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CQ Highlights – March 2023
Worldwide travel without leaving home is a hallmark of our hobby and the March issue of CQ takes us to far-off places and offers tips radios, accessories and operating techniques to help us make contact wherever the bands will take us. We start with the story of the K7K DXpedition to Kiska Island in the Aleutians of Alaska, which is closer to Japan than the mainland of the U.S. And then we take you all over the world with the results of the 2022 CQ World Wide RTTY DX Contest, which featured the return of worldwide DX on the 10-meter band as Solar Cycle 25 gets propagation pumping!
Keeping it closer to home, WB9YBM wraps up his three-part series on getting the most from your scanner or scanning ham rig with tips on taking it with you on portable operations. And speaking of portable operations, K3SKS follows up his January 2022 article on “One Ham’s Journey in Portable Operation” with this month’s alliterative “Persistent Practice Produces Positive POTA Progress” (POTA is short for Parks On the Air).
This issue’s “CQ Classic” takes us back exactly 50 years to the March 1972 issue and our reprint of “SY1MA: Mt. Athos DXpedition,” offering a glimpse at what has and hasn’t changed about DXpeditioning over the course of a half-century. One thing that hasn’t changed is the need for an effective antenna, and we’ve got two this month: K4HRK’s “A Collapsible Tri-Bend Antenna for 6 Meters, 2 Meters and 70 Centimeters with a 10-Meter Option,” as well as the third and final installment of N2EWS’s “The Continuing Anticlimactic Adventures of the Perverted V.” And on the subject of antennas, “Gordo’s Short Circuits” editor WB6NOA reviews two antenna tuners, the Comet/NCG CAT-300 and the LDG Z-100A. Something else that hasn’t changed in the past 50 years is the importance of Morse code for getting our messages through, and W0FN shows those of us who have struggled with copying CW how to increase our enjoyment of the mode by “Learning Morse Code Instant Character Recognition” or ICR. On a related topic, Kit-Building Editor K0NEB constructs the Ham Radio Solutions CW Hotline, a code practice oscillator with options for using either a built-in hand key or a set of paddles.
Among our other columns this month, “Listening Post” looks at renewed attention being paid to Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty as sources of objective news and information for Eastern European audiences as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its second year. “Math’s Notes” editor WA2NDM continues his series on simple circuits for test equipment, focusing this month on testing circuits for quartz crystals and silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCRs) and Triacs. “Ham Notebook” editor KH6WZ takes us with him on a visit to this year’s Consumer Electronic Show; MF/LF Editor KB5NJD reviews the basics of operating below the broadcast band; “Ham Radio Explorer” editor K8ZT looks at the many things you can do with a sound-card equipped radio; “Digital Connection” editor N2IRZ shows us how to build a solid case for holding TARPN node equipment; “Learning Curve” editor KO0Z introduces grid squares and the many activities that revolve around them; “VHF Plus” editor N4DTF looks ahead to the upcoming Sporadic-E season on 6 meters; Awards Editor KI4KWR takes a deep dive into CQ’s own USA-Counties Award; Contesting Editor N3QE offers tips on correctly copying serial numbers in contest exchanges (one of the most common sources of errors in logs), and Propagation Editor NW7US reports that Cycle 25 is so far exceeding the expectations of the “official” forecasters (except for one).
That's a brief look at what's coming up in the March issue of CQ magazine. For information on becoming a CQ subscriber - click here!
Next Month in CQ:
SSB Results of the 2022 CQ WW DX Contest
The Bramham Balun
Ye Olde Octopus Curve Tracer
…and of course … Professor Heisseluft
Articles from the March, 2023, issue of CQ posted on our website include:
Zero Bias – "Beyond the Radio"March/April 2023 Contest Calendar
March/April 2023 Hamfests and Special Events
On the Cover: Getting a beam’s-eye view! Herb Krumich,K2LNS, of Bear Creek, Pennsylvania, lowers his 4-element 20-meter Yagi on a tram line from the 60-foot level of his tower. !
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