Its been a while since I last posted about some of my QRP contacts made with my Yaesu FT 817/LDG QRP Autotuner combo using my S9 43 foot vertical antenna.
(Not my backyard but it does show the antenna nicely…)
I’ve been trying to make a contact or so a day… Not really sitting in the shack for long but making the most of the time when I find a chance to get near the radio… But I have learned its easier to work DX with 100w but it can be exciting to work it with 5w. Just to refresh your memory I am doing this all QRP SSB and yes I know it would be easier to use a digital mode like PSK 31 or to use CW but as you know I don’t really like the Digital Modes and my CW Skills are rather poor.
Recently contacts have been made with the following stations:
PJ4/W1MD 10M (a new one for QRP DXCC)
W0FBP 17M (a KX3 to FT817 contact)
T46RCC 12M (IOTA DXPedition)
OE2013R 15M ( Austrian Special Events Stn)
T44RCC 20M (IOTA DXPedition)
J8/VA3MW 20M (a new one for DXCC and QRP DXCC)
VE3XTI 20M (good for my #WAT award)
So out of all this you can see that I did manage two new QRP DXCC contacts and one new DXCC contact so the totals are now…
DXCC 104 confirmed on LoTW out of 149 claimed
QRP DXCC 41 claimed…
One of these days I must go through the hoops to apply for my DXCC Certificate from the ARRL…. I’ve had the necessary confirmation since the end of November and I just keep on putting it off….
If you were noticing that adding two new QRP DXCC to my list… that the list seems not to be growing as in my last post I claimed numbers 39 and 40 so todays post should be 40 and 41. It seems that my logging program accepted a dupe call and so one contact was listed twice. I caught it when I read a printout of the list… The dupe was removed so my claimed QRP DXCC dropped from 42 to 41.
I’ve also been making some computer related changes to the shack with the purchase of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Android Tablet and once I get all the apps loaded in it will greatly lighten the backpack when I head out to the park.
So far I have APRS Droid (look for VA3QV-5 on APRS.fi) on it along with a DX Cluster Program on it… Just looking for a logging program that will allow me to U/l the days results to HRD and it will be heading out to the field for testing… But so far I do like what I am seeing and I am very pleased with my purchase… Anyone know of any good (free is better) ham radio apps that they would recommend for the android?
More on this and my QRP DXCC quest later… For now have fun playing radio
73bob
Tags: amateur radio, Amateur Radio DX, APRS.fi, DXCC, QRP DXCC, Samsung Galaxy Tab Android Tablet
February 21, 2013 at 7:43 pm |
Hi Bob — well .. here’s a few I use for ham and some non-ham you might find of value :
some basic apps:
ham-related:
ham radio ionosphere – good info.
locator – find your grid square
qrzDROID is functional – basic though. qrz.com lookup function.
RepeaterBook – you might be interested in this just for the bluetooth-CAT interface
SatTrack is good to see what’s coming by if you’re into satellites.
Scanner Radio – I’ve used it the odd time to listen into a net when I didn’t have a radio with me
tape-a-talk – if you want to record that rare contact QSO
non-ham-related:
csipsimple (VoIP)
open GPS tracker – good for walking/biking/etc tracking.
WordPress – to use with your site – so, ham related too
73, Dan ve4drk
February 22, 2013 at 1:50 pm |
Hi Dan… Thanks for the comments … Its a bit of a learning curve as I prefer more radio than computer in my hobby… But after saying that using the tablet rather than the laptop has suddenly made the portable station much lighter…
Using (so far) APRSDROID and I like it. Easy to see if my VX8GR is getting into the local digis…. ECHOLINK as its nice to have a backup way to talk as I do have a 3G mobile hotspot so as long as I have cell service I can access the net even though its not as fast as at home…
My mapping app allows me to see where i was just talking to and the DX CLuster app allows me to know where I might be able to talk to…
All in all it ain’t bad… HF still better though…
73bob