Moroz contest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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.