The FCC and Automatic Control

In several recent FCC actions, the regulatory agency removed the privilege of automatic control from a licensed amateur radio operator. For example, this FCC letter to John Kimbraugh WR3S says: “…on various dates in March 2007, your repeater stations operated without proper control and re-broadcast portions of commercial TV programming and music, contrary to the … Read more

Work All Colorado on VHF

The ARRL June VHF QSO Party is next weekend June 9-11. Complete rules are at http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2007/june-vhf.html The Rocky Mt VHF Plus group is doing a number of things to promote VHF activity during the June VHF QSO Party this year. Since parts of Colorado have more cows than ham operators, we often have grids that … Read more

Bill McArthur KC5ACR at Dayton Hamvention®

I had previously reported that Bill McArthur KC5ACR was very active on 2M FM from the International Space Station (ISS) using the ISS callsign NA1SS. Bill took up the challenge of completing WAS and WAC (and accomplished it). The high point for me was working NA1SS on Dec 5, 2005. Bill was at the Dayton … Read more

The Great Colorado Grid Run

The ARRL June VHF QSO Party (June 9-11) is a great opportunity to try out your gear for the VHF and higher bands. See the complete information on the contest here. Under the theory that activity breeds more activity on the VHF bands, I am proposing a coordinated effort to activate all Colorado grids during … Read more

2006 ARRL September VHF Contest Results

The ARRL has published the results for the 2006 September VHF QSO Party. I didn’t really pay any attention because I didn’t remember working the contest. However, it turns out that I once again dominated the QRP category in the Rocky Mountain region. Well, “dominated” means that I was the highest score (65) of two … Read more

K0NR – ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes

For the last four years, I have operated a backpack portable QRP station in the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes. I am not sure how I got hooked on this but the basic idea is to hike up to the summit of Mt Herman (~9000 feet in elevation, grid locator DM79mb) and operate for the afternoon. … Read more