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!