LARG Sunday Night 2-Meter Net Report

We conducted the most famous Sunday Night Net held by the Loudoun Amateur Radio Group on 2-Meters FM at the Dulles Radio repeater on 145.310/R with a 77hz PL.

Those that checked in:

  • W5ODJ (NCS)
  • K2BFY
  • W4PNP
  • N4FAF
  • K0ZR
  • KK4TNO
  • KJ4NXG
  • KN4PIZ
  • AB4TF

A reminder of two things:

  • The regular monthly meeting is coming up this Saturday, January 18. For more information on when when and where click this link.
  • There is an Extra class that is starting on Feb 3. Jeff, K0ZR, and others in the Education Committee could use help teaching, tutoring, etc. Reach out to the Education folks at this link.

Thanks to everyone who joined and participated in this most famous 2 meter net tonight!

73,

John
W5ODJ

First digital contact: April 22, 2008.

As I do at the end of every year I go through all of the files on my computer and do a “digital cleanse” by deleting things I do not need. I ran across this QSO of my first digital contact way back 11 years ago in 2008.

It reminded me to send out the message that we all have to start somewhere/sometime and just how much of a rookie I was back then! Heres the text of the QSO (during a contest so I was likely very annoying to her).

WA4EEZ CQ CQ CQ Skirmish de WA4EEZ WA4EEZ CWA4EEZ

WA4EEZ DE WB50DJ WB5ODJ PSE k

WB50DJ LESLIE WA4 LESLIE WA4 WB50DJ

HI LESLIE HANDLE HERE IS JOHN MY FIRST PSK QSO OVER

WB50DJ de WA4EEZ…John, I am so happy to be ur first PSK QSO….You will enjoy this mode and meet lots of new friends…I am in a PSK contest, and the exchange is the name, and the prefix…so you can send me your prefix–like WB5–…
BTU John, de WA4EEZ kn

LESLIE … THANKS FOR TAKING MY TRANSMISSION. I AM A COMPUTER GUY BUT THIS IS ALL VERY NEW TO ME. I WILL LET YOU GET BACK TO YOUR CONTEST. WA5EEZ DE WB5ODJ OVER

WB50DJ de WA4EEZ…ok John, well I am most definitely not a computer gal, but sure enjoy these digital modes….BTW ur sig is 599 599 and clean…very nice.
73 es thanks for this contact, and may you have many, many more!! 73 and good hamming to you WB5ODJ de WA4EEZ..oh my name is Leslie.. bk

wa4eez de wb5odj … handle is John. QTH is Northern Virginia (lovettsville). Antenna is new SteppIR at 80 feet. driven by a ICOM 756pro3. beam pointed to FL at the moment. UR signal is also 599 599 599 over.

WB50DJ de WA4EEZ…My kinfolk are from Giles County up there in VA….Thanks again John, and will see you again, I am sure…73 de WA4EEZ sk

73 73 73 and good night. thanks a million for the qso. WB5ODJ clear kkkk

This was before I had my Extra license and changed my call sign to drop the B in my call. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago but apparently I had just constructed my first tower and installed my then new SteppIR. Soon storms would come and break the SteppIR, rotator and my new tower and I would have to reconstruct them. And then again when I built my second tower to move the SteppIR over there so I could maintain it better.

One thing is for certain in radio, nature wins and things are always changing.

Happy new year to you all!

73,

John
W5ODJ

LARG Sunday Night 2-Meter Net Report

The most famous Sunday Night Net was held by the Loudoun Amateur Radio Group on 2-Meters FM on the WA4TXE/R on 146.700 MHz at 8:30 pm local time.

We had 13 people check in to the net tonight:

  • K9CQB, Damon
  • WB2UNA, John
  • W4PMP, Chris
  • N4PDY, Mike
  • KD4HAX, Joe
  • KD4NYX, Wendy
  • AB3KC, Collins
  • KK4TNO, Chas
  • KM4RSX, Archellious
  • W3OW, Bruce
  • N1NCY, Nancy
  • N4PD, Paul
  • W5ODJ, John (NCS)

A few things mentioned to highlight:

Apart from the weird problem we experience with the audio on the repeater the net was successful. Everyone who checked in had good signals into the repeater even if we couldn’t hear the audio at times. This is the reason we have these nets (to check to make sure things work properly).

This was the last 2-meter net of 2019. Thanks to everyone for checking in! I was happy to be the last minute net control station for the net. Have a happy new year celebration whatever that will be for you and be safe out there! We’ll see you all in 2020 somewhere.

73,

John
W5ODJ

Building an off-center fed (OCF) Dipole.

Hey there.

After chatting with Rick N1RM over the holiday I decided to replace my old dipole with an off center fed dipole. I primarily wanted this because I wanted lower SWR with wider bandwidth so I can use more power on 80 meters. It turns out to be very beneficial for at least 4 bands that I normally use over a single wire!

Part of this project was to build my own balun because I didn’t want to buy one. Contrary to popular belief, I’m as cheap as every other ham I know. They cost about $100.

Normally with my projects I’d just put in the new antenna and move on but I decided to put proper design notes together and publish in a new section of our web site I called DIY in hopes it could also help others.

I pulled a bunch of information from various sources which I have published in this page on our web site.

Check my work. Build your own! If you want to publish your own DIY project let us know and we’ll get it out there.

73,

John
W5ODJ

Wednesday Night 6-Meter Net Report

I started the 6-meter net tonight on 50.130 MHz a little after 8pm tonight. There were two people other than me who checked in: KN4BGW (Steve) and K9CQB (Damon).

It was nice to hear some familiar voices on 6 meters as it’s been a very long time since I’ve been home on a Wednesday evening where I could be around the radios locally.

Our next net is tomorrow evening at 8pm. Hope to see you on the air!

73,

John
W5ODJ

LARG 80 / 40M Digital Watering Hole report

We meet every Sunday evening from 19:30 to 20:00 local time utilizing the Olivia 500/8 protocol at or about 7.07325 MHz.

This net was started a little early with W0MPM calling CQ to see who was out there. Three of us joined this net:

  • W0MPM, John (NCS)
  • W5ODJ, John
  • W4PMP, Chris

We had a nice long net discussing various topics. The band was in good shape and the signals were strong and clear. 100% copy on all sides.

There is some discussion about using different protocols than Olivia. Some of the newer protocols are faster and use less bandwidth while at the same time provide similar or better low signal and high noise decoding. JS8 is one of those. These are still interactive protocols.

JS8Call 2.0 is now publicly available: Multiple transmission speeds, a new multi-decoder, typeahead functionality, and more. You can get the software here. Check out the latest information in the guide here. I’ve been in the beta testing program from the beginning and can tell you this software has really come a long way and very easy to use.

If you ever want to join we listen to both repeaters and can walk you through any troubleshooting you may be needing help with.

Everyone is welcome to join us and we hope to see you on the digital net.

For more information on this net please visit this page.

Have a great week!

73,

John
W5ODJ

LARG 80M Winter Schedule Digital Watering Hole

Reminder that the winter schedule for the digital net is standard Time: Nov-Mar at ±3.58275 MHz. The default mode for this net is Olivia 500/8.

I showed up there tonight and called CQ 4 times while listening to the repeaters but got no takers. Maybe I’ll see you on digital next week?

I’m happy to change modes to something more interesting and new. The JS8 program and protocol is fun and very robust. Now they have developed three different modes/speeds to use. The decoder can now decode all speeds at the same time. If you want to play around with that the latest is version 2 RC3. There are versions for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux!

73!

John
W5ODJ

Vienna Wireless Winterfest 2020

As per tradition, we reserved a LARG table at WinterFest!

Table D3, right at room entrance, and a very good spot!

Feel free to bring your stuff, er, treasures. And if you have any big items or large loads, please let me know early, JIC?

As usual, you will want to label and oversee your stuff, although you can often share with other LARGies.

Please advise, and Thanks!

—– Forwarded Message —–
Subject: Early Registration for Clubs at Winterfest 2020

The Vienna Wireless Society (VWS) hamfest, celebrating our 44th year, will once again be held in the Gym at the Annandale Campus of the Northern Virginia Community College on Sunday, March 29, 2020. We hope your Club will again participate in our hamfest.

Early registration is now open! You can register on line here.

If you wish to snag the same table(s) as last year, and if don’t remember your 2019 table location, you can view last year’s table layout here. Please be aware that we will open general vendor registration on December 1st, so I am hoping that you will lock down table(s) before general registration opens.

Table rental prices remain the same as last year. Early bird registration price is $20 per table plus $10 per vendor attendance pass. Early bird registration closes on January 31, 2020. Starting February 1st, 2020, the table rental fee is $25.00. The indoor venue opens at 8:00 a.m.; vendors can enter for last-minute setup at 6:30 am. Of course you will also set up on Saturday, March 28th in the afternoon.

We are expanding Winterfest this year. Besides our radio license testing program, VWS is sponsoring special educational programs on Emergency Communications during Winterfest 2020. This addition will bring a new focus to our hamfest, and hopefully attract a new group of participants. Attendance last year was 500 attendees. We have increased our advertisement effort, which began in June and combined with our special educational programs, we expect to increase over last year’s record-breaking attendance level.

More details can be found here.

LARG Thursday Night HF Net

Greetings!

Tonight from 20:00-20:20 local time on 3.675Mhz and 3.818Mhz we conducted a directed net. Those that checked in:

  • W5ODJ, John (NCS), Lovettsville
  • K3WD, Bill, Lovettsville
  • KE4S, Dave, Leesburg

The band conditions were excellent and signals were strong and clear. Bill did some antenna testing while we gave signal reports. With so few checking in the net was quite brief.

Have a great weekend!

73,

John, W5ODJ