I’m in the process of building up a station to operate portable for VHF contests and Parks on the Air efforts. I recently purchased a battery pack from GigaParts to provide power for this purpose. The source of power is a 24 Ah LiFePO4 battery. This fits in a plastic carrying box with plenty of […]
I’m wrapping up 2022 with my last QSL card update of the year. As I write this ClubLog reports that I have made 2,962 QSOs and contacted 172 DXCC entities. Both are the most I’ve ever done in a single year. I’m also far more focused on QSLing those contacts as soon as possible. In […]
A good number of QSL cards came in all at once this month. Of those that came in a surprising number were for All Time New Ones (ATNO). A few had already been confirmed on Logbook of the World. But I try and obtain at least one physical card for all worked countries since some […]
Amateur Radio prefixes are those parts of a callsign that contain its country allocation ID and call area number. For my callsign of KA5WSS that would be KA5. KA is part of a block of characters assigned to the United States by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Prefixes are useful for indicating in which DXCC […]
There were not a lot of incoming QSLs this last month. But a few turned out to be of particular interest. Not an all time new one, since I had recently received an FT8 QSL from Mauritius, this card is still a gem. It’s the only contact I’ve made with the island using SSB. Plus, […]
The FT8 Digital Mode Club’s (FT8DMC) Worked VHF Grid Award (WVGA) honors operating achievement in working stations on the VHF bands using the FT8 digital mode in a given number of different Maidenhead grid squares. You can obtain the entry level synonym award with just a total of 50 grids. The American Radio Relay League’s […]
The American Radio Relay League‘s (ARRL) Worked All States Awards is one of the most popular Amateur Radio awards programs. There are more Hams who have attained WAS than have achieved DXCC status. The League runs a tight ship when it comes to their awards programs. If you’d like an easier entre into the goal […]
Cuba has been called the Pearl of the Caribbean. Despite its relative isolation from its neighbors it has continued to captivate many around the world. With travel to the island difficult at best, making contacts with lots of Cuban stations is another way to create experiences. The Worked Cuban Stations Award (WCUSA), sponsored by the […]
It was a busy month, QSL card-wise. I received two separate packets from the incoming QSL card bureau. Many of those were Japanese cards, with several of them being new JCC and JCG entities that I needed for those awards. Here are a few other cards coming in this month of note. Guadalupe is not […]
I started a new process recently where I’m going through my old logbooks and making one last determination about whether I can or should attempt to get a QSL card for contacts from years ago. When looking over QSOs from the 1980’s and 1990’s I’m amazed about some countries I worked that I still have […]