Propagation is a funny thing

When you think you have it even somewhat figured out ...... you don't.

I had two VHF ARES Nets to check into last night. One for the Southern District of NNJ at 7:30 PM and then the actual NNJ Section ARES Net at 8:00 PM. Before, between and after I decided to do some POTA hunting. I worked Dave AB9CA in New Mexico easy enough, but there was a station in Illinois on 40 Meters that I could not get as hard as I might try.

This is unusual, because I normally have a pipeline on 40 Meters to Illinois, Indiana and that part of the country. It was a bit frustrating to say the least. Most times, I can connect with a station from that part of the US after a call or two. Not last night, as I tried switching between the Butternut and the W3EDP, as well as adjusting my frequency so that I would not be zero beat with the activator. He finally went QRT just as about the Section Net was starting. This did not bode well for later in the evening as Don K9DRP in Illinois was one of the 40 Meter Foxes last night.

The other Fox was John AJ1DM in Rhode Island. John was an easy find and was loud enough, but there was constant QRM on him as QRO stations were all around him.  It took some really tight KX3 filtering to isolate John well enough to be able to easily hear who he was working. Finally at 0147 UTC, I got in his log.

As I suspected, Don K9DRP was another story. Not only did I have to utilize the KX3's Audio Peak Frequency feature in order to hear Don well enough, there was also a ton of QRM on him as well. This QRM (in both cases) wasn't intentional. It was just QRO stations who didn't hear the QRP stations underneath them.  That happens and we get used to it. Again, as with the POTA station earlier in the evening, I was trying everything I knew to get Don to hear me. I switched between vertical and wire, and I kept track of who he was working and tried to anticipate his next listening spot. I even tried adjusting my CW speed, thinking maybe a slower or faster speed might catch his ear. All to no avail.

I was about to throw in the towel, as I was tired after a long day at work and it was getting late, but I decided to stick with it to the bitter end. My perseverance was rewarded by hearing "W2LJ" come back to me at 0221 UTC - with only 9 minutes to go before QRT time! A quick exchange with no requests for repeats from me, and I was in the log. Whew!

One other thing this Fox hunting is teaching me, besides perseverance, is that I really do need hearing aids, or at least one hearing aid. My right ear is almost totally shot. The nice thing about the KX3 is that it has the built in sub-receiver and it also has dual listening mode. When you utilize it, the main VFO, in this case the Fox, will be in my left headphone and the the second VFO, the Hounds, will be heard in my right headphone. I cannot hear anything from the right headphone as things stand. I literally have to take the headphones off and flip them so I can figure out where the Fox is working the Hounds. What a pain!

Last week, I went for my annual physical and my Doctor looked in my ears, as I told him I was going to need hearing aids. He told me that there is some rumen (ear wax) build up in my left ear and that I should get that taken care of, but my right ear was totally clean. He was a bit surprised when I told him that the right ear was the ear I could not hear well with! I have looked into Over the Counter hearing aids, but they are mostly for folks with mild to moderate hearing loss. An OTC hearing aid would be good enough for my left ear, but my right ear falls under the severe hearing loss category. "Regular" hearing aids are expensive, but several friends who use hearing aids have recommended the ones available through Costco.

Maybe this summer - yeah, along with a lot of other things.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!