Nice rig! I am currently in the process of learning CW... Along with getting my Extra ticket lol. Nice video and thanks for taking us along! Good luck with the new job, and looking forward to some more Radio Vidz! '73s
Good job Tom. I'm glad to see you jump in the make some contacts in the contest even though it's a new experience for you. You will get better with practice and have even more fun. One of the reasons some of the stations are not responding to you is that they are using very narrow filters on their receivers to reduce interference from other stations near their frequency. If your signal is not within their receiver's narrow pass band they will not hear you. Make sure your RIT is turned off, so you will be transmitting on the same frequency you are receiving on. And use a narrow filter setting of 500 or even 250 Hz and you will have a better chance of being received. Also, it's a good idea to use Full Breakin during CW contests so you can receive in between your transmitted dits and dahs, especially since your CW speed is a little slower right now. You may hear the station you are calling begin to answer someone else while you are still calling. If you do, then you should hit the ESC key to stop transmitting and wait for the station to say TU and listen for another caller. You won't be able to receive between your dits and dahs if you are using semi-breakin on CW. Keep it up. You are doing great and I'll see you in a future contest. 73, Steve K8BZ
I know how you feel! Use your filters to get zero beat on one signal and you can ignore the rest. Don't give up. First time I busted a pileup with 100 watts was an incredible rush!
That's the way to do it. Jump right in and have fun. You did great. I Always enjoy your ham radio excursions. Really funny to hear how much the family is using the water (wth?). The ARRL 10 meter contest is coming up Dec 9-10. That is a fun one if conditions are right. I'll try to build a 10 meter 5/8 wave wire vertical and see how that works. Hope to see you on. My the Force be with you. 73 from the other side of the state.
Ha! Great comment. Yes, sometimes I get a mental block and I don't want to jump in without preparations, but I'm open and honest about how I approach this in my videos. I don't claim to be an Elmer. I'm just sharing experiences. I hope to see you on the 10 meter contest. I will look into it. Thanks for commenting.
Hi! Some use computers, some don't. Some use computers to TX but need good ears to catch the callsign. Regarding the computer cable: get some good 31 or 43 mix toroids from Fair-Rite and install on both ends. You want to read the K9YC paper available online.. Another approach is to get a galvanized metal sheet installed all under your radio desk. That sorted out all my problems. I don't hear a beep from any power supplies, computers or home appliances.
Why don't you put up a Delta Loop antenna? Computer locks up because too much RF is coming back from your antenna system. Your choke must have at least 5,000 ohms to reduce RX noise, avoid antenna pattern distortion and keep RF away from your shack. Your problem is called the Common Mode.
For the computer interference, you could try ferrite beads on the troublesome cables. They're easy to install and can knock out the RFI. Also, having the station properly grounded can help. I had enough RFI between my radio and PC that transmitting on JT65 would black out my monitor. Ferrite beads and grounding solved that. Good luck! 73 W4CRG
I have a lot of grounding going on behind the scenes. I have a ground bus, and aluminium grounding strap and a ground rod.... However, I think it's the laptop power supply. I just ordered some huge toroid cores. I'm going to try and wrap some cord around the cable.
Welcome to contesting !! You were operating in a "DX" contest. You should only call DX stations which are worth points. You will get zero points for working US stations. You will however get credit for each US CQ zone as a multiplier only. There are many domestic contests throughout the year that you can try. Try the weekly CWT every Wednesday. It's a great way to get some practice. Have fun ! -Joe
Got a kick out of you jumping to a big signal only to have him disappear. What's happening is you are hearing other stations working a guy calling CQ on that frequency that you can't hear. They send their call signs, the station you can't hear works them, then the calling station moves on and doesn't respond to you, of course. Listen for stations calling CQ to do "hunt and pounce." Also, the stations in the U.S. don't get points for working each other once they get the first ones in zones 4 or 5. But this is exactly how you learn! And even the most serious contesters will usually take their time and help you out, even if it hurts their "run rate." 73 de N4KC
RE: Interference from laptop power cord, I made a small wall/partition between my radio and computer. The partition is made of foam poster board and is lined with copper foil tape I got on Amazon.
I certainly don't consider this video "great", I think there is just TONS of interest in this particular radio... I also get a high ranking since this category "genre" I seem to be a channel of.
Don't sell yourself short. For a ham radio video, its great. Well edited, informative, and it has some personality. You're making contacts and demonstrating cw skills on a nifty new radio. It isn't a another gadget review or another "check out this radio" video. You have a knack for this stuff, and you put some time and interest in making these videos. Plus, you're from my home town; and finally, you actually heard me complain about Hamvention 2017 on a Dayton repeater and its on one of your vids! Still blown away by that. (BTW, not my real call sign, I had to switch it up after I was mildy cyber-stalked by a fellow ham. Ignored him, blocked him, its all good now. People are nuts.) Anyway keep up the good work; and not just the radio stuff. You have an interesting "take" on things outside of the EM spectrum as well.
Of course it sounds like a waterfall - you have a wife and two kids! lol I tried contesting today but they were too fast for my 18 wpm ears! Retreated to the WARC bands!
My Ham license test is this Saturday!! Hope to QSO with you around May 1. I’ll let you know my calls my friend. Looking SO FORWARD TO THIS!! I’ve studied SO HARD for this. Trying for the “Trifecta” of all three licenses the same day. Hopefully God provides the blessing of getting it done! Love to have you be my first contact. Using ICOM 7300 with a ZS6BKW antenna at 48 feet arrayed North/South. Should be a goof shot at a QSO with you.
Way to get in there and go for it! We need new operators in the contest world. Reminds me of my early contest days minus the computers 😊 Stick with it, good job! 73s de Bryan W5MX
I wonder how extensive a ground system you have with that antenna, end fed antennas need to work against a really good ground system to work well. If you can, bury as many radial wires as possible, lots of short are better than a few long radials, you don't need to used exact lengths as the ground will detune. Noise reduction on that computer cable should be reduced by lots of ferrite clamps or even winding the cable around ferrrite rod(s) Wishing you all the very best 73 Tony G3ZRJ
I thought I was the only one that had stations disappear once I tuned in on them It’s very frustrating as you know, I live in co-op up 12 stores and can only use indoor antennas. I only work SSB so contacts are good. Not great but good. You remind me of me, lol. Thanks for the video. Hope to work you someday. God Bless. 73 from N2LRB
That Icom is a sweet rig. I've drooled over that model. But...I think I am going to get a KX3 very soon. When I try a new antenna, I check to see if a freq is clear and then just key TEST CALL SIGN TEST and check reverse beacon network to see if and where it was heard. I had some trouble with my key yesterday (was at my folks place in Ga) back in Va now and will bee trying to fix the issue.
I'd def recommend the KX3 or KX2. It sounds so good. I have never used the RB Network... still need to do that. Hey, post a video next time ur on the radio.
I'm due for another radio video! I'm off tomorrow, maybe I'll do a quick video of my humble equipment, antennas, etc. I'm with you on the contests...not really at the point I want to "rag chew". My base rig is an FT-857D and I sometimes use an IC-703. They are on an indefinite loan to me from work, if you know what I mean (it's legit though). A friend of mine has the KX3 and I really think it's an awesome unit.
There is one record of your call sign still available on the RBN, check it out. de dx freq cq/dx snr speed time WA7LNW N9YO 7112.0 CW CQ [LoTW] 12 dB 16 wpm 0129z 25 Nov
advice! don't throw your call so slow remember you are competing with others going way faster than you. you have to get in quick or you will get drown out. i don't know how the hell these guys could read cw that quick with all that qrm but they are damn good at it.
Almost all of them cannot read or send that fast (30-40+ WPM). They use software like HRD, CWGet. They are sending and receiving using only Macros (and rarely using the keyboard when an unusual response is necessary).
i'm not that fast at cw but i throw my call at the speed that they are sending i could recognized my call if they come back to me at 40 wpm but that is it.. i throw my RST 599 and if i hear the ? ill throw it again, but my best receiving speed is 20 wpm on a good day with a big cup of coffee.
NR4M did hear you but you never responded. At 6:19 he's sending D ... you sent your call as D9YO even though it is N9YO? He only got the first letter of the call and was asking for D which you sent. 73 K5TRI
Not at all bro . I have a big water bill too. your vid really helped me this weekend. I had no idea what this contest was all about. it was great fun! Thanks!
Ok, I get a lot of hate comments, never know. That's the problem with RUclips. : ) Yes, 3 girls in the house and i'm the only guy so, it's a waterfall down there.
I am a HAM and I still do not know why I did the rather tedious exam? I do not see any reasons to spend and spend 10- thousands of Dollars on expensive equipment that is sitting most of the time idle. There is another problem. Most HAMs are of the mature kind, rather outdated, full of HAM-Junk, and even fuller of themselves. No wonder the hobby is as good as dead in several countries as one thinks to be in a retirement facility listening to the nonsense that is talked about on air. I use most of the time Skype or if I want to make new connections I prefer Echolink, the only really good facility to use my license and to speak to people somewhere around the world in good quality. By the way, the other modern facility is called the mobile phone and if everything breaks down, well, who cares. When heaven falls down all birds are dead. Some HAMs did not get me or my family out of the concentration camp using HAMs. Never mind, I survived it without the self-proclaiming and glorifying HAM stories one often hears.
Relax man. There’s a lot people with various backgrounds and approaches to this hobby. It is a hobby after all and can be escaped before it gets too tough. 73 and take care of yourself
Ham radio is NOT DEAD. We have 70 members in our club in NE Pa. Big stations in DX contests work over 10,000 QSO's in a single weekend on morse code. Doesn'r sound like death to me K2LNS
Very inspiring this was me 40 years ago no computers then just a desk ful of check sheets. Keep up an you get faster
I almost want to go back 40 years.
Nice rig! I am currently in the process of learning CW... Along with getting my Extra ticket lol. Nice video and thanks for taking us along! Good luck with the new job, and looking forward to some more Radio Vidz! '73s
Good luck and stay with it, CW will come. We are all learning.
Good job Tom. I'm glad to see you jump in the make some contacts in the contest even though it's a new experience for you. You will get better with practice and have even more fun.
One of the reasons some of the stations are not responding to you is that they are using very narrow filters on their receivers to reduce interference from other stations near their frequency. If your signal is not within their receiver's narrow pass band they will not hear you. Make sure your RIT is turned off, so you will be transmitting on the same frequency you are receiving on. And use a narrow filter setting of 500 or even 250 Hz and you will have a better chance of being received.
Also, it's a good idea to use Full Breakin during CW contests so you can receive in between your transmitted dits and dahs, especially since your CW speed is a little slower right now. You may hear the station you are calling begin to answer someone else while you are still calling. If you do, then you should hit the ESC key to stop transmitting and wait for the station to say TU and listen for another caller. You won't be able to receive between your dits and dahs if you are using semi-breakin on CW.
Keep it up. You are doing great and I'll see you in a future contest.
73, Steve K8BZ
Thanks for the great comment.
I know how you feel! Use your filters to get zero beat on one signal and you can ignore the rest. Don't give up. First time I busted a pileup with 100 watts was an incredible rush!
That's the way to do it. Jump right in and have fun. You did great. I Always enjoy your ham radio excursions. Really funny to hear how much the family is using the water (wth?). The ARRL 10 meter contest is coming up Dec 9-10. That is a fun one if conditions are right. I'll try to build a 10 meter 5/8 wave wire vertical and see how that works. Hope to see you on. My the Force be with you. 73 from the other side of the state.
Ha! Great comment. Yes, sometimes I get a mental block and I don't want to jump in without preparations, but I'm open and honest about how I approach this in my videos. I don't claim to be an Elmer. I'm just sharing experiences. I hope to see you on the 10 meter contest. I will look into it. Thanks for commenting.
Memory serves me wrong a lot these days, but if I’m right W3LPL is a BIG GUN contest station! You did well!
Hi! Some use computers, some don't. Some use computers to TX but need good ears to catch the callsign.
Regarding the computer cable: get some good 31 or 43 mix toroids from Fair-Rite and install on both ends. You want to read the K9YC paper available online.. Another approach is to get a galvanized metal sheet installed all under your radio desk. That sorted out all my problems. I don't hear a beep from any power supplies, computers or home appliances.
Why don't you put up a Delta Loop antenna? Computer locks up because too much RF is coming back from your antenna system. Your choke must have at least 5,000 ohms to reduce RX noise, avoid antenna pattern distortion and keep RF away from your shack. Your problem is called the Common Mode.
For the computer interference, you could try ferrite beads on the troublesome cables. They're easy to install and can knock out the RFI. Also, having the station properly grounded can help. I had enough RFI between my radio and PC that transmitting on JT65 would black out my monitor. Ferrite beads and grounding solved that. Good luck! 73 W4CRG
I have a lot of grounding going on behind the scenes. I have a ground bus, and aluminium grounding strap and a ground rod.... However, I think it's the laptop power supply. I just ordered some huge toroid cores. I'm going to try and wrap some cord around the cable.
Welcome to contesting !! You were operating in a "DX" contest. You should only call DX stations which are worth points. You will get zero points for working US stations. You will however get credit for each US CQ zone as a multiplier only. There are many domestic contests throughout the year that you can try. Try the weekly CWT every Wednesday. It's a great way to get some practice. Have fun ! -Joe
Thanks for the great comment.
Got a kick out of you jumping to a big signal only to have him disappear. What's happening is you are hearing other stations working a guy calling CQ on that frequency that you can't hear. They send their call signs, the station you can't hear works them, then the calling station moves on and doesn't respond to you, of course. Listen for stations calling CQ to do "hunt and pounce." Also, the stations in the U.S. don't get points for working each other once they get the first ones in zones 4 or 5. But this is exactly how you learn! And even the most serious contesters will usually take their time and help you out, even if it hurts their "run rate." 73 de N4KC
Ha! yes I'm clearly not a contestor, but having fun and that's the name of the game.
RE: Interference from laptop power cord, I made a small wall/partition between my radio and computer. The partition is made of foam poster board and is lined with copper foil tape I got on Amazon.
I like that idea!
Glad that you had fun with successful contacts. 👍🏽
Thanks!
I was using FLDIGI software. it was pretty intuitive to use. Have you ever used it?
Oh yes, FLDIGI is great. Used it with ICOM 7300
Dude, as if you needed more proof that this channel of yours is ham-radio centric. 1350 views in 4 days. Pretty cool set-up too.
Yeah, methinks you're right. I'll move my other junk to AnythingWithWheels360. : )
I certainly don't consider this video "great", I think there is just TONS of interest in this particular radio... I also get a high ranking since this category "genre" I seem to be a channel of.
Don't sell yourself short. For a ham radio video, its great. Well edited, informative, and it has some personality. You're making contacts and demonstrating cw skills on a nifty new radio. It isn't a another gadget review or another "check out this radio" video. You have a knack for this stuff, and you put some time and interest in making these videos. Plus, you're from my home town; and finally, you actually heard me complain about Hamvention 2017 on a Dayton repeater and its on one of your vids! Still blown away by that. (BTW, not my real call sign, I had to switch it up after I was mildy cyber-stalked by a fellow ham. Ignored him, blocked him, its all good now. People are nuts.) Anyway keep up the good work; and not just the radio stuff. You have an interesting "take" on things outside of the EM spectrum as well.
You sir are "good people"
Wow you aren’t kidding about the water lol Sounds like my shack! Stay dry amigo! 73 de Kd2cwa :)
Of course it sounds like a waterfall - you have a wife and two kids! lol
I tried contesting today but they were too fast for my 18 wpm ears! Retreated to the WARC bands!
They aren't too fast, they're using computers. : ) We are all good.
AnythingWithWheels Are you sure? Wow I don't feel so bad about 18 wpm then, now that I know their secret.
My Ham license test is this Saturday!! Hope to QSO with you around May 1. I’ll let you know my calls my friend. Looking SO FORWARD TO THIS!! I’ve studied SO HARD for this. Trying for the “Trifecta” of all three licenses the same day. Hopefully God provides the blessing of getting it done! Love to have you be my first contact. Using ICOM 7300 with a ZS6BKW antenna at 48 feet arrayed North/South. Should be a goof shot at a QSO with you.
Oh man thats awesome. Good luck. I'm going to be livestreaminf on the air
On the air and live stream 7pm friday
Ok I’ll check it out! Are there more worldwides coming?
Way to get in there and go for it! We need new operators in the contest world. Reminds me of my early contest days minus the computers 😊 Stick with it, good job! 73s de Bryan W5MX
I wonder how extensive a ground system you have with that antenna, end fed antennas need to work against a really good ground system to work well. If you can, bury as many radial wires as possible, lots of short are better than a few long radials, you don't need to used exact lengths as the ground will detune. Noise reduction on that computer cable should be reduced by lots of ferrite clamps or even winding the cable around ferrrite rod(s) Wishing you all the very best 73 Tony G3ZRJ
Tony Butler I have a lot of work to do
I thought I was the only one that had stations disappear once I tuned in on them It’s very frustrating as you know, I live in co-op up 12 stores and can only use indoor antennas. I only work SSB so contacts are good. Not great but good. You remind me of me, lol. Thanks for the video. Hope to work you someday. God Bless. 73 from N2LRB
Thanks for thr great comment.yeah I put it out there how it is
What. CW program are you using for this my friend?
I think it's called, "CW Decoder" the other one is N1MM
Thank you!
That Icom is a sweet rig. I've drooled over that model. But...I think I am going to get a KX3 very soon. When I try a new antenna, I check to see if a freq is clear and then just key TEST CALL SIGN TEST and check reverse beacon network to see if and where it was heard. I had some trouble with my key yesterday (was at my folks place in Ga) back in Va now and will bee trying to fix the issue.
I'd def recommend the KX3 or KX2. It sounds so good. I have never used the RB Network... still need to do that. Hey, post a video next time ur on the radio.
I'm due for another radio video! I'm off tomorrow, maybe I'll do a quick video of my humble equipment, antennas, etc. I'm with you on the contests...not really at the point I want to "rag chew". My base rig is an FT-857D and I sometimes use an IC-703. They are on an indefinite loan to me from work, if you know what I mean (it's legit though). A friend of mine has the KX3 and I really think it's an awesome unit.
Ron C awesome, hey try to make it to Dayton next year and we can meetup for a beer. Great place to shop for gear
Might be worth the trip!
There is one record of your call sign still available on the RBN, check it out.
de dx freq cq/dx snr speed time
WA7LNW N9YO 7112.0 CW CQ [LoTW] 12 dB 16 wpm 0129z 25 Nov
advice! don't throw your call so slow remember you are competing with others going way faster than you. you have to get in quick or you will get drown out. i don't know how the hell these guys could read cw that quick with all that qrm but they are damn good at it.
Peter Rod yeah you are right now that I see my video again I realize it's too slow.
Almost all of them cannot read or send that fast (30-40+ WPM).
They use software like HRD, CWGet. They are sending and receiving using only Macros (and rarely using the keyboard when an unusual response is necessary).
hello, what is the software you use for transmit CW? 73s TI2GBB
Ok
what software cw are you using
i'm not that fast at cw but i throw my call at the speed that they are sending i could recognized my call if they come back to me at 40 wpm but that is it.. i throw my RST 599 and if i hear the ? ill throw it again, but my best receiving speed is 20 wpm on a good day with a big cup of coffee.
20wpm is, I consider excellent. I'm pretty happy sticking around 16-20wpm for now. Sounds like you're on the right track.
What type and where did you get that extendable pole please?
amzn.to/2VwetWi
NR4M did hear you but you never responded. At 6:19 he's sending D ... you sent your call as D9YO even though it is N9YO? He only got the first letter of the call and was asking for D which you sent. 73 K5TRI
I mess up sometimes.
@@hamradiocq Happens to all of us. If someone is claiming he/she doesn't, they're lying ;).
“Search and pounce” operating style , only way to go when everybody has to run 35 wpm
Seth Lavinder - Hunt and Pounce
what tower is it? it looks heavy duty
David Regal search through my videos for antenna tower I did a review I forget the company
You looks like stressed. Relax enjoy your challenges. It supous to be fun.
Cool video. Thanks for sharing. AA1US
Running water lol. I feel your pain
Is this meant to be sarcastic?
Not at all bro . I have a big water bill too. your vid really helped me this weekend. I had no idea what this contest was all about. it was great fun! Thanks!
Ok, I get a lot of hate comments, never know. That's the problem with RUclips. : ) Yes, 3 girls in the house and i'm the only guy so, it's a waterfall down there.
lol I was set up out in my yard barn this weekend. I feel like going out and making more contacts.
My best friend used to play golf. He hates golf. We huddle in the basement don't we. LOL
I am a HAM and I still do not know why I did the rather tedious exam? I do not see any reasons to spend and spend 10- thousands of Dollars on expensive equipment that is sitting most of the time idle. There is another problem. Most HAMs are of the mature kind, rather outdated, full of HAM-Junk, and even fuller of themselves. No wonder the hobby is as good as dead in several countries as one thinks to be in a retirement facility listening to the nonsense that is talked about on air. I use most of the time Skype or if I want to make new connections I prefer Echolink, the only really good facility to use my license and to speak to people somewhere around the world in good quality. By the way, the other modern facility is called the mobile phone and if everything breaks down, well, who cares. When heaven falls down all birds are dead. Some HAMs did not get me or my family out of the concentration camp using HAMs. Never mind, I survived it without the self-proclaiming and glorifying HAM stories one often hears.
Relax man. There’s a lot people with various backgrounds and approaches to this hobby. It is a hobby after all and can be escaped before it gets too tough. 73 and take care of yourself
Ham radio is NOT DEAD. We have 70 members in our club in NE Pa. Big stations in DX contests work over 10,000 QSO's in a single weekend on morse code. Doesn'r sound like death to me K2LNS
ZE BUCETA!!!