CA QSO Party Planning Meeting Tonight

Bill N6EF, Vince KI6NHP, Jason KG6QXX and myself are meeting for dinner tonight to discuss our operation for the 2009 California QSO Party. We will be operating at my cabin in Alpine County, CA. Cabin is at Lake Alpine which is about 7700' in elevation. Last year we had a ball.

Not much activity on the bands recently. Worked a couple of stations on the NAQP this last weekend. Interesting propogation. Also it was quite obvious who was not adhering to the 100 watt rule. I keep waiting for cycle 24 to start. Having only been a Ham for 5 years, I was not around for the "glory" years. I do look forward to the day I can work the world with my 500mw 20m qrp radio in an altoids tin.

Bob Heil Presentation - Visialia DX Convention

What a great presentation. Bob, K9EID who is a legend in both Amateur Radio and the Recording Industry demonstrated the difference between frequency response and articulation in microphones. What a presentation. I had no idea the differences in sound between so called quality microphones and some of the Heil mics. I will be acquiring a Heil PR40 for the station as soon as funds allow.

I spoke with Chip Margelli K7JA (VP Amateur Product Sales and Marketing Manager) at the Heil Sound booth, and requested they put that presentation on the website for download. Every Ham should see this. Amazing!

I am a believer for sure now!

Visalia DX Convention 2009

Well, I just got back from the Visalia DX Convention in Visalia, California.

http://dxconvention.org/

What a great 2 days of Amateur Radio fun. I went with one of my fellow River City Amateur Radio Communications Society (N6NA) members Bill N6EF. We sat through several interesting seminars. Learned about computer interface for logging, new equipment, DXpeditioning, and noise reduction in the Ham shack.

Of particular fun was getting to use the Flex 3000 SDR coupled with an Alpha 9500 and SteppIR beam. What a blast to be on a "super" station. I think I am hooked on the "SDR" band wagon now. What a pleasure to operate.

I sure hope to be able to make it back next year. Another great suprise was the fact that we (N6NA) recieved "wallpaper" award for our operation in Alpine County for the CA QSO Party last June. Kudo's to Bill N6EF, Rob KG6SKA, and Vince KI6NHP for their participation. We sure had fun, and are looking forward to the CA QSO Party coming in June 2009.