Author Archives: Lee

ZL2JR – Jim Robertson, (SK)

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They say that nothing is impossible however, achieving DXCC on the VHF or Lower HF bands is very difficult indeed. 160M DXCC is very rare in New Zealand. In 2009, Jim Robertson, ZL2JR hung his 160M DXCC up on the wall with a 131 entity total. I had the pleasure of looking through Jim’s cards a few years ago and some of them are difficult to work on 20M let alone actually working them on 160M. Jim had a passion for radio as far back as the early 1930s. As a schoolboy he constructed a crystal set and then used the old family radio used to listen to the shortwave stations around the world.  Jim arrived home one day after school one day 1935 and heard two stations in Bolivia  and LR5  LR6  LR7 in the Argentine. The local DX club said it couldn’t be done. Later he received a magnificent large certificate from  LR5  which proved them wrong.

Eventually Jim entered the world of amateur radio and passed his examinations in August 1939 just before the Second World War started. Callsigns and Registrations were not being at that time as amateurs throughout the world were not allowed to operate in wartime.  He was “called up” a month later at age 18 and was assigned to the radio section at RNZAF. When the war was over Jim was registered as ZL4DC in Dunedin 1946. During the past 50 plus years he has been, ZL3PK in Christchurch 1969, ZL2ANR in Wellington (Plimmerton) 1974 and was offered ZL2JR by the local retiring Radio Inspector in the mid 1980s if he paid the $10.00 registration. Jim is well known around the world for his booming signal which is due in part to his superb location on top of the Plimmerton Hill with 360 degree views and no obstructions. He was a frequent participant in the Stew Perry “Top Band” contest giving rare ZL 160M contacts to participants on both SSB and CW.

It takes years of dedication and sore ears to finally get that elusive 100th card. Greg, ZL3IX is the only other recipient of the award on the current DXCC list with over 150 countries confirmed. It is rumoured that Roy ZL4BO has over 200 confirmed on 160M and the late Peter Watson, ZL3GQ certainly achieved that milestone with DXCC on all nine bands. Perhaps there are others that I am not aware of. At the other end of the scale a VHF DXCC is perhaps even more difficult especially from ZL at the bottom of the world. Bob ZL3TY has earned a VHF 2M/6M DXCC with some moonbounce thrown into the mix. Bob Sutton ZL1RS has been working moonbounce for years on the VHF bands and is probably close to the 100 mark. Chris ZL2DX has been working 2M moonbounce for a few years and is up around the 65 country level using WJST software. I fully believe that there will be a 2M DXCC issued to a ZL sometime in the next few years

Written for Break-In in 2009 by Lee ZL2AL

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ZL4BO – Roy Jackson (SK)

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ZL4BO Roy DXCC “Top of the Honour Roll” 335/375

There will be many amateurs around the World that have ZL4 “Blue Ocean” in their log books on as many as 5 bands as well. Roy is one of the renowned DXers of New Zealand. Vernon Roy Jackson was born during WW1. Educated in Southland, he joined the RNZAF in 1941 and trained as a pilot at Taeiri airfield near Dunedin. Roy was mentioned in dispatches for his numerous sorties in C47 (Douglas DC3) aircraft in Southeast Asia.

Roy writes,

“I was making an approach to an airfield we called Aberdeen behind the enemy lines in Burma when a jap night fighter took out the port engine and other bits and pieces. Fortunately I was able to put the old girl on the ground with only casualty being a broken wrist on one of the army boys on board. We stripped the aircraft of all the valuable bits and left it there. Nobody ever said anything about the loss of that aircraft!”

He did more than 700 sorties in SE. Asia during the war in DC3 unarmed transports. Flying Officer Jackson was discharged from the RNZAF May 1945.

Roy started collecting “countries” when amateurs were allowed back on the air and made many contacts on the bands 80/40/20/15/10m. His “deleted entity” total is 40, one of the highest in the World. Many ZL hams joined Roy on 80m, or 40m at grayline to enjoy working into Africa on the low bands and many can thank Roy for his kindness and assistance on these nets. Val and Roy retired from his building business and life style block and moved into Invercargill. Roy still had access to DX with his holiday home shack in Alexandra, with the TH6, and various dipoles strung in the trees.

In 2002 Roy took ill and most thought that he would not recover. His family had a premature clean out of his effects and when Roy recovered he found 60,000 QSL cards and 100 logs books had been dumped! Fortunately, his records of the awards 5BDXCC, 5BWAZ had been retained, including his last 4 log books. Help came from ZL3JT and Roy was able to get the last cards he needed for “Top of the DXCC Honour Roll” in 2003. The last entity he confirmed was VP6DIA Ducie Island. Roy could be heard every now and then from Alexandra, DXing as always, with a pile up on 40m! The last entity Roy worked was YV0D Aves Island in August 2004. Roy had finally confirmed all 335 entities on the current DXCC list for DXCC No1 Honour Roll.

His individual band confirmations tell the story: 80m 274, 40m 323 , 20m 331, 15m 323, 10m 294. Mixed , but mostly phone. On CW Roy writes, “I could probably rake up 100 entities in CW from my escapades in the BERU contests alone, I won it a few times, but I never kept a count. Without my logbooks I couldn’t possibly work it out!” Roy was well known as a net controller on the ANZA net on 15m. The longest running net in the World initiated by the late Percy Anderson VK4CPA. Roy always delighted in working Africa… “ They were the hardest to work!”

73, Roy ZL4BO

 

From Derek ZL1BOQ
Let me tell you what a guy Roy was. Back in 1980, we decided to go for the 40m leg of WAZ, as we both liked 40m best. We co-operated with each other of course. When we both need zones 2 and 34 to wrap it up, Roy rang me late one night, when I was in bed to say he had VO2CW waiting for me !! I got up and worked it. We both needed just the one more. At 1605Z, or five past four in the morning, I worked DF3NZ/ST2, in the Sudan, and promptly rang Roy, who also worked it. I told Roy to send his card up to me, and I would get the QSLs. A couple of weeks later they arrived. I rang Roy to tell, and I said jokingly. “I will send you yours next week, while send off my application now” I forget the exact words but it went like this.”You Bastard!!”.I told Roy that I would toss a coin, and if he won the toss, I would hold off sending mine away for a week. He did win the toss, and Roy got award #9 and I got #10. After that we went on to complete the 5BWAZ together, helping each other. Roy went on holiday overseas, and on his way home stopped in LA. I got a parcel from Henry Radio containing two 572B linear tubes!!! That is the sort of Guy he is.

ps. I also rang ZL3GQ when zone 36 was on 80m, which helped him finish first.

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ZL2ST – Stan White, Napier

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Looking back through QSLs and logbooks, the years 1976 – 1980 were some of my best years for collecting countries.  Amongst these were some rare Africans picked up through advice from the Friday evening DX Group on 80 metres run by Ivor ZL1AGO and Art ZL2HE.  Also of great assistance was the ANZA net for information and the odd rare African station on the net like ZS8MI Marion Is etc.  The Pacific DX net, Caribbean net, VK9NS 220 net and Arabian Knights nets helped too.  No internet then! By 1980 I had collected about 280 countries and it was slow from then on, relying mostly on Dxpeditions.  A good burst of about 7 countries in 2002 helped the score.  This was during a good season of DXpeditions like C9 and was while I had a beam up in the air.  The tribander had odd use over the years in temporary short-term situations but was finally up on a tower in 2002 until the neighbours complained to the City Council who found that it did not comply with the new District plan.  The elements rotated through ‘disallowed’ space which was still over 3 metres on my side of the boundary.

The vast majority of QSOs were made over the years on wire antennae – mainly dipoles with an 80 metre dipole filling in on the bands that I didn’t have a dipole for. At times there were top reports of 40 over 9 and other times it was a matter of waiting until the end of the pileup!

Like many I have a QSL for Romeo’s P5RS7 North Korea which is useless. But there are good QSLs for all but 1 of the current entities and some deleted ones like 8Z4 Neutral Zone, Canal Zone, the HK0s and a few others.

My first contact with ham radio was hearing local blind ham Tom Taylor ZL2GP over riding the local broadcast station (only 2YZ on am in those days) on my crystal set. From this set I progressed to the famous Lamphouse Hikers One set which used a 1Q5GT octal valve with 45 volt B battery plus filament battery. On that set I was able to tune the broadcast band and after some experimenting, the shortwave bands too. Soon I found that the Hikers 1 and Hikers 2 being regenerative made good transmitters which could reach a friend down the street. I did quite a bit of broadcast band and shortwave listening and QSLing broadcast stations during this time.

I joined the local radio club in Napier at age 15 while still at school and finally passed the amateur exam late in 1958 gaining the callsign ZL2AHC in January 1959. I spent the first year on 80 metre CW using a borrowed rig and then went through a series of modified finals on a ZC1. This was followed by a homebrew Geloso VFO with 807 final using various forms of modulation. There was also much experimentation with 19 sets. Best DX in these early days on 80 metres was VK6.

My first field day was 1956 and I have been in most since, having missed a few in the 1960s. The early days were with Ron Morgan ZL2GQ and the Napier Branch and I later teamed up with Ron in an unaffiliated team at Titahi Bay after transferring to Wellington in 1962. Immediately after one Field Day with lots of CW operating I went into see the radio inspector and passed the 15 wpm test to get onto the bands above 80 metres. After moving back to Napier in 1976 it was back into Field Day with the Napier group and over the years as the numbers fell, a hard core of Lee ZL2AL, John ZL2QM and Reid ZL2TXK remained as the nucleus of the team. We did well too and when I became manager of the event I took more of a back seat.

When I first moved to Wellington, I built a 2 metre converter and am transmitter to become active on 2 metres, having contacts, from there, Palmerston North during a short stay and Trentham plus Maungaraki in the Hutt Valley. Our Maungaraki location had a good lookout to the south and while there I obtained the VHF Worked All Districts certificate No. 72. It was however the first one issued for 2 metres WAD (the rest were on 6 metres and other bands). Later I converted the transmitter to 6 metres and had one contact with VK before becoming more interested in HF.

73, Stan ZL2ST

About Stan….
Stan is one of those quiet hard working individuals that you often find in the “back room” of ham radio. If there is a Committee, Office or Quango, Stan will put up his hand to help. Anywhere, anytime. It is the measure of the man that he has given so much time to our hobby that he didn’t have  time to apply for DXCC Honour Roll until a few years ago. After looking for and sorting all his cards he now has the Honour Roll “Wood on the Wall” and is only one entity away from having worked them all and No1 Honour Roll.

You get to know your mates when you work with them in the Jock White contest. It’s been over 25 years that we have operated together. It is my privelage to call Stan a good mate, and great ambassador for our hobby.
Lee ZL2AL

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ZL2LF – Peter Dingley, Napier

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It was all my science teacher’s fault! In 1951 during a science class he demonstrated the magic art of crystal set making. I went home and set about building one for myself. The coil was on a toilet roll tube, the chassis was a wooden box, wires were twisted together and to my amazement it worked. There was no going back. My upstairs bedroom was transformed into a junk shop and my mother was transformed into a nervous wreck. Things got worse. While erecting an antenna, I managed to give the neighbours a fright after getting stuck in the top of the old elm tree at the end of the garden. Next day they had another fright when I climbed onto the house roof to attach the other end of my new antenna wire to the chimney. My mother let out the spare room of her house to supplement her income. One young lady lodger who worked at GCHQ spoke Russian and possessed a Hallicrafters SX28 complete with headphones. She used to let me listen in and introduced me to a whole new world of exotic sounds and voices.

I still had time to build one and two tube radios which never worked particularly well and which produced clouds of smoke from time to time. Mum managed to get me an interview with GCHQ and I started out as a Scientific Assistant. They had me building and testing all sorts of electronic stuff, all tubes of course, I think the biggest project was a 19 inch panel with about 40 tubes on it. Anyone who has built anything with 4 tubes knows how it felt wiring up 40 let alone laying it all out and then drilling all the holes! Naturally I had no idea of what I was doing, but I did learn to build things which did not smoke. I saved enough money to buy an R1155 aircraft receiver to do some serious listening with my own gear.

National Service came along and much to my surprise I was drafted into radar installation. I spent some leisure time (when not at the local) in the ham radio shack on the camp and made a resolve to obtain my ham ticket when I got out of the service. After demob, it was almost ten years before I was able to really get moving again, Married by this time with four young harmonics in the house, my pay as a radio / TV serviceman never being enough I made some pocket money restoring AR88’s for a local Government Surplus Store, and incidentally acquiring enough spares to build one of my own.

I was able to listen to the world better than ever before: I recall hearing quite a number of ZL and VK amateurs while having breakfast. Studying at LowestoftTechnicalCollege, I eventually passed the amateur exam but fate took a hand and we took the opportunity of building a new life here in New Zealand. I realised that I was entitled to apply for a NZ licence on the strength of my UKexam. So in Napier during 1976, it was along to Lew Sharman, ZL2IC for some Morse tuition. This was magic! I really enjoyed this and when the licence appeared in the mail box, I set out to do plenty of CW. The first rig was a KW Viceroy TX and a Drake SSR-1 receiver with an inverted Vee on the roof. I saved enough to buy a new TS930S I was a happy chappie!

NZART Branch 25 beckoned and I became involved in club activities. Field Days were enormous fun! Starting their ancient one cylinder generator was a challenge despite being taught to start generators in the RAF. Luckily Lew ZL2IC or Stan ZL2ST usually had some beer in the car as reward. A change in personal circumstances made a change of QTH necessary and more room on the edge of town made antenna erecting much easier, QRM became much less of a problem; TVI worries disappeared as well.

Two DXpeditions toChathamIslandwere a great experience and apart from the buzz of working pile up’s the local beer was brilliant too! After many years of good service TS 930S had to go, and was replaced by a FT1000 (Mighty machine). A change to NZART Branch 13 around this time also took place. Amateur radio has been and still is a great hobby, One never knows what is waiting out there in radio land – each day is different. Now retired and able to watch work taking place without feeling guilty. Smoke still comes out of homebrew projects – never mind – there is always something to learn. Other activities include digital photography, theatre audio and audio editing, both a challenge at times but always fun.

Peter Dingley ZL2LF

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CW Operating Procedures

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CW OPERATING PROCEDURES – From AC6V’s Book DX101X

A1-1.      CW TUTORIAL

In addition to the quickie DXpedition and contest CW contacts, you can work a lot of DX in a one-on-one QSO.  A lot of common DX is available on CW, with very little competition. For example, the mob will pileup on a European station on phone, but on CW on many occasions you can hear that same country calling CQ with no takers. An excellent CW Tutorial can be found by Jack Wagoner WB8FSV at URL:  http://www.netwalk.com/~fsv/CWguide.htm 
Lets take it step by step.

  1. Have a list of CW Abbreviations, Prefixes, and Q-Signals handy. Some DX stations cannot converse in English but you both can get the essentials across with Q-Signals.

  1. Know how to “zero beat” a CW signal. Many stations have very narrow filters and you want to be in their bandpass. Refer to the operating manual for your radio.

  1. Know how to use your RIT, XIT, Dual VFO’s, and CW filters. See Chapter 2.

  1. Listen for a DX station calling CQ or wait until they have finished with a QSO.

  1. Good operators will send KN as a turn over, which is “go ahead, over, others keep out.” Sending just K opens it for others to break in and this is OK if that is desired.  SK is the signoff that should be used or CL (“clear”) if closing your station.

  1. Give a call in 1 X 2 call format  —  DX11DX    DE     WZ9UUU    WA9UUU AR    (The AR is a prosign sent as one character, i.e. didahdidahdit and means that I am through with this transmission). The DX station knows their call, so send it once. Sending your call twice allows the other station to hear it, then confirm it.

  1. If you make the connection, the usual follow up is his or her signal report, repeated twice if the contact is shaky and weak, then your name and QTH. Don’t send more than that on the first round. Turn it back to the DX with a K or KN. This will allow the two of you to evaluate if a QSO is sustainable or desirable.

  1. On the next over, ask about QSL information if you want it, before the band slips out.

  1. If no DX is calling CQ, but the band seems open, find a clear frequency and listen for a bit, if clear, then send QRL?  QRL asks is the frequency busy? If someone responds with C, or QRL, no need to respond and clutter up the frequency. If no response to your QRL, repeat a couple of times and then call CQ. Sending just QRL without your callsign is against the rules, but most do it anyway.

  1. Calling CQ is typically in a 3 X 2 format    CQ CQ CQ    DE   WZ7UUU  WZ7UUU    K.   Long long CQ’s are likely to be ignored. Don’t use AR instead of K as it means ending the transmission, and not an invitation for an answer. KN is a turn over to the station you are already working in a QSO

  1. Listen for a few seconds using RIT to check for off frequency responses. If you have a narrow CW filter in line, use RIT and tune up and down from your transmit frequency to determine if someone is responding.

  1. Repeat your CQ or QSY to a clear frequency, as you may be on a Big Gun frequency that can’t hear you.

  1. After the initial contact, it is typically  DX11DX   DE   WX6DDD GM (GA, GE)  OM  TNX  FER  CALL  UR  RST ###  (339, 599, 549, etc.) NAME  HR  IS  ROD  ROD. QTH  IS  SAN  DIEGO, CA.  SAN  DIEGO, CA. HW?  AR  DX11DX   DE   WX6DDD  K (OR) KN. See your list of abbreviations if you are not familiar with these.

  1. DX11DX returns with essentially the same info, you may get “R” indicating that DX11DX copied all, or QSL on all is sometimes sent.

  1. The next round is an invitation to rag chew. If DX11DX is too fast for you, send a QRS (send slower please). Longer QSO’s usually include your station configuration, the weather (WX), jobs, ages, etc. You may receive an invitation to operate QSK (break-in) where the QSO is much more conversational. Practice with a friend first as this takes some getting used to and proper equipment settings.

  1. It is not necessary to do a  (DX11DX   DE   WD6YYY) every time except every 10 minutes of course. When you turn it over – you can use BK or just KN or K.

  1. A signoff looks like this:

DX11DX DE WF6TTT, FB VLAD TNX NICE QSO HPE CUL VY 73 GM  SK  DX11DX   DE   WF6TTT  Use SK or CL (Closing Station) on your final transmission not AR or K (N)

Then there are some cuties signoffs   dit dit,  and a response of  dit. Old Military types use dit dita dit dit (Shave and a Haircut) with the response of dit dit (2 Bits)!

  1. For contests, a common CQ is “test AC6V test”.

  1. Tail-ending. Wait until another QSO is complete, and then call the station you want to contact.

  1. Breaking into a QSO is not commonly done on CW and should be approached with caution. If it obvious that two old friends are in conversation, it is not advisable. If the exchanges include KN – it’s a signal that others are not welcome, best wait until the QSO is over and then tail-end. The standard break-in method on CW is to wait between transmissions and then send “BK” for break, or  “BK de WT8III”.

It is very common to send RST reports in abbreviated form, for example 599, is sent as 5NN. “N” in place of the number “9”. Also another time saver is for the zero using a long “T”. “T” is sent in place of the number zero as in ” POWER HR IS 3TT WATTS”. There is a number code for all numbers; however, the N and T codes are the most common ones.
Also CW stations sometimes report their zones as “A4” or “A5” instead of sending “14” or “15”.  1 = A,   2 = U,   3 = V,   4 = 4,   5 = E,   6 = 6,   7 = B,   8 = D,   9 = N,   0 = T

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Bencher CW Paddles and Keys

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If you want to be a great CW operator, you need a great paddle – and Bencher supplies the best. What makes the ideal paddle? A paddle that is perfectly responsive, light to the touch, a paddle your fingers float over and become as one. A perfect paddle is one that the operator forgets as his/her thoughts reach out, flawlessly and smoothly translated into perfect CW. A paddle with definitive yet subtle tactile feedback, friction free return, and perfect closure on every dot and dash.

Bencher offers four different paddles to suit every operator’s need and preference. The world famous BY series of iambic paddle are the standard that other iambic paddles are measured against.

The BY Series is also unfortunately the paddle most copied by others though with much lower quality and performance. We have sold well over 100,000 of these paddles, surely far and away the most popular iambic paddle ever. We also offer a variation of the BY series, the ST series, for those operators who prefer a single lever paddle. But if you are new to paddles and electronic keyers, we strongly urge you to start right out with an iambic paddle.

Bencher also offers two newer designs – the Bencher Hex Paddle and the legendary Mercury Paddle. Which Paddle Should You Pick?

If you want an Iambic Paddle, you have come to the right place – Bencher makes three of the very best – the BY series, the Hex Paddle, and the Mercury Paddle. But, you are already thinking, if they have three different series how can they say they have the best? Isn’t one better than the other two?

Here’s why we offer three different paddles –

The BY series, thanks to its unique pivot-pin bearings, is simply the most responsive iambic paddle available today. It is also the world’s runaway best seller – well over 100,000 of them have been made by Bencher and are in use all over the world.

The BY series paddles are meant to be gently stroked and squeezed for best iambic CW performance. For someone just learning CW this is easy to learn and indeed it is fun. Operators who already have good iambic skills will thrill to the capabilities of this unmatched instrument. If you are a new CW operator – this paddle should be your clear choice – learn CW on it and you will never at any price find a better instrument. It truly is that good.

But for someone who used to bash a “bug” around, which required the operator to get rather physical for good CW, learning to lightly stroke and squeeze a paddle using iambic technique is very different from old habits, indeed, mutually exclusive habits. Thus it is very difficult for such operators to learn the smooth, fluid iambic sending techniques that sound so good over the air.

Frankly, the BY series paddle, like a fine sports car or a surgical scalpel, does not respond well to the heavy physical input such operators are comfortable with. But that is how old time CW operators, trained on the bugs and single lever paddles, learned their craft.

If you are one of these operators, for you Bencher offers the innovative new Hex Paddle. This paddle too is fully iambic, and very nearly as responsive as the BY series paddles, yet is also designed to stand up to the most physical of operators, thanks to the floating instrument grade ball bearing races and magnetic paddle return, not to mention the massive base. Like all Bencher paddles, the Hex Paddle features individual tensioning and spacing adjustment for both dot and dash sides, unlike some rather pricey imports. Like the BY series paddles, the Hex Paddle uses gold plated silver contacts, unlike “coin-silver” contacts sure to corrode over time.

Our third choice, the famous Mercury Paddle, is a piece of art rendered in metal. Gleaming hand polished components chrome plated to a shining luster make the Mercury Paddle a real statement of the fortunate owner’s love of CW and amateur radio. These paddles use the best of everything – gold plated solid silver contact surfaces, hand polished finger pads, leaded brass base. Like the Hex Paddle, the Mercury is able to take whatever the operator will give it and deliver silky smooth Morse in return.

Making such a paddle as the Mercury requires many hours of hand labor, so that the inevitable result is a product not priced for every budget. But for the amateur dedicated to the hobby and who has the means, there is nothing like it.

Hopefully, this will help you choose the paddle most suited to you and your needs. Be sure to read on for a fuller description of each of these fine instruments.

The Bencher Company

Morse Code – Give It a Try!

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Give Morse Code a Try! – by James K. Boomer W9UJ

Amateur Radio: Many Facets, Much Enjoyment–Amateur Radio is blessed with a multitude of exciting facets and operating modes, not to mention building stuff and messing around with antennas. That’s what makes it such a neat hobby! Regarding operating modes, some hams like SSB , others like the satellite modes, while still others prefer television or the new exciting digital modes. Then, there are those of us who also like Morse code, or CW, as it is called, in addition to the many other modes of operation.

Remember When Your Parents Said Try it, You’ll Like It?–One thing I’ve learned in life is that you never know if you’re going to like many things until you try them remember when you were a tiny child and your mom or dad made you eat food you thought you didn’t like. And remember that many times you were surprised to find out that you liked that food item!

I Hated Morse Code!–My association with CW is analogous to the food example. That is, when I found out that I had to learn Morse code to become a ham, I was really disappointed! My thought process was, After all, I’m going to get on radiotelephone right away and will never use CW! But, I decided that learning Morse code was a reasonable entry fee to the exciting Radio Amateur community!

Lack of Money Talks!–Well, I got my license at age 15 in 1947, back in the build-it-yourself days and didn’t have enough money to build a radiotelephone transmitter. It was in the AM days and modulation transformers and the like were beyond my pocketbook. So, I reasoned that getting on CW at first and then quickly getting on AM radio telephone as soon as possible, after I had saved enough money for the modulator parts, was the best strategy. This was the beginning of a sweet addiction! Read on!

What is This CW Thrill and This CW Music??–I’ll never forget the thrill of hearing the first station that I contacted sending my call in Morse code! Then, I started hearing stations sending much faster than I could receive. And, surprisingly, a good keying transmitter sending Morse code began to sound like music to me. The sound of the keying was crisp and the Morse code had a truly musical quality to it. Also, everyone sent differently! Some sent very fast and erratic; others sent very slow and others sent just the right speed for me to copy.

The Receiving Speed Plateaus— The faster sending stations fascinated me and encouraged me to increase my code speed. So I started listening to W1AW code practice and found it invaluable. Also, I had a code practice oscillator, would have the practice text in front of me and attempt to send along with W1AW’s perfect code to increase my sending proficiency. I found that increasing my code speed went in plateaus. That is, I would reach a certain speed and not be able to copy above that speed for a few nights. Then, all of a sudden, I found myself copying 5 words per minute faster than my previous peak speed! The trick, I found, was to copy behind the sending station. The higher the speed, the farther you copy behind, I found! Also, I found that as I increased my receiving speed, I could just listen to the code and recognize whole words! The higher the code speed, the more recognizable the words were (up to the highest speed I could copy, of course!) Wow! Now, I could sit and listen to sending stations without having to write down everything!

The Critical Decision: Radiotelephone or Higher Speed CW Sending?–Soon, I found that I could receive faster than I could send on a straight key. Hooray! I could now talk to many other stations without having to ask them to slow down! But, I couldn’t send as fast on my straight key as they could with their speed keys. By this time, I had saved enough money for an AM modulator for my transmitter. But with slightly fewer dollars, I could buy a Bug speed key!

What a dilemma! What to Do? Well, I agonized and agonized and finally bought a Bug, because I had now tried CW and had begun to really like it! What a challenge and fun that was, learning to send on a Bug! It made automatic dots and all you had to do is make the dashes! But, now it was time to go back to W1AW! I had to learn how to send decent Morse code before I put that thing on the air! And so it was! I soon learned to send faster and faster and strived to send perfect Morse Code just like W1AW did but, of course, I never achieved this degree of perfection.

The Challenge and Fun of Learning New Skills, Increasing Your Proficiency–and The New Music!–Learning to send and receive Morse Code is a lot like learning any other skill, such as athletics or playing a musical instrument. You start out pretty shaky but if you stick with it, you begin to gain some proficiency, which encourages you to practice harder to further increase your proficiency. In engineering we call this a positive feedback loop. Once you have learned to recognize the letters and numbers by ear, you basically know Morse code at 5 words per minute! Then, it’s just practice, practice, practice. Recognize, too, that, like any other skill, some people are more adept at Morse code and attain higher speeds than others. It’s like golf, baseball or any other skill some are better at it than others, but it’s fun to play the game the best you can anyway!

The longer you operate CW, the more a good keying transmitter sending CW at any speed sounds like good music. CW operators develop a critical ear for perfect transmitter keying and strive to have perfect keying transmitters themselves, so they can generate that good music. ! Interestingly, I have also found that many of the best CW operators are also music fans and/or musicians. So, if you like music or are a musician, and haven’t tried CW, you might be surprised to find out that you really like it.

Now, You Can Really Crank Up the Speed!–Talk about speed, fun and challenge! Electronic keyers that make automatic dots and dashes are now readily available at modest cost. And many modern Amateur Radios have built-in keyers. With one of the many varieties of paddles you can send very fast CW.

CW keyboards open up a whole new frontier of fun with Morse code! Software that generates Morse code characters at the touch of your computer keyboard, is available to load into your computer. You can buy affordable CW keyboard systems that consist of a keyboard assembly and a little electronic unit that generates the code. Now, with these gadgets, you can send perfect code and at speeds beyond your imagination! And, look out! Believe it or not, there are people out there who can send and receive 80 words per minute! Sending fast code on a keyboard is also a great challenge, in addition to receiving very fast code. Don’t worry if you are not a typist. There are many hunt and peck and two-finger keyboard operators punching out fast CW. Also, a CW keyboard is a wonderful way to learn to type, in case you don’t already know how. Finally, a CW keyboard doesn’t ruin your Bug sending (fist); on the contrary it helps you be a better Bug sender because, unlike electronic keyers, it is a different concept than using the bug and it generates perfect code which you have fresh in your mind when you are sending on a Bug.

Morse Code Might Save Your Life Someday!–Besides being a fun operating mode, CW gives you some very useful skills that may save your life someday! There have been cases where people were buried in the rubble of a collapsed building and one trapped person who knew the Morse code, found a pipe on which to tap out emergency code messages that enabled emergency crews to rescue them.

Another interesting fact that may not be well known is that military aircrews carry small survival radio sets. With these little hand held radios the downed aircrew members can set a switch to make the radio emit a very distinctive siren-sounding rescue signal. Also, the downed aircrew members can talk over these radios (AM). However, importantly, downed aircrew members can also send Morse code by pressing a little tone button. And the Morse code is printed on a little decal on the radio! As noted earlier, the siren-sounding signal is very distinctive. So, if downed aircrew members sense that they are in a dangerous situation where the enemy can monitor the radio, home in and attack them, they can send brief Morse code messages that limit on-the-air time and thus decrease the probability of an enemy homing in and finding them. Also, if the downed aircrew members suffer injuries that prevent them from talking and they are in a dangerous situation, again, they can send Morse code messages that enable air rescue crews to rescue them.

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You–If Morse code had not been a requirement for an Amateur license, I would not have had the many hours of enjoyment that I have had and continue to have with CW. I often think of that it makes me say Thank you, ARRL and thank you, FCC!

Please Try it, you Might Like it as Much as I do (I hope)!–So, why not give Morse Code a try? It’s really fun and increasing your proficiency gives you a great deal of satisfaction. It sounds like good music and it grows on you!

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Heathkit SB-220 Modifications

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Part 1

Mileage may vary but this is how I modified my SB-220 for use during major contests. Basically you don’t need a “big bang” in the middle of a ferocious run on 20M. If you have a catastrophe, either by inexperienced ops working with gear that has the potential to take out power panels or an amplifier spontaneously does a nasty and fills the air with ozone and lightning, you need circuitry that will sustain only minor damage which may be repaired and put back into service quickly.

WARNING!!!!!!! Before you undertake any modifications you must know that under 100 VDC will kill you easily. Big amplifiers such as the Heath SB-220 generate extremely lethal DC in excess of 3000 Volts DC Mess with it and you will not survive! Do not work on your amplifier with it plugged in. Do not work on your amplifier if you are tired or are not thinking clearly. The procedure each time you make a change is to:

1)      Turn off and unplug your amplifier.

2)      Look at the HV meter and watch it slowly discharge to zero.

3)      When it is Zero, check with a screwdriver across the chassis to the plate caps. If there is a flash and a bang, count yourself lucky to be alive and go back to step 1 and 2!!!!!!!!!

The series of photographs will show you what I have done. Basically the improvements are:

1)      Below:

Removed all the 115V/230VAC wiring and set up permanently for  230/240VAC 


2)      Remove the antenna switching relay, mount it near the circuit breakers and rewire it as a “Step Start” relay to bring the voltage up on the filter capacitors slowly, limiting inrush current and protecting the main power switch along with the power supply components.

3)      Install three new 26VDC relays near the cathode choke. There are in series with a 680 ohm dropping resistor to reduce the 120VDC bias supply voltage to around 75 VDC for the chain. I used equalizing resistors across tow of the three relays and total current drawn is 85 ma which is acceptable for most Yaesu and Icom radios. Two of the relays are Jennings RJ series available from Maxgain systems and the third small reed relay switches the 120VDC bias to the filament/cathode on standby.

4)      Power supply improvements include removing the 30K resistors across the filter capacitors and   replacing with 68K 5 watt wire wound resistors to reduce heat near the capacitors. I replaced the original diodes with 1N5408 3A diodes. I removed the original Zener diode and replaced it with a series of seven 1N5408s.

5)      I removed the RF network at the grids and grounded each grid together and to the chassis.

6)      I removed the metal rod between the HV feedthrough insulator and the RFC feeding the main RF choke and substituted a junkbox surplus steatite insulator and placed a couple of fuse clips across it which allowed me to insert a 1A fuse in the B+ supply to the plates.

7)      I put back to back 1N5408 diodes across both meters to protect them.

All in all a very satisfying project and well worth while. I haven’t really noticed much difference in the amplifier’s operation except that the tuning each side of resonance is equal and smooth. It is nice to know that the amplifier is protected and will be more reliable under 48 hour contest operation.

Part 2 – About 1 year later

I was using my old SB220 during the CQWW last year and there was a helluva bang accompanied by a bright flash followed by the sickly sweet odour of transformer gunk liquidizing. I put amp on the shelf for a few months and was in complete denial trying to justify that it was just an old electrolytic gone west. It wasn’t. A good mate of mine stripped down the old transformer and we were planning on rewinding it when I ran across a company in the USA (Antek Inc.)  marketing a line very large toroidal wound HV transformers.

I ordered the 800 VA one as it would just fit in the cavity. It’s specs were 2 x 650 VAC secondaries and 2 x 115 VAC primaries. Our mains voltage here in ZL is 230VAC and the amp has long been converted to that. And the cost was $99.00 – about one third the price of a Dahl replacement. I seriesed  the two secondaries for 1300VAC and the SB220 brought them up to 2600V x 1.41 which gave me 3600 VDC on the 3-500s. A bit high, but liveable.

The transformer arrived and of course it was just slightly LARGER than the cavity. Since the amp has been extensively reworked with vacuum relay switching etc, I had nothing to lose and decided to take my 4” grinder and mount the big 20 lb toroid into the chassis with a bit sticking out the back which will be covered with a safety cover plate. I mounted the new “Step Start” relay and resistors on the side of the toroid as you see in the photos. 

Since the CW/SSB switch became redundant, I changed the circuitry so that it is a Standby/Operate switch that kills the HV. (Yes, I know it’s not needed as the 3-500s are instant on, but it’s better than leaving it there doing nothing.)

Some of the other circuitry improvements have been to get rid of all the garbage grid circuitry and ground them direct, Vacuum relay antenna switching for QSK, Step start power up (using the old antenna relay!) removing the ALC circuitry, installing two new replaceable fuse holders on the back panel, one as a line input fuse at 7A and the other as a “glitch fuse” of 1.0 amps in the secondary of the HV transformer. (yes I know it’s a bit dicey but it works fine)

It has been a very interesting project and the final result is an amp that will put over a kilowatt into the antenna with a plate current of around 500 ma and the transformer runs very cool. The higher voltage on the plates required that I increase the resting bias a bit up to nearly 10 volts and the resting plate current is 150 ma.

It will actually put about 1400 watts into the antenna but that it a long way past the capabilities of the band switch and variable capacitors so running it at around 900 to 1000 watts seems to sit well with it.

73, Lee ZL2AL

 

ZL1BYZ – John Shaw, Pukekoe

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The election of John Shaw, ZL1BYZ as the 8th inductee to the NZ DX Hall of Fame recognizes his extraordinary abilities as a contester and DXer. Licensed in 1983, John has proven to be a prolific contest operator with nearly 70% of his operations on CW. He usually places highly in major international contests and generates enormous pileups when he operates from his Pukekohe farm. John was a member of the ZL6QH contest group, ZL7T DXpedition, ZL6LH Light House team and a long time active member of the Papakura Radio Club. He has recently joined the ZM4T East Coast Contesters in Napier and joins us whenever he is able to get away from his farm.

He has won the Doug Gorman Frequency measuring contest and numerous Jock White Field Day contests. He was recently made a member of the ARRL A-1 Operators Club. John will be joining the ARRL DXCC Club soon with an initial entry of over 300 countries. He contributes much to the sport of Amateur Radio Contesting and DXing in New Zealand.


We wish John well in the future and hope that he will enjoy having the NZ DX HoF award plaque on his shack wall.

Regularly the source of a pile-up and works DX for DX…  not for John.

To 12th December 2010, John has recorded over 26,000 QSO’s and worked DXCC on 30M, 20M, 17M, 15M, 12M and the race is on for the remainder of 2010 to move on from the 86 DXCC countries logged on 10M. A new computer router might cut down the noise on 40M for John and that band may also be added to his tally. Recently worked a CQ WW Contest … single band 15m… logged 2300 plus contacts and 112 plus DXCC countries in 36 operating hours.

10M Contest over the weekend 11~12/12/2010 heard ….  CQ CQ 5NN 516…. CQ 5NN 517…. CQ CQ 5NN 518…. CQ 5NN 519…. that’s John ZL1BYZ on CW during the contest. Not a pileup but just a steady flow of contacts from all over to world, finishing the contest with a total around 700 contacts for his 16 hours operating.

QSL cars are delivered to the Papakura Radio Club where John is a long standing member. Many of us collect up to 10 cards at a time…. John walks out to his car with his forearm full from elbow to finger tips and the remainder in his other hand…. cards are collected monthly!

Worked and won Doug Gorman Frequency Measuring Contest as competitor and as a team member of Papakura Radio Club for the branch award.

One of the ZL6LH International Lighthouse and Lightship weekend team since start in 1998.  Takes the bait of the on line log challenge of DXpeditions (like many of us!). Worked on JWMFD contests as team member, solo operator and been on top or towards the top of that section every time.

In considering equipment, John does so much research, if he bought it… so would I! This was the case with DX4Win and Writelog.

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ZL2AOH – Ralph Sutton, Wellington

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My involvement in amateur radio is relatively recent, as I obtained my licence in September 1990. However, my interest and involvement in radio dates back to the 1920s. as a nipper, assisting my father who constructed our first radio, by blowing on the solder to assist its cooling. Our first radio I recall had plug in coils, The set was powered by a large dry battery. There was no electricity reticulation in our village,

My interest also involved constructing crystal sets. We got good reception as theLondontransmitters were only about 10 miles distant from where we were living. I developed into producing valve receivers and my piece-de-resistance was a three-valve short wave receiver that gave me a lot of satisfaction. the friendly guys at the local radio shop, let me browse through heaps of discarded components. Among the many QSL cards I received were one from the GE Company station inSchenectady,NYand another from the Australian station VK2ME with its unique kookaburra interval signal.

I went to sea at age 15 as a deck apprentice in Shell Company tankers. I used to spend a lot of my spare time at sea talking to the radio operator who was in constant touch with Portishead Radio wherever we were. A few months after I started my career, as a mariner, the war started and we were not allowed to operate receivers at sea, so could only listen when in port.

I came to New Zealandshortly after the war and served in several of the Union Company’s vessels. We trained in the Union Company’s own school and the instructor was Frank Graham. We trained to pass the 3rd Class Morse operating certificate and the General phone certificate, for which P & T Radio Inspector Herb Cassie examined us. Morse was no problem as I had originally learned it in the Scouts and had used it extensively in visual signalling at sea. I only operated modern AWA equipment, although on some of the older vessels, they still had spark transmitters!

I eventually left the sea a few years after coming to New Zealand. My intention was that, when I eventually retired, I would take up amateur radio as a hobby. I started studying for the ham radio examinations in 1989 passed the theory examination with a reasonable percentage. I obtained a computer Morse training program and soon recovered my speed. They gave me the call ZL2AOH then and there. Throughout this time and ever since I was guided and supported by Trevor ZL2AKW.

We were in the process of moving house at this time, so I deferred going on the air until after we moved to our present apartment. I had to get special permission from the board managing the apartments to erect an antenna. The antenna is fed by approximately 30 metres of 300 ? high-grade twin core TV cable. The feeder enters the building down a ventilation shaft and enters the apartment through the window jamb in the toilet. The lead terminates in the small bedroom room that doubles as my shack. This antenna configuration works exceptionally well for DX in all directions.

For VHF and UHF radio I have two hand held transceivers, a dual band ICOM IC- W2E and a 2-metre Taiwanese clone of an IC-2 for packet radio, for which I have a magnet-based antenna on the roof fed by a coaxial lead. So working from my shack on the 12th floor of an apartment block I achieved my DXCC mixed and CW in about four years. The next 100 countries are proving less achievable.  I spent one year in Japan while my wife was teaching there. I applied for a licence as soon as I arrived After a couple of months a licence was forthcoming and I was allocated the call sign 7J5AAN.

In the three months I was on the air in Japan I achieved 500 QSOs with 35 countries. While in Japan the local Sanuki Family Radio Club that befriended me and made sure that I could be involved in all of their activities. In Tokyo I also visited JARL HQ, the IARU Regional offices and the annual JARL ham fair. Also in Tokyo I naturally visited the famed Akihabara district that abounds with radio and electronics outlets. On a trip to Korea to renew Japanese visas, I met a few Korean operators and visited an area in Seoul, similar to Akihabara where I saw some brands of equipment never seen outside Korea.

Although I am not an enthusiastic contester, I occasionally join local club members in participating in field day and other contests and usually operate individually from home in the Sangster Shield Contest and Straight Key night. My preferred operation is CW Dxing and occasionally rag chewing with those who are prepared to stop and chat.

I am a member of the Wellington Amateur Radio Club, having originally joined as a non-transmitting member in 1988. I have held offices as secretary, newsletter editor and chairman. I am currently call sign trustee and QSL manager for the club call ZL2WB. I am involved with the NZART written examinations. I am a member of the Quartz Hill sub committee and am call sign trustee and QSL manager for ZL6QH and used to be bookings manager for the use of the site. I am a member of the FISTS Club of the International Morse Preservation Society and act as co-ordinator for the New Zealand and Australian Chapter of the club (FISTS Down Under). I promoted the formation of this chapter in 1988 when there were only four members in New Zealand and Australia. The present number is over 140 and it is growing slowly. This will indicate to readers that my preferred mode of operating is CW. It probably amounts to about 95% of my on-air time.

So, I have had some kind of involvement in radio over the years. Although I have achieved the status of a biological old timer, I still have a long way to go as a radio amateur to be eligible to join the Old Timers’ Club. I wonder if my old 3rd Class WT certificate would qualify me?

73, Ralph ZL2AOH 18 August 2005

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