Got the full screen now

The remote came yesterday and with only two or three button pushes, I now have Ham Clock filling up the screen without bleeding over the edges.. And now, when I exit full screen mode, all the buttons are visible that I need to click on to make changes, if I so desire. I'd like to customize a few of those tiles and I'll look into that more. I have a feeling that YouTube will end up being my best friend. (Yes! YouTube WAS my best friend and the process is way simpler than I imagined it to be!)

Please excuse the crappy camera angle. I must have been holding it in such a way that it looks like everything on the right side is going uphill. That's not the case in real life.

I forced myself to stay up to participate in the 40 Meter Fox Hunt last night. The lower Fox was Wayne N4FP, in Florida, and he was found after some dial twiddling. At the beginning of the Hunt, he was barely audible, but with time, his signal came up nicely and I was able to give him a 579 report at 0239 UTC.

The upper Fox was Tom KV2X who is located in New York. The band was long and I never heard a peep from him. I am assuming that he was probably somewhere around 7.045 MHz, which is the middle of the 40 Meter Upper woods. Let me check RBN .......... - OK, he WAS at 7.0445 MHz last night, so my guess wasn't off by much. 

In any event, he was inaudible and there was some kind of station situated there who was 20 over 9 and was handing out RSTs from Colorado. I didn't catch his call and I'm wondering if perhaps it was a POTA station. Or maybe it was some other event - was the NAQCC Monthly Sprint last night? That could have been it.

In any event, I noticed that in the log that Tom posted to the qfox e-mail reflector, that he did not work much of anyone on the East Coast, with the exception of one station in GA, VA and FL. The NorthEast was a vast wasteland, Feeling like that must be the case,  I packed it in early around 0300 UTC and went to bed. The added fact that it was only 59F down in the basement helped make that decision an easy one.

Holy Moly! I just noticed we're at the last day of January! 2024 is already speeding by, or so it feels like it!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

For those of you who may be looking

for Jeff KE9V's blog posts. He changed his format a bit and if you clicked on the link I had provided,  you got the dreaded "404 error message". I changed the link a little bit, but he is now positioned all the way down at the bottom of the blog roll. 

His new format is a lot like John K3WWPs. Good reading there so please make sure to check it out.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Nothing is as easy as they would have you believe

Things must be getting a bit better as I actually had enough energy to start to configure Ham Clock yesterday afternoon.

And is say "start to configure" because this is turning out to be a work in progress. None of the fault lies with Inovato however. The bundle went together quite easily and the entire process is as painless as they would have you believe.

The problem is with my choice of display hardware. I'm using an old Emerson TV that we used to have in our bedroom. It has an HDMI input, where as the smaller monitor to the right only has VGA and DVI. The little Inovato Quadro has an HDMI output, explaining the use of the gigundo TV.

The problem is the display is too big for the TV screen. There are important boxes and portions which fall over the edges. I need to adjust the display parameters of the TV, but you can only do that via the remote control and guess what we lost/misplaced a couple of years ago?

Yep, you've got it!

As it is right now, some of the boxes that I need to click on, such as the WIFI configuration utility for example, are invisible.. By the sheer dumb luck of hovering the mouse slowly over the upper right hand corner of the display, I stumbled upon the box and got that much completed. But I need to go back to do the rest of the setup.

So an executive decision had to be made. Do I buy a smaller, say 20" widescreen monitor with an HDMI input, or ..............? Looking at the price of monitors on eBay, they're going for more than I want to spend right now. Even used ones are ridiculous as the shipping costs alone in most cases hang out in the $30 dollar neighborhood and that's on tp of the monitor selling price.

I went with .............or. I looked up the model number of the TV on the back, plugged that into eBay with the added word "remote" and came upon a new remote controller for about $8 and free shipping. Once I get that, which should arrive either tomorrow or Wednesday, I can adjust the screen so that the entire Ham Clock display will fill the screen without bleeding over on the edges.

I have to remove that ampersand (&) after my call sign and get the DX Cluster window configured among other things. I think I'm going to like having this in the shack. It presses all my correct "cool" buttons.

A question for those of you who may have this in your shack. Do you leave the computer, (whether that be a Raspberry Pi or a microcomputer like the Quadra) run all the time, even when you're not in the shack, or do you shut down and re-boot each time you're going to play radio? I'm not sure what I want to do there.

When I finished getting everything in the shack straightened out and reconfigured, I checked into the St. Max Net on 75 Meters at 0000 UTC and when that was over, I added all the Fox Hunt QSOs from Thursday night into AG Log.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

80 Meter Fox Hunt and the weekend

Last night was my first stint as a Fox in 8 years! I went back to the QRP Fox Hunt webpage and was looking at the previous seasons. 2015 was the last time I served as a Fox. I completed applications for both the 2016 and 2017 seasons and was relegated to "Alternate" status. I gave up after that. Alternates very rarely get called and I pretty much figured out that I was not considered to be "up to snuff". I guess that due to the shortage of Foxes this year, my status has changed to "good enough".

Anyway, last night was a blast. The final log will show 48 QSOs after removing one duplicate.  I started off at 3.566 MHz, listening from 1 to 2 KHz up. I lost a good 10 minutes of precious time having to QSY when two different section nets came on the frequency unannounced and just took over. I had a nice rhythm going up until then. Once they finished, I was able to go back and establish another nice rhythm, but I lost probably about 10 - 12 QSOs in the process. QSB and QRN didn't help matters, either, making me ask for fills which ate up precious time The W3EDP was the star performer of the night. I switched over to the Butternut once or twice, but saw no real gain in receive quality, so "I stuck with what brung me to the dance." I went simplex for the last 1/2 hour of the hunt when I did not hear anyone calling me at the upper frequencies anymore,

According to the Reverse Beacon Network, this is where I was being heard last night. I did work stations in Iowa, Colorado, Ontario and Florida as well, which do not show on the map.

Here's the weekend's goings on:

Contests:

CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW - http://www.cq160.com/rules.htm

REF Contest, CW - https://concours.r-e-f.org/reglements/actuels/reg_cdfhfdx.pdf

UBA DX Contest, SSB - https://www.uba.be/en/hf/contest-rules/uba-dx-contest

Winter Field Day - https://www.winterfieldday.com/

Classic Exchange, Phone - http://www.classicexchange.org/

Winter Field day is the biggie. A great idea as an emergency can happen any time of the year - but Winter Field Day is not a W2LJ thing. Winter itself, is not a W2LJ thing. God bless all of you who are going to venture forth outdoors this weekend for WFD. It's supposed to be warm, but very soggy here.

Special Event Stations:

01/27/2024 | Discovery of Gold in California

Jan 27-Jan 29, 1700Z-0100Z, AG6AU, Coloma, CA. El Dorado County ARC. 7.248 14.248 21.348 28.348. QSL. El Dorado County ARC, PO Box 451, Placerville, CA 95667. https://edcarc.net

01/27/2024 | Winter Field Day with BARC

Jan 27-Jan 28, 1900Z-1859Z, W5BCS, Bryan, TX. Bryan Amateur Radio Club. 7.250 14.270. QSL. Bryan Amateur Radio Club, PO Box 4442, Bryan, TX 77805. https://w5bcs.radio

I hope you all enjoy the weekend! I hope to work some POTA stations this weekend and maybe wind up with a WARC band rag chew or two.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Brrrrrr !

This Arctic air blast which has inundated most of the country for the past week seems to be finally losing its grip. Today is the first day in a week that it's supposed to go above freezing. We have a warm up coming for the days ahead and that's just fine by me.

My Amateur Radio activity was curtailed, as the basement temps fell into the 50s with the associated cold outside. I need it to get warm aa I volunteered ................. once again.

I mentioned last week that Dave N1IX was the only 80 Meter Fox last Thursday. I sent an e-mail to Dale WC7S the official scorekeeper of the hunts asking him why didn't one of the alternates take the other spot? It turns out there's only one alternate and he's having antenna issues, so that was a no-go.

That's when I volunteered to be an alternate. The last three times I put in an application to be a Fox, I was assigned "alternate duty" and never got a slot. So admittedly, I gave up applying. But it seems there's a desperate need for alternates, so I sent in an application.

To my surprise, I was asked to fill vacant slots this coming Thursday and on April 4th. The down side is that I'm an "old school" Fox. I don't use N1MM and I log with good old paper and pencil, so my posted results may not make it until the next day - but I guess I'm better than nothing.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Cutting back

One of the things that I've think I've decided to do in 2024 is cut back a bit. Not Amateur Radio-wise, but more of the activities that I volunteer for. I think it's time to enjoy the actual hobby more and divest myself of some of the peripheral responsibilities.

Recently elections were held for the 2024 Slate of Officers for the South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club. I gave up the office of Vice-President. Not that there were all that many duties involved, but I felt the obligation to attend each and every meeting without fail with the exception made for family emergencies and that sort of thing. I'll remain the Trustee of the NJ2SP call sign, but that gives me a bit more flexibility. If I don't feel like attending a particular meeting for whatever reason, the pressure will be off.

I'm thinking of cutting back on CERT activities as well. I've been a CERT Member in South Plainfield since 2004. I'll remain active within South Plainfield itself, but I may cut back on the County CERT activities. That will not affect my Middlesex County AUXCOMM / ARES / RACES activities. I plan to participate in those as much as I can. "Participation" seems to be just checking in with the New Jersey State Police on monthly radio nets a few times each year. The members rotate in that duty, so that happens maybe three or four times a year and I'm fine with that.

Looking back, I was a Communications Officer for the Middlesex County Office of Emergency Management back in the late 70s and early 80s. That involved taking Special Police training at the Middlesex Police Academy. In addition to that, there was Haz-Mat training, radiological training, defensive driver training, etc. All kinds of training which ate up a lot of personal time. I enjoyed doing all this stuff back when I was younger and single, and not a husband or father.

On the hobby side, I was an officer in the Piscataway Amateur Radio Club for a long time as Vice-President and eventually President for a number of years. I've been the Secretary of the ETS of NJ for more years than I care to remember now. 

I've been a VE since 1994. I'll keep doing that as a way to keep paying back to the hobby that I enjoy so much. Even though there's a lot of detail work involved in being a liaison, exam sessions are only once a month - so it's not all that time consuming.

I think I've volunteered enough. It's time to enjoy and not be so busy anymore. Maybe this will free up some weekends for POTA? I certainly hope so! The idea is just to be able to spend more evenings at home and devote a little bit more of that time to radio FUN. I'm not a spring chicken anymore and I want to enjoy this hobby for as long as I can.

Last night I surprised myself and did participate in the 80 Meter Fox Hunt. Dave N1IX was the lone Fox and I found him very easily as he was an honest 579. I worked him at 9 minutes past the start time and was still able to hit the sack on the early side. It was a good night!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

The weekend a day early

Not much radio going on for me this past week. I checked into the St. Max net on Sunday evening on 75 Meters, but that's been about it. I've come home from work each evening on the exhausted side and have been hitting the sack early. It feels like this final injection that I got for my prostate cancer treatment must have been a double dose or something - it's left me wiped out. I didn't even attend the monthly CERT Training Session last night - I felt there was no way I was going to be able to drive home at 10:00 PM in a wide awake state of mind. Add to the fact that it has been bitter cold from a blast of Arctic air - that alone is enough to wear me down under normal conditions.

The weather is supposed to be nasty tomorrow with some snowfall. The projection for my little corner of the world is 4 -6 ", which in and of itself is no big deal. But shoveling may prove to be a bit difficult as I tire very easily right now. We'll see what happens.

So - for the coming weekend:

Contests:

North American QSO Party, SSB - https://www.ncjweb.com/NAQP-Rules.pdf

ARRL January VHF Contest - http://www.arrl.org/january-vhf

Run for the Bacon QRP Contest -  http://qrpcontest.com/pigrun

Hungarian DX Contest - https://ha-dx.com/en/contest-rules

Classic Exchange, CW - http://www.classicexchange.org/

Special Event Stations:

01/20/2024 | 110th Anniversary of Cambridge Amateur Radio Association

Jan 20, 1600Z-2200Z, W8VP, Cambridge, OH. Cambridge Amateur Radio Association. 14.240. Certificate. Jim Shaw, 46006 King Street, Caldwell, OH 43724. The Cambridge Amateur Radio Association celebrated its 100th anniversary on December 4, 2023. A certificate will be available. Send certificate requests along with QSL info to ab8pjlshaw@yahoo.com. www.w8vp.org

Everyone have a good weekend! I hope to get on the air and work some POTA stations at the very least. And maybe, just maybe, I can stay up late enough tonight to participate in the 80 Meter Fox Hunt.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Apollo 15

 I'm a child of the Space Age - I grew up watching the launches of Shepard, Glenn - the entire Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs are my childhood and young adulthood memories.

I found this on the internet the other day. It's a film about the flight of Apollo 15 and Commander Dave Scott is one of the producers.

It's 55 minutes long, but is very well done and is worth the watch, IMHO - especially if your a space nerd/geek like I am.

https://film.apollo15hub.org/?fbclid=IwAR0dXWeMfYpJBomb3WFLAubahiTF3waPNbPwADQHG1Gay6oeDfM8b1cDVjA

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Field Day Results and other stuff

I did not make it down to the basement for the 80 Meter Fox Hunt last night. At around 7:30 PM, I made the HUGE mistake of sitting down on the couch "for just a few minutes" and you know how that goes .......... when I finally woke up, I picked myself up and went to bed for the night. I guess the saying goes "The best laid plans of mice and men ......." rang true for me last night.

Dave KD2FSI posted this to Facebook after doing a little analytical work on the ARRL published Field Day results:

2023 Field Day Results Database:

"I’m not sure when the ARRL posted the 2023 Field Day results in a CSV file format to their website, but I was able to download that file yesterday. The December issue of QST did publish the scores based on operating categories, but this CSV format can be imported to an Excel spreadsheet for further analyses of the standing.

We know from QST that SPARC scored in 4th place out of 8 entries in the 3A Battery category, but with this file we can now determine how well we stacked up compared to all other entries. So, the following is quick rundown of how SPARC did.

Of all the entries with a QRP power multiplier of 5, we ranked 26th out of 436.

Of all the entries in the NNJ section, we ranked 3rd out of 72!

But what I think is most impressive, is that out of a total of 4447 log entries submitted, our final score of 4720 points put SPARC in 249th place. So, this means our ranking works out to being in the top 6% of all the Field Day operations nationwide.

This is even more impressive when you consider that with just 3 battery powered transceivers, running only 5 watts out to wire antennas, that SPARC can compete this well compared to operations running as many as 12 generator powered transceivers at 100 watts along with crank up towers with beam antennas sitting on top.

So great job SPARC, and I’m looking forward to our 10th anniversary of Field Day operations this coming June. 73, Dave KD2FSI"

Things going on this weekend:

Contests:

North American QSO Party, CW - https://www.ncjweb.com/NAQP-Rules.pdf

NRAU-Baltic Contest, CW - https://www.nraubaltic.eu/

DARC 10-Meter Contest - https://www.darc.de/der-club/referate/conteste/darc-10m-contest/regeln/

SKCC Weekend Sprintathon - https://www.skccgroup.com/operating_activities/weekend_sprintathon/

"Sprintathon" - now THAT's an oxymoron if I've ever heard of one!

Special Events:

01/13/2024 | 123rd Anniversary of the Lucas Gusher

Jan 13-Jan 14, 1400Z-2200Z, K5S, Beaumont, TX. Beaumont Amateur Radio Club. 14.250 7.250 3.870 14.074. Certificate. Beaumont Amateur Radio Club , 4839 Hwy 326N, Kountze, TX 77625. E-certificate also available. k5s.lucasgusher@gmail.com or www.w5rin.com

01/13/2024 | Last NVA MIG Shot-down by USS Midway F-4 (12JAN73)

Jan 13, 1700Z-2359Z, NI6IW, San Diego, CA. USS Midway Museum Ship. 7.250 14.320; PSK 14.070; DSTAR on PAPA System repeaters. QSL. USS Midway Museum Ship, 910 N Harbor Drive COMEDTRA, San Diego, CA 92101. www.qrz.com/db/ni6iw

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send he very least!

Batting .500

 I went one for two last night, with a solid single in the 40 Meter Fox Hunt last night.

Ed N9EP in Illinois was an easy find and I worked him at the four minute mark. Brian K0DTJ in California was another matter altogether. I found the pack of Hounds chasing him easy enough, but hearing Brian himself was quite the chore. Twiddling 1 - 2 kHz down from the pack yielded nothing for a while until I decided to make use of the KX3's Audio Peaking Filter. It was only then that I was able to make out where Brian was, about 1 kHz down.

Even with all the controls set for maximum receive, Brian was definitely not workable. I could tell where he was and when he was transmitting, but if I would have thrown out my call, I would have never been able to tell if he was coming back to me. So why QRM the frequency and ruin someone else's chance? I only stayed on frequency until 0245 UTC last night - the halfway point of the Hunt. I figured that Brian most likely wasn't going to get much louder and I was starting to nod off as it was. I'm paying for this late night foray (for W2LJ at least, it was a late night foray), this morning.

After the Hunt, I saw on the qfox e-mail reflector that Steve WX2S in Kingston, which is about 20 to 25 miles South of me, managed to work both Foxes.  Obviously, he has a better antenna farm than W2LJ has, but I'm happy with what I got done last night - although working both Foxes would obviously been a much better outcome.

All in all we did well with the storm last night. Everyone made it home safe from work and we received 2.70 inches of rain The winds were pretty steady out of the SSE at about 8-10 MPH with an occasional gust near 20 MPH. No trees or branches down and no loss of power, we did just fine, thanks be to God!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Going to re-do the shack a bit and make room for a new addition.

 Not sure why I ordered one of these, but I love the way it looks and it's arriving tomorrow.

It's the HamClock bundle by inovato Products.

I have a 24' TV/monitor that's sitting around doing nothing. I was going to put it out at the curb for a free pickup, but then I saw this. There's no real reason for having this other than the "cool factor" and I always salivated over the Geochron clocks since I was a Novice.

So some of the certificates on the shack wall may not be as visible as before, but I think when all is said and done, I'll have a more "Mission Control" look. This definitely validates my "nerd/geek" card. 

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Weather

Over the weekend, we received a small amount of snow. About a 1/2 inch before it warned up sufficiently to change over to sleet and then rain. Some areas of the Northern and Northwestern part of New Jersey received closer to 12 inches of snow.

Of course, that's nothing. compared to what is forecasted to be coming tomorrow into Wednesday. My area of New Jersey is supposed to be particularly hit by this monster coastal storm that will be dumping on the East Coast. 60 Trillion gallons of water may be unleashed along the coast by this storm.

South Plainfield is in the red area where we may see as much as 3 - 5 inches of rain. Even more troubling than the rain forecast is the possibility of wind gusts in the 50 - 60 MPH range. This is a concern for antennas, of course. But the consolation that I am taking is that my antennas withstood the full brunt of Hurricane Sandy with nary a whimper - but they were 11 years younger at the time. I'm hoping they make it though this time, as well.  The W3EDP would be a cinch to replace - but I would definitely not be able to replace the Butternut HF9V with a new version of itself - it's way too cost prohibitive for my budget.

It will be interesting. If I feel not-tired enough to partake in the 40 Meter Fox Hunt tomorrow night and all of a sudden signals disappear, I guess that will mean that particular antenna went "bye-bye".

Keeping fingers crossed.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

First weekend of 2024

For the first weekend of 2024 - here are the goings on that might interest fellow aficionados of QRP and CW. And even if they don't interest you - there's always that perennial question you hear on weekends - "Which contest is this?"

Contests:

Marconi Club ARI Loano QSO Party Day - http://www.ariloano.it/marconiclub/mcd_reg/regolamentomcday_ENG.pdf

WW PMC Contest - http://www.s59dcd.si/index.php/sl/ww-pmc/ww-pmc-contest-rules

EUCW 160m Contest - https://www.eucw.org/eu160.html

Special Events:

01/06/2024 | MRAC 107th Anniversary

Jan 6, 1600Z-2200Z, W9RH, Milwaukee, WI. Milwaukee Radio Amateurs' Club. ~7.250 ~14.250 ~21.350 145.390. Certificate. Email specialevent@w9rh.org, to receive, certificate. Celebrating 107 years of continuous service to the Milwaukee amateur radio community. Also celebrating 105 years of affiliation with the ARRL. Work us on HF, our VHF repeater, or WiRES-X (#43588). Certificate available upon email request. See web page for details. https://www.w9rh.org/special-event-station

01/06/2024 | Second Seminole Indian War Reenactment

Jan 6-Jan 7, 1300Z-2200Z, K2S, Bushnell, FL. Hog County Amateur Radio Association - K4HOG. 14.045 - CW 14.250-260 - PH 21.325 - PH 28.450 - PH. Certificate. Gene King, KI4LEH, 4655 NW 68th Blvd., Lake Panasoffkee, FL 33538. Times are daily. This event/reenactment commemorates Dade's Battle of 1835 during the Second Seminole War. Taking place at the current location known as the Historic Dade Battlefield State Park in Bushnell, Florida. This will be the first time our association or any amateur club has set up a Special Event Station. K4HOGFL@gmail.com or https://k4hog.org

Tomorrow is also "ARRL Kids Day" - Kids Day is designed to give on-the-air experience to young people and hopefully foster interest in getting a license of their own. It is also intended to give older hams a chance to share their station and love for Amateur Radio with their children - https://www.arrl.org/Kids-Day

On another note, I received a nice e-mail from the Quarter Century Wireless Association congratulating me on 45 years of being a licensed Amateur Radio operator.  It also directed me to a site where I am able to generate a certificate, suitable for framing or display on my shack wall.

This was a very welcomed surprise; and I don't mean to be petty, but this is more than anything I ever receive from the ARRL.  The only correspondence that I get from them are invitations to purchase the latest version of the ARRL Handbook, or invitations to donate to their various fund raising efforts like the Diamond Club. Heck, they seem to have even done away with sending the 10% discount birthday coupon.

Seriously, I know money is tight for the ARRL - just like it is for everyone else. But how much would it cost them to keep track of how long an ARRL Member has been an ARRL Member and generate a pdf certificate to celebrate that? As a Life Member, I an not entitled to anniversary milestone pins that other regular members receive. I have friends who have received pins for 40 and 50 years of membership. I'm not asking for that, as that is an added expense - but an e-mail of congratulations and a pdf anniversary certificate that you can print yourself is hardly going to break their bank.

Maybe little touches like this would make it easier to accept dues increases or when they do away with other things - like that 10% off birthday coupon. The ARRL needs to get it into their collective heads that their members are human beings who appreciate the little things and are not just cash cows to be milked for whatever funds you can get out of them.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

There will never be anything like it again.

I have to chuckle to myself. sometimes. I went to the ARRL Webpage to read up on their VOTA (Volunteers On The Air) program from 2023. 

"The Volunteers On the Air (VOTA) operating event has been popular among hams, with some operators making nearly 30,000 QSOs throughout the yearlong activation."

That is very impressive! But when all is said and done, I highly doubt that the entire VOTA QSO total will come close to matching:

Back in 2016, thanks to the efforts of Sean Kutzko KX9X and Norm Fusaro W3IZ, the National Parks On The Air program generated over 1,000,000 QSOs - yes, that's right, over 1 Million QSOs. AND ....... NPOTA gave birth to the ever popular Parks On The Air program which is running with full steam today and is not ever looking back.

If the ARRL is still around 100 years from now - NPOTA will have to go down as their most wildly successful sponsored activity - second ONLY to the DXCC program. I remember being excited about it towards the end of 2015 when it was first announced. I was amazed at the amount of activity that ensued on January 1st, 2016 and how it sustained itself throughout the year. And to top it all off, December 31st, 2016 was wall to wall NPOTA on the bands and was also, personally, one of the most fun and "bestest" days I've ever had in my Amateur Radio career.

There will never be anything like it again.

Did not get on the air last night for the 40 Meter Fox Hunt. Long day at work and then a meeting at 7:00 PM. Came home, ate something for dinner, hit the sack. Maybe Thursday night, if I feel up to it.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Resolutions? Not!

 Determinations? Maybe.

The things I'd like to do Ham Radio-wise in 2024 are really quite simple.

1) Get on the air more than I did in 2023.

2) Do a lot more POTA activations. Not so much as a 'making more contacts" kind of deal, but to actually get out of the house more and be in nature, see historical places, see more light houses, etc. It's one thing to operate from home - nothing wrong with that. But to get outdoors, breathe in some fresh air and mix in the World's Best Hobby? Priceless !

Resolutions are things that seem to be made, only to be broken. That's why I call my list "Determinations". If I am determined enough, maybe I can make them happen - even if it's in a way smaller amount than I would hope. Any increase is better than none.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Happy New Year!

 

Happy New Year to all my Amateur Radio friends, QRPers, CW Enthusiasts, POTA operators, Skeeters and the like! I hope 2024 gifts you with joy, peace of mind, happiness and good health!

I've been off the internet and the air and life in general for the past two days. I had hoped to make 200 blog posts for 2023 when I re-started writing again last June. I fell just short and that's OK. I was extremely tired from that last danged shot and did not do too, too much on Saturday and Sunday. I think the best explanation that I can give as to what these shots do to me - just think of what Kryptonite does to Superman and you pretty much know how I've been feeling.

On Saturday I did transfer Marianne's content from her old tablet to the new one I bought her for Christmas, as that didn't require much physical effort. Even with Samsung's wireless utility, it took a lot longer than expected. It's up and running, has everything in it that she had before, so she's happy. And when she's happy, I'm happy.

Today, I'm feeling the most human of the three days of the weekend. So this afternoon, I broke out the KX3 on the dining room table and attached the AX-1 that Marianne gifted to me. I have to tell you, the antenna is very well made, but to an Old Curmudgeonly Ham like me, I looked at it and a still thought "No Way!".

I am proud to say that Old Curmudgeonly Ham me was dead wrong. I stuck to 20 Meters only and worked five POTA stations in IL, MO, VA, and MI in the space of about 30 minutes. I was amazed, ecstatic and generally pleased as punch. This is going to be so good when we go up to Lake George in the summer. I can see myself at one of their picnic tables, wracking up the POTA contacts and not worrying about little kids and adult onlookers running into antenna wires.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!