ZS3/G3LZQ
I heard ZS3/G3LZQ on 7.010 with my low loop and used the K3 NB and NR to make it readable. There was some slow QSB so I thought I might have a chance and switched to the SteppIR dipole at 12m and got through the second time with 100W. OM sent me 599 and I sent 599, and he made one more QSO, then said SRI QRT. Op is John in McDougalls Bay, South Africa according to ARRL DX news.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 05:54 z 0 comments

 
FO5A/MM
I worked on fldigi a bit, adding a patch for colorized macro buttons (red=tx, green=rx, yellow=both) . Then I turned on my K3 on 40M and heard FO5A/MM calling CQ at a good clip on 7.016 and answered with 5W to my low loop antenna. I got 599 right back to my 599. OM said he was south of San Diego, off Baja.

Update: Here are some pix of them on the way to Clipperton.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 05:13 z 0 comments

 
V7NS

I've been upgrading my desktop from FC6 to FC7 and while it was going on I recompiled fldigi and listened to CW on 20m, which has been open to the south surprisingly late these days. I heard a VK2 down low on the band, but he wasn't going to hear me. I turned to 14.015 and heard V73NS calling CQ very fast CW from Roi-Namur, Kwajalein Atoll. He heard me at 5W but I got a string of ?'s until I went to 75W at which point I got 599 and sent 599.

I'd heard him once before on my KX1 portable from a hotel but not been able to get through.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 05:54 z 0 comments

 
VP6DX
I worked VP6DX in their last night on 14.003 this time on CW with my K2 using K6YUU's low dipole. They came back immediately and sent 599 to my 599. Pretty amazing!

Hmmm...this one shows as not in their log...

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 04:24 z 0 comments

 
KH7XS

I set up my K3 in my car parked at the Stanford campus and used the BatterySpace LiFePO4 battery and the MH2 microphone to a 20m Hamstick and heard KH7XS Bill on 14.211.5. Bill was running 1200w with his 200ft tower up 800ft above the Pacific on the the eastern shore of the Big Island of Hawaii. Bill had recently moved from Florida where he had 4 towers 200ft and is just now getting his Hawaiian superstation up. He has up k3 on order and had a few questions about mine, and I told him the NB was working FB for some noise I was hearing on the campus. He gave me true 5x9, s9 on the meter} for my 100W and I sent 5x9.

There was no sign of RF feedback with teh MH2, and even though the supply voltage dipped to 9.9v when I pushed the rig to 100W, I got no bad audio report, so my experience with VP6DX the other day must have been due to the lack of shielding or bypassing in the cheap headset I was using.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 17:42 z 0 comments

 
VP6DX
I worked VP6DX on Ducie Island on 14.190/14.245 for a 5x9.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 01:19 z 0 comments

 
LU6EC
I heard LU6EC Ricardo from Azul, Argentina, GF03BF. Ricardo gave me a 579 and I sent 579. Ricardo was using his Kenwood TS-450 at OM40W into a 6el. PSK31 on 14.071.30 2.5W K3 SteppIR.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 02:01 z 0 comments

 
k3watch-0.0
I've written k3watch, a Linux Python tool to check the K3 and the Elecraft site and popup a notification when an update is available. It contacts my wa5znu.org site to obtain a cache of firmware revision numbers, so the load from the thundering herd of Linux K3 owners won't take down Elecraft's ISP (hi hi), but the source comes with a copy of the script if you want to run it yourself. And of course, it doesn't write anything to the rig; we're waiting on Elecraft's program for that. See k3watch.
- posted by Leigh @ 21:27 z 0 comments

 
shibumiscript
I've created a new weblog to discuss shibumiscript, a declarative approach to dynamic web pages, forms, and applications which combines the big ideas of XForms with the fluidity of AJAX libraries.
- posted by Leigh @ 20:23 z 0 comments

 
HS0ZBS
I heard HS0ZBS Kurt from 150km East of Bangkok, Thailand. Kurt gave me a 579 and I sent 459 QSB}. PSK31 on 14.071.44 25W K3 SteppIR.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 16:18 z 0 comments