ST0R QRM, Lids, etc?

I was embarrassed to listen to the fiasco on top of ST0R tonight on 20m CW. What has happened to this hobby?

CQ WPX SSB Contest (Little Pistol)

As I'm screaming into the mic tonight trying get stations in neighboring states to hear me, I recall being in this exact situation during last year's WPX contest. And once again I find myself contemplating buying a nice piece of property that will allow me to put together a station to help me avoid this frustration.

So, instead of operating I'm designing antennas and looking at amplifiers. Probably going to make a few CW contacts just to clear my head. Might even sit with the GF and watch some reruns of Sex in the City, because that sounds a lot better than looking down the barrel of my mic. :-)

73, Paul - ND8N

MBA D-O-N-E!

I finished my MBA last weekend and it feels a little weird doing only fun stuff now. I always had the feeling of having to do homework hanging over my head, so I could never just enjoy what I was doing. Even cleaning the garage is done without the feeling of guilt...

I have upgraded my station to an actual "room" instead of the original "Radio Closet." I ran some cables up to a second floor bedroom and I'm typing this while sitting at an actual desk. Strange. I have three monitors on the desk and my keyer paddles. The radio is comfortably just to my right.

I worked the AZ QSO Party this weekend - although my new Outbacker mobile antenna that I use for daytime use didn't snag me many QSOs. I managed a whopping 18 QSOs. I did, however, get to use a proper station for several hours on Sunday at W7SA which was the sponsor of the contest (counted for an extra 100 points). I've decided being on the receiving end of a pile-up is really fun.

73,

Paul - ND8N

Back On the Air Soon

So, I'm wrapping up my MBA this weekend and I'm looking forward to having the time to repair my antenna and cable. I've been watching the DX Summit and have been a little frustrated at the DX that I am missing. Plus I just bought an FT-897, so I'll be testing that out as well.

73, Paul

Moonscape - Off the air!

So, my dog is destroying my backyard, along with my antennas and cables. Last summer I did a lot of work of re-landscaping the backyard - spreading rock (thats the Arizona equiv. to grass) and installing new plants in the rock hard ground they call "soil" here. But now, all but one plant has been chewed up. He even chewed down a small orange tree, leaving nothing but a 3 inch stump in the ground. His digging is making the backyard a safety hazard - its like walking on the moon but without the low gravity. But the worst of it is that he somehow got through the small fence that was protecting an exposed piece of LMR-400 cable running to my stealth vertical. It rained the next day and now the shielding of the cable is corroded and needs to be replaced. I'm picky about efficiency and I just "know" that I can hear the signal loss on the recieve side - sunspots be damned!
Pictured below is the proud beast and some of his handiwork. Notice the almost-dead rose bush to the left. You can't see it, but the bush is actually hanging above a large hole where the root system used to be. It's like he cut the plant's legs off just below the knee...

Jamming

So, what's with all this intentional jamming nowadays? I hear stations tuning over the top of DX stations, sending random CW, whatever they can do to bury the DX station. I don't ever recall hearing that back in the 80's when I was chasing DX. Sure, there were always LIDs, but that's just because they were idiots. LIDs never MEAN to be stupid, they just are.

73,

Paul - ND8N

Zone 26!

I was startled by the booming signal of XW1B this morning as he called CQ on 40m CW. Bruce was hitting 20dB over s9. I fortunately got through before the pileup started - giving me my last zone for WAZ. I also heard an HS0, but I couldn't get through the JA wall. Regardless, my QSL to XW1B's manager is already in the mail.

:-)

Paul - ND8N