Sunset

Lots of listening through the afternoon between 30, 20, 17, and 15-meters. I called CQ a few times on 30, 20, and 17-meters with no success. The propagation numbers are solar flux indice (67), K-index (15), and A-index (1). Both the K- and A-index dropped through the day.

Seventeen meters surprised me with a brief opening toward Japan and Central America. I tuned across the band just in time to work --

• XE1CT, 17.079, s5, 2231Z.
• JH0HZO, 17.071, s2, 2251Z.

Mexico and Japan are both new ones for me on 17-meters. I worked Stuart, VA7CRH on 30-meters earlier in the afternoon. Our receivability number was 4 and strength numbers were 4 and 3, respectively. Thirty meters was not stable and it was noisey as well.

I uploaded my contact information into the eQSL database as the next-to-last step that confirms our QSO. Additionally, I'm thinking about foregoing hard copy QSL cards altogether, the cost is reaching prohibitive when factoring the total cost of a QSL card i.e. envelope, international receipt coupons, stamps, green stamps, printed card, and fuel to the post office.

Log Book of the World and eQSL when taken in combination adequately compensate for the loss of the hardcopy QSL. However, I may order a batch of cards just to collect those rare ones as part of the romance and nostalgia of ham radio. It's a tough call right now.

Contest on.

Before Dawn

I got up with the stars and my favorite constellation is Orion. He's quite a guy up there in the cosmos with his bow and all.

Fired up the coffee pot and Radio Dawg gave me, "Are you kidding me not even the dogs get up at this hour." Radio Dawg may have dog bones but I have ham radio.

I pushed up the telescoping mast and straightened the antenna because last night; the wind howled for a couple of hours.

Right now, I'm scanning 30-meters in search of signals so far, a W7 and K6. Forty meters is packed with RTTY signals down to 7.025kc this morning. Additionally, I heard a UA0 calling CQ on 30-meters and an LU7 calling CQ on 20-meters early yesterday evening. Perhaps Orion can speak with Helios and get just a little more propagation going?

Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon grabbed priority Friday evening. I dig those 1970s throwback soundtracks.

Helios is climbing onward and upward. I'm listening, listening, and listening some more. Let's see what happens through the weekend?

Contest on.

Adventure Now

My life is transforming because of my blogging project. It's that straightforward.

Currently, one can discover the following on-going series of postings within KA3DRR.

• Off the Random Wire.
• Signals from the RadioSport Blogosphere.
• The Journey to DXCC and WAS.

Recently, I thought about content growth at KA3DRR asking myself this question; what activity outside of the niche of Amateur Radio can I passionately write about? I enjoy two other activities in addition to RadioSport. One might say that rock climbing and surfing fall beneath the caption of adventure.

I'm introducing Adventure Now as a new series in addition to Off the Random Wire, Signals from the RadioSport Blogosphere, and The Journey to DXCC and WAS.

The purpose of Adventure Now is to communicate who-is-doing-what across our changing planet. My hope is to one day discover a 21st Century explorer or adventurer who currently incorporates Amateur Radio as means of communications.

The First One

Meet Erden Eruc who is currently rowing his way to Australia after departing Bodega Bay in July of this year. He will reach the east coast of Australia by early 2008 after eight months of rowing across the Pacific Ocean. Eruc will then bicycle across Australia after first summiting Kosciusko and continue his human powered journey to India.

Eruc (2007) said this,

• "A dream is a goal glimmering in the distance; it is an inner calling which, when accomplished, serves as a rite of passage into wisdom."

One will discover a MAP button in the upper right hand corner of the page. I'm watching his progress as Eruc navigates the big blue Pacific in his row boat destined for Australia.

The goal of Adventure Now is to continue tracking Eruc's human powered adventure around the world. Others will follow in the near future as well.

Contest on.

Reference:

Eruc, E (2007). Around-n-Over. Retrieved on October 18, 2007 from http://www.around-n-over.org/.

Time Out to Say "Thank You"

I'm taking a time out to say thank you. My blog continues growing and I wanted to share some of the stats taken from Feedburner.

KA3DRR Low-power, Low-profile Amateur Radio Contesting @ 40-watts.

• 12 subscribers (most popular is Goggle Fetch).
• 25 hits in the last 12 and half hours.
• 17 average daily visitors (76.5% new).
• 28 visitors last Sunday establishing a new record.
• 240 visits in the last 30-days.
• Most popular outgoing traffic is K3LR, N3BB, and ham blog (del.icio.us.).

Thank you Keith, W4KAZ who recently blog rolled KA3DRR.

My very best to each of you. I appreciate your encouragement and support!

Contest on.

http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home

Amateur Radio Statistics

The link to U.S. Amateur Radio Licensing Trends, Effects of April 2000 Amateur Radio Restructuring http://ah0a.org/FCC/ARRL/R-1.html

Number of Amateur Licenses by State http://ah0a.org/FCC/ARRL/State1A.html

Last modified on 06/12/2007.

73 from the shack.

Reference:

Speroni, J. AH0A (2007). Amateur Radio Education Web Site. Retrieved on October 16, 2007 from http://ah0a.org/AH0A.html.

ARRL 2007 Elections and the Future

My ballot arrived and it is time to vote for my Southwestern Division Vice-Director. This is a first for me and Ham Radio is in a must situation. We need new amateurs in our ranks now. I do not believe the course to full recovery rests entirely with emergency communications (EMCOMM). This course is one dimensional symbolizing a fuse rather than a circuit breaker protecting the circuit board of Ham Radio.

Ham Radio, for me, includes research and development, high frequency activity, satellite communications, and more. The one dimensional approach alarms me.

Clearly, I understand the need for EMCOMM within Ham Radio but, it is not the entire circuit board. Without new amateurs in our ranks there will be no circuit board, fuse, or circuit breaker.

What I did not read across all four candidates is their vision for the future of Ham Radio. That is, setting goals to drive our numbers upward and forward into the middle of this century. However I noted an emphasis on EMCOMM, endorsements from previous Division Directors, and past accomplishments.

Each accomplishment noteworthy and respected.

In contrast, each of the candidates are highly successful individuals who are passionate and devoted to Ham Radio. I do not doubt that each one understands the exodus and the problem it now poses. The long term growth of our hobby is at stake and this election is a crossroad into the future.

I'm voting this evening for the first time in an ARRL election and the ballot will be on its way to Newington in the morning.

73 from the shack.

RadioSport Contest Growth

Are there too many contest's populating RadioSport resulting in high frequency (HF) gridlock now and into the future? Will competing contests enhance or degrade possible QSO totals and availability of multipliers as propagation improves? Is RadioSport contesting in a bandwidth crisis?

I'm sure this is an age-old question and as old as RadioSport itself. However recent discussions for and against contesting growth intrigued me.

I can say as a re-entry contester that RadioSport changed especially with the introduction of sprint-like contesting during the work week. The expansion of contesting activity into the work week, in my estimation, is a solid marker of growth.

On the other hand, some contest's advocate bandwidth conservation (i.e. operate within a specific range of frequencies on any given band) and others do not. Perhaps this debate is as old as the wheel itself, although, given the popularity of specifc modes, sometimes it sounds like we are in a bandwidth crisis.

In contrast, the number of scheduled RadioSport contests competing against each other on a given weekend, suggests some duplication although I can vote with my QSO.

According to WA7BNM's Perpertual Contest Calendar beginning in 2007 and running through 2016 thus far--

• January = 21
• February = 22
• March = 14
• April = 19
• May = 10
• June = 8
• July = 10
• August = 15
• September = 15
• October = 14
• November = 13
• December = 11

Total number of contests (n = 172) across a 12-month period for an average of 14.3 contests per month. Then, on any given weekend, one might expect on average 3.5 contests competing for bandwidth throughout the year.

Certainly, the success of any given contest depends on the QSO vote and encouraging growth through activity, at this crossroad in the history of our hobby is important to me.

73 from the shack.

Reference:

Horn, B. (2007). WA7BNM Contest Calendar. Retrieved on October 15, 2007 from http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html.

Ric, K6VVA -- The Locust & CQP 2007 SBEN County

Ric, K6VVA a.k.a. The Locust sent me a link to his recent article covering his portable California QSO Party (CQP) operation from SBEN county.

Locust Quotes

• "After stopping at McDonald's on the way down to SBEN for my favorite contest breakfast food (a sausage egg McMuffin), there was just enough room to add on 3 bags of ice."
• "CQP 2007 was now evolving into a hybrid electrical power venue."
• "I'm sure many thought I was an "alligator", but I gotta tell you, more often than not, someone would call (right at my noise level), but halfway through the callsign, they disappeared. Other times I could get the callsign, but after sending my exchange, it was "vaporsville"."

Many thanks to the Locust for a fun and enjoyable read this morning. Click the link for more of Ric's adventure in SBEN county.

73 from the shack.

Reference:

Ric, K6VVA (2007). K6VVA CQP 2007 SBEN County Expedition. Retrieved on October 14, 2007 from http://www.k6vva.com/cqp2007/.