It is so great to be able to have a short chat with my old ham radio friends from north QLD via CW. My receive skills need some work but I am quickly regaining that ability. This morning they were running at about 30 wpm which is too fast for me, but thankfully they slowed down to about 18 wpm. I sent them a weather report and the comment that I had spoken to Lyn VK4SWE on the ALARA echolink net.
Since moving from acreage in Northern Queensland (home of the Gnarly Net), to a one bedroom apartment in a high rise building in Sydney, I miss my morning morse code. Finally I have my radio set up and I can hear the Gnarly Net people doing their morse code in the mornings but my ear is way out of practice after a year and a bit without any practice. My mobile whip antenna hanging off the balcony picks up lots of electrical noise making it difficult to copy. I had not yet tried transmitting CW with it but I gave it a go this morning at 0530 and got a 549 report from Rob VK4ARQ in Mt Fox about 2040 kilometres away from me. Feeling pretty stoked.
Next project is a big mag loop antenna which I hope will be quieter but as efficient as the whip or better.
Thanks Rob and Dennis
PS Mike VK4MIK your key will be on the way back to you this week.
Date changed for 20/21
Travel plans
4WD to car park at -19.376507° 146.625356°.
Depart Car park -19.376507° 146.625356° at 0800 Saturday 20 Sept (local). Allow 5 hours to get to South Pinnacle on foot via Fredrick Peak and Hidden Pinnacles. Camp just adjacent South Pinnacle.
Weather may be an issue and may have to move it Friday / Saturday if 14 day forecast holds. Stay tuned.
Participant 1
Radio Equipment
Icom IC703
Outbacker Stealth Vertical with 50ft counterpoise
Linked dipole
Chez Key
Small solar panel flexible
Gell Cell
NiMH Battery packs
Wouxon 8D HT
Camping
Lightweight one man Bivi
Spleeping mat
Trangia stove
LED lights
Emergency
Cell phone
Sat phone
SPOT GPS Messenger
Light First aid kit
Looking for a companion able to undertake this climb preferably with radio gear as well.
Well after a few mix ups and lots of scheduling problems, Joe and I finally had a nice QSO on CW again tonight. I will get that 3 element StepIr antenna up as soon as I can Joe and that will definitely help a great deal with you ability to hear me. You were 599 tonight though some QSB, and then the heavy rain shoer at the end of the QSO affected my 450 ohm ladder line too much and I had to do one over all over again 🙂
See you next week.
One of the things I originally liked about ham radio prior to the internet age was the possibility of making friendships all over the world. I must say I have found to a great extent that this element seems to have disappeared. I’ve found the interactions with many hams on air to be more about the contact and report “599 73” is about as talkative as they get. In the internet age, the interaction with hams on Facebook has been mostly good but sometimes abysmal, and the other day in a local electronics store while shopping for some specialised cable I told the very gregarious salesman it was for a high tech antenna- his comment
“Oh you’re a ham?”
“Yes,” I said.
“But you’re so easy going and polite” he replied.
Wow! is this the image we present to the rest of the community? If so time for a rethink!
Anyway I digress. Since learning CW I’ve been amazed at the friendships I have made on air, and the long chats that we have. I’m especially enjoying the chats I have with Joe HL5KY. Joe’s QRZ page says the following-
”
I developed an interest in Amateur Radio after reading a comic when I was 10 or 11 years old. The story was about a young boy talking on the radio to far away places and making good friendship through the radio.
It took a couple of years until I got my first license in 1976 as HM5KY and it was changed to HL5KY in 1981 as HM was given to North Korea. I also had a chance to take FCC license exam in Korea back in 1992. Taking 5 different written and 3 different morse tests in one day, I got AB6KT in 1992 and had it changed to a vanity call, N2KYin 1997.
Among many aspects of Ham Radio, my main interest has always been having nice conversation and developing good friendship with people all around world.
I share my interest with my xyl, Yuni HL5BTF who had already been an active Ham even before we met. Only daughter, Jenny also got her ticket as 6K5CDJ in 2008.
After about 10 year absence from Amateur Radio, I came back to this great hobby September 2011 with an Internet remote station. The radio and antennas are about 10kms away from where I live. I only have a front panel of TS-480SAT on my desk.”
Thanks Joe for the opportunity to chat with you most nights via morse code.
Well the Ameco key loaned to me by a member of the SKCC http://www.skccgroup.org has been a fantastic key, but it is time now to pass it on to another learner and member of the SKCC. Today my Czech Army Key arrived. These keys are 50 years old Czech army surplus, still in the original waxed paper wrapping with serial number. The label on mine reads
0.54.337.000002.1
64.337.000.002.0
Klíč telegrapní
QN767 05 Kčě 47,00
Jednot.sl ke Krab.:5 ke
The keys are available at http://www.czechmorsekeys.co.uk
Tonight is Straight Key Night when many SKCC members will be on air particularly in the USA on 80m. I plan to listen out for them and see if I can bag rare 80m DX. I do have to get the 80m vertical loop fixed today so that will be a priority today. Unfortunately my 80m loop faces the wrong direction for USA but will give it a go anyway.
Here is a video from the US regarding SKN
The FT101E has recently developed an issue whereby the ALC meter does not dip on voice peaks as it should with this radio. At the same time I began using the FT101E on CW and though I am careful to zero beat the stations, I am always 200Hz high. I began searching for solutions, and asking others and this is what I have found so far that may be useful.
The two problems could possibly be related and be due to dirty contacts in the Tx/Rx relay.
I received this reply regarding the ALC. …
check that the metering circuit is working you could rig up a 9V battery and a potentiometer (say 10k) to provide a variable output voltage and connect it into the ALC circuitry. Make sure you get the polarity correct, so that you have negative volts going into the ALC circuitry and adjust between 0V and -1.5V and see if you get any deflection on the meter when the meter switch is in the ALC position. A possible problem could be with dirty contacts on the main relay such that any ALC reading is not getting through to the meter.
and today I found this regarding Cw offset….
I had a 101E many years ago. It an TX offset problem that was very elusive. Stations would not come back to me when I was zero beat with the last Q (or so I thought). The problem was finally traced to a dirty contact in the T/R relay. Now to find out how to clean the relay.
Come join us on the saturday version of the VK CW Beginner’s Net on 7190 kHz at 1030 utc.
Despite visitors tonight, I will be running the Saturday net. This net is less formal than the Wednesday net. Check in is still on SSB for those daunted by a CW check-in- though of course you can check in on CW if you prefer. Net control will get list of stations and read the order to all. Then net control will switch to CW and one by one call the stations who have checked in. Net control will not switch to SSB unless you don’t answer the call to you. – try hard to recognise your call sign in CW. Net control will call QRZ at the end of round 1, then begin a second round where each station can have a second over. You may send at whatever speed you are comfortable with (up to 15 wpm), and net control will respond with the same speed otherwise net control will be on 10 wpm. Net control usually finishes the CW session with a short bit of text at 15 wpm just for your practice. Then back to SSB for 73’s etc.
Some time ago I purchased this 1950’s vintage Hallicrafters Keyer, and it finally arrived from the US. It is quite cool to have a digital device driven by vacuum tubes as part of my retro shack. Here I am demonstrating it. This was the very first time I attempted to send using it, and it has a completely different feel to my usual electronic keyer. It does not store key presses like electronic keyers, so your timing has to be spot on. Practice is the key.
A quick adjustment of the keyer. Weighting adjustment requires an analogue ohm meter.
Shack of VK2KMI 