Sacrilege?

From recent posts, you all know that I recently built my 4 States NM0S paddle kit. I had purchased it specifically for Field Day use. Personally, I love it! I love its small size, its action and feel. It occurred to me, however, that it might not be the best choice for Field Day for one reason.

I will not be the only CW op there. I will be one of two, or three at the most; and somehow I have a feeling that the paddle's small size will become an issue to the other ops. I'm definitely not bringing my Mercury or Begali paddles. They are too near and dear to my heart, so I decided that I will bring my trusty Vibroplex Vibrokeyer.

It works perfectly, has a good weight to it and is large enough where it will be comfortable in even hands older than mine.

I have one problem with the key, though. That (as far as I'm concerned) ugly tan base. Why in the world Vibroplex chose that color is beyond me. Sorry for the graphic image, but it reminds me of the colors I used to find in our kid's diapers when they were infants.  YUCK!

If memory serves me correctly, I picked this up at a Hamfest years ago. I don't use it all that much and it's usually tucked away on a shelf in the shack. And that's a pity as it's really a fine key. I just can't stand that tan base, it just irks me.

After Field Day is over, I think I am going to disassemble it and re-paint the base with the same Rustoleum Black Hammer Finish paint that I used when I restored my Vibroplex Original Bug. That may devalue it, but I don't really care. I'm not planning on selling it and maybe the new look will merit a place for it on the operating table instead of on the shelf.

I hope I haven't driven any Vibroplex purists to begin pulling out their hair. "You're going to do WHAT?!??"

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

First weekend in May

It's May already! Where's the time going? Here's to warmer weather, outdoor cookouts, possible POTA activations and all the other stuff associated with warm weather.

Contests this weekend:

16 State QSO Parties this weekend! A lot of states are grouped into two area QSO Parties - specifically

7th Call Area QSO Party - http://7qp.org/ (AZ, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY)

New England QSO Party - https://neqp.org/rules/ (CT, ME, MA, RI, VT, NH)

Delaware QSO Party - https://www.fsarc.org/

Indiana QSO Party - http://www.hdxcc.org/inqp/rules.html

10-10 Int. Spring Contest, CW - http://www.ten-ten.org/index.php/activity/2013-07-22-20-26-48/qso-party-rules

ARI International DX Contest - https://www.ari.it/

And Monday Night is the May 2024 ARS Spartan Sprint - http://arsqrp.blogspot.com/2009/02/so-whats-spartan-sprint-and-how-do-i.html

Special Event Stations:

05/03/2024 | 10th Annual Jiggy with the Piggy- Barbecue Cook off

May 3-May 4, 1200Z-2300Z, K4C, Concord, NC. Cabarrus Amateur Radio Society. 7.230 14.310 28.430. Certificate. Cabarrus Amateur Radio Society, P.O. Box 785, Concord, NC 28026. www.facebook.com/cabarrusars/ or www.cabarrusars.org

05/04/2024 | Blind Willie McTell Birthday Celebration

May 4, 0900Z-1600Z, W4M, Statesboro, GA. STARS/SARA. 7.250. Certificate & QSL. Douglas Hess, 108 Greenwood Ave , Statesboro, GA 30461. Will be Phone only on HF bands. Will self-spot on Dx Summit. Check club webpage or QRZ page for QSL card/certificate info and for history on Blind Willie McTell and his song he wrote "Statesboro Blues" that put the Allman Brothers on the map and Statesboro for that matter. www.qrz.com/db/W4M or https://statesboroamateurr.wixsite.com/home

05/04/2024 | Frank Conrad Sesquicentennial

May 4, 1300Z-2100Z, KD3KA, Wexford, PA. Allegheny Valley Radio Association. 7.040 7.240 14.040 14.240. QSL. Allegheny Valley Radio Association, P.O. Box 550, Wexford, PA 15090. Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Frank Conrad, engineer and technical founder of KDKA-AM Radio, Pittsburgh, PA. Please see the qrz.com page of KD3KA for details. www.alleghenyvalley.net

05/04/2024 | Homage to Josephine BAKER the voice of the Paris Olympics Games 2024!

May 4-Jul 21, 0000Z-0000Z, TM24JB, Fort Blackmore, FRANCE. F1SXC. 7.124 14.154 18.124 28.424. QSL. David, F1SXC/Radio-club de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, F6KRK, 1 bis avenue des Frênes, MONTIGNY le BTX 78180, FRANCE. Homage to Josephine BAKER the artist, militant, and member of the French resistance. https://www.qrz.com/db/TM24JB

05/04/2024 | N0T - Milwaukee Road Railroad - Newport Tower, 120th Anniversary

May 4, 1400Z-2000Z, N0T, Newport, MN. South East Metro Amateur Radio Club (SEMARC). 7.040 Mhz CW 14.035 Mhz CW 7.220 Mhz Phone 14.260 Mhz Phone. Certificate. David Blume, 8791 77th Street South, Cottage Grove, MN 55016. Questions or comments can be sent to KD0IRF@yahoo.com. Certificates will be available for download 30 days after the event. www.semarc.org

05/04/2024 | NJ Knights of Columbus 128th State Convention

May 4-May 18, 0000Z-2359Z, K0C, Brick, NJ. NJKCARC (N2AJO). 7.225 14.240 21.350 28.340. Certificate & QSL. Art Olson, 339 18th Ave, Brick, NJ 08724. For domestic contacts: QSL card, send SASE; for QSL card and certificate, send two dollars. For DX contacts: QSL card, send two dollars; for QSL card and certificate, send five dollars. For more information, visit K0C on QRZ.com or Email: olson339@comcast.net www.qrz.com/db/K0C

Looks to be a busy weekend on the airwaves!

In closing today's post, I'd like to cross-post something here that appeared on the SPARC Facebook page, from my good friend Dave KD2FSI:

Learn a New Language with just 15 Minutes Per Day!

I’ve been hearing these commercials on the radio lately for the language program Babbel and that you can learn a new language in a few weeks by studying for just 15 minutes a day.

Well, I decided to use that approach towards finally learning the Morse code well enough to use it. So, I have been practicing the code for at least 15 minutes each day for the last month or so and it might be finally starting to sink in. I still have a long way to go, but this time I am going to stick with it.

And with today being the birthday of Guglielmo Marconi, I thought it would be a very fitting day to try and make my first DX CW contact.

3G0YA, the Easter Island DXpedition was working 12-meter CW this afternoon and had a good pile-up going. But after calling at up 1K for about 15 or 20 minutes, I was more than thrilled to hear KD2FSI 5NN! However, it took seeing my call on their Clublog before I believed that I really got them.

So for today I’ll be signing off as 73, DE KD2FSI

So happy for you, Dave! I know you've wanted this for a long time - so happy for your accomplishment!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

A quick reminder and another announcement

QRPTTF, QRP To The Field is this Saturday - another annual effort by Paul NA5N which is very worthy of your time if you are able to participate.

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

I'm hoping that I can get an end fed up at the library for SPARC's "Amateur Radio Day at the Library" so that I can hand out points while simultaneously demonstrating how Morse Code works.

And the other announcement. This Sunday is the monthly Flying Pigs "Run For The Bacon". This month is a special one - W8PIG/# stations for the various call sign areas will be on the air participating, in part as something special to honor the memory of our Founder W8DIZ (SK).  A special certificate will be awarded to the winner. Details to follow - keep an eye on the various QRP and CW e-mail reflectors and iO Groups later this week.  https://qrpcontest.com/pigrun/

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Good news and bad news

 First the good news ....... there is no bad news!

I spent a bit of time in the shack after dinner last night, and I hooked up the Vibroplex to the computer via that adapter from Ham Radio Solutions. The first thing I found out was that, as it has been such a long time since I last used it, the contacts became so dirty from oxidization as to prevent ANY dits or dahs from being created.

So out came the alcohol and a Q-Tip and an old business card that I found in our desk. Applying the alcohol and wiping it dry with the Q-Tip removed a lot of tarnish. Burnishing the contacts gently with the business card removed even more. The result was that dits and dahs are now being produced, but I have to go to my own Morse Code page connected with this blog to review the procedures for proper adjustment. Even out of whack, I was able to send some CW that the computer was actually able to decipher. My bug fist was not as bad and I had thought it would be! It's more like just plain ol' bad, instead of being horrible or atrocious. I do not think that I will be sending anyone screaming into the night with their ears bleeding, but it's going to take lots more practice before I'm confident enough to take it to the airwaves for some SKCC activity. It would appear that learning to use a bug is like riding a bicycle. You never forget how to do it, but if you've been away from it for a while, you can get pretty rusty.

After playing around with that for  bit, I turned on the KX3 and called "CQ FP" for the Flying Pigs QRP Club "Worked All Pigs" event.  I spotted myself on QRPSPOTS and I turned on RBN to see where my 5 Watts was taking me.

Not bad, as I was even heard down in the Cayman Islands! I was answered by a station most closer to home, however. Gene AA2YO (FP# 4650) from West Deptford, NJ answered my call and we had a nice 20 minute ragchew.  Central NJ to South NJ isn't a really big DX hop, but thanks to Gene, I have my first Flying Pig in the log for this newly revived event. It's a nice alternative to working POTA stations (as much as I love doing that!) with their brief "TU 599 NJ" exchanges. Sometimes you just feel the need for some Morse Code. (Sorry, Maverick!)

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

"Amateur Radio Day at the Library"

As I have previously mentioned, the South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club will be at the Westergard Library in Piscataway, NJ on Saturday, April 20th from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM presenting Amateur Radio to the public at large. If you're in the area, please stop by! We're going to have an FT8 station, a SSB station and of course a CW station. Hopefully we can get all three up and running in order to give the people who visit us a good idea of what this hobby is all about.

Yours truly will be manning the CW station. I hope to get an antenna set up in the small grassy area that I am told is just adjacent to where we will be. Supposedly, there's a window that will allow us to run coax to the outdoors. QRPTTF is that day, so maybe I can operate and show people that Morse Code isn't a relic of the past. The bug-a-boo in my mind is the critical importance of an outside antenna. Last October, when we held a Morse Code demonstration at the JFK Library (also in Piscataway) I tried setting up the AlexLoop only to find the interior fluorescent lighting was generating so much RFI as to make the loop a mere decoration.

My primary goal is to do some "real live operating", or at the very least, some "real live receiving"  I have that little golf ball sized speaker that I can hook up to the KX3, so people can hear what's being received, as the KX3's internal speaker leaves a lot to be desired (Sorry, Eric and Wayne!). I also played around with the KX3's built-in CW decoder last night. I had to open up the manual and look up how to activate it because I think the dinosaurs were still alive the last time I tried to use it. It's finicky in that for it to work half way decently, you have to be listening to a signal that's pretty strong - at least S7 or higher. The outside antenna will be crucial for that. If the signal is weaker than about S7, all you see on the KX3's display is a lot of *'s, e's and t's. Which once again proves that the best on-the-air CW decoder is the gray one that situates itself between one's ears.

Which brings me to today's topic. If worse comes to worse and I can't get on the air, I can resort to Ham Radio Solutions and their VBand CW bot.  The little USB adapter arrived in the mail yesterday. Don't let the picture fool you. This thing is about the size of your thumbnail.

This little gadget allows me to hook up a set of paddles, or a straight key, or even a cootie or bug to my laptop via one of the USB ports. The adapter comes with the required USB cable, which I'm pretty sure is a USB-A to USB-C cable. On the Ham Radio Solutions VBand page, I can send CW and see it displayed on the laptop screen. Or I can have a simulated QSO with their robot. Or, if I get super desperate, there are other channels where you can have a real time live QSO with another Ham via the internet. I'm hoping to use it primarily as a device where people can employ one of my straight keys to send Morse and then see on the screen how they've done. 

I hooked it all up last night and breathed a sigh of relief when it worked the first time. My concern wasn't with the adapter, but with my Lenovo T430 laptop which is kind of getting long in the tooth. My laptop doesn't like newer things, like 5G wifi, for instance - it doesn't even detect it.  To my relief, the USB port detected the adapter right away and there was no frustration in trying to figure out how to configure com ports. (I hate that!)  It took a bit of time to get a good feel for using this set up. I had to turn the auto-spacing feature off as it was screwing up my rhythm in sending.  The default setting is Iambic B and I had to change it to Iambic A as that's what my KX3 is set for and it felt more comfortable. You know, 45 years as a Ham, and I'm still not 100% certain what the difference is between Iambic A & B !! Anyhow, before long I had everything set up so that I could send and the laptop display was actually legible and not just gibberish.

After "Amateur Radio Day At The Library" is in the books, I'll still use this as a way to practice and perfect my bug fist, which is currently somewhere between the "disaster" and "atrocious" stages. And I'll always have it should we give more Amateur Radio demonstrations. Heck, it might be even good to set it up at the Information Table that we set up for Field Day. I'll have to bring that up when we're at the library or at the next club meeting. I can see where putting this right next to the Guest Book might draw some attention.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Looking to increase your code speed?

The Flying Pigs QRP ARCI holds a two hour Sprint each 3rd Sunday of the month called "Run For The Bacon". They also hold two "contests" or operating events each month designed specifically for those you who would like to send and receive CW at a speed no higher than 13 WPM. Remember - the more on-the-air contacts you make, the more and more your code speed will increase!

Appropriately, these are called "Walk For The Bacon" and they are held on 20 and 40 Meters each month. Here are the particulars:

Walk For The Bacon (20 Meter Edition) AKA PigWalk20 CW Contest

This Is a 2 Hour (Total Time)  S L O W  CW Only Contest For 20 Meters Only

Part 1 Operating Window Starts Every Third Wednesday Night Of Every Month

(8-9 PM EDT) = (7-8 PM EST) = (0000Z - 0100Z)

Suggested Frequencies from 14061 to 14065 with 14063 the hot spot

Part 2 Operating Window Starts The Very Next Night

(10-11 PM EDT) = (9-10 PM EST) = (0200Z - 0300Z)

Suggested Frequencies from 14061 to 14065 with 14063 the hot spot

SIMPLE RULES:

Work CW stations only on 20 Meters only

Work the same stations on both days for double points

Maximum CW Speed is 13 WPM (Recommend using Farnsworth Method, maintaining 10-13 WPM or less)

Minimum Exchange: RST, SPC (State/Province/Country), Name and FP# (if a member)

QSO Points: Member = 3 points

QSO Points: Any DX = 5 points (Canada:US Contacts not considered DX)

QSO Points: Non-Member = 1 point

Contest Points = Total of all QSO points for both days.

Power: QRP only ( qrp defined as 5 watts or less RF transmitter output)

Suggest calling "CQ FP" or "CQ OINK.   "---..-.-.-" has a nice ring to it.

Submit your score to the Autolog page at http://qrpcontest.com/pigwalk20/autolog.php

Walk For The Bacon (40 Meter Edition) AKA PigWalk40 CW Contest

This Is a 2 Hour (Total Time)  S L O W  CW Only Contest For 40 Meters Only

Part 1 Operating Window Starts Every First Wednesday Night Of Every Month

(8-9 PM EDT) = (7-8 PM EST) = (0000Z - 0100Z)

Suggested Frequencies from 7050 to 7065 with 7060 the hot spot

Part 2 Operating Window Starts The Very Next Night

(10-11 PM EDT) = (9-10 PM EST) = (0200Z - 0300Z)

Suggested Frequencies from 7110 to 7125 with 7123 the hot spot

SIMPLE RULES:

Work CW stations only on 40 Meters only

Work the same stations on both days for double points

Maximum CW Speed is 13 WPM (Recommend using Farnsworth Method, maintaining 10-13 WPM or less)

Minimum Exchange: RST, SPC (State/Province/Country), Name and FP# (if a member)

QSO Points: Member = 3 points

QSO Points: Any DX = 5 points (Canada:US Contacts not considered DX)

QSO Points: Non-Member = 1 point

Contest Points = Total of all QSO points for both days.

Power: QRP only ( qrp defined as 5 watts or less RF transmitter output)

Suggest calling "CQ FP" or "CQ OINK.   "---..-.-.-" has a nice ring to it.

You can gander at the Autolog page for April 2024 at http://qrpcontest.com/pigwalk40/autolog.php

You DO NOT have to be a member of the Flying Pigs to join in on these events - but why wouldn't you want to?  How can you not like an organization whose motto is: "No Dues, No Rules, Just Fun - and if we don't like it we fix it!"

If you WOULD like to join, please visit: https://www.fpqrp.org/join.php

72 de Larry W2LJ es "oo" - FP# 612

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

World Amateur Radio Day - April 18th

From the ARRL:

World Amateur Radio Day is April 18, 2024

World Amateur Radio Day (WARD) is celebrated each year on April 18.

The theme for 2024 is, "A Century of Connections: Celebrating 100 Years of Amateur Radio Innovation, Community, and Advocacy." The global event covers all of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) regions and spans 2 days: Thursday, April 18, 2024, 0000 UTC to Friday, April 19, 2024, 0000 UTC.

On April 18, 1925, the IARU was formed in Paris and will celebrate its centenary in 2025. American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Co-Founder Hiram Percy Maxim was the organization's first president.

All radio amateurs are invited to take to the airwaves to enjoy the global friendship with other amateurs and to show their skills and capabilities to the public. WARD is not a contest but rather an opportunity to talk about the value of amateur radio to the public and fellow amateur colleagues. It is also a great opportunity to talk about local radio clubs and amateur radio in local media as a lead-up to ARRL Field Day, which is held each year during the fourth full weekend in June. You can also promote your personal WARD activities on social media platforms like X and Facebook by using the hashtag #WorldAmateurRadioDay.

For more ideas and information, visit World Amateur Radio Day (arrl.org).

________________________________________________________________________________________

And just one week later is International Marconi Day, as discussed in a previous post. A lot of radio and Amateur Radio history occurred in April!

In an unrelated topic, I saw this on YouTube: - something I've never heard of before.

This is really wild! I kind of wish this kind of thing had been available when I was studying for my Novice license back in 1978. I like to think it would have made that first ever QSO a little less nerve wracking. I distinctly remember finishing that QSO and being wiped out - but yet hungry for the next one.

Admittedly, there's nothing like making real life QSOs on the air to improve your CW skills, but if you want to learn good sending technique BEFORE you have your ticket, this is a neat way to legally do it! Purchasing that adapter and hooking up either paddles or a key to the laptop seems to be the way to go. Using the [ and ] keys is clunky at best and takes a bit getting used to  It's fun to play around with using the two keyboard keys, but even in simulated QSOs, nothing would beat a real straight key, cootie or paddles.

I can think of a couple of instances where this bot would really come in handy. One would be for practising sending Morse with a bug. I don't use my Vibroplex often enough to be proficient with it and I hate to put anyone through the torture of listening to me shake the rust off. This would be the perfect tool for that!  I can't tell you how many times I hear really poor CW on the bands because someone is using a bug - badly. I don't want to be one of those guys!

The other instance would be as a Morse Code demonstration device. SPARC is doing "Amateur Radio at the Library" on Saturday, April 20th at a library in the neighboring town of Piscataway. I think folks might get a kick out of sending code to the bot. I did order one of those USB interfaces and will bring my laptop in addition to setting up an actual CW station. If the bands are cruddy or dead, all will not be lost.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Excelsior! - K2ORS!

 

Jean Shepherd was an American raconteur, author, radio show host perhaps best known for the movie "A Christmas Story" which originally appeared in his books "In God We Trust - All Others Pay Cash" and "Wands Hickey's Night of Golden Memories". I saw this picture on Facebook and had to cross-post here. The artist did a fantastic job and you can see the similarities in the facial features in the picture above and the photo below.

I had the pleasure of listening to K2ORS when he used to have a nightly radio show on WOR  - 710 on your AM Radio dial in NYC, and I also had the pleasure of seeing him live at Princeton University when he gave a show at one of their College Alumni weekends back in the 1980s.  Jean was also an Amateur Radio Op, a Ham - call sign K2ORS, and some of his best shows were the ones about Amateur Radio.

There are a few others that you can find on YouTube, but these are my favorites.

I wish we had someone like this as an ambassador for Amateur Radio today.

Oh ..... and by the way, Happy Hallowe'en!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Another problem solved

 I was having a problem with my Bencher Mercury paddle.

The dit paddle was being real finicky. I originally thought it was a dirty contact, so I cleaned it and it would work for a while and then stop. Then I thought maybe I just had the spacing adjusted incorrectly, so I re-adjusted that. It would work for a while, and then stop.

I turned the paddle over and looked at the connections underneath and all seemed well. My frustration level was increasing as I like to use this paddle. I have both this and my Begali Simplex Mono adjusted so that they feel like as close as I can get them to feel like touch paddles. Both are on the bench and I will use either one, depending on my mood at the time. I purchased the Mercury from Len WB2HKK who was selling it from Bart WB2HEK's estate after Bart had become an SK. Bart and I were both members of the Old Bridge Radio Association back in the day, so I like to use it in his honor. But this dit paddle problem was vexing to say the least.

It turned out the problem was my fault. It turned out to be an intermittent at the stereo plug end.

I hate soldering these things! The soldering lugs are so tiny and there's never enough space to keep the connections from interfering with one another, once you put the cover back on. I usually end up stripping off too much wire insulation, leaving too much wire exposed, and then the wires inevitably end up touching one another causing problems.  I figured this out when I ended up taking the cover off, and expanding the space between the connections a bit with my fingers. As long as the cover remained off, the paddle worked fine. When I put the cover back on, it would squeeze the connections together just enough to cause problems. Way back when, when paddles and straight keys connected to rigs with 1/4" plugs this wasn't a problem. There was enough space where I could carefully wrap two of the connections with thin slivers of electrical tape, so even if the connections were squeezed together, there was no electrical contact made.

I knew that some of the old 19" Viewsonic monitors here at work had a 6 foot cable with these type of stereo plugs pre-molded on at both ends. The 19" Viewsonic monitors are being replaced with Lenovo 24" monitors and are being picked up by an e-waste collection agency for recycling. So I dug through the e-waste bin and came up with one of the cables. Thankfully, it was none the worse for wear and brought it home. I cut it in half and replaced the whole cable assembly on the paddle. Works perfectly now and I completed the mission - recycling, W2LJ style! As a bonus, I now I have an extra 3 foot cable on hand should the need ever arise. And yes, I guess you can rightfully call me a garbage picker, now!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least1

So you fancy yourself the "Wordle" champ, eh?

To be honest with you, I'm not even sure how Wordle works. All I know is that it's some kind of word game where (I think) you have to guess the word of the day and you get a certain number of tries. All I know is that I see a ton of posts on social media about how people have done that day. Even my sister posts!

I've not tried, nor jumped into the fray, or think I ever will. At least the "conventional" game. There is a new one that I learned of today thanks to Dave Ring N1EA on the CW e-mail reflector. This version is called "Morsle".

https://morsle.fun/

Just for fun.

Morsle - the daily Morse code challenge

Welcome to the daily Morse code challenge

Brought to you by Remote Ham Radio

You have 21 tries to guess the word, which will be played aloud in Morse code.

Playback speed starts at 40 WPM, which is pretty fast, but don't worry! Every three tries, the speed decreases by 5 WPM.

Each time you play the word or submit a guess, you are deducted one try, so conserve those guesses until you are certain you have correctly guessed some letters.

You can guess at any time, even if there are some blank letters. Correct answers will be marked in green, but there are no other hints.

I got today's word on the second try at 40 WPM - so I guess I can still copy well enough. Good job on whomever came up with this! I look forward to rising to the challenge each day. In addition to the "main game", there's a practice session and you can change between regular words and call signs.

I'd like to see the "Wordle" champs take this one on!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

A good one for the QRP CW Newbs

 This weekend is the ARRL DX Contest (CW).

Even in you're not a contester and even if you're not a CW Wizard, this is still a good one to dive into for several reasons:

1) It will improve your CW.

2) The exchange is simple.

3) You'll be able to work your way well toward earning QRP DXCC.

4) It's a lot of fun!

Here's the official line from the ARRL:

Contest Objective: To encourage W/VE stations to expand knowledge of DX propagation on the HF and MF bands, improve operating skills, and improve station capability by creating a competition in which DX stations may only contact W/VE stations. One contest period is CW-only and one is Phone-only.  Use only the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands.

W/VE amateurs: Work as many DX stations in as many DXCC entities as possible.

DX stations: Work as many W/VE stations in as many of the 48 contiguous states and provinces as possible.

Dates:

CW: Third full weekend in February (February 19-20, 2022).

Phone: First full weekend in March (March 5-6, 2022).

Contest Period: Begins 0000 UTC Saturday and runs through 2359 UTC Sunday.

Exchange:

W/VE stations send a signal report and their state or province. DX stations send a signal report and power as a number or abbreviation.

How simple is that?

But here's the big tip!

For those of you new to QRP CW - either your code is kinda on the slower side; or you're not a big contester - I would wait to jump into the fray until Sunday.  If you jump in right at the beginning, you're likely to get frustrated and discouraged. At the beginning of any big contest like this - it' s best to let the big guns and CW speed demons get their rocks off for a while.  From the very beginning, a lot of the CW is going to be sent so fast, that you'll think you're listening to a buzz saw.

It's way better to wait until the latter part (second half) of the contest. Those big guns will have worked just about everyone they could have and they will more than likely be willing to listen for weaker signals and slower CW in order to fill up their logs. This is your big chance!

If conditions are right, and you're new to QRP DX, you can easily work your way to a quarter, halfway or even more countries needed for QRP DXCC.

Go get 'em!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Don't get discouraged!

 When it comes to head copying CW.

This post is directed at the relatively new to CW folks out there. I HOPE there are some relatively new to CW people out there, reading this right now. And for those of you who are new to CW or maybe new to faster CW, I know how easy it is to become discouraged with copying CW in your head. I've been there myself ...... I know.

I started out in my Novice days copying EVERYTHING down on paper, word for word. Looking back on it, that was a ridiculously easy thing to do at 5 WPM. But when you are new and wet behind the ears, that was a Herculean task.  Eventually, over time as my speed increased and I upgraded to General, I changed to just writing down just the "important stuff" - you know ... Name, QTH, RST, age ..... that kind of thing. 

When I became an Extra after mastering 20 WPM, I still kept at that practice. But as I tried to ever increase my speed, I realized that I had to leave writing behind if I wanted to continue to make progress. I had to break the habit of writing stuff down and get into the habit of just copying stuff n my head, because writing stuff down does two things:

1) It takes time

2) It is distracting.

I have no idea how the military and professional radio guys used a typewriter to copy! I have a hard time chewing gum and walking at the same time. Copying AND typing - no way, that's not for me! It's all I can do to just keep things right in my head.

I think the biggest fear of relying solely on head copy is missing something and getting all bolluxed up. Personally, that caused me to freeze up from time to time and start missing a whole bunch of stuff. You miss one word, then two, then three, then whole sentences and the next thing you know is you feel like Charlie Brown from "Peanuts"!

The key ...... and I think is the hardest part to master,  is to just relax and copy the best you can. Miss a word? Don't panic! Miss two words? Again - don't panic. Forget about what you missed and get yourself concentrating on what's coming at you in the moment. Panicking only makes you miss more and more.

As an example - last night I saw my friend Bob W3BBO spotted calling CQ on RBN. I ran down to the shack in an attempt to start up a QSO with him, only to find I had been beaten to the punch. By the time, I got downstairs, got the radio tuned to 3.560 MHZ and the earbuds in my ears, Bob was already in QSO with Ernie AA2YK. Instead of shutting down, I decided to "copy the mail" and I did it all without writing a single thing down! 

Did I miss a few words here and there? You betcha! But I didn't let that bother me. In very quick order I had to mentally force myself to stop and re-start copying again. I had to break the cycle of worrying about what I had missed, ignore it and just go on from where I had left off. And once you can do that, you'll find that it works, every time! I listened in on their almost 30 minute rag chew and enjoyed listening to two good Morse Code fists.

If I had to do it all over again, I think I would have started relying on head copy a lot sooner than I actually did.  I still write the necessary details down for logging - time, name, call - but that's about it. The rest I just copy in my head and now it seems as natural as falling off a log. It makes the entire CW experience a lot more enjoyable.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

It's only an hour!

It's only an hour ..... what have you got to lose? Nothing - and a lot of fun can be had in a short time.

Of course, I'm talking about tomorrow night's (Sunday night) QRP-ARCI Hoot Owl Sprint. It's been pared down to just an hour long ....... that what I call a "Sprint"!

This is a traditional Memorial Day Weekend event and in the past, it's been a lot of fun. It will be interesting to see what kind of activity we see. The official link to the particulars is here - https://www.qrparci.org/contest/hoot-owl-sprint.

Technically, the event runs from 0000 - 0100 Monday morning UTC time, but for those of us in the States, that's 8-9 PM EDT, 7-8 PM CDT, 6-7 PM MDT, and 5-6 PDT. Should be interesting because at 8:00 PM, it's still kind of light here on the East Coast, so 20 Meters might still be open to the West Coast. And of course, 40 Meters can be hopping with activity ....... if QRPers would just get on the air and make some noise!

The exchange is classic. ARCI members give RST, S/P/C, Member #
Non-ARCI members give RST, S/P/C, power output.

There's even an autologger where you can post your results - http://www.qrpcontest.com/

To paraphrase the old song, "Hey Buddy, can you spare an hour?"

I think you'll be amazed how much fun you can cram into 60 little minutes!

72 de Larry W2LJ (Hint ...... QRP-ARCI #4488)
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

N4CCB hits the nail on the head!

N4CCB in an instructional video about Morse Code spacing, and he hits it out of the park! Spacing is everything - give the man a cigar!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send thevery least!

Looking forward to the weekend.

I know it's only Monday, but something to keep in mind THIS WEEK.  Nest weekend is the ARRL CW DX Contest. There may be may ops heading to far and distant locations during this week to get their stations set up and running. You may hear some good pre-contest DX all this week. You may want to keep your ears open and your eyes focused on the DX Clusters.  This is a prime opportunity for QRPers to get their share of DX. This week, and then again next Sunday as the contest winds down and the DX stations really sharpen their hearing, listening for weaker signals to fatten the QSO counts and point totals.

My eBay auctions ended successfully yesterday. I earned more than enough to fund a purchase of something I've been wanting for a while. If the winners are readers, by any chance, thank you so much! Your keys are going out via USPS Priority Mail today and you should both have them before the weekend.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

A challenge posted by Wayne NK6R

For the budding radio designers out there - a challenge presented by Wayne NK6R. I know this blog is read by a lot of people with tons more technical expertise than myself - and this seems like a most worthy project, so I am re-posting from QRP-L:

Hi all,

Someone recently told me that he'd benefitted throughout his life from learning Morse code as a teen. Ham radio helped him cope. He's gone on to promote Morse because it can help kids with certain cognitive or social issues. Such problems are exacerbated by social media, these days. We all know of teens who've ended up ostracized or worse.

He was wondering what the ham community may be able to do for them.

I proposed a simple ($5-$10), unlicensed CW transceiver (kit or assembled or both) that would put out maybe 1 milliwatt. It would serve as a code-practice oscillator for solo use. But with a short wire hanging from the PCB, kids could work "DX" -- like across a room, or better yet, outdoors.

This got his attention. I went on to describe a scenario that he found very plausible, based on his experience with Morse advocacy: You hand kids the little modules (just a PCB with a built-in 4x AAA battery pack, code key, antenna wire, and cheap earbuds), and ask them to try sending/receiving a few letters. The complete code would be silkscreened onto the PCB. After they try this, you say, "Now see how far apart you can get and still copy you friend's signal." This is where the magic happens, at least for those of us who have been leveraging action-at-a-distance ourselves for many years :)  It takes things a step beyond ordinary code practice. Connects kids to other kids. At best it could serve as a bridge to a world outside themselves.

I'm picturing the little rig as SA602 based, with one crystal for TX and one for RX, running so little power than licensing is a non-issue. Frequency? TBD. Something available in cheap fundamental crystals from Digikey. Each one would have its crystals offset slightly from the others, so the effect of having a number of them in one room might be a bit like being on a crowded CW band. Picking out the pitch of a signal of interest and copying it is a skill many of us have learned. I'm sure kids who are motivated would be able to do it as well.

It should not have debilitating clicks or thumps when keyed. The only control should be for volume. It should be full break-in, which at this power level is easily obtained.

This is a project I would gladly take on myself if not for my greater-than-full-time commitments to Elecraft products. I'm hoping there's a tinkerer out there with more free time who could start from a minimal description and design the little rig.  The gentleman I spoke to has been frustrated over the years in trying to get his message out, and in trying to find ways to take Morse code to a wider range of kids. He felt that this idea had a lot of merit.

If you're interested in this project, or know of something that matches this description that's already available, please contact me directly.

73,
Wayne
N6KR

How about it, guys?

72 de Larry W2LJ - A builder of other folk's designs
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Yuck!

As seen on eBay:

I had a set of Palm paddles.  They did not look like that - AND they came from Germany, not China.

I know that Palm has since gone out of business, but seriously - using their name like this smacks of the unethical in my book. If you want to say, "Based on the Palm Design" - I suppose that's acceptable, but don't advertise this so that someone who doesn't know any better might be fooled into thinking they're buying the genuine article.

From what I hear from Bruna Begali on Facebook, there are a Chinese manufacturer or two who have "borrowed" the Begali design for their keys. If you're going to shell out bucks, make sure you're getting the real deal and not a counterfeit. Yes ....... a counterfeit.

Ugh.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

If you have a bug ......

please take a "re-look" at my Morse Code page on "How To Adjust a Bug".  Benny Owens K5KV, who had purchased a lot bugs from an SK's estate, and spent a lot of time adjusting them all, and graciously made some suggestions/corrections to what I had written.

His remarks are in red type and are easy to see. I think it's a more complete and comprehensive treatise now, from which many neophyte (and maybe not so neophyte) bug users will benefit from.

Thanks Benny for the editorial assistance!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Contact Sport

While we were on vacation last week, I finally got the chance to read the book that my sister gave me for Christmas - "Contact Sport" by Jim George N3BB. I held off reading it with the intention of bringing it along on vacation. I was not disappointed. This book is his recounting of N3BB's experiences as a driver for the 2014 WRTC Championship, which was held in New England that year.

I enjoyed the book on several levels:

A) It is a book about Amateur Radio, to which I can totally relate. It was an easy read. N3BB is a talented writer and the book was written in a manner so that someone who is totally foreign to Amateur Radio could pick this book up and enjoy reading it. In the same vein, it was not overly simplistic. It held my attention throughout and was a relatively quick read

B) As pretty much a non-contester, I was impressed - VERY impressed with these "Top Guns" who qualified for the Championships. I could never do what they do. I don't have the resources or the devotion to plant my butt in a chair for 24 hours almost every weekend during contest season. These guys can do that and their experience and abilities are just amazing to me. That being said ........

C) As an avid participant in Field Day, on some levels I can relate. I can relate being to being "locked up" in a hot tent for 24 hours trying to make as many CW contacts as possible.  For the first few years of SPARC's Field Day efforts, the CW duties were left pretty much to Marv K2VHW and myself. This year we had a lot of help with that. I am hoping that continues in the years to come. Reading about these guys doing what I do once a year (of course on a much more advanced level than I could ever hope to do - Uber Field Day) was neat, because I totally "got it".

D) It turns out I actually know one of the major players in the book.  John Laney K4BAI is a familiar call sign in just about all the QRP Sprints in which I participate. I have always looked at John with major respect for his talent and abilities, and his sterling character and reputation for fairness and honesty. To read about someone I know being eminently qualified to act as a WRTC referee made the book somewhat more "personal" and brought it home for me.

E) Chapter 17 was devoted to Morse Code. A relatively short chapter, Jim attempted to explain the "magic of Morse" to those not familiar with the mode. IMHO, this was the best chapter of the book - but then again, I AM biased!

If you get a chance to pick this up in your local library, or order it from Amazon, I would recommend it. It's a fun read about something that all the readers of this blog enjoy - Amateur Radio. I had no idea this book was out there. I thank my big sister many times over for gifting it to me.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

The Quest for 30

That new ARRL/Vibroplex Code Proficiency Certificate has renewed my quest for 30 - WPM, that is. After comfortably loafing around at 23 -25 wpm for years now, I have been able to stretch myself to 30 wpm for events like Field Day and such, but it IS a stretch. A conversational rag chew at 30 would probably not go well for me at this point.

So I am resolved to hit the 30 wpm mark within the near future. I'm hoping with some dedication, that can be within the next six months or so. Learning Morse was never easy for me, as I've detailed more than a few times. It was a big struggle, but ended up being my salvation in being able to operate without interfering with the family TV.

Once I learned it, raising my speed was a much easier affair. The 13 wpm test for General and the 20 wpm test for Extra were both a breeze for me. Getting to the point where 30 wpm is easy copy shouldn't be that difficult. It will just take time and dedication.

My plan is to use my CW Trainer app as my weapon of choice.

This app will allow me to listen to code sent as high as 60 wpm. The routine that I have taken to is to listen to code practice twice a day. I start with a session at 40 wpm, and I just listen. I do not consciously try to decode the Morse, just relax and listen. If I get a word here and there, so much the better, but the main goal is just to listen to the rhythms of the dits and dahs. When that session is over, I lower the speed to 30 wpm. after listening to the 40 wpm session, the 30 wpm session becomes almost decipherable. At this point, I can correctly copy about 30 to 40% of the session.  I'll keep this up for a week or two and gradually increase the speed of the first session, while seeing how much my comprehension of the 30 wpm session increases.

My thinking is that if I keep this up, I should be pretty comfortable at 30 wpm within six months or so. I doubt I'll ever become comfortable at 40 wpm, but it's a goal worth reaching for and besides, there's a side benefit of keeping the old gray matter exercised.  Maybe "Some Morse Code each day will keep the Alzheimer's away".  That would be a good thing, wouldn't it?

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!