2012 is soon upon us!

Between the end of the semester and the holidays, unfortunately, I haven't spent much time in the shack. I did a bunch of cleaning up last night however and am looking to spend sometime on the air soon.

I'm still trying to decide what radio to get. I'm leaning towards the Elecraft K3, however, they just came out with a new KX3 that is very portable. It is 10 watts and 100 with an amp. Very tempting, though for $1000 I would rather not be restricted to 100 watts. We'll have to see what happens.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year. I have plans for the next few days and so I doubt that I'll have a moment to write again!

CW Keyer

I'm really liking this ham stuff! So much to do. Just last weekend there was a CQ WW SSB contest. For those non-hams that may be following it is a 48 hour period where you try to talk to as many people as far as possible in each of the 40 zones of the world.

All I can say is crazy crazy crazy. It is like the starting flag in NASCAR, just everyone of the gate going a million miles an hour. I participated, but I was not very good with 10 watts. I could hear people, but they could not hear me, or I just couldn't get through the pileup of others on the frequency.

Last night I started messing around more with the CW modes on the radio. I've slowly started practicing my letters and I'm a couple letters in and my excitement is way up!

So I started wanting to buy a keyer or make one of my own. My Friend Ira (AE7JO) found this link:
http://radioartisan.wordpress.com/arduino-cw-keyer/ and I'm going to move forward in making one. If it works out, I would like to offer them for anyone that would like one.

I'll keep you updated on the progress. I'm fairly busy coming up, with some school projects and tests coming.

Amateur Extra

It is official! I was able to pass my Amateur Extra with 100% I'll admit there are some tough questions in there that I do not truly understand. My hats off to all those non-engineers that have taken that test. I know that I'm thankful for my educational background that allows me to understand a fair amount of what is going on and the rest to my computer experience.

Now onto Contesting and DXing with my UDXA buddies.

R.I.P. KF7RLK.

Okay it is official. W7RIV is active. I have been waiting so impatiently. I had to wait 18 days for my vanity call sign. It was killing me. It took me only 5 days to decide to take the test in the first place, study, pass and get my first call sign.

Extra Class or Bust!

I have a lot going on right now, but I really want to become an Amateur Extra. I have been a ham operator for less than a month but I have fallen in love with the technical aspects of it, DX, the competition of contesting and the challenge of CW.

On the 25th of October Eugene, N7OVT will be giving the exams at the EOC in Salt Lake City. This adds a little pressure to me since I'm posting it. So here we go!

K7AGE - Satellite and PSK31

I came across K7AGE's YouTube page when searching for PSK31 information. Not only does he have PSK31 information he has all sorts of cool things that gives you the inside view of running a contest, field day, shack tours, antennas, RTTY, etc. Take a look at it, it cost me a night of my life going through all his videos.

K7AGE YouTube Page
AO-51 Satellite Video, Success

FEMA 700 and 800

Okay, I will not lie, these are pretty long and repeat a lot of the same stuff. However, I was able to push through and get the other two tests completed that I wanted to finish. The FEMA 700 and 800.

FEMA Certifications

Another interest that I have found with Ham radio is the ability to help in a time of need. This has been a very big part of ham radios that I see besides contesting and doing the long distance DX stuff. Because of this I started taking the FEMA certifications, 100, 200, 700 and 800. I had some spare time yesterday so I was able to review and take the 100 & 200 certifications and pass. I'll try to do the 700 and 800 tests this week/weekend. See the Internet Links page for links to the FEMA site and materials for self study.

CW - International Morse Code

In the ham world international morse code has an acronym, CW. It stands for Continuous Wave. It has an amazing use in the low power world of QRP. I never thought in a million years that I would say this, but, I'm going to learn it. I started reading online, practicing online and found a CD from the ARRL that teaches it. I'll have to update you as I go along, but it will be interesting for sure.

-... .-. -.-- --- -.

B r y o n

Custom Antenna and QRP

Ever since I got started in back in August I have been finding so many amazing aspects of this hobby. It is a geek haven with all sorts of activities, modes, equipment, custom built kits, etc. I have come to the realization that I cannot do it all. What I have really been interested in is custom antenna building, low power units called QRP and also PSK31. Even though I do not have a transceiver that will operate PSK31 at this point, I'll keep playing and learning. I'll get there.

Vanity Call Sign Requested

I have really been liking ham radio and all it has to offer. So today I decided I wanted a vanity call sign. After some searching I was able to find W7RIV and I have done all the required paperwork for that. It is in honor of my cute little geek daughter Morgenn. Who loved that I would pick RIV based on her name Rivver. Just a matter of 14 days and I should officially be W7RIV from West Jordan, Utah.

KF7RLK is Born!

I wanted to start briefly on how I got into Ham radios, I've been working on my Masters Thesis which is a paragliding wheelchair for people that are paralyzed. Hanging out with all of these guys I realized they were using ham radios when communicating. So because of that, I started looking into it. After that, I realized how great this is for emergency situations and how I wanted to help out in a time of need like that. So I started researching classes and realized that I didn't really want to sit for 8-12 hours to take the technician test. So, on the 25th of August 2011 I decided I was going self study for the ham test and take the test the following Tuesday on the 30th of August 2011. I'm impatient when I set my mind to something. I was able to pass my Technician and also my General exam that night and KF7RLK was born. I've started looking into the Extra exam as well, but I have been side tracked with finding the perfect handheld. I soon realized there are too many perfect handhelds and more and more equipment I need to have.

I would like to have a mobile unit that I could make into a portable base station, however with just buying my first handheld I need to hold off. I would also like to get into the other bands and start talking to others.