Occupational Hazard

One of the things about writing a blog - you get a lot of "out of the blue" e-mails. I guess that's a consequence of becoming somewhat "known". I get e-mails offering me exciting ground level opportunities to engage in marketing or distributing radios or radio related electronics products. I also get e-mails with "exciting" new product developments. Generally, I just delete these e-mails, as they are not CW or QRP related, but every now and then one comes along that is rather interesting and catches my eye.

The other day, I received one such e-mail form VGC which is an electronics company in China (of course) informing me about a newer 50 Watt VHF/UHF mobile radio for under $200. Here's the link.

https://www.verotelecom.com/VERO-VR-N7500-50W-Dual-Band-Mobile-Radio-With-APP-Programming-p541441.html

I don't know if this is or ever will be FCC Type Accepted, or whether or not it's a piece of cr@p.  It's distributed here in the USA by GigaParts, so I guess it's somewhat reputable. But the one thing did intrigue me is that it is supposedly Bluetooth compatible and I guess that would allow you to program the frequencies via your smartphone, or a tablet.

I'm not in any way endorsing this product or advising anyone to buy it. Heck, for all I know, the app could be spyware. I certainly don't know if it's any good and I've never heard of this company before. The thing is that I've never heard of a radio that can be programmed via a Bluetooth compatible device before. Maybe one already exists and I'm so cooped up in my QRP CW bubble that I've never noticed it or heard of it before. Nevertheless, that's one innovation that I think would be cool to have.  Maybe the "Biggies" need to get on board with that concept.

I'm not that big into VHF/UHF, but especially in an EMCOMM situation - a radio that you could program frequencies into on the fly as needed, using your smartphone and not having to be hardwire tethered to a laptop? That would be neat!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Busy weekend

It's hard for me to believe it's Monday already! The weekend just flew by, at like SST supersonic speed! It almost feels like when I went to bed last night, it was Friday night.

As I mentioned earlier, even though QRPTTF was this Saturday, I was busily engaged elsewhere, with the 2025 Spring NJOEM CERT Workshop at the Middlesex County Fire Academy in Sayreville, NJ. I participated as a member of the Middlesex County AUXCOMM Team, not as a member of South Plainfield CERT.

There were over 200 CERT members attending from all over the state of New Jersey. I saw CERT shirts emblazoned with such organizations as Sussex County CERT, which is way up in northwest New Jersey and even Cape May CERT, which is down at the southern tip of New Jersey, a nd a lot of other places in between.

AUXCOMM was given two tasks. The first was to deploy, track and receive back the handheld radios that were used for the day, We were given 36 Tait TP9400 handhelds to disburse to each Team Lead as needed, as well as to the assorted Bureau Chiefs and VIPs. For that, we used an ICS-211e form and modified it for our needs. We recorded the radio identification number, the name of the person who it was deployed to, as well as their cell phone number. We also required the users to present a photo ID, which made recording names much easier, rather than asking them to spell their names. It was kind of loud at times, so recording names from their IDs made the task much easier. We also made notes when a radio was handed out without a speaker mic, or if we handed out a spare battery.

For the non-professional OEM people, we had to explain how to use the radio. When exactly to start talking after pressing the PTT button, how to change between talk groups if necessary, and that kind of thing.

Our other task was to log all pertinent communications on the comm channels. There were eight different talk groups altogether.  The various groups such as Logistics, Operations, Search and Rescue, County Animal Rescue Team, Medical, etc., had their own talk groups. We had to enlist several CERT members to help with the scribe duties. Marv K2VHW and I were assigned to log the Logistics talk group, in addition to taking care of radio disbursal.

It sounds like it was a lot to do; and it was, but it was not overwhelming. We couldn't log until the radios were handed out and we didn't need to log while the radios were being handed back at the end of the exercise, so the logging task filled in the downtime in between.

Receiving the radios back went rather smoothly. We just had to make sure the radios were turned off and put them back in their waterproof travelling cases - 12 radios and spare batteries to a case. Towards the end, as I was receiving back the handhelds that I was responsible for, one of the higher-ups decided to test me. He asked me which radio he had been issued before handing it back to me. I guess he wanted to see how thorough our record keeping was. I asked him what his name was, looked it up on my sheet and gave him the radio ID number. He seemed to be kind of surprised when I was able to give him the correct information. Taking care of inventorying 36 handheld radios is nothing compared to keeping track of all the laptops, desktops and other equipment under my charge here at work.  I could have done Saturday with one eye closed!

One thing about our detail that was very nice was that we were indoors at the Fire Academy for the entire workshop. Around 11:30 AM or so, it started pouring. Hard enough that we were able to hear the rain pelting the roof and a window a hundred or so feet away from our radio table. The Fire Academy is a HUGE building and in the gazillion times that I have been there, I have never heard the rain hitting the roof before. Some of the volunteers who came in for lunch between assignments were soaked. It was good to be where it was nice and dry.

Yesterday was spent recuperating from Saturday. Marianne and I went and did the grocery shopping after Mass, I did NOT have enough energy to get it done Saturday evening.  I haven't seen any chatter on the e-mail reflectors mentioning QRPTTF. I wonder how participation was,

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Happy Morse Code Day!

 

Generated by AI

72 de Larry W2LJ 

QRP - When you care to send the very least !

The weekend of April 26th and 27th.

 As I posted two entries down - there is a QRPTTF re-do this weekend. However, for W2LJ, I will be involved all day in a mock earthquake drill as part of Middlesex County Emergency Management AUXCOMM, so I will not be able to participate. Besides that, the weather for tomorrow calls for an 80% chance of showers and thunderstorms, so I would not be setting up in the field, even if I were not otherwise engaged.

Contests:

You may hear a lot of digital in the upper portion of the bands because of the 10-10 Int. Spring Contest, Digital, the SP DX RTTY Contest, and the BARTG Sprint 75.

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

UK/EI DX Contest, CW - https://www.ukeicc.com/dx-contest-rules.php

Helvetia Contest - https://uska.ch/en/events/uska-helvetia-contest-h26/#

Florida QSO Party - http://floridaqsoparty.org/rules/

UA1DZ Memorial Cup - http://ua1dz.ru/articles.php?article_id=79

Monday

QCX Challenge: 1300Z-1400Z, Apr 28 - http://www.qrp-labs.com/party.html

QCX Challenge: 0300Z-0400Z, Apr 29 - Same rules as above

Special Event Stations:

04/26/2025 | DXpedition to St.George Island

Apr 26-May 6, 0000Z-2359Z, K4D, St. George Island, FL. K5TEN . 7.027.5 14.027.5 21.280 28.310. QSL. Bruce Brady K5TEN , 208 Mt Tabor Road, Hot Springs National Park, AR 71913. IOTA DXpedition to St. George Island NA-085. FL007S. Operation 40-6m CW&SSB. QSL to K5TEN SASE required. Logs also uploaded to LOTW. Call sign K4D. Grid EL79. k5ten@aol.com

04/26/2025 | International Marconi Day - Official Station

Apr 26, 1330Z-2100Z, K3S, Port of Baltimore, MD. Nuclear Ship Savannah Amateur Radio Club. 7,14,18,21,28. QSL. Ulis Fleming, 980 Patuxent Rd, Odenton, MD 21113. Check spotting networks for frequency. See QRZ.com info for Savannah Award qrz.com/db/k3s

04/26/2025 | Marconi Day Event

Apr 26, 1300Z-2030Z, W2GSB, Babylon, NY. GREAT SOUTH BAY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB . 28.340 21.250 14.246 7.245. Certificate. W2GSB GSBAC, PO Box 1356, Babylon, NY 11704. Operating from the Babylon Village Historical Society Museum for Marconi Day, which was the home of the Marconi School for radio operators 3 stations using CW SSB FT8 WWW.GSBARC.ORG

04/26/2025 | Number One Dawgs

Apr 26-Apr 27, 1200Z-1200Z, N1D, Athens, GA. Athens Radio Club. 3.930 7.230 14.330 28.430. Certificate. Athens Radio Club KD4QHB, PO Box 782, Athens, GA 30603. The Athens Radio Club is hosting a special event station from the University of Georgia campus on April 26-27, 2025 from 12:00 noon Saurday to 12:00 noon Sunday. If you're a Bulldog fan, or if you're not, give us a call! athensradioclub.org Join us in our celebration of Ham Radio support of the Number One Dawgs. This year we will be operating from between the Tate Student Center and the UGA Bookstore, in the shadow of Sanford Stadium. We will be celebrating 45 years of the club operating as First Aid Dawgs providing communications "between the hedges". https://athensradioclub.org/n1d

04/27/2025 | Northwest Arkansas Train Mobile

Apr 27, 1400Z-2200Z, N5T, Springdale, AR. Bella Vista Radio Club. 14.040 14.260 7.040 7.260. QSL. Don Banta, 3407 Diana Street, Springdale, AR 72764. www.qrz.com/db/N5T or https://bellavistaradioclub.org

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Wow! 20 Years!

I have a routine that I adhere to every day when I get to work. When I get to my dungeon/store room/bunker office, I turn on my company laptop and log in for the day. The next thing I do is to go get a cup of water for coffee. Even though there is free coffee in the cafeteria, I don't partake, It's Starbucks coffee, which to me, always tastes burnt. Back during the pandemic, when the cafeteria was closed, I brought in a one cup coffee maker which I still use. So as I was walking over to the water dispenser, I ran into Tracy (who runs the cafeteria) and she told me that today is "Take Your Kids to Work Day".

Then it hit me like a Mack truck! It was "Take Your Kids to Work Day" back in 2005 which caused the birth of this blog! Twenty years - wow! WOW! That's a lot of typing and words! In honor of the occasion, here's a re-post of that very first one:

Take Your Kids to Work Day

This is a new experience for me. My own blog - devoted to, but not limited to Amateur Radio. This should be fun, interesting; and will hopefully also be a learning experience.

Last Thursday (4/29/05) was national "Take Your Kids to Work Day". You might be asking yourself how is this related to Amateur Radio. I'll tell you.

I belong to the Piscataway Amateur Radio Club in Piscataway, NJ. Right across the street from our meeting place is the IEEE. The IEEE is the professional association for electrical engineers. This is THE place if you are affiliated with any of the electronic fields. The wife of one of our member's works there; and approached him about the possibility of our club giving a presentation on Amateur Radio for that morning. The reasoning was, that since Amateur Radio is at least related to what the institution stands for, it just might be a good time.

We were wondering how much interest we would garner. A lot of folks out there think Amateur Radio is a dying endeavor. Maybe from the experience we had, I'm thinking the reports of our demise might be highly exaggerated.

In the weeks leading up to the event; we were told that twenty children signed up for the presentation. We were enthused. Then twenty became fifty; and then fifty became eighty and then eighty became one hundred and twenty. When the demo actually took place, a head count was taken and one hundred and seven kids attended. We were overjoyed!

There were six of us from the radio club. We started the presentation by showing the ARRL's DVD presentation of "Amateur Radio Today". This was followed by a talk by Bob Hopkins WB2UDC which included a QSO over a local 2 meter repeater and then another video. This was followed up by the kids being allowed to play with and be shown smaller presentations on Morse Code, a SSB HF station, a PSK-31 setup, and the kids even got to play with and twiddle the dials of some old Hammarlund and Hallicrafter boat anchors.

The surprise for us though, was that the hit of the day was the Morse Code displays. We had two laptops set up with Morse Midi on them; so the children could type something in and then listen to what they had typed. And we also had Morse Code practise oscillators going. We could not tear the kids away! I knew we had them hooked when one little girl had typed into the Morse Midi box; ready for translation - "This is so cool".

At the end, each participant was given either an Icom comic book; or a CQ magazine publication. We gave each a Morse Code sheet as well as a sheet we had made up listing some Websites pertaining to Marconi, crystal radios and, of course, Amateur Radio. Each kid got a QSL card with contact information to the club with an offer for tutoring, if desired. On each QSL card was a number; and for the coup de grace, we gave away a hombrewed plaque which had a Speed-X straight key to commemorate the event.

Is Amateur Radio dying; and are kids so spoiled by the Internet that our hobby is considered geeky and anachronistic? Ask any of these 107 kids and you might get a very surprising and pleasant answer!

That was a good day, and one that I will never forget! I was accompanied by Rich Pasquale W2PQ, whose wife, Peg, worked at IEEE at the time and it was she who came up with the idea. Also there was Drew Moore W2OU (SK), Bob Hopkins WB2UDC, Vic  Pennetta K2NBC and Rich Moseson W2VU of CQ Magazine fame. When we get together, we still talk about the day and how much fun it was.

The actual "birthday" of this blog is April 30th. I'll have to think of something special in order to celebrate.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

QRPTTF Redux

Not exactly sure why this is. Everyone seemed to go by the WA7BNM Contest Calendar, but maybe we were all wrong? Paul NA5N posted this to QRP-L:

QRP-Lers,

Rules for the April 26, 2025 QRP To The Field (QRPTTF) are here:

http://www.zianet.com/qrp/qrpttf/pg.html

My apologies for such a late notice and contributing to confusion over the  QRPTTF date.  My wife and QRPTTF partner, Jan NØQT, recently passed away in  her nursing home requiring attention and out of state travel.  Trying to  get things done post Covid, during lent and holy week and Easter was a  herculean effort.  Thank those of you expressing your condolences and  understanding.  They were appreciated more than you know.

A few of you submitted summary sheets for last weekend. THEY WILL COUNT AND BE ADDED TO THE RESULTS. Or do it again and I'll add both.

I'll be trying out my new Xiegu G90 OUTBACK, probably using my 133 ft. long   terminated folded dipole.  Weather is supposed to be 85F high, sunny and   clear, winds 20-25mph.  Typical windy and warm spring day in the desert.   Hope your weather is nice as well.

Most important is to have some QRP fun on the air regardless of where you  operate from.

72, Paul NA5N

and Jan NØQT (SK)

Unfortunately, last Saturday was Holy Saturday and this Saturday, I will be taking part in a Middlesex County CERT Drill as part of Middlesex County AUXCOMM.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

It was a busy day yesterday

with family. There was good food, good laughs and a very enjoyable day. But I did not get the chance to get online and share my wishes for you for a Blessed and Happy Easter. We Catholics celebrate the actual Easter holy days for a week - an octave, so technically, I'm not too late.

So, from our house to yours, may you enjoy a very Happy and Blessed Easter season!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

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!