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DX in the nick of time
I typically try to get on the radio by about 5:30 in the afternoon right after work, make a few contacts, and be out the door on my daily 4-mile walk by 7 p.m., at least in the summer months, when...
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A “clean sweep” of the 13 Colonies
I guess a few years makes a difference. Back in 2012, as a complete ham radio newbie, I worked about 2-3 of these 13 Colonies stations. I think I worked a few more over the years, but never achieved...
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My First SOTA Activation: Sassafras Mountain (W4C/US-001)
The overlook at Sassafrass Mountain affords a beautiful view to the west. Cross one more item off my ham radio bucket list: Activating a peak for Summits on the Air. When I was first seeking my...
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Good stuff on the net right now
We had our regular club meeting last night and I asked for a few moments to present a quick “field report” on my first SOTA activation. It seemed to be well-received — at least I hope it was. I...
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Hmmm. No thanks, ARRL…
This landed in my inbox today: Have You Heard? You Qualify for the ARRL Centennial Points Challenge Award! No! You don’t say?!? Great! Congratulations, you have accumulated points, worked new...
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A couple very random, yet ham-related things
I’ve been slacking on my ham radio duties because I’ve made a commitment to learn Python (or at least learn enough to do something useful with it, more on that later), but radio has still been at the...
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On Winter Field Day; more Python fun
I received a comment on my grumpy Winter Field Day post from earlier this year. It seems some other hams were a little frustrated with their WFD experience and have branched out to create a “Winter...
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Three quick things…
This will be quick: 1. The South Carolina QSO Party is this weekend. I intend to operate throughout the day exclusively on RTTY. Unless, of course, no one responds to 100 CQs, in which case I will...
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E-mail scam targeting ARRL addresses?
An e-mail landed in my inbox this morning that was from the “Arrl Webmail Admin” that mentioned so-called changes in the ARRL mail system. Like a lot of ARRL members, I have my arrl.net e-mail...
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Winter Field Day is back
I received word from Tom, WD8MBE, last night that Winter Field Day is back on and under “new management,” so to speak. I was grousing here earlier this year about how I wished WFD had more...
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Extended duties = less time on radio
The first full week of the new year is already off to an interesting start. Monday, I conducted the first 2016 meeting of the Columbia Amateur Radio Club as the newly-elected president, and to be...
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First NPOTA station in the log
The National Parks on the Air initiative has been a non-starter for me for the past few weeks. Several of our club members have been activating two of the local NPOTA units and having a blast. I do...
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What a difference a year makes, Winter Field Day is better than ever
290 QSOs, 40 states, plus Canada and Puerto Rico contacted, several DX entities. Winter Field Day’s 2016 effort was the best ever for our club, and most of us only operated for about five hours. After...
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Look what I found…
I was at the Charleston Hamfest Saturday and found an old friend: My first ham radio, the FT-847, with my old desk mic and auto-tuner, was for sale at one of the tables there. I sold this setup back...
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This guy makes it look easy
Working FO-29 with a single FT-817, 2.5 watts. Very impressive.
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First NPOTA activation; creeping towards DXCC
Very possibly the dorkiest photo of me ever taken, but it does prove I was there… Last Thursday I checked off my first activation for National Parks on the Air, operating from AA-10, the Revolutionary...
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DMR is getting big around here
I remember seeing some of the first DMR handhelds appear around here about 2 years ago, and I wasn’t really impressed. The audio quality sounded great, but to me it was another infrastructure-heavy...
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My mobile antenna is cursed
Well, the mobile antenna is currently not attached to my car. It’s not really my fault. It never is. When I first installed the thing we had a hail storm that same evening and I had to take it back...
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Hands-on with the new Elecraft KX2
This lucky guy scored a KX2 in Dayton. I had a chance to play around with the Elecraft KX2 on Saturday. While I wasn’t able to do a thorough test, I was certainly able to form some impressions of this...
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Coax dead, HF down…
I was looking forward to chasing down the 13 Colonies again this year. I managed a sweep in 2015 and never sent off the QSL card, so I hoped to remedy that this year. It was late by the time I made it...
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