Author Archives: OCRA President

N1LN Field Day – 2020 Audio Recording of Laurie

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This article posted after 2020 Field Day contains some very useful information about “Running” and excellent example of Laurie N1YXU controlling the run to achieve maximum contacts

Because we could not get together this year for a club Field Day weekend, Laurie and I decided to participate from home in the 1D classification.   We would only use one station and take turns operating with Laurie operating SSB and me operating CW. We would run 100 watts and band selections would change based on time of day and propagation.  We had a great time and made lots of QSOs.  When it was all over I ended up with more CW QSOs, but we pretty much attribute that to on-the-air time.  We were on the air for a total of 18 hours.  I was on for 11.5 hours and Laurie was on for 6.5 hours.  During that time we mostly RAN (we called CQ and other stations called us) but did some S/P (Search and Pounce – calling other stations that were calling CQ).  Running is much more effective to get the QSO count up.  To that point, we ended up with a tie for one key metric.  In the QSO/Hour metric we both had a maximum rate of 144.  Perhaps some of you have “run” before and some of you are hesitant to give it a try.  There are a couple of key factors when running.  First, don’t assume it is mandatory to copy the call of the station calling first time.  You can ask for repeats, clarifications, or whatever may be needed to copy and accurate exchange of information.  Second, you are in control of the speed, what station you come back to, etc.  Listen to this recording and hopefully you will hear how easily Laurie manages the pile-up.  At this time her rate is 135 QSO/hr.  It is only 4 minutes – enjoy!


© 2024 recording by N1YXU, N1LN, OCRA Inc

73,

Bruce N1LN

Monday Night 10 Meter SSB Net – April 17, 2017

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Tonight we had 14 check-ins.

1. KZ1X – Steve: Very interesting RARS with fewer dealers this year. Some not there due to illness.
2. NC4CX – Butch: Really enjoyed the RARS fest and seeing folks that he has not seen in quite some time. Good to finally meet Bruce and Laurie. Also saw many of the regulars on the Monday night net. Very little radio activity but did get his 6 meter beam up with some good preliminary reports. Now he can switch from his 40 meter I-V to the new antenna.
3. KX4P – John: Able to copy everyone so far. Really enjoyed going to the RARS fest with a friend that drove in for the weekend. Brought lots to sell but ended up bringing everything home again. Did end up purchasing a few things. Using a Collins S-line tonight.
4. KR4UB – Dan: Also enjoyed RARS fest – the most enjoyable part were the eye-ball QSOs. Enjoyed the after RARS trip for super hamburger lunch. Looking forward to the Tar Heel 10 mile run.
5. KJ4UZU – Clint: Real good to see so many familiar faces at RARS. Did not bring a new HF radio home from RARS. Did purchase a couple 6 meter FM HTs and they both work! Great to see Wayne after such a long time. Now up to 93 on 80 meters – getting closer. Got South Shetland for a new country and it was on 80! Now at 280 total confirmed. Now looking forward to Durham Fest.
6. K4FD – Dan: Good evening to everyone – been off the air for a couple years and got back on a couple weeks ago. Heard about the 10 meter net and wanted to check in. This is the first time he checked in. Been spending some time working on antennas. Also really enjoying 17 meters. The band noise has been very low allowing Q5 contacts without huge signals. Also enjoyed RARS and purchased a few things including some small tools. Able to copy everyone on the net!
7. KU4GC – Dee: RARS was fun and the club tables did fairly well. DFMA made about $300.00 net after paying for the tables. Don’t yet have the OCRA final $$ but in the last minute one of the ICOM rigs went for $400.00 that will certainly help the final results. Have a DFMA Board meeting tomorrow night. Also looking forward to the Tar Heel 10 mile race. Not much HF work – Clint is 1 ahead on 80 with Dee’s total being 92. At 236 on all band DXCC. Still have an ICOM 706 for sale – had 2 one left so Dave (NA4VY) still has an opportunity.
8. W4BOH – Wilson: Also enjoyed RARS and controlled his purchases. First time ever he did not purchase anything from the club table. Enjoyed seeing Laurie – hope she did well. Saw a couple Hammarlund receivers. Bought JR’s amp – it is a big Heath Kit with (2) 3-500s. This will be one of the next Land of Magic amps. (Perhaps a SB-220 or SB-221 depending on age.) Good to see some regulars but some of the regulars were missed. Been working on taxes almost all day. Greta was visiting for a few days and just went back home. Still in need for a food committee for Field Day – really needed to keep the food moving on Saturday night / Sunday morning.
9. NA4VY – Dave: Running the Yaesu FT1200 today. Hope it sounds good as he is using he mic that was purchased from Bruce. Made it to RARS and enjoyed walking around seeing people and checking out the boat anchors. Want to get rid of some stuff, so nothing was purchased. Was tempted to purchase the ICOM 706 that was on the OCRA table. Also busy with taxes.
10. KG4NNT – JR: Good to see everyone at RARS last Saturday. Looking forward to the Durham Fest in a few weeks.
11. KK4PH – Lowell: Had company so got to the net late but made it!
12. WQ8U –Mac: Using his only modern radio, the Ten Tec Jupiter. Wilson showed up in Mac’s driveway to help solve a noise problem and pointed out a few antenna related issues. One issue was lack of use – this helps by checking in on the net!
13. KE4VNC/M – Joe in Knightdale – very light copy.
14. N1LN – Bruce: Net Control

Monday Night 10 Meter SSB Net (March 27, 2017)

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Tonight we had 9 check-ins.

Upcoming Events:

1. DFMA membership meeting: April 2 at Bullock’s Restaurant

Check-ins:

1. NC4CX – Butch: Unable to check-in last week as he could not hear net control. Did listen to those that he could copy. Did not get on WPX at all this weekend. Listened but nothing new heard. Did work Ivory Coast before they left. Hope they confirm as it is needed. Did get Niger for an all time new one.
2. KZ1X – Steve: Using a different antenna tonight – a 10 meter squalo about 10’ off the ground. His usual antenna is under construction. Worked 12 contacts on WPX and now only 1 short for a SA prefix for Excellence Award.
3. KJ4UZU – Clint: Has rf audio issues with his FT897. Now using the Kenwood and all is fine. Did work a few countries in the WPX contest – about 11 contacts. One new one on 80 – Iceland and now looking for a confirmation. Also worked Western Sahara on 80 and looking for a confirmation. Still stuck at 90 confirmed. Worked Papua New Guinea on 40 from the mobile.
4. W4BOH – Wilson: Nothing new at the Wilson residence. Went to Peter’s over the weekend. Did some metal detecting today with his grandson. Got the Loudenboomer going. Found a power supply issue and also a filter choke issue. Replaced it with a choke from the Land of Magic inventory and now the high voltage is MUCH better. Going to write it up for the link. No new DX – Niger pileups were horrible. Listened Bangladesh – wonder if anyone worked them. Had a very enjoyable trip to the mountains but some rain on the way home.
5. KG4NNT – JR: Able to hear Bruce. Glad to be in the net tonight.
6. KA5ETS – Doug: Wilson came up a few S-Units due to turning his beam. Not going to be able to do much with Field Day this year. Got on 60 meters a few months ago and getting used to that. Running some JT65 around 5:00am. FCC may open more of 60 meters up for wider use. Awaiting their decision. Also now have a vertical for 80 meters with 4 radials. Have worked some Europe and Russian stations with JT65.
7. WA4PSC – Howie: Sorry to have missed the OCRA meeting last week. Been involved driving Sarah around but she is on the mend and actually drove her car the other day. Been working on lots of new projects for Dayton. Trying to get parts with long lead times reduced. Just got in from the machine shop – now eating dinner.
8. KU4GC – Dee: Missed most of the net tonight due to an OCRA Board Meeting. Heard Doug and Howie only. Not much to report. Worked Ukraine on 160 JT65. Also putting some time in on the Link proofreading. Enjoy The Egg and I breakfast.
9. N1LN – Bruce: Net Control

N1MM+ Prep for Training

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If you were at the last OCRA meeting you heard and hopefully participated in the discussion to standardize all Field Day stations on N1MM+ logging software. Not only will this make the post FD log integration process MUCH easier, it will allow all operators to easily move from station to station to help fill in some of the open times and it may allow for a technology jump to network all the stations together. This could promote both FUN to see how everyone else is doing real time and help with log accuracy. (more on this when the upcoming training occurs)

Before that training takes place, it would be very helpful for those of you not yet exposed to N1MM+ to spend some time looking over the following web links. I have found that when I attend training of any kind, going into that training class with some level of topic knowledge is VERY helpful. This helps you, the instructor and also other class members as the quality of the questions and discussion is much more ‘on topic’.

Whether you plan on being a Team Captain or not – please look over these links. If you have any questions, please send me an email. (bemeier@bellsouth.net)

1. Getting Started with N1MM+ (Documents / Getting Started)

http://n1mmplus.hamdocs.com/tiki-index.php

2. Then move to N1MM Logger PLUS – FULL INSTALL

http://n1mmplus.hamdocs.com/tiki-index.php?page=Full+Install

3. Finally – here is a You Tube video showing some very useful configuration information and process

Happy Reading !!!

73,
Bruce – N1LN

Nov 28, 2016 – Monday Night 10 Meter Net Notes

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Tonight we had 17 check-ins.

> Don’t forget to sign up for the upcoming OCRA Christmas Dinner Party at the Hillsborough Exchange Club.  If you have not already signed up send an email ASAP to w4ord@freelad.com or call or text him at 919-455-3330 or call his home phone number 919-304-0796. Cost will stay at $18.50 and it will be held on December 12, 2016 with doors opening at 6:00pm and dinner served at 7:00pm.

> The DFMA Christmas Dinner will be held on December 6 and for members only as the club picks up the tab for the dinners.

Check-ins:

  1. KZ1X – Steve: Was able to fix his remote stack match today.
  2. W9KHP – Ray: Also planned on using the frequency for a round table for new ham intros. Going to drop to 28.400.
  3. WA4PSC – Howie: Thanks to Bruce for the time, shack and hosting the CQWW-DX contest.  Did well – great crew – lots of fun in spite of the bands.
  4. KR4UB – Dan: The OCRA Board Meeting was canceled.  Dan fixed his G5RV today.  He uses it mostly for RX. Did some posting on the OCRA web site – Lad’s Christmas Dinner and also Bruce’s last minutes from the Monday 10 mtr net.
  5. NC4CX – Butch: It is quite cool at Butch’s QTH tonight. Butch did some listening to try to improve his code speed.  Only worked one Q to PJ2T in Curacao.
  6. KM4NOU – Joel: Need to provision Bruce with an account on the server to publish some of the contesting info, Monday night net notes and the weekly DX notes.  This is the first time Joel picked up a mic in about a week.  The family and Thanksgiving were the priorities and spent some time on the coast.  Has his boat setup for the Christmas Flotilla with a light display.  This is the 6th or 7th year to participate in the boat parade.
  7. KM4MBG – Jack: Spent Thanksgiving with his parents in Durham.  Not happy to go back to work today but quickly getting used to it.  Not much radio activity this past week.  Looking forward to the DFMA December meeting for updates on everyone’s resolution successes.
  8. KJ4UZU – Clint: Good to hear everyone this weekend to the locals and out of state check-ins. Got 3 new ones confirmed on 80 and now up to 77. Hope propagation will help get to the magic 100. Worked French Polynesia from the mobile at lunch today.  Also at 277 mixed mode confirmations.
  9. KU4GC – Dee: Survived another Thanksgiving thanks to Jack and Lenore’s food efforts. Working on getting up his 80 meter count and made two new ones over the weekend. Surinam (already confirmed) and Puerto Rico (not yet confirmed).  The contesting CW speeds are still just a bit fast. French Polynesia may really be the Austral Islands. Will have the New Years resolutions to deal with at the DFMA meeting. Dee has made a few of his goals.
  10. KF4PAB – Lenore: Did some cooking for Thanksgiving including a spiced pumpkin pie. Enjoyed having his parents come over for dinner.  Got to check-in to the DFMA Thursday night net with her new mobile rig.
  11. KM4RDH – Mike: From Utica, KY. In North Central KY.
  12. W4BOH – Wilson: Coming to you from the slightly chilly Land of Magic. Trying to keep things moving forward. Fruit Cakes are in the construction process upstairs. Worked 25 – 30 Qs and almost the same quantity of countries. Added some new band countries and already have 5 new confirmations. Had some requests for repeats and then found out he was running 6.5 watts. So, some of the Qs were QRP contests. One of the ZLs was quite strong. Was unable to get through the Tanzania pileup. Looking forward to the upcoming Christmas parties.
  13. K4SAW – Steve: Evansville, In – Good to hear the NC group tonight.  Got his 4 call when he lived in SC so knows where Chapel Hill is.
  14. NA4VY – Dave: Using his beam tonight but getting almost 4 s-units of noise.  Wondering if he has a bad yard light.  Finished his biography so the next issue of the DFMA newsletter will include Dave’s bio.  Been doing lots of antenna work – focus on his 6 mtr / 2 mtr antenna.  It is now moved to a new mast to make it easier to work on.
  15. KK4PH – Lowell: Not much radio activity over the past week. Have a Vertex commercial rig for 6 meters and is now adding all the UK frequencies so he can catch the opening should it occur.  Ordered an HF rig for the pickup – FT 891. Would like to get an auto-tune Tarheel screwdriver antenna.  Got a new solder station for the shop after the only one failed. Borrowed Wilson’s wood splitter so he and his adult children went to work splitting wood.  Still working on the leaves.
  16. KX4P – John: Using a KWM380 tonight.  Wanted to make a special effort to check-in tonight. Enjoy reading the minutes every week.  Had a wonderful Thanksgiving. His daughter hosted this year and also had some of the students over. One from China, one from Israel and one from French Guiana.  Have a folded counter poise (K2AV design) antenna – just tested it and it will be in use this weekend in the ARRL contest.
  17. N1LN – Bruce: Enjoyed the CQWW-CW contest this past weekend and looking forward to the ARRL-160 CW this coming weekend.