Amateur Radio · VHF/UHF · Summits On The Air · Colorado Mountains · Adventure
Last weekend, I had a fun time working the CQ WPX contest on SSB. I’ve always liked the format of the contest with the callsign prefix as the score multiplier (e.g., K1, K2, W1, W2, VE1, VE2 are all multipliers). Its like every new contact is a multiplier. This contest attracts plenty of DX but … Read more
My site has been down for a few days due to a “security problem” that I encountered. it seems that some malware showed up on the server and my host disabled the site. It took a bit of ftp’ing to get the offending files removed but we are back on the air. I can’t say … Read more
I’ve written before about the flexibility of Field Day and the need to season to taste to make it your own. I have always thought that one of the great things about Field Day is that it can be tuned to whatever interests you or your club. It can be a serious radio contest (well, … Read more
This is another update on important stuff spewing forth from the interwebz. Belden has a good article about why most of our coaxial transmission lines are 50 Ω impedance. Microwaves and RF posted some interesting photos of coaxial cables. The results are in for the ARRL September VHF Contest. Read about my combination SOTA + … Read more
On the topic of operating events for Summits On The Air (SOTA) activations, Guy N7UN suggested focusing on six major events for 2015. Most of these are VHF-oriented but HF activity can also occur on these days. Jan 24-26: ARRL Jan VHF Contest + NA SOTA Winter Activity Weekend (oops, I guess we already missed … Read more
If you have been paying any attention to the world of ham radio DX, you have heard about the DXpedition to Navassa Island. According to Wikipedia, Navassa Island is a unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States. Haiti (just 40 miles to the east) also claims ownership of the island but it appears that the … Read more