Happy camper

You've all heard the expression, right? "He's a happy camper!" or "She's a happy camper!" This morning I have to say that "I'm a happy hunter!"

Last night was the 80 Meter QRP Fox Hunt and I stayed up past my bedtime to participate. Before I get into talking about the Hunt, I'd like to reminisce for a bit. I can remember many days when I was in my 20's when I could put in a full day of work, come home and eat supper and then stay awake until about 2:00 AM melting solder in whatever Heathkit I happened to be working on. I'd go to sleep for maybe three or four hours and then wake up, fresh as a daisy, and start the whole process all over again without giving it a thought.  Them days are gone forever! Now I depend on my close friend and associate - Mr. Coffee (actually Mr. Keurig) to get me through the morning after a Fox Hunt. I'll probably end up hitting the sack a bit early tonight.

As I was saying, last night was the 80 Meter Fox Hunt - running from 9:00 PM EST to 10:30 EST - hence the reason for my less-than-awakeness this morning. I got down to the shack early and worked a POTA station on 40 as a warmup and even chased TX7L on the Marquesas Islands for a bit on 10 Meters. They were 229 at best, so as expected, there was no joy there.

At the 0200 UTC starting bell, I started twiddling the dial, beginning at .3.550 MHz and working my way up. I don't have a PX3 waterfall display, and although there is software available that is compatible with my KX3, I don't have it loaded onto my computer. I guess I'm too much of a fossil, I'm more comfortable with ol' tried and true. 

Anyway, I didn't find the Lower Fox or any evidence of the Hunt between 3.550 MHz and 3.560 MHz, so I continued my climb upwards looking for the "Upper Fox". Sure enough, I happened upon N8SS, Earl in Michigan, handing out pelts in a fast and furious manner.  I switched between the W3EDP and the HF9V to see which was giving me better reception. The HF9V proved to be the weapon of choice for the evening. Not so much that the signal was louder, as they were both about equal to my ear, but the HF9V had a bit less in background noise on it last night.

Thanks to the KX3's Dual Receive feature, I was able to plug Earl's QRG frequency into the second VFO and twiddle until I found the Hounds he was working. From there, it was just a matter of throwing out my call sign each time he finished an exchange with another Hound. Finally, at 0219 UTC, Earl heard me and added me to his log.

The Lower Fox, John K4BAI was going to be a bit more difficult. I hadn't heard anything during my first foray through the Lower Woods. Perhaps I had twiddled too fast. With a bit of trepidation, I set out to find him.

Starting again at 3.550 MHz and slowly dialing upward, I finally heard some call signs of familiarity - other fellow Hounds. From their frequency, I figured that John must be 1 or 2 KHz down, so I concentrated on listening there. Slowly, and I mean SLOWLY, John's signal started to come up. Propagation was changing a bit in my favor this time. I waited until K4BAI's signal became consistently 559 before throwing out my call. No sense in QRM'ing someone else if I wasn't able to tell if John was coming back to me or not. Finally at 0238 UTC John heard my call and we completed the required exchange.

I was a bit pumped because that put me at 4 for 4 in the first week of the 2023-2024 Winter Fox Hunt season. Well, actually 3 for 4, probably.  When N8SS posted his log this morning, I see that he has my name as "Barry". The scorekeeper will probably toss the QSO as invalid because of that, but I could give a tin whistle. I'm in these Fox Hunts for the personal satisfaction of participating. I really don't care how I stack up against the other Hounds when all is said and done. If I get 2 or 3 pelts every week, I'll end up somewhere in the middle of the pack. I don't need to be the Alpha Hound. So as far as I'm concerned, I went 4 for 4 this week, my first foray into "The Woods" in a long time. I know this won't last and there will be times when Lady Propagation looks at me and says "Not tonight, Sweetie!", but it was sure nice for the first week!

Like I've said before, tonight will probably be an early hit-the-sack night, but not before I put together some exam packets. Tomorrow is our monthly VE Session and we have six candidates coming - possibly five new Techs and one possible upgrade to Amateur Extra. I like to get all the paperwork set up in individual manila file folders so there's less work and confusion the morning of. Better remember to stop at Dunkin' on my way in. I have a feeling I'll be needing more Mr. Coffee tomorrow morning, too!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!