Cool New Dualband Rig

I picked up a new rig the other day. It is a dualband handheld radio that supports the latest digital formats. It has a number of innovative features that are not very common in ham radio equipment. The text messaging feature allows you to send simple ASCII messages to other radio users. The built-in MP3 player can play tunes via the built-in speakers or a stereo headset. The microSD memory slot allows for easy change out of stored tunes and expansion of memory. This rig is compatible with Bluetooth headsets which puts the "wireless" back in wireless. It has a really nice color display that can display "wallpaper" to personalize the device.

The rig includes some very handy features such as a world clock, calendar and calculator. You never know when you might need to calculate the length of a dipole antenna or the resonant frequency of an LC circuit. The battery life on standby is an amazing 16 days. A 1.3 Megapixel camera allows you to take photos and store them to the memory card slot. The two frequency bands are 800 MHz and 1900 MHz.

Yeah, that's right, it is a Verizon cell phone (LG VX-8300).

Work All Colorado on VHF

The ARRL June VHF QSO Party is next weekend June 9-11. Complete rules are at http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2007/june-vhf.html

The Rocky Mt VHF Plus group is doing a number of things to promote VHF activity during the June VHF QSO Party this year. Since parts of Colorado have more cows than ham operators, we often have grids that are not activated during the contest. This year we created a special focus on grid activation which we call the Great Colorado Grid Run. See http://www.k0nr.com/blog/2007/04/great-colorado-grid-run.html

We've had a great response from the Colorado VHF ham community and we
will have all 16 grids activated. Thanks to the rovers and portable
operators that have signed up to make this happen! For the latest
operating plans, see http://www.k0nr.com/coloradojunegrids.html

There are a series of awards that are available to encourage operation.

WORKED COLORADO AWARD
The Worked Colorado Award is available for all bands above 50 MHz, and
is awarded if you work any 6 of the 16 Colorado Grid Squares on any One
(1) VHF/UHF band. See http://www.rmvhf.org/coloaward.html

WORKED ALL COLORADO AWARD
The Worked All Colorado Award is available for all bands above 50 MHz,
and is awarded if you work all of Colorado’s 16 Grid Squares on any One
(1) VHF/UHF band. See http://www.rmvhf.org/coloaward.html

THE GREAT COLORADO GRID RUN CERTIFICATE
This award is to encourage operating portable from the less populated
grids in Colorado during the 2007 June QSO Party. Activate any Colorado
grid or a grid adjacent to Colorado, excluding DM78, DM79 and DN70
(highly populated grids). See http://www.rmvhf.org/Great_Grid.html

RMVHF+ PARTICIPATION CERTIFICATE - JUNE VHF CONTEST
For Rocky Mt VHF Plus Net members only. First time Certificate
applicants need 10 contacts, with a minimum of 5 on 2 meter or above.
Second time applicants need a minimum of 20 contacts with 10 on 2 meters
or above. Third time applicants need 50 contacts with a minimum of 25 on
2 meters or above. Forth time and above need a minimum of 100 contacts
with a minimum of 25 on 2 meters and above. See http://www.rmvhf.org/

We are seeing a positive response from this effort in the state of
Colorado. Hopefully, some good 6M propagation will facilitate contacts
across North America.

GL in the contest,
73, Bob K0NR