GlowBug 40 Finished

It's done! See more pix.
- posted by Leigh @ 22:32 z 1 comments

 
Glowbug 40

In the home stretch...
- posted by Leigh @ 00:12 z 0 comments

 
Harry Potter, the HP 35s, and the Deathly Hallows


Both eagerly awaited, both arrived in July. Notice the similarity between HP and the Deathly Hallows and HP-35s.
- posted by Leigh @ 20:38 z 0 comments

 
CO8LY
Both 20m and 30m seemed to have shut down so I went to 30M where I quickly heard CO8LY on 7.003. Eduardo heard me at 5W but needed fills, so I cranked my K2 up to 5W and we had a QSO on CW Eduardo gave me a 599 from Cuba and I sent 599.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 05:35 z 1 comments

 
Bandplans program
I took data from Bandplans.com for 80m and massaged it a bit to produce a band map for 80m. Then I wrote a 10-line Python program to take any frequency and print out the list of modes in use on that frequency. See demo and source.

Labels: Software

- posted by Leigh @ 17:43 z 0 comments

 
ZL4PW
I listened on 20m and heard KH6S in Hawaii, on the Big Island, talking about hurricane Flossie preparations. I hope he's alright there and that the storm misses the island. 20m was extremely quiet (no QRN) and had nothing much else so I went down to 30m where it was quiet as well and I immediately heard zl4pw on 10.108.50 and I got the chance to use the K2 DSP, which I find watery if signals are strong and not very useful in heavy noise. Tonight, it was just great, and I used a 700Hz IF filter and a 200Hz DSP filter and it made copying easy. We had a quick CW QSO as Paul found my copy difficult due to QSB even with 35W. He gave me a 449} from and I sent 539}. At the very end I thought he said "RIG TONITE?" but he must have said something else...

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 05:22 z 0 comments

 
TH-31A

I got a TH-31A 1W 1.25M HT with battery and charger for $20 at the <a
href="http://www.electronicsfleamarket.com">flea market</a>.
- posted by Leigh @ 23:47 z 0 comments

 
WB6W/KL7
I worked WB6W Glenn in North Pole, Alaska on 7.019 CW.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 06:00 z 0 comments

 
VY2ZM
I heard VY2ZM in Prince Edward Island calling CQ test on 7020 with no takers, so I gave him a call. OM sent "NO USA" and called CQ again. "599 TU 73" isn't much harder to send, is it?
- posted by Leigh @ 05:55 z 0 comments

 
KE7KFH and PSK-20; VK4BDJ SWL
I was doing some repair work on the PSK-20 I built a few years ago and decided I wanted to test it. I heard KE7KFH on 14.071226 and we had a QSO on BPSK31. Owen gave me a 599 from Albany, OR 97321, USA (CN84lp) and I sent 599 for his 50W from an 857D to an inverted vee. Owen said I had some sidebands, so I expect the VOX drive cutoff isn't accurate yet. We said 73 around 0615Z. Later I heard from VK4BDJ that he copied Owen, but not me; I was pointed north so that's not surprising.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 06:15 z 0 comments

 
KH7CC
I heard NH7UA call CQ and be answered by KH7CC, who got his call but they NH7UA couldn't decode anything. I popped in and said "GUX RX BOTH 589" and Tom KH7CC in Maui, HI answered and said I had a strong signal for my 5 watts to the SteppIR 40m dipole.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 05:50 z 0 comments

 
Great-circle Bearing and Distance
I have written a couple of Python command-line programs to determine bearing and distance.
- posted by Leigh @ 18:01 z 0 comments

 
VK3JMB
I heard VK3JMB calling CQ on 14.071.95 and saw he had a QSO with KA3L nearby. I called at 1W and then at 2W but got a 599 at 5W from my K2 and SteppIR. Dave is near Melbourne, Australia and is using MixW. The band was fading so although I gave him 599 I noted there was fast QSB causing dropouts. Dave requests LoTW or Bureau QSL.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 06:06 z 1 comments