MBA Studies at Arizona State University

I have been extremely busy with school for the last year or so and have had no time for blogging (or Amateur Radio).

I was accepted to the MBA program at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and began the program there in January, 2011. I expect to graduate with my MBA in December, 2012.

I Graduated August 14, 2010!

I graduated Tarleton State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree on August 14, 2010!

I had been taking an increased class load the last 2 semesters allowing me to graduate ahead of schedule.

I plan to take the fall semester off from school (other than taking the GMAT), and begin my pursuit of a MBA in January, 2011.

All QSL's Received Through May, 2010 Processed

For WQ5W, ZF2TG (1992), V31RR (2004 only), C6AQW, and J75W. Direct QSL's mailed out today; buro QSL's will be sent when I get to at least 1/2 pound. I will process QSL's again when school is finished (September 2010).

I am the QSL Manager for 2004 V31RR Operation ONLY!

It looks like this call has been re-issued. I only used this call in 2004, so I can only QSL for contacts made then. Details for the re-issued call's manager (AA4NC) are on QRZ.com

All QSL's Received Through August, 2009 Processed

All direct and buro QSL's received through August 2009 for J75W, C6AQW, V31RR, ZF2TG and WQ5W have been processed and mailed (including a shipment to the outgoing buro).

School has started again (more than half-way finished now!) so I do not anticipate answering QSLs again until at least mid-December, 2009.

All about ME!

What a humble headline ; )

If you want to learn more about the author of this blog, please click the link on the right side of the page under "Blog Posts By Topic" called "All About Me (biography)".

After a brief break, I'm heading back to school now. I will probably post very infrequently (if at all) until the spring semester is over in May, 2009.

Any suggestions for a 6M DXpedition in the summer of 2011?
73,
Alan, WQ5W

C6AQW/J75W QSL'S Processed

As promised, I have completed processing and mailing ALL QSL's received to date for C6AQW and J75W (+ WQ5W, V31RR and ZF2TG). I mailed all direct QSL's this morning (December 13, 2008). All bureau cards (including those just received in my December shipment) have also been processed and shipped to the ARRL Outgoing QSL Bureau.

If you do not receive your direct QSL by the end of January, 2009, please contact me. Please do not contact me about bureau cards. My experience is that bureau cards take many months (or even over a year) after mailing for you to receive.

I apologize again for the delay. Because of the demands of work and school, I have not had any time to work on these until now.

After a brief break, I am now entering the winter semester in school. The winter semester will be followed immediately by the spring semester. This means I will likely not have any free time to process QSL's again until May, 2009. I appreciate your patience.

As a reminder, all of my logs for C6AQW, J75W, V31RR and WQ5W have been uploaded to Logbook Of The World (LOTW). I encourage you to join LOTW if you haven't already at:

http://www.arrl.org/lotw/

LOTW is a wonderful way to quickly (and cheaply) get DXCC confirmations.

73,
Alan, WQ5W/C6AQW/J75W/V31RR/ZF2TG/VP2M/WQ5W

C6AQW Set A Record!

I just looked at the results from the 2007 CQWW SSB contest. My modest effort as C6AQW set a Bahamas record for the 20M low power category!

This is a pretty dubious record as I'm not sure anyone had ever entered that category before from C6. Still, it's nice to see the call in the record book!
http://www.cqww.com/records_ph_na.htm

Like Woody Allen said, 90% of life is just showing up!

A word about paper QSL's

A lot has happened in my life since my DXpeditions! I have moved back home to Fort Worth, Texas due to a job promotion and I have returned to college with the ultimate goal of completing a post-graduate degree. Due to increased commitments at work and my return to school I have not been able to process any paper QSL's for either C6AQW or J75W to date. I apologize to everyone who has sent me a card. I promise that I will process all cards starting this fall and will complete by the end of the year (2008). Please do not send me another card. I have all cards received stored in a safe place. The good news is that all logs for both DXpeditons were uploaded to Logbook of The World (LOTW) shortly after their completion. I would encourage everyone who has not already joined LOTW to join at http://www.arrl.org/lotw/. It is a wonderful way to quickly (and cheaply) get DXCC confirmations. Apologies again for the delay, but I promise to complete and mail all paper QSL's by the end of 2008. 73, Alan, WQ5W/C6AQW/J75W

About Me

This blog will share my thoughts and experiences in my life both personal and as they relate to my hobby of Amateur Radio. I have been a licensed Amateur (ham) Radio operator since 1985 when I was 15 years old. I have travelled all over the world to operate my radio. I enjoy going on these trips, called DXpeditions, and operating radio contests on them. I am a life-member of the U.S. national Amateur Radio organization called the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). If you want to find out more about this fascinating hobby, please visit their website @ http://www.arrl.org/. For the next few years, however, I will have little or no time for my hobby. I am currently spending almost all of my time outside of work in college. I am currently working on finishing up my Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA). My return to school has been extremely difficult, but extremely rewarding so far. My heavy course load combined with working full-time leaves almost no “free” time to do anything else. I do work hard to make time to spend with my family. Other than that, I only allow myself two other guilty pleasures every week: watching The Office on Thursday nights and watching that week’s Dallas Cowboy and/or Manchester United football games! I must say, though, that school has been extremely rewarding so far. At this point in my life, I really enjoy learning. I’m not sure I would have had the same thirst for knowledge if I had done this earlier in life. I look forward to every course and to trying to achieve the best possible grade I’m capable of. I plan to graduate with my MBA by December 2012. Thanks for reading-hope you enjoy my ramblings in the blog!

ZF2TG Story

Here's a link to all the info on my 1992 Dxpedition and CQWW CW effort from Little Cayman Island as ZF2TG:

http://www.qsl.net/wq5w/zftrip.htm

Amazingly enough, the North American 40M record I set in the contest still stands to this day!
http://www.cqww.com/records_cw_na.htm

Please note that the QSL address listed on the page is no longer correct. My current address is on QRZ.com if you still need a card.

VP2M/WQ5W Story

Here's a link to all the details on my first ever Dxpediton as VP2M/WQ5W and the 1988 World #1 M/S operation in CQWW I was a part of:

http://www.qsl.net/wq5w/montserr.htm

It includes the story I wrote that was published in the National Contest Journal (NCJ) and many photos.

It sure doesn't seem like over 20 years have passed since this operation. I have lost track of Ron, AA5DX over the years and Bill Carter, KM5R, passed away many years ago (R.I.P. Bill).

V31RR Website

Here's my attempt at a website for my V31RR DXpedition in 2004:

www.qsl.net/v31rr

I haven't updated this since 2004 and don't plan to again. However, some detailed info on this DXpedition and Belize is contained there.

WQ5W Website

I haven't updated my web page in years, and don't plan to do so anymore.

Blogging lets me publish everything I want to the web, and the format is so much quicker and easier to use than html.

However, if you want to find out about my old station/towers in Azle, Texas from 2000-2007 , my previous DXpeditions (VP2M/WQ5W, ZF2TG, Thailand etc.) and some cool recordings I made on 6M please see:

www.qsl.net/wq5w

Just be aware that the information is outdated (address, logbooks etc.), and will not be updated.

It's over and time for a Kubuli!

Final results:

2108 QSO's (5133 points) X 142 multipliers (114 countries + 28 zones) = 728,886 points

All logs have been uploaded to LOTW.

For now, it's time to celebrate with a Kubuli (Dominica's beer) and explore the island the next couple of days.

2nd Night

After a pretty productive 2nd night I'm up to 1900 QSO's X 130 multipliers (102 countries/28 zones) for 595K points. I ran more EU last night as my points/QSO went up from 2.32 after the first night to 2.41 total now. It's still nowhere near the 2.72 I had from ZF2TG. Here's the breakdown by hour last night:

Hour/QSOs:
19/3
20/18
21/45
22/82
23/95
0/66
1/80
2/66
3/77
4/56
5/62
6/86
7/58
8/20
9/20
10/12
11/19
12/4

No JA's in the log. I heard a few on this morning but they didn't hear me.

When the band opens back up I should have about 5 hours of operating time left. I hope to break 2000 QSO's and get that multiplier total up.

I received a few nice comments on the blog last night from folks that answered my CQ's-good to know it's being enjoyed!

First 11 Hours

Here are the results so far:

1031 QSOs (2397 points) X 99 mults (76 countries + 23 zones) = 237,303 points

I'm already way ahead of my CQWW SSB score but I'm way behind the pace I had from ZF2TG in 1992 when I had 2985 Qso's X 31 zones + 111 countries=1,087,862. Of course, I had an amplifier there vs. 100W here.

Here's the breakdown by hour:

Hour/QSO's
0/121
1/124
2/124
3/178
4/150
5/95
6/83
7/75
8/32
9/12
10/36
11/1

I had a rough start as I couldn't find any place to CQ without QRM and 100W wasn't enough to clear any frequency. I realy didn't get into a groove until the 3rd hour (178 QSO's) when I established a good run frequency around 7.050. The last 3 hours were painful as I was really fighting back the urge to go to sleep. The rate slowed to a point in the 11Z hour where I could not resist sleep any more. I really need to work on my sleep schedule (and my fitness) going forward as I was not very productive those last few hours.

I need to pick it up this evening if I'm going to have a chance to come anywhere close to my ZF2TG score. I'm also not working enough EU as my avearge points/QSO are only 2.32 vs. the 2.72 I had at ZF2TG.

I'm going back to taking a nap now and will be back on the air around 20Z.

500 QSO's in the log, now it's contest time

I put 500 QSO's in the log today and they have been uploaded to LOTW. My LDG Autotuner is not functioning so it looks like I will be limited to 40, 20, 15 and 12/10M with the loops. The QSO's so far have been evenly split between 40, 20 and 15M with a nice EU opening this morning on 15M. I tried 12M and even 10M a couple of times but nothing heard.

Today was rainy until afternoon then it cleared off. The rain kept the temperature down to a very comfortable level today. I purchased contest supplies today (Diet Coke, snacks, bottled water etc). EU started opening on 40M today about 20:15Z this afternoon and it was open this morning until at least 12:30Z to the states so looks like in between there will be my breaks.

Now it's about 2.5 hours before the contest starts. I'm going to eat dinner and try to take a quick nap (or at least lay down) until about 23:30Z.

I'll try to blog tomorrow afternoon with 1st day results, but no promises. See you in the contest!

J75W On the Air

It's been an interesting couple of days. I arrived in Dominica yesterday afternoon around 3:15. Everything seemed OK until I went through customs. When the customs officials saw my Icom 7000 I was asked to put up a $300 U.S. deposit on the radio. They said that the deposit was required in case I should try to sell my radio on the island during my stay. I tried to convince them otherwise but they would not budge. I did not have $300 U.S. in cash with me so I had to leave the radio with them overnight. They also wouldn't give me a hard copy of my license until I paid the deposit. Fortunately, this morning, Gwen the very friendly owner of Seacliff Cottages where I'm staying gave me a check to leave as the deposit. Customs will give me the check back when I leave (with the radio) and I'll simply tear the check up then. I went back this morning and collected the radio and my license. I woke up at 6:00 this morning with the sun so I had some time before I went to the airport to get the radio. I used this time to measure and build the antennas. I constructed 2 full-wave 40M loop antennas with 1/4 wave RG6 matching sections. George, K5KG told me about and Lambert, J73LC (who I met at the airport this morning) arranged the services of the amazing Donford. He is a local guy who is renowned for his climbing and antenna erecting abilities. He came by this afternoon and climbed coconut and palm trees on the property to put up the antennas. Here are a couple of pictures of his work today: We put up 2 antennas. A delta loop in the backyard behind the cottage broadside to North America and a square loop across the street broadside to Europe. Here is a view of the EU loop. It is hard to see, but the loop is betwen the fourth and sixth trees from the left: The early results of these antennas are amazing. I was working loud EU pileups on my CQ an hour before sunset. I had so many calling I had to go split and even that was unmanageable at times. When I switched to the NA antenna, NA signals came way up. This looks like a great combination so I can null out 2 point NA signals to concentrate on 3 point EUs. What I've seen of the island looks beautiful. This is a very mountainous, jungle-filled island and very green. I hope to do some exploring Monday-Wednesday after the contest. The location here at seacliff seems perfect for radio. It overlooks the northeast coast of the island and is at a pretty good height above the sea. I'm sure most of the outstanding antenna results are due to the location. I rented the one bedroom cottage. It has no air conditioning, but a ceiling fan is really all that is necessary to keep it cool as the temps are in the low 80's in the daytime and mid 70's at night. We have gotten a couple of rainshowers during the day and evening to cool things even more. It also has great WiFi internet access. Here's a picture of the cottage from the front: Here is the view across the street to the Northeast. This is the same view the EU loop has.... CQWW is less than 24 hours away. I feel this is going to be a lot better result than I put up in C6.

Heading to J7

I'm in the airport in Orlando as I write this awaiting my flight to San Juan. Yesterday I tested the rig/computer setup for J7 and got packed. I purchased a MicroHam Microkeyer to key CW with N1MM. One thing I forgot was that I needed an external keyer to use with my paddles. This necessitated a trip to AES in Orlando to pick up an MFJ-401D keyer. Everything checked out OK with the rig setup, the Microkeyer keyed the rig perfectly with N1MM under Windows Vista and a 1/4" Y adapter allowed me to use the paddle/MFJ Keyer with it simultaneously.

I also went to Lowes and purchased 2 145' sections of #14 stranded wire for the loops. This will make it easier to set them up as I should only have to trim a couple of feet for resonance. I also bought some extra RG-6 for the matching sections. I have decided to go with 2 single element loops as constructing a 2 element system is too complicated to pull off given the time I had to get ready. I will try to aim one NE and one NW to cover EU and NA through an antenna switch. I am also bringing a G5RV for other bands, but I will only put that up if I have time after getting the 40M antennas ready. One thing I decided NOT to bring this time is my Buddipole as I will use the G5RV to cover the other bands. 40M is the priority so losing the Buddipole is OK on this trip.

I am travelling with 4 bags; a SKB hard sided golf case with the 2 40' fiberglass masts and lots of 100' coax sections, a large checked bag with the non-electronic equipment, a carry on with the electronic radio equipment and my laptop bag with the work laptop and the contest laptop. The SKB case comes in handy because the airline lets you check up to 70 lbs. in golf cases whereas you are allowed only 50 lbs. in suitcases.

I almost guessed perfectly on the weights. I had 73 lbs in the golf case and about 45 lbs. in the suitcase. I moved a couple of the 100' RG8X sections from the golf case to the suitcase and I ended up at regulation 70lbs. in the golf case and 50lbs in the suitcase avoiding any overweight luggage charges.

I will be in San Juan on business today-Wednesday and fly to Dominica Wednesday afternoon. My plan is to set up the station inside on Wednesday evening and put up the antennas on Thanksgiving and Friday(if necessary). I am hoping this will be a lot less hectic than what I experienced in C6.