An Introduction To Amateur Radio At The Academy For Science And Design

May 31, 2015 by AB1OC

Ham Radio Youth Outreach – SPARK Day At The Academy For Science And Design

John Keslo, W1MBG, and I (both members of the Nashua Area Radio Club) recently had the chance to visit the Academy for Science and Design (ASD) in Nashua, New Hampshire, to provide an Introduction to Amateur Radio for the students there. ASD’s goal is to be a world-class school specializing in science, engineering, mathematics, and design for students in grades 6-12. ASD periodically holds SPARK (Symposium Promoting Advancement of Real-world Knowledge) conferences, which enable ASD students to learn about areas that might help them to develop careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and/or Math (STEM). The students at ASD are extremely bright and are highly motivated to develop STEM careers. We had about 45 students elect to attend the two sessions that John and I presented.

Introduction To Amateur Radio Video

After some introductions and a little time spent by John and me to explain how Amateur Radio has led each of us to careers in Engineering, we showed the group a video entitled Discovering Amateur Radio. This video provides an excellent introduction to Amateur Radio and we have used it successfully in many settings include the Nashua Area Radio Club sponsored Technician License Training Classes that we have been doing.

Demonstration Station Setup

John and I setup a portable HF Radio Station at the school to enable us to demonstrate Amateur Radio to the students. We used an Elecraft KX3 Transceiver with an outboard PX3 Pan Adapter and a KPA100 Amplifier (100W).

20m Vertical Antennas Using Buddipole Kit

We also built a 20m Vertical Antenna with elevated radials outside the school. We used the Buddipole Antenna System to build this very effective antenna for the demonstration.

Amateur Radio Demonstration

The students were very interested in the radio setup and antennas and asked quite a few questions about both the setup and how they could get involved in Amateur Radio. John and I were able to get on the air and make several contacts. The operators that we contacted spoke with some of the kids and shared their experiences with Amateur Radio which made the session great fun for everyone involved.

Maggie Hassan, NH State Governor, Visiting ASD SPARK

We were honored to have the Governor of the State of NH, Maggie Hassan visit our ASD SPARK session. The picture above shows John explaining Amateur Radio and how we were using it to help forward the goals of ASD students.

It was very rewarding and fun for John and me to participate in SPARK day at the Nashua Academy for Science and Design. I hope we’ll have a chance to do this again.

– Fred, AB1OC

Dayton 2015 HAMvention Recap

May 31, 2015 by AB1OC

Contest University 2015 Kickoff By Tim Duffy, K3LR

Contest University 2015 Kickoff at Dayton HAMvention By Tim Duffy, K3LR

Anita, AB1QB, and I began our 2015 Dayton Hamvention experience by spending a day at Contest University. Tim Duffy, K3LR, and the Contest University team put together another great program this year.

Contest University 2015 Dayton Agenda

Anita and I chose to attend the VHF contesting, Low-Band Antenna, and Waterfall Displays sessions, which were all very interesting. It was also great to see all of our friends from Contesting Community.

Anita, AB1QB At The Dayton Hamvention ARRL Exhibit

Anita, AB1QB At The ARRL Exhibit

We began our visit to the Hamvention exhibit halls at the ARRL booth. It is quite something to see the scope of the activities that The ARRL engages in for the benefit of the Amateur Radio Community.

ARRL Emergency Go Kit

One thing that caught our eye there was the very well put together Emergency Go-Kits that the ARRL can supply in disaster relief situations.

Elecraft K3S

Next, we visited the Elecraft booth and saw the newly announced K3S Transceiver. The K3S is a pretty major upgrade to Elecraft’s popular K3 transceiver. Most of the K3S upgrades can be retrofitted to existing K3 Transceivers. Elecraft’s approach to making significant upgrades available to update the older versions of their radios is a major selling point for them.

Elecraft KX3 And Accessories

We also saw the recently added accessories for the Elecraft KX3 Transceiver – the KX3 Pan Adapter and the KXPA100 100w Amplifier. These are both excellent units which we have added to our KX3 Transceiver setup. The PX3 provides a really nice band activity and waterfall display capability and the KPA100 is nicely integrated with the KX3 making the combination a 100W transceiver package. Look for more on our experiences with the PX3 and KPA100 in future posts.

Bob Heil And Gordon West – HAM Nation Forum

We had the opportunity to spend a little time with our friend Bob Heil, K9EID again this year. Bob and the HAM Nation crew are always fun to listen to. Bob was also part of Contest University this year where he spoke about improving contest audio.

Ward Silver, N0AX, and The Spurious Emissions Band

A big part of the Hamvention fun was the various dinners and end-of-day events that we attended. We made the RTTY Contesting, Top Band, and Contesting Dinners this year. A special treat was seeing Ward Silver, N0AX and the Spurious Emission Band perform some HAM Radio Hits!

We expanded our 2015 Dayton Hamvention experience with a County Activation Tour on the trip to and from Dayton. You can read more about that here.

The Dayton Hamvention is always a treat for us. We hope to see some of our readers there in the future.

– Fred, AB1OC

Mobile HF – Our Counties Tour From New Hampshire To Dayton, Ohio And Back

May 26, 2015 by AB1OC

2015 Dayton, Ohio County Tour

We had a lot of fun during our 2015 Dayton US Counties Tour from our home in New Hampshire to the 2015 Dayton HAMvention and back. The trip involved a total of 5 days of driving and covered about 2,000 miles – giving our Mobile HF station quite a workout. We ended up activating 98 unique US Counties, and we made 1,226 contacts during the trip. We mostly operating using the Nashua Area Radio Club’s call, N1FD/M. We spent most of our time on the County Hunter’s frequencies on 20m, and 40m, and the Net Control folks there provided a great deal of help in making our operation effective and efficient. We worked both bands in most Counties to try to give folks that were both close in and some distance away a chance to contact us.

Near The Line Between Blair and Cambria Counties in PA

We tried to activate some of the most needed Counties along our route. We had the most activity when we were in Blair and Cambria Counties in PA. These were two Counties that were needed by quite a few folks.

On The Fulton And Montgomery County Line In New York

We learned that one can be quite popular with County Hunters by activating two Counties at the same time. To do this properly, one must park the vehicle on the county line with one set of wheels in each county as shown in the picture above. Operating in this ways allows folks to gain credit for two counties via a single contact.

Dirt Lane On A Hilltop In Hampshire County, Massachusetts

We spent quite a bit of time finding good locations to activate the rarer counties that we were in. This involved driving down dirt roads and “getting off the beaten path” quite a bit.

The County Hunter folks who worked us were great, and some became fast friends during the trip. Several folks worked us more then 30 times during our trip.

N1FD/M QSL Card

We have already begun receiving QSL card requests for the contacts we made during our trip. A Mobile HF Counties Tour is a great activity for a Mobile HF operator. It makes the time on a long drive go by very fast and generates great Mobile HF operating time. We are looking forward to finding another opportunity to do a County Tour again in the future.

– Fred, AB1OC/M

Building And Operating A Mobile HF Station

May 10, 2015 by AB1OC

Presentation On Building And Operating A Mobile HF Station

We recently had the chance to do a presentation on building and operating a mobile HF station for the Nashua Area Radio Club here in New Hampshire, USA. I thought it would be interesting for our readers to see this presentation as it contains some new information we have not previously covered on our Blog.

Mobile HF Antennas

Safety in mounting mobile antennas and anything else on the exterior of your vehicle is a primary concern. This was discussed in some detail during the presentation. The best source to understand safety considerations and proper installation and mounting of Mobile HF antennas is Alan Applegate’s excellent website, K0BG.com.

The most important part of any Amateur Radio Station is the antenna system. This is especially true in a Mobile HF Station because antennas in these applications are almost always short-loaded verticals. To create an effective antenna system for a Mobile HF application, one must pay extra attention to the “3 R’s” – Radiation Resistance, Loading Coil Loss, and Ground Loss. Radiation Resistance (a measure of the antenna’s ability to transfer transmitter power to radiated waves) is the “good R,” and the other two R’s dissipate power from our transmitter in the form of heat.

Mobile Antenna System Typical Parameters

There is some good information on the typical efficiency in the ARRL Antenna Book. As you can see from the table above, the Radiation Resistance of a mobile antenna becomes quite small on the lower bands (40m, 80m, and 160m). Also, as the antenna becomes increasingly shorter to RF on these bands, more loading coil inductance is needed to compensate for the short radiator length on these bands. Coil Loss and Ground Loss can easily dissipate most of our transmit power in a very inefficient antenna system on these bands. The net of all this is that one must carefully control the Ground and Coil losses while trying to make the Radiation Resistance of the antenna as high as possible. One good way to improve the Radiation Resistance of a mobile antenna is to make the whip longer. For more on mobile HF antenna efficiency, please consult K0BG.com.

Scorpion SA-680 Screwdriver Antenna With Rod And Cap Hat

Here in New England, we have many low tree branches that limit a mobile whip’s practical length. A good technique, if the installation permits it, is to use top loading in the form of a Capacitance Hat. The Cap Hat makes the antenna appear longer and thus increases the Radiation Resistance of the Rod below it. The increase in apparent electric length at Radio Frequencies also means less loading coil inductance will be required, which in turn also lowers the Coil Loss. This is a win-win. The only problem is that this setup significantly increases the wind load on the antenna when driving, so a mechanically strong antenna and mounting system are required for a safe installation. Ground Losses can be minimized by making the vehicle on which the antenna is installed a good RF surface to couple to the ground. This is best accomplished by properly bonding the metal surfaces on the vehicle to each other and the vehicle’s frame if there is one.

Mobile HF Equipment

The next part of the presentation covered the equipment selection for a Mobile HF Station. Safety and good usability are the paramount concerns here. I believe that a Transceiver should have the following attributes to be a good choice in Mobile HF applications:

It should have at least 100W output on the HF bands
It must have an effective Noise Blank and a good Noise Reduction system
It should have a removable control head to allow you to mount the radio’s controls and display where they can be easily seen without taking one’s eyes off the road.

It is extremely important to consider safety in all things mobile HF. Safe, non-distracting mounting of controls is a top concern. One also needs to consider what could happen in a crash. Loosely mounted parts or anything that can get between a deploying airbag and the vehicle’s passengers is among the important safety concerns. One should also consider accessories that facilitate safe mobile operation. Automated antenna controllers and a voice recorder to capture contact details for later transcription in logs are some good items to consider.

Bonding And Choking

I believe the bonding and the associated effect on noise levels and ground losses is perhaps the most important factor in determining the performance of a mobile HF station. “If you can’t hear them, you can’t work them.” Proper bonding of the exhaust system, body parts, and the engine’s ground are key items in this area. You can read more about how we did this here. To give some idea of how important this area is, I took the initial S9+ noise levels (with the radio’s preamp off) of my F-150 pickup truck before properly bonding to an S3-4 level with the radio’s preamp on. This is a huge improvement and is a primary reason for the DX performance of our mobile HF station. Bonding also lowers the Ground Losses of the installation, which improves the efficiency of the antenna system when transmitting as well – again, a win-win. Proper bonding is not expensive, but it does take some work. One must also be careful when drilling holes to install ground straps so that you do not accidentally drill into wiring harnesses, gas tanks, electronic boxes, and other vehicle systems. Again, consult K0BG.com for more information on properly bonding your vehicle. If you use a screwdriver antenna, you must also properly choke your control leads to keep RF out of your vehicle and its electronics. Here’s some good information explaining how to do this.

Stage 1 Mobile HF Station

I am a proponent of building a Mobile HF Station in stages, from a simple one using to perhaps a more involved project later on. This allows the operator to have a lot of fun on the air with a reasonable initial amount of work and expense. The approach also provides the opportunity to see how the various steps outlined in the presentation contribute to improved performance. Our stage one installation consisted of a 100W transceiver and Hamstick antennas. You can read more about our Stage 1 installation here. The focus at this step includes proper bonding/noise control, safe installation of a suitable transceiver and simple Hamstick antennas. This stage gives you an inexpensive and effective, one band at a time, station on the 20m and higher HF bands. This type of installation is not difficult to do as is possible on most vehicles.

Stage 2 Mobile HF Station

A Stage 2 installation would probably involve a multi-band remotely controlled antenna – typically a screwdriver antenna. You can read more about our Stage 2 installation here. It’s important to choose an efficient screwdriver antenna. You can read more about the choices and what to look for here. We used a Scorpion SA-680 Screwdriver Antenna and are very happy with it. This is a big antenna; you must carefully focus on a strong, secure mounting system to use it safely. Our Stage 2 station was QRV on all HF bands from 80m – 10m and utilized a screwdriver controller to automate the adjustment of the antenna when changing frequencies and bands. We also use a 4′ rod and a Cap Hat to improve the antenna system’s efficiency. This important safety feature should be strongly considered in any screwdriver antenna installation.

Stage 3 Mobile HF Station

A Stage 3 Station is probably not for most folks due to the added complexity and cost, but it does create a “work the world” Mobile HF Station and can open the door to effective operation on 160m from a Mobile Station. This step involves the installation of an Amplifier and may also include an extension of the antenna system to operate on 160m. I would have to say that the upgrade to Stage 3 was as much work in our station as Stages 1 and 2 combined. It also brings a new set of important safety considerations due to the high current DC powering required by a mobile amplifier. You can read more about this Stage of our installation here.

Mobile HF In A Car

Installing a Mobile HF station in a car is also quite feasible. The slide above shows Dave, N1RF’s installation of a Stage 2 setup in his Honda Accord. The antenna mount is a custom-made unit done by a local fabricator. Also, note the equipment mounting on the fold-down rear seat of the vehicle. This installation uses an Icom IC-7100 and has produced some great DX contacts, including one to the Philippines from New England on 20m using 100w.

Operating Mobile HF

Our presentation included some tips for operating a Mobile HF station. See the graphic above for details. I believe that even a well-executed Stage 1 station coupled with good operating technique and some patience can yield a DXCC in many parts of the US and Europe. I was able to make many contacts in Europe and some in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Alaska using our Stage One setup. If you progress through Stages 2 and 3, this gets easier. We have worked over 110 DXCCs from our Mobile HF Station and confirmed 100 in about 9 months with our Stage 3 setup. The Stage 3 setup has produced some of our most memorable QSOs to date, including my very first 75m phone contact ever to Japan and a contact with Ulleung Island, South Korea, on the 40m band using SSB phone (these contacts were made from the East Coast of the USA).

Fun With Mobile HF – US Counties Tour

There are lots of fun things that you can do with a well-built mobile HF station. I have worked many DX contacts from the mobile, for example, and some have netted as many as 75+ DXCCs in a weekend. County Hunting and Tours to activate rarer US Counties are another popular activity for Mobile HF operators. You can read about one such County Hunting tour here on our Blog.

We have found building and operating a Mobile HF station to be a lot of fun! It’s almost like beginning our Amateur Radio experience all over again.

– Fred, AB1OC/M

HF Mobile – Planning A U.S. County Hunter’s Tour

May 2, 2015 by AB1OC

Planning a County Hunter’s Tour – 2015 Dayton, OH County Route

Anita (AB1QB) and I have been having a lot of fun with our Mobile HF station since we completed it several months back. We’ve been working quite a bit of DX, and we make contacts whenever we are doing errands or taking other trips. We are planning to attend the Hamvention in Dayton, OH again this year, and Anita suggested that we use the trip to activate some most wanted United States Counties along the way.

CQ US-CA Award

U.S. County Hunters are Amateur Radio operators seeking to work and confirm all 3,077 U.S. Counties. CQ Magazine has an awards program for U.S. County Hunters. Quite a few Amateur Radio operators work all U.S. Counties – some do this using multiple modes, and several have done it multiple times. To find out more about the US-CA Award, see the excellent County Hunter Dot Com site.

The Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club (MARAC) is a support group for county hunting and mobile activities with members worldwide. This is a great organization to join if you are interested in County Hunting. MARAC provides additional awards center around County Hunting and mobile operating.

You can also view WY7LL’s video on YouTube for a nice introduction to County Hunting, MARAC, and the tools the group provides to help County Hunters.

Anita did the planning for our County Tour to Dayton, OH, and back. She began by looking at the County Hunter’s Web most wanted page to determine which counties lie along potential routes between our home and Dayton, OH were most needed by County Hunters. Based upon this information, she created the route shown at the beginning of this post. As you can see, we are taking different routes going to Dayton, OH and back to allow us to activate as many U.S. Counties as we can. We are also taking a few side trips off our route to activate a few of the most needed Counties near our route.

Date	States	Counties
SundayMay 10	MA	Middlesex, Worcester
	CT	Windham, Tolland, Hardford, Litchfield, New Haven, Fairfield
	NY	Putnam
	NJ	Bergen, Passaic, Morris, Somerset, Hunterdon, Warren
	PA	Northampton, Lehigh, Berks, Lebanon, Dauphin
MondayMay 11	PA	Northumberland, Montour, Union, Snyder
TuesdayMay 12	PA	Cumberland, Fulton, Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Indiana, Westmoreland, Fayette, Greene
	WV	Marshall, Wetzel, Tyler
	OH	Monroe, Washington
WednesdayMay 13	OH	Athens, Meiga, Gallia, Lawrence, Scioto, Pike, Ross, Greene, Montgomery
SundayMay 17	OH	Clark, Madison, Union, Delaware, Morrow, Richland, Ashland, Wayne, Medina, Summit, Cuyahoga, Lake, Ashtabula
	PA	Erie
	NY	Chautauqua, Erie, Niagara, Orleans, Monroe, Livingston, Ontario, Wayne, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaiga
MondayMay 18	NY	Oswego, Madison, Oneida, Herkimer, Montgomery, Fulton, Schenectady, Albany, Columbia
MondayMay 18	MA	Berkshire, Springfield, Hampshire, Worcester, Middlesex

Planned U.S. County Activation Schedule

The table above shows the 86 U.S. Counties that we plan to activate on our trip along with a rough idea of our schedule.

County Finder App

We found a useful iPhone App (County Finder) that will tell us what County we are in at a given time. The County Finder App uses the GPS in our iPhones to provide our current location in real-time.

HamClock Grid Square App

We will also be tracking and logging the current grid square that we are operating from. We will be using the HamClock App on our iPhones to determine our grid square of operation in real-time.

Mobile Logging

Anita and I will be taking turns operating and logging. We are planning to use a laptop computer running the DXLab Suite, and we will connect it directly to the IC-7000 Radio in our truck. This combination, plus the County Finder and HamClock Apps above, should allow us to log all of our contacts accurately. We will also be uploading contracts that we make to eQSL, LoTW, and ClubLog in real-time as we operate.

OpenAPRS App

We will also be running an APRS station so that folks can see where we are located in real-time and follow our progress. We are using the OpenAPRS iPhone App for this purpose. Our APRS callsign with be AB1QB-15, and you can see our position and progress on aprs.fi at any time by clicking here.

N1FD – Nashua Area Radio Club QSL

Anita and I are the Nashua Area Radio Club members, and we will be operating using the Club’s call sign, N1FD/M, during the trip. In addition to the electronic QSL’ing methods mentioned above, we will also be able to provide paper QSLs using the Club’s QSL card shown above. All paper QSLs we send will note the correct County and Grid Square from which the QSL’ed contact was made. See N1FD on QRZ.com for QSL information.

Band	County Hunters Net Frequency (SSB)
20m	14.336 & 14.271 MHz
40m	7.188 MHz
80m	3.901 MHz
17m	18.136 MHz
15m	21.336 MHz
12m	24.936 MHz
10m	28.336 MHz

County Hunters Net Frequencies

We plan to operate on or near the County Hunters Net Frequencies listed above. We will be QRV SSB on all of these bands, and we may also do a limited amount of operating on 160m SSB as well.

Our Mobile HF Station

We hope you will take some time to work us during our trip. If you do and you read our Blog, please let us know. If we do not have other stations calling, we’d like to take a little time to say “hello” and get to know some of our readers better. We will also be attending the County Hunter’s Forum on Friday, May 15th, at this year’s Dayton Hamvention. If you are there, please introduce yourself, and we’ll have an “eyeball QSO”.

– Fred, AB1OC

Technician Licensing Class in Southern New Hampshire

April 20, 2015 by AB1OC

Technician License Class Notice

The Nashua Area Radio Club in New Hampshire, USA, is putting together Technician License Training Class, and I’d like to encourage everyone to help us to sign up interested folks in the Nashua, NH area for the class. The class will be held at the Darmouth-Hitchcock Facility in Nashua, NH. The information on the class is listed above, and pre-registration is required.

We will be teaching using ARRL’s Technician lesson plan, which includes demos and video material to make the class interesting and a great learning experience for new HAMs. We will hold a License testing session at the end of the course so that folks can earn their Technician License. Folks in the Nashua, New Hampshire, area can contact me using the information above to register.

Encouraging folks in your area to take a class such as this one is a great way to “give back” to our hobby.

– Fred, AB1OC

A DX’ing Milestone Reached – 300 DXCC’s Worked

March 24, 2015 by AB1OC

Nepal 9N DXpedition (Courtesy 9n.dxpeditions.org)

2015 has continued to be my best year for working new DX in my relatively short 4 years as an Amateur Radio operator. I have been trying to reach a personal goal of working my 300th DXCC for several months, and I’ve been just one All-Time New One (ATNO) short for a few weeks. I worked one or more new Band-DXCCs every day in 2015, with a total of 112 new Band-DXCCs worked so far this year. About a week ago, it looked fairly certain that my 300th ATNO was in sight with the 9N DXpedition to Nepal about to come on the air. Just as they did, we had some very strong solar flare/Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) activity which wiped propagation between my QTH in New England, USA, and Nepal. 9N Nepal is a fairly rare one here in the USA (#42 on ClubLog’s most-wanted list for North America) so I really wanted to put 9N in the log while it is active.

VOCAP Propegation Prediction Between 0N Nepal and NH USA

Tools for DX’ing – VOCAP Propagation Prediction Between 9N Nepal and NH USA

I have been listening diligently each day during the periods of best propagation (see the excellent VOCAP propagation prediction website to create custom propagation predictions). This morning the K and A indices were down, and the most up-to-date VOCAP prediction between Nepal and my QTH suggested that today would be better. I went down to the shack early before the start of my work day and found Janusz, 9N7WE coming in strong on 15m SSB. I took just two tries to get him in the log.

At this point, the remaining DXCCs that I need are, for the most part, the rare ones. Both Anita (AB1QB) and I have begun to use the tools provided by the DXLab Suite, ClubLog, various DX newsletters available on the internet, automated monitoring of the spotting clusters, and computer-generated propagation predictions to help us to work the remaining ATNOs as well as achieve our operating award goals. For more on how we use these tools, please see our related DX’ing post here on this blog.

– Fred, AB1OC

2015 DX’ing – DX’ing Tools Produce One Of The Best Years Ever So Far

March 12, 2015 by AB1OC

DX’ing Tools – March 2015 Featured DXpeditions

2015 has been quite a year for DX’ing and working new DXCCs for us. This month is the most productive I have experienced, with more than 20 interesting DXpeditions. We’ve been fortunate to have the chance to work the DXpedition on Navassa Island (#2 on ClubLog’s most wanted list), which took place in February of this year. In addition to those shown above, there are also quite a few small operations, including E51UFF on North Cook Island and VP8DOZ on South Georgia Island (#9 on ClubLog’s most-wanted list) being on. Also, Eritrea, E30FB, which is operating right now, is #20 on ClubLog’s most wanted list. All of this makes for a great opportunity to work all-time new ones and add new DXCC Band-Points. We extensively used DX’ing tools as part of working new DXCCs this year.

Anita, AB1QB has worked 13 all-time new DXCC’s and I’ve worked 5 all-time new DXCCs since the beginning of 2015. Anita has broken the 250 DXCC barrier, and I’m just 2 away from breaking 300. There have also been quite a few new IOTAs for us. Anita has added 11 IOTAs this year, and I’ve added 14. We also added more than 85 DXCC Band-Points each toward our DXCC Challenge Award totals. I have set a goal to work at least one new DXCC Challenge Band-Point each day in 2015 in hopes of getting to the 2,000 DXCC Band-Point level before the end of the year (I am currently at 1,785 worked).

Shack Board – Upcoming Operations and Contests

We use a number of different sources to find out about these operations. Our favorite ones are The Weekly DX, DX-World.net (the source of the graphic above), and DX Publishing’s QRZ DX. These are all excellent sources for finding out about upcoming DXpeditions, small DX operations, and IOTA activations. Working DX contests such as CQ WW DX, the ARRL DX Contests, and CQ WW WPX are also excellent ways to work new DXCCs and new Band-Points. We have a whiteboard in our shack where we record upcoming operations that we need and contests that we want to participate in. This helps us keep track of what is coming up that we need.

DXLab SpotCollector

We also use the SpotCollector component of the DXLab Suite to help us identify new DXCCs, Band-Points, IOTAs, and WAZ Band-Zones that we need in real time when they come on. We have also used SpotCollector to alert us when stations we need for the Yearly CQ DX Marathon are on the air.

Spot Sources Configuration In SpotCollector

We have configured SpotCollector (the spotting component of DXLab) to aggregate spots from various sources. Our logs are kept in DXLab, and we program the SpotCollector to filter all incoming cluster spots and CW/RTTY Skimmer data to tell us about high-priority stations we want to work with when they are on the air. The key to this approach is carefully filtering incoming cluster and skimmer spots to only display and forward the most important opportunities.

Award Setup in DXKeeper

The first step in the filtering is to configure DXLab’s DXKeeper component for the types of contacts we are interested in. This is done in the Award configuration section of DXKeeper.

SpotCollector SQL Filter

We then use the powerful SQL script capability of SpotCollector to only tell us about stations that we are willing to “head for the shack to work.” SpotCollector is configured to send the appropriate spots as text messages via email to our mobile phones so that we know immediately when something we need comes on. The filter above selects all-time new DXCCs, new DXCC Band-Points, new IOTA’s, and new WAZ Band-Zones which are spotted in the Eastern or Central United States. The filter also picks up new Band-States for the ARRL Worked All States Award.

We hope our readers interested in working DX and IOTAs will be able to find some time to work so of the operations on the air right now. This time period is certainly one that has a lot of potential to put “new ones” in the log. If you use the DXLab Suite, you might try some of the more advanced features of SpotCollector to help you better find stations that you want to work when they are on.

– Fred, AB1OC

2014 Amateur Radio Highlights

January 29, 2015 by AB1OC

Amateur Radio Highlights – our 2014 Readers Around The World

It is again time for our annual 2014 Year Amateur Radio highlights post. First, I’d like to thank our readers for their continued interest in our Blog. Our blog was viewed about 100,00 times in 2014 from 165 countries worldwide. You, our readers, have made 2014 our busiest year yet, and this provides Anita (AB1QB) and me with great encouragement to continue to provide content for our readers.

2014 was a very busy year in Amateur Radio for us. Our activities included a continued focus on station building, contesting, WRTC 2014, special events, providing presentations to help others in the hobby learn about new things, attending several HAM Events, progress on operating awards, and most importantly – time spent on the air operating.

microHAM Station Master Deluxe Antenna Controller

This year, we upgraded our fixed station to include a microHAM Station Automation system. This major project added some nice SO2R capabilities to our Multi-one station and automated the sharing of our antennas between our two SO2R operating positions. More of this project can be found here:

Eggbeater Antennas And Preamps SystemsOn Tower

Eggbeater LEO Satellite Antennas And Preamps Systems On Tower

We also added LEO Satellite capabilities to our station with the addition of some new antennas and electronics on our tower. This allowed us to make our first contacts through LEO birds with linear transponders. Our articles on this project include:

Our Mobile HF Station – Screwdriver Antenna

Our final major station-building project was constructing a state-of-the-art mobile HF station in our Ford F-150 pickup truck. We did this project in phases, starting with a simple setup using a 100W radio and HAM Stick antennas through the installation of a Screwdriver Antenna System for the 160m – 10m HF bands and concluding with the installation of an amplifier to enable high-power mobile HF operation. You can view the articles on this project here:

AB1OC Operating In the 2014 CQ WPX SSB

Anita (AB1QB) and I continued to be active in several contests this year. We both continued to develop our skills as contesters and our scores and place in the rankings reflected this. You can read more about our contesting activities and what we learned in the following articles:

WRTC 2014 Hollis Site Competitors, Support Team And Referee

We were also fortunate to host one of the WRTC 2014 competition sites. Along with our friend Scott Anderson, NE1RD, Anita and I acted as site managers for the only WRTC 2014 Competition Site in New Hampshire. You can read more about our WRTC 2014 experiences here.

13 Colonies Special Event QSL Card For K2K New Hampshire

Special event operations were a particularly fun part of our on-air activities in 2014. We operated as K2K, New Hampshire, in the 13 Colonies Special Event, W1AW/1, as part of the ARRL Centennial QSO Party, and as N1FD Celebrating the 35th Anniversary of the Nashua Area Radio Club. It’s great fun to operate in these events and the experience running the pileups that result continued to help Anita and me to develop our operating and contesting skills.

Introduction To The DXLab Suite

We prioritize devoting a significant amount of our Amateur Radio time to helping others in the hobby learn new things. In addition to writing this Blog, Anita and I try to create and deliver several presentations each year on a variety of topics of interest to the Amateur Radio Community. This year’s presentation included an update of our presentation on Amateur Radio Station Design and Construction and an Introductory Presentation on the DXLab Software Suite. We are always interested in working with Amateur Radio Clubs to deliver the presentation in person, where practical, or over the web.

Anita (AB1QB) and I with Bob Heil (K9EID)

We had the fortune to meet some of the legends in Amateur Radio this past year. Anita and I had the opportunity to get meet Bob Heil, K9EID and to appear on his Ham Nation podcast. Bob is an amazing gentlemen and we feel truly fortunate to have the opportunity to get to know him. We also had the opportunity to meet Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ, the President and Founder of QRZ.com. Fred visited our station and did an article about our station on QRZ.com. Anita and I both learned a great deal about HAM Radio and how it came to be what it is today as a result of the time these fine folks spent with us.

Joe Taylor’s WSJT Presentation At the ARRL Centennial Convention

Amateur Radio Conventions and HAM Fests were a major part of our Amateur Radio fun again this year. We were fortunate to attend and speak at the ARRL Centennial Convention in Hartford, CT USA this year – truly a once in a lifetime Amateur Radio experience. We also attended the Dayton Hamvention in 2014 where we had a chance to see all of the latest and greatest in Amateur Radio Equipment.

Our 2014 QSOs By Callsign

We were quite active on the air making almost 26,000 contacts between the two of us. As you can see from the graphic above, about 45% of our contacts were as part of Special Event Operations. We also made a little over 500 contacts from our mobile station, working over 100 DXCC entities in 2014 from the mobile.

Our 2014 QSOs By Band

We were active on all of the HF bands this year. We made our first contacts on the 60m band, and I was able to focus on the 6m band and earn a VUCC Operating Award (100 grid squares worked and confirmed) on that band. Anita and I made our first DX contacts in Europe on 6m in 2014. Anita took quite an interest in the 160m band, and she is working on a Worked All States Operating Award on this band. Our operating time using weak signal and satellite modes on the 2m and 70cm bands was limited to a few contacts this year. I did make my first contacts through LEO Satellites in 2014.

Our 2014 QSOs By Mode

We mostly operated in the SSB phone mode in 2014. Anita and I both continue to work on our CW skills, and we managed a little over 800 QSOs using CW in 2014. Anita was very active in the RTTY mode as part of her RTTY contesting efforts.

13 Colonies K2K New Hampshire QSL!

All of this operating resulted in quite a bit of QSL activity. We sent a total of almost 4,200 QSL cards in 2014!

We again made a video showing all of our contacts around the world in 2014. As you can see from the video, we were fortunate to work quite a bit of DX in 2014.

Fred’s 6M VUCC Operating Award

All of this operating helped Anita and me to make some progress on operating awards this year. In addition to earning a 6M VUCC, I completed a Worked All States Award on all 9 HF bands 160m-10m. I was also able to complete several nice regional operating awards (Worked All Europe TOP Plaque, Worked All VK Call Areas, and Worked All Africa) as well as upgrading my DXCC Challenge Award to the 1,500 Band Country level. Anita completed her JARL JCC Award (she worked 100+ Cities in Japan) as well as her Worked All States Triple Play Award (all states on SSB, CW, and Digital via LoTW).

Anita and I had a lot of fun with Amateur Radio in 2014. We look forward to another great year of HAM Radio fun in 2015. We hope to share some of what we learn and our experiences with our readers here on our Blog.

– Fred, AB1OC

An Introduction To The DXLab Suite

December 11, 2014 by AB1OC

Introduction To The DXLab Suite

I recently had the opportunity to do a presentation introducing the DXLab Software Suite for several local radio clubs. The idea was to provide a fairly comprehensive introduction to DXLab and to show how it can be used to make Amateur Radio operations, QSL’ing, and Award Management easier and more enjoyable. There are several good DXLab introductory presentations and web pages on the internet, so we decided to do ours with some “live” demos of DXLab in use within our station.

Why Computer Logging And DXLab?

Not all hams have converted to computer-based operation and logging, so we began by covering the motivation for and some of the advantages of Computer-based operation and logging.

DXLab Suite Components Overview

The next part of the presentation provided an overview of each of the components of the DXLab Suite and some of the basics of how they work together. This was covered via a set of “live” demonstrations using our station. You can view these demonstrations as videos via the following links:

Our station is a fairly complex one. It includes multi-operator capabilities from two operating positions with a total of four active radios and a microHAM station automation system. We also operate under a number of different callsigns from different computers. Finally, we do a fair amount of operating portable and from our mobile HF station. The DXLab Suite’s Launcher program, with its multiple workspace capabilities, easily handles the multiple configurations and equipment interfaces that are required for our station and operating style.

DXLab Use Scenarios

The next part of the presentation covered some common DXLab “use cases” that one would likely encounter when making contacts, QSL’ing, and managing progress toward operating awards.

Casual Contacts With DXLab

The first demonstration showed the use of DXLab to make casual or “rag chew” contacts. The emphasis here is on using the Suite to automate station configuration and logging tasks and to provide information to enhance the quality of your contacts. This demonstration covers the basics of how the components of the DXLab Suite work together to help you make and log a contact. You can view a video of this demo via the following link:

Using DXLab to make Casual Contacts and for “Rag Chewing”

Finding And Working DX With DXLab

The next demonstration showed the use of DXLab to find and work DX contacts. This demonstration uses more components of the DXLab Suite, including the spotting cluster and propagation prediction features. You can view a video of this demo via the following link:

Using DXLab to find and work DX contacts

Operating CW And Digital With DXLab

The next demo shows how DXLab is used to find and make a DX QSO using Digital Modes. A RTTY QSO is shown, including the WinWarbler component and multiple RTTY decoders (MMTTY and 2Tone). You can view a video of this demo via the following link:

Using DXLab to make Digital Mode Contacts

QSL’ing With DXLab

The next demo shows how to use DXLab to QSL and confirm contacts. The demo covers QSL’ing via the Logbook of the World (LoTW) and the eQSL online QSL services, the generation of paper QSLs, and the assistance that DXLab provides to determine QSL route information. You can view a video of this demo via the following link:

Using DXLab to QSL and Confirm Contacts

DXLab QSL Card Examples

DXLab can generate labels to apply to your pre-printed QSL cards, or it can be used to print QSL information directly on blank cards.

QSL Card Label Sheet Example

DXLab can print QSL cards and address labels on many types of standard label stock. An example of QSL card labels is shown above.

QSL Envelope Generated By DXLab

DXLab also generates outgoing and return envelopes for your paper QSLs. An example is shown above.

Operating Award Management With DXLab

The final demonstration shows how to use DXLab to track your progress toward and apply for operating awards. Some of the basics of QSL “aging” are discussed as well. You can view a video of this demo via the following link:

Using DXLab to Track and apply for operating awards

AB1OC Operating Awards In Our Shack

The SpotCollector component of the DXLab Suite is very useful as a cluster monitor. It can be configured to alert you via email or text to your mobile when something is on that you need. More information on how to use SpotCollector this way can be found here. The set of operating awards that DXLab knows about and the features that it provides to manage your progress toward earning and applying for awards are some of the strongest features of the suite. We have used DXLab to help us to earn many different operating awards.

Getting Started With DXLab

The final part of the presentation covers the configuration of the DXLab suite to get it to work with your station. Since every station is different, it’s best to consult the excellent DXLab online help for more information on how to configure the suite.

Useful Information And Links

The presentation includes links to useful tools and information to help you get the most from the DXLab suite. Dropbox is a useful file-sharing tool that can help you keep your logs and DXLab configurations in sync across multiple computers. This allows you to use DXLab to access your current logs or to operate your station from different computers.

I hope this overview of the DXLab suite will encourage our readers to try it. Anita (AB1QB) and I have successfully used the DXLab suite with our station for several years now. It does a great job automating many aspects of our Amateur Radio operations, QSL’ing, and award management. It easily handles the complexities of our multi-operator station, and it also handles logging and QSL’ing for multiple call signs that Anita and I operate under. We also use DXLab for our portable, Field Day, and mobile operations, and it handles all of these scenarios very well.

The DXLab suite is available for download here. Here, you can download a copy of our DXLab presentation (without the videos). The DXLab Yahoo! Group provides a good place to seek support and answers to questions about DXLab. I hope that our readers will give the DXLab suite a closer look. For those who already use DXLab, we hope you pick up some new ideas from how Anita and I use the suite as part of your Amateur Radio operations.

– Fred, AB1OC

Our HAM Station

Notes on the construction and operation of a multi-op Amateur Radio Station

An Introduction To Amateur Radio At The Academy For Science And Design

Dayton 2015 HAMvention Recap

Mobile HF – Our Counties Tour From New Hampshire To Dayton, Ohio And Back

Building And Operating A Mobile HF Station

HF Mobile – Planning A U.S. County Hunter’s Tour

Technician Licensing Class in Southern New Hampshire

A DX’ing Milestone Reached – 300 DXCC’s Worked

2015 DX’ing – DX’ing Tools Produce One Of The Best Years Ever So Far

2014 Amateur Radio Highlights

An Introduction To The DXLab Suite

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