2006 Navel Museum Ship Weekend - "KC4LXM gets 3 out 15 for 2006."

This years Museum Ship Weekend event was not so very profitable for the KC4LXM station, but was fun to operate none the less.  It was only fitting that the first of the three stations contacted was the sponsoring ship, "The Battleship New Jersey" Amateur Radio Station (NJ2BB).  The one notable ship contacted was the "Battleship Missouri" (KH6BB) currently moored at battleship row in Pearl Harbor Hawaii.  In an effort to contact enough ships this year to receive a certificate, some antenna modifications were made to the KC4LXM station.  Operations on the 80, 20, 17 and 10 meter bands were not a problem but to really have a chance at contacting 15 out of 71 ships 40 and even 15 meters would be necessary.  With this in mind the existing 80 meter inverted-v antenna was converted to a multi-band antenna by changing the feedline from a 50 ohm feedpoint to a 20 meter matching section made from 300 ohm twin line cable.  This modification gave a flat tune on all bands except 80 meters which had at worst case 2.5:1 SWR.  As for only three contacts, there is always next year.  For a list of ships that participated in this years event go the NJ2BB event website.

Look for the latest information on an antenna for portable QRP operation.  I am still in the testing and development stage, so look for a report very soon.

When you think about getting into the QRP or low power operating arena you have to decide just what bands you want to operate.  I quickly decided that I wanted to be able to operate any place I stopped the dial.  That only left one option on today's market.  The newest addition to the KC4LXM station is a Yeasu FT817 all mode transceiver.  I got my FT817 just a short time ago and love it so far.  The first contact I made was to check in to the South Carolina 80m SSB Net.

The FT817 is fully portable, self contained radio that is capable of  producing a full 5 watts of transmit power on 160m thru 6m HF, 2m VHF and 70cm UHF using all modes of operation.  The FT817 is perfect for the backpack, saddlebag, hotel room or just setting on the deck.  For full portable use I added the Miracle Whip Active Tuning Antenna.  So far this antenna has proven to provide great receiving capabilities but it has not yet preformed as an exceptional transmitting antenna.

I hope soon to take some DXpeditions on my motorcycle and setup for some new contacts for the logbook.  Look for updates soon.

Welcome the KC4LXM.com Web Station.  This site is dedicated to one of the most exciting hobbies of all time.  Amateur Radio is all about establishing and improving  the art and hobby of communicating over the free airwaves. 

News from the amateur radio community is now available online at KC4LXM.com.  Amateur Radio Newsline, a news program produced by amateur radio operators and broadcast via 2m, 6m, and 10m repeaters throughout the world, can now be heard online via the KC4LXM.com web shack.  The Windows Media player is required to hear this broadcast.  Click here to listen to this weeks Amateur Radio Newsline Report.

Disclaimer: The views and/or claims made in the Amateur Radio Newsline program are not necessarily the views of amateur radio station KC4LXM or KC4LXM.com. The Amateur Radio Newsline program is a production of Amateur Radio Newsline and ARNewsline. For more information go online at www.arnewsline.org.

AMSAT-Echo Project is a new amateur radio satellite launched June 29, 2004.  What makes this satellite so special is that it is expected to be able to communicate with ground stations using even hand held radios.  The satellite is now fully operational.  ECHO's Standard Operating Modes for voice are: 435.300 MHz FM Voice Downlink, 145.920 MHz FM Voice Uplink + 67 Hz PL tone.  For more information on the AMSAT-Echo project go to amsat.org.  For tracking software go to amsat tools.

The biggest southeast hamfest of them all is still to go in 2006.  After some negotiation the 49th annual 2006 Shelby Hamfest is a go for September 2nd & 3rd at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds in Shelby, North Carolina.  Put it on your calendar today!  For more information go to the official hamfest site at www.shelbyhamfest.org/hamfest.htm.  For a complete hamfest listing go to the ARRL Hamfest Database.