LB3HC's hightech blog

It is often problematic to find a current list of DX clusters. Many lists exist on the Internet but few are updated. Also, lists in logging programs like Ham Radio Deluxe are often very old. I have found that it is best to go to the official DX cluster website and take a look at [...]

Latest news: The 8S7X callsign has been allocated to LB3HC.  8S7X will be activated when operating from Sweden QTH. Stay tuned for more news.

I am back from the megalocation at CR3L Madeira Island after working CQWW SSB with the R25 RRDXA team. It was a great weekend and we achieved good run rates however our targets were set at a higher QSO number. Since CR3L is in AF zone 33 we worked three pointers both to Europe and [...]

  Many amateur radio websites show the Solar Terrestrial Data “ticker” from N0NBH. However, many HF radio enthusiasts just look at the SN (solar spot number) and perhaps the K index. The truth is that the SN does not necessary say too much about the current radio conditions. So what should you look at to [...]

The teams are arriving at the airport in Ponta Delgada at Sao Miguel island. A lot of luggage was brought in. Here the Danish and German teams are waiting for their taxis. The DARC journalist is checking his photos on the digital camera as well to the left. A too small car for rigs, linears [...]

We are back from the Azores Island Hunt expedition. Approx 31000 QSOs were made during 24 hours of operation from the 9 stations when a hardcore team of DX-ers and contesters visited the islands (unofficial ADIF numbers incl. eventual dupes). Nine stations running pileups on 40, 20 and 17m were on the air on CW/SSB [...]

I recently needed a new CW keyer with Winkey compatibility for use with my N1MM logging setup. This was equipment I needed in time for the Azores Island Hunt http://azores-islands-hunt.com/. K3NG has written some nice keyer code that I compiled and uploaded to one of my Arduino UNO boards that I had laying in the [...]

I recently started to have problems with AAT.EXE from ARRL under XP. AAT.EXE is a DOS program used for calculating efficiencies of antenna tuners of L and T types. The user specifies QU of the inductor and capacitors, capacitor capacitance range, max voltage that the capacitor can tolerate, and some other parameters. AAT.EXE then makes [...]

My old vertical tuner can’t withstand QRO power levels as the tuner is limited to approx 150W. I am therefore working on a new multiband vertical for QRO operation. Its best to try to be finished before winter sets in(soon approaching as I write this blog post). Instead of using traps, I will tune the [...]

The bandpass filters for the Azores island hunt arrived today. The filters are of W3NQN design. Team Norway are going to have two stations on air at the same time from the same location in the Azores, so these filters will be crucialwe think. I will try to do some S21 measurements with my vector [...]