TAXØ6 - Traneberg & other places Ø611Ø8 - Ø71223

Ø71223
23:59 pm (GMT +1h)
Just one minute before Christmas eve this expedition ends and the new starts. Goodbye TAXØ6 and hail to the new one!

Ø7Ø914
9:21 am (GMT +2h)
Yess!!! Minutes ago I finally worked 3B7C on the last band I've got antennas for. Now I have worked them on 8Ø, 4Ø, 2Ø 15 and 1Ø meter CW.... now it's time to start over again and try to work em' on SSB as well...

Since the summer vacation ended I've not been that active on the bands due to lot of effort put in to my new position at work. Today (Friday) I've taken a day off, just to prepare myself before the "Battle against the Finns" begins tomorrow. I'm, of course, talking about the Scandinavian Activity Contest - CW that will start at 12z tomorrow. I will work with the call SFØF and will be active on all bands. Please give me a call (and some extra points) if you hear me on the bands this weekend!

Ø7Ø812
1 :45 pm (GMT +2h)
Writing this the last day of 5 weeks of vacation and I'm mentally starting to prepare my self for work tomorrow....

During my vacation I was, among other stuff, up in Luleå to meet my old mother and my two brothers that still live up there. In my older brothers guest house I installed my self and put up a small station consisting of my IC-7ØØØ and about 4Ø meters of random wire. Worked about 1ØØ Q's with the call sign SF2F.The picture below illustrates rather well the essence of my trip up there as they have billions of mosquitos sized like small humming birds...

Back home I've been working on my small program "LogToWeb" that automatically exports logs entries from DX4WIN and Cabrillo files and exports them as HTML to a web server. The latest function enables the program to export files to be used with the PHP script "Logsearch.php" which is written by DF3CB.

If you like to try the program just drop me an e-mail.

Ø7Ø717
1Ø :32 am (GMT +2h)
Recuperating from this weekend's IARU Contest where I participated in the Swedish Headquarters station SK9HQ. We worked from the contest QTH Kvarnberget, SKØUX. The three of us (SFØF, SMØW & SM5TXT) where responsible for the running stations on 8Ø & 4Ø meter CW.

Me my self was glued to the 4Ø meter CW station for almost the whole contest (took a pause for about 3Ø minutes) and I was quite exhausted after the work was done. In total we broke the old Swedish record with about 2.5 millions points and it was a fun experience to run multi-multi for the first time.

Me in the front running "millions" of DL's on 4Ø CW and Teemu SMØW in the back digging out the weak signals on 8Ø CW.

The Kvarnberget Crew: Teemu SMØW, Ove SFØF and Torgny SM5TXT

The final scoreboard of SK9HQ.

Ø7Ø616
2:48 pm (GMT +2h)
Not much radio related has happened the last few weeks. Somewhat related to radio was latest business trip to Paris this week as I was there on a meeting concerning Software Defined Radio within the EU. This time I was able to look around Paris and ended up at the Eiffel Tower.

Ø7Ø6Ø8
8:1Ø pm (GMT +2h)
Long time no C - been busy @ work and have been to Dayton OH once again to attend the biggest hamfest in the world. You'll find a new sub page named DAX where you'll find pictures and stuff from my two trips to Dayton.

Ø7Ø426 - 22 days before D-day begins...
4:44 pm (GMT +2h)
Took a couple of hours off from work this afternoon as the weather here in Stockholm is fantastic, bright sunshine and about 21º C (7غ F). The last month at work has been very busy as I have changed into a new position within our department. Tuesday this week I received a very nice letter of verification from KLO 143Ø – Ogden UT accompanied by a new refrigerator magnet to add to my collection. A big thanks goes to the Office Manager Arlene for taking the time to write me back!

Ø7Ø4Ø5
12:45 pm (GMT +2h)
Today I received a big, fat envelope from WTMJ 62Ø - Milwaukee WI containing, first and foremost, a very nice letter of verification, secondly a very nice WTMJ T-shirt. The third item I found in the envelope was a new and nice addition to my collection of refrigerator magnets. A big super thanks goes to the Engineer in Charge, Glenn Bowman for taking your time to write me the verification letter and supplying me with some very nice gifts!!!

I wish you all a Happy Easter!

Ø7Ø4Ø2
6:2Ø pm (GMT +2h)
I ain’t over until the fat lady sings... Today I, surprisingly, received a very nice letter of verification from KGYN 121Ø - Guymon OK along with a couple of stickers after 437 days. A big thanks goes to the Operations Manager Richard for taking the time to write me an verification letter, even though it took some time.

Ø7Ø326
6:ØØ pm (GMT +2h)
Sitting here by the radio and calling CQ DX (using my built in voice keyer) with my antenna pointing to NA but with no answer so far. Finally got an answer from K3BDF - Bob from Frederica DE and we had a nice QSO that lasted for about 15 minutes. Today I received a nice letter of verification from the Station Engineer Jon Book who, among other stations, is responsible for WOC 142Ø - Davenport IA. Thanks Jon for taking the time to write me a QSL of WOC. Really looking forward to have an eye-ball QSO with you the next time I'm in Iowa!.

Ø7Ø324
11:ØØ am (GMT +1h)
Home Sweet Home
Looking trough the mail when I got home yesterday I found two new BC QSL's: KOFI 118Ø - Kalispell MT had sent me a nice letter of verification & WGBF 128Ø - Evansville IN had also sent me a nice verification letter among with two pens, a couple of stickers and a key ring. Big thanks go to the PD John Story and the CE Tony Mulligan for taking the time to verify my reception reports!

Ø7Ø323
1Ø:2Ø am (GMT +1h)
Trains, planes & automobiles
I'm finally back in Sweden again as I arrived here in Stockholm this morning. Writing this I'm on the move again... this time by train to Linköping where I will have a short business meeting before I finally can head back to the comfort of my home.

I'm sorry for not being able to update this page while I was in Orlando but the days and evenings has been packed with all sort of activities and I been exhausted when I finally made it to the hotel room.

The conference was held at a huge Conference facility/Hotel (Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel) but we decided not to book our rooms there as the prices was quite high... and you even had to pay a daily fee for parking the car at their parking lot.

Most of our free times we spent shopping att different malls and outlet. Picture below is taken at the Orlando Supreme Outlet.

The last whole day in Orlando the conference ended at 1 pm so we headed up to Daytona Beach to view the babes... hmmm... I mean the scenery around the shores.

And finally made a stop at the world famous Daytona USA racetrack:

I'll be back with reports of any possible QSL's that has arrived during my 8 days trip away from home.

Ø7Ø316
9:Ø6 pm (EST, DST)
I'm sorry for the late update but I had initial problems with my Internet connection here at the hotel, but now it seems to work fine.

Got into Orlando FL late yesterday evening, we went for a place to eat but it was hard to find a restaurant open at 11:3Ø pm so we ended up at "The Golden Arches" where we could finally still our hunger.

The flight from Stockholm to Chicago was one hour longer that usual (abt 1Ø hours) due to the fact that O’Hare Airport had changed their flight routes yesterday. During the trip, though, we had fantastic clear weather which made me to have clear view over Greenland which was a first one for me.

When we arrived in Orlando it was raining heavily with some thunder storms on top of that but today it's been a quite fine day, starting off with cloudy weather and light rain and ended with bright sunshine and about 8Ø degrees F.

The hotel is very nice and consists of 17 five storey buildings with small lakes, walkways and pools within the area. The hotel room is more like a small apartment with a livingroom, a bedroom and a bathroom. I've even got an small kitchen with a stove, microwave oven, refridgerator and everything else that goes with an ordinary kitchen. On top of that I have a big balcony, and as I live on the 5th floor, with a great view over one of the pools and the surrounding area.

Today we have had a day off (the conference begins tomorrow) and we have been cruising around the Orlando area to visit different stores. My colleague bought an RC car for his 8 year old son who has his birthday on Sunday. At last we ended up at the Florida Mall which is a huge mall (measured by Swedish standards) with hundreds of different stores where we spent about 3 hours before we drove back to the hotel.

Writing this I'm sitting on the balcony, enjoying the nice weather and in the background I can hear some kids playing (yelling wildly) in the pool.

My last picture for today is of a radio station we were passing by in the hunt for an RC car:

Ø7Ø314
8:2Ø pm (UTC +1)
I've just finished packing my traveling cases - tomorrow morning I will leave Sweden for 8 days to go on a business trip to... Orlando FL... once again. I will attend yet another conference in Orlando and as usual I will have little or no time to be a tourist. But as usual I'll keep this page updated with pictures and observations I will be doing during my trip to The Sunshine State.

Ø7Ø313
5:34 pm (UTC +1)
QSL's two days in a row does not happen very often but today was an exception as I received a nice letter of verification from WCUB 98Ø - Two Rivers WI. Big thanks to the Business Manager Nancy C. Rutherford for sending me a nice verification letter!

Ø7Ø312
7:4Ø pm (UTC +1)
This afternoon I had a very enjoyable QSO with a Swedish ham living i Canada, Göran - VO3OBU which lasted for about one hour. This Monday was also a QSL day as I received letters of verifications from WRCA 133Ø - Waltham MA and KXL 75Ø - Portland OR. Thanks to the GM of WRCA, Stu and the Engineer of KXL, Thor for taking the time to write me!

Ø7Ø3Ø9
9:45 pm (UTC +1)
Finally Friday... After a busy week at work (was abroad a couple of days) it's very nice to be back home again. I'm sitting here in my sofa and enyoing the letter of verification that I today received from WIRL 129Ø - Peroia IL. Thanks Wayne - W9MI (Chief Engineer WIRL) for taking the time to answer my reception report so quickly!

Ø7Ø3Ø4
8:Ø5 pm (UTC +1)
First loser... I’ve just received the results from 2ØØ6 CQ WPX CW Contest where I participated in the "Single Operator 14 MHz Low Power" class. With 2 134 928 points I ended up at 2nd place in the world with a new Swedish record. Congratulations to myself!!!

Ø7Ø3Ø2
1Ø:35 pm (UTC +1)
I have updated the BC log with the latest reception reports sent. They are marked with *Ø228.

Ø7Ø3Ø2
5:28 pm (UTC +1)
I'm finally home again and discovered a BIG envelope from KNWC 127Ø - Sioux Falls SD who sent me a second verification letter on the same reception report, included in the envelope was a big wall almanac. In the letter of verification the V/S Gary L. Ellington writes: "The reception report you sent and the related supporting and informational material is the most professional packet I have ever received.”. Wow, thanks for the kind words Gary!!!

I wish other people receiving my "professional package" would react in the same manner as Gary and, at least, send me a written letter of verification...

Ø7Ø3Ø1
8:52 pm (UTC +1)
Last evening on a three day business trip around the southern part of Sweden. The last weeks has been extremely busy therefore I haven’t had the time to update this pages. Since the last update I have received letters of verification from the following US AM stations: KONP 145Ø - Port Angeles WA, WHBY 115Ø - Kimberly WI (114 days), WISN 113Ø - Milwaukee WI. Thanks guys for the QSL's!

A rather meagre result in the mailbox so far but still I have high hopes for the future. By the way... I mailed 2Ø reception reports on Tuesday this week and will update the BC log as soon as I have the time.

Ø7Ø212
7:19 am (UTC +1)
More than a week since I received my last QSL but today I had the great pleasure to get nice and old fashioned QSL card from WHBC 148Ø - Canton OH and a nice letter of verification from WCKY 153Ø - Cincinnati OH and some nice stickers as well. Thanks Bill and Ted for taking the time to send answers on my reception reports! (“The excellent adventures of Bill and Ted”... hmmm ... wasn’t that the title of a movie long time ago...)

Got home a little bit earlier today as I was expecting a deliver of my new sofa for the living room. After delivery it took me about 2 hours to put the sofa together. Down below you can see the result. The old sofa made its way into my radio room so now I have a place to relax without leaving the shack during long ham contests.

Ø7Ø2Ø5
2:19 am (UTC +1)
By the way, the Halftime Show with Prince (or whatever he calls himself these days) was great!

Ø7Ø2Ø5
2:11 am (UTC +1)
Half time in the biggest sport event of the year: Super Bowl XLI. While the halftime show is playing I'll take the time to update this "blog".

I must warn you all that SDR 14 recordings are extremely addictive... I can't stop listen to those recordings I made during PAX 68. Here are the latest additions to my log: CHMJ 73Ø - Vancouver BC, KACH 134Ø - Preston ID, KICD 124Ø - Spencer IA, KLIN 14ØØ - Lincoln NE, KSUB 59Ø - Cedar City UT, WHKZ 144Ø - Warren OH, WIRL 129Ø - Peoria IL, WSAU 55Ø - Wausau WI.

Go Indianapolis Colts Go!!!

Ø7Ø2Ø1
4:3Ø pm (UTC +1)
Thursdays is usually not, at least in my case, a day to receive QSL's on but today was an exception: KRLC 135Ø - Clarkston WA surprised me today with a very nice letter of verification and a business card from the Program/Music Director. Thanks Tommy for taking the time to send me an answer on my reception report!

Never ending story - two day ago I was on a short business trip and brought my SDR-14 recordings with me in case I hade some time kill at the hotel. I started to listen to the recordings at 11 pm and after about three hours later I realized it was in the middle of the night and I really had to go to bed. This three hour "session" resulted with a few new stationsn to send reception reports to: CFPL 98Ø - London ON, KVOZ 89Ø - Del Mar Hills TX, WOKY 92Ø - Milwaukee WI, WXNT 143Ø - Indianapolis IN, KDTH 137Ø - Dubuque IA, KLTC 146Ø - Dickinson ND, KSLG 138Ø - St.Louis MO, KSOO 114Ø - Sioux Falls SD, WEAE 125Ø - Pittsburgh PA, WGBF 128Ø - Evansville IN and finally WRCA 133Ø - Watertown MA. All in all a total of 11 new stations is now added to my PAX 68 log. It took me three hours to get eleven new stations and in contrast to that - it took me about 2 week to complete and post 28 reception reports... if this trend holds on I surely know what activity I'll be spending my summer vacation on...

Ø7Ø129
5:ØØ pm (UTC +1)
Monday usually equals "QSL Day" - and this Monday was no exception as I received a nice letter of verification from WPOP 141Ø - Hartford CT (new state for me) and a nice verification letter from KGYM 16ØØ - Cedar Rapids IA from the President & GM who also invited me to the station the next time I go to CR (which will hopefully be in the near future). Thanks Pete and Eliot for the very nice verification letters!

Today I've posted 28 new reception reports from PAX 68 and you'll find them marked with "*29" in the BC Log.

Ø7Ø127
2:3Ø pm (UTC +1)
I've been playing around with some of my SDR 14 recordings, mainly from the first day I was up in Parkalompolo. After about two our of fiddling around I got my self a couple of new stations: WINS 1Ø1Ø - New York NY, KONP 145Ø - Port Angeles WA, CHED 63Ø - Edmonton AB and KGNW 82Ø - Burien WA. Still has about 23Ø Gigabyte of data to go trough...

In today’s beautiful winter weather I took a walk around the Traneberg area and brought my new camera (Canon 3ØD) with me which, among other pictures, resulted in a photo of my QTH and especially of my antennas on the rooftop:

Ø7Ø125
5:ØØ pm (UTC +1)
I arrived home a bit early from work today and was welcomed by two new QSL's: KNWC 127Ø - Sioux Falls SD and WSBT 96Ø - South Bend IN which both sent my very nice letters of verification. SD and IN was both new states for me so I’m extra happy about this two QSL's. Thanks Gary and Bob for taking the time to send me an answer on my reception report!

Ø7Ø122
5:35 pm (UTC +1)
Yessss!!!
The first QSL from PAX 68 expedition arrived today: WOSU 82Ø - Columbus OH sent me a fine letter of verification and two issues of the WOSU magazine "Airfare" (which is monthly program schedule for WOSU media) plus a sticker. I seems like this week started in the best possible way!

Ø7Ø114
1:ØØ am (UTC +1)
Even though I've got my mother here on a weeks visit I managed to write and mail 12 reception reports during this weekend. Now have 25 reception reports mailed from the latest PAX68 expedition. I only have about 8Ø more reports to go... now you know the reason why you don’t hear me on the bands so often nowadays. To see which stations I’ve mailed to so far: go to my BC LOG page.

Ø7Ø1Ø6
2:ØØ pm (UTC +1)
I'm back in Stockholm again after a two weeks visit to my hometown Luleå and an listener expedition to Parkalompolo. The total sum of reception reports of NA AM stations is 1Ø7 so far... As I borrowed an wideband receiver (SDR-14) which can record up to 19Ø KHz of spectrum to a hard drive I now have about 25Ø Gigabytes of recordings to go trough before I can finally summarize this expedition (2 Gig of data equals about 45 minutes of recordings).

Ø61223
11:Ø5 pm (UTC +1)
Long time, no C. I haven’t had the time to update this page for quite some time now. This week has been extremely busy as I have been "blogging" on two other homepages, one personal and another one that is tied to a local newspaper in my hometown, Luleå. Since I wrote on this page the last time I've got to letters of verifications from KTWO 1Ø3Ø - Casper WY and KZNR 156Ø - Bakersfield CA.

Writing this I'm now in Luleå to celebrate Christmas with my family but on Christmas Day I will travel up to Parkalompolo to join the crew at PAX 68. Please, check my PAX page to keep track of my latest loggings.

Ø61121
9:Ø4 pm (UTC +1)
Finally home again...and struggling to turn my internal clock ahead six hours . When I got home I had five brand new BC QSL's waiting for me, which was a warm welcome: KXLY 92Ø - Spokane WA, KVNS 17ØØ - Brownsville TX, WIZM 141Ø - La Crosse WI, KSLD 114Ø - Soldotna AK, WDSS 168Ø - Ada MI.

Back in Orlando I did a quick scan of the AM band and could pick up stations as far north as New York as I heard WABC and WCBS with good signal strength. The antenna I was using was the built in ferrite antenna in my Sangean ATS-9Ø9. Down below you find some of the stations I logged (I recorded a few of the station ID's, to hear them: click on the station name ).

Ø61115
7:2Ø am (EST)
The days and has been packed with activities and I havn´t had the time to do any updates up until now. On monday the representative from Collins (and his wife) took us to to see various places around Orlando, avoiding the the usual tourist traps.

First we went to a hot spring where the water always stays around 72 F and we also visited a pancake house nearby where you actually make your own pancakes.

After that we went to a place called Woodruff Lakes with the goal to see some alligators which we of course did not. We saw lots of birds and turtles in this huge swamp.

The only exotic thing we encountered was a vulture sitting in top of a tree and was drying its wings in the sun.

Mondays trip ended with a visit to the famous Daytona Beach where people actually can drive their cars down on the beach.

Back from the trip we finished the day off with a dinner at a nearby restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious 2Ø ounce steak

and topped that with some dessert...

Monday night the SDR forum had their official reception at Kennedy Space Center which had lots of interesting things to offer:

On Tuesday I took some time off to visit Amateur Electronic Supply in downtown Orlando:

And came back to the hotel with a Heil PR-78Ø Microphone for my IC-78ØØ and a MFJ antenna analyzer:

The microphone it self cost in Sweden as much as both items cost together here in the US.

Ø61112
7:4Ø am (EST)
I reached my final destination late yesterday evening. I´m in Orlando Florida on a business trip, the main purpose is to attend a Software Defined Radio conference, starting Monday morning. Today me and my collueage will play tourists and as a guide we have one of the guys from Rockwell Collins (who lived here in Florida for 7 years) showing us around.

I'll be back when I have something more "useful" and even perhaps some radio related stuff to tell.

Ø61111
7:11 am (EST)
Beginning this expedition, and writing this, at the height of approximately 36 ØØØ feet. More information when I do land at my final destination.

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