02-Jan-2012

Getting geared up for the January VHF SS.  Going to be an interesting contest with all the antennas in the attic!  Going to see if I can get the 7 element 2 meter yagi up there and armstrong it during the activity.  Figure I might be okay with the 6 meter inverted vee and something directional on 2 meters -- even a shortened yagi on a 4 foot boom.  70 cm would be a bit of a stretch, and I don't have the desire to run ROVER -- to dang cold!

Going to give it a shot unless I get an offer to operate with someone for the contest.  Haven't done that since oerating @ WC2F during the early to mid-90's.  But, that event is highly unlikely to occur, so I'll begin working on the antennas and see what deveops -- hard part will be to figure how to rotate without constantly going into the attic.

Look for me on 6 & 2 meters and IF you should hear someone down in the mud on 70cm -- it's probably me!\

07-Dec-2011

Look for me this weekend in the ARRL 10 Meter Contest. CW only for this old brass pounder as always in the past. Will be on Friday night and most of the day on Saturday and Sunday. Looking forward to a reasonable showing considering what I did in the CQWW a few weeks ago.

14-Nov-2011

North Cook Island on 10 meter cw -- 4th call. Not bad for a dipole in the attic and 100 watts. Damn, I do love CW -- probably wouldn't have worked them on SSB!

Update!!! Samoa 2nd call -- barely audible here, but got it in the log. Two new ones in about 15 minutes!!

20-Nov-2011

New profession training session this morning for about an hour and a half, then off to soccer matches. Upon completion, going to sit down at the rig and try my hand on the ssb portion of the November SS. Only once have I had a relatively decent outing in the SS on SSB -- that was back in either 1973 or 1974.

Look for me on the bands -- I'll be the guy down in the mud!

07-Nov-2011

Toyed around in the November Sweepstakes for the first time in a few years, mainly to give out a few points, but mostly to try out the N1MM logging software running CW. Would have been a lot easier if I didn't have some sort of problem causing the rig to go into "tune" mode on bands below 20 meters. Works fine from 70cm to 17 meters, then bananas the rest of the way down.

But, learned a lot about the software and my limitations -- takes me longer to WARM UP than it used to. Soccer matches still get in the way of prime operating time, but I don't make extra change operating contests, so.maybe one of these days I'll take a contest weekend OFF and just operate.

On Friday evening I worked A65BP through the noise -- thought I had gotten a 'thank you-73' from him. Saw the confirm this morning on my e-QSL page. I hope that I see that one in LoTW shortly -- give me another on CW.

Next, SS and CQWW (phone) -- maybe. Still don't do well on phone contests -- maybe because I don't try enough?

15-Oct-2011

T32C in the log on 30 meters!! FIRST CALL -- this impresses me. Took me a few days to put them in the log the first time, now I've heard them & worked more times than I thought I could. In the log now five times.

Ten meters HOPPING this morning -- to bad I've got to get out & referee soccer matches -- I'd be at the rig all day!

5-Oct-2011

T32C now in the log on 12 meters cw!!! Took all of about 30 seconds to get through this evening.

The sweet joy of seeing that indoor antenna farms DO work -- given patience (that I sorrowfully lack), but I have managed to fight to keep while chasing this dx. A 559 from a KH6, T32, 3D2, DL, whatever, is nice knowing that I was OFF for over a year and missed the relaxation of pounding cw at 20 to 25 wpm!

Have little luck -- as before -- on SSB, but that's okay. I enjoy CW too much.

Now, I wait for the CQWW and the November SS.

73

4-Oct-2011

Worked on the mobile whip last night and found out something that I wasn't paying attention to -- the antenna is about 18 inches taller than I am. Unfortunately, due to the headroom in the attic area, the blasted thing doesn't fit!!!!! So, It's back to the drawing board -- with really no room to string any more wire, in all honesty.

Maybe next I should work on 2 meter and 70cm loops?

Gotta leave room so I can walk around and prune things.

DX ALERT!!!

3D2R AND T32C BOTH IN THE LOG ON 10 CW!!!!

After three or four days of trying, cussing, hearing them well enough to work them with a wet noodle or aluminum comb, I finally got these two in the log! 3D2R puts a new country and T32C puts a new Band country in the mix. Can't really complain since the attic dipole did what I hoped it would -- just took a little longer than with a tribander up 45 feet.

18-Sept-2011

The other day I put together the Hustler mobile whip with the 75/80 meter coil. Picked up a piece of sheet aluminum from the recycle bin at the plant and drilled a few holes to mount it and have it ready to go in the attic this evening. The bandwidth is limited, but with the tuner I should be able to obtain the CW portions. This will give mecoverage of 6 thru 80 meters.

Still have a bit of pruning to do on the 40/15 part of the fan dipole -- just not quite right on either band yet -- still a bit long due to the interaction of the other bands.

Having a ball on 30 meters -- turning into one of my favorite bands. Local and DX contacts SEEM to be fairly easy with reasonable reports from the other side of the pond and locally. So, going to try my luck in the upcoming dx contests and the November SS -- cw portions onlyof course.

Also, have to cure the only rfi problem experienced thus far -- sigs getting into the xyl's computer in the office. Feel pretty sure it'll take a couple of turns of the network wiring on a toroid to cure the problem.

13-Sept-2011

Previously I wrote about pictures of the new shack. I figured I'd get them up after uploading the logs of today's opening on six before shutting down and relaxing a bit before going horizontal. Well, here it is in all its meager glory. That being said, I got a compliment today when I told a station in SC that I was running 100 watts to a dipole in my attic -- "definitely a strong signal from a dipole in your attic!"

Please note that TAZ still has the place of honor!

5-Sept-2011

Will have to get some pictures of the new "shack" up. Don't think it's quite right yet -- still working out some bugs and discomforts that I can handle in the short term. Still requires some sprucing up -- parts are pretty much catch as catch can, but will do for the time being. Our Florida room is turning into my office and shack, but still has a couple of fairly comfortable chairs to sit in to enjoy the cooler evenings.

2-Sept-2011

Just replaced the com cable between the laptop & the TS-2000 and things are back to normal and Logger32 is fine! Now, just have to get used to the new setup and find a more comfortable method of holding the key to the desk.

21-Aug-2011

6, 10, 12, 17, and 20 meter up and operational -- with reasonable swr readings -- and relatively wide banded. First Q on 20 CW a little while ago was with Hungary, so DX is possible with 100 watts or so and attic antennas. Even more amazing is the feedline!

There was just no way for my 59+ year old body to get into the crawl space necessary to run a new line down through the wall between the dining and Florida room. However, there was an unused and unconnected cable tv drop. Checking the line -- good Belden 9916 -- 75 ohm, double shielded stuff -- I figured what the hell. A PL-259 and adapter sleeve at the antenna end and a jumpermade from another short stretch in the shack area with another PL-259 and sleeve and voila! ON THE AIR!

I've been off for just over a year and can't wait to get the 30 and 40/15 wires run -- a bit of a job considering all that's in the attic since the house is built on a slab. The 440 fm has been my savior the past couple of days -- reacquanting myself with some friends I hadn't spoken with in those 12 months is truly a blessing in disguise.

Realize it won't outperform the yagi at 50 feet, but.

I'M BACK!!!

14-Aug-2011

Took the plunge (?) -- can one 'plunge' into an attic? -- and started the process of putting up the "stealth" antennas. Going to take a bit more time than was in the original estimate since I've got to work around a vaulted ceiling in the living / dining area as well as some rather tight quarters that need to be navigated to get the wires run.

I've got wire cut for 6, 10, 12, 17, 20, 30 and 40/15. Should all be in pretty much "fan" inverted vee configuration. Working the 40 / 15 meter wire first, followed by 30, 20, etc.,up the line to the 10 meter. Figure I'll get all the crawling around done early in the game when I'm not too beat up. The wire for 6 will be separate. May play around with a small yagi for 2 and 70cm just for the heck of it.

If I can get a relatively decent match on the bands I'll be extremely happy. Just having a way to get on the air and make a couple of q's will be refreshing.

3-July-2011

Think I'll take the opportunity today to climb up into the attic and begin working on setting up things for the indoor antennas.

The new QTH, as covertly stated here previously, is an 'over 55' community with lot restrictions that I have to work around. One of these is to request permission to operate since 'short wave radio transmissions' are not allowed. I have written the request and have to drop it off to the Association for review. Requested an assist from an old and dear friend, N2TS, since he went through the process in Florida a number of years ago, so his insight will be valuable.

But, in the meantime, work will begin -- antenna configuration, setting up the 'shack' in the FLORIDA ROOM -- lots of windows and I can close the sliding door from the kitchen and windows from the living area to seal things up during peak operation periods. Thinking hard about putting up a flagpole (allowed)in the front of the property..)

29-May-2011

Just changed my address thru the FCC so what's shown right now as location does not match the grid square or other coordinates -- the new address should hopefully show up here the next QRZ update from the FCC.

Now to get busy and continue the packing process.

27-May-2011

The decision has been made and the papers are signed -- the QTH will be changing come June 1st and the radio operation will be curtailed for a bit while I figure out some stealth / clandestine antenna designs. Moving into an "over 55" community that frowns upon towers and antennas. So.the mind is occupied working on different ways to get things up and running. Moving from a four bedroom colonial on over 1/2 an acre with a full basement and two car garage to 2 bedrooms on a 75 x 125 lot with a one car garage and no basement definitely has it's challenges!

Give me a month or so and listen for a weaker cw signal from the new digs.

Using my altenate e-mail address until we get set up with Comcast (since Verizon FiOS is not available) but don't expect much of a change in that address from the @verizon.net -- will probably remain with the kc2ta, but @comcast.net instead.

More to follow.

30-May-2010

Who would have thought? Never expected anything like this considering the antennaI use is a 7 element homebrew job with poor SWR! Where was everyone else???

7-May-2010:

Think I may finally be getting over the blues when it comes to some gain on 6 meters. Going out Saturday to 'hopefully' obtain a five element yagi for the band and try like the dickens to get it on the tower for the June VHF contest. Been saying that (6 meter antenna for VHF Contest) for too long. Might just get it done this time.

Now, to find help with the work.

24-Feb-2010:

The ARRL DX CW is over! Had a great time and conditions were better than I had expected -- and should (hopelfully) -- continue to do so. I also finished better than I could have hoped.

Let’s look at the results:

2009:

254 Q’s 126 Mult’s Score: 92,232

2010:

578 Q’s 163 Mult’s Score: 282,642

(claimed)

Finally worked Saudi Arabia and broke through the pile-up of West Coast ops to work a couple of JA's well after propogation to this side of the States was nearly shot.

Tried to get the wire up for 160 & 80, but that wasn't to be -- working long hours (3:15 am wakeup calls)six days a week for the last 1-1/2 months has put a damper on available time -- seems if I'm not working I'm snoozing! But, the 40 meter dipole (up about 20 feet) did me well on the band.

Nice to hear 10 open up on Saturday. Was hoping for a repeat performance on Sunday to bolster the score a bit, but that didn't materialize.

Probably the most fun was being on the receiving end of an 89Q hour on 20 meters! I hunkered down as the rate went from 51 to 57 to 68 to 74. Just when I thought it was about to quiet down, the big rush came. (NOTE: I'm still working on getting the CW keying problem worked out since the P4 I installed in the shack doesn't have an LPT port and an parallel to serial converter doesn't work. So, I was bound by three small memory channels in the rig, and had to send most of the exchanges via the key rather than preprogrammed in the software with keyboard control.)

At the end of that hour I really began wondering how the guys that run thousands of q's each contest can handle the load! Laudits to them!

Can't wait until next year -- and even better conditions.

28-Jan-2010

A New Year and I still haven't gotten around to doing the maintenance on the yagis. Truly did me in on 2 meters in the contest.

Running at 50% power (or there about) due to a bad feed line left a few extra grids off the log. The dipole for 6 metersworked fairly well, but I needed to do some pruning that had to be put off since it went up about a half hour before the contest started. As luck would have it, the strong winds that came through early this week blew down both it and the 40 meter dipole, so I can do the necessary modifications before pulling both back up.

There was little that I heard that I didn't finally work along the way, but oh, how I miss the activity levels of the mid 90's when I first got interested in VHF/UHF contesting. Many of the stations worked are in the log on the three bands I have available. Little was heard on 432 except the stations 'worked up the bands'. Believe I found one station calling CQ there that was already worked on the band previously.

Maybe I'll be able to have the antennas repaired before June --which may coincide with better conditions on the bands?

14-Dec-2009

Was as active as I could be for the 10 Meter Contest, which was down form what I had hoped, but I did operate. Q's and multipliers down from last year and I was far from pleased with the result of my efforts.

Really never had a run of stations as in the previous effort, which makes up for a reduction in operating time. Spent more time tuning and scratching for station not already in the log. Didn't hear much DX until Sunday afternoon and didn't work a station in 7 Land or California. Heard one CA station, but couldn't break through the pileup or hit the conditions just right.

Also, change the computer in the shack to a P4 from an older P2 and had forgotten that it had NO LPT PORT to attach the CW interface cable to the rig, and I never did get the opportunity to order the correct interface cable. So, no computer keying of the rig and the ergonomics of the keyer controls on the 2000, etc., made things interesting throughout.

All in all, I had a good time but disappointed that the score wasn't up to previous attempts.

4-Dec-2009

Planning to be active on CW during the 10 Meter Contest next weekend, but have to get a parallel to USB converter for the cw keying w/CT. Must order that this weekend.

2-Nov-2009

Got my WAS and filled out the 20 meter DXCC via LOTW.

22-Aug-2009:

Just checked my LOTW account and found that I've finally filled out a CW Only DXCC. Now to work on the SSB portion.

THE CALLS I'VE USED:

KC2TA: Since October, 1981 or so, and of course, currently.

EX:

KB4AP: 1978 thru 1981

WD4PWA: About three months of 1978

WB2SXD: 1973 thru 1978

WN2SXD: 1971 thru 1973

Station:

TS-2000, TS-930SAT, TR-751A, FT-726R.  A few of the old 'boat anchors' didn't make the trip to the new digs!

Kids Day,01/09 w/my Grandson

The OLD shack, before a contest After a contest

(This has been straightened a bit.)