Posts from — August 2007

Just a quick update to let you know that I’ve been making some fairly good progress on getting the WriteLog User Site back up and working in the new format.

There is a new template that I’m using that seems to work pretty well, a “floating” width template that will go as wide as your screen and maintain the writing.

I’m setting up the site with four (right now) main sections associated with WriteLog:

First Time Setup. This is the one-time setup that needs to be done to get WriteLog up and working.

Specialized Setup. This is mainly all about the setup needed for different modes, classes, and contests based upon the rules.

Other WriteLog Topics. I need a better title, but essentially reference material not found any other place.

Operating WriteLog. This is how WriteLog is used in a contest in the heat of battle.

There will be some tweaks, of course, but I’m happy with how the content is turning out — only one place to find information on a given topic making things easier to find — and how the content is structured.

Right now, most of First Time Setup is complete. Click on that on the main menu and you will see another row of topics show beneath it for your subjects.

By the way, you can bookmark the site directly and bypass this blog by inputting this address and then saving it to your favorites:

http://writelog.k9jy.com

As noted, I’m going to be done with the site by the end of August as I want to be ready with it for the fall contesting season.

Scot, K9JY

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Outside of Dayton, the best place to be for DXing and contesting is W9DXCC in Chicago-land on September 15th.

UPDATE: This is the 2007 version. 2008’s convention information can be found here.

Here’s the schedule:

Friday

7:30 PM - Registration Open

7:30 PM Welcome Reception - Hosted by Carl Smith N4AA and DX Publications.

10:00 PM Late Night Hospitality Suite - Hosted by Northern Illinois DX Association

Saturday

8:00 AM - Registration Opens

9:00 AM - Program Begins - Master of Ceremonies - Jim O’Connell, W9WU

12:00 PM - Lunch

1:00 PM - Program Resumes

4:45 PM - Raffle Prize Drawing

5:00 PM - CW Copying Contest

5:30 PM - Reception - Hosted by The Directors of the Northern California DX Foundation

6:30- PM Grand Banquet and Grand Prize Drawing

Banquet Speaker -

10:00 PM Saturday - Hospitality Suite - Hosted by Greater Milwaukee DX Association

There’s some great programs, as usual.

Check out the site and sign up.

Scot, K9JY

Great fun listening to a minor aurora opening on 6-meters. The CW is fuzzy, but very readable.

[youtube B7Nga-eQCo8 6m Aurora]

Thanks, VE1EN.

Scot, K9JY

When I first started out in ham radio, my passion was for DXing. I loved chasing countries and have worked 320 DX entities before stopping ten(?) years ago.

One of the ways that I was able to work a lot of DX countries quickly was through contesting. In a good contest weekend, like CQWW, I was able to hear over one hundred countries on the air. When first starting out DXing, this was (and still is) a big deal.

Here’s five ways working contests can help you work more DX:

1. DXpeditions to Rare Countries. Groups of ham radio operators will often travel to other countries to activate them during a contest. Usually, the contest operation will try and pick countries that have few other hams operating, opening up a DX opportunity for you. I worked lots of stations in Africa on this principle alone.
2. Stations on all bands. A contest like CQWW or the ARRL DX contests generates stations on all bands open during the contest time frame. This means building out your 5-band DXCC becomes easier when the stations need to work all bands to generate points. My 80-meter totals really increased by working contests.
3. Better able to work a station one-on-one. Contesting means only working one station per band; duplicates don’t count for points. Consequently, the pileup on the station at 0000Z at the start of the contest will often yield to your DX need calling CQ during the second day of the contest on the same band.
4. Better QSLing. Contest stations know they will get a ton of QSL cards and have already thought through how the QSLing will be done.
5. Instant QSLing through LoTW. In addition, because contesters know they will get lots of cards, they try and reduce the number of cards received by uploading their logs to Log of The World as soon as it makes sense after the contest to give the deserving the contact. It’s faster service to the person looking for a confirmation of the contact — and fewer cards for the contesting station to work through.

Working DX through contests won’t get you to 300-countries. But you’d be surprised at how well your DX dance card fills up by working contests.

Scot, K9JY

One of my favorite types of contesting is working a single band. There are few better ways to learn about propagation of any kind than through working one band for 48-hours.

Ham radio contesting is filled with stories of working another continent on a band that should be closed at that particular time. Or, working tropospheric openings on ten meters when the sunspots are at a minimum and no contacts should be made.

The beauty of working a single band is learning how the band opens. How the band closes down. How the band opening moves between geographic locations as the contests continues.

Rather than racing to the next open band in the contest, a single band entry allows the operator to check long path openings, skewed path openings, and just plain weird openings that happen during the course of the contest.

It’s loads of fun — and you learn how propagation works at the same time.

Scot, K9JY