Time for some reflection on 2004 .... as far as shortwave radio, how did it go?

Did you get a new radio, make some interesting catches, new QSL's, learn
something new?

Me? I bought a couple new radios: Palstars R30 and MW550sp, Yaesu FT767gx and
FL2100b. I made a few interesting loggings ... nothing spectacular ... but
interesting: R. Sonder Grense 3320khz, Zimbabwe 3306khz, ZIZ St. Kitts 555khz.
In ham radio I started and completed 6m VUCC and started 2m VUCC, worked about
40 countries on 40m, learned alot about greyline propagation on 41/40m.

Goals for 2005: I plan on sending out more reception reports to SW broadcasters
with a focus on the low frequencies (below 10mhz) since we are approaching the
solar cycle minimum. Ham-wise I'd like to polish off a few awards (6m WAS, WAC,
2m VUCC) and upgrade to Extra class.

I've been playing with radio's since 1974 and I still find things to keep it
all interesting !

73 and good DX,

John Wilke
K9RZZ
Milwaukee, WI USA

On 19 Dec 2004 19:32:32 GMT, (J999w) wrote:

Time for some reflection on 2004 .... as far as shortwave radio, how did it go?

Did you get a new radio, make some interesting catches, new QSL's, learn
something new?

Me? I bought a couple new radios: Palstars R30 and MW550sp, Yaesu FT767gx and
FL2100b. I made a few interesting loggings ... nothing spectacular ... but
interesting: R. Sonder Grense 3320khz, Zimbabwe 3306khz, ZIZ St. Kitts 555khz.
In ham radio I started and completed 6m VUCC and started 2m VUCC, worked about
40 countries on 40m, learned alot about greyline propagation on 41/40m.

Goals for 2005: I plan on sending out more reception reports to SW broadcasters
with a focus on the low frequencies (below 10mhz) since we are approaching the
solar cycle minimum. Ham-wise I'd like to polish off a few awards (6m WAS, WAC,
2m VUCC) and upgrade to Extra class.

I've been playing with radio's since 1974 and I still find things to keep it
all interesting !

73 and good DX,

John Wilke
K9RZZ
Milwaukee, WI USA

Not my best year for radio, didn't spend as much time with the
radio(s) as in some years past. However, I did nail down one noise
source this past week - faulty street light, now I've got to do battle
with the city department of pubic works to effect repair.

Did gain more familiarity with my R75 and was able to pull a few more
signals out of the noise - including Australia on their 4910 domestic
service, though some might claim that too easy for a Southern
Californian 8-} I'm not into sending for QSL's and am actually
fairly poor about logging in general; however I did install a nice
logging program on my Palm Pilot and am using that a bit more often.

Congrats on the 6 meter VUCC, while not a 'paper chaser' I have been
keeping track of where I stand in relation to that award and have been
stonewalled for almost two years with very few new grids added to my
list. Now that you're chasing WAS I hope to run into you and give you
California - there've been a few times I worked that neck of the
country, not easy but it can be done with the right conditions. BTW
John, we started our radio pursuits within a couple years of each
other - my interest was kindled in 1971 while growing up in Michigan.

My goals for 2005 are simple:
1) spend more time listening to shortwave
2) pay attention to logging more than in the past
3) use my ham radios more often
4) more comfortable/usable/ergonomic setup for my radio

Happy Holidays to all,
Howard

J999w wrote:

Time for some reflection on 2004 .... as far as shortwave radio, how did it go?

Did you get a new radio, make some interesting catches, new QSL's, learn
something new?

I put up two screw in insulators and a hundred feet of stranded ten
guage wire. That took twenty minutes. Building a fifteen foot high
garage to hold the remote insulator knob off the ground took eight
months and slightly more money.

I think I could have saved four thousand dollars if my parasitic
helpers didn't drink beer.




mike



--
"The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck is
probably the day they start making vacuum cleaners."

Ernst Jan Plugge

Brag Brag Ham stuff --

I made DXCC Honor roll -- need 8 for top of the roll (Vertical and 800 Watts
here)

Got the DXCC QRP AWARD - 107 countries with 5 Watts and a vertical

Worked 48 States on 6 Meters 100 Watts and vertical (GOT Alaska and Hawaii)
need AR and KY (MIXED - SSB, FM, and CW)

Worked VUCC on 6M 198 grids actually

Logged many SW stations as well.

Twas a mighty fine year - Sinatra

Yeah I know these are personal accomplishments and few care, but the man
asked.


--
Caveat Lecter

Greetings, I started DXing as a youngster, in 1966, with a Knight-Kit Space
Spanner, and SWLing still remains in my blood. What really made 2004 special
radio-wise, was the addition of this HP OmniBook to my shack. My wife picked it
up used for a song, and it's small size fit nicely amongst the rest of the
gear. It made it possible to locate, and become a part of this Message Board.
It's been great to find out that there are still so many active DXers out
there! I have enjoyed posting and replying to many of you, and that's what made
my radio year. Merry Christmas and good DXing to all of you . Gary, Illinois,
USA

Kachina 78 wrote:

Greetings, I started DXing as a youngster, in 1966, with a Knight-Kit Space
Spanner, and SWLing still remains in my blood.

Do you recall the price for the 'Space Spanner' back then? The 'Star
Roamer' sold for about $40.


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starman wrote:

Kachina 78 wrote:

Greetings, I started DXing as a youngster, in 1966, with a Knight-Kit Space
Spanner, and SWLing still remains in my blood.

Do you recall the price for the 'Space Spanner' back then? The 'Star
Roamer' sold for about $40.

I did a quick check, and at least in the Fall of 1959 it sold for $18.95.

Have a Happy Solstice!

dxAce
Michigan
USA

In article , dxAce wrote:
starman wrote:

Kachina 78 wrote:

Greetings, I started DXing as a youngster, in 1966, with a Knight-Kit Space
Spanner, and SWLing still remains in my blood.

Do you recall the price for the 'Space Spanner' back then? The 'Star
Roamer' sold for about $40.

I did a quick check, and at least in the Fall of 1959 it sold for $18.95.

All the way up to $19.95 in 1967.

Mark Zenier Washington State resident

In article ,
says...
Time for some reflection on 2004 .... as far as shortwave radio, how did it go?

Did you get a new radio, make some interesting catches, new QSL's, learn
something new?

"snip"

Well, my 18 year old son has been spending more time with the
Sat800 than I have...he likes it better than his RatShack cheapy. I've
done a couple fun antenna projects, but winter WX has closed out the
season for that before I could get my VHF phased array up on the gables.
After my oldest brother, a navy aicrewman in 1945, passed away
this July I got a BC-348-Q (thanks to Pete, W8PT). I've just finished
cleaning, retubing and tweaking it. I'm proud to own this peice of
history and some students here at work will get to have some demos with
it. It's a pretty good band cruiser, though it still needs some work and
I'd like to build it an external audio processor.
I've gotten all the caps necessary to give my NC-125 a full
overhaul *before* whichever cap is intermittent goes down hard, but I
haven't done anything with the NC-183 for months. The transmitters are
still in mothballs. I'd hoped to be on the air this year for straight
key night with an all hollow state boatanchor station, but I'm not going
to make it. So many projects...so little time.
I'll be QRT until 4 JAn 05.

AR de KC2LVQ



73 and good DX,

John Wilke
K9RZZ
Milwaukee, WI USA

Mark Zenier wrote:

In article , dxAce wrote:
starman wrote:

Kachina 78 wrote:

Greetings, I started DXing as a youngster, in 1966, with a Knight-Kit Space
Spanner, and SWLing still remains in my blood.

Do you recall the price for the 'Space Spanner' back then? The 'Star
Roamer' sold for about $40.

I did a quick check, and at least in the Fall of 1959 it sold for $18.95.

All the way up to $19.95 in 1967.

My friend worked all summer around 1967 to save enough money for the
Star Roamer. I built the kit for him. Unfortunately it didn't work and
we had to send it back to Knight-Kit. They replaced a bad I.F.
transformer and we got the radio back in working condition. It was a fun
project but he probably should have got one of the Heath-Kit radios
instead. They were generally better quality.


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