100 Rev D upgrade. The KNB2 response and threshold sensitivity mods.

Once I finished all this, I bought the Rework Eliminators kit -- that enables one to swap out option modules without making changes. I don't believe I've used them.

Although the K3/100 replaced the K2/100 as my main rig, I still use the K2 regularly. It is pleasant to listen to and quite capable. The K2 has earned an honorable place on my operating desk, and deserves to be called a venerable rig.

Forty Years of Ham Radio

My novice key.

I don't remember a lot about forty years ago. I don't remember much about taking the Novice exam, or the name or call of the fellow kind enough to give it to me. But I do remember, in November of 1975, receiving my Novice license. I became WN8WOY. It took months for me to get on the air in June of 1976. I kept that call until the FCC  issued me WB8WOY the next fall. I've told many of the details in my Novice Story.

I do remember ham radio being a lot different forty years ago. I was using all tube type gear. Although all-solid-state gear was available, it was rather uncommon until the early to mid-80s. I remember learning about transistors and tubes at the same time. It was easier and cheaper to generate RF using tubes, something that's still true today at the higher power levels.

I remember that I didn't have a clue what I was doing with ham radio. I had read a lot of 73 Magazine articles, but that didn't prepare me for actually being on the air, or how to put up reasonably effective antennas. In retrospect, I did a lot of dumb things, and perhaps missed some opportunities. But, I was having fun, and learning as I went along.

In those days, I remember working toward the goal of getting Worked All States. I believe I collected cards for about thirty states, but came nowhere close to working them all. Today, I've earned WAS on six bands, and worked all fifty states just last weekend in a contest.

I do remember I was quite shy about transmitting, and I did a lot of listening. Perhaps my first decade was much more about listening than transmitting.

I also remember I enjoyed building things. I'm glad I still do. Here's to forty more years of building, learning and enjoying ham radio.

The Venerable TS-430S

The Venerable TS-430S with AT-250 antenna tuner.

I realized earlier this week that my backup rig, the Kenwood TS-430S, turns 30 years old this month. Yup, I bought that rig back in September of 1985. For the next 16+ years, it would be my only HF rig.   I held on to that rig so long, by 1995, I was already calling it "venerable."

How I got to that point is an interesting story. My original Novice setup was an SB-301/SB-401 combo. In my second or third year of college, I sold my SB-401 to my brother Ben (now NJ8J). I still had the SB-301, and eventually I set it up in one of my college apartments. But I lacked a transmitter.

One summer, I attempted to rebuild my Novice transmitter using a 6GK6 and 6146 design published in the ARRL handbook. I added a lot of extras, like a built-in VFO and a KOX (key-operated-switch), with automatic T/R switching. (the VFO and KOX board were salvaged from a home-brew 40m QRP rig project that I assembled, but never could get to work) I never could get any output from that 6146 rig, and it chirped pretty badly.

Shortly after I finished college and moved into an apartment, I borrowed a friends FT-101E. The rig worked great. Because of my crummy antenna situation, I had a lot of trouble making contacts. Eventually my friend asked for his FT-101E back.

Since he bought the SB-401, my brother wasn't using a Heathkit DX-60B he had, so I borrowed it. I pulled the VFO out of the Novice transmitter, mounted it in a box with the KOX circuit board, a power supply and connectors for the DX-60B. This actually worked! I made a handful of contacts, but again the antenna situation really limited me.

In the summer of 1985, I moved to a new apartment much closer to work. It was two stories tall, and there were a number of trees about 30 feet away from the back. I took a couple of 100 foot spools of #26 wire wrap wire and strung them into the trees from my second-floor shack window, fed from the back of a crappy MFJ tuner with a balun. This formed a crude doublet.

For an operating table, I bought a door, placed it on two short two-drawer filing cabinets, and finished it with stain and polyurethane. I did a good job, because this door is still my operating table to this day in Gwinnett county.

I still needed a rig. I decided I didn't want to fool with tube-type radios any more. (That urge would return later) I wanted something that was all solid-state, had a direct-reading frequency display, supported the new WARC bands, and didn't cost terribly much.

At that time, the top contenders were the Kenwood TS-430S and the Yaesu FT-757GX. Both had a reasonable feature set, and were similarly priced around $600. I don't know what tipped me toward the Kenwood. In retrospect, based on what I know today, the FT-757GX had more features -- it does full QSK and has a built-in keyer, as well as supporting computer control via the CAT system. Computer control would be something I would pine for a few years later when I got into contesting.

Back in 1985, I wanted to get the best deal on my TS-430S, and I must have called a dozen different dealers for a price quote. The deal I found was a TS-430S for about $630, including the optional FM board. I placed the order with my credit card -- and this was perhaps the first time I would go into debt for my hobby.

I didn't do a lot of operating from that apartment, but I did enjoy the TS-430S. The crude doublet actually worked pretty well. I spent a fair amount of time on 30m, which was a relatively new back then, but I also hung out around the Novice bands on 80, 40 and 15m.

I moved to a house in Stone Mountain, GA, and the TS-430S was my main rig. My antennas progressed from a 300 long wire to a loop skywire, to a 125 foot doublet, eventually complemented by a Butternut HF4B beam on a roof tower that eventually gave way to a Cushcraft A3S. I started contesting in 1986 with CW Sweepstakes. The TS-430S paved the way for a whole lot of radio experience for me.

As a rig, the TS-430S is not a bad performer. There are two key deficiencies that were fixed by it's successor, the TS-440S: a) computer control, b) 100% duty cycle. The TS-440S adds a host of other features (100 memories, internal antenna tuner, selectable filter bandwidths, FSK, selectable AGC) Ironically, the TS-440S would be introduced at Dayton in 1986, just a few months after I bought the TS-430S.

CW performance is reasonable, depending on your expectations. There is no QSK, but the VOX operation from the key is quick and reliable. You can at least listen between words. AGC action is fast. The 500 Hz CW filter is a must-have.

SSB works well. VOX is fully adjustable, and the speech processor produces reasonable results on air. Choosing LSB or USB, though selects the slow AGC, which is annoyingly sluggish.

FM is interesting. I played around with 10m FM in the late 80s. There used to be a few guys in the Atlanta area that would hang out there back then. I think it may have faded, along with a lot of 2m FM.

Receiver performance is pretty good considering the up-conversion design and the vintage. There's certainly some front-end IMD, which you hear as a "sparkle" sound, especially on 10m when it is open during a contest. Usually hitting the attenuator knocks that out. The notch filter is pretty good, provided you are only dealing with one carrier. Of course, you have to adjust it manually. Noise blanker is one of the better ones.

Some contesters would be displeased with the manually-centered RIT. Never bothered me. IF Shift can sometimes help fight QRM -- but not in really crowded conditions.

This rig has some features I have rarely used. General Coverage Receive is one of them. Program scan has got to be the most useless of all -- since you have to manually hold the scan if you hear a signal.

I have made a handful of mods to my TS-430S. I did the 10 Hz frequency readout right away. (Why they didn't ship it from the factory this way, I'll never understand) Back when I used transverters for 2m, I enabled all-frequency transmit. Oh, and I did a simple mod that allows the YK-88C 500 Hz CW filter to be used for SSB narrow. This is useless for Phone, but makes easy work for RTTY.

Running RTTY is a mixed blessing. With the 500 Hz filter and the IF Shift adjusted, it does respectably on receive. The slow AGC is a little bit of a problem. Transmitting, though, should be limited to about 50-75 watts. Be sure to turn off the speech processor.

This rig has been with me at five different QTHs, as well as a host of Field Day operations. Although I long ago bought an MB-430 mobile mount bracket, I have never mounted it in a mobile.

Considering all the rapid changes in electronic and radio equipment in the late 70s to mid-80s, what with the transition from tubes to transistors to integrated circuits, plus the addition of new amateur bands -- it is amazing this rig still holds its own. I certainly didn't expect to be using it 30 years later.

Sunday Afternoon Dxing

It's mother's day. My wife is taking a well-deserved nap, I've watched all my shows on the DVR, so what to do? I decide I should mosey outside to the shack and see if there's any DX to work. I'm hoping maybe there might be a 6m opening, since it is the Es season.

A quick check of 6m shows nothing happening, so I turn to dxwatch.com and check out some of the bands. I see a spot for V73NS on the west coast on 12m CW. Hmm. Maybe I should listen. At first I hear nothing.  Then, barely above the noise, I definitely hear "73." Intrigued I listen further.

It's just before 5 PM local time. V73NS is definitely in there, and he's calling CQ with no answers. QSB has him coming and going. I drop my call in, he immediately comes back to AA4, but he doesn't have my suffix. A couple more calls, and it's clear he can't hear me as he fades back into the noise.

Noting the QSB, I keep trying. Eventually, as he come back up, he's giving someone a report -- 229. Pretty bad. Oh, wait, here he is again -- he's calling ME with that 229 report. I give him a 559 twice, at the top of the QSB. I get a confirmation. Bingo - in the log it goes.

Wow, just about ESP-level, but a definite contact running over that QSB.

And, today, I get a confirmation in LoTW. Marshall Islands now confirmed on 12m, and CW, and the DXCC Challenge.

It doesn't get any better than that.

K1N - Fabulous DXpedition

My Results from K1N

Well, it's over now. The much-anticipated K1N DXpedition to Navassa Island is now over. Lucky for me, I made it into the log multiple times, which makes me quite pleased.

Granted, it was a pretty easy shot from here in northwest Georgia to Navassa Is compared to other parts of the world. They were quite strong on just about every band, with the exception of 10 and 12m. I never heard a peep from them on 6m.

The pileups in the low bands were completely crazy in the evenings. All of my contacts 30m and below were made in either the 0900z or 1000z hour -- 4 or 5 AM local. That's one of the secrets of working DX -- be on the band when others are not! The one exception was 60m, and, honestly, the channel was so crazy I'm not entirely sure how I made it into the log.

All of these contacts were made with 100 watts and wire antennas, either the Inverted-L or the 80/40m dipole. Working DX does not require huge amplifiers and large antennas.

The team on Navassa Island did a fantastic job handing out contacts despite unruly pileups, deliberate QRM and the usual craziness. I witnessed on CW pileups that extended over 30 kHz with people continuously calling. Finding the listening frequency in the second receiver was an incredibly difficult task, and quite often I was just guessing -- but a few times I got lucky.

As I told my friend Mike, W1YM, now that I have Navassa Is on nine bands, I'm planning to volunteer to operate the next time team heads to the island. Perhaps in 10 years....

K1N - in the Log!

From the Department of "OK, that was a little bit weird":

Just after the SuperBowl, I easily found spots for K1N on 40m - they had just started operating. He was quite loud on the Inverted-L. At that point, the challenge wasn't in finding the DX, but finding exactly where he was listening.

As a belated Christmas present for myself, I bought the KRX3 -- the second receiver option for the K3. After ten months of chasing all the W1AW-portable stations, I became pretty proficient at pressing the REV button and tuning around to find the split listening frequency. Months I spent thinking that this would all be so much easier if I could just hear both sides at the same time.

Adapting to the second receiver wasn't so easy. While I've had a little practice with two radio operation, it isn't easy concentrating on one signal in one ear, and perhaps a bunch of signals in the other. I've had a little time to practice with it, and while it is really handy, I find that sometimes its easier to just listen to one receiver at a time.

In any case, the bedlam I found surrounding K1N was a LIDfest in the extreme. K1N was clearly asking for European stations only, and yet there were thousands of K, W and AA-AL stations calling madly. More than 15 kHz of the 40m band was covered in signals repeatedly sending their calls. It was going to be very difficult to discover the DX stations listening frequency. Add to this mess the number of operators who could not figure out how to properly configure their rigs for split operation. Plus the frequency cops repeatedly sending "UP UP", clearly interfering with the K1N transmissions.

Please, guys. I have written about how to work DX before. You have to LISTEN. Stop transmitting, and listen.

After about 40 minutes of that mess, I turned the rig off. I'd work them later. I hoped. Well, I'd have nearly two weeks of chances.

The next morning, I woke a little early at about 4:30 AM. I felt rested, so I figured I'd go out to the shack and check on K1N.

I half expected to hear K1N on at least 40 and 80m. I had heard them briefly the evening before on 80m, only to hear the operator send VERY TIRED QRX 5 HOURS. Great. (Well, I'm sure those guys were exhausted from the trip and all the setup)

Nothing to be found on 80m, but K1N was hoppin' on 40m. And seems like most of the lids had gone to bed. About five minutes later, I figure out roughly where he's listening (only about 9 kHz of people calling this morning), and it's time to join the fray.

Wait. He's gone. For about five minutes, there's no transmissions from K1N. Then a series of Vs, and he's back - works a couple of Qs, then disappears. Hmm. I keep calling for a while. I figure the generator may have quit, or someone tripped over a cable or something. Might as well call as I'm listening.

That's when something weird happened. You see, I'm using that KRX3 module, listening to the K1N transmit frequency in my left ear, and my own transmit frequency in my right ear. Then, very clearly, I hear "AA4LR 5NN" -- in my right ear. My transmitting frequency. OK, that's not right. I figure it's just some lid out there that's heard me calling over and over, and is just messing with me. Or maybe I'm just sleepier than I thought. I glance up and confirm, visually, that I am indeed operating split. Yes, thank God I'm not a lid -- today.

But, he comes again "AA4LR 5NN" -- insistently. Speed, cadence and strength are about right -- but it is definitely in my right ear. Well, why the heck not: "R 5NN TU" and the reply comes "TU UP" -- again in my right ear. But nothing else.

Right about that moment, the operator must have realized something was amiss. Next transmission is in my left ear - "K1N UP". For a moment, I'm flabbergasted. Did I work him, or not? Well, if I did, I know exactly where he's listening - so I send my call exactly once. "AA4LR 5NN", "R 5NN TU", "TU UP".

There. In the space of 20 seconds -- less time than it takes to read about it, I'd worked K1N twice -- once simplex, once split. Once in one ear, once in both.

About an hour later, I find there's spots on 80m. He's very strong, but even stronger on the trap dipole. The pileup is fresh, and hasn't had time to get as unruly as 40m. In three minutes, I found where he's listening and he comes right back to me.

UPDATE: Looks like he logged me twice as well, as I have two 40m CW contacts in ClubLog. Fine operator!

K1N - Pumped for Navassa

Back when I first got interested in Amateur radio, I remember an article published in 73 Magazine about a DXpedition to Navassa Island.

This was something of an unusual article for 73 Magazine -- which, at the time, generally focused more on radio technology and construction articles. However, since the publisher Wayne Green W2NSD/1 had been part of the DXpedition, it was no surprise the story was covered.

I don't remember why, but the tale of hauling equipment and personnel up a steel rope and angle iron ladder from an inflatable boat amidst all the waves, surging and swells captured my imagination. You can read an account here.

It would be over a decade later that I would join the Atlanta Radio Club myself, but for some reason I never asked anyone about this trip. It wasn't until nearly two decades later, when I happened to strike up a conversation with Jim Streible K4DLI that I heard the story firsthand. (Ironically, Jim was the father of one of my colleagues at Georgia Tech as well - something I didn't piece together until that conversation)

At lot has happened since those days. When the Desecheo Island DXpedition was active in 2009, I intentionally worked them on as many bands as I could -- since it was clear that it might be decades before it was active again. I logged them successfully on 160-15m, using CW, SSB and RTTY. Given my relative proximity to the DX, it wasn't that hard to work.

Needless to say, I am pumped about the Navassa Island DXpedition. The pileups will be huge, of course, but I expect to work them on as many bands. It will be great fun trying.

ARRL 160m 2014

Two radio setup for the ARRL 160m contest.
K3 on right, K2 on left.

For the 2013 running of the ARRL 160m, I put in more operating hours than ever before, but I fell short of my personal best set in 2010. For 2014, I wanted to make sure that I set a new record.

Two radios would allow me to call CQ while I am scanning the band for other stations. I had used two radios in 2013, but it proved to be ineffective.

The inverted-L is my only 160m antenna. That would go to the K3. What I needed was some type of receiving antenna for the K2. The 80/40m dipole wouldn't cut it, as I found in 2013.

I had intended to set up some K9AY loops, and I've been working on a push-button controller for it. That project ran into a snag at the last minute, so some creativity was in order. I ended up stringing a 150 foot "Beverage" antenna into the woods. At such a short length and unterminated, it's not a true Beverage, but it did allow me to receive with the K2.

The two-radio setup was configured in haste about an hour before the contest. While the K3 continued to overload the K2 even with the receiving antenna, I used the K2 to populate the band-map while CQing. This did not produce a significant change in the number of Qs, but it did allow me to listen to other parts of the band during the slowest periods.

Started the contest at 2201z and continued all night to 1230z, right at sunrise. The all-night shift was tough, but netted 544 Qs and 68 multipliers. Conditions seemed good but not great. Worked 47 states - all but AK, HI and MT. Early part of the contest was nearly all CQing, with short sessions of S & P to look for mults, as well as when rates got slow after 0600z.

Second night started at 2210z until 0456z. It might have been better to stay on until 0600z, but I was exhausted. Got back on at 1040z, and switched off at 1240z. That's over 23 hours of contest time. There are only 28 hours of darkness in this part of the world at this time of year, and I was on the air for 22 of them.

Passed 700 Qs around 0430z the second night -- which put me into personal record territory. What I needed was mults. In my previous best, I had 78 mults. However, there was no DX to be found. I heard no Europeans, and very little from the Caribbean. Worked XE, PJ2 and ZF. Heard a V3, but he did not hear my calls.

Very hard the second night to decide between calling CQ and S & P. I ended up mostly S & P, because the rate was slightly better.

Found missing mults the second night, with MT, LAX, SCV, SV, MAR and WTX. With three countries that makes 74. Total 745 QSOs for a total score of 111,148.

I really feel like I am pushing the limits of what can be done with 100 watts and 1500 feet of wire suspended from trees. Score might be a little higher if I had stayed up the second night.

This contest is always a blast. See you next year.

How NOT to Run a W1AW/-Portable Operation

OK, I've been chasing some of the W1AW-portable operations. The light dawned on my back in February, when I realized that these operations could help me achieve WAS on the WARC bands of 30, 17 and 12m.

Managed to work quite a few, some with great ease. Some of it has to do with favorable propagation during the week they were on, but most has to do with the quality of the operators and their scheduling.

Others, I struggled to work at all, and in some cases barely made contacts on some bands. If this is the kind of operation you prefer, here's my list of tips on how to best optimize that outcome:

• Don't operate on the WARC bands. If you're not familiar with them, they are 30, 17 and 12m. These aren't terribly popular, since they have only been ham bands for a couple of decades now. I'm sure some folks don't even have equipment for these bands. Best to stick with the harmonically related bands of 40, 20, 15 and 10m, although I'm not to sure about 15m....

• Don't operate on 160 or 80m, even when it is dark. Rates will certainly be better on 40 or 20m, right. Few hams have the real estate for the enormous antennas required to operate these bands. Best to stay on the higher bands even after the sun goes down -- until the bands close, at least. 

• Don't operate exotic modes, like RTTY. Not many hams will have that fancy RTTY equipment. So, you're sure to work many more stations using good old-fashioned CW or SSB. If you must work a digital mode, make sure it is one of the new-fangled ones, like PSK 63 or JT 65.

• Don't operate split. Takes up too much bandwidth. We hams can't figure out how to set up our rigs for split anyway. Who cares if the rate really stinks, since everyone is calling on top of you. That will make getting the QSO all that much more challenging, right? 

• Don't operate between midnight and 7 AM. We hams certainly need our beauty sleep. They'll be no one to work anyway, right? Everyone should be asleep. And there's no need to start operating early in the morning, especially before sunrise. No one is awake then anyway, right?

• Don't operate more than one band at a time. Hams will get too confuse if you appear on more than one band at a time. Besides, there's probably only one band that's really open, so there's little need to move around.

OK, OK, I kid. I know, these operations are run by volunteers, and not everyone is an expert operator.  It just amazes me at how poorly scheduled a few of these operations were. It was especially frustrating wanting to work these operation on the low bands, and staying up late, or getting up early, only to find they were QRT.

I've slowly been increasing my LoTW totals for WAS from Floyd County. 

W1AW Centennial Operation - The Way To 9B WAS

OK, it took me a month to catch on. I read about the ARRL Centennial celebration. If you haven't heard about it, take a moment to check out the link. What you want to see is the Centennial QSO Party.

I'll wait.

Now, I didn't get very excited about the Centennial Points Challenge. I'm sure I'll work a few points this year just as a natural side effect of operating in contests and other events throughout the year. When I read about the W1AW portable operations from all fifty states (plus US territories), I didn't get all excited either. After all, I already have 6-band WAS. It took the LoTW and many years of work to complete that, doing mostly contest operation, so I didn't make the connection at first.

The W1AW portable operations make it easy to achieve 9-band WAS.

I think it hit me one night when I was looking at spots for FT5ZM. (Great DXpedition, if you didn't manage to work them, well, it wasn't their fault...) I saw spots for W1AW-portable. Some of them were on 30, 17 and 12m.

Now, I said I have 6-band WAS. That's because there are no contests on 30, 17 and 12m. I do operate there, but it's been mostly DXing. I do a little casual style operating with USA stations, but many of these rag chewers don't tend to QSL via LoTW.

I then made the connection -- these highly visible W1AW-portable operations are the perfect way to fill in all the holes in your LoTW WAS confirmations. All of the W1AW-portable contacts will be confirmed on LoTW. They will operate from each state twice throughout the year for an entire week, being on the air virtually all the time. Perfect.

Since then, I've been sneaking into the shack working W1AW-portable on all the bands that I need. I have two award accounts, one for Floyd County and one for the QTH in Gwinnett, so I have a chance to fill in the holes for each.

Don't have WAS? Or need WAS on a hard band like 80m, 15m or the WARC bands? This is your chance. Good luck.

CW Op -- When Did That Happen?

I came to a realization late this fall. I'm a CW contest operator now. I'm not sure how that happened.

As I recounted in my Novice story, I started off with CW, since that was all Novices were allowed to operate. Even after I upgraded to General, I still operated mostly CW.

When I started radio contesting in 1986, I did both CW and Phone contests at first. Phone contesting brought more success. By 1990, I had pretty much given up on CW contests.

In 1996, something happened. Bill Fisher (then KM9P, later W4AN and now, unfortunately a silent key) was asking people to join teams for the North American QSO Party (NAQP) for the newly formed South East Contest Club (SECC). While i hadn't operated a CW contest in years, I wanted to participate in SECC activities. So, I volunteered to join in.

I've misplaced my write-up for that contest effort, but I won't forget it. I moved into the house in Gwinnett county late in 1994. In January 1996, I was still finishing rooms in the basement, and did not have any ham equipment set up.

My 1996 NAQP CW effort was a hastily improvised affair. I hung a 125 foot doublet fed with open wire, between the railing of the deck and a tree in the back yard. It was probably all of 15 feet in the air at its highest. I set up my venerable Kenwood TS-430S on a lunchroom table, with a  Murch UT-2000A antenna tuner. The setup was in an unfinished basement with no heat, so I put on warm clothes and wrapped myself in a blanket.

Ten hours of operating later, I had all of 120 QSOs in the log, and I was cold despite the blanket. Many of the operators were going far, far too fast for me, and it was real work to get them into the log. Despite this, I was pretty pleased with my score. Still, there was plenty of room for improvement.

Real contest CW operators don't operate as I did then, scribbling everything down on paper. They copy in their head. The first revolution was to throw the pencil away. At first, I copied code by typing notes into the computer. I would use two computers, one for logging, and one with a TextEdit application running. A year and a half later, I had progressed to the point where I could copy standard contest exchanges in my head. Well, at least long enough to type them into the computer and log them. That contest, the NAQP CW Summer of 1997, was the first contest I would consider "fun" instead of "work."

It would take about five more years before I could copy most of the high-speed contest code, sent around 30 words per minute (wpm).

The second revolution came in sending. Until 2002, I send everything by hand using a keyer. Then I hooked up a simple little circuit that would allow my logging computer to send the code. What a God-send! While I might be able to copy code at 30 wpm in my head, I could only send about 20-25 wpm, and sometimes not that well. The computer, on the other hand, would send flawless code, and could do so at 28-30 wpm.

At this point, I could receive and send contest CW at nearly 30 wpm. That's basic. But, there's still more. Just receiving and sending isn't enough -- you have to know what to send in response to what you receive. You have to know how to pick up calls the first time when you tune up on them would S & P. You have to know how to sort out the pile when three or four people try to answer your CQ.

Slowly, I accumulated some operating skills. In 2005, I was recruited to be a CW operator for a large 9-transmitter Field Day operation. I ended operating 15m, 80m and 10m CW. What fun! I had such a blast that I did it again the next year.

The hardest skill to acquire is knowing how to run -- how to answer when multiple people are calling in response to your CQ. You can't know what to do without lots of practice. And, with low power and mediocre antennas, it's hard to get a lot of practice. All the time I've spend operating with the NQ4I multi-multi team has slowly paid off.

I've finally reached the point where I feel pretty confident on CW, even calling CQ. During the NAQP CW recently, I watched as the last 10 rate meter peaked at 264 / hour. That doesn't happen often, but it makes me smile when it does.

Straight Key Night 2014

Homebrew Transmitter and Receiver, ready for another
go at Straight Key Night in 2014

Last year, Straight Key Night (SKN) was kind of a bust for me. As I wrote then, I ran into trouble trying to key my 35+ year old electronic keyer to key the 40m "Novice" rig. This year, I got to operate SKN with no problems.

Despite having an entire year to figure it out, I left fixing the keyer to the last minute. Back in the summer, I had modified the keyer to use a 2N3906 to key the gate of a BS170. However, when I hooked it up to the rig, it wouldn't key -- oscillator problems again. It went back to the project shelf to be figured out later.

At some point, I took the keyer back to Gwinnett county to try to troubleshoot it there. But as fate would have it, I didn't have time to figure it out. Right before Christmas, I brought it back to Floyd county.

A bit of work with the mini-scope proved that the oscillator wasn't firing at all. It took a while until I found the source of the problem: one of the wires to the speed potentiometer had broken off, so the RC circuit was broken. Without it, there's no phase delay, and therefore, no oscillation.

Built in 1979, Mini-MOS keyer provides yeoman service again.

Great! This means I just hook it up to the rig and go right? Wrong. It appeared to work for a few seconds, but then it would continuously key. It was erratic. Troubleshooting it a bit more, and it seemed to work -- the keying signal would get to the gate of the BS170, but not beyond. At one point I thought maybe I had a bad MOSFET, so I pulled the BS170 out. (In the process, I ended up destroying the part - oops)

Pulled a 2N7000 out of the junk box. The 2N7000 and BS170 are pretty much the same part, although the pin-outs are different. Hook it up and it seems to be working great. I can see the keying on the gate on the 'scope, and the transmitter is happy. Unplug the scope probe, put the lid on, and ... it's locking up again.

Hmm. Take the lid off, put the probe on, and it works again. On a hunch, I pulled a 100k resistor out of the junk box and put it across the gate to ground. Working -- even with the probe removed. Ah ha! That's the problem. The gate of the 2N7000 (or BS170) wasn't being pulled back down to ground, so the floating leakage from the 2N3906 was just barely enough to keep it turned on. Adding the scope probe brought in just enough resistance (a few megaohms), to overcome that leakage.

All ready to go. After dining out with a church group on New Year's Eve, I managed to work seven stations all before the ball fell. Of course, I told them that I was cheating, using a 35+ year old keyer instead of a straight key. No one seemed to mind. I did find that my 7061.1 kHz crystal stopped working. Worked one more person on New Year's Day for a total of eight.

A great way to bring in the new year. I guess I'll submit mine as a check log....

Audio Games

Recently, I was trying to explain amateur radio contesting to a non-ham friend. "You know what video games are, right?" She gave me a cold look, as if to say, of course I know what video games are. "Video games," I continued, "are games you play with your eyes and fingers. Contesting is a game you play with your ears and fingers."

In a nutshell, that's pretty much it. Described that way, however, doesn't tell you a whole lot. Video games described this way doesn't tell you much, either. The reality is that every game worth playing has strategy.

To understand radio contesting, you have to understand the nature of radio. Most contests take place in what we call the "short-wave" or HF (High Frequency) bands. There are six bands in this spectrum, all identified by their (approximate) wavelength.

160, 80 and 40 meters are basically night-time bands. Ever notice that you can't hear far-away AM broadcast stations during the day, but you can at night? That's exactly how 160m is -- open during the darkness hours only. 80m and 40m are the same way, but are open a bit longer before dusk and after dawn.

10 and 15 meters open during the daylight hours, and possibly shortly after dusk -- just the opposite of 160, 80 and 40 meters. During sunspot minima, 10 meters may not open at all, and even 15 meters can be lackadaisical. 20 meters rounds out the bunch. It's mostly a daylight band, but during sunspot maxima can be open round the clock.

The basic idea of a contest is to make as many contacts (what hams call a QSO or "Q") in a defined period of time. Each contact involves the exchange of call signs ( unique identifiers assigned to each station by their governing agency ) and one or more other pieces of information. Typically, it's pretty simple - like a signal report and a state, province, country or zone identifier, maybe a name.

A game isn't fun if you don't keep score. Most contests use a two-factor scoring method. First, you get a certain number of points per contact, depending on the contest. You can't contact the same station more than once, or at least once per band. Those duplicate contacts don't count for any points.

Next, each contest defines a set of geographic areas that count as "multipliers." These could be states, provinces, ARRL sections, ARRL DXCC entities, or zones. In some contests, the multipliers count for each band.

The final score, then, is the number of contact points times the number of multipliers. As you can see, it's important to have a large number of both contacts and multipliers (or "mults") in order to make a high score.

There are two ways to make contacts in a contest. You can call CQ -- for the old morse-code pro-sign for soliciting for contacts -- and get people to call you. This is called "running." The alternative is to tune the band and look for others calling CQ. This is called Search and Pounce, or "S & P." Generally, you can make a lot more contact points running than you can doing S & P, provided you can attract people to call you. The disadvantage of running is that you may miss some rarer mults who are also running. The best contesters use a mixture of both techniques - periods of running punctuated with S & P.

Add to this mix the need to get multipliers on multiple bands, the varying propagation during the day, night, by season of year and the 11-year sunspot cycle, plus the unpredictable nature of the sun, and you have the recipe for a big challenge.

Plus, a contest can really help build your confirmation totals in pursuit of any number of awards -- like ARRL Worked All States, ARRL DX Century Club, CQ Worked All Zones, CQ WPX as well as others.

There's something satisfying to calling CQ and running a rate of 100 contacts per hour for even a few minutes, or to tune across a band at an oddball time and be the only one to catch a rare multiplier. You can run the same contest a dozen times and never experience the same situation. It never grows old.