My certificate for participation in the 2020 13 Colonies Special Event arrived in the mail yesterday. As mentioned in my previous post about this event, I was able to work all of the special event stations for a “clean sweep”. I look forward to this event every year, and the organizers and station operators always do a great job. The certificate for this year is beautiful.
Accurate computer time is absolutely essential for successful QSOs using digital modes such as FT8, FT4 and JS8. While millisecond accuracy is not necessary, if the computer clock is off by more than a second, you are likely to experience problems. It is very easy to check the accuracy of your computer’s clock by using the website time.is.
Recent versions of Windows will frequently update the clock through time servers, but the updates are not usually as frequent or accurate as I would like. There are also several applications that will connect to Internet time servers to periodically update the computer clock. Some examples are Meinburg NTP, BktimeSynch, Dimension 4, and NetTime. I have Dimension 4 loaded on my shack computer.
But what if you don’t have Internet access, due to an outage or working in the field? Fortunately, there are computer applications that will synchronize your clock using GPS signals. To do this, you need the software and a GPS receiver for the computer.
For my computer, I use a GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS Receiver and NMEATime2 software for GPS-PC time synchronization. The GPS receiver cost me $34, and it also cost me $20 to register the software.
The GPS receiver connects to a USB port on the computer as a serial device. I have the receiver in a windowsill near the computer.
After the GPS receiver, I installed the NMEATime2 software. It was very easy to set up the software to work with the GPS receiver. Once installed, the software runs in the background to keep the computer clock updated. There is an icon in the system tray that shows the current status.
A right click on the tray icon and selecting “Show Panel” will bring up the software control panel with menus for settings and four tabs: Status, GPS Status, Loop Status, and NMEA Output. For my purposes, the Status panel and GPS Status panel contain the most important information.
I competed in the CW and phone portions of the ARRL DX Contest earlier this year. The CW portion took place February 15-16, 2020, and the phone portion took place March 7-8, 2020. My contest participation is usually casual, and I do not operate for the entire period of the contest. My primary goal during this contest is to work new DX stations.
The ARRL has a page to search contest scores and download copies of certificates earned for contest participation. I usually forget to check, since I never anticipate having a competitive score. When I checked this year, I had a pleasant surprise. In the Single Operator, Low Power category, I placed 3rd in the Georgia Section for both contests!
My preferred method of confirming QSOs is through ARRL’s Logbook of the World. It’s a simple, fast, and easy to use system to confirm contacts and apply for awards. It also saves a ton on postage, since international postage rates are very high. Still, there is something special about receiving a QSL card in the mail after working a rare DX station. In addition to nice keepsakes that have interesting information about the operators and their locations, they are physical proof of the QSOs.
Over the past few months, I have received several new QSL cards. Some are from contacts that took place over a year ago. I have been concentrating on getting confirmations from DX stations in the Middle East, Africa and the Pacific. I really enjoy collecting the cards, and believe they add a personal touch to what are usually very brief DX contacts.
Another benefit from collecting QSL cards is that sometimes the envelopes have some cool stamps!
Some new VUCC 50 MHz endorsement stickers for 150, 175, 200, 225 and 250 grids arrived in the mail today. I am currently at 291 grids confirmed in Logbook of the World, so hopefully I’ll be applying for the 275 and 300 stickers soon.
A few days ago I had the great fortune to work Japan on 6 meters. Today, I was fortunate again to be at the radio during a brief 6 meter opening to western Europe. I was able to complete QSOs with 5 stations – 3 in France, 1 in Guernsey, and 1 in England. The opening lasted less than an hour, and I decoded lots of other stations in western and central Europe that I was not able to work. I am very happy to get the 3 new DXCC countries and 5 new grids.
I was very fortunate to be at the radio during a very brief opening to Japan on 6 meters during the early 2300 UTC hour on July 20th. It only lasted for about 10 minutes, but the signals were fairly strong and I was able to work two stations. It was very exciting! I had one confirmed 6 meter QSO with a station in Japan back in June, but it was really nice to also get two new grids today.
The CQ World Wide VHF Contest ran from 1800 UTC (2:00 PM EDT) on Saturday, July 18th, through 2100 UTC (5:00 PM EDT) on Sunday, July 19th. I participated for about 8 hours total at various times on both days. The band conditions were not very good, but there were some short openings to New England, southeastern Canada, the Midwest, and Texas. Despite the less than ideal conditions, I was able to make 56 contacts in 40 different grid squares, for a total score of 2,240.
One of my favorite operating events every year is the 13 Colonies Special Event. This year, the event ran from July 1st through July 7th. The object is to complete QSOs with special event stations in each of the original 13 colonies:
K2A – New York
K2B – Virginia
K2C – Rhode Island
K2D – Connecticut
K2E – Delaware
K2F – Maryland
K2G – Georgia
K2H – Massachussetts
K2I – New Jersey
K2J – North Carolina
K2K – New Hampshire
K2L – South Carolina
K2M – Pennsylvania
There are also two “bonus” stations:
WM3PEN – Philadelphia
GB13COL – Great Britain.
All participants can submit their log sheet to receive a very nice certificate. Confirmed QSOs with each of the 13 K2- colony stations constitutes a “clean sweep”, which is a coveted achievement that is reflected on the certificate. Each station also has a unique QSL card. The stations can appear on all bands and modes. The most difficult station for most U.S. operators is GB13COL, especially when band conditions are unfavorable. Fortunately, GB13COL logs special event contacts for DSTAR (Reflector 063B), DMR (talkgroup 31426), and Yaesu System Fusion (room 28173) contacts. This allows U.S. hams with access to one of those modes an opportunity for a QSO in spite of HF band conditions.
This year I was happy find several of the stations on 6 meters during a great opening on July 5th. I was able to work most of the stations via FT8 on July 5th, along with a few CW and SSB QSOs for a clean sweep. Unfortunately, I was never able to work GB13COL via HF, but I did complete a DSTAR QSO.
Over the Spring and Summer I have been focused mostly on 6 meters, but I also enjoy working DX on the HF bands. I woke up really early this morning, and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I decided to check the bands. Most of the bands were dead, with lots of QRN (static) as is usually the case during the Summer. There were some strong FT8 signals on 40m, so I decided to see if there were any DX stations to work. The band was open to the west, into the Pacific, and I was able to work stations in Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, Australia, and New Caledonia. I didn’t get any new countries, but I still get a thrill from QSOs with stations on the other side of the world!
