2023 Zombie Shuffle

 

As per Paul, NA5N:

QRP Zombies,

The annual QRP ZOMBIE SHUFFLE will be held this year Friday afternoon and evening, OCTOBER 27, 2023.  Pretty much the same old silliness and pointless event as always.

2023 Rules here:

http://www.zianet.com/qrp/ZOMBIE/pg.html

As per last year, the start time has been moved up to mid-afternoon Friday to take advantage of the higher bands.  20M is often open well past sundown these days.

This is not a high speed contest.  So whether you are a seasoned QRPer or your brass pounding skills are rusty, this is the event to get on the air and make a few QSOs.  Last year we had quite a few entries from CW Academy and LICW, hams making their very first CW QSOs and their first experience with QRP.  Comments like "I had no idea I could work both coasts with only 5 watts."  So all are welcome to participate.  Just make sure you turn down the wick to 5 watts.

72, Paul NA5N

Zombie #004

This is always a fun event and always seems to get a goodly amount of participation. Kudos to Paul for his efforts!

72 de Larry W2LJ 

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Busy morning!

 QRP Image(s) of the Day:

These images were posted to the "14.060 MHz" Facebook page by Fabio Binotto. This is a homebrew QRP SSB transceiver by Alexey Martyncov, U1YF. What craftsmanship! If I had one one hundredth's percent of Alexey's talent, I'd be a happy man!  These images are a sight to behold!

Anyway, its a busy morning as Marianne and I will be leaving for Alexandria Bay later this afternoon. I've a few chores (grocery shopping, get the oil changed, etc.) to accomplish before we go - so this will be short.

I AM taking the KX3 with me and I hope to activate that park later this week. Hopes are just that ... hopes - we'll see what actually happens! However, this time, I've already placed the Buddistick whips in the car along with the rest of the Buddistick components, so this won't be a repeat of Lake George, when I left them at home. So if I don't get a chance to get on the air, it won't be because I left something behind.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least1

What's doing this weekend

 First, the QRP Image of the Day:

Courtesy of Alberto Diaz from the SOTA Facebook page - taken atop EA2/NV-009 - simply beautiful!

If you're so inclined to get on the air this weekend - here are some special events:

Elmer Special Event -  W1E will be on the air in honor of all the Elmers who have assisted and guided us through the years - https://www.qrz.com/db/W1E/ELMER

Peak to Peak Byway 105th Anniversary - N0P/K0P/W0P will be on the air to celebrate the anniversary of Colorado's Peak to Peak Byway - https://w0eno.org/105th-anniversary-peak-to-peak-byway/

1st United Methodist Church Bi-Centennial Event - KC9DJU will be on the air courtesy of the Madison County Amateur Radio Club of Anderson, IN - http://www.w9vcf.org/

I don't know why, but since my Novice days, there's always been a special niche in my heart for Special Event Stations. I've got an album full of certificates and QSLs in the shack - some are notable with really cool certificates and QSL cards and are actually framed and hanging on the shack wall, such as the 50th Anniversary of the Landing of Apollo 11, or the 500th Anniversary of Columbus's trip to the New World which was conducted by Hams who are also Knights of Columbus, or the QSLs and certificate to commemorate the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. Others are small, and maybe even silly to some - Toad Suck Days (whatever that is), Hallowe'en Special Events like B0O and the like. But whatever the special event, I like to work them if I have the time and they have a CW op participating. (I'm still not much for SSB). I've been fortunate enough to participate as an operator for several Special Event Stations and as an op, I appreciate those who will get on the air to make contact and support a Special Event, so I like to return the favor whenever I can.

As far as contests go:

Full Day of Hell Sprint - A contest for those of you who like the Feld Hell mode - https://sites.google.com/site/feldhellclub/Home/contests/sprints/full-day-of-hell-sprint

Worked All Provinces of China Contest - a country I've never even had a QSO with! -  http://www.mulandxc.com/index/match_info?id=8

UK/EI DX Contest - SSB - https://www.ukeicc.com/dx-contest-rules.php

Russian WW Multimode Contest - http://www.rdrclub.ru/news-radio/russian-ww-mm-contest/159-rus-ww-multimode-contest

Antique Wireless Association AM QSO Party - https://www.antiquewireless.org/homepage/am-qso-party-details/

And if you're up REALLY early (or perhaps never went to sleep!) :

THE 1 WATT GAME 2023 - PART 2.

I. OBJECTIVE: A short QRPP CW game on the 20 Meter band. All radio amateurs and SWL's are cordially invited.

II. DATE: Saturday 14 October 2023 from 0900 to 1200 UTC. (That's 5:00AM to 8:00 AM EDT!)

III. BAND: 20 Meter band only. 14.060 MHz +- 10 kHz.

IV. POWER: maximum 1 watt.

V. OPERATION: Only CW (A1A).

1. CALL: CQ 1W

2. EXCHANGE: RST / POWER / LOCATOR

ie. 559/1w/ JO21LA. Additional info like power, RTX, antenna,... is welcome.

VI. SCORING:

First calculate the distance of each QSO.

QSO points = distance divided by the power of the other station (in watts).

Power less than 1 watt is equal to 1 watt in the points calculation.

Eg. your counter station is 2000 km away and uses 5 watt. Then the point count for this QSO is: 2000/5 = 400 points.

Eg. your counter station is 3000 km away and uses 1 watt. Then the point count for this QSO is: 3000/1 = 3000 points.

Eg. your counter station is 3000 km away and uses 300 milliwatt. Then the point count for this QSO is: 3000/1 = 3000 points.

TOTAL SCORE: Sum of all QSO points.

VII. LOG SUBMISSION:

Email your score to on6kz@skynet.be

Add the text: Me, (your call) , I declare that I managed a total of XXX QSOs, my total result is XXX points.

Please add your best DX (call and locator)station-info: locator, power, RTX, antenna. Pictures of your set-up are appreciated.

VIII. GAME REFEREE: Peter Kempenaers (ON6KZ/OO7Z). The Game Referee has the right to request full log in case of any doubt.

IX. LOG DEADLINE: 30 October 2023.

X: Nominees: award for the winner, the best DX, funniest location (if outdoor), original home brew, lowest power.

And there you have it - the goings on for the weekend!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Faraday Cloth

 First, the QRP Image of the Day

Courtesy of I5NOC (on Facebook) - reminded me of the Four State QRP Group Bayou Jumper, of which I have one in the basement, needing to be built. Ahhhhh .... retirement can't come quickly enough!

So the latest rage amongst POTA activators and other portable ops QRPers, who use compact verticals, is to place a piece of aluminum window screen under the antenna, instead of laying out conventional radials. You still have to run a wire from the screen to the ground connection of the antenna system, but altogether this sounds like a convenient workaround compared to laying out radials. And from some testimonials that I have read on the various QRP e-mail reflectors and from some of the QRP groups on Facebook, it seems like it gets "a thumbs up".

Back in the day when I used to use a homebrewed PAC-12 antenna, I did lay out radials, which in itself was not a big deal. The inconvenience arose when you were in a setting like a park or some other public place where people could trip over the wires. It was even worse if you elevated the radials. 

Now the latest, latest rage seems to be substituting Faraday cloth (cloth imbedded with or made from copper and nickel) for the groundplane. It seems that folding up this cloth and storing it is an easier deal than aluminum screening. The cloth is very flexible and can be folded up into a neat little size which can be stowed away in your go-kit. The aluminum window screen, on the other hand, really should be rolled up.  I don't think it would take to well to repeated folding and unfolding - metal fatigue can be a nasty thing.

When I use my Buddistick, my modus operandi has been to use the roof of my Jeep as the groundplane, planting the antenna on the metal with a magmount.  That setup has worked very, very well for me. But this Faraday cloth setup is intriguing to me. It would allow me to use the Buddistick away from the car, which might come in handy when there are no trees for a wire, or the use of trees (like in a park) is prohibited. That's when I would normally resort to the magloop.

I may have to try this. I see that on Amazon, you can purchase a piece that is 44" X 36" (112cm X  92cm) for only $23. That should be big enough to provide a decent groundplane.

And it just so happens that a great illustrative photo appeared on Facebook today. This was taken by Dan Hones KD9MSP on a recent POTA activation that he made.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

An investment?

 First, the QRP Image of the Day

Brought to you by Anton Petkov Lz1XM (from Facebook) who certainly has the right idea! A cold 807 and QRP - perfect together, and can't get much better than this!

Bob W3BBO recently brought to my attention two items that he saw on eBay. The first was an unbuilt, in-the-box Heathkit HW-9. The auction ended on Monday and the winning bidder was given the opportunity to shell out $723 for a kit that originally sold for $249.

There is now a listing for a unbuilt HW-8 kit. It has a starting bid of $590 with a "Buy It Now" price of $995. Here's the description as it appears on eBay:

"Unbuilt, never unpacked, complete Heathkit HW-8 QRP Transceiver.  Ships in an outer carton for added protection of contents.  This HW-8 is unbuilt.  It must be built by following instructions in the included Heathkit assembly/instruction manual.  Tools are required for assembly, including a soldering station.  Assembly tools are not included."

This got me to thinking. If I had the money, which I definitely do not - would it be worth it to buy an Elecraft K2 kit and sock it away as an investment? Probably too late for me to see anything out of it, but maybe 20 or 30 years from now, one of my kids could probably walk away with a cool profit. 

It will be interesting to see how that HW-8 auction ends. It wouldn't surprise me to see it end up in the neighborhood of where the HW-9 auction ended. Not bad for a kit that only cost about $250 back in the day.     

Anyway, it's something to think about.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

POTA possibility?

 First, the QRP Image of the Day:

I found this image on Facebook, on the SOTA page. This is Rene Lutz HB9NBG sitting on top of an Alp (I guess) in Switzerland. You'll notice he's handholding a KX2 like it's an HT and he's making contacts on 40 Meters! Wow! THIS is SOTA!

I've been to Switzerland twice for business and actually was not too far from where Rene lives, which, according to QRZ, is near Basel. Basel is where Bron Elektronik is based, the makers of the studio strobes I used to repair, and factory training was my purpose for being there. I also had to visit the FOBA AG headquarters in Zurich (makers of studio stands and studio equipment) , and the SINAR AG headquarters in Allschwill (makers of large format cameras and medium format digital backs). Both times I was there, I never made it to the Alps. On my first visit which lasted two weeks, I spent the weekend in between at Luzerne and from there you could see them off in the distance. That's as close as I got. I think I have a photo sitting somewhere. I'll have to search for it, and if I do, I'll scan it and post it here one day.

My days of being able to climb peaks like that are over (indeed, if I ever HAD days like that where I could climb a mountain!) and the mountains we have in New Jersey are just glorified hills compared to the Alps, or even the Rockies, so my outdoor adventures will rely on POTA. Speaking of which ...........

Next week, Marianne and I are headed up to Alexandria Bay in upstate NY - WAY upstate NY - like Canada is right there! It's our 25th wedding anniversary and Alexandria Bay is where her family vacationed when she was younger. Her Dad and Grandfather were fishing fanatics, so her Dad would gather the family, their boat and they'd rent a cabin and spend three weeks up there every August. She wanted to see it again - so that's where we're going.

And guess what's there?

Keewaydin State Park, also known as K-2088. Will I get a chance to do an activation while I'm there? You're guess is as good as mine. First and foremost this is time to be spent with my lovely bride celebrating 25 years of wedded bliss. She will always come first. But on the chance she might want to sleep in one morning while we're there,?  I'll be packing the KX3 and the Buddistick and magmount ............just in case!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

QRP Image of the Day (A new thing!)

 Posted to Facebook by OO7Z

Nice photo!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP  - When you care to send the very least!

Rain, rain, go away!

It was a rainy weekend, with Ophelia dropping 3.16" of rain on my QTH since late Friday evening. Although it wasn't a constant rainfall, it felt like it was because every time I had to leave the house, it was coming down. And when it rains like this, you tend to think that "Gee, this has been a real rainy year!"

That's the beauty of having a personal weather station and having a site like WeatherUnderground, where you can go to the almanac, and go back and see past days, weeks, months and years.

This year, until now, we've received 35.67 inches of rain. September has been the rainiest, with 7.66 inches of rain so far, with about 5 days to go.  January, July and August each had over 5 inches of rain.  May was our driest month with only 1/2 inch of rain for the entire month.

How does 2023 stack up against previous years?

2022 had a total of 51.51 inches of rain with 36.28 inches of that falling through September/

2021 had a total of 56.72 inches of rain with 46.74 inches of that falling through September. That month saw 12.24 inches of rain alone, with some 9+ inches of that coming from Hurricane Ida alone. If we discount that anomaly - then only about 37.74 inches of rain fell through September.

When I look at the numbers, 2023 hasn't been really much more rainy than the past couple of years. I guess it just seems that way when you get several days of rain in a row.

I have an Ambient 2902 weather station

Marianne gifted me with this for Christmas a few years ago. I picked it out, so she would know which one to order. I remember at the time several folks warning me not to get anything except an RF Davis or a Peet Brothers unit or I'd be sorry. As it turns out, I'm not sorry. The Ambient has been working great for about 4 or 5 years now, It's survived a few hurricanes and many Nor'Easters and whatever snow and ice that New Jersey winters have thrown at it. As a registered SkyWarn weather spotter, it's nice to be able to report exact measurements of rainfall and wind velocities and not approximations.

YMMV, bit I'd be leery of anyone who complains that Ambient weather stations are junk. BTW, the Ambient app is great and works well.  If you go to the very bottom of the blog, you'll see a window that summarizes some of what's available on the app.

Being forced to stay indoors had its advantages. Yesterday, I was able to print out the Skeeter Hunt certificates for the Top 5 finishers for 2021, 2022, and 2023. Those will go in the mail this week. I know - I'm WAY behind, but I'm getting there, slowly. The last of the .pdf certificates for 2023 were finished and e-mailed last week.  Next will come the .pdf certificates for 2021 and the 2022. Once I get those out, I will commence working on three years worth of soapbox comments to be published to the website. 

Whew! But I do have to admit, I love it! I'm just sorry and apologize for getting so far behind.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Today was good HF day

Amid all the usual busy-ness of a typical Saturday. I made time to get to the shack and turn on the radio. Maybe I have tropical storm Ophelia to thank for this as her visit eliminated the possibility of getting any yard work done!

I got on 30 Meters around 11:00 local time and at 15:32 UTC, while dial twiddling on 30 Meters, I happened to come upon a QSO in progress. One of the participants was NJ2BB, the Battleship New Jersey, which is about an hour's drive south of me, in Camden, NJ.

It was an interesting conversation between the op on the battleship and a Navy veteran in Ohio who served on the Forrestal and the Wasp in the 50's. Anyway, when the QSO was over, I tail-ended the "73s" and threw my call in. Sure enough, I got an answer back! The op on the New Jersey was Tom and we had a brief exchange, and when he heard my QTH, I received an invitation to come down to Camden some Saturday morning to sit behind the key!

Back in 2012, Marianne and I brought Joseph and Cara down to Camden to visit the Aquarium. We spent quite some time there and after we took a stroll over to the New Jersey. We didn't board her, but I remember being impressed with her size. I certainly would love to go and operate from the radio room some Saturday morning. I'll have to do some research on how to go about that.

If I remember correctly from a documentary on the History Channel, the New Jersey is the most decorated battle ship in the history of the United States Navy. As I recall, she served in WWII, the Korean Conflict, the Viet Nam conflict and finally, in the Gulf War. It would be an honor to board a ship with such rich history and which served so proudly.

I also worked five POTA stations on 40 and 20 Meters. 40 Meters was in excellent shape with low noise and loud signals. 20 Meters was noisier, and the signals seemed to be lower, but I was still able to make contacts.

It was so good to be behind the key again!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Interesting discussion

on the Elecraft KX.io group on the Alex Loop antenna. An op was thinking of purchasing one, saw a review in the most recent issue of QST (which I haven't read) and wanted a consensus of thoughts and opinions.

The comments were all about the same. Magnetic loop antennas, whether they be the Alex Loop, a Chameleon Loop, a homebrewed loop, or whatever- they all have a place. Just about everyone who responded said as much. For portable ops they can be great, for those stuck in an apartment or condo with no balcony, they can be a life saver and can be the difference between getting on the air; or giving up the hobby altogether. I know a couple Hams living in Senior Housing where magloops are all they have.

When I activated Cheesequake State Park as part of the Atlantic Heritage Trail and Morristown National Historical Park for NPOTA, I used my homebrewed magloop with a pleasing amount of success. But using a loop can be frustrating. Take for instance when I was at Lake George this past July and I used the Alex Loop exclusively that week - I was blown away by how easy it was to work into Europe and get really nice signal reports. At the same time, I'd try answering a CQ from a Stateside station who was 20 over 9 and he'd continue to call CQ right over me. As good as magloops can be, I'd hate to be stuck with one as my only antenna for a QRP Sprint. I guess I have a case of antenna prejudice.

To that end, when I go out portable opping (new word, just made it up!) my preferred antenna is an end fed wire, either the PAR, my homebrewed EARCHI, or if there is enough space, the MFJ-1982LP. When I activated Saratoga National Historical Park for NPOTA, I ran the PAR from the picnic table where I had situated myself over to my Jeep, where I had the Jackite propped up with a drive on mount. It worked great, but again, space is needed to stretch out that kind of arrangement. When space is an issue, or there are no trees, or using trees are an "iffy" subject, then my next resort would be my Buddistick on the magmount on top of the car. I've used that combo with so much success that I'm confident in its ability.

No space, no trees, can't bring the car near where I want to operate from? I'll resort to the magloop. And I don't mean that to sound as dire as a choice as it may sound. It works, it's easy to set up, but it's just my personal preference for wires or verticals first.

A new trend that I have been reading about is using a vertical (whether that be a Buddistick, or a Wolf River coil vertical) on top a piece of aluminum window screen material laid on the ground. That seems to eliminate the need for conventional radials, so it would seem. I'll have to go to Home Depot, but a small roll and give it a try. I'm cynical enough to wonder if the enthusiastic reports I've read are just that - over enthusiastic reports. The proof is in the pudding. I'll have to give it a shot.

As always, my opinions are just that - my opinions. YMMV, and probably will.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Dead bands?

I saw on various e-mail reflectors (and FB) that we were on the receiving end of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) and that the bands were dead. Last evening as our side of the globe began to face away from the Sun, the bands seemed to be starting to come back to life. 

I was in the shack working on Skeeter Hunt certificates, and when I finished for the evening, I turned on the KX3 and twiddled the dial, looking for POTA stations to work. Signals on 20 Meters were way down. I found a couple activations thanks to the POTA spotting page, but I could barely hear them. 40 Meters was much better and I worked two, including Dave AB9CA - 2nd Place winner in this year's Skeeter Hunt.

Speaking of the Hunt, I received an e-mail from Kevin N2TO, another Skeeter. Kevin was announcing a new-to-me Sprint that his club, the Brooklyn QRP Club will be holding the Saturday before Thanksgiving. It may have been held before, but I think it's a new one.

Brooklyn QRP Doghouse Operation Sprint 2023

Here is a sprint you can work and stay out of the doghouse on the Saturday afternoon prior to Thanksgiving. Play radio, and have plenty of time to mow the lawn, shovel snow, clean the guest room; do whatever it takes to get ready for Thanksgiving.

 Date: Saturday, November 18, 2023

Time: 1700-2100 UTC

Suggested QRP Frequencies: 7.030, 14.060, 21.060, 28.060 MHz.

Exchange: RST, home telephone area code, first name

72 Kevin N2TO

Their webpage is here: https://www.qsl.net/bklynqrp/, and they also have a blog, which I will be adding to the blogroll on the side: https://brooklynqrp.blogspot.com/

I like this idea, because after the Leaf Peeper Sprint (of which I haven't heard anything this year) and the NoGA Peanut Power Sprint - which WILL be taking place this year, there really are not many events of this type as we head into Fall.

Yes, there's always the Zombie Shuffle, which is popular as all get out, and there are the monthly Spartan Sprints and NAQCC Sprints - but "special" QRP Sprints like these are always welcome to see. I hope word gets out about this and that there's lots of participation. I'll be talking this one up from time to time, because there are too many QRP events that are starting to fall by the wayside, and publicity is one of the keys to a successful event. The QSOs aren't going to make themselves and they definitely won't get made if there's no one there to make them!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Autumnal Equinox

Is this coming Saturday for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. For those below the Equator, Winter is over and Spring is on the way. Hooray for you!

Unfortunately for me, I don't tolerate the loss of light and the colder temperatures all that well. The bright spot is, though, that band conditions on 80 and 160 Meters will be better in the evenings. I'm also heavily contemplating re-joining the QRP Fox Hunts this Winter Season.

This hormone blockers that I'm still on (last shot comes this December) for prevention of a recurrence of the prostate cancer that I had last year still fatigues me quite a bit. Until just recently, it was not uncommon for me to hit the hay by around 8:00 or 8:30 PM. But I've been working my "staying up later muscles" by checking into K2VHW's Middlesex County Chat Group Net which lasts until about 10:00 PM each evening, so I feel like I might be ready to attempt staying up until 10:30 PM for the Fox Hunts. Of course, if I work the Foxes right off, I can hit the sack earlier, but I'm not stupid enough to think I'll crack the pileups towards the beginning of the Hunts. That's not just the W2LJ way.

Some of you have commented on the uptick in blog posts. Yeah - that's a result of feeling better and easing myself back into my older routine. I actually WANT to get on the radio more. For a while there all I wanted to do was not much of anything. Unfortunately, the stuff that needs to get done around the house hasn't subsided any, and that always comes first - but the stronger I get and more normal that I feel, the more time there is for extra-curricular activities, so to speak.

As a side note, this November 3rd marks the day that I can officially retire, according to the Social Security Administration. That's not going to happen, although I wish it could. The current plan (God always seems to laugh when I make plans!) is to work another year and a half until I'm 68. Then I think I'll be at the point where I just can't take this daily grind stuff anymore and I'll either retire or go crazy.

Knock on wood, I'm at the point, radio-equipment-wise, where I want to be. I'm set up well enough for both home and portable operations. I'm good with my "permanent" antenna setup, barring any hurricanes or other natural disasters. Portable antennas - I have more than enough - maybe too many to choose from. All I need is time to enjoy it all.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Speaking of Caveat Emptor ...

 I need to heed my own advice!

I finally got the chance to open and install that KX3 SideKX set that I purchased on eBay. I think I mentioned they were being sold by an SK's daughter, dispersing her father's Amateur Radio gear.

I opened the package and the cover looked to be in mint condition. I'm pretty certain that if it was used, the original op's KX3 never really traveled much of anywhere.

The side panels that were included were the original "earless" KX3 side panels! The SideKX panels must still be on the radio.

Oh, well ....I'm sure that to the op's daughter it was a matter of apples and oranges. Like the old Olympus camera commercial from the 80's, "She couldn't tell an f-stop from a bus stop!"

The cover slides on easily and it WAS only purchased for dust protection, so no harm, no foul .....and I did end up saving $4 from the price of a brandy-new one.

Caveat emptor, W2LJ ..... caveat emptor!

Cleaned up and now covered!

So here's a tip from W2LJ ...if you're buying the SideKX cover for dust protection only, and your radio will never leave the shack ....you really need only the cover, which you can purchase by itself.

On a different subject, I took a bit of a break from the long list of chores on Saturday to give some points out for QRP Afield. Where was everyone? It was about the middle of contest time and all I heard were a few POTA stations. Not a single QRP Afielder was heard at my QTH.

72 de Larry W2LJ 

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Caveat Emptor!

 Some guy on Facebook was complaining about the quality of this.

First quick glance, you'd think it was a QRPGuys product, eh?

1) The gent who made the post complained that he ordered a kit, but received it fully assembled. QRPGuys does not sell them fully assembled. He claims he knew this was a knock-off.

2) "No Tune Eed Half Wave" ? Seriously?  You know it's bad enough that you're selling counterfeit products, you've ripped off a design - you can't, at the very least, get the spelling right? And you can't sell them without taking the QRPGuys name off of them?

In this case, if you're the purchaser, you should have done a little more research, you got what you paid for - no refunds, no complaining.

All that said, I've purchased my fair share of Chinese manufactured Amateur Radio equipment. I knew what I was buying and didn't expect the sun, moon and stars. And I certainly wasn't buying anything with a counterfeit Kenwood, Yaesu or Icom label on it. There's a difference between knowingly buying something and being fooled into buying something.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Yes ...... yes it does!

Make sure to read Dan KB6NU's blog post - https://www.kb6nu.com/yes-learning-about-radio-does-matter/

He touches on a subject that always strikes a chord with me; and is one of the reasons I really hate "Ham Crams". Yes, I know the goal is to get people licensed - but at what cost? I have assisted at several Ham Crams and the results from the exams have ranged from mediocre to horrible.

When K2VHW and I have taught what I consider to be "traditional" licensing classes, they consisted of 8 weekly sessions. One weeknight for 8 weeks, for 2-3 hours per session - with review and exam at the last session. Our passing rate has never dipped below 85% - and I personally know that many of the participants that we have guided through the theory have gone on to become active Amateur Radio operators,

Again, I'm a dinosaur, but my feeling is that if you're not willing to put in the time to learn this stuff the right way - then why even bother? It ends up being a waste of your time and my time. Maybe my grandfather had a saying that put it best (he grew up on a farm) - 'Never try to teach a pig to sing. it will frustrate you and annoy the pig."

My apologies - I think I've been doing a little too much ranting these past few weeks.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you car to send the very least!

Some Friday miscellania

 First - an attempt at humor (saw this on Facebook):

This made me laugh out loud and reminds me of home, because whenever I try to explain something regarding Amateur Radio that I'm excited about to Marianne or Joseph or Cara, I see that glazed, deer-in-the headlights kind of look forming in their eyes  Hi!

A while ago, I requested re-made license plates from the State of New Jersey. From before I was born we had black letters on a kind of pale buttery cream-ish color background. That changed for the Bicentennial, when the state went to a "Blue and Buff" plate based on the colors that General Washington wore during The Revolutionary War.  

When the original style was brought back in the 80s, with a more pronounced yellowish color, they were still using sheet metal and were stamped.. They were supposed to have some special kind of reflective coating on them that would make them easier to see by law enforcement agencies, especially at night.

The coating did not hold up well. The manufacturer probably didn't account for harsh New Jersey winters and the amount of road salt that gets put down each year. The coating started to peel and the colors underneath became discolored and pretty ugly. At this point, my plates became really shoddy looking, but I have seen others in much worse shape, some down to bare metal. The State has a program where you can get your plates replaced free of charge ....... IF you have "normal standard issue" plates. Vanity plates, "special" plates and Amateur Radio plate holders have to pay a fee. So what else is new? And get this, when you apply for re-made plates, you have to supply a picture of the old ones. I guess they have to be deemed "worthy" of remaking.

These are the new plates which are flat plastic, I think. They are either screened or printed and then coated with whatever it is that they coat license plates with. You can't see it easily here, but they also have one of those hologram things on them that you can better see if you look at them from a certain angle. I guess that's supposed to deter counterfeiting. If you look real closely between the "2" and the "L" in the photo you can get a hint of it.  Please notice that the new Amateur Radio license plates actually now say "Amateur Radio" at the bottom. Wow - who wudda thunk to put that there?!? 

Don't say anything to anybody, but my old plates are now tacked to the shack wall. Shhhhhhhhhhh! You're supposed to hand them in for disposal ...... but I paid for them, so that makes them mine, in my book. I seriously doubt that if ever any thief breaks into my house, that they'll be looking to escape with old license plates.  (I still have the N2ELW ones too! Double Shhhhhhhhhhhh!)

I also got rid of those ugly excuse-for-an-advertisement dealer license plate frames, and bought the ones the ARRL sells. I popped for a set of these when I purchased my Field Day shirt, and I'm glad I did. These are not flimsy, cheap plastic - these are made from a sturdy metallic something and are really substantial, and they look good, too.

The weekend is looking fantastic, weather-wise. I'll finally get a chance to drop those old SLA batteries at the scrap metal place. Maybe I'll actually be able to get on the air at some point this weekend, as the NJ QSO Party is tomorrow. I like to participate because the event is sponsored by my good friends down at the Burlington County Radio Club, and they are faithful supporters of the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt.

Not that it's been mentioned much of anywhere, but the NEQRP's QRP-Afield which is always held on the third Saturday in September, is also tomorrow. You can find all the details here - https://www.newenglandqrp.org/qrp-afield-2018/ I haven't seen any chatter at all about this on the e-mail reflectors except for one, on the Colorado QRP Club reflector. That's a shame. If events like this are going to get any decent amount of participation, the sponsor really needs to "talk it up" and keep it at eye level. I know not everyone will take notice, but if you don't publicize - no one will take notice. Then, before you know it, you have an event that's become something of the past.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

2023 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt results are in

And the Top Five are:

 First Place - NK9G

Second Place - AB9CA

Third Place - N0SS

Fourth Place - W4MPS

Fifth Place - N5GW

But truly, everyone who participated in the Hunt is a winner, in my book! It's all the participants who get on the air that gives the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt its wings. For a complete look at who participated and how they fared, the whole Skeeter Hunt Scoreboard can be found here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vFglC3CQiydnE0L6GE_iqboEW6rcTMrSrvWe80mlL7A/edit#gid=327174092

Some housekeeping:

Next chore is to get the 2023 certificates out. As I stated previously, that due to the cost of ink, paper and postage, the majority of the certificates will be e-mailed as pdf files. The Top Five will still receive hard copy certificates in the mail. Certificates from 2021 and 2022 will follow soon afterward.

Once the certificates are done, the Soapbox pages will be posted to the Website for 2023, 2022 and 2021. That's going to take some time, so please be patient. I will let everyone know as they are  published.

Thanks to Steve Masticola WX2S for the idea of Palindrome Bonus Skeeters for this year. I think it was a big hit and was well received.  I doubt I will be able to top that, without difficulty. Anyone have any ideas? I'm open to suggestions.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

12V USB Boost Converter

I saw this on a post to the POTA Facebook page by Mike Kelly. It seems he forgot to take a 12V power cable with him on one of his activations. He was using a (tru) SDX transceiver which can run off its USB port, so his day wasn't ruined, but he was limited to 0.75 Watts output. That my friends, is QRPp, and he was still able to make his 10 contacts.

In turn, after hearing his story, a friend of his turned him on to this, available through Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NSHWLV9/?fbclid=IwAR0uXr6js6_FkSnHPFb6yD2V7Iw-oa2h3RcVMgiVGRGCU1ao80ixSqXSm7I&th=1

This booster will allow you to power your 12V devices from the USB-A port on your laptop. It probably kills the battery fast, but for only $10, it's probably a good thing to have in your go kit. I don't take a laptop with me on portable ops outings, but I'm thinking it might be a handy thing to have in the event of a prolonged power failure at home; or maybe during some kind of CERT activation.

Looks like Summer is coming to an end and the seasons will be changing soon here in Central New Jersey (it's official now, BTW. There IS a Central New Jersey even though those of us who live here always knew that - but that's a story for another time). We've been having a lot of rain and thunderstorms lately. It seems like almost every day for the past week or two. On Monday evening in particular, there was quite the light show in the sky during the drive home from work. However, today is supposed to be the last day of it. The forecast for the coming week is for cooler daytime temps and overnight lows in the 50s. We'll be able to turn off the A/C and open the windows - AND I'll be able to leave my antennas connected for the foreseeable future.

On the flip side, the leaves will begin their annual suicidal jumps. Charles Schulz had the idea!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Some things coming

I wouldn't say I'm excited about a few things that I've got coming - but I'm looking forward to their arrival. One is that 15 Ah battery that's coming from Sunny California. It's made it's way to Texas as of the last time I checked the tracking number. It should be here this week. I did not get a chance to get to Federal Metals on Saturday with the old batteries. That will happen this coming weekend.

I also have a set of SideKx end plates and a cover coming for the shack KX3. I was horrified by how dusty and dirty it had become when I took that picture that I featured in last week's blog post. The lighting down in the basement isn't the brightest, so the camera revealed what my eyes didn't notice. I went down to the shack last Wednesday evening with some Windex, Q-Tips and some paper towels. It didn't take long to get it looking factory new.

The problem was, I knew it was only going to happen again. It's the basement and it's not a finished basement. I went on eBay and just for the heck of it, typed in "SideKX KX3" and much to my surprise a set came up! These were from an estate sale from an SK. According to the description provided by his daughter,  they were just sitting down in the basement and from the photos provided, it looks like they were never used. There was a "Buy It Now" option for $25 and after looking at the SideKX website, I knew that was a bit more than 50% off. I grabbed that set in a hurry.  I already have a set of SideKX on the portable ops KX3, so I've installed them before. This shouldn't be a problem.

The other thing that I have coming and will probably be my last Amateur Radio purchase for a long time is another QYT K-8900D for the shack. The one I had in the car and brought downstairs - well ....  when I damaged the coax to the antenna, I must have fried the finals. It will still transmit, but I cannot bring up repeaters that I can easily hit with a handheld. To prevent that from ever happening again to the mobile unit, I re-routed the coax to a position where it does not get crunched or pinched by the rear hatch door. You'd think that being a Ham for over 40 years, I would have done that the first time. Sometimes, my stupidity knows no bounds, and even surprises me now and then.

The QYT is not coming until Thursday according to Amazon, which is OK, but our ARES/RACES District Bureau Chief asked me to run the monthly nest Tuesday evening, as he'll be away on business. Luckily, the repeater has such excellent coverage that using a handheld won't be a problem or even noticeable. I guess I'll just temporarily attach the handheld to the J-Pole coax and will run the net that way.  The Northern New Jersey ARES Net follows a half hour later and the repeater on which that net  occurs does not have as good coverage. Sometimes 5 Watts doesn't make it when that repeater is in a cranky mood.

Lastly, I checked into the St. Max HF Net again last night on 75 Meters at 24:00 UTC. Those ferrites that I put on the coax - WOW! I was able to hear everyone last night! The past few weeks, the weaker signals were "getting lost in the sauce". Not last night! Yes, it was probably in part due to better band conditions as several of the check-ins had commented on, but the background noise was so much lower than it has been. I can't chalk that up to band condition alone, the ferrites had to play a big part in that , too.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Another "Day that will live in infamy"

Today's post is dedicated to all the First Responders in New York City, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania who chose to run TOWARD the danger on this day 22 years ago, while thousands were running the other way. We hold a special place and prayers in our hearts for the ones that went to work that day and did not make it home to their families. These brave men and women are true heroes in every sense of the word.

We also remember and pray for all the victims, and their families and friends whose lives were forever changed that horrible day. As painful as it is, may we never forget.

To those who survived that day - thank you for your service.

To those who didn't - Requiesce in pace

"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." John 15:13

Larry W2LJ

If I hadn't been there .......

I might not have believed it. On Friday, I mentioned in my post that we had a candidate for our monthly ETS of NJ VE Session that wanted to go from 0 to 100 MPH in one sitting. It turned out to be more like from 0 - 200 MPH in one sitting!

The Team arrived at 8:00 AM. The second candidate that had registered had informed me that he had taken an exam via an online session, so he had no need to come to ours. So the four of us sat back and were shooting the breeze when our guy showed up at about 8:45 AM.

Just from his demeanor, he exuded a quiet confidence. He was courteous, pleasant and calm.. He was well prepared, had all his materials ready and you could just sense that he was ready to go. We gave him the Tech exam and he finished rather quickly. He got one wrong out of the 35 questions, so we handed him another blank answer sheet and the General Class exam.

It was not long at all before he completed that test and signaled us that he was finished. This time, he got "a hundred" - all 35 correctly answered. We shook our heads in amazement and handed him yet another blank answer sheet and the Amateur Extra exam. This one took a little more time to complete, but when all was said and done he had another 100% under his belt.

I've seen this only twice before, and I've never seen it done so quickly. This person seems to know his theory quite well, OR he has a photographic memory and an uncanny ability to take tests. From the way he carried himself, I'm inclined to think the former.

What was amazing to us was that he accomplished his goal in less time than we've seen several people take to complete ONE exam. I thought there might be multiple payments to try alternate versions in the event of a particular failure, but not yesterday.

He will be an asset to whatever radio club he chooses to join and we heartily entreated him to find one near his home, which is a bit farther upstate NJ than here. In conversation, he also seemed to understand that taking tests and gaining real world practical knowledge are two completely different animals.  But still, 1 wrong answer out of 120 isn't anything to sneeze at.

I wish him well.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Battery City saga continues

I'm going to be dropping off all my SLAs at a metals recycling facility in South Plainfield, either this weekend or next, depending on available time and the weather. I would like to do it tomorrow, but tomorrow is our monthly VE Session. We only have one candidate, but he's attempting a land speed record by trying to go from 0 to 100 MPH in one sitting. For those not getting my joke, he's going to attempt to go from unlicensed to Amateur Extra in one session. He seems to feel confident, God bless him. I hope he makes it, but God knows how long this is going to take. After that is the weekly grocery shopping trip and it's supposed to be stormy all day, so battery drop off may have to wait until next Saturday.

Getting back to the battery situation. I saw a 12V 12Ah Li-ion battery with charger up for auction on eBay for $29. I detailed that story of my tiny bidding war in my August 30th post. I paid for it immediately and unfortunately, it's been sitting for a week with a FedEx label made - but that's as far as it got. 

My current position here at work is Logistics. I deal with both FedEx and UPS every ..... single .....day. I know firsthand that when you track something and all you get is a "Label Created" status, that means that the item has never been picked up by or dropped off to UPS or FedEx. Both shipping companies are adamant about scanning packages before taking possession of them. It's a chain of evidence - proof of ownership thing.  It's their "If we didn't scan it, then we didn't get it" protection.

I complained to the seller that not shipping within a week after immediate payment was unacceptable and that I wanted a refund. I got an answer that FedEx must have "lost the package" so we're refunding your payment. That's pure and utter horsehockey. FedEx never got the package to lose. Someone in their shipping department either lost it or shipped it somewhere else in error.

I went back to eBay this morning and found a brand new 12V 15Ah SLA Deep Cycle battery for $26.00 (free shipping!). Yeah, it's an SLA so it's older battery technology, and yeah, it'll be heavier than a lithium battery, and yeah, it won't make it to nearly the same amount of charge cycles - but the price was right, and it should be here by next Tuesday.  A lithium battery of comparable voltage and capacity comes way closer to $100 and even over for some brands. I already have a charger that works fine with SLAs, and won't need to worry about getting a special "BMS" charger, so there's a savings there, too. So not only am I a dinosaur, but I'm a cheap dinosaur, too! 

Actually, either "frugal' or "thrifty" sound much better!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Tagging along .....for now.

First off, let me reiterate something I think that all of you who read this blog already know - first and foremost I'm an HF guy. That is my main source of activity in Amateur Radio. I love connecting with other parts of the world using RF energy, especially at QRP power levels. I've not been a big VHF/UHF person. I do keep one in the car, of course, for nets and socializing with friends. The only other serious use I've made of VHF was when I used to utilize 2 Meters for the uplink to RS-10/11.

The club to which I belong, the South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club, had a meeting the other night. I did not attend. The guest speaker from Yaesu and the topic of discussion was hooking our repeater to something called Wires-X.  I believe that's some sort of repeater controller / node linking hardware/software combo that will allow many different things to happen. 

To be honest with you, that doesn't excite me a that much. WIRES-X, DMR, FUSION, DSTAR, ALLSTAR - it's all just a bunch of alphabet soup to me. I am a dinosaur, a relic, an anachronism. I like analog, and I prefer that my radios generate RF, which then travels through the atmosphere to be captured by another radio at the other end of the connection.  Once you start hooking things up to the internet and use hot spots and all other means of "artificial propagation" my eyes get glassy and my mind goes numb. I have used Echolink a few times and my reaction is best summed up with one word - "meh".

That said - that's me. That may be the way the world is going and that's fine. I know there's a world of Ops out there who use these methods to communicate and it makes them quite happy - and in turn, that makes me happy for them. There's absolutely nothing wrong with any of these new technologies, they're just not my bag. Like I said, I'm a dinosaur. So as long as I can communicate on our repeater (and others) with my ancient and outmoded analog radios, I'll be a happy camper. The day that's no longer possible, and that I would be forced to purchase some kind of transceiver capable of digital communications is the day I give up VHF/UHF forever.

Kind of goes against the "pioneering spirit" I guess - but that's just me.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Why didn't I think of this sooner?

This is one of the three ferrites which I rescued from the trash heap at one of my previous jobs:

I am now assuming that the reason that they were on the trash heap in the first place is because the plastic clasps that locks these things closed were broken on two of them.  But hey,  that's nothing a little electrical tape can't cure!

I put all three on the coax going to the W3EDP just where the coax leaves my antenna switch. They are lined up, bumper-to- bumper, like their own little traffic jam.

I had no idea if this was going to make a difference or not, but boy howdy! Did it ever!

This is photo of the KX3 on an unoccupied frequency on 40 Meters after I put the ferrites in place:

Look at the S Meter. No bars! Before deploying the ferrites, I had S 3-4 noise. Now there's nothing, and ...... that's with the pre-amp ON! But oh baby! Looking at this photo made me realize that have to hit that glass and front panel with some Windex. It doesn't look that bad in real life, but the photo really shows it like I've never noticed before. Maybe another set of SideKX are in order to keep this radio cleaner and devoid of basement dust.

But I digress. I've checked the other bands, and except for 80 Meters, all the hash seems to be under control. Even if it should increase an S unit. I'd still be happy. 

I'm going to have to get a couple more of these from somewhere and see if they'll make a bigger difference on 80 Meters. I've gone down from S5 to S3 on the background noise.  It would be nice to get that lower.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Noise on the W3EDP

While I was on HF last weekend, I've really noticed how noisy and hashy the W3EDP has become. The HF9V is much quieter and it's easier to hear weaker signals with.

When I was at a previous data center job, I noticed some clamp on ferrites that were being tossed in the trash. They were probably meant to be placed on server power cables, if necessary. In any event, I rescued them from oblivion and will try putting them on the W3EDP's coax to see if they make any difference. Sometimes you really can find treasure laying in the trash!

If not, I've been watching some YouTube videos on some products that Palomar Engineers sell for this express purpose. I may have to give them a shot. The W3EDP is my main stay and I'm hoping I can quiet the background noise down without resorting to the KX3's noise reduction circuitry. I use that as a last resort only because, to my ears, it makes everything sound somewhat "artificial". That's probably not the best way to describe it, but that's what it seems like to me.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

CERT Day

Yesterday was a CERT day. South Plainfield is only one of four communities n the State of New Jersey to host a Labor Day parade. The three Plainfields - North Plainfield, Plainfield and South Plainfield split the summer up. One holds a Memorial Day parade, one holds a 4th of July parade and we do Labor Day.

As a CERT member in town, we were tasked to help with pedestrian traffic control and safety for both events - the parade and the fireworks display in the evening. The 5K race and parade in the morning were uneventful, unless you count the "spotty shower" at 10:30 AM which was actually a downpour. It ended rather quickly, but most of us got drenched and that made the rest of the event just hot and sticky. The good thing is there were no injuries or accidents to report. The parade went off without a hitch and everyone was happy, especially the South Plainfield Public Celebrations Committee.

We were back at it in the evening for the annual fireworks display.  Lakeview Road, which is one of the main thoroughfares through town is closed off for about a 1/2  hour before the show, for the duration and for about a 1/2 hour after the show. The fireworks are launched from behind the municipal complex which is close to the road, and there is danger of spent mortar casings falling on the street, In fact, a couple of years ago, a very small piece of cardboard or plastic casing hit me. No big deal, but insurance and lawsuits being what they are these days, the town doesn't want to chance any of our citizens getting injured. After the show, the street remains closed for another 1/2 hour so the smoke from the fireworks can disperse. No one wants a pedestrian crossing the street to be injured by a driver that didn't see them due to decreased visibility.

Just before the show, there was a gaggle of youngsters riding their bikes back and forth on the empty street, popping wheelies and trying to impress everyone with their stunts. Despite our continued requests for them to stay off the road, they would not listen. Finally the police got involved and requested that these young fellows stay off the road for their own safety. They pretty much complied, except for two.

That's when a police officer on a bicycle became involved. He caught up with them and once again, warned them to stay off the road. One, thinking he was above authority decided to respond to the officer by "flipping the bird". The officer saw that and took off after the lad, like a rifle shot out of a barrel. He caught up with him and I saw him speaking with the "bird flipper" for quite a few minutes. I would imagine he did his best to put the "fear of God" in him.

People do get annoyed when you tell them they can't walk where they want to; or go somewhere they want to go that is closed off. But it IS for their own good. It's far better to be inconvenienced with taking a few extra steps than spending a few hours in an ER getting a burn or some other injury attended to.

Such is the day in the life of a CERT member, but it's all good and worth the effort.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Wow!

It was a ghost town at work on Friday. Most employees that could work remotely from home, did so. It seemed besides the very few employees who actually did show up were IT (that included me), the kitchen staff and Security.

I spent the first part of the day catching up on chores that I have been putting off. We're in the opening stages of a big refresh project. Employees with older laptops are being upgraded to current models with more RAM, longer life batteries and faster processors. I have been so busy shipping laptops, that I have not been able to open the older ones that have been returned. I took care of the backlog in the morning.

In the afternoon, I tidied up my space and got as much done as I could in advance of next week, considering that it's a short week due to the Labor Day holiday, here in the US. I had to be there until 5:00 PM and I had nothing to do for the last 20 or so minutes of the day, I opened the latest version of QST and started perusing.

What struck me was the price of vertical antennas these day! If something ever happened to my HF9V, I doubt I could replace it. I would in most likelihood have to resort to wire antennas only. 

In order to duplicate the capabilities that I currently have, as per DX Engineering:

A new Butternut HF9V would cost $825 - I think I paid in the $400 to $500 range when I purchased mine.

A Hy-Gain AV-680 goes for $770.

A Cushcraft R9 is going for $800 and cannot be ground mounted - that would be a bugaboo for me.

A DX Commander Signature 9 is going for $500

A Diamond BB7V is going for $423 - not too terrible.

A Hustler 6BTV looks most promising, if it came to it - going for $298

MFJ makes several inexpensive options, but MFJ is MFJ. I love my MFJ-1982LP, but I had to correct some faulty soldering in the UNUN. That makes me slightly wary about other items in their inventory.

Bottom line is that I could never afford to replace my Butternut HF9V with another of the same, unless I started buying lottery tickets, It came as somewhat of a shock.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

New set up

I changed things around in the Jeep. This was the old set up for my little QYT-K8900D. I had it mounted to a board on the side of the center console. I put Velcro over the nuts on the console side of the board, so there would be no ugly scratches. The board extended back a ways and was held in place, quite snugly, by friction between the seat and console.

The sad thing is that W2LJ's eyes ain't what they used to be. It became hard to see what frequency the rig had stopped on when the scan function happened upon a QSO. At certain times of the day when it was especially bright outside, the display became even harder on these ol' peepers of mine.

It worked well enough, except for those drawbacks, which were unfortunate but not all that prohibitive. In actuality, I could have lived with it, but then one day I happened to run across this on eBay:

It's a bracket that fits in the cup holder. Perfect, as the cup holder was only being used for holding extra coins and the microphone, anyway.  The rig is now closer to my eyes and I can now easily see what repeater the radio has stopped on when a conversation is taking place.

If you're wondering - no, it does not get in the way of the gear shifter, nor does it prevent access to the parking brake release, even though the angle of the camera may make it look that way in the photo. I was a bit skeptical that road vibration and bumps in the roads would cause this bracket to jostle around from where I had set it, but no, so far it's been rock solid. Not bad for a piece of plastic that cost me about 20 bucks (with shipping).

My only complaint is that the microphone hanger that came with this brackety-thing is a hook type. The microphone supplied with the rig has no loop - just a mushroom type of button that protrudes from the back. The radio did come with a compatible microphone hanger clip, but the friction holding the mic in it's clip is so great that the clip HAS to be screwed in place somewhere on the dash, and I don't want to put holes in anything. You never know what wiring is hiding right behind the surface of anything in cars these days.

The microphone will call the other cup holder its home, unless Marianne is with me and she wants to use that one for its intended purpose.  For that brief amount of time, the microphone can ride shotgun in my lap, or on my seat next to my leg.

I know what you might be thinking - what's LJ doing with a piece of Chinese ......... in his car? Why not a Yaesu or an Icom?  The answer is that, like Ivory Soap, I end up listening for 99 and 44/100ths percent of the time. I rarely speak into the mic, unless it's to check into a net or perform some kind of ARES or CERT function. The receiver in this little rig is as good as any, and the 10 or 25 Watts that it puts out for such brief amounts of time serve the purpose. So why pay hundreds? I can put those $$$$ towards something I really want! (I'd rather be on HF anyway!)

While I'm thinking about HF - a few other things:

1)  The log summaries for Skeeter Hunt are coming in like gangbusters! There's still a week to go. I'm hoping that we come closer to 50% participation this year. There were some new callsigns that entered this year and from the comments I've read, it seems just about everyone had a good time!

2) My results:

Larry - W2LJ - NJ

Skeeter #181 - All CW

Single Op

Skeeter QSOs - 27

Non-Skeeter QRP QSOs - 0

Non-Skeeter QRO QSOs - 0

S/P/Cs - 14

Station Class Multiplier X4

Bonus - The number of "Bonus Skeeters" that I worked - 3

not bad for limping around with suspect batteries, hunting and pouncing with only  2.5 Watts!

3) Speaking of the batteries - the little SLA looks like it's going to be fine. The larger SLA looks a bit on the iffy side. The Powerwerx battery indeed looks to be shot.

To end things today - we had our first "kiss" of Autumn this morning and I guess that's appropriate for the 1st day of September. When I awoke this morning and looked at the weather station display it was 55F (13C). It hasn't been that cool in the morning since last May - maybe even April.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

One of the reasons that I like Elecraft

I'm an Elecraft fanboy. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I know that Elecraft is not everyone's cup of tea and I fully accept that. But here's one of the reasons, that I like them so much. They pay attention to their customers.

A new KX2 user has been having problems with his KX2 since he recently got it. He's spent time on the phone with Customer Service and at their request, he shipped the unit back. Needless to say, the shipping costs back to Elecraft came out of his own pocket.

He detailed his problems on the Elecraft io.group, hoping another KX2 user who might have had the same issues could lend some advice. He was answered by Wayne N6KR - ONE OF THE OWNERS OF THE COMPANY!

Wayne ordered the Customer Service department to bring the KX2 directly to him. To Wayne, it sounded like the problem was a firmware issue and he wrote the firmware, so he wants to take care of it - personally. In addition, he has ordered the Customer Service department to reimburse the user for the costs in shipping the KX2 back to the factory.

I've never gotten customer service like that from a photography company when I've had a problem! Never got it from Canon, Hasselblad or any other camera company that I've dealt with. When I was at Sinar Bron, as an industry leader, the concept of exceptional customer service was constantly drilled into us. Eventually it became like second nature and it was truly disappointing when it was not received in return,  The only company from which I've ever received service like that was the original Heathkit, as I outlined in my recent post about my SB-104A. Thankfully, I've never needed that kind of service from Elecraft, but it's comforting to know they stand behind their product, and would provide it.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!