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ZW5UN – CQ WW CW 2009

This our operation as ZW5UN Multi Single High Power on CQWW CW 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yAIbS1GaTE

What’s a beverage?

No we’re not talking drinking an 807  (this term for beer refers to the look of the old brown beer bottles that looked like 807 tubes) but a Beverage antenna. Originally designed by Harold H. Beverage back in 1919, Beverage antennas are generally a wire one or two wavelengths laid out a few feet above the ground and pointed in the direction you want to hear. Beverage himself experimented with antennas as long as 14 km.

The Beverage antenna is strictly a receiving antenna and sounds like this: From the ARRL newsletter.

100 years of bugs

This from the ARRL Newsletter: The Vibroplex Company is being sold. Owner Felton “Mitch” Mitchell, W4OA is selling the 100-year-old amateur radio institution to Scoot Robbins, W4PA as of December 31, 2009. Robbins says he’ll move the company to Knoxville, Tennessee.

My own experience with Vibroplex happened a few years back at Dayton. I complained to them that a new Vibroplex Racer bug was sticky in its feel and the folks at the booth suggested I send it to them. I did and a few weeks later I got my bug back working as it should – smooth as silk.

I know own three bugs (an original which Marion bought for me for a birthday present; the Blue Racer and a Lightening which I got for $25 in Rochester. The completely chromed Lightening as a chip in the chrome which doesn’t affect the movement of the bug whatsoever.

Sending with a bug is an art and I use it during contests to send “R” or “?” where appropriate  :)

CQ WW DX INFO

Thanks to The Daily DX here is a link to resources for those of you working the CQ WW DX CW contest this weekend: 2009 CQ WW CW DX Contest Special Edition

VE3EJ featured station

A photo of VE3EJ’s super contest station is featured in this week’s ARRL Contest Update. Appearing upder the Technical Topics and Information section, the photo is in the same section as a link to the World Radiosport Team Championship 2010 station description

Another link in the article leads to an inexpensive stereo headphone amp with four headphone outputs suitable for use at contest stations. Said to be RF immune (so far) the four outputs allow for loggers (does anybody just log and not operate anymore) or observers to listen in to the action. This might be a great addition to Field Day and GOTO stations as it runs off 12 volts.

CQ WW DX CW

One of the best and busiest contests of the year happens this coming weekend with the CQ WW DX (CW portion). And for those of you with unlimited potential there’s the new Xtreme Category. Here’s a link to the rules for Xtreme which allows for the use of Internet-linked stations and Skimmer-type devices. This should prove a very interesting category. For those of humbler but possibly nobler intentions there’s always the single operator QRP (single or all band) class at 5 watts which in a CW contest isn’t as big a handicap as it might first appear. A 5-watt signal is only about 2 to 5 S-units below a 100-watt signal. Here’s a good little explanation of the differences in power levels. This information comes from N1SU. Here’s a nice shot of his operating station.

Here’s a link to the overall rules page.

Sweet

The December issue of CQ Magazine arrived (always a fun read) and there on page 3 was an ad for Tokyo Hy-Power amps (which are available through the U.S. Ham Radio Outlet and ArraySolutions). On the operating table in the ad was an HC-1.5KAT tuner; a HL-2.5Kfx, 1.5kW MOSFET amp and an IC-7700.

Kind of my dream station. Anybody had any experience with the Toyko Hy-Power equipment?

2009 RAC Winter Contest

The 2009 RAC Winter Contest is taking place from 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC December 19, 2009. Bands range from 160 to 2 meters CW and phone (SSB, FM, AM, etc) with suggested frequencies for CW up 25kHz from the band edge and SSB at 1850, 3775, 7075, 7225, 14175, 21250 and 28500. The exchange for stations in Canada is RS(T) and province or territory.

For full rules visit the RAC Contest site and download the linked PDF document and good luck.

More new members

Thanks to all who have donated or pledged $20 to help sponsor the Single-Operator, High Power plague in the Ontario QSO Party. We’re up to three years of sponsorship and I’ve let Eric at Contest Club Ontario know we’re committed. To join the Oakville Contest Club just pledge $20 and get it to me (VE3HG) at your leisure — remembering I am keeping a record of pledges