This page is for SPRC members to have their recent radio hobby related activities and experiences/comments posted for others to gain some new ideas/knowledge. Think of it as a forum socializing with other club members and Hams on a regular basis as new information arrives!
Please send your requested post in an email to kc0inp@hotmail.com
Postings will be updated on a regular basis, or at least weekly!
Tom KC0INP posted on August 1 , 2026
Not much new activity to report. This week is our turn in the ARRL WAS 250 event. I plan to find a two hour block in time to operate but so far have been too busy. North American CW QSO Party is today and band condx are not good. Eager to hear from others as to what you have been up to!
Tom KC0INP posted on July 5, 2026
Visited the club ARRL Field Day site and took in another delicious meal which included Burgers, Brats, Pork sandwiches, and shrimp along with salads and mac and cheese, and Ice cream sundaes to finish off the meal. Had a nice visit with a few members I have not seen in a while and caught up on recent activities. The annual club awards were also presented. I need to post some photos of the event as soon as I upload these. Weather was perfect while I was there. I did operate from my home QTH on Sunday during the final hour of field day with 20 contacts made. I have been making contacts with the 13 Colonies Special event stations . There are still a few days left for the event so get on the air and chase them!
Tom KC0INP posted on June 26, 2026
Band conditions continue to be poor. Hopefully they will improve for ARRL Field Day weekend starting tomorrow.! I’m a bit disappointed that no one else is taking advantage of this space sharing their activities, comments or other radio related tips. I hope that the reason might be that everyone in the club is too busy operating on the bands! I am trying to keep our website updated and always looking for more content to add. Comments are appreciated.
Tom KC0INP posted on June 14, 2026
I wonder how many of you take the time and initiative to answer CQs. It is quite appreciated when a CQ is responded to if nothing other than to know that the signal is getting out. Not sure why some hams do not like to answer CQs. Maybe some of you don’t want to take the effort or time for a quick courtesy call and exchange. Or, maybe some hams are shy, which would be surprising to say the least. I myself don’t always answer the first CQ heard but if no one else responds I will give a call to the station, providing the typical signal report, name, and QTH information. At times this turns into a longer chat, or remains short and done. These are just my own opinions, but it can’t hurt to respond to a CQ and make other hams happy to be heard. Turn a monolog into a 2-way conversation today!
Tom KC0INP posted on June 13, 2026
Things have been a little quiet on the bands with poor conditions. A few POTA stations and regular checking in to the 17 meter prop roundtable group. Also attended the prop group monthly zoom meeting. Robert, W5IUA went over some OBS changes and also a new browser extension he published to use as an alternative to the OBS route of monitoring multiple SDRs at the same time.
Field Day 2026 is coming up in a couple of weeks.
SpaceX stock IPO was yesterday. Just an FYI that the company is more than just a rocket venture. The current money maker is currently the Starlink internet service providing connections worldwide using all of those satellites placed up there. Too bad we can’t find a way to bounce our signals off of all of the objects in earth orbit. I suppose that at the correct height it would be possible but they are relatively small areas but then again we have meteor scatter which works. Any thoughts on this?
Tom KC0INP posted on April 26, 2026
After reading Dales GroundWave article for the month
I thought that this info on investing might be of interest to others. I am not endorsing it but as an active stock trader I like how it is presented relating to our hobby. Take a moment to read it and you might learn something to help with your investment activities and growing your wealth. https://investablewealth.com/investing-tips-for-the-ham-radio-operator/
Tom KC0INP posted on April 17, 2026 – HF band conditions have been mixed lately but I’ve kept busy working POTA stations and daily 17 meter prop group roundtable stations along with CW on Wednesdays during the CW ops CWT sessions.
Attended the last monthly radio club meeting using ZOOM. Had some technical difficulties with my microphone on the laptop until well into the meeting but was able to enjoy viewing the program for the evening on how computers and the internet work and how traffic is routed, along with some fiber optic background info. Another great presentation once again during the monthly meeting.
Weekend activities include various state QSO parties. With spring here and taxes done some of my focus will shift to outdoor activities including growing some vegetables, so time to get some sunshine and out of the shack. I did make a couple of 220MHz contacts using the TYT 9000 radio I picked up at the Lake Elmo swapfest a couple of years ago at a bargain price. I rarely get on VHF/UHF but good to hear it in use. The 220 antenna is a quarter wave whip at ground level in the shack. maybe I will get it outside and a bit higher.
Getting some QSL cards arriving via Email. Also received the latest batch from the ARRL QSL Bureau. Nice to see QSL cards are still being used by some of us and not just Logbook Of The World.
Jim K9TF posted on April 1. 2026 – On Valentines Day on Feb 2025 we moved from West Allis WI, Milwaukee, to Ramsey Min to be closer to my daughter in Andover MN. In the Spring I put up an Alpha Delta DX-EE 40-10 meter dipole in the garage attic, so it is about 18 feet above the ground. I am running about 90 watts into it. By the end of summer that year I completed WAS mixed, then 40, 30 and 20 meter Digital WAS. I am currently working one 17-6 meters WAS.
KC0INP – posted March 24 2026
Operated as W1AW/0 250 WAS station . Very poor prop conditions of course so few contacts made. SSB and CW on 20m and 40m operations. Great time to have a memory voice and cw option in the rig hi hi. Too bad more hams in Minnesota did not volunteer to operate as W1AW/0 during the week activation.
Get involved and fill the airwaves.
kc0inp Tom – posted February 21, 2026
Changed our domain name to saintpaulradioclub.org.
At first look there appear to be no known issues. A full site backup was created, and this is a test of the editing capabilities. Now I can return to my other activities.
KC0INP Tom – posted February 4,2026
Just reminding everyone that the Minnesota QSO Party takes place this Saturday February 7, 2026 1400 UTC to 2400 UTC. iT IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY to get on the air and hunt other Minnesota stations and create pileups from stations hunting for Minnesota stations and county multipliers .
For information https://www.w0aa.org/mn-qso-party/
N0PEY Dale – posted January 18, 2026
it is actually my last years plan, but we got rained out.
My summer project, using the six pees, prior planning prevents piss poor performance. N0PEY
Antenna and tower project for refitting, what we have to do and what we want to do in step-by-step procedures.
Prepare for the event:
On the ground, build replacement rotor system with new rotor, cable and controller with water tight connections and new coax and control cable. Test it and confirm good operation.
Refurbish the 40M dipole to include cleaning as many joints that we can and clear the feed point for a new coax wound balen. Must be non-foam coax, 8-10 turns as balun, and test as best we can on the ground. Rig now added diagonal support lines to tower, hold it in position which will be 90 degrees off North/beam.
Prep the top hat of the top mounted vertical for reinstallation when the tower adjustments allows for it. Must include replacing the aluminum radials and verifying the coil is good. ???? OR get a new vertical! Build new Lanyard pole of PVC over large dowel, extend it to 15 feet and maybe push it up a section with a drop down 45 degree support. Getting the feed points for wires at 70 feet, but keeping it far enough away from the beams.
Gather all the hand tools, wrenches and sockets, and power gear for the jobs times two, ground and tower.
Gather tape and ties, paste and lube, sprays of all kinds, rags and towels.
Bring down the connector selections and tools, find anything else that may be needed to make this plan work.
On the tower.
Free up all the wires taped or attached to the tower. Pull all wires from the house and access points. Some may be reused, but I have a ton of other coax that we can TEST and find the best ones and length without putting on new connectors. But new crimp on connectors are here. Consider at this time, whether to increase the height of the UHF repeater antenna to 70 feet upside down and off to the SE or NE or not. It would swap locations with my 2M Comet which I am replacing with a duel band Comet G-3.
The HF9V will be reconditioned and mounted on the wood post and masts up about 15-20 feet. Above ground tuned radials are planned with the red 14G wire, from stock. I have bury able cable for it.
KC0INP Tom – posted January 15, 2026
Operated in the latest RTTY and CW QSO parties. After having an issue with the N1MM+ logging program during an RTTY contest I made a few changes to my Icom IC7300 radio which ended up causing the radio to PC connection to malfunction. I tried restoring the connection, but after many failed attempts changing settings and reloading drivers on my computer, and countless searches on the internet, I finally enlisted help from Rob AA1BS whom I know from my daily participation in the Propagation Roundtable Group on 17 Meters. Rob set up a Zoom Session with me to go over the settings that he has in his 7300 radio. My 7300 is connected to the PC via a USB cable and I noticed that there eas an unrecognized USB error message briefly displayed when I plugged in the cable or powered up the radio after the PC was up and running, so I decided to try powering up the radio prior to starting my computer. As luck woud have it, this resolved the issue. I discovered the fix just prior to the Zoom session with Rob, but learned much more information on radio connector settings in the 7300 from Rob. He also had a few ideas on radio control programs he uses with his Icom radios. Once again my radio/PC are connected!
I have been slowly working the Special Stations operating in conjunction with the ARRL Worked All States theme activity for 2026. This is another way to promote interest in getting on the air along with the continuing Parks On The Air (POTA) operations.
Band conditions continue to be pretty good and lots of fun activities available to keep involved with on the air!
I
Your experiences posted here!!!!!!!