N1MM in CQWW CW Cautionary Note

This from the Steve London, N2IC, on the N1MM Reflector. Word to the wise and all that rot. Emphasis added by me.

73, Ken K3IU

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I recommend taking a look at latest entry in the CQWW blog, written by
CQWW director K5ZD. See http://cqww.com/blog/?p=50 .

In particular he makes this comment:

“There is one very popular software package that does not always correct
the zone number when the call sign is edited. This can result in zone 35
being assigned to a station in Germany or 13 being assigned to a station
in Japan. This will result in a lost QSO when we do the checking.”

I suspect he is talking about N1MM Logger. This issue can easily be
rectified by properly setting one option in N1MM Logger. In
Config->Configure Ports->Other there is a check box “Clear populated
exchange on callsign change”. This should be checked for CQWW (as well
as many other contests).

73,
Steve, N2IC

NP3U 2013

Ok guys I haven’t heard from 1 person yet about flight information.  Jay and I have been checking flights everyday since the meeting.  Prices are ranging from $280-$450.  Really the best bang for your buck is JetBlue out of Boston.  Even though the cost is a little more ($370 pp/taxes) you fly in comfort, first checked bag is FREE, you are allowed a carry-on and a personal item (back pack), and everyone flies in “first class”.  All seats have their own “free” tv to watch, and non-stop flights to and from.  This is the flight we are looking at right now:

Your itinerary

2 travelers roundtrip: Boston, MA (BOS) to San Juan, PR (SJU)

Edit Search

  • Departing Flight #845
    • BOS
    • SJU
    2/5 1:10PM
    2/5 6:06PM
  • Returning Flight #852
    • SJU
    • BOS
    2/12 6:53PM
    2/12 10:00PM
  • Airfare
  • Fare:
    $289.00 x 2 = $578.00

     USD

  • Taxes & Fees  USD
    $94.80
  • Total:  USD
    $672.80
Please get back to me by NOON Saturday 11/17/12. 
Thank you
Bill  N1HRA

WAE rtty Contest

A Contester is born.  Jay KB1LCQ jumped right into the fire during the WAE rtty contest this past weekend.  Jay started off the contest working sations on 40m for a few hours.  The next day I sat him in the chair and put him on 20m, where he stayed most of the day.  As you can see by the score and contacts per band, he did pretty good for the first time out.  I have to say that over 75% of the contacts made, he was in the running mode, and experienced many pile ups. 

Band        Total         N1HRA        
7             42            42           
14           190           190          
21           7              7            
Total        239           239          
Total points for the weekend 43,498

 

LoTW Outage

Here’s what Jim, K8JE, Great Lakes Division Director, had to say on the qrz.com forum about the LoTW outage. I can’t speak for the truth of his “facts”:

“+++ Logbook of the World +++

A few members have asked about Logbook of the World (LoTW) being
inoperable. Here are the facts about this situation:

The department manager over Information Technology at HQ has confirmed
that no data were lost. The problem is that storage capacity has been
filled. Apparently, the fact that storage for LoTW was rapidly being
filled due to the rapid expansion of data input into it was not caught
in time to allow capacity to be expanded before the program shut down.
Staff advised the directors that capacity is being added and that
appropriate alarms are being built into the program to prevent this
situation from happening in the future. LoTW should resume full
operations essentially momentarily.

I apologize for the inconvenience this situation has caused.

73,

Jim

Jim Weaver, K8JE
Director, Great Lakes Division
5065 Bethany Rd.
Mason, OH 45040
Tel. 513-459-1661; e-mail K8JE@nullarrl.org
ARRL: The reason Amateur Radio Is
Members: The reason ARRL is”

Next Meeting

Some of our members may not know that due to the holidays, for the last several years we have not had a meeting in December. I would imagine this year will be no different, and that the next meeting will be sometime in January.

I would like to suggest two topics for the next meeting, whenever it occurs. First, I would like for us to entertain serious discussion on the issue of finances, specifically how to address our deficiency in that regard (our own “fiscal cliff” approacheth in 2013). Second, I would like for us to finalize discussion on the status of the club web site versus the Yahoo group.

Both of these issues affect every member, so I would encourage everyone to give thought to them in advance and attend the meeting. You will no doubt want your voice heard if any votes are taken. Also, I would suggest that we suspend our usual meeting style (one very loosely based upon Robert’s rules) and try to keep discussion more in line with parliamentary procedure so that everyone will have a chance to speak their mind. I’d also suggest that we ask members to keep comments to no more than 2 minutes so things will flow smoothly. Heck, we could even hash out some of the discussion here (gasp!)

I’m certain that we’ll also need to discuss WPX RTTY, but that should take little time as the group that is going seems to have things well in hand. That could be our first topic so we can get it out of the way.

Comments? Suggestions?

73,

Pat, NG1G

NP3U 2013

It was great to see everyone at the meeting on Saturday.  First I would like to welcome Jay KB1LCQ to the club.  Now on to NP3U.  I have the following members on the list of operators: Ken K3IU, John W1AN, Jamie K1SG, Matt WE1H, Jay KB1LCQ, Bill N1HRA, Mike K1DM, and Ed W1PN.  Ken K3IU will be making contact with Carlos soon.  Untill we hear back from Ken confirming that the station will be available, I suggest no one purchase their tickets.  Jay and I have been looking at flight costs this evening and found this flight info.  This is a one stop flight with your layover in Washington of less than 45 minutes.  Price of this flight per person is $279.40 (taxes and fees included).  Plan on an extra $25 each way checked baggage.  This is the best price found as of yet.  All other other flights had layovers of 4-6 hours and much more expensive.  Again if anyone else finds anything, please post it here.  As stated at the meeting I would like to hear back from all team members attending by Saturday the 17th the LATEST. 

Ken K3IU: Please try and make contact with Carlos as soon as possible. 

Thanks,

Bill N1HRA

Tue, Feb 5: Depart 05:45AM
Arrive 12:50PM
Boston Logan International Airport, MA (BOS)
San Juan Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, (SJU)
1 Stop United – Flight  842  / 1203 
Tue, Feb 12: Depart  01:41PM
Arrive 06:57PM
San Juan Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, (SJU)
Boston Logan International Airport, MA (BOS)

1 Stop United – Flight  1210  / 822 

MMTTY Question

Back a few years ago MMTTY had a built in CW decoder the used the same window as the RTTY window. While using the new version it looks like they took it out or I just don’t know where to look. Can someone tell me if it is still in the program or was it removed.

 

Thanks

Bill

2012 CQWW SSB Contest Results

Please report your contest results by adding a comment to this posting. I expect that there will be some BIG scores out there. Conditions have been very good. Even I have made about 350 phone contact. That may be a personal best on phone for me.  😆

DON’T FORGET….

All entries must be sent WITHIN FIVE (5) DAYS after the end of the contest. November 2, 2012 for the SSB section and November 30, 2012 for the CW section.

73, Ken K3IU

Storm Preparation

Here we are supposedly in the middle of one of the major contests and now we have to prepare for another challenge, heavy winds, rain and likely at least a week of power outage. Yesterday Nancy and I spent a good part of the day emptying the front and back porches, securing the trash cans, loose items in the yard and shopping for supplies, and gas for the generator that may need to last a week. I still need to go out and do some more shopping, head up to the repeater site and secure things up there. This morning I climbed the tower with the newly stacked monobanders and bungied the side mounted boom of the lower beam to a tower leg, thinkiing I would a protect the rotator and stop two free spinning antennas doing damage. On the way down I taped and bungied the freely suspending cables and lines that were not secured to the tower. I think the towers on their own should survive OK, but if a falling tree hits the guys that will be disastrous. With 90+ MPH gusts from the east, trees coming down are a given. I just hope the two large trees just to the east of my tower guys hold up.

I cranked down the KT36XA to 25 feet and was wondering since the winds will be coming from the east, should the antenna be aimed toward the wind or 90 degrees to it? I think into or away from the wind is the best choice since that would put less of a buffeting load on the rotator.

How is your prepartaion going? It looks like I will be spending little time on the air this weekend. However initial tests on the stacked 15M beams show positive results with nice unsolicited comments of “Big Signal” several times.

John W1AN

CQWW DX SSB Contest info

I highly encourage folks planning on doing any operating in this weekend’s CQWW DX SSB to check out the newly and completely revamped CQWW DX Contest website.   With a number of rule changes and clarifications this year it is worth a look.

Included are links to a recorded webinar from this past weekend by new contest director K5ZD, a new blog link with a cool world map of last year’s worldwide activity, a database of last year’s scores, a detailed FAQ page, a link to the expected contest DXpedition stations (from NG3K website), and more…all can be found here:  http://www.cqww.com/

A brief look at the webinar showed that expected band conditions this weeekend should remain quite good.  The 48-hour event starts Friday eve at 0000Z (8 pm local) and ends Sunday at 2359Z.

Most important change is a 5-day log submission deadline (with new recommended log check/submission area direct at website)…log due NLT the following Friday by 2359Z.

73 and have fun with the mics…Bill  W1WBB

NP3U

Hello everyone

 

I just wanted to see if I could get some discussion going on who is going to PR this Feb. I would like to have this put on the agenda for Nov meeting. I guess a couple question can be asked here:

Has anyone been in contact with Carlo’s?

Is there a list of things that certain people are bringing or think we should bring?

Who is committed on going? (a minimum of 4 people are needed) I will be going and I have a friend that will be joining the club at the next meeting and he would love to go. He’s really new to Ham Radio and wants to learn.

For those of you that are committed on going, you should continue to do research on flights. The best way to do this is to find the cheapest flight, and appoint someone to book everyone at the same time. This will make sure Carlo’s only makes one trip to the airport.

Please let me know if you are committed on going. It would be nice if you got back to me before the meeting via my email address: billc230@nullverizon.net

Thanks and good luck to all in the CQWWDX Contest

Bill N1HRA