I am an amateur “ham” radio operator, call letters: N0DL, and have been active in that hobby since 1973, first licensed as WN0LSI in 1974 then shortly after that as WB0LSI.
And I’m ecstatic to announce that my son, Dan is now a licensed amateur radio operator, KF0MYN!
See a slideshow of my Beam and Tower Project on my Photos page.
Here’s where HamAlert last spotted me:
Here are the last 10 current QSOs in Club Log:
My QRZ.com Logbook, also updated automatically:
To help you practice your CW for Field Day you can use real data from our club’s log, W0WTN with shuffled lines for the different speeds. Here is a Zip containing all text and MP3 files (19Mb) 10 through 45WPM: W0WTN LARK 2022 Field Day Log Data Text and MP3 Files.
Here are the individual files you can view and listen to:
Text – W0WTN – LARK – 2022-ARRL-FIELD-DAY LOG- Call Letters-Class-Section for 10WPM
Text – W0WTN – LARK – 2022-ARRL-FIELD-DAY – Call Letters-Class-Section for 15WPM
Text – W0WTN – LARK – 2022-ARRL-FIELD-DAY – Call Letters-Class-Section for 20WPM
Text- W0WTN – LARK – 2022-ARRL-FIELD-DAY – Call Letters-Class-Section – for 25WPM
Text – W0WTN – LARK – 2022-ARRL-FIELD-DAY – Call Letters-Class-Section for 30WPM
Text – W0WTN – LARK – 2022-ARRL-FIELD-DAY – Call Letters-Class-Section for 35WPM
Text – W0WTN – LARK – 2022-ARRL-FIELD-DAY – Call Letters-Class-Section for 40WPM
Text – W0WTN – LARK – 2022-ARRL-FIELD-DAY – Call Letters-Class-Section for 45WPM
Here is the process I used if you want to create your own practice audio file, perhaps from your own log data (requires Excel or Google Sheets to open and edit .csv files):
1. Open your log data in ADIFMaster
2. Export the file to the .csv (comma separates values)
3. Delete all columns except Call, Class and ARRL Section
This next step is optional but helps with the higher speeds to provide a more normal receiving rhythm by padding the time after each set of characters to more closely match actual FD exchanges (inserts one space after the call, another after the exchange and two spaces after the section):
4. Insert a blank column after Column A (between the “Call” Column and the “Exchange” Column). Type a space into the top cell. Press Ctrl-Enter to fill all the cells below with one space. Insert another blank column to become Column D. Type a space into the top cell of Column D. Press Ctrl-Enter to fill all the cells below with one space (between the “Exchange” and “ARRL Section” Columns). Select Column F which should currently be empty. Type two spaces into the top cell. Press Ctrl-Enter to fill all the cells below with two spaces.
5. Delete row 1 that contains the header data, “Call”, “Class”, and “ARRL Section”.
6. Export the file as a text file, .txt, tab delimited.
7. Open the text file in Notepad or similar text editor
8. Select all the text (Ctrl-A), then Copy (Ctrl-C).
Optional step: Use a Line Shuffler to randomize the exchanges (I did this so the audio files wouldn’t all start with the same contact data)
9. Go to Learn CW Online
10. Paste the contents of the text file into the text box. (Note: you can also upload your file but the file size is limited to only 8000 characters). Although the spaces may not show up in the converted code they will be present in the actual resulting audio file.
11. Select your desired Character Speed, Effective Speed and Tone
12. Click “Convert”
13 Download the MP3 file and save it to the location of your choice.
I bought a Vectronics VEC-603 6m antenna tuner to match the K-Dave transmitter to the Discone feedline and antenna. The manual didn’t have a schematic or much of anything in terms of specs so I took some photos and drew out the schematic of the VEC-603. The manual is included as the first two pages. Vectronics VEC-603 6m Antenna Tuner Manual Photos and Schematic
Here’s a photo of the ham radio shack at the High School in Staples, MN from the early 1970’s:
Shown above: A Heath oil-filled ‘cantenna’, Drake W-4 directional wattmeter, Drake TR-4B and a Heath HD-1410 keyer that I’m pretty sure I built for the club from a kit (Heathkit).
I created a PowerPoint slide show on the
Reduction of Telephone Interference that I presented at the 1999 Dakota Division Convention here in Watertown, SD.
A fellow ham buddy and I used to own a repeater in the late 70’s. We had a local radio announcer with a nice voice from Q98 in Moorhead, MN create an audio ID for N0DL Repeater:
There weren’t too many repeaters with voice IDs back then so the repeater was frequently ‘kerchunked’.
Articles of interest to hams and audiophiles:
Balanced Lines in Audio Systems: Fact, Fiction and Transformers by Bill Whitlock (PDF, ~8Mb)
Here’s a technical note I wrote in 1998 explaining why the value “4.44” shows up in the calculation of inductor and transformer flux density when working with a sinusoidal waveform.
Because I can’t find it anywhere else on the ‘net, the OCR’d PDF of the 1994 EIA Source and Date Code Book listing transformer and capacitor manufacturers as of that year. Here is a plain scanned version if you find my OCR version doesn’t display properly. I also found and OCR-scanned the EIA 1995 Source and Date Code Book. Link to additional years of the EIA Source and Date Code book.
Good article on inductance of gapped ferrite cores: Evaluation of Several Factors Affecting Inductance Measurements of Ferrite Components by Barbara Ann Livermore and Jan M van der Poel.
Audio Tech Types: JVC Compulink files viewed using a soundcard.