Weekend - Nov. 9th and 10th

We have our regular 2nd Saturday of the month VE Session tomorrow. As of right now, only one candidate - a General looking to upgrade to Extra.

Contests:

Not going to go into detail on these, but there are three digital contests this weekend that will probably end up coming deep down into the normal CW portion of the bands - so if you hear digi on you favorite QRP frequency, it's probably one of these:

PODXS 070 Club Triple Play Low Band Sprint

WAE DX Contest, RTTY

10-10 Int. Fall Contest, Digital

Other contests this weekend: (from this weekend going forward, I will mainly mention only contests that will have an effect on the CW portions of the bands)

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

OK/OM DX Contest, CW - http://okomdx.crk.cz/index.php?page=CW-rules-english

CQ-WE Contest - https://w8zpf.com/cqwe/

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

Special Event Stations:

11/09/2024 | USS Cobia Veterans Day Special Event

Nov 9-Nov 10, 1500Z-2100Z, NB9QV, Manitowoc, WI. USS Cobia Amateur Radio Club. 7.240 14.240. Certificate. E-certificate only, email QSL information to, kc9yl@arrl.net. www.qrz.com/db/nb9qv

11/09/2024 | W2TE MEMORIAL SES

Nov 9, 1230Z-1930Z, W2GSB, Babylon, NY. GREAT SOUTH BAY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB . 28.340 21.250 14.246 24.940. Certificate. W2GSB/W2TE , PO BOX 1356 , West Babylon, NY 11704. WWW.gsbarc.org

11/09/2024 | Walt Grosser (W2TE) memorial SES

Nov 9, 1400Z-2000Z, W2GSB, Lindenhurst, NY. GREAT SOUTH BAY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB. 14200 7200. Certificate. W2GSB GSBAC, PO BOX 1356, West Babylon, NY 11704-0356. In Memory of Walter Grosser, our 2nd President of GSBARC We will be setting up at 09:00 and hopefully be on the air by 14:30 and operate till 20:00 All modes CW operators must bring their keys gsbarc.org

11/09/2024 | Windycon 50 - Science Fiction Convention

Nov 9-Nov 10, 1500Z-2100Z, W9W, Oak Brook, IL. DuPage Amateur Radio Club. 14.070 14.230 14.274 145.430 (local 107.2 PL). Certificate. DuPage Amateur Radio Club, P.O. Box 71, Clarendon Hills, IL 60514-0071. Operating times are Nov 9 0900-1700 and Nov 10 0900-1500 local time (CST). Certificate and other information http://www.qrz.com/db/w9w. https://www.w9dup.org

Last night's 80 Meter Fox Hunt was a 50/50. I worked Jim N0UR pretty easily. The MN to NJ pipeline wasn't quite as strong as usual, but I did get him in the log. Cathy W4CMG was another story. She was at ESP levels to begin with, but eventually got as loud as about 339. Strong enough to work, but I didn't. Kept calling but kept getting "CQ FOX" back in my face. Obviously the TN to NJ pipeline wasn't working for me, although it did for Steve WX2S and Charles W2SH. C'est la vie.

Something a bit interesting that I was reminded of again, though - frequency response. I worked Jim with an ear bud in my left ear - my only good ear, and that was fine. When I went to look for and eventually found Cathy, I discovered that I was able to hear her much better when I switched over to conventional headphones. The earbuds do not do quite as good a job responding to lower frequencies than the headphones. They're great at responding to higher frequencies, including the noise! The headphones were much better at helping me dig her signal out of the noise. 

Unfortunately, nothing will help my right ear until I can afford some prescription hearing aids. I've tried a couple of OTC brands and one pair does work better than the other, but I do need "real ones" if I'm ever going to hear out of my right ear again. First I have to finish paying off my car - then hearing aids. Yeah, I'll be working until I'm 70 - no doubt about that! LOL!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Productive weekend

It was busy, but at the same time productive. Saturday started off with the monthly ETS of NJ VE Session. We had three candidates and only three VEs. I can't tell you the last time that happened as the number of VEs that show up usually way outnumbers the candidates! In fact, I was sweating it out for a while worrying that I would have to tell the candidates that for lack of VEs, they'd have to go home.. Fortunately, a third showed up and we were fine.

We brought one new Tech into the fold and another Tech upgraded to General. The third candidate walked away with nothing, which was extremely disappointing to both him and us. He was a Tech who let his license lapse in 2012. He took the exam and I don't know if it was a case of overconfidence or if he just hurried too fast through the last 10 - 15 questions. He was going great guns, but in that last set of questions, he got enough wrong to put him two over.

I hate when that happens! I offered him the chance to take another version, but he declined. Hopefully, we'll see him again next month after a bit more study. He was so close, I'd hate to see him give up in disgust!

The rest of Saturday was spent doing house chores as on Sunday morning, we had a guest arrive for a visit for this week:

My sister and brother-in-law went down to the Jersey Shore for the week and the AirBnB they are staying at does not allow pets, so Jessie (Harold's "cousin", and also a rescue) has come to stay with us for the week. She took an immediate liking to our son, Joseph as you can see in the photo. She's a good girl, very quiet and very friendly - she loves to be held. A real Momma's girl. She's a demon with her food, though! I put the kibble she eats in her bowl and all I did was blink and it was gone! LOL! Maybe my sister should have named her Hoover!

That reminds me of a story. When I was young, one of the first "real" jobs I had (not working at my Dad's store) was working at a camera store. If you've ever worked retail, you know that when it comes to lunch and eating - you eat fast; or you don't eat at all. It got to be such a bad habit, that when I was eating a meal at home, my Mom would always say, "Larry, take human bites!"

Anyway, getting back on track, in between grocery shopping and cleaning, I did manage to get down to the shack to sneak in a few POTA stations. Geomagnetic activity was quite high on Saturday with the K index getting up to 5 for a bit, but I still managed to work a couple, even though signals were down in the mud.

On Sunday, I finally managed to do something that I've been wanting to do the past few weekends. I finally got the chance to try out my KM4CFT EFRW antenna. I wanted to give it a workout before I put the heat shrink over the UNUN circuit board. Again, due to a prior obligation in the afternoon, I only got a few hours in, but I have to say that I am pleased with its performance.

For starters I called CQ on both 40 and 20 Meters - about maybe a 1/2 dozen times on each band, just to see where the Reverse Beacon Network would pick me up:

Not too shabby! Not the greatest signal strengths on 20 Meters, but I was having a hard time getting the Emtech ZM-2's red LED to go out. So later in the afternoon, I switched it out for my 4 States NM0S tuner.

This little guy worked like a champ! I was able to get the red LED to go out completely and the green LED to glow like there was no tomorrow. I promptly worked several POTA stations, including Dan KB6NU - fellow blogger, who you see on the blog roll to the right so often.

I think I'm going to have to open and inspect the connections inside the ZM-2. as it has always worked reliably for me in the past. Even so, this was the tuner I keep in the shack for when I fire up my HW-8. I may purchase another of these to keep in the QMX bag. And speaking of the QMX, I'm getting to the point where it's becoming more routine to operate without having to pause to think what do I have to press in order to............... It's slowly becoming second nature but I still have a ways to go.

I was happy with the KM4CFT, and I was happy with the 4 States tuner and the QMX. Like I said, it was a productive weekend.

Last thing - something I saw on Facebook on the EFHW Antenna page that was posted by K4IVN. I am guessing he fabricated this via his 3D printer:

This will hold his UNUN and at the same time it has a spool for the wire of his EFHW or EFRW. How neat is this? I don't know if he fabricated a cover to keep the UNUN safe from the elements, but I'm guessing he either has, or will do do.  

Another project for me - to make one of those daisy wire spools like the ones Dave KD2FSI made for me so I can better store the KM4CFT EFRW.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Interesting speculation

This appeared on Facebook regarding the IT situation over at the ARRL:

This was reported by Chris NW6V 

 Mike Ritz, W7VO, ARRL 2nd Vice President, was at the WVDXC club meeting last night, having just attended an ARRL board meeting to discuss the outage. Mike reported those meetings are a weekly event until the matter is resolved.

Everything that was running on INTERNAL servers is down until further notice. That includes their VoIP phone system, their .org email addresses, and front ends for things like LOTW. Everything running on external servers - cloud servers etc. - including LOTW data, is believed unaffected. But, such data will not be available until the internal matters are resolved. Thus, "joe@arrl.org" doesn't work - because that was on their internal mail server. But "joe@arrl.net" does - because the relays didn't run internally. I checked, and NW6V@ARRL.NETworks.

Efforts to restore the internal systems is proceeding full-time. No time-line can be given. The nature of the problem cannot be discussed.

I believe Mike said - with air asterisks around his words - "We have been advised to say nothing." He responded similarly when asked if "the Feds" were investigating this.

Being that the ARRL is connected to Homeland Security through its disaster response functions, and that personal data (no credit cards) for many relatively important persons are stored in the systems (business, military, science, etc.) such an investigation could very well involve the FBI and Homeland Security.

I (Chris NW6V)  was an IT Director in mental healthcare for many years, so security was a big part of my responsibility. As a professional looking at it from the outside, this has all the earmarks of a hack - of sufficient severity that it needed to be reported as a CRIME. At which point, IT is required to lock everything down - every computer and device involved becomes EVIDENCE - until a full investigation by forensics experts - da cops - is conducted. Getting everything back up is NOT job 1. Once the "crime scene" is clear (yellow tape down), THEN the job of recovery can begin. If some kind of hack had wormed into the ARRL system, recovery of local system by restoring backups becomes problematic - it may be difficult to verify that backups contain no trace of the hack. In which case, recovery and restoration of services would be slow and very painful.

This fits what we know about the situation to a "T."

73 Chris NW6V

Interesting. If the ARRL was hacked by someone with some kind of revenge motive in mind, they may have bitten off way more than they could chew. I never thought of the possibility of Federal Government involvement in this due to ties and MOEs with Homeland Security.  If this was a hack, and it is determined to be a crime, the perpetrators could be facing some very serious Federal prison time if caught and prosecuted.

I hope this gets cleared up soon. The LOTW situation doesn't bother me so much, but any disruption to the VE process does. My Team's next session is a week from this coming Saturday - June 8th. I'd hate to have to tell my candidates that I have no idea as to when their results will be processed. And no sooner did I write this, than I discovered this bit of good news:

ARRL VEC Services Update During Systems Disruption

05/29/2024

ARRL previously reported that we are responding to a serious incident involving access to our network and headquarters-based systems. Several services have been affected, including those administered by the ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC).

Exam Registrations and Materials. ARRL Volunteer Examiners (VEs) should continue to submit exam registrations and material requests. While we are unable to post new or revised exam session dates and details to the website, we can ship out exam materials. Please remember that most exam materials are available on our website (www.arrl.org/resources-for-ves).

Processing Applications to the FCC. We have resumed the processing of Amateur Radio License applications with the FCC. This includes applications for new and upgrade licenses, individual applications, and club license applications. Exam sessions will be submitted to the FCC in chronological order, from earliest test dates to the latest. Please allow additional time for our processing as the exam session backlog is cleared.

International Radio Permit and License Class Certificates. We are currently unable to create International Amateur Radio Permits, License Class Certificates, and Volunteer Examiner (VE) badges, certificates, and stickers. New ARRL VE applications and renewals are unable to be processed at this time.

ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program | FCC Application Fee Reimbursement Information. ARRL is continuing to accept reimbursement forms to cover the one-time $35 application fee for new license candidates younger than 18-years of age for tests administered under the auspices of the ARRL VEC. Reimbursement checks may take longer than normal to be processed at this time.

ARRL VEC cannot be reached by telephone at this time. We appreciate your patience as ARRL continues to work on restoring access to affected systems and services.

This story will be updated with new developments.

Thank you ARRL VEC Department for the update!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

VE Exam Sessions

On February 10th, we held our monthly VE Exam session, which occurs on the second Saturday of the month. We had six candidates, and if I remember correctly, we brought in two new Technicians, and we had two upgrades to General and two upgrades to Extra.

I think it was the Tuesday following the session, I received a phone call from one of the candidates. 

Without even getting a name, or the caller telling me who he was, I hear "How come you haven't sent the license test session results in?"

I was like "Wait. What?"

"I called the FCC and they told me they haven't received the results of Saturday's session."

I assured the candidate that I had indeed submitted the results to the ARRL the following morning, and that I would try to find out what was going on. The great thing about the ARRL-VEC is that they are very prompt in providing information and answers when you ask them something. It turned out the FCC's results submission servers were down and they were not accepting exam session results. The VEC Department assured me that they had received my session report and had uploaded it to the receiving queue at the FCC, but they had no idea when the results would be processed. 

Why didn't the FCC elaborate on that little fact to my candidate? I guess they didn't want to look like the "bad guy". "We didn't receive anything" kind of places the blame elsewhere rather than "Our servers are down, we are not capable of processing sessions right now."

This is the second time in a few months that this has happened and I'm not surprised. If you were to tell me the FCC is still running Windows XP, that would not surprise me, either. Heck, if you were to tell me the FCC was running Windows 95 that would not surprise me, either.

The thing is, exam candidates should not be so eager to blame the VE Team for occurrences like this. The accusatory tone from my candidate was disheartening, to say the least. As a VE Liaison, let me tell you what goes into these VE Sessions.

First off, you have to let the VEC that you are associated with, know your exam schedule so that it can be publicly posted.  I have to do this towards the end of each year - letting the ARRL know when the ETS of NJ Exam Team will be in session. It's done online and is not difficult, but it is still an extra chore that needs to be done.

Then, as Liaison, my contact information is given out so candidates can let me know they want to come to a session. I respond with an e-mail, letting each person know where the exams are being held (in detail, so they don't get lost) as well as letting them know that they need an FRN Number if they don't already have one, and how to get it. In addition they're informed about filling out an FCC 605 form and everything they should be bringing with them to the exam. I also request a phone number from each so that I can text or call if for some reason the exam session gets cancelled at the very last moment. That happened a few times during the pandemic and is not a problem now, but it's still good to have that information.

Anther e-mail has to go out to the VE Team letting them know whether the exam session for the month is "on" and letting them know how many candidates we'll be expecting. And then you hope and pray that at least two examiners will show up as three is the minimum needed to conduct an exam session. 99% of the time, this is not a problem, but there have been instances where only the bare minimum have showed up. Sometimes it's like herding cats.

Then exam day comes and all the paperwork has to be checked, ID's and FRNs checked, fees collected, tests given and graded and all the associated paperwork that goes with all of that. The candidates have to be be watched to make sure no funny business is taking place AND the VE's themselves have to be watched. Human tendency is for them to start chatting amongst themselves, and they have to be reminded to keep the atmosphere silent so that the candidates can concentrate on their task. Newer VE's have to be guided on procedures so that no candidates are penalized because of newbie VE mistakes. That, in and of itself, explains the need for a minimum of three Volunteer Examiners.

The next morning (Sunday morning) I gather it all together into one big stack, scan it and upload it to the ARRL. I send them the hardcopies of the Exam Session Report, the Candidate Roster and a check to cover the exam fees. If folks pay in cash, I write a check to cover that amount and send it in. I can do the payment part online if I use a credit card, but I prefer not to run up a credit card if I can help it.

So there's a lot more to these exam sessions than just sitting down and handing out and taking tests. Your VE Team is doing all this volunteer work because they want to give back something to the hobby that they have loved for so long. They're giving up their time and talent to benefit YOU. If things don't go as smoothly or quickly with the results, try not to jump to the conclusion that it's somehow the Team's fault or that they didn't so something correctly.

And now I'm going to go into curmudgeon (Old Fart) mode. Back in the day, we had to wait six to eight weeks for our licenses to come through the mail. You guys get your results so much faster now, it's almost enough to make one's head swim. I know that no one like to hear that, but that doesn't make it any less true. Oh, and by they way, the results of our February 10th exam session finally got processed by the FCC yesterday - a whole 10 days late.  

I let the inquiring candidate know - he was happy.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Happy camper

You've all heard the expression, right? "He's a happy camper!" or "She's a happy camper!" This morning I have to say that "I'm a happy hunter!"

Last night was the 80 Meter QRP Fox Hunt and I stayed up past my bedtime to participate. Before I get into talking about the Hunt, I'd like to reminisce for a bit. I can remember many days when I was in my 20's when I could put in a full day of work, come home and eat supper and then stay awake until about 2:00 AM melting solder in whatever Heathkit I happened to be working on. I'd go to sleep for maybe three or four hours and then wake up, fresh as a daisy, and start the whole process all over again without giving it a thought.  Them days are gone forever! Now I depend on my close friend and associate - Mr. Coffee (actually Mr. Keurig) to get me through the morning after a Fox Hunt. I'll probably end up hitting the sack a bit early tonight.

As I was saying, last night was the 80 Meter Fox Hunt - running from 9:00 PM EST to 10:30 EST - hence the reason for my less-than-awakeness this morning. I got down to the shack early and worked a POTA station on 40 as a warmup and even chased TX7L on the Marquesas Islands for a bit on 10 Meters. They were 229 at best, so as expected, there was no joy there.

At the 0200 UTC starting bell, I started twiddling the dial, beginning at .3.550 MHz and working my way up. I don't have a PX3 waterfall display, and although there is software available that is compatible with my KX3, I don't have it loaded onto my computer. I guess I'm too much of a fossil, I'm more comfortable with ol' tried and true. 

Anyway, I didn't find the Lower Fox or any evidence of the Hunt between 3.550 MHz and 3.560 MHz, so I continued my climb upwards looking for the "Upper Fox". Sure enough, I happened upon N8SS, Earl in Michigan, handing out pelts in a fast and furious manner.  I switched between the W3EDP and the HF9V to see which was giving me better reception. The HF9V proved to be the weapon of choice for the evening. Not so much that the signal was louder, as they were both about equal to my ear, but the HF9V had a bit less in background noise on it last night.

Thanks to the KX3's Dual Receive feature, I was able to plug Earl's QRG frequency into the second VFO and twiddle until I found the Hounds he was working. From there, it was just a matter of throwing out my call sign each time he finished an exchange with another Hound. Finally, at 0219 UTC, Earl heard me and added me to his log.

The Lower Fox, John K4BAI was going to be a bit more difficult. I hadn't heard anything during my first foray through the Lower Woods. Perhaps I had twiddled too fast. With a bit of trepidation, I set out to find him.

Starting again at 3.550 MHz and slowly dialing upward, I finally heard some call signs of familiarity - other fellow Hounds. From their frequency, I figured that John must be 1 or 2 KHz down, so I concentrated on listening there. Slowly, and I mean SLOWLY, John's signal started to come up. Propagation was changing a bit in my favor this time. I waited until K4BAI's signal became consistently 559 before throwing out my call. No sense in QRM'ing someone else if I wasn't able to tell if John was coming back to me or not. Finally at 0238 UTC John heard my call and we completed the required exchange.

I was a bit pumped because that put me at 4 for 4 in the first week of the 2023-2024 Winter Fox Hunt season. Well, actually 3 for 4, probably.  When N8SS posted his log this morning, I see that he has my name as "Barry". The scorekeeper will probably toss the QSO as invalid because of that, but I could give a tin whistle. I'm in these Fox Hunts for the personal satisfaction of participating. I really don't care how I stack up against the other Hounds when all is said and done. If I get 2 or 3 pelts every week, I'll end up somewhere in the middle of the pack. I don't need to be the Alpha Hound. So as far as I'm concerned, I went 4 for 4 this week, my first foray into "The Woods" in a long time. I know this won't last and there will be times when Lady Propagation looks at me and says "Not tonight, Sweetie!", but it was sure nice for the first week!

Like I've said before, tonight will probably be an early hit-the-sack night, but not before I put together some exam packets. Tomorrow is our monthly VE Session and we have six candidates coming - possibly five new Techs and one possible upgrade to Amateur Extra. I like to get all the paperwork set up in individual manila file folders so there's less work and confusion the morning of. Better remember to stop at Dunkin' on my way in. I have a feeling I'll be needing more Mr. Coffee tomorrow morning, too!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

HamTest Online going away

 An email from ARRL:

Sent: Thu, Mar 23, 2023 5:54 pm Subject: HamTest Online is Going out of Business

Thanks to Adam Karsin KG4WWH for sending this:

Chris AB3WG

This is John, W1AI, the creator, owner, software developer, and coursemaster of HamTestOnline. I launched the HamTestOnlin website in August 2002, and I’ve spent the last 20 years helping tens ofthousands of students pass the ham radio exams.  While it's been a tremendous amount of work, it’s also been the most fun and personally rewarding portion of my career.  

However, I’m turning 68 this year, and I’m ready to retire. Therefore (unless I find a serious buyer), we will be shutting down the website effective June 30, 2023. I truly appreciate all the support and encouragement we've received from our loyal customers through the years!

If you are one of our eternal procrastinators, this is your last chance. As this newsletter goes out, we are selling 3-month website subscriptions. However, as the website shutdown date approaches, we will be selling shorter and shorter subscription terms, so that no subscription extends past June 30.

Three months is plenty of time for most students to get to Extra.  In fact, our most successful students use concentrated study, cramming all of their studies into a few weeks.  We've had hundreds of students go from zero to Extra in a single exam session after studying for 6 weeks or less.  If you are willing to put in the effort, you still have time to get your Extra class license before this resource disappears forever!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

ARRL Maryland-DC Section

Section Manager: Mr Christopher D Van Winkle, AB3WG

ab3wg@arrl.org

For those who may be interested.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

A Successful Day

Today, the ETS of NJ VE Team that I belong to had our first successful exam session since this COVID crisis erupted last winter. A session was held in February, but I could not make it as I was stuck in an interminable check out line at our local grocery store. The sessions for March, April and May were canceled.

Governor Murphy had recently relaxed some of the restrictions that were in place, so we were able to hold a session today, albeit with Covid precautionary measures in place.  Our session was held outdoors and not indoors. We had to have two sessions because we had 20 candidates on our "waiting list". Sounds kind of daunting, doesn't it? Actually things went quite smoothly thanks to the actions of our liaison, Drew W2OU.

We had the candidates line up their vehicles on one side of the parking lot. Directly across from them were the vehicles of the VEs. One on one, directly across from each other, facing each other. The candidates were given some restrictions - no passengers, the front of the car had to be totally clear of any printed materials. They were given the option of taking the exam inside their vehicle, or if they wanted, they could bring a chair and clipboard and take the exam in front of their vehicle. If they decided to remain in their vehicle, their cell phones had to be placed on the dashboard where we could see them. Each vehicle was checked for compliance as we collected exam fees and checked photo IDs.

Social distancing was maintained whenever possible. Face coverings and gloves or hand sanitizer were mandatory equipment for the day. VEs were instructed to wear yellow safety vests. We communicated with the candidates via a low power FM transmitter tuned to 88.7 MHz, or thereabouts and they could hear us on their FM broadcast receivers inside their vehicles.

Thankfully, the weather cooperated by giving us a beautiful day and both sessions went off without a hitch. Well, almost. We panicked a bit when we thought we misplaced a candidates completed test answer sheet, but we quickly found it located in another folder. Everyone who came walked away (or should I say drove away) with either a new Technician license or an upgrade, we even had a couple folks come in with no license and went home as General Class ops.

The only sad part of the day was remembering one of our own, Bobby Cure W2REC who became a Silent Key due to this plague. We tried to honor his memory by making him present in spirit at today's session

We left a seat vacant for him and put a straight key in place to honor his years of dedicated service to our VE Team.  RIP, Bobby, you are sorely missed.

For a session this large and due to the unusual circumstances, our VE Team alone would not have been enough, We were assisted by other VE Team members from the Tri-County Radio Club, the Raritan Valley Radio Club, the South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club and the New Providence Amateur Radio Club, and I believe even some members from the Fairlawn Amateur Radio Club. I met a whole bunch of VEs for the first time today, that I had never met before. It was a great thing to behold.

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

New Amateur Extra Question Pool Released

From the ARRL:

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB004
ARLB004 New Amateur Extra Question Pool Released

ZCZC AG04
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 4  ARLB004
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  January 28, 2020
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB004
ARLB004 New Amateur Extra Question Pool Released

The new Amateur Extra-class license examination question pool, effective from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2024, has been released and is available at the National Conference of Volunteer Coordinators (NCVEC) website at, http://www.ncvec.org/ .

The 2020-2024 Extra-class pool incorporates significant changes compared to the current 2016-2020 question pool, which expires on June 30. The number of questions in the pool was reduced from 712 to 622. The result was 239 modified questions, 49 new questions, and 139 questions removed due to changes in what was felt to be an abundance of outdated questions, while areas of new technology and subjects were added.

In addition, an effort was made to balance the difficulty level, removing or replacing some questions deemed too easy or too difficult compared to the rest of the pool. The 2020 pool has 10 diagrams, which have been renumbered because the new question pool has two fewer than the 2016 question pool.
NNNN
/EX

Once again, this is really nothing to get your undies all up in a knot about. If you are studying the material that you need to know for the Amateur Extra upgrade and not just memorizing answers to questions - then no matter what they throw at you, you'll pass.

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

Hot, hot, hot!

Like many places around the country, this past weekend in Central New Jersey was pretty brutal. The high on Saturday (according to my weather station) was 98F (37C) and with the humidity factored in, the "real feel" was around 112F (44C). Sunday it reached 99F with a real feel of about 118F (48C) as it was a bit more humid.

Due to the excessive heat and the associated demands on the power grid, there were a couple of instances where we lost power, but for only a few seconds. Those are unnerving, because when the power goes out, you have no idea how long it will last. Public Service Electricity and Gas quickly re-routed electricity to our part of the grid, so the disruptions ended up being minor.

Earlier in the day, Marv K2VHW and Drew W2OU and I were on hand at the South Plainfield CERT building for a HamCram.  I really don't like HamCrams very much, as my experience is that a fully structured class yields much more positive results. HamCrams are only successful if the participants studied faithfully on their own and use the Cram as a review session and as an opportunity to clear up any remaining quandaries that they may have.

I have to admit, this one was successful. It was held by Eric KD2ONY and SPARC's responsibility was to provide the meeting space and to conduct the VE exams. There were 11 participants and 8 walked away with their Technician class licenses, including a 7 year old girl who is the daughter of one of our members.

Eric put on a good review session and it became obvious to us right away that most of the people in the group had dome some serious study on their own. The answers to the review questions, for the most part, were answered correctly with no hesitation. As always, the toughest parts seemed to be the sections on decibels, metric numeric conversion (kilo, mega, micro, pico) and the frequency privilege boundaries.  Despite that, the new Techs did well on their exams with no "close shaves". Those who passed, passed with few errors.  Only one of the three that didn't earn a license came so close, missing by only one question. We assured that person on how close he was and assured him with just a little more study, that he will be a Tech in no time. Just so you know, we did offer him the chance to take another version of Element 2, but he declined.

Shortly after I got home, after preparing and eating dinner, my cell phone started going crazy with alerts that our area was under a severe thunderstorm alert until 10:30 PM. I went down the basement to disconnect the antennas and around 7:30 PM, we had a brief but strong storm pass through. We must have had another at around 10:30 PM, as my weather station indicated that we got about a 1/2 inch of rain around that time. By then, I was out like a light and dead to the world. If there was lightning and thunder, I sure didn't see or hear any of it.

Looking at the long range forecast this morning, next Sunday looks (at this point in time) to be sunny with a high of 87F (37C). I hope so, as next Sunday is the Flight of the Bumblebees. The plan is to go up to Washington Rock State Park in Greenbrook and operate from one of the picnic tables that is shaded by one of the tall antenna supports (trees) that are located there. I am looking forward to a fun and relaxing afternoon of outdoor QRP fun. There haven't been enough of those, lately.

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

W2QW Hamfest

The day dawned clear and a bit chilly. Getting up at 4:00 AM to be on site at 5:00 AM was no picnic. As the sun rose, the temperatures rose also and a big, hot cup of coffee went a long way towards warning me up AND waking me up.

The first job of the day was working with Tim AB2ZK and Craig AC2FE to park the seller's cars into appropriate spots. We had a pretty steady stream right up until the 8:00 AM start time. We almost filled the lot thanks to the spectacular weather, but not quite. One of these years, we will.

All photos courtesy of Jim Roselli N2GMA

The VE Testing session began almost as soon as the parking duties were done. We started the filling out of paperwork at 8:30 AM, so that we could begin testing at 9:00 AM, sharp. We were expecting about four, five or maybe six candidates at the most. Imagine our surprise when we ended up with nine candidates!

The team, which was the K2ETS VE Team, did a magnificent job keeping everything flowing smoothly without the slightest hitch or hiccup - except for the breeze. Halfway through the exam session, a pretty good breeze kicked in. We were using keys, HTs, anything we could find to use as paperweights to keep papers from blowing all over Creation.

In all, out of the nine, we were able to award one new Technician license, four upgrades to General and one upgrade to Extra.

Photo courtesy of Pete Fierro KD2ARB

After the exams were over, I was able to spend some time with Dave KD2FSI who bought a Hallicrafters receiver that was in EXCELLENT shape. It didn't look like it was new, out of the box, but it sure wasn't far from that condition. Then I got to spend some time in the shade with our ETS of NJ Group who had a club table at the hamfest. Before long, it was time to come home, to process the VE paperwork and get it into the mail so that the ARRL can get the new license and upgrades to the FCC as soon as possible.

Did W2LJ buy anything? Not really, besides a pork roll, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich. My goal for the day was to find a 9V wall wart to use with the little o'scope kit that I'm building. There was a box of wall warts at the K2ETS table, so while I was doing the VE thing, Dave W2OIL and Dan KC2YRC went through the box and found one - and of course, typical for them, they wouldn't accept anything for it.

So, yeah, it was a great day with friends and a very productive morning to boot.

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

Gratification!

It's not often that you wake up on a Saturday morning and experience something exciting that warms your heart to boot. Today was one of those mornings. Today was our club's monthly Volunteer Examiner Session.

We had three unlicensed people come in to take the Technician Class license exam. All three passed; and that in itself was gratifying. As usual, when a candidate passes the Tech exam, they automatically get an invitation to take the General Class exam. We tell the candidates, right off the bat, that if they haven't looked at the General Class License Manual, to expect to only get about 30-40% of the questions correctly answered. The important point is that they will have seen the exam, and when they study to upgrade, they'll have a better feeling on areas they may need to especially concentrate on.

The first two candidates did as expected and were pleased to go home with their CSCE (Certificate of Successful Completion of an Exam), hoping their call signs would show up in the FCC database some time later this week.

Our third candidate was special - he got 33 out of 35 answers correct! Not only did he earn his Technician, but also his General in the same sitting. Hoping that lightning would strike a third time, we encouraged Doug (his name) to give the Extra exam a shot.  He was hesitant at first, but then decided to give it a go.

Before he started, he asked to use the rest room and we found out a bit more about him. Doug's an engineer by profession, so that says a lot right there. But we also found out that he was a lapsed Ham. He got his ticket in high school way back in the 60s. His call sign was WB2GVE and he had upgraded to Advanced class before career and family pre-occupied his time so much that his license lapsed.

As soon as I heard that he had an Advanced Class license I had a gut feeling that he would pass the Extra this morning. In my 40 year career as a Ham, the Advanced Class exam was by far THE toughest of them all. The Extra Class exam was a cake walk, by comparison. It's a little tougher now that they did away with the 20 WPM Morse Code requirement; but it's still easier than the Advanced.

Doug came back in, sat down and got to work. About a 1/2 hour later or so, he sighed and handed in his exam and answer sheet. He was not optimistic; but I was. A few minutes later, I was able to tell him that he did indeed earn his Extra with some room to spare. To say that he was elated is an understatement. He was flabbergasted and the whole exam team was beaming from ear to ear.

With the exception of a couple of us, this was our (my) first time that a person has gone from unlicensed to Amateur Extra in one sitting. I'm sure it wasn't as gratifying for us as it was for Doug; but it was sure darn close!

And there's icing on the cake! Doug lives in South Plainfield, so he was heavily encouraged to join SPARC, where he will be welcomed with open arms. Icing on the icing (or maybe ice cream on the cake)? He's interested in QRP !!! Now THAT went a long way to make my morning!

And....... all THAT came after finding out last night that SPARC came in 4th Place, Nationwide, in our classification for Field Day.

So, without even so much as touching a key, or twiddling a knob, it's been a very good Amateur Radio weekend, so far.


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

Technician class

Our Technician class ended last night with the administration of exams. It was a mixed bag of results. At the beginning of the class, we had eleven students. Two of the students were actually licensed during our last class and were attending this class as a refresher in addition to home study in preparation for taking the General class exam.

One student decided to take the exam a few weeks ago and passed. Another student had to temporarily move up to Massachusetts because of a family issue and is going to take the test up there. Three students couldn't make it last night and are coming to our normal, monthly VE session, the next of which will be on Saturday, April 14th.  One was away competing in a track and field event. I'm not sure what he plans to do about the exam.

So that left five students to take their exams last night. Four took the Technician and one took the General. Three passed their Technician test and the one student upgraded to General.  The one who did not pass was crushed. I am sorry to say. However, the good news is that a local hospital has had some employees engage in a self study course. They are holding a one day review and exam session this coming Friday.  Our candidate was made aware of that; and I am fairly sure she is going to attend.  I think with a little more review and pin pointed study; that she will be successful in getting her license.  It's not that she doesn't know the material, I think she's just one of those people for whom taking tests is difficult.  During our classes she was always quick to answer practice questions correctly.  Put a test paper in front of her and the pressure mounts. Unfortunately, that is a situation many of us face.

All our students who took the Tech exam and passed, also took the General exam.  We tell them that it is normal for most new Techs who have not studied for the General to get about 50% of the answers correct. One of our new Techs missed his General by one question!  He will also be coming back on April 14th and I'm sure he'll pass with flying colors.

It will be interesting to see the results from this Friday and April 14th.  It's always our goal as instructors that everyone who attends our classes walks away with their ticket.  I hope that holds true.

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

Technician License Class

On Tuesday evening, Marv K2VHW, Drew W2OU and I started another eight week foray towards helping another group of people earn their Amateur Radio license. Like another class we held two years ago, this one is being sponsored by the Clark, NJ Office of Emergency Management. The initial goal was to get some of their CERT members licensed, but it seems to have branched out from there.  In addition to the Clark CERT members, we also have a few "civilian" type walk ins from the community at large who are also interested in obtaining a license.

The first session went well; and the students seem to be motivated and enthusiastic. A tell tale sign that this is going to be successful class was that there were a significant amount of general questions that were asked the first night.

We are going to follow the format that has worked so well for us in the past. Eight sessions following the material found in the ARRL's Technician License manual. Then one session with a brief review and the actual license exam administered to the students.  If this class is typical of the ones we've held before, we expect an 85 - 90% success rate.

Winter is a bad time to hold one of these; as the weather is so unpredictable. But "God willing and the creek don't rise", we'll get this done and we will hopefully have a bunch of new people embarking upon a journey into the fun filled world of Amateur Radio.

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

Ham Cram Results

Let's just say I was expecting and hoping for better results and leave it at that.  I drove home Saturday afternoon disappointed and a bit depressed.  It's hard on the instructors when candidates fail to pass the license exam. In my case, I immediately wonder, "What more could I have done?"  My personal problem is that, since I love Amateur Radio so much, I assume that every one in the class wants their license as badly as I wanted mine. So when they fail, I tend to internalize the blame.

But there was a clear division between the two camps. There were the people who wanted their license and actually studied the material diligently and there were the others who may have cracked open the license manual once or twice, if at all.  Listening to some of the comments from the folks who didn't pass, I was surprised at how little they applied themselves.

Let's face it, the Technician Class license exam is not the hardest exam in the world, but you DO have to study and you DO have to want it. Going to class because your good friend talked you into it; or because your supervisor thinks it would be a good thing to have a license is not good enough.  There has to be some personal motivation driving the effort.  As my RACES Bureau Chief said to me as we were leaving the building, "Just remember Lar, you can lead a horse to water; but you can't make him drink".  He's 1000% correct, but maybe there's more we can do to make drinking more enticing.

So where do we go from here?  While I am still wary of the Ham Cram process, I am willing to give it another shot.  I still think the full blown eight week class concept works better, but I do realize that less than perfectly motivated people are busy and have lives, and are not willing to give up that much time from their busy schedules.  I think with a couple of tweaks, the Ham Cram route can be a successful one.

Two changes in particular that I would like to make:

1) Ahead of the next "home study cycle", I would like an accurate head count of all the participants.  I would like to order their ARRL license manuals ahead of time and have a meeting with the candidates BEFORE the front cover of the manual is even opened.  I would like to take that opportunity to hand them their manuals, study guides and point blank tell them, "If you fail to study over the next month, or wait until the last minute to study, past experience indicates that you will not pass the exam."  I think it needs to be impressed upon the candidates how important the home study portion of this process is; and that without it, there's really no point in continuing on.  It would also be an excellent opportunity for Marv and I to introduce ourselves and give the students our contact information - so if they have any difficulty whatsoever, they know there's someone they can reach out to for help.

At that same meeting, there's an excellent video on Amateur Radio that we use for the first session of our eight week class sessions, that I would like to show. It comes in two versions, one 30 minutes long, the other an hour. Both go into a lot of the "fun" aspects of the hobby.  For those who are getting a license just for CERT and EMCOMM purposes, if they see the fun they can have once they're licensed, I'm willing to bet that it might be easier to get them to take a good, long drink.

I know that time is precious, but between handing out the manuals and study guides and then giving a little pep talk and then showing the video, we can keep that introductory meeting to less than 90 minutes.  I am coming to believe that this may be a crucial step in the process. If you're not willing to come to a meeting to get your manual and get a little pre-home study guidance, there isn't really a point with continuing on, is there?

2) A change of the Ham Cram review material. We used the W9PE Power Point last Saturday.  While it is complete and comprehensive and very good, I think it is more geared to the prospective Ham who is into getting a license for the hobby aspect of it.  I was given a Power Point produced by Alan Wolke W2AEW of YouTube Ham Radio videos fame.  His presentation is ideal for presenting to those who are coming to the Amateur Radio world from the First Responder world.  It is more visually appealing with lots of graphics; and as a result, I think it will be more successful.

I think if we make these two changes, our next Ham Cram venture will be more successful.  Now all I have to do is pitch this to the "Powers That Be".

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

Ham Cram

This coming Saturday, Marv K2VHW and I will be attempting our first one day "Ham Cram". Normally, we conduct Technician License classes over an eight week period, one evening a week for two hours with self study in between sessions.

The group that requested this did not want to go that route.  With the unpredictable winter weather that we have been having, that's understandable. Instead of the usual routine, we composed a "Technician Class Self Study Guide" which was issued to all the prospective candidates a month ahead of time.  We broke down the ARRL License Manual into four manageable chunks. We also provided links to appropriate You Tube videos, as well as other on line resources to accompany the material in the manual.

The session on Saturday will start at 8:00 AM and will break for a one hour lunch period at Noon. We will continue on to about 3:30 PM with exams following at 4:00 PM.  The half hour in between will be used to fill out 605 forms and all the other necessary paperwork.

Marv and I will be "going boldly, where we have never gone before"!

Wish us, and our candidates luck!

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

Eight new Hams

Last night we concluded our Technician Class license course with a VE Exam Session. Of the fifteen students who originally started in January, ten kept with it and made it to the end. Of those ten, eight earned their licenses last night.

It was gratifying to see a new class of Amateur operators emerge from all these weeks of study.  The two who need a bit more study time have been invited to our next regular VE Session on April 11th.

As satisfying as all that was (as if it wasn't enough), I actually made it home in time to fully participate in the 40 Meter QRP Fox hunt.  Wow, wow, wow!

Both Foxes, Todd N9NE in WI and Tom KV2X in NY were both 599. In fact, at times Tom was 599+. And I had the most difficult time working both of them.

Go figure.

There was a high ambient noise level, there was also some VE SSB, and there was the SKCC monthly weeknight sprint to deal with. All those added up for a tough night of Fox hunting. Todd was first in the bag and he turned out to be the relatively "easy" catch.  I nabbed Tom with about 10 minutes to go, but am not sure I can really count on his pelt.  According to the log he published last night, he copied my exchange perfectly, but he had my call as W2RJO.  I don't know if that was a typing error, a transcription error (from paper log to computer log - I've done that plenty of times!), or he just didn't hear me well enough to get it correctly.  If it's a case of the latter, and I'm scrubbed from the log, it will probably be the first time in over a decade of Fox hunting that I have failed to make a QSO with a 599+ Fox. Que sera', sera'!

Wacky evening on 40 Meters last night, indeed, and a tip of the ol' call sign cap to both N9NE and KX2X for doing a phenomenal job with the poor hand the Propagation Princess dealt them.

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

Review session

The last class of our Technician License course was held last night. We had what I guess you could call a review session.  Drew W2OU provided me with two practice exams, which I printed out and distributed to the class members.  We treated last night as the actual exam session. So not only did they get practice, but they also now know what to expect for next week.

After each exam was completed, we went over the tests together as a group.  It appears that on both exams, no one got more than six answers incorrect.  Since a passing grade allows for nine incorrect answers, it would appear that we are looking at a bunch of new Amateur Radio ops as of next Tuesday night.

To break things up a bit, we showed an Amateur Radio video in between the two exams. In all, I thought last night's session was exceptional. Our class members have proven to be eager, bright, inquisitive, and open to what we have been presenting to them.

It has been an honor and a privilege to work with them, as well as with my two fellow instructors, Marv K2VHW and Drew W2OU.  These two are amazing Amateur Radio ops and have an amazing amount of experience behind them.  The fact that Marv K2VHW is a retired broadcast engineer from WABC with a couple of Emmy Awards under his belt doesn't hurt, either!

I am looking forward to next week, and I just sent the group a final e-mail, detailing what to bring next week and basically telling how proud of them that we are. It's great to be able to help increase the ranks of Amateur Radio.  I also reminded them to relax. This is supposed to be fun, and besides, in the scheme of things, it's not like we're looking to cure cancer or end world hnger.

Oh, and by the way, I did work John K4BAI in Georgia, one of the 40 Meter Foxes last night.  I tried to work Kevin W9CF in Arizona, but I think the good props between NJ and AZ were over by the time I got home and wolfed down dinner. I see from his Fox log that Kevin worked some NJ stations, but that was while I was still in class.  By the time I was trying to work him, he was 229 - 339 at best and I just couldn't make myself be heard. There is nothing more frustrating than calling a station who is sending a CQ in the clear, only to have them resume calling CQ after you send your call!

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

Crummy day

for yardwork, but it was a good day for radio! Cool, rainy and damp weather kept me inside for most of the day, grocery shopping notwithstanding.

This is the first Saturday in a while that I actually got some time to sit down at the radio and get some operating in.  The 17, 15 and 12 Meter bands seemed to be in decent shape and I worked a bunch of European stations today. And W1AW/5 in Texas was so strong that he sounded like he was just down the street. I think I could have worked him with 100 milliWatts, if I had tried.

And this was all icing on the cake as the day started out well with a successful VE session first thing this morning. Only two out of three pre-registered candidates showed up, but both of those passed their exams and earned their Technician licenses (one of the two getting a perfect score!).

This evening I twiddled the dial on 40 Meters and just spent some time listening to various fists. Remember that post I wrote a few weeks ago about atrocious bug fists?  Tonight I heard a guy who was using a Vibroplex Blue Racer that he claimed was manufactured in 1919 (I think that's what he said). I was astounded as I though he was using a keyer and paddles. His fist was THAT good! He was probably clipping in at around 25 WPM or so, but he was a breeze to copy.  I really did think he was using a keyer. His fist was a joy to listen to - the code literally flowed and it was like listening to a symphony.

The Ham he was in conversation with was using Bencher paddles and the built in keyer that was in his rig, and he did not sound as good as the guy on the bug!

I wish I sounded that good!

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

Summer - it's finally here!

After a long, cold Sprinter (that's what you get when Winter seems to last endlessly into Spring), Summer is finally here! Yay! And as promised, as of today, numbers are being assigned for the 2014 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt.

The Hunt will be held on Sunday August 10th this year - and right now, the best place to see the rules is at  http://w2lj.blogspot.com/p/njqrp-skeeter-hunt.html. I am trying to get the QSL.NET page updated with the new bonus points rules, but the server seems to be down right now.

Yes - bonus points this year for gathering enough letters from callsigns to spell out the word "SKEETER". 100 extra points will be added to your score if you accomplish this feat. In any event, the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt is a grand time and folks seem to enjoy themselves a lot, so send me an email (w2lj@arrl.net) and reserve your Skeeter number today.

Today was also the Raritan Valley Radio Club annual hamfest, which is held at Piscataway High School, in Piscataway, NJ.  The weather was absolutely beautiful - perfect for a hamfest!  It was sunny and it got up into the high 70s.  Very nice, but yet not exasperatingly hot. And as you can see from the two quick photos that I snapped with my phone, there was not a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately, it was perfect sunburn weather. Reporting time for the hamfest workers was 5:00 AM and as I was driving to the hamfest site, I had realized I had forgotten to bring sunscreen.  I discovered the hard way that there are NOT a lot of places open at 5:00 AM where you can buy sunscreen!

There were plenty of vendors and lots of buyers. The ARRL had a presence with the appearance of Bill Hudzik W2UDT, our section Vice Director. (Psst!  It helps that he's a club member!) We also had a VE Exam session, where three people earned their Technician licenses, and we also had one upgrade to General and one upgrade to Extra.

In the top photo, you can see the huge mast sticking up from an old broadcast van that Brian N2MPM had acquired. Running up the mast was a PAR END-FEDZ antenna that Alan W2AEW using to make QRP contacts.  If you follow this blog, you know that I have mentioned Alan's YouTube videos in the past. He does an excellent job producing videos on how to use test equipment and other neat technical tutorials. If you haven't subscribed to his YouTube channel, then you are cheating yourself. After you read this go over and subscribe - it's definitely worth it.

Here's a video he took of today's festivities:


Pulling off a hamfest like this is a huge undertaking. Thanks to the direction of our two Hamfest Committee Chairmen, Drew W2OU and Rich W2PQ and all the members of the RVRC, this comes off flawlessly - year after year.

In between my duties of assisting with the parking and placement of the vendors, and being the lead in administering the VE session, I did get a chance to look at the various wares on the tables.  I purchased some BNC to PL259 adapters and some large alligator clips that we will to connect to batteries that we will be using next weekend during Field Day. Not a big spender much to the discontent of the vendors, but much to the delight of my wife.  ;-)

I've been up way too long and am making way too many typos - even more than I usually make, so it's off to the sack for W2LJ. (Thank God for spellcheck.)

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to sedn the very least!
Skeeter #13 for 2014

Getting to be crunch time

For working FT5ZM, and it looks like I may not get them. I spent three hours tonight, trying to work them on both 20 and 30 Meters - no dice. They QRT on Tuesday, so time is running short. I would really like to work them, as most of the QRPers that I know are in their log book. But if it turns out that I don't ..... well, the sun will still keep shining, the Earth will still keep spinning, and come Springtime, bunnies and birdies will dance on the lawn. And come 500 years from now, no one will know who W2LJ was, or how many countries he worked and at what power. You have to keep your eye on the bigger prize.

That's like at the VE session that I worked this morning ..... there was a Ham there who was quite disappointed about being a General Class operator. This person has tried to upgrade to Extra, but is having a hard time of it, and is getting discouraged with the whole deal.

Goals are a good thing, but you have to remember that this is a hobby. We're not looking for a cure for cancer here. It's high time to enjoy what you have and not worry too much about what you don't. Once you have fun with where you are, that just may take off enough self inflicted pressure to allow you accomplish what you feel is an impossibility.

As they say, the joy is in the journey, not the destination, whether that be an Extra class license or DXCC Honor Roll.

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