It’s everything to everyone. Field Day 2024 is about a month away. It’s a contest, readiness drill, science fair, publicity stunt, geek festival, and party all rolled into one. It’s the Grand Poobah of amateur radio events. And this year my challenge to Off Grid Ham readers is not to... Read more »

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I was happy to contribute an article to the recent ARRL Parks On The Air (POTA) book. This piece is based on my Pikes Peak mountain topping article that appeared in the June 2023 issue of QST. This book is a collection of articles about POTA from 14 different authors, each writing about a different aspect of the program. The articles are all easy to read and generally provide a first-hand account of how the author has experienced POTA operating. There is plenty of beginner information and operating tips sprinkled throughout the book. More experienced POTA enthusiasts will probably pick up a few new ideas as well.

The Table of Contents below lists the articles and authors, giving you a good idea of the material covered. The meat of the book is only 118 pages long and it is quite easy to read.

My piece covered the triple activation I did from the summit of Pikes Peak, combining POTA, SOTA, and the June VHF Contest into one mountaintop adventure. For POTA, the park was the Pike National Forest (K-4404). I’ve done this type of combo activation in the past, sometimes just SOTA + POTA or just SOTA + VHF Contest. This time I did all three.

The book is available directly from the ARRL or from the usual book outlets such as Amazon.

73 Bob K0NR

The post ARRL Parks On The Air Book appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

The FT8 mode was first released as part of the WSJT-X software in 2017. This new digital mode was adopted relatively quickly and is now a major force in amateur radio. You’ve probably heard the praises and complaints about it. On the plus side, it enables radio contacts under very poor conditions while detractors say that it is not real ham radio because the computer is making the contact. FT8 is an excellent example of a disruptive technology, impacting daily ham radio operations. This summer, I had two operating experiences (VHF contests) that really drove this point home.

My temporary station setup on the porch for the VHF contest.

ARRL June Contest

In the ARRL June Contest, we had very good sporadic-e propagation on 6 meters (and even 2 meters). I used my IC-7610 for 6 meters and usually had one receiver listening on the SSB calling frequency and the other sitting on the FT8 frequency. My strategy was to operate FT8 while keeping an ear on the SSB portion of the band. If signals were present on SSB, I switched over to that mode. The idea is that the run rate on SSB is inherently faster (and more fun), so it is my preferred way to make contacts. 

There was definitely activity on the SSB portion of the band, but it came and went throughout the contest. There were times that I was able to run on a frequency, calling CQ and having a steady stream of stations to work. Other times, I had to search and pounce, tuning around the band to find a new station to work. The FT8 story was different: most of the time there was consistent activity and new stations to work, but at a slower rate.

The FT8 operators tended to stay on FT8, even when the signals were strong. If they wanted to maximize their score, they probably should have switched over to SSB to make contacts at a faster rate. But they didn’t and that is their choice. (One thing I’ve come to accept is that I don’t control the choices that other radio hams make in terms of operating mode and band.) On 6 meters, I made 428 contacts with 80% of them on FT8. Radio operator decisions affect the types of QSOs made and if I focused only on SSB, I would surely have had more SSB contacts (but how many?)

CQ WW VHF Contest

In July, the CQ Worldwide VHF Contest was even more striking. While I was hoping for a repeat of the band conditions from June, the CQ WW conditions were not very good. However, I did manage to make QSOs using FT8 on 6 meters. The run rate was low and I often struggled to complete the exchange before the band shifted. Again, I listened on 6m SSB and picked up contacts there whenever possible. My QSO total for 6m was 164, with 90% of them via FT8.

After the contest, I heard from contesters that used only analog modes (SSB and CW) who reported that the contest was a complete bust. Even with hours of operating time, some folks only made 10 or 20 QSOs. This clearly tees up the choice: if you don’t want to work digital, you can severely limit your number of contacts. On the other hand, if you use FT8, you can make contacts under weak conditions, but at a slower rate with a computer in the loop.

Like many contesters, I would much rather have a nice run of QSOs on SSB filling up my log. It is just way more fun than sitting there watching the computer screen report the slow progress of FT8. But in the end, we all have the same choice when conditions are poor: actually making contacts using FT8 or sitting there hoping that band conditions improve enough to support SSB.

2 Meter Band

I did make some FT8 contacts on 2 meters, but found only a small number of operators using that mode. I expect that FT8 activity will increase on that band as people figure out they can squeeze out a few more contacts & grids using that mode.

73 Bob K0NR

The post FT8 Dominates VHF Contests appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

 Well happy 2021 everyone! (I know I'm a month late 😂) 

January started off with another meeting of KY4ARC via Zoom. I finally sent in my dues so I should now be a member.

This year I decided to set a goal of participating in as many contests as I can. I started off this month with the North American QSO Party, SSB. I didn't have as much time to operate as I originally expected. After operating for about 2 hours I only ended up with 15 QSOs. Noise seemed to really bad on 40m. 80 meters was a little better, though I had some trouble breaking through the pileups. Of the 15 QSOs 13 were on 80 meters and 2 were on 40 meters. Overall all I had 12 multipliers for a total score of 180. 

Winter Field day was supposed to be my next contest, but thanks to a power outage the Friday before the start of the event my main shack computer shutdown and now fails to boot. So my logging and digital software were inaccessible. It's been on it's last leg for quite a while. It desperately needs to be replaced. I'll eventually finalize a parts list and start purchasing parts to build a new more powerful computer for the shack. Until then I'm going to try and nurse the current one back to health.

Other than a couple of DX FT8 contacts earlier in the month that is about all I've done radio wise. I did manage to make a contact with South Africa I think that's my first. I may send out a couple of QSL cards to stations from the NAQP. I haven't sent any out in a while.

Well that's all for now. Hope to catch ya' down the log!

73

Cam 

 Well not a lot has been going on radio wise the last month, except for a few FT8 QSOs here and there. I started an EMT class on the 17th that has been keeping me pretty busy! I may start trying to chat a little on my way to Ashland every now and then.

I've been working on updating the firmware and codeplugs on my radios (some were long overdue!). I've added a few repeaters to my Anytone 878, including a couple of DMR repeaters near Ashland that I didn't know were there (I still need to add them to the CS 800D in the car). Now I just need to use them!  

I think the last of my QSL cards for the 13 Colonies Event came in. All of them should now be viewable in the QSL Archive. My Certificate came in as well. It looks great! I'm thinking about framing my certificates with their QSL cards for each year, I think it would be nice to hang up! 

2020 13 Colonies Certificate

In my last post I mentioned waiting for full results from the Kentucky QSO Party. Well they were finally posted. My final score of 3,036 points put me at 19 out 35 in my category (Single Op-Low), 24th out of 44 for just Single Op and 33rd out of 54 overall. Not bad for my first showing! Next year I hope to do even better.

I been thinking about adding another antenna to my setup. A simple dipole for 10m. I know a lot of people in my area talk on 10 pretty regularly so I'd like to have a dedicated antenna to use. I have everything (I think) I need to build one. Plus the pulley on my mast is empty since I moved the G5RV. I just need the time to get around to it! Eventually I'll add a 2nd G5RV but that's not an option right now.

One last thing: Please feel free to share my blog and website to someone who may be interested! 

Well that's all for now. Hopefully I'll have more for the next update! 

73 

Cam