Tuned 18 meter CW and 4A1DXXE Gruppo DXXE is pumping. Gruppo DXXE is the top Mexican club of DXers, contesters, and Islands on the Air (IOTA) activators. Nice signal on the central coast of California this afternoon.
Log search (link).
Chase DX.
Competition is good.
CQ WPX CW expanded RadioSport categories to include USA Low Power, World QRP/p, and World rookie beginning in 2008 and onward into our future. According to CQ-Contest Digest Volume 73, Issue 3 wherein Randy, K5ZD stated, "We had a number of outstanding efforts from the 2008 contest that were not going to receive the recognition they deserved."
Who is going to be the first world rookie or garner USA Low Power? Likewise who has taken on the mammoth task of CQ WPX CW at the extreme end of power, QRP/p?
New Competitive Categories With Sponsored Plaques.
LoTW 1,180 QSO Records & 381 Confirmed.
Photograph 1. Braided wire at tuner ground post. 
Photograph 2. Braided wire terminations at cold pipe. 
Photograph 3. Prior termination for Yaesu FT100 only.eQSL.
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My pleasure and the goal next year is to improve the Best Of Ham Radio. Stay tuned...
73 from the shackadelic.
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A fine business Q this morning while billions of stars shone through our ionosphere. Shin, JA1NUT is a Morse code craftsman and listening to his art form is a pleasure. I'm happy you received the message from him as well. Indeed. We share a small planet.
Happy New Year to you and your family from Shell Beach.
73 from the shackadelic.
I'm introducing Best Of Ham Radio as a means of highlighting achievements within our community. My list is not comprehensive yet the list is a good beginning. One can anticipate another like this one when 2009 goes QRT.
Best of Ham Radio's Web | DXAnywhere | 73s
...is transforming our method of sharing information and creating friendships. If one is looking for renewed excitement in our hobby then 73s and DXAnywhere are stand out examples. Respectfully, both are built on the concepts of collaboration, creativity, and communication that is, input is welcomed then executed in a timely manner from a broad spectrum of ham radio operators. Each has a promising future while ham radio moves into the new year.
Transformed Ham Radio Technology Of 2008 | FlexRadio Systems' Flex-3000
...is our brave step into our software defined future. Reconfigurable radios using software instead of hardware is worth watching through this year. The Flex-3000 is high end affordable technology at $1499 and does not break one's budget. The barrier into software defined radio (SDR) has fallen significantly. New innovation and inspiration will certainly follow as mainstream ham radio takes another look at SDR.
Best Hope For Ham Radio's Future | FlexRadio System's Flex-1500
...entry level SDR is the gateway into ham radio. If any wireless radio on the market can reach Millennials this is the one. FlexRadio Systems' $499 price point is parental friendly and presents an opportunity at deploying SDR technology into our high schools, colleges, and universities. Furthermore, low power operating is on the uptick and a 1-watt power amplifier (PA) is ideally suited for any purpose in ham radio. A 5-watt option is under consideration as well. Included is an intermediate frequency (IF) deck for VHF-microwave transverter operation. The Flex-1500 may pump up the volume on underutilized spectrum as well.
Blogger of the Year | Jeff Davis, KE9V
...one of the greatest pleasures of ham radio is meeting others who set the standard. I remember first launching my blog into ham radio's blogosphere nearly two years ago. And KE9V was one of my first reads. He inspired me to push my writing. Jeff guided me along and offered helpful suggestions as well. For me, KE9V is ham radio's anchor blog, one that illuminates topics with his succinct writing from the heart.
I'm honored to share my first 2009 Q with Shin, JA1NUT who lives in Japan. He called CQ on 40m this morning and his signal is consistently strong as well. He's operating 500watts into a 3-element yagi and I received [Readability 5] [Strength 6] [Tone 9]. Shin's signal report, on the other hand, into a wire antenna system (ie. doublet) was [Readability 5] [Strength 7] [Tone 9]. Conditions were stable with Shin reporting minor fading effects (QSB) at his location.
We mentioned, in the content of our QSO, our mutual reading interest in Leo's JJ8KGZ's a brasspounder's cafe (link) as well.
Defending our spectrum just operate.
Every problem is a challenge and an overloaded control panel on an electric stove is solvable.
The Challenge.
My inductive and capacitance settings on the tuner flagged potential problems. The capacitance setting was awfully high above 5 and that is not very efficient. Stable bandwidth from a standing wave ratio (SWR) perspective ranged about 10KHz before re-tuning the antenna system. I did not change my inductive setting however capacitance required continual attention. Additionally reflected power on the SWR meter did not meet my satisfaction as well.
My doublet performs on spectrum spaces below 160m without radio frequency interference (RFI). The low bands (ie. 40, 80, and 160m) are troublesome when the northern antenna leg is nearly 20-feet off the ground. The RFI problem dissolves when I drop the end insulator below our stone wall. This might be a matter of my antenna coupling with house wiring plus the alternating current (AC) line on my neighbor's stove? Or my take-off angle and radiation lobe changes when I moved the insulator near earth ground?
I made a phone call and local RF Technologists suggested looking again at my station's radio frequency (RF) ground before moving toward AC chokes on the neighbor's power cord. And I'm starting with rudimentary fixes then move toward the more complex. A good RF ground at the station goes along way toward diminishing RFI.
Stew Perry Topband Distance Challenge.
I wrote a tweet prior to the contest, "I smell spark gap ozone and antenna the size of steel bridge cable."
Overall, given the challenge, I managed 7Qs and 18-points. The contest is like Frankenstein and I really enjoyed operating on the monster wavelength. Especially noteworthy is the exchange DNA that is grid square. I watched a few illuminate on the multiplier map and that was fun as well.
One begins to sense developing patterns in propagation and station performance. Imagine an international contest with grid square exchange DNA? Cool.
The best option this year was a quick retreat for a better investment next year. Neighbor relations is everything for a CC&R challenged operator and having gracious neighbors is worth more than gold.
Stew Perry gave me an engineering challenge going into 2009 and I look forward to walking the Frankenstein band where the monster wavelength roams.
Contest on.
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I'm observing a preponderance of 2x3 calls in addition heavily weighted with programmers, computer specialists, system operators, Millennials and hybrid wireless operators (ie. Echolink). What does this migration mean for ham radio?
DXAnywhere operated by Peter, M3PHP back channels DX alerts and solar data into Twitter. And soon similar alerts will populate mobile devices as well. With Skype facilitating remote operation in conjunction with software defined radio (SDR)? One could work their wanted DXCC entity from anywhere and this changes the game, fundamentally.
However, for the purpose of my comment, I side step latency problems.
On the other hand, 73s owned by Chris, N7ICE just reviewed Icom's ID-1 DSTAR and HamFeed another N7ICE project surpassed 1,000 hits this month. He is building the next generation of ham radio activity in unison with Internet. Open source coding is tearing down the wall.
Additionally, Twitter offers one the safety against on-line bullying and twisted flaming, if one does not like then one just clicks and the relationship ceases. I've observed a reasonable level of courtesy and respect unlike anywhere else.
Certainly, Twitter's social networking utility is not for everyone, that is true. Twitter nor FriendFeed chose me instead I chose them. And now, I'm living ham radio history, because the integration of computer technology with wireless communication is now gaining a few decibels.
My very best.
73 from the shackadelic.
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I want to acknowledge my bias that is web-native media, for me, is transforming and Twitter is one piece of that transformation. Unabashedly, I did not adopt social networking until recently and did so earlier this year. My cognitive tool set was ill prepared. I was, in effect, treated with kindness until I resolved the value of my tweets.
Additionally, finding one's position in the group takes time as relationships formed and dissolved within a click. On the other hand I learned, not to read deeply into learner feedback or emails, while attending Capella University. Too often, feelings were projected against the back drop of the message and the meaning was lost. Essentially, one cannot read body language on Internet and one aspect of communication is analyzed against body inflections.
The same might be said of tweets and wireless communication. A lot of sensory information is not available.
In contrast, the value gained from social networking is not for everyone just like all modes of wireless communication do not appeal to the individual. Twitter is an adjunct to my overall ham radio activity. It is a facilitator where none existed before.
Thanks for your comment!
73 from the shackadelic.
I'm in the process of developing a cognitive model for my social network based on random sampling. Twitter, for me, is an example of technology moving faster than my intellectual infrastructure. However, after reading a weekend worth of conversation, the following is a personal good beginning.
My Cognitive Model.
