One more time ..... does QRP really work?

I got a really nice e-mail from Todd, KK7WB, who is getting back into Amateur Radio after being away for a bit. He wants to get back on to HF; but doesn't want to spend a king's ransom in the process. So he has decided to go the QRP route. Simple equipment that won't drive him into bankruptcy is an attractive thought; but ...... will it work? Can it be fun? As Todd put it, "With this being the solar minimum how successful has QRP been for you? Is it still worth your time go get on the air and do you make many contacts at all?"

Here's my answer; and the reason I'm posting it is because there are probably some folks out there who think "That W2LJ talks a good game; but I'll bet he goes running for the 100W rig first thing when the chips are down!" Not true! In fact nothing could be further from the truth!

-------

Todd,

How successful has QRP been for me? VERY! Since 2003 I am 100% QRP. I clung to my QRO rig for a few years after the switch over; but sold that off about 3 years ago. I own a K1 and then laboriously saved up enough for a K2. It took me a while, but I finally did it.

QRP has been a lot of fun and continues to be. I have been a Ham for 30 years now, first licensed in 1978. I can say without fear of lying that QRP has been the most fun in Amateur Radio that I have ever had.

I think the trick in becoming successful with QRP is just learning to forget that you're running QRP. To me it's just Amateur Radio. I have learned that even while running 5 Watts, your signal is going to be loud SOMEWHERE. I get my share of 449 and 559 RSTs; but I also get my share of 589 and 599 RSTs, also. In fact, I got a 599 from a guy in Williamsburg, VA once who would just not believe that I was using a Rockmite at 500 mW! My antennas are nothing exotic - a G5RV at about 25 feet and a ground mounted Butternut HF9V vertical.

Now before I go painting a picture that's all butterflies and roses, there will be times your QRP signal won't do the trick; and there are times you will get frustrated. I find those times to be a distinct minority, though; especially if you're blessed with the virtue of patience. If you learn how propagation works; and you learn how to work DX, you'll get your share of that, too. DO NOT try to work DXpeditions the first few days out - work them towards the end when THEY are begging for contacts. Jump into a DX contest on the 2nd day - you'll be amazed how many foreign stations will listen for a weaker signal when there's points to be had!

I have found ragchews to not be a problem - with one caveat. I rarely mention I'm running QRP. If you just let a ragchew flow, they can last a long time. I have had nice ragchews busted up because all of a sudden I have QSBed ONLY AFTER I mentioned I was running QRP! I think it can be psychological on the receiving end! Plus, unfortunately, you're going to run into ops who will just not QSO with anyone who puts out less than a 599 signal; but then it takes all kinds to make up this world we live in.

As far as the sunspot cycle goes, if the bands are dead - they're gonna be dead whether you're QRO or QRP. If you can't seem to make a contact; then it's time to go build something or read a book or QST or something. But I would urge you to go take a look at John Shannon K3WWP's Website if you haven't already. John is a special individual for sure; but he really proves that QRP works. He's made at least one QRP QSO a day for like the past 5000 days or something like that - we're talking YEARS here! And he doesn't own a tower or beam. He uses all simple wire antennas; and I'm pretty sure that 1/2 of his longwire is inside his house!

As far as rigs go, simple inexpensive ones will yield as good results as fancy, expensive ones; and sometimes I think the contacts are more rewarding with the simpler ones. A side benefit of QRP is that since it tends to dwell on simpler rigs; it kinds hearkens back to our Amateur Radio roots when everything was homemade! I would urge you though, that if you're going to be using monoband rigs, rather than something that has multi- bands; that you get something for 20 and 40 Meters. Those are the two bands I operate with the most success, although on winter evenings, 80 Meters is quite workable, too.

Lastly, the QRP fraternity is truly special. I have made close friendships with several Hams that I never even met in person! I consider them to be amongst some of my best friends. For the most part, QRPers are extra special friendly and very supportive, helpful and generous. For the life of me, I can't explain why - it just seems to be that way.

Don't worry about being QRP, Todd. If you don't consider it to be a handicap; then it won't be. Put up the best antenna you can (even if it's just a random hunk o' wire) and get whatever rig you can on the air and start having fun. You might not be able to work everyone you hear; but believe me, you'll start filling up your logbook quicker that you would have imagined!

------

Everything I said there, I believe in 100% I realize QRP is not for everyone; but for those of you out there who can't get on the air any other way; but remain skeptical - "Let not your heart be troubled". You WILL have fun!

73 de Larry W2LJ

I tried ......

In my last post, I mentioned that I ordered an inexpensive Diamond dual band magmount for the dual band radio that I won. I came home from work last night to read an e-mail from Universal Radio telling me that the antenna is on backorder - with no mention of how long the delay is expected.

I replied by cancelling the back order and hopped on over to AES. I placed an order for the same antenna and received an e-mail today with a UPS tracking number. My order has been shipped already; and it's scheduled to be here on Friday!

I really wanted to do business with one of the smaller guys. I probably would have not cancelled the order if there was some kind of indication given as to how long the backorder would last - a couple of days - a week - a month. But when a backorder is in essence "open ended"; prior experience tells me it's going to be a long wait. Longer than I care to wait at this point.

There will be no HF emanations from station W2LJ tonight. There are quite a number of thunderstorms going through the area; and in fact, it hasn't completely stopped rumbling since I left work! I drove through quite a downpour on the way home and saw a lot of cloud to ground lightning. In fact, as I type this I can hear it begin to downpour on the skylight window here in the rec room again.

Speaking of lightning, there's a very good article on lightning safety on eHam.net. You can read it by clicking here. It's mostly common sense; but it makes for good reading anyway. One of the least controversial articles on eHam as it's all based on fact.

In 10 minutes the VHF net starts on the local repeater. Maybe I'll turn on the HT and check in for the first time in a few years. I guess it good idea to get on there every now and then to let all the guys know I'm still alive. See what happens when you're addicted to HF?

73 de Larry W2LJ

It's a good thing the antenna was unplugged!

Last night, even though it was Flying Pigs Run For the Bacon night; I hit the hay at 9:00 PM. I had to get up at 5:00 AM this morning so I could be at work by 6:00 AM. Every Monday morning I have to put together a 2000 line spreadsheet from scratch and the process takes me about 3 or 4 hours depending on how much I get interrupted.

Anyway, around 11:30 or so last night, I was rudely awakened by what could only be described as the sound of a stick of dynamite going off underneath my bed. We were having a good ol' fashioned heat wave thunderstorm. Problem is that the lightning was striking close ...... very close. The thunder was lound enough to wake me from my slumber, which surprised my wife (who once told me that I could sleep through an atom bomb going off).

It's a good thing that I keep the antennas disconnected from the radio and shunted to ground when not in use. I've seen blue static sparks jump the gap from center pin to ground on PL-259 coax connectors during Field Day thunderstorms. I definitely wouldn't like that kind of arc playing havoc with my gear.

I placed an order Friday night with Universal Radio for a Diamond dual band magmount mobile antenna. I went a little on the cheap side and got one of their less expensive numbers. I'm still trying to save up for that Kenwood tri-band HT - the TH6FA or whatever the model is? Once again, I digress. Hopefully the antenna will make it here this week - Ohio to New Jersey isn't THAT far; and hopefully I'll get to install my Hamfest Doorprize in the Explorer next weekend.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Toasty here in NJ

It was definitely the hottest day of the year to date in Central New Jersey. At 1:00 PM local time, the back porch thermometer (which is NOT in the direct sun) topped out at 101 Degrees Fahrenheit (38.3 C).

I don't know if it's going to be this hot tomorrow; but it's going to be close. And the weatherman is saying that this heatwave is supposed to carry on for the next few days.

Now I'm not saying that there's any carry over from the air temperature to the conditions on the airwaves; but 40 Meters was hot tonight!

At 0207 UTC tonight I worked a new country via QRP to bring my QRP country total to 87. I heard and broke the pile up to work YL3GFX and snare Latvia on the lower portion of 40 Meters. He was a very strong 599 into NJ and I got a reasonable 559 back.

A few KHz up was a European Russian station RA1AOB who had a bigger pileup than the Latvian station! Since I already have European Russia in the log; I didn't stick around to break that pileup, even though I was tempted just for the sport of it.

73 de Larry W2LJ

The bands were dead today

As the temperatures sizzled in NJ today; so did the bands fizzle.

QRP operations the last three days were very good from the park that I go to in Carteret, NJ during lunchbreak. The K1 and the PAC-12 have been doing an outstanding job for me. Not only have the QSOs been good; but I've been getting compliments from the ops on the other end when they have been finding out that I've been using a QRP radio with a portable vertical antenna. You see, QRP skeptics? You can get 589 and 599 reports using 5 Watts!

Today, however, as the temperatures soared past 95 degrees; the bands seemed to head in a proportionally inverse direction. 20, 30 and 40 Meters yielded few, if any signals. After about 15 - 20 minutes of tuning around, I packed up and headed back to work. Not that I wanted to go back there by any means; but at least it was air conditioned.

By the way, the park I set up in is the Joseph Medwick Memorial Park. Joseph Medwick is better known as "Ducky" Medwick - professional baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals as part of "The Gashouse Gang" in the 30s and for the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants in the 40s. He was the last National League Player to win the Triple Crown (league leader in three categories for any one season - home runs, runs batted in and batting average). Joe Medwick, who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1968, was born in Carteret NJ; so the park bears his name. Since I'm such a big baseball fan, it's fitting.

73 de Larry W2LJ

A first time for everything.

There's a first time for everything, I guess.

You know, snow in July ..... 90 degree weather in December ...... a hurricane in Minnesota ....... a blizzard in Miami ...... W2LJ winning the doorprize in a Hamfest.

Yep, that's right! I came home from work today to find a package waiting for me. A brandy new Icom IC-208H was waiting for me along with a note, "Congratulations, you won the SCARC Hamfest doorprize!"

You could have knocked me over with a feather. This is the first time I have ever won anything! And one of the things I was planning to purchase in the near future was a dual band VHF/UHF rig for the car. I really need 440 MHz capability for CERT; and this will replace the monoband 2 Meter Yaesu that I have in there now. Of course, now I have to acquire a dual band antenna; but that's OK. I'm glad to have to do it.

Wow! The good feeling from this is definitely going to last a day or two. Thank you so much Sussex County Amateur Radio Club and KJI Electronics!

73 de Larry W2LJ

73

No, I'm not going anywhere!

The 73 in the title is about one of my pet peeves in Amateur Radio, the misuse of "73".

This train of thought all came about because of a "discussion" (that's Ham talk for "argument") that started on the SKCC e-mail reflector. One Ham used "hi hi" in his post to indicate laughter; just as it's done on the air. Another Ham got bent out of shape about it and commented on it.

At first, I thought the criticism was pretty petty and picky; but then I remembered my own peeve. The misuse of "73". On the air, while sending CW, it's pretty hard to misuse "73". You send the numerals 7 & 3. Pretty cut and dry. For those of you not in the know; or new to Amateur Radio, "73" means "Best Regards" and is used as at the end or sign off of a QSO.

However, in the spoken QSO, 73 is often misused and for some inane reason, that irritates the heck out of me! It's "seven three" when spoken. That's it - no more and no less.

It's NOT "seven threes".
It's NOT "seventy three".
It's NOT "threes".
It's NOT "seven thirds".
and the most idiotic way I've ever heard:
It's NOT "trees".

It must be a bit of Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder that affects me; but hearing 73 used the wrong way just makes my skin crawl. Almost as bad as dragging fingernails across a chalkboard or scratching a balloon - but not quite.

Oh, and by the way, don't even get me started on those two "favorites" of mine from 2 Meter FM:

"I have to sign now because I'm destinated." or "This is WA2BCD for ID".

AAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

73 de Larry W2LJ

A bit of sad news.

I see that Jeff K3OQ is shutting down his blog, "Adventures in Radio by K3OQ", which is listed on the blogroll to the right.

'Tis a pity.

Good Amateur Radio blogs are not as common as you'd think. There are a lot out there that die by the wayside. I have to admire Jeff though, for officially closing it out and not leaving it to languish and leave you wondering when the next post will appear.

Sorry to see you leave the blog scene, Jeff; but I can understand your motives. Keeping this up on a regular basis IS a lot of fun ....... but there ARE times.

Times you'd rather be doing something else (actually being on the air, perhaps?).
Times when you just don't feel like turning on the computer.
Times when you'd rather be with family or friends.
Times when your creativity dries up and you can't even begin to think what to write about.

If it becomes a chore and it's no fun anymore, then it is time to pack it in.

Good luck, Jeff. I look forward to your next Internet adventure.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Hamfest time!

Today was the annual Sussex County Amateur Radio Club's (SCARC) Hamfest. I usually don't get to make this one; as it usually occurs while we're on vacation in Lake George. This year, it fell on the Sunday after we got back; so I was able to make it.

The SCARC Hamfest is one of the best hamfests left in New Jersey. Where the others continue to get smaller (with the exception of the Raritan Valley Radio Club - which seems to be growing), SCARC is holding its own. The hamfest is held in the Sussex County Fairgrounds and there is an 'indoor section" with vendors and an outdoor "tailgating section".

I'm happy to say that both selling sections were well attended; and the hamfest in general was well attended with plenty of buyers. The tailgaters actually were asking reasonable prices; as far as I was able to ascertain from stuff that I was familiar with. Take straight keys, for example. While there were no "steals", there were no really bad rip-offs, either. About 20 bucks would buy you a decent specimen, which is probably a bit less than you would pay on eBay these days.

I didn't have any major purchases in mind, I just went to browse and meet up with old friends. I came away with a bag of PL-259 connectors (12 for $10), a 100 foot spool of antenna rope, a pair of angled cutters for $3 and a neat CERT placard for $2 that I can put in my windshield when I'm on duty for the town.

Speaking of town, I picked up a capacitor made by Cornell-Dublier which was based in South Plainfield for years. In essence, I was able to bring the capacitor "home". The factory site is an EPA Superfund site and all the buildings were just knocked over and ground has been paved over. In a few months they are going to rip up the paving and start to remove the PCB tainted soil.

Back to discussing my purchases .... I also picked up an MFJ crystal controlled QRP 40 Meter transmitter along with a crystal and a home brewed straight key for $10. And lastly, I picked up a neat project box for $5 - which would be the perfect size for a small homebrew 40 Meter receiver to accompany the MFJ transmitter.

I was tempted to pick up some ARRL antenna and QRP books; but then I realized that a majority of the articles were reprints from QST that I could get online whenever I want.

I did hook up with a few friends from the now defunct Piscataway club and I hooked up with Joe WA2QHA, who had won one of the door prizes. Joe lived across the street from me when I used to live in East Brunswick back in my single days. We would often blow each other out of the water with our HF operations; and we would both bother a mutual neighbor who complained that we were BOTH ruining his TV picture. It was good to run into Joe again, who told me he was running mostly QRP these days. I guess our old cranky neighbor is still cranky!

Then, as a extra special treat, I got to have an eyeball QSO with Don W2JEK. Don is a fellow NAQCC member and we've QSOed with each other many times in various QRP sprints; but as a result of our meeting, I now have a face to associate with the fist. And THAT is way cool!

It was a hot morning; but I had a lot of fun walking around. It was good to rummage through all the junk ....... er, I mean treasures, looking for useful items. My main problem is avoiding impulse buying; which would mean coming home with stuff that I'd end up never using. I did good today on that front.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Back from Lake George

We just got back this morning from our annual Summer vacation trip to Lake George, NY. The lake is 230 miles away from South Plainfield; and we had a much needed relaxing week with a chance to recharge the ol' batteries in a manner of speaking. I could have used two weeks of battery recharging; but I'll not be greedy and be happy with what I was able to get!

Of course, I brought the K1 along for some Amateur Radio activity. I didn't set up every day; but I did make a few QSOs and got some of my fellow vacationers curious enough to deliver a fine pitch for Amateur Radio.

For the most part, I used the PAC-12 with the multi-band coil; although I did also use the Hamsticks on the top of the Explorer. It was much nicer to sit at the picnic table and spread out a bit and enjoy the beautiful weather rather than work from the cramped rear hatch of the Explorer. As I mentioned before, the transceiver was the K1 and I used a 12V sealed lead acid battery as my power supply. The key was a Bulldog iambic paddle and I used QSO Diary on my Palm Tungsten E for logging.

I had QSOs with Fairfax, Virginia and Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Sherbrook, Quebec among other locations. 20 Meters was nice on Friday with lots of European signals being heard with the loudest coming from Germany and Poland.

The sound of Morse Code and the sight of the PAC-12 brought a few curious vacationers by the picnic table and I was able to give the "pitch". A few guys and their sons walked away quite interested, especially after hearing those signals coming from across "the pond"; and I promised to follow up with e-mails detailing how to go about getting a license. It seems the "magic of radio" still has the albility to capture imaginations, even these days! Strangley, the folks I spoke to were as impressed or even more impressed with the solar panel that I was using to keep the battery up to snuff.

And quite by coincidence, it turns out that the occupant of the next cabin over from us used to be the mayor of Newington, CT; so he was quite familiar with Amateur Radio and the ARRL.

By the way, this is the view I was able to look at while operating:

Not too shabby, eh?

I brought along my Autek antenna analyzer; and it made using the PAC-12 so much easier! I was able to pin point the tap setting on the PAC-12 multi band coil to the point where the match was so good that I was able to disable the antenna tuner on the K1. It amazed me to see what a big difference just one coil tap setting would make. With the Autek hooked up I was able to see the SWR jump from 3:1 down to 1.4:1 on the next! It sure takes the guess work out of things! The Autek will now be a permanent addition to my portable ops kit.

I brought along the NorCal Doublet; but ended up not using it. Chuck LaPlante, who owns the Stepping Stones Resort, where we stay is VERY accomodating to my Amateur Radio exploits. I didn't want to push the envelope too far by putting up a dipole in his trees, even if it was the very stealthy NorCal Doublet.

By the way, if you're an Amateur Radio op and you're thinking of a Lake George vacation; do make a point of looking into the Stepping Stones. It is a VERY family friendly place and my wife Marianne and our two children love the place. Chuck runs a very tight ship; but like I said, he is VERY accomodating to Amateur Radio as long as it doesn't bother any of the other vacationers.

Tell him that Larry W2LJ from NJ sent you - I'm pretty sure he'll remember me.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Would they be proud?

I am fortunate to live in the area known as "The Crossroads of the Revolution". This part of New Jersey was the host to more skirmishes, battles and military action during the Revolutionary War; than any other part of the original 13 Colonies.

Indeed, just down the road from me is the historic Oak Tree Pond, which was the site of a skirmish between the NJ Militia and the British Regulars that put an end to a flanking maneuver that the British were trying to accomplish in an effort to win the Battle of Short Hills.

In the next town over, in Piscataway, NJ, resides the historic Indian Queen Tavern which used to sit on the waterfront in New Brunswick. It was in this very inn that John Adams and Ben Franklin stayed when they came to "inspect the troops" in New Brunswick on behalf of the Second Continental Congress. George Washington was a guest at the inn numerous times; and it is believed that Thomas Jefferson composed parts of the Declaration of Independence while staying there.

Which lead me to wonder sometimes, that if Jefferson, Adams, Washington and Franklin were to fall asleep at the Indian Queen on a night in 1776 and were to awake to find themselves in the United States of America in 2008 ..... what would they think?

After the initial shock and awe, which would take a long time to overcome, I think that they would have mixed reviews as to what has become of their dream, their "experiment".

I think they would be proud of our ingenuity, our technological advancement, our nation's character (for the most part). I think they'd be proud that we expanded to include 50 great States; choosing not to rest and be content to remain a Union of 13 States. I think they'd be proud that we survived the Civil War and became a stronger Nation for it. I believe that while our Founding Fathers were isolationists, preferring not to become embroiled in Europe's politics, that they would be proud that the United States was behind the voice of Liberty and Freedom that carried through two World Wars and various other times of conflict.

I believe that the Founding Fathers would be proud that until this day, we remain for the most part, "The Breadbasket of the World", feeding millions besides our own. I believe that they would be unbelievably proud that our flag, The Star Spangled Banner, flies on the Moon and is on the sides of spacecraft that have left our Solar System to explore the deepness of space. I think as a whole, they would be delighted with the character and dignity of the people that today, we call Americans.

On the other hand, I am sure there are MANY things that they would shake their heads at; and hold in contempt. I am sure they would deplore the lack of personal responsibility that seems to be so prevalent today. They would certainly abhor the desire of so many for a type of "Nanny State" government that would take care of everything FOR the people. Indeed, they saw such as a throwing away of personal liberty which they regarded as man's most sacred possession. In their minds, government was supposed to exist at the will of the people. It's not supposed to force people to do things they wouldn't otherwise want to do; or interfere with their personal lives and liberties.

The would be very sad with the Judicial Branch of our government, who feels it is their responsibility to make laws instead of interpret them - "legislation from the bench". And they would probably be angered to the point of apoplexy by politicians who spend too much time trying to hold on to their jobs instead of DOING their jobs.

I think the concept of "political correctness" would smack too much of "European delicacy and gentility" and that they would stay away from that like a cat from water.

I am sure they would most definitely shake their heads in sorrow with our fanatical obsession with the "separation of Church and State". I can almost hear them now ... "When we wrote, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" that is ALL we meant!" The desire was for no state religion like The Church of England to become an American institution whereby the President or Congress would become the head of said religion. The Founding Fathers had no desire to separate the United States from God! In fact the Founders believed that a healthy fear and respect of God was necessary for the continuing survival of this Nation. It's so pitiful that so many of our country spend so much of their time divorcing our Nation from God in every circumstance; and then wonder where He is when some kind of natural disaster or calamity occurs.

I think they would look at our current system of taxation and would wonder whatever became of the idea of "taxation without representation". This inflation of the size of government and the plundering of the citizen's personal wealth to keep it all going would be very distasteful to them, indeed.

Lastly, I think they would have a terrible time with the concept of abortion; and how the Supreme Court could have so badly misinterpreted the Constitution as to think that somehow murder (yes ...... murder) would be protected by that Document.

So ....... the question remains ....... would they be proud? I am certain that for the most part they probably would be; but at the same time they'd also be very sad to see how their legacy was mishandled by succeeding generations.

In any event, the Nation remains strong, prosperous and proud. Happy Birthday, United States!To all of you out there, have a wonderful, safe and happy 4th of July weekend.

And may God continue to bless America.

73 de Larry W2LJ

The Fox is afoot!

The 20 Meter QRP Foxhunt season officially opened tonight. The two Foxes were Bill AA4LR in Georgia; and Dale WC7S in Wyoming. Bill was filling in for John K4BAI who was originally scheduled for tonight; but ended up having to be out of town.

Bill was surprisingly loud; and I found him quite easily. He was a good 589-599 and was handling hounds at a nice clip. But I expected to hear him less well than I did, given the proximity between New Jersey and Georgia.

I thought that Wyoming to New Jersey would be the easier trip for 20 Meters; but I was sadly mistaken. After working Bill, I went hunting for Dale and found him - barely. He was 339 (maybe 449 at peaks) all the way. I called him for a good hour and fifteen minutes and there was once or twice when I thought he'd heard me, so I sent my exchange anyway.

Let's put it this way - if my call find its way into his log, I will be VERY surprised!

For the second year in a row, it's been my job to organize the QRP Summer 20 Meter Foxhunt season. The operators are superb - all top notch and it's been a pleasure working with them. It's also nice to be involved in something that gives a lot of your fellow Amateur Radio operators so much fun.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Have I got a Website for you !!!

Or maybe not.

But if you're like me, then you remember your days as Novice Amateur Radio operator warmly. And, if you're like me, you enjoy reading about other folk's Novice radio days.

Due to a private e-mail from Cliff Cheng WW6CC, I am happily able to point you to the Novice Historical Society, by clicking here. Cliff has dedicated this Website to the no longer issued Novice license. The Website is complete with various Ham's reminiscences about how they became licensed and what they discovered once they had their tickets.

There's even a link to sending in your own Novice story, which I did - tonight! So if you get a bit nostalgic from time to time about the "Good Ol' Days", then do yourself a good turn and visit Cliff's site. It's almost as good as perusing through your old logbooks!

You WILL be glad you did. And do the rest of us a good turn and submit YOUR story. There are a bunch of us out here who are dying to read it.

73 de Larry W2LJ

40 Meters was golden tonight!

Tonight was one of those rare nights when everything seemed to be going right. 40 Meters was golden. The local neighborhood QRN was nil, there were no major all-band encompassing contests, and signal strengths were decent.

In all, I had about 5 QSOs in rather rapid succession. A few were brief; but they were all satisfying. The night started out with a QSO with John K1ESE. John used to be the Contest Manager for the Adventure Radio Society. We've had a lot of Sprint exchanges and a few ragchews. Tonights was mostly about local weather. It's been hot in NJ lately, it's been cool and rainy in Maine with the temps finally reaching the 70s up there. It was 88 Degrees here in Central NJ today!

From the QSO with John, I went down and tuned the Extra portion of the band and heard I2JWA calling CQ. My answer got an immediate response and Antonio said that my 5 Watt QRP signal was 599. Now, for those of you ball and chained to QRO, you might be aghast at anything less than 599. Let me state here now and forever for the record - a 559 signal is NOTHING to sneeze at. It is quite copyable with no trouble at all. As always, we promised to exchange cards via the Bureau.

From there I had a conversation with Sean W8OKN in Michigan. He was using an Icom IC-746 Pro to a ladder line fed dipole at 25 feet. He had a nice signal and I enjoyed our chat. From there I worked Jean VE2GHI who was just north of Quebec on his annual fishing vacation. Looking in Log- EQF, I see I snagged him around the same time of year two years ago, while he was out (you guessed it!) fishing. He was using a Yaesu FT-817; but didn't mention what he was using for an antenna.

This morning was the local W2QW Hamfest which is held each year on the weekend before Field Day. I wasn't able to make it as I had to take my son to a swim meet. He did exceptionally well in his two events; and even though I did want to make that Hamfest badly, I'm glad that I was with my son, instead. He placed 1st in his two events and I'm glad that his "old man" was there to see him. When it comes right down to it, I can get to other Hamfests (and will); but these precious "growing up" moments only come around once in a lifetime. Someday, when I'm gone, I want my son to have memories of me being with him and being proud of him. No matter how badly TV portrays fathers as bumbling fools and idiots; a good Dad makes all the difference in the world in his children's lives.

God gave me an important job to do by lending me two children to bring up the right way. I'm gonna do my best to get the job done right. And I truly believe that if I do do the job the right way, the ripples will be felt down the line for generations to come.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Lunchtime QSOs

I was able to make it out to the park for some lunchtime QSOs for the first time in almost two weeks. I was disappointed to tune across the 20 Meter band; only to hear not much. It seemed that calling CQ was in order; so I plunked myself on 14.038 MHz and let the K1's memory keyer do its stuff.

A short while later, I was rewarded by a call from Will K9FO. Will and I have worked before in NAQCC Sprints; and he shows up in my logbook a lot. This was the first time I've heard him during my lunchtime QRP efforts.

It turned out that Will and a bunch of Ham Radio friends were in a local park enjoying a picnic get together. He was using a KX1 to a 20 Meter vertical loop at 4 Watts out. His signal was anywhere from 559 to 579 depending on the QSB.

After leaving the air to go and start cooking burgers for everyone for lunch, Will handed the key off to Don K9KNZ. We chatted for a bit and Don filled me in a bit more on the 20 Meter vertical loop. When I asked him to e-mail me with the specs of the portable 20 Meter loop that they were using; Don just suggested that I Google it - so I did. Here are two interesting links that I found for 20 Meter loops:

http://www.iw5edi.com/ham-radio/?dl2hcb-multiband-delta-loop,28

http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=9313

I'm not sure if either of these pages details exactly what they were using; but I'm sure it's probably pretty close.

By the way, I found out that you can literally spend hours looking at all the antenna pages on dxzone.com. There are so many plans and so many ideas there - truly a wealth of information.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Awwww .... what do those Hams know, anyway?

Finally, an article about what we've been saying for months now.... the new Sunspot cycle is taking its good ol' sweet time getting here!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080609124551.htm

Also, as embarrassed as I am to admit this, my ATS3, which I just finished building .... ain't working. Boo, hiss! The DDS works fine as I get the friendly Morse Code announcement on power up that all is well with the little rig's brain. However, the receiver isn't working.

The SA612 chips have all the right voltages on them; but when I measure the voltages on the AGC chips, the V+ supply of 5V drops down to 2.7V. Something is seriously bringing down the supply voltage. I've gone over the soldering with a fine toothed comb looking for solder bridges, and I've double checked component placement. All seems OK in those regards.

I'm leaning right now towards the theory that I have a malfunctioning component somewhere that's causing the voltage drop. I hate like heck to start removing SMT devices looking for a bad component; but I may have to resort to that soon.

All I can say is ...... NUTS!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Does QRP work?

YES! Outstandingly, yes!

But not always!

I am a QRP fanatic. I love operating with low power, by my own choice. From my Website and hundreds of other posts on this blog; I think you'll agree that QRP is my passion in Amateur Radio and hopefully, I'm one of its biggest proponents.

That is not to say that I am not a realist, however.

A case in point was my experience from last evening. I was tooling around the 20 Meter band; and I heard TCØW calling CQ. A quick visit to DX Atlas on my computer revealed that I was hearing Turkey quite well. I have never worked Turkey before; and I was starting to salivate! To boot, TCØW was not getting may takers, either - there was no pile up to speak of.

I called and I called and I called. No dice. I tried switching back and forth between the G5RV and the Butternut, I tried varying my transmit frequency just a hair to give a different tone. I tried varying my sending speed. I tried just about every trick in my book that has brought me success in the past. I even dialed the K2's power up as high as it would go. Since I don't have Turkey in the log, I was even willing to forgo getting him via QRP.

Nothing.

The last remaining trick up my sleeve was to wait a bit as DX Atlas revealed that grayline propagation might make a QSO possible. As dawn was approaching Turkey, dusk was approaching New Jersey. Frustratingly, TCØW's signal was getting weaker not stronger.

As Kenny Rogers sang, "You got to know when to hold 'em ... know when to fold 'em".

Last night was the time to fold 'em .... or maybe to have a 100 Watt radio on the side - that fifth ace up the sleeve!

73 de Larry W2LJ

W3CUV's Outing

As promised, I said I would share when I heard from Neal W3CUV about his QRP trip to the Allegheny National Forest. Here's the e-mail and a few of the pictures he sent me. I'm not a camping out kind of guy; but this definitely looks like fun!

Hello Larry,
Thanks for getting on the air and listening for me on your busy Saturday afternoon. Working you and another ham (WB4WZR) who I alerted beforehand, made my trip a complete success. I made a total of 12 contacts operating now and then over a 4 day period.


I was camped at a beautiful spot deep in the forest which had been the site of an old farm many years ago. I had camped there dozens of times in the past and knew it would make a good place to put up an antenna and operate. It required a hike of about 5 miles to reach, which threw off my intended operating schedule. Most of my operating was on Friday and Saturday, instead of Saturday and Sunday.


My SW40 performed very well, that little rig receives my highest praise. I sent Dave K1SWL an email and told him so. It is a real power miser, and the 10 NiMH AA cells I took were still going strong at the end of the trip. The EFHW antenna which I tried for the first time, also worked well, "as good as a dipole", and easier to put up.


My pack, including all my camping gear, food & water, tent, sleeping bag, and radio stuff only weighed 29 pounds. The ANF is about 75 road miles from my home here in Erie, PA My 3 recent QRP backpack trips are the fulfillment of an idea I've had for many years, and are a highlight of my ham career. Like you say, it's hamming at its best.

73, Neal W3CUV

Neal, thanks for the kind words; but I can't imagine how working W2LJ made your trip successful. The fact that you were doing what you like to do ... being outdoors and making QSOs and having fun in the process sounds like a big success to me!

Your camping spot looks idyllic; and it ALMOST makes me want to take a crack at doing something like that. Somehow, I think I'm more of an afternoon or day trip hike kind of guy.
But whether it's an afternoon outing; or a full blown camping trip, there is nothing like Ham Radio in the big outdoors.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Operation Overlord

Today, marks the anniversary of Operation Overlord; better known as "D-Day". On June 6th, 1944, 850,000 soldiers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Free France, Poland and other Allied Nations crossed the English Channel to begin landing an invasion force to win back Western Europe from the clutches of Nazi Germany.

It was the largest invasion force ever assembled up until that time. The Commander in Chief, Allied Forces, General Dwight D Eisenhower had deep reservations regarding its success. More American soldiers lost their lives on that single day than in the 4 or 5 years of today's Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Back in those days, "The Greatest Generation" as they've become to be known, recognized the threat of their day; and rolled up their sleeves to work and defeat it. No one from the media ran around demoralizing the troops and no one from that Congressional era ran around declaring defeat before the operation even began! People back then seemed to have a knack for pulling together and working together to get the job done without the political backbiting that is so prevalent today.

So if you have a mother, father, aunt, uncle or grandparent who was part of "The Greatest Generation"; please take the time to thank them for their service, their courage and fortitude. If, in your family, they've all gone on to their reward, then take a moment to remember them, say a prayer for them and give them your thanks that way.

73 de Larry W2LJ

A good commercial for Amateur Radio

I lived out a good commercial for Amateur Radio tonight!

I turned on the rig; and there was an exceptional amount of bad QRN on 40 Meters. There has been bad weather rolling through the East Coast; so I guess it's no surprise that the bands were nasty. Rather than listen to static crashes, I decided to work some more on the ATS3. I finished mounting all the SMT devices the other night; and tonight I got all the "through hole" devices mounted. All that is left is the filter boards and the testing and alignment.

As I began mounting some of "through hole" devices that were in a cramped area of the circuit board, I decided to change the tip on my soldering station. I had to turn it off and let it cool down for a bit; so I flipped the rig back on and started calling CQ on 40 Meters in the neighborhood of the SKCC watering hole of 7.050 MHz.

I was answered by Mike AE4R of Vienna, Virginia. Mike had a nice signal into NJ (QRN notwithstanding) and we started gabbing a bit. This is where it gets good! Mike is sitting in his shack, using a Kenwood TS-50 on battery power. It seems there's been a bad spate of thunderstorms and even some tornadoes in the Vienna area; and the entire town is without commercial power!

But that made no difference to Mike, who simply connected his rig to a deep cycle battery; and was able to conduct communications as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Granted, this was a ragchew and was not emergency communications; BUT if it had been, Mike and I would have been able to pass whatever traffic was deemed necessary without so much as a hiccup.

I guess what the ARRL has been preaching the last few years really IS true:




73 de Larry W2LJ

My heart wasn't in the Spartan Sprint

The fluff ball to the left is my cat, Sadie. Marianne and I "adopted" her right after we got back from our honeymoon, ten years ago. So in essence, she was the first addition to our family.

I am NOT a cat person. I am a dog person. I love dogs. We have one - Jesse who is a Brittany. But my wife grew up with cats and I wanted her to have one in the house. When we went to PetsMart to look for a cat we spotted Sadie and her beautiful green eyes. When the sales person took Sadie out of her cage so we could hold her, Sadie took one look at me and literally jumped into my arms.

It's been love ever since.

Sadie acts like a dog. For the most part (99% of the time), she will come when you call her. She is very affectionate; and is not the least bit aloof like other cats. She likes to play; and she usually sleeps with us in our bed somewhere near my side. When she wants to be petted, she'll let you know by reaching out for you with her paw. She loves to be scratched behind her ears and underneath her chin. She doesn't even mind when you stroke her tail, which is big and bushy like a squirrel's.

Tonight, as I tucked the kids into bed, I came to realize that I hadn't seen Sadie since I got home from work. I checked everywhere - her usual haunts and hideouts. I checked under the sinks, under furniture and in closets. I looked for her in the basement and out in the yard under bushes in the event she somehow got out of the house. She was nowhere to be found.

Dejected, I resigned myself to the fact that she probably escaped from the house at some point when the kids had the door open, running inside and out. Sadie is an indoor cat; and was probably gone for good. I couldn't go roaming around the neighborhood looking for her as Marianne is working and I can't leave the kids alone in the house.

The Spartan Sprint beckoned; but I wasn't much in the mood. I made about 8 contacts in all when I started hearing noise outside. It seems that the next town over must be hosting a carnival or something; because at 9:30 a fireworks display started. A few explosions was all it took for Sadie to come out of her hiding place and come running for my lap. One second she was nowhere to be found, the next she was a gray blur heading right for me.

She had been in the house the whole time! I have no idea where she was hiding or why. She must have fallen asleep and didn't hear me as she almost always comes when I call. I'm just happy and relieved that she didn't run away.

There will be other Spartan Sprints; but there's only one Sadie!

73 de Larry W2LJ

No doubt about it ..... people are amazing!

This morning, I got the opportunity to put on my CERT hat and vest to help the Police in my town.

A little background is in order, I suppose. Every year, South Plainfield hosts the New Jersey High Schools Statewide Track Meet. We're located very centrally in the state; and just about every major highway in the state is more or less a stone's throw away from South Plainfield. So you can imagine the havoc as just about every high school in the state of New Jersey sends their Track & Field team to our little town.

Parking is handled at the high school field itself; as well as the nearby Community Pool parking lot and the nearby Police Athletic League building parking lot. Even adding these, there's nowhere enough parking, so it spills off onto local side streets.

It takes a lot of manpower to get through this; and the CERT Teams in town have been helping out since we first formed up back in 2004. My job was to stay at the top of the road that runs along the athletic field, which had been made a One Way street for the event; and not allow cars access. The idea here was to allow better access for the School Buses that would be dropping off and picking up student athletes throughout the day.

For the most part, people were good natured and cooperative. There were exceptions, however. Boy, where there exceptions!

I've never been sworn at by a female coach before. She came barreling down the road, trying to gain access to the field. I stopped her car at the point of "No Entry" which was only about 150 feet or so from the admission gate.

"Why are you stopping me?"

"Ma'am, this is a one way street at this point. You can't go down this way".

"But I'm a coach and I'm late!"

"Sorry about that Ma'am; but you can't go down the street. You can park here and get out and walk the rest of the way; but you can't drive down this street."

"Says who? Are you with the Police?"

"Ma'am, I'm with the Office of Emergency Management. The police have given me the task of traffic control at this point".

"Well, I don't care who you are".

Next thing I know, she hurls a few expletives my way and drives right past me - going the wrong way down a One Way street. Then, the next thing I saw was a Police Officer asking her (very loudly) why she didn't listen to what the man wearing the green vest had told her. By the time all was said and done, she was REALLY late and a probably a lot embarrassed. She was lucky that all that happened was that she got a lecture by the police and wasn't issued a summons for a moving violation. That would have cost her a nice chunk of change.

Most people complained about having to park so far away from the event and having to walk. To me that was extremely funny coming from folks who were about to observe an athletic event that features running. I guess it just goes to prove that you don't have to be in shape to watch people who ARE in shape do their thing. Oh, and by the way, no one had to park more than about 4 or 5 blocks away from the event.

Amateur Radio played a big role as those of us who were on traffic detail are all Hams and RACES operators. Although this wasn't a RACES event, we all kept in touch with each other on 2 Meter simplex rather than tie up the Municipal radios we were given. Plus were were able to switch our HTs over to the NOAA weather frequencies to keep tabs on a line of severe thunderstorms coming through the area. Sure enough, we were able to give the Police and Track and Field organizers about a half hour's warning that a squall line was about to move through. And it came through right on time! We all got drenched in the process; but we were able to move the athletes and spectators to safety in an orderly and safe manner.

It's a good thing that my Alinco HT is gasketed against moisture; because by the time I got home, I pretty much had to wring it out.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Booo - yaaahhh !

This appeared on the FISTS e-mail reflector today - thank you, Nancy!

R 292200Z MAY 2008

FM CHNAVMARCORMARS WILLIAMSBURG VA

TO ALNAVMARCORMARS

INFO ZEN/CHIEF ARMY MARS FT HUACHUCA AZ

ZEN/CHIEF AIR FORCE MARS SCOTT AFB IL

BT

UNCLAS

SUBJ: CHNAVMARCORMARS BCST 06-08

A. DRAFT RADIOTELEGRAPH PROCEDURES

1. WHEN I ASSUMED THE CHIEF, NAVMARCORMARS POSITION IN NOVEMBER, 1997, WE WERE MORE THAN A YEAR INTO THE DOD MANDATED BAN ON CW ON MARS FREQUENCIES.

A. SINCE THAT TIME THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION HAS, IN STEPS, ELIMINATED THE MORSE CODE REQUIREMENT FOR AN AMATEUR LICENSE. ALL EMERGENCY COMMUNICATORS KNOW THAT WHEN VOICE AND OTHER DIGITAL MODES SLOW TO A CRAWL OR BECOME UNUSABLE, CW CAN STILL BE USED.

B. I REMEMBER THE NORTHEAST ICE STORM SHORTLY AFTER I BECAME CHIEF AND THE UNNECESSARILY LENGTHY EFFORT BY ALL OF SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND TO RECEIVE ONE VOICE EEI FROM A NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND MEMBER WHOSE ANTENNA WAS COVERED IN ICE AND LYING ON THE GROUND. IT TOOK OVER AN HOUR WHEN CW COULD HAVE HANDLED IT IN A FEW MINUTES.

C. AS MORE AND MORE OF OUR MEMBERS ENTER MARS WITH NO MORSE CODE EXPERIENCE, I AM AFRAID THAT WE WILL SOON LOSE THAT SKILL SET IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING.

2. IN VIEW OF THE ABOVE AND EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, AREA AND REGION DIRECTORS ARE AUTHORIZED TO ESTABLISH CW TRAINING AND TRAFFIC NETS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE AREAS AND REGIONS. ALL STATE DIRECTORS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN CONDUCTING TRAINING IN CW ON THEIR TRAFFIC AND TRAINING NETS.

3. SINCE THE RADIOTELEGRAPH PROCEDURES WERE ELIMINATED BEFORE THE PUBLICATION OF NTP 8(C), REF A WILL BE POSTED UNDER THE DOCUMENTS TAB ON THE NATIONAL WEB PAGE SOON. USE THESE DRAFT PROCEDURES UNTIL A FINAL TRI-SERVICE MARS PROCEDURE FOR RADIOTELEGRAPH IS DEVELOPED AND PROMULGATED.

4. MARS: TOGETHER WE CAN ACHIEVE ANYTHING.

BT

Finally, someone is using the common sense that the Dear Lord gave them !!!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Is That a Promise?

The following appeared in today's New York Post:

SUSAN SARANDON, who appeared in three films last year and won kudos for her TV movie "Bernard and Doris," is still not a contented soul. She says if John McCain gets elected, she will move to Italy or Canada. She adds, "It's a critical time, but I have faith in the American people."

You know, when these sanctimonious, over paid, overly self-esteemed celebrities make asinine statements like this, I seriously consider ponying up the money to buy the airplane ticket.

Hey Susan, (who grew up in the town next to mine, BTW) don't let the glass hit your _ _ _ on the way out, OK?

Now, on to our regularly scheduled radio content:

I went out again during lunch time. A Beautiful day (no, that's not a typo, I meant to use the capital "B") again in Central New Jersey - crystal blue skies and temps in the upper 70s. I plunked the Hamstick on top of the Explorer and was disappointed in the slim pickin's as far as signals on 20 Meters was concerned. I heard a few, one or two loud ones; and called CQ for a bunch with no results. Today was one of those days where if I was fishing, I would have lost all my worms with no fish to show for it.

I'm feeling a bit on the energetic side tonight, so after the kids go to bed, I think I'll head down to the basement to work on the ATS3 for a bit more. The forecast is for some boomers to start moving in tonight; so probably no actual on-air time tonight.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Lunchtime CW confusion !

It was a beautiful day here in Central New Jersey! The skies were blue, there were no clouds, it was slightly breezy and the temperatures hovered around the 70 Degree mark. It was a perfect day to head out to the park during lunchtime for some QRP.

I ended up having a nice QSO with AI4IC. Kay, who comes from Tennessee, was vacationing at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Kay was using a Yaesu FT897 to a Buddipole located in the attic. Kay had a beautiful 599 signal into New Jersey; and I enjoyed our 20 Meter QSO.

Previous to that, my CQ was answered by another 599 station; but even if my life depended on it; I would not be able to tell you who it was that was calling me. The station answering me sent a string of letters with no breaks whatsoever. It was a jumble and mish-mash of consonants, vowels and numbers. I was able to make out my own call; but that was it.

It is so very important to watch your spacing when you send Morse Code. The breaks between letter elements are SO important! They make all the difference in the world between Morse Code that is music; or Morse Code that is gibberish.

Imaginetryingtoreadanentirebookthathadallitstypelaidoutlikethis.

Boy, that was even hard to type! That is what the Morse Code I was trying to receive today was like. Unfortunately, I just couldn't make it out. I think it was a 5 station; but I thought I had copied WL5. Now THAT makes no sense whatsoever as the WL would have indicated Alaska; and I doubt there are any WL5s in Alaska.

I can understand folks wanting to up their code speed by sending fast. Please make sure you don't send so fast as to neglect spacing and thus, readability.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Memorial Day 2008

The following was spoken by General Colin Powell to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in 2003:

"We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we’ve done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek to live our own lives in peace."

As we celebrate Memorial Day 2008; or as it used to be called, Decoration Day, it is a good and just thing to pause for a moment and remember all those brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their Country.

From Bunker Hill to Baghdad, our brightest and best have taken upon their shoulders the burden of defending our country and our way of life. We owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.

To all who have served our Country, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your service . To those who have paid for our freedom with your lives; you are in our prayers, forever.

American Cemetery, Omaha Beach, Normandy, France

God Bless America!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Working W3CUV

Today was a crazy day. All the plans I had for this morning went by the wayside when I woke up to find a voice message waiting in the "Inbox" of my cell phone. Sure enough, it was work; and I had to go in for a few hours to locate some fiber cards for a switch that needed to be installed this weekend. In fact, I discovered the message not immediately after I woke up; but as I was leaving the house, all dressed up to attend a formal function! It seemed like after that everything went askew. Everything else that I had planned to get done today either got put on hold; or delayed.

What made up for it, though, was an e-mail that W3BBO had sent me. While I was grocery shopping this afternoon he sent me notice that Neal W3CUV, who I had mentioned in this blog a few days ago, was on the air on 7.050 MHZ from the Allegheny National Forest. I put the groceries away and ran down the basement, turned on the K2 and tuned to 7.050 MHz; and sure enough, there was W3CUV calling CQ amongst the din of the CQ WW WPX Contest.

For the most part, Neal had a great signal into NJ; and his 2.5 Watts was a good 579 here when there wasn't any QSB. The band was like a rollercoaster, though; and Neal was bouncing around anywhere from 559 to 599. Finally, he dropped off the table and towards the end of our QSO he was about 339. During our QSO he told me that he was camped at a really beautiful spot and that he'd send some pictures via e-mail. I'll share them with you here when I get them.

Neal is planning to return home Monday, if the weather is good tomorrow. So give a listen for him anywhere from 7.050 to 7.058 MHz from approximately 1800 to 2100 UTC (2:00 to 5:00 PM EDT). Tell him that W2LJ sent you!

73 de Larry W2LJ

It was a good day!

It was a beautiful day here in Central NJ, It was sunny; and we had beautiful blue skies. The temperature ran up to about 72 Degrees F (22 C), and it was a bit breezy; but very comfortable.

But even better than that was that I got the chance to get out to the park near the work QTH during lunchtime. To maximize my operating time, I simply plopped the 20 Meter Hamstick on the magmount on top of the car. To my surprise and delight there were a lot of signals to be heard ... finally!

There was a powerhouse station coming through on 14.040 MHz. CT/DL1YD was coming through 599 +++++. He was working stations DXpedition style; so I decided to give a call. On the second try, I snagged him! I got a 599 report, and I doubt that I was THAT loud; but there were no requests for repeats of my callsign - so my signal must have been at least halfway decent.

5 Watts to a Hamstick made it all the way over the vast Atlantic Ocean to Portugal. Just thinking about that boggles my mind. From NY to Portugal is about a 6 or 7 hour airplane ride. My 5 Watts covered that distance at the speed of light. Using less power than the average night light bulb; and I communicated with another Ham on the other side of the ocean. How can you become jaded by that; or come to regard such things as "routine"?

After that, I called CQ up around the FISTS watering hole and had a nice conversation with Lloyd VE1VEI in Aylesford, Nova Scotia where it wasn't so nice - rainy and about 62 Degrees F. Signals were nice as we gave each other 599 reports. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay on with Lloyd for too long as I had to get back to work; but it was definitely nice to get two lunchtime QRP QSOs in the logbook.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Listening on 2 Meters

I've never been a real big 2 Meter guy, even since my earliest days as a Ham. I know a lot of Hams that exist for 2 Meter FM. For them, 2 Meters IS the end all and be all of Ham Radio. For me, HF is the end all and be all; and 2 Meters is well ...... 2 Meters. Just another facet of the hobby, nothing more - nothing less.

On the ride home from work; I decided to flip on the 2 Meter radio in the car. I have it set for scanning the local repeaters; and it came to rest on the frequency of a quite popular repeater. And I began to listen to two Hams talking about the sunspot cycle, 6 meters and DXing. They were lamenting the lack of sunspots (like just about everyone else) and they got to reminiscing about the good old days. You know, the good ol' days - the days when you could get on 10 Meters and work the world with 10 Watts. The good ol' days, when you could get on 6 Meters and work all over the United States with just a few Watts.

I was kind of blown away by the conversation, being intimately familiar with the realm of low power communications. I had the urge to pick up the mike and start extolling the virtues of HF QRP; but I didn't want to seem like a braggart. Gosh, we QRPers routinely work the world with 5 Watts or less - sunspots or no - every day. To us, 10 Watts on CW is akin to running 1.5 kW to a non-QRPer. QRPers have to be careful sometimes, when talking about our special interest; because it can sound like we're denigrating the accomplishments of people who have never really tried QRP. There was absolutely no way that I wanted jump into that conversation, only to come off sounding like some kind of know-it-all snob.

Which brings us to another point. There really are a lot of Hams out there who really have no idea of where 5 Watts of power can get you. I suppose we all started out like that, in one form or another at the beginning of our Ham careers. We all think that, "The more power, the better". But each QRPer seems to have a defining moment or epiphany where it dawns upon them that power isn't everything. Skill, patience and determination are equal values in the equation of Ham Radio success. I suppose brute force is nice sometimes; but it's definitely not everything.

I dunno, maybe it just boils down to "You wouldn't understand, it's just a QRP thing!"

73 de Larry W2LJ

Can Summer be far behind?

I got this e-mail from Neal W3CUV today:

Hello Larry,

I will be solo backpacking in the back country of the Hickory Creek Wilderness Area in the Allegheny National Forest, near Warren, Pennsylvania (northwestern Pennsylvania) this Memorial Day weekend, May 24, 25, 2008 .

I'm taking my newly-built SW-40 on its maiden outing. Also, I'm trying out an EFHW antenna,
new homebrew QRP antenna tuner, and using AA NiMH batteries for the first time.

I'll be operating off and on throughout the day, but mostly between 2 and 5 PM EST. Frequency can be 7.030 to 7.060, but will try to stay around 7.050 and the FISTS calling freq. - 7.058.

I'd appreciate it if you would put this info on your blog as a "Wilderness Alert".

Hope to work you from the great outdoors.

73, Neal, W3CUV

Consider it done, Neal!

For many folks, the Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of Summer. Hopefully for those of us who live in the universe of Ham Radio, that will mean a lot of us will be taking to the field like Neal. Maybe not overnight; or for full blown hiking trips; but perhaps just out to the backyard patio table, or perhaps to the local park to sit under a shade tree, to get some air and some Ham Radio time in.

If you've never tried it, I highly recommend it! There's just nothing quite like operating out in the sunshine and fresh air. It definitely beats sitting in a closed in shack (unless it's over 100 Degrees outside and that shack is air conditioned. Hi!) .

The setup doesn't need to be elaborate. A small QRP radio, a key, a gel cell battery and a hunk of wire like a EFHW (end fed half wave) antenna or perhaps a NorCal doublet. Those are the ingredients for a fun filled, enjoyable afternoon - I promise!

73 de Larry W2LJ

ATS-3 Progress

It's been an unusually cool and damp May, so far, here in Central NJ. In fact, when I woke up this morning, the outdoor thermometer was reading 42 degrees. Quite cool for May in New Jersey. Tonight promises to be just as cool; and as a result, my neighbor must have had his heat running because I had quite bad local QRN on 40 Meters tonight. Up until about 10:00 PM EDT, the QRN was about S9.

So what's a Ham to do when the noise levels are unbearable? Heat up the ol' soldering iron - that's what! I managed to find homes for about a dozen more capacitors on the ATS-3 tonight. I'm actually seeing enough progress where in two more manual pages, it will be time for the initial testing phase. I swear, if I'm EVER going to make it into the QRP Hall of Fame; it will be for taking the longest amount of time to complete a QRP kit from start to finish.

I almost launched a capacitor into never-never land by squeezing it just a bit too tightly with my tweezers. Luckily, it hit something on my construction table and rebounded right back to me. I don't need to go to the local electronics store and embarrassingly ask for one SMD capacitor!

After I completed soldering, I turned the rig back on to find noise levels on 40 Meters back to normal. My neighbor's house must have reached the desired temperature. So I called CQ around 7.050 MHz using the bug for a change this time. I had a nice little QSO with John K9LIR. A friend of the family was in his shack listening to the dits and dahs. Seems she finds Morse Code fascinating.

Tonight, I didn't sound too bad on the bug. I can tell you there are nights when the CW just flows out of my Vibroplex like musical notes out of a fine instrument. Other nights it's an abomination - enough to send women and small children screaming into the night. I guess the arthritis in my hand wasn't too bad and everything more or less "clicked". When I'm off and the CW coming out of the bug sounds particularly horrible is when I go back to the keyer and paddles for the evening. Believe me, I end up doing everyone a favor by doing that!

73 de Larry W2LJ

PS: Thanks for all your prayers for KB9BVN. I got an e-mail from him indicating that he pulled through the emergency bypass surgery just fine; and that he should be home later this week

A new blog for your perusal .....

Steve NØTU, who goes out to do a lot of portable QRP work accompanied by his two goats, Peanut and Rooster has set up a new blog - "Peanut and Rooster Adventures". It's VERY new and there aren't a lot of posts right now; but it is definitely one to keep your eye on. I've enjoyed watching Steve's videos on YouTube; and it's great that he's starting a blog about their adventures. For some reason, Google is very slow for me tonight; so I'll add Peanut and Rooster to my list of "Blogs of Interest" sometime tomorrow.

Tonight was also the Flying Pigs monthly Run For The Bacon sprint. It was so good to see some activity on 20 Meters again! I actually made 5 QRP QSOs on 20 Meters after 9:00 PM Eastern time. Wow! It's either the return of summer time conditions or maybe Ol' Sol is getting a few freckles back? Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come. In any event, I broke the 1, 000 point barrier for the first time in a long time. It certainly helps that 40 Meters is QRN free for me now that the heating season is over.

I was also fortunate to work Jim W1PID on 80 Meters during the Sprint. He was 599 plus plus PLUS and nearly blew my eardrums out! It was definitely a good thing that I had the ALC turned on, on the K2; or I might be saying, "Eh?" a lot right now!

This coming week is the NAQCC monthly Sprint also. Keep an eye out on the announcements for that.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Prayer Request

I saw on the Flying Pigs e-mail reflector that Brain Murrey KB9BVN, a very good friend and brother Flying Pig is in the hospital undergoing some tests and possible open heart surgery.

Brian can only be described as a "salt of the earth" kinda guy. He's a great Ham and his enthusiasm for the hobby in general and QRP in particular is infectious.

He's also put in a good many years as a troop leader for the Boy Scouts, molding young minds with the ideals of good citizenship.

So without getting all syrupy, I'd like to ask all of you who read this blog on a regular basis, if you would, before you go to sleep tonight, offer up a small prayer for Brian's continued health and safety.

He's one of the good ones.

Thank you!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Memories of Hamventions past

The image to the left is an aerial photo of the Dayton Hamvention circa the mid 1990s. The building in the middle is, of course, the Hara Arena. The cars appearing above the arena are in the parking lot. All the activity below and to the right of the building (which looks like lines of parked cars) is in fact, all flea market! That is what Hamvention was like when I last attended.

I hear tales told "that it's not like it used to be". That's a shame, indeed! Some of the best memories I have as a Ham revolve around Field Day and Hamvention.

I have been to Ohio for the "World's Largest Gathering of Hams" six or seven times, all told. I first went in 1985 and 1986. I remember the 1986 Hamvention because I had brought along some electronics text books; and in the evenings in the hotel room, I would study for the Digital Electronics Degree that I was taking at DeVry. Back in those days, I would go out to Dayton with my friends Barry WB2KLF and Mark N2EBA (SK). We stayed at a Knight's Inn in Dayton proper. I remember in particular the tacky purple drapes at the Knight's Inn. They were supposed to look "regal", I guess! Thinking back on them, the only word that comes to mind is "Ugh!".

The best times at Hamvention were those during my tenure with the Piscataway Amateur Radio Club. My companions for those wonderful trips were Bob W3BBO who was living in Piscataway at the time, Rich AA2KS, Bill W2WK, Rich W2PQ, Charlie N2LHD (SK), Chuck WB2MSV (SK), Don KO2K, Jimmy N2LFI (SK), Marty KB2JSG and a bunch of others I can't recall right now.

When the Piscataway group first contemplated going to our first Hamvention together, we met for dinner at Rick AA2KS's house in order to plan our trip. He lived in Edison at the time; and, boy, can his wife Pat cook! I've never, ever had as good an Italian meal as Pat could put together! If I remember correctly, our first trip out there together was in 1994. We caravaned with N2LHD leading the way, and four of us followed in Rich's brand new Cadillac. Rich W2PQ brought along a cassette tape of "The Jerky Boys" and we howled at the low brow humor on the trip out. In all, it was a twelve hour ride; and we'd start out on Thursday at about 5:00 in the morning to arrive in Fairborn at about 5:00 PM. Our first night's dinner always seemed to be at the "Spaghetti Factory" in Dayton. About 20 or so of us Hams from the greater Central NJ region had a sit down of good food (although not as good as AA2KS's XYL's) good talk and best of all, laughs.

We stayed at the Homewood Suites in Fairborn where the AMSAT folks stayed. Bob W3BBO and I were big into satellite operating at the time; so that was an added treat. On our first trip in 1994 we got to the greater Dayton area; only to be greeted by tornado warnings! Back then, Hamvention was in April and the weather could be wild and woolly. You had to be ready for anything from snow to heat to rain to hail and thunderstorms! I think that Mark Twain must have been to Dayton once or twice. He must have, because he was the one who came up with the line, "If you dont' like the weather then wait five minutes!" That was Dayton in April to a "T"! If it was rainy, there was mud everywhere! Rich AA2KS would make up wipe our shoes off with a towel before we dared get into his brand new Caddy! And when it rained, it poured! I remember, in particular, being caught in the midst of the flea market during a downpour and was lucky to have brought along an umbrella. Not so lucky was some guy who was selling boat anchors (antique radios) that were sitting on the ground, only to have a mini torrent of a storm created river run through them! Hopefully the prices on those fellas got knocked down!

To me, the flea market WAS Hamvention. I spent more time outside than inside. I always looked for "oddball" items. I remember one year I bought two little pieces of nylon that were embroidered with the words "REMOVE BEFORE LAUNCH". It turned out that these tags were safety pins from fighter jet ejection seats. They would be put in place so an ejection seat couldn't accidentally be launched while the aircraft was parked. Where else could you buy something like that except for Hamvention? I never made the "major purchase" of a big ticket radio at Hamvention; but if I had wanted to, there was plenty of opportunity! All the biggest vendors were inside the arena; and you could do a lot of price comparing before you decided to plunk down the big bucks. Guys literally spent hours going from booth to booth doing careful shopping.

I first became a member of FISTS at the 1994 Hamvention; and I remember meeting Tom Dandrea N3EQF, the author of Log-EQF at that Hamvention. I had already been using Log-EQF since 1992; and it was nice to actually meet and talk with him there. I bought a Kent Twin Paddle at Hamvention one year as a kit. That was a great paddle and like an idiot, I sold it a few years back.

The second year that we went out there, I brought a laptop along that I borrowed from work. I was a member of AOL at the time; and during the evenings I would go online and would host a "chat" for the Amateur Radio Interest Group. I would fill them in on the latest and greatest and would answer any questions that they might have had.

Luckily, the Homewood Suites was pretty sophisticated at the time. The phones in the rooms had extra jacks on the side, which made plugging in a modem a rather easy thing to do. That was fun and rewarding experience. I've never had the opportunity since then to play "on the scene Reporter"!

The Hara arena was the place to be for the Forums. I only went to a few during my times at Hamvention; and the best was the "Electrical Safety" forum put on by Ohio Central Power and Light. They used great visual aids to impress upon us the dangers of getting near power lines. You all know those familiar words, "Never put your antenna near live power lines". There's ample good reasoning behind that as O C P & L showed us. They demonstrated what could happen to your hand if it came in contact with a power line by turning off a circuit breaker box and taking out a huge buss fuse and replacing it with a hot dog. Literally moments after turning the power back on, the hot dog exploded!

They also demonstrated how items that we thought were non-conductive, are not so in real life. Let's say for instance, one leg of your dipole falls across a power line. You get the genius idea to use a corn broom to whisk the wire away, right? After all, the broomstick is wood and the actual broom is just straw, right? Won't conduct electricity, right? WRONG! At power line voltages, there is enough water in that wood and straw so that if you actually tried to do that, it would be the last thing you did on earth Try to explain to St. Peter why you arrived at the Pearly Gates with all your hair and eyebrows singed off!

At the end of your first day , you were always the victim of sensory overload! Look how disheveled (but happy) I was at the end of Day One during one of my trips out there! By the way, you probably can't notice it from the size of the photo; but the callsign cap I was wearing had N2ELW on it. I had that callsign from 1983 until 2000. I was also wearing my official Piscataway Amateur Radio Club baseball jacket, which I still have! Those were the days! I was about 20 pounds lighter, had way less gray hair and way more energy (and disposable income) back then.

Days Two was always good as the routine was to make sure you soaked in everything you might have missed on Day One. But Day Three (Sunday) was always mixed with sadness and gladness. You were happy to be getting back home to your loved ones; but sad to be leaving the "Ham Radio Experience of a Lifetime" and if you were like me, you were undoubtedly disappointed that you didn't win any of the fabulous Hamvention Door Prizes.

I hope all of you out there have either gotten to or will get to experience Hamvention at least one time in your lives. I guarantee (1000%) that you will remember it forever! My goal remains to make it out there at least one more time so I can finally attend a "Four Days in May" QRP convention.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Sorry I haven't been here

It's been an EXTREMELY busy week at work. We're opening a new Data Center and I've been deluged with preparing all the Cisco networking equipment that will go in place ahead of the servers.

By the time I've gotten home each night; and have done the normal "Daddy" things that I do when I get home; there's been nothing left over in the tank for radio. It's been a week of getting up early, going to work early, getting home late and getting to bed early!

And to think that when I was a kid, I couldn't wait to grow up! Sometimes it's not all it was cracked up to be.

Hopefully this weekend, I will scrape together some time to get on the radio. I have an idea or two in mind for "Website of the Week" for next week. I also need to find some time to just veg for awhile and recharge the ol' batteries!

And through all of this, I've been wishing VERY hard that I would wake up, find out that this has all been a bad dream; and that I was really at Dayton and FDIM !!!!!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Website of the Week

This week's Website of the Week is an off-shoot of the ElectronicsUSA Website. For those not in the know, ElectronicsUSA.com is where you can go to purchase Whiterook keys and paddles. By making the recommendation that I am about to make, I am in no way endorsing anyone's product.

That being said, if you go here, you will enter a great gallery of photos of Tuna Tin II kits that have been built by various Hams. Talk about variations on a theme. It's almost like snowflake phenomena - no two Tuna Tin IIs are quite the same.

Enjoy the photos - I hope you get inspired to pick up your soldering iron and build something!

73 de Larry W2LJ

Making progress

'Twas a busy week the past week! My son made his First Holy Communion on May 3rd and Mother's Day was just yesterday. Getting ready for both weekends left precious little time for radio or blog posts for that matter!

But I did get on the air for just a tiny bit yesterday; and for a greater bit tonight; so I haven't been totally radio starved. And last Thursday night, 40 Meters was especially nice! I managed to work Ireland, Hungary and the Cayman Islands all within the space of about 20 minutes! It was a night of good conditions.

However, what I really wanted to note is that I've been making steady progress with the ATS-3 and I should have it done soon; unless something comes up out of left field! I noticed tonight that I have more than half of the SMT devices mounted. If things go well, I should be able to take the finished radio on vacation up to Lake George this summer.

Speaking of "summer"; the weather here in New Jersey so far this May has been cooler and wetter than normal. Friday we had over 1.25 inches of rain. The weekend was breezy, raw and uncomfortably cool. Ideal weather for the grass; and it's been growing faster than I've been able to keep up, mowing-wise.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a day to buck the trend. We're looking for sunny skies and highs around 70 degrees. Hopefully, I'll be able to get to the park during lunch and will be able to break out the K1. I'm thinking of stowing the mag mount and Hamsticks in the trunk to see if I have better luck with those over the PAC-12. Maybe I'll make my first portable QSO for 2008 if I get lucky.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Every now and then, you win one!

I should begin this post with a preface like the one from "Dragnet".

"The story you are about to read is true, the names have been changed to protect the innocent."

A few years ago, I got into a pretty nasty and heated argument (via e-mail exchanges) with a Ham about QRP. In general, this guy gave me the old "party line".

"The receiving station does all the heavy lifting ......."

"I've never heard a QRP signal that wasn't difficult to copy........."

"Yadda .... yadda .... yadda"

Shortly after our disagreement (maybe a few months later) I happened to come across him on the air. We ragchewed for a bit and lo and behold, he gave me a 599 RST! We're several states apart; and at the very end of the QSO, I let it out that I was QRP and was running 4 Watts (at the time). Needless to say, he was stunned. He didn't think that a QRP signal could EVER be loud, despite all my explanations of propagation and all that good technical sort of stuff.

The next time I heard from him was via an e-mail. He must have become somewhat convinced because he started turning his 100 Watt rig down to 5 Watts and started joining in on the QRP Foxhunts. (OK, I guess I really had him hooked now!)

The coup d' grace came tonight. Another e-mail explained how his QRO rig finally gave up the ghost after umpteen years; and what is my opinion on either the Yaesu FT-817 or the Icom IC-703?

I'm happy that I was able to able to bring excitement and fun back into the life of a Ham who admitted he was beginning to feel rather blase about the hobby. He confided to me that QRP has given him back the excitement and thrills that he experienced back in his days as a Novice.

Now THAT's cool! BTW, we've come to be pretty good friends and we exchange e-mails on a regular basis.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Website of the Week

Here's a Website that's a personal favorite. I don't know how quite to describe it other than it has a real Jean Shepard K2ORS "feel" to it:

Real Stuff by Joe Tyburczy

Joe has a folksy way of telling stories that are fun to read and easy on the eyes. He also has an article about an antenna that I used for about 18 years with great success! I personally vouch for "The $4 Special" !!!!

Anyway, pop on over using the hyperlink I have provided, I think you'll enjoy visiting for a spell.

73 de Larry W2LJ

A nice thing to hear

The following post appeared on the Flying Pigs QRP Club International e-mail reflector today:

So some might say this doesn't count since there was an Internet in between, but still. Radios at both ends, and I think you'll agree it's exciting.

So I'm listening to my Echolink/IRLP node and this station that I don't know connects to me from Utah. We start chatting, and. Not only is it a 14 year old kid (jus' like me when I got started! Actually, he got started younger!) And he's saving his pennies for an HF rig. But mind you, not just any HF rig. No sir! He wants to build a tuna tin II! So not only is this guy a fairly new Tech who is learning the code because he "wants to", but he's a young guy who's interested in learning the code "and" building a radio to get on the air with it! Not being of much of a building inclination (although I would love to change that--just need the right local elmer), this really, really made my evening. He's one of those fortunate kids with hams in his family, which has to have helped. :-) I invited Brady, KE7OMC, to come play in our mud hole. Just about to send him info on the piggies (not to mention other great sites with nice kit stuffage!)

72 es OO,
Buddy, KB5ELV
Long lost FP#329

Wow! Unfortunately, that's a situation that is not nearly as common as it used to be. But it is one to be nurtured. So, I have a Tuna Tin II that's sitting on the side, waiting to be built .........

I e-mailed Mr. Brady KE7OMC and told him it was his for the asking. If I can help in some small way for a young Ham to become even more interested in CW and QRP; then it will have been well worth it!

Anybody have a 40 Meter receiver kit that they'd be willing to give a deserving home?

73 de Larry W2LJ

Another good night in the Ham shack

I got another bunch of capacitors soldered on to the ATS-3 circuit board. Wow! My eyes are definitely NOT what they used to be! In a few days I'll turn 51 and even with bifocals, soldering this teeny tiny stuff is an adventure. Used to be that I could read the small print on tiny capacitors with no trouble. Now I need all kinds of help - bifocals, an Opti-Visor ..... whew!

Sight problems notwithstanding, it was another pleasant night on the air. 40 Meters was in excellent shape and I started off the evening with a short ragchew. From there I went to the lower portion of the band to see what DX I could sniff out and I worked HI5 (the Dominican Republic) and S52 (Slovenia). I also heard a YV5 station (Argentina) that was coming in loud and strong. Argentina would have been a new one for me via QRP; but this op was really interested in rag chewing. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, and I would have hung around if I wasn't so darn tired!

A "real" conversation with a DX station is always a good deal; and doesn't happen often enough. But tonight, all I have in mind right now is my head hitting the pillow; which I am going to do as soon as I finish this post!

73 de Larry W2LJ