It’s Here

May new FT-2000D arrived today. I was surprised but very glad it did.

After very carefully opening the boxes I began to place it in it’s new home.

First thing was I actually opened the manual and began to follow it step by step. There is no way I wanted to do something to damage it, not after waiting this long to finally get a world class piece of ham gear. So it was install the scope module. Setup the DMU.

Hook up the antennas, and finally power and then came that magic moment and I pushed the power switch. All I can say it is a thing of beauty with all the lights on.

I quickly tuned up and down the band and was surprised I didn’t really hear anything, I thought surely the bands aren’t that dead…Humm back to the manual.

Yes antenna connected, switch in the right place, oh what’s this all the time I’m on VFO B and not A.  Push the right button and suddenly a whole new world opened up. I even heard DX on 15 meters. Rarely did I hear anything on 15 with my FT-450.  Not saying the 450 is a bad radio I still love it’s simplicity and some of it’s features, but the 2000 is just that much better of a receiver. I am still waiting for my antenna tuner and my CW filter along with my vertical antenna to arrive so testing has been limited but so far so good.  It’s going to take awhile to figure all the bells and whistles on this baby.

My only complaint is the small size of the supplied microphone, after using the chunky mike the 450 has this one seems extremely petite in my big paws.

Will keep everyone posted on how it goes

73 See you on the air

New Radio on the way

Well I have a new radio on the way. I finally did it and purchased the Yaesu FT-2000D with 300 hz CW filter and DSU unit.

Along with that I picked up a Palmar DL1500 tuner and a Hustler 6BTV vertical antenna.

Now I have a pretty good station. I still need an amplifier, and I’d love to get an all mode 2 meter rig, those will come in time.

I will likely have to wait until Friday Nov 13 (ohhh!!) before it arrives, but I have survived this long. It’s kind of like an early Christmas.

I will be reporting more as stuff arrives and I get to try it out. In the meantime I have a new desk already for it when it does. Cheers everyone and have a great weekend and perhaps we’ll meet you on the air.

73

JARTS and other things

Boy, it’s been awhile since I posted.  Lots of personal life stuff getting in the way. Such as a property settlement with the ex-wife. Health issues with both myself and my current spouse.  And work , work always gets in the way of fun.

I did work the JARTS contest this past weekend and had a great time. I managed to triple last years score as well as work a number of new countries.  It’s a lot of fun as the exchange is a simple 599 and your age.  This year my youngest was 8 yrs old, and the oldest 92.

One thing even though I did work lots of stations as far away as Serbia and Granada I never managed to work the last two states I need for WAS RTTY…go figure.

Triple play award work continues with 114 of 150 contacts made. Now that I have settled with the ex, it frees up some cash to do some station upgrades such as the Ft-2000D and a SteppIr 4 el yagi antenna. Maybe even a Hustler 6BTV as well.

I’ll let you know what I decide once I order it.

73 everyone, if you hear me on the air feel free to call me I’m always up for a QSO.

TPA and other stuff

It’s been a busy few weeks since I last wrote so I feel it’s about time for an update.  First I am 49 contacts away from the ARRL TPA (Triple Play Award) but the bad part is I haven’t had a new contact in over a week, not for lack of trying when I did have a chance but just haven’t been able to connect lately. I came close with a station in CT yesterday I could hear him although just barely but he couldn’t hear me.

The other good news is I have played with JT65A the past few days. I finally managed to get it to transmit and now in the process of becoming better at operating it. I did manage to work a few DX contacts One in England, several in Japan and 1 in Venezuela. ( YV4DYJ thanks for the quick confirmation).  It’s a pretty technical mode but amazing in it can decode signals that can’t even be heard, definately worth a look at, but I highly recommend reading  K3UK’s Bozo’s guide to JT65 it’s an easier read and very helpful. Thanks K3UK good job!.

Looking forward to the upcoming JARTS contest on Oct 17-18. It’s a great RTTY contest and the exchange is a simple RST and your age.  It’s great to look over your log after the event and see what age range you worked, YL’s are always 00 of course.

73 all and hope to catch you on the air in one mode or another.

CW Love or Hate it

I believe in previous posts I have mentioned how I struggled to get my licence back in the 70’s as Morse code was always a real problem for me, so when the No Code licence came out I was ecstatic, and quickly got my licence and got on 2 meters.

But i found two meters not all that exciting it was kinda like CB only politer and more disciplined, but to get on HF you still needed code.

So finally somewhere around 2001 I got grandfathered in and had HF privileges, but it wasn’t until recent years I actually got a radio and got on the air. Now years ago I was like a lot of young people and was very militant about not requiring Morse code. After all it’s antiquated and not very progressive.  Then as they say I slowly became enlightened. First with great software packages like HRD and DM780 I would occasionally drop to the CW portion of the band and I would discover there was some good DX stations being heard there when nothing was on Voice or Digital. So I slowly began learning code again.  Then I got my W.A.S. award which I really enjoyed doing.

The next logical step was the Triple Play Award  I first got all 50 states on digital and started on SSB as well but contacts were fewer and harder and I also knew sooner or later I’d need to do the CW portion so I bought a set of paddles and began practising, until one day backed by some decoding software I made a request on the LoTW sked page to do my first CW contact. I  pre warned them I was pretty rusty but everyone’s response was one of encouragement and I began. The other night I was working a station in GA and I actually had a number of other contacts come to me from Alaska and California and a few other places and my whole way of thinking changed. CW is a lot of fun now and while band conditions are often so poor I can’t hear a peep on voice or digital CW comes through often it’s barely moving the needle on the S meter but it’s readable by ear.  I am now a true convert I really love CW now and I hope to keep at it so I get better and better.  I’m well over half way to my Triple Play now and feeling more confident everyday.

So if you were like me and hated the idea of doing Morse Code,  give it a chance, immerse yourself in it and you might be pleasantly surprised.

- – . . .   . . . – -   (73)

Back on the Air

Well I managed to get all the software reinstalled on a new computer and everything seems to be working once again. I never expected it to be such a long process, first diagnosing the problem, trying to fix it and then finally realizing a new computer was the best solution and then the reinstallation and fine tuning…whew!!!  In the preocess though I did find a great new utility for uploading contacts to LoTW and EQSL with HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe). Its called Ham Radio Deluxe Utilities by WD5EAE. You can download it here (Download). It truely makes uploading a breeze to both LoTW and EQSL. You can import LoTW confirmations, logbook updates from QRZ.com, import eQSL confirmations, download eQSL card images, generate GlobalQSL ADIF upload files, update personal information in the HRD logbook, generate HTML logbooks for your web site and more. One of the cool things is downloading all your EQSL cards which I now have as my screensaver.  This is awesome software to which I can’t give enough credit to WD5EAE. It’s free to all Amateur radio operators.

Go ahead and check it out, you’ll be glad you did.

It’s good to be back on the air I managed a quick CW contact with KH6J during the Hawaii QSO Party, and while it was a struggle a nice PSK31 and SSB contact with Georgia last night, one of the benefits(?) of having been down for the past week was all the surprise QSO confirmations when I was finally back online.

Looking forward to some more contacts tonight.

73 All and GD DX

BSOD

Well I guess it was inevitable but at the beginning of the week I suffered the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death).

I had just uploaded a QSO to LoTW when my computer froze. No big deal I’ll just reboot, well that turned out to be a mistake as once Windows Xp started the CPU was pegged at 100% usage, yet no programs where running. Looking at the processes didn’t reveal anyone in particular. So I spent quite a bit of time trying to narrow it down, it seemed to be my wireless network card. I did a virus scan which took well over 24 hrs to run only to find nothing. I used MSConfig to sut down all services and startup program, and restarting each one untill I found the Zero Wireless service spiking the CPU. I removed the wireless card and rebooted, reinstalled the drivers then replaced the card. While it seemed to work Windoze was now incredibly S…..L……O……W.   Oh well maybe it was time to ugrade the ol girl, which I have now done and hope to have all my Ham software back up and running so I once again can RTTY and PSK31 and the best part Log my QSO’s with all you great hams out there. So hang in there I’ll be back.

No News is Good News???

Sorry I haven’t written anything sooner, but there hasn’t been much in the way to write as of late.

I was away to the north end of Vancouver Island in celebration of our wedding anniversary, so no ham radio with me. Although I noted a higher percentage of ham’s up there.  I built myself a 6 meter vertical a few weeks back and wouldn’t you know it Murphy has reared his ugly head and there hasn’t been an opening to try it out on.

I have a second WAS award coming for 50 states on digital, and I nearly have the digital portion of the Triple Play award completed, I have about a quarter of the needed states for Phone, and only two confirmed states in CW. I was somewhat rusty in that department, but I’m getting back to it slowly and it’s starting to get better, perhaps by the time I get all fifty I’ll actually be half decent at it.

I’m considering building another type of 6 meter antenna as well I’m thinking of building a horizontal dipole similar to K7AGE has built.

So that’s about it for now, conditions the past few days have been abysmal, so hopefully this weekend will be ok, but so far it’s not looking promising. Hope everyone has a great weekend and hope to hear you on the air soon.

73

It has arrived

Yesterday I received my W.A.S. (Worked All States) certificate. Numbered 58,875 it has taken me a long time to earn that award. When I was younger I had a friend whom I have mentioned in a previous post VE7DAE who got me interested in ham radio and one of those awards I have always wanted was W.A.S and DXCC. So way back in 1978 I had started to get my license, but ended up meeting my first wife and well the lessons kinda went down the drain, soon we were having kids, moving to a different province, new careers etc, so it wasn’t until 1991 I finally got a license and then it was only for 50 mhz and above and 6 meter rigs weren’t that easy to come by, so I did little with it.

Next it was on to wife #2 who seemed to have a real dislike for antennas and anything  else I enjoyed for that matter so after three wasted years, I got rid of her.

Shortly thereafter I  upgraded my license to an Advanced amateur with full HF priveledges, and my third wife is fine with my hobby so it’s really been just this past year I’ve begun to work on things, but it all started way back, so maybe number 58,875 doesn’t make me the most elite in the world but to me as they say in those credit card commercials “It’s priceless”

It’s going to be a good weekend

It’s going to be a good weekend because I finally, finally got some new connectors for my 6 meter antenna project.

I live in a fairly small community on the west coast of British Columbia. We don’t have a lot in the way of electronics shops other then The Source (or for you Americans Circuit City) but they no longer carry PL-259 connectors or more accurately the reducers for them.

So I checked my usual spot to get amateur radio equipment and for a $1 dollar part, the shipping is $10.  I have to be a little more financially prudent so that wasn’t going to work.  Besides they are in Toronto and I’d be waiting at least a week before I got them.

I tried a company called North Island Communications, they never answered my email and all I got was a phone message when I called (are you reading this guys). Just so you know,  I maybe making a fairly large tower purchase in the next 6 to 8 months so……

I called around a couple of other places but nobody had what I needed. So Toronto was looking better and better.

Finally in desperation I see my next door neighbour coming home who owns a towing company CanTow towing (shameless plug) so I ask him he’s got radios in his truck does he remember where he got his from and low and behold he goes ya I think I got some in my toolbox.

They were exactly what I needed, so now I can get the antenna in the air and see how it performs…yup it’s going to be a good weekend.

73 from CN79  VA7HZ sk