W4/VP9KF - Amateur Radio page

Did this help to rekindle the mode? All I ever heard then was a very few mechanical Hell machines. Now the mode is BACK (with the help of 21st century software)!

location

Info on QTH
Continent: North America
CQ Zone: 5
ITU Zone: 8
Time Zone: Eastern Time (GMT-4)
Daylight Saving Time - Yes
IARU Region: 2
Lat/Lon: 35.630(N) -82.411(W)
Maidenhead Locator: EM85tp01 Find yours
County: Buncombe (BUN)
ARRL Section: NC
Ground: ~2 millisiemens / metre

station

Station at present
Essential: Full-house, automated 20 kW 120/220VAC Kohler propane generator with load shedding.
IC-7610
The incomparable Mercury paddle made by hand by N2DAN
Bencher Paddle BY-2 (Chrome)
Mortty v4 [newer v5 info] CW keyer
MFJ-1425 ^[1] 25A+ Switched Mode Power Supplies (x2)
Toughbook CF-53 - running Windows 10 Pro, N1MM Logger+, Logger32, HamCap & ICECAP/ICEAREA
Ameritron RCS-10 ^[1] Remote Coax Switch
RigExpert AA-54 analyzer ^[1]
nanoVNA
Acom 1000 amplifier ^[1]
Butternut HF9VX ^[1]
CSV-19 Antenna Line Launcher ^[1]
Campbell Hausfeld CC2300 portable pump for CSV-19 launcher ^[1]
Daiwa CN620A power meter
Sony MDR-NC20 Noise Cancelling full ear headphones (and replacement ear pads!)
MFJ-250 1kW dummy load ^[1]

Going on a DXpedition? - USB Flash drives are your friend! Keep your log data and programs backed up.

Prices are now around $0.60 per GB, even for USB v3.0 drives.

Pictures

Butternut HF-9VX looks 1000' tall here (it's only 28' tall actually and a standby antenna)

Radar and Lightning if there is red on this map, don't expect me to be on the air!

Live. Click here for full weather details.

Samuel Morse special callsigns:
M0RSE
EM0RSE
GM0RSE

Marconi

To the "Media" - if you are going to put morse in your content (Discovery Channel, CIA ads, etc.), then please don't include nonsense which is also badly sent. Please take a couple of minutes and use WinMorse to make your audio feed. Thank you. Here's a good BBC video.

Great Circle Map from Swannanoa

Why RoHS lead-free solder may be more of a problem than a solution.

Links to products on this page do not endorse either the product or the manufacturer.
Software pricing key. Nothing=Free, $=is free to use in limited way, $$=see pricing in link
Note: the software pricing keys are currently incomplete....

Got a frozen antenna part or anything else mechanical? Liquid Wrench Penetrating Oil is amazing.

Telegraph abbreviations hang on into the 21st Century

wiresignals

Some little known wire signals
1 - Wait a moment	25 - Busy on another wire
2 - Important business	26 - Put on ground wire
3 - What time is it?	27 - Priority, very important
4 - Where shall I go ahead?	28 - Do you get my writing?
5 - Have you business for me?	29 - Private, deliver in sealed envelope.
6 - I am ready	30 - No more-end
7 - Are you ready?	31 - Form 31 train order
8 - Close your key; circuit is busy	32 - I understand that I am to .........
9 - Close your key for priority business (wire chief, dspr, etc.)	33 - Car report (Also, answer is paid for)
10 - Keep this circuit closed	34 - Message for all officers
12 - Do you understand?	35 - You may use my signal to answer this
13 - I understand	37 - Diversion (Also, inform all interested)
14 - What is the weather?	39 - Important, with priority on through wire. (Also, sleep-car report)
15 - For you and other to copy	44 - Answer promptly by wire
17 - Lightning here	73* - Best regards
18 - What is the trouble?	88* - Love and kisses
19 - Form 19 train order	91 - Superintendent's signal
21 - Stop for meal	92 - Deliver promptly
22 - Wire test	93 - Vice President & general manager signals
23 - All copy	95 - President's signal
24 - Repeat this back	134 - Who is at the key?

72 - Unofficial, used by QRP operators	74 - Unofficial, used by QRO operators

*The well-known ones. Note!!! It is seven three; not seventy-three, not seventy-threes or seven threes. It is already plural.
There are now some weird usages in e-mails, including '73 and 73'. Huh?

***How to display real-time lightning map while running logging programs***

If you have to bond something PERMANENTLY use 3M 5200 (see other options here). It will NEVER come off above or under water. It can be persuaded to release with applied heat, but chances of success are limited. Use with caution!

Rats, rats, rats! This product has been discontinued. WHY???!!!
If you need to waterproof a connector or anything else use Elmers Caulk CLEAR in this tube E948. Some other tubes have terrible applicators, only buy the one with the nozzle. It goes on WHITE so you can see that it went everywhere you wanted. After 30 mins or so it dries CLEAR. Stands up well outside, yet can be peeled off if you need to change something later.

I am now trying ACE hardware Part No. 12589. This does the same (goes on white, dries clear). The website does NOT confirm that, only the tube says it on the back. It takes a LOT longer to cure and go clear. It also appears to have about 5-10% shrinkage when I tested it by applying to a flat stone surface with a dip in it. There is also a GE product and DAP product which I am going to test.

Data mode? It is FT8, NOT FT-8! Likewise FT4. Why do hams say 'green stamps'? Why not just say 'dollars' or $??? [better yet US$ or USD]

Worst! Connectors! Ever! ALL of these things are unspeakably bad. A craze that's expensive, uses unnecessary tools and is unreliable.

localclubs

	Local clubs (NC & SC)
NCDXCC NC Map	BRARC Map NC	WCARS WCARS blog Map NC
2nd Thursday of each month, 18:00	1st Tuesday of each month, 19:00	1st Thursday of each month (except December), 19:30
Road Show ARC NC Map	BRARS SC Map	GARC SC Map
4th Tuesday of each month, 19:00	1st Monday of each month, 19:00	2nd Monday of each month, 19:00
Isothermal DX and Contest Club Map NC	SCDXA SC Map
2nd Tuesday of each month, 18:00	3rd Thursday of each month, 18:00

Club membership

I operate
only CW

CW Links

30CW

4SQRP

9AQRP

A1A

A1 Club (JA)

CCT

CQC

CQCW

CTC

CWJF

ECWARC

FFQRP

FISTS

FoCocw

FPQRP

GRT

Notes on QRQ

No. 236

No. 1945

No. 161
& 162

No. 253

No.1745

No. 200

No. 1029

No. 571

No. 3224
& 3225

No. 790

No. 450

No. 102

No. 19223

groups.io
-only-

No. 4128

No. 1442

HTC

LIDS

MORSE

NAQCC

NEQRP

NOC

NZQRP

PROCW

QRQcw

RCWC

SAMOC

SKCC

SOC

SSN

TBDXC

WAB

YOMARC

No. 387

No. 231

No. 020

No. 9881

No. 855

No. 1

---

No. 120

---

No. 1211

---

No. 20141

No. 1000

---

No. 900

No. 1496

No. 144

hamfests

Hamfests, Conventions, Field Day, etc. (see ARRL Hamfests and Field Day also)
COVID-19 cancelled events (ARRL)

Key:

Held

Held, altered conditions

Online

Cancelled

Unknown status

Site down

Closest

Furthest

Club page	City	Hamfest page	Map	Date Begin	Date End	Year	Distance (m)¹
Lakeway ARC	Morristown, TN	Hamfest	Map	January 4, 2020	- [2024 cancelled]	28th	102
Greenwood ARS	Greenwood, SC	Hamfest	Map	January 8, 2022	-	-	136
Forsyth ARC	Winston-Salem, NC	Hamfest	Map	Aprl 13, 2024	April 13, 2024	-	137
HamCation (OARC)	Orlando, FL	Hamfest	Map	February 2, 2022	February 4, 2022	76th	600
Dalton ARC	Dalton, GA	Hamfest	Map	February 26, 2022	-	40th	199
Mecklenburg ARS	Charlotte, NC	Hamfest	Map	March 11, 2022	March 12, 2022	-	150
Antique Wireless Assoc.	Charlotte, NC	Hamfest	Map	March 23, 2023	March 25, 2023	-	118
IDXC NCDXC & SCDXC	Visalia, CA	Hamfest	Map	April 21, 2023	April 23, 2023	74th	2060
Raleigh ARS	Raleigh, NC	Hamfest	Map	April 6, 2023	-	49th	240
Various	Catawba Valley, NC	Hamfest	Map	April 25, 2020	- [2021 cancelled]	23rd	50
Hamvention	Xenia, OH	Hamfest	Map	May 19, 2023	May 21, 2023	71st	440
Atlanta RC	Atlanta, GA	Hamfest	Map	June 3, 2023	-	90th	217
RAC Knoxville	Knoxville, TN	Hamfest	Map	June 17, 2023	-	56th	127
RSGB National Field Day	UK	NFD		1st full w/e of June	3-4 June 2023		min. 3800 (Cwll)
Region 1 Field Day	IARU Region 1	Field Day		1st full w/e of June	3-4 June 2023		min. 3100 (TF)
Greer ARC [K4SV]	Travelers Rest, SC	Field Day	Map	4th Saturday of June	June 22-23 2024	-	66
WCARS [W4MOE]	Asheville, NC	Field Day Where?	Map	4th Saturday of June	June 22-23 2024	-	20
TRSARC [WA4TRS]	Asheville, NC	Field Day	Map	4th Saturday of June	June 24-25 2023	-	9
BRARC [W4YK]	Hendersonville, NC	Field Day	Map	4th Saturday of June	June 22-23 2024	-	31
WCARS	Waynesville, NC	Hamfest	Map	July 20, 2024	-	-	40
Cape Fear ARS	Fayetteville, NC	Hamfest	Map	August 12, 2023	-	24th	260
Huntsville Hamfest	Huntsville, AL	Hamfest	Map	August 19, 2023	August 20, 2023	-	320
Shelby ARC	Shelby, NC	Hamfest	Map	September 1, 2023	September 3, 2022	67th	80
National Hamfest, UK	Newark-on-Trent, UK	Hamfest	Map	September 27, 2024	September 28, 2024	-	3986
SEDCO	Pigeon Forge, TN	W4DXCC Convention	Map	September 29, 2023	September 30, 2023	18th	110
York County ARS	Rock Hill, SC	Hamfest	Map	October 7, 2023	-	70th	140
RSGB Hybrid - online & local	UK	RSGB Convention	Map	October 13, 2023	October 15, 2023	-	4019

1. From Swannanoa, NC

plus NC ARRL Section ARRL Roanoke Division All DXCC Card Checkers

HF rigs through the years: HW-101, HW-8, Omni-D, TS-130S, FT-757GX, TS-930S, TS-940S, IC-706, K2/100, TS-590S, IC-7610
Other rigs: SRC-146A, FT-227R, FT-290R, IC-2E, IC-02E, IC-2E

DXCC Entity of the month LoTW server status

lf antennas

A new breed of LF antennas (under construction)
In a very few years, new receive antennas for LF (160/80/40m) have emerged.
These are knocking the stuffing out of the previously preferred Beverage antennas and can sit on a smaller footprint of land.
Some can be 'home brewed' (others have embedded proprietary code).

Type	Web site	Designer	Patent	Supplier(s)*
8 Circle	Hi-Z antennas	Lee, K7TJR / Dick, KO7N	?	DX Engineering (sole) [~$1500]
Shared Apex Loop Array	Wideband Loop	Mark, KB7GF	8,350,776	Array Solutions (sole) Review Argh!
8 Circle	-	Charles, W8JI	7,423,588	DX Engineering (sole) [$3200+]
K9AY	AY Technologies	Gary, K9AY	?	AS RQTH RQTH
Single Beverage	-	Dr. H.R. Beverage	1,381,089	RemoteQTH eB eB DXE AS
Reversible Beverage	-	Many	-	RemoteQTH eB DXE
Further information
Hi-Z 8 Circle	ON4WW	Notes from ON4WW
Various rx antennas	W8JI	Notes from W8JI
K9AY	MRS	Notes from G0WCW
Reversible Beverage	ZL3IX
Beverages	W0BTU	Extensive Beverage page W0BTU

* DXE=DX Engineering; AS=Array Solutions; RQTH=RemoteQTH; eB=eBay vendor;

W4/VP9KF DX Calendar (DX News) http://w4.vp9kf.com/dx_news.htm

January February March April May June DX Calendar July August September October November December
If data disappears or seems incorrect, check DX News for information.

Last reload: [2024-11-06 23:55:04Z]

Mobile version (self refresh)

dx_news

Additional DX News

Amendment to ARRL DXCC Rules Will Expand DXCC List - 2018-01-23
The ARRL Board of Directors approved a motion to amend the DXCC Rules, when it met January 19-20 (2018). Section II, Subsection 1 of the DXCC Rules now will include a new Subsection
(d): The entity has a separate IARU member society and is included in the US State Department's list of Independent States in the World.
“The discussion during the Board meeting and the rule change did not address any specific entity,” ARRL Radiosport Manager Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, said. “The amendment could allow some additions to the current DXCC List of entities. It’s a good thing not only for DXCC but for all active hams.” [really?]

In fact, the Republic of Kosovo (Z6) has been added to the DXCC List of current entities, increasing the total number of current DXCC entities to 340. The addition of Kosovo raises to 331 the required number of current entities confirmed to qualify for DXCC Honor Roll; Top of Honor Roll is 340. DXCC award accounts are being tabulated to reflect the change.

This change qualifies as an “event,” effective on January 21, 2018, at 0000 UTC. Nothing is retroactive.

Change of country name from Swaziland to "Kingdom of Eswatini" - 2018-04-25

Change to the name of "Macedonia"? - 2018-06-12 Ratified by Greek government [2019-01-25]
The entity of "(Republic of) Macedonia" [Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)] becomes the "Republic of North Macedonia" in country files, etc. [ADIF country code 502]. ADIF v3.1.2 has not corrected for this.

St. Kitts and Nevis joins IARU - 2018-05-28
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) has welcomed the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla(!) Amateur Radio Society (SKNAARS) as its newest member. On 2018-05-28, IARU members completed voting on the proposed admission of SKNAARS to the IARU to represent St. Kitts & Nevis.
SKNAARS does not claim to represent Anguilla, which is already represented in the IARU by the Anguilla Amateur Radio Society [no web site]. This is for historical reasons; Anguilla went independent and then went back to being a British Colony then a British Overseas Territory.

Cook Islands to change name? Change may be coming - 2019-03-05.
Change name: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan? - 2021-08-15.

WIP

Date	Callsign	Spots	Site	Log	News	Lightning
May/June 2019	3D2CR	DXwatch	Site	Log	News	Lightning
	COVID-19

mostwanted

Most Wanted [2021-06-29] - Location/mode [NA, East Coast/CW]
Rank	Prefix	Entity

1.	P5	DPRK (NORTH KOREA)
2.	ZS8	PRINCE EDWARD & MARION ISLANDS
3.	FT5/W	CROZET ISLAND
4.	3Y/B	BOUVET ISLAND
5.	BS7H	SCARBOROUGH REEF
6.	BV9P	PRATAS ISLAND
7.	VK0M	MACQUARIE ISLAND
8.	FT/G	GLORIOSO ISLAND
9.	KH3	JOHNSTON ISLAND
10.	CE0X	SAN FELIX ISLANDS
11.	KH7K	KURE ISLAND
12.	FT5/X	KERGUELEN ISLAND
13.	EZ	TURKMENISTAN
14.	AP	PAKISTAN
15.	JD/M	MINAMI TORISHIMA
16.	YK	SYRIA
17.	3Y/P	PETER I ISLAND
18.	SV/A	MOUNT ATHOS
19.	JX	JAN MAYEN
20.	9N	NEPAL

FCC Test programs

Section start

Amateur Radio Service, Test practice programs

		Technician	General	Extra		Time (mins)
Questions/needed correct	74%	35 (26)	35 (26)	50 (37)	-	?/?/?
Provider		2018-2022	2019-2023	2016-2020 (2020-2024)	Cost		Method
	N3FJP	June 30, 2022	June 30, 2023	June 30, 2020 (June 30, 2024)	Free		Download
	HamExam.org	"	"	"	Free		On-line
	AA9PW	"	"	"	Free		On-line
	Ham Cram	"	"	"	Free		On-line
	ARRL	"	"	"	Free		On-line
	QRZ	"	"	"	Free		On-line

Quite logical tips NCVEC This section last modified:2022-07-19

Notes: Reciprocal Operating Arrangements | Federal Communications Commission Page 1 [About]
Click forward arrow (or Validity tab) to go to Page 2 [Validity]
Click forward arrow (or Eligibility tab) to go to Page 3 [Eligibility]
Click forward arrow (or Station Indicators tab) to go to Page 3 [Station Indicators]

Bilateral Reciprocal Agreements - ARRL

May I operate in the U.S.?
Aliens who hold a valid amateur license issued by their government may apply to the Federal Communications Commission for a permit to operate in the U.S. only if a reciprocal operating agreement exists between the U.S. and the above mentioned government. (See FCC & ARRL above - United Kingdom, including Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, etc., etc. [British Overseas Territories, except Anguilla is missing])

How do I apply?

Effective February 12, 1999 no application is required.

Look up Vanity calls and 1x1 calls, etc. (AE7Q)

W4/VP9KF - HamCap Propagation

W4/VP9KF
November 2024
Propagation Predictions SSN=120, Kp=0, Short Path, 100W