[Elecraft] As good as it gets...for now?

[David Wilburn]

The bands have been very active here on the right coast.  Worked a
mobile station in Spain and had a fella from Colorado booming in here
today, both on 17m.  Most days 17m is active.  There is often activity
on 20m.  Between the RAC contest and the Stew Perry contest, this past
weekend, I worked 110 stations, from Saskatchewan to Montenegro.  

Another idea might be to find a DX cluster on the internet, and watch it
for a bit.  Watch for spots from your general area, and see if you can
hear any of them.
-  

David Wilburn
k4dgw at k4dgw.com
K4DGW
K2 S/N 5982


On Mon, 2007-12-31 at 12:31 -0500, AJSOENKE at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 12/31/2007 8:49:19 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
> rcerkon at gmail.com writes:
> Folks,
> 
> After a 2+ year hiatus from  "RadioActivity", I finished up a K2 build,
> and tried getting on the air a  bit--UGH dismal results! During the
> recent ARCI Homebrew Sprint I made 3  contacts, 1 in WA and 2 in ID,
> I'm in OR. Me and a friend back in CO have  tried two or three times
> for a scheduled QSO--no luck we could just barley  hear each other. One
> one of those attepts my freind was using a beam and 100W  of power.
> More troubling is the lack of signals I'm hearing. Before each of  the
> activities I mentioned I would tune around the bands to assess  band
> conditions, I could hear no more than 5 or 6 other stations.  I
> couldn't hear any of the NCDXF beacons--Are they still operational?  I
> can hear WWV @ 10MHz 5x9.
> 
> Set up here is QRP K2, and a Superantennas  PW-1. Now before everybody
> jumps on the PW-1--NO PW-1/ANY OTHER ANTENNA   BASHING!!! I mean it!
> :-) I had a PW-1 in CO and it worked great! (  see
> <http://www.elecraft.com/PictureGallery/NewPics/n0rc_vw_foxhound_front.jpg>
> for  one example)
> 
> Do I have a problem with my K2--I'm thinking not. With an  XG-1 signal
> generator set to 1uV I can hear it fine on 40, and the harmonics  on 20
> and 15m.
> 
> Is it my QTH? I have a city lot, the back yard is only  9m x 6m (30' X
> 20'), surrounded by one story houses on each side. The PW-1 in  placed
> in the center. Further, I live in a river valley abt 275m (900Ft)  ASL.
> The valley is surrounded by low mountains 900-1200m (3-4k Ft) AL  abt
> 10 miles away.
> 
> I have no other radio equipment, (or access to) to  try A/B
> comparisons. I can not and will not change my antenna setup, I  want
> nothing permanent outside. I have no room to set up take  down
> temporary wire antennas. I WILL NOT MOVE TO A DIFFERENT QTH. I  WILL
> NOT SPEND ANYMORE MONEY ON RADIO EQUIPMENT--I am at  an
> economic/financial sweet spot all things [radio/non-radio]  considered.
> 
> So given my circumstances and the current lull in solar  activity...
> 
> Is this as good as it gets?
> --
> 73 Rod, Ai7NN   ~*~*~Happy Holidays~*~*~
> ______________________________________________
>  
> 
> Hang in there, Ron. Yeah!, the bands really are sucking right now, but  there 
> are moments. Like just after I got my K3 on the air I worked 60 new  
> countries in the CQWW on my 50 year old mosely vertical. It wasn't just the K3.  Sure 
> I could hear them, but so could lots of others, and they could   hear me too!  
> My K2 could work them as well. There are a couple good  contest weekends 
> coming up this month (Jan) so get ready and maybe we'll be  surprised with good 
> activity.  Personally, I think so many hams are sold on  the premise that 
> there's no one out there, that they don't even try. But the  contest activity - not 
> great - demonstrates the contacts can be made. 
>  
> CU there - WA6VNN,   Al
> 
> 
> 
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