My son Doran passes and gets his Technician Class License!

He took the test with the CCYARC group here in Denver and passed on Saturday March 24^th!  Needless to say I am a proud Dad!  He is now KDØRNO, and hopefully will be heard on the 145.34 and 449.450 machines here in Denver!  It is our intention to start a net for kids his age discussing video games and computer subjects, which as just about with any teen-ager these days, is a big interest.

Stay tuned for more information on that!  Doran is now the 3^rd out of 8 of our kids to obtain a ham license!  William is KCØYPJ, and Emily is KCØYYG!  He has a brand new Wouxon handheld for everyday use, and next home school year will probably go for his General.

The Yaesu FT757GX2 is back in the shack, and better, stronger, faster than ever before.  It actually is working even better than before I messed it up L trying to do a re-alignment and shorted out a 2 transistors on the RF board.  My friend Ray, AAØL went thru it and during the course of the repair, I was doing research on certain issues it was having with shifting IF frequencies and audio on the mic.  I found a webpage describing issues inherent to the 757GX2 with capacitors in the oscillators.  Ray went ahead and replaced those, replaced the shorted transistors (these were voltage positive on the cans and essentially shorted to ground, causing the RF output problem).   The radio is now as sensitive as my “new to me” Icom 706 MK2G that I just obtained. The 706 will be my 6 meter rig of course, and I will be able to try some satellite modes and 2m/432 SSB I have always wanted to try!  Plus it will backup and augment the 757GX2 on HF, and will be run by Ham Radio Deluxe.

The NEW KEØVH QSL card is finalized and by the time you read this ready to go out to contacts around the world!

 

For years I have wanted to really design my own card and use for contact confirmations.  The “Spirit of Colorado” was a TV show produced locally at KRMA TV by a good friend of mine, and one day when visiting him I saw a stack of post cards on his desk and thought, man these would make great QSL’s.  Since my family and I watched the show, he gave me a stack and for years I would write my call sign with a Sharpie pen on them and send them out.  And then, looking for someone to print my QSL’s with my picture and call sign, I ran across the KB3IFH QSL website of Randy, KB3IFH.  Check out his site (http://kb3ifh.homestead.com/index.html) Randy does outstanding work and the prices are not only competitive but even better than the others I was looking at. There are quite a few pages of excellent reviews for his service at: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/7757?page=1.   He does custom backs as well, was able to include the SBE logo for me, and gives his cell phone number, was great about answering all of my questions, provides a proof for you to approve, and a number of other services that really make his service stand out.

 

I have also finally become a user of the LOTW, Logbook of the World from the ARRL.  Kenny, K4KR, was instrumental in helping me set this up, so if I can be of any service in helping someone, I would be glad too.  The initial setup can be cumbersome and confusing, certainly was for me.

 

And speaking (typing) of Kenny, he also was able to make contact with GB100WSL, one of the special event stations commemorating the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic back in April!  And, he actually managed to get it on YouTube video with the help of a photographer friend, during the contact.  Since I didn’t even hear the station from Britain at all, I am slightly envious!  GREAT JOB K4KR!

See the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3QUBzfLhog&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

Did you know that the Apollo 11 TV camera on the moon was a SSTV camera, with a resolution of 10 frames per second with 320 lines?  Sound familiar?  Check out the article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes.  It is my intention to devote a major part of an upcoming monthly article to “The Voice of Apollo” soon.  And YES, there were hams involved in the creation and building of the communications systems used by NASA during the Apollo era.  Fascinating stuff!

Don’t forget the SBE IRLP/ECHOLINK Hamnet, the 1^st Saturday of the month.  (We have dropped the Tuesday night net)  Details on how to join us are at http://www.qsl.net/ke0vh/sbehamnet.  Also, one of our friends of the net, Bruce, WA2ZST, runs the Hams in broadcasting net on the 9615 IRLP reflector also available via Echolink.  Bruce hosts the net live from CBS Television central in Manhattan every Sunday night at 9pm Eastern, 6p Pacific.

73’
KE0VH
www.qsl.net/ke0vh