Long Holiday Weekend - July 4th, 5th and 6th

 

I'm a day early (for a change) - but Happy Independence Day - the 249th Birthday of the United States of America!

A lot doing on the airwaves:

First off, the Annual 13 Colonies Special Event is in full swing if you're into that - http://www.13colonies.us/  

No, that pileup you'll be hearing is not rare DX like Spratly Island - it's everybody trying to work Delaware or Rhode Island for a Clean Sweep!

Besides that, there are other Special Event Stations on the air this weekend:

07/03/2025 | SCARA at the Hendersonville Freedom Festival

Jul 3-Jul 4, 1500Z-0300Z, W4LKZ, Gallatin, TN. Sumner County Amateur Radio Association. 14.238 28.285 18.150 7.220. QSL. SUMNER COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION, P.O. Box 171, Gallatin, TN 37066. Freedom Festival is hosted on July 3, 2025 at Drakes Creek Park in Hendersonville, TN. This free, family-friendly event brings the community together for an evening packed with live music and entertainment, a Kids Zone, food trucks, vendors, and a breathtaking fireworks finale to close out the night! ​ This year we will have L'80's Nite, an 80's cover band, as the headliner along with a few other special performances. More information coming soon! ​ The Hendersonville Chamber of Commerce staff and the City of Hendersonville are working diligently to host an amazing event for families to celebrate our country and watch one of Sumner counties greatest fireworks show! www.scara.net

07/04/2025 | The White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club Independence Day 2025 Celebration Special Event

Jul 4-Jul 7, 0000Z-0000Z, W0H, Jackson, OH. White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club. 3.875 7.275 14.250 28.550. Certificate. Lowell Yates, 6809 Four Mile Rd, Jackson, OH 45640. Help the White House Communications Agency Amateur Radio Club celebrate our nations independence https://whitehousecomms-arc.org

07/05/2025 | 80th Birthday for Radio Association of Erie

Jul 5, 1400Z-1800Z, W3G, Erie, PA. Radio Association of Erie. 28.345 14.321. QSL. W3GV, PO BOX 8931, Erie, PA 16505. Come celebrate our 80th Anniversary. We'll be having a party at our clubhouse in Erie,PA. We'll be running a GOTA station at least one of the frequencies. w3gv.org

07/05/2025 | Colonial Williamsburg Special Event Station

Jul 5, 1400Z-2000Z, K4RC, Williamsburg, VA. Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio Club. 7.265 14.265. Certificate & QSL. QSL Manager, WAARC, P.O. Box 1470, Williamsburg, VA 23187. Celebrating the 249th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. For QSL send your QSL and SASE to QSL Manager, WAARC, PO Box 1470, Williamsburg, VA 23187. The Virginia Historic Triangle Certificate is available for working the Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown Special Event Stations. You don’t need to make these contacts in the same calendar year. For a Certificate send QSO info from the three stations to qslmgr@k4rc.net. For event info: https://www.k4rc.net/events/special-event-stations https://www.k4rc.net

07/05/2025 | Scope's "Monkey" Trial - 100th Anniversary

Jul 5-Jul 19, 1400Z-1400Z, W4B, Dayton, TN. Rhea County Amateur Radio Club. 14.265 14.045 7.205 7.045. Certificate. Rob Frailing, 664 Lone Mountain Dr., Dayton, TN 37321. 100th anniversary of the trial of John Scope, in Dayton, TN, for teaching evolution. https://www.facebook.com/RheaCountyAmateurRadioClub

Contests:

Venezuelan Ind. Day Contest - https://radioclubvenezolano.org/independenciadevenezuela.html

FOC Old School Classic 1960s QSO Party - https://www.g4foc.org/foc-old-school-classic-1960s-qso-party/ - Using a computer to send Morse code, 15-30 wpm is not allowed.

Marconi Memorial HF Contest - http://www.arifano.it/contest_marconi.html

Original QRP Contest - http://www.qrpcc.de/contestrules/oqrpr.html

Monday Night - July 7th - ARS Spartan Sprint - http://ars-qrp.com/Spartan_Sprint/Spartan_Sprint.html

I finally hooked up my lithium battery to the smart charger last night. After a Field Day effort, in which it was used for the entire event, with the KX3's display backlight on (I normally keep it off for portable ops) it still had 50% capacity left! And we were not shy about making transmissions - in fact I tried calling "CQ FD" several times when the bands were on the quiet side.

My 12V SLA, which Bill W2AOF had hooked up to his KX3, was in turn connected to a solar panel that he had brought. It was kept topped off and was at 98% capacity when I hooked it up to the smart charger to check its condition.

Great battery performance!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Yet ANOTHER day late and a dollar short!

I guess the hot Field Day weekend really got to me and I guess I'm still in recovery mode. I'm sorry that this is a day late, but I would be remiss if I did not wish all the Hams from Canada a very Happy Canada Day!

I hope your day was relaxing and rewarding. We have THE best neighbors to the North! May the Maple Leaf continue to fly proudly and bravely forever!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Call me "A Day Late and a Dollar Short"

I hope all the Ham Dads in the US had a great Father's Day yesterday. It was a quiet one for me.  Got on the air a bit in the AM and then got in a nap during the afternoon.

The weather was dismal. Drizzly all day with a high only in the lower 60s. I was hoping to either go out to the Washington-Rochambeau Trail, or maybe just operate from the patio table in the backyard for a while. Sigh.

But Marianne, bought a nice cake that we had for dessert after dinner.

It is s'mores flavored and there's plenty left over for the next few days.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Weekend of June 14th and 15th

 Before we get started - Saturday, June14th is Flag Day here in the US.

Contests:

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

Portugal Day Contest - https://portugaldaycontest.rep.pt/rules.php

GACW WWSA CW DX Contest - https://www.gacw.ar/

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

Tuesday night:

NAQCC mW CW Sprint - http://naqcc.info/sprint_rules.html

Special Events:

06/01/2025 | W2W D-Day Commemoration

Jun 1-Jun 14, 1300Z-2200Z, W2W, Hunt Valley, MD. Amateur Radio Club of the National Electronics Museum (ARCNEM). 14.244 14.044 7.244 7.044. Certificate & QSL. ARCNEM, 338 Clubhouse Road, Hunt Valley, MD 21031. Amateur Radio Club of the National Electronics Museum (ARCNEM) will operate W2W in commemoration of the anniversary of D-Day and the role of electronics in WWII. Primary operation will be June 1-June 6 with additional operation possible during June 7-14 as operator availability permits. Operation on 80M (3.544, 3.844), additional bands and digital modes possible during event. Frequencies +/- according to QRM. QSL and Certificate available via SASE; details at ww-2.us. ww-2.us

06/14/2025 | Appleton Flag Day Parade

Jun 14, 1830Z-2030Z, W9ZL, Appleton, WI. Fox Cities Amateur Radio Club. 14.246. QSL. FCARC, PO Box 2346, Appleton, WI 54912. Operate our special event station while we traverse thru the Appleton Flag Day parade. The largest flag day parade in the country. QSL via FCARC PO Box 2346 Appleton WI 54912 fcarc.club

06/14/2025 | Audie Murphy's 100th Birthday

Jun 14-Jun 29, 0000Z-2359Z, W5M, Greenville, TX. Sabine Valley ARA. 7.270 14.270 21.300 28.350. Certificate & QSL. SABINE VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO ASSN, PO BOX 843, Greenville, TX 75403. Audie enlisted at the downtown Greenville, TX post office in 1942. He went on to become the most decorated soldier of WWII, earning every medal possible, including the Medal of Honor, all before the age of 21. https://k5gvl.com/audie-murphy

06/14/2025 | Danbury Railway Museum's 9th Annual Steel & Wheels Car Show

Jun 14, 1400Z-1900Z, W2MNR, Danbury, CT. Metro-North Railroad Amateur Radio Association. 7.235 14.235; other frequencies as conditions permit. QSL. There will be, no QSLs, this year. Check dxsummit.fi. This event benefits HomeBridge Ventures. www.danburyrail.org or www.mnrara.org

Something from the "Something I've always wanted to do" category.

For Flag Day, I've always wanted to do a Special Event Station at the Middlebrook Encampment in Bridgewater, NJ, which is not far from home at all.

It was at this place that the first official flag of the United States was unfurled for the Continental Army, after a law to adopt a national flag had been passed by Congress. By special order of Congress, a Thirteen Star Flag is flown 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at the Washington Camp Ground.

There have been several things that have prohibited me from doing this. First off, while this location is on the National Register of Historic Places,  you can see from the Google Earth view that the monument is a bit away from the road. There's really no parking nearby, and there doesn't appear to be picnic tables or other amenities nearby. There is residential housing across Middlebrook Road, so I'd have to resort to parking on a side street and hoofing it in. 

Secondly, with Flag Day so close to Field Day, I haven't been able to drum up much interest from fellow SPARC members. Next year at this time, I'd be retired so I just might make this a solo event.

Once there, it would really be a field event. This would really be sort of like a mini Field Day warm up. I've only driven by and that was a while ago. One of these weekends, I'll have to take a scouting trip.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

The weekend May 24th and 25th and 26th

 First ........ a shameless plug:

Now for the OTHER stuff.

Contests:

CQ WW WPX Contest, CW - https://www.cqwpx.com/rules.htm

QRP ARCI Hootowl Sprint: - http://qrparci.org/contest/hoot-owl-sprint

QCX Challenge - http://www.qrp-labs.com/party.html

Tuesday night:

SKCC Sprint - https://www.skccgroup.com/operating_activities/weekday_sprint/

Special Event Stations:

05/19/2025 | National EMS Week

May 19-May 25, 0000Z-0000Z, N4E, Gainesville, FL. W.T. Loften High School ARC K4WTL. 14.325 MHz. QSL. W.T. Loften High School ARC K4WTL, 3000 East University Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32646. Help us celebrate the work by EMS workers!

05/24/2025 | Living History Cruise of SS John W Brown: WW2 Liberty Cargo Ship

May 24, 1500Z-2000Z, K8JWB, Baltimore, MD. Project Liberty Ship (SS John W Brown). 7210.00 14230.00 21300.00 28320.00. Certificate. Project Liberty Ship K8JWB, Pier 13, 4601 Newgate Ave, Baltimore, MD 21224. Join the SS John W Brown while it sails on the Chesapeake Bay maritime mobile. Remembering the United States Merchant Marine, Navy Armed Guard crew and the shipbuilders including Rosie the Riveter who built 2710 of them who deeply impacted the winning of WW2. Those people and ships were critical to Winning the war www.ssjohnwbrown.org

Not much going on besides the biggie - CQ WW WPX. I suppose I could get on the air for a while with SPARC's NJ2SP call sign. I don't think NJ2 is all that common.

I hope to get the Jackite stand built this weekend as well as that new rolling storage cart for the shack - which also needs a good straightening out.  You could take a picture of my shack and put in the dictionary next to the word "Chaos". If I can get those three things - stand, cart, declutter - accomplished this weekend, I will be a happy camper.

Memorial Day weekend, as important as it is to remember those who died defending our country, is also touted as the "Unofficial Start of Summer". Big laugh!

Monday will be the warmest day of the three. The others will be downright chilly for the end of May, and I've actually have had to wear a sweater the past three or four days. We are normally in the low 80s by now, for a high for the day. Not that great of a beach weekend. That's for sure!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Where is May going?

Last Sunday was Mother's Day! This weekend is FDIM and Hamvention! In two weekends it will be Memorial Day here in the US and you know what that means !!!!!!! The "unofficial beginning of Summer, and of course the QRP-ARCI Hoot Owl Sprint!

About a month ago we had the Spring QSO Party and we had almost double the entries that we had in 2024. Let's do the same for the Hoot Owl Sprint! In 2024 we had 9 logs submitted via the AutoLog. Surely we can do better than that! The Sprint is ONLY an hour long and it's way more fun when we can jam as many QSOs as we can into that hour.

All the details can be found here: https://www.qrparci.org/contest/hoot-owl-sprint

I will be there, with my paddle bursting with dits and dahs. Hope you will be, too!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

It was a busy day yesterday

with family. There was good food, good laughs and a very enjoyable day. But I did not get the chance to get online and share my wishes for you for a Blessed and Happy Easter. We Catholics celebrate the actual Easter holy days for a week - an octave, so technically, I'm not too late.

So, from our house to yours, may you enjoy a very Happy and Blessed Easter season!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Weekend 3/15 & 3/16

Looks like we're heading into a rainy weekend in my part of the woods. Now that it's getting warmer, I'm hoping to spend a bit of time during the weekends down the street, at the PAL parking lot, putting the Washington-Rochambeau Trail on the air, as that's where it's located. Maybe not this weekend if the skies are weeping. But maybe, just maybe, I can eventually earn a Kilo Award by getting 1,000 contacts from there? Time will tell.

This is what you can expect to hear on the bands this weekend:

Contests (again, even if you're not participating, this is what you can expect to hear) - Going forward, dedicated QRP Sprints/Events will be highlighted in red:

BARTG HF RTTY Contest:  http://www.bartg.org.uk/

Popov Memorial Contest:   https://www.contest.ru/memorial-popov-eng/

Russian DX Contest:   https://www.rdxc.org/rules_eng

Virginia QSO Party:   https://www.qsl.net/sterling/VA_QSO_Party/2025_VQP/2025_VQP_Main.html

AWA John Rollins Memorial DX Contest - https://www.antiquewireless.org/homepage/event-details-for-rollins-dx-event/

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

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

This coming Wednesday Night 3/19 (Thursday Morning UTC)

NAQCC Monthly Sprint - https://www.naqcc.info/sprint_rules.html

Walk for the Bacon QRP Contest (20 Meters) - https://qrpcontest.com/pigwalk20/

Special Event Stations:

03/14/2025 | PI Day - David Sarnoff Radio Club, Princeton, NJ

Mar 14-Mar 15, 1800Z-0100Z, N3P, Princeton, NJ. David Sarnoff Radio Club. 14.031 14.314 7.031 7.227 . QSL. Don Corrington, AK2S, 7 Pinewald Lane, Burlington, NJ 08016-3421. n2re.org

03/15/2025 | Gulf of America Special Event

Mar 15, 1400Z-2000Z, K5K, Kingwood, TX. Texas Emergency Amateur Communicators (TEAC). 7.20 14.325 21.235 28.325. QSL. David Taylor, N5KWD, 2179 Lake Village Dr, Kingwood, TX 77339. Celebrating the renaming of the Gulf of America, from Galveston Island State Park on the Gulf of America. Special Event + POTA + IOTA. QSL and SASE to N5KWD for commemorative QSL card. teac.net

03/15/2025 | Solivita Car Show

Mar 15, 1300Z-1900Z, N4SRC, Kissimmee, FL. Solivita Radio Club. 18.124 24.980 14.074 21.074. QSL. Solivita Radio Club, 307 Bell Tower Crossing West, Kissimmee, FL 34759. FT8 on all frequencies (10 through 40 meters). Frequencies may change. See website for updates. https://solivitaradioclub.weebly.com

With Monday being St. Patrick's Day, I'm kind of surprised to see no Special Event Stations on the air for that. St. Patrick's Day and Ireland and the Irish hold a special place with me as my dear departed Mother-In-Law was born and raised in Donegal, Ireland before she and one brother emigrated to the US back in the late 40's (I think it was). Nora and Harry were the only ones to come here out of about 8 or 9 siblings,

I think I've told this story before, but in honor of the day, I'll tell it again. I always get a chuckle when I think about it. When Marianne and I first started dating, it was a little bit before she took me to her home to meet her parents. As any young suitor would be, I was a bit nervous, but upon meeting my future in-laws things seemed to go warmly and exceedingly well. The conversation drifted to things about me, as they wanted to get to know me better and that's when I mentioned that my main hobby was Amateur Radio.

My future M-I-L gave me a look like I was Medusa and I had 1,000 snakes growing out of my head. After a bit of awkward quiet, we got past that and had a wonderful dinner and evening together. My Father-In-Law, who was a petrochemical engineer seemed genuinely intrigued and asked me a lot of questions about the hobby and the various contacts that I had made, particularly the DX ones. Later, as I was driving Marianne back to her apartment, I asked her what that was all about.

It turned out that one of her uncles back near Donegal was a Ham - and no, I never found out what his call sign was. I was told that he had a tower and Yagi attached to his house. One day, during a particularly bad thunderstorm, his tower took a direct lightning strike and there was significant damage to the house.

That's all my M-I-L knew about Amateur Radio. Lightning and damage to the house. That was why I got the stare that I received. I later assured them both that I was licensed for over 20 years at the time and that I never had a tower and I always took the utmost precautions to prevent anything like that happening to me. I doubt that swayed her misgivings any, but I never heard anything about it again.

Nora (she was always "Mom" to me) actually came to live with us for a time after my Father-In-Law, Joe, or "Dad" as I always called him, had passed away. She had broken her hip and couldn't live alone on her own anymore. She eventually moved to a Senior Assisted Living Facility near us until she too, passed away. I'll always wonder if that was because she just craved a bit more independence, or if she just wanted to be away from my vertical and wire antennas!

Anyway, in any event

May the road rise up to meet you, 

May the wind be always at your back, 

May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Happy New Year 2025!

Here are my wishes for you for 2025:

May you get on the air a lot.

May you get that DXCC entity you always wanted.

May you work all the POTA stations you can and conversely, may all your activations be successful

May your equipment never fail or break in 2025.

May Amateur Radio treat you very well and bring you many hours of enjoyment this coming year.

And seriously, may you be graced with good health, and good fortune in 2025.

May your worries be few and your good times be plentiful.

Happy New Year de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Time honored tradition for New Year's Eve and Day:

Straight Key Night!

I already have a couple of tickets for another event tonight:

 But maybe I'll use these after getting on for a QSO or two for Straight Key Night.

As per the ARRL Website:

ARRL Straight Key Night: January 1, 2025

12/25/2024

ARRL Straight Key Night is January 1, 2025, from 0000 UTC through 2359 UTC. This 24-hour event is not a contest but rather a day dedicated to celebrating our CW heritage -- radio communications by Morse code.

Participants are encouraged to get on the air and simply make enjoyable, conversational CW QSOs (radio contacts). The use of straight keys or bugs to send CW is preferred. There are no points scored and all who participate are winners. All authorized amateur frequencies may be used but activity has traditionally been centered on the HF bands.

Entries for Straight Key Night must be received by January 3, 2025. Votes for "Best Fist" and “Most Interesting QSO” will be tabulated and included in the results. Send your information to straightkey@arrl.org or by mail to ARRL Straight Key Night, 225 Main Street, Newington, Connecticut 06111. For more information, contact contests@arrl.org or (860) 594-0232.

Visit the ARRL website for more details: www.arrl.org/straight-key-night.

The cold weather has moderated in NJ with it being rather warmish the past couple of days, so I should be able to spend some time in the shack without turning the space heater on. But there is a local meteorologist that I follow on Facebook, and the reason I follow him is that his forecasts are usually spot on. He's right more often than he's wrong, which can be said to be unusual for a weatherman. His latest post included forecasts for New Year's Eve and Day, but ended with an ominous note.  (Paraphrasing here) "After the New Year, Winter is going to bite us on the butt (his exact words) in early January, with way below normal temperatures and the possibility of significant snow events."

Not exactly my idea of kicking off the new year in good fashion.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Christmas Eve 2024

 

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock.

The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear.

The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.

And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.

When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”

So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.

When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child.

All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds.

So why is the line "you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”  so important? Because these shepherds were not your ordinary any-day-of -the-week Bethlehem shepherds. These were the shepherds of the Migdal Eder, which was very close by to where Jesus, Mary and Joseph were.  It was a place reserved for raising lambs for temple sacrifice. When an ewe birthed a lamb, the shepherds would immediately clean it and then wrap it in blessed swaddling cloths supplied by the local Rabbis. These lambs were wrapped and laid in mangers so they would not get hurt, and become blemished and unfit for sacrifice.

No ...... these angels knew EXACTLY who they were telling the Good News to,  and how the meaning behind this all would be immediately understood.

Merry and Blessed Christmas!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

New Holiday Operating Event

This came across to the inbox of the QRP-ARCI Contest Manager. I guess they wanted all QRP-ARCI members to know, and now I get to share it with you, too:

EURAO Party - Winter 2025: Season's Greetings

Mon, 23/12/2024 - 23:00 — eurao

The European Radio Amateurs' Organization announces a new party on the air, this time with the motto: "Season's Greetings". Remember this is not a contest, it is just a radio meeting with a few simple 'rules', better to call them recommendations.

Purpose: Wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all the stations you contact with these days. This is a good time to wish peace and love to everyone. Have fun and meet other hams all over the world or just locals. Of course SWLs are welcome to participate.

Date & time: from December 24th, 2024, to January 6th, 2025, 00:00-24:00 UTC.

Bands & modes: all modes and frequencies, mainly in HF bands, but not only. EFG.

Call: "CQ EURAO Party".

Exchange: because this is a QSO event, not a contest, you can talk about whatever you want, in any language, and for as long as you like. Here are some topic suggestions to get the conversation going: name, city, locator, weather, antennas, rigs, etc.

Also talk about QSL interchange. Tell the truth. Say "no, thanks" if you are not interested in QSL cards. But if you would like to have a memory of your contact, feel free to use our EuroBureauQSL (see below).

Logs: for statistic purposes only, we ask participants to submit their logs to party@eurao.org in ADIF format, where the filename should be your callsign (e.g. EA3RKF.ADI).

There will be no results or league tables, only statistical information about number of QSOs, countries, callsigns, OMs/YLs/Clubs, etc.

Certificate of Participation: for all those sending the log and without a minimum of confirmed QSOs.

EuroBureauQSL: you can use it to interchange QSLs even if you are not member. In this case, just send the QSL to the entry point of the country of the station you have contacted

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!

Weekend of Nov. 30th & Dec.1st

I hope that all of my USA readers had a great Thanksgiving yesterday. It was a lot of work getting the house ready and getting all the cooking done, but it was well worth it. Marianne's brother and his wife came, and my sister and her husband and my nephew came. It was a good and memorable time.

Cara mashing the potatoes.

Just a reminder what the day is all about!

The oven didn't fritz out on us and the turkey came out great!

Good food, good family, good times!~

As far as Amateur Radio events go foe the weekend - here's the buzz.

Contests:

Ham Spirit Contest - http://www.hamspiritcontest.com/

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

ICWC Medium Speed Test - https://internationalcwcouncil.org/mst-contest/

OK1WC Memorial (MWC) - https://memorial-ok1wc.cz/index.php?page=rules2l

DARC Christmas Contest - https://www.darc.de/der-club/referate/conteste/weihnachtswettbewerb/en/

And on Monday evening:

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

Special Events:

11/30/2024 | 150th Anniversary of birth of Sir Winston S Churchill

Nov 30, 0001Z-2359Z, W3C, Pocono Lake, PA. Royal Air Force Amateur Radio Society. 14328.00 kHz. QSL. Michael Goodwin KE2EH, 136 Ski Trail, Pocono Lake, PA 18347.

11/30/2024 | 160th Anniversay of the Battle of Franklin Tennessee

Nov 30, 1400Z-0000Z, N4S, Franklin, TN. Williamson county ARES. 14.300 7.220. Certificate. Jeff Standifer, 111 Gilbert Dr, Franklin, TN 37064. The Battle of Franklin, fought on November 30, 1864, in Tennessee, was a brutal Civil War clash. Confederate General John Bell Hood launched a massive assault against Union forces under Major General John Schofield, who held strong defensive positions. The Confederates faced devastating artillery and rifle fire as they crossed open fields, resulting in intense, close-quarters combat. The Union eventually repelled the attack, inflicting nearly 6,000 Confederate casualties. This crushing defeat weakened Hood’s army, setting the stage for a Union victory in Nashville and marking a turning point in the Western Theater of the war. wcares.org

11/30/2024 | 83rd Anniversary of Civil Air Patrol

Nov 30-Dec 1, 1500Z-2300Z, W9CAP, St. Charles, IL. Illinois Wing Civil Air Patrol. 7.255 14.250 18.125 28.450. Certificate. Attn: Lt Col Robert Becker, P.O. Box 4027, St. Charles, IL 60174. www.qrz.com/db/w9cap

12/01/2024 | 60th Anniversary of the Amateur Radio Stamp and the 110th Anniversary of ARRL

Dec 1-Jan 31, 0000Z-2359Z, K7S, West Jordan, UT. The Utah DX Association. All bands, all modes; 7.260 14.260 21.300 28.470. QSL. Wesley Wilkinson, 7363 S Galaxy Hill Road, West Jordan, UT 84081-3961. The first 200 confirmed contacts will receive a used Amateur Radio Stamp. SASE will be needed to receive your QSL. w7wes@yahoo.com, www.udxa.org or www.qrz.com/db/w7wes

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

12/01/2024 | W2W Pearl Harbor Day Commemoration

Dec 1-Dec 11, 1300Z-2200Z, W2W, Hunt Valley, MD. Amateur Radio Club of the National Electronics Museum (ARCNEM) . 14.241 14.041 7.241 7.041. Certificate & QSL. ARCNEM, 338 Clubhouse Road, Hunt Valley, MD 21031. Amateur Radio Club of the National Electronics Museum (ARCNEM) will operate W2W in commemoration of the anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day and the role of electronics in WWII. Primary operation will be Dec 1-Dec 7 with additional operation possible during the Dec 8-Dec 11 period as operator availability permits. Operation on 80M (3.541, 3.841) and digital modes possible during event. Frequencies +/- according to QRM. QSL and Certificate available via SASE; details at ww-2.us ww-2.us

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!

Veteran's Day 2024

Here in the U. S. of A, it's Veteran's Day where we honor and celebrate those who have sacrificed their time in order to have served our country in our Armed Forces. A HUGE THANK YOU!

We are free because we are the home of the brave!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Happy All Hallow's Eve!

 "Honey, have you seen my HT?"

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

July 4th, 2024

 

Happy Independence Day !

72 de Larry W2LJ 

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Happy Father's Day

 

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

To rehash an old axiom - Any man can be a father, but it takes a special kind of man to be a Dad.

Thank you to all you Dads - so many times your efforts go unnoticed.

Enjoy your day!

72 de Larry W2LJ 

QRP - When you care to send the very least!