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!