After the 13 Colonies Special Event I took some time off from the radio to focus on organizing stuff after moving out of my apartment and updating the website.
I've added a few QSL cards from the KY QSO Party and the 13 Colonies event to the QSL archiveΒ (click link to view). I also added descriptions to each card so the album is now fully searchable (at least for me). The descriptions also allow the image to be accessible to people using screen readers. You can view the descriptions by clicking the (βΉ) after clicking on an image.
I also added descriptions to all of the awards on the awards pageΒ as well as alternate text to the awards and images on my QRZ page. I received and uploaded my certificate from the KY QSO Party. My score was higher than what I calculated. I ended up 3,036 points. I'm eagerly awaiting the full results!
2020 KYQP Certificate
I made a few check-ins on the nightly Friendship Net on the East Kentucky Link System (via the KY4ARC Paintsville repeater) after setting my Yaesu FT-2980 VHF radio back up. Not long after some work was done to the repeater and I can no longer hear it. I found out that I can usually hear the N4KJU UHF repeater in Paintsville, via ONLY my Anytone 878UV (my IC-706mkiig seems to be deaf on UHF). I don't have a UHF rig (or antenna) that can reach the UHF repeater so I came up with a different solution. I rigged up a manual antenna switch to the feedline coming from my VHF beam and split it between the FT-2980 and the 878. I use the 878 to receive the UHF repeater and switch to the 2980 to transmit to the Paintsville VHF repeater (it can hear me even though I can't hear it). It's crude, but it works!Β
I planned on attending the DX Engineering Virtual Event but ended up being away from home most of the day. I'm going to try and attend the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo on August 8 & 9. Looks like they have a good list of speakers!
A few other "behind-the-scenes" things were updated on the site to make things work and look a little better. There was also a slight change to the way the automatic emails are formatted (you probably won't notice the change). The domain for the website was also renewed for another year.
I may have some new to share soon! It'll probably get it's own post!
It's been a month since my last post and quite a lot has gone on since then.
W8CUL participated in the ARRL School Club roundup in October. We didn't have as good of showing as I hoped for, but with only two people operating we still did pretty decent with about 3 hours of operating time and 50ish QSOs we did better than 11 during the spring SCR!
WVUARC also hosted our second Tech-In-A-Day class of the semester. We had about 8 people take the course. Of those 8 we had 6 successfully pass the Technician test. Two members of the club also upgraded from General to Extra!
I completed some ARES training this weekend as well. I took my final exam for the ARRL's ECC-001 Intro to Emergency Communication course. This course was the only thing I needed to finish all of the requirements for ARES Level 2!
ECC-001 Certificate
I made the drive up to Washington, PA on Sunday for the WACOM hamfest. Overall it was a decent hamfest, though attendance seemed lower and prices seemed higher compared to last year. I ended up grabbing a pair of QuickStick hamsticks from Quicksilver Radio. I grabbed one for 20m and one for 40m. I also bought a 5in magnet mount for the hamsticks (to use while stationary). Unfortunately there is a short in the power cord for my IC-706 so I did't get to try out my antennas yet.
I also found a Heil HTH-K headset for my HT. My last purchase was a pair of old boxes that were used for TV and radio repair. I thought they were a pretty cool find!
I received my digital interface from XGGComms. I was able to get it connected to the IC-706 and it seems to be functioning. I've tried making a few FT8 contacts with it but I haven't been successful. I was able to see my transmissions on a few PSKReporter stations so I'm sure it's working but one of the downsides of using the buddistick in my current setting is I don't get out very well. I can hear quite a few stations but they can't hear me.
Marathon station with MPD.
This past Sunday I worked with W8MWA and W8CUL to provide communications for the Morgantown Marathon. I was posted with a newer ham at a busy intersection where all 3 races cross a road. Overall it seemed like everything worked well, but there's always room to improve! We also had issues with one of the dreaded Baofeng sirens (some of you will know what I'm talking about) blaring over the W8CUL repeater.
Unfortunately due to commitments for a class on Saturday and the Marathon on Sunday W8CUL didn't participate in the Collegiate QSO Party. Maybe next year. However, we will be in the ARRL School Club Roundup (hopefully) next month!
This Saturday is WVUARC's first Tech-In-a-Day session of the semester. I'll be there all day teaching a few sections, VEing, and watching managing testing as the VE Team Lead. Hopefully, all goes well! We already have about 10 people registered!
Another officer in WVUARC and I had a meeting with one of the safety coordinators from the university to begin planning antenna repairs and maintenance on the roof of the Engineering Sciences Building. We'll be repairing our 10/15/20m Yagi, our VHF/UHF Satellite antennas, rehanging our G5RV, and adding antennas for our UHF repeater and our APRS Digipeater.
We also had another general club meeting. We changed the format a little for this one with a presentation before the meeting. I gave a short hands on presentation covering how to operate a Baofeng UV5R, the most popular radio in our club. Following our meeting the weekly W8CUL 2m net went well with 13 check ins, counting me as NCS. We are hoping to break 20 this semester!
I'm still working on the W8CUL digipeater. Hopefully it will be finished soon. The W8CUL DMR repeater is still not online. We are waiting for our duplexer to arrive from Bridgecom Systems. It should be on air soon!
HF wise I haven't been operating from my apartment much. I have spent some time operating from
W8CUL K3s with my ACLog.
the W8CUL Shack though. I was able to work part of Canada, Italy, Malta, France and an SES from Austria on 20m FT8 this week! I was also able to grab Slavko in Slovenia, a station in Italy and a station in St Pierre & Miquelon on 20m SSB. 20m was really hot the past few days!
Well I think I've rambled on enough till next time!
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