The internet - a double edged sword.

No doubt about it - the internet is a double edged sword. There's a lot of fake news, garbage, hate, bigotry and plain ol' vanilla stupidity to be found on it, and particular that's true for social media. But if you know where to look, there's a ton of golden nuggets to be found as well.

For as long as I've been writing this blog (20 years now), I've always had the blog role listed on the right side. There have been blogs that have come and blogs that have gone - but each one that I list, I think has value for those of us who love Amateur Radio, and in particular QRP, Morse Code and Portable Ops. By the way, if you know of any real good ones that have escaped my attention, please drop me an e-mail, or bring it to my attention in the comment box. I'm always open to adding to the list.

Just the other day, I added a list with links to YouTube video channels that I think are worthy of your time to pay attention to. I do not have the equipment or time to develop my own video channel and you wouldn't want to risk listening to my New Jersey voice for more than five minutes anyway. The ones I have listed are IMHO, quite excellent. I could never do a job that would even come close to what these guys have done and continue to do. The same thing goes for my offer about blogs - are there really good YouTube channels that I have missed? Let me know!

The last topic that I'm going to touch in this post is about Facebook. Facebook is the double edged sword within the double edged sword. There is so much garbage on there that if you look at it for any length of time, you'd swear your eyes were starting to bleed and you'd also swear you'd never darken the halls of Facebook again. Yet, if you give it a chance, there are so many good Facebook pages that offer so much good Amateur Radio information.

To do it justice, I think I'll have to open another box on the right with links - but for now I'm going to list several Facebook groups that I really enjoy and have found useful and worthy of my time:

Morse Code Fans - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2109567972673278

Parks On The Air (POTA) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/parksontheair

Amateur QRP Radio - https://www.facebook.com/groups/qrpradio

CW Bugs, Keys and Paddles - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1232401453542260

Wire Antennas for Amateur Radio - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1014226582804314

QRP 14.060 MHz - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1576444765759000

QRP Outdoor Radio - https://www.facebook.com/groups/676090859094874

There are so many more! If you truly think that Facebook is a vast desert wasteland, with no redeeming value whatsoever, and you swore to yourself you'd never bother with it - I'd ask you to just do a search on your favorite aspect of Amateur Radio - you're sure to find something. Granted, even some of what you'll find is garbage, but you'll also be pleasantly surprised by the good groups, as there's a lot of good information and ideas being passed back and forth.

And OK, one final, final topic. While we're on the subject of the "plus" side of the internet, it also allows for greater and widespread publicity of the operating evenrts and contests that we all enjoy so much. A case in point,  Paul NA5N put out the official announcement for QRP To The Field (QRPTTF), which will take place on Saturday, April 20th.

The annual QRP TO THE FIELD (QRPTTF) will be held SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024  0800-1800 your LOCAL time (The 3rd Saturday in April).

RULES: http://www.zianet.com/qrp/qrpttf/pg.html (or http://www.zianet.com/QRP/  home page entry)

A few CHANGES and CLARIFICATIONS:

Operate from HOME, OUTBACK (your backyard) or in the FIELD

Scoring change: Bonus points for *working* OUTBACK or FIELD stations for a higher score.  SOTA and POTA stations worked count as a FIELD station.

KL7, KH6, KP4 and DX stations can work anytime they wish during the contest period for best local and time conditions.

Exchange is compatible with most logging programs.  Logging name optional.   

You may have to add up the Outback and Field stations worked manually.

Summary Sheets are a spreadsheet for calculating your score in both Microsoft Excel (.xls) or Open Office (.ods) formats.

Now to express my ignorance.  I do not have any Apple or Linux machines.  If you know of a program to convert between Excel and Apple NUMBERS, please let me know and I'll add the link to the rules webpage for Apple users.

Here in NM, it's been 73F one day, rain and snow the next.  Hopefully, we'll have a nice, warm Spring day for QRPTTF and favorable band conditions. QRPTTF is a fun day to get on the air and QSO fellow QRPers, old and new, at all skill levels, whether from your home shack or outside.  Not a 35wpm contest.  Chit-chat after the exchange is certainly allowed!

QRPTTF is administered strictly through QRP-L.

CU on QRPTTF,

72, Paul NA5N

Socorro, NM

______________________________________________________________________________________

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Good to hear someone else say this stuff!

I saw a link to this YouTube video posted on Facebook. There'a a lot of good content in this video, and while most of it is geared towards QRP Newbies - us old grizzled veterans can use a review every now and then, too. Some of it I have been preaching for years here on "W2LJ QRP - When you care to send the very least!"  I'm glad someone else is, too!

Point # 11 -   I've repeatedly asserted that you'd do well to consider yourself just another fish in the Amateur Radio pond. Maybe a smaller one, but just another fish. Don't get it into your head that just because you're running QRP that you automatically have a weak signal. As propagation is the key factor here, your signal will be loud somewhere! Need proof of that? Call "CQ" for a while and then look yourself up on the Reverse Beacon Network. Some skimmers will barely hear you, but you'll also be booming into others! 

Also, I make it a rule of thumb to NEVER identify myself as QRP, or for that matter to tell people in a QSO that I'm running 5 Watts (except where required in QRP Sprints). Sometimes people can be like my Beagle, Harold, when it comes to "selective hearing". He can sleep through fireworks or a thunderstorm, but if he hears a cheese wrapper being opened, he's on me like white on rice. Likewise, I can tell you there have been many times that I have been in a QSO where everything was humming along fine until I mentioned I was using an Elecraft K2 or K1 or my KX3. All of a sudden "QSB" sets in and I get a hasty "73". Now all I say is that I'm using an Elecraft rig and they can assume it a K3 100 or a K4 for all I care. If pressed, I'll say a KX3 and KXPA100 combo, but I still won't mention only 5 Watts.

Point # 6 - I've worked the world with 5 Watts and have the QSL cards to prove it. And believe me, I am nothing special in the Amateur Radio world. There are sooooooo many Hams more talented and capable with way better stations and antennas than what I have. However, if I can earn DXCC with QRP, you can too. It's all about attitude, patience and persistence.

Point #3 - Sometimes QRP can be frustrating, and that's a fact. Saying it isn't so is just untrue - but the same can be said for QRO. But as Kenny Rogers sang as "The Gambler" ......"You've got to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em!"  Don't get frustrated if someone you want to work doesn't hear you. Maybe you need to try working that DXpedition at another time of day; or on another band. I remember that there was a DXpedition I badly wanted to work back before I had my KXPA100 and 5 Watts was all that I had. I ended up getting up at about 5:00 AM to get them in the log via gray line. Otherwise, if you feel yourself getting frustrated, you have to pull the Big Switch and do something else for a while.

Point #1 - Yeah - Some people just have to boost their egos by making other people feel small, while inadvertently admitting they don't know all that much about Ham Radio at all.  In my younger and more foolish days, I probably would have responded with a mighty dose of snark. Hopefully, I'm a bit wiser now, so I'll take the high road and won't respond. if taunted  And before anyone asserts that "QRP - When you care to send the very least!" is some form of virtue signaling - it's really just a twist on that old Hallmark greeting card commercial tagline from years ago, "Hallmark ... when you care to send the very best!" I know, not very original of me; but I like it.

Last evening's 40 Meter Fox Hunt? I was sawing wood before it even began.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Sweet dreams are made of these.

Steve WG0AT from Facebook:

Doing one of my Favorite things is sitting on a rock at 12k' working my good friends aka SOTA chasers with Morse Code! Elecraft's KH1 is really an amazing game changer HF radio! 

W2LJ is thinking that "Right now I'd settle for a picnic table in a park!"

72 de W2LJ 

QRP  - When you care to send the very least!

For you, or someone you know

who might be interested.

This was posted by Craig Buck on Facebook. Sounds great for the newbie or neophyte Ham:

FREE ON-LINE AMATEUR RADIO OPERATING CLASS

 A free, weekly, 3-hour Amateur Radio Operating Class on Zoom will begin on Thursday April 4 and run through June 20 at 6:30 PM Eastern time.  The presenters will be various experienced folks in the various subjects.

 A detailed syllabus will be published before the classes begin.  Attend them all, or any that you like, but you must register for the classes.  To receive registration information, contact Rol Anders, K3RA, at roland.anders@comcast.net. 

Subjects will include:

All About Operating--A general Introduction

Amateur Radio Organizations—Local to International

Ham Radio Awards

DXing-History and Tips from the Experts

QSLing-How to get that needed card for DXCC or WAS

VHF/UHF Weak Signal Work and “Roving”

Image Operating—Slow Scan and Fast Scan TV

Remote Station control over internet

Learning CW in the no-code era

Digital Modes—From RTTY to FT8 and beyond

Contesting—How to get started, tips for the beginner and intermediate contester

Logging Software—What’s available, how to use

Propagation—A general intro to HF Propagation

Amateur Satellites—How to get started

Portable (backpacking) operation—Tips from an expert

Setting Up a Modern (or not so modern) HF Station

Lightning Protection and Grounding

Traffic Handling

Public Service, Emergency Communications      

Thanks,   Rol, K3RA

_________________________________________________________________

All they need is a class entitled "QRP - have fun with less power!"

And again, don't forget! Hi Hi! (THE original LOL!)

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

If you don't like the weather

in New Jersey, just wait a few hours. I guess everyone says that about their QTH, but when I went horizontal last night, the temperature outside was 59F (15C). When I woke up this morning, it was 30F (1C). If we had any thunderstorms last night, I slept through them. This burst of cold air is not to last, though. We should be back to "seasonable" temperatures tomorrow, with the next week or so promising high temps in the 50s F each day and lows each evening in the 30s F. Spring is coming closer and closer, and as John K3WWP is so fond of saying, tomorrow March 1st is the beginning of meteorological Spring.

I did notice some small branches and twigs laying in the front yard that had come down off the maple tree during the night. According to my weather station, we had some gusts as high as 23 MPH come through the neighborhood. I was able to hear the wind chimes singing pretty much the entire evening before I turned in.

We had a South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club meeting on Zoom last night, because of the forecast for heavy rain and thunderstorms (which never really materialized). Planning for Field Day was discussed in earnest for quite a bit of the time. We lost our Putnam Park venue, which we had held the last two years. Our Field Day site is now covered by brand new pickle ball courts, as a major park improvement program is underway. There is actually a lot of space available at the other end of the park, but it's a longer walk to the restroom facilities and I guess some folks felt that is too much for the middle of the night.

So we're going to try and get permission to go back to our original site - Spring Lake Park, which is a county park, unfortunately. Lots more hoops to jump through, and lots more angst involved  Since our radio club is actively involved in CERT all we had to do to get Putnam Park was to ask the Boro for permission and we always got an enthusiastic "Yes!". The last time we tried to get use of Spring Lake Park, we were granted permission the day before Field Day! That was unacceptable as we used to rent a tent and we needed a day or two ahead of Field Day for the company to come and set that up. That's why we moved for the last two years.

Spring Lake Park offers a lot more pedestrian traffic, which makes for more visitors for Field Day, which is a good thing. The other side of the coin is that I'm not so sure about antenna placement. We've been using two MFJ 80-10 Meter end fed antennas - one pointing North/South and the other pointing East/West. They are erected as Inverted Vees, needing about (roughly) 130 feet or so of real estate, each. That was a cinch to make happen at Putnam Park. There are way more pedestrian walkways at Spring Lake Park and I'm concerned that antenna placement may get compromised in order to avoid any contacts with park patrons. That would be very unfortunate because the two antennas need to be placed at right angles to each other in order to minimize interference between stations.

If our application to use Spring Lake Park gets denied, we'll have to use one of the other Boro Parks. Getting permission would be a snap, but the other parks in town are less centrally located and do not get as much pedestrian traffic as either Putnam or Spring Lake. Things are never easy - are they?

Not sure what's going on with Facebook.  I have a page there that generally mirrors the content here, as I mention in the little text box at the top right hand corner of this page. I've had that notice up for years and every now and then I'd get an occasional notice from Facebook that someone "liked" the page. Over the last week or few weeks, I've been getting 3, 4 or 5 notices a day like that. Either people were always visiting and Facebook just adjusted their notification system, or for some reason I'm getting more visits there than I used to. In either case, it's good exposure for Amateur Radio and QRP and CW.

Oh, and by they way - Happy Leap Day! Anybody celebrating their birthday today?

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Where can I buy these?

 

72 de Larry W2LJ 

QRP - When you care to send the very least!