"A Day Late and a Dollar Short" Part II

 Yesterday, June 17th, was apparently International QRP Day.

You would think that would be something I'd definitely celebrate and highlight, no?

My mind was otherwise occupied as my wife, the love of my life, was hospitalized for an attack of aFib. She went in on Monday in the wee hours of the morning (of course these things always seem to happen in the middle of the night) and was released yesterday, Tuesday afternoon.  As it turned out, it was not seriously serious, but still. I think it was more unnerving for me than for her.

I didn't get much sleep Monday night as the house just felt "different" without her, so yesterday I was pretty much in a fog all day. Thank the Lord, the Docs treated her quickly and prescribed some new meds and she's feeling no worse for wear.

However, it didn't even occur to me that yesterday was International QRP Day until I saw this posted on Facebook late last night.  It would have been fitting to have participated in the NAQCC mW Sprint last night, but by the time it started my brain was already like Jell-O. My fist would probably have been so bad as to be considered an advanced form of torture, thus prohibited by the Geneva Convention.

So, to all my brother and sister QRP'ers, I hope the day was filled with nice contacts for you. Hopefully, I'll be able to join in on the fun more, next year.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

I worked them!

 

I was able to work Special Event Station WJ0H, honoring the Edmund Fitzgerald, this afternoon. I added the call sign to Ham Alert and it was chirping a ton on Saturday, but the day was way too busy to try and fit them in. Luckily, they were still on the air today and I nabbed them on 15 Meters USB on 21.360 MHz at 17:18 UTC. I fired up the KXPA100 to 85 Watts as they were kind of weak. It was probably about 5X4 each way. 

Gosh! SSB and QRO! I really wanted to work them, though. Now that Marianne and I have been going up to Alexandria Bay and I see those big ships traversing the St. Lawrence River, it has deeper meaning now. i used the MFJ-1982HP which has been performing very well for me since I got it up in the air two weekends ago. BTW, when I double checked the HF9V yesterday, I saw that the radial to antenna connection was fine, just fine. The thick piece of copper braid I used was still intact and not bothered by the landscapers. I still have to make that "shield" out of an old power plastic flower pot, so that this can never happen again.

After WJ0H, I worked several POTA stations (all at 5 Watts) on 17 Meters and on 20 Meters way above the ARRL Sweepstakes traffic on 20. One of the stations I worked was N9ANA, The Voyagers ARC with Eric K9VIC at the key. N9ANA and K9VIC are Skeeters, so that was a special treat! 

I was going to go to the PAL parking lot and put the Washington-Rochambeau on the air, but it's pretty chilly here today with a pretty constant stiff breeze which makes it feel even colder. I'm already decked out in shirt and hoodie sweatshirt inside the house! I'm not quite in the mood to be outside for a prolonged amount of time.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP  - When you care to send the very least!