Christmas is a coming

and Santa is getting a few boat anchors ready for some Hams who have been good all year long!

I may end up getting disappointed, but I am looking forward to the 80 Meter Fox Hunt tonight. The Foxes are John K4BAI in Georgia  and Don K9DRP in Illinois. Both should be reachable/workable from New Jersey on 80 Meters.

I am looking forward to seeing which antenna might be successful in nabbing contacts with them. Ever since I've replaced that matching stub on the HF9V it's been like a brand new antenna again! I still have to go out to the backyard and grab a plastic flower pot from our shed. I want to cut a hole in the bottom, and put a slit up the side so that I can invert it and create a protective shield around the matching network so that the wires cannot be accidentally damaged by weedwhackers ever again I'm not sure my word description actually conveys what I want to do, so after the deed is done, I'll take some photos and will post them here.

By the way, speaking of Santa - for those of you who have young kids or grandkids - you probably know all about this, but there's still time left if you want your kiddoes to talk with Santa:

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Gotta apologize

publicly, to the QRP Fox Hunt Committee. The final schedules for 80 and 40 Meters came out over the weekend. I was not forgotten like I thought I was. So I apologize for any premature false accusations  or sour grapes "trash talk" that I may be guilty of.  I am on the 80 Meter schedule for January 17th and Valentine's Day, February 14th. I'm also listed as an alternate for the 40 Meters schedule.

The season starts tomorrow - Election Day - of all days. I hope I can manage to stay awake to join in the Hunts for most of the season. I'll make my assignments, but ss far as the rest of the season goes, this was me yesterday:

Next weekend, I am going to have to re-take a look at the connection between the HF9V's matching stub and my coax.  I'm 100% sure of that connection. When I switch between the wire and the vertical, signal strength is much louder on the wire.  Maybe I didn't make as good a connection as i thought I had. Maybe I need to replace the coax. I hope not, but from looking back at past blog entries, next year this run of coax will be 20 years old.

I checked into the St. Max Net last night and from the conversation, I think the decision to move to 40 Meters is a permanent one. I was able to hear check in stations and Net Control much better on 80 Meters, but I guess I have no choice but to make due. Even with the HF9V "problem" that I may be having, I was switching back and forth between antennas and it was interesting to see how a given station was louder on one antenna over the other. My guess is likewise antenna polarization and/or the distance between us and the size of the skip zone. Frequency response of my headphones played a part, too.  A couple of stations I heard much better on that little golf ball speaker that I have as compared to the headphones.

In closing, for you newbie Amateur Radio ops out there who may be reading this, here's a YouTube video I cam across. I know that this is an expensive hobby and that as a newcomer that can be overwhelming. Here's a video that might be able to help you save some bucks when it comes to the antenna department:

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

First the good:

The weather was perfect yesterday and down came the W3EDP and up went the MFJ-1982HP EFHW. The procedure wasn't quite as tortuous as I was anticipating. I'm currently bothered by some bursitis and arthritis in my left hip and bending over to pick up parts and pieces from the ground can be .... let's say extremely annoying, for lack of a better term.

I was able to move that midpoint supporting mast that I use farther back into the one corner of the backyard, so the entire antenna is more stealthy than ever. Not that I live in an HOA or anything, but from my experience from when I lived in East Brunswick before I got married, I don't need any imaginary RFI problems from neighbors.

After finishing the installation, I immediately ran down to the shack and completed a few quick POTA QSOs, just to make sure everything was working right. It was! I got a 559 from Dave AB9CA in Indiana and a 599 from another POTAteer in Virginia. Later in the evening, just for the heck of it, I tuned to 160 Meters to hear the Stew Perry Challenge in progress. The KX3 was able to get a 1.7:1 match and I even made a successful contact with K1EP in Massachusetts with 5 Watts, on the first call.

Now for the bad. As I was finishing up securing the end of the wire antenna to its end point, I happened to look down at my Butternut HF9V.  The coax was no longer at the bottom of the antenna! In fact it was neatly folded back onto one of the garden stakes that I use to keep the coax off the ground.

That's how it looks now after I took a closer look at it and fooled around with it for a bit. It was so neatly folded back that I didn't even notice it until yesterday. The landscapers we had do some cleanup obviously did a number on it with their weedwhackers, To err is human, so I'm not upset by the fact they mistakenly broke it; but I am bothered that they didn't say anything. I wouldn't have made a fuss, but I would have appreciated the honesty.

Now for the ugly. At first look, it didn't seem like such a bad repair. I was thinking that all I would have to do would be to strip back the wire a bit, put on a couple spade lugs and I'd be back in business. When I went out this morning to take a closer look, to see what tools I'd need to bring out, I was checking on the condition of the stainless steel hardware when the matching network coil snapped off in my hand. CRUD!

The antenna is over 20 years old and has survived some harsh winters and even about four hurricanes, so I'm really not surprised. When I bought my HF9V it cost me around $500. Today it is close to $1000, and I cannot afford to replace it.

I can afford replacement parts, however. So it was off to Google to find out the best bet for replacement parts was DXEngineering.  The matching network coil hasn't changed a bit, but the matching stub has undergone a serious design improvement!  The existing stub is just a piece of 75 Ohm coax with the two conductors exposed with spade lugs on each.  From the picture this upgrade looks tons nicer.

Delivery should be Tuesday or Wednesday and the 10 Day weather outlook for next weekend is looking favorable, so I should only be without my HF9V for a week. I can live with that. I've decided that in the meantime, I will purchase a small plastic flower pot, or perhaps a small plastic pail (small Trick or Treat buckets are in all the stores now, it seems). I will cut the bottom out and will cut a slit up the side so that I can effectively create a protective shield and place it around the matching network at the base of the antenna. Believe me, I know myself all too well, and that I am not beyond making the same mistake the landscapers made with their weedwhacker!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Tuesday night 40 Meter Fox Hunt ...... grrrr

 

The evening started off in the best possible manner. I stumbled upon Drew K9CW's loud signal from Indiana right off the bat. Realizing that this loud signal was indeed one of the Foxes, I quickly called him and worked him at 0202 UTC. Two minutes in, I think that's the earliest I've ever worked a Fox in all the years I've been doing this.  Drew had a fantastic signal - an actual 579 and if you look at all the blue and green dots on the map above, you'll see he handed out a lot of pelts.

John AJ1DM in Rhode Island was a whole different story. If you look at the red and green dots on the map, you'll see he handed out a lot of pelts as well. But if you look at the map carefully, you'll see there are no red dots from Ottawa to Washington DC, save for a solitary green dot in New York, a Hound who was able to work both John and Drew. It's hard to see in the photo above as he's right behind that blue dot in northwest New York State. John's RF was literally flying right over our heads destined for other distant Hounds, away from the Northeastern states.

I could tell where John was by listening for the pack chasing him, and then going down 1 kHz. After the hunt was over, I plugged him into RBN to see if I was correct in guessing where he was. It turned out that I wasn't chasing phantoms - my detective work proved fruitful, and I had the right frequency all along. Sometimes when signals are so weak you can fool yourself into hearing something that's not really there. Happily, that wasn't the case this time.

I was able to hear him only by using the KX3's APF function, and only then at ESP levels. I knew he was there, but that was about it, save for one single time when his signal rose out of the background well enough to throw out my call. He promptly returned to the dust of the noise floor, and at about 0300 UTC or so, he completely vanished and I was no longer able to hear his ESP level signal. Determined, I hung around to the bitter end, hoping that John might somehow re-appear (loudly) - but no joy.

So I guess one out of two isn't bad. The HF9V was the weapon of choice last night and served me well in being able to retire for the night with at least one Fox pelt.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

When will it end?

 QRP Image of the Day

A couple of iterations of the Four State QRP Group Bayou Jumper - photo by Gary Chambers, Jr.

So the question for the day is, will my newly found QRP Fox Hunt streak come to an end tonight? Will my luck finally run out?

Tonight's Foxes for the 80 Meter Hunt are Jim N0UR in Minnesota and Wayne N4FP in Florida. Just wondering if either or both of those two states are too long of a haul for a QSO from New Jersey on 80 Meters. Jim has always had a decent signal to New Jersey, but I have my reservations. I don't have my AC Log on this computer. I'd like to open it up and look up the previous contacts I've had with both of these Foxes to see if any have ever been on 80 Meters. Tonight will tell, I'll just have to be patient (not one of my strong suits). And if I do work either Fox tonight, which will be the hero - the W3EDP or the Butternut?

No radio last night except for a brief check-in to K2VHW's Middlesex County Chat Group Net on 70cm on the way home from the Middlesex County Fire Academy last night. We had our monthly CERT training and last night was a review of basic firefighting using fire extinguishers for small trashcan type fires. Each one of us got the chance to extinguish a small controlled burn set by the Chief of Firefighting Education at the Academy.

The keyword in those situations is PASS

P - Pull the pin

A - Approach (staying as low as possible) the fire and aim the nozzle at the base of the fire

S - Squeeze the handle of the extinguisher.

S - Sweep the nozzle from side to side.

Two other important points:

NEVER turn your back on a fire - while approaching or leaving, even if you think you've extinguished the fire. Always back away. Secondly, always have a "buddy" go with you if at all possible. This second person is there to guide you as you back away as well as to help you should something unexpected happen.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Radio active night

I don't know what the heck was going on last night, but boy-howdy, was there a lot of traffic on the way home from work last night! My normal commute home from the western side of the state to South Plainfield is just under an hour. Last night's commute was 90 minutes with a sea of red tail lights in front of me as far as the eye could see. I didn't pass any accidents or emergency construction, so I have no idea as to the "why". My son Joseph reported the same thing on his commute from the northern part of the state to home. Lots and lots of cars, and lots and lots of sitting and staring at red tail lights. We both could have used Moses to part this kind of "red sea" but I guess he was busy helping others.

A night at the radio proved to be a remedy for that debacle. After dinner, I headed down to the shack to check into the NNJ Southern District ARES Net. The Southern District includes Middlesex, Somerset, Monmouth and Union counties. When that was over, the entire NNJ Section ARES Net was held on a different repeater.  But there was some time to kill between ARES nets before that started, so I turned my attention to the KX3. I managed to work a POTA activation, and them I saw that W1AW/KL7 was spotted on 15 Meters. I dialed on over and discovered to my delight that they were pretty loud on the HF9V - 579 peaking to 599. I haven't worked Alaska in a long time, so I decided to give it a whirl. I had to wait for the pileup to dwindle a little, but my 5 Watts made it through! Ya gotta love it when the sunspot cycle is good to you!

At 9:00 PM EST (0200 UTC) the 40 Meters QRP Fox Hunt was starting up. Starting at 7.030 MHz and still on the HF9V, I very slowly twiddled the dial searching for the Lower Fox. At first I wasn't hearing the Fox himself, but I did hear some familiar call signs which indicated to me that I had stumbled upon the pack of chasing Hounds. I backed down about 1 KHz and sure enough, there was Earl N8SS firing off CW from his fingertips at a prodigious rate. The problem was QSB - I would hear Earl only very faintly and then he would disappear, only to come back after a bit. I listened for a while and hoped that propagation would improve after a while, so I went to go find the Upper Fox.

That duty fell to Steve WX2S for the evening. Steve lives all of about 25 miles, +/- a few, from me down in Kingston, NJ which is right next to Princeton. Would there be enough 40 Meters groundwave to allow us to QSO? I found Steve easily enough, but I knew my signal to him was going to be weak, even by QRP standards. I listened for a while and even threw out my call sign a few times with no joy, so I decided to descend back down the band to see if Earl's signal had gotten any louder.

In fact, it did ......... but there was a loud station almost on top of him which was making it extremely hard to hear Earl. I had to tighten up the KX3's filters almost to the maximum of tightness in order to block out the offending RF, but they did their job and I was finally able to hear Earl well enough to be able to hear any reply back to me. Earl, who was 559, finally answered my call to him at 0241 UTC and we completed the exchange.

Now it was back to the Upper Woods to see if ground wave to Steve was going to be enough. Steve didn't get any louder, but he was in the clear and was Q5 copy, so I started throwing out my call. His pileup was slackening off as he was calling "CQ Fox" multiple times in a row. I kept on throwing out my call with my right hand on the paddles and the fingers of my left hand crossed. That must have counted for something as at 0248 UTC, RF made it from South Plainfield to Kingston and visa-versa and we completed the exchange.  Six for six so far this season! That's not going to last and I probably just jinxed the heck out of it.

Hats off and kudos to both Steve WX2S, Earl N8SS and whoever was behind the key last night at W1AW/KL7 last night. All three ops have tremendous ears and it made for quite the delightful QRP night. I love it when 5 Watts does the job!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Another DXpedition in the log

This time it was Timore-Leste, 4W8X on 15 Meters at 21.030 MHz, UP 1. And the antenna weapon of choice was my W3EDP, which was kind of a little bit of karma, as I had a guy insisting to me yesterday that end feds are "bad antennas". He was incredulous that I held to my opinion that I have had greater success with my W3EDP than the G5RV or the 88 foot doublet that I used to use.

He also told me that I should try building my own antennas. (Does anyone sell W3EDP antennas?) I answered by telling him that in 45 years as an Amateur Radio op, I've only owned three commercial antennas. My Novice antenna was  Mor-Gain multi band dipole. I owned a GAP Challenger for a while and sold it before moving from East Brunswick to South Plainfield.  And my third commercial antenna is my Butternut HF9V, which I purchased 25 years ago upon my arrival in South Plainfield, which I still have and use to this day.

All my other antennas over the past 45 years have been various homebrewed wire antennas. I have a pretty good feeling as to what will work and what won't. The best thing about homebrewing antennas is that it's relatively cheap, you can try new things whenever the mood strikes and soon you become pretty comfortable in knowing what works and what doesn't for your situation.

If I had deep pockets and a lot of real estate, you can bet in a New York minute that I'd go for multiple towers with mono band Yagis on them. Living on a suburban 50 X 150 foot lot limits you and you have to play around until you get results you can live with. But there is one thing that I'm grateful to God for every Thanksgiving, and that is that I'm not under the confines and handcuffs of an HOA. (Sorry, I don't mean to rub salt into the wound of those of you who are.)

Last night I was also fortunate to work Dave AB9CA in yet another park. Dave is a stalwart Skeeter and a superb op. It's nice when I can hook up with him. I also checked into the New Jersey K of C Net on 40 Meters, but propagation changed quickly and I very quickly lost the ability to hear Net Control or any of the other check ins. I'm new to the net, so I'll keep my mouth shut and my suggestions to myself, but I think 80 Meters would be a much better band choice.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

It warmed up yesterday

and the basement shack was a balmy 60 F (15 C), but I decided to give the 40 Meter QRP Fox Hunt a whirl with the magloop, anyway.  I was able to locate Wayne N4FP in Florida rather easily and worked him without a problem. Physically rotating the loop to where I could hear him the loudest, helped tremendously.

Drew K9CW in Illinois was a different story. He was weak, VERY weak, no matter which way I oriented the loop.  But since I had discovered where he was hiding, I decided to run to the basement shack to see if I could hear him any better there.

Using the Butternut HF9V,  almost as soon as I sat down, I caught him on a QSB peak and completed the exchange for the second pelt. After that, he faded away and I was able to hear him no better than on the loop. So I cannot conclusively say that the HF9V outperformed the magloop in this case. I just may have been fortunate to have caught him at just the right time with the HF9V. For all I know, he might have come up just as loudly on the loop. There was no way I was able to make a direct A to B comparison.

One thing I will say, though ....... the loop is much easier to tune now. I took one of the sidereal drive "extenders" from my telescope and fit it onto the shaft of the tuning capacitor of the loop. Before I just had a plain ol' vanilla knob. The "extender" is long enough to remove any hand capacitance effect that my body previously presented, throwing off the setting once I removed my hand. Now I can tune for loudest background noise, and lowest SWR and nothing changes when I remove myself from the equation.

Before

After

I was pleasantly surprised at what a difference this extension proved to make.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

1st test was a success

Before I begin, a shout out to all my friends in the path of Hurricane Harvey. Evacuate if you can, hunker down if you can't. Stay safe and don't take unnecessary chances. My prayers are with you.

Harvey as seen from the International Space Station

Harvey as seen from the Seawall.cam in Galveston, TX

Last night was the first chance that I had to get on the air after switching out the coax on the Butternut. As I had mentioned in the Skeeter Hunt post, we were away last week on a college open house visit to Virginia. Between the "before trip" planning and the aftermath that always occurs when you get back home, I was radio silent.

I thought that it would be a good idea to jump into the 20 Meter QRP Foxhunt. I haven't participated in it much at all this Summer, maybe only one or two sessions. I figured this would be a good a test as any.

When I got home from picking up my daughter Cara from high school Color Guard practice, I went down the basement a hooked up the coax to the rig and plugged in the power strips. These were all still disconnected since we had left. Someday I'll tell you the story of the routine my wife and I go through before leaving the house on an extended trip. Talk about OCD kicking in!

Anyway, I got everything plugged in, turned on and got the laptop to start the laborious procedure of booting up. I flipped the KX3 to "ON" and set the band to 20 Meters. I put the ear buds on and was greeted by ......... quiet. The background noise was lower than I was accustomed to.  I thought maybe something was wrong. Had I possibly not soldered a PL259 correctly?  But then I thought, "No, when I did the quick listen that Sunday, I heard stuff".  So I twisted the dial and before I could even turn it a quarter of a turn, N0UR's signal came skyrocketing out of the background.  So much quiet and then, "BAM!".  It was like seeing a black lump of coal on a pristine white field of snow, or watching a firework blaze brightly against a dark sky. The contrast between Jim's signal and the lack of background noise was stark. I'm sure it was mostly just band conditions, but it was amazing, nonetheless. I got him in the log on the first try, and then it was off to hunt for K4BAI.

Since I found N0UR, I knew I had to go to the other side of 14.060 MHz to find him as the Foxes always (most always) split up in to a High Fox and a Low Fox. So I twiddled and I listened, then I twiddled and listened some more. Finally, I heard a signal, but it wasn't John - it was a familiar call, one of the Hounds chasing him.  Knowing how K4BAI operates (textbook and professionally) I tuned down exactly 1 kHz.  There he was; but just the faintest of a faint whisper.  My first reaction was that perhaps it was only going to be Jim N0UR in the log, but I decided to sit and listen for a bit. It wasn't like I had anywhere to go or anything else to do. Well, actually I did, but putting the dishes in the dishwasher could wait for a while.

John's signal started to increase, slowly but surely. I thought at first that it was propagation changing and maybe that was part of it, but then I remembered that John owns a beam and he must be turning it North. Eventually, his signal rose up to about 569. Nowhere as loud as N0UR, but surely good enough to make a QSO!  I gave John a call and again - an answer on the first try.  Two Foxes in the books for the night.

I know this itty-bitty sample is nowhere big enough to let me really evaluate how much a change in the coax has made. But so far it seems to be working well. Maybe it's just like getting your prescription changed in your eyeglasses.  At first you notice the big change and then as you get used to it, the new prescription becomes the new "normal".  I'll be more than happy if this perceived hearing improvement becomes the new normal in my shack.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Got 'em!

A very big "Thank You" and a tip o' the old callsign cap to Will NQ2W who sent me an e-mail letting me know that he had worked TX6G from his home near Albany, NY with 5 Watts on 10 Meters.

I just ran down the basement, and after figuring out the pattern, also snagged them with 5 Watts.

Thanks again, Will!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Holy Flea Power, Batman!

I turned on 17 Meters tonight, hoping to hear K6JSS/KL7 from Alaska on.  In all honesty, the band is quiet but once again, T32C is there loud as a bell.  In fact, the op was working simplex - not split, and he wasn't getting many takers at all.  15 - 20 CQs between callers?  You can tell this DXpedition is coming near an end.  I'm sure the team has to be ecstatic with the job they have done.

So, I decided to try something.  I cranked the power on down to 900 milliWatts and put out my call.  They came back to me first shot!

Just who is on this DXpedition anyway ..... Steve Austin with his bionic ears?  I figured I was going to give it a max of about three tries; AND if he came back with only a W2?? or a W2L??, I would not strain their ears any further with my somewhat selfish experiment.  But there it was, first try and full call.  That's over 6,000 miles per Watt.  And yes, all the credit goes to the wonderfully amazing ops at T32C.

BTW, equipment here was the K2 to the Butternut HF9V.

This QRP and radio stuff continues to delight me!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel

For those of you around my age and older, that phrase that I used for my title should be familiar to you.  For you young-uns, I will explain.

Back in the late 60s, WABC aired a weekly Batman television show.  Actually, it was on two nights a week - Tuesday and Wednesday nights if I remember correctly.  Anyway, it was done as a serial, like the old movies. The adventure that was started on Tuesday was continued and finished the next night.  The announcer would always exhort watchers at the end of the first show, "Tune in tomorrow. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel".

And so it went for me with T32C.  Second night, same band and approximately the same time.  But this time my signal was QRP and this time the Butternut HF9V did get the job done! (BTW, that works out to approximately 1,155 miles per Watt)

Kudos to the superb ops out there.  I have seen that many QRPers are getting them; and I even heard tonight's op come back to a W1 station that signed /QRP.  That seemed to get his attention; but on the whole I don't recommend signing /QRP when working DX.  The faster you make your call heard, the better the chance of being worked.  I guess there are always exceptions to the rule, though. YMMV.

Good luck to all of you out there - you have three weeks to get your signal to them.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!