Someone please do something

The other day I came across this review on eHam.net.  It isn’t hard to decipher good reviews from bad, but this one takes the cake of any I’ve recently come across.  Here it is (misspellings included):

Well I'm rating it a 5 out of 5 even though I don't have it up yet cause I know once its up its gonna be a 5+ rating just cause of the quality construction and reviews I already read and was told about in person regarding the Mosely constructed antennas, it's on my pool table downstairs for the time being just cause I got it used somewhat and it need a few parts that I ordered from Mosely but this spring of 2013 it will be up on the tower that's for sure, it's a 3element tribander for 10m 15m 20m it's got the bigger traps on the driven element which will be capable of a higher power rating, in my opinion I think it's better than any of the 3element multibander competitors out on the market. If you disagree that's fine to each there own but mabey you can take a quick look at the Mosely website and read a little about there history and products . 73

Let’s see.  I have something, but I’ve not used it yet (it’s on my pool table, by the way).  It’s better than anything else, but you’re free to form your own opinion.

If you openly admit that you’ve never used something but you’re rating it 5/5 (or anything else for that matter), shouldn’t someone be smart enough to remove such a boneheaded review?

Shame on eHam for still allowing this to be posted.  Do the admins even read what’s posted there?

I've got to go WHERE and you want me to be there WHEN?

Unless you’re retired or independently wealthy (and I’m presently neither and probably will never be one of those), work schedules frequently get in the way of ham radio.  And since ham radio doesn’t pay the bills for most of us, we sometimes have to plan ahead and adjust our commitments in order to work new ones.  Case in point was when the surprise notice that Yemen was going to be activated was made public.  When I looked at the dates I immediately got a sick feeling in my stomach because I knew that I would be working in Vermont for at least 80-90% of their scheduled time.

My next worry was, what if my trip got extended?  That’s pretty common and that might jeopardize the  remaining time that I’d have to try and work them.  What if, given the instability of the political situation in Yemen the group was forced to leave early?  Needless to say, I was on pins and needles as I read the DX forums on eham.net that touted how loud they were and how massive the pileups were.

My fears proved unfounded as I got home when I anticipated, maybe a half-day later, and after walking in the door (and kissing the XYL, of course), I had 7O6T in the log three times within 30 minutes and ended up with a total of 5 fairly easy QSO’s.  Maybe there really is something to waiting until the pileups die down?

But what if I’d missed them entirely?  I’d rather not take that gamble again, especially with one as rare as Yemen.

There’s a couple of options for working these kinds of rare stations if one is out of town.  You could operate your station remotely.  I have a radio that lends itself well to that.  I have the software already set up.  But quite frankly, I don’t think the usability is quite there for pileups operating a wide-split, at least not how mine is configured.  Too much latency, too much of a delay.  Since tuning after each exchange is not feasible, I would either have to camp out on a frequency and hope for the best.  Not really a good approach.

I could drag a rig with me, but what about the times I fly?  I have enough to bring, toting a radio with me isn’t a viable option.  And the setup would be marginal at best.  Some Most hotel rooms don’t have the means to setup an antenna, at least where I generally end up staying.  And 100 watts to a low dipole from the East Coast probably won’t get  many rare Pacific Islands in the log.

I could try and set the radio up in a park but that requires free time and I’d probably get arrested if I was operating by candlelight at midnight.  If it rains, I’m out of luck.

Mobile.  I could certainly outfit the work vehicles with a temporary mobile arrangement.  It’s been proven that DXing is very possible and even highly successful under these conditions.  It would dictate dragging a substantial amount of crap with me though. 

I’m going to keep looking at the remote option and see if I can do anything that might give better performance.  But given the usual slowness of internet connections in hotels, I’m not holding my breath.

Any thoughts, suggestions?

Whoopsie Daisy

Whoopsie Daisy

Yes, it's been a long time since I made an entry. I'll get to that later, probably in another post. But for those of you who have read any of my entries, you probably are aware that I'm a logbook junkie. What I mean is, I get a big kick out of trying different logging programs. To drive this point home, I maintain 4 different logbooks, keeping each up to date regularly with all of my QSO's, simply because I've not found one single program that does everything that I want it to.

You might think that something like that takes a lot of time and trouble. No, not really. I've got it down to a pretty quick science and I can update all the logs within 5 to 10 minutes. Is it overkill? Undoubtedly. Is it stupid? Absolutely.

But, hey, it's my sickness and I'm not looking for a cure. Fact is, I enjoy it.

And now that you know my dark secret, let me say that this entry isn't about me and my fetish...uh...obsession.

This is about a major error that occurred to Ham Radio Deluxe on Friday the 13th. Now, surely the new developers should've known NOT to release an update on Friday the 13th, but since they didn't heed the bad mojo, they're paying the price.

HRD has always intrigued me with its eye-candy and pretty interface. But, despite cutting my teeth on it a few years back, I quickly moved elsewhere because of some shortcomings that were show-stoppers, in my opinion. For instance, the cluster not providing the proper mode (I think this has been addressed), not showing duplicates, not showing a confirmed vs worked status readily, a resource hog, screens that required substantial real estate, and obscure menus that didn't lead where you thought they would.

Worse, every so often you'd read about how things like dates and times were modified unknowingly. You did make a backup, didn't you?

Nevertheless, every now and then, whenever a new release was issued, I would download it to see what had changed and if any of those shortcomings had been addressed or corrected. Just before Simon sold it to the new owners, a major revamp of the awards was completed and it really was a step in the right direction, I felt. I was encouraged.

Then the news that it was going to become software that you pay for. I was good with that. I've paid for a good many logging programs. No problems there.

Back to Friday the 13th. Version 5.20 was released that day. In case you don't know, check out their site, http://www.hrdsoftwarellc.com/ The opening screen says it all, although they've toned it down a bit last time I checked, but feel free to read the online forum posts.

Apparently this release was a total disaster. Now my purpose is not to drag them through the coals one more time. I write software for a living myself so something like this is my worst nightmare.

The real reason that I'm bringing this to everyone's attention is a post on the HRD forum from the owners that states that they are considering monitoring and censoring posts that are "not constructive". This is in reaction to some upset users who have voiced their frustrations.

Bad move. You blow it and your next move is to throttle what people are saying? I will never pay a penny for this software if they choose to go this route. If you lay a clunker, you take your licks, you don't keep people from voicing their displeasure.

At least that's how I see it.

Why am I not surprised?

A couple of years ago, I subscribed to the CQ-Contest reflector list. That was back when I was trying my hand at contesting and I thought it might be a good place to glean some pointers and tidbits.

Unfortunately, I’ve been greatly disappointed because many of the threads degenerate into name calling and repetitive gripes about cheaters and what can possibly be done to run off people who aren’t contesters but want to do the unthinkable…like operate on 20 meters during CQ WW.

It also seems a lot like a closed society. Newbies are often run over.

I’ve considered pulling the plug many times but an interesting thread started up recently about using multiple direction antennas and splitters. Not that I would have the capability to ever do that, but I was curious how this might work. No harm in being curious, right?

So tonight I’m following the thread and I read this (and I give credit to the author, who I don’t know from the man in the moon) from N4OGW/5, and I quote:

“In a contest situation once such a lid has started up, it sometime also works to go narrow on the lid :) Point a gain antenna #1 at the lid during transmit, and receive on another antenna #2 pointed in a different direction. Usually antenna #1's pattern has enough leaks in other directions that you can continue to work other stations until the lid moves on.

I also use split stacks of two yagis quite a bit on 20 and 15 during stateside contests from MS (single amplifier of course). From MS the two population centers are northeast and west. If I point a beam at one of these centers, the other is precisely in the null off the end of the elements. I suppose I could use a stack of moxons or similar with a wide forward pattern, but that would sacrifice a lot of dx performance compared to the yagis.

Tor
N4OGW/5”

Finally a “real tidbit” that probably shouldn’t have been spoken out loud, don’t you think? What we’re talking about is nothing more than deliberate QRM, aren’t we? Someone gets too close to your frequency, just point towards them, blast them and run them off.

In hamspeak, the term “lid” generally refers to a poor operator. But, between us adults, let’s face it, it means someone being an ass or someone doing something stupid. I see some irony in his decision to refer to another op as a lid.

Now, I’m not naïve enough to think that this doesn’t go on all the time. I’m also not so naïve that I don’t think that people without multiple direction antennas tied to a single transmit signal are the only ones who employ this tactic. I’m sure a lot of contesters and hams in general with single antennas turn them in the direction of a someone to run them off. But I’m thinking that there’s a lot of contesters, both of the courteous and sneaky persuasion, who are probably gritting their teeth and thinking, “Hey man, just keep your trap closed about this tactic.” Is this how to maintain a run frequency?

I’ll be curious to see if anyone posts anything and addresses that.

A dash of reality

In roughly two years of half-way intense DXing with 100 watts, a hexbeam, a 43-foot vertical, and a G5RV, I’m at 272 countries worked. I say “half-way intense” because I rarely make myself wake up in the middle of the night to chase a country (although it has been known to happen), I’m out of town a good bit and, thus, miss a lot of opportunites, and I still put family priorities ahead of radio fun.

If I owned a 70-foot tower and had a lot of aluminum on top of it, I might think that 272 countries doesn’t look very impressive. And it isn’t about looking ‘impressive’; it’s about accomplishing a goal. Even with my very modest station I can work DXCC in one weekend. Now the going is a lot tougher. There’s fewer countries that I need and fewer opportunities to find them on the air.

So, reality has set in. If I want to make 300 countries, which I’ve set as my immediate goal, I’m probably going to have to make some changes. Not changes that involve buying a new radio, the 590 is proving to be one heck of a good choice. I need to make changes in my antenna system AND I need to put more time in. The last part I can control and change right away with not very much investment.

Here’s what isn’t going to happen. I’m not going to buy and install a tower. I’m not going to buy an amplifier. I’m confident that I can make 300 countries without either. Beyond 300, who knows?

So, I’m mostly working with what I have. For starters, with fall and winter just around the corner, I’m installing a beverage antenna. I have the space and it’s something I should’ve done last year and didn’t. That’ll help tremendously on 40 and 80, perhaps even a little bit on 30. When the leaves fall and the snakes hit the road, it’s as good as in. Next, I’m making a dedicated antenna for 30 meters. More on that in another post. Finally, I’m raising my hexbeam. For a very brief time I had it at 40 feet. That didn’t last very long, for several reasons. Bottom line, it’s been sitting at about 27 feet for a year and a half. I have the means to raise it to 45 feet but that’s on hold until my arm heals. I managed to rip my bicep muscle in my left arm and I’ve got about 4 or 5 more weeks of “non-use” following surgery to reattach it. I do, however, believe that the increased height will make a difference. Most tout that 40-45 feet is optimum for a hex. It also needs some maintenance performed when I lower it.

Also, despite the wonderful upsurge in sunspot activity lately, you’ll notice that I’m mostly concentrating on the low bands with winter approaching. I hope that proves to be a wise decision.

Here’s what many of you probably won’t understand, but some will. I don’t want to hit 300 countries right away. That’ll mean that I’ll have to come up with a whole new strategy for the next few. I also don’t want a station that I can turn on and have the DX in my log in 15 minutes (or less). Again, I know that flies in the face of many. I’m not going to explain that because you either know what I mean or you don’t. And if you don’t, you’ll never understand.

I want these next countries to mean just as much, if not more than the first 100 and the second 100 did, and I want them to require considerable effort. Because I know that I could rush out and buy all the items to make it happen really quick. Then I would have convinced myself that I really needed that amplifier and that tower to make it happen.

All bands and modes

I wonder what some of you think about the practice of working DXpeditions on multiple bands and modes. Since I’ve only been mostly active again over the past 2 or 3 years, I haven’t been around enough to judge for myself whether or not this is a trend that’s taken off recently or has it existed all along? I’m sure people have tried to work DXpeditions or rare DX as much as they can, but was the interest of trying to work them on all bands and modes such a popular pursuit as it appears to be now?

I’ve read some banter that indicates that some believe that the popularity of Club Log has caused this chase to explode because anyone can type in anyone else’s callsign and see how many times they’ve worked someone and on what bands and modes. In addition, there’s always a running tab of the top stations to work a popular DXpedition, further filtered by region, country, or call district. Also, as John, AE5X, pointed out in his blog recently, you can even see which operator you worked.

Do you think this is a good thing? Some seem to feel that this activity diminishes the likelihood of Mr. Average DX’er or Mr. QRP being able to work the DX, or, at the least, makes it much harder. Presumably this is due to the increased competition from heavyweight DX’ers to nab as many different QSO’s as they can. Maybe, but I don’t have a good feel for how much more congestion this might add. How many people pursue this aspect? A lot? Just a few? I don’t know.

I can see some merit to the argument, especially for DXpeditions that are short on time, those that aren’t on the air very long. On the other hand, should people who enjoy working them as much as possible be targeted as poor operators or “pig” operators? I certainly wouldn’t go that far. They have as much right as anyone to work the DX. Just like you and me.

And, again, I’m not referring to the stations who repeatedly call on the same bands to let the DX know they’re ‘59’ again tonight, just like last night and the night before that. Those fellers ought to be strung up somewhere. I’m talking about the people who do it fair and square and play by the rules. Get their QSO and move on and don’t cause QRM. I wonder, if I had a station capable of working rare or semi-rare DX all over the spectrum, would I find it fun to try and make 18 or 19 different QSO’s with the same station? Hard to say, but I’m sure the temptation would be there. For the time being that’s not a concern because I usually find time to only make one or two QSO’s. I’m happy with one (especially if it shows up in the online log), the rest are a bonus.

Those who manage to work a DXpedition on, say, 19 different slots, where in the world do they find the time? Especially if they work full-time, how on earth is this possible when 10 meters might only be open for a short time in the middle of the day? I understand that there’s easy explanations that could account for some of the contacts…they run home for lunch and get on the radio. They take the afternoon off. They set their alarm to wake up at 3 am in the morning. That’s not unusual at all for hard-core, dedicated DX’ers. But to get them on ALL bands and modes? That’s pretty fantastic. And if you look closely, it’s generally the same stations that appear at the top of these ‘most worked’ lists.

At any rate, I’m curious what others think of this practice and whether or not it is making life more difficult for average or budding DX’ers, or if it’s just another topic that’s making the rounds on eHam?

PSSSST.

PSSST. In case you didn't know, there's a rather big DXpedition going on.

I say that with just a hint of sarcasm because unless you've been living under a rock, everyone who is anyone in the ham radio world knows about ST0R and the DXpedition to South Sudan. And just in case that wasn't enough motivation, there's another one, albeit very overshadowed, to Lord Howe Island, VK9HR. After a summer full of radio blah's and rotten propagation, having two fine DXpeditions going on at the same time is nearly too much to stand.

In fact, there's an awful lot that's been hard to stomach. The on-the-air behavior has been atrocious. To be expected, I guess? I was not active for some of the big-time DXpeditions prior to 2008, so I don't have a real point of reference. And some of those since then, such as Desecheo and Ducie, that qualify as big time for the rest of the world have been chipshots for the US. So, what do I know? Maybe this is tame by comparison?

I've managed to work both. So for those of you with 100 watts and coathanger antennas, take heart, you'll get them. I did not post an obligatory brag spot, so I'll let this qualify.

I suppose what really irks me is listening to the other side of the pile-up, the callers. So many purported Honor Roll and Top of the Honor Roll DX'ers acting like babies. I've jotted down a few calls and looked them up. No manners whatsoever. They should be ashamed. And I can't begin to count the number of super DX'ers who apparently don't know how to work split. How can this happen? Mistakes? Sure. Repeatedly? Hmmm. Maybe it's time for the old-folks home? Some of them do appear to be getting on up there. I guess I'll be there soon enough.

But it's all part of the game and what fun would it be to get through if there wasn't a challenge? I look at some of the calls who have worked ST0R and VK9HR on several bands and modes and I wonder if they're having the same fun as I am with my one measly QSO to each? I hope so because those two quick QSO's really made it worthwhile to me. For a pipsqueak like me, my one QSO with each is enough - the pressure is off. Anything else is gravy. But for those who have band and mode slots to fill, does the pressure ever stop?

Lord knows that I'll keep trying for more, but if I don't get them, oh well.

One thing of note, after struggling for 2 or 3 days to work ST0R with the 590, I finally succumbed to realizing that having a 2nd receiver (or a bandscope) would make a huge difference. Especially trying to locate the ops who tended to jump all over creation or trying find quiet, less crowded spots to transmit. So, out of frustration, I resorted to the as yet unsold FT-1000MP and finally got through using the 2nd receiver to find a clear spot.