LA1TPAs QRP blog

APRS weather station?

2011-08-31T09:04:00.001+02:00

I have been looking around the web to find an inexpensive aprs capable weather station kit. It seems to me that the only options are the FD-WX1 from Fox Delta and the µWeather from RXComm. The FD-WX1 looks like a nice kit but it's not currently available and the µWeather is not a kit as they only sell the bare PCB without any parts.

Any suggestions?

More APRS and a trip to LG5LG

2011-08-12T17:14:00.000+02:00

A couple of new gadgets has arrived my shack this summer, both of them APRS related. The first item to arrive was a Yaesu VX-8GE handheld with GPS and APRS. I have tried it on some of my SOTA activatons and except from the battery life I'm very pleased with it. I use it to send self spots to sotawatch.org when I'm qrv from the summit. I have already ordered a FNB-102LI Li-ion 1800mAh and a rapid charger for it.

The other gadget is a Argent Data Tracker2 (OT2m) to go with my Garmin Nuvi 350 car GPS. The two makes a great pair for mobile APRS as I'm able to both send and receive APRS messages and watch other stations on the GPS. The tracker is connected to a Puxing PX-777 two meter handheld.

I'm now able to receive messages to LA1TPA, LA1TPA-7 and LA1TPA-9

Tomorrow I'll head for the ham meeting at Morokulien on the border to Sweden. There is a radio shack right on the border of this "Land of Peace" with both a Swedish and a Norwegian callsign (SJ9WL and LG5LG). You can read more about Morokulien here.

Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS)

2011-07-11T10:03:00.001+02:00

For the last month or so I have taken up interest in APRS. A couple of years ago I purchased some trackers, one TinyTrak3 and a two Opentracker+ units. They all worked great but just running a tracker in my car started to bore me very fast. I remember thinking that it has to be more to APRS than just tracking. Now I can tell that Bob Bruninga, the father of APRS, agrees. APRS was never intended to be a vehicle tracking service! He wanted it to be a single point of information on what's going on in ham radio in the area.

The main reason for my newly gained interest is the ability to selfspot to Sotawatch via APRS. The APRS coverage here in Norway is rapidly improving and I think I can reach a digipeater from virtually any of the LA/TM sotas these days. I'm now waiting for a Yaesu VX-8GE to arrive from Germany. This HT has built in GPS and APRS possibilities and will let me send and receive both APRS beacons and APRS text messages.

Automatic Packet Reporting system by Bob Bruninga
APRS2SOTA Spot Server
SpotAPRS Gateway

Linux or not

2011-05-02T11:52:00.000+02:00

Hi all! I'm trying to decide whether I should install Ubuntu on my Asus Eee PC or if I should keep Win 7 on it. I have tested Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal in a VirtualBox and I'm impressed with the Unity GUI. Another option is of course to dual boot between the two operating systems. I use the mini-pc mostly at school but also sometimes to radio related tasks when away from home. I use Logger32 as my main log and I haven't found an equally good logging software for Linux yet. Any thoughts?

Emergency Communications with the Polaric system

2011-04-15T14:30:00.001+02:00

Last night I attended training on an emergency tracking system based on APRS and the Norwegian Polaric Trackers and the Polaric portable Map Server. The intention is to give APRS trackers to voluntary search teams and emergency vehicles and provide a detailed map with tracking data to the people in charge of the operation. The system relies on both fixed digipeaters as well as a number of portable digipeaters that can be placed on any suitable hilltop to provide APRS coverage in the area of the emergency. The map server can run offline so you don't really need Internet to show maps and tracking data.

The system is tested in several real life situatons.

Links in Norwegian:
Polaric Tracker and Polaric Server

Links translated with Google Translate
Polaric Tracker and Polaric Server

Mobile operations

2011-04-09T22:27:00.001+02:00

Recently I have taken up mobile operations again. I use a FT-857D at 5w and an ATAS-100 antenna. My external loudspeaker is not very good so tonight I tested the Heil Traveler Single sided headset. I worked EG5CI on 17m, UR5IFB on 20m and LA1BNA on 10m. So far I have worked CT9, E7, S5, UA4, 9A, 5B, LA, I, UR and EA on SSB QRP from the car this year.

The ATAS antenna is mounted on triple magnet base but I'm not really happy with this solution. I have tried to find a SO-239 antenna mount for roof rails suitable for HF antennas. Any suggestions? I use a counterpoise magnet mat as antenna ground.

QSLs, 10m contest and N1MM Logger

2011-04-07T23:28:00.003+02:00

Today I have spent some time printing QSL cards and QSL labels. On my old card (to the left on the photo) I print directly on the card and for the new card I print on labels. I use the new card (to the right) for QSOs made from foreign countries. The two stacks contain 220 cards.

Tonight I planned to join the NRAU 10m Activity Contest but I guess the conditions were not right for QRP as I only managed to raise one single QSO with EA7IQQ! I could hear Argentina and the Falklands but was not able to work any of them. I have e-mailed the N1MM Logger development team and asked them to add the contest to N1MM Logger and Nick NA3M replied within minutes to let me know it was on his to-do list.

Norwegian Hammeeting and FT-817 elbow connector

2011-04-02T21:31:00.000+02:00

This morning I picked up Aage LA1ENA and his son at 7.00 am and headed for Gardermoen just north of Oslo to attend the Norwegian Hammeeting. The trip took us 2,5 hours. Several radio suppliers were present and there was a large flea market and a number of lectures. I listened to a lecture by Roy W7EL who was talking about antenna modelling with EZNEC.

Permo is the largest radio supplier in Norway and on one of their tables I found a box of elbow PL-259/bnc connectors. I noticed the placement of the teeth inside the PL-connector where asymmetric! I guess these are specially made for the FT-817 to mount small verticals like the MFJ-1899T (ATX) straight! Using a normal elbow connector will make the antenna lean over to one side. I bought one of these connectors and a couple of chassis SO-239 connectors for a balun project.

Programming the FT-817ND with FTBasicMMO

2011-03-31T22:41:00.000+02:00

Last night my friend Svein LA1BNA brought me an Arrow II 2m/70cm satellite cross yagi and I plan to work some QSOs via AO-51. The FT-817ND manual has information on how to setup menu channels to make doppler shifts easy. I have used the FTBasicMMO software written by Bob G4HFQ to program the memory channels on my FT-857D and now I wanted to try it on the FT-817ND as well. The only problem was that I couldn't get the software to talk to the radio! I followed instructions closely and ended up writing Bob an e-mail to ask for his help. He replied quickly and after a few e-mails back and forth I found one of the pins in the connector of the CT-62 cable was bent. After fixing the pin it all worked like a charm!

Thanks to Bob for the quick response to my call for help!

I will report back when I've tried the satellite antenna.

Analysing CQ WW WPX Contest

2011-03-28T22:58:00.002+02:00

During the CQ WW WPX SSB contest I managed 123 QSOs running 5 watt SSB. I used my Elecraft K3/10 @ 5w and a W3DZZ trap dipole and a vertical antenna. QTH was my local radio club. You can find all the details and watch my QSO map here. Please scroll to the bottom of the page to see QSO data.

phpQW Log-Analysis is provided by DLØQW, www.AdventureRadio.de

CQ WW WPX Contest

2011-03-25T21:34:00.000+01:00

I'm looking forward to the CQ WW WPX Contest this weekend. Unfortunately I'm also working Saturday morning and Sunday evening so this will be two busy days! I will be in the SOAB QRP category.

A couple of hours ago I was working a few stations from my car as LA1TPA/M. I used my Yaesu FT-857D at 5W and the ATAS-100 antenna and worked CT9 on 17m and two S5 stations and an E7 station on 20m.

http://www.cqwpx.com/rules.htm

Ham Radio news on Kindle with Calibre

2011-03-05T10:09:00.000+01:00

I have started to use Calibre ebook management to download Ham Radio RSS feeds and e-mail them to my Kindle after converting them to the right format. The Fetch News function does this automatically as long as Calibre is running. Currently I receive the Southgate ARC feed and the NRRL feed.

Please suggest interesting Ham RSS feeds!

Logbook of the world confirmations

2011-01-23T20:11:00.000+01:00

I have used ARRLs Logbook of The World for some years and I think it's a good tool to get QSLs for my DXCC in addition to paper QSLs. Here the other day I found out that some of my QSOs were not confirmed even though both I and the other station have uploaded our logs. My guess is that some people log me as LA1TPA/QRP as soon as they find out that I'm running 5 watts although I never signs with the /QRP suffix.

I have sent an e-mail to some of the stations and asked them to verify my credentials but haven't got any answers yet.

MOROZ - Red Nose contest

2011-01-21T23:01:00.000+01:00

Today I got an email from Val rw3ai who wanted to remind me about the MOROZ - Red Nose contest tomorrow. Unfortunately this is my working weekend so I don't think I will find the time to participate. The event is hosted by RU-QRP club.

You can find the rules here if you scroll a bit down the page.

Good luck to Val and the other participants!

SSB QRP activity

2011-01-15T17:24:00.000+01:00

After a late breakfast I brought my K3/10 to the club station again. I decided to make some calls on 15m and tuned my radio to 21.285MHz which is the QRP center of activity. There I found ZB2JK/P calling CQ with 20w and no takers! Gibraltar was a new DXCC for me and I was very happy to work him. I QSYed to 21.276MHz and started to call CQ myself and worked 11 stations (US, I, EA, 5B4 and CT1) before working another 3 stations (R7, YT and YO) on 17m. YT and YO were both new band countries for me. I also had a few contacts on 20m and 40m in the HADX contest before going QRT.

Current SSB QRP DXCC count: 81 worked /73 confirmed

QRP Foxhunt SSB success!

2011-01-11T09:39:00.000+01:00

Last night I was not able to join the UBA HF QRP Foxhunt because the shack of the radio club was occupied. I felt really bad about it since I was the one to suggest adding SSB to the hunt. I checked the scoring list this morning and was happy to find out a lot of hunters were chasing the SSB fox, including my blog friend Bas PE4BAS.

I'll try to be QRV next Monday.

A good day for QRP

2011-01-07T19:07:00.001+01:00

I had a day off today and after driving XYL to work I headed for the club station of our local radio club. I brought with me the Elecraft K3/10. The result of the day was two new DXCCs; HZ1PS Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 15m and A61R United Arab Emirates on 17m. I also worked 7 new band countries on 15m and 12m. All stations were worked with 5w SSB.

This brings my QRP SSB DXCC count to 80 countries worked and 73 confirmed.

UBA Foxhunt

2011-01-03T23:46:00.000+01:00

The Winter 2011 UBA foxhunt started tonight and this year they have also added SSB. I did listen for one hour without finding the fox but I know the conditions were strange tonight. I will try again next Monday.

http://www.on5ex.be/foxhunt

GQRP Club Winter Sports

2010-12-26T12:28:00.003+01:00

The GQRP Club Winter Sports activity is starting at Boxing Day. I will try to be QRV at least for some hours during the upcoming week but my hopes are not high as I only run SSB. The following is copied from the GQRP website:

The G4DQP Trophy (Winter Sports).
The highlight of the year for many operators is the clubs WINTER SPORTS. This is NOT a contest, but more a gathering of like minded souls on the bands on, or around the QRP frequencies.
This all takes place twixt the Christmas pud and the New Years hangover. To be more precise it runs from Boxing Day until New Years Day inclusive. As mentioned this is not a contest as such, none of the "UR 599, name Fred QSL? QRZ" Have a chat, enjoy the bands.
The G4DQP Trophy is awarded annually to the best log submitted of QRP contacts during the clubs Winter Sports. All logs and claims must be sent to Peter G3XJS QTHR by 7th February each year.

Please also note the GQRP club's General Award Rules

My first WSPR

2010-12-14T19:40:00.001+01:00

When finally being able to sync the time on my laptop it was time to try some WSPR. I first read about this mode a long time ago but haven't tried it myself until now. The WSPR software is capable of decoding signals not even heard by the human ear and that makes it ideal for QRP communications. As you can see from the map my best DX on 40m was 4X with my 1 watt tx power.

Time sync follow-up

2010-12-14T13:02:00.002+01:00

After a busy weekend I finally found some time to look into the time sync issue again last night. As suspected I had to open a port in the firewall in the DSL router provided by my ISP. I'm now ready to WSPR!

Thanks again for all your help and suggestions!

Syncing computer clock

2010-12-08T23:56:00.000+01:00

The last weeks I have tried some digi mode QSOs and wanted to try out WSPR. Although I managed to set up the WSPR software I was not able to sync computer time. I tried both Dimension 4 and Internet Time installed with Win 7 but all I receive is a timeout failure. I have played around with firewall and anti virus settings but the problem still persists. Any suggestions?

QSL complications

2010-11-10T18:15:00.000+01:00

Last night I was home alone as my wife was attending a meeting and I had planned to get up to date with my outgoing QSL cards.

I installed a piece of software called BV7 QSL Labels on my new laptop and imported my custom QSL templates from my old computer. These templates let me print QSL data directly on my QSL cards so no labels are needed. I exported two QSL files from Logger32, one for LA1TPA operations and one for LA1TPA/P operations. The portable QSOs are all from SOTA activations and I have a QSL template for this only. This template prints SOTA summit reference and "/P" on the cards. I printed a lot of cards and all of them were OK.

When I was done with the SOTA cards I imported the other QSL file and printed 80(!!) cards before I found out I was still using the template I designed for SOTA cards! Obviously I had to throw away 80 cards and as these were my last cards I have to wait for another batch of cards from Gennady at UX5UO print before I can finish the job...

Licenced for five years

2010-11-06T20:19:00.000+01:00

On November 4th I had been licenced for five years so I decided to take another look at my electronic log data. I used a software called ADIF Filter by Marek SP7DQR to make the statistics.

31% of my QSOs are made in 2010 while only 3.2% in 2006
37.2% of my QSOs are on 20m and 29.9% on 40m
57.9% of my QSOs are made while operating /Portable
My QSL return rate is 33.5%
I have worked 76 DXCCs, all with 5W SSB

Digi QSO!

2010-11-05T21:14:00.001+01:00

I received a new USB Soundcard for my laptop in the mail today and decided to have a try on PSK31 tonight. I struggled a bit to get CAT PTT from FLDIGI to work with my K3/10 but after some googling I found a rig.xml from Julian G4ILO that worked. I have a lot of QRM in my shack and only an indoor magnetic loop antenna so I was amazed when I found out I could see a lot of stations in the waterfall. I decided to answer a CQ on 40m from E74QA and was exited when Eno from Cazin in Bosnia-Herzegovina came right back to me. This is actually not my first PSK31 qso as I had two QSOs back in October 2007.

Off to England and Wales

2010-10-19T07:42:00.000+02:00

I'm now all packed up and ready to go to England and Wales with LA1ENA, LA1KHA and LA1DNA. We will activate SOTA summits every day from today until Friday and we will attend the GQRP convention Saturday before heading home Sunday.

GQRP Convention

2010-10-08T17:03:00.000+02:00

SPRAT arrived here today and I'm now really looking forward to the Rishworth GQRP mini convention. We will arrive Liverpool Tuesday 19 October and activate SOTAs in Wales and the Manchester area Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before the convention Saturday.

Please listen for me around 7.125MHz or 14.285MHz if you want a QSO.

Fighting QRM

2010-09-22T22:30:00.006+02:00

This summer I had the pleasure of visiting G4ILOs shack, not the website but the physical one! I was amazed to see how good Julian was able to cancel noise with a MFJ-1026 Noise canceler and a pa0rdt-Mini-Whip active broadband RX antenna. I suffer from a lot of noise myself (S7 - S9) so I have decided to test the same setup here. The MFJ-1026 has already arrived and tonight I have ordered parts to build the pa0rdt-Mini-Whip.

The pa0rdt-Mini-Whip
MFJ-1026

LA1TPA/M

2010-09-20T10:00:00.002+02:00

After reading about Steve's project, last night I finally found time and energy to reinstall my trusty FT-857 in the car. I have been QRT for a while after finding a blown fuse on the wires from the battery to the boot where the radio used to be installed. It turned out that the insulation on the wire was destroyed. I have now reinstalled the radio and put the new wires inside a protective rubber sleeve I got from a school mate that used to work in a workshop.

I'm now able to work both HF and VHF/UHF with an ATAS-100 screwdriver antenna and a short 2m/70cm whip from MFJ called MFJ-1724B. And just for the record; my FT-857 is always turned down to 5w on HF...

New weekend for SAC SSB 2010!

2010-09-19T21:25:00.003+02:00

According to www.sactest.net the Scandinavian Activity Contest SSB 2010 is moved to the second full weekend of October. I will participate in the Single Operator - All Band - QRP class

The new dates and times are:

SSB: 2010 October 9, 1200 UTC to 2010 October 10, 1200 UTC

"RUSSIAN FIELD" - QRP contest

2010-07-15T20:35:00.000+02:00

Valery RW3AI kindly sent me the rules of the Russian Field Contest:

"RUSSIAN FIELD" - QRP contest-game
Founder: RU-QRP Club

Starts: On July, 17th, 2010 at 07:00 UTC
Ends: On July, 17th, 2010 at 11:00 UTC

The purpose of this contest-game is increase of interest to work QRP in field conditions on self-made equipment, and also joint rest with a family.

Power: Only QRP - 5 W CW and Digital, 10 watts SSB.
Bands: 80 meters, 40 meters, 20 meters, 15 meters, 10 meters
Types of modulation: CW, DIGITAL, SSB
Competitions are held in the QRP-frequency.
CW 3560,3577 7030 14060 21060 28060,
SSB 3690 7090 14285 21285 28360

The general call: "CQ RF".

Entry Categories:

- Single Operator QRP
- Multi-Operators QRP

Subgroups:
- FIELD
- HOME

Operator changing his position from the "field" to "home" or vice versa,
considered a party to the subgroup "Field".
------------------------------

-------------------- -------------------------------

for field station used alternative power supplies (battery, solar, wind etc)
and from AC.
"Field" temporary position organised by the operator out of door is considered.

Exchange:

Real RST(RS, RSQ),membership number RU-QRP,(not members of the Club, send NM);
Plus one letter from word F.I.E.L.D.
"HOME" Subgroups stations (and returned back home from "FIELD" position)
send always only one letter "D"
"FIELD" stations - The exchange letter is changed at every tenth QSO using the letters F I E L consecutively. The letter D is reserved only for fixed stations.
So QSOs #1-10 use the letter "F",
QSOs #11-20 the letter "I"
QSOs #21-30 the letter "E"
QSOs #31-40 the letter "L"

So from QSO #41 then goes back to F again. etc.

Example: UR5LAM de RK4FB ur 579/086/i.
Or RK4FB de RX3ALL ur RST 579 my RUQRP nr 79/E

During QSO it is possible to exchange and other information (a name, QTH, working conditions and etc)
Repeated QSO allowed on different bands and different types of modulation
and at the SAME BAND and the SAME TYPE of modulation,
if one station was replaced by the LETTER.
The fact that the letter been changed, you can inform by CQ call (CQ RF/i)
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------

Points:

- 1 point per QSO. The Contest Manager will add 1 point plus if the QSO will confirmed in participants logs.
- For each qso with RU-QRP club member extra 5 points.
- For each complete set of letters F.I.E.L.D. additional 20 points.

During the game, missing letter in a series set F.I.E.L.D
can use one letter from own a series on 10 QSO, provided it meets
missing letter .

-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

.:: RESULT CALCULATION::.

The final result is declared by: total points for QSO + points for RU-QRP members qso + points for the collected sets F.I.E.L.D.

-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

AWARDS.

All participants will receive internet certificates .

Participants in the subgroups of "field" and "home" who rank 1,2,3,4 and 5 th places are awarded special certificates.

Five participants - members of the RU-QRP CLUB, took five top places in the subgroup of "field", awarded prizes.

Mandatory requirement for applicants for the prizes - to place at the Club or send a report the story of competition,
description of the working positions, photographs that reflect the working conditions, the use of antennas, power supply.

Participants actuated with 6 members of the RU-QRP Club who are working in "field" conditions, are awarded the diploma "RU-QRP CLUB".
For this purpose, attached to the report accompanying the letter, you must specify the request for the extradition of a diploma.
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

Candidates must send an account of the standard connections on the address
E-mail: ru-qrp-club (at) mail.ru

-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

REPORTS
Reports in the format Cabrillo by e-mail

Comments, stories, photo reports are required.

-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

Logs Submission:
E-mail: ru-qrp-club (at) mail.ru

Home page: http://qrp.ru
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

Deadline:
17 august 2010
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

UBA QRP Foxhunt

2010-05-17T10:37:00.001+02:00

E-mail from Jos ON6WJ:

Dear Foxes and Foxhunters,

In a few weeks time, the second (spring) foxhunt will come to an end and I would like to thank all foxes and hunters for participating. There will be a few weeks of no hunting after June 7. Time to count the bullets, clean up foxholes and service your shotguns.

But the show must go on! Starting on Monday July 5, 2010, we shall be back with a whole new game, with a digital foxhunt aside the "spark" transmissions (tnx Uli DG4SFS). For starters, the digital part will be limited to PSK31, 5 W maximum (other smallband weak signal modes like Hellschreiber may be considered later on). Full details to be published on the foxhunt website soon http://www.on5ex.be/foxhunt . By the way, Johan on5ex reports a ‘soapbox’ page will also be available by then.

Dear QRP friends , this foxhunting game can only be succesfull thanks to the participation of you gentlemen. Please feel free to QSP this message to all your (also QRP-minded) friends and invite them to participate.

73,

Jos ON6WJ

Radio Activity

2010-05-07T22:57:00.001+02:00

To bad I wasn't able to work any of you guys from the summit last weekend .

Today I finally made a 10m QSO, the first one this year, with IU3AC. I guess the Sporadic-E is about to arrive here in Norway as well.

And by the way, a QSL card from WP2Z, U.S. Virgin Islands dropped down in my letterbox today.

International SOTA Weekend

2010-04-28T23:18:00.000+02:00

The upcoming weekend is the International SOTA Weekend and I plan an overnight activation of the summit Vestre Hoppefjell from Saturday afternoon. I will bring a sleeping bag and camp at the summit.

If you want to work me you could listen for me at the frequencies listed below or look for my spots at sotawatch.

21.285MHz
14.285MHz
7.125MHz
5.928.5MHz
3.660MHz

Worked C36JI in Andorra

2010-04-24T21:11:00.000+02:00

Tonight I bagged C36JI in Andorra, a new DXCC for me. My QRP SSB DXCC count is now 73 countries worked and 67 confirmed.

http://ura30anys.blogspot.com/2010/03/presentation-of-special-qsl-diploma.html

Member of RU-QRP Club!

2010-04-19T20:51:00.000+02:00

I'm proud to say that I'm now officially a member of the RU-QRP Club!

My membership number is 287.

Iraq worked with QRP SSB

2010-04-08T12:05:00.000+02:00

Today I broke the pile up and worked the YI9PSE DXpedition in Iraq on 18MHz! I used my Elecraft K3 at 5w SSB and a 5/8 wavelength vertical antenna designed for 27MHz! This brings my QRP DXCC score to 72 DXCCs worked and 67 confirmed.

http://www.yi9pse.com

Moroz contest 2010 results

2010-04-05T11:51:00.002+02:00

Aage LA1ENA has informed me that the results of Moroz Contest 2010 are ready. Thanks to Aage for the information and to RU-QRP club for hosting the contest.

Results

CQ World-Wide WPX SSB Contest 2010

2010-03-29T10:23:00.003+02:00

During the CQ World-Wide WPX SSB Contest this weekend I managed to work 3 new countries and 7 new band countries on 21MHz. The new countries were Crete (SV9), Azores Islands (CU) and US Virgin Islands (KP2). I used my Elecraft K3 at 5W and a vertical antenna designed for 27MHz!

http://www.cqwpx.com/

Me on Google Street View

2010-02-09T17:57:00.001+01:00

August 29th 2009 me and the XYL visited the annual food festival in our home town Skien. During the day I saw the Google Car passing by and apparently they spotted me as well. You can see us walking in the centre of the image.

Vis større kart

Russian Hunt

2010-02-03T22:26:00.001+01:00

The winter season of the "Russian Hunt" is coming up. Sadly my cw is not good enough to participate yet. I have taken up the cw practice again so maybe I will be able to join the summer season in August. I have bought a SW+ 40 kit from Dave at Small Wonder Labs to put some pressure on myself!

Rules for the Russian Hunt

Moroz contest

2010-01-23T20:41:00.003+01:00

During the Moroz QRP contest today I was only able to be active for about one hour but I still managed to work 7 stations. My QTH was a wooden shelter just outside my home town Skien. The thermometer showed -3°C. I used a Yaesu FT-817ND, an Elecraft T1 ATU and a W3EDP wire antenna. The highlight of the day was to finally talk to Adam M6RDP on 40m!

Stations worked:
20m: RK3FW, SV2AHT, LA1ENA, LA6GOA, UA3YHG and LZ2RS
40m: M6RDP

Rishworth convention 2010

2010-01-22T14:03:00.001+01:00

George Dobbs G3RJV announced on the GQRP reflector today that the Rishworth Convention will be held Saturday 23rd October 2010.

I have already updated my calendar!

http://gqrp.com/rishworth.htm

10m opening and computer trouble

2010-01-19T17:02:00.000+01:00

10m was open in Europe today and I managed to work F5IEP, ON5BW, HA6NY, DF2QC, DO6SD and ON3DM from the shack of our local radio club.

I have spent some of the day rescuing data from my shack computer. The computer will no longer start due to mother board failure and is also out of warranty. This is the second time the mother board fails on this computer and I don't bother replacing it this time. I bought one of those USB 2.0 HDD trays so I could connect the SATA disk to my laptop via USB.

I managed to save most of the data but I could not find a way to rescue my LoTW certificates! I have requested a new certificate from ARRL and I will send the required documentation by mail tomorrow.

Two lost QSLs

2010-01-18T14:39:00.002+01:00

Early summer 2009 I worked RK2FWA and PY5QW, both stations new DXCCs for me. I was rather eager to get the QSOs confirmed so I sent both of them a direct QSL card with SAE and IRC.

Yesterday I found out that both the return cards has been in my own home since August! My wife is subscribing to a women's magazine and somehow the envelopes got stuck between the pages of the magazine in the mail. By coincidence the magazine was never read but put away and forgotten until yesterday. When my wife grabbed it, the two unopened envelopes were revealed!

Weekend trip with portable operatons in the snow

2010-01-18T11:19:00.007+01:00

Yesterday Aage LA1ENA and I returned from a weekend trip to the Sveinsbu cabin and the nearby summit Sveinsbuvarden. It took us nearly two hours by skis to reach the summit. We erected two HF antennas, a 88ft doublet and a wire vertical, and tried to make it comfortable in the snow while calling CQ SOTA. I worked 12 stations on 40m, 20m, 80m and 60m SSB and Aage worked about 20 on 40m and 30m CW.

Although it was windy and a few degrees bellow zero it was raining! The rain froze instantly on our clothing and all of our gear. At the end my hands were to numb to operate the cellphone so I couldn't selfspot my last QSYs on sotawatch. We had planned a long activation but after a while we were freezing so we decided to head for the cabin.

When we arrived the cabin it was -8°C inside. We lighted the oven and a lot of candles and after some hours it was almost too hot inside! We erected a temporary random wire antenna outside the cabin but the result was rather poor. Best DX from the cabin was 5B4AIF on 40m SSB worked with 5w.

On our way back to the parking place Sunday we stopped at the summit and did some calls on 2m. I worked LA5OGA on 145.550MHz before we headed home.

Portable operations this weekend

2010-01-14T22:36:00.003+01:00

This weekend Aage LA1ENA and I will visit one of the cabins owned by the Norwegian Trekking Association. The trip to the cabin will probably take us 1 - 1.5 hours by skis. We plan to activate the nearby SOTA summit on both Saturday and Sunday and will also try to be QRV from the cabin Saturday night.

Aage normally starts on 7.032MHz cw and I will probably try the following frequencies: 7.118MHz ssb, 5.398.5MHz ssb, 3.660MHz ssb, 14.285MHz ssb and 145.550MHz fm

We will announce our activities on sotawatch

Photo by DNT

Call for assistance on 2m

2010-01-10T21:24:00.005+01:00

On my way home from work today I was called by my friend Aage LA1ENA over the LA5GR 2m repeater. He was stuck with a flat car battery after accidentally leaving the headlights on while he was operating portable from a local hill called Vestre Vealøs (SOTA ref: LA/TM-013). There is no cell phone coverage on the parking spot but fortunately he was carrying his Yaesu VX-6 and was able to call for assistance on 2m.

I was only 10 minutes away so I was able to help him to jump start the car. Nils Cato LA4AFA heard our qso and offered to lend us his jump leads but I am carrying my own leads so we didn't need them.The temperature was about -10°C at the place.

Photo shows Aage and his Mazda 4x4 pickup

QSL from South Korea!

2010-01-08T11:11:00.002+01:00

In October I was operating portable from a local hill called Holtankollen (SOTA ref. LA/TM-049) and worked 16 stations on 20m and 40m. All of them with my trusty FT-817ND at 5w and a 88ft doublet 5m above the ground and SSB. When typing my log into Logger32 back home I found that I had worked HL4RBR from South Korea! I didn't notice during the mini pileup, I guess I mixed the HL suffix with the HG suffix of Hungary. And he was answering my CQ!

I sent him my QSL card by mail the very same day and today HL4RBRs QSL card dropped down in my letterbox, confirming the QSO! Thanks Yoon!

MOROZ (Red Nose) qrp contest

2010-01-07T21:49:00.001+01:00

Here the other day my friend Aage LA1ENA forwarded me an e-mail from Valery RW3AI. It contained the updated rules for the MOROZ (Red Nose) qrp contest hosted by RU-QRP Club. I hope to join the contest in the SOQRP - Field - SSB category.

The updated rules:

Founder: RU-QRP Club

Starts: January 23, 2010 at 07:00 UTC
Ends: January 23, 2010 at 11:00 UTC
Power: Only QRP - 5 W CW and Digital, 10 watts SSB.
Bands: 80 meters, 40 meters, 20 meters, 15 meters, 10 meters
Types of modulation: CW, DIGITAL, SSB
Competitions are held in the QRP-frequency.
CW 3560,3577 7030 14060 21060 28060,
SSB 3690 7090 14285 21285 28360

The general call: "CQ MOROZ".

Attention! It's just amusing game for your enjoyment, not competition for survival.
Do not forget about the possibility of frostbite. Please be careful.
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

Entry Categories:

- Single Operator QRP
- Multi-Operator

Subgroups:
- field
- home

Operator changing his position from the "field" to "home" or vice versa,
considered a party to the subgroup "Field".
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------

for field station used alternative power supplies (battery, solar, wind etc)
and from AC.
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------

Exchange:

Real RST(RS, RSQ),membership number RU-QRP,(not members of the Club, send NM);
Identifier temperatures at a working position at the time of the qso - F.R.O.S.T. according to the table:

F - below -10C
R - from -3C to -10C
O - from -3C to +3C
S - from +3C to +10C
T - above +10C

* Example: * UR5LAM de RK4FB ur 579/086/T. RK4FB de RX3ALL ur RST 579 my RUQRP nr 79/F

During a QSO can be exchanged and other information (the exact t, name, QTH, working conditions, etc.).

The identifier can vary, depending on the changing conditions on the position
or positions in general.

Repeated QSO allowed on different bands and different types of modulation
and at the same band and the same type of modulation, if one station was replaced by the identifier.

The fact that the identifier been changed, you can inform by CQ call (CQ MOROZ /S)
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------

Points:

- 1 point per QSO. The Contest Manager will add 1 point plus if the QSO will confirmed in participants logs.
- For each new membership number of RU-QRP club extra 5 points, regardless of the band and mode
- For each complete set of letters F.R.O.S.T. additional 20 points.

During the game, missing letter in a series set F.R.O.S.T
can use the letter of its working position, provided it meets
missing letter and held not less than 10 qso precisely with this letter.

-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

Points are awarded for each QSO in accordance with the identifier on your working position:

F - below -10C         +4 points
R - from   -3C to -10C +3 points
O - from   -3C to +3C   +2 points
S - from   +3C to +10C +1 point
T - above +10C          0 points

The final result is declared by: (total points for QSO + points for members nr of RU-QRP + points for the collected sets FROST + points for the temperature at the position.

-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

AWARDS.

All participants will receive internet certificates .

Participants in the subgroups of "field" and "home" who rank 1,2,3,4 and 5 th places are awarded special certificates.

Five participants - members of the RU-QRP CLUB, took five top places in the subgroup of "field", awarded prizes.

For applicants for the awards, change the Identifier temperatures and the relevant working positions should be fixed in the photostory.

Mandatory requirement for applicants for the prizes - to place at the Club or send a report the story of competition,
description of the working positions, photographs that reflect the working conditions, the use of antennas, power supply,
the temperature at the working position.

Participants actuated with 6 members of the RU-QRP Club who are working in "field" conditions, are awarded the diploma "RU-QRP CLUB".
For this purpose, attached to the report accompanying the letter, you must specify the request for the extradition of a diploma.
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

Candidates must send an account of the standard connections on the address
E-mail: ru-qrp-club (at) mail.ru

-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

REPORTS
Reports in the format Cabrillo by e-mail
In the line of the report SOAPBOX: specify the actual temperature of the corresponding
applicable identifiers (for example: F-19C, S +7 C).
Comments, stories, photo reports are required.

-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

Logs Submission:
E-mail: ru-qrp-club (at) mail.ru

Home page: http://qrp.ru/modules/sections/index.php?op=viewarticle&artid=47
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

Deadline:
23 February 2010
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

COMMENTS
Attention! It's just amusing game for your enjoyment, not competition for survival. Do not forget about the possibility of frostbite. Please be careful.

QRP on 80m

2010-01-06T23:23:00.003+01:00

Because of the cold weather I decided to visit our cabin in Tokke in the western part of Telemark to check that everything was OK. It was +4°C inside the cabin when I arrived and -23°C outside. Tonight it is -27°C outside!

I brought my Elecraft K3 and have done some casual operating on 80m tonight. So far I have worked ON, G and ES, all of them with 5w SSB and a W3DZZ trap dipole.

Last Surviving Crew Member of Kon-Tiki Expedition SK

2009-12-29T23:03:00.002+01:00

Knut Magne Haugland the last surviving crew member of Kon-Tiki Expedition became a Silent Key December 25. Knut was also a member of the Norwegian Resistance during WWII and was one of the original Heroes of Telemark. ARRL has this article on their web today:

Last Surviving Crew Member of Kon-Tiki Expedition Passes Away

May You rest in peace.

Hospitalized

2009-12-27T20:43:00.002+01:00

I was planning to do some cassual qrp operating during the Christmas but the plans were spoiled by the fact that I has been hospitalized since December 21th. Last Sunday I started to feel fever warm and the left side of my face, my upper left arm and the left side of my torso turned red and swollen. I went to see the doctor on Monday and he put me to bed in the hospitals intensive care unit where I spent the next two nights and days. I feel much better now and is home on leave for the weekend. I will return to the hospital tomorrow morning.

National Field Day 2006

2009-12-19T22:53:00.002+01:00

Today I received a package by mail from the Norwegian Radio Relay League that I did not expect. The large box contained a cup with the following inscription:

NRRL
NFD 2006
LA1TPA
Vinner kl. 2

I vaguely remember that I won the QRP section of NRRLs National Field Day (NFD) in 2006. I guess I was the only QRP station that bother to deliver a log...

Night operation

2009-12-16T00:12:00.002+01:00

Tonight when I looked at the NØHR.com Propfire Extension in Firefox I noticed that the Solar flux had reached 82! I wanted to check out the conditions so so I decided to visit the shack of my local radio club for some night operation.

I listened for a while on both 40m and 80m but could not hear a lot of stations. Before heading home I managed to work a french station on 80m and that is a new band country to me! He struggled a bit with my 5w QRP signal but eventually he was able to copy my callsign and my report.

Practical wireless

2009-12-14T18:15:00.003+01:00

Last week I received the January 2010 issue of practical wireless. When I opened it I found that something went wrong in the printing process and some of the pages were unreadable.

Friday I e-mailed the editor Rob G3XFD/EI5IW and he kindly sent me a new copy and warned me that it could take some time due to the holiday season. Guess what! The new magazine dropped down in my letterbox today! Thanks Rob!

And by the way, the young man on the front page is Jimmy Read M3EYP on one of his sota activations. I met Jimmy and his father Tom M1EYP in October 2008 when I visited UK with Aage LA1ENA and Kjell LA1KHA.

Norwegian QRP net on 60m

2009-12-14T17:52:00.005+01:00

The last two days I have checked in to the Norwegian QRP net on 60m at 11:00 utc. The net is controlled by Per-Olav LB1AF and the purpose of the net is to learn more about propagation on 5MHz.

Today I checked in as LA1TPA/P from Holtankollen, a local summit with SOTA reference LA/TM-049. I used my Yaesu FT-817ND, a 88ft doublet, the Elecraft T1 ATU and a switchable 4:1/1:1 balun from Elecraft.

QRG: 5.335 - 5.340 MHz

Hot Iron

2009-12-03T17:04:00.006+01:00

The winter issue of Hot Iron, the journal of the Constructors Club dropped down in my letterbox today. Tim Walford G3PCJ of Walford Electronics releases 4 issues a year of this excellent newsletter.

You can join the construction club by sending £7 (£9 for overseas members) by PayPal to Tim with your name and address.

The 1B prefix

2009-12-01T13:45:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I worked 1B1AB on 17m without recognizing his country prefix. When I later checked the call sign I found that the 1B prefix is used by the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus", a country not recognized by UN or any other countries except Turkey. The 1B prefix is not recognized by ITU and does not count towards the DXCC award.

It seems to me that Soyer is only using the call sign given to him by his telecommunications authorities and that they are the ones to blame.

When I checked my eQSL account today I found a waiting QSL from Soyer with the Authenticity Guaranteed by eQSL. The country information shows Cyprus.

I'm pretty mixed up here and I'm not sure whether I should confirm the QSL or not.

MFJ-1788x

2009-11-30T16:31:00.002+01:00

Paul PC4T asked me for some info about the MFJ-1788x magnetic loop antenna and I have decided to share my opinions so far.

As some of you might know I live in a row house with no possibility for outside antennas. After reading some reviews I started to check prizes from different suppliers and found that I could save some money by importing the antenna directly from MFJ Enterprises in USA.

I do most of my operations away from home but I have had QSOs with MW, I, GM, LY, S5, OH, 9A, HG, LA and EA with the mag-loop and 5w SSB so far. All QSOs were on 20m except the EA station whom I worked on 17m. My main problem is the very high local QRM that I experience at home, most of the time it reaches S7 - S9!

The loop is located 3 - 4m above the ground in a spare upstairs bedroom I use as my shack. The antenna is mounted in a vertical configuration, currently without a rotator. As this is my only HF antenna at home I haven't had any possibilities to compare it to others but the signal reports I receive doesn't seem to bad for a QRP station with an indoor antenna.

Julian G4ILO has written an excellent review of the antenna that you can find here.

Worked 3V3S

2009-11-26T14:46:00.004+01:00

Today I worked 3V3S on 17m with QRP SSB and a W3DZZ antenna. That brings my DXCC score to 68, all of them with 5w SSB! I really enjoyed this one as I used to be a scout myself!

http://www.3v3s.tk/

NRRL Phone Contest 2009

2009-11-22T21:22:00.002+01:00

This weekend I was working the NRRL Phone Contest (NRRL Telefonitest) for Norwegian amateurs. The contest is spanning 3 two hour periods, one on Saturday from 13.00 to 15.00 UTC and two on Sunday from 07.00 to 09.00 UTC and from 13.00 to 15.00 UTC. You can work the same stations in all periods and on both 40m and 80m. The conditions on 80m were good this weekend and I know many of the contesters managed to get very high scores. I was of cause in the Single Operator QRP category and worked 126 QSOs which gave me 21672 points.

International QRP Collection

2009-11-18T15:56:00.003+01:00

The book International QRP Collection - a compendium of QRP articles from around the world arrived today! Rev. George Dobbs G3RJV and Steve Telenius-Lowe 9M6DXX has collected a great number of articles, projects and reviews from different QRP sources. My first impression is good and I'm looking forward to read it.

You will find the book in the RSGBshop

I/LA1TPA/QRP

2009-11-16T13:15:00.005+01:00

My wife and I have just returned from a short trip to northern Italy. We visited Verona, Venezia and Bergamo. In Verona we went to the 'Museo della Radio', the Radio Museum. It is a collection of over 700 radios, mostly receivers.

In Bergamo I managed a short 2-way qrp qso with my friend Aage LA1ENA on 20m ssb with a short wire out the hotel window!

My first 5MHz activation

2009-11-10T19:42:00.005+01:00

The Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority announced the new Regulations for Radio Amateurs Friday. The new regulations gave us access to 60m, 4m, and extensions on 12m and 40m.

Today I decided to try out 60m from a local summit in the Summits On The Air (SOTA) program. I worked 9 stations in G, GW and GM with my Yaesu FT-817ND, Elecraft T1 ATU and an inverted V style 88ft doublet.

Another SAC QSL

2009-11-10T19:36:00.004+01:00

Today another QSL-card from the Scandinavian Activity Contest dropped down in my letter box. It was from 5B4AIF in Cyprus, a new DXCC for me!

QSLs from the Scandinavian Activity Contest

2009-11-05T11:29:00.002+01:00

My preferred method of sending QSLs is via the bureau. When I really need a card for a new country or a new band-country I tend to send my card directly including one or two IRCs and an addressed envelope.

After the SAC contest in September I sent a few by mail and the answers have already started to drop down in my mailbox. I have received cards from 4X0A (Israel) and EA6AZ (Balearic Islands). 4X0A is the contest call of Jan 4X1VF and the backside of the card is correctly labeled 4X0A.

I worked EA6AZ on 20m and 15m and 4X0A on 15m. That gave me 3 new band-countries. Thanks to both Jan and Tano!

International QRP Day Plaque

2009-11-04T14:53:00.002+01:00

Last week I received a package from George Dobbs G3RJV containing a plaque for winning GQRPs 2009 International QRP Day. To bad that only Bob 2E0ATZ, Peter G3JFS, Valery RW3AI and myself attended the event.

I'm hoping for more competition next year!

Licenced for four years

2009-11-04T11:54:00.003+01:00

Today I have been licenced for four years so I decided to take a closer look at my electronic log data. I used a software called ADIF Filter by Marek SP7DQR to make the statistics.

54.2% of my QSOs are made in 2009 while only 5.1% in 2006
42.1% of my QSOs are on 20m and 31.0% on 40m
62.5% of my QSOs are made while operating /Portable
My QSL return rate is 27.5%
I have worked 67 DXCCs, all with 5W SSB

Visiting Julian G4ILO

2009-11-03T10:20:00.004+01:00

When I was in England last month with Aage LA1ENA, Kjell LA1KHA and Halvard LA1DNA we were invited to Julian and his wife Olga.

We had a very nice evening with delicious food and the very good Jennings Beer. Julian showed us his homebrew Wonder loop and his HB-1A Chinese CW rig.

Thanks to both of you!

Ham radio podcasts

2009-10-12T14:16:00.005+02:00

A few years ago I bought a Creative MP-3 player planning to listen to audio books. While searching the net for free audio books I came across some ham radio related podcasts. Some of them I enjoyed a lot and some of them I stopped downloading after a few episodes.

My current favorites are:

SolderSmoke by Bill Meara
ICQ Podcast by Martin and Colin Butler
This Week in Amateur Radio International

You can learn more about podcasting at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast

Scandinavian Activity Contest 2007

2009-10-07T13:37:00.005+02:00

As a QRPer I'm not a huge fan of contests but I do participate in some of them mainly to fill up my log and if possible to work a new DXCC. One of the contests I enjoy most is the Scandinavian Activity Contest. Here the other day I received an award showing that I got the 3rd place in Scandinavia - SSB, Single OP, Multiband - QRP. In 2007! And I received the 2008 award over a month ago!

Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark are taking turns hosting the contest. The Swedes were hosting in 2008 and managed to send me the award after 11 months while the Norwegians used over two years to do the same thing for the contest held in 2007. I'm not complaining because I know these things are done by people who are doing this on their own spare time.

And by the way: Me getting the 3rd place in 2007 probably means that there where 3 participants from Scandinavia in the QRP class...

http://www.sactest.net/

International reply coupons - again...

2009-09-28T13:41:00.000+02:00

After working the Scandinavian Activity Contest this weekend I wanted to send some of the QSL cards by mail. I was all out of IRCs and visited my local post office to buy more. When asking the lady behind the counter for the new IRCs she told me that they didn't have any. I informed her that according to wikipedia the old IRCs should not be sold after 31 August this year.

I have now tried to order by e-mail from the Norwegian Postal Service (Posten Norge).

Scandinavian Activity Contest SSB 2009

2009-09-28T13:39:00.002+02:00

This weekend I worked 50 stations in the Scandinavian Activity Contest SSB. I used the Elecraft K3 transceiver at 5w and a Extended Double Zepp antenna. Thanks to Hans-Petter LA6GOA for providing the QTH and for the excellent dinner!

I joined the SOAB-QRP class and have uploaded my cabrillo log to www.sactest.net.

14MHz: 33 QSOs
7MHz: 9 QSOs
21MHz: 8 QSOs
DXCCs: I, YU, RA, LZ, US, OE, YO, HA, EA6, 4O, SP, DL, UA9, PA, TA, G, LY, 5B, SV, HB, JA, 9A, EA, 4X

Two new sunspots

2009-09-23T10:14:00.002+02:00

The Propfire add-on to the Firefox browser is now showing Solar Flux at 75 and Smoothed Sunspot Number at 26. This is good news for the upcoming Scandinavian Activity Contest - SSB. According to solarcycle24.com this is the first time in about 3 months that 2 sunspots have appeared at the same time.

http://solarcycle24.com/
http://www.n0hr.com/Propfire.htm
http://www.sactest.net/

Scandinavian Activity Contest 2009

2009-09-18T15:02:00.002+02:00

I plan to work the Scandinavian Activity Contest SSB September 26, 12.00 UTC - September 27, 1200 UTC. As usual I will be working SOAB (Single Operator - All Bands) QRP.

Please check out the brand new contest site at http://www.sactest.net/

Puxing PX-777

2009-09-17T22:17:00.001+02:00

The Puxing PX-777 VHF Handheld radio arrived from Hong Kong today after exactly 14 days. The quality looks OK and I had no problems programming it when using the quick start guide (PDF) provided by Argent Data Systems.

I have to get used to open repeaters by DTMF or CTSS as the radio does not have a 1750Hz tone.

The GQRP club Mini-Convention

2009-09-14T23:57:00.005+02:00

Aage LA1ENA, Kjell LA1KHA, Halvard LA1DNA and myself Mads LA1TPA will attend the GQRP convention 24th October. We will arrive UK Tuesday and stay in Keswick in the Lake District until Saturday before heading back to Ripponden for the convention. We will stay at Premier Inn Huddersfield West.

Hope to see you!

Please check out the new Poll to the right!

http://gqrp.com/rishworth.htm

NRAU Activity Contest (NAC) on 50MHz

2009-09-10T22:26:00.005+02:00

Tonight I worked my first 50MHz contest ever. In fact I haven't worked much 50MHz at all so this was a new experience to me. I worked 2 LAs, 3 SMs and 2 OZs from 7 different grid squares.

LA4LN informed me that I was giving out wrong locator. I was giving JO49ug but the correct grid should be JO49uf. I don't know if this will disqualify me or what. I have written the contest manager to ask him before I send my log.

I used my FT-817ND at 5w SSB and a 88 feet doublet antenna.

Thanks to Aage LA1ENA for the spot on the DX Cluster!

Puxing PX-777 VHF Handheld

2009-09-03T17:50:00.005+02:00

I have just ordered a Puxing PX-777 VHF Handheld on Ebay. I plan to use it for APRS with the OpenTracker+ that I built some time ago and my Garmin GPSmap 60. The radio gets good reviews on the Internet although the English version of the manual seems to be rather poor. The guys at Argent Data Systems has prepared a quick start guide (PDF) for the radio.

The package contains:

PX-777 (VHF 136-174Mhz)
PTT Earpiece
7.2v 1200mah Li-ion Battery Pack
Antenna
Belt Clip
English Manual
Desktop Charger

Price: 68USD including postage to Norway!

Scandinavian Activity Contest 2008

2009-08-24T12:49:00.007+02:00

This morning my certificate from the Scandinavian Activity Contest 2008 arrived. I managed to get 1st place in Scandinavia in the SSB single Op QRP class.

I'm not sure I will be able to work the contest this year as I'm scheduled to work that weekend.

Winner of the QRP day event

2009-08-24T12:43:00.000+02:00

I received an e-mail here the other day from Peter G3XJS letting me know I was the winner of this years QRP Day event. The event is sponsored by the GQRP club. Peter confirmed that it was not to many other participants and I hope for more QRP stations on the air June 17 next year.

Carrying Case for my Elecraft K3

2009-08-22T09:28:00.008+02:00

A week ago I ordered a carrying case for my Elecraft K3. Last night I received an e-mail from Rose with a preview photo of my finished case! That's what I call excellent customer service!

You can check out the products at http://tinyurl.com/7lm3m5

First QSO on the Brendon TCVR!

2009-08-20T20:47:00.002+02:00

Tonight I had my first QSO on the Brendon DSB radio! I was talking to LA6GOA/M on 3.670MHz and received 59+ without the linear! The distance was not very far, just a couple of hundred metres. This is pure QRP fun! I have a minor problem that I need to sort out: The audio disappears from time to time on both TX and RX. I will have a look at this later.

MKARS40

2009-08-08T19:15:00.002+02:00

I have decided to wait for the 40m version before I order. I guess is the 40m version will be very popular amongst SOTA activators.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/radiokits/mkars80page.html

MKARS80 - 80m SSB kit

2009-08-04T12:20:00.007+02:00

I was looking for a new kit to build when I finish the Brendon and found the MKARS80. I've joined the MKARS80 Yahoo group and hoping someone comes up with a mod for 40m so I can use it on my SOTA activations.

The kit is provided by G6ALU.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/radiokits/mkars80page.html

IOTA Contest

2009-07-27T21:12:00.004+02:00

During the RSGB IOTA contest this weekend I worked some stations from a SOTA summit on Hinnøya, EU-033. The propagation was not very good and I soon decided to abandon the contest and work some regular sota chasers instead.

More about the trip on my SOTA blog:
http://la1tpa.blogspot.com/2009/07/latr-016-storhornet.html

Islands On The Air Contest 2009

2009-07-24T18:14:00.005+02:00

I plan to do some casual operating in the IOTA Contest from EU-033 this weekend. As usual I will work QRP and this time also portable from a SOTA summit.

Contest rules: http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2009/riota.shtml

GQRP Convention

2009-07-13T20:50:00.004+02:00

In October Aage LA1ENA, Kjell LA1KHA and myself will attend the GQRP Convention in UK. We will arrive Liverpool on October 20 and drive to the Lake District where we plan to activate some SOTA summits. The convention is on October 24. The trip back home to Norway is scheduled to Sunday 25 October.

http://www.gqrp.org/rishworth.htm

IARU HF World Championship - 2009

2009-07-12T16:12:00.008+02:00

The IARU HF World Championship was arranged this weekend and I attended from our cabin in the western part of Telemark County. I mounted the 14AVQ on a fence post and laid out 2 quarter wave counterpoises for each of the bands. I discovered that the low W3DZZ (5 - 8m above ground) could beat the vertical on almost any distance on any band! Next time I will try to mount the vertical closer to ground and with 16 0.1 wavelength radials according to the manual.

I attended in the category: SINGLE-OP ALL QRP SSB

International Reply Coupon Update

2009-07-08T16:49:00.003+02:00

I got an e-mail from the Norwegian Postal Service (Posten Norge) saying that the new IRCs are available for the local post offices to order. They can also be purchased directly from Posten Norge.

International reply coupon

2009-07-08T10:04:00.004+02:00

Yesterday I visited my local post office to buy a pile of International Reply Coupons. I asked if they had started to sell the new Nairobi Model but they didn't know of any new IRCs. At the end I bought just a few to make sure I'm not getting stuck with a lot of old invalid coupons.

According to several sources the Nairobi Model IRCs should have been available from 1 July 2009 and be valid until 31 December 2013

I've sent an e-mail to the Norwegian Postal Service and asked about this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_reply_coupon

Hy-Gain 14AVQ

2009-07-07T22:41:00.006+02:00

Today I've got my self a used Hy-Gain 14AVQ vertical antenna. It's a four band trapped vertical for 10m, 15m, 20m and 40m. I'm not sure if a trap vertical is the best choice for QRP operations but it was so cheap I decided to try it.

I plan to test it from our cabin in the upcoming IARU HF World Championship. Will be back with a report from the contest.

http://www.hy-gain.com/man/pdf/AV-14AVQ.pdf

The GQRP club Mini-Convention

2009-07-05T00:15:00.003+02:00

Today SPRAT issue 139 arrived with the invitation to The GQRP Mini Convention at Rishworth School, Ripponden. I will attend this year as I did last year. The convention is held Saturday 24th October 2009. Here are some of my photos from the convention in 2008:

From left to right: Kjell LA1KHA, George Dobbs G3RJV, Mads LA1TPA

From left to right: Aage LA1ENA, Kjell LA1KHA

From left to right: Johnny Apell SM7UCZ, Kjell LA1KHA

Paraset replica built by Johnny Apell SM7UCZ

Traders and visitors in the large hall at Rishworth School

A Simple Telephony Transmitter Tester

2009-07-03T11:16:00.008+02:00

Yesterday I built the Simple Telephony Transmitter Tester by Steve Hartley G0FUW found in Hot Iron issue 64. I built it on a perfboard with copper islands. The circuit is a simple audio oscillator often used for morse code practice. I intend to use the tester to align the Brendon transceiver that I've built.

The problem is that I can't get it to oscillate! I might have blown the BC212 transistor as I didn't bother to get my ESD protection mat and wrist strap from the basement. Luckily I ordered more than one BC212 so I will replace it and check if that was the problem.

Hot Iron is the newsletter of Tim Walfords Construction Club. You will find the website of Walford Electronics at http://walfordelectronics.co.uk/

NRAU Activity Contest (NAC) on 28MHz

2009-07-03T10:50:00.003+02:00

Last night I stopped by at the club station to check if the 10m band was open. I worked a couple of stations before M0HLT asked me if the NRAU Activity Contest was about to start. I told him that I didn't think so and that NAC is only arranged every second thursday of the month.

After finishing the qso I checked with the NRRLs webiste and found out that I was wrong. NAC is arranged the first thursday of the month. I tried to look up Andys e-mail on the web to correct the misleading info but couldn't find it. I'm terribly sorry Andy!

I joined the contest and worked 12 stations in the one hour SSB part. All with an Kenwood TS-570D turned down to 5w and a vertical CB antenna.

I could see from the DX cluster that an OHØ-station was active but the skip was to long to work him. To bad as I need Aland for my DXCC.

DXCCs: OH, DL, G, F, S5

PY worked with 5 watt

2009-06-29T00:20:00.005+02:00

Tonight I managed to break the pile-up and work PY5QW with just 5 watt SSB and a W3DZZ antenna. This is my first PY-station - in fact this is my first South American station ever. Vigand gave me a 44 report and we were able to chat for a couple of minutes. He was truly 57 with me.

My QRP DXCC list now counts 64 countries: http://home.broadpark.no/~mnygaa/dxcc.html

Brendon TCVR completed!

2009-06-26T01:20:00.005+02:00

Yesterday I finished building the Brendon TCVR. Now I only need to find a suitable Dynamic Mic to test the radio. I have already tested the receiver and it works very well. The first station I heard was LA9XV.

I have ordered parts to build a simple audio oscillator to align the radio before going on the air. I'm also waiting for the linear amplifier kit to arrive but will test the radio at 1,5W before adding the amplifier.

I found the building instructions easy to follow and I especially liked the test procedures after each building step. This way the builder can be confident that the previous sections are working before a new section is added.

88 feet doublet

2009-06-19T07:38:00.001+02:00

On portable operations I use a 2 x 13.4 mtrs doublet that Ken GM0AXY described on the sota reflector. I'm very impressed with it on 20m - 10m, it's working OK on 40m and it's working on 80m. I have read that you can improve NVIS performance by laying a wire on the ground beneath the antenna but I've not tried this myself yet.

Here the other day I discovered an article about the antenna by Casey NA7U.
http://www.tomochka.com/na7u/doublet/w4rnlbackup.html

Building the Brendon phone transceiver

2009-06-18T12:43:00.003+02:00

This morning I started building the Brendon phone transceiver. I've already mounted the front panel with all the controls and started to add parts to the main PCB. The instructions are easy to follow.

I have also ordered a linear amplifier kit from Tim Walford to upgrade the rig.

Later I might try to modify it to work on 40m with a 7.159MHz crystal from the G-QRP club shop. I'm aware that the tuning range will be very narrow with this mod.