Not Totally Unexpected

Turnout for the NJQRP Homebrewer Sprint on Sunday night was light. I half expected that. Crummy band conditions and non-existant propagation made for light turnout. For the time that I was able to be on, I made about 8 QSOs in approximately 90 minutes of activity.

I packed it in when I reached the point where a 20 minute CQ session had netted Zero; and everyone I could search and pounce was someone I had worked already. The usual suspects were present - N4BP, K4BAI, WA3OFF, AF4LQ and WØUFO among others. These ops have become good friends/acquaintances from meeting them on the air many times in other QRP sprints.. It is an honor and a pleasure to know them.

From the log entries, I've received so far, my puny QSO total is more the rule rather than the exception. Soapbox comments bemoan the lack of activity as well as the lack of propagation. I suspect the two are in a cause and effect relationship. Turnout will increase once the bands start getting better.

I'm now in the process of printing out certificates for the winners of the Spring 2007 event. Yeah, I know I'm late; but I have so many irons in the fire. I'm glad I'm getting them out now! I'll do better with the Fall results. The prototype certificate appears above. I still have to figure out how I'm going to place the certificate holder's name and call sign, along with the date; and my signature (as Contest Manager). Hopefully, the recipients will enjoy receiving and displaying these.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Whither radio?

Boy, it seems and feels like forever since I've been on the radio; or much had time to even think about radio! Summer activities; then Back-To-School activities and the resumption of other projects have kept me off the air.

I scratch my head when I think about how I made a QSO every day for a solid year a few years back. I look at K3WWP's streak and I'm even more amazed. How did I do that? How does John continue to do it?

I was never a big John Lennon fan (although I did love the Beatles); but he was spot on when he said, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans".

Tonight, however, I'm looking forward to heading down the basement to get on the air for a while after the kids are in bed for the night. My wife Marianne is working until about Midnight; so I should have an hour or two of quiet time after bedtime and then the compulsory "picking up after the kids" is done for the night.

Geez, I hope 40 Meters is decent tonight! And I hope the bands are decent for tomorrow night! Don't forget the NJQRP Homebrewer Sprint tomorrow night - please find a way to get on, even if it's for a little bit to hand out some QSOs.
The care and feeding of this Sprint was handed over to me by Ken Newman N2CQ about a year ago. Participation has been dwindling the past few years. I would appreciate the help in bringing it back to life again!

Hey, just the anticipation over it has gotten my fire re-kindled; and I'm once again looking forward to getting on the air. Hope to hear you there.

73 de Larry W2LJ

NJQRP Homebrewer Sprint this Sunday night!

It's that time of year, again! Time for the Fall edition of the NJQRP Homebrewer Sprint. It will be held this Sunday night (Monday morning UTC time). So put on your headphones, grab your key and come join us for a spell. Work a half-hour, work an hour, work all four! The point is to join in and have some fun!

This time, however, this will be a CW ONLY event, due to the lack of PSK-31 entries.

Mission: Promote homebrewed & homemade equipment on the air together. Kits are considered homebrew. Anyone with ANY equipment can enter; and is highly encouraged to do so!

Sponsor: New Jersey QRP Club ( http://www.njqrp.org )

When: The fourth Monday in March and in September, 0000-0400 UTC
(Sunday evening in USA/Canada)

Modes: CW only, starting this edition, QRP friendly frequencies recommended on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters.

Exchange: RST - State/Province/Country - Power out

QSO Points:
2 Commercial Equipment
3 Homebrew Xmtr or Rcvr
4 Homebrew Xmtr AND Rcvr or Xcvr
(Kits are okay for homebrew)

Power Mult: The highest power used during the contest determines the multiplier ...
a) >5W = X1
b) >1-5W = X7
c) >250mW - 1W = X10
d) 250mW or less = X15

Multiplier: State/Province/Country for all bands. The same station may be worked on more than one band for QSO points and
SPC credit.

SCORE: Points(total for all bands)
x SPC (total for all bands)
x power multiplier.

Awards: Awards: Special certificates will be awarded.

Results: Sprint results will be published on the NJQRP Web pages

Logs: Entries must be received by 30 days from the contest. The log sheets and summary should be included. E-mail logs are accepted in text form. (No word processor files etc). Also paper logs are ok. Include an SASE or E-mail address for the results, if desired. Please include your Soapbox info with your equipment and exploits.

Send logs to:

Larry Makoski, W2LJ
327 Clinton Place
South Plainfield, NJ 07080

or send by email to w2lj@arrl.net

Spring 2007 Results

N4BP Bob 19964 pts
WG7Y Bob 7772 pts
KR1S Jim 5824 pts
KG4W Ed 3570 pts
AB1AV Bill 2268 pts
KD2MX Paul 1792 pts
WB8LZG Gregg 1512 pts
K8KFJ Gary 840 pts
W1PID Jim 224 pts
W5ESE Scott 168 pts
VE3HUR Don 112 pts

Soapbox:

I didn't hear much except static crashes - no AGC isn't nice
on the eardrums! - VE3HUR

Where was the activity??? Quit after the first two hours for lack of
anyone to work. - N4BP

I set up my DSWs and listened for the first half hour on 40 and 80. I didn't hear anyone playing! So I quit. Then I thought, " I can't quit." So I listened on 40 with the FT-900. There was Bob, N4BP. The only player. I worked him and quit again. Then I listened again an hour later. 40 was very dead. But Bob had moved to 80 and I worked him there. Then I picked up Bill AB1AV and KG4W in VA. So I quit this sprint 3 times. - W1PID

Thanks for a fun contest. But where did everyone go after 0200Z??? I guess conditions really went downhill after that, but tried to keep going right to the end. Big surprise was WB8LZG, who I was sure was QRO, he was so loud. Really enjoyed getting a 119 from Bulgaria! - KR1S

My 20m antenna isn't the greatest so I decided to fire up on 40m. I was hoping I'd find enough Qs there to keep me somewhat busy. However, that didn't turn out to be the case. Since I didn't have 80m in the K1, I decided to stick it out there on 40 for a bit but the sparce activity continued. I never did get to work any west coast stations. I heard K7TQ work N4BP but then he disappeared. Anyway, I thank the sponsor for this event and the opportunity to
work other homebrewers and play radio. - K8KFJ

Participation seemed light, or perhaps propagation only covered the East Coast. N4BP was loud as usual, but KD2MX was really booming in. Maybe I'm not a contester, since I quit at bedtime, but I was glad to catch this sprint. - AB1AV

This is my entry for the HB Sprint on Sunday night 3-25-07. This is my 1st effort in the event.
- KG4W

The bands were very noisy and I lost a couple of potential QSOs in the QRN. Seemed like activity was way off from last year or conditions were worse then they seemed as QSOs were few and far between. - KD2MX

Very gud signals on the band tonight. W4QO was booming into Michigan with just 400mw ! WOW ! Great signal. Band went long abt 0130 Z here. Lots of fun es a gud turnout. - WB8LZG

Thanks alot for sponsoring the event. Didn't hear much activity, but decided to send in a log anyway. - W5ESE

73 de Larry W2LJ