Miscellaneous Comments And Notes
Posted: Friday, August 28th, 2009 11:35 MDST
I am currently working on the old 1988 to 1991 10 meter mobile log book entries today, adding log entries or making some minor corrections. This may take me a few days or more. It is now 17:35 UTC or August 28th, 2009 11:35 MDST Denver , Colorado time. By the way, a friend of mine in Utah, Jon, KC7HUB runs an internet radio station that is called MIXUTAH and he plays a good variety of of music. Click on this link MIXUAH to check out the station website and to listen to the station live stream. If you do listen, send him a message and let him know what you think of the programming, etc. Contact info is on the station website.
Posted: Saturday, August 29th, 2009 21:20 MDST
My 10 meter mobile log of 1988 to 1991 has been archived under older postings. I still only have copied 30 percent of that log to my blog page, so, I still have a long ways to go!
Posted: Saturday, September 5th, 2009, 11:30 MDST
I installed a ten meter dipole antenna on my apartment balcony yesterday. Had some issues in attempting to tune the dipole to resonance on 28.400 Mhz and after a couple of hours of adding and cutting wire at the ends of the dipole to no avail, I found a slightly loose connector at the dipole feed point at the PL-259 connector. VSWR now at 1:1 to 1! This morning I had a QSO with a couple of local Denver stations and so now, just waiting for the ten meter band to open up!
By the way, I have started my main all band amateur radio log book as of 9-5-09 in the "older Post" section of this blog.
Posted: Saturday, November 7th, 2009. 06:15 MDST
I took apart my old Clear Channel Corporation AR-3500 ten meter transceiver yesterday that I have not used since 1991 or so. There are two versions, a 150 watt version and a 30 watt version. I have the 30 watt version. It has a blown driver transistor as well as a pair of blown final RF amp transistors and bad MV1Y thermal diodes. (2SC2312, ECG236 or NTE236 RF power transistors and also a 2SC2166 driver transistor) Once I find these parts, I will attempt to replace them and see if I can get the Ranger AR-3500 back on the air! It operates on SSB, AM, CW and FM modes on ten and has nice sounding receive audio. See photo of Ranger AR-3500 radio below. I talked all over the world on this radio when I was operating mobile from my car in Southern California back in the late 1980's and early 1990's running 25 to 30 watts to an 8 foot 1/4 wave antenna whip on my car. I guess a lot of CB operators have gotten hold of these AR-3500 radios to illegally convert them to the 27 mhz CB band since they are easy to convert over. Hopefully I can find the parts I need to repair this rig. For now I am using the Realistic HTX-100 ten meter transceiver. Still waiting for conditions to improve on ten meters!
Clear Channel Corporation Ranger AR-3500 Ten Meter Multimode Transceiver
Posted: Saturday, November 14th, 2009. 08:00 MST
I just installed a 40, 30 and a 20 meter indoor dipole antenna system inside my second floor apartment. All 3 dipoles are connected to the same coaxial feed line. The coax feed line is only about 5 feet long, just enough to reach my receiver or transceiver at my radio desk. The elements of the dipole antenna zig zag around at different weird angles inside my small apartment so as to make it all fit. Hopefully, I won't have too much phase cancellation due to various sharp bends in the dipole antenna wires. There is a possibility that I will be getting an Icom IC-718 HF rig in the not too distance future and so far I have a ten meter dipole on my apartment balcony and the indoor 40, 30 and 20 meter dipoles. I plan to operate at low QRP power levels once I do get on the air on 20, 30 and 40 meters for various reasons including reducing the chance of causing RFI to my apartment neighbors, etc. I plan to operate CW quite a bit and I might even try some PSK-31 as well. One thing for sure, using indoor antennas, I have to turn off my main desk top computer in my apartment as it causes so much RFI and radio interference that I can't hardly hear anything on the different HF bands as well as the domestic AM broadcast band. My smaller Compaq lap top computer does not seem to cause any RFI problems how ever. Anyway, as far as receiving is concerned with the new 40, 30 and 20 meter dipoles, I am still getting an S3 to S5 noise level at times, but, I heard a few Japanese amateur radio operators coming in on CW on the low end of 40 meters yesterday morning, very weak, but copyable on my Grundig Satellit 800 receiver and of course, the signals on 20 and 30 meters are also coming quite well during the day light hours. When I get the Icom IC-718 HF rig, I will of course use an antenna tuner to deal with any mismatches that the antenna might present. Here are a few photos of the indoor dipole antenna system I installed. I used a lot thumbtacks to fast the wire to the walls! Looks tacky and not too domestic, but as long as it allows me to get on the air as well as providing better reception on HF, I really don't care! One end of the 40 meter dipole wire runs all the way into my apartment kitchen and dining room area! Left click on each photo to see a sharper and higher resolution photo image.
Posted: Saturday, January 30th, 2010, 21:00 MST
After much on line product research and comparison, I have decided that I will be purchasing the Yaesu FT-950 this Spring. A lot more built in features for the money and I also like the looks as well as the performance of the Yaesu FT-950.
See photo below of the Yaesu FT-950 and also a modified photo of my ham radio desk of my proposed set up. The Grundig Satellit 800 receiver may have to go. It takes up too much space! For more info about the Yaesu FT-950, go to http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=21206 and also at http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Radio_Equipment/HF_Transceivers/Yaesu_FT-950/
Posted: Saturday, May 15, 2010 11:35 MDST
Here is the latest update in regard to the Yeasu FT-950 HF transciever.
The rig has been purchased and I will have it by the first part of this coming
week. I hope to be on the air on the 40, 30 and 20 meter bands and am looking
forward to try out some PSK-31 operation. All my HF dipoles are installed
indoors except for my ten meter dipole which is installed on my apartment
balcony, so, it will be interesting to see how well the indoor antennas are going to work!
Keep checking back for further updates, photos, etc.
Posted: Saturday, December 11th, 2010 00:30 MST
This weekend is the ARRL 10 meter contest and I plan to participate in the contest on
SSB voice and CW mode. I will be using my Yaesu FT-950 running 30 watts of power
to my 10 meter dipole installed on my second floor apartment balcony 15 feet off the ground. Earlier yesterday evening at around 00:19 UTC, December 11, I contacted XE2K, Hector in Baja California, Mexico as well as AD6ZJ in California and we exchanged contest information. I hope to make many more contacts in the contest tomorrow after a good night's sleep tonight!
Posted: Saturday, December 13th, 2010 22:00 MST
I managed to work 38 stations during the 2010 ARRL 10 meter contest. I worked stations in the USA states of California, Colorado, Arizona, Hawaii, Arizona, New Mexico, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Louisiana as well as the Mexican States of Baja California and Estado de Mexico as well as Argentina, South America. The 10 meter band appeared to go dead midday between 11 AM and 3 PM local time on both Saturday and Sunday, then after 3 PM, I started to hear signals again. On Sunday, December 12th, at 23:00 UTC (4 PM MST) just one hour before the contest ended, I started to hear stations from States to my East. At the start of the contest, the solar flux was 87, then late Sunday afternoon, the solar flux came up to 89.
Below is a log of the stations I worked during the 10 meter contest that I copied from my electronic logbook that was in "Cabrillo" format. I normally use the Ham Radio Deluxe program logging program, but, for this contest, I used a free logging software program called General Logger v7.0 written by Dave Mascaro, W3KM. See http://www.qsl.net/w3km/gen_log.htm
KI7F 2010 ARRL 10 meter Contest Log December 11th and 12th, 2010.
START-OF-LOG: v2.0
CREATED-BY: GenLog v7.0
LOCATION: COLORADO
CONTEST: ARRL-10
CALLSIGN: KI7F
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP
CATEGORY-POWER: LOW
CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE
CATEGORY-ASSISTED: NON-ASSISTED
CATEGORY-BAND:
CLAIMED-SCORE: 1632
OPERATORS: KI7F
CLUB: None
NAME: Bill, KI7F
ADDRESS:
ADDRESS: Denver, Co 80014
ADDRESS: USA
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-11 0019 KI7F 59 CO XE2K 59 BAC
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-11 0025 KI7F 59 CO AD6ZJ 59 CA
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-11 1620 KI7F 59 CO KT6VV 59 CA
QSO: 28000 CW 2010-12-11 1616 KI7F 599 CO K0MF 599 CO
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-11 1625 KI7F 59 CO K6HNZ 59 CA
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-11 1633 KI7F 59 CO W6YI 59 CA
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-11 1648 KI7F 59 CO K7LY 59 AZ
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-11 1646 KI7F 59 CO K7JA 59 CA
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-11 1722 KI7F 59 CO NK6A 59 CA
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-11 1725 KI7F 59 CO W6AFA 59 CA
QSO: 28000 CW 2010-12-11 1730 KI7F 599 CO W0ZA 599 CO
QSO: 28000 CW 2010-12-11 1743 KI7F 599 CO XE1MM 599 EMX
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-11 1813 KI7F 59 CO N0BZ 59 CO
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-11 1930 KI7F 59 CO LU1VM 59 229
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 0011 KI7F 59 CO N6QQ 59 CA
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 0017 KI7F 59 CO KH7Y 59 HI
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 0020 KI7F 59 CO K0KE 59 CO
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 0025 KI7F 59 CO W6TA 59 CA
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 0028 KI7F 59 CO KC6AWX 59 CA
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 0036 KI7F 59 CO W6TK 59 CA
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 0039 KI7F 59 CO N0AH 59 CO
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 0047 KI7F 59 CO NU6T 59 CA
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 0058 KI7F 59 CO K6SRZ 59 CA
QSO: 28000 CW 2010-12-12 1619 KI7F 599 CO K0FX 599 CO
QSO: 28000 CW 2010-12-12 1635 KI7F 599 CO K0KE 599 CO
QSO: 28000 CW 2010-12-12 1656 KI7F 599 CO N6WM 599 CA
QSO: 28000 CW 2010-12-12 1738 KI7F 599 CO W2UP 599 CO
QSO: 28000 CW 2010-12-12 1759 KI7F 599 CO K0XTR 599 CO
QSO: 28000 CW 2010-12-12 1807 KI7F 599 CO K9WZB 599 AZ
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 2107 KI7F 59 CO W5COW 59 NM
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 2301 KI7F 59 CO N6KN 59 CA
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 2301 KI7F 59 CO AG5Z 59 MS
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 2307 KI7F 59 CO WB9PUB 59 WI
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 2312 KI7F 59 CO W8JUZ 59 MI
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 2329 KI7F 59 CO KD0BSY 59 CO
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 2340 KI7F 59 CO WB9Z 59 IL
QSO: 28000 CW 2010-12-12 2349 KI7F 599 CO K9CT 599 IL
QSO: 28000 PH 2010-12-12 2353 KI7F 59 CO N8OO 59 LA
END-OF-LOG:
During the contest, I took some time out to go into the menu settings in the Yaesu FT-950 and made adjustments to the microphone audio speech equalizer/processor (I had to go into 20 different menu items to make the adjustments) which greatly increased the transmit audio punch with the least amount of distortion. Also, since I do not have a set of paddles to hooked up to the Yaesu FT-950 built in electronic keyer (I just have a straight hand key for sending CW) I programmed some pre canned CW messages with contest information which made it a lot more easier. I'll need to eventually acquire a set of paddles.
Here are a few videos of me using my Yaesu FT-950 HF transceiver in the past year.
Posted Monday, June 28, 2010 21:00 MDST
ARRL Field Day With The Colorado QRP Club!
I had a good time on Sunday, June 27, 2010 participating in the
annual ARRL Field Day contest with the local Colorado QRP Club
Held at the nearby Cherry Creek State Park. The Colorado QRP
Club used the club call sign N0CQC and all the rigs used at the
Field Day site were operating at QRP low power levels.
Below is a video that I produced at the N0CQC Field Day site
on Sunday June 27th, 2010.
Posted Sunday, May 15, 2011 21:00 MDST
I HAVE MOVED TO NEW LOCATION AS OF APRIL 2011!
I just moved last month to a new apartment in the Englewood, Colorado area which is a Southern suburb of Denver. I am in a third top floor apartment and am using a 33 foot end fed wire installed above my apartment balcony tuned by an MFJ antenna tuner. I seem to put out a much better signal than I did at my previous apartment. Being on the top floor by the roof line also helps! In the past few weeks, I have worked stations on 20 meter PSK-31 all over the USA as well as the Canary islands and I even received an SWL report via eQSL from a listener who decoded my 20 meter PSK 31 signal in Belgium!
Here is a 2 part video that I made of me in my ham shack at my new apartment describing my amateur radio equipment which can be viewed on Youtube. See imbedded video below. Watch it in full 1080P HD video for the highest quality if you wish at full screen if you have a fast internet connection! I used my new Sony DSC-HX1 to record these videos.
Yea, I know, I need to get in a habit to look at the camera directly! I also need to use
my camera tripod more to keep the camera more steady! Also too much panning and
zooming around to fast! These 2 videos were recorded in 1080p HD, so folks watching
video on a big flat screen HD TV would get a headache watching all the camera shack
and fast camera zooming and panning! I'll try to improve my camera techniques!
Here are some more recent photos of my current ham radio shack.
My Latest eQSL QSL card collection can be viewed at
http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii89/ki7f/QSL%20Cards%20Collected%20by%20KI7F/eQSL%20Card%20Collection/?albumview=slideshow
I HAVE MOVED AGAIN AS OF SEPTEMBER 2011 TO SPANISH FORK, UTAH.
I am currently off the air at the moment as my HF station is currently dismantled due to my move. I hope to be back on the air on HF before too long. When I do get back on the air, I will most likely be operating the PSK-31 digital mode.
