When I was a school kid

there were a couple  of things I always dragged around. One was the current issue of Sky & Telescope. The  other was either an ARRL Novice License Manual or a copy of QST, when I could get my hands on one. I know ....weird kid, right?  But those two ARRL publications played a big part in drawing me into the hobby.  Both were an odd size back then. They were bigger than TV Guide, but yet smaller than a regular magazine like Sky & Telescope. And the best thing inside them, IMHO, were the cartoons by Phil Gildersleeve. I had a few issues and spent many hours looking at these cartoons thinking that some day, "I want to be part of this!".

I can't explain why I loved these images so much!  For me, they seemed to resonate and  capture the essence and spirit of the hobby and it's Golden Age, just like a tuned circuit. Since Phil there have been many great cartoonists that have graced our hobby, but there will never be another "Gil".

But that being said, a couple of years ago, Jeff Murray K1NSS and Jim Massara N2EST, two talented and excellent cartoonists in their own right, approached the ARRL about reviving the "Jeeves" cartoons. They were shot down. Maybe it was due to copyright law or some other issue, but they were turned down.  More's the pity, as I saw the cartoon image that they pitched. It was totally in the style and essence of Gil and had you seen it, you would have sworn that Gil himself had drawn it. Perhaps the ARRL thought that Jeeves was too old fashioned and would not appeal to a younger crowd, but some things are timeless.

However, the ARRL  did publish a book a few years back with a collection of Phil's work. I think it's still available. I have a copy down in the shack that I like to go through and peruse the images. It has become well worn.

The University of Delaware put together s page called "The Artwork of Phil Gildersleeve" with a small collection of some of his images. Click on the title to go there.

As far as the QRP Fox Hunts go, since this is Thanksgiving week, there are no "regular" Hunts. There is a 160 Meter Foxtravaganza, where all the Foxes and Hounds can try to work each other. I went on for a little while, not the whole 90 minutes and I worked two stations, Dean N2TNN in VA and Ron WU4G also in VA. I heard Jim W1FMR in NH calling "CQ FOX" but he could not hear me.

From the looks of the Reverse Beacon Map, you'd think I would have heard and worked some stations out towards the Midwest. Nope, only Virginia for QSOs and only NH for SWL'ing.

Both QSOs and the SWL'ing were done with the MFJ-1982HP.  The KX3 was able to find a decent match at about 1.7:1 on 160 Meters, which considering the antenna wasn't designed for the band, isn't bad. The HF9V would not load on 160 Meters. The KX3 could not find a match and displayed an "ANT ERR" message. That was strange as it used to load up with the old matching stub, but not this one. If I want to get on 160 Meters, which is a nice band, especially during the Winter months, I'll have to confine myself to using the MFJ.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!