Christmas Eve 2024

 

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock.

The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear.

The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.

And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.

When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”

So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.

When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child.

All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds.

So why is the line "you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”  so important? Because these shepherds were not your ordinary any-day-of -the-week Bethlehem shepherds. These were the shepherds of the Migdal Eder, which was very close by to where Jesus, Mary and Joseph were.  It was a place reserved for raising lambs for temple sacrifice. When an ewe birthed a lamb, the shepherds would immediately clean it and then wrap it in blessed swaddling cloths supplied by the local Rabbis. These lambs were wrapped and laid in mangers so they would not get hurt, and become blemished and unfit for sacrifice.

No ...... these angels knew EXACTLY who they were telling the Good News to,  and how the meaning behind this all would be immediately understood.

Merry and Blessed Christmas!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

New Holiday Operating Event

This came across to the inbox of the QRP-ARCI Contest Manager. I guess they wanted all QRP-ARCI members to know, and now I get to share it with you, too:

EURAO Party - Winter 2025: Season's Greetings

Mon, 23/12/2024 - 23:00 — eurao

The European Radio Amateurs' Organization announces a new party on the air, this time with the motto: "Season's Greetings". Remember this is not a contest, it is just a radio meeting with a few simple 'rules', better to call them recommendations.

Purpose: Wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all the stations you contact with these days. This is a good time to wish peace and love to everyone. Have fun and meet other hams all over the world or just locals. Of course SWLs are welcome to participate.

Date & time: from December 24th, 2024, to January 6th, 2025, 00:00-24:00 UTC.

Bands & modes: all modes and frequencies, mainly in HF bands, but not only. EFG.

Call: "CQ EURAO Party".

Exchange: because this is a QSO event, not a contest, you can talk about whatever you want, in any language, and for as long as you like. Here are some topic suggestions to get the conversation going: name, city, locator, weather, antennas, rigs, etc.

Also talk about QSL interchange. Tell the truth. Say "no, thanks" if you are not interested in QSL cards. But if you would like to have a memory of your contact, feel free to use our EuroBureauQSL (see below).

Logs: for statistic purposes only, we ask participants to submit their logs to party@eurao.org in ADIF format, where the filename should be your callsign (e.g. EA3RKF.ADI).

There will be no results or league tables, only statistical information about number of QSOs, countries, callsigns, OMs/YLs/Clubs, etc.

Certificate of Participation: for all those sending the log and without a minimum of confirmed QSOs.

EuroBureauQSL: you can use it to interchange QSLs even if you are not member. In this case, just send the QSL to the entry point of the country of the station you have contacted

72 de Larry W2LJ 

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Disappointed

When I got home from work last night, I was really tired (like, try putting 5 really's after that one!) and I didn't have much of an appetite. Just overworked, I guess. I sat and talked with Cara and Marianne for a bit and then hit the sack at 7:00 PM. I was not about to go down and sit in my cold shack for whatever time it would have taken to work K4BAI and K9DRP. 

In their logs today, I see that my NJ Hound buddy, Chas W2SH worked both, so conditions to New Jersey were probably good. C'est la vie! I woke up, coincidentally at 10:30 PM, just as the hunts were ending. I went downstairs to grab a small bite to eat (a buttered hamburger roll) as I had gotten hungry, and then went back to bed. It's better today, but I still could use another long night in bed. I'm getting too old for this 8:00 to 5:00 stuff!

Here are the going on for the weekend.

Contests:

Croatian DX Contest - https://www.hamradio.hr/9a-dx-contest/

RAEM Contest - https://raem.srr.ru/rules/

ARRL Rookie Roundup, CW - http://www.arrl.org/rookie-roundup

Special Events:

12/21/2024 | 80th Anniversary Grumman Amateur Radio Club

Dec 21, 1400Z-2200Z, WA2LQO, Bethpage, NY. Grumman Amateur Radio Club. 14.240 7240 21.350. Certificate. Downloadable Card Only, Check www,limarc.org, Bethpage, NY 11714. Amateur Radio Club of Grumman Aerospace contact George Sullivan, WB2IKt sullige@verizon.net downloadable QSL Sponsored by the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club www.limarc.org for log confirmation and download operating SSB and FT8

12/21/2024 | Christmas in Bethlehem New Mexico

Dec 21-Dec 24, 1500Z-2359Z, KC5OUR, Peralta, NM. Valencia County Amateur Radio Association. 7.183 14.283 21.283 28.383. QSL. VCARA, P. O. Box 268, Peralta, NM 87042. www.kc5our.com

In other news - I've gone against my gut and volunteered to be the QRP-ARCI Contest Manager. Paul Womble, K4FB. who I believe is still a rather newlywed needed to step back and concentrate on other things in life - like his duties as an Emergency Management Director in Florida. That'll keep you hopping during hurricane season!

The way I look at it, participation in the QRP-ARCI events has really fallen off. The plan to remediate that is to advertise the heck out of them. Not just a quick e-mail, one or two days in advance, but a concentrated effort. What's that quote from "Field of Dreams"? - "If you build it, they will come". So I figure if I build up interest, Hams will start to come back and participate. People have lives and need to plan. It's hard sometimes to just sit down for a QRP Sprint when you only found out about it the day before. Maybe we can fix that.

I do it with the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt and have been moderately successful. And if it doesn't work, they can always fire me!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Christmas is a coming

and Santa is getting a few boat anchors ready for some Hams who have been good all year long!

I may end up getting disappointed, but I am looking forward to the 80 Meter Fox Hunt tonight. The Foxes are John K4BAI in Georgia  and Don K9DRP in Illinois. Both should be reachable/workable from New Jersey on 80 Meters.

I am looking forward to seeing which antenna might be successful in nabbing contacts with them. Ever since I've replaced that matching stub on the HF9V it's been like a brand new antenna again! I still have to go out to the backyard and grab a plastic flower pot from our shed. I want to cut a hole in the bottom, and put a slit up the side so that I can invert it and create a protective shield around the matching network so that the wires cannot be accidentally damaged by weedwhackers ever again I'm not sure my word description actually conveys what I want to do, so after the deed is done, I'll take some photos and will post them here.

By the way, speaking of Santa - for those of you who have young kids or grandkids - you probably know all about this, but there's still time left if you want your kiddoes to talk with Santa:

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Missed opportunity and Christmas memories

I guess I kind of blew an opportunity in the 40 Meter Fox Hunt last night. I didn't walk away empty handed, but I might have walked away with more if I wasn't so tired.

I heard Cathy W4CMG's Hounds baying rather loudly. I tuned 1 kHz down and there she was. I had to tighten up the filters a bit as last night was also the NAQCC mW Sprint. Anyway, I had her frequency picked out and was listening to her hand out pelts. I called a few times with no result and then some kind of digital signal came on, right on top of her! I have no idea what mode it was, as the only ones I can recognize by ear are RTTY and Olivia. This must have been one of the FTs. Fortunately, whoever was generating the signal didn't stick around long, and I finally worked Cathy at 02:23 UTC.

Cathy was the lower Fox, so I dialed up looking for Brian K0DTJ. I heard A Hound (just one!) and dialed down 1 kHz again. This time - nothing. I hung around a while and continued to hear only background noise, so I pulled the plug and went to bed. Looking at Brian's log this morning, I see he started working some East coast stations towards the very end of the hunt. I guess I should have stayed; but as I've said before, that's tough when you have to get up for work at 5:00 AM the next morning. That was no big deal when I was younger, but now ...................

Al Hanzl K2AL was asking about the Christmas keys on the 4 States io group. These were keys that were offered by Marshall Emm N1FN (SK) through his company, Morse Express. Each year a new miniature, yet fully functional straight key woold be offered to us Morse Code enthusiasts. They are so small that the advertising photo always depicted them as Christmas Tree ornaments.

This must have been all new to Al and he was asking for more information about them. Several of us pointed him to various websites and I e-mailed photos of the ones that I have, so he could see examples of what he was asking about,

Most of the ones that I have were manufactured by LLevas Telegrafia (pardon the spelling, I probably have it wrong) until he became an SK. The 2007 key, the only one that's not brass, is the last one that I collected. These are all given to me as Christmas gifts from my wife, Marianne.

I should have included a quarter in the photos to give you and idea how tiny these are. At the same time, these are not gimmicky, junky toys. They are fully functional, superbly manufactured straight keys. If my straight key fist wasn't so lousy, I would use them more. As it is, they've been on my shelf for so long that they need a decent cleaning.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Mind if we brag?

I guess you can consider this a guest post - good friend Dave KD2FSI posted this to the South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club Facebook page, and I'm posting it here as well, because there's an important message here.

2024 Field Day Results:

The ARRL Field Day Results are now out in a CSV file format. This file format can be imported to an Excel spreadsheet and sorted to compare the results by categories, sections and so forth.

We know from the results published in December’s QST that SPARC came in 3rd out of 5 in the 3A-Battery category, but I was interested in seeing how we did overall compared to all categories and sections.

Looking at all categories In the NNJ section, SPARC ranked 2nd out of 47 entries.

I then combined all categories in the NNJ section with all categories in the SNJ section where we ranked 5th out of 77 total New Jersey entries.

But what I always think is impressive, is where SPARC ranks when compared to total of all categories participating nationwide.

And this year, SPARC ranked 216th out of 4319 total Field Day entries! This puts SPARC’s score in the top 5% of all the submitted logs that participated in the 2024 Field Day.

What I think is even more impressive is that SPARC can complete this well against well equipped, big money stations. Some of which are using as many as 13 transceivers running 100 watts out to crank-up towers with beam antennas sitting on top. While SPARC uses just 3 battery powered transceiver running 5 watts out to wire antennas.

Congratulations to SPARC and everyone involved, for a considerable effort with a great outcome. 

73, Dave KD2FSI

Thanks, Dave, for your research. And I'm posting this here because it's important for all of you out there to know - if we can do this, so can you! We are not super special, by any means, we're just a bunch of Hams who like to play radio and enjoy a challenge.

QRP is NOT a handicap, and does not have to take a backseat to anyone! Don't let anyone ever tell you different!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Broken pipeline

More about that in a minute or two, but first here's the weekend's goings on:

Contests

One biggie - especially as we're at the peak of Cycle 25:

ARRL 10-Meter Contest - http://www.arrl.org/10-meter

And some smaller ones:

SKCC Weekend Sprintathon - https://www.skccgroup.com/operating_activities/weekend_sprintathon/

Run for the Bacon QRP Contest - http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html

K1USN Slow Speed Test - http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html

Special Events:

12/14/2024 | Big Bend ARC 50th Anniversary

Dec 14, 1500Z-2300Z, K5O, Alpine, TX. Big Bend ARC. 7.240 14.320 21.350 28.400. QSL. Big Bend ARC, 1402 N 5tn Street, Alpine, TX 79830. www.bigbendarc.org

12/14/2024 | Ike's UN Atoms for Peace Speech (1953)

Dec 14, 1400Z-2200Z, K3S, Baltimore, MD. Nuclear Ship Savannah ARC. 7.1 14.1 21.1 28.1. QSL. K3LU, 980 PATUXENT ROAD, Odenton, MD 21113. Single transmitter SSB and CW aboard N/S Savannah. Please check spotting networks for frequencies. Info on QRZ.com www.qrz.com/db/k3s

12/14/2024 | Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Special Event

Dec 14, 1700Z-2359Z, NI6IW, San Diego, CA. USS Midway Museum Ship. 7.250 14.320 14.070 PSK31 DSTAR on Papa system repeaters. QSL. USS Midway Museum Ship COMEDTRA, 910 N Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101. www.qrz.com/db/ni6iw

Getting back to the pipeline business. I'm going to bore you with more QRP Fox Hunt stuff, but lately, it's about the only time I've been managing to get on the air. Last night was the 80 Meter hunt, and I (mistakenly) thought it was going to be a quick and easy night, as we had two super good Foxes running - Dave N1IX in NH and Rick NK9G in WI.

It started out that way! I found Dave right off the bat and worked him at about two or three minutes into the Hunt. I had to be his second or third Hound worked.

Rick NK9G, on the other hand, took a bit of doing, and that was a surprise. Normally it seems I have a pipeline to Minnesota and Wisconsin, with fast and easy QSOs. Last night, the pipeline was either broken or had a serious kink in it.  Rick was loud enough, a legit 559 or better, but he was having problems. I eventually worked him at around 03:12 UTC (I don't have my log with me), but it took much longer and a lot more effort than I had anticipated.

All evening long, Rick was asking for repeats and was sending a lot of "?"s and "QRZ"s. It seemed to me at least, that he must have had either a high ambient noise level or all our signals were down in the mud.  I'm so used to him working stations in rapid fire succession in Sprints, almost effortlessly it seems. He's such a superb op! Last night, though, the band seemed to be biting him on the butt. 

He didn't post his log yet, but he did send an e-mail saying how everyone's signals were exceptionally weak at his end. He wrote that he still managed to hand out about 50 pelts, which is a goodly amount! And that is truly the mark of a top notch op, to endure and achieve success despite the conditions that prevail.

One other thing that became apparent last night - winter shack conditions. When I got down to the shack about 10 minutes before the start of the Hunt, my little Radio Shack wall thermometer was reading 59F (15C). From here on out, if I'm going to participate, I'm going to have to go down to the shack about an hour ahead of time and plug in and turn on the DuraFlame space heater that I purchased at the end of last winter. I wasn't too uncomfortable during the Hunt, but when I got up out of my chair, my knee and hip joints were telling me that they were NOT happy with the chill.

72 de Larry W2LLJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

LOL!

Look at the serial number of a laptop I shipped today - the last three letters. I hope it doesn't fade in and out on the user!

You know you're a Ham when you notice stuff like this immediately!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

As seen on Facebook

I saw this posted on the POTA/SOTA Facebook page, and thought it would be good to share here:

I know that I am myself guilty of not following procedure, with the end result of me muttering swear words under my breath every time I have to untangle my Dacron rope supply. Thanks, Scott W3GTR for the excellent photos!

My instincts for last night's 40 Meter Fox Hunt proved to be true (for once)! I found Steve WD4CFN's Hounds rather easily, went down 1 kHz and was able to hear him amongst the "CQ NA"s that were in plenteous supply - I'm guessing last night was the NAQCC monthly Sprint? Anyway, as I was saying, I found Steve rather easily, but he kept fading in and out. He would be strong for a few minutes and then fade to ESP for a few minutes and back and forth, and back and forth. On a peak, i worked him at 02:28 UTC, 559 both ways.

John AJ1DM was just as I expected. I found "a" Hound calling him and again, went down 1 kHz and listened and heard nothing. In order to not make the same mistake I made last week, I then went back up that 1 kHz, just in case John was working simplex. Nothing there either, so I pulled the plug so I could get some shuteye.

Looking at his log this morning, the closest state to me on the East coast that John worked was North Carolina. It was obvious that his RF was flying as high overhead over New Jersey as these storied drones (which I have not seen) are. And I was surprised to see that neither Jack N2RK or Tom KV2X in NY had worked John. Those two guys must have amazing antenna systems because it seem like they work everyone - sometimes being the only East coasters to make it into a Fox's log.

Once again last night, my weapon from the antenna quiver was my vertical, my Butternut HF9V. Steve WD4CFN's signal was the same 559 on the EFRW and the vertical, but the vertical was not picking as much background noise as the wire was.

The weather for NJ today will be on the warm side with a high in the low 60s. We'll get some drought busting rains with 2 - 3 inches expected between today and tomorrow. We'll still come up short rain-wise for the year, but at least the wildfire/brushfire danger is now pretty much over.  We're also expecting some pretty ferocious wind gusts later today and tonight. I hope the outdoor Christmas decorations don't take flight!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Instincts

The two stars of tonight's 40 Meter QRP Fox Hunt are John AJ1DM in Rhode Island and Steve WD4CFN in Tennessee. Based on the people I've been able to hear on 40 Meter SSB on the St. Max Net, I'm thinking I should be able to hear Steve, but John may be a challenge. I think it's more likely that I'd have a better shot of working Rhode Island on 80 Meters.

My own 40 Meter Fox experience from November 13th bears this out. I worked Steve WD4CFN, but no Hounds from the New England states at all.

The HF9V's "renovations" continue to impress me. In fact, the pelts that I was able to grab last week were all gotten through the HF9V. The way I have it tuned is that it really likes the CW portions of the band. I tried using it in the SSB portion of 40 Meters on Sunday for the St. Max Net and it was not happy. I had to resort to the EFRW, which was not a problem.

It will be interesting to see how my prediction turns out - if I'm able to stay awake long enough.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Skeeter Hunt Poker 2025

I put out a feeler on the Skeeter Hunt Facebook page for some ideas about what we can do for bonus points for the 2025 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt. Thanks to KC Kerchner KC9IH for coming up with the rudimentary idea for Skeeter Hunt Poker.

I still have to tweak it a bit, but here's what I'm thinking:

Royal Flush - Work 5 different Skeeters with consecutive Skeeter numbers - 1,000 points. This would be the most difficult, so working W2LJ can be used as a Wild Card.

Flush - Work 5 different Skeeters with the same call sign number in their call. - 750 points

Full House - Work 3 Skeeters with the same call sign number in their call, and two with another call sign number. - 500 points

Four of a kind - Work 4 Skeeters with the same call sign number in their call - 200 points

Two pair - Two Skeeters from one call area, two from another - 100 points

Only one bonus allowed per Skeeter, so of course, you'd work for the higher point value "hands".

Whad'dya think? Do-able? Too hard? Too easy? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Weekend of Dec. 7th and 8th

Hey, Santa! Is that RTTY or FT8?

Contests:

Wake-Up! QRP Sprint - http://qrp.ru/contest/wakeup/333-wakeup-eng

PRO CW Contest - https://proradiocontestclub.com/PCC%20Rules.html

INORC Contest - https://www.inorc.it/wp/2023/09/12/xlii-contest-i-n-o-r-c-memorial-sauro-tonelli-iz1cla/

FT Challenge - http://www.rttycontesting.com/ft-challenge - Digital, so you'll hear this in the CW portions of the bands.

QRP ARCI Holiday Spirits Sprint - http://qrparci.org/contest/holiday-spirit-sprint

4 States QRP Group Second Sunday Sprint - http://www.4sqrp.com/SSS/sss_rules.pdf

K1USN Slow Speed Test - http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html

ARRL 160-Meter Contest - http://www.arrl.org/160-meter

Special Event Stations:

12/01/2024 | QCWA Annual Special Event - W2MM 77th Anniversary

Dec 1-Dec 7, 0000Z-2359Z, W2MM, Sandpoint, ID. Qyarter Century Wireless Assocation, Inc.. CW: 3.540 7.035 14.040 21.050 28.050 SSB: 3.810 7.244 14.262 21.365 28.325 FT8/FT4 . Certificate. QCWA Activities Manager, 1613 Poplar Street, Sandpoint, ID 83864. Stations will be active from around the country with this call sign www.qcwa.org

12/06/2024 | Chicago Suburban Radio Association 100th Anniversary

Dec 6-Dec 8, 1800Z-2359Z, W9SW, Berwyn, IL. Chicago Suburban Radio Association. 7.240 14.240. QSL. Andrew Martin (K9ASM), 1627 East Avenue, Berwyn, IL 60402. https://csraham.com

12/07/2024 | Christmas in Bethlehem

Dec 7, 1400Z-2300Z, W9WWI, Bethlehem, IN. Clark County Amateur radio club of Indiana. 28.400. QSL. Clark Co. ARC, PO Box 201, Sellersburg, IN 47172. The Clark County Amateur Radio Club of Indiana wishes all a merry Christmas from Bethlehem Indiana with this special event. Operating all band and modes. A special QSL is available. n9dprh@gmail.com

12/07/2024 | Pearl Harbor special event

Dec 7, 1000Z-1700Z, WA4USN, Charleston, SC. Charleston Amateur Radio Society Inc. 14.250 7.940. QSL. Charleston Amateur Radio Society, PO Box 70341, North Charleston, SC 29415. From the USS Yorktown (CV-10). At Patriots Point in Charleston Harbor. wa4usn.org

12/07/2024 | Flight 19, The Lost Avengers

Dec 7, 1300Z-2100Z, K4P, Fort Lauderdale, FL. Parrot Amateur Radio Club Inc. 14.240 7.210 18.150 21.315. QSL. Gerald Deitch, 2621 nw 105 lane, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33322. fogdaddy1@gmail.com

12/07/2024 | Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Dec 7, 1800Z-2100Z, N3TAL, Lanham, MD. American Legion Post 275 Amateur Radio Team. 7.275 MHz (+/-) LSB. QSL. American Legion Post 275 Amateur Radio Team, 8201 Martin Luther King Jr Hwy, Lanham, MD 20706. N3TAL275@gmail.com or www.qrz.com/db/n3tal

12/07/2024 | Remembrance Of Pearl Harbor

Dec 7-Dec 8, 1400Z-2100Z, N4WIS, Norfolk, VA. USS Wisconsin Radio Club (BB64). 7.264 14.264 7.064 14.064. QSL. USS Wisconsin Radio Club N4WIS, One Waterside Drive, Norfolk, VA 23510. We will be spotting ourselves on the reflector to make it easy for stations to find us on the bands. Will be on other HF bands as conditions change: 21064, 21264, 10.164, 28064, 28264. 10.125 All Frequencies +/- QRM Thank You! contactleaders@n4wis.org

If you ever get interested in working a special event station or two - a good tip is to download the HamAlert app and put the special event call sign on as a "trigger". Whenever that particular call sign is spotted or appears on RBN, you'll get a notice on your device.

I did exactly that for the Edmund Fitzgerald Special Event Station this past November. I put W0JH into HamAlert as a trigger. I received notifications on my phone when they were on the air and I hauled my butt down to the shack and worked them. I got a nice certificate via e-mail, which I'm posting here:

Is it "cheating"? Some might think so because you're not spending time twirling the dial, or looking on your waterfall display looking to see whether or not they are on the air. But it's not a contest, so IMHO, you work them any way you can. And look, I even took a deep breath and worked them on SSB. Unfortunately, most special event stations these days are only SSB or maybe SSB and digital. CW special event stations seem to be going the way of the Dodo.

I did get elected to the office of President of SPARC last night (as I feared), but the highlight of the night was that we had an 11 year old Scout and his Dad come to our meeting. The young man is working on his radio merit badge and seems interested in getting licensed.  He had questions and we took great pleasure in answering them and talking with him about Amateur Radio.

I got home from the meeting just after 9:00 PM. I debated about 80 Meter Fox Hunt or bed. Fox Hunt won. I worked Earl N8SS at 02:44 UTC. At that point he had given up working split and was working simplex. Brian K0DTJ - couldn't hear him, and I really didn't expect to. I heard Jack N2RK in upstate NY calling him, but nothing of Brian. When I heard Jack, I tuned down 1 kHz thinking Brian would be there. When he posted his log this morning, he had indicated that he had gone simplex early - so I was listening in the wrong spot.  It didn't make any difference, however, as Jack was the only Hound east of the Mississippi that nabbed his pelt.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Well, actually ......

My son Joseph asked me the other day, "What do you want for Christmas, any Amateur Radio stuff?"

I responded in the negative, because off the top of my head, I couldn't think of anything. But actually ....

I've been wanting one of these for a few years now. But there's no way this side of Heaven that I'm going to ask a member or members of my family to spend $200 + on me for an antenna analyzer. And I can mention this here because I don't think any of them even know that this blog exists. It's just another one of "Dad's radio things".

I have a nano VNA, but it's not as convenient to use as a RigExpert. Dave KD2FSI has one and has brought it to Field Day and other SPARC events, so I've seen how easy and convenient it is to use.

I have a bug or two sitting on the shelf that are pretty much just "collectibles". Maybe I'll put them up for auction on eBay to drum up some cash for a RigExpert. It would be so nice to have for setting up portable vertical antennas.

Instead, I set up a wish list on Amazon where they can find some things like long sleeved T-shirts, and shoes, and a few books and little stuff like that. I feel bad about asking for expensive things, although at the same time, if one of them wanted something pricey, I'd have not a second thought about purchasing it for them. Weird, huh?

How about you? Are you asking Santa for any Ham Radio or even Ham Radio related stuff this year? Maybe a new rig, or kit or a related item like a new computer for logging or something?  You can always mention it in the comments and then e-mail the link to your family and friends as a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" kind of wish list hint!

On a different topic, tonight we have a South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club meeting. It's the first one in a couple of moths that will be hybrid - in person AND Zoom. We have a few guests who have contacted me through the NJ2SP@qsl.net e-mail address. One is an 11 year old and his Dad. The son is interested in Amateur Radio and getting licensed. I'm hoping we can set him on the right path tonight, and show him the hobby in a positive and inspiring light.

The other thing that's happening is the election of officers for next year. I've been nominated for President, and I don't think anyone else is willing to take on the job, so it will probably be one of those "1 vote casted by the Secretary" kind of deals. Lord help me! Like I don't have enough on my plate!

Depending on what time the meeting ends tonight, it might preclude me from participating in the 80 Meter Fox Hunt tonight. As if I haven't learned by now, but am going to say anyway - Earl N8SS in MI should be relatively easy to work, while Brian K0DTJ in CA will probably be downright difficult, if not impossible.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Rough Night

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Earl N8SS's map

Don NK6A's map

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Ham Radio to the rescue?

Kind of, sort of, I guess.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

72 de Larry W2L:J

QRP - When you care to send the very least!