You should be able to get wooden curtain rods in that length. I think they are 1-3/8 diameter or so. I've seen them in 12 foot lengths at my local Home Depot for around a $1/foot.

Ray KJ6AMF

Byan,

If you ever get out to the Bay Area, come and visit the PAARA, FARS, and SBARA clubs. We have our collection of OM but there are also plenty of younger guys (30s and 40s) that you can relate to. Also since many of us are engineers, computer hackers, maker faire types, as well as hams, being on the spectrum is not a minus as being yourself is part of the fun of going to the meetings and club events.

Ray KJ6AMF

The macro problem seems the worst on 20 meters in the late afternoon/early evening when it's most crowded. If a little conversation is your goal, try working the edges of the PSK31 windows or working the less popular bands. I've had a few long winded qsos on 40 and 80 but never on 20. When there are fewer contacts to be had, you are more likely to connect with someone who will chat. Also try "ragchew" modes like Olivia and DominoEX just above the PSK31 watering holes. Those are great modes for talking under marginal conditions where PSK31 just won't cut it.

As for LoTW, check out the K3UK sked page. It's primarily a page for hams to make contacts for WAS and DXCC but there are many digital ops there that will chat and use LoTW.

Ray KJ6AMF

The odd thing is that Heinrich Hertz, the German physicist from who the name of the frequency units came from, had a Jewish father.

So what if I'm calling CX CX CX de KJ6AMF K?

Am I calling any DX or do I really want Uruguay?

In general you would want a longer CQ and not shorter. Longer increases the likelihood of being found and the answering station needs time to zero beat. The only time I can think that you would want a shorter CQ is when in a contest in which case you would change it to something like CQ TST or CQP (e.g. California QSO Party).

Did you inspect all the electrolytic caps? The caps tend to leak after awhile and the dielectric will eat through the PCB. Look for dark goop under the cap or a bulging top. Fortunately they are through hole components and not hard to replace.

Ray KJ6AMF

Byan,

If cost is a limiting factor for you, the solution is to put in the time to learn CW. For about $100 you can buy or build a single band CW transceiver. Add a little more to make your own dipole, coax, and basic straight key and you are set to cover the technician portion of 40 meters. You don't even have to wait to get your General license. Take a look at the Ten-Tec 1340 kit for $124. It's not too hard to build but if you want something already built and tested, ask around in the classifieds here and on qth.com as well as the Ten-tec group on Yahoo groups. They aren't hard to get as some hams enjoy the building part the most and are willing to sell theirs to fund purchasing another kit.

Another option is to check around with your local radio clubs. Some have equipment reserved as loaners for their members. In my own club we have a few older radios, tuners, power/swr meters, power supplies, etc. donated by club members that any member can borrow for up to a year.

If you are looking to buy used, stay away from eBay. Sniping drives up the price of any potential steal. Rather, stick to Craigslist, eHam, and qth. Constant monitoring is the trick. As soon as a deal pops up you have to contact the seller right away because it's first come first serve. The ads for working rigs at cut rate prices are put up and taken down as fast as 10 minutes. I once bought a really nice FT-100D for $300. I literally saw the ad as soon as it was posted and called immediately and sealed the deal with a Paypal payment. In another ad I saw a like new IC-718 for $300 just as it was posted. I couldn't find my cell phone for 5 minutes and by the time I got it and called the seller he said 10 people had already contacted him. The ad was taken down 20 minutes later.

The point is the deals are out there but you have to constantly search. The good deals are here and gone in an instant. The guys that are asking too much... well you can see their rigs reposted and reposted for weeks on end so if you don't look carefully, all you see are old, high priced rigs.

GL
Ray KJ6AMF

If you have a iPhone or Android phone or tablet, there are few free decoders that you can try. I'm using Morse Code Reader on my Android phone and it works. I use the sidetone on my rig and put the phone near the speaker. The phone mic picks up my code and decodes it. It also shows the wave form of your sending so if it decodes the character incorrectly you can see if it is a problem with your timing, like making at dit too long for example.

The only problem I've found with this particular software is that you can't send very slow with it. I think it only works with characters sent around 15 wpm or higher. Send a character like "Q" too slow and it decodes it as "TTET".

Ray KJ6AMF

Next time this comes up with your friend, ask him if he can have a round robin rag chew with 3 or more friends on his phone. Or if he can meet a total stranger on the phone and strike up a conversation. Phones are go for point-to-point communication if you know who to call, radios are great for casting a net to meet new people.

Also, regarding the cost. Sure the equipment in the shack costs more...to start. BUT you don't have to pay a monthly fee. A very basic no frills phone will cost $30 with a $30/month no contract plan. At that rate, 1 year of cell phone could pay for a multi-band CW QRP rig which could potentially last for your entire life. 2 or 3 years of cell phone service would pay for an all mode, all band radio like a FT-817.

Ray KJ6AMF

Bruce,

I think a better solution is to get a better power supply that doesn't need any modifications. As far as small switching power supplies, the Alinco DM-330MVT is a very good model. It has a little dial that lets you tune the hash off frequency. If you hear the noise, turn the dial and it goes away. At least in theory that's how it works. However, in the QST review, when they attempted to test this feature, they couldn't because they couldn't find any hash to begin with!

I've owned that Alinco for a year as well as 3 Radio Shack branded Samlex 1223's. Two of the RS's where very noisy on 80 and 40 meters, producing a 2kHz "whoosh" that would drift up and down the bands. Torroids and caps had very little benefit. The 3rd RS was quiet, or at least quiet in the ham bands. The Alinco was very quiet every where I tuned from 80-10 meters. Also the Alinco fan is extremely quiet. You really can't hear it unless you put your ear right next to it. As I have switched to a high amp linear in the shack I sold my Alinco. However if I needed another compact PS, that would be my first choice.

Ray KJ6AMF

Chris,

If your address in QRZ is where you are going to put it, and if I read the google maps in your area correctly, you are in a relatively flat area, in a neighborhood with mostly single story homes. In that case, I think the easiest installation would be to attach a TV mast or electric conduit pipe to your chimney or on the gable of the peak of your roof. There you could put up a secure, non-guyed mast that will get your Arrow up 20 ft. 20 ft probably will clear all the nearby clutter and will let you hit all the local repeaters and possibly beyond.

I am a little north of you, in the East Bay at sea level. With my 2 meter ground plane at 25 ft, I can reach all the Bay Area repeaters from South San Jose up to Napa and Vacaville. Out of curiosity I mounted the GP up to 40 ft for a week and didn't do much better except for a few repeaters that were just on the edge. It's possible that the added loss from the longer coax negated some of the advantage of additional height.

What ever you settle on, try to keep the coax as short as possible and use at least LMR-400.

Jeff,

Assuming we're only talking about ARRL WAS, here is some info:

1) You only need the 50 states. DC QSOs count for Maryland.

2) Contacts have to be logged in LoTW or verified by an ARRL card checker. QRZ and eQSL logs don't count for ARRL awards.

3) LoTW is easiest because once you have all 50 confirmed, in just a few clicks you'll have your award processed and will soon have a frame worthy card stock certificate that you can show off to all your friends still toying with repeaters.

4) You can get your basic award by completing 50 confirmed contacts on any band with any mode.

5) The easiest way to rack up the contacts is to work the state QSO parties and other contests. You can even work skeds and the WAS nets if you feel the need. However, I think most will agree the award will feel most satisfying if you rack up your contacts by finding each state on your own, outside of a fish bowl.

6) Once you get your basic, you can up the challenge by getting endorsements for getting 50 contacts on any single mode or any single band. Next step up is to get your 5 band WAS. Or the Triple Play Award (50 contacts SSB, CW, Digital, for a total of 150, all confirmed in LoTW only). Or try for your 50 on the top band (160-meters), VHF (6-meters and up), satellite, EME, or QRP. There are many was to challenge yourself.

Good luck and have lots of fun,
Ray KJ6AMF

I'd try the Icom first if I had to just pick one. With band conditions not the best, sometimes you'll need that extra power. Note that both radios will work with the 6 pin mini-din interface so there is no reason why you can't try both radios.

If you have an Android phone or iPhone, there are morse code readers you can use.

I have an Android phone and use "Morse Code Reader", a free app from the Google Android market. I put it next to my rigs speaker and can tap out code with the VOX turned off. There is no hardware interface. The phone just listens for your code through its microphone. The app is good, my sending isn't 

Ray KJ6AMF

A working TS-450 is definitely a better choice here. However, they too have their own problems. The TS-450s are infamous for their leaking electrolytic capacitors. When these were made, China shipped out capacitors that after a few years would start leaking their dielectric fluid. This stuff is caustic and will destroy the PCB if left unchecked. Fortunately, these caps are big, through hole components so they are easy to inspect for leakage and somewhat easy to replace with moderate soldering/desoldering skills. If you can get a working TS-450 be prepared to change a few caps if you find any leaks. You can find much of the information you need in the TS-450/TS-850 Yahoo group.

For not much more (comparing typical used prices here), I'd go with a TS-570D(G) or TS-570S(G). It's a very good entry/intermediate level HF rig. No hardware/firmware problems that I know of, except that the memory battery tends to drain too quickly and under certain conditions the keyer sends extra dits. For its vintage the DSP is pretty good. If you consider the cost of a TS-440 or TS-450 plus an outboard DSP like a Timewave vs a TS-570 alone, you end up spending about the same. If you do consider this model, make sure you get the "G" model. The G's had an upgraded DSP that you'll want.