Amazed

I have to say that I witnessed something last night that I have not seen happen very many times in all my years of being an Amateur Radio operator.

Last night, I checked into the St. Max Net a few minutes before net start as Net Control, Lloyd K3QNT was looking for check ins. As we got closer to net start, the band changed a bit and we were able to begin to hear some other voices on the frequency and they were able to hear us.

It appeared that another net was on frequency, since the afternoon in fact, and they were complaining that the St Max Net would be interfering with them. Lloyd explained to them that their signals had just become audible and that there was no intention to interfere with them. Lloyd informed than that our net would begin at 0000 UTC and politely asked if they might have concluded their net by then.

They actually answered that they would be done by then and to stand by for the use of the frequency. So in turn, Lloyd postponed calling for early check ins until the appointed time, in order for them to conclude their session without interference.

It did my heart good to see two groups of considerate, and polite Amateur Radio ops successfully and congenially accommodate each other. It seems so often these days that in situations like these, the immediate response is to become stubborn, rude and unyielding. There ARE grown-ups on the Ham bands and it was great to see!

In other business, since the debacle with the disappearance of the 2024 Skeeter Hunt Scoreboard, I sat myself down in front of my computer and spent a goodly amount of time getting the 2024 certificates composed, and I'm about half way done at this point. The Top Five finishers get a printed hardcopy mailed to them. Because of prohibitive ink and postage costs, everyone else deserving of a certificate gets a .pdf certificate e-mailed to them, so they can print it out for themselves, if they so desire. It used to be that I would send a hardcopy to all the Skeeters who earned one, but that became cost prohibitive after a few years.

For a few years, I experimented with financing all that with markups on Skeeter Hunt merchandise available through Cafe Press. That didn't quite work out so well, so I went into the Skeeter Hunt store and changed all the markups on merchandise to 0%.  Cafe Press gets all the proceeds as I thought that the minimal markups that I had put on items made them too expensive. My philosophy is that if something is too expensive for me to buy, I wouldn't expect anyone else too, either.

I think this current solution probably works out for the best, as the Skeeter Hunt being such a small QRP Sprint that only occurs once a year, probably resulted with a lot of the certificates getting stowed away in a desk drawer or some place like that.  A Skeeter Hunt certificate is a nice thing to have, but I'm not sure of they're deserving of any wall space.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Rough Night

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Earl N8SS's map

Don NK6A's map

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Ham Radio to the rescue?

Kind of, sort of, I guess.

Last night, during Marv K2VHW's nightly Middlesex County Chat Group Net, we had a regular check-in come on, who was speaking gibberish.  The problem is, this particular person is a bit of a jokester and it might not be unusual for him to do something like this for a laugh. But as time wore on and he continued, it became apparent something was wrong, and that this was NOT a joke!

One of the other check-ins broke in and asked for the address of the Ham in distress. I quickly accessed QRZ and relayed the information. Then that person called the police department for that town, explained that he was an Amateur Radio operator and described what was happening and requested "A Health and Welfare Visit".

Marv K2VHW suspended the net while we all waited for further developments. The Ham in distress eventually came on the air and sounded a bit better, but we could tell that all was still not quite right.. Finally, someone, probably one of the Law Enforcement Officers, or perhaps an EMS person picked up the radio and just briefly said, "He's going to the hospital, boys."

It was then that we were able to breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that our friend was in good hands. But it was a stark reminder knowing that had it not been for this nightly net, the outcome could have been much darker. This Ham lives alone and was obviously not aware of his own circumstance and was not even aware that he needed help.

Hopefully, tonight, or on one of the next few nights, our friend will be back on the air with us and we'll be told what exactly happened. If you've ever watched that 1939 Pete Smith short "Radio Hams:", this incident reminded me of the one with the cinematographer in Alaska.

In the meantime, Thank You, Lord, for Amateur Radio!

This all came after a CERT activity that Marv and I were involved in. South Plainfield had it's annual Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting Ceremony yesterday. The festivities started at 5:30 PM and was it ever cold! I had a long sleeved Tee shirt on underneath a thermal shirt underneath a sweatshirt with a windbreaker type jacket on top of those layers and then a final layer, my CERT Vest to top off all!  I had gloves and earmuffs on to keep my extremities warm. 

Our duty was to keep pedestrians safe while crossing the streets as the activities for the night were staged at Boro Hall, which is on one of the busiest streets in town. While traffic was closed for a while, we still had to stand at the places where traffic was diverted to keep pedestrians safe and traffic moving in the right direction.

When I got home around 7:00 PM, my weather station was reporting a temperature of 29F (-2C), and there was a breeze to make it feel even chillier!  Being dressed properly, I was mostly comfortable except for my hands and toes. I should have worn heavier socks and my CERT issued gloves are really work gloves and not intended so much for warmth, but they were better than nothing on my hands. I'll be more completely prepared next time - live and learn.

72 de Larry W2L:J

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Coffee is my friend this morning

It was busy here at work yesterday, but not THAT busy. Yet, when I got home I was feeling exhausted and was contemplating hitting the sack early and bypassing the 40 Meter Fox Hunts. As it was, I had  committed to running the NNJ Southern District ARES Net on 70 cm, last night at 0030 UTC. In a re-organization of ARES in the Northern New Jersey Section, the "Southern District" is comprised of Middlesex, Monmouth, Somerset and Union Counties. 

John Garmendi N2DV, our DEC was otherwise occupied and was unable to act as Net Control, so I volunteered when he announced that he was looking for an NCS. Unless there are a lot of check ins, these nets don't last all that long. As it turned out, there were the normal check ins that we see from month to month, but I was surprised that a lot of my compatriots from South Plainfield were absent last evening.

A half hour later at 0100 UTC is the monthly NNJ Section ARES Net, where the whole section gets together. This net comprises the counties from Monmouth County on up, the entire Northern half of the state, so it takes a bit longer. This net lasted roughly a half hour, and upon its ending the Fox Hunt was only a half hour away, so I decided that I'm re-addicted enough to stay up and chase the two Foxes. As it is, I have a commitment Thursday evening and will not be able to participate in the 80 Meter Fox Hunts. A whole week without chasing Foxes? Suddenly, this year, that has become unthinkable - hence my "re-addiction"!

And two good, experienced Foxes they were- John K4BAI in Georgia and Tim KR0U in Colorado. Since this was the 40 Meter Fox Hunt, I thought I had a good chance for hearing both, if not working both.

John K4BAI was the Upper Fox and I found his chasing pack of Hounds pretty quickly - not much dial twiddling there. Once I found them, I twiddled down carefully until I heard John, himself. Then it was a simple mater of equalizing VFO B with VFO A, hitting the split button and twiddling VFO B back to where I initially heard the pack. John was moving a bit up in frequency after each hound he worked. Once I figured that out, I was able to tune up a bit more and throw out my call sign, hoping it would stick out enough and that he would hear me. I hit paydirt at 0218 UTC and was awarded with a 569 report. I thought John was a little stronger than that and gave him a 579.

One Fox safely in the log, it was time to twiddle on down the band to find Tim KR0U. It was easy enough to find the chasing pack, but finding Tim was another matter entirely. Going down slowly, I was finally able to find Tim, but there was a very loud NAQCC station right on top of him. Last night was their monthly Sprint. John had mentioned this in his Fox announcement, but I had completely forgotten about it until the moment. 

And at that moment, I was hearing that song by The Clash playing in my head - "Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?". It didn't seem like this was going to be easy, but then again, anything worth doing  isn't always easy. So instead of pulling the Big Switch and heading off for some much needed ZZZZZZ's, I tightened up the filters, turned down the RF Gain, turned up the AF Gain and began to strain my ears for Tim. 

Slowly, his signal strength began to increase as propagation was changing in my favor. I was able to return the RF Gain and AF Gain to their normal operating levels and still hear Tim pretty well. Finally, at 0244 UTC, I heard Tim come back to me. I gave him a 559, and he gave me a 539. I hope he was able to hear the two "QHB"s that I sent at the beginning of my exchange as yesterday was his birthday.

With both Foxes in the log, I did pull the Big Switch and headed off to bed. The problem was that although I was tired from the day, I was wired from the thrill of the chase. I wasn't able to fall asleep until after 11:00 PM and I'm feeling it this morning. Thus the title of this post - coffee is indeed my friend today.

As I sit here writing this post, I have to admit that this QRP stuff still amazes me to no end. I've worked a lot of Fox Hunts over the years, both as a Hound and as a Fox. Last night, my meager 5 Watt signal made its way to both Georgia and Colorado.  If I took off in my car right now, and headed south for John K4BAI's QTH, I might make it there by dinner time ........MAYBE.  If I took off right now for Tim KR0U's QTH, I might make it there tomorrow or the next day?  I don't know, I've never driven to Colorado. I've flown to Denver for work once, but have never driven there. Yet, my 5 Watts of RF energy made it to both locations at the speed of light.

It was only 122 years ago, yesterday - December 12th, 1901, that Marconi, situated in St. John's Newfoundland, was able to receive an "S" sent via "wireless" (as it was called back then) from Cornwall in England, proving that radio waves could traverse the Atlantic. The "experts" of the day were convinced that radio waves would never travel farther than the curvature of the Earth allowed, So much for "settled science". eh? His antennas were massive monsters - John, Tim and I were using simple wires and verticals. I have a feeling that if Guglielmo were around to play around in a Fox Hunt, using today's Amateur Radio equipment, he'd be a dedicated QRP'er.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Radio active night

I don't know what the heck was going on last night, but boy-howdy, was there a lot of traffic on the way home from work last night! My normal commute home from the western side of the state to South Plainfield is just under an hour. Last night's commute was 90 minutes with a sea of red tail lights in front of me as far as the eye could see. I didn't pass any accidents or emergency construction, so I have no idea as to the "why". My son Joseph reported the same thing on his commute from the northern part of the state to home. Lots and lots of cars, and lots and lots of sitting and staring at red tail lights. We both could have used Moses to part this kind of "red sea" but I guess he was busy helping others.

A night at the radio proved to be a remedy for that debacle. After dinner, I headed down to the shack to check into the NNJ Southern District ARES Net. The Southern District includes Middlesex, Somerset, Monmouth and Union counties. When that was over, the entire NNJ Section ARES Net was held on a different repeater.  But there was some time to kill between ARES nets before that started, so I turned my attention to the KX3. I managed to work a POTA activation, and them I saw that W1AW/KL7 was spotted on 15 Meters. I dialed on over and discovered to my delight that they were pretty loud on the HF9V - 579 peaking to 599. I haven't worked Alaska in a long time, so I decided to give it a whirl. I had to wait for the pileup to dwindle a little, but my 5 Watts made it through! Ya gotta love it when the sunspot cycle is good to you!

At 9:00 PM EST (0200 UTC) the 40 Meters QRP Fox Hunt was starting up. Starting at 7.030 MHz and still on the HF9V, I very slowly twiddled the dial searching for the Lower Fox. At first I wasn't hearing the Fox himself, but I did hear some familiar call signs which indicated to me that I had stumbled upon the pack of chasing Hounds. I backed down about 1 KHz and sure enough, there was Earl N8SS firing off CW from his fingertips at a prodigious rate. The problem was QSB - I would hear Earl only very faintly and then he would disappear, only to come back after a bit. I listened for a while and hoped that propagation would improve after a while, so I went to go find the Upper Fox.

That duty fell to Steve WX2S for the evening. Steve lives all of about 25 miles, +/- a few, from me down in Kingston, NJ which is right next to Princeton. Would there be enough 40 Meters groundwave to allow us to QSO? I found Steve easily enough, but I knew my signal to him was going to be weak, even by QRP standards. I listened for a while and even threw out my call sign a few times with no joy, so I decided to descend back down the band to see if Earl's signal had gotten any louder.

In fact, it did ......... but there was a loud station almost on top of him which was making it extremely hard to hear Earl. I had to tighten up the KX3's filters almost to the maximum of tightness in order to block out the offending RF, but they did their job and I was finally able to hear Earl well enough to be able to hear any reply back to me. Earl, who was 559, finally answered my call to him at 0241 UTC and we completed the exchange.

Now it was back to the Upper Woods to see if ground wave to Steve was going to be enough. Steve didn't get any louder, but he was in the clear and was Q5 copy, so I started throwing out my call. His pileup was slackening off as he was calling "CQ Fox" multiple times in a row. I kept on throwing out my call with my right hand on the paddles and the fingers of my left hand crossed. That must have counted for something as at 0248 UTC, RF made it from South Plainfield to Kingston and visa-versa and we completed the exchange.  Six for six so far this season! That's not going to last and I probably just jinxed the heck out of it.

Hats off and kudos to both Steve WX2S, Earl N8SS and whoever was behind the key last night at W1AW/KL7 last night. All three ops have tremendous ears and it made for quite the delightful QRP night. I love it when 5 Watts does the job!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

A good HF Sunday

 First, the QRP Image of the Day:

Taken from Facebook - love the photo! It's so this time of the year!

I managed to get on the air in the late morning. It was a productive session and yet disappointing at the same time. I worked seven different POTA stations on 20, 15 and 10 Meters. After I worked my last one, I saw TO8FH, Mayotte Island was spotted on, I forget right now, but it was either 15 or 10 Meters. I tuned to the frequency and they were decently loud. Not great, but not bad either. I figured that if I pumped up the KXPA100 a bit, I could probably work them.

The pileup behavior was absolutely atrocious! Between people not knowing how to go about working split, and the "Frequency Cops" sending "UP, UP", the DXpedition itself became inaudible. If I had gotten through and they had come back to me, I would not have heard them. So I did the best operating practice that I could think of - I turned the dial without even bothering to send my call even once..

Later in the evening, I checked into the St Max Net on 75 Meters. It was a good session with 18 stations checking in. Lloyd K3QNT, who is NCS, has a fantastic signal! He runs a tight, but welcoming and enjoyable ship, and it's good to listen to all who check in.

When the net closed, I noticed that the DX Cluster at the bottom of AC Log showed that the DXpedition to Swains Island W8S was spotted on 15 Meters.

I had a few minutes before K2VHW's Middlesex County Chat Net, so I decided to at least give a listen. To my astonishment, W8S was calling "CQ de W8S UP" with few if any takers! I took a stab that "UP" in this case would be about 2 kHz and gave them a call .......and got an immediate answer! An ATNO, a POTA station and an IOTA station in the log all in one shot!

A good day on HF ....... very good, indeed!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

So what does a QRPer need an amp for, anyway?

 Good question!

And actually, this might surprise some, but there is an SSB (eeek!) net on 75 Meters (double eeek!) that I try to check into on Sunday evenings - that would be the St. Maximilian Kolbe Net.

The net meets each Sunday at 8:00 PM local time here on the east coast and it's a gathering of Catholic gents who also happen to be Amateur Radio ops like Fr. Max SP3RN was.

Net control is Lloyd K3QNT who is located in Pennsylvania. Realistically, 5 or 10 Watts QRP is not going to make it on 75 Meter SSB - unless I had a 100 foot tower with a beam atop it!  The KXPA100 allows me a boost up the power to about 75 Watts, which is sufficient enough to make me heard by Net Control, as well as other members of the net.

The bonus was that while I was getting ready last Saturday for the Skeeter Hunt, I actually stumbled upon my MH-3 microphone for the KX3. I hadn't used it for so long, I had forgotten that I had stowed it in my QRP backpack.

I was able to check into the net on Sunday evening for the first time in a real long time. I hope to make it a weekly happening. I've always found HF nets to be kind of a "weird" thing. Unless you're centrally located between all the participating members, odds are you're not going to hear everyone. They're still kind of fun, though, and if nothing else, they provide a little lesson on propagation.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to end the very least!

It works!

Last night I checked into the two monthly ARES/RACES nets that I make an effort to attend. Both Joseph and Marianne got home late from school/work, respectively.  I ended up checking into the earlier 7:00 PM Middlesex County ARES/RACES net from the dinner table, using the handheld. Bad manners, I know, but you do what you have to.

John N2DV,  our Emergency Coordinator for Middlesex County, who is a reader of this blog and was NCS for the net, caught me on the air afterward and asked me if I had checked in using the new J-Pole. I must have been a little noisy with the handheld, which is spotty, depending on where I am in the house, or how I hold it. We talked for a bit and I explained the situation.

John W2VTV, our Section Emergency Coordinator must have been listening as well, because when I checked into the 8:00 PM NNJ ARES/RACES net, he told me upon check in that the J-Pole was doing a good job. I have no idea as to whether I was dead full quieting or not, but even if I wasn't, it doesn't matter. Just the fact that I was audible enough to be heard well and check in and participate from the inside my house was success enough for me.

For the record, this is a KB9VBR J-Pole.  It's made from copper tubing and will last longer upon this earth than I will, in all probability. It's fed with RG-8X coax. I know, not the best choice for VHF/UHF but it's good enough. Even with cable loss, there's enough Watts to get the job done that I need it to do. As per the instructions, I made a choke balun of (5) four inch (10 cm)  windings of the coax and placed them about one foot (30 cm) from the feed point. A two liter soda bottle is the exact diameter needed and made a good form to wind the coax around. The antenna itself is being supported by four sections of surplus military mast. That puts the base of the antenna roughly at a height of about 24 feet (7 meters). The antenna itself is about a meter long, so the tip is at 8 meters - roughly. Maybe a bit more or a bit less.

Buying an antenna does go against my grain a bit. I like to build my own whenever possible - especially for portable use and Field Day. But this one is made of really good material and I never brazed/soldered copper tubing before. I figured by the time I bought a butane torch so that I could do the job myself, it would probably end up costing more in materials and time than if I just purchased one. So I'll tell myself that I'm supporting the economy and am helping a fellow Ham put food on the table for his family. C'est la vie.

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

Special Net tonight

The local Repeater Club, for which I am Secretary, is having a special net tonight, and I will be the NCS. Maybe a little back story is in order, first.

We used to have a weekly "Wednesday Night Information Net" for many years. The last iteration was run by our club President at the time, Jeff N2VHV. Jeff had COPD and when it became difficult for him to run the net, at times, either Rodolfo N2HRG, Pete KD2ARB or myself would pick up the slack.

When Jeff finally passed on, the net kind of went into "hiatus" mode, as no one really was able to make a weekly commitment. At a recent club meeting, we decided to try to revive the net, and I volunteered to serve as Net Control. However, I have SPARC and ARES commitments on three out of four Wednesdays a month, so the club agreed it would be a monthly, instead of weekly, net.

So far, in September and October, we've had decent, but not stellar participation. I am hoping that tonight will be different. Borrowing from the Catholic custom of November being the month in which we remember those who have gone on before, I decided that tonight's net will be a "Silent Key Net". Members who participate will be invited to share a special memory or story of one of our club members who have gone on to "The Shack in the Sky". For those who are newer to the club and are not familiar with any past members, they will be asked to share a memory or story about someone who may have played an important part in their time as an Amateur Radio op.

I am hoping that this will make the net a bit more personal and meaningful, instead of something that's perhaps a bit too routine and dry. I try to present a topic for discussion for each session, and I am hoping one that "hits home" will draw more into participating. I have sent out club e-mail notices for the past couple of weeks in order to let every member know what will be happening tonight. We'll see it it generates a bigger turnout.

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

On the periphery

I've been doing a lot of Amateur Radio, lately - but not really in a way that you'd expect. Maybe it would be better termed Amateur Radio from the Periphery?

Monday night I participated in our Statewide RACES VHF Net on behalf of Middlesex County from our County's Emergency Operations Center. My good friend Marv K2VHW checked in for the County on the HF Net. The VHF net went without a hitch. We have a 2 Meter beam on a very nice tower pointed right at NJ State Police Headquarters in West Trenton, NJ. Communicating back and forth on the 144 MHz band is like you and me sitting next to each other.

HF was another story.  The net was on 80 Meters and early on, way before the net even started, Marv heard K2EOC, the NCS for the evening, on frequency.  Marv gave him a call and signals were great! K2EOC was easily 20 over 9, if not louder and we received a good signal report, in turn. Not surprising, given the hop, eh?

About 30 minutes later, the bottom dropped out from under the band. K2EOC was not 20 over S9 any longer, in fact, they were barely audible in amongst the band noise.  Even for a couple of pretty seasoned Amateur Radio ops, who've been around the block a few times, the change in the signal was shocking. The net got it's business done, but I'd not be surprised if a few counties tried to check in, but were unsuccessful. For Marv, it took a bunch of repeats to get recognized.

Last night was our 5th week of the Technician License class that we are currently teaching. The class is going extremely well. The students are all engaged, interested and are obviously doing their reading homework. I am expecting a 100% pass rate from this group; and you'll be able to knock me over with a feather if we don't meet that goal.

Tonight is a SPARC meeting, as we make final preparations for our Maker's Day presentation on March 10th. I ordered a bunch of handouts from the ARRL today, so we can have plenty of material about Amateur Radio to hand out to interested prospects.

So all of this Amateur Radio activity without actually sitting down behind the key and making contacts! I'd hesitate to say that it's not fun, because in its own way, it is. It's just different, that's for sure!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!