Personal Best

I know myself all too well. I had a great time as a 40 Meter Fox last night, but now I'm paying the consequences. I knew ahead of time that following the hunt, I'd be on an adrenaline high - and I was. I was stoked, awake, and I wasn't able to nod off until about 1:00 AM.

Today, the walking dead probably feel more alive than I do.

I have to honestly say, though, that I approached the hunt last night with trepidation. I tried to catch a catnap after dinner, but my phone kept chiming with all kinds of geomagnetic alerts. The last one came about a half hour before the starting bell to tell me the k index was up to 4. I went to the propagation box at the bottom of the blog to see that night time conditions on 40 Meters would only be "fair". Uh-oh!

But whatever the sun was doing didn't seem to have too much of an effect on me. I ended up with a personal best of 55 QSOs, two of which were dupes. One was K9TA, which was just probably an insurance QSO on his part, and the other was NX1K, Mark, who came back to me a second time, but with lower power - 2 Watts. That's the QSO that goes into the record book.

Here's the Reverse Beacon Network map from last night:

While I didn't hear anyone from the West Coast, the other Fox, Randy NC4RT, did work Don NK6A. The farthest west I was able to hear and work were KS, CO, TX and OK.  The map shows that skimmers picked me up on the West coast, but my signal was probably below noise level which only computer ears could hear.

I kept switching back and forth between the MF-1982 and my Butternut HF9V. The vertical allowed me to hear those western stations much better than the wire. I was glad to have both antennas. 

Again, thanks to all the Hounds who worked me. I know there were many out there that I couldn't quite dig out of the noise. I thought I heard John K4BAI a couple of times, but he was not loud enough to know for sure that it was him. The mind can play tricks on you , if you allow it.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Pinch Hitting

I will be pinch hitting for Dan N7CQR in the 40 Meter QRP Fox Hunt tonight.  I wasn't planning on volunteering as a Fox anymore as these Hunts run late, I get wired after a session and generally don't fall asleep until around Midnight.  All this with a 5:00 AM wake up call for work. Maybe I can get in a catnap between dinner and 8:30 PM.

The Committee sent me an e-mail as they were in a bind. Against my better judgment, I agreed to the assignment. I hate seeing folks in a bind if I can help. I will probably be a zombie at work tomorrow.

Anyway, if you're so inclined, you can listen for me tonight beginning at 9:00 PM EDT and ending at 10:30 PM EDT, somewhere between 7.030 and 7.050 MHz. If you hear me, I will give your call sign, and then my half of the exchange which is  RST, State, Name, Power Out. Your assignment is to come back to me with your info - RST, your State, your Name, your Power Out.

I'll be working split from the beginning. If you've never tried hunting a QRP Fox before, maybe you'd like to give it a try!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

80 Meter Fox and the weekend

Last night was my final appearance as a Fox for this season. Whew! I pulled both a 40 and 80 Meter stint for Steve WX2S while he was busy dealing with some family issues, as well as my own two 80 Meter sessions. It was a lot, but it was fun! The jury is still out on whether or not I'll volunteer next season. Since I don't post to the K4OAQ real time maps, if I do volunteer again, I might just get turned down. Time will tell and I have a long time to think about it.

Band conditions were not the best last night. The k Index was a tad over 4 and there was ferocious QSB at times. It seemed particularly bad when I was trying to work Don K9DRP. I just could not copy his call! Veteran Ham that he is, Don took his code speed down a notch. Once he did that, his callsign lasted longer than the QSB dropout and I was able to hand him a pelt. Thanks, Don!

I noted in my comments to the Fox Hunt e-mail reflector that slowing down the code speed is something Tim KR0U does, often. When you have 5 or 6 Hounds baying at you all at the same time, a call sign sent at a slower speed really stands out. That's something that I will have to remember myself!

In all, including the two Foxes, I was able to hand out 49 pelts - just one short of my self imposed goal. I'm predicting that between John K4BAI and myself, that we were able to hand out somewhere around 120 pelts - my close to 50 and his probably around 70.

Here's the RBN map from last night:

The screen shot was taken this morning, so the grey line is wrong, but you can get an idea where the skimmers picked me up last night. I made it as far as Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming  - which this map does not indicate.

Now - onto the weekend:

Contests:

ARRL International DX Contest, CW - https://www.arrl.org/arrl-dx

Run for the Bacon QRP Contest - http://qrpcontest.com/pigrun/

FISTS Sunday Sprint - https://fistsna.org/operating.html#sprints

K1USN Slow Speed Test - http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html

Special Event Stations:

02/14/2025 | Arizona Statehood Day SES

Feb 14-Feb 15, 1500Z-0000Z, K7A, Prescott, AZ. Yavapai Amateur Radio Club. 28.313 21.313 14.313 7.213. Certificate. Mike Belanger, W1DGL, 219 W Leroux St, Apt. 202, Prescott, AZ 86303. We will be self-spotting to let you know where we are in case the above frequencies are either in use already or QRM/N is too high there. We will start on or as close to the 10m frequency listed and work from there as the day goes on. Happy 113th birthday, Arizona! www.w7yrc.org/club-station

02/15/2025 | Ice Station W0JH - Frozen Minnesota Lake Portable

Feb 15-Feb 17, 1600Z-2300Z, W0JH, Stillwater, MN. Stillwater (MN) Amateur Radio Association - SARA. 21.360 14.260 7.260 3.860. Certificate. E-certificate only, send QSL info , to, W0JHrequest@gmail.com. W0JH will operate portable from a frozen lake in Washington County, Minnesota (Grid Square EN34). In a meager attempt to drive away the remainder of Minnesota winter, the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association will be generating as much RF as possible over the President's Day weekend. (Please help us!!) Certificates will ONLY be sent via email in PDF format. (Send requests with standard QSL confirmation info to: W0JHrequest@gmail.com). There is no need to send a QSL card. www.Radioham.org

02/15/2025 | K4US - George Washington's Birthday at Mount Vernon

Feb 15-Feb 16, 1500Z-1600Z, K4US, Alexandria, VA. Mount Vernon Amateur Radio Club. 7.042 7.242 14.042 14.242. QSL. MVARC, P.O. Box 7234, Alexandria, VA 22307. MVARC will host a special event station to commemorate our first president's 293rd birthday. Members will be at the Mount Vernon greenhouse on the original grounds of the former plantation of George Washington and his wife, Martha Washington mvarc.org , K4US@mvarc.org

02/16/2025 | The White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club Presidents Day 2025 Commemoration

Feb 16-Feb 18, 0000Z-0000Z, W0H, Jackson, OH. White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club. 3.875 MHz 7.275 MHz 14.250 MHz 28.550. Certificate. Lowell Yates, 6809 Four Mile Rd, Jackson, OH 45640. The White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club is excited to honor all of our Presidents this Presidents Day. We would like to especially recognize the Presidents for whom the White House Communications Agency "(WHCA) has provided communications support since its founding in 1942. A WHCA-ARC Special Event certificate will be awarded to commemorate this special occasion. For more information, please visit our events page. https://whitehousecomms-arc.org/events/whca-arc-presidents-day-special-event/ https://whitehousecomms-arc.org

BTW, in relation to my post yesterday about the KX3 ........ there are already folks out there discussing what they want to see as the successor to the KH1! That rig was introduced like what? A couple of years ago? Wow!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Surprise (again) !

Imagine my surprise yesterday afternoon as I took a quick break at work and checked my e-mail, and saw this, posted by Dean N2TNN:

"I’ll be one of your two foxii on 80 meters Thursday night, along with Larry, W2LJ, in New Jersey.  I'll be operating from Gloucester VA, between 0200 and 0330Z and within +/- 10Khz of 3.560 MHz.  I’ll be running my K3 throttled down to 5 watts into an 160 meter full loop up 55 feet."

I've been so pre-occupied as of late that I totally forgot about Fox duty last night! But in a way, it was a blessing in disguise as it took my mind off of the echo cardiogram that I went for today. The good news there is that no one screamed "Oh my! Rush this man to a hospital!" My cardiologist (I still can't quite come to terms that I actually need one!) will call sometime next week with the results. (Fingers crossed for no really bad news.)

The Fox Hunt was a good time, as I was lower Fox. This was Dean's baptism by fire as his first time as a Fox. A bit more on that later. I put myself at 3.5575 MHz, listening up one. That worked well until about 0254 UTC when a QRO and QRS QSO obliterated my ability to hear any Hounds calling me, so I had to go simplex.

In all, not counting the two Foxes, I was able to hand out 45 pelts. I more or less divided my time up between the EFRW and the HF9V. Neither seemed to have an advantage over the other. QSB was a vicious beast at times last night, but even so, I had fun and was able to concentrate on something other than "concerns" for a while. The RBN map from last night isn't all that impressive, but here it is:

I was able to make it all the way out to Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado, even though the map doesn't show me as having been picked up by skimmers out that way.

Dean's first time as Fox was phenomenal! He handed out 50 pelts - a true testament to the superb operator that he is! If I remember correctly, the first time I was a Fox so many moons ago, I was so nervous that I was lucky to hand out 30!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

The first weekend - January 4th and 5th

Before I get into the happenings of the weekend, I DID get on the air last night for the 80 Meters Fox Hunts. I thought they'd be slam dunk, easy peasy. I was wrong, again! I nabbed both pelts but it was far from easy and this is probably why - the k Index was 3 and these were the band conditions for the night:

"Fair" was being generous - at least from my QTH. I was able to find both Foxes, but from the beginning, both were at ESP levels, with Steve WD4CFN in TN having just a bit of an edge. Once I found Steve and realized I probably wasn't going to work him for a while, if at all, I went looking for John AJ1DM in RI. I found him and he was way down in the background as well. I made a note of each Fox's frequency and kind of bopped back and forth to continuously check for signal improvement. 

I finally snagged Steve at 0241 UTC and then John at 0247 UTC, and I was thrilled, as for a long time, I didn't think I was going to get either. Not only were Steve and John weak, but the Hounds that i normally hear booming into NJ were down in the mud as well. I could barely hear Rick NK9G and Todd N9NE, two regular signal giants here in NJ. About the only Hound that blew my headphones off was Dean N2TNN down in Virginia. Even John K4BAI's signal was a ghost of its normal self.

I'm sure glad I have that space heater down in the shack. We're heading into an Arctic blast here in NJ over the next days and it was a might chilly in the shack. The space heater made it bearable. Not totally comfortable as I didn't start it up until I went downstairs for the Hunt. If I had turned it on an hour or 90 minutes ahead of time, it certainly would have been comfortable.

Anyway, enough of my escapades - here's what's going on this weekend. Again, I do this so you can have a good idea of "What's that contest I hear?" is.

Contests:

Marconi Club ARI Loano QSO Party Day - http://www.ariloano.it/marconiclub/mcd_reg/regolamentomcday_ENG.pdf

WW PMC Contest - http://www.s59dcd.si/index.php/sl/ww-pmc/ww-pmc-contest-rules

ARRL RTTY Roundup - https://www.arrl.org/rtty-roundup - Expect RTTY signals WAY down into the CW subbands!

EUCW 160m Contest - https://www.uft.net/activites-et-concours/concours-eucw-uft-on5me/

Monday night - ARS Spartan Sprint - http://ars-qrp.com/Spartan_Sprint/Spartan_Sprint.html

Special Event Stations:

01/02/2025 | "Remembering WØJH Father Metcalf" at Belwin Conservancy

Jan 2-Jan 4, 1600Z-2300Z, W0JH, Stillwater, MN. Stillwater (MN) Amateur Radio Assn - SARA. 3.860 7,260 14.260 21.360. Certificate. Shel Mann - N0DRX, 1618 Pine St W, Stillwater, MN 55082. This event pays tribute to the original W0JH, Father George Metcalf. As a WWII Chaplain for General Patton, Fr. Metcalf drafted the famous “Weather Prayer.” The General and his troops believed it ended 3 months of cloudy, rainy skies in December, 1944. QSL certificates may ONLY be requested and will ONLY be sent via email. Send requests WITH W0JH QSO CONTACT INFO to: W0JHrequest@gmail.com. IMPORTANT: ONLY W0JH confirmed contacts qualify (See www.radioham.org and QRZ.com (W0JH) for more details.) www.radioham.org

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Disappointed

When I got home from work last night, I was really tired (like, try putting 5 really's after that one!) and I didn't have much of an appetite. Just overworked, I guess. I sat and talked with Cara and Marianne for a bit and then hit the sack at 7:00 PM. I was not about to go down and sit in my cold shack for whatever time it would have taken to work K4BAI and K9DRP. 

In their logs today, I see that my NJ Hound buddy, Chas W2SH worked both, so conditions to New Jersey were probably good. C'est la vie! I woke up, coincidentally at 10:30 PM, just as the hunts were ending. I went downstairs to grab a small bite to eat (a buttered hamburger roll) as I had gotten hungry, and then went back to bed. It's better today, but I still could use another long night in bed. I'm getting too old for this 8:00 to 5:00 stuff!

Here are the going on for the weekend.

Contests:

Croatian DX Contest - https://www.hamradio.hr/9a-dx-contest/

RAEM Contest - https://raem.srr.ru/rules/

ARRL Rookie Roundup, CW - http://www.arrl.org/rookie-roundup

Special Events:

12/21/2024 | 80th Anniversary Grumman Amateur Radio Club

Dec 21, 1400Z-2200Z, WA2LQO, Bethpage, NY. Grumman Amateur Radio Club. 14.240 7240 21.350. Certificate. Downloadable Card Only, Check www,limarc.org, Bethpage, NY 11714. Amateur Radio Club of Grumman Aerospace contact George Sullivan, WB2IKt sullige@verizon.net downloadable QSL Sponsored by the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club www.limarc.org for log confirmation and download operating SSB and FT8

12/21/2024 | Christmas in Bethlehem New Mexico

Dec 21-Dec 24, 1500Z-2359Z, KC5OUR, Peralta, NM. Valencia County Amateur Radio Association. 7.183 14.283 21.283 28.383. QSL. VCARA, P. O. Box 268, Peralta, NM 87042. www.kc5our.com

In other news - I've gone against my gut and volunteered to be the QRP-ARCI Contest Manager. Paul Womble, K4FB. who I believe is still a rather newlywed needed to step back and concentrate on other things in life - like his duties as an Emergency Management Director in Florida. That'll keep you hopping during hurricane season!

The way I look at it, participation in the QRP-ARCI events has really fallen off. The plan to remediate that is to advertise the heck out of them. Not just a quick e-mail, one or two days in advance, but a concentrated effort. What's that quote from "Field of Dreams"? - "If you build it, they will come". So I figure if I build up interest, Hams will start to come back and participate. People have lives and need to plan. It's hard sometimes to just sit down for a QRP Sprint when you only found out about it the day before. Maybe we can fix that.

I do it with the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt and have been moderately successful. And if it doesn't work, they can always fire me!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Christmas is a coming

and Santa is getting a few boat anchors ready for some Hams who have been good all year long!

I may end up getting disappointed, but I am looking forward to the 80 Meter Fox Hunt tonight. The Foxes are John K4BAI in Georgia  and Don K9DRP in Illinois. Both should be reachable/workable from New Jersey on 80 Meters.

I am looking forward to seeing which antenna might be successful in nabbing contacts with them. Ever since I've replaced that matching stub on the HF9V it's been like a brand new antenna again! I still have to go out to the backyard and grab a plastic flower pot from our shed. I want to cut a hole in the bottom, and put a slit up the side so that I can invert it and create a protective shield around the matching network so that the wires cannot be accidentally damaged by weedwhackers ever again I'm not sure my word description actually conveys what I want to do, so after the deed is done, I'll take some photos and will post them here.

By the way, speaking of Santa - for those of you who have young kids or grandkids - you probably know all about this, but there's still time left if you want your kiddoes to talk with Santa:

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Missed opportunity and Christmas memories

I guess I kind of blew an opportunity in the 40 Meter Fox Hunt last night. I didn't walk away empty handed, but I might have walked away with more if I wasn't so tired.

I heard Cathy W4CMG's Hounds baying rather loudly. I tuned 1 kHz down and there she was. I had to tighten up the filters a bit as last night was also the NAQCC mW Sprint. Anyway, I had her frequency picked out and was listening to her hand out pelts. I called a few times with no result and then some kind of digital signal came on, right on top of her! I have no idea what mode it was, as the only ones I can recognize by ear are RTTY and Olivia. This must have been one of the FTs. Fortunately, whoever was generating the signal didn't stick around long, and I finally worked Cathy at 02:23 UTC.

Cathy was the lower Fox, so I dialed up looking for Brian K0DTJ. I heard A Hound (just one!) and dialed down 1 kHz again. This time - nothing. I hung around a while and continued to hear only background noise, so I pulled the plug and went to bed. Looking at Brian's log this morning, I see he started working some East coast stations towards the very end of the hunt. I guess I should have stayed; but as I've said before, that's tough when you have to get up for work at 5:00 AM the next morning. That was no big deal when I was younger, but now ...................

Al Hanzl K2AL was asking about the Christmas keys on the 4 States io group. These were keys that were offered by Marshall Emm N1FN (SK) through his company, Morse Express. Each year a new miniature, yet fully functional straight key woold be offered to us Morse Code enthusiasts. They are so small that the advertising photo always depicted them as Christmas Tree ornaments.

This must have been all new to Al and he was asking for more information about them. Several of us pointed him to various websites and I e-mailed photos of the ones that I have, so he could see examples of what he was asking about,

Most of the ones that I have were manufactured by LLevas Telegrafia (pardon the spelling, I probably have it wrong) until he became an SK. The 2007 key, the only one that's not brass, is the last one that I collected. These are all given to me as Christmas gifts from my wife, Marianne.

I should have included a quarter in the photos to give you and idea how tiny these are. At the same time, these are not gimmicky, junky toys. They are fully functional, superbly manufactured straight keys. If my straight key fist wasn't so lousy, I would use them more. As it is, they've been on my shelf for so long that they need a decent cleaning.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Broken pipeline

More about that in a minute or two, but first here's the weekend's goings on:

Contests

One biggie - especially as we're at the peak of Cycle 25:

ARRL 10-Meter Contest - http://www.arrl.org/10-meter

And some smaller ones:

SKCC Weekend Sprintathon - https://www.skccgroup.com/operating_activities/weekend_sprintathon/

Run for the Bacon QRP Contest - http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html

K1USN Slow Speed Test - http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html

Special Events:

12/14/2024 | Big Bend ARC 50th Anniversary

Dec 14, 1500Z-2300Z, K5O, Alpine, TX. Big Bend ARC. 7.240 14.320 21.350 28.400. QSL. Big Bend ARC, 1402 N 5tn Street, Alpine, TX 79830. www.bigbendarc.org

12/14/2024 | Ike's UN Atoms for Peace Speech (1953)

Dec 14, 1400Z-2200Z, K3S, Baltimore, MD. Nuclear Ship Savannah ARC. 7.1 14.1 21.1 28.1. QSL. K3LU, 980 PATUXENT ROAD, Odenton, MD 21113. Single transmitter SSB and CW aboard N/S Savannah. Please check spotting networks for frequencies. Info on QRZ.com www.qrz.com/db/k3s

12/14/2024 | Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Special Event

Dec 14, 1700Z-2359Z, NI6IW, San Diego, CA. USS Midway Museum Ship. 7.250 14.320 14.070 PSK31 DSTAR on Papa system repeaters. QSL. USS Midway Museum Ship COMEDTRA, 910 N Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101. www.qrz.com/db/ni6iw

Getting back to the pipeline business. I'm going to bore you with more QRP Fox Hunt stuff, but lately, it's about the only time I've been managing to get on the air. Last night was the 80 Meter hunt, and I (mistakenly) thought it was going to be a quick and easy night, as we had two super good Foxes running - Dave N1IX in NH and Rick NK9G in WI.

It started out that way! I found Dave right off the bat and worked him at about two or three minutes into the Hunt. I had to be his second or third Hound worked.

Rick NK9G, on the other hand, took a bit of doing, and that was a surprise. Normally it seems I have a pipeline to Minnesota and Wisconsin, with fast and easy QSOs. Last night, the pipeline was either broken or had a serious kink in it.  Rick was loud enough, a legit 559 or better, but he was having problems. I eventually worked him at around 03:12 UTC (I don't have my log with me), but it took much longer and a lot more effort than I had anticipated.

All evening long, Rick was asking for repeats and was sending a lot of "?"s and "QRZ"s. It seemed to me at least, that he must have had either a high ambient noise level or all our signals were down in the mud.  I'm so used to him working stations in rapid fire succession in Sprints, almost effortlessly it seems. He's such a superb op! Last night, though, the band seemed to be biting him on the butt. 

He didn't post his log yet, but he did send an e-mail saying how everyone's signals were exceptionally weak at his end. He wrote that he still managed to hand out about 50 pelts, which is a goodly amount! And that is truly the mark of a top notch op, to endure and achieve success despite the conditions that prevail.

One other thing that became apparent last night - winter shack conditions. When I got down to the shack about 10 minutes before the start of the Hunt, my little Radio Shack wall thermometer was reading 59F (15C). From here on out, if I'm going to participate, I'm going to have to go down to the shack about an hour ahead of time and plug in and turn on the DuraFlame space heater that I purchased at the end of last winter. I wasn't too uncomfortable during the Hunt, but when I got up out of my chair, my knee and hip joints were telling me that they were NOT happy with the chill.

72 de Larry W2LLJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

As seen on Facebook

I saw this posted on the POTA/SOTA Facebook page, and thought it would be good to share here:

I know that I am myself guilty of not following procedure, with the end result of me muttering swear words under my breath every time I have to untangle my Dacron rope supply. Thanks, Scott W3GTR for the excellent photos!

My instincts for last night's 40 Meter Fox Hunt proved to be true (for once)! I found Steve WD4CFN's Hounds rather easily, went down 1 kHz and was able to hear him amongst the "CQ NA"s that were in plenteous supply - I'm guessing last night was the NAQCC monthly Sprint? Anyway, as I was saying, I found Steve rather easily, but he kept fading in and out. He would be strong for a few minutes and then fade to ESP for a few minutes and back and forth, and back and forth. On a peak, i worked him at 02:28 UTC, 559 both ways.

John AJ1DM was just as I expected. I found "a" Hound calling him and again, went down 1 kHz and listened and heard nothing. In order to not make the same mistake I made last week, I then went back up that 1 kHz, just in case John was working simplex. Nothing there either, so I pulled the plug so I could get some shuteye.

Looking at his log this morning, the closest state to me on the East coast that John worked was North Carolina. It was obvious that his RF was flying as high overhead over New Jersey as these storied drones (which I have not seen) are. And I was surprised to see that neither Jack N2RK or Tom KV2X in NY had worked John. Those two guys must have amazing antenna systems because it seem like they work everyone - sometimes being the only East coasters to make it into a Fox's log.

Once again last night, my weapon from the antenna quiver was my vertical, my Butternut HF9V. Steve WD4CFN's signal was the same 559 on the EFRW and the vertical, but the vertical was not picking as much background noise as the wire was.

The weather for NJ today will be on the warm side with a high in the low 60s. We'll get some drought busting rains with 2 - 3 inches expected between today and tomorrow. We'll still come up short rain-wise for the year, but at least the wildfire/brushfire danger is now pretty much over.  We're also expecting some pretty ferocious wind gusts later today and tonight. I hope the outdoor Christmas decorations don't take flight!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Instincts

The two stars of tonight's 40 Meter QRP Fox Hunt are John AJ1DM in Rhode Island and Steve WD4CFN in Tennessee. Based on the people I've been able to hear on 40 Meter SSB on the St. Max Net, I'm thinking I should be able to hear Steve, but John may be a challenge. I think it's more likely that I'd have a better shot of working Rhode Island on 80 Meters.

My own 40 Meter Fox experience from November 13th bears this out. I worked Steve WD4CFN, but no Hounds from the New England states at all.

The HF9V's "renovations" continue to impress me. In fact, the pelts that I was able to grab last week were all gotten through the HF9V. The way I have it tuned is that it really likes the CW portions of the band. I tried using it in the SSB portion of 40 Meters on Sunday for the St. Max Net and it was not happy. I had to resort to the EFRW, which was not a problem.

It will be interesting to see how my prediction turns out - if I'm able to stay awake long enough.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Weekend of Dec. 7th and 8th

Hey, Santa! Is that RTTY or FT8?

Contests:

Wake-Up! QRP Sprint - http://qrp.ru/contest/wakeup/333-wakeup-eng

PRO CW Contest - https://proradiocontestclub.com/PCC%20Rules.html

INORC Contest - https://www.inorc.it/wp/2023/09/12/xlii-contest-i-n-o-r-c-memorial-sauro-tonelli-iz1cla/

FT Challenge - http://www.rttycontesting.com/ft-challenge - Digital, so you'll hear this in the CW portions of the bands.

QRP ARCI Holiday Spirits Sprint - http://qrparci.org/contest/holiday-spirit-sprint

4 States QRP Group Second Sunday Sprint - http://www.4sqrp.com/SSS/sss_rules.pdf

K1USN Slow Speed Test - http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html

ARRL 160-Meter Contest - http://www.arrl.org/160-meter

Special Event Stations:

12/01/2024 | QCWA Annual Special Event - W2MM 77th Anniversary

Dec 1-Dec 7, 0000Z-2359Z, W2MM, Sandpoint, ID. Qyarter Century Wireless Assocation, Inc.. CW: 3.540 7.035 14.040 21.050 28.050 SSB: 3.810 7.244 14.262 21.365 28.325 FT8/FT4 . Certificate. QCWA Activities Manager, 1613 Poplar Street, Sandpoint, ID 83864. Stations will be active from around the country with this call sign www.qcwa.org

12/06/2024 | Chicago Suburban Radio Association 100th Anniversary

Dec 6-Dec 8, 1800Z-2359Z, W9SW, Berwyn, IL. Chicago Suburban Radio Association. 7.240 14.240. QSL. Andrew Martin (K9ASM), 1627 East Avenue, Berwyn, IL 60402. https://csraham.com

12/07/2024 | Christmas in Bethlehem

Dec 7, 1400Z-2300Z, W9WWI, Bethlehem, IN. Clark County Amateur radio club of Indiana. 28.400. QSL. Clark Co. ARC, PO Box 201, Sellersburg, IN 47172. The Clark County Amateur Radio Club of Indiana wishes all a merry Christmas from Bethlehem Indiana with this special event. Operating all band and modes. A special QSL is available. n9dprh@gmail.com

12/07/2024 | Pearl Harbor special event

Dec 7, 1000Z-1700Z, WA4USN, Charleston, SC. Charleston Amateur Radio Society Inc. 14.250 7.940. QSL. Charleston Amateur Radio Society, PO Box 70341, North Charleston, SC 29415. From the USS Yorktown (CV-10). At Patriots Point in Charleston Harbor. wa4usn.org

12/07/2024 | Flight 19, The Lost Avengers

Dec 7, 1300Z-2100Z, K4P, Fort Lauderdale, FL. Parrot Amateur Radio Club Inc. 14.240 7.210 18.150 21.315. QSL. Gerald Deitch, 2621 nw 105 lane, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33322. fogdaddy1@gmail.com

12/07/2024 | Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Dec 7, 1800Z-2100Z, N3TAL, Lanham, MD. American Legion Post 275 Amateur Radio Team. 7.275 MHz (+/-) LSB. QSL. American Legion Post 275 Amateur Radio Team, 8201 Martin Luther King Jr Hwy, Lanham, MD 20706. N3TAL275@gmail.com or www.qrz.com/db/n3tal

12/07/2024 | Remembrance Of Pearl Harbor

Dec 7-Dec 8, 1400Z-2100Z, N4WIS, Norfolk, VA. USS Wisconsin Radio Club (BB64). 7.264 14.264 7.064 14.064. QSL. USS Wisconsin Radio Club N4WIS, One Waterside Drive, Norfolk, VA 23510. We will be spotting ourselves on the reflector to make it easy for stations to find us on the bands. Will be on other HF bands as conditions change: 21064, 21264, 10.164, 28064, 28264. 10.125 All Frequencies +/- QRM Thank You! contactleaders@n4wis.org

If you ever get interested in working a special event station or two - a good tip is to download the HamAlert app and put the special event call sign on as a "trigger". Whenever that particular call sign is spotted or appears on RBN, you'll get a notice on your device.

I did exactly that for the Edmund Fitzgerald Special Event Station this past November. I put W0JH into HamAlert as a trigger. I received notifications on my phone when they were on the air and I hauled my butt down to the shack and worked them. I got a nice certificate via e-mail, which I'm posting here:

Is it "cheating"? Some might think so because you're not spending time twirling the dial, or looking on your waterfall display looking to see whether or not they are on the air. But it's not a contest, so IMHO, you work them any way you can. And look, I even took a deep breath and worked them on SSB. Unfortunately, most special event stations these days are only SSB or maybe SSB and digital. CW special event stations seem to be going the way of the Dodo.

I did get elected to the office of President of SPARC last night (as I feared), but the highlight of the night was that we had an 11 year old Scout and his Dad come to our meeting. The young man is working on his radio merit badge and seems interested in getting licensed.  He had questions and we took great pleasure in answering them and talking with him about Amateur Radio.

I got home from the meeting just after 9:00 PM. I debated about 80 Meter Fox Hunt or bed. Fox Hunt won. I worked Earl N8SS at 02:44 UTC. At that point he had given up working split and was working simplex. Brian K0DTJ - couldn't hear him, and I really didn't expect to. I heard Jack N2RK in upstate NY calling him, but nothing of Brian. When I heard Jack, I tuned down 1 kHz thinking Brian would be there. When he posted his log this morning, he had indicated that he had gone simplex early - so I was listening in the wrong spot.  It didn't make any difference, however, as Jack was the only Hound east of the Mississippi that nabbed his pelt.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Rough Night

Listening to the Middlesex County Chat Group Net last night, the participants were told that our friend who was in distress on Sunday night, did indeed experience a stroke. He is in the hospital in ICU and is comfortable and is doing OK. The prognosis for long term effects, if any, is not known at this time. Hopefully, the quick action taken by net members will mitigate any long term lasting effects.

The 40 Meter Fox Hunt last night was a toughie. The two Foxes were Earl N8SS in Michigan and Don NK6A in California.  I thought NJ to MI would be rather easy and NJ to CA almost impossible on 40 Meters. Again, as so often, I was proven wrong.

I did find Earl's pack baying rather quickly, but I could barely pull his signal out as there was a rather loud rag chew taking place almost on top of him. Hoping that would end some time soon, I decided to go looking for Don.

Again, I found the pack (with a little more effort than it took to find Earl's pack) and started listening about 1 kHz down. I could just make Don out, but with a judicious narrowing of the KX3's filters and turning on the Auto Peak Frequency option, I was able to hear Don more clearly. But then, wouldn't you know it? A CQ'er came on frequency! I didn't pay attention to his call sign, but his signal had more chirp on it than a canary in a bird cage! 

I was not about to listen to that for too long, so I went back down to try and work Earl. The rag chewers disappeared and I was able to hear Earl. I didn't need the APF feature, but I did keep the filtering tight and finally logged him at 02:33 UTC.

Back up the dial to find Don NK6A again. This time Ol' Chirpie was gone and with the same filtering and the APF turned on again, I nabbed Don's pelt at 03:01 UTC. I listened for a bit longer to let the energy of the Hunt drain away a bit before hitting the sack.

Once again, my predictions were thwarted. I did work Earl, but it took a lot more effort than I thought it would, and I did work Don, which I thought was going to be impossible. I guess if one has to be wrong, at least this was not a bad way to be wrong.

Before heading upstairs to bed, I broke out my phone, got onto the RBN site and took a look at where Earl and Don were being heard.  As you can see, even though conditions may have been less than ideal for the Foxes, the skimmers seem to indicate they were being heard well.

Earl N8SS's map

Don NK6A's map

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

When I was a school kid

there were a couple  of things I always dragged around. One was the current issue of Sky & Telescope. The  other was either an ARRL Novice License Manual or a copy of QST, when I could get my hands on one. I know ....weird kid, right?  But those two ARRL publications played a big part in drawing me into the hobby.  Both were an odd size back then. They were bigger than TV Guide, but yet smaller than a regular magazine like Sky & Telescope. And the best thing inside them, IMHO, were the cartoons by Phil Gildersleeve. I had a few issues and spent many hours looking at these cartoons thinking that some day, "I want to be part of this!".

I can't explain why I loved these images so much!  For me, they seemed to resonate and  capture the essence and spirit of the hobby and it's Golden Age, just like a tuned circuit. Since Phil there have been many great cartoonists that have graced our hobby, but there will never be another "Gil".

But that being said, a couple of years ago,  Eric Nichols, KL7AJ and Jim Massara N2EST, two talented and excellent cartoonists in their own right, approached the ARRL about reviving the "Jeeves" cartoons. They were shot down. Maybe it was due to copyright law or some other issue, but they were turned down.  More's the pity, as I saw the cartoon image that they pitched. It was totally in the style and essence of Gil and had you seen it, you would have sworn that Gil himself had drawn it. Perhaps the ARRL thought that Jeeves was too old fashioned and would not appeal to a younger crowd, but some things are timeless.

However, the ARRL  did publish a book a few years back with a collection of Phil's work. I think it's still available. I have a copy down in the shack that I like to go through and peruse the images. It has become well worn.

The University of Delaware put together s page called "The Artwork of Phil Gildersleeve" with a small collection of some of his images. Click on the title to go there.

As far as the QRP Fox Hunts go, since this is Thanksgiving week, there are no "regular" Hunts. There is a 160 Meter Foxtravaganza, where all the Foxes and Hounds can try to work each other. I went on for a little while, not the whole 90 minutes and I worked two stations, Dean N2TNN in VA and Ron WU4G also in VA. I heard Jim W1FMR in NH calling "CQ FOX" but he could not hear me.

From the looks of the Reverse Beacon Map, you'd think I would have heard and worked some stations out towards the Midwest. Nope, only Virginia for QSOs and only NH for SWL'ing.

Both QSOs and the SWL'ing were done with the MFJ-1982HP.  The KX3 was able to find a decent match at about 1.7:1 on 160 Meters, which considering the antenna wasn't designed for the band, isn't bad. The HF9V would not load on 160 Meters. The KX3 could not find a match and displayed an "ANT ERR" message. That was strange as it used to load up with the old matching stub, but not this one. If I want to get on 160 Meters, which is a nice band, especially during the Winter months, I'll have to confine myself to using the MFJ.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Weekend of Nov. 23rd and 24th

Not much going on, indeed! Perhaps everyone's getting ready for NEXT weekend's big CQ WW DX contest?

There's only one this weekend:

LZ DX Contest - http://lzdx.bfra.org/rulesen.html

EDIT: It was pointed out to me by Jeff KE9V (Thanks, Jeff!) that CQ WW DX does occur THIS weekend. I guess I was fooled by this on the WA7BNM Contest Calendar:

Which Bruce had posted on the Perpetual Calendar. BTW, rules are at https://www.cqww.com/rules.htm

And when I opened the link, I saw this:

So sorry for the confusion folks!  How does W2LJ say he's not a big contester without saying "I'm not a big contester!" HI HI!

And there are no Special Event stations on the ARRL calendar for this weekend. (And NOW that makes sense! Although, it still kind of doesn't as most Special Event stations are SSB, anyway) Is everyone in the USA too busy getting ready for Thanksgiving? Maybe so. So there's not much to report on as far as action on the bands this weekend, but you can bet your bottom dollar there will be plenty of POTA and SOTA activity, as always. (DON'T bet your bottom dollar, at least not in the CW portions.)

Oh, this is NOT a good way to start off on a Friday!

Last night was the 80 Meter QRP Fox Hunt. I had a long day at work and was debating whether to head down to the shack, or upstairs to bed. Curiosity got the better of me and I headed to the shack. I was curious because the two Foxes were Tim KR0U in CO and Randy NC4RT in NC. I worked both of them last week during my stint as the 80 Meter Fox, so I thought I'd stand a good chance of repeating this week.

Randy was easy. He was 579 and I didn't have to listen for his Hounds to find him. I found him right off the bat, tuned VFO B about 1 kHz up and worked him on my first try. When I looked at his Fox log this morning, I saw that I was the second Hound to nab his pelt! I'm not sure I've ever been that quick at working a Fox before.

Tim - he was only 339 when I worked him last week and he was 009 (if there is such a thing) last night. I found his Hounds and this time tuned about 1 kHz down, and heard nothing.  I was going to just sit in the chair for a while hoping propagation would change and that Tim would become audible. Then at 9:30 PM (02:30 UTC) 3RN, the 3rd Call District Area Net came on frequency, blasting away, and that was it for me. I shut everything down and headed off to sleep.

When I had a spare moment this morning, I looked at Tim's Fox Log and QSOs to the Northeast were sparse.

From the K4OAQ live logging map, you can see that Tim got into the Virginia area and had one Upstate New York QSO, but nothing towards the NYC Metropolitan area.

And this is Tim's Reverse Beacon Network Map from last night, which I just looked up.

And RBN is reporting that Tim sat on 3.5574 MHz, so I was not too far off. I was listening primarily at about 3.5569 MHz, but I was carefully tuning both up and down a bit, so if Tim was audible at all, I certainly should have heard him.

Since next week is Thanksgiving week, there are no "regular" 40 or 80 Meter Fox Hunts. Those two nights have a 160 Meter "Foxtravaganza" scheduled, which is basically a free-for-all. All Foxes and alternates can get on 160 Meters to call "CQ Fox" to see who they can hear and work. It's tempting to get on to see how the MFJ-1982 might work on 160 Meters. I'm not sure if I can even get a match. I know the HF9V will work on 160 Meters, because I've done it before. 

I will tell you one thing of which I am certain right now. Come 9:00 PM on Thursday, Thanksgiving night, W2LJ will be sawing wood. That's guaranteed after a big day of cooking and having family over.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

What a difference

a week makes!

I'm talking of propagation and the 40 Meter Fox Hunt which occurred last night. I was tired after a long day at work, and I wasn't going to ...........but then my Polish stubbornness licked and I headed downstairs at about 8:45 PM.

I turned on HamClock (I don't like to leave computers plugged in and running while I'm not home)  and I saw that Dave AB9CA was spotted in the POTA box, so I tuned to the frequency and was able to hear him at about 449-559. He was in Oklahoma and after a few tries I was able to grant him a QSO towards his activation.

Was that a portent of things to come?  Sort of.

When the clock struck 0200 UTC, I was able to find Jim N0UR rather easily. I didn't even have to look for his pack of baying Hounds, He was in the clear and the Minnesota to New Jersey pipeline was in full function and I worked him at 0206 UTC. I went back and worked him a second time closer to 0300 UTC because for some reason, I wasn't showing up on the live QSO map that some of the Foxes use. A look at his log this morning confirmed the 0206 UTC QSO and he deleted the dupe. Sorry for that, Jim!

Randy NC4RT was a whole different story. I worked him last week when I was the Fox and he was the Hound, so I expected that would hold true last night. You know what they say about making assumptions.

I found the chasing Hounds easily enough at about 7.0325 MHz and tuned down 1 kHz, where I expected Randy to be. Nothing. I think I may have heard a whisper of him once, but that was probably just my mind playing tricks on me. What didn't help at all was a slow speed QRO rag chew taking place right on the frequency! I thought I might stand a chance when the rag chew was over, but the one station started calling CQ again, so I just gave up a little bit after 0300 UTC. I was beat and tired and I didn't think propagation was going to improve enough in the last 25 minutes to make it worth my while. BUT, before I left the shack, I did fire up RBN to see where Randy had planted himself and I was right! He was being spotted at 7.0315 MHz, just where I thought he'd be. I just couldn't hear him at all .......... and just last week he had a decent signal into NJ on 40 Meters. Go figure.

I've said this so many times that it shouldn't surprise me.  When you think you have this whole propagation thing figured out? Think again!

On another subject - I removed the little globe -visitor map widget from the right side of the page. They hadn't renewed their security certificate and Google Chrome (which I use) won't display it, so rather than leave a hole, I deleted it. When I get some time, I'll look for an alternative.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Weekend of November 16 & 17th

The weekend is once again upon us!

Contests:

ARRL SSB Sweepstakes is this weekend - the CW bands may be on the quiet side.

South American Integration Contest CW - https://sacw.cwsp.com.br/en/2021/09/21/pdf/

Run for the Bacon QRP Contest - http://qrpcontest.com/pigrun/

Special Event Stations:

11/02/2024 | Operation Able Archer '83

Nov 2-Nov 16, 0001Z-2359Z, W9A, Salem, WI. W9AFB. 14.250. Certificate & QSL. Scott Grams, General Delivery, Salem, WI 53168. Commemorating the 1983 Cold War Able Archer Exercise. See W9A QRZ page for operating times, modes, and additional details https://www.qrz.com/db/w9a

11/02/2024 | Operation Able Archer '83

Nov 2-Nov 16, 0001Z-2359Z, W0A, Lincoln, NE. KF0NWQ. 14.250. Certificate. Tyler Sandberg, General Delivery, Lincoln, NE 68512. Commemorating the 1983 Cold War Able Archer Exercise. See W0A QRZ page for operating times, modes, and additional details. https://www.qrz.com/db/W0A

11/11/2024 | In Support of the Annual Pow-Wow Being Held on the University of Southern Mississippi Campus

Nov 11-Nov 16, 0000Z-2359Z, W0W, Hattiesburg, MS. Pine Belt Amateur Radio Association. 7.033 14.033 14.260; digital any band. QSL. N5CW, P.O. Box 52, Petal, MS 39465. ww.qrz.com/db/w0w

11/16/2024 | 1st Transatlantic Ham Radio QSO (1923)

Nov 16, 1400Z-2200Z, K3S, Baltimore, MD. Nuclear Ship Savannah ARC. 7.1 14.1 21.1 28.1. QSL. K3LU, 980 PATUXENT ROAD, Odenton, MD 21113. Single transmitter SSB and CW aboard N/S Savannah. Please check spotting networks for frequencies. Info on QRZ.com www.qrz.com/db/k3s

11/16/2024 | Collins ARC 41st Anniversary

Nov 16, 1500Z-1800Z, W0CXX, Cedar Rapids, IA. Collins Amateur Radio Club. 14.263 MHz. QSL. Brice AntonJensen, 1110 Lyndhurst Dr, Hiawatha, IA 52233. www.qrz.com/db/W0CXX

11/16/2024 | W6SFM Bug Roundup

Nov 16-Nov 18, 0000Z-0000Z, W6SFM, Fair Oaks, CA. Samuel F. Morse Amateur Radio Club. 3.533 7.033 14.033 28.033. QSL. John Geyer, 4901 Minnesota Avenue, Fair Oaks, CA 95628. This is an operating event. https://w6sfm.org/bug-roundup

11/17/2024 | Celebrating the 153rd birthday of the NRA operating from Gunsite Academy in Paulden, AZ

Nov 17, 1500Z-2359Z, K7GST, Prescott Valley, AZ. Yavapai Amateur Radio Club Prescott, AZ. 7.250 14.250 21.335 28.340. Certificate. Printable PDF, available at, , http://w4gkf.com/k7gst . End time is 2400 UTC https://www.w7yrc.org/nrabirthday

As for my 80 Meter Fox duty last night. I can describe it in one word ........Argh !!!!!!!

I was going great guns, working split on 3.565 MHz, listening up one. I seriously thought that I might beat my 49 QSO total from 40 Meters on Tuesday night.  Then 4RN happened. No "?", no "QRL?" - just take over the frequency and if you don't like it, tough noogies, guy! 

I actually got out a bit farther west (KS, CO) and south (TX) than RBN indicates here.

I know it's an established net, which I forgot about, but aren't these guys supposed to be big, bad, expert traffic handlers? They can't handle moving a kHz or two? What are they going to do if the SHTF some day and someone with even more power takes over "their" frequency? I know, I know "You were QRP and they didn't hear you."  Nuts to that! I was getting 599's from Hounds from the 4th region.  Then, when the net was over and I thought I could go re-grab my original frequency, some digital signal, which I think was Olivia by the musical tones of it, took over. I had to resort to going down yet again, work simplex and hope for the best. Things crawled after that, but I was still able to hand out 43 pelts by the time 90 minutes was over. I was so hoping to break 55 or 60!

Disappointed in myself that I couldn't do a better job and frustrated by interlopers. Oh well, C'est la Vie!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Fox again tonight

This time on 80 Meters. Subbing for Steve WX2S again. The problem is that I have to work late tonight. I'll be home in time for the Hunt, but I know right now that I'd rather be in bed than on the radio. Wired or not, I don't think I'll have trouble falling asleep tonight. Just hope I don't fall asleep at the key tonight when the pileups dwindle and I start calling CQ Fox on simplex.

Just a final word about Tuesday night's 40 Meter Hunt. I ended up with 51 QSOs, Tim KR0U had somewhere around 75. Slight difference there, eh?  Maybe Tim being smack dab in the middle of the country had something to do with it. More likely is the fact that he's a superb op and that I'm just a "ham and egg'er" way out of my league.

On another topic, after I replaced the stub and matching coil on the HF9V, it remained kind of deaf. I went out to the backyard again this past Saturday, and undid the tape covering the stub/coax connection. Everything looked kosher, but I brought along two wrenches and "gently" tightened the connection better than I was able to do with just my hands alone. The bottom line is that the problem is solved.  The HF9V is just as loud as the wire. In fact, during the 40 Meter hunt this past Tuesday night, I was switching back and forth between the two. Neither seemed to have an advantage over the other. The HF9V has always been a better player for me for nabbing DX on 20 Meters and higher.

A funny thing about this whole HF9V episode, which deserves a little recap. As I've said before, I discovered that I had a problem after the landscapers left when I switched to the HF9V and signals were way, way down. Going out to the backyard, I then saw that the matching stub had been chewed up by their weedwhackers. Looking back on it,  the weak signals that I was hearing were not coming from the antenna, but were being picked up by the coax!  So when you read that the feedline is part of the antenna system - there's nothing that brings that home better than the incident that I went through. Some 125 feet of coax sitting anywhere from 2 - 4 feet of the ground was picking up HF signals. Not very well, but was still picking them up.

Last thing on my mind this morning as I blather on. I think we can safely say that the warm weather is behind us for the year. I awoke to 34F (1C) this morning, and when I got to work which is a good 20 or so miles farther inland from the coast than South Plainfield, the temperature here was 29F (-2C). It's quite easy, for me at least, to see how being closer to the Atlantic, even by a few miles ,affects the temperatures and the weather. If it were to start precipitating this instant, it would probably be snowing here and raining at home.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Field Day Results for 2024

Results came out a few weeks ago - I forgot to mention this. This is how SPARC placed in our category:

You can't come in any more "middle of the pack" than SPARC!

I was looking at the 1st place holders, the NE TX QRP Contest Federation and I was thinking how do only three guys make 730 QSOs? That is phenomenal! But then again, from their description, they are contesters.  Most likely very experienced contesters. We're not. 

I'm sure their antenna setup is probably significantly better than ours and we were curtailed by thunderstorms and the educational activity that we put on this year. And there was a lot of "meet and greet" with visitors going on at our site this year, which I guess is really part of the purpose of Field Day. But all that took time away from the radios.

Marv K2VHW jokingly commented that his goal for SPARC is to equal those 730 Q's next Field Day. In response I told him that several things will be necessary:

1) No educational activity - took too many people away from the radios.

2) No food. there will be no time for eating.

3) Unlimited coffee. Need to keep going full bore for then entire 24 hours.

4) Ample supply of "Depends" You know why - no time for Nature breaks, either.

5) Defibrillator on site. Because one or more of us will probably have a heart attack.

This is all in good humor, of course. We don't take Field Day as a contest that seriously and we realize that a major purpose of Field Day is to educate the public about Amateur Radio and its role in Emergency Communications.

But still, it would be nice to finish 1st Place in our category one of these years. So on the drive to work this morning, I was thinking about a possible way to increase our QSO count. Since we're limited to 5 Watts by our battery category, we've relegated ourselves to being Hunters and Pouncers. But after a few times of going up and down the band, say 40 Meters, it seems like you've worked everyone you can hear. Then it's time to switch to a different band .......right? Maybe instead of changing bands, it might be a good strategy to go up the band, find an unoccupied frequency, and call CQ for a while. It might not generate a lot of QSOs, but it's better than wasting time hunting on a band that you think you've pretty much fished out. And if we find ourselves calling CQ with no takers, say after 10 minutes or so, THEN we can switch bands.

Now, for my duty as one of the 40 Meter Foxes last night - it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, although QSB was really bad. I'd have a Hound call me at 579 and I'd give my half of the exchange and then they'd come back to me at 449 or even 339. Wow!

According to the Reverse Beacon Network, this is where the skimmers were picking me up last night:

And sure enough, the s/n figures for Europe were pretty pathetic - only a computer or Superman was hearing me there!

If you count the two Foxes, KR0U and myself, then there's 51 Hounds in the log. There were a couple of dupes that I edited out. I don't think I did too badly for being a rusty ol' Fox. I posted a preliminary log to the QFOX iO Group. Let's see how many corrections come back.  I am not like the other Foxes. I do not use N1MM. I still log with pencil and paper. Were I to attempt to computer log, by the time I would type in the call signs, I'd probably only work 1/2 the stations I ended up working. I'm not multi task capable in that regard. I'm lucky i can key and write at the same time!

There is one thing about being a Fox that I dislike. The Hunts here on the East coast are from 9:00 to 10:30 PM. When Fox duty is done for the night, I'm so wired that I generally can't fall asleep until around Midnight. When you have to get up at 5:00 AM for work the next day, that makes it a bit tough.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

And now, coming to bat..............

pinch hitting for Babe Ruth #3 ...............Joe Shlabotnik, #109 !

That's how I feel this morning.

I got an e-mail last might from Dale WC7S that Steve WX2S is not able to fulfill his Fox slots for 40 and 80 Meters this week ....... "Could you fill his slots? Please?"  I guess I got asked because I'm in New Jersey and I'm only about 20 miles north of Steve's QTH. In a moment of total irrationality, I answered, "OK, I can do that." What was I thinking?

Steve had mentioned on Facebook that his Mom is in the hospital. I know that's his pre-occupation at this time. So, dear Readers,  if in your kindness can you keep her in prayer?

This is a tall order, and I'm kind of feeling the weight of it. If you were to keep tabs of the Fox logs, you would see that no matter who the Fox is, no matter where the Fox is, Steve is usually always in the Top Ten of first Hounds to have worked the Fox. And then, when he himself is the Fox, his log of Hounds worked is always huge!

His station outclasses mine, his antennas outclass mine, his skill and abilities outclass mine. I just hope I don't totally embarrass myself tonight. This is like David and Goliath ........only in reverse. It's one thing to fulfill my own slots towards the end of the season, where the Hounds probably don't expect all that much. But this? This is a bit daunting.

Thanks for letting me spill my guts.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!