A plot of my 3 el 40m Telrex beam which is at 90 feet above the ground

This real world plt was made using the LP-100A vector graphic watt meter and Polar Plot
I know it is a pretty poor scan of the print out
but it shows a nice dip on the backside of the beam
that depicts aprox 18db front to back

Steve

A handy Propagation tool for the upcoming CQWW DX contest

click here

73
Steve

Is attendance at a contest operation worth your time ?

Even if your not an HF op

There is a lot that non HF ops can do during the contest
but the most important thing is to come and have fun !

Things to do during an HF contest if you either do not want to operate or are just not sure if your fast enough or a proficient HF op......

Monitor the bands on The Multi-Op finder rig
looking for band openings and needed multipliers
In sweepstakes there are 80 multipliers available and the team is eligible for the prestigious Sweepstakes mugs once we work all of those multipliers
(In SS The multipliers are ARRL and Canadian Sections for example many states are divided into several ARRL sections) A couple of the hardest sections to work over recent years has been Alaska and North West Terittory (in Canada)

There will also be periods where the contact rate falls way below 60 -90 QSO's per hour !
and even ops that are not fast or real proficient get to work the rigs alongside a more experienced contester (many dedicated contesters including myself started by watching and learning this way)

Several ops show up just for a few hours to watch us dedicated contesters run the rate count whay up over 100 conteacts per hour, visit the antenna farm and tour the shack just before the contest starts or simply enjoy the wide range of "Contest Ala Gourmier Food" we have on hand

One word of caution......
Contesting is an addictive sport !

73
steve
KG5VK

Mark your Calendar Now !!!!!!!

The 75th year of the ARRL Sweepstakes contest is this year

I will again hoist a team effort during the Phone contest week-end
Mark those calendars for

November 15 - 17

ARRL November Sweepstakes (Phone)

This week-end I am heading to The Paris Texas Hamfest where I will purchase a few more items to complete the build of my new 75 meter Bi-Square antenna

I will have a Shack familiarization open house early either late this month or a week before the Phone week-end

If you have not yet played in this great contest and are interested in joining our team simply send me an email !

73
Steve
KG5VK

Paris Texas Hamfest

Woo Hoo!!!!

Time is getting short!!!

The 4^th annual Paris Texas Hamfest will be here before you know it.

When: October 10 and 11

Where: 570 e center st.

Paris Tx. 75460

Costs: $2.00 admission, $15 tables, $10 unlimited tailgate space

This year will be a two day EVENT !!

Friday: Big Fun!!

• Dealers, campers and outdoor vendors setup at noon.
• Doors will open to the public at 5:00 pm
• HamJam 08 !! J.D. Moss and the Texas Highwaymen will take the outdoor stage for a live Concert at 7:00pm (bring your lawn chairs)
• Doors to the main hall close to the public at 8:00
• Overnight camping, tent or RV will be permitted. Hook ups $15
• Overnight security will be provided inside of the building by Phred ‘08
• Concert will be over around 10:00pm.
• Lots of local restaurants will be open.
• Staying over night? Call the Paris Holiday Inn direct at 903-785-9510 and be sure to mention Hamfest for the special rate!!!

Saturday:More Fun!!

• Dealer setup at 6:00 am
• Doors open to the public at 8:00am
• New dealer guests this year will include Austin Amateur Radio Supply, Clear signal Products, GLA Systems (Texas Bugcatcher) , HF Projects and more
• Well over 150 door prizes will be given away starting at 8:30am from sponsors such as Yaesu, Comet antennas, Pro-cuts Paris, Electric Radio, ARRL, Cable X-perts, Borden Radio, N3FJP software, Nifty Accessories, Michael Todd Computers and communications, H. Ward Silver N0AX, Radio Daze, Cheapqsls.com, QRZ.COM, HI-Q Antennas, Sirloin Stockade Paris, SteppIR, Oreilly’s Auto Parts, ABC auto parts, DX engineering, World Radio Magazine, CQ magazine, Phred ‘08, A & A Engineering, Softrock, The Paris Texas Radio Group and more!!!
• Live music by the band "14^th Street Reunion" and "Crosstown Connection"
• Contests This year include Global Mobile II, and 80 meter Shoot Out and a 2 meter shout out with cash and Trophies awarded for all 3 contests.
• VE testing
• The Best BBQ you have ever had will be served around 10:00am
• Grand prize awarded around noon!!

As you can see there will be lots going on and we would love to have you here!!!!

If you need more information please go to www.paristexasradio.com/hamfest or call Richard 903-783-0968 or ki5dx@yahoo.com

Tables and vendor space will sell out , book now!!

We are still looking for volunteers, door prize sponsors, event sponsors , a group or club that would like to come up and sponsor a foxhunt and more.

Thanks to The Paris Texas Radio Group, K95.5 FM , The Paris Texas / Lamar County Chamber of commerce, The Red River Valley Fair Assoc, The ARRL , QTH.COM, EHAM.COM , Pitcock’s Wrecker Service, Ted Randall and the QSO radio show, Lamar county Electric Co-op and many others for making this event possible.

use of a second rcvr with a buffer amp between it and the RCVR Input of the FT-1000MP

Click here for more info

From SoftRocks to other SDR receivers
several ops are using these to enrich operation of the FT-1000MP
thru creation of a Band Scope

73
steve

Marsh KA5M sent me these great links of the FT-1000MP

click here to see a set of movies located on U Tube that maximizes your performance from the FT-1000MP

There are a total of three of these movies !

Marsh thanks for the tip !

Mean while I found this little tip site click here

73
steve
KG5VK

I might try and play in this one......

I might try and play (for a limited time) in this one..........

Steve
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coming up next on the contest calendar is the Ohio QSO Party, this coming
Saturday, August 23, from 1600z to 0400z August 24 (noon to midnight EDT). OQP
is sponsored by the Mad River Radio Club.

With there being five weekends in August this year, we are blessed with a
weekend largely to ourselves, sharing only with the Hawaii QSO Party. Not RTTY
contests, no European contests, no VHF contests. Those come the following
weekend.

For you skimmer fans out there, here is your opportunity to test things
under real contest conditions. OQP already allows packet for single ops, so
adding a skimmer into the mix is no problem. 20 KHz of bandwidth will cover 99%
of the CW activity, so there will be less of a processing requirement. See
how well you (or your skimmer) can find those usually weak mobiles stations as
they move from county to county.

A note for the left coasters: we now award a plaque to the top station in
the Mountain or Pacific time zones. So being out of range for the daytime 40
meter activity will not leave you out in the cold for one of our beautiful
plaques.

Visitors to Ohio are welcome! If you are anywhere close by, drive on over
and do a mobile or rover effort.

Full info is available at www.oqp.us


See you Saturday!


73 - Jim K8MR
OQP Chairman

It's is good to be home

We are now home from our ten day trip to Atlanta (to photograph Pools for Blue Haven Pools) and Huntsville where we attended one of The Best Ham Fest www.Hamfest.org

I am now sitting in front of Two Ft-1000MP's and feel like I am in Ham Radio Operator Heaven
but of course I will now need to add more filters to my old friend (the Ft-1000MP which I have owned for some time before adding the newest one) is not as populated with filters as the new one is !

Had a ton of fun in Huntsville and am already making plans to go back next year.

I will be spending more time on cw, playing with Skimmer tools
of which Rick K4TD did an excellent presentation on at Huntsville
His presentation went beyond just what the tool (skimmer) is
but how to manage all that data without being overloaded and unable to make good choices with it (the data given to us during a contest from Skimmer)

73
steve

down hill slide from Huntsville to Home (Louisiana)

It's Saturday night
Not that late, it's only 2145 local
I am beat but so thrilled to have made the journey to the Huntsville Ham Festivities
This evening we had a good dinner and great company
We all got to listen to Ann Santos WA1S
she is a talented and competitive young lady
I also got to learn about Faros software (yes where have I been, as Faros has been around awhile)
Any way, I have the knowledge of a few more tools to implement before ARRL SS this year
And Skimmer will have me in there for the CW portion of the contest as well
It has been a fun trip and I am looking forward to the last few hours of the Hamfest before we head west and home.

73
steve
kg5vk

K8KI in Huntsville, Alabama

Bob K8KI
my host in Huntsville, Alabama
for the big Huntsville HamFest
73
Steve
KG5VK

The Zl Antennas responsible for the BIG sigs

Contesting this week........

his week, we'll use the real North American QSO Party rules for the
Thursday and Friday practices,
AUG. 14, 15 local date in North America; Aug. 14, 15 UTC.

Test out your loggers, VOICE KEYERS and station, practice the SSB NAQP rules.

30 minutes starting at 0230Z, and all bands, 160 thru 10m, SSB!
-- Start 0230Z (1930 PDT, 2030 MDT, 2130 CDT 2230 EDT)

NAQP RULES: (NO DUPES on the same band)-- SSB only, 100 watts,
mults count on each band.
BANDS: 10 thru 160m: -- 28500, 21300, 14250, 7225, 3830 +/-
50; 1845; +/-10.
(Practice moving mults to 10/15m). In the summer there can be strange
openings on the high bands, plus ground wave.

The SLOW SPEED CW NS practice continues: 02-0215Z on Thursday only,
20, 40, 80m CW, dupes ok.

The schedule of Thursday (sometimes Friday also) events through
October is now posted on the NEXT NS page at:
http://www.ncccsprint.com/next_ns.htm

General rules and further info at: http://www.ncccsprint.com/

-- Report scores near 3610 LSB after the practice, at 0300Z (8 PM PDT) on
the weekly NCCC contest net), or send your score directly to the 3830
reflector.
Thanks to WA7BNM and N7WA for their posting service.

Next week, Aug. 22, NS rules, SINGLE BAND-20M CW, DUPES 0K, 30
minutes (0230-0300Z).

CU, N6RO

www.LouisianaContestClub.org

LOUISIANA CONTEST CLUB FORMALLY ORGANIZED



Leesville, LA, Saturday, August 9, 2008



The Louisiana Contest Club was formally organized at the Leesville, LA
hamfest. Present at the organizational meeting and signing of the club
constitution and by-laws were the charter members Charlie Morrison, KI5XP;
Roland Guidry, NA5Q; Pat Sonnier, W5WMU; Mark Ketchell, K5ER; and Scott
Dickson, W5WZ. Also present were Louisiana Section Manager Gary Stratton
K5GLS; and Louisiana Affiliated Club Coordinator Jim Bookner, N5NVP.



The Louisiana Contest Club is a special purpose amateur radio club devoted
to the pursuit of operating and technical excellence. Our goals are simple:

--To promote the fun, satisfaction and competitive thrill of radio
contesting

--To assist our members in the development of their operating and technical
skills

--To foster increased friendly competition and sportsmanship

--To become a competitive force in club competition of amateur radio
contests



The newly elected officers are: President- Mark Ketchell K5ER;
Vice-President- Charlie Morrison KI5XP; Secretary/Treasurer- Scott Dickson
W5WZ; Director- Pat Sonnier W5WMU; and Director- Roland Guidry NA5Q.



The idea of organizing a contest club originated at the 2008 Dayton
Hamvention in the contest super suite over pizza. The original founders of
LCC felt that an organization was needed in Louisiana to educate, promote
and encourage contesting. Further, they recognized that Louisiana had never
been represented by a statewide contest club. Among Louisiana hams, there
are many recognized and skilled Amateur Radio operators, some who have won
many national and world contesting awards. Through the LCC, we will provide
a vehicle for its membership to further develop contesting skills and
strategies, while allowing members to share collective knowledge and
experience through mentoring.



The LCC has chosen to mark the center of its circle near Marksville, LA at
coordinates N31.226894 Latitude and W91.944580 Longitude. This circle
INCLUDES ALL of Louisiana except the very tip of the Mississipi River delta.
It will also include the following population centers in neighboring states:

Beaumont TX

Lufkin TX

Greenville MS

Vicksburg MS

Natchez MS

Jackson MS

Hattiesburg MS

Eldorado AR

Magnolia AR



All persons interested in amateur radio contesting shall be eligible to
submit an application for membership. Membership shall be by application and
dues payment of $20 annually.



Please visit our website at www.LouisianaContestClub.org or contact us via
e-mail; info@LouisianaContestClub.org



As our mascot Chomps Boo-TAY states, "laissez lez Contest roulez!" (Let the
Contest roll!)



--Scott Dickson, W5WZ

--LCC Sectretary/Treasurer

--info@LouisianaContestClub.

org

W1AW/4 this saturday

W1AW/4 will be operating from the hamfest floor during exhibit hours. This includes a few hours on Saturday during the NAQP. We’ll be set up for phone, CW, and (if I remember everything) RTTY. Come on by and operate!

Hmmmm do I work a couple of hours in the NAQP from W1AW/4 or the Albama Contest Group station set up just outside the hamfest ??

watch for the distinct kg5vk Voice and find out

on another exciting subject just got the ups tracking number for my new (Used but new to me)
Ft-1000MP

73
steve
KG5VK

Skimmer if you have no idea what it is sit up and take note....

Click here
for the article on Radio-Sport about skimmer
Think of it as the New Dx cluster for contesting but with always live data

steve

Watch for Randy from Cayman Isl as ZF1SI

Look for K5SL on vacation in Cayman Islands on Aug 9 thru 15 as ZF1SI Randy K5SL

North American QSO Party, CW: 1800Z, Aug 2 to 0600Z, Aug 3

North American QSO Party, CW: 1800Z, Aug 2 to 0600Z, Aug 3
That is tomorrow (This Friday 1 August local time)
31 July 2008
Steve

Not just another Watt Meter !!!!!

Just one of the many great graphics available for a Vector watt Meter

http://www.telepostinc.com/lp100.html

Not only will this thing provide low and high power readings with 1% accuracy
it will make your antenna analyzer something you rarely if ever use !
Need to know the true resonance of your antenna or want to Plot the beam width and gain of another antenna, use the field strength tools to make accurate plots
The possibilities with this test equipment make calling it a watt meter slanderous !

The world of vector based watt meters is not really that new if you have been paying attention (which I was not) within the last few years
But this one leads the pack !!!

73
steve
KG5VK

Ea4/DH1TW sdr presentation

click here and find the pdf file

I really like the multiple rcvr (with soft rocks) at different beverages
all streamed to one computer and visual board
This would be one awesome "multiplier hunter" esp when paired with skimmer on cw

73
steve
kg5vk