Antenna Broken

I haven't been active since my wire got shortened a lot from stress. It was up there for a long time so it was going to happen eventually.

I have a new spool ready to go, but I'm considering first enhancing it. I may put a mast up there to lift the vertical of the inverted L before it goes horizontal. So this will take a bit longer than just replacing the old wire.

In the meantime, I'll see if I can listen in on anything anyway. C U L

80 & 40 Meters Tonight

Heard some strong stations on 80 meters but not as many as last week, then on 40m, I found a net for making contacts with a list of check-ins. The net control station numbers them and then after about 80 he starts calling on the list to call anyone. Nice idea, sure beats endless rag chew where you don't want to bother breaking into a group conversation.

The net web site is www.3905ccn.com

I heard KB2IAU, W3ROG, K4BZD, KB4UES, KE4VYN, N7JYC, N7WSH, KD8JYF, KC1AU, KA9Y, W9OO, and net contorl was KC1AU.

Also heard K2TTP with K0RU/M CW, and KA1W, CW. K1FZ and another net with K1CCT, KB1RXA, W2CC, KB1QAU, N1ZIO, KW1B, W1KEZ, and W1HSR.

Code Practice Also On Web From ARRL

This is really nice. No radio required for ARRL code practice. Here's the link: http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/morse.html

You can read the text, download today's mp3 of the code practice, or download prior day's CW practice, and, the bulletins are there also! Really good practice.

Copied Nice 80 meter CW QSO's

Good clear signals and both sides of the QSO, which is not always the case. I heard on 3.549 KN2CZZ and K4ALE. On 3.540.5 N8YYY and W8OLL.

Heard on 80 Meters

Strong signals to NY tonight: WA2WMJ, KC2NT, W1KX, WA2JB, W4HV, N4DWK, AK2G, W2LOC, W4CCW, W3BK, N2YBB Most SSB some CW. It's really hard to copy code when tired.

Great DX 80 Meters Thu Morning Very Early

Hooked up the old rig tonight and got on the air. Tuner was still set for 80m from years ago. W1AW was still tuned in so I copied their code practice and the bulletin, which was faster and really fun to copy as much as I did after so long.

Listened to: KC2DDR, WA2JZJ, KG1E, KA2OIG, WQ2X.

Nice contact with SP2EKI

And just now at 1:55 am Eastern, nice contact with EA3AKP, he was 59 +20 on 3.790

I was his first contact as he came on the band. Next was K0EA, he started at 59 and then was +10 and then +20 as he spoke with EA3AKP.

That was fun.

My Father's World War II CW Key J-38

This old WW2 key still works. It is a classic. I've used it on air for many QSO's. After developing some speed, I switched to a keyer.

Kit Transmitter I Built a Long Time Ago

It was a dual band. Single crystal for each band, not included. I ordered the crystals from JAN. I only got 2 of them. I was stuck on 2 frequencies. CW transmitter. I had an antenna switch to switch the antenna coax from transmitter to receiver. The old fashioned way. A good way to start. I didn't know that when they said that the 50 ohm antenna connector was impossible to match the 50 ohm coax so my swr was useless. Then finally, by getting onto vhf 2 meters, I was able to meet hams, after the license pool and books and a code practice tape. Getting to Technician class for 2 meters was a must back then.

I met Ron, NY2B and he had an antenna tuner. I finally got the thing on the air. My first contact was on 40 meters to upstate NY from LI, NY.

License Study Guide

I tried hard to study this book, but without help or a question pool, I didn't know if I needed to memorize all of this, or just understand most of it. So getting my Novice class license didn't happen for many years after studying this book. Amateur Radio Novice Class License Study Guide 2nd Edition By Jim Kyle & Ken Sessions.

It wasn't until there was a question pool, and books that were more focused on what to learn that I was able to have some confidence to know what to expect on the exam.

Morse code at 5 words per minute was a breeze.

This Sucks, Someone Already Has WW2S on Twitter.

So I had to use ww2sradio. There are no tweets from that user. I wonder what's going on.

How to Add Counter and Statistics to Your Blog Using Google Analytics

I've seen some suggestions to add the tracking code to the main HTML but that didn't work for me. Infektia suggested adding a gadget consisting of HTML/Javascript module and that did work.

The process is to get a google analytics account, which is free, and when you are presented with the code, copy and paste it into the new module that you added on blogger. It's that simple. Works great.

Before any statistics are gathered, however, it takes at least 24 hours. It seems to update once or twice a day.

Free Websites Are Awesome

Even if it is just a blog, it still is pretty cool.

WW2S Amateur Radio First Blog Post

Better than, "Hello World."