CQ WW RTTY contest is one of my favourite contests. I’m planning to participate it (recreationally) in the upcoming weekend (the 25th and 26th of September). During that time I’ll also be experimenting with Facebook LIVE broadcast from the shack. If all goes well, you should be able to see my live feed below in this post (and in OH6FXL facebook pages). I will not be operating the whole contest, but will do it recreationally when it suits my schedules. The LIVE feed will be on when I’m in the shack. So see you in the bands and the LIVE.
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Hello (HAM)world…again!
Well well well.. I think we have seen each other somewhere here before, haven’t we? Yep. It was around 2016 when I told you that it has been a while. Well.. little did we know back then. I had just started my studies (again) in the university and things were picking up the speed. Fast forward from there to august 2018, I sold my Icom IC-7300 among other radios. I was done. Time was just flying by too quickly with all that: day job, family and studying. Familiar story, isn’t it?
Fast forward again to February 8th 2021. That was the tipping point when I finally submitted my order of the new Icom IC-7300 to my trusted local radio dealer. Again! History must be repeating itself!? Well..I really liked the radio, back in the day, and the price/feature ratio of it is very nice. However, I seriously considered also some QRP rigs like IC-705, Elecraft KX3 and Yeasu FT-818ND, but.. “Life is too short for QRP”, right? Well not really, but I wanted an allrounder 100w rig and as I had good experience with IC-7300 I decided to get it back to my shack again (no..no..it’s a new one, not the same I sold few years ago). The QRP might follow some time in the future. I’m honing my CW skills as we speak (sounds familiar..eh?).
So here we are. Day job and family are both doing great. I graduated last spring from the university and now I’m ready to be back with the radio again. Feels great! Looking forward on that new rig and hunting DX. I’m in a process of re-building my shack (mostly with already existing components). Need to fix the antenna feed line and check how my Windom is doing there in the tree. It has been hanging there since 2011. Still going strong..I hope. And the computer.. It’s funny how many updates you receive for the Windows 10 when you turn the computer on after 6 years of shutdown. #lol
For all my Mac friends out there..yes..I’m using Windows 10 machine for the HAM Radio now..can you believe.. 🙂 It’s interesting to see how the Windows has evolved. So far it looks actually pretty good. Allthough software isn’t as pretty as it is in the Mac, but the Windows itself looks promising (and functions also..quite ok). The HAM-software in general has always been more versatile on Windows. That’s also nice (HRD integrates to JS8Call and all weird modes, N1MM is killer contesting app..and so forth..ugly as hell, but functional). Maybe more on that later. Now take care! Leave a comment if you wish. It will be highly appreciated. Finnish language works fine too.
73, Hessu
Long time …
So it goes. Fast. The time. I have to admit not being too active here in the blog lately. Nor have I been too active on bands either. One might say better late than never, though. Below you can see how it has been over the years (QSO vise). There sure is some room for activity improvement. But I have been working for that lately. Recently I moved my HF rig from the separate hamshack to the main building. As the rig is now closer to my regular everyday life it might also help me to get more on the air time, as busy the life of a familyman, daily worker and student is.
Last summer was my first summer of QRP. In the spring I purchased a brand new Yaesu FT-817ND rig. I also bought all kinds of bells and whistles with it (accessories some might say) and boy .. isn’t that an interesting world of tweeking! Other than that, my activity has been mostly on VHF/UHF on my way to work and back.
Next weekend is the weekend of CQWPXRTTY, one of my all time favourite contests. For some weird reason I just love RTTY contesting. So you might hear me on the air there. No promises made, but might 🙂 I need to rush now. Take care and HAM away! Meanwhile, check my logbooks in the front page to see if we have had a qso. You can now find my Mobile, Portable and QRP logs there too.
Contesting: SAC 2012 SSB worked!
Last weekend it was the great “polar battle” SAC weekend again. I managed to attend to that 2 days contest part-time. It sure was some serious fun once again (like it was last year too). This time I also tested my new N1MM setup first time in the SSB contest. I had recorded all the voice macros beforehand and configured the system to run fully automatic voice communications (CQ, Exchange, TNX, QRZ, AGN…all that). I used full automation in the beginning of the contest while running CQ, but soon noticed that it would be best just to run only CQ automatically and then talk the rest. It is much faster that way…and with my modest 112 logged QSO’s my voice hold very vell too hi hi.
All in all it sure was great fun once again. I really recommend using some real contesting software even if you are a recreational contester (like me). It sure gives plenty of interesting features and helps in the contest in many ways. I have used the N1MM now in CQWWRTTY and now on SAC and would highly recommend it. It is very versatile, robust and best of all..free! As said before: as a long-time Mac –person I just have to admit that Windows just cuts it when it comes to contesting / HAM software. Nuf said. 
In addition to automated voice keying and all that fun, I added another dimension on my setup for the contest. As I explain on the video, I routed all audio via my Yamaha G124 mixer. My mic and computer attached to that I was able to route all audio to radio and to my other computer (MacBook Pro handling the videostreaming). The mixer has 2 output busses so it can do many neat things when routing audio. My MacBook then was hooked to my Presonus Fire Studio outboard audio card (receiving the audio from mixer) and using the fantastic WireCast software from Telestream. I have been using that setup for my Podcast production for ages. Now I just came up the idea of using it here too as I wanted to provide a LIVE video/audio stream from the shack to my Twitter and Facebook friends. It worked nice and got some interested viewers. The streaming service (Bambuser) I’m using is a great service as it provides a nicely functioningsteady stream and in addition to that it also records all streamed videos too (if you need to)! So because of that feature you are able to watch those streams from the Bambooser account of mine. You can also browse the stream history from the HamCam pages here in the oh6fxl.com. From those pages you can always see the LIVE stream too as it happens. When ever I start posting the LIVE stream, you would be notified if you “like” the OH6FXL –page on Facebook or follow oh6fxl on Twitter.
So this was my SAC 2012 contest and the wrap-up of it. Hope it gave some ideas / explained how I did it. Contesting is fun! You don’t have to bee too serious with it. Just play and have fun…and make contacts! I’m atleast enjoying the athmosphere of contests so much that I’m planning to attend them also in the future. I’m also planning of upgrading my radio equipment…and later also antenna equipment…(yes! its getting that serious .. lets see what happens hi hi) but that’s another story for another post. Stay tuned!
LOTW here I come!
Phew! I finally took some time to put together a regular mail..yep..one with paper and all! 
And that’s me in the picture, posting the letter to ARRL in USA for my LOTW certificate. It happened today! Postal office clerk said that it would take abt a week for that letter to be in the destination (quite a long haul, even with air mail). So within couple of weeks I would have a shiny and new LOTW account. Yess! Then I would upload all my 1000+ QSO’s there and see what would happen
My first CQ WW RTTY
Last weekend was the long awaited first RTTY contest of mine, the legendary CQ WW RTTY. Actually I have worked one RTTY contest once. It was national contest and I did not use any “real” software on that, nor was I any successful on that either (just made couple of QSO). 🙂 Well.. I wasn’t that successful this time either. All in all I’m just a recreational contester having fun. However this time I used some real software (N1MM) and best of all.. got the setup working A-OK. Setup is always the most important..hi.. oh well QSO’s are too. 🙂
The contest itself was a very pleasant and fun experience. I didn’t have that many hours to spend in the contest (as usual) so I wasn’t really competing with the “big guns”. I was more in hunting DX and having some fun (like I usually do in contests). Contests are just great fun! But as said, this time was special too: It was my first real (big, world wide) RTTY contest, I had a new setup with N1MM and so on. And boy, I must say, that software really changed how I see / experience contesting. With it’s realtime statistics and results and so on, it really was something different than just plain logging and blind shooting.
During the contest I tested the “running mode” and “search and pounce” and finally figured out that the S&P was better for my small station. While proceeding with the competition I slowly learned the “code of conduct” and got better on utilizing the great features of the N1MM (like the band map to store spots when scanning the frequency and getting back to them later). The software made my recreational contesting experience more enjoyable and I started to feel like a true contester, although I know I wasn’t 🙂
All in all the experience was very very nice and the N1MM worked just SUPER on my old and slow PC (looking forward on the new one soon..). So thank you all for the very nice time in the contest and thank you for the nice (yet quick) contacts during the weekend! 🙂 I already uploaded my log to robot in the contest sponsor (it was a breeze with N1MM..just press of a button and then e-mail upload). I gained 102 contacts and preliminary calculated 20160 points. Not bad considering the time I had available.
The next big contest for me would be the SAC 2012 (within 2 weeks) and then also the CQ WPX RTTY 2013 later on february. Maybe some smaller ones meanwhile.. If I just manage to squeeze out the time 🙂 Below is the video from my shack during the contest (running mode). The ESM feature of the N1MM really ROCKS!!
HamShack Update and the platform wars
Once again I have updated my shack, or at least the computer system of it. As you might remember I have been switching between Linux, Mac and Windows in the shack within a year. I would say that I have “tested” quite a bunch of the possibilities in Ham Radio Logging and station control on those platforms. For some reason I would always come back to the conclusion that I need to use Windows for my HAM radio. As some you readers know, I’m an Apple “fanboy” so this “coming back to Windows” theme is quite interesting. The reason is just that Windows has it. All the best software (like HRD, DxLabs…) or contest software (N1MM etc) are written on Windows. No matter how much I like to use Mac in the shack, I always come back to that conclusion.
One disclaimer must be stated here: Regular Hamming (and even a bit more than that) can be done fine with Mac. Just download RumLog and/or Rumped for contesting / peditions, or purchase MacLoggerDX (even toghther with MacLoggerHD for iPad) and you are set. And yes … I have done that..purchased both of MacLoggers and used also Rumlog. Digimodes in the Mac work fine with FLDigi or CocoaModem from which the CocoaModem is Apple Scriptable, but something is always missing. It is either log/qsl upload to some service (like eQSL or Clublog) or lack of fancy internet features (like QSY info or QSO info to web / twitter via HRDLog.net) or something else. No software suite in the “Mac world” has all the capabilities of the HRD (in the same application suite atleast). For example the GREAT feature set of digi mode software DM780 is lacking. CocoaModem is nice, but Fldigi has all the needed features…interaction between logging and Digimodes is nowhere near the interoperability of DM780 and HRD Log…phew… 🙂
Long story short: I’m back with the windows in the shack. Running Ham Radio Deluxe (and yes..purchased even the license for support subscription for the upcoming version 6 … and waiting anxiously … er.. patiently on that!) 🙂 If I some time have some time (heh) I would write more on those different platforms as we didn’t tackle for example the wonderful world of Linux here at all. I just say briefly this time that the CQRlog is the weapon of choice there. Highly recommended!!
1st HF Mobile QSO & Summer
It sure has been (and still is) a great summer. Loads of things have been done during my long holiday: Quite a bunch of nice QSO’s have been worked (mainly only portable/mobile HF and VHF/UHF), my HAM Shack/Studio/Man Cave has been renowed and so forth. But in the blog front there has quite quiet for a while. Sorry about that. I have been producing couple of videos during the summer however. I thought I should post them also here. As these pages are still under construction the link roll, pages and all that is just “soon to be here” so please bear with me 🙂
My Windom or the feed line is somehow broken in the home QTH at the moment that is one reason I have been working only mobile HF during the summer. I’m looking forward on fixing that too during my Shack renovation. But the videos… 1st video shows some mobile HF setup as it was just made when visiting the Finnish HAM fest. I bought the antenna from there and we just wanted to test it immediately.. hi hi. The second video is produced fully in iPhone and also shows the setup later on when I have re-mounted the radio and so forth. So enjoy the videos and keep on visiting these pages. More stuff to follow.
73 de Hessu – OH6FXL
Bicycle HAM – Setup 2
Some moons ago.. I wrote about my adventures in combining bicycling and HAM radio (two of my favourite pastimes). I have been doing that ever since and couple of months ago I built my 2nd HAM -radio cycling setup. The setup currently contains a VHF/UHF rig (like in the first version, but different radio)) and fixed antenna. Picture tells more than 1000 words and moving picture even more…so take a look… My new bicycle HAM Radio Setup 🙂
New pages
As you may have noticed, the oh6fxl.com web-site has moved to a new place / platform. Couple of days ago I decided to migrate this blog from posterous to self-hosted WordPress installation along with my other blog (blog.hessujarvinen.com).
I have been hosting my own WordPress installations at hessujarvinen.com for many years now (while experimenting also with Posterous and others). I thought that it was a time to end the experiment with Posterous now and move back. As a user/reader point of view this change does not effect on browsing/URL nor does it effect on RSS-feed of the site. So it should be very painless process for You. However if you experience any problems with this site or the RSS -feed, please don’t hesitate to contact me.