Starting Off The Year
In the first ten days or so since my last post, I spent some time hanging out on 15 meters and 40 meters. I made a few American contacts, along with contacts in nine other countries. These included my first two contacts with Japan - at almost 6,500 miles away, they were my furthest contacts to that point. I even made a contact with Belgium on 10 meters - that was a pleasant surprise!
40 Meters and RF
I tried making a contact on 40 meters on the 9th. I answered a call from K0DK - his reply was (and I quote) "You've got a hell of a lot of RF on your audio!" I thanked him and told him I'd look into it. I know that I still need grounding - for electrical safety, for lightning projection, and for keeping RF from coming back into the radio.
Ten Days Away
Between the 10th and the 16th, I was away for work, so the radio sat idle just waiting for me. Once I got back, I was pretty worn out and had plenty to do around the house. I didn't make any contacts until the 19th, when I had a short conversation with Ted, XE1YQQ, in Mexico. This was on 15 meters, and he remarked that my audio was very clean and strong.
Knowing that I seem to have RF issues on 40 meters, I decided to stay away from it until I get some grounding. I had already laid out some plans for a couple ground rods and some #6 wire to bond them to the service entrance ground. I told my wife about these plans, as well as their cost (about $100). She said, "Of course, it sounds like you need that. But on one condition - you finish the paint and the tile in the bathroom first."
You see, the bathroom improvements got put on hold back in November when I got this big heavy box in the mail with a Kenwood radio in it... :) So, I did do a little more work in the bathroom, stripping off the last remnants of wallpaper border above the light bar over the vanity. Now the rest of the room can be painted, and the rest of the self-adhesive vinyl tile can be laid (after I strip the old adhesive off of the floor). And then - grounding!
Winter Field Day
I mainly continued to stay away from the radio for a few more days. But then, on the 24th, I made a couple contacts with people working Winter Field Day - N5HR on 15 meters and N3FJP on 20 meters. I heard a number of people who reported that they were working outdoors - which makes sense, considering that it was Field Day and all.
The Past Week on 15 Meters
You know what? It's a shame that I have to work a full-time job - because 15 meters is a lot of fun between about 10:30 AM and 3:00 PM. Starting on Monday, I started taking a couple breaks here and there to listen to what was happening on 15 meters. I was just spinning the knob, not even looking at the DX cluster on dxsummit.fi for the first couple days. I kept running across country after country and answering CQ calls, often on the first attempt.
During the past 5 days near lunchtime, I made 26 contacts in 23 countries. (One contact was with KL7YK in Alaska, who reported his country as "Alaska".) I do admit that I started looking at the DX cluster a couple days ago in an attempt to catch as many countries as possible.
I tried working South Africa and Namibia, but I couldn't punch through the pileups. I heard Japan starting in the late afternoon when I was too busy to try to work them. But that's OK. I've now talked to the USA and 34 other countries, and I've talked as far away as 6,500 miles - all with a 40-year old radio (with possibly all original parts except for one transistor replaced in the late '70s) and 65 feet of wire strung between a couple trees.
Looking Ahead
I've been thinking about antennas; here are a couple things I'm considering in addition to the HexBeam that I mentioned last time:
- Replacing the coax feedline on my dipole with either ladder line or 300 ohm twinlead. My tuner has balanced inputs and an internal 300 watt balun, so this would be fairly easy to do.
- Stringing a random wire through the trees around the yard so that I can start working 80 meters.
- Building a Swiss Quad for 10 meters. VK4JU has six homemade Swiss Quads on two masts. I figure I could start with the smallest one fairly cheaply, and at least give it a shot. They are reported to have excellent gain and an excellent front-to-back ratio.
I've been thinking about other things as well...
- Use of Arduino and/or Raspberry Pi hardware for things like Morse Code keying, frequency display, DDS VFO replacement, etc. Although since my radio doesn't have the DK-520 adapter for the external DG-5 display, it might be rather difficult to get an external frequency display together.
- Continuing learning Morse Code - although I think I want to start with a straight key rather than a paddle keyer.
- Different logging software. Currently, I am using QRZ.com for my master logbook and occasionally transferring updates to LoTW and eQSL. I also just started uploading logs to ClubLog as well. I trled LOG4OM on my old Acer laptop - it seemed to work OK, although it took a little setup and a little getting used to. And then the wires to the charging jack broke yet again. It's time for a more permanent fix there.
- Grounding, shack arrangement, power distribution, mast/tower, test equipment... :)
I'll try not to be such a stranger. But I think I'm settling in to a more appropriate focus (as in "less obsession") regarding the radio. A little less time working it than back in December, and probably a little less frequent updates here on the blog. But hopefully not a month apart!
73 - Mike
