NTCQP July

 

    The Netherlands Telegraphy Club QSO party was on yesterday evening. 1 hour of CW fun. Completely different from the mainstream big contests since you need at least to give report, name and ntc number (or NM if no member). The fun is that there are 2 categories. Automatic (paddle with keyer or computer) and Mechanical (bugs, straightkey, cootie). Till now I'm doing automatic but I want to try mechanical one of the next QPs as well. I was only active on 40m this time and almost only running and listening. Actually I didn't hear much S&P so only running was an option. I used N1MM as logger and some of the names were already in it, but worked also some that were not in the system yet. I had some trouble decoding SM7GVF and did correct it in the log later. Same for OK1LZ for the name. I saw PE2V spotted in hamspots so I quickly found Vincent en made the QSO. Rene PA3GPX was worked in the last minute of the contest.

I'm getting better in this. It's not a top score. Every new start is difficult. But I have fun. My keying though needs a bit more practice, it is really a mess sometimes. It's like I haven't got the (fast) motor skills for paddle use. So I also practice with a straight key and this goes a lot better in my opinion. I might do the mechanical keying category next time.

K6ARK ultra light endfed antenna

 After I finished the micro match I finally had some time to build the actual antenna. I took about 21m very thin insulated copperwire and fit a coil of 10 windings (coil form supplied with the kit) in on about 1,8m from the micro match. Everything is described on K6ARK's website. Then I cut the wire back till I had the best match on 7,1 Mhz, the center of the 40m band. This is the final product on the red cutting board, see picture on the right. I had to cut back about 1,5m in total. The black cable tie is a reusable one, I found it excellent to mount the wire to a low tree in my garden. Below some pictures of the SWR/R/X. Big surprise was the SWR in the CW part of the 10m band which is a surprise for me. I can now use this antenna on 4 bands without a tuner.

I had the idea to saw a antenna wire winder from the red cutting board. But it would be a lot of work on not nearly as effective and light as the UL antenna wire winder that can be 3D printed with the print files from K6ARK. But I haven't got a 3D printer! However I know another HAM (PC3EK Eddy) in my neighbourhood who builds his own 3D printers. So I asked him if he was able to print a UL wire winder for me. This was asked at 8:20 this morning and he delivered the printed product for free at my job 2 hours later. Wow, I was impressed and grateful for his help. The final final product is shown below.

Look at the incredible weight of this 4 band endfed. Only 93 grams. This is truly ultra light.

Now I need to test this antenna. Not sure if it will be at home or in the field. It will be a surprise.

IARU HF contest & WRTC 2026

 

   There was a time I did more contesting. But time changes and so am I. Anyway, because of the WRTC (World Radio Team Championship) it was interesting to chase the teams on the band, And so I did a few hours in this contest. I only did S&P this time. And in the end I worked 40 from the 50 teams active. And in total 72 bandslots from the 500. I certainly had fun. And listening to the MB team stations I really adored the skill most of them had. Even when I barely heard the station they could still pick me out even with 30 wpm keying. It amazed me. In between I watched the WRTC livestream with interesting interviews and a look inside the organisation. Next WRTC will be in 4 years.