40M from the Beach

Hello All,

Just finished a few quick qsos from the beach using PSK-31 on 40M.
20M had a lot of noise, plus the best the mp1 want to match at was
around 2:1. So, I gave 40M a run for which the mp1 load up around a
1:1 match and there was less noise. Overall, one contact with Cuba
and another into Tampa, FL.

Until next time.

73s
--Chris

ccvalentino@gmail.com

KB3LMC/portable

Hello All,

Greetings from Myrtle Beach, SC I'm here on one last vacation before
the end of summer. I plan to operate portable during the evening
hours, stay tuned for operating times and frequencies.

73s
--Chris

MD 2009 QSO Party

Hello,

We'll the QSO party is now over and I met my personal goal of exceeding the minimum 50 Points required to receive a participant certificate. I operated QRP 100% of the time and accumulated a total of 396 Points, which included

both SSB and PSK31 on 20M and 40M. I learned that I have near zero capability on VHF/UHF as I had no MD contacts during the QSO party.

I got a chance to use my Off Center Fed 40M dipole antenna and my old stand by 20m dipole. While the dipole worked out great the MFJ-1910 mast did not work as well and was very disappointing for $79.

Overall, I made several great contacts from Europe (Germany [PSK31 Club Station] and Italy[ Light House]) to Indiana and everything else in between!

The first picture is of my setup in doors, the heat drove me in off the back porch. On the left is my FT-817ND which is connected using a Rigblaster NOMIC to the Dell Laptop on the right running DM780 Beta 5 for PSK31 on 14.070MHZ. My Macbook is directly to the right of the 817 and is running N3FPJ's contest logging software, which is well worth the $6 paid. In the background is my IC-735 which was

connected to my 40M OCF Dipole to monitor the other band while I worked 20M digital.

As you can see from my backyard, the new OCF dipole is almost invisible to the general eye. I'm working to add a small hook to the point of my house to attach a pulley that

will allow me to hoist my dipoles up further in the air. I currently have my dipole secured from my 2nd floor bath room window.

More photographs of my QSO Party setup can be found at KB3LMC's Ham Radio Photos.

Great fun, so will leave you with a couple of videos of my setup from this weekend.

73s,

--Chris

MDC QSO Party this Weekend

Hello All,

This upcoming weekend is the MDC QSO contest and will run from Saturday (8 August) Noon until Midnight [EDT] to Sunday (9 August) Noon until 8:00pm. I plan to be on the air a portion of the weekend with a goal of making the 50 QSO point mark to be eligible for a participant certificate.

In preparation for this great event I ordered a new 33' Fiberglass Mast and 40M DX-OCF Windom antenna which has an operating range of 40M-6M. I've also have an old discone antenna in the garage, which should be resonate on 2Ms to try to work some local DX. Look for me on 10M (if open) and 20M during the day and 40M at night. I'm going to attempt to work the entire contest QRP with my FT-817, so we'll see what we come up with.

For more information on the MDC QSO party, please see the following link http://www.w3cwc.org/funcontest.htm.

73s

--Chris

Ten Meters: Alive and Well in Maryland

Hello All,

Yesterday afternoon I discovered the world of 10M, as it was alive and well in the Mid-Atlantic. The Ten-Ten Summer Phone contest provided a good amount of activity on the band. I worked stations both in Oklahoma and Illinois on a good skip into the Mid-West. N9ETH (Brian) of Waliconda, IL using his IC-706MkIIg had a great signal into my QTH and sounded like he was sitting at the table with me having a conversation.

I used my MP-1 which I tuned with my MFJ-259B and ICOM 735 running at 80W.

With any luck, the 10M band will be open for next weekends QSO party in MD. Look for me on the 20M and perhaps 10M bands operating as KB3LMC at my home QTH.

73s.

--Chris

Amateur Radio Light House Society Weekend QSO Contest

Hello All,

Over the last few weeks and the coming there have been and will be several exciting contests. I've "dabbled" some in each and plan to participate in next week's MD QSO Party.

Of particular interest this week and into next week is the Amateur Radio Light House Society's Weekend QSO contest. More information is available at http://arlhs.com/page3.html for the contest and http://www.arlhs.com/for general information on the society.

So far, this weekend I've worked 2 lighthouses in the North East (20M band conditions have been less then desirable), N1QLL/ USA 1119 (in Maine) and N2OB/USA 1812 (in New Jersey) using my FT-817 at 5W.

The following is a Flip video of AA1KS operating at USA 459, I was unable to work him.



The contest continues through next weekend, with several additional lighthouse activations.

73s

--Chris

MFJ-259B Antenna Analyzer

Hi,

Last week I purchased a MFJ-259B Antenna Analyzer from HRO. First and for most, remember that HRO (incidentally like West Marine for boating things), has an excellent price matching policy. So, remember prior to buying anything at HRO, do a Google or Froogle search for the best price. In my experience on the East Coast, I've found the Delaware store to be the most responsive via e-mail. In the end I got the MFJ-259B for $239.00.

So, to the 259B. First, this is probably the best piece of equipment I've bought yet. I quickly connected the 259B to my current antenna (20M dipole) and discovered I was way off with my SWR (the cutting will commence this weekend! However, I discovered that I had a perfect match on the MP-1 (SWR 1:1) on 20M using noise as my only source of tuning. 40M on the MP-1 was similar, however I could not get better than SWR ~2:1, most likely due to my counterpoise (the BBQ grill).

The 259B is a great addition and I'm looking forward to constructing some new antennas for 10M and 6Ms.

73s

--Chris