3 for 3

If I was a Major League Baseball player, I could say I went "three for three" this weekend. I had three things that I wanted to accomplish and I got all three done.

The first and second were to get my QSOs in for my personal State Party QSO Challenge. The South Carolina QSO Party was yesterday (Saturday) and the North Carolina QSO Party was today. I made four QSOs in South Carolina and a half dozen in North Carolina. I don't know if it was the difference between Saturday and Sunday, or the number of Hams in each state, but North Carolina on Sunday was much easier than South Carolina on Saturday, Seemed like there were way more North Carolinians on the air.

I chased both states on 40 Meters and on Sunday everywhere I tuned on the band, there were stations calling "CQ NQP". On Saturday, I had to really twiddle and hunt for South Carolina stations. I worked both QSO parties during the 1730 to 1815 UTC time window on both days. Maybe a lot of South Carolina Hams get stuck working Saturdays - who knows?

Anyway, that was goals 1 and 2 accomplished.

Goal number 3 was to build a sample of one of the kits we'll be offering at NJ Makers Day on March 21st. At our South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club last Wednesday evening, I was handed a WHDTS Sound Light Controller LED Lamp Kit.

The instructions that came with the kit are clear and well written. The kit was not hard to put together at all, but it took me about 35 minutes. I'm thinking that a youngster who is inexperienced, and is just learning how to solder for the first time will take over an hour to build this - even with assistance. If you include the USB power cord, there are 28 components to solder, including a 14 pin DIP IC.

In addition to the regular resistors and disc capacitors, there is a 1N4148 diode, three electrolytic caps, 9 LEDs, two transistors and one switch - all of these being polarized components that you have to make sure are installed in the right direction before soldering. This is going to take time and we might have to recommend that this kit be geared more towards the older teens.

It works OK for what it is. You plug it into a USB power source and depress the switch. Then a loud noise like a clap or a whistle causes the ring of LEDs to light up. I put it near a speaker that was playing some music and that will cause the LEDs to flicker in time to the music as well - but the speaker has to be pretty loud. The microphone on this kit is not super sensitive.

Relatively speaking it was a good weekend and I'm happy that I accomplished the things that I wanted to. It was tough being in the basement this weekend, though. While it was in the 30s outdoors on Saturday and the low 40s on Sunday, the basement remained a "balmy" 57 degrees. Not the most comfortable. I just don't know how WG0AT and these other SOTA guys do mountain topping in the Winter. It's definitely not for me!

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

Elmering .... mentoring .... it goes both ways.

It was brought to my attention this week that my signal from my mobile VHF/UHF rig has been ..... crap lately. So I switched over from the antenna I was using to this little Comet dual band magmount jobbie. The difference became apparent to me immediately -as I was able to access a certain repeater that I had not been able to, for a while. I thought it was a problem at the repeater site .... stupid me!

So I began looking for a replacement in the DX Engineering catalog, and I decided on the Diamond AZ507RSP with the accompanying Diamond K702M mag mount. And then I really noticed the cover:

And it struck me, we ARE all Elmers; but not only in the classic way, that you are used to thinking about it.

You think of the classic Elmer scenario - an old timer takes a newbie under his wing and shows him the ropes. And that is something that those of us who have some experience should all do. But in thinking about it - the reverse is also true.  When you mentor somebody, don't be closed to the idea of learning a new trick or two from the person you are mentoring.

It has been my privilege to teach Amateur Radio classes and get new people into this hobby. It has also been my privilege to be a Volunteer Examiner and get new people into the hobby that way. It has been my privilege to pass on some of what I've learned over the years to these folks.

But in return, it has also been my privilege to learn from some of these new Hams. I have gotten new ideas and have looked at old things in new ways and have been inspired to try new techniques and methods from the very people that I have been "Elmering".

So don't be afraid to take the opportunity to be a mentor or an "Elmer". Don't ever think that you have nothing to offer; because I can guarantee you - you most certainly do. And don't be in the least bit surprised to find out that the person you are "Elmering" will be able to allow you to see things in a fresh, new way that you were never aware of before.

"Elmering" - mentoring - it's a two way street!

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

Outstanding !!!

So far, I have received over 70 e-mails with Skeeter Hunt log summaries, soapbox comments and photos. That's close to a third of the people who asked to be assigned a Skeeter number; and is definitely a record so far. The deadline for submitting log summaries is September 1st at 11:59 PM EDT. After that, log summaries will still be accepted, but will appear as a footnote as far as official standings go..

To be honest with you all, right now I'm just concentrating on tabulating results, and am kind of glossing over soapbox comments and photos. Except for this one, which caught my eye and gave me what has probably been the biggest smile this stubbly old mug has seen in years. Since it will eventually be published in the 2019 Skeeter Hunt Soapbox Comments section of the webpage, I am going to share it early. Not only does it deserve special attention, but it also makes the effort behind the Skeeter Hunt so worthwhile.

Good evening,

Since he’s in bed and has school in the morning, I’m submitting Etienne’s logs (WI9EJR; #144) on his behalf. Since we only have one radio, we ultimately decided to run a single op station, so I won’t be submitting logs (WI9AJR; #143). Logs are attached in CSV format. I’ve never submitted contest logs before, so if another format is preferred, let me know.

I’ve attached two photos, one of Etienne helping raise Rick's (NK9G) antenna which was in the same general vicinity as our station. And another of Etienne’s station, including the logo sign we hung from the EZ-up.

Summary:
Etienne - WI9EJR - WI 
Skeeter# 144 - All SSB , Single Op 
Skeeter QSOs - 1 
Non-Skeeter QRP QSOs - 1 
Non-Skeeter QRO QSOs - 6 
S/P/Cs - 7 
Station Class Multiplier X3 
Logo Photo Bonus - 100 points

Soapbox:

This was Etienne’s first contest, other than Field Day (“it’s not a contest!”), so why not make it SSB on QRP in the worst possible propagation? We headed over to Sheridan Park in Milwaukee, overlooking Lake Michigan (in the photo background), near the popular Oak Leaf Trail pathway. Rick (NK9G), as usual, took us under his wing, loaned us a longer dipole than we usually use, and helped us get it up high up into the trees. We hooked it up to our KX3, and let Etienne go to town.

Etienne alternated the four hours between calling CQ and hunting around on 20m. The bands started pretty quiet, with him being able to hear a few people but not much ability to be heard. Strangely, his first contact was a QRP station in North Carolina, with both sides hearing each other really clearly. Later in the day Europe started coming in, but Etienne either wasn’t getting back them or just couldn’t break through the pile ups. Finally, by the end of the contest things opened up to the western US, but 20m was so full that it was hard for him to be heard.

All in all, it was a good day to spend some time out in the park and for him to play on the radio. QRP with phone is a tough racket, so hopefully he’ll learn Morse sooner than later. And for those wondering, he’s eleven, just started sixth grade. He got his General last summer when we started ham radio.

An outstanding effort by this young man!  QRP SSB can be a tough go; and has caused many a person much older than Etienne to throw up their hands and toss in the towel. However, he stuck with it (under particularly crummy band conditions) and made a good number of contacts.  His perseverance and determination are to be admired. These qualities will serve him well as he travels through middle school, high school and college.

Kudos to Etienne,  and kudos to his Dad, Andre WI9AJR and to Rick NK9G for being outstanding mentors.  Amateur Radio needs a lot more like these two fine men.  I don't know Andre that well; but I do know Rick as an active and particularly excellent QRP'er. Now, I also know him as a particularly fine mentor.

If stuff like this doesn't bring a smile to your face, then I don't know what will!

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