As announced on QRP-L (and other QRP lists) last night

QRP ARCI is pleased to announce their sponsorship of the Iowa High Altitude Balloon (iHAB) project. This sponsorship is for the second launch by iHAB. This launch will provide improvements over their first launch to include better APRS tracking, an improved 20 meter beacon and better camera clarity.

The launch is scheduled for October 2, 2010 at 14:00Z (9AM CDT) from the Ottumwa Industrial Airport (OTM) IHCC North Campus Aviation Building. Preflight will begin at 13:00Z (8AM CDT). Should weather prevent the launch, the fall back date will be Saturday, October 9, 2010 at the same times.

The QRP Beacon (1.6 watts) will be on 14.059.0 MHz signing (the QRP ARCI Club call sign) "K6JSS iHAB 2"

Please go to http://www.qrparci.org/ for more information on the flight and special recognition for reception reports.


Ken Evans, W4DU
President QRP ARCI

First Day Cover #7 and #8

These two feature Mercury - the Greek god, not the planet. The top one has some buildings, with what seems to be radio waves emanating from the top of one of the buildings.  The bottom one features Mercury against a backdrop of the globe.  However, this second one is more in tune with the public service theme.  While the League is certainly mentioned, the main theme seems to be about "Services Rendered".  Very nice.

I wonder if Amateur Radio will rate a stamp on the 100th anniversary of the ARRL in three years.  Whose ear should we put a bug into about that?

I suppose most of you by now have seen that tower climbing video that was on YouTube.  It seems to have been yanked from a lot of sites due to a copyright issue.  But if you search for it, you can still find it.  I am NOT fond of heights and I can get the sweats while climbing an extension ladder.  I fell off a ladder when I was eight years old, and while all that happened was getting the wind knocked out of me, I still have major problems with precarious heights to this day.  Being at the top of tall buildings or being in an airplane doesn't bother me.  But being on top of a ladder or on a roof, where I know that it's easy to fall, I have a lot of difficulty.  Watching these guys climb that tower was making my stomach start to feel just a bit queasy.  You have to know that if I had a Ham radio tower, that it would be a crank over!

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

First Day Cover #6 and something else

Here is Number Six:

This one features a headset.  I haven't seen this variety in a long, long time.  These remind me of the headsets we used to use for Morse Code testing back when I was a VE with the Raritan Bay Radio Amateurs in Sayreville, NJ.  But even those had two ear pieces.

This upcoming Saturday is the last big outdoor QRP event for the year - QRP Afield, which is sponsored by the New England QRP Club, of which I am member # 650.  For the rules, just click on the URL: http://newenglandqrp.org/afield.

I am not quite sure what Saturday is going to entail.  I need to get over and visit my Mom for a bit in the morning; and I just found out that Cara has a birthday party to attend on Saturday afternoon. So maybe, just MAYBE, I can sneak over to the park on Saturday afternoon with Joey.  He can keep himself occupied with his Nintendo DSI if he gets bored watching me.  Hope to take the wrist rocket, wire, PFR3A, Fuchs tuner and enjoy an hour or so?   XXXXX - that's my fingers being crossed!  As of right now, Saturday is forecast to be sunny with a high of 76F (24 C).

Speaking of outdoor QRP events, here's a video I found on YouTube from KC2OZM.  It is from FOBB 2010.  KC2OZM doesn't live all that far from me, the same NY Metropolitan area; and from his video, it looks like we shared the same weather that day.  I sure hope this Saturday will be better!




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

Holey Moley

I was directed to this site by Mike VE3WDM's blog.

http://www.73cnc.com/73cnc/elecraft.html

The knobs are BEAUTIFUL, without a doubt - but you can buy an entire SW+ Series kit from Dave Bensen at Small Wonder Labs for less than the price of just one of these babies!

The embedded video sure does a good job of demonstrating how superb these are. But if I start buying stuff like this there is NO WAY that I will ever be able to afford a K3, much less buy after market knobs for it.

However, for those of you who can afford them; go for it and more power to you!

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

When that winning lottery ticket becomes a reality!

Video courtesy of Alan N5NA (ex WB5GVE)

On another note, I did manage to get some "On Air" time this weekend.  Not much, just a little.  17 Meters was open Saturday afternoon and I worked Oscar EA1DR.  Be sure to check out Oscar's QRZ page.  With the antenna set up that he has, I think he could have heard me if I had been using 500 mW to a wet noodle!  To say that Oscar has an impressive antenna farm is an understatement.  I wish that there had been more activity on 17 Meters.  I really like that band; and whenever 20 Meters is decently open, I always go up to 17 Meters with fingers crossed.

This afternoon, 20 Meters seemed open; but once again, I was plagued by that very intermittent, but severe neighborhood QRN.  I heard some 599 stations; but the noise was beginning to give me a headache, so I went down to 40 Meters. It was like a breath of fresh air, there!  I called CQ and on the first over, I got a call from Rick VE3MG in St. Mary's, Ontario.  Rick and I had a pleasant QSO. He was using his Yaesu FT950 at 100 Watts to his centerfed Zepp, while I was on the K2 and the G5RV.  Seems we're both CW aficionados as neither of us have microphones attached to any of our HF rigs!

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

First Day Cover #5

This First Day Cover is really different from all the others. Attached to the envelope is a thick metal foil stamp.

It's probably hard to tell from the scan; but it is gold color on black foil.  There are two satellites in the background, as well as a tower, with what I am presuming is supposed to be some kind of Yagi at the top.  The operator is using an ElectroVoice microphone and this is mentioned at the bottom.

Strange thing is there's only one stamp on the envelope; but from the feel of it, I would guess we're talking more than one ounce as the foil stamp is pretty hefty.  I would think that in reality, the Post Office would require two stamps, minimum.

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

Prayers are a good thing on a day like today.

Larry W2LJ

September 11, 2010

September 11, 2001 - We will NEVER forget!

*******************************************************************

Envy - that's what it is, envy, pure and simple.  One of the Seven Deadly Sins that I am guilty of. I freely admit it and ask for forgiveness!

What am I envious of?  Two things and you can find the answer right here:

http://www.mv.com/ipusers/w1pid/knox_sep/knox_sep.html

A)  What a beautiful place to operate from!  I would have to go quite a few miles to get away from the crowded New Jersey suburban sprawl to find a place that compares to this.  Somewhere along the Delaware/Raritan canal perhaps, or somewhere up in Northwest New Jersey.  I still wouldn't be able to duplicate Jim's height above sea level, though.

B)  The other thing I am envious of is this one line from Jim's recounting of his outing: "I threw a water bottle over a branch about 45 feet."  WOW!  Does anyone have the e-mail address for the Boston Red Sox?  We have got to tell them about Jim, because that's some accomplishment as far as I'm concerned.  I must be a weakling ..... my best toss was about 35 feet or so.   Throwing a ball in a normal situation is not a problem for me. But throwing UP and into a tree ? .......  that's why I built the slingshot thingy that I posted about earlier this week.

In all seriousness though, even though this post was made as a bit "tongue in cheek", Jim really is quite the outdoorsman and has a beautiful environment from which to operate.  Maybe someday, I'll be able to retire, move away from this area and find someplace similar.  One can always dream!

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

What's going on?

As I type this, I am down in the shack and am on 40 Meters.   I just finished up a nice little ragchew session with Dan KB6NU - Amateur Radio friend and fellow blogger.

I am tuning around on 40 Meters and am hearing all kinds of (pardon my expression) crap!

So far,  I have come across a guy who is calling CQ so fast, that he can't even send his own call sign correctly and without errors.  What's up with that?  I know we all have days when our fists aren't quite right; but when you can't get your own call right, I think it's time to QRS. And on a further note, whatever happened to "Accuracy transcends speed"?  I guess he doesn't belong to FISTS.

In another instance, I am listening to two guys shoot the breeze and I am hearing "WB2XXX N9XYZ" for the changeover. Did we agree to stop using the "DE"?  Did I miss something?  Was there some new general announcement about CW protocol that passed me by?  I mean, really .....how long does it take to send "DE"?  For me at least, that's a timing mechanism between the two calls.  I don't hear the "DE" and it kind of becomes a mish-mash for me.

Sorry ...... guess I fell into Curmudgeon Mode for a bit.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least! (And please send it accurately!)

Movie night

I caught this on YouTube today.  Even though it's from 1937 and the technology has changed, the basics still remain the same. This might be something that could be shown on the very first night/session of a Technician license class? Or maybe perhaps to a Scout troop or something like that.



72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

First Day Cover #4

Here is Number Four:

This is the last of the engraved covers. I am guessing that the artwork is representing an Amateur Radio station from circa 1914, when the League was founded.

The rest of the Covers, which I will continue to post over the next few days, are not as nice as these engraved covers. The artwork is simpler and the Covers don't have that "elegant" look to them.

Posting all these brings to mind that in less than four years, it will be the ARRL's 100th anniversary. I'd be willing to lay money on the odds that things are already in the planning phase. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a certificate offered for "100th Anniversary DXCC", along the lines of DXCC Millennium.

Maybe by then, the sunspots will really get the bands hopping ?!?

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

First Day Cover #3

Number three in my series:

This one features a 60s era mobile set up, a 60s era home station and a thin pencil type microphone.

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

Mosques, Korans and insanity

This is going to be a non Ham related, political rant - so if you're turned off by that kind of thing, you'd better leave now.

I just heard on the local breaking news that the pastor in Florida, who was planning the Koran burning on the anniversary of 9/11 has called off the event.  It's nice to see that common sense prevailed.  There is NO reason whatsoever on God's good green earth to burn another religion's sacred scripture - even if you totally disagree with that religion.

That being said ...... there was no reason for these idiots to do this in Pakistan today:

Of course, the American flag just HAD to be burned even before even one atom of wood cellulose from one page of a Koran had been treated to the same fate!  They just couldn't wait to see what happened on Saturday and THEN vent their frustrations if they had to?  Arggghhhhh !

Then this mosque issue in New York City.  You know, really ..... build your mosque anywhere you darn well please.  But, by the same token, the backers of this project couldn't have shown a LITTLE sensitivity and planned to build it a bit farther away from where the World Trade Center stood?  How about a showing of good will and compromise from their side?  I wonder what kind of response a Westerner would get if they decided to try and build a church near Mecca.  Oh yeah, I'm sorry ..... they'd probably be whipped or stoned to death; or better yet, beheaded!

Not to mention that the funding for this Cordoba project has very shady and questionable origins. But we won't go there as it's not politically correct. Even the name of the project is suspect if you do a little research into it.  My gut is telling me something here; but I'm not the one who makes the calls.

I can understand why folks in America are just a bit on the short side of being understanding in this mosque issue.  It wasn't only the Twin Towers, it was also the Pentagon, Shanksville, PA and the USS Cole (where our beloved POTUS will not even allow the prosecution of the perpetrators, now!) and the Marine barracks in Lebanon.  It was our embassies being blown up and the first WTC attack and many other things which just stick in the craw of your everyday Joe In The Street.

But no, we're supposed to look the other way, turn the other cheek and forget all that stuff.  You can only turn the other cheek for so long before things get nasty.  I'm not saying I condone any sort of retaliation - not for one second.  But I can understand the emotion behind wanting to.

And that's exactly why Christians are called to turn away from the sin of Adam and do EXACTLY just that, to be forgiving, to put that human weakness aside ... no matter how hard it is.  It's a heavy cross to bear. I pray we're strong enough to bear it.

Larry  W2LJ

Antenna line launcher

So here's the deal ..... pictures of the "new" homebrewed W2LJ antenna line launcher.  No new idea, no new technology, no new radical concepts.  Based on the same concept as that well known brand that is seen in all the popular Ham radio publications at a fraction of the price.  THAT is the only advantage!  Plus, if I can do this, YOU can do this.  When it comes to stuff like this, sometimes I am all ten thumbs and all of them left thumbs to boot!

The materials are: 1) Cheapie slingshot acquired from eBay 2) A 99 cent tent peg from Target or Wal-Mart, can't remember exactly which one 3) Fishing reel that used to belong to my father-in-law 4) Two hose clamps 5) Some 1/4 X 3/4" long screws, nuts and star lock washers.

As you can see from the photo, I made about a 3/4" notch into the tent peg.  Directly above the notch, I drilled a 1/4" diameter hole through the plastic.  I also drilled a 1/4" hole in the bottom of the slingshot; and then opened it up and inserted one of the screws and secured it with a star washer.

I reassembled the slingshot and then placed the screw through the hole that I had previously drilled through the tent peg. I secured the slingshot in place with another star washer and a nut.  After tightening the nut with a wrench, it became apparent that the lock washers are really holding everything in place as I can't easily rotate the slingshot on the tent peg platform.  It is there to stay unless I disassemble everything.

The fishing reel is held in place with two hose clamps.  I have attached a 1 ounce fishing sinker to the monofilament line; but I really have to buy some fluorescent paint and do up a bunch of sinkers.  If they are brilliant orange or yellow or even pink, they will be easier to spot in the tree; or in the grass where they would land in the field.

I took this contraption out to my backyard, to the tree which supports the center portion of my G5RV.  With only about 50% tension on the slingshot, I easily (and I mean EASILY) cleared my 40 foot tall maple tree.  I can see where full pull back on the slingshot elastic will allow an easy 50 - 60 foot shot.  Plenty high for one of my doublets or the wire for the Fuchs tuner.  I didn't want to go full throttle in my backyard as I didn't need the fishing weight making a rude entrance through a neighbor's window.

So what was the cost?

Slingshot from eBay - $5.00 (with shipping)
Tent peg - $0.99
Hardware (screws, nuts, lock washers) - $2.00 as I had to buy packets
Hose clamps - $3.00 (for two)
Fishing reel and sinkers - in my case free, as they were my father-in-law's.  I can imagine that you can find a suitable reel, line and sinkers at Wal-Mart or someplace like that without breaking the bank.

I'm sure I will need some practice with this, to get a good feel for it; and to get the hang of placing the line just so.  But I do know this is going to make the job of getting a doublet or end fed wire elevated all that much easier.  It's small enough to fit into my antenna knapsack; and I look forward to having even more outdoor QRP fun in the future.

This weekend, I am definitely going to tackle some of those 60 foot trees in the local park that eluded my antenna line efforts last weekend.

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

First Day Cover #2

As promised ........

Again, you can click on the image to make it bigger and see more detail.

This cover features an illustration of a Ham actively working his station. And from the caption, it seems like things have not changed much.  Back then, as now, we are constantly reminding the general public that we are there when "stuff" hits the fan.  Not merely a bunch of odd looking geeks involved in an esoteric hobby that no one quite understands.

I would imagine that back then, in 1964, our predecessors were also engaged in a constant PR battle to make the general public aware that "we" were not always the source of their TVI problems.  With satellite and cable, we have the advantage today, although problems do still crop up from time to time.

On another note, I have finished my homebrew antenna launcher.  Not anything brilliantly new or innovative - just my version.  I will try to post some pictures later tonight after I get home from the Raritan Valley Radio Club meeting.

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

Amateur Radio Stamp - First Day Covers

Those of you who use my blog as a jumping off point for other Ham Radio blogs may have seen Dave K2DSL's post yesterday about the First Day cover of the 1964 postage stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ARRL.  The stamp was commissioned by the Post Office not only to celebrate the the League's milestone anniversary, but to also honor all the volunteer man hours unselfishly rendered by brave Amateur Radio ops who provided communications (sometimes the only communications) for many areas after  "The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964" - hence the cancellation mark of Anchorage, Alaska.

Over the years, I have found and acquired nine different versions of that First Day cover.  I owe that in large part to my Dad and my maternal grandfather who were both into stamp collecting.  They passed on to me not only parts of their collections; but a passing interest in philately as well.  I don't currently collect stamps with any great fervor; but I do like to look at what I have; and I'm always on the lookout for stamps related to the space program or Amateur Radio.

I am not going to post all nine First Day covers that I own all at once; but will space them out and will post one every night or so for the next week or so. You've seen the one Dave posted with the two young Hams and their Elmer.  I have that one also; and will post that last.

You can click on the image for a closer view.

This first one features Hiram Percy Maxim, the co-founder of the League; and its first president.  This First Day cover also features an engraving of the then new ARRL headquarters building.

I do believe that there may be one or two more versions of this First Day cover out there.  I haven't been successful in finding them - so far.  I have always had it in the back of my mind to have these mounted and framed in one big display for the shack wall.  Yet another project for someday!

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

Labor Day Parade

I managed to get up at what is sometimes referred to as "Oh Dark Thirty" or Half Past Dark (actually 5:00 AM local time) to get ready to head over to the Emergency Management Office to help with this year's Labor Day parade.  A shocking foretaste of Autumn was in the air as it was only 49F (9C) when I left home.  A quick stop at the local coffee establishment helped to wake me up and keep me warm!  When I got to my assigned spot, which was near the Community Pool, it was cool enough that a mist was rising off the water's surface!

There were quite a  few CERT members who showed up and quite a few of those CERT members were Amateur Radio ops, which proved to be a fortunate thing.  We had things quite under control providing communications between the parade organizers and the town's emergency services.  It was a good practice excersize.  Not only did we pass routine traffic containing standard parade information; but we were also able to help to quickly reunite a child who became separated from his parents.

We used a 440 MHz simplex frequency and I was happy to see that this was quite ample for us.  South Plainfield is not a huge town, by any stretch of the imagination; but using UHF frequencies without going through a repeater can be tricky at times.  No problems whatsoever.  Not only was each radio op able to communicate with the command station; but if necessary, we could have communicated with each other directly.  We were all using various brand handhelds with rubber ducks at 5 Watts.

For all intent and purpose, this was my first practical "in the field" test for my Wouxun.  We chose a frequency that was not in my unit's memory; and I was quickly able to program it in and add it in seconds.  This is one of the reasons that I chose to program the radio NOT using the computer software when I first got it.  By doing it manually, the programming procedure became second nature.  This is a good thing to know in the event of an emergency, when the situation is fluid and you have to adapt at a moment's notice.

I was at the starting point of the parade and had to relay various points of information to the command center.  I did a lot of communicating and the battery held up well.  In the past years with the Alinco, I would have to swap out battery packs at least once during the event.  That didn't occur this morning, as the battery held up just fine.  Needless to say, I had a fully charged spare on my belt, ready if needed.  With the handheld also securely fastened to my belt, I used a Kenwood speakermike which I attached to the lapel area of my CERT vest; and there was more than adequate volume coming from the speaker. All my communications were done using Amateur frequencies and I pretty much ignored the municipal radio that I had been issued.  It seemed our radios worked better than the town's anyway, as there were often requests for repeats of information between the people using the town's radios.

Tonight there will be a fireworks display and CERT members will be needed once again.  However, my wife Marianne had to go to work today, so Joey and Cara and I will head over to their school which has a good view; and we will watch them from there.

For those of you thinking of a new handheld, as a spare, or even perhaps as your main unit, I would definitely recommend the Wouxun. So far it has performed well and the price is definitely right.  It may not have all the fancy bells and whistles offered on the handhelds from "The Big 3"; but it sure did a great job for me today.

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

Got an idea today

while attending the ETS of NJ picnic.  Before the idea; a bit on the picnic.  It was gorgeous day for the event!  It was sunny and the temperature was in the mid 70s (24C) with very low humidity.  For the most part, the breeziness that we has yesterday had diminished.  The food was good and the fellowship was great too.  Not a huge amount of members showed up; but the ones that did had a great time.  I think even Marianne and Joey and Cara had a decent time.

After everyone had something to eat, Victor KB2NBC used his WristRocket to launch some line into the trees and before you even realized, an off center fed dipole had been erected about 35 feet in the air.  Someone had brought along a Kenwood TS-2000 and a power supply and a few of the members were working 20 Meter SSB.  I witnessed one QSO with a station on the west coast of Wales.  The band seemed to be in pretty good shape.  Not exactly my idea of a portable station; but fun was had, nonetheless.

I went back to take a closer look at the WristRocket, where Victor had laid it down.  It's definitely not an overly complicated device.  A sling shot, some metal and a fishing reel.  Victor bought it earlier this year at the Timonium, MD Hamfest.  When he shot the line up into the tree, I was amazed at how far and how easily it traveled.

When we got home, I went to our local park here and had intended to set up the wire and Fuchs tuner with the PFR3A.  However, the lowest branches of the trees were even higher than I remembered and I couldn't manage to successfully get a water bottle over one, ala' W1PID.  Roger Clemens I am not - and that's a good thing considering all the trouble he's finding himself in lately - but I could have used his throwing arm.

This got me thinking about Vic's antenna launcher again; and how relatively easy it would be to homebrew one.  I have a slingshot and I have an old fishing reel that had belonged to my father-in-law.  All I need is a steady platform to mount the two of them on.  And I think I have the answer for that, too - a 99 cent tent stake from Wal-Mart.

Rather than try to explain it verbally, I will post pictures and further details as it comes about.  Hopefully, this thing will be able to get a 1 ounce fishing weight about 40 or 50 feet high, up and over some good branches.  QRP Afield is in two weeks, on September 18th.  This might be just what I need.

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

You young whipper snappers

and your little radios that fit into mint tins that let you work all over the world! Why, back in my day, radios were radios! They dad gum weighed a ton and they had tubes that would glow in the dark and warm up the entire shack! And when we didn't use 'em to warm up the shack, we'd toss 'em into our beds on a cold winter's night to keep the sheets warm! And Glorioski , our Watts were Watts ..... we didn't have tiny circuit boards ...... we used to warm our soldering irons in the fire and heck, how do you think the term "bread board" came to be, anyway? We used to build our radios on REAL bread boards and lookie at what we considered to be QRP !!!!!!



That's right, Boy-o, back in the day, QRP was a manly 100 Watts, not the puny 5 Watts that you spoiled young'uns use to talk around the world today! And our signals used to travel around the world ..... uphill both ways!

All kidding aside, I knew I had this somewhere! I was looking through some of my old special event certificates when I came across my original QRP-ARCI membership certificate, complete with my original call sign. In fact, except for QSL cards, this is one of the few certificates that I have that has my original call, KA2DOH, on it.  And back then, "QRP Quarterly" was a distant dream, off in the future.  The QRP-ARCI newsletter was a mimeographed (remember mimeographs?) thing that you would get via the regular mail.

It was only a few years later that QRP was changed to be the 5 Watts we have come to know and love. Sometimes, when I tell newer Hams that QRP used to mean 100 Watts or less, I get "that look". Well, here's the proof!

The weather has changed along the east coast. We are getting our first taste of Autumn. It was sunny today and very breezy, and for the most part, temperatures stayed in the 70s for most of the day, although it did go into the low 80s for a brief period this afternoon. As a result, 40 Meters was quite nice tonight. It was very quiet with hardly and summer type static crashes; and signals were loud, too. I had a nice chat with Hal KD8AC out of Youngstown, Ohio. Hal was using his K3 at 50 Watts to a centerfed Zepp at 35 feet. We gave each other 599 signal reports and it was armchair copy throughout the whole QSO.

Boy, Hal's K3 sure sounded good! What's that Super Jackpot Lotto up to now, anyway?


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

Do not miss this blog post !

From W1PNS's blog -

“Lean-to” homebrew stand for Elecraft’s KX1

This is a good one and will work for the PFR3A also. A perfect solution for a vexing problem. I don't own a KX1; but I do know this happens with a PFR3A - when the radio is laying flat on a table top, it is hard to tell if the RIT is on unless you are looking right down onto the LED display. More than once I have used the PFR3A on the shack table and since the angle wasn't right, I came to realize that I wasn't listening where I thought I was. I had inadvertently left the RIT on and didn't see the illuminated decimal point in the display. This homebrew tilt stand will get the angles just right so that won't happen again.

I am going to have to construct one of these. Thanks, Pete for sharing the great post, plans and idea!

Are QRPers neat, or what ?!?

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

He took aim

Courtesy of the NY Post

and he missed! Thank the Lord, Earl was a non-event in New Jersey, at least the central part of the state. As I was driving home, headed directly Eastbound, you could see the clouds that formed Earl's outer rim, all the way up, high into the sky. Impressive indeed!

But so far, we have had none of the rains or wind that was predicted. Earlier today, Earl had been downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 1 hurricane, which is the lowest a hurricane can go before being downgraded even farther back to Tropical Storm status. That happens once the sustained winds fall below 75 MPH.

So once these clouds clear out of here tonight, we are looking towards a very pleasant Labor Day weekend around these parts. Sunny for tomorrow, Sunday and Monday with highs in the 70's (23C) the first two days and then back into the 80's (28C) for Monday.

The ETS of NJ (local 2 Meter repeater group) annual picnic is on Sunday;' and the whole family is planning on attending. The ETS club has always shared the passion of the PARC Club in knowing how to put out a good spread. We are looking forward to it.

Monday, which is Labor Day, will bring the annual South Plainfield Labor Day parade. I will be there bright and early (6:00 AM) with other CERT and RACES volunteers who will help provide communications and logistical backup to the parade organizers. At night, we will have a fireworks display and the CERT and RACES folks will be there again, volunteering their hours to make sure all goes well and without incident.

In between all the activity; I am still hoping to sneak away to one of the local parks for an hour or two sometime this weekend, in order to play around with the PFR3A, Fuchs tuner and wire antenna. Also, if time permits, I will spend some time with the ATS-3B to see if I can make any progress on that front.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Earl and New Jersey

As of this moment, it's looking like Hurricane Earl might only give coastal NJ a glancing blow. Current computer models are showing the Cat. 4 hurricane remaining well off shore, with only tropical storm warning posted for the immediate coast.

In fact, as of right now, the three different weather sites that I keep tabs on (TWC, AccuWeather, Weather Underground) are only calling for a 50% of showers on Friday, the day that Earl is supposed to be in the vicinity. But hurricanes are fickle beasts with minds of their own, and anything can happen between now and then. In any event, the "go bag" is prepped and ready to go should the worst happen and should our CERT team be activated.

On a personal note, I had to go get a parathyroid scan today. Some recent routine bloodwork has shown that I am trending towards hypercalcemia, that is, too much calcium in my blood. Which was probably the cause of my kidney stone attack back in 2009, or so my doctor thinks. If the scan reveals benign adenomas on my parathyroid, then I might have to get it removed. I should know more next week. It's always something, isn't it?

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

I am one of the 20 Meter Foxes tonight!

I know this is short (very short) notice in blog land; but I am the 20 Meter Fox tonight in the QRP-L Foxhunt. If you have NEVER given this a shot ..... it's entertaining and fun!

Here's the deal. Tonight, between 0100 and 0230 UTC, I will be hiding somewhere between 14.050 and 14.070 MHZ. I will be calling "CQ FOX DE W2LJ UP". This will be to indicate that I will be listening up from my transmit frequency. Exactly how far up is for you to figure out.

If I hear you, I will answer (for example):

KB9BVN DE W2LJ TU 559 NJ LARRY 5W BK (RST/State/Name/Output Power)

You would answer (if you were KB9BVN):

TU 559 IN BRIAN 5W BK (Same exchange)

Then I would answer:

TU DE W2LJ CQ FOX DE W2LJ UP

If any fills are needed I would ask you for them. Getting involved in these hunts is not only fun; but it's good CW practice and it's good pile-up practice. If you can get the hang of how to consistently nab Fox pelts, then you're going to increase your odds of getting through (eventually) in the big DX pile-ups. Listening well and figuring out when and where to call are half the battle.

So if you have some time tonight; and want to have some fun, try and grab my pelt. Or perhaps you might want to listen. By the way, there are always two Foxes. Rene K5JX will be my partner in crime tonight. Give a listen for him, too!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

It may get wet

later this week - a lot wet!

It's too early to tell yet; and hurricanes are notoriously unpredictable, but it looks like Hurricane Earl might hug the Eastern Seaboard as it treks north this week.

Courtesy of AccuWeather.com

For more on Earl, you can go to AccuWeather.com.

On a lighter note, my bag of 12 fiberglass mast sections, which I got through eBay, arrived in the mail today. I haven't given them a good examination yet; but I can only wonder what the letter carrier must have thought. The olive drab bag is labeled, in official military lettering: "CAMOUFLAGE SCREENING SUPPORT SYSTEM WOODLAND/DESERT" with all kinds of official serial numbers and stuff. He probably thinks he's delivering to a survivalist or something. Next thing you know, I'll be put on some kind of watch list !!!! (Just joking!) Actually from when I served with Middlesex County Emergency Management back in the 1980's, I already have State Police and FBI dossiers opened on me from background investigations- so this would be nothing new.

Secondly, Jim W1PID posted another New Hampshire QRP outdoors story. You can read it here. These are always worth reading and really get the "Outdoors QRP" juices flowing! Truly, I think Jim has the outdoors "concept" nailed - his success rate proves this. A small transceiver and a wire, battery and key. I know for a fact that from time to time, I get too caught up in the trappings, worrying too much about the equipment and what to bring. The simpler, the better. KISS holds true to form here; and I think that's a lesson that I personally need to pay better attention to.

Last week, I got around to replacing the AAA battery holder in my AA0ZZ keyer that I got from the Four States QRP Group. The original that came with the kit kind of fell apart; or maybe I applied too much heat when originally installing it. The replacement that I ordered from Jameco arrived last week. I got it all re-wired and finally applied the decal that I made. By they way, that Inkjet decal paper works wonderfully! I highly recommend it.

Lastly, the next project will be to return back to my ATS3B and figure out why it's not working. I'm not sure I even remember from when I last worked on it so many months ago. I hear the "ATS-2" message in the headphones when I power it up. I also managed to calibrate the Reference Frequency Oscillator tonight to exactly 10.000.000 MHz. If I remember correctly, I had problems when I got to the Local Oscillator frequency trim step.

In any event, I am buoyed by the success I eventually had in getting the PFR3A to work. Even though I had a lot of help, I eventually got that to work; so I can probably get this to work - given enough time and research. I always have the ATS Yahoo Group archives to search for clues.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

2X QRP DX QSO

As things turned out, I did not get the opportunity to head out to the local park with my PFR3A, Fuchs tuner and 69 foot hunk o' wire. I wanted to get the wire up in the tall trees and see how the QRP Project Fuchs tuner behaves. Maybe one day this week or over the long Labor Day weekend.

But I did get some on air time this afternoon, listening for John K3WWP and Mike KC2EGL who were doing a portable outing from a park in Kitanning, PA. As it turned out, I never heard them. But I did go on 20 Meters for a bit and called CQ near the QRP watering hole.

Nyaregyhaza, Hungary

My effort was greeted by a call from Laci HA7UG in . Laci was a solid 579 into New Jersey and I received a 569 report back. Laci and I were both at the 5 Watt level. We exchanged the basics and then the QSB started bothering us, of course!

The only thing better than a DX QSO is when it's a two way QRP DX QSO! It's amazing to think of 5 Watts travelling over all that water and land. It works out to be only 881 miles per Watt; but it's still quite a feat in my book.

Other than the QSO with Laci, it was very quiet on the bands today. There were no major CW contests going on; or at least I didn't hear much in the way of activity. 40, 30 and 20 Meters all seemed very quiet today - almost dead.

So I shut down the station, and Marianne and I took Joey and Cara to the community pool for a few hours. It reached 93F (34C) here today; and they really enjoyed it. Then when we got home, I got a surprise when I checked my e-mail and saw one from my good friend, Bob W3BBO in my In Box. He wrote to tell me that he saw that I was on 20 Meters working DX stations. I was taken aback as to how he could have possibly have known that; when I further read that he was checking out the DX Clusters this afternoon and saw that Laci had spotted ME! First time I've ever been the DX!

Cool beans!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

It has often been said

that when one door closes; another opens.

So - I have added to the blogroll and introduce to many of you, a new one. New at least, in the sense that it's new to me and may be new to you as well.

The blog is entitled "KIX-Online" authored by Johnathan KB1KIX. It is full of good and practical and useful stuff.

Enjoy!

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

Oh, man !!!!

I note the "passing" of three Amateur Radio blogs on the blogroll.

For some time now, Jeff Davis KE9V has not posted any new entries to his blog; but he has kept up with new entries of his "Cornbread Road" audio series. And although I very much enjoy "Cornbread Road", I also miss Jeff's written posts. From his writing, I can tell that Jeff and I are on opposite poles of the political spectrum; but he is a very talented writer; and I respect his opinions - no matter how much they differ from mine.

And now today, Dick N2UGB and Paul PA0PSY have announced they will no longer commit pen to paper; or fingers to keyboard, whichever you prefer. While I regret their decision; I respect their reasoning and feelings. There are days when this isn't the easiest thing to do. It requires motivation and inspiration to keep it from becoming stale. You want to write about what interests you; and at the same time you don't want to bore the people who are visiting your blog. There are days when you definitely feel that you have "said it all" and it begins to feel pointless. But then there are other days when all you want to do is share your experience about that new mode you tried, that new kit you bought or built, that new country you worked, that great ragchew you just had ........

I look at it this way, if I ever feel this is becoming old, I will probably just post less with more breaks in between. I think sometimes bloggers fall into the trap of "quantity vs. quality". I know I fall into that trap myself, too. But I am still passionate about Amateur Radio and I hope that I can somehow share that with other folks - especially "the newbies". If you haven't tried doing this - give it a shot for a while! Blogger and WordPress are free. You don't have to be Shakespeare or Hemingway. All you have to have is some enthusiasm and a desire to share.

I will keep all three blogs listed on the blogroll for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, Jeff, Dick and Paul might get a burst of inspiration to write about something from time to time. Here's hoping to see more posts from these gentlemen - even if they don't come as often as they used to!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

160 Meter capable

My K2 is now 160 Meter capable - but not without a few heart stopping moments along the way - all caused by myself, of course.

I've posted previously about my phobia with opening up the K2. My philosophy is, "If it ain't broke don't fix it" or put another way, "Why jump out of a perfectly good airplane?". But, if you want to add options to a K2, you have to open it. I guess another way of putting it is, "If you want to make mayonnaise, you have to break some eggs". So I took a deep breath and proceeded to crack a few eggs.

In whole, the procedure wasn't as bad as I had feared. I installed the 160 board without any difficulty. As it turned out, all I had to do was remove one jumper from the K2's RF board, add three capacitors and do the actual physical installation of the board. I was lucky enough that my K2 is of recent enough vintage that I did not have to swap out two designated capacitors on the RF board. The existing ones were of the right value. I don't enjoy replacing components. Too much chance to do damage to the circuit board - and that's with 22 years of electronics repairs under my belt. I've seen "simple procedures" turn into deep doo-doo.

The alignment, such as it was, was a piece of cake. Using my OHR Wattmeter, I was able to peak L3 and L4 for maximum power output on both 80 and 160 Meters. If I so desire, I can go past 10 Watts out on both bands without breaking a sweat.

The bad things started happening when I started buttoning things back up. The first piece to be put back together was what Elecraft calls the heat sink. The K2's two PA transistors attach to this sheet o' metal (which also acts as part of the housing) in order to transfer heat away from themselves. However, there are two fiber spacers that go between the transistors and the circuit board in order to insure that the transistor bodies A) stay away from the circuit board and B) stay close to the heat sink. Of course, in the process of putting things back together, one of the two fiber spacers went into orbit.

I got out the heavy duty flashlight and checked the basement floor for what seemed like an eternity. I checked my pockets, I checked my socks, I checked my sneakers, I checked everywhere, to no avail. Then I did what some "Old School" Catholics do when they lose something. I said a short prayer to St. Anthony, to ask for his aid in helping find this minuscule piece of insulating collar. In a short while, I was hit with an inspiration. What if the darned thing had never hit the floor? I decided to check the pockets of my antistatic mat. Sure enough that's where the little bugger landed! No need to call Elecraft and wait for a week while new ones were delivered. Thanks, St. Anthony!

Having everything put back together - heat sink, bottom cover, top cover - I connected the antennas, plugged in the key and external power supply. I turned the unit on and ....... no receive audio! What the ........ ??????? (Break out the defibrillator, Honey!) Plugging in headphones ensured me that I was still able to hear received signals; but ...... ????? I disconnected the top cover completely and ran a 9 Volt battery across the speaker terminals. I heard the satisfying crackle which indicated that I had not somehow damaged the speaker. But that probably couldn't be anyway, as I was not getting anything from either the internal or my external speaker.

Slow down, take a deep breath and figure out what's wrong. The thing was working a half hour ago - what stupid thing did I do? It had to be something stupid that I had done.

Sure enough, it was.

When plugging in the wires for the speaker, I had placed the connector on the two pins where you would hook up the internal battery - if I had one! I removed the connector and placed it where it was supposed to go and viola' - sweet audio came racing out of the speaker(s) both internal and external depending on which I had chosen. (You can take the defibrillator back to the hospital, Honey!) I was listening to N1ZZ call "CQ DX" via CW for a few minutes and then went up the band a ways and went into LSB mode to listen to some ragchewing. Everything sounds great! I can even get the K2's internal ATU to get the G5RV down to about a 1.3:1 SWR. But I'm not kidding myself into thinking that that's a long term working solution. Gotta get that 160 Meter vertical built before winter sets in - but I'm sure that will be another story.

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

20 Meter Foxhunt fun!

Wow, what a rush!

The two Foxes for tonight were Paul NG7Z in Washington and Sam N4SAM in Alabama. As I thought, Paul turned out to be the easier pelt to snag. He had a good signal into NJ (especially with the ALC off!) and I managed a QSO at 0133 UTC.

I thought that was going to be it for the evening. I thought that Sam in Alabama was too close to New Jersey for a 20 Meter QSO, and for a long time I couldn't even hear him - or the pack chasing him.

But, as QRPers are fond of saying, patience pays off. During the last half hour of the hunt, I started hearing Sam. He was very weak; but his signal strength began taking an upswing. So I started calling, and calling, and calling.

I finally decided to switch antennas from the HF9V to the G5RV, even though I could hear Sam better with my vertical. So I began a sequence where I would transmit via the wire; and then would hit the K2's antenna switch button to go back to the vertical for receive. With four minutes left in the hunt, I managed a QSO with Sam! I was only a 449; but hey, we made a complete exchange of information and it counted.

A minor accomplishment, I guess, in the big picture of things; but it sure was fun to achieve something that was difficult!

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

NAQCC does itself proud

I was reading John K3WWP's daily "diary" like a lot of you; when I came upon the posting where John relayed how the NAQCC gifted him with a straight key and a Begali paddle.

Way to go NAQCC !!!

If there ever was a booster of that organization, it is definitely John. Tom WY3H conceived the idea, and he and John brought it to fruition, and have made it the success that it is. And that is in no way denigrating the contributions made by the NAQCC volunteers who shared Tom and John's vision and also helped in making the Club as successful as it is.

What started with just a few Hams now numbers more than 4,600 devotees to QRP and CW. And the monthly Sprint is regularly raking in over 100 log entries a month. If there's another monthly QRP Sprint that gets that amount of entries each month, I'm not aware of it - although the closest that I can think of is probably the monthly ARS Spartan Sprints.

And John's daily QRP CW streak is now in its 16th year if I'm not mistaken. Between that effort and his efforts put forth for the NAQCC, it's obvious that John "walks the walk" and doesn't just "talk the talk" where QRP is concerned. A worthwhile consideration for the QRP Hall of Fame, as far as I'm concerned!

Anyway, it did my heart good to see the organization honor John in such a fashion.

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

Another decent deal

Not as good a deal as the fiberglass poles; but another decent one, nonetheless.

The Harbor Freight catalog came through the mail today and what caught my eye immediately was a 180 Watt soldering gun for $8.99 - Item 04328-1DKN.
Not that I am going to have a daily use for it; but this should come in handy for quick antenna wire splices; as well as soldering PL-259s. And for $8.99 plus shipping, it's one of those deals where sometime in the future, I would have smacked myself in the forehead for not getting it.

It is way easier to do PL-259's with a soldering gun than an iron. It is possible to use an iron; but it has to be a hefty one, and it takes a long time to build up enough heat. Then, you always have it in the back of your mind if the solder connection was good enough (at least I do). Whenever I have done a PL-259 with a soldering gun, I have never had one fail. And if I hope to get this 160 Meter antenna project done before winter, this baby will come in handy.

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

NJ QSO Party - "Chirp, chirp, chirp"

Maybe I should emulate the wise cricket to the left; and should consider the NJ QSO Party to be a SSB event. Because QRP and a paddle don't seem to be cutting it!

I have been calling "CQ DE NJ DE W2LJ" for close to two hours now on both 40 and 20 Meters alternately; and all I've gotten is diddly squat. All I seem to be hearing is Mr. Cricket's chirps coming back at me.

Maybe it's just crummy propagation; as I don't hear much on either band, really. Maybe the bulk of activity happened yesterday and I'm just shoveling sand against the tide.

Maybe I'll try a little bit more, later. If you happen to hear someone calling "CQ DE NJ" on either 7.035 MHz or 14.035 MHz, that may be my lone voice crying out in the wilderness.

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

Very slow going

in the QRP ARCI SK Memorial Sprint.

So far in 45 minutes of operating, I have worked the following - N4BP (as always!), AB7AN, NT9K, K0LWV, K9IS all on 20 Meters. 40 Meters is nice and quiet - but no activity there.

I don't know if it's a case of crummy propagation or just a lack of participation; but it's definitely not hopping. If this keeps up, I think I'll pull the plug way before the 1800 UTC official end time.

I have heard K7TQ, Randy in Moscow, Idaho; but the QSB has been really bad and so far he's been between 549 and ESP. I know I can't be much better. I also heard and tried to work Kelly K4UPG, who is the author of one of the blogs in my blogroll. Kelly was about 449 to New Jersey and I tried working him on both the G5RV and the Butternut HF9V - but no dice.

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

Note: Added K4JPN and N5URL on 20 Meters and K3HX on 40 Meters to the total. Pulled the plug at 17:30 UTC - have to get the grocery shopping done!

Good deal !

Hey, I may get that 160 Meter vertical built before winter, yet!

Take a look at this deal on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160456742675&ssPageName=ADME:X:eRTM:US:1123

A set of 12 pieces of 4 foot interlocking fiberglass poles for $7.00 plus shipping! The deal came down to less than $26.00. Let's see ..... if I put eight of these together, it will probably come to about 30 -31 feet total height. The lowest price I was able to find a 31 foot Jackite pole was $60 without shipping!

I found this via K1TP's website.

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

QSO with W2DEC

Urb LeJeune has been trying to have an SKCC QSO with me for a bit now. Due to whatever scheduling conflicts that have stood in our way, we were unsuccessful until tonight. Tonight we hooked up on 80 Meters and exchanged SKCC info. Urb is one of the co-founders of the North Jersey DX Association; and to be invited to a QSO with him was indeed an honor.

Urb hooked me up to a cool spotting page, authored by K3UK. Oddly enough, it's called the K3UK Sked Page and you can find it here. If you're a QRPer, FISTS member, SKCC member or non-member to any group, I think you'd find this a very useful tool for spotting yourself when you want to scare up a QSO on those days when you just can't seem to find anybody around. Needless to say, it worked pretty well! I posted that I was QRV on 3.550 MHz and the QSO with Urb was quickly followed by two more. Neat!

If Ham Radio is like fishing; then spotting yourself is like using a fish finder!

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

Busy weekend

I was going to install the 160 Meter board in the K2 tonight; but I'm a bit on the tired side from a tough day at work.

But the weekend looks like a good opportunity to get some "on air" time in. Tomorrow morning is the QRP ARCI SK Memorial Sprint, which last from 11:00 AM until 2:00 PM EDT. I hope to spend some time in this one.

Then, later in the afternoon, starting at 4:00 PM is the NJ QSO Party. I will put Middlesex County on the air with my blazing 5 Watts and will attempt to hand out as many QSOs as I can, tomorrow and Sunday.

I will actually submit my scores this time, no matter how appalling they turn out to be! ;) I just hope that propagation is with me and that the bands are open.

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

Stupidest thing I've ever done

in my 30+ years in Amateur Radio?

There have been a few; such as frying the finals in my SB-104A, buying used gear that turned out to be dogs. I once bought a Kenwood R599 receiver that some idiot had tuned the 10 Meter band for CB ..... but I managed to rectify that.

Without a doubt, the stupidest thing I have ever done, in my own mind, was to sell my Heathkit HW-8. Back in the 90s, I donated it to one of the Piscataway Amateur Radio Club auctions. If memory serves me, John WA2F was the winning bidder. He's also a member of the Raritan Valley Radio Club. One of these meetings I should ask him if he still has it and make him an offer. Chances are it probably went via the RVRC Hamfest Club table many moons ago.

I've sold a lot of equipment that I've no longer wanted; but when you sell something that you've built with your own two hands ..... there's something regrettable about that. I wasn't into QRP 100% back then. I sure wish I had it now, even though it's definitely not the greatest QRP radio in the world.

Yeah, I could go on eBay or QRZ or eHam and hunt out another; but it wouldn't be the same.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very lest!

Just as I thought!

I managed to snag a pelt from Don NK6A in California. I heard the Hounds chasing Arn K0ZK, in Maine; but did not hear even a whisper out of him. So it's a "1fur" in New Jersey tonight.

BUT ...... I did manage to build the entire 160 Meter board for the K2 while I was listening for Arn. Funny, but I seem to have misplaced the panel mount BNC connector. I have no idea where it got itself to. Luckily, I have one with a Rockmite kit that I never finished; so I will use that one. I will order a replacement for the Rockmite and a few spares in the meantime.

So now all I have to do is open the K2 and do some minor surgery to install the 160 Meter board. I hate tearing open a perfectly working radio! I will probably swallow hard and bite the bullet possibly Friday night and get it installed and the K2 buttoned back up before this weekend. I have the QRP ARCI SK Memorial Sprint on Saturday as well as the NJ QSO Party this weekend.

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

20 Meter Foxhunt

starts in about 47 minutes.

Don NK6A in California and Arn K0ZK in Maine are the Foxes this week. The way 20 Meters has been lately, I think I will stand a better chance of hitting California than Maine. Maine may just be a tad too close.

We had a CERT meeting tonight in town. South Plainfield's big "End of Summer" bash is coming up with the (52nd or 53rd?) annual Labor Day Parade and fireworks later that night. South Plainfield is one of only three towns in the entire state to have a parade for Labor Day and the CERT team has been providing communications since 2004.

This year we need a big presence at the fireworks, too. Last year there was "an incident" and the plan is to hopefully pair up CERT members with Police and Special Police from neighboring towns.

In addition, I met up with Marv K2VHW and we decided to pursue a club callsign for the newly formed and fledgling South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club. Marv and I will also be meeting up together in the next couple of weeks to plan out another licensing class like the one we held a few years back. Several CERT members as well as at least one of the town's police officers have expressed an interest in earning their tickets.

Looks like autumn may be busy and interesting!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Perfect QRP Portable day ???

I really have to start hanging with Jim W1PID !!!!

http://www.mv.com/ipusers/w1pid/aug2/aug2.html

;)


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

QSLs

I like getting and sending QSL cards. I am guilty of not QSLing as fast as I should; but I do eventually get them out. I also like looking at other Ham's QSL cards, especially old ones.

I found this great site through eHam. If you like looking at older QSL cards, I think you will really enjoy this site:

http://oldqslcards.com/

Next project will be the 160 Meter board for the K2. I dug it out and looked at it last night; and even at my snail's pace, I should be able to get through this quickly. I already sorted the parts out. I should be on 160 Meters this Fall and Winter, even without a proper antenna. The 160 Meter vertical that I want to build will have to wait as the purchase of the Jackite pole is on hold for a while.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

CQing away

I have the K2 on autopilot, calling "CQ FP DE W2LJ" as I type this. So far at 0138 UTC, there is not a whole heckuva lot of activity. I have worked three stations so far, KB6NU and VE3MO on 40 Meters and N4BP on 20 Meters. I have some really bad QRM on 20 Meters, making that band pretty unusable. The only reason I heard Bob N4BP is that he's booming in 20 over 9. Looks like a long night tonight; and I advertised the Sprint in plenty of locations in ample time. I guess folks are busy or on vacation.

On the bright side, I did finish my Fuchs antenna matching unit today. I would have tossed some wire up a tree to play around with it; but today we got some rain (first time in a couple of months!). And it was a nice gentle rain, too. The ground is so hard and dry that a hard rain would have run right off. This rain had a chance to soak in. But the fact is that we could use about a week of this. The forecast for tomorrow is back up to the upper 90s with high humidity. As hot as this summer has been, I will be sad to see it eventually go.

Well, back to the Sprint and maybe I'll hunt and pounce for a bit.

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

Before I forget

One last thought before I turn in for the night.

Tonight - Sunday night - is the Flying Pigs monthly QRP Sprint, the Run For the Bacon. It runs from 9 - 11 PM EDT or 0100 to 0300 UTC (Monday morning).

For the details you can go to: http://fpqrp.com/fpqrprun.php

Like the majority of Flying Piggies, this is a laid back event. It's not a cut throat contest (well at least for most). So if you're new to QRP CW contesting and have always been meaning to give it a try - join us! You say your code speed is not that great? Most Piggies will slow down for you; and if you ask us to QRS, then you should be fine. Only a lid wouldn't comply at that point, right?

The exchange is RST, followed by your state, province or country (the dreaded S/P/C). followed by your Flying Pig membership number. What? You don't have one? What are you waiting for? The dues are ZIP, NADA, ZILCH !!!!! And the only club requirement is that you have FUN! In the meantime, just give your output power until you come to your senses and join this august group (no pun intended!).

If you're new to RFTB and you hear two Piggies end their exchange with "OO ES 73", just know the OO means "oink, oink". See what I mean? What SERIOUS and STUFFY contest would include that!

See you tonight in the pig pen!

72 de Larry W2LJ

Flying Pig #612

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

And now for something completely different

I did something tonight that I have not done in years. Something that I used to do on a very regular basis in my younger years. I went to a baseball game!

No, unfortunately, it was not a NY Mets game. I have been a Mets fan for 43 years now, since my Dad first took me to Shea Stadium when I was 10 years old. In fact, during the mid 80s until the mid 90s, my cousin John and I shared a partial season plan. We had tickets for all the Saturday home games. Those years were so much fun!

But with Major League Baseball ticket prices skyrocketing out of sight, in addition to outrageous toll and gas prices, it almost required a second mortgage on the house to keep that up. Going to just one game now probably costs what an entire season worth of games used to.

But tonight was Girl Scout night at the Somerset Patriots, a team with the independent Atlantic League. So all four of us went - Marianne, Joey, Cara and myself. Between the cost of the tickets, parking and food, we spent a ton less than what we would have by going to see the Mets at Citifield.

And it was a good time! The kids had fun, I enjoyed the game and even Marianne seemed to be enjoying herself; and she's not a baseball fan. We had fantastic seats just a small ways up the third baseline from home plate. It was good to see the rich, lush, green grass and to smell the rich earth that makes up the infield. The Patriots won, 6-1 and it's always a good thing when the home team wins.

I snapped up a schedule on the way out of the ballpark; and the regular season ends the last weekend in September. Plenty of opportunity to catch another home game.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Time for another W1PID story

Jim certainly has the mojo!

He tosses a 30 foot wire up a tree and works half of Europe. I throw a 30 foot wire up a tree and end up with poison Sumac!

http://www.mv.com/ipusers/w1pid/august/august.html

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

Holy 1,021 !!!

I just took a look at the ol' Blogger dashboard to find out that it's been 1,021 posts since this joyride started back in April of 2005.

Thanks for sharing that ride with me!

My passion for Amateur Radio grows stronger every year. Hope it's that way for you too.

Thank you, Google - for making Blogger available to the likes of me.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

A trip to Radio Shack

is in the offing. The 80 Meter PSK31 Warbler that W3BBO has graciously loaned me arrived in today's mail.

So, I will be needing two stereo cables with male to male ends. No problem - I know that the Shack has those! The tricky part will be to see if they carry a 9 pin D serial cable. The online store has them; but my local neighborhood poorly stocked store probably won't have one.

Worse comes to worse, I think I might have a male and female connector hiding somewhere in the junk box. I'll just have to hunt around around for some multi-conductor cable.

Of course, Bob did not just send me the circuit board as show above. His is nicely fitted into a handsome enclosure.

This being August, I normally start getting the "end of Summer" blues about this time; and start dreading the return of colder weather that's just over the horizon. But if the eventual cold weather brings awesome conditions back to 80 Meters - this little kit will make my annual descent towards winter all that much more bearable!

Oh yes, tonight should be the waning phase of the Perseid meteor shower. I doubt I would see any thanks to our Suburban New York City light polluted environment. But it might be worth a listen on 10 Meters to see if some spurious ionization takes place.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

20 Meters is long tonight!

I managed to snare one of the 20 Meter Foxes tonight - Dale WC7S who lives in Wyoming. I can't hear a peep out of John K4BAI; and I suspect there is no propagation tonight between NJ and GA. We are probably too close!

20 Meters seems to be long tonight. I am hearing and working a few stations in the NAQCC Sprint while hoping against hope that I will eventually hear John. I have worked Manitoba and Nebraska and have heard California quite clearly.

No K4BAI, though. And I've got the AGC off and it's playing havoc with my eardrums!

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

The Bucket List

One of the things that's on my Ham Radio Bucket List is to try and do some PSK31. That probably sounds strange. PSK is by all accounts a very popular mode; but it is one that I have never tried.

Looking in my log, I saw that the last QSOs that I made using a digital mode were made back in March of 2000. Some were RTTY and some were PacTOR. I used to do quite a bit of digi in the 90s. I guess the fascination wore off; as it seemed to be too much like "e-mail over the radio" for me. So ever since March 2000, it has been CW all the way.

One of the problems is that I no longer have a radio that will allow me to do PSK31. My K2, K1 and PFR3A radios are CW capable only. I was contemplating buying and building the SSB board for the K2; but that would involve messing with the crystal filter settings and they are PERFECT where they are now. I don't want to mess up a great thing.

So Bob W3BBO has come to my rescue once again; and is going to temporarily lend me his Warbler. This was a kit sold by the NJQRP Club a while back; and will allow me to do some PSK31 during the cold winter nights on 80 Meters this winter. With an output of 3 Watts, this still keeps me quite happily in the realm of QRP.

If I like it, there are the PSK series of kits offered by Small Wonder Labs. They are reasonably priced and if I end up REALLY, REALLY liking the mode, I can buy one for 20 Meters, say, for $120.

So do me a favor and don't report me to the CW police, OK? They might want to take away my Morse Code credentials. Hi!

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

Small hamfest

I woke up early this morning to go to the Jersey Shore Amateur Radio Society (JSARS) Hamfest.

It was exceedingly small with three vendors in the indoor space and perhaps 12 - 15 vendors outside in the parking lot. I got there right at the opening bell at 8:00 AM and stayed for about an hour. If more vendors came any later than that, I missed them.

I picked up copies of the ARRL's "Wire Antenna Classics" and "More Wire Antenna Classics" for $10 for both books; as well as a 24 LED flashlight for $5. One vendor had one of those small Grundig AM/FM/Shortwave receivers for $25; but I passed.

There were a lot of tubes. Motorola gear, and a lot of old tubed gear; and even some digital SLR cameras. I was contemplating purchasing one of the digital SLRs - they were Kodak bodies with a Nikkor lens and were only $75 - but they were only 2 megapixel. That resolution is poor by even today's "point and shoot" standards. My little Polaroid point and shoot is 5 megapixel.

I saw an Icom IC-730 and was tempted. The IC-730 is capable of being adjusted down to the 100 milliwatt level. I used to own one. But I didn't even ask for the selling price. And sitting here now thinking about it as I type this, that was clearly a stupid mistake on my part. It would have been a great rig for PSK-31 had I been using my brain at the time.

Was this hamfest worth the hour's drive to get to? Probably not; but I can think of worse ways to spend a sunny Sunday summer morning. Plus if attendance keeps declining at these small hamfests, then the organizers will probably start to wonder, "Why bother?". That would not be a good thing.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Stirring the pot

I was driving down to visit my Mom today; and I had Joey and Cara (my kids) in the car with me. I had the Icom dual bander in scan mode, which happened to stop on the W2LI UHF repeater, which is located on the Jersey Shore. The repeater must have been in IRLP mode, because there were two gentlemen speaking on the repeater who, as my kids noticed right away, "sounded different".

These two gentlemen were Alan M3ELP who lives in Runcorn, UK, which is not all that far from Liverpool; and Ian G4ZPZ who lives in Dukinfield, UK, not all that far from Manchester. They were looking for Stateside contacts, and at the moment, no one was going back to them. I took the opportunity to say "Hello". It was different, speaking with Hams in England as we were driving down US Route 1 in New Jersey; and it gave my kids a chance to hear something other than the normal 2 Meter repeater fare that they usually hear when they are with me (and I have the radio on).

After the QSO, I got to thinking of all the stupid arguments that get started on e-Ham or QRZ as to whether or not this is "real Ham radio". And I think that maybe it crosses the normal lines and becomes a new kind of Ham radio - maybe "hybrid radio" for lack of a better term?

OK - we all know the definition for "traditional" Ham radio. Two guys get on the air, emit RF and communicate, antenna directly to antenna. No problems with that definition (hopefully).

Then there's one form of Echolink. Bob W3BBO and I get on our computers just about every Saturday and we chew the fat. Computer to Internet to computer. No RF anywhere. Not Ham radio - just two Hams shooting the breeze using the Internet. We could just as easily be using Skype or some other program for that matter. Echolink in and of itself does not make it Ham radio.

Alan and Ian get on their HTs, and get into repeaters in the UK, which are hooked up to the Internet. This gets them into a NJ repeater which is also hooked up to the Internet and I talk with them using my mobile VHF/UHF radio as I whiz on down the highway. Ham radio? Definitely yes! Traditional radio? No. "Hybrid" or "assisted" radio? Yes! Fun? Yes! DXCC countable? No.

And the fun part is what is most important. I can't understand the grumpiness towards IRLP, Echolink linking and newer technologies like that. Believe me, I have been called a curmudgeon and an O.F. and worse; but I bear no animosity or ill will towards stuff like this. However, I have to admit that yes, there is enough purist in me that I do cringe a little bit when I hear the term "QSO" used for Echolink conversations made via computer-Internet-computer, or for conversations made using that software driven ionosphere simulation program thingy. When there's NO radio frequency energy being used anywhere, it's not Ham radio - but the "hybrid" stuff is just fine by me!

As an aside, I guess my kids have come very accustomed to my love of CW. After the mobile QSO, my son looked at me and said, "Dad, you actually used a microphone!"

Sheesh!

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

New wristwatch

Recently I ordered a new wristwatch; and it came today through the mail. From the picture, you can see I am not a fashionista. I prefer practicality.

One of my quirks concerns time. I hate it; and I mean I HATE IT when the time on a clock that I am looking at is wrong. It's not that I am always super early or exactly on time for every event in my life - I just want the time on my watch to be as accurate as possible. Like I said - a quirk.

From the picture you can guess that the watch I bought is an atomic job. No longer do I have to sit in front of an HF radio, listening to WWV and making sure I hit that "set" button at precisely the right millisecond.

I guess this stems not only from my desire to keep an accurate log; but also from working satellites where if you're a few minutes off, you can miss the better part of a pass. This probably also has something to do with some kind of obsessive compulsive disorder - hi!

In any event it didn't cost me an arm and a leg. I got it through a discount catalog and got $10 off in addition to free shipping. What a deal!

No Rolex for W2LJ.

72 de W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!