NN7SS and RSGB IOTA

 A brief recap.

The goal was to work from Mark (K6UFO) station on Vashon Island NN7SS for the full 24 hours. The other goal was to average at least 1 Q every 2 minutes. I had been able to keep that rate in MST over the last few weeks as practice. I arrived at the QTH NN7SS Friday evening and settled in. Mark showed me the station and we worked out how the Flex operated. A lot of automation and good organization on his part made that straight-forward. I can appreciate those "remote stations for hire" much more now. At 4:00 am I woke, got ready and shuffled into the 'shack' to get the radio ready. On the dot, at 5:00 am (1200Z) I was on the air. Then I dropped the call and began working stations.. It was a flurry and I appreciate all of the patience from those who had to do a AGN? now and then. Highlights were to work some new and old friends.. K4BAI (on three bands), Dan N7SS/M, Tim W7EEE, and Joe AA2IL from CWOps, as well as some others. If I left someone off the list, forgive me. I'm just off the ferry and home.. Unpacking. Anyway, back to NA-065 --- At around 11.5 hours into the contest I started to fade and I hadn't not taken any real break. My mind was going to QRN. I couldn't copy too well and it was creating too much stress. I didn't want to disappoint the operators with my disfunction, so I bid a QRT and several TU before closing down. 24 hrs at 2Q /min would have been 720 Q. Since I threw in the towel at 12 hours, that would have been 360 Q. So my 200 Q was shy of my goal by an amount. But on the plus side -- it was all 'head copy' and I probably got most of the S/N right... I was having fun and I was glad to give the IOTA NA-065 to all of those who took my CQ. The NN7SS station worked flawlessly. The 50+' tower was racked with a multi-band beam and the station control let me work the propagation changes. There were some things that I should have planned better for. - I need to make an inline switch to adjust which paddle is dit/dah. I'm really used to my paddle and it was difficult to adjust to a new one. - My headphone cable was a bit too short and I should have brought the extension and a AF amplifier bus so I could hear a bit better. But no complaints. Mark kept me fed and watered. I had a superb dinner and breakfast. The donut was enormous. A gracious host and in some breaks we had a chance to chat. Before and after the contest, great eyeball-QSO about all sorts of things involving DX. The key -- The coffee was always just a moment from being poured and I was for want of nothing. Last words: Contesting CW builds character. It builds confidence and there is nothing quite like trying to unpack a pile up of stations and provide everyone the Q they deserve. The more contests I work, the more I appreciate the skill and dedication real DX'p people put in. I have a long way to go. My next big challenge is Salmon Run. But between now and then is a lot of MST to do. Thanks. Be well.

The SalmonCon 2023

SalmonCon 2023

A few weeks ago a friend of mine who I know from the 10-meter net, Dick W9BFP reminded me of the local QRP club puts on a good convention at the Valley Camp in North Bend, WA.

I decided to go.

Wheels

First thing was to swap vehicles with my dad.  He has a 2500 Ram Van that he converted from empty shell into a work-in-progress RV -- has solar power, radiant heat floor, forced air heater, 120V AC from state of the art inverter system, rack of very large lithium batteries and a bunk to sleep.  It's still missing some key things but he will get to it later in the year (H2O system, shower, sink and dunny, etc..)   

But he's in Sequim and I'm in Fall City and between us is a round-trip drive of 8 hours (including the Kingston/Edmonds ferry).

I picked up the van on Monday night and started putting the camping gear together during the week after work each day.  By Thursday, I was ready but I was still bit rushed.   I packed up my radio I wanted to use, antennas to setup (two verticals -- one GAP 20 meter Monoband and a 10 meter monoband).   My K3, power system, and miscellaneous hardware/tools/wiring bits and bobs were loaded.

Camping gear reduced to a crate of stuff that is easy to load and unload.  All I really needed was my 25 year old MSR stove, fuel, and pan to boil water.  Freeze dried food was my menu.  Plus an espresso maker for the morning nectar of the bean.  Gotta have that.

In any case I live only 30-40 minutes away from Valley Camp so it was easy trek and if things were in need North Bend is only 10 minutes away from the camp.

Valley Camp

The camp is a sprawling and beautifully landscaped area.  There are lodges for meetings, and a wide open space they call the Orchard (presume because at one time it was were fruit trees were once planted -- only a few remain now).  It's flat, open and bounded by a ring of very tall cedar trees.  To the east corner of the Orchard is a meeting area -- open air cabin structure complete with outdoor kitchen, electricity and tables for gear and demonstration.

The hosts of the camp were extremely gracious and welcoming.  I am convinced this should be a regular thing each year for me to do.  I look forward to the next one already.

Pie and Coffee

https://www.pnwqrp.org/  The Pacific North West QRP Group is an organization that meets regularly and as far as I understand the "P&C" is the draw... P&C is "Pie and Coffee".   I say that it is the draw because what else besides radio is going to pull amateur radio operators together ?  Pie.. and Coffee.

Trouble is they meet during the week and while I'm at work, so I'm not able to attend those gatherings.

The goal of the QRP convention SalmonCon is to bring together folks from the local QRP community and discuss techniques and technology that is important not just to QRP operation, but radio in general -- with a mind and nod towards those who venture out on foot or RV to work POTA/SOTA/etc..

Setups

I saw many interesting setup -- the dominant antenna was either a wire dipole raised on a fiberglass mast, or vertical or inverted L wire antenna also using push up fiberglass masts.   The "Buddi-Pole" type tripod was also employed to raise the apex of those inverted V wire dipoles.

There were two operators there that drew my interest and I had the most questions for.

Curt, WR5J   and Guy W7UN  had setups that were really noteworthy.

Guy was using a KX3 I believe and a wire antenna.  The setup was purely QRP with batteries and a solar panel for daytime re-charge.  The station was so compact I could hardly notice it on the picnic table.     What he also had (and let be borrow) was a Linked-Dipole.   I am sure that I've read about this kind of dipole antenna, but I had forgotten about it.  I'll discuss that later.

Curt is someone that I've bumped into time to time and it almost had that Casablanca feeling when I see him -- it's like "in all the gin joints of the world.." moment when I find him there.  I met him first in Visalia for the DX convention and then later again at the Mike and Key Field Day operation.

Curt is a generous person and easy to talk to -- and doesn't mind the endless questions.   I had many.

He setup with a solar panel on his vehicle and ample supply of tools and equipment.  He's ready for just about anything.

Antenna-wise he seems to have mastered the mobile/portable antenna deployment.  A quickly raised mast, holding the guy-line supported Linked-Dipole cut and tuned for any of the HF bands 80 meters and up.

He showed me how the KX3 and KXPA-100 work.  A table of wires, "which sometimes puts people off", paraphrasing.. But I don't care about that. It is what it is.  The gem though was this very tiny keyer fastened to the table with 3M universal tack material like Velcro but not sided.  Either surface is the same.  But the key it held was really interesting (and I kick myself for not getting a picture).

It was the size of an ice cube from a refrigerator tray.   Two paddles. No visible springs.  And adjustable.

The KX3 was setup to use two antennas.  The button push let us choose the vertical wire, or the inverted V.

It wasn't rocket science to understand the whole setup.  The issue wasn't that particular radio, amplifier or key.  What was important is that the whole kit literally was a single Pelican case worth of gear.  Really portable.

That was the eye opener -- how easy it is to go anywhere to operate.

K7S

The event was afforded a special event call sign.  I used K7S to work CW and FT-8 during the weekend and added a few dozen calls to the accumulated log of the whole event.  I sent those logs eventually to the log coordinator of the SalmonCon.

I was working 20 meters and 17/15 meters on my GAP mono-band.

WRTC

It happened that weekend was the IARU contest and in the middle of that was the WRTC.  A good friend of mine reminded me to listen for the Italian call signs of those 50+ stations competing in the WRTC.   Had I been at home, I would have thought I'd had a better chance to work those I41, I42, I43, etc.. stations.  But, since I was at the QRP SalmonCon, I just assumed that my chance to work them would be slim to none.

I was wrong.

So, let's step back just a bit.  It was Saturday July 8th, and another friend arrived just to visit, Mike KF7GGM.  He isn't an active CW operator, but I think he wants to become one.   I was in the van working IARU contest stations with my K3 and Guy W7UN and Mike were right there and we were both chatting about CW and listening to the calls I was working (N1MM+ and the K3 on the Linked Dipole antenna).

There were a few calls that Guy helped with and we talked about the way in which N1MM worked for helping Mike understand the process.   The 20 meter band was active and just about every station I wanted to work came back to my call (K7S in this case).

I decided to switch chairs and invited Mike to sit and operate the station.  He jumped into the van, sat in the chair.   I explained the basic thing going on:

The stations we're hearing are IARU contest stations calling CQ.   Some of them might be the WRTC stations competing for that contest.

I pointed out on the spot-network that these stations are spotted at these frequencies.  I showed him that in N1MM, to work one of them (or at least try to) we can select that frequency and listen to see if that station is still calling CQ as spotted.   I ran through the process with Mike.

I explained that we're using N1MM because it makes it easier to call these contest stations and send our call and the exchange with the information required.  I reviewed the Function keys with the K3 in test mode so he could recognize the pattern.

I put the K3 back into Normal Mode and we started S/P for a strong station.   As we heard the strong station calling CQ, I explained to Mike what we're listening for as a trigger to answer the call (drop our call K7S via F4).

JW>  "OK, he's wrapping up his call, get ready for F4. Yeah put your finger right over that button and wait for it.. OK he's done. NOW!"

Mike presses F4 and we drop "K7S"

We wait, nope.  He took someone else.  

JW> "It's OK, he's working someone else..  Get ready.... OK the station sent the TU.  We know he's probably done with that TU.  We will listen for another cycle to make sure that's his pattern."

So we listen to that station work another and finish with TU.

JW> "OK Mike, get ready.. NOW!"

Mike pressed F4 and we wait.  

JW> "He's coming back to us. Get ready for the Exchange."

Mike> "What exchange?"

JW> "We need to send him a signal report and our section. It's pre-loaded into the N1MM macro.  Here we go.."

JW> "Press F2 .. NOW!"

Mike pressed F2 and we sent the exchange.   We listened and heard the TU.

JW> "That's it.  We logged the contact!  Good job!"

We did this a few more times with Mike.  We worked some HQ stations in the IARU contest on CW at 22 wpm and Mike had a grin ear to ear.  I know it was overwhelming for him because he's not a CW operator, but I had a glimmer of hope we (Guy and myself) convinced Mike that this was a fun aspect of the hobby.   

I told Mike that he did great and that thrill you feel, that excitement is really the best part.   

Mike had to get back home soon, so we said our farewell.

It was getting dark anyway and Guy strolled back to his campsite.

The Italian Job

I put on a fresh pot of espresso on the camp stove and got settled for a night on 20 meters.

Around 11 pm things went side-ways.. 20 meters came alive.   It was an extremely good opening into EU and lo and behold dozens of I4* WRTC stations started popping up on the spot cluster.   I tuned the radio to where they were and sure enough they were S-5 or better for me on the wire antenna.

Each of the WRTC contest stations had a special callsign in the I4 prefix.  I41A, I42B type of format.  The list of calls had been published, but the identity of which team was which call was still secret.

Didn't matter.

I started working these stations and I believe in the span of about 20-30 minutes I had about 16-18 of them in the log.  There were also a large number of other IARU stations there too.  *HQ stations and others.   It was a really magic night on 20 meters for a number of reasons.

I worked them on my callsign and I'm glad to have given the WRTC points around.    What was very interesting about working those WRTC stations is how well they copied me.  They literally turned it right around and gave me the exchange.   I was running 90 watts.  That is incredible work on the part of those contest stations.   

In general the evening was special for a few reasons:

• Mike got a chance to work at speed IARU contest stations  (good job Mike!)
• I got a chance to work some of the WRTC stations and
• The band that is normally difficult for me into EU was really open.  

I wondered what it would have been like had I stayed home and worked the horizontal loop I have at the QTH.   That loop would have been ideal!

The Next DX'p

Having a portable station doesn't have to be complicated.   I'm radio brand agnostic -- to a point.  I have Yaesu, I-Com and Elecraft radios already.  The way I explain it, I choose the right radio for my budget and style and function.  I prefer Elecraft for HF work.  I prefer some I-Com for UHF/VHF work, especially satellite operations.  And I prefer Yaesu for iron-tough portable radios.

What I saw and learned at SalmonCon is that the portable radio kit with the KX3 would be great thing to try.   The lithium batteries are not too heavy and the Linked Dipole antenna is a great way to get tuned on the band.

I learned that going to a San Juan island or some POTA location would almost as good for my goal to work DX from the other side.. The DX side.   It has to be good practice to setup a temporary station, string wire, tune the rig and call CQ.

Finally, I grew to appreciate the friends we can make in amateur radio and I really value the comradery and willingness to help each other learn new things to try.

I look forward to the next time we get together at SalmonCon.  In the mean time I will try to put together my own Linked-Dipole antenna.  I will prune my camping gear and portable radio gear to the stream-lined approach I saw from other QRP experts at SalmonCon.

Until then..

Collecting Colonies

When I was a kid, I remember my dad had these small blue card-stock books where he collected pennies. One round slot for each year back to whenever, and all of the special variants -- wheat backs, etc..   It was a neat collection he started when he was a kid I guess.

This 13-Colonies "contest" reminds me of that.

While each Colony (state) is workable, it's fun to be able to fill the slots on each one for each band and mode.

Perhaps it is just the special significance of the 4th of July holiday is the draw.

I've worked them all on CW so far.  I just need a couple more on SSB complete those columns.

I've also worked the special WM3PEN station on CW but not on SSB yet.

And the two other "DX" special call signs  GB13COL and TM13COL are (to my best knowledge) only worked on SSB or FT-8 at this time.  That may change, I hope.

Adjusting my preference to work CW over SSB lately has highlighted something that I noticed when I was trying to work the SSB K2x stations.   The mosh-pit of the pile up on SSB is incredible.  I guess that is how it has always been.  I should know because I used to focus on SSB and those pile-ups remind me of all those years of trying to wiggle through.  The east coast is especially difficult to work SSB sometimes.  Being near Seattle, I contend with the loud stations in the south west, and mid-west.

100 watts from Seattle to the south west can yield a report of +20 to Arizona -- that pipeline still amazes me.  But the same signal strength to the east coast is just noise to them most of the time.  Even when I raise the power to 400 watts I'm just about S-5.   No big deal.

I'm going to try to round out the list for the SSB contacts for the colonies I need.  I'll hope that the DX (GB13, TM13) stations are workable too.

MST - Ahead of the curve, finally

As I practice CW in the MST contests one metric that I have been striving for is to keep pace with the clock.

At first, I wanted to at least have 30 Q/hr.  The contests last one hour so I thought 30 Q/hr was a reasonable goal.   It didn't take long to pass that goal.   On a lot of sessions I can get to that mark.

But what I really wanted is the next goal of 1 Q / minute.   It's just a goal.

I should qualify -- I mean 1 Q /hr when I am in run-mode, not S/P.

Tonight I was well on my way.  At first I was about pacing the clock, which is good, but I started to pass the clock in terms of more than 1 Q / minute.

It lasted for about 20-22 minutes and I was really glad.  It was great fun.  I was busy in the contest so I had to be quick about getting a screen grab.  But the Q count was 17 at this point at 15 minutes in.  It actually persisted at that rate for some time after.   But nonetheless I was pretty excited about that.

By around 24-26 Q I saw the Run fade off and the rate fell.  But I was still in run-mode.

NN7SS NA-065 RSGB IOTA CW

https://www.ng3k.com/misc/iota2023.html

W7BRS will be working from NA-065 (Vashon Island) during RSGB IOTA CW contest as NN7SS (K6UFO).

July 29-30.  

Let's do this.

RAC with power

Nice to have power.  

CQ RAC

The KPA-500 and KAT-500 power combo is brilliant. Easy and tunes my sky loop wire antenna perfectly.

It already received well, now I'm a few dB up on transmit.  Very fine.

Can't be more pleased with performance.

The FD 2023

On Friday night, I flipped on the 2 meter rig to see if some friends were on the repeater (K7LED) and sure enough I caught some traffic from Dean N7XS and others.

They were discussing the last minute preparations on site at the Fort Flagler Wagon Wheel campground and the array of antennas they were setting up along the ridge.  It brought back memories of when I had been there back in 2009.

One of the regulars back then, John WA7HQG (SK) was a motivator for me to work HF and he sure loved FD.  I understand why.  As a side story -- I remember visiting his shack when he put up his tower for 17 meter log periodic beam antenna -- I think practically all of the Mike and Key was there at his Seattle home to watch, talk, and be around for the launch of his antenna on his favorite band, 17 m.

Anyway, so on Friday night (now Saturday now, 1am, I signed with Dean, and the others) and hit the sack.

Saturday morning, as I was up early anyway, got a wild idea that I would drive out to Fort Flagler to say hello to the friends I had there and see what was happening.  The Mike and Key club does a pretty good operation for FD.   6A is their classification.  I expected to find the forest of antenna towers on the ridge along the bunkers.   I was also hoping to see again "CW Tent" by the shoreline overlooking the sound.

I didn't pack anything.  I only intended to spend a few hours there.   I set the mag-mount 2m antenna on the top of the Ford pick up, and headed towards Edmonds (from Fall City).  A 2 ferry wait later, I was on the west side, in Kingston and I was heading by memory towards Flagler.

I talked my way into the campground at the registration booth ("Yeah, I'm with the club."  And, I motioned to the antenna on the rig.  She looked up and said "Oh you're one of those radio geeks."    She waved me through).  At the camp, the RV's were all neatly stacked side by side radially around the center fire-pit.  I walked towards the picnic table and I recognized a fellow I had not seen since Visalia, Curt WR5J.   What a surprise that was.  Of all the gin joints in all the world...

I slipped through the trees, walked over the meadow towards the barracks and reminisced over the sight.  Up ahead at a lone picnic table between two unused buildings was a ham, and he had a portable stick antenna on the table, and a tiny KX3.  I introduced myself and we got to talking.  He said he was just copying CW and trying to figure out what was being passed.  I sensed he was recently bit by CW bug and that was the topic of the conversation.  I went into sales mode and told him about the SST ("Friday and Sunday, every week").   Because I forgot my way, I asked him which direction the stations were.  He got me set on the right road and I eventually found the SSB tents and antennas.  I made my hellos and saw more faces I recognized.   

My thoughts then went to think "Which way down to the beach?"  I found the road to the shore and there, as I hoped, there was the CW Tent.  I figured that I would say a hello to Mike, N7WA and see what was happening there.

Two radios (K3) setup each with N1MM connected to one of the four antennas sprouted up along the edge of grass-line before the gravel beach.  A spare seat was there so I took a place and looked through the mesh of the tent out towards the water.  I couldn't hear the traffic on the radio, so I picked up a spare headphone (Mike sets this up perfectly so visitors and ops in waiting can listen and copy by pen/pad too).

Then the wild idea to go to FD took a turn -- I simply asked if there was a slot for me to work the radio later?  And sure enough Mike (always generous), made some switching in the schedule to fit me in.  I would return for my shift at 6pm.

The moment I slipped on the headset and started listening it was like  I knew this was right.   I was on the 15 meter rig, and I had N1MM in front of me and pressed F1.   Then the next hour on 15m was about as much fun as it can get.  One station, then another, and a few repeat AGN? requests but all of the calls I think were good.  I might have not got all of t he section names right, I figured we can clean that up post processing.  But the anxiety was gone, the fun of taking calls and adding a point here, and another point there for the club was fun.    Then at the end of the hour I switched places to the 20 meter rig and this band was really on fire.  I had a few bursts of stations calling, nearly all were QRS to my 19 wpm.  It went by fast and by 8pm I was done and the new ops were ready to take over.

I think I logged about 2-3 dozen Qs in total.  I would have done better if I could have copied on first listen.  But that's OK.  FD is supposed to be fun and not necessarily a speed test.

I made my farewells and proceeded to drive up the hill back to the road and I stopped to check my phone (for messages from the XYL..  She understands this too well and expected me to linger there past evening anyway).   But I did get a text message from a friend on that side of the water who suggested I stop by for a glass and to swap stories of things that are happening.

So that's what I did and we talked for a while -- about upcoming CW contests and working CW.   The minutes went by fast and soon it was truly dark out.  Back on the road and heading home.

I cycle through three main hobbies.  Fly fishing, Motorcycles, and Ham Radio.   Among all of these the one activity that always leaving me glad is Ham Radio.  I may not always hook into a nice rainbow, but I can always make contact on radio.  And riding through the country side is always fine, but inevitably requires some stop and go traffic as I re-enter the urban gridlock.  But ham radio, no matter where I am always delivers so much satisfaction and joy. 

As I told my friend on his deck that evening, I am thankful for the opportunity to be  on the radio and working CW.

Sunday morning, I took my To-Do list for the weekend chores and started to whittle them down.   I was done with the radio for the time being, getting things done that needed to be done.    Monday morning came too fast.  I will have to re-tune my brain for work in a moment.   I wanted to drop this note now while the memory was still fresh.

I hope you all had a good FD and look forward to seeing you at the WWDXC picnic later.

73
W7BRS