If you’ve recently received a new license, or perhaps are returning to the hobby after some time, the ARRL has a new Podcast called “So Now What“ geared ‘just for you’. How cool is that?
If you don’t know what a Podcast is think of it as “radio on demand” giving you an opportunity to listen to broadcasts on your schedule. This new Podcast from ARRL will broadcast every other Thursday with the alternate weeks going to the “The Doctor is In“ broadcast. The “Doctor is In” is geared toward experienced amateurs but still is worth listening too as well.
The first “So Now What” broadcast on March 7th was an introduction to the presenters. The next one will be, you guessed it, March 21st and will journey deeper into knowledge benefiting all new hams to improve your enjoyment of the hobby.
Rather than repeat all the information about these broadcasts including where to listen to them please follow this link to the ARRL announcement. It should answer most, if not all, of your questions.
N1JIE at Easthampton Winterfest 2019 GOTA Station
Feel free to post questions to this article here on the website or on HCRA’s Facebook page or email list. They’re all great places to receive answers to your questions from a great group of experienced amateurs.
Last fall HCRA and SOTA Jerks put forth a 630 meter challenge to our members. The idea and rules were simple. Get people interested in operating on the new band and offer a $100 prize for achieving the longest confirmed QSO. Yes, there were other rules but lets keep it simple. We’re all about simple!
Staying with simple we’ll let the operators tell their own story.
The WINNER!
Bob/WA1OJN – First Place and wins the $100 prize!
“It’s been a Hell of a ride, and I really enjoyed it! Thanks for the motivation, got me back to the basics on Ham Radio and I learned a lot! Met some great people and had a lot of fun.”
“My longest confirmed QSO ( and the longest in general) was W7UIV in WA state at 2296.96 miles by the link you provided.”
“My longest WSPR that was received by another station was LA2XPA in Norway at 3383.5 miles. See attached PDF. I know this doesn’t count as a QSO, but pretty amazing. Total of 54 QSOs: JT9(51), FT8(2) and CW(1).”
“All done with a Kenwood TS-440 feeding a WA3ETD 25W converter. Antenna is converted 80M dipole 136 horizontal, 25 feet vertical with home made variometer.”
Thanks for the great effort Bob and glad to see you had fun. As an added bonus Bob will be showing off parts of his 630m station at HCRA’s April 6th Show & Tell meeting – don’t miss it!
Jim/KK1W
“First off, a big congratulations to Bob for his outstanding efforts into 630 meters. 54 QSO’s are indeed impressive, there’s not a lot of unique stations to work (yet) on the MF bands. I was quite surprised with the distances possible with low power and small antennas. Some said, “will you even be able to make a QSO across town?”. I guess the answer is YES!”
“I ended up with 29 QSO’s, JT9(25, CW (3) and FT8 (1). I could hear a lot farther than I could work with only 20 watts going into an inverted L antenna. The vertical portion of the antenna is 80′, horizontal about 175′, fed through a fixed tuned loading coil and a half dozen ‘on ground’ radials. My farthest QSO was with ZF1EJ in the Cayman Islands, a distance of 1668 miles. That means Bob only whipped me by 628 miles! Oh well….”
“My station consists of an Elecraft K3s, MFSolutions down converter modified to be a simple 20W amplifier and an Inverted L antenna. Most receiving was done on a 650′ reversible beverage.”
Nick/K1NZ
Nick modified his IC-735 to work on 630 meters. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to get a viable antenna built before winter arrived. He ended up making one CW QSO with Jim, KK1W, confirmed on LotW for a distance of 7 miles. Hopefully Nick will be up and running on 630 next fall and making lots of digital QSO’s
The SWL’s
Al/N1AW
Al didn’t have time to put together a transmit station but received a QSL from AA1A for a beacon reception: Here’s the details:
“Hi,
I am hearing your AA1A beacon on 473.9 KHz. I’m listening with an old IC-706, antenna is a 160m inverted L. The signal does not indicate on my S-meter, and is pretty close to the noise level, but I don’t expect this rig to be much good at receiving at this frequency. According to QRZ.com I am 105 miles from you in FN32qq. This is my first go at doing anything on this band. I have a few other projects to finish before I try to make a transmitter. I wonder what you are using for transmitter and antenna?”
“Maybe you have already heard, one of the clubs I belong to is sponsoring a VLF contest. The info is on their website: https://hcra.org/
73,
Al, N1AW
“Hi Al, QSL 474 cw and that was a rare CW beacon try, am usually on WSPR for automatic unattended operation. The TX is a IC718 feeding a home brew transverter then in to a PA amp then directly in to the wire vertical loop, forget radials and variometers!!… That is interesting hcra page, let’s get going and show them how its done, eh?? You will need a few dozen watts minus antenna efficiency to come out @ 5W radiated, also you are in the side null of my loop so that’s pretty good receiving…”
N1AW DE AA1A TNX Al
Frandy/N1FJ
Frandy listened with his K3 for KK1W’s CW signal on 630m and was able to copy it, a distance of 27 miles. KK1W, being lazy, didn’t send a SWL card.
James/WD1S
James did a lot of listening on 630 meters with his Kenwood TS-590. Unfortunately the 590, like the K3s, only generates about 0.5 milliwatts on 630 meters. That’s just not enough power to run barefoot on 630. I’m not sure if James was able to copy signals from either me or Bob, but I think he did. If so the distances would be 37 and 8 miles respectively.
WRAP-UP
That about wraps it up for our first 630 meter challenge. Thanks to HCRA and the SOTA Jerks for contributing $50 from each club towards the prize and allowing us the opportunity to run the challenge. Everyone learned from their efforts: building and tuning antennas for 630m, designing and building loading coils, modifying radios and amplifiers, learning new digital modes, understanding MF propagation… the list goes on. Our entrants elected not to ‘sit on the sidelines’ but get active and try new things. Not everything worked as planned but, in the end they were successful and had fun. Isn’t that what it’s all about?
Good luck with your amateur radio adventures in 2018!
Who will claim the $100 distance prize? Please submit your entry as follows:
WSPR stations received at KK1W on a typical evening
Submit your longest confirmed QSO to Jim Mullen via email or USPS by March 15th 2018
Email: kk1w.jim@gmail.com or USPS to 144 Tower Hill Rd, Brimfield, MA 01010
Enclose an SASE for return of any submitted cards
No need to submit cards unless you can’t copy or scan them. Use the tools linked in the original article to calculate your longest distance confirmation.
To keep things interesting it would be great if everyone who participated, whether or not you confirmed contacts or simply listened on the band, sends me the following:
1. Number of QSO’s made and if possible broken down by mode.
2. Longest QSO (unconfirmed or confirmed).
3. Brief station description (if I don’t already have it).
4. If SWL a brief overview of activity and mode.
Going forward prospective MF operators (630m & 2200m) can make use of this information an an indication of what to expect when they are QRV on Medium Frequency.
The prize will be awarded along with a quick overview of activity at our April 6th meeting. This is also our Show & Tell meeting. Why not enter something you built for 630m? Maybe you can go home with multiple prizes 🙂
Many thanks to everyone participating. You folks are pioneers on a new amateur band. Exciting stuff our hobby and our club, keep up the good work!
A map of WSPR stations received at KK1W on a typical evening. (http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/map)
The HCRA/SOTA Jerks 630 meter challenge crosses the halfway point January 1, 2018. So far close to a half dozen members have made QSO’s or SWL reports on our new, medium frequency (MF) band. Here’s a quick overview of their achievements so far along with station descriptions and photos. Not sure about the 630 Challenge? Details can be found here. The purpose of the event is to encourage members of both clubs to expand their amateur radio horizons, “Go Low” and enjoy ham radio fun. There’s a list of links at the end to get you started on your exploration below WHYN AM if you’re so inclined.
Stations completing at least one QSO on 630 meters:
Bob/WA1OJN – First member QRV!
WA1OJN’s Shack. The MF Systems 630m converter is at the far right on the top shelf.
Bob was our first member QRV on 472 MHz. Bob hadn’t done any home-brew for many years and was excited by the Challenge announcement at the October meeting. Here, in his own words, is his description of progress to date on 630m:
I have had QSOs with 13 stations in 8 states on JT9 with a max distance of just under 900 miles. On WSPR I have been received in north western Canada at 2047 miles. Unfortunately that guy does not currently have transmit capability.
My antenna is a converted 80M dipole at 25 feet with a length of 137 feet and I am using a WA3ETD converter attached to my TS-440S driving it from WSJT-X software on a Windows XP machine.
WA1OJN’s Variometer for 630m. Remote tuned using a gear motor and controlled by a battery powered switchbox in the shack.
I have been licensed since 1972 and this has really been an exciting project forcing me to get back into building stuff. I have learned a lot about RFI with my smoke detectors, the importance of proper grounding, impedance matching and a bunch more. Really gets you back to basics. It’s really fun to find the limits and try to push it a bit more. The other night a guy over 1000 miles away had me at -29 on JT9 with my grid square and signal report and just couldn’t get my RRR and 73. I tried cranking up the power supply voltage but nothing would do it. Now that I have remote antenna tuning I might have been able to do a quick tune and put him in the log. It is amazing that even a 300Hz frequency change will require re-tuning.
I have found all the guys to be super helpful and some great chat rooms. One thing I find interesting, is although most of the HF contacts I have made are using LotW, I would say the majority of the guys on 630M do not use LotW and are into paper QSLs.
Bob/WA1OJN
K1NZ and KK1W share the next spot
Nick/K1NZ and Jim/KK1W made their first QSO on 630 by working each other! Separated by a vast 7 miles here’s their story:
Nick/K1NZ
K1NZ’s Shack
Nick’s station consists of an Icom 735 and a 160m Inverted-L antenna. The Icom is fully capable of transceive on 472 MHz and Nick had been monitoring WSPR and JT9 activity for a few weeks. When KK1W got his station QRV on the new band they decided to try a CW QSO. Guess what, it worked! Signals were weak but readable with a 339R/599S report at Nick’s end. Power was very low at Nick’s station because of high SWR concerns.
K1NZ at work modifying the main board of his IC-735.
Since that QSO Nick has made modifications to the IC735 to improve RX and TX and hopes to get a resonant antenna up soon. One thing is certain, it’s not expensive to get on this band but it takes some ‘experimentation’ and good old ham tinkering to make it happen.
Jim/KK1W
KK1W’s 472KHz shack.
Jim’s stations features an Elecraft K3s, MF Solutions converter, an Inverted L antenna for TX and a 650′ Beverage for RX. The K3s is a great receiver on 472 MHz (with the general coverage filter) but sports only a half milliwatt (0.0005 watts) output! Getting that tiny signal boosted is the job of the MF Systems converter. The converter was modified to use only the amplifier portion and puts out about 20 watts.
KK1W’s loading/tuning coil for 630m Inverted L antenna
The Inverted L antenna has 75′ of vertical, about 175′ horizontal and a half dozen 100′ ground radials. It’s tuned with a loading coil wound on a 2 gallon plastic pail.
Results have been good so far with over 20 QSO’s, two on CW, one on FT8 and the balance on JT9 with 9 states and three countries. Jim’s longest QSO to date was with ZF1EJ in the Cayman Islands approximately 1600 miles.
Plans for station improvement include a variometer to replace the fixed tuned coil and more power. With only 20 watts his station is a “rabbit with big ears” hearing much better than it can be heard.
Stations listening on 630 meters:
James/WD1S
WD1S Shack
James is an avid 160m operator with a nice location in Chesterfield, MA. His station consists of a Kenwood TS-590 and various wire antennas. He has been receiving signals on 472 and 137 MHz since the beginning of the challenge.
Like the K3 his TS-590 has very low output on 472HKz. James has tried to work a few local stations but his 1mw signal is just not heard, at least so far.
Frandy/N1FJ
Frandy added a general coverage filter to his K3 and is using a G5RV for receiving. To date he has copied KK1W’s CW CQ and NDB’s lower in the band. He has obtained an MF Solutions converter and hopes to get on the air soon feeding an Inverted L antenna.
Mid-Challenge Wrap Up:
This wraps up our mid-Challenge activities. There are others expressing interest in the band including George/KC1V and Bob/W1QA but we’re not aware of their progress to date.
There’s remains plenty of time to get into the fun of MF over the next few months. Winter months are great for these frequencies with little atmospheric interference. It is amazing the distances achievable on these so called ‘low bands’ and you will be too – if you give it a try. Many ham transceivers and most general coverage receivers can receive below 500 KHz. Besides amateur activity on 472 KHz and 137 KHz there’s many interesting signals at VLF frequencies. Between the two amateur bands are many non-directional aircraft beacons (NDB’s). How many or how far can they be heard? Give it a listen and use one of the links below to see where they are located. Interested in digital modes? WSPR, JT9 and FT8 abound on both bands.
Why not make a 2018 resolution to spin the tuning knob and “Go Low for big fun”
Happy New Year!
’73…
Jim/KK1W
Interesting and useful links:
The links below have proven very useful for our members. They concentrate on the basics and will get you QRV on 630m quickly.
As you know the FCC has recently approved amateur radio use on the VLF (Very Low Frequency) bands starting September 15th, 2017. These bands are 135.7 to 135.8 kHZ (2,200 meters) and 472 to 479 kHz (630 meters). More information can be found about the authorization and bands by clicking the links.
It’s unlikely anyone will be using these bands for a SOTA activation but nevertheless the SOTA Jerks have proposed a QSO competition to spark interest in the new allocations. Our two clubs have gathered together $100 to award the winner of the competition. In the spirit of keeping things simple we’ve made the rules easy to follow. It’s up to you, the station builder/operators to do the heavy lifting on this one!
Rules:
Eligibility
All participants must be hold the proper license and permissions to use the VLF bands.
Bands are open to General and above and permission must be secured by applying to UTC.
All participants must be a member in good standing in either club.
No participant shall have held an experimental license for these bands. We are looking for new folks to give VLF a try
Contest Period
Contest starts October 15th, 2017 at 0000z
Contest ends March 15th, 2018 at 2359z
Winner will be announced at HCRA’s April 6th 2018 meeting
Bands
630 or 2,200 meters only
Mode
Any mode authorized for 630m or 2,200m
Prize
The winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to DX Engineering
Selection criteria
The winner is the operator with the longest distance, confirmed QSO.
Distance determined by Latitude/Longitude of each station.
All entries must contain proof of confirmation and the distance calculated between the two stations.
In the event of a tie a drawing will be held to determine the winner.
Entry Requirements
Submit your longest confirmed QSO to Jim Mullen via email or USPS by March 15th 2018
Email: kk1w.jim@gmail.com or USPS to 144 Tower Hill Rd, Brimfield, MA 01010
Enclose an SASE for return of any submitted cards
That’s all there is to it. As of this writing there are at least two transceivers that can be used without modification on VLF frequencies: Kenwood TS590 and Elecraft K3s. The Elecraft K3 can be modified to use these bands. Transverter kits for VLF are available, here’s one for under $100.
VLF Transverter Kit
These bands are more like our AM broadcast bands (think WHYN-AM 560) than traditional bands. Antenna size and power levels are limited so it shouldn’t cost a lot to be QRV on either of the bands. It will take some ingenuity and good ole’ ham ‘experimentation and modification’, which is exactly what amateur radio is all about.
There are many blogs on the web about VLF and the new bands. Here’s one from AE5X to get you started. These bands can be really interesting once you start digging a little deeper. Your efforts represent the start of a new ham radio frontier!
As of this writing (March 16th) it’s three weeks until HCRA’s Annual Show & Tell on April 7th. That also means it’s only three weeks to finish your project, put together documentation and perhaps win a nice prize for your efforts. No time you say? Well, twenty two days is over three weeks the last time I checked. I’m sure you can rustle up something to show off to the crowd, get their creative juices flowing for 2017 and maybe win a nice prize! But… you really need to get started pretty soon!
BONUS SNOW STORM!
I don’t know if you noticed but the “super storm” of March 14th has effectively pushed back any yard work for at least a few weeks. Now you’ve time for a project and a prize!
K1VOI and the antenna gun. WB1DBY photograph
What exactly is Show & Tell you ask? Well, it’s a chance to show the members something cool you’ve done in your shack, antenna farm, secret laboratory, etc. over the last year. Maybe it’s a new antenna that works like a signal magnet, or a neat way to mount a radio in today’s ‘too small’ vehicles, or a tesla coil (yes, we’ve had one), or a KW amplifier (had those too), or a trick piece of software, or…. You get the picture. Speaking of pictures here’s a few photos from past events to whet your appetite.
KA1TDQ’s 75M AM ExciterAn RF sampler by KB1NWH. WB1DBY photographRock-Mite and keyer by Matt, W1MSW. WB1DBY photograph
And of course there’s the prizes. This year the three winners get to choose from a hundred dollars worth of prizes that include an ARRL Operating Manual, a Raspberry Pi 3 and a TC-1 Multi-function tester.
Show & Tell 2017 Prizes
The audience votes for the best project, the votes are tallied and three winners are picked at the end of the evening. It’s easy to do and it’s fun. Of course everyone is a winner here because we all benefit by seeing what our fellow HCRA members created. Everyone in the audience and the presenters takes home a big dose of enthusiasm for 2017!
So there you go. Time to stop surfing, head to the shop and warm up the soldering iron. You too can be a winner at HCRA’s 2017 Show & Tell!
Last Swap & Sell of 2016 is this Friday, November 4th. There isn’t a December meeting because of the Holiday Party
Let’s end 2016 with a bang! Take a look around your shack and bring in an item or two that will become someone else’s holiday gift :).
From the KK1W shack is an assortment of books and a nice LED desk lamp (with USB charger) to read them under. Some old, some new all good reading that will expand your amateur radio horizons.
What are you bringing? Please comment to this post, with photos if possible.
Oh, the desk lamp is brand new AND is rumored to be grey with #87 on it, whatever that means...
Have you purchased your Holiday Party ticket yet? They’ll be on sale at the meeting. See Harold/N1FTP so you don’t go hungry this holiday season.
Returning Friday, September 9, is HCRA’s Swap & Sell Table. A sight guaranteed to brings smiles of joy to any frugal hams’s face.
Take a look at the photos, it gives you an idea of just some of this month’s offerings. That’s correct, you see a 1.3G frequency counter, project boxes, transformers, and more. There’s even a LARGE box of assorted wire and cable, dig through, pick what you want and make your donation. No reasonable offer refused.
Make the table even better by bringing along your own items for sale. The more we have, the more exciting for everyone!
NEWS FLASH! Rumor has it N1FJ may have a Mosley Tri-Bander to contribute to the cause. Watch for more info and and bring your roof rack for an HF antenna bargain
Swap and Sell will be returning to HCRA meetings for the remainder of 2016. Since the program started this past January lots of good stuff has changed hands, people have gone home with either cash in their pocket or a new trinket to play around with in the shack and HCRA added a few dollars to the club treasury.
The photo on the left shows a sample of items that could make their way to the swap table, but we need more! We need YOURgood stuff to keep up the excitement, attract customers and most of all – have fun! It’s like a mini-hamfest at every meeting.
We all benefit if you have items you’re willing to donate to the cause. Think of all the things you’ve purchased, used for years but they’re now sitting unused in the shack or workshop. You can sell them and make a few bucks or…..Why not donate them?You’ve had your fun, maybe it’s time to pass it along to someone else. Donations benefit HCRA but most of all the new owner gets to take something home and not break the bank. Everyone wins!!! If you do want to sell your items please remember the suggested donation is10%, thanks! All donations are tax deductible under 501 c3 guidelines.
One last thing. We’re looking for a new caretaker for Swap & Sell starting January 2017. All it takes is 15 to 30 minutes a month, a small donation of time to bring fun to dozens throughout the year. If you’re interested let us know. You’ll be supplied with everything you need to make it happen and at least five minutes of OJT! It’s an easy job that puts lots of smiles on our members faces. Please let me or Jeff/NT1K know if your interested in the job.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the September 9th meeting.
About seven days from now HCRA will be blasting the airwaves with “CQ Field” day from School St. Park in nearby Agawam, MA. Our plans have solidified to a 5A operation, perhaps even 6A, the usual superb four towers with beams on 40, 20, 15 and 10 and dipoles for 80/75. a Saturday VE session, lots of operators, KX2 raffle tickets and….
FOOD!Alan/AB1XW will be serving up dogs and burgers, “on the house” Saturday evening. A perfect way to stoke the fires for an all-night operation.
Read all the details and see the participants by clicking here. After looking through the list you’ll see a few spots where we could use YOUR help. What would you like to do?
1. We can make 100 points by simply originating an NTS message to our Section Manager and up to an additional 100 points by sending 10 radiograms. Are you ready for the challenge? It’s easy and shouldn’t take more than an hour at most. Want to give it a try? Contact Jim/KK1W for more info.
2. Are you a good teacher? There’s another 100 points on the table for organizing an educational activity. It could be as simple as showing how to get active on digital modes or constructing a wire dipole. Interested, contact Jeff/NT1K or Jim/KK1W and we can get you going.
3. Finally, we can make up to another 100 points for “Youth Participation”. Any operator under 18, that makes at least one FD QSO earns HCRA 20 points. If we get five youth operators we make another 100 points! How cool is that? Remember they (or you) don’t have to be licensed to operate at Field Day. It’s a perfect opportunity to expose youngsters to a hobby that could shape their future. Time your visit just before Saturday evening and have a burger or hot dog for your (and their) efforts.
Don’t forget to pick up a KX2 raffle ticket while visiting Field Day. A mere $10 donation could bring you a spanking new Elecraft KX2!
The weather forecast looks promising and plans are in place. What are you waiting for, all we need is YOU!
If you’ve recently received a new license, or perhaps are returning to the hobby after some time, the ARRL has a new Podcast called “So Now What“ geared ‘just for you’. How cool is that?
