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VE7FO Estate Items for Sale

July 18, 2023

Jim Smith VE7FO (sk) was a professional engineer and lifelong radio amateur. He collected radio test gear and radios and, with a few exceptions, kept everything he ever acquired. In his later years he enjoyed contesting and DXing with quality equipment. With the exception of the “older test equipment”, the items described here are believed […]

A Yukon CW Sweepstakes adventure

April 24, 2023

I travelled to Whitehorse, Yukon, to visit VY1CO for the ARRL CW Sweepstakes in November 2022. Read the article that appeared in the Jan.-Feb. 2023 edition of National Contest Journal.

Update: Summer sporadic-E season on 6M

August 4, 2021

Long weeks of poor conditions from the Pacific Northwest still left room for a few great openings to Europe and Japan. As the 2021 Es season winds down, we recap how it all went.

Anticipation abounds: 2021 6M sporadic-E season

May 5, 2021

Early indications are that 6M will have a good summer this year. For those new or getting back to 6M activity, here’s the current state of affairs.

Recap: FT4 DX and NAQP RTTY February

March 2, 2021

The final weekend of February brought three pretty active contests — CQ 160M SSB, FT4 DX contest, and the NAQP RTTY.

Recap: 2021 ARRL DX CW worst-ever outing

February 22, 2021

From the outset, Aurora levels were elevated and the K-index was bobbing around 3 or 4, forcing the A-index into the 20s. Want to hear signals on 20M with aurora? Listen in…

Recap: 2021 WPX RTTY

February 16, 2021

Brief European opening on 20M and a hopping 80M band were highlights of WPX RTTY this year.

Recap: BCQP and EU DX contests

February 8, 2021

The weekend of February 6 and 7 presented its share of challenges and opportunities for making contacts. Too many options may have worked against any one contest.

Matching transformer for “loop on ground” and Beverage antennas

February 2, 2021

This is a companion piece to the post “Hearing through the noise on the low bands“. Why bother? After years of thinking about it, in early 2021 I finally got serious about building some proper matching transformers for my short Beverage wire antenna along the property line and a loop on the ground laying on […]

Zone Zero: February packed with activity

February 1, 2021

The month of February promises something for everyone, as several major international contests and some pretty neat regional activities fill the calendar. We’ll take a look at what’s on the near horizon in this episode of Zone Zero.

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