Have a blessed Good Friday

Today is the day that Death has died.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

The Weekend of April 19th and 20th

I'm doing this a day early as tomorrow is Good Friday and I won't be on the computer much, except for work - so here goes.

First off, tomorrow, April 18th is World Amateur Radio Day - here's an image I found online that I really liked:

If you get the opportunity, and you will not be tied up at work, or with other things, get on the air and make a QSO or two, or three.  I may be able to get on after work before UTC time changes to April 19th.

Contests:

QRP To The Field - http://www.zianet.com/qrp/qrpttf/pg.html

World Wide Holyland Contest - https://tools.iarc.org/wwhc/#/rules

ES Open HF Championship - https://erau.ee/images/LL/ES-Open_rules.pdf

CQMM DX Contest - http://www.cqmmdx.com/rules/

Michigan QSO Party - https://miqp.org/index.php/rules/

Nebraska QSO Party - https://nebraskaqsoparty.com/qso-party-rules/f/rules-for-2022-nebraska-qso-party

EA-QRP CW Contest - Take note, different times for different bands  - https://www.eaqrp.com/index.php/actividades/concurso?id=307

Please support our Canadian friends, even though they may not be too thrilled with us right now.

Ontario QSO Party - http://www.va3cco.com/oqp/rules.htm

Quebec QSO Party - https://quebecqsoparty.org/

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

Special Events:

04/05/2025 | Polio on the Air

Apr 5-Apr 19, 0000Z-2359Z, W7P/O/L/I&W0O, Seattle, WA. Norwhal Amateur Radio Society (NR7WL). see website for list of frequencies. QSL. QSLs, will be mailed, to all contacts. nars@narwhal.be or https://nars.narwhal.be/polio

04/19/2025 | World Amateur Radio Day

Apr 19-Apr 20, 1300Z-2359Z, N6AJ*, Bakersfield, CA. Terry Godley. 28.425, 14.074; 10 - 40 meters, FT8, SSTV. QSL. Terry Godley, 2701 Fordham Street, Bakersfield, CA 93305. Also participating, W6W, W6A, W6R and W6D.

After Action Report:

Last weekend, April 12th was the QRP-ARCI Spring QSO Party.  I reported my own results, but I looked at the autolog and am happy to report we've had an uptick in participation from 2024. Last year, only 16 log summaries were entered - this year we had 28.  Not quite a 100% increase, but I'll take it.

e-Certificates have gone out to the top three finishers. Look for more publicity blasts from me for the next event, which will be the Hootowl Sprint at the end of May. It would be nice if we could really get a lot of QRP'ers on board, participating in these events as it makes them way more fun. There's nothing worse than entering a Sprint with no activity - it's like watching paint dry.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

QRPTTF and some sad news

There hasn't been much news of it, but QRP To The Field is this coming Saturday.

The reason there hasn't been any news or announcement was revealed by Paul NA5N on the QRP-L mailing list. Paul's wife, Jan N0QT had been in hospice care in New Mexico and is now a Silent Key.

Paul indicated that rules for 2025 will follow the same rules as last year, and the 2024 Summary Sheet can be used again this year.

The details can be found at http://www.zianet.com/qrp/qrpttf/pg.html

Please consider keeping Paul and Jan's soul in your prayers during this most difficult time.

Eternal rest grant unto her, Oh Lord.  May Your Perpetual Light shine upon her.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Adventures in logging

Friday evening, when I headed down to the shack for the QRP- ARCI Spring QSO Party, I took a long my no-name, off brand Android tablet with me. I was determined to make a concerted effort at "computer logging". I have (or rather should say "had") an Android logging program called VLS Logger

I started off writing my first two contacts on paper, and during a lull, entered them onto the tablet. It seemed easy enough, and I made the decision to forego paper and pen for the rest of the night and log solely onto the tablet. That's when Murphy walked through the door.

For some reason known only to the Almighty, my tablet froze. I hit the power button and chose the "restart" button.When the tablet came back, I tried to re-open VLS Logger and when I did, I saw the words "Attempting to reload log from db" and the whirling little circle of death.So I figured, I'd try force stopping the app. I went into App settings, did that and restarted the program. Same result. I figured I'd give it some time and would see what happens. Five minutes later, the donut is still whirling away.

My next course of action was to un-install and re-install, as that has worked for me before with other apps.So I went to the Google Play store and guess what? VLS Logger is no longer offered!

I spent the rest of the night logging with paper and pen, and I guess that's the way it will always be for me. Log manually and then transfer to AC Log on my laptop later on. I know that's terribly Odd School, but that seems to work best for me.

BTW, here's where RBN's skimmers heard me Friday night:

And this is a map of the QSOs I made:

Just a slight bit of a difference!  The computers were hearing me better than human ears were able to, I guess! No contacts made with anyone as far out west as the skimmers heard me.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

It's a weakness that I have

 I placed an order yesterday for one of these:

I have a weakness for paddles, perhaps even an addiction, maybe. The price on this was very reasonable, and I have NEVER acquired anything from the 4 States Group that I later regretted getting. Their kits and products are top notch. Their manual tuner, for instance, is the bomb! It's so good, in fact, that I bought a second for the HW-8 in the shack, as I now keep the original in my portable ops bag. Anyway, this paddle will sit comfortably next to my American Morse paddle in that same portable ops bag, and if it's as good as their other stuff, will be my Field Day paddle for 2025. As a plus, the sale will help fund in a tiny way, their next Ozarkcon in 2026.

This morning is our monthly ETS of NJ VE session.  If everyone shows up, we will have six candidates taking tests. 3 Technician, 1 General, and 2 Extra. I hope everyone walks away happy.

I read on Jeff KE9V's site that the RAC has sadly pulled out from attending Dayton/Xenia over the recent tensions between the US and our neighbors to the North. That is such a shame! While I can understand their feelings, I always held on to the cherished belief that we Hams were above that sort of thing; and that we could get along and even provide an example to our respective governments on how to get along, even if they could not. After all, even during the Cold War, we didn't shy away from from making contacts with our brother and sister Hams in the (at that time) USSR. I guess I'm just too naive and "Polly Ann-ish". I'll tell you one thing - I'd never let anything that the Canadian or US Governments might pull to let it stop me contacting Canadian Hams. That's just plain stupid, in my mind, and some of the friendships run too deep to be affected by political silliness.

This is way too precious to let anything happen to change it!

Last night was the start of the QRP-ARCI Spring QSO Party, which I did my best to advertise the heck out of. I only put in a couple of the six hours as I had to get up early (for a Saturday) for our VE Session this morning.

I started out on 20 Meters which was terrible! Band conditions were such that signals were way down in the mud. It wasn't long before I switched to 40 Meters, which was much, much better. Later on, I even made two contacts on 80 Meters before pulling the plug. I ended up with about 18 QRP- ARCI members in the log, and about 4 or 5 non-members, and two QRO stations as well. I also had a a nasty experience with logging, which I'll go into tomorrow.

So far the autologger is displaying about 25 logs, which isn't bad. It's an upturn compared to last year, but I think there was more activity than that. The deadline for log submissions is some time tomorrow, so  we'll see.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

New from Elecraft & the weekend of 4/12 and 4/13

 POTA, whether you like it or not, seems to be a driving force behind new product development, whether it's smaller rigs, antennas or accessories. Elecraft has just announced a new antenna - the AX3, which they describe as "POTA ready".

I'm not going to go into the details here - they can be found at https://elecraft.com/collections/antennas/products/ax1_ax1-multi-band-whip-antenna-copy

My AX1 with the 40 Meter extension will pretty much do the same things, but that built in tripod is a nice addition! It appears to be a lot better solution than that "protractor" type support they were offering. The AX3 also comes with a waterproof nylon bag, which is a nice touch.

On to this weekend's events:

Contests to be aware of (busy weekend for contests!):

QRP-ARCI Spring QSO Party - which starts tonight! - http://qrparci.org/contest/spring-qso-party

JIDX CW Contest: - http://www.jidx.org/jidxrule-e.html

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

Yuri Gagarin International DX Contest - https://gccontest.ru/en/rules-gc-2025/

DIG QSO Party, CW - https://dig-contest.de/rules

Texas State Parks on the Air - https://www.tspota.org/

New Mexico QSO Party - http://www.newmexicoqsoparty.org/

Georgia QSO Party - https://gaqsoparty.com/

North Dakota QSO Party (for those of you needing ND for WAS, listen for this one!) - https://ndarrlsection.com/2025/2025_nd_qso_party_rules.pdf

International Vintage Contest HF - https://vintagecontest.webnode.it/residenti/

4 States QRP Group Second Sunday Sprint - http://www.4sqrp.com/SSS/sss_rules.pdf

And ........ you may hear this digital stuff on the bands:

IG-RY World Wide RTTY Contest, and the Africa FT4 DX Contest.

Special Event Stations:

04/12/2025 | Activation of State Parks in the State of TX Commemorating Tom King, WK5DX

Apr 12-Apr 13, 0800Z-2000Z, K5LRK, The Colony, TX. Lake Area Amateur Radio Klub. CW bottom of +40 kHz; Phone General segment +25 kHz and 28.350; VHF 50.200 144.200. QSL. Ken Rainy, AC3EZ, 529 Kenilworth Ave, Oak Point, TX 75068. www.k5lrk.com

04/12/2025 | Mississippi State Parks on the Air

Apr 12, 1300Z-2300Z, N5OS, Biloxi, MS. Jackson County MS ARA. 14.074. Certificate. Jerry Davis, P.O. Box 234, Gautier, MS 39553. 2nd Annual MS State Parks on the Air event https://jcmsara.org/mississippi-parks-on-the-air

04/12/2025 | Operation Frequent Wind

Apr 12, 1600Z-2300Z, NI6IW, San Diego, CA. USS Midway Museum Ship. 14.320 7.250 14.070 PSK31 DSTAR on Papa System Repeaters. QSL. USS Midway Museum Ship COMEDTRA, 910 N Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101. www.qrz.com/db/ni6iw

04/12/2025 | Venice Florida Shark's Tooth Festival

Apr 12-Apr 13, 1020Z-1017Z, K4S, Venice, FL. Tamiami Amateur Radio Club. 14.136 21.136 28.136. QSL. TAMIAMI AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, PO BOX 976, Nokomis, FL 34274-0976. QSL includes a fossilized shark's tooth from the beach in Venice, FL when S.A.S.E. is sent to W4AC address on qrz.com tamiamiarc.org

Finally, for those of you who are NOT space buffs - April 12th is a significant day. In fact, April 12th is observed as the International Day of Human Spaceflight. On this day in 1961, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin from the (at that time) USSR, became the first human being to orbit the Earth.

Some 20 years later, on April 12th 1981,  Astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen flew the Space Shuttle Columbia into orbit on the very first shuttle mission - STS-1. The shuttle was the first spacecraft designed to be reusable. It's a shame the shuttle project was terminated, it was a huge success.

And for those of you who just love OTA events, there actually is a NOTA - NASA On The Air program. This is a series of special events where the various Amateur Radio clubs at NASA facilities, or clubs with NASA affiliation get on the air to commemorate significant space events, past and current. You can read about it here - https://nasaontheair.wordpress.com/. And there's a Facebook page as well - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1101291730008122/

Have a great weekend, and hope to hear you in the QRP-ARCI Spring QSO Party tonight!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP -When you care to send the very least!

Cool QRP Image

 I wish I had the wherewithal to construct something like this:

As seen on FB, of course. Say what you want about Facebook and social media, but if you stay away from political stuff and nonsense stuff, you can find some gems, meaning some really cool Amateur Radio information, astronomy stuff. I've even found some good Polish recipes there. Just this past Sunday I made kotlet schabowy, which are Polish style breaded pork chops, like my Mom used to make. I came across the recipe on FB, and they were a hit with the family. Even my semi-vegetarian daughter liked them.

Last night, I did not get on the air, but I did go online to fill out the request form with the Middlesex County Department of Parks and Recreation to reserve space in Spring Lake Park for Field Day. Usually Dave KD2FSI does this for us, but I feel bad that he always does. I'm sure he doesn't mind, but I don't want him to feel like he's stuck with it, either. As it is, he brings so much to our Field Days that we'd be SERIOUSLY hurting with out him. As they say, many hands lighten the load and I don't want him to feel like he's the only one doing all the prep work.

And that reminds me........ I have to go over to the ARRL Field Day Locator and put our info in.

Done!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Weekend of April 5th and 6th

We had a SPARC Activity Night meeting last night, where we discussed acquiring a party tent for Field Day. We used to do that in our earlier Field Days via the overwhelming generosity of Dave KD2FSI, who would unselfishly donate the funds to the club. Now we have an organization, Hadley Communications Technologies, that we can go to, to ask for the needed dollars  We want to acquire a 10 X 20 foot commercial party tent with sides that can withstand the elements better than the Harbor Freight style car port that we've been using the past couple of years.

Not the best photo, but this is what we used the first several Field Days. It was enclosed on three sides. Just from the one end you can see the "windows" and get an idea of how sturdy it was. Notice the anchor ropes holding it down. The best part was that the company we rented it from came to the park on Friday to set it up and would come back on Monday to tear it down and haul it away, leaving us with one less chore for us to worry about.

Then we went to this, which worked, but was not deluxe:

The car port we used with makeshift tarp sides. There were several times, in the midst of Field Day, that a good wind would come through and we literally had to "hold down the fort"! It made do, but was not as sturdy or robust. When it would start to rain, this arrangement left a lot to be desired.

After that discussion, Bill W2AOF gave a talk about solar panels and controllers and the MC4 connectors used in conjunction. Those are available through Powerwerx and are much more robust that Anderson Power Poles.

So ........ on to this weekend:

Contests:

CW operators, you may hear A LOT of digital activity this weekend! Primarily the ODXS 070 New Member Jamboree, the EA RTTY Contest, the RSGB FT4 International Activity Day, 

Georgia State Parks on the Air - https://gaparks.org/rules-register/

Florida State Parks on the Air - https://flspota.org/rules/

Louisiana QSO Party - http://laqp.louisianacontestclub.org/laqso_rules.htm

Mississippi QSO Party - https://www.arrlmiss.org/

Missouri QSO Party - http://www.w0ma.org/index.php/missouri-qso-party

SP DX Contest - https://spdxcontest.pzk.org.pl/2024/rules.php

George Batterson 1935 QSO Party - https://www.qsl.net/ve7sl/batterson.html

Monday Night:

ARS Spartan Sprint: - http://ars-qrp.com/Spartan_Sprint/Spartan_Sprint.html

Tuesday Night:

NAQCC CW Sprint - http://naqcc.info/sprint_rules.html

And a reminder .......don't forget NEXT weekend:

Special Events:

04/05/2025 | Polio on the Air

Apr 5-Apr 19, 0000Z-2359Z, W7P/O/L/I&W0O, Seattle, WA. Norwhal Amateur Radio Society (NR7WL). see website for list of frequencies. QSL. QSLs, will be mailed, to all contacts. nars@narwhal.be or https://nars.narwhal.be/polio

04/06/2025 | GERATOL NET 52nd Anniversary

Apr 6-Apr 13, 0001Z-2359Z, N1KL, Wheelwright, MA. GERATOL NET. 3.668. Certificate. Kevin Lynch, POB 124, Wheelwright, MA 01094. Ther GERATOL Net Worked All States net is celebrating 52 years of service to the Amateur Radio community. For special downloadable certificate, look for W1G Special Event on 3.668 Mhz starting at 0100Z each evening. https://geratol.net

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Black sheep of the family

 Happy April Fool's Day! 

I'll admit, I'm the black sheep of the family - image courtesy of Alain Mouton as seen on Facebook.

It's just a joke, guys. Please don't get offended!

BTW, tonight: Walk for the Bacon QRP Contest - https://qrpcontest.com/pigwalk20/

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Weekend of March 29th and 30th

 March is just about over! Where does the time go? Anyway, here's what's going on this weekend (and into next week):

Contests:

Sasquatch Stomp - https://www.pnwqrp.org/sasquatch-stomp

CQ WW WPX Contest, SSB - https://www.cqwpx.com/rules.htm

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

Next Tuesday night - Walk for the Bacon QRP Contest - https://qrpcontest.com/pigwalk20/

Special Event Stations:

03/22/2025 | The White House Communications Agency 83rd Anniversary

Mar 22-Mar 29, 0000Z-0000Z, W0H, Jackson, OH. White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club. 3.875 7.275 14.250 28.550. Certificate. Lowell Yates, 6809 Four Mile Rd, Jackson, OH 45640. https://whitehousecomms-arc.org

03/29/2025 | 70th Anniversary of the Birmingham Zoo

Mar 29-Mar 30, 0000Z-2359Z, W7P, Birmingham, AL. N4GHP. 7.290 7.296 14.296. Certificate & QSL. Lloyd Palmer, 1325 Windsor Ct., Alabaster, AL 35007. This event is planned for March 2025. Watch for more details. www.qrz.com/db/n4ghp

03/30/2025 | Centennial Commemoration for the Veterans Memorial Building of the San Ramon Valley

Mar 30, 1800Z-2359Z, K6V, Danville, CA. VFW Post 75. HF 10m (see spotting networks) HF 20m (see spotting networks) DMR TG 98008 (Military Veteran Echolink (*TALARC*). QSL. VFW Post 75, 400 Hartz Av, Danville, CA 94526. Celebrating the 100 Year Anniversary of the Veterans Memorial Building of the San Ramon Valley in Danville, CA. Confirmed QSO may request QSL card by sending self addressed stamped envelope and your QSL card (if you want to send one): VMBSRV Centennial Attention: VFW POST 75 - K6V Event 400 Hartz Av, Danville, CA 94526 https://www.qrz.com/db/K6V

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Some needed promo?

There's a QRP Sprint tomorrow, March 28th, that hasn't gotten a lot of press, so I am going to highlight it here. The Pacific Northwest QRP Group is holding its annual Sasquatch Stomp tomorrow. This sprint is modeled after Paul NA5N's Zombie Shuffle, so if you've participated in that, you should be very comfortable here. You should also know that a bunch of fun is in store for you if you do participate.

The full details can be found here: https://www.pnwqrp.org/sasquatch-stomp, but here are some of the more important ones.

Time: From 19:00 UTC Friday until 03:00 UTC Saturday For those on the West Coast, that translates to 12:00 Noon local to 8:00 PM local. On the East Coast that translates to 3:00 PM local until 11:00 PM local time.

Exchange: RST, SPC (state, province, or country), Sasquatch Number and Name. If you don't yet have a Sasquatch Number, use the last three numbers of your ZIP Code, or, if you are Canadian, the numbers included in your Postal Code. This event is open to all licensed Radio Amateurs. 

Call : CQ STMP

There are more nuances to this sprint that you can read about in the rules.

72 de Larry W2LJ - Sasquatch # 910

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Personal Best

I know myself all too well. I had a great time as a 40 Meter Fox last night, but now I'm paying the consequences. I knew ahead of time that following the hunt, I'd be on an adrenaline high - and I was. I was stoked, awake, and I wasn't able to nod off until about 1:00 AM.

Today, the walking dead probably feel more alive than I do.

I have to honestly say, though, that I approached the hunt last night with trepidation. I tried to catch a catnap after dinner, but my phone kept chiming with all kinds of geomagnetic alerts. The last one came about a half hour before the starting bell to tell me the k index was up to 4. I went to the propagation box at the bottom of the blog to see that night time conditions on 40 Meters would only be "fair". Uh-oh!

But whatever the sun was doing didn't seem to have too much of an effect on me. I ended up with a personal best of 55 QSOs, two of which were dupes. One was K9TA, which was just probably an insurance QSO on his part, and the other was NX1K, Mark, who came back to me a second time, but with lower power - 2 Watts. That's the QSO that goes into the record book.

Here's the Reverse Beacon Network map from last night:

While I didn't hear anyone from the West Coast, the other Fox, Randy NC4RT, did work Don NK6A. The farthest west I was able to hear and work were KS, CO, TX and OK.  The map shows that skimmers picked me up on the West coast, but my signal was probably below noise level which only computer ears could hear.

I kept switching back and forth between the MF-1982 and my Butternut HF9V. The vertical allowed me to hear those western stations much better than the wire. I was glad to have both antennas. 

Again, thanks to all the Hounds who worked me. I know there were many out there that I couldn't quite dig out of the noise. I thought I heard John K4BAI a couple of times, but he was not loud enough to know for sure that it was him. The mind can play tricks on you , if you allow it.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Pinch Hitting

I will be pinch hitting for Dan N7CQR in the 40 Meter QRP Fox Hunt tonight.  I wasn't planning on volunteering as a Fox anymore as these Hunts run late, I get wired after a session and generally don't fall asleep until around Midnight.  All this with a 5:00 AM wake up call for work. Maybe I can get in a catnap between dinner and 8:30 PM.

The Committee sent me an e-mail as they were in a bind. Against my better judgment, I agreed to the assignment. I hate seeing folks in a bind if I can help. I will probably be a zombie at work tomorrow.

Anyway, if you're so inclined, you can listen for me tonight beginning at 9:00 PM EDT and ending at 10:30 PM EDT, somewhere between 7.030 and 7.050 MHz. If you hear me, I will give your call sign, and then my half of the exchange which is  RST, State, Name, Power Out. Your assignment is to come back to me with your info - RST, your State, your Name, your Power Out.

I'll be working split from the beginning. If you've never tried hunting a QRP Fox before, maybe you'd like to give it a try!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Amazed

I have to say that I witnessed something last night that I have not seen happen very many times in all my years of being an Amateur Radio operator.

Last night, I checked into the St. Max Net a few minutes before net start as Net Control, Lloyd K3QNT was looking for check ins. As we got closer to net start, the band changed a bit and we were able to begin to hear some other voices on the frequency and they were able to hear us.

It appeared that another net was on frequency, since the afternoon in fact, and they were complaining that the St Max Net would be interfering with them. Lloyd explained to them that their signals had just become audible and that there was no intention to interfere with them. Lloyd informed than that our net would begin at 0000 UTC and politely asked if they might have concluded their net by then.

They actually answered that they would be done by then and to stand by for the use of the frequency. So in turn, Lloyd postponed calling for early check ins until the appointed time, in order for them to conclude their session without interference.

It did my heart good to see two groups of considerate, and polite Amateur Radio ops successfully and congenially accommodate each other. It seems so often these days that in situations like these, the immediate response is to become stubborn, rude and unyielding. There ARE grown-ups on the Ham bands and it was great to see!

In other business, since the debacle with the disappearance of the 2024 Skeeter Hunt Scoreboard, I sat myself down in front of my computer and spent a goodly amount of time getting the 2024 certificates composed, and I'm about half way done at this point. The Top Five finishers get a printed hardcopy mailed to them. Because of prohibitive ink and postage costs, everyone else deserving of a certificate gets a .pdf certificate e-mailed to them, so they can print it out for themselves, if they so desire. It used to be that I would send a hardcopy to all the Skeeters who earned one, but that became cost prohibitive after a few years.

For a few years, I experimented with financing all that with markups on Skeeter Hunt merchandise available through Cafe Press. That didn't quite work out so well, so I went into the Skeeter Hunt store and changed all the markups on merchandise to 0%.  Cafe Press gets all the proceeds as I thought that the minimal markups that I had put on items made them too expensive. My philosophy is that if something is too expensive for me to buy, I wouldn't expect anyone else too, either.

I think this current solution probably works out for the best, as the Skeeter Hunt being such a small QRP Sprint that only occurs once a year, probably resulted with a lot of the certificates getting stowed away in a desk drawer or some place like that.  A Skeeter Hunt certificate is a nice thing to have, but I'm not sure of they're deserving of any wall space.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Weekend 3/22 and 3/23

 Here's what's on the bands this weekend:

Contests:

AWA John Rollins Memorial DX Contest - https://www.antiquewireless.org/homepage/event-details-for-rollins-dx-event/

FOC QSO Party - http://g4foc.org/qsoparty/

Russian YL/OM Contest - https://www.contest.ru/russian-yl-om-contest-en/

Africa All Mode International DX Contest - https://mysarl.org.za/contest-resources/

Next Tuesday night:

SKCC Sprint - https://www.skccgroup.com/operating_activities/weekday_sprint/

Special Event Stations:

03/22/2025 | Battle of New Bern Adventure Day Special Event

Mar 22, 1600Z-2000Z, N4B, New Bern, NC. New Bern Amateur Radio Club. 14.330 7.065. QSL. John Riley, 980 Dry Monia Road, New Bern, NC 28562. www.qrz.com/db/N4B

03/22/2025 | Cherry Blossom Special Event Station

Mar 22, 1400Z-2000Z, W4BKM, Macon, GA. Macon Amateur Radio Club. 7.225 14.240. Certificate. Macon Amateur Radio Club, 305 Millwood Court, Macon, GA 31210. https://maconamateurradioclub.wordpress.com

03/22/2025 | The White House Communications Agency 83rd Anniversary

Mar 22-Mar 29, 0000Z-0000Z, W0H, Jackson, OH. White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club. 3.875 7.275 14.250 28.550. Certificate. Lowell Yates, 6809 Four Mile Rd, Jackson, OH 45640. https://whitehousecomms-arc.org

03/23/2025 | The White House Communications Agency 83rd Anniversary Special Event

Mar 23-Mar 25, 0000Z-0000Z, W0H, Jackson, OH. White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club. 3.875 7.275 14.250 28.550. Certificate. Lowell Yates, 6809 Four Mile Rd, Jackson, OH 45640. Join the White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club Amateur Radio club with the 83'rd anniversary celebration of the establishment by President Roosevelt of the White House Communications Agency. www.whitehousecomms-arc.org

Personally, I'll be working on Skeeter Hunt certificates from last Summer and maybe I can get on the air and work a few POTA stations.

Looking at the KX, KH, AX io group this morning, I'm still seeing people posting about what they'd like to see in a KX4, and how they'd be willing to plunk down money today, if they could get the features they want.. I've got to get in touch with some of these guys and ask if they'd consider adopting me. They seem to be of the sort where money is no object when it comes to rigs. Maybe I can get adopted and get a huge allowance. For me, deciding to buy the QMX at under two bills was quite the financial decision!

Enjoy your weekend!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

That was fun!

I did get on the air and joined in on the NAQCC Sprint last night. it's been a long time - too long; and I had a lot of fun. I stayed up later than I had planned as I was having so much fun! It took me a while to fall asleep as I got wired (as I feared), but it was worth it.

I started off on 20 Meters, where I worked four stations. Conditions on 20 were tough! Signals were way down in the mud for me. The EFRW was extra noisy for some reason, so I switched over to the HF9V. By far the loudest station on 20 Meters was N9EEE. I really had to strain my ear to hear the other three that I worked.

40 Meters on the other hand, was THE band for the night!  I switched back to the EFRW where my signal was even skimmed in Spain! I worked 23 stations on 40 Meters and I pretty much stayed on 7.038 MHz, running the frequency.  I worked a lot of old friends and made some new ones.  The lowest member number that I heard all night was John K4BAI, NAQCC # 644. I wonder how may people may have been taken aback with my NAQCC # 35! The best DX catch of the night was working DK1VD, Fred in Germany.

When 40 Meters dried up for me, I switched over to 80 Meters and called "CQ NA" for a bit, but had no takers. It was 10:00 PM or 02:00 UTC at that point and I decided to pull the plug. My wake up call for work comes around too quickly at 5:00 AM, so I figured I'd better at least make an effort to fall asleep. i think I drifted off somewhere around Midnight.

It was great to hear so much activity! There's nothing worse than jumping into a Sprint only to be calling "CQ" continuously with no takers, or twiddling the dial and finding no one else calling "CQ", either. That's what makes you never want to bother again.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

NAQCC Sprint tonight.

 And I'll be participating - maybe, probably, not definitely, but most likely.

I need to get on the air more and as I mentioned forcing myself to stay up a bit later helps me sleep through the night. By the same token, though, I most likely won't participate for the entire two hours because, conversely, I'll become too wired up and will be unable to fall asleep. I learned that from the QRP Fox Hunts.

I need to step up my game and join in on more of these events. Form what I understand, the NAQCC Sprints always seem to get a lot of participation.  It's a popular group, and from what I've been told, there are prizes and give aways as the organization gets a lot of donations. 

Other Sprints are not as fortunate. As I stated in the post announcing the QRP-ARCI Spring QSO Party, there were only 16 scores submitted in 2024. For an organization so large, that's kind of pitiful. In the 4 States QRP Group e-mail reflector, I read where they only  had about 4 participants in their Second Sunday Sprint last month. Wow! I am going to have to jump in and start participating in those, as well, to try and help drive up activity there.

I have not jumped into an ARS Spartan Sprint in a long time, either. I don't know what participation is like in those, but when I used to show up, there was always a decent amount of activity. 

Events such as these used to be very popular and were always hives of a lot of activity. Those salad days seem to be gone. I wonder why. I suppose that It might be that the demographic of the participants has changed - i.e older Hams with a lot of them having become SKs. Probably a lot less CW ops as well, but I always held the premise that most QRPers are decent CW ops. Maybe it's just a lack of notices and advertising. 

As the newly volunteer QRP-ARCI Contest Manager and of course the manager of the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt, if participation declines, it won't be for lack of publicity. I hope to keep all these events in the limelight and it is my fondest hope that participation increases as a result.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

QRP Labs QMX SSB Beta release

 You can now add SSB to your QMX or QMX+ via a beta firmware update released yesterday by QRP Labs.

For all the details, please go to https://qrp-labs.com/qmxp/ssbbeta

Personally, I'll pass; but I'm sure there's a lot of you who have been patiently waiting for this.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Whew!

I managed to get the 2024 Skeeter Hunt Scoreboard back online yesterday. It took me longer than I thought it would, but it's done and back up. You can either go to the Skeeter Hunt Webpage or the Skeeter Hunt page of this blog and the links will get you there.

In a way, it's a good thing this happened, as it's compelling me to get the certificates out for the 2024 Hunt. These stupid healthcare problems really have thrown me for a loop since last September. I apologize for the delay. I've also given the bonus for 2025 more thought and we're going to play Skeeter Blackjack. Work enough stations to have their call sign districts add up to 21 and you'll get the bonus points. The 0 area call signs will count as a face card worth 10 points.

For example, if you work N0MII NK9G and W2LJ - that 10 + 9 +2, equaling 21.. You could also work, for instance K4BAI, N5GW, K3RLL and WB9HFK and that would also add up to 21. Any number of call signs would work, even if you ended up working ten 2 area call signs and one 1 area call sign! Whatever it takes - I think this is a pretty easy concept to understand and should be fairly easy to accomplish. Of course, as part of the Log Summary, each entry will have to list the call signs worked to prove that they are eligible for the bonus points.

I also decided to participate in the Flying Pigs Run for the Bacon last night. It actually got up into the low 70s yesterday and the basement was comfortable enough to sit in without turning on the space heater. Beginning at 23:00 UTC, I started calling "CQ FP" on 20 Meters and worked a couple of stations. After a while, I switched over to "hunt and pounce" and after more than just a few dial twiddles, I heard no one and moved on down to 40 Meters.

40 Meters was wall to wall Virginia QSO Party stations and I only heard one solitary Piggie calling CQ around 7.030 MHz and worked him. Then, as it was getting close to 00:00 UTC, I went and checked into the St. Max Net at around 23:50 UTC. A lot of stations participated last night and at about 00:25 UTC, when the net closed, I went back to the lower part of 40 Meters to see if I could work a few more FP's. No dice, this time it was wall to wall SST stations. It was nice to be on the air, but at the same time a bit disappointing to work only three Flying Pigs. According to the RBN, I was getting out really well last night. Orange is 40 Meters, Purple is 20 Meters - and a vast majority of my signals were being heard at double digit dB levels above the noise floor.

Wednesday night is the monthly NAQCC Sprint. I am planning to participate in that for the first time in a very long time. I've been having trouble sleeping of late. I think I've been turning in too early as I fall asleep fairly quickly, but wake up around 2:00 AM and then I'm not able to fall back asleep for another hour or so. After the Flying Pigs Sprint last night, I went to sleep a bit later than I'm used to as of late and pretty much slept the whole night through. So once more, it's Amateur Radio to the rescue!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Mark your calendars!

Save the date! It's not too early to plan to carve out some time for yourself during the weekend of April 12th. That's the date of the QRP-ARCI Spring QSO Party!

It's a 6 hour Sprint, that begins at 0000 UTC Saturday morning on April 12th (that would be Friday evening April 11th here in the USA). Of course, put in whatever time you can, but please make an effort to get on the air and participate, even if it's just for a little while! Last year in 2024, we had 16 QRPers send in a log to the Autolog at https://www.qrpcontest.com/qrparci_spring/

You do NOT have to be a member of QRP-ARCI to participate, but keep in mind that QRP-ARCI literally has thousands of members - certainly we can easily surpass the number of 2024 entries with ease! As an added bonus we're at the top of Cycle 25! So if you're a regular participant, thanks so much and join us again! If you haven't been in a QRP-ARCI Sprint in a while (or ever!), dust off that rig, fire it up and join in on the fun!

Rumor has it that certificates may be in the offering for the top scorers!

72 de Larry W2LJ - QRP-ARCI Contest Manager

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Weekend 3/15 & 3/16

Looks like we're heading into a rainy weekend in my part of the woods. Now that it's getting warmer, I'm hoping to spend a bit of time during the weekends down the street, at the PAL parking lot, putting the Washington-Rochambeau Trail on the air, as that's where it's located. Maybe not this weekend if the skies are weeping. But maybe, just maybe, I can eventually earn a Kilo Award by getting 1,000 contacts from there? Time will tell.

This is what you can expect to hear on the bands this weekend:

Contests (again, even if you're not participating, this is what you can expect to hear) - Going forward, dedicated QRP Sprints/Events will be highlighted in red:

BARTG HF RTTY Contest:  http://www.bartg.org.uk/

Popov Memorial Contest:   https://www.contest.ru/memorial-popov-eng/

Russian DX Contest:   https://www.rdxc.org/rules_eng

Virginia QSO Party:   https://www.qsl.net/sterling/VA_QSO_Party/2025_VQP/2025_VQP_Main.html

AWA John Rollins Memorial DX Contest - https://www.antiquewireless.org/homepage/event-details-for-rollins-dx-event/

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

K1USN Slow Speed Test - http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html

This coming Wednesday Night 3/19 (Thursday Morning UTC)

NAQCC Monthly Sprint - https://www.naqcc.info/sprint_rules.html

Walk for the Bacon QRP Contest (20 Meters) - https://qrpcontest.com/pigwalk20/

Special Event Stations:

03/14/2025 | PI Day - David Sarnoff Radio Club, Princeton, NJ

Mar 14-Mar 15, 1800Z-0100Z, N3P, Princeton, NJ. David Sarnoff Radio Club. 14.031 14.314 7.031 7.227 . QSL. Don Corrington, AK2S, 7 Pinewald Lane, Burlington, NJ 08016-3421. n2re.org

03/15/2025 | Gulf of America Special Event

Mar 15, 1400Z-2000Z, K5K, Kingwood, TX. Texas Emergency Amateur Communicators (TEAC). 7.20 14.325 21.235 28.325. QSL. David Taylor, N5KWD, 2179 Lake Village Dr, Kingwood, TX 77339. Celebrating the renaming of the Gulf of America, from Galveston Island State Park on the Gulf of America. Special Event + POTA + IOTA. QSL and SASE to N5KWD for commemorative QSL card. teac.net

03/15/2025 | Solivita Car Show

Mar 15, 1300Z-1900Z, N4SRC, Kissimmee, FL. Solivita Radio Club. 18.124 24.980 14.074 21.074. QSL. Solivita Radio Club, 307 Bell Tower Crossing West, Kissimmee, FL 34759. FT8 on all frequencies (10 through 40 meters). Frequencies may change. See website for updates. https://solivitaradioclub.weebly.com

With Monday being St. Patrick's Day, I'm kind of surprised to see no Special Event Stations on the air for that. St. Patrick's Day and Ireland and the Irish hold a special place with me as my dear departed Mother-In-Law was born and raised in Donegal, Ireland before she and one brother emigrated to the US back in the late 40's (I think it was). Nora and Harry were the only ones to come here out of about 8 or 9 siblings,

I think I've told this story before, but in honor of the day, I'll tell it again. I always get a chuckle when I think about it. When Marianne and I first started dating, it was a little bit before she took me to her home to meet her parents. As any young suitor would be, I was a bit nervous, but upon meeting my future in-laws things seemed to go warmly and exceedingly well. The conversation drifted to things about me, as they wanted to get to know me better and that's when I mentioned that my main hobby was Amateur Radio.

My future M-I-L gave me a look like I was Medusa and I had 1,000 snakes growing out of my head. After a bit of awkward quiet, we got past that and had a wonderful dinner and evening together. My Father-In-Law, who was a petrochemical engineer seemed genuinely intrigued and asked me a lot of questions about the hobby and the various contacts that I had made, particularly the DX ones. Later, as I was driving Marianne back to her apartment, I asked her what that was all about.

It turned out that one of her uncles back near Donegal was a Ham - and no, I never found out what his call sign was. I was told that he had a tower and Yagi attached to his house. One day, during a particularly bad thunderstorm, his tower took a direct lightning strike and there was significant damage to the house.

That's all my M-I-L knew about Amateur Radio. Lightning and damage to the house. That was why I got the stare that I received. I later assured them both that I was licensed for over 20 years at the time and that I never had a tower and I always took the utmost precautions to prevent anything like that happening to me. I doubt that swayed her misgivings any, but I never heard anything about it again.

Nora (she was always "Mom" to me) actually came to live with us for a time after my Father-In-Law, Joe, or "Dad" as I always called him, had passed away. She had broken her hip and couldn't live alone on her own anymore. She eventually moved to a Senior Assisted Living Facility near us until she too, passed away. I'll always wonder if that was because she just craved a bit more independence, or if she just wanted to be away from my vertical and wire antennas!

Anyway, in any event

May the road rise up to meet you, 

May the wind be always at your back, 

May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Ouchie, Mama!

I received an e-mail a couple of weeks ago informing me that the link to the 2024 Skeeter Hunt scoreboard was no longer working. I went to the Webpage, clicked on the link and sure enough, it wasn't working!

I immediately went to my Google Drive to find that the spreadsheet was no longer there. I sure as heck don't remember going there and deleting it! Maybe I did, accidentally, but I seriously doubt that I did.  What the heck, Google?!? All the other spreadsheets are still there, only 2024 is missing, so I guess I must have stupidly done something I shouldn't have.

The good thing is that I still have all the results e-mails saved, so like the Six Million Dollar Man, "We can rebuild it." I don't have too much planned for this weekend, so that's what I hope to do. It's only about 150 scores or so, it shouldn't take me forever.

What I do plan to do, however, is to take a run to Target and purchase a thumb drive dedicated solely to Skeeter Hunt spreadsheets and other Skeeter Hunt data, so that I have a back up of what's existing in the cloud. I don't ever want this to happen again. And should the day ever come that I am not able to run the Skeeter Hunt anymore, all the data can be trusted to whomever might volunteer to take it over. (Hard lesson learned from FOBB and the circumstances related to Rich Fisher KI6SN).

Now don't get all panicky on me! I'm not saying that anything is going to happen to me, but I want to make sure the Skeeter Hunt will be around long after I am not - some day very far, far away into the future.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Readers

Sorry that I have not been posting much lately, as I've been dealing with some personal health issues. But I received some good news lately (I think) and I thought I'd share. On Friday February 28th, I went to the hospital for a same day procedure - a transesophageal  echocardiogram (Oh, what fun!). The cardiologists wanted a closer look at my heart than the standard echocardiogram provided. Anyway, I was told my mitral valve leak is considered "trivial", so I'm pretty sure that's good news. Looks like I won't be needing that clip installed after all!

I go for a follow up visit this Wednesday, and I guess I'll hear more about whether or not they think I need a defibrillator installed as I have an irregular heartbeat. Good thing I'm a QRP'er, huh?

The weather is starting to turn warmer here in Central NJ and the shack is warming up from the deep freeze we've had this Winter, so I'll be able to spend time down there without turning on the space heater. As it happens, PSE&G, our energy provider, was granted a rate increase by the NJ Board of Public Utilities. Our January bill was a shocker with a hefty increase, so I don't want to plug that heater in unless it's absolutely necessary!

Now onto Amateur Radio stuff. I received an e-mail from a Mom whose son is working on his Signs, Signals and Code Merit Badge and they actually found some of the content here useful! That just blew me away! I am so glad that someone was able to find something here to be of value! Thanks so much Annie and Kyle!

And if that wasn't enough, Kyle came upon a website that goes into the timeline of the evolution of telecommunications, from ancient times, right up to our present day satellite and wireless cellular technologies. www.ooma.com/blog/telegraphs-phones-mobile-devices-telecommunications-timeline/  I am adding that to the links portion so you can all enjoy it as well. Again, thanks so much  Annie and Kyle, not only for the link, but also for your very kinds words!

This blog is my labor of love for Amateur Radio, QRP and Morse Code. I don't monetize it, it just makes me happy to share my passion with like minded folks. I'm thrilled when someone finds something useful that I post - it's really gratifying. As always, thanks so much to all of you who come here to read this humble little blog. There's really no point to it without you! 

So as I get back into the swing of things and start getting more active again, I'll be posting more and more. Believe me, I'd rather spend time in the shack and writing posts here than concentrating on health issues. But as my dear departed Mom used to say - "Larry, don't get old!" and I used to answer - "Not much I can do about that, Mom!"

72  de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

AA blessing or a curse?

I got on the air for a bit yesterday to play around on 10 Meters. It was wide open and was buzzing with ARRL DX Contest activity. I only stayed on long enough to work about a dozen foreign countries, all with 5 Watts,of course. After that, I went POTA hunting for a bit.

When the bell tolled midnight UTC, the bands once again became very, very quiet. Almost like a ghost town. The activity during the contest reminded me of my Novice days and even my early days as a General. Back then, it was very often hard to find a vacant spot on which to call CQ. It was not uncommon for there to be wall to wall, shoulder to shoulder stations occupying the bands, on an everyday basis! Not just during the weekends or during contests.

Sadly, it's not that way anymore. I'm going to post a query here that will undoubtedly be unpopular, but I have to wonder if a contributing factor may be the rise of waterfall displays, band scopes, panadapters or whatever you want to call them.

My thought process is like this. Joe Ham turns on his rig. He goes to, let's say 15 Meters. His panadapter shows flatline, no activity to speak of, so he goes to another band, or worse yet turns off the rig.

How many guys are looking at the same picture? All of them assuming there's no one out there, listening? Nobody's there that I can see, so why should I waste my time calling CQ?

Just a thought. Maybe, just maybe we were better off in the days when we would twiddle the dial hunting for someone to work, just calling CQ when we didn't hear anybody.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP- When you care to send the very least!

80 Meter Fox and the weekend

Last night was my final appearance as a Fox for this season. Whew! I pulled both a 40 and 80 Meter stint for Steve WX2S while he was busy dealing with some family issues, as well as my own two 80 Meter sessions. It was a lot, but it was fun! The jury is still out on whether or not I'll volunteer next season. Since I don't post to the K4OAQ real time maps, if I do volunteer again, I might just get turned down. Time will tell and I have a long time to think about it.

Band conditions were not the best last night. The k Index was a tad over 4 and there was ferocious QSB at times. It seemed particularly bad when I was trying to work Don K9DRP. I just could not copy his call! Veteran Ham that he is, Don took his code speed down a notch. Once he did that, his callsign lasted longer than the QSB dropout and I was able to hand him a pelt. Thanks, Don!

I noted in my comments to the Fox Hunt e-mail reflector that slowing down the code speed is something Tim KR0U does, often. When you have 5 or 6 Hounds baying at you all at the same time, a call sign sent at a slower speed really stands out. That's something that I will have to remember myself!

In all, including the two Foxes, I was able to hand out 49 pelts - just one short of my self imposed goal. I'm predicting that between John K4BAI and myself, that we were able to hand out somewhere around 120 pelts - my close to 50 and his probably around 70.

Here's the RBN map from last night:

The screen shot was taken this morning, so the grey line is wrong, but you can get an idea where the skimmers picked me up last night. I made it as far as Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming  - which this map does not indicate.

Now - onto the weekend:

Contests:

ARRL International DX Contest, CW - https://www.arrl.org/arrl-dx

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

FISTS Sunday Sprint - https://fistsna.org/operating.html#sprints

K1USN Slow Speed Test - http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html

Special Event Stations:

02/14/2025 | Arizona Statehood Day SES

Feb 14-Feb 15, 1500Z-0000Z, K7A, Prescott, AZ. Yavapai Amateur Radio Club. 28.313 21.313 14.313 7.213. Certificate. Mike Belanger, W1DGL, 219 W Leroux St, Apt. 202, Prescott, AZ 86303. We will be self-spotting to let you know where we are in case the above frequencies are either in use already or QRM/N is too high there. We will start on or as close to the 10m frequency listed and work from there as the day goes on. Happy 113th birthday, Arizona! www.w7yrc.org/club-station

02/15/2025 | Ice Station W0JH - Frozen Minnesota Lake Portable

Feb 15-Feb 17, 1600Z-2300Z, W0JH, Stillwater, MN. Stillwater (MN) Amateur Radio Association - SARA. 21.360 14.260 7.260 3.860. Certificate. E-certificate only, send QSL info , to, W0JHrequest@gmail.com. W0JH will operate portable from a frozen lake in Washington County, Minnesota (Grid Square EN34). In a meager attempt to drive away the remainder of Minnesota winter, the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association will be generating as much RF as possible over the President's Day weekend. (Please help us!!) Certificates will ONLY be sent via email in PDF format. (Send requests with standard QSL confirmation info to: W0JHrequest@gmail.com). There is no need to send a QSL card. www.Radioham.org

02/15/2025 | K4US - George Washington's Birthday at Mount Vernon

Feb 15-Feb 16, 1500Z-1600Z, K4US, Alexandria, VA. Mount Vernon Amateur Radio Club. 7.042 7.242 14.042 14.242. QSL. MVARC, P.O. Box 7234, Alexandria, VA 22307. MVARC will host a special event station to commemorate our first president's 293rd birthday. Members will be at the Mount Vernon greenhouse on the original grounds of the former plantation of George Washington and his wife, Martha Washington mvarc.org , K4US@mvarc.org

02/16/2025 | The White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club Presidents Day 2025 Commemoration

Feb 16-Feb 18, 0000Z-0000Z, W0H, Jackson, OH. White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club. 3.875 MHz 7.275 MHz 14.250 MHz 28.550. Certificate. Lowell Yates, 6809 Four Mile Rd, Jackson, OH 45640. The White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club is excited to honor all of our Presidents this Presidents Day. We would like to especially recognize the Presidents for whom the White House Communications Agency "(WHCA) has provided communications support since its founding in 1942. A WHCA-ARC Special Event certificate will be awarded to commemorate this special occasion. For more information, please visit our events page. https://whitehousecomms-arc.org/events/whca-arc-presidents-day-special-event/ https://whitehousecomms-arc.org

BTW, in relation to my post yesterday about the KX3 ........ there are already folks out there discussing what they want to see as the successor to the KH1! That rig was introduced like what? A couple of years ago? Wow!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

KX3 a dinosaur?

Wow! I was slightly taken aback reading a thread on the Elecraft AX/KX/KH1 groups.io reflector the other day. Someone was asking if there was any news about updates/upgrades to the KX3 at Orlando Hamcation.

Admittedly, I'm biased - I absolutely love my KX3 and at this point, the only way you're going to take it away from me is to pry it out of my cold dead fingers. I also admit, I'm not an EE and I'm not the tech wizard either. I also don't need to change rigs as often as I change my underwear - still, I was surprised by ....

"a new model must be designed to succeed the KX3. There are just too many things to improve, including the basic circuitry" - Really?

Another wrote "I agree primarily that the KX3 is a bit long in the tooth."

Still another wrote "Almost everyone I know who either bought a KX3 or seriously looked at a KX3 has gone with the Icom 705." Oooooh! Oooooh! Not me! Not me!

And to be balanced in this post, there were also comments from other Hams (including myself) who voiced favorable opinions about the rig. I guess I'm just old fashioned enough where I don't need a waterfall display (or bandscope, or whatever you want to call it), and just the latest and the greatest bells and whistles. I'm happy to be able to interface with the rig via buttons and dials and menus that don't dive down to the Earth's core. I like the human element - I don't need or want everything to be cyber.

Of course, everybody is entitled to their opinion, and I don't denigrate anyone for it. I was just surprised that so many KX3 owners seem to be less than satisfied with their radio. 

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Took a plunge!

An e-mail popped up on my phone today that eBay had some new listings of RigExperts antenna analyzers. I've been wanting one for a very, very long time and a pre-owned AA-30 Zoom was up for (just) under $150.

The seller, who has a high satisfaction rating, stated that it's in "very good used condition". I decided to take my chances and took the plunge. This will be so handy in setting up / tuning the Buddisitck on the magmount on top of the Jeep. 

I figured that it might be a long while before I'd see a RigExperts analyzer that was affordable, again. It may arrive at my QTH as early as Friday, but knowing my luck, it will probably be here next week. Friday would be nice because it would give me the longer President's Day weekend a chance to get familiar with it.  (Just got a shipping update - Wednesday, 2/19 - of course!)

The nice thing is that even if it does not come with documentation, I can download that from the DX Engineering website.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Did get on the iar last night

For the Saint Max Net, which was very light due to some sort of football game that was taking place in New Orleans last night. I jest, but can you imagine if the Superbowl had taken place a few weekends ago when the Big Easy had that snowfall? The game is moved to a neutral site where the weather is supposed to not be a problem, right?

Anyway, that DuraFlame space heater I purchased last year made all the difference again. It raised the temp down in the basement just enough to make it somewhat comfortable. 

We had snow and ice Saturday night into Sunday morning. just enough to be an annoyance. We have another disturbance forecasted for Tuesday into Wednesday and I hope it does not play havoc with this cardiologist appointment that I have for Wednesday afternoon. I'm looking forward to getting through this chapter and moving on.

The weather guy I follow on Facebook is calling for a continued series of snow/ice events through the month of February. That's only three weeks - the year is moving so fast, already. I am looking forward to the beginning of March and the return to Daylight Savings Time. Anything that makes the daylight last longer is fine with me. I can deal with darkness in the morning on my way to work.

I just checked the 80 Meter Fox Hunt schedule and I see that for my final stint, that I am paired up with John K4BAI on Thursday night. I'm sure that will be epic with the both of us handing out over 100 pelts. His 70 to my 30! HI!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

More updates and some thoughts

I haven't been posting much as of late, and for that I apologize to all of you who follow my exploits. This heart issue has kept me pre-occupied. It's not as dire as my imagination likes to run away with and think that it is, but it still leaves me unsettled at times.

The cardiac catheterization last Tuesday went well. All these years of this American of Polish descent eating ham, kielbasa and stuffed cabbage and my arteries are still clear! However, I do have a  mitral valve leak which needs to be taken care of. So I have an appointment with another cardiologist who specializes in taking care of this kind of thing at a bigger hospital than the one I went to last week. That's this coming Wednesday. I will find out more then.

In the meantime, I'll most likely check into the St. Max Net tonight and I might even get on the air this afternoon for a little POTA hunting.

This coming Thursday evening is my last turn as being a Fox in the QRP Fox Hunts for the season, and it may well be my very last time ever. There is a feature designed by Fritz K4OAQ, where Foxes can real time log to a map, so when a Hound is worked, his QTH pops up as a dot on a map of the US. Ingenious really, as a Hound can ensure he nabbed a pelt and thus it eliminates dupe QSOs to a large extent. All Foxes are strongly encouraged to use this feature.

My problem is that I can barely walk and chew gum at the same time and trying to work stations and then type in call signs and real time log would be an absolute debacle. I can only imagine that if I tried this, my QSO count (which is never very high compared to other Foxes to begin with) would go way, way down.  So I will paper log this last time, publish it the next day and I will bow out of volunteering for Fox duty to more capable hands than mine. I dare say that my difficulty is not an age thing, it's a lack of coordination thing, and I don't want to spoil anyone's fun or be a hindrance to the process.

72 de Larry W2LJ 

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Golden Age?

Back in the late 70's and early 80's, when I was a Novice we had:

QST

CQ

73 Magazine

WorldRadio

HamRadio

Ham Radio Horizons

Now all that's left is QST and a few digital ARRL publications? NCJ, QEX, On the Air? I think the ARRL's "On The Air" is the only publication left with new comers in mind? 

Filling the void somewhat are e-zines like the K9YA Journal that's written in a style a lot like WorldRadio. More human interest stuff than technical; and we need that. WorldRadio drew me deeper and deeper into the hobby. I was never the electronics engineer type and contesting was never my bag. I enjoyed reading about the non-technical side of the hobby, and what other people were doing and some good historical articles, too.

I wish we had more publications like that today. 

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Updates

 Well, the news from the echo cardiogram wasn't the greatest. Going in for a cardiac catheterization on Tuesday, February 4th. I'm on 4 different meds for the time being and suddenly feel really, really old.

Boy, this is a far cry from the days on my 20's when I would cycle around 100 miles a week and had a resting pulse of about 60 BPM. 

So I haven't been much in the mood for radio. And I should add, not only because of this heart thing, but also because of the cold and the basement being an uncomfortable space. This weekend we're supposed to go above the freezing mark for the first time in a long time, so maybe I'll get the chance to get on the air.

This weekend is Winter Field Day, but more importantly, NEXT weekend is FYBO - Freeze Your Buns Off - the classic kickoff to the outdoor QRP Season for 2025.

The rules haven't changed much over the years. 

https://azscqrpions.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/FYBO_General-Near-Forever-Rules.pdf

This year FYBO takes place on February 1st. 

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least

Surprise (again) !

Imagine my surprise yesterday afternoon as I took a quick break at work and checked my e-mail, and saw this, posted by Dean N2TNN:

"I’ll be one of your two foxii on 80 meters Thursday night, along with Larry, W2LJ, in New Jersey.  I'll be operating from Gloucester VA, between 0200 and 0330Z and within +/- 10Khz of 3.560 MHz.  I’ll be running my K3 throttled down to 5 watts into an 160 meter full loop up 55 feet."

I've been so pre-occupied as of late that I totally forgot about Fox duty last night! But in a way, it was a blessing in disguise as it took my mind off of the echo cardiogram that I went for today. The good news there is that no one screamed "Oh my! Rush this man to a hospital!" My cardiologist (I still can't quite come to terms that I actually need one!) will call sometime next week with the results. (Fingers crossed for no really bad news.)

The Fox Hunt was a good time, as I was lower Fox. This was Dean's baptism by fire as his first time as a Fox. A bit more on that later. I put myself at 3.5575 MHz, listening up one. That worked well until about 0254 UTC when a QRO and QRS QSO obliterated my ability to hear any Hounds calling me, so I had to go simplex.

In all, not counting the two Foxes, I was able to hand out 45 pelts. I more or less divided my time up between the EFRW and the HF9V. Neither seemed to have an advantage over the other. QSB was a vicious beast at times last night, but even so, I had fun and was able to concentrate on something other than "concerns" for a while. The RBN map from last night isn't all that impressive, but here it is:

I was able to make it all the way out to Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado, even though the map doesn't show me as having been picked up by skimmers out that way.

Dean's first time as Fox was phenomenal! He handed out 50 pelts - a true testament to the superb operator that he is! If I remember correctly, the first time I was a Fox so many moons ago, I was so nervous that I was lucky to hand out 30!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

My apologies for not posting lately

 But as John Lennon wrote, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

I went for a physical last September with my Primary Care Physician, and his EKG machine was down, so he suggested "at your age, you should have a stress test done." I went for a consult last Wednesday, and the cardiologist (the same one my wife Marianne goes to) told me I had "an abnormal EKG". Something about "left branch bundle block", or something. So now I'm wearing a heart monitor for a month, and I go for a cardiac ultrasound on Friday and a stress test on March 19th. A follow up visit with the cardiologist in April will decide how we tackle this problem.

Then, on Friday, as I was driving to work at 6:00 in the morning, I noticed I was being tailgated by someone driving one of those stand up electric scooters. I slowed down, pulled off to the side so he could pass me - I figured he was in a hurry.

Turns out that he must have been drafting me, using my Jeep to block the cold winds that were blowing that morning. I told him that it was stupid to tailgate - that if I had to stop short because of a deer running across the road or for some other reason, he could be seriously injured.

Instead of going on his merry way, he started cursing me out and punched out my driver side rear view mirror.

He then proceeded on his way towards Plainfield. Besides be shocked as all get out, I didn't want to follow him, because I figured if he got injured or hit by a car while trying to evade me, I'd probably be open to some kind of crazy civil suit. I called the South Plainfield Police Dept as soon as I got into work and left a voice mail with the Traffic Safety Department, explaining the whole incident.

Being a CERT Member in town may have paid off a bit as I know the Mayor and the Council Members. I asked one of them if it would be possible to have a police car keep an eye on that section of town early in the mornings for a while. This guy is either going to kill himself or injure someone else if he keeps this up. Several residents posted on Facebook that they've seen this guy do this to other drivers, as well as buzz people on the walking trails of Spring Lake Park.

So I haven't been on the radio lately as I haven't really been in the mood - hence, not much to write about. Maybe I'll get on the air tonight for the 40 Meter QRP Fox Hunts. John K4BAI in GA and Dave N1IX in NH will be serving as Foxes. We'll see how I feel tonight. Physically, I feel OK - just been bummed out a bit. To add to it, I spent the weekend "de-decorating" the house from Christmas and that always depresses me.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Just as i thought

I went down to the shack at about 6:00 PM to turn the space heater on so that I could check into the St. Max Net at 7:00 PM - 00:00 UTC. I turned the KX3 on and went to 40 Meters, where I usually keep it parked at about 7.038 MHz. There was RTTY all over the band way down into the 7.030's!

I expected as much as yesterday was the RTTY Roundup. However, I remember when I used to participate back in the 90s, we strove to try and not go below 7.060 MHz. I suppose with the proliferation of software that doesn't require you to use a TNC anymore, that there are way more participants than there used to be. And I guess that's a good thing.

I enjoyed the RTTY Roundup back in the days of my Icom IC-751A and my KAM TNC. Guess I'm really dating myself. Maybe I'll look into downloading some software so that I can jump in next year. I still have my certificates from placing well in the NNJ section.

The St. Max Net was a good time with some 20 check-ins. Turning on the space heater made it comfortable down in the shack. From 58F to about 63F in that hour. If I had turned it on even earlier, it would have been warmer, but I don't want to drive up the electric bill too much.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

The first weekend - January 4th and 5th

Before I get into the happenings of the weekend, I DID get on the air last night for the 80 Meters Fox Hunts. I thought they'd be slam dunk, easy peasy. I was wrong, again! I nabbed both pelts but it was far from easy and this is probably why - the k Index was 3 and these were the band conditions for the night:

"Fair" was being generous - at least from my QTH. I was able to find both Foxes, but from the beginning, both were at ESP levels, with Steve WD4CFN in TN having just a bit of an edge. Once I found Steve and realized I probably wasn't going to work him for a while, if at all, I went looking for John AJ1DM in RI. I found him and he was way down in the background as well. I made a note of each Fox's frequency and kind of bopped back and forth to continuously check for signal improvement. 

I finally snagged Steve at 0241 UTC and then John at 0247 UTC, and I was thrilled, as for a long time, I didn't think I was going to get either. Not only were Steve and John weak, but the Hounds that i normally hear booming into NJ were down in the mud as well. I could barely hear Rick NK9G and Todd N9NE, two regular signal giants here in NJ. About the only Hound that blew my headphones off was Dean N2TNN down in Virginia. Even John K4BAI's signal was a ghost of its normal self.

I'm sure glad I have that space heater down in the shack. We're heading into an Arctic blast here in NJ over the next days and it was a might chilly in the shack. The space heater made it bearable. Not totally comfortable as I didn't start it up until I went downstairs for the Hunt. If I had turned it on an hour or 90 minutes ahead of time, it certainly would have been comfortable.

Anyway, enough of my escapades - here's what's going on this weekend. Again, I do this so you can have a good idea of "What's that contest I hear?" is.

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

ARRL RTTY Roundup - https://www.arrl.org/rtty-roundup - Expect RTTY signals WAY down into the CW subbands!

EUCW 160m Contest - https://www.uft.net/activites-et-concours/concours-eucw-uft-on5me/

Monday night - ARS Spartan Sprint - http://ars-qrp.com/Spartan_Sprint/Spartan_Sprint.html

Special Event Stations:

01/02/2025 | "Remembering WØJH Father Metcalf" at Belwin Conservancy

Jan 2-Jan 4, 1600Z-2300Z, W0JH, Stillwater, MN. Stillwater (MN) Amateur Radio Assn - SARA. 3.860 7,260 14.260 21.360. Certificate. Shel Mann - N0DRX, 1618 Pine St W, Stillwater, MN 55082. This event pays tribute to the original W0JH, Father George Metcalf. As a WWII Chaplain for General Patton, Fr. Metcalf drafted the famous “Weather Prayer.” The General and his troops believed it ended 3 months of cloudy, rainy skies in December, 1944. QSL certificates may ONLY be requested and will ONLY be sent via email. Send requests WITH W0JH QSO CONTACT INFO to: W0JHrequest@gmail.com. IMPORTANT: ONLY W0JH confirmed contacts qualify (See www.radioham.org and QRZ.com (W0JH) for more details.) www.radioham.org

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!