I had a blast working the FOBB sprint on 20 and 40 meters today. The bands were fair but I feel there should have been a lot more participating stations. I guess QRP CW doesn't appeal to many.
As it turns out I only got 90 measly points for my efforts. But its about the fun of playing radio, not a competition by any means.
Maybe the bands will be in better shape next year or maybe I need better bait at the end of my wire!
72 de @ke2yk
HAMRS (1.0.6) is a multi-platform logging app that is used as a generic, parks on the air, summits on the air, ARRL field day or ARRL winter field day logger.
HAMRS is available for Windows, MacOS, Ubuntu (LINUX) and Raspian (Raspberry Pi). HAMRS is also available in 32 bit format.
The app provides for multiple profiles. For each profile, settings is where you choose to enable expanded mode, call sign look ups, notifications and the site used for call sign look ups. I don't use multiple profiles but my guess is only the logs associated with that profile are displayed.
The HAMRS Community site is where you can view the latest bug fixes and enhancements to the app. The Community page also includes a request for enhancements section.
I often use HAMRS on Windows as a hunter and have run the app on both Ubuntu and Raspian platforms as an activator.
All logging formats include automated call sign look ups and the ability to export logs into .adif format.
At of the time of this post, the POTA system now allows for direct upload of .adif activator logs. If you are using Windows, running your activator log through ADIF Master prior to uploading it is a step I recommend taking.
Logging formats are:
Generic logging with automated call sign look ups and a cool QSO map.
Parks on the Air logging for both activators and hunters.
For POTA hunters, POTA spots are shown on a QSO map and spots are displayed in linear or card format. Spot display options include choosing mode such as CW, FT8 or SSB as well as hiding QRT stations and logged contacts. Spots can also be ordered by time or frequency.
Summits on the Air logging for activators. The format is much the same as the POTA format with the name Summit instead of Park.
ARRL Field day and Winter Field day logging contains the expected fields to capture class and section for a single op. To my knowledge there is no provision for network logging.
Since the first release of HAMRS, the app has become very stable. Bug fixes and user requests have been incorporated into the work in progress. IMHO, I think HAMRS has a great future ahead.
Which logging features of HAMRS do you use. How would you improve HAMRS?
72 de @ke2yk
About 30 years ago during my first marriage we had a home close to the bay in Moriches, NY which was located on the south shore of Long Island roughly 50 miles east of New York City. Having nearly an acre of land then with a southern exposure gave me some real advantages for installing antenna systems and working DX.
Large oak trees provided ample shade in the summer and the perfect place to mount a center fed dipole for all bands including 160. The antenna was mounted approximately 50 feet above sea level and was fed with 450 ohm ladder line. The ladder line terminated directly into an old DENTRON 1KW Super Tuner. The proximity to the salt water and the height of the antenna gave me some true advantages when working DX.
Of course the Solar Flux Index then was constantly higher than has been over the last 2 cycles. The SFI helped me to jump into an occasional DX pile up and make the contact with around 50 to 75 watts CW.
Fast forward 30 something years and once again, thanks to my old friend Nick, KF2P I now have a 125 foot end fed inverted L long wire up about 40 feet. The home I live in now is about 100 feet above sea level and is about 2 miles north of the Atlantic ocean so there's no salt water advantage here. The property at this location is less than 1/2 acre so it's a tight squeeze for installing any real length of wire. However, my next door neighbor, a former Marine, gave me his go ahead to use a branch of his oak tree to complete the set up of the long wire into an inverted L configuration.
The inverted L terminates into a short length of 450 ohm ladder line. The other leg of the ladder line terminates into a 10 foot ground rod. I get coax and wire into the shack using an MFJ window pass through. The pass through provides multiple coax, ladder line, single line and grounding connectors. Inside the shack I ran another short section of ladder line over to a T terminator which connects to my LDG IT-100 tuner.
While I've not had much time to work the new inverted L just yet, I have to say, for working DX it blows the old G5RV I've had for years out of the water! On the inverted L, I have already seen 20 to 30 over DX signals on the low bands. Hey, it's been 30 plus years since I have been able to work any serious DX. With that in mind for fun I worked Greece, Israel and a few other European stations with 50 watts CW all within the span of about 30 minutes on the inverted L.
In summary, if you enjoy working DX on the low bands, for under $100, install an end fed Long Wire antenna at your QTH. I'm sure you will be extremely pleased with the antenna's performance.
72 de @ke2yk
Back in the early 90's Nick and I worked at the same government site. There was a Ham Shack on site with old HF tube gear like Swan, Collin, Kenwood and Yaesu. We were both new hams back then and threw up any kind of temporary wire antenna we could to get on the air during our lunch hour.
A couple of the old radios still worked at reduced power so we'd go crazy like a couple of true LIDS working DX with CW. I can only imagine what the operators at the other end thought of us as we made a zillion mistakes.
Fast forward 30 something years:
A week ago we were able to get one end of the antenna up in the air. Doing the first leg of the antenna was more difficult than we expected. Other than the dead of winter with snow flying, this is the worst time of the year to install a wire antenna that depends on tree branches. The huge oak trees here are covered with leaves and it's difficult to see where the fishing line and sinker ends up in the tangled mess.
To top it off, yesterday was over 90 degrees. You'd think to old guys would be smart enough to stay out of the heat and humidity. We were LIDS back then and I guess in some ways we haven't learned much!
Thanks to Nick who has the installation worked out in his head, we managed to complete the installation. The wire is up around 40 feet and feeds directly into the shack with ladder line. The long wire is connected to one leg of the ladder line while the other leg goes to an 8 foot ground rod. Inside the shack the ladder line goes to a terminator that switches over to BNC at the LDG IT-100 tuner.
Getting 30 over signals again reminds me of the days when I had a 102 foot center fed dipole up about 40 feet which was fed with ladder line directly to an old DENTRON 1KW tuner. Back in those days, when the bands were hot it was nothing to work Asia, Oceania, Africa and Europe. Although I never received the QSL card, I did work Antarctica more than once.
Again thank you Nick for your many years of friendship and expertise!
72 de @ke2yk
Frank (K4FMH) recorded this update from YAESU regarding the US version of the new FT-710. More information about the FT-710 can be found on the YAESU web site.
After 12:00 Zulu (9AM Eastern Time USA) Friday, July 1, and once you have logged into the http://pota.app site, you will notice "My Log Uploads" as an option in our menu. Immense thanks WR5B and N0AW!
Until July 1st, logs has to be submitted via an area coordinator. Since interest in the Parks on the Air program has grown exponentially, I'd imagine that the amount of work for coordinators was getting out of hand.
There have been a few instances where I had to embarrass myself by resubmitting the same log a few times due to my dumb mistakes.
Then I learned about a free Windows program called ADIF Master which points out those dumb mistakes. ADIF Master's built in editor allows you to make changes directly to the log file and then recheck the log for errors. Needless to say running ADIF Master BEFORE submitting logs has saved the coordinator time and frustration.
Anyway, Mike K8MRD has a video demonstrating how simple the upload process is going to be. At the time Mike made this video the upload process was still in Beta testing. My thinking is to still run my logs through through ADIF Master prior to uploading via the new method.
Thanks to all who have made the Parks on the Air program what it is today and the effort to bring direct log submissions to the program.
