SPARC member and fellow W4TA contester Scott O’Keefe N4RI placed second in the 2015 CQ DX Marathon Formula class. Scotty finished with 250 countries worked in 2015 just behind winner Joe W4TV with 254 countries. The Formula class is for people that are using only vertical or simple dipole antennas and 100 watts (there is a separate QRP category).
You can find out more information about the DX Marathon here. The way the award resets each year allows the people that have worked just about every DX country in the world to have a goal. As the DX Marathon site states, “It gives them a reason to turn on the radio each day.”
Join in on our Friday, March 4th meeting for a very special evening with Tony DeAngelo, N2MFT, President of the Mid Florida DX Association. Tony will present some of the club’s motivation, planning, execution and results for activation of National Parks as part of the ARRL yearlong program. MFDXA has already activated two National Parks and is planning more.
We will also hear about the Mid Florida DX Association’s other activities. One of their services is QSL card checking for DXCC awards credit. Tony will give us a little insight as to how QSL cards and the Log Book of the World (LoTW) work together for us to get our DXCC certificates.
MFDXA is offering to check cards for us at the meeting. So dig out your old cards, click here to learn how to prepare your cards for checking, which must be done prior to asking a checker to review your QSLs.
YOUR CARDS MUST BE PREPARED BEFORE THEY CAN BE CHECKED.
On Friday, June 12, four of us met down at the station for lunch and then to work on the K3. The K3 that the club uses is a radio that was used in the WRTC-2014 contest held in New England last summer. As contest radios don’t really need a second receiver or a digital voice recorder (DVR), this K3 was not fitted with these options. As we also like to DX with the radios at SPARC, NY4I procured the parts for the radio to add the second receiver, upgrade to the new K3SYNA synthesizer and add the Digital Voice Recorder (SSB and CW memories).
Adding this kit took about 4 hours using the very well written Elecraft instruction manual. Dave KR4U led the build team with assistance from Tom, NY4I, John KI4UIP and Club President, Bob, N2ESP. We had the radio buttoned up but not tested plus Tom forgot to add the DVR so after taking the radio home for final testing, NY4I ended up taking the sub receiver out two more times to get it to work (I gave Dave some bad instructions on the order of filters). After the source of the issue was located, and a quick test on the trusty HP service monitor, it was time to tackle the DVR. This required removing the front panel of the radio and removing a board. The unfortunate thing is this was the exact same procedure that was used to add part of the second receiver. The moral of the story is when installing two kits at once, make sure you read both sets of instruction FIRST!
After about 2 hours (being extra careful), Tom, NY4I installed the DVR and all checked out well.
You might be asking how this helps the general club member. Besides this being one of the K3s we are using at Field Day, you now have access to world-class radio complete with a fully-independent sub-receiver and DVR. This makes DXing easier as you can also hear the other side of the pile-up. The DVR means you can record your voice and push a button to give your call in a contest. This is also the radio we use in the remote HF station available to SPARC members.
Our hope is that members want to get on the air and operate the station. We normally open the station the Saturday after the club meeting plus for contests. Other times are available—just ask someone. If you haven’t been down to the club station lately, make a point to come down during Field Day and see the setup. If you are a seasoned HF operator or a new general class ham looking to learn, we can help you use the station however you like. It is there to be used and the more the merrier.
A few SPARC members has the pleasure of visiting with Jerry, WB9Z and Valerie NV9L over breakfast recently. Jerry has been on numerous DXpeditions, while his fiancée Valerie is a host on the ham radio webcast “Ham Nation.”
L to R: Bob, N2ESP; Jerry, WB9Z and Valerie, NV9L
After a filling breakfast, we took our visitors on a tour of W4GAC. There we presented Jerry with a donation from SPARC for the K1N Navassa DXpedition. Jerry was one of the many operators that put this rare entity on the air.
The SPARC Logo appears on the K1N Sponsors page as seen below.
