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December 2020 Longpath

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December 2020 Longpath December, 2020 Volume 44, Issue 12 The LongPath A North Alabama DX Club Publication Contents From the President ▪ From the President I normally only work DX and contests. Since DX ence. Since the group is small, everyone really was essentially cancelled for the whole year, my ▪ December Program needs to contribute more often. I know exactly station wound up spending far too much time who attends our zoom meetings. If you haven’t ▪ Retirement & COVID turned off. Well, the contest season is now un- contributed in the last two months, please con- Project Update 8 derway. November is the time for lots of con- sider it. If you’d like to contribute and don’t tests, and last weekend we enjoyed one of my exactly know how, I’ll be more than glad to ▪ Remote Starting Flex favorites, CQWW CW. Some of the bands were help. There aren’t any members I know of who just chock full of signals, every 200Hz from the aren’t able. Getting past your very first article ▪ For Sale top of the band to the bottom. Thank heavens for is the hard part. the assisted category, which made operating a I think most of you know by now, but we lost ▪ A Safer Method whole bunch more efficient for me. My Flex trans- long time member Ron Shaffer/W4VN to can- ceiver now shows spots from numerous sources ▪ QSL Card Collecting cer a few weeks ago. Ron attended many of right on its spectrum display! Some of the time our meetings, and was quite an outspoken guy ▪ VP’s Corner they are even correct. So for the whole time I had when it came to his favorite hobby. Ron spent these spots all over my screen, even color-coded many years as the head of the NARA group ▪ Ionospherica to tell me if each was a new mult, new band, or maintaining our repeaters. B4. My energy isn’t what it used to be, so this ▪ Cushcraft MA-160V help allowed me to work a lot more stations than Last month I spoke about how detail-minded ▪ DX Contests for I might have otherwise. I just love the change in I am about station setup. I see so many sta- December technology. tions where the operator arranges his operat- ing position so he can see all of his “stuff.” I Last month we took our annual vote on DXer of ▪ Mystery Antenna see ham radio as a competitive sport. I don’t the Year. Tom/KG4CUY collected the ballots and merely like to talk to people on the radio; I like ▪ Meeting Minutes will announce the winner at the December meet- to work a pileup or contest and score. Efficien- ing. Drum roll… ▪ Treasurer’s Report cy is everything. Piling all my “stuff” in front of Each month I get to talk about finding new me doesn’t help me achieve what I want; actu- ▪ 2020 Thanks volunteers to write Long Path articles or do the ally it hurts since it gets in the way. This presentations. A lot of folks have indeed stepped month’s program, from Bruce/AC4G, is an ex- forward and we’re all better for it. We have a cellent example of the principals of efficient team in the NADXC with a ton of skills and experi- setup. Cont’d on p. 13 How to Join Ergonomically Feasible Ham Shacks December Program by Bruce Smith, AC4G * Come to a The details of AC4G’s shack transformation is club meeting; chronicled in recent editions of the LongPath. In 7:00 PM Tuesday this presentation Bruce will cover ergonomics as * or send in an one of the motivations for his shack work, and December 8, 2020 application by specific measures taken to improve ergonomics. mail (form on Look for an email from Bob with log-in details for 7:00 pm on Zoom www.NADXC.org) Tuesday’s ZOOM meeting and Bruce’s presenta- tion. December, 2020 The LongPath Page 1 Retirement and COVID Project Update 8 By Steve Werner, AG4W This month we started the holiday to work for 4 years. Was part of it luck? season with less than favorable news Absolutely, but it also helps that I don't on the Covid front. Instead of focusing give up easy. EME is not for someone on all the bad news it is more helpful to who enjoys instant gratification, but the be thankful for what went right this rewards for making every contact is year. Being grateful and thankful is amazing. It was also exciting to work easier than you think. I have written 7Q7RU on 160 meters this month. This about my projects the last 7 months is one of the few DXpeditions that and I am grateful that I had the time to made the trip even during the pandem- spend making them work. I am also ic. They had planned to visit 3 exotic grateful for all the help I received from African countries, but just Malawi is others on those projects. With the ex- open to foreigners. It was exciting so ception of the Swains DXpedition I met see a real pileup again. I was sad to my goals for this year even with the hear that 2 of the operators got Covid pandemic and Swains is just delayed. and had to extend their stay in Malawi. The delay will be rewarded with much This year the second weekend of the higher sun spot numbers. American ARRL EME competition was the same Samoa is still in the process of weekend as CQWW CW. Instead of interested in selling. They would have organizing a flight/boat to get Samoans picking one I entered both. I spent gone to the Huntsville Hamfest for sale. from Hawaii back to Samoa. They have most of the time in the EME competi- They include a 350-400 watt 2 meter had some 600 people stranded and tion. It went from 00:00-08:30 UTC AM- 6154 FAA amplifier, Yaesu FT- separated from their families for many both days when the moon was up. In 1000MP, TenTec 2510 Satellite Mode months. the EME contest with both weekends I B Transverter, LP-Pan, Tokyo Hy-Power In November I met my goal to have made 60 contacts instead of 44 last HL-60U 435 MHz Amplifier, and 100 grid squares confirmed on 2 me- year. TenTec RF Speech Processor. Call or ters for VUCC on LOTW. I have applied I entered single band 10 Meters in email me for details. for the award and the 425 grid square the CQWW CW contest during the day. endorsement for 6 meters. Six meter E With an SFI of 116, an A=6, and K=1 it skip propagation was much better than was an easy decision. I got to work previous years. I now have my convert- some Europe, Africa, Hawaii, New Zea- ed SB-220 amplifier for next year. I also land and lots of South America. I did have the new FTDX-101MP that I got to this mostly to get my code speed up for use all summer on 6 meters. It was the Swains DXpedition. sure more fun to operate with the nice panadapter than my old FTDX-5000D. This month I decided I was not going On 2 meters the improvement I made to burn up my second 1 KW Daiwa to horizontal polarization sure made a wattmeter on 2 meters and asked San- big difference for EME. I also now run a ta for an early Christmas gift. I am 1000 watts from my homebrew amplifi- thankful Santa understands EME con- er. That got my total number of unique tests. It arrived just in time. I got a new stations worked on 2 meter EME now 2500 watt Coaxial Dynamics wattmeter to 200. If someone told me 4 years ago ( see picture next column.) What a treat that I would work 200 different stations that was to use. It can use any of the on EME I would of told them they were Bird elements too. The 4.5 inch meter nuts. is amazing. I enjoy a high quality piece of test equipment you can trust. This month I was able to work 2 sta- If you are interested in an early Xmas tions with single yagis and 400 watts Equipment for sale—see above for details. on EME. One of them I have been trying gift I have 2 pictures of equipment I am Cont’d on p. 3 December, 2020 The LongPath Page 2 Retirement and COVID Project Update 8 (cont’d from p. 2) I just put a deposit down on a new in steps. The most rewarding goals puppy for my wife Kathy. I got to name have substantial challenges. I started her Eme. She said where did you get my journey on EME that way. Each year that name from? We pick her up in 7 I have made improvements to my sta- weeks. A new DX dog. tion, DXCC Challenge count and con- test scores. Next year I plan to get my 125 grid square endorsement for 2 meters and be well on my way to 150. On 6 meters I plan to get my 475 grid square endorsement. On DXCC chal- lenge I plan to pass 2700. I am also optimistic that the Swains DXpedition will happen in the fall of 2021. That is why I plan to improve my code speed in contests and pileups this coming year. 73 Steve AG4W Now is the time to start thinking about your ham radio goals for next NADXC Officers and Directors year.
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