Mondays are busy evenings for me … homework with the kids, supper with the family, then time for radio.
The KEN went off without a hitch. Signals were good for the most part, and QRM wasn't too bad. I missed the KYN but decided to make the KSN with a different rig.
I thought about firing up Old Ironsides, but I figured I better do a shakedown cruise of the rig on CW before I try to check in on a net with it.
Instead I turned on my Heathkit HW-16 and HG-10B VFO and let it warm up.
The KSN takes place very close to guys who operate the digital modes, and on the HW-16's receiver, strong signals adjacent signals are a problem. The Datong filter I have does the trick, but honestly, I hadn't operated the rig much since SKN, so I found myself trying to remember the settings from the last time I used it.
The net was underway and I wasn't zero beat yet. I was trying to tune the NCS with the Datong active, which was a mistake. I wound up way off frequency, and on top of that, I was on the wrong sideband the first time I called. Duh!
I quickly retuned and adjusted everything and threw out my call.
I guess I hadn't really thought about it, but there's a long standing tradition of running only top quality signals on a traffic net. Tonight it was clear the NCS knew I wasn't running my usual rigs; during his acknowledgement, he told me I was high and had a chripy signal to boot!
I disabled the Datong, then retuned and zero beat him a little better. I wasn't sure what the deal was with the chirp, so I went off frequency and fired up another receiver. I cut the power out as low as it went, and listened … sure enough, I had noticeable chirp.
The HW-16 isn't usually chirpy on 80 meters. While I was listening to my transmitted signal, I touched the bandswitch knob on the vfo and the signal wavered substantially. Hmmm…
I've had problems before with the bandswitch contacts being intermittent or just dirty, and after working the switch back and forth half a dozen times, it cured the chirp right up. I probably need to get some quality contact cleaner and go over the switches in both the rig and VFO. I'll put that on my shopping list.
I'm going to put in more operating time on the HW-16 before I use it on the net again. Or perhaps I should just stick to my other rigs and use the HW-16 just for fun operating.
That's about all I have for tonight … 73 es GN … de KY4Z … dit dit …