Finally! A Blog Update!

This is the first post I've made this year! Sorry for that, but my life has changed drastically since my last post! On March 24th, 2012 I lost my beloved wife of 27 years and mother of my three children, Irene, due to a pulmonary embolism. I have been in deep depression ever since her death. She suffered her 3rd  heart attack while hospitalized in Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC.  She was only 48 years old! She was awaiting surgery to implant a LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device)    because her previous 2 heart attacks had damaged her heart to the point that it was only pumping at 19% capacity, but I guess God had other plans for her.  It's going to take me years to ever get over losing her!    She was the most caring and giving person I have ever known! She changed me for the better over the years and I am a better person for it! I will never ever forget her and will always feel that she was a true blessing to me from God!    

                                                                                                                                                                   

IRENE FOX "Renie"                                                                 

Now I will update you on my amateur radio activities. I recently received two wonderful surprises that were both totally unexpected! About a month ago I went to check the mailbox and there was a large envelope from the ARRL. My first thought when I saw it was that it was probably a reminder that my membership was about to expire, but much to my surprise and delight this is what was in the mailbox!

Not in a million years did I ever expect this! I've been a ham for 15 years now and I had pretty well given up the thought of ever being a member of the A-1 Operator Club. It has been in existence since May 1933 and all hams worldwide are eligible for membership, but the only way you can become a member is if two existing members nominate you and if you solicit a member for a nomination it automatically disqualifies you of ever becoming a member! There are to this date only 5,825 members worldwide! The A-1 Operator Club has represented an unsolicited acknowledgment of one's high standing among one's peers and I am extremely grateful to be a member of this elite group, to me this is my greatest accomplishment in the amateur radio hobby!

The other surprise I received is a great one also! I had recently sold my Yaesu DVR-2 digital voice recorder that came along with the Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V transceiver I bought last June after a May 22nd, 2011 thunderstorm destroyed my previous Mark V along with almost ever piece of electronic equipment in the entire house, $6200 damage total! I never did use the DVR-2 so I sold it with the intent of purchasing a QRP CW rig or a kit to build one, but as Murphy's Law usually rears it's ugly head I wound up having to use part of the $145 I got for it to put new brake pads and rotors on the front of my daughter's car so I only had $65 left! I was talking with my good friend WD4CWE Don Miller in Burlington, NC on 3.895 Mhz LSB and was telling Don about this and I told him if he heard of anyone that may have a used one or a kit for $65 to let me know. That conversation took place on Saturday April 21st, 2012. Well, two days later after having sat up all night playing on the ham radio & computer I was still sleeping at lunch time and my daughter Elizabeth woke me up and said "Hey Dad, do you know someone from Dolly Parton Parkway in Sevierville, Tennessee?" and I replied, "that's where Ten-Tec is!" Liz said "what's that?" and I said "Tennessee Technical!". She then said, "Well, the UPS just left a box here for you from there!" I said, "Well, bring it in here and open it!" Inside was a brand spanking new Ten-Tec R4020 QRP CW transceiver and on the invoice was written: "Mr. Fox - A Gift For You From Your Friends On 3895!" Can you believe it? Those guys set me up with a $249 QRP rig and it could not have arrived at a better time for you see, Tuesday April 24th, 2012 was the one month anniversary of my dear wife's death. I was dreading waking up that day because I just knew I was going to be very depressed, but getting the new rig sure cheered me up! It absolutely made my day! I thank the good Lord for whom ever it was that did this for me and will be forever grateful! I am making a 44 feet long center-fed dipole fed with 450 ohm ladder line to use as my QRP antenna and hope to be operating from some mountain top or park very soon! Mount Mitchell is only about a 2 hour drive from my home QTH and is 6,684 feet above sea level. It is the highest mountain east of the Mississippi River! Also, Grandfather Mountain is even closer, about a 90 minute drive, and is at 5,946 feet above sea level! So if your a CW operator be listening for me around the CW QRP watering holes on 7.030, 7.040, and 14.060! I used to think that one could not do very well running only 5 watts, but after joining the  NAQCC (North American QRP CW Club), I'm NAQCC#1491, and working about 90 minutes of their QRP Sprint one night I got a attitude adjustment as far as QRP capabilities! I worked 23 station in 17 states that night! After that I was hooked! 

TEN-TEC R4020

On another ham radio topic I have been working a little bit of digital, mainly Hellschreiber A.K.A. Feld Hell around 7.073 USB on 40 meters. I often call the Feld Hell Club Net on Thursdays beginning at 0045 UTC (Wednesday evening at 8:45 PM EDT in North America). My Feld Hell membership number is 62. The Feld Hell Club currently has 3,836 members! I like it better than PSK31 because it has a duty cycle much like CW and so does not heat the radio's finals near as bad as 100% duty cycle modes such as PSK31, MFSK, and a lot of other digital modes so check it out sometime! For much more information on Hellschreiber check out the Feld Hell Club's website at https://sites.google.com/site/feldhellclub/Home  

Now I want to put in a word for my favorite ham radio net and that is the "Freewheelers Net" held nightly beginning 0300 UTC, 11:00 PM EDT, on 3.916 LSB. It is, in my opinion, the best camaraderie net on amateur radio! These are a great bunch of hams that welcome all newcomers to join in! The Freewheelers Net has a Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freewheelersnet/ Come join in on the fun! You will certainly feel welcome!

Well,  that's the latest from the KU4GW hamshack and I will do my best not to wait so long before making my next post! Hope to catch you "on the air" soon! Thanks for reading my blog!

Very 73!

Cliff - KU4GW

Multiple Myeloma Update + Ham Radio Update

      It's been quiet a while since I've posted anything, let alone an update on my battle with Multiple Myeloma (MM). The main reason for this is my MM was in remission for 3 years & 4 months after my autologous stem cell transplant (SCT) in late 2007, but returned in stage 1 back in March 2011 with an m-spike protein level of 1.1. For those reading my blog not familiar with what MM is here's a definition: Multiple myeloma, also known as plasma cell myeloma or Kahler's disease (after Otto Kahler), is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cells normally responsible for the production of antibodies. Collections of abnormal cells accumulate in bones, where they cause bone lesions (abnormal areas of tissue), and in the bone marrow where they interfere with the production of normal blood cells. Most cases of myeloma also feature the production of a paraprotein, an abnormal antibody that can cause kidney problems and interferes with the production of normal antibodies leading to immunodeficiency. Hypercalcemia (high calcium levels) is often encountered. After my SCT I had bloodwork done every quarter of the year so if it did return it would be caught hopefully in an early stage and that worked out well because it showed up in stage 1 in March. I immediately returned to Wake Forest University's Comprehensive Cancer Center in Winston-Salem, NC for an appointment with my oncologist, Associate Professor Dr. Denise Levitan, to begin treatment again. She put me on a drug called Revlimid, the brand name, but the actual drug name is Lenalidomide. This along with dexamethasone which I take 5 pills at once every 7 days for 3 weeks each month. I get 1 week off of both drugs each month and so far the combination of the 2 are working well for me. Just last month my m-spike protein level dropped all the way to 0.10! That's almost in complete remission again! Oh yeah, for a detailed description of what a M-spike protein is go to this: http://www.pathologystudent.com/?p=3007 . M-spike proteins show up in both blood tests and urine tests. Anyway, that's where I'm currently at in my cancer battle. There is no known cure for MM, but you can live a lot of years with it because it is treatable and I'm hopeful that someday a cure will be found. I feel pretty good most of the time, but I have occasional bad feeling days as well. For lots more info on multiple myeloma check out http://www.margaret.healthblogs.org/ and all the links on http://www.myelomablogs.org as well.
      As far as my radio hobby goes I always have fun on ham radio! I check in frequently with all my friends on the Freewheelers Net on 3916 Khz and am also having a lot of fun operating CW (Morse Code) with the Straight Key Century Club, I'm SKCC#652. Last check SKCC has 8,460 members as of October 6th, 2011! I also participate with the QRP guys in the North American QRP CW Club, I'm NACCC#1491 and with the Flying Pigs QRP International Club, I'm FP#1183. Well, that's my much needed update so I'm gonna run for now and work some of the October SKCC Weekend Sprintathon which had only 3 hours left of which I've yet to work any of this month so hope to hear you on the air! 


Very 73,
Cliff - KU4GW 

MAY 22ND, 2011 DIRECT LIGHTNING STRIKE!

It finally happened after 35 years in the radio hobby! Was in QSO with W4EQ John in Lake Norman, NC when the Weather Alert radio alarmed with a severe thunderstorm warning for Alexander County. I immediately signed off with John and told him I was unhooking. I brought up the Firefox web browser to check the Intellicast Weather Radar and I saw a large hook echo close to 2 miles from edge to edge with a huge indention in the center. I unhooked both my coaxes and grounded them to the ground wire coming from outside the window that is attached to a 8 foot ground rod 7 1/2 feet deep in red clay soil. I have 2 short pieces of copper wire with an alligator clip soldered on each end and I clip one end of each  to the ground wire  and the other to the collar (shield) of the PL-259 connectors. I had everything in the shack disconnected, but the computer and it hit sounding like a large tree cracking just outside the kitchen window at the back of the house followed by a huge noise that sounded like an explosion. In that split second it destroyed my 2 cordless telephones, answering machine,  Direct TV satellite receiver, my 42" flat screen hi-def Vizio TV, DVD/VCR combo, desktop computer,Exceluis RF phone line filter, Rigblaster Plus digital interface, and proceeded from the PC sound card and Rigblaster into my Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V and even destroyed the HC-5 full-range mic element in my Heil Proset Plus headset! I ended up with about $6,200 in damages with 2 small trees lying on the house from the 90 MPH winds! A hard lesson learned that took over a month to finally get all settled up with through the homeowner's insurance. Thank God I had full replacement coverage on personal property! Got me another FT-1000MP Mark V for $1,700 with all the optional SSB filters, the roofing filter mod, and the DVS-2 digital voice recorder all included! Everything has been repaired or replaced now. Thanks to W4WWF  Dale (now a Silent Key as of February 23rd, 2017 after a 3 year battle with lung cancer) for loaning me a Yaesu FT-857D to run until I got another rig so I wasn't totally off the air! From here on out I'll be unhooking everything including telephone lines when a storm approaches! Sending my old FT-1000MP Mark V off for repair. KI4NR says I'm looking at around a $500 repair because the lightning entered the radio through the CAT port which usually damages the microprocessor and the entire CAT board has to be replaced. You can't buy just the microprocessor. The CAT board alone from Yaesu is $315! Got the power company coming out this week to install Triple Surge Guard lightning protection on my power meter, satellite dish, and telephone line. I'll still be unhooking! I had all these items on surge protectors which were totally useless! There is no such thing as protection from a direct lightning strike! Where I had the coaxes grounded the lightning came through the ground and burned the ground wire completely in two plus literally welded one of the alligator clips to the ground wire! Well, that's the story of my first and I sure hope my only direct lightning strike ever! Was very scary especially with the high winds we had! I have a huge oak tree at the NW corner of my hamshack, same direction the wind was coming from, that would completely flatten my house should it ever come down. This was a fast moving storm with a forward speed of 60 MPH so it didn't take very long to pass over. One of the trees fell across my 260 feet doublet dipole antenna and broke it right at the dog bone insulator on one end, but the antenna still tunes the same so it's OK. I just need to raise it up another 30 feet, only 30 feet high on that end right now and still up close to 60 feet on the opposite end, an extreme sloper for the time being, but still performing very well from my elevation of 1,434 feet ASL on the NE slope of Bald Knob Mountain ( SOTA=Summits On The Air Locator: http://sota.hamradio.me/peak.php?reference=W4C/WP-005 ) . I hope I never ever have to repeat this story on a blog again!

 Very 73,

Cliff - KU4GW

Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark-V Lightning Damage

"CLICK ON EACH PHOTO TO ENLARGE"

Your help is needed to help avoid losing our 420-440Mhz band

A bill has been recently introduced which could result in amateurs losing their currently allocated frequencies on the 70cm band (420-440Mhz). The ARRL is asking that folks write to their legislators to oppose the bill in it's current form. The FCC is proposing to auction off certain spectrum for commercial use to replace the spectrum given up in the 700Mhz band (formerly used for analog TV) to help make up for the loss of commercial revenue in those bands. The spectrum slated for auction is supposed to be existing Public Safety spectrum (since the 700Mhz block went to Public Safety), but the Amateur allocations appear to have been incorrectly bundled in with those from Public Safety. You can read more about this issue at the ARRL website here and you can read how to help here. Please note that they strongly recommend sending letters to their legislative consultants who will hand-deliver them to Congress due to extensive delays in postal mail screening to members of Congress. It's very easy to do! After downloading the sample letter from ARRL and editing it with your info you can go to http://www.congress.org and register with their website just paste the email into a simple Write Your Lawmakers form from the link at the top right side of the web page after signing into your congress.org account. Onec you've pasted the edited letter into the congress.org form you can preview it and then click send and it's sent. Very simple and easy to do! Only takes about 15 minutes maximum of your time and well worth it to protect out frequency spectrum! Thanks for your help and very 73!

LOOK WHAT SANTA CLAUS GOT ME!

Santa Claus AKA "My XYL" bought me an old German Junker (pronounced "yunker") CW Key for Christmas! Actually she purchased it from PA3FLM John in the Amsterdam, Netherlands back on November 19th, but thanks to the heavy shipping of Christmas gifts, cards, etc it took 26 days to arrive! I was quiet surprised to see my daughter Elizabeth with a package when she came home around 10 PM Tuesday night. I wish I had drove the 1 mile to the mailbox earlier that evening and I could have used it in the North American CW Club (NAQCC) December QRP CW Sprint. I worked the 2 hour sprint earlier that evening running only 5 watts and wound up with 28 stations in 16 states which got me 2nd place in the entire W4 division using my Begali Camelback straight key! I love my Begali and hope to someday get me a set of Begali paddles! Below are a few photos of the key Santa got me:

An excellent Christmas gift indeed and very much appreciated! Well, at least I'll have it to use  today from 1800 UTC until 2359 UTC in the ARRL CW Rookie Roundup and in the  ARRL Straight Key Night coming up on New Years from 0000 UTC until 2359 UTC! CW is by far my favorite mode of operation and, speaking from 14+ years of experience on amateur radio, where you encounter the best and most courteous operators. If your a fan of Facebook take a look at my CW OPERATORS page on Facebook. I try and post the latest events for CW operators on there each week to keep folks informed. Well,  guess that's about it this post and thank you for reading my blog. Be sure and sign my guestbook if you have the time at the link  at the very top of the page.

Hope to work you on the bands! 73 and "Merry Christmas" and a "Happy and Prosperous 2011!" de Cliff KU4GW  SKCC#652  NAQCC#1491  FPQRP#1183 30MDG#865

SEPTEMBER 4TH, 2010 "54TH ANNUAL SHELBY HAMFEST"

Had a great time at the 54th Annual Shelby Hamfest and got to meet a couple of hams I usually talk with daily on 3895 ,but had never met them in person before. Got to meet N4LMF William & K5TBZ Craig. I rode down with my good friend W4WWF Dale. There was a great turnout even though hamfest officials said attendance was down from last years. Checked out all the newest Yaesu & Icom gear, but Kenwood was a no show. Was wanting to look at the new Kenwood TS-590 to see what it looked like up close & personal, but no luck there! Also, the ARRL was a no show this year, not sure what happened to them, they're usually there every year! I didn't really need anything, but did pick up a few PL259s and 30 solder lugs to attach the radials to my Hustler 5BTV vertical I'm fixing to put up. Think I'll lay down 10 radials each for 20, 30, and 40 meters. Also bought me a set of the plastic HF tuning tools and a set of hemostats to use for a soldering heat sink. I also have another antenna I'm fixing to put up, a double bazooka cut for 75 meters, want to compare it with my 260 feet doublet and also string it up perpendicular to the doublet. Next thing I'm interested in amateur radio wise is to get into QRP in the field. Ten-Tec has a nice little QRP dual band HF rig for $249.00 I'm particularly interested in: Two Band CW QRP Transceiver - 40/20 Meters  It's a 20/40 meter dual bander CW rig. Here's a closeup view: Ten-Tec R4020  Also need to get me a portable tripod & antenna for QRP in the field and  a 12 volt portable power pack or solar panel. Hopefully I'll be ready by next summer for some fun in the field! Have posted a couple of hamfest pics below, but you can see all my photos from the hamfest here:  Shelby Hamfest Photos  Been having a lot of fun lately with my new rig! The VRF (Variable Receive Frontend) is my favorite feature on the FT-1000MP Mark V. It is amazing how much QRN it will take out! Also I like the CW tuning meter which makes zero beating a breeze visually. Until next blog very 73 and hope to see you down the log!

My New Rig Has Arrived!

Just received my new rig, a Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V (200 watt version) on May 3rd, 2010 and absolutely love it! I purchased it from W4CCW Craig. It is loaded with filters,a VRF=Variable Receiver Front end and much much more to help dig those really weak signals out of the noise, especially on CW! I have already sold my Kenwood TS-570D to KD8KAK Tim in Ohio and recouped some of the bucks spent out on the Mark V. Also, finally got new coax to set up my other two antennas. I'm putting up a Hustler 5BTV vertical ground-mounted with 30 radials cut for the 40 meter band and also a Double Bazooka cut for 3.895 Mhz made and given to me free of charge by my good friend KT4FW Sid. Well, that's the latest from the KU4GW shack so until next blog very 73!

Cliff KU4GW

A FEW PHOTOS OF THE NEW RIG

WA2BEN BEN LIPTON SK

I write this entry with much sadness at the recent loss of my good friend WA2BEN Ben Lipton who recently passed on. Ben was a great friend whom I spoke with for many years on ham radio and is sorely missed! I always loved his great sense of humor, especially the funny things he would say on the air when bickering back and forth with WZ4I Mark. They had the type of relationship where they would continuously put each other down, all in fun of course! If Ben and Mark were nice to each other on the air I would have thought that something was definitely amiss! I got many good chuckles out of the things those two would say to each other! May God bless and keep Ben by his side through all eternity! Heaven is a better place with the presence of Ben Lipton!

PHOTO FROM THE WA2BEN MEMORIAL DINNER HELD JANUARY 9TH, 2010 IN MEMORY OF OUR FRIEND BEN LIPTON
PHOTO OF WA2BEN BEN LIPTON-CENTER IN PHOTO BELOW

2009 CQWW SSB DX CONTEST

I had an absolute blast working the CQWW SSB DX Contest October 24th-25th! Below are my results which I thought amazing for only 8 hours of actual on-the-air operating time.

MY CQWW SSB DX CONTEST TOTALS

20 Meters QSO's:94 Countries (Not including U.S.):50 CQ Zones:16

40 Meters QSO's:17 Countries (Not including U.S.):10 CQ Zones: 4

Operating Time In Hours: 8 Total estimate.

Operating Class: Single Operator - High Power

GRAND TOTAL:

TOTAL QSO's:111

Countries(Not including U.S.): 60

1 U.S. Station QSO

QSO Points:321

Multipliers:81

TOTAL SCORE: 26,001

COUNTRIES WORKED IN CONTEST:
Aruba, Austria, Australia, Balearic Island, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bonaire Curacao, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde Island, Ceuta & Melilla, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, European Russia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jerrey Island, Kaliningrad, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Serbia, Sicily, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turks & Caicos Islands, USA, Venezuela, and Wales.

What I've Been Up To Lately

It's been quite a while since my last post so thought I would bring it up to date. I have been mostly hanging out with my friends on 3.895 & 28.490 and also have been having a CW sked on 80 meters every Friday morning for a couple months now with W4CUX Bill down in the great state of Georgia. Also, I bought an Ameritron AL-80B 1000 watt amplifier back in February that I think is the best thing I've ever gotten as far as ham radio next to my 260 feet doublet antenna and Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V rig. . I also absolutely love the Heil Proset Plus headset my XYL bought me for Christmas two years ago! I can hear everything so much better especially weak CW signals near the noise floor. The phase reversal on the headphones makes it sound like the audio is in the center of my head instead of at my ears. I highly recommend them! Have been having a lot of fun also on 30 meter PSK31 and also on 80, 40, & 20 meter Feld-Hell (Hellschreiber). Feld-Hell is a very old mode that Rudolph Hell invented in 1929 that was used a during the Spanish Civil War in 1933 and during WWII for field portable military communications. Check out the 30 Meter Digital Group and the Feld-Hell Club websites for more info on these fun digital modes. My favorite mode is and has always been CW and I joined a great group called the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) back in 2006. SKCC is nearly 6000 members now and promote the use of straight keys and bugs, no electronic keying devices allowed for SKCC Awards. My SKCC number is 652. Give me a call if you hear me. I experimented with JT65A mode a while back, but find it isn't my cup of tea. It more or less is just used for callsign and signal reports swaps with no conversation. I like to talk and also have a ragchew instead of just swapping reports. I'll save the RST swapping for DX pileups and contests which reminds me the CQWW DX SSB Contest is coming up this coming weekend and the CW Contest November 28 & 29th. Well, that's about it from here for now. Hope to hear you on the air or see you on the waterfall on digital.
Very 73 de Cliff KU4GW