W3DMJ

Lately, I’ve found myself waking up far too early, unable to get back to sleep. Since I’m already awake, I might as well make the most of it!With the house still quiet, it’s the perfect opportunity to enjoy my favorite pastime—radio!

This month’s goal is to get the QRZ.com Worked All States award specifically using the FT8 digital mode. To complete this goal I need two states Kansas and Hawaii. It’s not enough to log the contact in my own log—the operator on the other side must also confirm it on their end.. It becomes a numbers game until someone uploads the log so the software can confirm the contact.

This morning I decided to work FT8 on 30m (10.136 MHz). It’s an effortless way to log contacts—just point, click, and let the software and radio handle the rest.The challenge with Kansas is that it might fall within my skip zone. This depends on the take-off angle—essentially the angle at which RF energy departs the antenna. Factors like the antenna’s height and type influence this angle. If the RF energy emitted skips over Kansas on its way to the ionosphere and back, contacts can be tricky. Hawaii, on the other hand, presents a challenge due to its distance and direction.

The antenna I am using is a End Fed Random Wire cut to 41ft and has a counterpoise cut to 17ft in length. The 9:1 UNUN at the core is really the Coffee and Ham Radios ARES antenna. The 41ft radiating element runs East to West (almost exactly) in my attic. I expect the radiation pattern would be mostly North and South. I almost need to rotate the wire so it runs North West to South East to allow the signal to be radiated in the correct direction. Or I would need to use a different antenna.

In just over 90 minutes on FT8 this morning, I made 38 contacts, primarily to the North and South—a productive session despite the directional challenges!

What puts the cherry on top is I am slowly getting more and more countries in the log. This morning I logged a contact with V31DL, which according to QRZ.com is in Belize. Yesterday I logged two Japanese contacts and one in St. Vincent. It takes 100 countries for the DXCC award. I have 51 and counting.

Have Fun out there and 73 de W3DMJ

I’ve owned my IC-2730A for nearly a dozen years. It’s traveled with me as a portable rig in the truck and, more recently, became a staple on my radio bench. The dual receive capability and 50-watt output made it my go-to radio for monitoring multiple repeaters at once.

Last Thursday evening, I served as the substitute net control for the Montgomery County (Tennessee) ARES Net and the KF4L CATS (Clarksville Amateur Transmitting Society) Net. During the CATS Net, the radio suddenly went silent. When I pressed the PTT, the screen displayed the message “UNLOCK?” I tried every trick I could find online to bring it back to life, but to no avail. Time of death: 10:35 PM, Thursday, April 17, 2025.

As its custodian, I’ve salvaged any usable parts that might serve a future IC-2730A, and laid the rest to rest.

May it rest in peace, knowing it served the communities I’ve been part of with dedication and reliability.

73 de W3DMJ

It’s Saturday, and while the rest of my family sleeps, I’m off to Port Royal State Park (US-2969). It’s a beautiful, well-maintained park, and it looks like there have been some updates since my last POTA activation there. I scouted the picnic area the night before and was pleasantly surprised to find that the three old wooden picnic tables on one side of the field had been replaced with about a dozen metal tables, each coated in a rubber-like material.

The radio of choice for this trip was the Yaesu FT-891, paired with a kit-built ATU-100 antenna tuner. I brought along two antennas to test—one with a new mount, and the other a completely new configuration for me. Is there a better way to test antennas than by heading out somewhere away from home, setting up the system, and seeing how many contacts you can make?

Antenna number One:

The GRA-7350T, without the 80m coil, was mounted using a custom clamp. It performed reasonably well. With all the radials positioned to the south side of the antenna, it seemed to exhibit some directionality, as reflected in the log below. The contact with N5MCY was the only one made using Antenna Two, and as you can see, the signal report wasn’t as strong as those from Antenna One.

Antenna Two:

The Coffee and Ham Radios Poseidon kit, which I assembled with a few personal modifications. The heart of the setup is the 4:1 UNUN (found here). If I built it correctly, it should tune 40m through 10m and handle up to 50 watts digital or 100 watts SSB. I still need to double-check the wire lengths and inspect the toroid—if everything was assembled properly, it should have performed better, especially considering the positive reviews from other amateur radio operators using the same antenna. The 3/3 signal report I received from Louisiana made me suspect something wasn’t quite right.

All in all, a successful first deployment of the antenna tuner I built from a kit, and my first activation using the FT-891. Next time, I’ll try FT8.

73 de W3DMJ