ARRL DX CW Contest 2011

Managed to get on some for the ARRL International CW this weekend.

Rig FT-1000 Mk V, Alpha 78 and Cushcraft R7
Puter N1MM, K1EL WinKeyer USB, DM780

Was nice to make some contacts on 10 and 15.  Highlights were working the T30YA on 40M.  Working VK, JA, ZL etc on higher bands.  Trying to figure out 145 Watts as NR from somebody!


Band    QSOs    Pts  Cty
   3.5       1      3    1
     7     118     354   55
    14     141     423   68
    21      83     249   47
    28      29      87   19
 Total     372    1116  190
Score: 212,040

CQ WPX RTTY 2011

  
CQ WPX RTTY Contest


Managed some hours on the WPX RTTY this year and made a few contacts.  Was able to hold a frequency and run quite a bit more than is 'normal' for my small station.  On Sunday the last 4-5 hours was mostly 'running'.  The N1MM program was working except the band map was not filling with spots for some reason.  The station used was Cushcraft R7 vertical, MK V and Alpha 78.

DX highlight was working the S9 Sao Tome and Principe.  S9DX Homepage

 Band    QSOs    Pts  WPX
     7      77     270   53
    14     123     216   82
    21      21      42   18
 Total     221     528  153
Score: 80,784

ATS-4a Ready to test Now Finished

ATS-4a is now finished and fully operational.  The audio coupling Cap C55 was a problem that I solved by putting an additional .1uf in parallel with the existing cap.  Some folks have suggested swapping C55 and C61.  In any case it seems that C55 needs to be larger in value for the audio chain to provide adequate output.  At this point I am getting about three watts output at 12V with a weak 9V battery in the Oak Hills QRP Wattmeter into a dummy load.

ATS-4 Finished

ATS-4 Top

ATS-4 Bottom

Today the missing (lost) 'Red' SMD Cap came in the mail.  The last component was added and the unit was inspected and looks ready for final assembly and testing.

Quoted from ATS Yahoo Group


Another ATS4A on air.Posted by: "rv3apm1" rv3apm1@yahoo.com   rv3apm1Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:49 am (PST)

Thanks for this group and thanks Steve for nice job.
Now Built my small nice ATS4 A. Good CW tone , Pout 5-6W and only 15 m 4W. Good RX.
Note:
Not used liquid flux for switches, C55 really 1.0 uF, C46 0.01 uf
BS170, 2N7002 careful to do solder - not good for static
73 Serge

ATS-4a with two torroids

ATS-4a w 2 torroids

Have been working on the KD1JV ATS-4a project some this past week.  Here is the board with most of the parts on it.  The rest of the coils and push button switches are the main parts left to add.

Monster Jr. Receiver

Technics SA-600 

Under the hood

Am still cleaning out the attic bedroom and found this nice old Technics SA-600 70 wpc receiver from 1978-79 according to Vintage Technics Data Base.  Great place for Technics Specs and Manuals

           New $   Yr   wpc dist   thd   pwr bd S/N   mono sen  cap db  THD  sep db lbs

Technics

SA-600

530.00

78-79

70

0.04

0.04

20-20

90

10.8

1.2

13.7

37.2

0.15/0.3

70

70

28

This is definitely one of the 'they don't make em like this anymore' products.

Fisher 500B and Phillips 312 Turntable

Fisher 500B and Phillips 312

The Fisher 500B looks better with two now knob 'brights' from Tube Audio Design (new ones on far left)  Record on the Turntable is Dire Straits "Dire Straits" 1978.  The turntable is from about then and the 500B is from about 1962 and is a MPX receiver (Stereo) with about 30 wpc.  The sound from the tubes is very nice.

New Years Day in Centreville

New Years Day in Centreville

Stayed home today and went on a few dog walks.  This scene is about a 10 min walk from the house and is a route often taken on nice days.  It was over 50 today and was the warmest day in about a month.  The ground was nice and squishy to walk on for a change and most all the snow melted.  We made a fancy breakfast for each other and watched the Tournament of Roses Parade, which always reminds me of my late friend Paul Schou KE6ET who among many other activities worked as a communications volunteer for the parade and received commendations for his service.  We watched the FL State football game, we rooted for Penn St because our nephew is there working on MS in mechanical engineering.  Later on I worked on some Christmas pix for the family and enjoyed the holiday.