Twelve Days of QRZ – 2024
I have been more focused on finishing the Twelve Days of QRZ with as many modes and bands as I can. I hit my goals and added a few more.
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radio
Iceland Parks on the Air Notes
I did 11 Parks on the Air (POTA) activations in Iceland, two in Faroe Islands. Here’s a breakdown.
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Logging Amateur Radio Contacts Accurately Is Complicated
In the seven years since my first radio contacts, I now have a process for logging amateur radio contacts. However, it wasn’t until I started working remotely more that I appreciated how logging amateur radio contacts accurately is complicated. This inaccurate logging was the cause of much frustration during the final throes of my completing
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QCX+ 5W CW transceiver kit
During one of my CW classes, a couple of my students were waxing on about the fun they had in assembling a QRP Labs QCX+ radio kit. They invited me to participate in the fun. Although I’ve done small kits in the past, this was much more ambitious. I was leery what paltry soldering skills
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Iceland Trip
For ham folks who stumble here, the tl;dr is I’ll try to activate four parks on the air as TF/WT8P. I will be QRP, which means CW or FT8 are preferred modes. Logging should happen pretty quickly because Iceland is well-connected. I’ve been overthinking my trip to Iceland, but this is what I’ve settled on:
Notes on Field Day 2023
I wrapped up another field day with my friend Paul (W7PEZ) in Eastern Washington. For the two days, I had 204 contacts, broken out roughly as: Paul worked 200 contacts, nearly all CW. Both are personal records. Neither of us were “running,” which would certainly have bumped up the totals, nor did we operate all
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Triple Play
In geocaching, there are a lot of “challenges” published, where in addition to signing the log, you have an alternative logging requirement (“ALR”) to perform some feat. These can be as simple as “find 10 mystery caches” or “find a cache for every letter in the alphabet,” or more complicated. In my 15 years, I’ve
Quieter fans on the Elecraft K4D
My first HF radio, the Elecraft KX3, was air-cooled and got me spoiled to the relatively quiet operation. The K4D, on the other hand, has two fans. Although the “base” ventilation speed has been lowered, there’s also some whining from the bearings. Most hams can’t hear it, I, unfortunately, can and don’t enjoy the sound.
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