Another one bites the dust

During the middle of the night on Saturday/Sunday, I got a low battery voltage warning on the KX3. That struck me as odd, as I had recently charged up my 12V 10 Ah battery. I was expecting it to last the entirety of Field Day.  But in the heat of battle you really don't think twice about it, so I took it off line and hastily replaced with a recently purchased 12v 5 Ah battery that I had gotten about two weeks ago. THAT battery lasted the second half of Field Day without a whimper.

When I got home from work on Monday, I put the 10 Ah battery on my charger and was getting a battery failure indication. It was reading at a level of 10V and 0% capacity and would not accept a charge, I was wondering how can this be? It was purchased new and I haven't put it through nearly enough cycles to have exhausted it. I figured it must be a battery charger fault, so I hooked up the 5 Ah battery to the charger to see what it said. The 5 Ah (which was in use for roughly the same amount of time, if not more) was down to only 11.8 Volts and had 89% capacity left in it! And the charger's fan started running as soon as I hooked it up.

No charger fault - I got a bad 12V 10 Ah battery. Dang!

I don't remember where I purchased it, whether it was from eBay or Amazon, but it doesn't matter. Its not like you can return a battery some 11 months after you've bought it online. I had purchased it after the 2023 Skeeter Hunt when my last deep cycle battery gave up the ghost. I don't want to be scrambling for electrons during the Hunt this year, so I went on eBay and found an economically (cheaply) priced 12V 10 Ah Deep Cycle Gel Cell battery.

I know, you guys are probably thinking, why didn't he go lithium?  Price mainly, but also because I don't feel like purchasing a dedicated lithium battery charger. I once ruined a small lithium battery by not using the correct charger on it and I don't want to relive that escapade. I learned that lesson well. However, should this battery not last longer than a cycle or two, I guess I'll bite the bullet. Maybe spending a little more right now would be the right thing to do in the long run, but I guess I'm too frugal to have reached that point yet.

It should be at my house in about a week - long before it's needed for the Skeeter Hunt on August 18th - which, by the way, we've had 93 sign ups so far and the 1st Day of Summer was only 6 days ago!

And looky see what came in the mail yesterday!

Not an ATNO, but an ATNC - All Time New Confirmation. I've worked Easter Island before, but never got a QSL card.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Another DXpedition in the log

This time it was Timore-Leste, 4W8X on 15 Meters at 21.030 MHz, UP 1. And the antenna weapon of choice was my W3EDP, which was kind of a little bit of karma, as I had a guy insisting to me yesterday that end feds are "bad antennas". He was incredulous that I held to my opinion that I have had greater success with my W3EDP than the G5RV or the 88 foot doublet that I used to use.

He also told me that I should try building my own antennas. (Does anyone sell W3EDP antennas?) I answered by telling him that in 45 years as an Amateur Radio op, I've only owned three commercial antennas. My Novice antenna was  Mor-Gain multi band dipole. I owned a GAP Challenger for a while and sold it before moving from East Brunswick to South Plainfield.  And my third commercial antenna is my Butternut HF9V, which I purchased 25 years ago upon my arrival in South Plainfield, which I still have and use to this day.

All my other antennas over the past 45 years have been various homebrewed wire antennas. I have a pretty good feeling as to what will work and what won't. The best thing about homebrewing antennas is that it's relatively cheap, you can try new things whenever the mood strikes and soon you become pretty comfortable in knowing what works and what doesn't for your situation.

If I had deep pockets and a lot of real estate, you can bet in a New York minute that I'd go for multiple towers with mono band Yagis on them. Living on a suburban 50 X 150 foot lot limits you and you have to play around until you get results you can live with. But there is one thing that I'm grateful to God for every Thanksgiving, and that is that I'm not under the confines and handcuffs of an HOA. (Sorry, I don't mean to rub salt into the wound of those of you who are.)

Last night I was also fortunate to work Dave AB9CA in yet another park. Dave is a stalwart Skeeter and a superb op. It's nice when I can hook up with him. I also checked into the New Jersey K of C Net on 40 Meters, but propagation changed quickly and I very quickly lost the ability to hear Net Control or any of the other check ins. I'm new to the net, so I'll keep my mouth shut and my suggestions to myself, but I think 80 Meters would be a much better band choice.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Review time

I try to avoid making two posts in one day, but the QRP Foxhunts are starting up tonight for the 2023-2024 Winter Season and I'm seriously considering participating again.  That being said, this needs to be read AND posted in every shack (mine included - it's a good reminder!):

And it's not just for when a DX station or a DXpedition pops up on the airwaves. It applies to the QRP Foxhunts, POTA, SOTA, 13 Colonies, Route 66 or whatever popular Special Event Station comes on the air. This should more appropriately be re-titled "The Amateur Radio Code of Conduct".

You need to listen and be courteous. If you can't hear the target station you are trying to work clearly enough to know that he's coming back to YOU - don't call in the blind! "I'll send my call over and over and maybe I'll hear them come back to me!" NO - THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!

If you hear the target station call "W4X???" and your call is W7XYZ, he's NOT calling you! He didn't confuse "7" for "4" ...... wait your turn! It may take multiple times for the target station to hear the W4X station. Be patient, you wouldn't like it if they called "W7X???" and W9XBA jumped all over you.

Please listen to determine if the target station is working split. If they are, DO NOT send your call sign on the frequency that the target station is transmitting on! Nothing defines "LID" more than that! Accidents can happen though, so make sure your split button has been turned on!

And please don't be a "Frequency Cop" and keep continuously send "UP UP".  That's as bad as the station that's calling on the listening frequency. If someone already sent "UP", there's no need for you to repeat it umpteen times.

Please let the target station FINISH their exchange with the station they're working before you throw out your callsign. You'll usually hear a "73", or a "Thanks" or a "TU" or perhaps a "dit dit" in CW to indicate that they are through.

If you're in the pileup, listen! Determine if the target station is listening to one frequency or is moving around - try to anticipate where he's going to be listening next. That's why some transceivers have dual receivers.

And if you get frustrated that you're calling and not being heard, turn off the radio and go have a cup of coffee or a cold soda or a cold 807 or go take your dog for a walk or something. There's no need to be a jerk and start QRM'ing the frequency because you're mad or frustrated that you're not being heard. I know this sounds silly, but I've heard it happen - the rest of us in the pileup aren't dummies! I've been in the QRP Foxhunts where it was nearing the end of a Hunt, only to hear a certain Hound sending his call like 20 times in a row without a break, in desperate attempts to be heard before the closing bell. Sorry, but you're not earning the respect of your peers by doing that.

As I stated before, accidents happen. We're all human and we all make errors. But there's a difference between making an honest mistake and pushing the PTT Button or hitting the paddles without using common sense or having a "me ....me....me.....ME!" attitude.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

A good HF Sunday

 First, the QRP Image of the Day:

Taken from Facebook - love the photo! It's so this time of the year!

I managed to get on the air in the late morning. It was a productive session and yet disappointing at the same time. I worked seven different POTA stations on 20, 15 and 10 Meters. After I worked my last one, I saw TO8FH, Mayotte Island was spotted on, I forget right now, but it was either 15 or 10 Meters. I tuned to the frequency and they were decently loud. Not great, but not bad either. I figured that if I pumped up the KXPA100 a bit, I could probably work them.

The pileup behavior was absolutely atrocious! Between people not knowing how to go about working split, and the "Frequency Cops" sending "UP, UP", the DXpedition itself became inaudible. If I had gotten through and they had come back to me, I would not have heard them. So I did the best operating practice that I could think of - I turned the dial without even bothering to send my call even once..

Later in the evening, I checked into the St Max Net on 75 Meters. It was a good session with 18 stations checking in. Lloyd K3QNT, who is NCS, has a fantastic signal! He runs a tight, but welcoming and enjoyable ship, and it's good to listen to all who check in.

When the net closed, I noticed that the DX Cluster at the bottom of AC Log showed that the DXpedition to Swains Island W8S was spotted on 15 Meters.

I had a few minutes before K2VHW's Middlesex County Chat Net, so I decided to at least give a listen. To my astonishment, W8S was calling "CQ de W8S UP" with few if any takers! I took a stab that "UP" in this case would be about 2 kHz and gave them a call .......and got an immediate answer! An ATNO, a POTA station and an IOTA station in the log all in one shot!

A good day on HF ....... very good, indeed!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

I've never worked either of these ........

Courtesy of the ARRL:

Midway and Kure Islands are Now Deleted DXCC Entities
03/31/2017

Midway and Kure Islands have been placed on the list of DXCC deleted entities, effective August 26, 2016. This came about as an unintended consequence of action last summer by then-President Barack Obama that expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument to include the northwestern Hawaiian Islands west of Ni’ihau Island, making it the largest contiguous protected conservation area under the US flag.

Midway (KH4) had qualified for DXCC status by virtue of its being governed by a separate administration. Because it is now under the administration of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, however, it becomes a deleted entity. Approximately 50 people live on Midway, including US Fish and Wildlife Service staffers and contractors. The Battle of Midway, a turning point in the Allied World War II Pacific Campaign, took place in June 1942.

Now uninhabited, Kure Island (KH7K), a part of Hawaii, is separated from the rest of the state by Midway; because of that, it qualified for DXCC status under Section II, 2 (b) (iii) of the DXCC Rules — separation from its “parent” Hawaii. Midway Island’s change in DXCC status in turn made Kure Island no longer eligible for DXCC status, since Kure no longer is separated from the rest of Hawaii by intervening land or islands that are part of another DXCC entity.

Kure Island once was home to a US Coast Guard LORAN station, remnants of which are still evident. It has been a state wildlife sanctuary since 1981.

The relevant parts of Section II of the DXCC Rules follow:

A Geographic Separation Entity may result when a single Political Entity is physically separated into two or more parts. The part of such a Political Entity that contains the capital city is considered the Parent for tests under these criteria. One or more of the remaining parts resulting from the separation may then qualify for separate status as a DXCC Entity if they satisfy paragraph a) or b) of the Geographic Separation Criteria, as follows.

b) Island Areas (Separation by Water):

A new entity results in the case of an island under any of the following conditions:

iii) The island is separated from its Parent by intervening land or islands that are part of another DXCC entity, such that a line drawn along a great circle in any direction, from any part of the island, does not touch the Parent before touching the intervening DXCC entity. There is no minimum separation distance for the first island entity created under this rule. Additional island entities may be created under this rule, provided that they are similarly separated from the Parent by a different DXCC entity and separated from any other islands associated with the Parent by at least 800 km.

Neither Midway nor Kure was able to be activated without prior permission and only for a planned DXpedition. Only contacts made on August 25, 2016, or earlier will count for these two entities.

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

Oh my! This IS disturbing!

If you haven't had the chance - go over to Jeff KE9V's blog "Perturbation" and read his post "Broken Trust".  Pay particular attention to, and please click on his link to read the blog post by N6PSE.

All I can say is, "Wow!!!"

Call me naive, but I had no idea that such shenanigans occur. The very concept and idea are foreign to me.

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

KX3 - Buddistick Mojo is back

Now, for a limited time ....... considering how the sunspot cycle is dropping like a lead balloon through a pool of hot, melted butter.

But today was relatively decent.  I set up the Buddistick on the Jeep during lunchtime, hoping to hear or work a few NPOTAs. No dice, nothing heard, even though DX Summit said they were there. I did hear a few chasers on both 40 and 20 Meters. Not hearing the activators, I decided not to be a QRM generator to those who stood a decent shot.

So I went on up to 17 Meters where I heard MJ0KUC , the DXpedition to Jersey Island by the Charente DX Group.  Even though I have worked Jersey several times, I always try to honor the Jersey / New Jersey connection by making contact. The CW op behind the key was superb, handling the pileup deftly and expertly.  He was loud to me - 589/599 depending on the QSB so I decided to give it a shot.  I put out my call a few times and finally heard "W2LJ HI LARRY".

Talk about being surprised - no one else's name was being used!  Coming back to my desk, while I still had a few minutes of lunchtime left, I decided to Google "MJ0KUC" and when the page came up, the surprise vanished.  My expert CW op was none other than Bert F6HKA - it just had to be!  We have QSOed before multiple times, so when we hear each other's call on the air, we both exactly know who is behind the key.

That was so very cool!  Thanks, Bert, for the highlight of the day!

The other DX QSO of the day was with 9Y/K2HVN, Bill in Tobago.  QSB was tougher on this one, but we got the exchange completed, and I'm in the log.  From there, I spent another 20 minutes or so unsuccessfully trying to bust the 7Z1JA pileup for Saudi Arabia.  Again, the station was decently loud to me, but no such luck.  The Buddistick didn't have THAT much mojo in it today!

Truly, band conditions are becoming tougher and tougher.  The ease with which I was able to work DX for the past few seasons is rapidly disappearing. But, it's encouraging to know that all things related to Amateur Radio propagation runs in cycles, so the day will come again (someday) when DX with 5 Watts will become easier.

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

Never heard Heard

I saw on Facebook this morning, that many were thanking the VK0EK expedition for the ATNO and were thanking them, in general, for a wonderful DXpedition. I would suspect they have gone QRT.

And I would guess I'm in the minority as I'm not in any of their logs.  In fact, I never even heard them decently well enough to work them.  There were a couple of times that I could tell they were on a given frequency, but they never loud enough that I would be able to hear my own call come back to me, on the off-chance that they would have heard me.  It didn't seem right to just add to the QRM.

Am I disappointed?  You're darn tootin' I am!  Working VK0EK would have been an ATNO for me and I sure as heck would love to have them in my DXCC tally.  But I'm not depressed about it.

It all goes back to that post a few weeks ago about balance.  Yes, I do not have Heard Island as an entity worked. However, the sun is still shining, the birds are still chirping, our solar system is still plowing its way throughout the galaxy.  I still have to go to work tomorrow and earn a living.

And while I didn't work them, and life goes on, I still applaud their effort.  It's not easy to go to a remote island near Antarctica, and brave the elements and hardships to provide the rest of us Amateur Radio ops with a bunch of excitement and fun.

Thank you Team VK0EK - even though I'm not in your log - thank you for a job very well done, indeed!

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

They're still up!

My antennas, that is.

After yesterday afternoon and last night, I expected to wake up to find my W3EDP at ground level and my Butternut HF9V bent at 90 degrees somewhere along its length.  In retrospect, my fears were probably silly as my antennas withstood Hurricane Sandy with nary a whimper, but ...........

Last evening, as I lay in bed, struggling to fall asleep, the winds were howling, and I do mean HOWLING. Not an exaggeration, they were dong their best to imitate a freight train passing underneath our windows. But, thanks be to God, both antennas are still up, working, functional and never the worse for wear.  Dodged another bullet - whew!

I find myself in somewhat of a quandary.  I e-mailed my buddy, Bob W3BBO about this.  I see all the posts on Facebook about the Heard Island DXpedition. All these people seem to have worked them on so many bands and with so many different modes.

I just can't bring myself to even bother trying.

It's not that I don't need them.  Working VK0EK would be an ATNO for me. Never worked Heard Island before,  It just seems, that for some reason or other, I just don't feel like jumping into the fray.  On the other hand, Yosemite National Park was on 20 Meter SSB last night, I spent close to half an hour unsuccessfully trying to bust that pileup, before they faded into oblivion. So it's not that my competitive instinct has disappeared. Not sure what my problem is.

I'm sure whatever it is, that like everything else, it's cyclical and one day I'll be jumping into the DXpedition pileups with both feet again.

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

You can't work 'em if you can't hear 'em.

The snow plows came through to clear our street.  Even so, they never really plow the entire street. They clean it up for sure, so that you can travel safely down the road, but there's always that snow plow residue on the sides of the street. So, until the snow melts substantially, I can't park on the street, as I usually do, there's just not enough room to park and still have space for other cars to get by.  That means I have park in the driveway. Since I generally get home last, I have to get up and move my Jeep when my wife Marianne has to leave for work at 5:00 AM (I've mentioned - she's a nurse).

So this morning, after moving my car for her, I made some coffee and headed down into the shack. I had about a half hour before I had to shower, shave and get dressed for work. I figured that maybe, just maybe, I'd hear K5P, as this is their last day on the island, I believe. And sure enough, there they were on 80 Meters, calling CQ!  And from the rate they were answering stations, you could tell they were listening for ATNOs - stations they had never worked before (which would have been me!).

They were decently loud - about 559 with QSB on 3.530 MHz with QSB.  Even so, this was the best I've heard them throughout the entire DXpedition. I put the KX3 into "Dual Watch" mode, so I could figure out where they were listening, and then I fired up the KXPA100 to 90 Watts and jumped into the fray.

Then some idiot proceeded to come onto their QRG (the frequency they were transmitting on) and began to send an non-ending string of S9 dits, totally obliterating them.

"You can't work 'em if you can't hear 'em."

Sigh.

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

How fast it can go downhill.

I went out to the Jeep today during lunch.  The parking lots are clear, but there is snow, snow everywhere! Big heaping mounds of it.

Anyway, I had my cell phone on, and lo and behold, both K5P and VP8STI were spotted all over the place.  A lot of good it did me. I couldn't hear either DXpedition well, on ANY band they were spotted. And sadly, that's the way it's been for me for the entirety of the K5P DXpedition.  Today on 15 Meters - the reports were "Booming In!" and "Loud", and I got all stoked - only to hear them at about 0.5,0.5,9.  They were so weak as to be unworkable. VP8STI?  I heard them decently well for the first time on 20 Meters yesterday afternoon at home. They were all of about 559 to me.  With the pileup wide, wild and wacky, I didn't even see the point of throwing my hat in the ring. I was too tired after all the snow shoveling anyway, so if that removes me from the ranks of avid DXers, so be it.

I decided to go to 20 Meters and call CQ near the QRP watering hole. I was answered by Will K9FO who was a solid 599. I got the same report in return. Just as I was ready to settle in for a nice lunchtime QSO, the Propagation Princess threw a hissy fit and destroyed what could have been a really nice 2X QRP conversation. On the next go round, I had QSB'ed so badly that Will had flipped on the afterburners (all the way to 100 Watts) so that I could hear him come back to me. And I did, but just barely. I had gone nil to him. And thus ended another potentially nice QSO.

Stupid Propagation Princess. What do I have to do, ply her with flowers and chocolates?

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

All certificated out.

I got all the 2015, and about ten remaining 2014 (sigh) Skeeter Hunt certificates enveloped and addressed. I will buy stamps tomorrow and will get them in the mail this week. Hopefully, that will be as early as Tuesday. I think I will be able to get away with two 1st Class stamps on each domestic certificate. Before inserting a certificate in an envelope, I put each one in a manila file folder first, in order to prevent the certificates from becoming bent or folded. I'll have to weigh one on the Post Office scale, but I think each is under two ounces.

The California QSO Party seemed to be all the rage on the bands this weekend. If I had a nickel for each "CQ P" that I heard this weekend, I'd be a rich QRPer. I worked VP2MLJ on both 10 and 15 Meters this weekend, both times with QRP power. I think the "LJ" at the end of my callsign may have been good for a few extra Watts.

I listened for the Chesterfield Island DXpedition, and actually heard them on 30 Meters this morning. They were too weak to work, and the DX Cluster said they were only working EU stations anyway, so.......

I am thinking that this may be another DXpedition where my best chances are going to come shortly before sunrise or shortly after sunset. Hopefully, I will get them in the log, but if not, life will go on with nary a hiccup.

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

ATNOs

I did manage to get 7QAA and 9Q0HQ in the log this weekend.  But as it turns out, I was even more fortunate to make it into THEIR logs.

"What's he saying?" you may be thinking.

I worked both stations on Friday on 17 Meters.  The 7QAA QSO was tricky, as there was a lot of QSB. I was pretty sure they had come back to me, but I wasn't 1000% certain. For a day or so I was sweating it, because it wasn't until sometime late Saturday evening (local time) that their online log was updated and I was able to see my call sign pop up.

I was debating a second QSO, because as noted on the 7QAA Webpage, CW operations cease pretty much as of today. From here on out until the beginning of April, they are going to concentrate on SSB, RTTY with some PSK mixed in. Once I saw that I made it into the log, I was very much relieved.

9Q0HQ was a different matter. I heard them come back to me. I heard the "W2LJ 599" and I heard the "TU". I didn't even bother looking at the online log as I was so certain I was in there. Then, last night, I heard them pretty loud on 20 Meters, so I tried again.  Listening to 9Q0HQ, I have been noticing that they are taking pains to work stations only once per band.  I have been hearing a lot of "WRKED B4" replies coming back to calls, so I figured since I worked them on Friday on 17 Meters, then trying again on 20 Meters would probably be OK.  I stayed with it and worked them, for what I thought was a second time.

This time, for the heck of it, I went to the 9Q0HQ Website and checked their log. You can imagine my surprise to find that I am only in there for the 20 Meter QSO and NOT the 17 Meter QSO from Friday. Wow. I wonder what happened there? I was so certain that our QSO was valid and complete. Unless I was imagining things, I was so positive that I had heard "W2LJ 599" and the "TU" as I stated before. I can't imagine why that QSO is not in the log.

At any rate, I am grateful for the two ATNOs. Going forward, though, I am going to be checking ATNO online logs if at all possible.  I am very grateful for what I thought was a second QSO which turned out to be a first!

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

E30FB - finally!

After trying on and off for days, I finally got E30FB, Eritrea in the logbook. I heard them fairly well on 30 Meters - loud enough to try. The W3EDP (at its new height) and 85 Watts were necessary to bag another All Time New One.

In truth, they were about 579 at best. Not the loudest DXpedition I have ever heard, and QSB was pretty bad. But once I figured out their listening pattern, I got an answer after only a couple of calls.

It's nice to see an antenna improvement pay off so soon. Now I'll have to pay some attention to working Malawi and the Congo. Those would also be ATNOs for me.

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

Tweeted by KE9V

K1N Mission Possible? by W0GJ a must read. In the March 2015 edition of The Gray Line Report - http://t.co/AhgHuL7Eqg #TCDXA
— Jeff Davis (@ke9v) March 16, 2015

 Jeff KE9V tweeted this and I went and downloaded it. Very interesting reading and makes me appreciate the effort expended even more than I had, before.

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

3G0ZC

Looks like I am going to run out of time in order to attempt a QRP QSO. For me, as well as for many others, this was an ATNO (All Time New One) so it was most important for me to just get them in the log. On 10 Meters, they were 599 and I was so excited to stumble across them that I didn't even consider trying QRP. And I literally stumbled across them. I was twiddling across 10 Meters when they rose up out of the blue - an instance of being at the right place at the right time. Two days later, on 12 Meters, they were only about 559.  I tried QRP there, but after a couple of hours as they were beginning to fade, my resolve failed and I switched over to 85 Watts to nab them on another band.

The DX bug seems to have bitten me hard lately. I like getting these new ones in the log and I feared that without the KXPA100, that this one might have eluded me like FT5ZM, Amsterdam Island did last year. I didn't have the KXPA100 for that DXpedition and totally missed out, unable to break the pileup, even though I put many hours behind the key on that one. A valuable DX lesson was learned there that will always be with me.

The beauty thing is that, even though I had to use 85 Watts to get them in the log, QRP discipline and the lessons learned from being a QRPer stood me in good stead. Knowing how to find the pattern, knowing when to call, and most of all - doing a lot of listening were valuable lessons learned and are now precious tools in the QRP/DX tool belt.

The more DX that I attempt to work, the more I realize that dedicated DXers and dedicated QRPers aren't all that different from each other.  They seem to have the same skills and disciplines, such as patience and endurance. They just like to hang out at different power levels - until you run across that very rare animal, the dedicated QRP DXer, who will hunt with 5 Watts or less - no matter what (even if they fail to get the DX in the log). Personally, I haven't reached that point, yet, as I like getting them in the log (for the first time, at least) a bit too much.  WFWQL

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

Something that struck me as odd.

I was looking around the K1N Website - of course I went there to make sure that I'm in the log:

As stated before, 80 and 40 Meters were QRO, for the ATNO, and 20 Meters was the QRP ATNO. Only three band spots, but I met my goal(s), so I'm happy.

But looking at some of the pictures, I saw:

 and this:

Look at all the graffiti!  I guess most of it was done before the island became protected in 1999 (although I plainly see "2014" scrawled on the wall in the top picture). Still, to see that much of it in a supposedly "out of the way" place (and a wildlife refuge, to boot!), surprised me. If I didn't know any better, I could have thought these photos were snapped in Newark, Philadelphia or some other large city.

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

Now, THIS would have been

the weekend to have held FYBO! The weather people are saying that along with the polar vortex that will be visiting this weekend, we'll be getting (probably) the coldest weather of the season. We had a high temperature of 41F (5C) here today around lunchtime. Ever since then, the degrees have been dropping like an elevator coming down from the top floor a skyscraper. It's currently 27F (-2C) and there are some pretty fierce snow squalls at the moment. Oh, and if the dropping temperatures weren't enough, the same forecasters are broaching the possibility of significant snow, perhaps on Saturday.

 I'm sitting in the shack, waiting for the 80 Meter QRP Fox hunt to begin. I have a big mug of hot chocolate to keep me warm. I am listening to the K1N pileup on 30 Meters. I think the K1N ops are exhausted by now. They're not whittling away the pileups like they were - long pauses before answers. These guys are just fantastic in my book. It's been hot as heck on that island - I saw the one photo where their digital thermometer was reading 112F (44C), and supposedly the island is home to rats the size of cats and there are also supposedly a lot of black widow spiders. Not exactly like home. And through it all, they've handed out somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 QSOs. I can't wait to see the video of this DXpedition.

That being said, I'm not terribly sad they're going QRT this coming Sunday morning. It will be nice for a while to get back to normal, where trying to work a DX station means only going up 1 or 2 or perhaps 3 kHz - not 20 to 30! Even on CW, the pile up behavior has been atrocious, and I've never heard so many curse words spelled out in Morse before. I think this DXpedition was a triumph for the K1N team, but a lot of our brethren in the pile ups have a lot to be ashamed about.

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

All in all - a good day!

There were a lot of things to get done before playing in FYBO, and (channelling Yoda) get them done I did. Believe it or not, my FYBO operation was from the street in front of our house. I live on a relatively quiet side street, so there was no danger of being hit by a car or something like that. I opened up the hatch of the Jeep, just like I do at work, and set up my nylon camping chair and used the "trunk" of my Jeep as an operating table. My antenna was the Buddistick/magmount combo on the roof . I'm sure the neighbors were staring - wondering, "What the heck is he doing now? And what is that tall stick poking up from his car roof?" "And why is our dishwasher going crazy - I'll bet it's him!"

As I set up it was flurrying slightly and the temp was 35F (1C). And then it happened. I tried tuning up the KX3 and couldn't get a decent match. Of course these things always happen at the worst time! Calmly, I took the Buddistick off the roof and inspected it - no problems there. Then the magmount - AHA!  Where the coax meets magmount, the dielectric foam surrounding the center conductor wire cracked open (from the cold, I guess, because I keep it in the trunk when not in use). The shield was ever so slightly touching the center conductor and was making for a bad situation. A quick trip to the basement shack was in order. I cut the coax back, soldered on two new ring terminals and put everything back together. The KX3 was a happy camper with a 1:1 match.

In about two hours of operating, here's my summary:

W2LJ
Team Polar Bear
Field - Yes
Category - Single Op
Alternative Power - No (Batteries- Mains charged)
Lowest Temperature - 35
QRPp - No
Final Score - 7780 points

BAND  QSOs  SPCs  NQ7RP Stns
------------------------------------
    20      15       12          0
    14      10         8         1
------------------------------------
TOTAL:  24       20        1

Score - (24X20) (X4 Temp multiplier) (X4 Field Multiplier) +100 =7780

15 Meters was pleasantly active, affording me 10 of my 24 QSOs. 20 Meters was also busy but noisier, with some TN QSO Party stations and some SOTA stations thrown into the mix. I also was contacted by an SKCC station - I guess they have something going on this weekend, as well as one DX station - G4OBC. I tuned around 40 Meters at the end of my operating time, but heard no FYBOers.

There was no wind to speak of, so it actually didn't feel that bad outside.  I think the temperature reached a max of 38F (3C) while I was out. I was comfortable, except that my hands were cold, as I really couldn't send Morse while wearing heavy Winter gloves. And another discovery - the older you get, the more bathroom breaks you need when it's cold!  Too much information? Sorry!

Now, if that wasn't enough - my FYBO day was made even better by finally working K1N with 5 Watts. YES!!! I came down to the shack this evening to enter my FYBO log into my Master Log. While doing that, I heard K1N on 20 Meters (haven't worked them there yet) and they were truly 599 loud.  I double checked my power setting to make sure I was at 5 Watts and I jumped into the pileup. In about somewhere between 5 to 10 calls, I finally heard my call come back to me. Sweet! My personal goal is now complete. I got K1N in the log for an ATNO, and I also got them in the log using QRP power.

It was a good QRP day. A VERY good QRP day!

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

Mission half accomplished

Not really believing it myself, I sit here in the shack at 4:42 AM (0942 UTC), coffee-less and typing into this computer.  My plan of getting up early and losing very precious moments of sleep did pan out.  I now have K1N in the log!

Knowing I was going to be up super early, I decided to leave the shack computer running, after last night's failed attempt on 40 Meters. We must have had a power failure during the night, because when I got down here, the computer was off.  So I re-booted and while waiting for the microprocessor to do it's thing, I turned on the KX3. Lo and behold, K1N had not budged from the frequency that they were on when I left them last night.

On a hunch, I decided to activate the KX3's dual watch, sub receiver. This time, after listening for a bit, I was able to determine the split was a manageable "up 5" (not like last night, where the split was something like "up 10-15 and everywhere in between") and I started sending my call. Within 12 minutes at 0912 UTC, I was in the log. As an aside, let me state outright - my fist at 4:00 AM without coffee was NOT a thing of beauty. Not at all - it was almost like I couldn't get my hand to work right. I was actually staring at it for a few moments wondering "What's going on here? You know how to do this!"

After a few seconds of happy dancing, the shock wore off. "What do I do now? Go back to bed?" I really hadn't expected to be successful so soon. Better judgement was telling me to go back and get a few more Z's before beginning the work day, but Ham judgement took over. "No, since I'm up this early, let's try 80 Meters." You'd do the same thing, right?

K1N's signal was a tad weaker on 80 Meters as compared to 40 meters, but I decided to give it a go, anyway. After listening with the KX3's sub receiver, I was able to determine that again, the split was manageable, and not all over creation. Even better, the K1N op's movements were steady and predictable. At 0938 UTC, I was in the log on 80 Meters!  Holy cow!  Two bands, within a half an hour of each other!  The rest of my day is either going to go extremely well, or it's all downhill from here. The KX3, KXPA100 and my W3EDP did their job for me - thanks Elecraft, and mucho thanks to the K1N ops for digging me out of the pileup.

Enjoying a well deserved "Cuppa Joe" after some early morning success!

And yes, as per this blog post title, the mission is only half accomplished. With the remaining time that they are there on Navassa, W2LJ will make another attempt, on another band, to get into their log once again - this time with QRP power. Since K1N probably won't be activated for another 25 years or so, the first goal was just to get them in the log with my new DX Rule - WFWQL (Work First Worry About QRP Later). With that monkey off my back, I can relax somewhat and now try to beat the pileups with 5 Watts.

Hopefully, that will be another interesting story that I will be able to write about.

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