Looking into CQRLOG

I admit: I’m not much of a computer user when it comes to ham radio. Only after I bought a cute little Asus netbook I started to use one in the shack. After replacing Windows 7 by Linux, that is. Logging QSO’s and controlling radios is something I still have to look into. I had, of course, heard of Ham Radio Deluxe. Doesn’t run under Linux though, so I’m not interested.

Then Alex PA1SBM told me about CQRLOG. I must say it looks interesting enough to give it a chance.

“CQRLOG is an advanced ham radio logger based on MySQL database. Provides radio control based on hamlib libraries (currently support of 140+ radio types and models), DX cluster connection, online callbook, a grayliner, internal QSL manager database support and a most accurate country resolution algorithm based on country tables developed by OK1RR. CQRLOG is intended for daily general logging of HF, CW & SSB contacts and strongly focused on easy operation and maintenance.”

Being lazy by nature, I leave all the tweaking to Alex before I install it myself. If you want to know more about the pros and cons of this software you can follow his blog.

Saying “Goodbye”

M3TUC, aka Mr. Tucker, is one of the few stations I was actively searching for on 40 meters. Always great contacts, always funny, always looking at the bright side of life. Never a ’5/9 Hi Bye’ QSO – we talked about everything, from family to his dog.

I didn’t hear him for a while, which worried me. I got in contact with Pierre PD4JP, another Dutch station who frequently talked with him. Only then I found out that he was ill. Very ill to be precise, and we don’t know how much time he has left.

Such news brought back memories. In an attempt to annoy him, I always asked about Bruno (his German shepherd) first, before asking about himself. He always sensed that, and did his best to sound offended.

One of his wishes was to meet all his Dutch ham radio friends on 40 meters once more, something Chris M6CCX arranged today. Unfortunately his condition didn’t allow him to talk back to us. This time I made an exception to my standard “How’s Bruno?” question and I asked about himself first… All of his Dutch friends were present on 7.077MHz, wishing him all the best and saying goodbye to him, probably for the last time.

Hereby I want to thank Chris M6CCX and Pierre PD4JP for organizing this special meeting, and the following stations for being present:

PD3JWD
PF0IS
PA3FIC
ON4DCT
PD5HP
F4CDH
PA1PVH
PD1GYS
PD5JA
PA2WO
PD4WB
PB0DX

Thanks Mr. Tucker, until we meet again.

“What’s my number?”

How the hell do I know? Suffering from memory loss? Lost the Yellow Pages, too? Oh wait, yet another contest….

Fortunately there’s always someone available for a decent ragchew. Finding a frequency that’s not in use isn’t a problem, but that’s not enough. This weekend I found out the hard way that empty frequencies are claimed too. A certain (probably very rare) breed of contesters might be visiting the bathroom, or busy lubricating their throat in the kitchen. When they return after five minutes or so and find out that ‘their frequency’ is occupied, you’re in trouble.

OK, OK, I got the message! I’m outta here!

A Mythbuster Special: IT9RYH

10. A well known game developer pulled the plug on “Finding Nino”.

Confirmed. The game wasn’t challenging enough. Almost every player found him immediately on 14.195 MHz.

9. Yaesu is one of the biggest sponsors of Nino.

Confirmed. Although Yaesu officials frantically try to deny this, the evidence is compelling. Almost every Yaesu stock photo shows 14.195 MHz in the display.

8. Icom is trying to take over Yaesu’s sponsorship.

Confirmed. Icom company officials were clearly embarrassed when I contacted them, and quickly switched over to deny mode. The frequency displayed in recent stock photos, they said, was a chosen randomly. Really. Read our lips.

7. His official call sign was not IT9RYH.

Plausible. According to some, the issued call sign was originally India Delta One Oscar Tango, but he managed to bribe a few officials to get it changed.

6. Nino is a valued customer of SteppIR.

Busted. A SteppIr is pointless when you use one single frequency.

5. There is a IT9RYH fanclub.

Plausible. This might be a secret society, searching Google generated just 43 (quite sketchy) results.

4. There seems to be a picture of his next rig somewhere on the Internet.

Confirmed.

3. There seems to be a picture of his next Yagi somewhere on the Internet.

Confirmed.

2. The IT9RYH soap will continue in 2012.

Confirmed. Nothing will change. Sorry.

1. When I look at this post, you must be really bored.

Confirmed! Merry Christmas everyone, and a happy new year!

AM, the forgotten mode

As we all know by now, it has been great on 10 meters lately. Memories dating back to the seventies / early eighties started to bubble up like methane gas from a swamp. I can still draw my Sharp 6-channel CB transceiver out of my head, without missing even one detail. It only produced about 3.5 Watts output, which was sent into a 1/4 wave ground plane. In AM, of course, as that was all we got at the time. I remember the soft, pleasant background noise. No squelch required. QSO’s around the world could be made 24/7.

Yesterday and today I decided to keep an eye on AM signals and tuned my FT-7B to the lower part of 29MHz. Without much trouble I worked three stations. UR5QGC (Ukraine) was added to the log yesterday, who was working with a home made transmitter and an old military receiver. Today I picked up N1EU and W9UD, both in the USA. 20 Watts and a vertical proved to be enough for a reasonable signal report. This solar cycle is not as good as the one I mentioned earlier (the band closes about 1 hour after sunset), but great nonetheless.