Charleston Marathon 2014

Helping out with radio communication support during the Charleston Marathon was a lot of fun yesterday. The weather was on the chilly side with a breeze that didn’t help much. At least it was a sunny day which helped a bit.

I was assigned to the 23 mile mark which, for the marathon course, was also the 17.5ish mark too. It was a while before I saw the first marathon runner come by, about an hour and 40 minutes into the race. There were a few runners trickling by, and then a pretty steady flow of runners over the couple hours going one way, then coming back the other way towards the finish.

The runner in the Superman Underoos outfit gave me a chuckle as he ran by. There was another person wearing a Spiderman shirt, and a woman wearing a 1800s period dress complete with parasol. Probably the most impressive were the two firefighters walking the course dressed in full gear.

Fortunately there were no major incidents (not that I heard over the radio anyway). Had to call for some assistance when a runner broke down at my location but that’s about it. A few other runners broke down at other points in the course but nothing severe.

Just before 2:30PM, the net wrapped up operations and I secured my location. There were only a handful of stragglers walking the rest of the course by that point.

All in all, aside from the temperature, it was a lot of fun. I found out that my HT can reach the repeater on the Yorktown from 8 miles away and that even when broadcasting the time calling signal at max volume pretty much continuously for 4 hours, the battery held out for the entire time. Good things to know.

OpenBeacons on the air

With the help of the M3 frequency counter Jason/NT7S sent me, I was able to set the transmit frequency for my two OpenBeacons. The 40m OpenBeacon I built is tuned to 7.0403 MHz while the 30m OpenBeacon from W2MDW is set for 10.139 MHz. Both of them transmit “AB4UG/B FM02AS” using QRSS with a 6 second dit.

I’ve had the 40m OpenBeacon on the air all night, but I’m not sure if anybody saw it. Most of the QRSS grabbers seem to be listening on 30m. There’s one grabber listed that’s on 40m, but it’s listening around 7.0008 MHz. I’d have to replace the crystal in the OpenBeacon to get down that low. I should put some pin headers in the crystal spot so I can change frequencies by replacing the crystal.

I think I’ll try the 30m OpenBeacon running today and see if it gets grabbed anywhere.

(Looks like I’ll have to tweak the frequency of the 30m beacon…most of the grabbers seem to be listening on a fairly narrow 100-500 Hz band around 10.140).

Update: Tweaked the 30m OpenBeacon to transmit at 10.1399 MHz. If you happen to see it, let me know.

Charleston Hamfest 2014

Coming up in a few weeks is the Charleston Hamfest and “Computer Show” (experienced hamfest goers will know the reason for “Computer Show”).

The Hamfest is February 1 at the Armory Park Community Center in North Charleston, just off East Montague Ave. Admission to the hamfest is $5 and doors open at 8AM. I’ll be helping out in the tailgating area this year. Hope the weather is a little warmer than last year and that there are more people tailgating this year than last year.

As with most hamfests, there are prize drawings: $400, $200 and $100 are the main prize drawings. There will also be other door prizes drawn as well. This year, one of the club members donated a Kenwood TM241 2m radio which will be given away as a door prize this year (I’m told you have to be present to win the radio and door prizes, but not the cash prizes).

VE testing will also be offered at the hamfest so if you’ve been thinking about getting your amateur radio license, start getting ready. Once you pass, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to buy everything you need to get on the air at the hamfest!

Charleston Hamfest is also looking for a forum presenter or two. If you feel like giving a presentation to a bunch of radio/electronics geeks drop a note and I’ll put you in touch with the People In Charge.

Last year I scored a lighted magnifier for the workbench that I’ve been getting a lot of use out of. Probably the best $5 I’ve spent in a long time. Hopefully I’ll find something equally good this year. I’ll have to think about what I want to acquire. Maybe some supplies for building antennas and some cable adapters.

Charleston Marathon radio support

This weekend (Jan 18) is the Charleston Marathon, and I signed up to help with the communication support with a bunch of my fellow hams. I have no idea where I’ll be stationed or moved to yet. This will be the first time I’ve done anything like this with my radio, and I’m looking forward to the experience. Not sure what to expect, but I’m sure I’ll learn a lot.

Worked All States progress

After a bit of poking around in ARRL’s Logbook of the World (LotW), I discovered that I’m a lot closer to getting Worked All States (Basic) than I thought. I only need to make contacts in three more states: Mississippi, Rhode Island and West Virginia. Then I’ll have made contacts with at least one person in every state.

More wallpaper for the shack!

Update 2014-02-10: KB8BIP (WV) confirmed in LotW! Two more to go!