Category Archives: Ham Radio

NPOTA: Activating the Carl Sandburg Home (NS07) today

This afternoon (September 8), I should have a chance to activate the Carl Sandburg Home again for the ARRL National Parks on the Air program. You might recall, I activated the site Sunday as well.

I’ll plan to use the Elecraft KX2 and EFT TRail-Friendly antenna combo once again.

I should be on the air starting sometime between 20:00-20:30 UTC (4:00 – 4:30 PM EDT). I’ll plan to operate SSB on two frequencies: 14286 and 7286 kHz. I should be on the air for one hour or so, if all goes well. Listen for my amateur radio call sign: K4SWL.

It would be fantastic to log some SWLing Post readers. If you do manage to hear my 10 watt signal, or work my station, please comment!

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Labor Day Fun: A hamfest, an NPOTA activation–and a new Elecraft KX2 QRP kit

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My station location on the trail near the Sandburg farm is indicated with the small grey marker (lower left quadrant).

I’ve enjoyed an especially “radio-active” Labor Day weekend. Here’s hoping you did, too.

On Saturday I headed out the door at 4:15 AM to meet my buddy Vlado (N3CZ), the inimitable radio doctor; we aimed our headlights through the morning mist to the Shelby Hamfest. Though it took quite a bit more coffee to keep me going, the hamfest was a load of fun. Check out the photos I posted yesterday.

On Sunday, I enjoyed some family time. Conveniently, our weekend travel took us near the Carl Sandburg Home in East Flat Rock, NC. I managed to carve out a little time for a quick–very quick– NPOTA activation of the site.

I realized I would only have about an hour, though, to find a suitable site, setup my radio kit, make at least the minimum of ten contacts, then pack up and clear out. Not an optimal amount of time, but certainly a fun challenge.

This was also a good excuse to try out my new Elecraft KX2 portable transceiver kit in the field. I haven’t even had the KX2 for a full week, but I quickly put together a field kit with the Elecraft as a centerpiece. If you’re curious, the kit consists of the following:

The Elecraft KX2, with internal battery and ATU options
An LnR Precision EFT Trail-Friendly antenna (purchased at the Dayton Hamvention)
An assortment of connectors and adapters
A six-foot coax cable
An Elecraft hand mic, borrowed from my KX3
A CW paddle (the KXPD2)
A clipboard, log sheets, and mechanical pencil
Fishing line and a weight (to hang the antenna)

All of this, save the fishing line and weight, was protected by the compact and perfectly portable LowePro ViewPoint CS 60 padded case, and fit it like a glove.

Let’s talk packs…

Those of you who know me, know that I’m a bit of a pack junkie. So I’m kind of picky about what I choose to hold my gear. There are a few manufacturers whose packs pass the test, and that make gear here in the States, like Spec-Ops Brand, Red Oxx, and Tom Bihn. Their packs are sometimes pricey, but they’re nearly bullet-proof and guaranteed for life. Timbuk2, based in San Francisco, is a more economical company with good gear, as well.

After purchasing my KX2, I searched but couldn’t find a suitable pack from my prefered manufacturers. I had remembered that at the Dayton Hamvention, Elecraft was actually selling two models of a LowePro pack that fit the KX2 exactly: the ViewPoint CS 40 and CS 60.

While I like to go as compact as possible, the CS 40 is just a bit too small to hold everything I like to carry to the field (antenna, paddle, and mic). The CS 60, on the other hand, could hold everything and has a fold out panel organizer to hold connectors.

I knew the CS 60 would fit the KX2, and I knew the CS 60 was padded to protect its contents. I also could see that the pack has excellent (and apparently genuine) ratings on Amazon, so I ordered one.

I’m pleased to report that the CS 60 is very well built indeed, and what’s more, accommodates everything I need. In fact, the only thing the CS 60 won’t hold is my reel of fishing line and 6′ coax cable (and yes, I daresay you could adapt both items to make them fit with a little effort).

I carried the CS 60 and reel in my trusty 20-year-old Dana Design lumbar pack:

There was room to spare inside for water bottle and snacks, and the whole package was very lightweight.

The Carl Sandburg Home

Carl-Sandburg-NS07

The Carl Sandburg site was fairly teeming with visitors, also enjoying the warm weather of the Labor Day weekend. After arriving and (fortunately) finding a parking spot, I hiked 20 minutes to one of the trails, where I was given permission to hang an antenna and operate.

Knowing that I needed to rejoin my family soon, I wasn’t too choosy about my site this time. I just needed to get on the air and work the minimum of ten contacts. In truth, I wasn’t sure if all of this was possible in the one hour I had available.

I setup on the right side of this trail, near one of the park benches.

I setup on the right side of this sunlit trail, near one of the park benches. It turned out to be a pretty good spot.

It took me perhaps ten minutes to set up, with a few brief asides to explain what I was doing to passing hikers.

Since I configured my little Elecraft KX2 with an internal battery and antenna tuner, I had no need for extra power cables, connectors, ATU and coax.

Elecraft-KX2-Clipboard-NPOTA

Yep, my entire station easily fit on the clipboard I was using to hold my log sheets. On my lap, the clipboard became my operating table.

As soon as I sat down in my folding chair, I turned on the KX2, set the frequency to 14,286 kHz, and pressed the ATU button which gave me a 1:1 match (since the EFT is resonant).

Thank you, voice keyer!

Next, I recorded my CQ call into the KX2’s built-in voice keyer by:

pressing and holding the MSG button,
assigning the voice message to “memory allocation 1” by pressing the PRE (1) button,
pressing XMIT to start the recording,
reading off my CQ call “CQ, CQ, CQ, this is K4SWL calling CQ for National Parks on the Air…”, and
pressing XMIT again to stop the recording.

Then I started calling CQ by simply pressing the MSG button and selecting my message stored in memory allocation 1 by pressing and holding the PRE (1) button.

By pressing and holding the PRE (1) button, I initiated a loop-playback of my CQ call where my KX2 would transmit my call from memory. Then I waited a few seconds to listen for any replies, and played it again. (In loop-playback mode, the KX2 will repeat my CQ call until I interrupt it by pressing a button or keying my mic.)

It’s a brilliant and easy function which saves my voice! By automatically calling CQ, it gives me an opportunity to answer questions from curious passersby, naturally fascinated by a guy sitting on the side of a trail, talking into a little box connected to a tree-branch suspended wire.

In the end, I didn’t even need to use the voice keyer that much. I was spotted on the DX cluster and within moments had a small pile-up of stations. Remarkably, I worked my minimum of ten stations within six minutes! Of course, I continued to call CQ until I worked everyone in the pile-up (including stations from California, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas and Mexico). Though I was running out of time quickly, I did switch to the less-active 40 meter band and called CQ. In a period of a few minutes, I worked two stations on forty: one from Alabama and one from Florida. Not bad for 10 watts of power!

Packing up

Normally I would have stayed on the air for at least an hour to give chasers an opportunity to work my station, but I was pleased that I’d managed to fit this activation into a very busy schedule. I was glad to have racked up so many stations, so quickly!

Taking down the antenna and packing up my portable station took all of eight minutes.

Without a doubt–once I had hiked to my operating site–this was my fastest deployment, activation, and pack-up to date. It was all possible because:

the KX2 has a built-in battery pack and ATU, and is so small it fits on my clipboard,
the EFT Trail-Friendly antenna is a breeze to install, take down and pack, and
the CS 60 pack organizes the radio and accessories so handily.

In short: I’m totally pumped by my new QRP field kit!

More radio adventures await…To the field!

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A photo tour of the 2016 Shelby Hamfest

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My Labor Day weekend was free of travel again this year, so I was able to make another pilgrimage to the Shelby (North Carolina) hamfest with my good buddies, Vlado (N3CZ), Dave (K4SV) and Phil (W9IXX). This year, all four of us brought things to sell in the flea market.

The Shelby Hamfest–referred to, locally, as “The Grand-Daddy of them All”–has long been regarded as one of the largest hamfests in the southeast US. Last year, I posted photos from the hamfest and many of you sent notes of thanks for that.

We arrived very early yesterday, prior to the gates opening for general admission. We set up our tables and almost immediately had customers in front of us. This year, I was in selling mode, not buying mode, as I desperately need to downsize some of my collection and use the money to offset costs of review radios, and some of the conferences I’m attending this year.

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The seller of this Grundig Satellit 500 only wanted $75–an exceptional bargain. I turned it on, though, and quickly discovered the LCD screen worked intermittently after having only been on for a few seconds. It was a little scuffed up too. Still–it produced great audio. IMG_20160903_104935512 IMG_20160903_104924284 IMG_20160903_104909396 IMG_20160903_104840559 IMG_20160903_104753772_HDR IMG_20160903_104732133 IMG_20160903_104706457_TOP IMG_20160903_104638547_HDR IMG_20160903_104633192 IMG_20160903_104355149 IMG_20160903_104343941_HDR IMG_20160903_104335454_HDR IMG_20160903_094424451 IMG_20160903_094413210 IMG_20160903_094350615_TOP IMG_20160903_094345045_HDR IMG_20160903_094337535 IMG_20160903_094247499_TOP IMG_20160903_094222390 IMG_20160903_094157726 IMG_20160903_094153301 IMG_20160903_094129115_TOP IMG_20160903_094125382 IMG_20160903_094121510 IMG_20160903_094112237 IMG_20160903_094108929_TOP IMG_20160903_094102125 IMG_20160903_094057690 IMG_20160903_094051265 IMG_20160903_094047198_HDR IMG_20160903_094043251

Someone had done a spectacular job restoring this Super-Pro. It would make a fine addition to any shack.
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The same seller who had the Grundig Satellit 500 was also selling this Sony ICF-6500W for $75. Other than scratchy pots, it seemed to work well. It was very tempting to purchase, but I passed in the end. IMG_20160903_093525866_TOP

He was selling this Panasonic for $150. I passed because I had a hunch it needed a little work. IMG_20160903_093512146 IMG_20160903_093503774 IMG_20160903_093301777 IMG_20160903_093259270 IMG_20160903_092333597_TOP IMG_20160903_091445596 IMG_20160903_090320282_HDR IMG_20160903_090221887 IMG_20160903_090216356 IMG_20160903_090213331_HDR

One of the finest R-274-As I’ve ever seen. Again: someone spent a great deal of time restoring this beauty. By the time I found it in the flea market, it had already been sold. Thank goodness! IMG_20160903_090137715 IMG_20160903_090122681 IMG_20160903_090115476_HDR IMG_20160903_090103868_HDR IMG_20160903_090059269 IMG_20160903_090048304_TOP IMG_20160903_090028432_TOP IMG_20160903_085937840_HDR IMG_20160903_085717679 IMG_20160903_085703210_TOP IMG_20160903_085642966 IMG_20160903_085627053 IMG_20160903_085624079 IMG_20160903_085617071

I must have spotted at least six or seven Hallicrafters SX-100s this year at Shelby.
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I managed to come home with only $40 worth of parts: connectors, cables, plugs and a 17 meter band MFJ whip antenna (to try on my recently-acquired Elecraft KX2). I was pretty proud of myself as there were an exceptional number of vintage radios I would have loved to have taken home (like the console radio below–!).

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Any Post readers attend the Shelby hamfest? Have you attended any other local hamfests recently? If so, please comment on what you found!

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NPOTA activation on the Blue Ridge Parkway

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A crowd gathers as Vlado (N3CZ) works station after station in CW!

I’m not sure what I’m going to do after the National Parks On The Air event is over at the end of this year. I hope the ARRL organizes something equally as fun for 2017.

Truth is, I love playing radio outdoors and I love National Parks. The two are a perfect combo.

Vlado (N3CZ) on left, and me (K4SWL) on right.

My buddy, Vlado (N3CZ), and I decided to do an NPOTA activation on Sunday. The weather was fantastic–a little foggy with mild temperatures and the HF bands were open!

We arrived at our site–the Craggy Gardens Picnic Area (PK01)–at 14:30 UTC or so.

We brought the following antennas and supports:

a self-contained 20 meter band telescopic fiberglass vertical (I recently purchased at the WCARS Hamfest for $40–!) and
a 31 foot fiberglass Jackite pole (the fluorescent orange on in the photos) which we used to suspend a homemade 40 meter doublet Vlado built the day before.

Setup was quick. We were both especially pleased the 20 meter vertical. It was so easy to install, even considering it was the first time either of us had used it.

I powered the LD-11 and the KX3 with my QRP Ranger.

The 20 meter vertical antenna (in foreground).

I operated SSB from a picnic table using the LnR Precision LD-11 transceiver, connected to the doublet on 40 meters, and the mono-band vertical on 20 meters.

Vlado started by operating CW with his Icom IC-7000 which was installed in his car, but later moved to the picnic table and logged a number of contacts with the Elecraft KX3.

We easily logged the number of stations needed to activate the site.

The 40 meter band was hopping and a good path was open into Ohio, Virginia and other surrounding states. The 20 meter band was serving up some excellent QRP DX.

Vlado operating CW on the 40 meter band.

When I moved to the 20 meter band, the noise floor was so low on the LD-11, I thought perhaps the band was dead. Not so!

It’s hard to believe that with a mere eight watts in SSB I worked Rhode Island, Texas, Montana, Manitoba, Washington, California and Slovenia from a picnic table on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Reports on the LD-11 audio were all very positive. I’ve used the LD-11 for eight NPOTA activations this year and can say with confidence that it’s a brilliant & fun little field radio. (FYI: I’ll be publishing a full review of the LD-11 in the October 2016 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine.)

Vlado and I are planning on several more activations together this year. Our next one will most likely be at the Carl Sandburg Home-. I can’t wait!

Any other post readers participating as an activator or chaser in the National Parks on the Air event?

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AM Mode: Comparing the Elecraft KX2 with the LNR Precision LD-11

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My new Elecraft KX2 tuned to Radio Australia this morning.

I’ve only had my Elecraft KX2 since Monday evening and have been so busy, I’ve only had an hour or so to tinker with this pocket transceiver. Monday evening, before putting it on the air, I updated the KX2 firmware to the latest Beta release which includes the new AM mode.

I’ve had so many questions from readers about the KX2’s AM audio already, I thought I’d do a quick comparison with the LNR Precision LD-11.

I set the LD-11 to a bandwidth of 9.6 kHz, and the KX2 to 5 kHz: their widest AM filter settings. Keep in mind, this is not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it does showcase each radio’s potential AM audio fidelity.

I tuned both rigs to the Voice of Greece last night on 9420 kHz around 00:30 UTC. VOG’s signal was strong into North America.

I made the following recordings with my Zoom H2N digital recorder, by feeding in-line audio patched from each radio’s headphone jack. I tried to balance the audio levels between the two rigs.

Here are the results:

The LNR Precision LD-11

Click here to download the audio.

The Elecraft KX2

Click here to download the audio.

The Elecraft KX2 in “Delay” audio mode

Note: Some Elecraft radios have an audio effects mode which includes a “delay” function. Elecraft describes it as “a quasi-stereo effect intended to provide depth and space to the received audio.” On an AM broadcast signal, it makes it sound wider and gives it almost a stereo depth.

Click here to download the audio.

I think the results from both radios are impressive. Since the LD-11’s bandwidth can be widened to 9.6 kHz, strong signals like this one sound pretty amazing. In truth, I actually prefer a filter width of about 8.2 kHz on strong signals, but VOG was wide enough to justify 9.6 kHz. I believe the LD-11 would rival many dedicated tabletop receivers.

The Elecraft KX2, in normal audio mode, sounds flatter and narrower than the LD-11 of course, but still very pleasant! In the KX2’s “delay” audio mode, the signal sounds much wider than 5 kHz, though the effect adds a little graininess to the audio. That’s okay, though–I love having the “delay” audio option in my tool bag.

Here’s what amazes me as an SWL and ham radio operator: both of these QRP transceivers offer excellent HF broadcast listening opportunities.

Please comment! Which audio sample do you prefer? Do you like the “delay” audio effect on the KX2? Keep in mind this is only one comparison and doesn’t address sensitivity or selectivity.

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