Looks like we're heading into a rainy weekend in my part of the woods. Now that it's getting warmer, I'm hoping to spend a bit of time during the weekends down the street, at the PAL parking lot, putting the Washington-Rochambeau Trail on the air, as that's where it's located. Maybe not this weekend if the skies are weeping. But maybe, just maybe, I can eventually earn a Kilo Award by getting 1,000 contacts from there? Time will tell.
This is what you can expect to hear on the bands this weekend:
Contests (again, even if you're not participating, this is what you can expect to hear) - Going forward, dedicated QRP Sprints/Events will be highlighted in red:
BARTG HF RTTY Contest: http://www.bartg.org.uk/
Popov Memorial Contest: https://www.contest.ru/memorial-popov-eng/
Russian DX Contest: https://www.rdxc.org/rules_eng
Virginia QSO Party: https://www.qsl.net/sterling/VA_QSO_Party/2025_VQP/2025_VQP_Main.html
AWA John Rollins Memorial DX Contest - https://www.antiquewireless.org/homepage/event-details-for-rollins-dx-event/
Run for the Bacon QRP Contest - http://qrpcontest.com/pigrun/
K1USN Slow Speed Test - http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html
This coming Wednesday Night 3/19 (Thursday Morning UTC)
NAQCC Monthly Sprint - https://www.naqcc.info/sprint_rules.html
Walk for the Bacon QRP Contest (20 Meters) - https://qrpcontest.com/pigwalk20/
Special Event Stations:
03/14/2025 | PI Day - David Sarnoff Radio Club, Princeton, NJ
Mar 14-Mar 15, 1800Z-0100Z, N3P, Princeton, NJ. David Sarnoff Radio Club. 14.031 14.314 7.031 7.227 . QSL. Don Corrington, AK2S, 7 Pinewald Lane, Burlington, NJ 08016-3421. n2re.org
03/15/2025 | Gulf of America Special Event
Mar 15, 1400Z-2000Z, K5K, Kingwood, TX. Texas Emergency Amateur Communicators (TEAC). 7.20 14.325 21.235 28.325. QSL. David Taylor, N5KWD, 2179 Lake Village Dr, Kingwood, TX 77339. Celebrating the renaming of the Gulf of America, from Galveston Island State Park on the Gulf of America. Special Event + POTA + IOTA. QSL and SASE to N5KWD for commemorative QSL card. teac.net
03/15/2025 | Solivita Car Show
Mar 15, 1300Z-1900Z, N4SRC, Kissimmee, FL. Solivita Radio Club. 18.124 24.980 14.074 21.074. QSL. Solivita Radio Club, 307 Bell Tower Crossing West, Kissimmee, FL 34759. FT8 on all frequencies (10 through 40 meters). Frequencies may change. See website for updates. https://solivitaradioclub.weebly.com
With Monday being St. Patrick's Day, I'm kind of surprised to see no Special Event Stations on the air for that. St. Patrick's Day and Ireland and the Irish hold a special place with me as my dear departed Mother-In-Law was born and raised in Donegal, Ireland before she and one brother emigrated to the US back in the late 40's (I think it was). Nora and Harry were the only ones to come here out of about 8 or 9 siblings,
I think I've told this story before, but in honor of the day, I'll tell it again. I always get a chuckle when I think about it. When Marianne and I first started dating, it was a little bit before she took me to her home to meet her parents. As any young suitor would be, I was a bit nervous, but upon meeting my future in-laws things seemed to go warmly and exceedingly well. The conversation drifted to things about me, as they wanted to get to know me better and that's when I mentioned that my main hobby was Amateur Radio.
My future M-I-L gave me a look like I was Medusa and I had 1,000 snakes growing out of my head. After a bit of awkward quiet, we got past that and had a wonderful dinner and evening together. My Father-In-Law, who was a petrochemical engineer seemed genuinely intrigued and asked me a lot of questions about the hobby and the various contacts that I had made, particularly the DX ones. Later, as I was driving Marianne back to her apartment, I asked her what that was all about.
It turned out that one of her uncles back near Donegal was a Ham - and no, I never found out what his call sign was. I was told that he had a tower and Yagi attached to his house. One day, during a particularly bad thunderstorm, his tower took a direct lightning strike and there was significant damage to the house.
That's all my M-I-L knew about Amateur Radio. Lightning and damage to the house. That was why I got the stare that I received. I later assured them both that I was licensed for over 20 years at the time and that I never had a tower and I always took the utmost precautions to prevent anything like that happening to me. I doubt that swayed her misgivings any, but I never heard anything about it again.
Nora (she was always "Mom" to me) actually came to live with us for a time after my Father-In-Law, Joe, or "Dad" as I always called him, had passed away. She had broken her hip and couldn't live alone on her own anymore. She eventually moved to a Senior Assisted Living Facility near us until she too, passed away. I'll always wonder if that was because she just craved a bit more independence, or if she just wanted to be away from my vertical and wire antennas!
Anyway, in any event
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
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