Count down to YR2010

It will be a New Year's Day in 15 min!
Thank you very much for many QSOs in 2009, hope to see you more often on the air in 2010 too!

Everyone, let's go back to the band and pound your brass much more instead of typing keyboard on the internet.
Radio wave is fantastic and romantic and CW is the origin of telecommunications and you can communicate your mind without voice without keyboard but with simple carrier on/off signals.

CW 4EVER ... CQ CQ cq... in 2010

TNX QSL

Hi Marcia! Thank you very much for your QSL card. It was arrived at Tokyo today. I'm very glad to know that our QSO was your first ever QSO with outside north America.
I thought that the condition was not the best shape but your signal was decent and I could solid copy your signal pounding from FT1Kmp with Windom antenna.
Let's do it again in 2010 too!


CW 4EVER....CQ CQ CQ cq

Seasons Greetings

This evening, My lonely CQ calling has been absorbed into the sky.
Two Russian guys kindly gave me a rst report with rubber stamp QSO.
It was a silent christmas eveing.


Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all CW lovers.

CW 4EVER ... CQ CQ cq

NB. Photo from http://www.ghdkey.com/

FT-DX5000 Price

JA CQ Hamradio magazine issue 2010 Jan shows price of FT-DX5000 series.

FT-DX5000MP:715,000JPY
200W with 0.05ppm OCXO, 300Hz roofing filter & Station Monitor

FT-DX5000D:650,000JPY
200W with 0.5ppm TCXO & Station Monitor

FT-DX5000:620,000JPY
200W with 0.5ppm TCXO

FT-DX5000M:620,000JPY
50W with 0.5ppm TCXO

They say it's a kind of premium HF transceiver with 6 pole christal roofig filter, 112dB of dynamic range, +40dBm IP3 and completely individual dual receiver.

The delivery date is not fixed yet.

Today's QSO -- N5JB & KO6U/m

The domestic condition was poor this eveing so that we closed regular round table with domestic CW friends on 40m band very shortly.
After that I called CQ with bug and paddle and then bug again on 7026KHz as usual. I confirmed by the Salt Lake City Webradio that my 150W+HB9CV signals are falling in Utah, USA with decent strength.
Wow, N5JB, John called me. His KW+3ele Yagi signal was very strong, it was real S-9 on my FT2KD s-meter with VRF+IPO on.
It was 1st ever QSO with him but he kindly introduced his job before retirement and it was very interesting because he was an engineer for microwave telecomunication network system design like me. And His companies were competitors of my company. :-p
We finished our QSO promising next one.

After that QSO, KO6U/m, Nathan called me. It was long interval to see him again on the air. Unfortunately his signal was too weak and unstable to enjoy chat. But anyway it was happy to hear his vivid pounding from car on the way to his office.
Hope to see him again soon in much better condition.

They made my day! MNI TNX!
.....CW 4EVER.... CQ CQ cq..

NB. Photo from QRZ.COM

Outdoor Stove

This Sunday I tested an outdoor stove.
This stove is called "Tokei-gata" or wall-clock-shape.
It is made of stainless steel.
The material thikness is very thin so it looks cheap (actually it cost only 10K-JPY), but seems good enough for enjoying outdoor cooking.

Radio Bike -- my boyhood dream

This is a kind of my boyhood dream in late 60 to early 70's.
There was neither internet nor cell phones.
The radio communication was the trend and cool thing.
Time flies. Now a days, boys and girls sneers my dream bike as if an odd thing.
Let's go back to my radio room and pound my brass alone.

Today's QSO -- K0ALT

Today I called CQ as usual on 7026 by using bugkey.
After several CQ calling with 200Watts QRO, K0ALT Christine kindly called me!
Her signal from 100W with loop antenna was not so big here in Tokyo but the 40m band was fortunately quiet this evening so that I could solid copy. :-)
She said temp is minus 25C.
I doubt my ears and asked her "Do you live on the top of montain?". She said she lives in valley but it is *000FT. (I couldn't copy 1st digit due to QSB but any way higher than 1000FT(or 300m). According to Google map her QTH silt, CO is very mountaneous area and seems very high altitude.
Since it was 1st QSO we finished with very short rubber stamp + alpha QSO but it was very nice meeting on the air. I could imagine the landscape of Silt city of Colorad where I've never been.

CW 4EVER .... CQ CQ ...

NB. Photo from QRZ.COM

Reading QSO by WebRadio

About one hour later around 22:30JST(UTC+9), I heard Shin-san JA1NUT is chatting with Nathan KO6U/m on the same freq. by Webradio in Utah, USA.
JA1NUT Shin san's signal is much bigger than KO6U/m Nathan's one.
Accutally Shin san's sig heard by Webradio is much better than those heard by actual radio in Tokyo.
Also, Natah's sig is too weak to read by actual radio in tokyo but could be copiable by web radio in Utah.

Calling CQ from web radio

This is my signal calling CQ from Tokyo Japan received by Web Radio in Solt Lake City in USA on 9th Dec.2009. I'm using FT-2000D running 100W into 2elements HB9CV up 15m. It was 2140JST (UTC+9hr) in the eveing in Tokyo.
Even I called CQ NA several times, there was no call back unfortunately. I'm lonely CQ man....CW4EVER CW4EVER... CQ CQ cQ

A1 Club Year End Party in Akiba

We had a pleasant year end party with 13 A1 club members at AKIBA 秋葉　or　AKIHABARA Electric Town in tokyo on 2009-11-28(SAT).

Due to heavy drinking I had hangover on Sunday.
I managed to woke up before 7AM and checked in JBA's RT30.
Thank you for nice short chat Leo-san JJ8KGZ.
After that I have no energy to entry CQ WW Contest CW at all. Hi

At 5PM, I checked in FEA's NET part-2 on 18.085KHz today.
I was the only one who checked in today. Thank you for nice chat Manabu-san JE1RZR. I'm very interested with new toy that he will get soon. It's something related to his KW license.

FTDX-5000 Debut!?

In JA, details are still unveiled.
Today I found Enlish Catalog posted on KC8QVO's blog.

Here is the PDF Catalog of FTDX-5000.

It'll have 600 & 300Hz roofing filter!?
Is yaesu changed their design from up-conversion to down-conversion?

Elecraft News

Here is the Elecraft News Update received on 2009-11-25 07:46AM here in JA.
I've been interesting when they release linear amp KPA500, 800, 1500, etc.
Unfortunately they are not shown in the news.
But, Panadaptor P3 and Watt Meter W2 are also interesting though.
Good luck Elecraft!

===QUOTE===
Elecraft® News

Elecraft news is sent from time to time to keep you updated on our latest
developments. If you would like to unsubscribe from Elecraft News, please see the
bottom of this email and click on 'manage your subscription'.


Nov. 24, 2009

What's new at Elecraft? - K3 & K144XV 2-m module, P3 Panadapter, W2 Wattmeter

There's a lot going on at Elecraft, so we thought we'd get you caught up on our new
and enhanced products. Thanks to you, we have had our best year ever. We've also
just celebrated our 10th anniversary since shipping our first K2, and we have also
just moved into a larger facility.

In less than two years, the Elecraft K3 has set a new standard for high performance
HF/6-meter transceivers. It's one of very few rigs to offer true diversity receive,
giving DXers the edge they need. The K3 has also become the rig of choice for many
DXpeditions.

The world's top contesters have also given it rave reviews, thanks to its
unsurpassed close-in dynamic range (see, for example, www.sherweng.com/table.html).
Yet the K3 is still the most affordable rig in its class, starting at just $1899 for
the K3/100 (no-soldering kit; also available fully assembled and tested). And at
only 9 pounds, it's also the ultimate rig for Field Day, lightweight travel and more
casual outings.

But the K3 just keeps getting better!

-- Starting in early 2010, we'll be shipping our new P3 Panadapter.

The P3 is a stand-alone DSP spectral/waterfall display unit that's a perfect match
for the K3. It has a built-in, high-contrast color display (LCD), point and click
QSY tuning and better integration with the K3 than is possible with PC-based
panadapters. P3 features include signal averaging, peak hold, adjustable gain and
adjustable reference level. It also includes a buffered IF pass-through for
support of additional processing by other peripherals. for pictures and more info,
see: http://www.elecraft.com/K3/K3.htm

-- Also shipping in December is the K144XV, an internal 2-meter module for the K3.
With the K144XV you can now also use your K3 for 2M weak-signal and FM operation. It
has outstanding receive specs, power output of up to 10 W (typical) in all modes,
and can be used with both the main and sub receivers. With a K144XV installed, the
K3 provides all-mode, full 160-2 m coverage.

-- New K3 firmware features include dual receiver diversity reception, synchronous
AM detection with VFO auto-tracking; 1-button press automation of often-used switch
sequences (such as SPLIT with VFO movement); selectable extended bass response; and
enhanced noise reduction. For the latest K3 firmware downloads, see:
http://www.elecraft.com/K3/k3_software.htm

We are now shipping the W2, our new autoranging HF / VHF / UHF Wattmeter/SWR bridge.
Its microcontroller-enhanced feature set includes PC-readable power and SWR,
programmable alarms, and free firmware upgrades via the internet. The W2 uses remote
sensing, with up to two sensors that can be automatically selected as you transmit.
Sensors are available in several power and frequency ranges (1.8-55 MHz up to 2 kW,
and 144-450 MHz up to 200 W). The W2's compact size makes it ideal for tight spaces,
and while it's styled to match the K3, it will work with any transmitter or
amplifier.

Finally, we're offering a special price on the completely updated 2010 ARRL Handbook.
This is in honor of the K3, which received the League's top rating in three of its
"recommended transceiver" tables (Handbook pages 14.10 to 14.13). The limited time
special price of the 2010 ARRL Handbook is just $29.95. To order, see our Books
Page. http://www.elecraft.com/books/books.htm#hbarrl

For further information on all of products, including th eK3 and our three
complete-kit transceivers (K2, K1, and KX1), VHF/UHF transverters, and mini-module
kits, please visit us at:

http://www.elecraft.com

You can see our price list and order on-line at:

http://www.elecraft.com/elecraft_prod_list.htm

You can also reach us at our new phone number: (831) 763-4211, or email us at:
sales@elecraft.com

73,
Wayne, N6KR
Eric, WA6HHQ
This message was sent by: Elecraft, Inc., PO BOX 69, Aptos, CA 95001

Email Marketing by iContact: http://freetrial.icontact.com

Manage your subscription:
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Kinubari-yama 衣張山

Today I and XYL went to Kamakura and walk around a small mountain called Kinubari-yama that is located anout 20 minutes walk from Kamakura station towards east side through Tsurugaoka hachimanguu.
鶴岡八幡宮の東，鎌倉駅から徒歩２０分程度に位置する衣張山に登りました．
It's height is about 100m but view from the top of that mountain was very nice.
We could see Enoshima-island.
Unfortunately We couldn't see Mt.Fuji.


　

HEXBEAM

Today was very nice weather after cold rainy days.
My ham friend JF1OSL who is also my big boss at office has been planning to install HEXBEAM since several months ago. However, he could not isntall it due to his busy work or bad weather, etc.
Then, finally today, the HEXBEAM has been installed on his roof top.
I visited his house 9:30AM, then started assembling.
Another friend JR1NHD joind around 11AM, then we could finish assembly before 1PM.
After that pro-worker made final installation on the top of the mast.
Around 5PM, it's up and running successfully.
Congratulations & FB DX!

G3SED

I worked with G3SED, Mike. He is the 1st G station on 40m!

QRG:7010.3KHz, CW.
He was 400W rotaly dipole 28meters high.
My power was 150W with 2 ele HB9CV.

Condition seems very nice and fortunately noise level was very low this eveing here.

I hope band condition will be much better and more stable, and then the day that I can do long chat with G stations and other deep European countries easily will come soon!

Mt.Fuji from Yamanakako

Today, WX was very fine from the morning, so we decided to go Yamanakako lake through Doushi-keikoku valley road.

Autumn leaves were best at Doushi valley but already finished at Yamanakako. View of Mt.Fuji from Yamanakako was wonderful.
My wife and I have been refreshed!

Place:Lake Yamanakako, Yamanashi-pref. JAPAN
WX: vy fine, temp 13C at noon but wind blowing down from Mt.Fuji was very cold.


The voice "Samui!" (or "Cold!" in English) is recorded at the end of video. :-p

Evening glow

After long rain, it became clear this afternoon.
And look! What a beautiful eveing glow here!

Here is viedo clip　360 deg view from roof balcony.
At 16:30 Locat time.

9M2ADX

My friend Kazu, JH8PHT is staying 9M2 for his business and recently got 9M2ADX.
Today he and his friends in JA tried 1st ever QSO with his new callsign.

Unfortunately his signal was not so loud today, we barely worked on 20m band but cloud not work on 15m band.

Hope to see him on the air in better condition soon.

Here is some sound file of our QSO.

CW QSO on 20m band (Wkd wid 9M2ADX)


SSB on 15m band (JA only)

Hida-Shirakawa-Kanazawa Bus tour

Last weekend, I've been Hida-Takayama, Shirakawa-go, Kanazawa, etc by bus tour with XYL and daughter.
We got up in the ver early Saturday morinig and went to Shinjuku terminal by train then get on the tour bus there. Tour started 7AM from Shinjuku.
Before 1st destination Takayama we short stopped at a parking near Kamiko-chi. The mountains are already covered by colourful leaves.


At Takayama, we ate Takayama ramen.
Delicious!


Then we walk around Hida-Takayama old town.



Very nice red leaves of "Momiji"a kind of maple.


Next we visited Shirakawa-go, a wolrd heritage, where old Japanese houses are preserved.



Next day (Sunday), we visited Kenroku-en, a traditional Japanese Garden in Kanazawa-prefecture.


Here is Kanazawa-jo castle.


The last one is Higashi-chaya-machi, a traditional amusement center in Kanazawa.

HIGASHI means EAST.


Finally we drive along seaside of Nihon-kai or Japan sea.

It was very short but concentrated trip. It was fun but tired. zzz

XYL operates CW Contest

Today XYL tried CW contest for the first time.
It was Let's A1 Contest, only straight key is allowed to use.




I was busy for logging :-)

HB-1A QRP Rig

I bought HB-1A, a 3-band (40/20/30m bands) 4W QRP transceiver, made by BD4RG.
It was 24800JPY including transportation and handling charge through ICAS Enterprises.

Its clear LCD display indicates,
- Frequency with full digit.
- input DC voltage,
- S-meter level


Inside view, mostly SMD is used.



Comparing with similar concept rig, KX1 side by side.
Size: KX1 is smaller than HB-1A
Weight: KX1 is lighter tha HB-1A.
Material:HB-1A's case is made of iron.
KX1's case is made of Alminum.
Functions: No RF Gain control on HB-1A
Continuous RF Gain control on KX1.

4 filter setting (900/700/500/400) on HB-1A.
Continuous setting from 500Hz to 2KHz on KX1.

KX1: Many commands are available for user
HB-1A:Very few commands are open to the user.

Following video clips were recorded on 40m band.
HB-1A have inter-mod from to strong broadcasting signal.
ATT must be on for normal operation under strong signal in the same band.
KX1 has much better inter-mod performance.

Alberto I1QOD Bug

I1QOD Alberto makes excellent bug and paddles in Italy.
I found his reputation on eham.net 3 mmonths ago and I ordered one of his bug keys.
3 months have been passed and the key finally arrived at my house last week!
It is all brass standard version. It's shining gold on my operation desk!

This is the first time to use double lever type for bug key.
I need more practice to become familiar with it.
But I can't wait to show up on the air :-)

Calling CQ (1)


Little faster! This is my max. speed (^^;


I used this bug key only few hours so far, but it is obiously the most excellent bug key that I have ever used.
This bug key is the best for QRQ operator.
Since I'm not QRQ operator now, I must keep K4VIZ Right Angle Bug for ordinary speed operation.



Yesterday, I worked two US stations on 14050KHz, I called CQ SKCC there, I put QRV info on K3UK SKED PAGE

ACAG Contest from Nagano

On this weekend Oct-10th & 11th, 2009, I went to JA0 area with 7 friends from A1 Club.
During this weekend, All City & All Gun Contest, one of the major domestic contest is held by JARL.
We operated A1 Club station JO1ZZZ at wonderful cottage owned by one of my friend.
The cottage is very large and land estate is wide enough to deploy a full size 160m band dipole.
As expected, we started drinking before start of the contest...:-p

HAMFAIR 2009 report

Japan's biggest ham festival HAMFAIR 2009 has been held at Tokyo Bay area international exhibition center "Big Sight" on 22 and 23 of August.
A1 Club presented their own booth and distributed an original CW tuning indicator kit, also demonstrated Morse Code especially to kids and beginners.
At the club dinner so called "QRM Party", 36 members were gathered including F5EIC Jean-Luc from France and VR2XMC Johnny from HongKong. It was really a kind of "QRM" party. Hi
Some of photos are shown in our Japanese page as follows;
http://a1club.net/HAMFAIR/hamfair2009/hamfair2009.htm

I hope to see more participants from overseas next year!
See U then!

Below is a photo of CW friends. From the left, JJ1TTG Aki, me, JJ8KGZ Leo and JA1NUT Shin.

Atsu, JE1TRV

QSO Party in Expanded 40m Band

From July, 10th till July 20th, Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) helds QSO party in the expanded segment of 40m band.
Since March 30th, 2009, The Japanese amateur 40m band has been expanded from 100KHz (7.000-7.100MHz) to 200KHz (7.000-7.2000MHz) and the QSO party this time celebrate it.
Rule of the QSO party is shown in the JARL website [HERE].

I cannot find English version of the rule but DX station may participate this party.

Dear all DX amateurs!
Please tune your xcvr to 7.100MHz and up and please call JA stations, they are calling "CQ 7QP".
Required exchange is just RST only.

Thank you in advance and see you on 7.1MHz and up!

de JE1TRV, Atsu

A1 Century Club Award

QTC to all CW loveres!
On the day of 2009-06-13, A1 CLUB announced in their homepage that they starts A1CC (A1 Century Club Award).

There are two categories, Special and Original.
"Special" may be applied by all amateures, "Original" is issued for A1 Club member only.

The rule is very simple, in case of "Special" category, you should just make CW QSO as many as possible and in the application you must include at least 1/5 of A1 Club member.
Award is issued from 100 points by 100 point step.
In case you apply A1CC-100, you must make at least 100 CW QSOs with different callsigns, and at least 20 QSOs shall be A1 Club member.

In case of "Original", all QSOs must be made with A1 Club members only.
So you need to work with at least 100 A1 Club members for "Original-100".

For details please refer here.

New K3 arrived!!!

As I wrote the other day, my K3 #1070 had problem on receiving even after repair work in Elecraft.
I could not believe that, because the symptom is clearly observed only when decent real antenna is connected and receive real signals.
First I reported the fact to the person who carried out the repair work.
In response to my report he started to ask me "what is the symptom".
I thought "Oh please stop such story again?" so I just say the symptom is just the same as before repair and I sent same symptom report that was made before repair.
After that, no reply from that person.
Then I sent e-mail to a person in charge for the Sale department asking replacement of equipment. But no reply at all.

Then I deceided to sent e-mail to to-management both Eric & Wayne.
Wayne, N6KR replied immediately even it was midnight there in USA.
After several correspondences, Wayne decided to send new K3 for replacement.

It was arrived 3 days ago．
As soon as I opened the box, I connected power and antenna then received 40m band.
The receiver was OK!. But... transmit...problem again!! "END" message is always pop up on the sub LCD and cannot transmit.
What's happen!? Give me a break...
I read the operation manual but no instruction about "END" message.
I made initialize (EEINIT) but no change.
It was already midnight in Tokyo, so I took the symptom by video and reported to Wayne before sleep.
Next morning, new firmware version 3.15 had been arrived in my mailbox.
I installed the new F/W then the K3's transmit function became normal.
I sent e-mail telling everything seems OK to Wayne then rushed to work.

It was very log time and berden plus some extra expenses.
I regret why Elecraft could not find the symptom at the first repair.
It is clear that the repair return had been a wast of time and cost.
If they connect decent antenna placed outdoor and receive real world, I believe they could find the problem.

On the other hand, I really appreciate Wayne's great support.
He is really a trademark of Elecraft!!
Now I'm happy and can keep good impression on Elecraft.
Thank you very much Wayne.

PS. I hope Elecraft will not charge transportation cost for this case :-)