QRP Afield and other stuff

As expected, I didn't get enough free time to head out to the park and set up a proper QRP Afield station.  So I did the next best thing.  I sneaked down into the shack for about an hour and became a CPG (contest point giver) as my friend and fellow blogger Kelly K4UPG would term it.  In that time, I worked five QRP Afield stations of which Kelly K4UPG was one!  It seems all I was hearing was the Southeast, as all the stations that  I worked were from Florida or Tennessee.  Kelly was a solid 559 into New Jersey which "ain't bad" on 2 Watts!

I heard some folks calling WB3AAL, Ron who was out on the Appalachian Trail, working portable.  The weather was ideal to be outside - partly cloudy and cool with a high temp of 71F (21C).  And the solar conditions looked decent today, too.  I hope all of you who participated in a big way had a great time.

The visit to my doctor this morning did clear some things up and answered some questions and doubts that I had.  After speaking with him, we ended up agreeing that I will call a surgeon on Monday.  The cause of my hypercalcemia is an overactive parathyroid.  The question is now which one(s) of the four?  The surgeon that I will be calling has a lot of experience in endocrinology related surgeries; so he might have a good idea based on his experience, despite the inconclusiveness of the scan.

End result?  Remove the overactive gland and my blood calcium level should return to normal. Goodbye to future kidney stones and osteoporosis.

BTW, I never posted the last of my nine First Day Covers.  This is it, it's the same one that was posted on K2DSL's blog which inspired me to post all of these.

This one every nicely sums up the entire reason for honoring Amateur Radio ops with the stamp - "During the Alaskan disaster, Ham shortwave radio operators worked around the clock transmitting and receiving vital messages".

That is what public service is all about.  And it's nice to know that if we are needed, we will be there and we will be ready.  The record speaks for itself.

Lastly - I just read where the National Weather Service officially confirmed that it was TWO tornadoes that wreaked havoc in New York City this past Thursday night.  These two tornadoes were the 9th and 10th to hit the city since 1950; and in addition to these, there was a macroburst (which was what I was thinking) that caused damage along a swath of real estate that was 8 miles long and 2 miles wide.  Talk about a wild and woolly storm!


72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!