Podcasts about qrp dxcc

If you're a CW op looking for something new to do, contesting maybe just what you are looking for. There are literally hundreds of contests each year. Some are big and some are small. Either way, contests are a great way ops can take their CW skills to the next level and have a ton of fun at the same time.  Anthony Luscre, K8ZT, holds an Amateur Extra license and is one of the best QRP contest ops on the air today. He was first licensed in 1983 as KA8NRC and has been a QRP operator from his very first QSO. Anthony has consistently finished in the top ten of a variety of major contests. He has finished first in the US multiple times in both the CQ Worldwide Phone and CW QRP categories. He has made more than 60,000+ QRP contacts and his QRP DXCC total recently topped the 320 mark. Anthony lives with his wife Linda, KA8ODP near Akron, Ohio. His station is definitely not a super contest station. His small suburban lot is cramped with a modest array of antennas, proving that you can be competitive in contests without acres of aluminum.

In Episode #3 we talk with Chris Del Plato, KQ2RP. Chris is a very prolific CW operator and all around good guy. He's very active in numerous online amateur radio groups and posts regularly on his own website. He has accomplished QRP DXCC on 8 bands using simple wire antennas. Chris shares a lot of great insights and advice about learning Morse code and operating CW. Both new and seasoned CW operators will enjoy this conversation! Hosted by Bruce Pea N9WKE.

What use is an F-call? As you've heard me talk about making contacts with other countries on many occasions, I thought I'd spend a little time describing what I do when I've actually made the contact. At the moment I'm logging my contact on CQRLOG, it's a Linux based programme that manages each contact, tracks to show if I've uploaded it to Logbook of the World, eQSL and Clublog. I chose those three services based on their functionality and their availability. I won't go into each of them, but combined they allow me to confirm the contacts I've made. Once I've done that I also log into the WIA members section of the Awards system where I upload my contacts. The awards system confirms my contacts with those same three services, Logbook of the World, eQSL and Clublog, to confirm that I have in fact made the contact. There is a ranking system, and if you're into league tables, there is ample opportunity to rank yourself against others. There is even a special section for Foundation Licensees, so you can compare your contact prowess against that of others. For me, it's a place to log what I've done and to keep track of where I'm at. While it's a thrill to be ranked against others, for me it's about my personal achievement. I get the thrill when I make the contact and another one when I see it confirmed. I special mention should go to Marc VK3OHM who spent many emails making sure that the upload actually worked as expected. He helped me figure out that my previous logging software had the grid locator in the wrong field and helped me work out that I needed a later version of CQRLOG to upload to the WIA Awards System, because there was a bug in the one I was using. So, however you keep track of your own progress toward world DX coverage, be it on a piece of paper in a binder, in a notebook or online, I recommend you check out the WIA Awards System. So, where was I, 39 countries towards my QRP DXCC, 5 Watts SSB. More to go. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

What use is an F-call? Nobody works in isolation, and neither do I. This weekly segment has now been running for 130 or so episodes and in that time I've received a variety of feedback about my attempt at making a contribution to Amateur Radio. I remember when a random stranger walked up to me when I attended the WIA Mildura conference in 2012. He told me that he used my segment in training new F-calls and that he was most impressed. Last week, another random member of the HAM community told me that this segment made him return to Amateur Radio and upgrade his license. I've received cards and unexpected Christmas gifts, emails, phone-calls and other amazing acts of generosity which leave me quite at a loss for words. Thank you. On the other end of the spectrum, an anonymous group of our community uses web-forms to write all manner of interesting comments. Let me quote verbatim one of the tamer ones: "When is Onno going to upgrade to Standard or Advanced licence and get rid of his awful callsign. He is an embarrassment to the fine hobby." This person claims to listen to the news every week, but clearly hasn't actually heard a word I've said. My callsign was randomly assigned by the ACMA and I'll be upgrading when I've achieved my QRP DXCC. As I said, this was one of the tamer responses. It's been a continuing feast ever since I got my license. I'm no shrinking violet and if you know me at all, I tend to tell it as I see it. What concerns me is that this is the feedback I'm getting. I've spoken to probably over a hundred F-calls since I received my license and the theme is a recurring one. There's bullying, abuse, swearing, accusations, active interference, emails, letters and other nastiness that this part of the hobby seems to think is appropriate to share and it's not just happening here in my state. I've had reports from all over the country. Speaking directly to those miscreants is a waste of breath, but I know that they are surrounded by people who disagree, because I speak to them on a regular basis. I'd encourage you to take these bullies to task, either in the public forum in which they spread their bile, or directly and face-to-face if that's more your style. There is no place for this. F-calls are here to stay, just like Novice calls were in a previous life and what ever the next minority was before that. One observation that fills me with great joy. Soon there will be more F-calls than all other licenses combined. At that point there will be more of us than there are of them. In case there is a potential for misunderstanding. I support the ability for an F-call to upgrade. I will upgrade at a time of my choosing. That doesn't mean that everyone will or should feel compelled to do so. Got a problem with this, let me know, publicly. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

What use is an F-call? One of the many projects I'm dealing with as a result of attempting to achieve contacting 100 different countries using only 5 Watts, also known as a QRP DXCC, is to log my contacts and upload them to a place where others might confirm those contacts. Traditionally, the process of confirming a QSO involves sending a QSL card between stations. Think of it as a post-card that has details about the contact you made. The other station in turn sends their card to you, that way, both of you have a confirmed contact. With the advent of the Internet this has begun to change. There are several websites that provide a QSL service. Each with differing options, costs and facilities. In theory the process is simple. Create a log of all your contacts, upload it to the website of choice and wait for other stations to do the same, thus confirming your contact. Of course in practice there is a bit more to it than those simple words convey. Starting at the log file end, there are many different ways of creating such a file. There are two basic formats, an ADIF and a CABRILLO format. There are hundreds of other formats too, each with their own quirks and limitations. Your logging programme will determine what the native format is for your station. To make life a little bit more interesting, not all log formats support all fields, that is, most support a callsign, an RST code, a name field and perhaps a comment, but some store just the band, not the actual frequency, others have the ability to store power, station, antenna, radio, awards, and many more details. One word of warning. A QSO is logged in UTC, that is, not in your local time-zone. What that means is that if you upload your file with contacts writing in your local time-zone, they'll be out by several hours, in the case of a contact logged between VK6 and VK2 during summer, that will be 11 hours difference, which means that the contact will not be valid until you update the time to reflect UTC. If you're in a part of the world where there is daylight saving, your UTC offset will change throughout the year - not to mention fade the curtains and put chickens off the lay. Actually uploading the file requires that you have an account with the web service. For some of the sites, that means, create an account an you're done. For more reputable services that's not really helpful, since online no-one knows you're a dog. So, many require extra steps, from sending a scanned copy of your license, through to sending a letter with an actual photocopy and some other form of ID. There's much more to say on this topic, but that's a start. Check your logs, play with different logging software and choose the one that works for you. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

What use is an F-call? Since I started in Amateur Radio, in November 2010, barely a minute and a half ago when compared with the history of this hobby, I've been involved in many different activities. Last week I had the opportunity to sit down and have a think about what that entailed for me. I've been doing lots of things, partly because I'm likely to jump in head first into any new adventure, and partly because I want to get a feel for what Amateur Radio can be. I'm going to list some of the things I've done, not to brag about them, but to attempt to share what you might do to expand your personal involvement with this fantastic hobby. I purchased a radio after finding out about online sites like eham and qrz, where other amateurs congregate to share their opinion. I participated in about five or so contests, ranging from smaller to large, on my own and as a member of a team, with low power, or high power, portable and in well appointed shacks. I attended two WIA conferences, organised one of them, was the President of a club for a year, produced the weekly news for two years, recorded this segment for two years, hosted a weekly net for two years and visited new students whilst they were learning about becoming an Amateur. I helped with an ARISS contact in the Northbridge Piazza, maintain several Amateur Radio websites, answer questions from hams around the country and participated in two or was it three Jamborees On The Air. I was part of several field days, camped out with friends and set-up portable stations, have a weekly amateur radio lunch, built antennas and testing equipment, wrote articles, went to swap meets, attended many club meetings, started learning Morse, made several QRP DXCC contacts, won awards and received accolades and still I cannot quench the thirst for this hobby. You might be listening to this list and get exhausted. Even saying this out loud is pretty insane to me, but the intent is to highlight what is possible within this magical adventure that's called Amateur Radio. I'm very fortunate. I'm self-employed, don't have kids and have a very, very understanding XYL. Some of the activities I did with much help from the community and other amateurs who showed the way or helped me out. I'd never tell you to get off your Alpha Romeo Sierra Echo, instead, next time you're bored, next time you're unsure what to do, go out and participate, be part of the community, get going, build stuff, meet people, get on air. No-one is stopping you. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

What use is an F-call? For a little while now I’ve been working towards obtaining my DXCC, contacting 100 countries. When I talk about it, often the first question is, how many contacts have you made? I’m always a little ashamed to admit that I’ve yet to make my first. Often I then get lots of helpful advice on what to do. Let me share with you what I’ve been doing since I made the commitment to obtain my Low Power, or QRP DXCC. As I said at the time, I don’t know if this is going to take a week, a month, a year or a decade, but I intend to get there, if not for others, but for myself as a personal challenge. My first quest along this road was to get on-air. I started thinking that I would do this from my car, set-up my mobile vertical at a suitable location and just start making QSO’s. I spent a fair amount of time scouting for locations, found a few to test and after sitting for a couple of days in these spots a number of things became apparent to me. My antenna, as great as it is, is a pain to set-up for an hour. It’s fine for a day or a weekend, but not for an hour here or there. Secondly, I didn’t feel particularly inconspicuous sitting parked in my car with a big stick standing next to it and at night I felt particularly uncomfortable. So, after doing some research and evaluating how much space I have available at home, I came to the conclusion that I should get my shack set-up at home with a suitable antenna. I’ve been researching antennas and as you might know, have settled on a Magnetic Loop Antenna. This in turn lead me down the path of finding a suitable and eventually with the help of several amateurs, building a variable capacitor. All credit to them. Then I couldn’t measure the capacitance of this contraption, so I needed the ability to measure small capacitance, in the order of Pico Farad, something my Digital Multi-Meter is completely incapable of. So I built an LCR meter. Although I’ve been soldering for years and every time learning more about this art-form, this was the first time I actually built something. So, now I have a variable capacitor, an LCR meter, I’m working on how to feed my loop and control the actuator that adjusts the capacitor, I’m getting closer. Once I’m on-air, I’ll still need to sort out logging and QSL and no doubt I’ll learn more about what else is needed. One I know is needed is Morse and I’m struggling a little with that, but a day at a time. I aim to get to the point where Neil, VK6FSKB got to recently when he heard a station calling on 15m. He called back and made a QSO with GB0IDD, the special event station for the 2012 UN International Day of Disability. So, learning, doing and having fun. That’s what it’s all about. What have you been up to lately? I’m Onno VK6FLAB

What use is an F-call? On a regular basis I hear the phrase "When are you going to learn some more and upgrade your license?" I have no clear answer to that, other than to say that since I obtained my entrance into the hobby by spending a weekend learning and qualifying for my Foundation License, I have not stopped learning. I find myself surrounded by knowledgeable Amateurs on a weekly, if not daily basis who know their subject, are passionate about it and are happy to share it with anyone who is keen to learn. I've learnt about the practical implementation of antennas, am in the process of building my second antenna, have participated in several contests and to my surprise even won one. I am learning Morse, learning about propagation, have begun to learn to operate my own and other radios, have been exposed to social events, HAMfests, am part of the team that produce and present the weekly Amateur news, am an active club member and I still have time to host a weekly net for new and returning Amateurs. So, what exactly does it mean when I'm asked "When are you going to learn some more and upgrade your license?" If you don't yet have a license, I recommend that you find a local Foundation Course, spend a weekend and get your keys to an amazing hobby. If you already have a license and you think I need to learn more, I agree. I'm working on it. QRP DXCC is my next goal, what's yours? I'm Onno VK6FLAB