This & that

I ate lunch at my desk today at work - it was one of those kind of days where lunch had to be short and sweet. However, I did go over to Google and searched videos for "Amateur Radio". There were a ton! More than I expected. Here are some good ones, at least I found them interesting! If you get a chance, check them out:

"How NOT to put up an antenna on Field Day"
"Radio Hams"
"Neighbourhood dispute over a Ham Radio long wire"
"Swiss Ham Radio antennas aerial view with RC helicopter"
"Arctic Radio"
"Andy Hardy and Ham Radio"

The one I liked the best was "Radio Hams". This was produced in the 30s or 40s and is like an old B&W movie newsreel feature. I can only imagine this as being the inspiration for a bunch of young Hams back in that era. The CW used in the short is quite easily copyable and in the end, the story has a real amusing twist.

I have also been playing with logging programs again. I don't know why; but I like to experiment and play around with these things. Once again, I have been playing a lot with AC Log. I deal with Excel all day long at work; so this program comes pretty close in appearance. It has a lot of nice features and I have found the ability to custom label a couple of entry fields to be pretty handy. Also, I have discovered (quite happily) that the memo pad field is just about as big as the one in Win-EQF, which was why I stuck with that logger for so long. It's a very flexible program, making customization very easy.

I have also been playing with AA Log. The neatest feature on that, which I absolutely love is that it works hand in hand with a program called DX Atlas. DX Atlas pops up a map of the world when you enter a DX callsign and allows you to see just where in the world the station that you are working is.

Once again, too much noise on 40 Meters to take part in the 40 Meter QRP Foxhunt; but 80 Meters was quiet enough to allow a few short ragchew type QSOs. Both of these were completed with my Vibroplex bug. I seem to be gaining in proficiency every time I use it.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Deader than dead !

The bands are dead tonight. I spent the last 30 minutes alternately scanning 40 and 80 Meters and calling CQ. You know it's time to quit for the evening when you start to nod off while calling CQ!

There's so much to do; and so little time to do it in. I've really got to spend some time cleaning out my shack. How my shack came to be the family repository for junk, I'll never know; but I can tell you that this is going to be a job that will take a weekend day or several weeknights in order to get it accomplished to my liking.

While I could be doing that, I find myself spending time perusing the Web trying to get some ideas for a new wire antenna this spring. Once again I find myself gravitating towards a Windom or some variant thereof. If I could put up four masts on each corner of my backyard, I would love to put up a loop; but my wife would kill me. She's not too fond of masts and towers and verticals and the like. If she can't readily notice it; then it's fine with her. If she considers it an eyesore; then it's a no-go.

But realistically, I am limited in my antennas endeavors by three things:

1) Space - this is the most precious commodity. I have one tree in the backyard. I am limited to an apex of roughly 25 feet as my maple had to be topped a few years ago for safety reasons. In addition, if I use that as my center point, I have one leg which can terminate near my son's bedroom window which is roughly 70 feet away. My other leg can terminate at the previously mentioned mast which is roughly 45 or so feet in another direction. My doublet (if you were to view it from overhead) ends up not running in a straight line; but more of a right angle, or "L" shape.

2) Money - Need I say more? I have family monetary concerns that come before my hobby needs. The more frugal the better.

3) Time - Full time job, family and a house and two pets to take care of. I can't spend an entire weekend futzing around with antennas.

What I will more than likely end up doing is making a "random length doublet" so to speak. I'll put up a center insulator in the tree. Then for one leg, I'll run as much antenna wire as I can until I reach the house. The other leg will run to the one mast I have tucked away at the far back corner of the backyard. I'll feed it with window line down the trunk of the tree until I reach the ground. I'll terminate the window line with a 4:1 balun at that point and will run coax to the shack. My own version of the $4 Special.

Someday, after I retire, I'll play around and experiment with antennas more. Currently, my operating time is at a premium. I just want to have a reliable hunk of wire up there that I can match up to using the ATU in the K2; and push in the big switch and go!

I see the VP6DX team shattered all kinds of records for DXpedition QSO rates with over 180,000 QSOs in the logs. I'll send in a QSL card along with my $3 "contribution" and will wait for a "snail mail" QSL card. You can request an "on line" QSL; but it costs more. I also think 3 bucks is a bit steep for some colored cardboard; but hey, that seems to be the going rate these days. I guess whatever money they make as a profit goes towards defraying the costs of the DXpedition; and I really can't argue too much with that.

Tonight is their last night on the air with whatever remaining station(s) there are that haven't been broken down. Tomorrow they leave the island and VP6DX 2008 will be one for the history books. If a DVD ever comes out documenting this DXpedition, I might be tempted to buy it. After all, who hasn't dreamed of operating from some exotic South Pacific tropical locale, being the DX that is being pursued by the entire Ham world! Now THAT would be living!

73 de Larry W2LJ

One-fer tonight

Today is Tuesday; so tonight was the 80 Meter QRP Foxhunt. And I managed to snag one of the Foxes. I worked Ron W8RU who is located in Michigan. Conditions were not great; and that is being charitable. The QRN was pretty bad; but Ron was a decent 579 through the noise and static crashes. There must be a weather front moving through as it almost sounded like it was Summer. But it was indeed NOT Summer, as I sat huddled in the basement in a T-shirt, sweatshirt and sweater on top of that.

After I worked Ron, I went hunting for Karl K5DI who is in New Mexico. I not only did not hear Karl, I didn't even hear the pack chasing him!

I switched on over to 40 Meters to try and work some of the SKCC Sprint. I worked N8XE and then the 40 Meter local neighborhood QRN machine turned on, obliterating the band and rendering it useless.

So I came upstairs to warm up a bit; and compose this entry.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Doing the Safety Dance

I checked the VP6DX Website this morning only to find that my QSO from yesterday did not appear in the books - boo, hiss! So this afternoon, I made it a point to work them again, just to be sure.

Around 2000 UTC, I heard them on 15 Meters. I must have just caught them as the band was changing; because in a half an hour their signal went from 589 to nil. So I waited for the propagation to do its thing on 17 Meters again. Bingo! At 2148 UTC they were loud again (louder than yesterday) and I nabbed them again.

Wouldn't you know ..... just as I came upstairs from the basement shack after working them again, I got an e-mail from W3BBO informing me that my QSO from yesterday had just appeared on the online log just a few minutes previously! Well, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry in any event; and once more the K2 "mojo" got to do its thing.

Before working Ducie again, I managed to snag 8R1PW on 20 Meters for Guyana. And last night, I was fortunate to snag Z32ID for Macedonia. I've worked both Macedonia and Guyana before; but never QRP CW. That brings my QRP CW DXCC redo country total to 79. Maybe if I'm extremely lucky and put a decent effort into it; I will reach 100 entities total by the end of the year.

Whether or not I make the goal; one thing for sure is that I'm having a blast in the process!

73 de Larry W2LJ

VP6DX

There's nothing like waiting until the next to the last minute! With less than a week to go; W2LJ finally managed to work the Ducie Island DXpedition.

Wow, those guys have great ears! They have to; or I highly doubt they could have otherwise have plucked my 5 Watt signal out of the air.

I understand that the rig of choice for this DXpedition is the Elecraft K3; so from my results, I guess K3's enjoy talking to K2's and visa-versa!

Hopefully, all you folks have had ample opportunities to work the Ducie Island team many times on many bands. Since I'm not a "hard core" DX'er, I'm satisfied with the one QSO on the one band. Although, you never know ..... maybe if I hear them decently on 20 Meters at some point over the weekend .....

My G5RV did the job for me once again; but as I looked up at it while I was outside today, it is showing its age. UV radiation is causing hunks of insulation to peel off from the wire. I think this summer I will replace it with a Doublet of some form or another.

According to Win-EQF, Ducie Island is 5,543 miles from me. At 5 Watts out, that works out to 1,108.6 miles per Watt. Not my best effort; but not bad, either. I am consistently and constantly amazed at what QRP can accomplish - especially at the bottom trough of two sunspot cycles!

Thank you Ducie Island DXpedition Team of 2008 - you made my day!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Guess I Shouldn't Be Surprised

Did any of you catch the latest "It Seems To Us" in the March 2008 issue of QST?

Basically, it's an upbeat letter about how "There has never been a better time to share your passion for Amateur Radio with your friends and family members". And it goes on to list some great points. I paraphrase:

1) Our stations are no longer bulky boat anchors confined to the garage or basement.

2) There's a digital revolution in consumer electronics that's bringing exciting changes to Amateur Radio.

3) Computers enhance our operating.

4) The Internet enhances our operating.

5) Amateur Radio is the last communications link "When all else fails".

And these are all very good and valid points. However, it's Number 6 that rubbed me the wrong way. And here I will stop paraphrasing and will directly quote the bullet point:

6) Do they know that knowledge of the Morse Code is no longer a requirement for any class of FCC amateur license

But here they throw a bone at the roughly half of us who still think that Morse Code is relevant and important:

(but that CW continues to be one of the most popular operating modes)?

Now why am I not surprised by this two-faced clap trap? The ARRL has been ignoring the advocates for Morse Code for years. "Get rid of it and watch our numbers grow (and the ARRL's coffers swell!)." While they didn't actively lobby AGAINST Morse Code, I begrudgingly admit, they didn't openly lobby FOR it, either.

Ohhhhhh, and look at the tidal wave of new applicants just rushing in beating down the doors for their licenses! Look how our ranks have swelled to the newest and greatest of heights because we got rid of that nasty ol' Morris Code! All those poor, poor people who were denied their "right" to a license because no matter what they did, they just couldn't master Morse Code.

What a bunch of crap! Maybe, just maybe, if we had stuck to our guns; and didn't let the VEC dictate policy, we'd have an Amateur Radio license structure that means something more than it currently does. Something that you could be most definitely proud of and point to; and you'd be able to say, "Look at what I learned!" instead of "Look at what I memorized!".

I know there are still a bunch of folks out there (probably the majority) who studied hard and actually took the time to learn the theory; and to those I send my heartiest congratulations and "Welcome to the hobby". Fortunately, I've taught enough Amateur Radio classes to have actually have known people who fit this bill. They are a credit to our hobby; and they have truly earned their licenses.

But, on the other hand, I've also been a VE for over 15 years; and I personally know the other seamy side of the story. Folks who come in and take an exam and pass because they are good at memorizing answers. Folks who, if you re-phrased the questions they had just answered correctly, would give you a "deer in the headlights" look; or like you had three eyes or something. Folks, who if asked, don't really know the difference between an ohm and an amp.

And that is sad. Maybe we should be more concerned that quality should trump quantity; and that we shouldn't pander just for a "false" rise in statistical numbers. Which hasn't seemed to happen, anyway.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Mission Accomplished !

That's Snoopy, of course; and he's helping me do the "Happy Dance"! At 1809 UTC on 20 Meters, I managed to nab KL7RA to finally work Alaska via QRP CW. Interestingly, my trusty ol' G5RV was ineffective on this one. After much calling without an answer, I switched over to the Butternut HF9V. I got an answer within a few minutes. Granted, there were some repeats requested; but we got 'er done.

Like the kids say about Pokemon - "Gotta catch 'em all". Well, I caught 'em all, now.

A QSL will go out, for sure, in tomorrow's (Tuesday's) mail; and once that confirming QSL comes back, I'll have those babies on their way to Newington faster than you can say "Jack Robinson".

Wow! QRP WAS during (for the most part) a solar minimum. This has got me licking my chops for the conditions we'll be seeing in a few years as more and more sunspots appear in the upswing of cycle 24!

Bonus! As Bob W3BBO so aptly pointed out to me; not only does this finish WAS for me, but AK also counts as a DXCC entity. That brings me closer to DXCC QRP to boot! Shortly before working Alaska, I also worked Antigua for a new one also. And going over my list, I see I made the "rookie mistake" of not counting a W station in my totals. So with Alaska, Antigua and the US, that brings my QRP DXCC total to 75 entities worked.

73 de Larry W2LJ

PS: A little while later, I got back on 20 Meters and managed to work 4U1UN for the very first time in my 30 year Ham career. I have NEVER heard 4U1UN without a pileup; and today they were calling CQ without takers! A double bonus day that I'll remember fondly for quite some time.

I did get a new one!

Country Number 71 towards DXCC QRP was tacked on tonight.

EI5E - Ireland.

40 Meters - almost down at the band edge. I was stoked and pumped and ready to look for more. Then the buzzsaw that is my neighborhood QRN came on, drowning out everything on 40 Meters.

I came upstairs and watched a re-broadcast of Game 3 of the 1969 Mets-Orioles World Series on Sports Net New York. Ah yes, pitchers and catchers have reported for Spring Training! It does my heart a world of good.

73 de Larry W2LJ

My Erie Connection

I am lucky in the fact that I know a lot of QRP Hams that I consider to be good friends who live throughout the country. I have an especially good friend or two in Erie, PA. I have been blessed to know Bob W3BBO for a good number of years now, since he temporarily lived in New Jersey for a few years back in the 90s. Through Bob, I have come to know his friend Neal W3CUV. Bob and Neal were licensed around the same time and they've been friends throughout the years. Neal has become interested in QRP and home brewing.

These guys do excellent work! Bob was over Neal's house a few weeks ago to go see the new SWL-40 that Neal had recently built. I know that he did a fantastic job as Bob has sent me photos of some of Neal's projects. Let's put it this way ..... if any of you ever have the fortune to ever own a piece of gear that either Bob or Neal have built, you are GUARANTEED to own something that was put together the right way and will stand the test of time.

Their "mini-QRP forum" as Bob called it, inspired him to purchase a Wilderness SST.


This is the bag of parts that arrived at W3BBO's house. Needless to say, after a few hours in Bob's more than capable hands, the bag o' parts in the above photo was transformed into the working specimen that appears in the next photo.


And "working" specimen it is! I doubt that anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis is a QRP skeptic; but if you are, and you're wondering what a "measly" 1 and 1/2 Watts can do - it can do a lot! Bob hooked up his Wilderness to his R5 vertical this afternoon; and jumped in the the fray we call the ARRL DX Contest; and in just a few hours, he had worked HG6, OK1, YU1, F8, OE4, 9A5, KP2, 6Y1, ES9, KH7, VP5, EA8, CT9, LY9, IZ2 and T99. Not bad, eh? And never satisfied to have just a "good" radio; Bob is in the process of installing a TICK keyer.

So that in turn, inspired me! I ran down the basement and hopped on the air for about an hour this afternoon. Kind of hard to do when your wife is working; and you're home alone with your 6 and 7 year old kids - but not impossible! I turned on the K2 and was pleased to find that 15 Meters was open (funny how "dead" bands are always open during a major contest!). In about an hour, I was able to work the following (with 5 Watts) 6Y1, TI5, V49, KP2, EE7, PT7, EA8 and V31.

But getting back to Neal and Bob; they are two very active and avid Hams. Bob and Neal are planning a few portable QRP operations this summer (day trips and such) from various places in and around the greater Erie, PA vicinity. Whenever I hear their plans for this coming season, I'll post them here. Listen for these two guys; and work them if you can ..... you'll have worked two of the best!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Bone tired!

As you can see; there were not many posts this past week.

My boss was away on vacation; and I had to fill in for him at work. That meant some overtime; but it also meant a lot more "tired"! I ended up having to do his work as well as my own.

Today was a 12 hour day; and I came home and turned on the radio, only to be reminded that this weekend is the ARRL DX Contest. My brain is Jello-fied enough where the Morse just all runs together into one big blur.

So I am going to hit the hay early; and if I feel less like a truck ran over me, tomorrow; maybe I'll get on the air for a 'lil bit to see if I can possibly work a new country or two.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Another plug for Win-EQF

This has got to be a record for me - three posts in one day! But I got chased off the air as I just heard a few loud claps of thunder. Time to pull the switch; so I might as well post here.

I was rudely interrupted by the elements during a QSO with George W3ANX. Turns out we had a QSO almost to the day, three years ago. George had noted it in his opening comments; and I saw that when I entered his call sign into Win-EQF. The beauty thing about it though, was that I was able to make notes of that last QSO in Win-EQF's more than ample Notepad that accompanies each entry. I was actually able to ask George about a future project that he had talked about last time. Not only did he answer the question; but I think he was quite surprised that I had even remembered it.

To me, that Notepad is the best feature of Win-EQF; and it's that feature which keeps bringing me back even when I'm silly enough to venture forth and explore other logging programs.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Dziękują za odwiedzanie mojego blog !

I hope that translated correctly!

Looking at the little "Feedjit" widget traffic map on the right side edge of this blog, I see that I get regular readers from Poland. Poland is the land of my family; and to the (pardon the pun) Polish Hams reading this, I send you a very special "Welcome"!

All of my grandparents came to the United States in the early 1900's as part of the "Great Immigration". They all legally entered the United States through Ellis Island, which of course, is right next to the Statue of Liberty.

I don't know much of my family history in Poland. I know that all of my grandparents lived in the area of Bialystok before they moved to America. My last name is Makoski, which is actually Makowski. And that's how I pronounce it, as if the "w" is still there. Some time when my dad was young, he took the "w" out and signed all official papers "Makoski". To this day, am not sure just what prompted him to get rid of the "w"! My grandmother's maiden name was Romatowski. My grandfather died when my dad was very young. His mom re-married and my step-grandfather's last name was Rusin. My dad's dad was a farmer; and my dad was born on the farm in same town I would grow up in. When his mom re-married my step-grandfather moved the family to Pennsylvania which my dad considered to be his home.

My mom's maiden name is Kruszewski. Her mom's maiden name (my Babcia) was Sawicki. My grandfather was in the Merchant Marines, visited America and decided to return for good. I'm not sure how my grandmother came to America; but I do know that before she married my grandfather she worked as a maid for a wealthy family in Manhattan. My grandfather settled his family in New Jersey and worked as a carpenter. To this day, my sister has one of his home made rocking chairs. He was also an avid stamp collector; and each grandchild got a plate block collection when we graduated from eighth grade. Unfortunately, my dziadek died before I reached eighth grade; but he had one set aside for me anyway! I have very many happy memories of him; as he used to babysit me and my sister when we were very young. I'm so happy that he lived long enough so that I was old enough to remember him well.

After WWII, my dad's family moved back to New Jersey. They settled in South River; and my dad and his half-brother (my Uncle Frank) opened up a small grocery store, specializing in Polish style meats and provisions. Ahh, the home made kielbasa! I can still smell it like it was yesterday! The literal tons of that wonderful sausage that was made all year around; but especially for Christmas and Easter. We grew up eating that and the traditional pierogi, golumpkis, and pazcki, and krusciki among many others. The Christmas Eve Wigilija and the sharing of the oplatek at my grandmother's house are happily burned forever into my memory.

I went to school at Saint Mary of Ostrabrama Parochial School. The sisters who taught us were the Bernardine Sisters. They tried to teach us rudimentary Polish; and I still know a few words. Unfortunately, they are only basic words. Back in those days, every one worked hard to assimilate into the American culture and while Polish was spoken between my parents and grandparents, English was the common language. As kids, we knew the conversation was about something that our grown-up relatives didn't was us to know about, when they started speaking Polish. It is a personal goal that someday I will learn the Polish language. I figure if I can learn Morse Code (which is its own language) then I should be able to learn passable Polish.

I know my grandparents had brothers and sisters that did not come to America. So there have to be relatives still in Poland, that over the years we have lost touch with. My sister and I still try to keep alive the Polish customs that we learned from our parents and grandparents. Being of Polish descent is something that this American is very, very proud of. If you're from Poland and happen to be a reader of this blog, I'd be very happy to hear from you. The e-mail is w2lj@arrl.net

Mam nadzieję mówić z wami na radiu

73 de Larry W2LJ

PS: I apologize if the tranlations don't make sense - I used an online translator!

Kudos to the ARRL

I'm a Life Member; but not a particularly enamored one.

I find fault with the League for failing to take a strong stand in favor of the CW requirement in Amateur Radio licensing. We've seen what a "smoke and mirrors" deal that turned out to be! I also am not quite the fan of their "regulation by bandwith" plan; and I'm definitely suspect of their (what I consider to be) ill-advised love affair with WinLink.

But when they get something right, they get it right; and since I'm not shy to offer my criticism, I have to be fair and not be shy about giving them their due, either.

I haven't uploaded anything to Logbook of the World in over a year. I decided to rectify that situation about a week ago. I figured I'd get all up to date. So I went to LOTW, and figured out what my last uploaded QSO was; and made an ADIF file for all the most recent. It turned out to be over 1200 QSOs, by the way.

However, when I uploaded them; I found out that a bunch (over 1000) of them didn't "take". A little investigation as to the properties of my certificate showed, that while the certificate itself hadn't expired, the certificate would only accept QSOs up to December of 2006.

Not a problem! I simply went through the process of renewing the certificate and put in a "ending date" as high as I possibly could. In this case, the latest date I could enter was December 31, 2009. So I did that.

Two days later, the new certificate came in the e-mail, along with the .tq5 attachment. As per the e-mail, I double clicked the .tq5 attachment and the Trusted QSL Certificate program came to life. It did away with the old certificate and seemed to unlock the new one I had just applied for. I proceeded to sign may ADIF file with the new certificate and uploaded those over 1000 QSOs that didn't "take". Much to my chagrin and horror, they didn't take this time, either! My results message was that the processing of my QSOs had been aborted because my certificate had been "superseded". Superseded by what? I checked the certificate under the "properties" area and the serial number showed I was using the correct one. I was disappointed.

In my opinion, LOTW is unnecessarily complicated. I also use eQSL and find it much more intuitive and easier to use. Ironically, I'm not a big fan of electronic QSLs, preferring the traditional way the most; but I do like to be up to date with both electronic QSL powerhouses.

I was annoyed and vexed and was willing to let it just be. But then I saw the link on the LOTW page where I could contact the League with problems. I figured "What the heck" and fired off an e-mail with a cut and paste off the error message that I had received. I figured that if I ever heard from the League, it would probably be in a week or two.

I was surprised to see an answer the next day, sitting in my e-mail inbox! It was from Kathy Allison KA1RWY. She explained that I had tried to update the old certificate and was using that. Now, that was incorrect, because when I had double clicked the .tq5 attachment, it got rid of my old certificate. But then she added something that caught my attention. She told me to go into the Trusted QSL Certificate program and manually re-apply the .tq5 file (instead of double clicking) and then upload my log again. That worked! The program accepted my QSOs and I am up to date.

Being a curmudgeon, I did not expect such a fast response from the League. While their answer wasn't quite spot on, they did give me the information I needed to figure out how to get the job done. Thank you ARRL (in particular, Kathy Allison KA1RWY). You really came though this time!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Not so good tonight

As good as the bands were last night; that's how terrible they were tonight. 40 Meters was unusable for the Foxhunt tonight. My local QRN was 20 over 9 on the meter. I wish I knew what was causing it; it's very frustrating, indeed.

80 Meters was better. I was able to QSY down there and had two rather nice QSOs. So the night wasn't a total loss.

Speaking of total losses ...... another disappointment was learning that Mitt Romney has dropped out of the Republican race. Darn! Mitt was the only true Conservative that was running after Fred Thompson decided to pack it in.

McCain is a RINO in the truest sense of the word.

Let's see - ol' Johnny boy is:

Against tax cuts
Believes in Global Warming as a direct result of human activity
Squelched the First Amendment with McCain/Feingold
Wants to grant amnesty to all ILLEGAL aliens (if you're offended by that term (which is the truth) - tough!)
Very soft on border enforcement
Wants to endow Constitutional protections to terrorists captured in the ongoing War against terror.

I may be sitting the election out, come this November.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Rudeness bites!

The bands were pretty quiet and in semi-decent shape here tonight. This despite the wacky weather we're experiencing. February 6th and it peaked over 60 Degrees today! It felt more like Spring outside than Winter today.

So I expected to get on 80 Meters tonight and hear all kinds of static crashes and stuff; but lo and behold, the band was pretty stable and decently quiet. 40 Meters was quiet tonight, also. I called CQ on 80 Meters and had a short but pleasant QSO with Chip W9EBE. Things were going pretty well until a net started up so close to our frequency that it made carrying the conversation any further pretty near impossible.

Which gets me started off on a tirade. Don't net controls "QRL?" anymore? Just even for good looks, if nothing else? Not this guy tonight. He just started with his net callup and preamble without so much as a "?" before starting! Makes you wonder where these guys have their heads buried. I have a few ideas on how to answer that; but this is a "G" rated blog, so I won't go there!

Last night, I was reading a post by Steve NØTU on QRP-L about his homebrewed Buddipole. You can see pictures by visiting here. I was very impressed by Steve's construction. It got me thinking about building another homebrewed Buddipole, myself. I have no idea why; but I had so much more success with my homebrewed version than I ever did with the commercial version. My first QSO with my homebrewed version was with the Azores with my K1 at 5 Watts. Unfortunately, I gave my homebrewed version away when I bought my commercial Buddipole. I sold the commercial version a few years back when I got frustrated with the lack of success with it.

So for about 30 dollars I can make another homebrewed version. I just might do it for this year's portable operating season. Only two sets of coils, one for 40 meters and one set for 20 Meters - although if the sunspot numbers start to improve maybe a set of 15 Meter coils might come in handy, too.

73 de Larry W2LJ

About as much fun as a tonsillectomy

I tried my hand at the Adventure Radio Society Spartan Sprint tonight. I did not have much fun.

40 Meters was once again useless, with 20 over 9 QRN. Unfortunately, 80 Meters wasn't much better. The QRN was slightly less and I managed 8 contacts. The band seemed to be in ripe, summer time conditions with lots of loud static crashes.

A good time was not had by all.

Where's the FCC? Why aren't they doing anything about all these consumer electronic home entertainment devices that are causing RFI? It seems you can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting yet another kind of poorly designed and constructed device that's polluting the RF environment with its spew.

Gosh, I remember the days when people used to complain how Hams were messing around with TV reception, causing weird herringbone patterns and the like. Now it's just the opposite! Plasma TVs, broadband cable modems, baby monitors and the like will be the death of Ham Radio when the aether gets so polluted with spurious RF signals that we won't be able to hear anything anymore!

VERY frustrating.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Super Sunday Soapbox

I've had the TV on the day long "pre-game" show all day long. I just saw something before the start of the game that left a lump in my throat; and a tear in my eye.

Various NFL greats from present and past read excerpts from The Declaration of Independence. It was moving and beautiful.

During the reading, I heard numerous mentions of "The Creator" and "Divine Providence". I dare ANYONE out there to tell me that the Founding Fathers of this great nation were not God fearing men who believed that relying on Him was not only a good thing to do; but a necessary thing to do.

Some people obviously "get it".

73 de Larry W2LJ

No FYBO here

Sad to say; but no FYBO here for W2LJ. My wife had to work today; and normally, that would not present a problem. But around lunchtime, I was sitting on the couch next to my daughter, and I noticed that her forehead felt kind of warm. The thermometer confirmed a 100.8 fever.

A dose of children's Motrin fixed her up right quick; but I stayed close to both my kids today to monitor them for any further signs of illness. Luckily, there were none.

I did sneak down the basement for a quick couple FYBO contacts and managed to work the ever present N4BP and Steve NØTU out in Colorado. He reported a temperature of 55 degrees, which was actually warmer than it got in New Jersey. I think our high for the day reached somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 degrees. However, it was quite breezy today; and if I had been outside, that45 would have felt more like 30!

Tonight, 40 Meters is abuzz with the NA Sprint. Hard to find a hole where non-contesting is going on. As soon as you reach around 7.040 MHz, the hard line RTTY kicks in and takes the band over. I did sneak on over to 80 Meters for a nice QSO with Mike WB2KKI, for a bit.
The Sprint is only scheduled for another couple of hours. I should go down there and see if I can here Alaska. The way 40 Meters has been long the past week or so ...........

73 de Larry W2LJ

It's nice to share

It's nice to share ..... so I will!

My good QRP CW friend Jim Cluett W1PID has had another outdoor QRP adventure. This time he was operating from the frozen surface of Hermit Lake, which is near his home QTH of Sanborton, NH.

For the rest of the story (ala' Paul Harvey) and some neat pictures, do yourself a favor and visit http://www.w1pid.com/articles/ice/ice.html Hey, Jim, you're not supposed to be able to do this - Global Warming and all, don't ya know!

The 40 Meter Foxhunt was a bust tonight at station W2LJ. The Foxes were strategically placed in NJ and VA tonight. Let's put it this way. The Russian "letter beacon" on 7.038 MHz and some K6 stations were coming through loud and clear. 40 Meters went long and the Foxes were too close!

I just checked out the temperature forecast for Saturday. Looks like a high of 49 degrees. I don't think there's going to be too much freezing bonus points in the FYBO contest this coming weekend!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Shave and a haircut ,,,,,

two bits!

Tonight was the Barbershop QRP Sprint where all the ESE's (dit dididi dit) get on the air to hand out QSOs. The goal is to work as many ESE stations as possible.

I worked only one, Joe K5ESE from South Carolina on 80 Meters. In all I made 11 QSOs (4 0n 40 Meters and 7 on 80 Meters) before punking out early so I can go to bed.

The bands were nice and QRN free; but they also seemed to be devoid of a lot of stations, too. But these 11 QSOs gave me 125 in the log for the month of January; so, so far, I'm living up to my resolution of getting on the air a lot more than I did the second half of last year.

Always gotta look at the bright side!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Did I read that right?

The thread started this past weekend, I think.

A gentleman posted to QRP-L that his antenna had come down because squirrels had chewed through his antenna support ropes. Ever since then, Hams have been volunteering their ideas for ways around this problem.

Yesterday and today, several Hams have suggested soaking new support ropes in Cayenne pepper or habanero sauce, and various other kinds of hot sauces to discourage the wily little rodents from causing further damage.

But today, there appeared the latest response to this thread, which caught me totally off guard. I thought to myself, "Did I read that right?" "Did he really say that?" I suppose the post could be interpreted in more than one way.

Aw heck, I'll let YOU decide ...... here was the post that had me scratching my head, word for word:

"Squirrels are too smart to eat that stuff. (although, I suppose you could put some on their nuts) "

I had to admit, it gave me a chuckle!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Back when rigs were rigs .....

and Hams were fidgety and nervous!

A link to the Library of Congress and this photo appeared on QRP-L the other day. The photo is of a spark gap transmitter circa 1910 - 1915.

This is our heritage! This is when homebrew was the order of the day and there were kiloVolts present at the Morse Code key. And you wondered why those Navy keys are called flameproof!

Those Old Timers would more than likely think we're a bunch of wimps and sissies with the stuff we use to get on the air with today.

Tonight, 40 Meters was back to its accustomed mess and 80 Meters was dead. I knew I was in trouble when I heard two relatively close by Hams, N2ESE and N2WJW calling CQ on 80 Meters and they were each about 449 respectively. Normally, those two fellows have great signals on 80.

I was disappointed about not making a QSO tonight; as I desperately wanted to try a new little gizzmo that came through the mail today. I recently purchased an ExtendaDot from Frank W7IS. This little device fits over the dot arm of a bug and allows you to slow it down. The vintage Vibroplex Original Standard that I restored and use most of the time goes at the blazing speed of about 40 WPM with a single weight in a normal position. It was explained to me that the WWII era bugs had very stiff main springs and that this is normal for Vibros made in the mid 1940s.

I was using an extra large weight and a part from a view camera to slow down my bug. The "Rube Goldberg" that I put together did the job; but for some reason the code didn't sound "smoothe". I think all the weight I was using made for a herky-jerky sound. The ExtendaDot is brilliant. I took the weight off altogether and installed Frank's device. Now I can get the bug to send at about 20 WPM quite easily, and maybe it's just my imagination; but I think the Code that I generate now sounds smoother and flows better.

I've stated before that one of my goals is to become as proficient with a bug as I am with a keyer and paddles. Frank's ExtendaDot is going to go a long way towards making that a reality. If you have a bug that you've always wanted to use; but were daunted by its speed then take a look here. So far, I am very happy with my ExtendaDot.

BTW, I had to report for jury duty today. Here in Middlesex County in the state of New Jersey, our jury duty system is "one day, one trial". You report to the County Courthouse; and if you're not selected to be on a jury the day you report; then you go home at the end of the day. If you are selected, then you sit on that jury for however long the trial lasts. The majority are a day or two; or sometimes maybe three. Certain trials can go a lot longer than that; and a bunch of us were a bit nervous as they were looking to seat a jury for a criminal trial that was looking to last three weeks.

Anyway, it was a long day sitting in the prospective Jury Pool room - 8:00 Am until 4:30 PM with not much to do. I brought a bunch of QSTs, WorldRadio magazines and my Palm Tungsten E loaded up with a bunch of KE9V's "Long Delayed Echoes" podcasts. It made the day go by a little bit quicker. It was nice when a guy caught sight of my magazines and asked me if I was a Ham. A positive response from me brought an introduction from him along with, "I'm a Ham, too!".

It turns out that he's an inactive Ham, who has been that way since his antenna blew down in a Winter storm a few years back. Our conversation was a good one; and I certainly hope I re-sparked the embers; and got him sufficiently interested enough to give it another shot. It turns out that he's a retired engineer and one of his jobs was to help design and build the microwave transmitters that went on the Voyager spacecraft. A guy like that should be on the air having QSOs. He was telling me that he didn't want to put up anything obtrusive as the neighbors tended to give him heat over his last set of antennas. Of course I put in the good sales pitch for QRP and simple wire antennas!

As it turns out, I didn't get selected to a jury this time around.

73 de Larry W2LJ

January Run For The Bacon results

The Run For The Bacon for 2008 has started off with a bang!









We had 24 participants; and certificates have been e-mailed to our top three finishers, who are:

George KX0R in First Place
Kent W9NX in Second Place
John K4BAI in Third Place

Rounding out those who used the autolog (in order of finish) were:

Tim AD7AN
Mark K5GQ
Gil K5BTD
Brad AA5CH
Martin KH6MB
Larry W2LJ
Ivin W9ILF
Andy WA5RML
Bill K5JHP
Don WA3ZBJ
David W0PQ
Perry WA8THK
Bob W4BLB
Harry K9DXA
Dale KT4LF
Aron NN1F
Brian KB9BVN
Chuck K4PBY
Yuki K6YUU
Leigh WA5ZNU
Rem K6BBQ

I'm looking forward to the February RFTB. There will be a prize given away to the top finisher! Anyone is invited to participate; but to qualify for the prize, the winner will have to operate at QRP power levels and be a "paid in full" member of the Flying Pigs QRP Club International.

I used the " " because there are no dues! But you do have to join and have a valid FP number to be eligible to win a prize.

For more information on the FP QRP ARCI, please visit:

http://www.gentzow.com/fpqrp/index.php

73 de Larry W2LJ

Comic of the Day

This comic appeared on one of the QRP CW groups that I belong to on Yahoo Groups. It was contributed by Rick KC8AON. I think he took another comic and "doctored" it for Ham Radio purposes - but it is funny!

And FYBO is next Saturday ! What is FYBO you might ask? For those not familiar with the QRP contesting world, FYBO is exactly what the title of the little cartoon states it is - Freeze You B*** Off.

This is the day a lot of QRPers leave the nice warm confines of the Ham shack and take off to operate in the Great Outdoors in the dead of Winter. The lower your ambient temperature, the higher the bonus points you get!

It sounds crazy; but it is fun. And you learn a lot. You learn how batteries hate the cold; and how to keep them powering your rig by sticking them inside your coat. You learn how hard it is to operate a rig or use a paddle with "warm" gloves on. You take your "warm" gloves off to operate the rig and learn how fast your fingers can lose their feeling. You learn to drink a lot of hot chocolate or coffee to feel warm. You learn how long you can sit in one place before you have to move around to keep your legs from going numb. You get a first hand, up close and personal learning session about wind chill factor. You learn about how long you can hold on to all that coffee and hot chocolate you drank before you have to ...... um .....errr......download, so to speak.

You learn how much fun it is to put up a temporary antenna in rather less than ideal conditions. You learn how to get your headphones on your head and your wool cap over that without going through back flips. AND ..... if you take a buddy out to the field with you for this delightful excersize, you'll probably learn a new swear word or two!

Feeling brave? Feel like taking on the elements and becoming Amateur Radio's version of Nanook of the North? Then please visit http://www.azscqrpions.org/FYBO2008.htm for all the pertinent details.

Hmmmmm .... I just scoped out the long range forecast for next Saturday for Central NJ. Becoming partly cloudy and breezy (that'll feel good!) with highs in the upper 30s. Not the greatest for bonus points - but cold enough to probably make you wish you were inside!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Sometimes you're the bug ....

sometimes you're the windshield.

Last night I was the bug - tonight I was the windshield.

Last night I tried to participate in the 40 Meter QRP Foxhunt. I tuned around the band looking for either the Fox or the pack chasing him (them). Then the switch turned on and the 20 over 9 QRN came on and effectively killed 40 Meters for me for the night.

Tonight was a different story. This time I was the windshield. 40 Meters was quiet and stayed that way. I called CQ around 7.028 MHz and was answered by John K1ESE. John and I have worked each other in many QRP Sprints; but we never really had the opportunity to just shoot the breeze for a bit. That changed tonight. I was fortunate enough to work John on his brandy new Ten Tec Orion that he just received yesterday. John was 599 all the way; and the new radio sounded so sweet! I certainly hope that John gets a great many years of enjoyment out of his new rig. And from what I understand, he will. Ten Tec has the reputation for making the finest CW rigs out there. There are a lot of guys out there who swear by them. Someday, if I ever hit the lottery; or come into a huge some of money, I would love to buy one for myself.

Until then, I'll just stick with Ol' Reliable .... my K2.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Hams Nearby

I got on 80 Meters tonight. 40 Meters was QRN free once again; but by the time I got on, it was pretty much dead. So the switch to 80 Meters.

I called CQ for a bit and was answered by Ron W2RYJ who happened to live in the next town over from me. Unfortunately, the QSO was not to last. Ron was using a TS-530 to a doublet at about 20 feet; and he was using a Johnson Matchbox. Something was wrong. His CW tone kept jumping all over the place as if he was changing frequency. A guess on my part is that he was having a high SWR problem that might have been giving his rig fits. Ron cut the QSO short to go and troubleshoot his problems.

While the QSO didn't last; it did get me to thinking about local Hams in the area. There are not many active hams that I know of in my immediate area. The guy who is my backyard neighbor is a Ham; but has not been active in years by his own admission.

Next block over from me is a guy who has what appears to be an R5 or perhaps R7 mounted on a mast close to his driveway. He also has what appears to be a small beam mounted to a tripod on top of his garage. I guess it's a tri-bander as some of the elements appear to have traps. He's close enough to me that if we were to be on at the same time, he'd most likely blow the front end of my radio off the map. I never hear him.

The only Ham in my town that I know is HF active for a fact is Marv K2VHW. He and I taught a Ham Radio class together for our town's Office of Emergency Management. He's a retired broadcast engineer for WABC TV. He got himself a new Icom rig last year and whenever I pass his house, I always look up at the beam and tower with envy.

I did a search on QRZ once, to find to my amazement that there are nearly 50 Hams in South Plainfield. From what I can tell, I'm one of only one or two that get on the air on a regular basis.

There was a Ham in Plainfield (same town that W2RYJ is from) that used to be very active. His name is Henry and his call is W2QF (last time I heard). Henry was an active CW QRP'er. He was also into kit building from the few conversations I had with him. Funny thing is that I used to hear him on one of the local repeaters all the time; but I only conversed with him on HF CW. I'm not big on getting on the local repeaters. A few summers ago, Henry and his wife moved up to Maine - right on the coast. I've worked him once since he's moved up there.

So, is it a plague or a blessing that there are not a plethora of active local Hams? I guess it's not good for the hobby; but in my case, I never have to worry about local, intense QRM. I had that problem back when I used to live in East Brunswick where I grew up. There was a Ham that lived across the street from me and he was VERY active. I could always tell when he was on the air; because he was always overloading my front end.

My mind is rambling ..... a sure sign that it's time to turn in.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Miscellania

The Flying Pigs monthly sprint, the "Run For The Bacon" was rather poorly attended last night. I attribute that to Packers/Giants Championship series football. I made 8 contacts before I gave up for the night. Fortunately, 40 Meters was again usable last night; but the band was long. Arkansas, Louisiana, Colorado were a few of the states I worked last night on 40. 80 Meters was a bit on the noisy side which is odd for Winter. The RFTB Autolog on the Flying Pigs Web site reflects the lack of participants.

I think I might put up a key or two on Ebay to try and raise funds for one of the two VizKey bugs. I am intrigued by the vertical bug as well as the right angle bug. There's a video on YouTube showing off the vertical version in action; and it looks like it can be slowed down as low as 15 WPM or so. Plus, it seems that there's also the benefit of the small footprint such a bug would provide.

As mentioned before, I've really become enamored with using a bug. I want to become really proficient at it; to the point where it would take a real hard listen to discern whether I was using a bug or keyer and paddles. A lofty goal perhaps, but a fun one to try and attain.

I've taken some blogs off the Blogroll and have added a few new ones. I took off a couple that have not had entries since last summer. It stands to reason that they will probably not be updated in the near future. I'll keep my eye on them; and if there are new posts added, I will put them back on the list.

It is quite cold here today. The high didn't go past 25 F; and there was quite a breeze, making it feel colder than that. I had the day off, in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. My old company didn't give us the day off. This was the first time since it has become a Federal holiday that I've had it off. Having Monday off is nice; but it always seems to make the rest of the work week seem longer than normal.

So far, as of right this moment, I have 108 QSOs on the books for January. I know that's not a tremendous amount compared to how often some of you out there get on the air. But, it's a lot more than one QSO per day! And that's a lot more that I've been on the air since about last April or May.

Last little note. I am noticing that the daylight hours are getting perceptibly longer. Twilight is taking hold now between the hours of 5:00 and 6:00 PM; maybe with an edge a bit closer to 6:00 PM. Today marks the "1/3rd of the way through" Winter mark. The only thing that could please me more were if it were May. May, June and July are my three most favorite months of the year.

73 de Larry W2LJ

More on the HAARP project

This appeared on QRP-L today, as some background on the HAARP project. Thanks once again to Paul Harden NA5N for explaining things!

That HAARP - LWA moon bounce thing

For those of you participating in the HAARP moon bounce experiment, or plan to tonight ... thanks. You are participating in "History in the making."

There has been no significant scientific investigations into our ionosphere since the 1960s ... not since most commercial communications moved to the higher frequencies. Sure, we know the effects the sun has on our ionosphere and propagation, but it does not explain all of the phenomenon. For example, last week many of you reported great DX in spite of no sunspots. Why? We simply don't know, because so little in known about our ionosphere.
Radio astronomy was an accidental discovery in the 1930s by Carl Jansky, a telephone engineer trying to determine the source of noise on HF circuits. This was done at 22 MHz. Since then, radio telescopes operate at L-band (1-2 GHz for the hydrogen spectral line) to 40 GHz, and the millimeter radio telescopes above that. There has been very little investigations at frequencies below 1 GHz.

The Long Wavelength Array (LWA) is being designed and built by the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and the Naval Research Lab (NRL) for frequencies from about 5-88 MHz. The prototype array has been built at the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico (where I work), giving them some assistance.

The LWA will be built primarily for low frequency radio astronomy, such as plasma physics of our sun and galactic center. However, the 2nd major science goal of LWA is to model our ionosphere, something that simply has not been done from a physics point of view. One of the projects of LWA will be to (hopefully) make 3D real time maps of our ionosphere, where the D, E and F layers are, their heights, and as a hopeful predictor of HF propagation.

This will be done by HAARP regularly bouncing signals off the moon, which will illuminate the ionosphere. This weekends test, plus some unadvertised tests in the past few months, is the first stages in testing the early stages of the LWA prototype array at the VLA, and the science in general.

So far, results have been very encouraging.

The point is ... this is the first time in our lifetimes that a major scientific instrument is being built to study our ionosphere. When the LWA is completed and science begins, there will no doubt be significant changes to our understanding of the ionosphere. There will probably even be a website somewhere where we, as hams, can see real time images of where the D, E, and F layers are, critical frequencies, etc. Though a few years away, this could well change how hams can predict HF propagation and use the bands.

Our involvement (the ham radio community) into this is very important!!!

There are only a few instruments able to "listen" to the HAARP signals bouncing back from the moon. This weekend's experiment is also to see what kind of response they get from the ham community. If sufficient with some good quality reports, we as hams may become very involved in this new science in the years to come. I can tell you first hand, the people involved in this project are very aware of the large pool of hams out there, which could be put to use at this program develops.

So if you monitor the HAARP/LWA tests yesterday or tonight, please report them. Even if unsuccessful. What is important here, in addition to the reports, is for HAARP/LWA to hear from us hams. We need to let them know we are out here and eager to help. After all, we will likely be the largest body of users in a few years of their product. Who else is using HF on an hourly and daily basis besides hams, the military, and a few others.

I will try to get permission to get the plots of this test as recorded by the LWA at the VLA and post them on my work website. They really are neat, as some of you have heard yourself.
More on this later

72, Paul NA5N

PS - The timing on your reports is important. HAARP is manipulating thier beam, bouncing off different areas of the moon, such that different parts of the sky above our heads are being illuminated. So if you don't hear the signals, keep listening, and they will eventually be illuminating the space above your head.

--- end of post ---

73 de Larry W2LJ

One Resolution kept !

One of my Amateur Radio resolutions for 2008 was to complete the required number of QSOs and earn the SKCC Centurion Award.

I finally got my log information culled from Log-EQF and filled out the application today. I wanted to do this to see how many more SKCC QSOs that I needed to complete the required 100. I thought I was 2 or 3 short; but to my surprise, I actually met the goal this past week.

Thus came the dilemma. I, W2LJ, am the person who certifies Centurion applications! It didn't seem quite right to just give myself the award. So I sent my application to Gordon Benjamin N6WK who is the gentleman who used to do the certifications. Gordon asked me to take over for him a few months ago, in order to free him up for other things, like family, and actually getting on the radio, you know ..... important stuff! But I asked him if he would kindly check one last log; and he very graciously did. And thanks to Gordon, I am now Centurion# 167; and in SKCC QSOs, I can now proudly give my club number as SKCC# 49C.

Thanks to the SKCC, I have become addicted to using a bug over the past two years. I would say that when I send Morse Code now, about 60% of the time, I use a bug. Then my paddles and keyer fill up another 25%; and the straight key get used for the remaining 15% of the time.

I'm still not as good with a bug as I would like to be; but I think I'm getting there. It's definitely a work in progress. I'm not bad with a straight key; but after a while, my wrist begins to hurt like blazes! The side to side motion of the bug is a lot easier on my wrist. Also, there's something "old-timey" and nostalgic about using a bug that just satisfies some inner craving about returning to the Golden Age of Amateur Radio.

I guess I'm just crazy! But the ultimate goal is to end up sounding like guys like Milt K4OSO. I get into a QSO with him and it sounds like he's using a keyer and paddles - he's THAT good!
I want to be that good someday; and the only way to get there is to keep practicing.

73 de Larry W2LJ

I could get used to this!

My neighbor (whichever one it is) who owns the RFI Generator from Hell must be away on business or on a vacation this week. Last night and tonight, 40 Meters has been the way I've always remembered it - good signals with low background noise.

Last night, I was actually able to snare one of the 40 Meter QRP Foxes and tonight I was able to enjoy a half hour long ragchew with Cookie, K5EWJ out of Santa Fe, Texas. 40 Meters has been blissfully free of 20 over 9 QRN that plagues me most nights.

I don't know how long this reprieve will last; so I'm going to enjoy it as long as I possibly can. Once it returns I have a plan to walk around the neighborhood with a little battery powered SW receiver tuned around 7 MHz. Maybe I can pinpoint the house that's creating all the RF hash. Right now, it's a mystery as to who it is; and what exactly it is that's causing it. It's definitely an evening phenomena, though, which leads me to think the cause is something that someone is turning on. Most evenings it goes away by 10:00 or 10:30 PM. I'm wondering if it could possibly be a plasma TV or some other kind of appliance.

One of the kids next door fools around a lot with an electric guitar and amplifier. I'm wondering if it could possibly be something in the amp that's oscillating and is playing havoc with 7 MHz.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Vaya con Dios

It was a nasty way to start the morning, when I checked on the blog of Jeff Davis KE9V, "Long Delayed Echoes"; only to find out that Jeff has decided to shut it down.

LDE was the first blog that I ever really checked upon on a regular basis; and it was the inspiration for me to start this one up, some three years ago this coming April. I check on a lot of Ham Radio blogs during my travels upon the Internet; but for me, LDE was, is, and ever shall be the epitome of what an Amateur Radio blog should be.

Jeff is an outstanding wordsmith; and I found his blog to be the ideal mixture of topics technical, historical and Ham "human interest". LDE was never boring, never simplistic or patronistic; but yet never way over my head, either.

My thanks to Jeff Davis for sharing his Ham Radio life with us over the past few years. Your writing will be missed, Jeff; but yet, I can hardly wait for you to embark upon (as you put it) "the next big thing". Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be First Class!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Are you an insomniac?

If you have a hard time sleeping; and need to find something to while the wee hours away ..... or if you're hard core into "cool science stuff", then have I got a deal for you!

SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX002
ARLX002 Lunar Echo Experiment looking for Amateur Radio Participants

ZCZC AX02
QST de W1AW
Special Bulletin 2 ARLX002
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT January 17, 2008
To all radio amateurs

SB SPCL ARL ARLX002
ARLX002 Lunar Echo Experiment looking for Amateur Radio Participants

The HF Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) in Alaska and the
Long Wavelength Array (LWA) in New Mexico are planning an additional lunar echo experiment for January 18-19.

Interested radio amateurs are invited to participate in this
experiment by listening for the lunar echoes and submitting reports.

On January 19, listen on 6.7925 MHz from 0500-0600z, and on 7.4075
MHz from 0600-0700z. On January 20, listen on 6.7925 MHz from
0630-0730z and on 7.4075 MHz from 0730-0830z (depending on frequency occupancy at the time of operation, it may be necessary to adjust the frequency slightly).

Based on previous experiments, investigators believe it should be
possible to hear the lunar echoes with a standard communications
receiver and a simple 40 meter dipole antenna. The format for the
transmissions will follow a five second cycle beginning on the hour
and repeating continuously.

The HAARP transmitter will transmit for the first two seconds. The
next three seconds will be quiet to listen for the lunar echo. Then
HAARP will transmit again for two seconds, repeating the cycle for
one hour. In the second hour, this five second repetitive cycle will
be repeated at a different frequency. All transmissions from HAARP
will be CW (no modulation).

Depending on ionospheric conditions, it may or may not be possible
to hear the HAARP transmission directly via skywave propagation.
Since HAARP will not be using any modulation, set your receiver on
to CW mode to hear HAARP and the lunar echo. Investigators are
interested in receiving signal reports from radio amateurs who may
be able to detect -- or not detect-- the lunar echo or the
transmitted skywave pulse from HAARP.

Submit reports via e-mail to mbreport@haarp.alaska.edu and list your
call sign and the type and location of your receiving equipment and
antennas.
NNNN
/EX

73 de Larry W2LJ

Frustration!

I was all pumped up, ready to participate in the monthly NAQCC Sprint for the first time in months. Now that I seem to be back in a radio groove, I was really looking forward to it.

The 40 Meter RFI monster did me in, however. From 8:30 until about 9:30, 40 Meters had about S20 noise throughout the band. The neighborhood RFI source got switched off at about 9:30 with a half hour of the Sprint to go; but by that time it was too late. The band went long and I only made about 5 or 6 contacts.

80 Meters wasn't too kind to me tonight, either. The contacts there were just a paltry few, too. Rather than blame the band, though, it was probably my fault. My best results used to occur when I would pick a frequency, sit on it by calling CQ and then just answer the responding stations. I guess I got too antsy tonight and did too much "search and pouncing" rather than run one frequency.

Oh well, better luck next month. This coming Sunday night is the Flying Pigs "Run For The Bacon" monthly Sprint. Maybe I'll have better luck then.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Got one!

In the 80 Meter Foxhunt tonight, I was able to work one of the Foxes, Jim NØUR in Minnesota. He was 569 in New Jersey and made for easy quarry. Jim KGØPP in Colorado was "a whole 'nuther story" as they say. He was 219 in New Jersey at best. I was going to tough it out and listen for him until the bitter end (hoping that his signal would increase); but someone really loud came on his transmit frequency and started calling CQ. I had turned off the AGC in an attempt to hear KGØPP better and my "N7" CQ'er almost blew the headphones off my head!

As Monty Python would say ...... "Now for something completely different".

Word came on QRP-L through Ron Polityka WB3AAL that Ken Louks WA8REI had a stroke a few days ago. Ken is a QRP CW fixture. You can hear him in a lot of the QRP Sprints. You can also hear him operating portable QRP on many of his trips. Ken and I QSO from time to time; and he is always a pleasure to talk to. He is just "good people" plain and simple.

The good news is that it looks like Ken is doing pretty well, all things considered. As per a telephone conversation between WB3AAL and Ken .... Ken has been transported to a Physical Therapy Center and is already giving the therapists a whole bunch of "trouble"! Yes ..... that would be Ken!

It would be a nice gesture for those of you who know Ken (and maybe those of you who have never met him) to drop him a QSL with "best wishes" for a speedy recovery. I think Ken would enjoy hearing from all of us; and knowing that we haven't forgotten him in his hour of need. Ron reports that Ken's brother drops by Ken's house everyday to pick up the mail and bring it to him; so a card to his QRZ address should definitely make it to him.

That's what Ham Radio and especially QRP is all about - sticking by each other and making lifetime friendships!

73 de Larry W2LJ

From Today's Newspaper

This was in today's newspaper. Courtesy of "Loose Parts" by Dave Blazek.

If you're a regular reader of this blog ..... I had better NOT have to tell you what it says on that tombstone !!!!

In my last post, I stated that I was going to comment on an article written in December's "WorldRadio" by W3BE about the fact that the "codeless" license is the snake oil of our times. Subsequently, I came across a post on the very same topic by Jeff Davis KE9V is his blog, "Long Delayed Echoes". Jeff is way more eloquent than I could ever hope to be; so I will just link to it here. I agree with his comments.

Tonight's the 80 Meter Foxhunt! Please excuse me while I go get ready to play.

73 de Larry W2LJ

NAQP

Today was the North American QSO Party or NAQP for short. It runs until 1:00 AM Sunday morning. I decided to get on and give it a whirl. The bands were crowded; and I was just playing around, doing some S&Ping (searching and pouncing) for the louder signals on 40 and 80 Meters. Yes, to my delight, 40 Meters was usable tonight!. In about an hour, I worked 20+ stations. No great shakes; and perhaps even crummy by "Big Contester" standards. But I was just getting my QSO for the day in and adding to my QSO tally for the year. Best DX was working Puerto Rico on 40 Meters. And I was able to make contact with BOTH the HF9V and the G5RV. My temporary fix on the vertical seems to be holding up just fine.

The day here was busy from sunup until sundown. It was pleasant to be able to spend an hour behind the rig, getting to listen to the magic of radio.

What a difference a few days makes, huh? Last Tuesday we flirted with the 70 F degree mark. Definitely not typical for January. On tonight's news, I heard the weatherman mention the possibility of 3 to 6 inches of snow come Monday morning!

With that, I am going to put an end to the rambling. Maybe either tomorrow or the next day, I will comment on an article that I just got to reading in the January issue of "Worldradio" magazine . The author and I seem to be pretty much on the same page as to the effects of the abolition of the CW requirement for Amateur Radio licenses.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Sacre Bleu !!!

Sorry if I misspelled that! But the meaning was there.

I was surprised to look at my Webpage counter this afternoon to see a surge in "hits". I usually get 20 to 30 visitors on a typical day. My Webpage is a modest little affair - nothing too fancy, nothing too, too technical. My Webpage is kind of like me - plain ol' vanilla.

So when I saw that I had over 250 hits today alone, my immediate thought was, OK ...... somebody must have made a comment about my Website somewhere; or maybe someone famous put me in their links. That may or may not be the case; but the majority of visitors came from France. 74% of the hits came from France.

I wonder what's on there that's so popular in France?

But getting back to my Webpage. I have to admit, I know next to nothing about HTML. If it wasn't for the Mozilla Webpage editor, I'd be in deep trouble. My Webmaster abilities were all self taught. A trial and error kind of thing. I'm still learning each time I try to do something new. I would like to make it more up to date and flashier; but without getting frivolous and superfluous. The goal is to help people get their feet wet in homebrewing, QRP, portable operations and Morse Code (of course).

BTW, before I forget ..... I reached 70 countries via QRP CW last weekend when I worked Mile, YU7VX in Serbia. He was calling CQ on 40 Meters and I was trying my best to be heard; and quite frankly, I was not having much luck. That's when my good friend John Laney K4BAI came on frequency and worked Mile with an earsplitting signal! I have NEVER heard John so loud and we work each other a lot in all the QRP sprints. Anyway, John works Mile and asks him to listen for the W2 QRP station that is calling him. Success! Mile gave me a 449 and the QSO was in the bag. Thanks so much, John .... I owe you one!

And I also worked two more SKCC members this past week. That brings up my Centurion total to 92. I just might make Centurion before they reach the 200 mark!

This coming Wednesday night is the NAQCC Sprint. I haven't made one of these in months and I am chomping at the bit! I'm really looking forward to this; but I have my fingers crossed that my neighbor's S9 RFI on 40 Meters will do its vanishing act for the evening. If it doesn't then I am screwed as all my contacts will have to be on 80 Meters.

All that being said ..... no radio tonight. I'm still a bit under the weather; and I don't feel like hanging out in the chilly basement. I think after I post this, I'll go upstairs and turn in early again.

73 de Larry W2LJ

It Might Have Been Nice

I see on the QRP Foxhunt reflector, that Charles W2SH bagged both Foxes tonight. Since Charles is less than 20 miles from me (as the crow flies) chances are pretty good that I might have done as well.

IF I DIDN'T HAVE S9 NOISE ON 40 METERS, THAT IS!

Just my luck! The last few evenings, 40 Meters has been quiet and enjoyable. But tonight, which is Foxhunt night, whatever neighbor is using whatever RFI producing monster, just had to turn it on tonight! From 9:00 PM to well past 10:30, 40 Meters wasn't even listenable (new word, courtesy of W2LJ).

So just how does one go about finding the offending appliance; and on top of that, tactfully tell the owner that their device is killing the heck out of my radio? And could you please turn off that Plasma TV that you took out a second mortgage to buy? Yeah ...... right. The snowball stands a better chance.

Thank God for 80 Meters! The noise is there, too; but maybe at an S1 level. The problem was that 80 Meters was very dead tonight. A few signals; but nothing to write home about. After tuning through the band and alternately calling CQ here and there; I finally nabbed a short QSO after about an hour.

I have to admit, I got a nice 589 report. The QSO was going pretty well until I happened to mention that I was using a K2. Then all of a sudden, the other Ham was plagued by QRN and QRM and was having a tough time copying me. Gee, he had one of them fancy IC-756 Pro IIs. I thought those had all those fancy filters and stuff that helps in situations like these. Guess I thought wrong.

Or it could have been a simple case of QRPhobia. Where the receiving station develops a tin ear as soon as they come to believe that the sending station might be using something less than 100 Watts. I've seen many cases of that, over the years.

Sorry for the rant, folks. Still not feeling 100% - guess I'm just cranky tonight.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Yech!

Even though I'm feeling lousy, I went down to the shack tonight, to dip my feet into the 80 Meter QRP Foxhunt. The two Foxes tonight are Tom KV2X in NY State and Al KØFRP in Colorado.

80 Meters is pretty noisy tonight with lots of QRN. I'm pretty sure that I got a valid exchange with Tom KV2X at Ø216 UTC. Pretty sure because I know he heard me; but I couldn't quite hear if he was asking for repeats of any of my info. Well, the log will tell the tale; and I'm not about to worry about it.

I couldn't hear Al or any of the hounds chasing him for that matter. Colorado is probably a stretch for 80, although I did work KØEVZ in New Mexico last week when I was Fox. In any event, I feel too crummy and have nowhere near the patience required to stay behind the dial tonight. It's either my sinuses that are killing me; or it's a head cold. I tend to think it's sinuses as I have no fever or any body aches that you would normally see accompany a cold. Just coughing, congestion AND a runny nose (if you can believe that!) and a nasty post-nasal drip. Is that graphic enough? Ewwww!

So. let's just say I feel badly enough where here it is 10:00 PM EST; and I'm going to pull the plug and head off to bed. MAYBE a good night's sleep will help me out.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Anybody got any NyQuil?

Not Good News

It's not a good day when you see this appear on the QRP reflectors:

"Hi folks -

We will not be conducting the Atlanticon QRP Forum this year.

We will likely do it again in 2009 ..."

The following reasons were given:

1) Dwindling attendance
2) Dwindling enthusiasm
3) The "Atlanticon Kit" model no longer works

Wow! That is a disappointment. Now I'll be the first one to admit that I've never been to Atlanticon. Current family circumstances have prevented me from attending; but I've always wanted to. And I planned to make one in the near future.

It's sad to see this happen, though. There are not enough Ham Radio events these days; let alone QRP dedicated ones. Atlanticon was kind of the "yardstick" against which all the others were measured. My good friend W3BBO was fortunate to attend a few times; and he enjoyed himself thoroughly. My dream was to make it there with him some year.

So what's the reason? Rising gas prices? A general lull in Ham Radio interest due to the crummy part of the sunspot cycle? The aging demographic of Hams that might not want to travel much anymore?

Whatever the reason, I hope that Atlanticon comes back bigger and stronger than ever in 2009. Maybe I'll actually be able to make it by then!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Musings

I realized tonight while in QSO with Norm NZ5L, that when December 2008 rolls around later this year, that I will have been licensed for 30 years! Wow - how time flies! I have been KA2DOH, N2ELW and have now settled in on my 8th year as W2LJ.

Norm has been licensed a long time, too. He was using separates, a Heath DX60 transmitter and a National NC270 receiver; and he was pushing a mighty 65 Watts my way into NJ. We got to reminiscing about the Good Ol' Days and we both agreed that today's new Hams will never know the enjoyment of the experience of building a Heathkit.

Now THAT was an era! And I came in on the tail end of it; so I'm very fortunate to have had the experience. My very first receiver that I used as a Novice was an HR-1680 that I built myself. Other Ham Radio Heathkits that I have built included the HW-8 QRP rig (of course), the SB-104A (which had a 1 Watt QRP setting - are we seeing a trend develop here?), the electronic keyer with the built in paddles, as well as various accessories (Cantenna, anyone?) and other pieces of gear that I can't even remember now. I had built most of the go-along accessories for the SB-104A and had the entire console going on my desk at one point. I wish I still had the photos, let alone the gear itself.

My entire sound system in my late teens and early twenties was all Heathkit. Pre-amp, power amp, graphic equalizer, noise reduction unit. The only items of my stereo that were not Heath were my turntable, the FM tuner, and the speakers (DCM Time Windows). The pre-amp even had the "pre-pre-amp" because the turntable used a moving coil cartridge which required it. I was an official member of the Heathkit "Master Builders Club". I regret that I never got around to building a TV.

And the glory of it all; was that EVERY item worked the first time! Ah yes, I have melted a lot of solder these past 30 years (I have some scars on my hands to prove it!). I'm happy to say that I enjoyed every minute of it.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Small victories

Small victories are some of the sweetest. Today, while between trips of running up and down into the basement to put Christmas decorations away, I flipped on the K2 and heard KN4Y/M real loud on 20 Meters. He was probably part of the County Hunters Net as he kept advertising that he was in Broward County, FL. He was also running stations contest, shotgun style. Hey, he was loud and I worked him for a QSO for January 5th.

The next victory was with the HF9V. I went out to the backyard and installed a temporary jumper between the feed point of the antenna and the center conductor of the coax, which had pulled away and had snapped clean in two. The antenna hears fine again and tunes up great, too! I realize that this is not a permanent solution; but it does get me back to two antennas again!

Oh well, back to putting Christmas stuff away .....

73 de Larry W2LJ

At least I gave it a shot.

Do I get an "A" for effort? I dutifully went down to the basement tonight, in the attempt to get a QSO in the books for the fifth night in a row.

However, the bands stunk! I heard very few loud signals to speak of on either 40 or 80 Meters. I called CQ on 80 for what must have been over a combined 30 minutes .... nada! I even tried answering the CQs of K2A/4, the SKCC special event station in the 4th Call district, with no success. He was weak, I must have been VERY weak back to him; as all I got as a response was "QRZ?".

So much for "QSO a Day". I'm a bit tired tonight and didn't feel like sitting in the basement for hours trying to get a QSO going. I did that gig in 2005 when I did make a QSO every day for the entire year. At times, it got to be tiring, nerve wracking; and generally no fun. Better to relax and enjoy this hobby than get overwrought about imagined commitments and artificial deadlines. Goals are nice; but you can't let them become obsessions. Especially hobby goals!

Maybe I'll get a few minutes during the afternoon tomorrow to try and still get a Q in for January 5. In between taking down Christmas decorations, that is!

I'm going to catch some shut-eye. Tomorrow looks to be a busy day!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Sounds like sour grapes - or just lame excuses ...

A friend sent me this today in an e-mail. This originally appeared on the "Technocrat" blog. It is a posting by Bruce Perens, the founder of No-Code International. The title of this piece is called, "No-Code Came Too Late To Help Ham Radio".

"On February 23, 2007, the U.S. FCC dropped Morse Code requirements for all ham radio license classes. Other nations, except for Russia, had done so earlier and the ITU had dropped code requirements from its international radio treaty. I had founded No-Code International 10 years previously, to fight for this to happen. We won, and we lost too.

One of the reasons for eliminating the code requirement was that many prospective licensees were deterred from getting their ham licenses by what, in present time, had become a wildly unnecessary and inappropriate requirement - that operators demonstrate the ability to read Morse code by ear. Morse is fun for many, but it was silly for it to be a requirement. The real reason it was there was that the hams themselves wanted to keep out "riff-raff", generally portrayed as undisciplined former CB operators, who they felt would be deterred by the lengthy process of developing code proficiency.

Well, the good news is that there was no flood of riff-raff into Amateur Radio. The bad news is that there was no flood of anyone. A lot of Amateurs upgraded their license class, but the overall population has not increased by even 2000 hams. The best that can be said for Amateur operator numbers is that we have stopped the decline for now, as you can see in these statistics."

Wow! Isn't that something! This is exactly what the proponents of Morse Code were saying all along! The Code is NOT a barrier; and in the end, all this boo-hoo'ing about thousands of people wanting to become Hams but couldn't because they were deterred by having to learn the Code was, in the end, just a bunch of nonsense!

And of course, rather than admit you were wrong, you just come up with, "Well, if we had accomplished this earlier ........." Thank the Lord for supposition based on no fact and revisionist history! The best thing that can be said of No-Code International is that their "claims" were Ham Radio's Urban Myth of the late 1900s and early 2000s.

This is exactly the kind of thing that makes me wonder what the likes of hucksters like Al Gore are going to be saying 20 or 30 years from now when we embark on a trend towards global cooling. Human caused Global Warming is the snake oil of our times. I'll bet the farm that 20 to 30 years down the road, thousands will lay the claim that "I never believed in that, anyway!"

Remember Y2K? The world was supposed to end that night, too. Amazing how that came and went with nary a whimper.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Got it done

I managed to get my QSO in for the day. I'm definitely not promising to make one a day for the entire year; but I will try to make more days than not.

Tonight's QSO was with Jim KCØJKD from Stover, MO. Our QSO was basically just an exchange of FISTS information as Jim was struggling to hear me. He gave me a 449 and I gave him a 579. The 579 was at peaks though, as the QSB was deep and slow. But a QSO is a QSO and it counts!

I was surprised by the lack of strong signals on 80 Meters tonight. Usually this time of the year, 80 Meters is my best band. Who knows, maybe all the RF was freezing and falling out of the aether! It's absolutely brutal outside and the entire house feels chilly as a result. The fire has died in the fireplace; and since it's close to bedtime; I'm not going to add any more logs for the evening. The embers are still glowing and I probably won't close the flue for another couple of hours, otherwise the fumes will have nowhere to go except inside the house - only to fill the house with a burning wood smell. If that happens my wife will just be so pleased with me - I just can't tell you how much!

I'll tell you one thing - give me hot, sticky, muggy Summer weather anytime. This Winter weather is for the birds as far as I'm concerned!

I see where Log-EQF has been updated to version 1.92. The version I am currently using is 1.89. I think I'll download that and install it and then hit the hay. 6:30 AM comes quickly.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Antenna woes

Last night, while serving as "Fox" during the 8o Meter QRP Foxhunt, I tried switching over from my G5RV to my HF9V vertical for a bit. Much to my surprise and chagrin, the HF9V was once again "deaf". I went out in the backyard tonight, after work, flashlight in hand to see what was the matter. Unfortunately, I discovered that the center conductor of the coax broke right at the antenna connection.

Rats!

As I sit here typing this, it's 15 degrees Fahrenheit outside - and it's dark. Perfect antenna working conditions, right?

Wrong!

Maybe tomorrow after work, I will go out and hook up a temporary jumper which will serve me until Spring or somewhat warmer weather makes a comeback. But it doesn't look like I'll be out there with a soldering iron any time soon. Although, maybe I can stop by the local Radio Shack and pick up a couple of replacement butane tanks for my crappy Radio Shack portable soldering iron. The temperatures are supposed to moderate all the way up to the mid 30s on Saturday; so maybe I can do something more "permanent" then. It's hard enough as it is, lugging an extension all the way out there with a high wattage soldering gun during the Summer. I'm sure it's absolutely brutal to attempt it in the Winter!

In any event, I ended up using the G5RV for the entire time during last night's hunt. I really wanted to see if the vertical would allow me to maximize the signals of the "farther away" stations; but it was not to be. In the end, I worked 41 stations; and my best DX was K0EVZ in New Mexico.

The last almost 40 minutes were taken up by working a CW station that didn't realize I was in a QRP contest. The gentleman I was working has been a Ham for 15 years; but has only been on HF CW for the last four months. I decided to take the opportunity to have a bit of a QSO. Courtesy dictated that I not be rude; and besides I didn't want to just blow him off and leave him with the impression that all QRPers are a snobby bunch only interested in communicating amongst themselves. As a result, we had a pleasant, though relatively short QSO. I hope we meet up again for the opportunity for a good ragchew. We've exchanged e-mails and I'm hoping for the best!

It's nice here in the Rec Room with a fire blazing away in the fireplace. But in a few moments I'm going to tear myself away to go down to the basement to try and have a QSO or two for the day. It's chilly down there. When it's in the teens outside, it's only about 58 or so degrees in the shack. I may be a wimp; but I do hate the cold. I have a T-shirt, a sweatshirt and a fleece sweater on over that. That should keep me comfortable for at least a little while. Although i have found that my fist does get bad when my fingers are cold. Paddles or straight key, it doesn't matter - when my fingers are cold my CW suffers!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Quality - not Quantity

Last night's SKN contacts were not plentiful. I mean that in the sense that I didn't spend a ton of time operating. There were plenty signals on the bands; but I only had about an hour's worth of available free time to spend.

In the alloted portion of time that I had available, I did have two nice QSOs. One was with Kevin W3DAD near Baltimore, MD and the other was with Nate KC2MJT up in Peru, NY which is near Lake Placid.

Kevin was LOUD! He was a good 599 into NJ. He couldn't stay on the air too long as he had to tuck his daughter in for the night. But the QSO was enjoyable, even though it was brief. Nate was good 579 into NJ. We had an enjoyable conversation. He was telling me that he was a bit tired as the result of snow shoveling. Fortunately, that's not something that I've had to really deal with hear in Central NJ so far. We've had a few ice storms where I've had to shovel some accumulated sleet; but nothing overwhelming yet. Of course, by publicly stating that, I've probably jinxed myself for the rest of the winter!

In any event, it was nice to be on the air again. I was using the K2, of course, and my LTA SKCC straight key. Last night, Kevin was using a J-38 and Nate was using a Speed-X. It was great to hear two good fists on the air.

So far, I'm holding to my resolution to get on the air more. Tonight at 9:00 PM, I will be one of the two 80 Meter foxes in the QRP Foxhunt; so I should make a bunch of QSOs tonight. Nothing like getting 2008 off to a rollicking start.

73 de Larry W2LJ

BTW, you might ask why I didn't have a bunch of time to operate last night? Busy doing household chores is the answer! It was a good night to get the bathrooms and kitchen cleaned! OK, so it's not New Year's Eve at Times Square - but it's exactly where I want to be!

Happy New Year !!!

Happy New Year, everyone! My best wishes to you for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008!

What would the New Year be without resolutions? I have some; and they are largely Ham Radio related. I hereby resolve, that in 2008, I will:

1) Get on the radio WAY more often than I did in 2007.
2) Operate portable a lot more than I did in 2007, once the weather gets nicer, that is!
3) Keep this blog better updated with my experiences and happenings.
4) Finish a kit or other radio project or two.
5) Re-do the radials to my Butternut HF9V this Spring.
6) Keep my Web page updated and fresh.
7) Work Alaska and finally finish WAS QRP CW.
8) Become an SKCC Centurion.
9) Complete QRP DXCC (only 30 to go).

It will be interesting to see 366 days from now (Yes, this is a Leap Year) how I did. Until the next post, keep happy, healthy and safe!

73 de Larry W2LJ