YEAR END

Well here it is the end of 2014, wow where does the time go ? I guess not enough in the Ham Shack !! But not a bad year in all I have got to spend my fair share in the shack and with my great family. It is truly a balancing act to get the time we want for our hobby and for the ones we love, always remember family and friends #1 Ham Radio #2 .

My ham year was not so bad and I wish the same for you, worked a few new for DXCC, worked a few new for VUCC and got to play in a few contests, oh and I have stepped in to the new year by at last getting on LoTW did not know if I would ever get that done ! !

2014 Contesting : I always start the year with the Jan. contests my favorite and most challenging is the CQ 160m CW but this year (2015) I will start with the ARRL RTTY although we will have grand children for the week end I will try !! The first few months of the New Year are filled with some of the best contests of the year. ARRL RTTY, NAQP SSB, ARRL VHF, CQ 160M cw and ssb, CQ WPX RTTY, ARRL DX cw, and that is just Jan. and Feb.

Also this first of the year will bring a couple of good DXpeditions , Jan. FO/KK6BT, TX5W, and in Feb. look for TI6A. so a busy couple of months to start our new year.

2014 was a good year for my trips to see my best friend and operate in a couple of contests I think the joy in ham radio is to look past the bad behavior of others on the bands and enjoy old friends and operating when we get the time. I wish you all a very Happy 2015, and remember...get on have fun and enjoy what ever type of station you have....73 Jim K7JAN

FT4TA , AND 6 METERS

Well winter is on it's way with snow in our forecast this week and cold temps ....so must be Ham Radio time !!

The recent FT4TA DXpedition was ongoing the last ten days and many of you had a shot at a new DXCC country and I hope you did well, as usual the normal jammers and just poor operating of others made it a tough one. As you know by now I live in the North Western US and for us that part of the world is tough anyway. It seemed to me that the team at FT4TA was not doing the best job to observe band openings and times of day to work some areas of the world.

I found this on DX WORLD, worth a read explains much http://www.dx-world.net/the-aftermath/

Well enough said about that and I did not work them, tried a few times but only did hear them a couple of times good enough to call, so I truly hope you did well with them.

But on another note that was great fun....yesterday afternoon (11-10-2014) there was a rare 6M opening from the west coast to KH6, and for some ZL and VK, what a treat. Just happened to come in the shack and check spots to see the opening, with my big 100w and 3 ele at 15 feet works several KH6 stations. First time for KH6 in about 24 years on 6M it was great fun.

Not only are November 6M openings rare here , 6M DX openings are very very rare. I did see this opening extended in to the Midwest US and some W6 stations worked ZL and VK stations. Once again making the magic band magic !!

This weekend will be ARRL SS SSB contest not a favorite of mine but no doubt I will be looking for that elusive clean sweep again....Some photos below one of VHF map during the KH6 opening and one of me with a smile after enjoying several DX 6M contacts,

Get on enjoy what you have and have fun ....best 73 Jim K7JAN

Been a While : /

Well it seems summer and early fall take us out of the shack and in to the yard / BBQ / all other things summer !! Well my last post was in Aug. about the end of the E season for 6M. As for all of us summer and family and all other functions seem to keep us out of the shack this time of year so this keeps me away from my Ham Blog !!

However , the past few weeks have put me back in the shack and on the road. Fall is in the air in Idaho although mild it is here. I got excited about Lord Howe Isl. as that would be a new one for me and spent some time working them...was fun.

The next thing was the CQWWSSBDX contest always a fun time as I travel to Oregon to operate from my best buds station K7BUY. I made a dumb move this year as I took my flu shot the day before I drove the four hours to his QTH. Well long story short was sick the entire weekend but managed to operate as much as I could.

As always my friend Larry was a great host and we had a good time. The band conditions were strange on the edge of a couple of major flares but we had a good time and did ok for a couple of old guys !! Our next mission is to work Tromelin Isl. FT5 starting tomorrow.

I will post a couple of photos from my Trip, remember enjoy what you have get on and have fun !! 73 Jim K7JAN

This is what end of contest look like !! Feet up and wine.

View from the QTH of K7BUY....ahhhh

The morning I left for home, this is not frost it is ice !!

6 Meter E season near end " I THINK "

I started a blog page this after noon about the dwindling 6 Meter E season....BUT this evening I checked the reflector and saw some activity, and be darned if we didn't have a small opening from the North West to W6 land.
My past few years of 6M logs tell me that my first E season contacts are in the first week of May and my last of the season are the first week of August. I have not had a 6M E contact past August 5th for the past three years so tonight I passed that by four days.

My past logs also tell me that I have had over 200 6m contacts during the spring/summer E season for the past three years as of tonight I have 195 in the log for the 2014 season. It was lackluster for us in the North West I think at least for me. I caught one opening to the SE working grids in Florida and Georgia, and one opening to the NE where I knocked off my 49th state for 6M WAS.

I worked two JA stations and one KL7 and several XE stations. But all in all most of our openings were to the South AZ, NM, CA, a few to TX and OK and a few to the Mid West stations but the bulk were short skip to the South. I know the East coast had some great openings to Europe and it seems to us up this way the guys in the East get the most action ....Ok I may be jealous a bit.

As most of you know I live with CC&R so the antenna is a 3el beam at 15 feet and I run the standard 100w, the antenna is below the roof line so it can't be seen from the street. I always enjoy any contact on 6 and will not moan about the lack of F skip or the lack of double hop to the East, but next year I will be watching close for DE, my last state for 6 WAS.

I would like to hear from any of you that work 6 and see what you thought of this E season it is fun to compare notes on this crazy band. I have never had any luck with the winter E season, the last few years I have only made four or five contacts in the Dec. and JAN window.

I love 6 but now it is time to move on to DX and contest season for me. Have a great summers end and who knows we may grab a few more on 6 before it is over.

Remember do the best with what you have, get on and have fun, 73 K7JAN

Field Day 2014

Well another Field Day behind us, don't know how you measure FD but it is simple for me good friends, nice scenery and a worthwhile trip. Number of contacts don't seem to matter anymore just that we did it and talked to some other stations.

Our setup was simple FT 897 mounted in Jeep as last year, ran out a hundred feet of wire tuned it from the back rack of the Jeep with a Dentron

Jr. tuner and by darn we made some contacts on 20 and 40 meters. We enjoyed a beautiful day of overwhelming views, a 102 mile Jeep ride and sheep herder coffee over the camp fire. That is what it is all about, hope you had a good FD and enjoyed your day as much as I did. get on have fun with what you have ! 73 K7JAN

Field Day again !

It has been some time for a post busy old guy, grandkids, spring, now summer bla bla bla !

I will be going to Ore. this weekend for FD, last year my pal K7BUY came to Idaho so my turn. It is always great to spend time with old friends and enjoy FD no matter how many contacts you make just as long as you spend it with good company and enjoy the weekend, pleasant surprise old friend K7JD will be flying one of his planes in to meet with us for FD...will be great weekend.

My last post was in March or April after WPX, this is the time of the year my radio interest shifts to 6M and it has done just that. So far it seems like a lack luster year for us trapped in the 6M no mans land of the Pacific North West. I have seen many East coast openings to Europe and S. America, many Mid West stations working JA's but not so much for us. I did hear KH6 and one JA last night but to old and slow to work them !

Worked many SW and So. Cal. stations and a couple of openings to NW and Canada. Worked Fla. once and Mid West a couple of times but still looking for that East coast opening to have a shot at RI. and Del. to finish 6M WAS. But I will admit talking to anyone anywhere on 6M is a fun day.

I have a short video of my rebuilt Yaesu FT-301 ( from the 70's) back in the station line up operating computer generated CW sort of an old meets new story. Have a good FD hope I have a good story to tell after my return home...Get on have fun and enjoy what you have to work with....73 Jim, K7JAN

Sorry Video would not load .....

WPX SSB 2014 "THE VIEW"

Well my trip to Ore. for WPX with old bud K7BUY was again well worth the drive. We had a great time as old friends seem to do and for us we did ok in the contest even with a full blown radio blackout for some hours just more time to visit enjoy a beer and complain about world events.

I will not go into much detail here just that it was a great time and the view is soooo good, the photos will prove that, the photo of the Mountains is what you see from the operating position, who could get tired of that? Get on have fun and spend time with your best friend !

FT5ZM Amsterdam Isl.

The last few DXpedition stations I have worked were almost unbearable due to very poor operating practices and the normal frequency police and the jammers that just want to cause problems for no real reason.
I have been following the FT5ZM operation for some time thinking it would be a nice one to have, a very rare DX entity and about as far from Idaho as you can get. With my pewee antenna farm and 100w I knew it would be tough, but tough is not close to how it was it was painful !

The window of opportunity to work such a location from the PNW is narrow only a few hours a day morning was my best chance so my buddy K7BUY who lives in Ore. decided we would meet VIA text message at 0700 each morning and give it a try. K7BUY runs 100w to a very long wire. Our first morning was on 30m CW it was a mess more later on that, well Larry pulled it off and in the first hour had snagged them very good DX CW op. Well I was not so lucky so for the next 8 days a couple of hours in the morning and a little in the evening which was a very small window I soldered on.

For me this was the hardest fought battle for a new DX country that I had ever had, remember 100w 100 foot random wire and a flag pole vertical that was my tool box. The real problem was not the small station layout but the non stop bad operating and jamming most of the time you could not hear the DX station although much of the time he had a very good signal. For days this went on never in the clear.

It astounds me that most of the offenders that did not grasp the concept of split operation were one by 2 Extra class calls, I am still amazed at how bad it was hard to explain but you know if you worked this one. What does it take? How many of these operations are spoiled by bad operators....many but this was by far the worst ever in my opinion.

Europe was no better jamming, calling on DX freq. never ended, anyway up to day 8, I worked them this morning on 20m SSB first call, no jammers no one calling on Freq. he was in the clear and I could hear him, honestly thought this one may not happen for me.

I hope when we see the articles in the magazines they do not brush this aside, behavior like this is becoming the norm, I do not have the answer but this one reflected very badly on the ham community.

Well you know the ending, make the best of what you have, get on and have fun...and lets all try to set good examples on the air....73