CWOPs in the Texas QSO Party

 

The TQP is my favorite 'big' contest each year. While doing my usual CW-QRP thing this month, I kept noticing that during a lot of QSOs, a name would pop into my head though not part of the exchange: Sam, Van, Marv, Chuck, Hank, John (lots of those), Claude and so on. I realized that they were familiar from the CWTs that I enjoy on Wednesdays. There were so many that I became curious about how many CWOPs I was working.

At first I thought it would take a little programing to answer the question but, at least in Linux, it was actually pretty easy.

First I went to the CWOPs website, found the member roster and downloaded a spreadsheet file with all the member calls listed. From that spreadsheet I copied only the calls (well over 2000 currently) to a file: CWOPs_members.txt - one call per line

Then I used a similar process on my TQP log but removed the dupes (for example I worked VE3NNT on 2 bands) before copying that data to another file: TQP_2020_uniques.txt - again one call per line

I used the Linux command grep to look at leach line in the first file and check for a match in the second file with output to Matches.txt:

grep -oFf CWOPs_members.txt TQP_2020_uniques.txt > Matches.txt

If I had only wanted a count, I could have used:

grep -oFf CWOPs_members.txt TQP_2020_uniques.txt | wc -l

I found that slightly over 46% of the contacts I made in the TQP were with CWOPs members. More than I thought. Almost half.

My thanks to each and every one of them. 

 

cln – Nick

WB5BKL

'599 BURN'

An Omni-Angle Antenna for 6M

A while back, several posts on the CWOPS reflector caught my attention.  They mentioned openings on 6M during the weekly CWOPS Mini-tests.   That reminded me that my K3/10 has both 6M capability and a suitable preamp for that band. 

I am not ready to replace my rotatable antenna (a 2-element delta loop for 10 and 15M), so I looked for sometiing simpler but ideally omni-directional.  I settled on the Omni-Angle for 6M from PAR Antennas, as it seemed well constructed, got good reviews and was not too expensive.

Assembly was straight forward.  PAR Antennas has a video available which helped me with adjusting the antenna 'match'.  Since it was so small and lightweight, I elected to put it stepladder height on the tower and give it a try.  Here is an image:

And below is another image from the rear.  Mom and Pop Mockingbird were building a nest between the Omni-Angle and the tower brace.  I can imagine them saying, "There goes the neighborhood!"

Dustin, much younger than WB5BKL, climbs for me.  Here is an image of him, several weeks later,  almost done with mounting the Omni-Angle at my designated height.  Dustin reported that there were three eggs in the mockingbird nest.  We tried not to disturb them.

So far, I am very pleased. I used my FA-VA-4 antenna analyzer to adjust resonance to 50.090 MHz at stepladder height and Dustin made very slight changes when it was up in the air.  (Note that the camera was tilted, not the tower.  😉)

I made a couple of contacts with the antenna at stepladder height and then had fun in the ARRL VHF - making 8 contacts in very casual operation with the antenna up in the clear.

At 5W of course.  QRP CW.

Now  I watch 6M for openings!

cln

WB5BKL

Popsicle or Ice Lolly QCX Stand

An easy prop for a QCX in the BaMaTech box.  If you like Popsicles (AKA ice lolly, freezer pop, ice pop, icy pole), this can be both a treat and cheap.  If you like kabobs (kebabs, etc), even better.

Construction images - not much to it.  Comments below.  Click on the images to enlarge them for details and to make my mistakes easier to see:

Note that the 'kick stand' skewer rotates in the bottom sticks.  The support skewers bear on the four QCX feet.

If I had it to do over, I would have made it wider and had the 'kick stand' to rotate within the lower Popsicle (ice lolly) sticks - that way it would fold flat for storage.   :-)    Oh well.

Well under an hour, excluding the gluing time.

cln - Nick
WB5BKL
Lake Buchanan

160M 1:2.25 Impedance Transformer

In order to try out 160M, I put up an inverted "L" and adjusted the length to resonance using an antenna analyzer (FA-VA4).  My frequency of choice was 1810 KHz - to match my QRP interests.

At this writing, I have 12 radials at the base, with various lengths of 15 to 40 feet over very rocky soil (granite, gneiss).

I did no modeling - just threw up some wire that fit my physical situation.  Impedance at resonance was around 24 Ohms.

I wound a test transformer on an old toroid of unknown characteristics just to see if I could get close to a 50 Ohms match.  That was successful and I even made several contacts at QRP levels.

I decided to wind a better (and I hope, more efficient) version.  I used a FT-150A-K core from  Amidon along with 10 feet of AWG#14 HAPT wire and some glass cloth tape.  The transformer I chose was the W2FMI-2.25:1-HU50 from the Amidon Transmission Line Transformers Handbook on the Amidon website.  this is a Jerry Sevick design.  I am, of course, using it 'backwards'...

To the right is the toroid as wound.  Sevick notes that the #14 takes some effort to wind and suggests leaving long leads on each end for leverage.  Good advice.

The image below shows (unclearly - sorry) the connections before soldering.

And here is the wired version with the "proof of concept " un-un to the left.  The box is an outdoor junction box (with water-sealed lid, not shown) that I picked up at a local big-box store.  Pretty handy.

And here it is as installed.  The BNC feed to the shack is at the bottom, the inverted "L" connects to the right and the ground and radials to the left.

So far, I am very pleased to get something cheap and easy working for 160M.  This might not be the best antenna, but for my circumstance it is up and working.   At 1810KHz, the antenna presents a SWR of about 1:1.1, rising quickly away from that QRP frequency.

I do appreciate Mr. Sevick's work. 

Now for more radials!

cln - Nick
WB5BKL
Lake Buchanan

A Grand Day Out - QRP Portable

With apologies to Wallace and Gromit.

I was able to operate portable four times this year.  Briefly, here are some photos and comments.

Texas State Parks on the Air (TSPOTA)

I operated only on Saturday - April 7th.  As it was cool (~39F), damp and threatening rain, I elected to operate while sitting in the car at Longhorn Cavern State Park (EM00tq).  I only made 15 QSOs  No other Texas state parks were heard.  As of this writing, no scores have been posted.  Used the K1 @ 5W with a 20M dipole.  This is a pleasant and scenic location, and my closest state park.




QRP to the Field (QRPTTF)

Two weeks after the TSPOTA event, I was out again - this time at Black Rock Park in Llano County (EM00ss).  More on Black Rock Park later.  Rig was again the K1 and this time I hung a 40M EFHW in addition to the 20M dipole.  25 QSOs was good enough to get me into the top five..  Got to meet a dog named Gussie.  She was interested in my stash of Ritz crackers.


The Flight of the Bumblebees (FotBBs)

This was on the 29th of July and again at Black Rock Park.  I made 29 QSOs and had another good time.  It was very warm and lots of folks were enjoying the park.  Same rig as above.


The Skeeter Hunt

This was on the 29th of August and once more at Black Rock Park.  Again 29 QSOs with the K1 @ 5W, the 20M dipole and the 40M EFHW.


More on Black Rock Park

This park, on the west side of Lake Buchanan, is operated by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA).  This is not a state park, but is operated in a similar manner.  In my experience, these parks are very popular with families, especially in the summertime.  I would strongly suggest reservations or getting there early and being flexible.  Here are some links:

LCRA

Black Rock Park

I had a very good experience at this park.  The staff was both friendly and very helpful.  I did a scouting run through the park early in 2018 and made note of the sites with 20 and 40M spaced trees.  :-)   No one seemed to have any problem with me hanging antennas - and on my last visit, I was greeted with, "Oh, you're that radio guy."




cln - Nick
WB5BKL

QCX - 30M Transceiver - Mods

Two more mods for my 30M QCX.

I have already completed several mods, as detailed in QCX - 30M Transceiver .  The final one I did last year was intended to increase the power output, but was only marginally successful.

Recently, I purchased a 20M QCX, but after finishing construction, I found that the ATmega328P microprocessor was not working.  Hans, at QRPLabs, had seen this problem before and was happy to send a replacement - and I ordered an additional latest firmware chip for this 30M rig.  While waiting on the replacements to arrive, I elected to replace the capacitors in the low-pass output filter.

I replaced C25 and C26 with 560pF silver micas and replaced C27 and C28 with 270pF silver micas.

These capacitors were huge compared to the originals - so I had to get creative in placing them.









I





Note that C27 and C28 had to move to the bottom of the PCB - and were tilted slightly to provide clearance for the enclosure.




I am fortunate to have a low-priced but effective solder-sucker that I bought some years ago.  This would have much, much more difficult without it.

Here are the parts I removed.  The largest is about the size of the head of a kitchen match.  I used silver micas as I had the correct values for the 30M QCX on hand.





Just as I was completing this modification, the replacement microcontrollers from QRPLabs arrived - with firmware version 1.00f.

The only volatile information that I wanted to keep was the correction for the 27MHz frequency reference (Entry 8.5:  27.004.550), so I made a note of that and replaced the 1.00b firmware with 1.00f.  As expected, no re-alignment was really needed, but I touched it up anyway.

After all these changes, I now have 3.4W out measured with the same equipment as earlier.  This is just about what the designer predicts, given my 12.4V motorcycle battery power supply and the polarity protection diode.

I am pleased and will call this good for now.

My thanks to W5IQS for suggesting mounting the capacitors on the bottom of the PCB.   And to Hans, of course.  The more I use this little rig, the more I like it.

Here is an image of the 30M QCX in its new enclosure.


cln - Nick
WB5BKL

Automated XLog backup - Revised version

Back in the days when I worked for a living, one of the computer guys at the plant corrected me while I was talking about disc drives in our computers - I was saying "if it fails..."  He corrected me with "Not if it fails.  When..."

Though no longer required, lots of old-school Radio Amateurs keep a log.  Some use pencil and paper, but most do it digitally (and some, like me, do both).  Belt and suspenders.


With that in mind, I have written a Linux script that will help me avoid manual re-creation of my digital Amateur Radio log from the pencil and paper copy - which dates back to 1970 - when the computer finally fails.  I use XLog, but this should work for other Linux logging programs.

You will need some basic familiarity with Linux scripting and permissions, have crontab up and running and Dropbox installed.

The general scheme is to copy the XLog log file to a safe place at least once a day.  When my computer dies (and they all will), I could re-install XLog on a replacement and retrieve the latest of my daily log file copies kept remotely by Dropbox.

The scheme has three parts:
     (1)  Linux 'crontab'
     (2)  Dropbox
     (3)  The 'xlog_backup.cmd' script


'crontab'

Linux has a very handy program that allows users to schedule events at intervals.  I will not do a tutorial on cron or crontab, but will just show you the appropriate crontab file entry, below:

#       min     hour    day     month   day of  command
#                                       week            
#    
30 * * * *                        /home/MYHOME/bin/xlog_backup.cmd

Crontab reads this file and is directed to run the command xlog_backup.cmd (in the directory given) on the half-hour of every hour of every day of every month on every day of the week.  For you old timers, that's every time Mickey's long arm points down.


Dropbox

Dropbox is a commercial file sharing and storage program.  There is a fee if you want to store lots of data, but since XLog files are relatively tiny, we can just use the free ('Basic') version.  Check out:

          https://www.dropbox.com

You will have to create an account.  The script below could possibly work with another file-sharing program that works in a similar fashion.  Your decision.  I have no commercial interest in Dropbox, but it is quite handy for things other than saving Amateur Radio log files.

One you have Dropbox running and understand how it works, make a subdirectory, perhaps named "XLog", to match the script location below.


'xlog_backup.cmd'

Here is the backup script.  This is a revised version (23 February 2019) that is slightly more logical and creates a new backup if you change your log.  You will have to edit the various lines that are unique to your application - one example is the name of XLog's log file.   XLog typically keeps this file in the hidden directory '.xlog'.  Mine is named wb5bkl.xlog.

Make a copy of the script below and edit it:

#!/bin/bash
#  /home/urhomedir/bin/xlog_backup.cmd
#
#
###  Edit each of the following for your situation:
###    urhomedir - your home directory
###    YOURCALL  - your callsign in CAPS
###    yourcall  - your callsign in lowercase
###  Note the asumptions about directory locations
###  including the Dropbox directory structure.
###  All the 'echo' statements can be commented out once
###  you've got it working to your satisfaction.
#
#
#  Define paths to xlog data file and Dropbox backup
YOURCALL_XLOG=/home/urhomedir/.xlog/yourcall.xlog
DROPBOX_XLOG=/home/urhomedir/Dropbox/Xlog/yourcall.xlog.`date +%j`
#
#  Housekeeping  -  comment this out if you want to keep them all
#  Get rid of all but the 10 most recent log backups
rm -f  $(ls -1t /home/urhomedir/Dropbox/Xlog/yourcall.xlog* | tail -n +11)
#
#
#  First, check to see if the backup for today exists
#  If not, create it and exit
#
#
if [ ! -f $DROPBOX_XLOG ]
then
    # create it
    cp $YOURCALL_XLOG $DROPBOX_XLOG
    echo -e "\n Creating today's backup file:   yourcall.xlog.`date +%j` \n"
    #  place a note in .xlog containing the latest backup time
    date > ~/.xlog/Last_Cloud_Backup
    exit
    else
    :
fi
#
#  Or see if the logfile in Dropbox is newer than your logfile
#  If so, do nothing and quit
#
if [ $DROPBOX_XLOG -nt $YOURCALL_XLOG ]
    then
    echo -e "\n yourcall.xlog.`date +%j` exists and is newer."
    echo -e " Quitting xlog_backup.cmd...\n"
    exit
    else
    #  if the Dropbox version is older than the logfile, overwite it
    #  with the newer version
    cp $YOURCALL_XLOG $DROPBOX_XLOG
    echo -e "\n Overwriting today's backup file:   yourcall.xlog.`date +%j` \n"
    #  place a note in .xlog containing the latest backup time
    date > ~/.xlog/Last_Cloud_Backup
fi
#
exit
#

Save the edited copy in your 'bin' directory (or wherever - but match your crontab entry) and make it executable.  The script only makes one Dropbox copy per day - but overwrites that copy if your log changes within the last hour.  Safe enough for me - but you can modify the if/then routine above and the crontab entry to suit your needs.

The backup file will have the name yourcall.xlog.Julian_date, for example:  wb5bkl.xlog.147

And the the latest backup time will be noted in your .xlog directory.  Backups from at least the last 10 days will be saved.

I hope this works for you - and keeps your log(s) nice and safe.

cln - Nick
WB5BKL
Lake Buchanan