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This year for the North Carolina QSO Party I had the opportunity to operate the Morse code (CW) position at the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society’s (RARS) N4RAL bonus station. As one of the sponsors of the contest, RARS was asked to operate as a bonus station (more points for stations who contact us) and submit a check log for the contest. N4RAL log window from N1MM. RARS president Fin Gold NC4FG hosted the station at his QTH....

An Icom IC-7300 was my first HF radio. It is a jack-of-all-trades software defined radio (SDR) and I use it for a variety of purposes. I will describe how I have it wired, what menu settings I find helpful, and why. This guide covers settings for CW, SSB, and FT8 digital modes. RTTY is not included (future post?). NOTE: This article describes the configuration I use for the Icom IC-7300 radio....

This year’s North Carolina QSO Party was very fun. I operated from my QTH for the duration of the contest, breaking for a 30 minute lunch and for the occasional stretch break. The propagation was better than last year, going by the numbers, Again this year, I used my Icom IC-7300 running 100W to an MFJ-986 tuner connected to ladder line and a center-fed Zepp dipole antenna. All performed well. Two days prior to contest, during good weather, I took down the dipole for inspection....

WARNING: ELECTRICITY IS DANGEROUS. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. DC power is one of the first problems to solve when operating portable. Your portable operation might take place near established infrastructure where AC power is plentiful. Remote locations will require the use of a battery. Some radios have internal batteries, but if you’re running 100W, an external battery is a likely necessity. AC power? Some public spaces have AC outlets available in shelters or bathrooms that can be used....

This past weekend I participated in the IARU HF World Championship contest. I chuckle at the phrase “world championship” because I’m a casual contester, a Sunday driver. I took this opportunity to practice my CW operating, as I have in other contests recently. My goal this year was to make 250 QSOs to qualify for the fancy certificate. This goal would require me to be a run station: sit on a frequency, call “CQ”, and copy other stations callsigns and exchanges (sent via Morse code) as efficiently as possible....