Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The New Look...

Using the miracle of PhotoShop, the K6CU Blog page has been updated. It also makes the page load much faster than the old design.

Let me know what you think... good? bad?

By the way, this is the same photo that ran in QST magazine, February 2012 issue.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

DX Contest A Success!

Last weekend I participated in the ARRL DX Contest. This is a contest where stations in the USA try to work as many foreign stations as possible. I enter this annual contest almost every year as a casual operator, and not as a competitive station. My only goal is to try and improve on my previous scores.

The 2012 contest score was the best ever, with 362 contacts and 186,792 points. That's almost double my score last year of 95,066 points!

Some of the more interesting countries I contacted include Madeira Island, Ascension Island, Senegal, Antarctica, Surinam, Aland Island, Svalbard, Palau, plus numerous countries in Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and the Pacific.

The contest lasts 48 hours, but I only actually operated for about 20 hours.

All the logging is done with a computer program called WinTest, which saves a whole lot of time, plus it prevents working "duplicate" contacts, which can lower your score.

Friday, January 27, 2012

VP6T on Pitcairn Island...

Another great DXpedition is currently in operation -- this one from Pitcairn Island in the south Pacific, and home to "Mutiny on the Bounty" fame.

So far I've worked them on 4 bands. I'll probably end up getting them on 20, 30, 40 and 80 meters as well as the lower bands are usually easier to work that area from this location.

Below is a map showing the location of Pitcairn Island, and a chart showing the contacts I've made. The photo (above) shows the island. Very interesting place, but somewhat difficult get to.

Friday, January 13, 2012

K6CU In QST Magazine

The new issue of QST magazine (the largest magazine for this hobby) has a nice little article that includes my station, and a brief quote from me. Guess I'm almost famous?

To see the image enlarged, click on it. Then right click on the photo and select "View Photo" and then click on the + sign.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas, 2011...

Mother Nature cooperated by providing near 70 degree weather for our Christmas 2011 in Murrieta!

While the individual families had their Christmas gift exchange on Christmas eve or early Christmas day, we all gathered at our home in Murrieta to celebrate, open gifts and enjoy a wonderful dinner.

Families attending this year included the Cordray's from Murrieta, the Davis' clan from Hemet and the Duffy's from Riverside. Altogether it was a pretty large group. The dinner was a potluck affair, with plenty of great left-overs to be taken home.

In the photo above Steve, Kayla, Haylie, Kristopher, Colston and Quinton show off their new bathrobes from the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas -- courtesy of our son Matthew. What a fun gift!

Monday, November 28, 2011

2011 CQWW DX Contest...

After a wonderful Thanksgiving (see post below), I participated in the 2011 CQWW DX contest.

This is a contest where ham radio stations from all over the world try to contact each other. It's held the 4th weekend of November, which is usually right after Thanksgiving.

I've operated in most of these DX contests over the past 15-20 years. This is the first year that I decided to do a "single band" entry, instead of working on all 6 ham bands.

As the chart shows, I contacted 144 stations in 72 different countries and 29 Zones on 10 meters (28mc). The world is divided into 40 ham radio zones, so working 29 of them on a single band is pretty good.