Category Archives: Operating
Today is going to be my first RTTY contest. I’ve never done RTTY before last night. Fortunately, one of our Milford Amateur Radio Club members, Bill WS6K helped me (and others) out by creating macros and doing some how-tos. We talked through the setup on the club 2m repeater, and he even kept with me after my HT died, and my second HT had a dead battery, so I hooked my second HT to my little Astron power supply which caused a lot of hum on my signal.
So we got things working and tested. Hope to put a lot of people in the log today.
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On February 9, 2012 I gave a presentation about Weak Signal Digital Modes like JT-65, WSPR, and QRSS. The presentation can be seen on Slideshare.
Links and Resources
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Yeah, this is a week late, but I saw a tweet (above) that jokes about how many resolutions are broken, so I figure I should start late and think about this a bit and ultimately post it a week after New Year’s Day so I can think about this.
This year I want to do the following (in no particular order):
- Use some of the digital modes like PSK
- Activate at least 4 parks in POTA
- Work at least 4 SOTA activations
- Get at least 15% of the way to a DXCC
- Get my WAS
- Work at least 10 special event stations (this may be something like 13 Colonies or Route 66, which sounded like a lot of fun as I heard guys spot them on our local repeater)
- Help with at least 3 volunteer events through CARES (Clermont
- Be more active on the Ham Twit Net and find another net to be active on (not including WARN, although I will be active on WARN)
- Learn CW
- Build a portable multi-band antenna
- Post at least one video per month on using Linux apps in the ham shack
I’m going to look for a goal tracking website/app/something that I can update periodically (monthly, perhaps) and hang on my site. I’ll update this post when I do that.
Think I should include something else? Words of wisdom? Think 15% to DXCC (which for me is 12 more DX stations) is too wussy? Leave me a comment!
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I’ve had a few “duuuh!” moments recently:
- I tried to test SWR with the mic on SSB without whistling or saying “heelllllllooooo” (I realized I shoulda known better and got a 3.5mm plug to use as a redneck key)
- I saw something on the Internet about using a butane torch to solder PL-259 plugs. One of those plugs just popped off the wire it was supposed to be soldered to. Another had the center insulator shorted to ground. Each time I’ve done this, I’ve burned insulation and other stuff.
- I got my work computer banned from http://www.hamqsl.com/solar.html trying to make a Rainmeter skin for it. Fortunately, I did this on Friday and the ban was lifted by Monday.
I’ve had a few smarter moments, too:
- Since I bought a pair of the HTX-100s, I joined the Yahoo Group and just started watching messages. A recent message by another group member indicated that the display would be back if you let a certain capacitor charge. The supposedly-broken rig is now working again.
- I joined the Milford Amateur Radio Club.
- I started playing with MPM Morse Factory on my Android phone to practice sending in CW. Unfortunately, it appears that it has disappeared off the Play Store.
- I wanted to see Ham Nation on a big screen, so I used my Blu-Ray player to pull it up on YouTube.
- I dropped by a truck stop on my way home from a meeting in Frankfort, KY to grab lunch. While I was there, I browsed through the CB aisle and picked up some RG-8. Probably not the greatest stuff, but it’ll work in the pinch I’m in.
