Ham Radio Outlet San Diego closed on February 25. According to the announcement, HRO was informed by their building owner that the lease would not be reviewed. HRO attempted to find an alternative location but between recent increases in rent and poor business policies by the state, county and city governments, they found it all but impossible to find an affordable location. It's always a shame to lose a ham radio retail outlet but we thank HRO San Diego for many years of great service to the area. The main HRO website www.hamradio.com remains available 24x7x365. And the Anaheim location remains open for those wanting to visit in person. Ironically, there was a short article in the February, 2023 issue of CQ Magazine about the history of HRO including its focus on being a family oriented business. No mention of the San Diego outlet. I'm sure the decision to close this location came after the due date for the issue's publication.







Preliminary results of the February North American Sprint CW contest have been published by NCJ. Full results are coming soon according to the magazine.

It's still not too late to register for the 74th International DX Convention in Visalia. Finding a place to stay overnight might be challenging at this late date but as you may know, this is one of the premier DX and contesting conventions on the planet Earth. If you are just now wanting to register and go, perhaps you can find a room to share with someone already registered, or find a room in a nearby hotel. You won't be disappointed attending the convention itself!

The 2023 edition of the ARRL DX CW contest is in the books. Much to anyone's amazement, the SFI started out at 343 on Friday evening and into Saturday! This was caused by an approaching CME from the sun and certainly is the highest we've seen yet in Cycle 25. It settled back down to more normal 160s on Sunday. Here is what some SCCC members said about their experience in the contest this year. Bill, N6RV was expecting major radio blackouts and disturbed conditions. Instead, it was just the opposite. 10 and 15 meters were so quiet that he thought his radio was kaput. He found both bands loaded with DX and that made it hard for him to leave for other bands. 20 stayed open the entire contest for him and he copied Europeans there at all hours. 40 performed more like 20 usually does and even 80 had some great DX. He was able to run stations on all bands 40 through 10, a rarity for him. He now knows what it's like to have a continuous pile of people calling on top of each other. John, W6JBR said 10m was smoking hot, with Europe slamming through in the morning. Jim, W6KC kept his short and sweet: "I had a blast!" Jim, W6YA said it's been many long years since 15 sounded so good (he was single band 15 in the contest). He did have a lot of aurora echo and distortion on Sunday morning though but by mid-morning, that was over and done. He did expect better than the 108 mults he logged. Joe, AA2IL wished he had more time to play because band conditions were great!

Chip, K7JA was single band 10 meters. He missed the Friday night opening and the first part of Saturday due to some local club responsibilities. However, he still managed to generate large pileups with only 100 watts and a tribander. Like W6YA, he found mults in short supply. It was great, he said, to be called by a number of Zone 16 and Zone 20 stations. Ken, K6LA operated VY2TT again and 10 meters was THE BAND for him. 1192 Q's there alone! Conditions were so good on 10 and 15 that he was almost able to forget about his 40m rotator and the top 20m antenna in his stack being frozen despite having heat tape turned on on them. Fortunately, both antennas were pointed at EU but that didn't help with Asia. Ken, K6RO got his new MA40 tower and JK Navassa yagi up a few days before the contest and felt really loud. He was planning just a short operation but wound up doing 31 hours off and on. He's lookng forward to future contests from his new QTH. He thanked Axel and Adam for their great work getting his station back on the air. Dick, W6TK was running his new RF2K-S solid state amplifier and said that it worked really well for him, running cool with no issues. He managed a few runs on 10-20 meters. Some other committments kept him from getting more time in than he would have liked. He said it was great to see 10 and 15 in such great shape. Thus he didn't spend much time on 20 and 40. Steve, K0XP was on mainly to add to his 10 and 160 DXCC totals. He said the 10m conditions were unbelievable over the weekend. Get this though. He used his 160m inverted L with a tuner on 10 and still put 488 Q's in the log! Nicely done!

Bruce, WA7BNM was single band 15. He reported great conditions into all of Europe on Saturday morning. He was able to easily work virtually all of the stations that couldn't hear him last year. Dana, K6NR said these were the best conditions he's heard in nine years or so. On Saturday morning, 10m was filled with signals. He found a blank spot up the band above 28.150, called CQ once and had an instant pileup larger than any he's experienced before. He had many Europeans, all about the same strength and all on the same exact frequency, apparently having clicked on a spot. Sunday morning was also great, he said, with Europe coming through most of the morning. 15, 20 and 40 were also good for him, and he also worked a few EU's on 80. He even got one on 160! JA was strong on all bands, he said. Terry, N6CW felt antenna challenged with just an AV-640 vertical. Never-the-less, he logged 1,127 contacts! He said it was the first time in a long time that 10 meters was his best band. He struggled on 20, and 40 was poor for him on Saturday night. He kicked himself for not staying up late to run some JA's on 40 to push him over a million points. Glenn, K6NA reported "wonderful conditions." He discovered a bad section of hardline Friday causing him to miss the first three hours of the contest while he made repairs. Never-the-less, he had a great time the rest of the weekend. Kurt, W6PH felt like he was in W1 land, running Europeans on 10 meters like never before. He called it absolutely amazing. It reminded him of Cycle 19 back in 1957. When 10 began to fade mid-Saturday morning, he went to 15 and had the same result. 20 didn't perform like that so he did S&P there until the JAs started coming through. Sunday, he found more of the same across the bands. He called it a fantastic propagation weekend! Tim, N6GP said 10 was as good as he's seen for ARRL DX. He too was able run Europe during the morning. He wished he'd run single band. He had a lot of fun on 40 meters as well.

Here's something that could be fun AND helpful to science. NASA is looking for information on contacts made during solar eclipses in 2023 and 2024. They say your recorded signals will help create valuable data to test computer models of the ionosphere. For more information click here.

Had to share as this doesn't happen everyday to me. I had a short QSO with OE8DDX on 12 meters in late February. A short time later, I received a nice email from Luca thanking me for the QSO and asking for a QSL card. He told me he is age 14 and the youngest ham in Austria! Checking his QRZ page, I learned that he received his ham license at age 11! It brought back memories for me. I got my own license a few months after my 15th birthday. I still remember the excitement of opening the mail that day as well as my first few QSOs. I am sure that Luca is having those same feelings and having a lot of fun in amateur radio. Glad to see a youngster like him on the air and working some DX! (And yes, my QSL went out to him in the mail the following day!)

Strange but true...
Restaurants can sing "Happy Birthday" now because the copyright claims are now null and void.

73 for now,
--Dennis NE6I

less

OurFebruary, 2023 poll was "My first antenna when I received my license was a:"
 64% said it was a dipole. 6% said it was a doublet and another 6% said it was a longwire. Another 6% said it 
 was a G5RV and another 6% said it was something else. 12% started with a vertical.

Our January, 2023 poll was "My first amateur radio license was a(n):"
 80% said Novice. 13% said Technician and 7% said Conditional.

Our December, 2022 poll was "Of the amateur radio magazines to which I subscribe, I read one or more of
 them online rather than the printed version."

 20% said all to which they subscribe. 27% said one or more and 53% said none.

Our November,2022 poll was "I subscribe to one or more amateur radio magazines."

 28% subscribe to one, 33% subscribe to two, 17% subscribe to three, 17% subscribe to more than three and 5%
 don't subscribe to any.

Our October, 2022 poll was "My ham shack computer is:"

 72% said shared with other tasks (I.E., email, web browsing, spreadsheets, documents, etc.). 24% said it was
 dedicated to their ham radio activities. 6% said they don't have a computer in the ham shack. 

Our September, 2022 poll was another two parter. "When the FCC discontinued the Morse Code requirement for 
 amateur radio licensees, I:" and part two was "Now that it has been many years without the Morse Code 
 requirement,"

44% of respondents didn't care either way. 38% disagreed with the decision. 13% were worried that amateur 
radio would become like the CB channels. To the second question, 63% have no opinion either way. The other
37% think it was a good decision.

Our August, 2022 poll was a two parter. "Do you have/own an HF amplifier? If so, which brand. And, is it 
 a tube or solid state amp?"

50% of respondents said they have an Alpha amplifier. 30% said Elecraft. 11% said OM Power. 5% said Heathkit 
and another 5% said Acom.  56% said their amp uses tubes and 33% said their amp is solid state. 11% do not have 
an amplifier. 

Our July, 2022 poll was "A must do contest for me is"

A whopping 30% said CQWW DX CW! 14% said Sweepstakes CW. The balance was divided equally amont the rest 
of the contests lin the poll.

Our June, 2022 poll was "I will be operating Field Day this year"

39% said with a club at a park or other location away from home. Another 39% said from home said from home.
22% said they wouldn't be participating this year.

Our May, 2022 poll was "My first contest was:"

22% said the Novice Roundup. 17% each said ARRL Sweepstakes, a state QSO Party, CQWW DX, or another contest. 
 10% said the ARRL International DX Contest. 

Our April, 2022 poll was "Your top QSOs per hour rate over a full 60 minutes is:"

47% said 61-70. 18% said 41-50 and another 18% said 81-90. 17% said 41-50. 

Our March, 2022 poll was "In a single contest weekend, you have worked 100 DXCC entities."

36% said yes and 64% said no.

Our February, 2022 poll was "You are only allowed to contest on one band, the band of your choice. Which one 
would it be?"

42% said 40 meters, 27% said 20 meters, 15% said 15 meters, 8% said 10 and 4% said 160. 4% said 2 meters or 
above.

Our January, 2022 poll was"Continuing with last month's typing subject, for those of you that touch type, 
did you learn to do so in a class, on the internet (including a typing app or program), or are you self 
taught?"

50% said in a class. 19% said self taught and 31% said they use hunt and peck instead.

Our December, 2021 poll was"When using contest software, do you touch type or hunt and peck?"

61% said hunt and peck. 39% said touch type.

Our November, 2021 poll was "Have you ever owned a Heathkit Radio transmitter, receiver or transceiver?"

70% said yes, in the past. 18% said they own one or more now and 12% said no.

Our October, 2021 poll was "Have you ever owned a Collins Radio transmitter, receiver or transceiver?"

11% said yes, in the past. 17% said they own one or more now and 72% have never owned one. 

Our September, 2021 poll was "I plan on purchasing at least one new station accessory in the 
coming year."

80% said yes and 20% said no. Are you listening, vendors?

Our August, 2021 poll was "I plan on installing at least one new antenna in the coming year."

64% said yes and 36% said no.

Our July, 2021 poll was "The last time I visited a brick and mortar ham radio store was"

47% said in the past two to four years. 37% said in the past year. 16% said five or more years ago.

Our June, 2021 poll was "My career (or former career if retired) is/was in the electronics or 
telecommunications industry."

53% said yes and 47% said no. 

Our May, 2021 poll was "I have a family member who is also a licensed amateur radio operator."

44% said yes and 56% said no. 

Our April, 2021 poll was "My significant other_____in contests."

60% said tolerates me participating. 15% said encourages me to participate. 10% said doesn't care if I 
participate and another 10% said sometimes participates with me. 5% said they don't have a significant 
other.

Our March, 2021 poll was "Keeping with the theme of last month's poll, my favorite 
type of contest is:"

47% said DX. 33% said stateside. And 20% said both.

Our February, 2021 poll was "My favorite contests are (those in duration):"

28% said 48 hour contests, 11% said 30 hour contests, 5% said 24 hour contests, 17% said 
10 hour contests, 5% said 4 hour contests and 5% said 1 hour contests. 22% said all of
the above! One respondent said all of the above with the exception of Field Day and 
those with other complicated exchanges. 

Our January, 2021 poll was "Do you prefer hard copy QSLs or electronic ones?"

19% said they prefer hard copy (paper) QSLs, 50% said they prefer electronic QSLs (IE, LOTW, 
eQSL, QRZ, etc.), 25% said they had no preference, and 6% said they do not QSL at all. 

Our December, 2020 poll was "I sometimes have conflicts between contest events and
 family events on holiday weekends preventing me from as much participation in one or
 both of them as I'd like.

17% said often, 56% said occasionally, 22% said contesting always wins out, and 5% said
 family events always win out. 

Our November, 2020 poll asked "Is your antenna system mostly:"

42% answered less than 5 years old. 16% each answered 5-10 years old, 11-15 years old 
 or 16-20 years old. 10% answered more than 20 years old.

Our October, 2020 poll asked "Is your current primary transciever:"

43% answered 5-10 years old. 30% said less than 5 years old. 17% said 11-15 years old and
 10% said more than 20 years old.

Our September, 2020 poll was two parts. "Are you an ARRL member?"

87% said yes and 13% said no.

Are you a paid member of any other club other than ARRL?

73% said yes and 27% said no.

Our July, 2020 poll was "Where do you typically operate Field Day from?

23% said from home, 6% said portable by themselves, 59% said with a club and 12% said they
 don't typically operate Field Day.

Our June, 2020 poll was "Did you discover amateur radio on your own?

35% said yes, 35% said that they discovered it via a family member and 30% said that they
 discovered it via a friend.

Our May, 2020 poll was "Have you ever built and/or used Heathkit amateur radio equipment?"

65% said they have both built and used Heathkits. 20% said they have used but not built them
 and 15% have neither built nor used a Heathkit.

Our April, 2020 poll was "Did you participate in the National Traffic System (NTS)?"

25% said yes and 75% said no.

Our February, 2020 poll was "What is your thought on the new digital modes as it pertains
 to contesting?"

27% said great! And another 27% said "not for me." 21% said "they are poisoning amateur radio
 contesting." Wow, brutal. 14% said they haven't tried them. 8% said "not bad" and 3% said
 "unsure / too early to day."

Our January, 2020 poll was "Have you ever operated in a RTTY contest?"

86% said yes and 14% said no. 

Our December, 2019 poll was "Have you ever operated in a VHF contest?"

86% said yes and 14% said no. 

Our November, 2019 poll was "Do you operate in very many contests just to have some
 fun / hand out some contacts?"

86% said yes and 14% said a few.

Our October, 2019 poll was "LOTW has revolutionized QSLing. How do you respond to
 hard copy QSLs that you receive after a contest?

87% said they send a return QSL the same way the incoming card was received (direct or via
 the Bureau). 13% said they send electronic QSLs only (IE, LOTW, eQSL, QRZ and/or other).

Our September, 2019 poll was "If you could go or are going on a Contest Dxpedition
 next year, where would you go?"

75% said to the Caribbean! 25% said somewhere in the Pacific.

Our August, 2019 poll was a two parter. "Do you miss (or wish we had) SCCC pizza meetings?"

20% said Yes, I really miss them. Another 20% said Yes, I hear they were a good time.
 10% said I could take them or leave them. Another 10% said No, I'm not that interested in
 attending meetings at this time. 60% said I probably wouldn't be able to attend many of them
 due to distance or other reason.

The second question was "If we had SCCC meetings, I would..."

10% said Attend as many as possible. 20% said Attend them if they were less than an hour's
 drive. 40% said Attend now and then. 20% said Might attend some of them, and 10% said Probably
 wouldn't attend any of them.

Our July, 2019 poll was "When was your first contest?"

16% said 2010 or later. 5% said 2000-2009 and another 5% said 1990-1999. 32% said 1970-1979.
 26% said 160-1969 and 16% said 1950-1959.

Our June, 2019 poll was "Have you ever operated a Dxpedition in a contest?"

25% said yes, as part of a multi-op DXpedition. 25% said no. 20% said yes, as a single op.
 Another 20% said no, but I would like to! And 10% said yes, both as a multi-op and as a single-op.

Our May, 2019 poll was "Have you ever operated mobile or portable in a contest
 (not a DXpedition)?

35% said both, 35% said no, 20% said portable and 10% said mobile.

Our April, 2019 poll was "For manual CW sending, what do you use?"

65% of our respondents said a keyer. 35% said contest software. 12% said a straight key and
 5% said a bug. 8% said other.

Our March, 2019 poll was "What logging software do you use in contests?"

75% of our respondents said N1MM+. 10% said Writelog and another 10% said N3FJP. 5% each said
 TRLog/TR4W, Win-test or other.

Our February, 2019 poll was "Do you use high, low or QRP power in contests?"

56% of our respondents said high power. 21% said low power and 13% said QRP.

Our January, 2019 poll was "What brand of radio to you use primarily in contests?"

25% of our respondents said Yaesu. 18.75% said Kenwood. 12.5% said Icom. 6.25% said Flex, and
 43.75% said Other. We should have included Elecraft! 

Our December, 2018 poll was "Have you ever hosted a guest operator at your station?"

11% of our respondents said yes. 89% said no.

Our November, 2018 poll was "Have you ever operated multi-op in a contest (home or away)?"

80% of our respondents said yes. 20% said no.

Our October, 2018 poll was "What is your favorite contest mode?"

76% of our respondents favored CW. 12% favored SSB and 6% favored RTTY. 6% had no favorite mode.

Our September, 2018 poll was "What is your favorite contest?"

CQP took the top spot. CQWW DX, WPX, NA Sprint and Sweepstakes all tied for second.

less

FOR SALE: Yaesu FT-950 with mic and power cable. Also has an added BNC IF output to connect a band scope or monitor. Located in Torrance $650 Contact: Tim, K6TW E-mail: tim [at] timgoodrich [dot] com Posted 1 Nov 2022 FOR SALE: Elecraft K3/100 Transceiver 100 watts, 2.7 kHz SSB filter KXV3 I/O transverter KIO3 RS232 Great entry level radio Power cord and manual $1295 Same as above with a built in tuner $1495. If you want custom options, please email. I have many options available that are not being made by Elecraft. Filters KSYN3A upgraded SYN board. DVR's Sub Receivers P3 Panadapter $795.00 Add VGA $1050 Contact Larry, K6RO Lashap at cox.net 310-710-2869 Posted 20 Oct 2021 WANTED: Johnson Invader 2000 Power Supply. I recently acquired an Invader 2000 but without the power supply and missing all the cabinet-mounting hardware, including the two long bolts from the back to the front panel common to most Johnson rigs. WANTED: Kaar KE-23A or KE-23AT communications receiver. Contact Steve, K0XP k0xp (at) k0xp dot com Posted 19 June 2020, renewed 6 July 2021 FOR SALE: I have a two year-old SteppIR DB36 with 80 M dipole option for sale. The stepper motors, controller, etc all work perfectly, and the boom and trombones/straight fiberglass poles are in good shape. You will likely need to replace some of the small parts (some bolts and Nylock nuts), but can have a working DB-36 for less than half of what it cost new. I'm selling the antenna because the trees near the antenna became so large that tilting it over was becoming impossible, and I purchased a DB-18E to replace it. I have some extra fiberglass poles that I will include, and I guarantee that the antenna will work (motors, etc.). Due to the weight and size, I'm thinking it's going to have to be a pickup in the San Diego area. I might be willing to remove the heat shrink couplings and try to box it if the buyer covers the shipping charges (FedEx ground). Asking $3500 for everything. Seller: Eric, NC6K egruff [at] cox[dot]net Posted 9 Oct 2018, renewed 6 July 2021

close

Close

Close