Another one bites the dust

During the middle of the night on Saturday/Sunday, I got a low battery voltage warning on the KX3. That struck me as odd, as I had recently charged up my 12V 10 Ah battery. I was expecting it to last the entirety of Field Day.  But in the heat of battle you really don't think twice about it, so I took it off line and hastily replaced with a recently purchased 12v 5 Ah battery that I had gotten about two weeks ago. THAT battery lasted the second half of Field Day without a whimper.

When I got home from work on Monday, I put the 10 Ah battery on my charger and was getting a battery failure indication. It was reading at a level of 10V and 0% capacity and would not accept a charge, I was wondering how can this be? It was purchased new and I haven't put it through nearly enough cycles to have exhausted it. I figured it must be a battery charger fault, so I hooked up the 5 Ah battery to the charger to see what it said. The 5 Ah (which was in use for roughly the same amount of time, if not more) was down to only 11.8 Volts and had 89% capacity left in it! And the charger's fan started running as soon as I hooked it up.

No charger fault - I got a bad 12V 10 Ah battery. Dang!

I don't remember where I purchased it, whether it was from eBay or Amazon, but it doesn't matter. Its not like you can return a battery some 11 months after you've bought it online. I had purchased it after the 2023 Skeeter Hunt when my last deep cycle battery gave up the ghost. I don't want to be scrambling for electrons during the Hunt this year, so I went on eBay and found an economically (cheaply) priced 12V 10 Ah Deep Cycle Gel Cell battery.

I know, you guys are probably thinking, why didn't he go lithium?  Price mainly, but also because I don't feel like purchasing a dedicated lithium battery charger. I once ruined a small lithium battery by not using the correct charger on it and I don't want to relive that escapade. I learned that lesson well. However, should this battery not last longer than a cycle or two, I guess I'll bite the bullet. Maybe spending a little more right now would be the right thing to do in the long run, but I guess I'm too frugal to have reached that point yet.

It should be at my house in about a week - long before it's needed for the Skeeter Hunt on August 18th - which, by the way, we've had 93 sign ups so far and the 1st Day of Summer was only 6 days ago!

And looky see what came in the mail yesterday!

Not an ATNO, but an ATNC - All Time New Confirmation. I've worked Easter Island before, but never got a QSL card.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Hey, Buddy! Looking for some QSL art?

Tired of the same old images?  Want something unique and personal for your very own QSL card?   Something that says "you", and reflects your personality and interests? Are you sponsoring an event and want a well designed and memorable logo?

Have I got the man for you!

That man would be Jeff Murray K1NSS - the man, and Ham behind Dashtoons.

A few years back, I wanted a new QSL card. I've done some self-designed ones before and they always came out well (if I do say so, myself!)........ but at the same time, they came up short of professional looking.  From Facebook, I saw that Jeff also designed QSL cards.  I sent him an e-mail. We corresponded back and forth a few times, and Jeff latched onto my association with the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt and after a few iterations and alterations, came up with this:

About a year later, I decided that I wanted the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt to have its own special and unique logo.  So back to Jeff I went and his talent and skills came up with this:

So this year, yet another challenge presented itself.  The South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club needed a QSL card.  What's that old saying about "Going back to the well once too often?" This time "the Well" did not disappoint!  Jeff came up with this superb image, which will be presented to the Club this Wednesday evening for consideration as adoption as our QSL card.

The club members wanted something on the card that is unique to South Plainfield. One of our claims to fame is Hadley Field, which served as the Eastern Terminus for the fledgling USPS Air Mail system back in the 1920s.  Night time flights leaving Hadley Airport got US Mail to Chicago in under eight hours.  Hadley Field remained the terminus until Newark Airport enlarged to become the largest air field in New Jersey. Jeff took our idea, ran with it and came up with pure gold again!

So if you're looking for an image that's unique and well designed, send Jeff an e-mail at k1nss@dashtoons.com.  Jeff is very easy to work with and will keep at it with you until both you and he are totally satisfied.

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

Suprise in the mail!

It's always neat to walk into the house after a long, hard day at work to find an envelope from the W2 QSL Card Bureau. Here are four of the more pretty and/or interesting ones:

The cool thing is that looking back in my log, these were all done with QRP - even South Sudan. Interestingly, the day and date recorded on the card are indicate that this card is a result from my second QSO with them, which was the QRP one. I don't know where the card for the first (QRO) QSO is. Perhaps they got my call wrong and it ended up being a busted QSO. Who knows?

I went out to the Jeep this afternoon and was hearing PZ5W from Suriname on 15 Meters. He was very loud and I really thought I was going to get a QSO. As luck would have it, I didn't. There was a pileup but it was by no means fierce. I just wasn't being heard. You know it's a bad sign when the station calls CQ and no one answers but you, and the station starts calling CQ all over again. I already have Suriname in the logbook - even QRP - but from the car with the Buddistick, that would have been a hoot.

This coming weekend is the CQ WWDX CW contest, a great contest for working QRP DX. Of course, I am going to be listening for ATNOs. Hopefully I'll work one or two. I may also try milliWatting to see how many entities I can work with under a Watt.

Let's hope for great band conditions this weekend!

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

And now for something completely different

A few weeks back, I was looking at Chris KQ2RP's blog, "Signal to Noise - KQ2RP". I was intrigued by his entry, "Show Me Your QSL, And I'll Tell You Who You Are."

Ever since my Novice days, I have used QSL cards of my own design, with varying degrees of success. My mother was VERY artistic and had a lot of artistic talent. My sister, Ann Marie, inherited the major portion of that.  She has a degree in Arts Education, is a talented weaver, painter, sketch artist - an all around good and talented artist.

Me?  Not so much.  I could cobble out a cartoon, as I did for my very first QSL card back in 1978.

Not terribly original, and kind of primitive, but it was artwork done by my hand.

My most favorite QSL, that I came up with was also "heavily borrowed" from a NASA photograph.

Again, the drawing was actually more a tracing of the outline lines from the photograph.  What I liked about this card (apart from the concept of manned space flight) was that the printer (who has since gone out of business, at least the QSL business, anyway) did the stars in gold ink, which I think you can make out from the scan. The stars, which I did freehand, are kind of goofy looking.

In my latest QSL design, I wanted something different. This time I relied on photography, which is actually my trade. I was a professional photographer for a while and was involved in the professional photographic industry (in various capacities) for over 30 years.

I wanted a reflection of my interest in QRP and CW, so I took a photo of my K1 (which has since been sold - to afford my KX3) and one of my Morse Express Christmas keys. This was taken outdoors in my backyard, using natural light. The rig is on top of the patio table glass top and you can see some grass there in the background.  This was "OK", but still not quite what I wanted out of a QSL.

Then I saw Chris' post. And I contacted Jeff K1NSS and asked him, "OK, Jeff - my interests are CW and QRP, what can we do with that?" And in very short order, he came back to me, asking me to tell me more about myself, what my interests are, and please send some photos of whatever I thought would be relevant. And so, I did that. I explained my love for CW, portable QRP operating, this blog, the Skeeter Hunt and probably a lot of other stuff that was superfluous. Jeff came back to me and said to give him a couple of weeks, as he was busy working on some other jobs.

A few weeks later, Jeff came back to me with two sketches.  One was a really neat Art-Deco design of my hand on a bug.  The other was a sketch of me as "The Keeper of the Skeeter Hunt".  I liked them both!  The question now became, how could we somehow combine the two concepts? Jeff knew, oh yes, he knew! And this is what he came up with:

How cool is this?  THIS is going to be my QSL card!

He incorporated CW, QRP and the Skeeter Hunt all in one shot! All my Amateur Radio passions in one beautiful design (love that blood drop from the end of the Skeeter's proboscis). And not only that, but it's unique. I could never have come up with this on my own. If you gave me all the art materials in the world and a thousand years, I would have not dreamed this up. This was a great experience!

It's as obvious as the nose on your face that Jeff is a creative genius, and is a great artist and designer. But because he's also a Ham (K1NSS), he just plain "gets it", he "gets" us, what we like, what drives us, what makes us tick.  He thinks like we think, which may or may not be a good thing! I would not hesitate for a nano-second, in recommending Jeff's services to anyone.

And I think it's plain to see that whomever gets this QSL, they will definitely know who I am.

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

BTW, a big "hat tip" to Chris KQ2RP for his blog post and inspiration.

Best laid plans

I took another vacation day today, in order to have another long weekend. I was hoping to get back up to Washington Rock and get some more outdoor QRP in.  However, while the Nor'Easter we've had the past two days is pulling away, it has left a mostly cloudy day, with raw, stiff breezes in its wake as it leaves.

So, to quote Clint Eastwood from "Heartbreak Ridge", it's time to "improvise, adapt and overcome". So I am spending the day doing the house chores that I would have done tomorrow. And according to the weather prognosticators, tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and about 10 degrees warmer than today.

A good day to spend a couple hours in the park with a KX3 and a wire in a tall, tall tree.  And also on my side ...... it appears the effects from that solar flare we had the other day are waning as well. So tomorrow may be a better solar weather day, too.

BTW, I managed to work VK9DLX the other night on 15 Meters.  I tried for about a 1/2 hour with 5 Watts and gave in to turning the KXPA100 up to 90 Watts. (Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa - recited while beating breast!) That's what I bought it for, after all. Another new one in the log.

I just had the ARRL update my DXCC standings from new countries worked via Log of the World.  I am up to 171 countries now - officially.  I have several more that I have to direct QSL (with the appropriate bri ..... I mean green stamps). Counting those, I should be pert' near 180 countries confirmed.

Oh, another thing I hope to acomplish this weekend .....get all the Skeeter certificates out.  Keep an eye peeled on your mailbox for the next little while.

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

It's the little things that make life worthwhile

In the day to day, sometimes it's easy to forget the little things that make life worthwhile.

1) Like that yesterday was my daughter Cara's 13th birthday - she's officially a teenager now!

Did I mention she DETESTS having her picture taken and that she was ready to kill me when I snapped this one at Lake George this Summer?

2) Like that today they served chicken corn chowder in the cafeteria at work today - one of my all time favorite soups.

3) That while I was eating my chicken corn chowder in my Jeep, I managed to work DL4ISX in Germany (with some difficulty due to QSB) and HF37SONDA in Poland (who was super loud).

4) That I came home to a packet of QSL cards from the Bureau, including:

Yeah, it's the little things in life that are the absolute best!

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

The good and the not so good.

Last night, while hunting in the 80 Meter woods in the QRP-L Fox hunt, I continued to work on my PigRig.  I came to the part where I am winding T1, and I guess I had a case of brain flatulence, because I just couldn't figure out from the instructions, how the center tap was supposed to be done.

Before going to bed (late), I came up here and fired off an e-mail to the Flying Pigs e-mail reflector looking for some enlightenment.  When I checked my e-mail this morning, there was an e-mail from the Head Honcho himself, Diz W8DIZ.  He explained to me (very patiently) what should have been as obvious as the hand in front of my face.

Thanks, Diz for excellent customer service! And also thanks for being super courteous and patient with someone who seems to have had a "Senior Moment".

On the other hand, last night I was fortunate to work an SU9 station from Egypt on 40 Meters.  I was doing the "happy dance" as this was my first QSO with Egypt - ever.  So I dutifully went to QRZ to look up QSL information, only to find that LOTW is not accepted (as it's too cumbersome and difficult to figure out), that paper QSLs are not really wanted, but if you go to PayPal and enter this particular PayPal address (along with the appropriate "donation") that a QSL card can be had.

What ?!?    I mean, really ...... what?

OK, I understand that Egypt is not the most commonly found country on the air; and I'm sure that QSLing is quite the tedious chore (if not a downright pain in the butt).  But isn't that what QSL managers are for?  And really, I mean even I can figure out how to use Log of the World.  You know, the guy who had trouble figuring out how to wind a simple toroidal transformer? ...... Yes, me - even I figured out how to use Log of the World.

I hesitate to use that hackneyed expression, but if I can figure it out - you can figure it out.

Maybe I ought to quit my job, move to a "rare and exotic" locale, get on the air, make a couple hundred QSOs a day, and start charging a few bucks per QSL card.

But then I guess I'd have to figure out how to use PayPal.  (Of course, I am being facetious, I already know how to use that. Learned how just around the same time I learned how to use LOTW).

72 de Larry W2LJ

Famous callsigns

Many friends who have been at this hobby a lot longer than I have worked some pretty famous people - King Hussein of Jordan, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Barry Goldwater.

I have never worked anyone famous per se, but I did get a chance to work the Arizona DX Association last night, which is celebrating Arizona's Centennial this week.  Their call is K7UGA - the same used by Senator Barry Goldwater (SK).  So when I heard them on 40 Meters tonight, I jumped at the chance.

It took a while for me to break the pileup; but I was successful.  5 Watts and the HF9V yielded me a response.  I got the customary "599"; but they were truly a 599 here into New Jersey.  One of the loudest signals on the band.

I will definitely send for a QSL card, as this may be the closest I ever get to working a "famous" Ham.

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

Random thoughts.

The other night, I tried uploading some QSOs to Log of the World.  I was unsuccessful as my certificate had expired.  I filed for a new one, got everything working and uploaded my latest batch of QSOs without a problem.  I try to do this once a month or once every couple of weeks.

Out of curiosity, I went back to the LOTW site tonight to do a little math.  I have a LOTW QSL return rate of 19.8 percent.  I have no idea as to whether that's good, bad or average.

I went over to eQSL and did the same math - 19.27 percent - slightly lower.  Frankly, that surprised me.  I think we can all agree that eQSL has less "hoops" to jump through in order to get it working.  I am not criticizing LOTW when I say that - I'm just pointing out what I think is fact.  Although personally, I have not had any insurmountable LOTW problems, I have heard horror stories from other Hams who had, and gave up - running and screaming into the night.  eQSL may not be as secure, I don't know - but it does seem easier to use. 

I would have thought (there goes that "conventional wisdom" again!) that being easier to use would also translate to " greater participation and use".  I guess not.

Tonight is the 80 Meter QRP Fox hunt.  Dave N0IT in Missouri is not feeling all that great, so he has swapped with John K4BAI.  So the Foxes will be John in Georgia and Jim K9JWV in Utah.  "Conventional wisdom" is telling me that from New Jersey on 80 Meters, I should be able to work John fairly easily and that Jim may be a stretch, if I hear him at all.

We'll see.

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

Log of the World can be used for CQ awards

This is the skinny straight from the ARRL:

"The ARRL and CQ Communications, Inc have signed an agreement to begin providing support for CQ-sponsored operating awards by the ARRL’s Logbook of the World (LoTW) electronic confirmation system. The agreement was announced jointly today by ARRL Chief Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B, and CQ Communications President Richard Ross, K2MGA.

CQ’s awards will be the first non-ARRL awards supported by LoTW and will be phased in beginning with the CQ WPX award, with additional CQ awards to follow. The ARRL’s LoTW system -- an interactive database recording contacts between radio amateurs -- was created in 2003 and has been adopted by 47,500 radio amateurs worldwide. It already has records of 400 million contacts and is growing weekly. The target date for beginning LoTW support for WPX is April 1, 2012. Amateurs will be able to use LoTW logs to generate lists of confirmed contacts to be submitted for WPX credit. Standard LoTW credit fees and CQ award fees will apply.

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, observed that this step gives radio amateurs throughout the world an inexpensive and convenient means of gaining credits toward CQ’s popular operating awards: “LoTW has significantly increased interest and participation in the ARRL’s DXCC, Worked All States and VUCC awards programs. We anticipate a similarly positive response to the addition of the CQ WPX award. Amateurs will be able to spend more time operating and less time chasing QSL cards.”

CQ President Richard Ross, K2MGA, said he is very pleased to be able to move forward with LoTW support for CQ awards. “We have had excellent results with electronic confirmations for several years,” he explained. “I am glad that we are now able to begin expanding that convenience to those participants in our award programs who use Logbook of The World. We look forward to a smooth launch for WPX and to the expansion of LoTW support to include the rest of our award programs, as well.”

Personally, I never kept track of any progress with any of the CQ awards.  I would guess the one that I would be closest to accomplishing would be Worked All Zones; but I'm probably not even close to that, either.  It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Out of 7,209 QSO records that I have posted to LotW, I only have 1,417 QSL records. Not exactly a great rate of return.  Maybe the ARRL is hoping that this will bring in more users.

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

I am almost at a loss for words

Sometimes I post things that are controversial.  Sometimes I post things that are boring (and do I ever hear about that!) Sometimes, I am fortunate enough to post words that touch people's lives in a certain way.

Two folks sent me e-mails about a couple of those today - and for that I am truly, truly grateful.  Your kind words are appreciated in ways you can't imagine.  Thanks so very much!

In other Amateur Radio news, the KX3 list is hopping like crazy, as you can imagine.  Wayne N6KR alluded to the fact that the User Manual will probably be released in January, while the Assembly Manual won't be ready until February.

Always being somewhat curious, I would love to know what the first hour and first day order figures for the KX3 were.  After all, this radio was introduced at Dayton and so many videos featuring the radio were released in the meantime.  I'm sure there was a "dam bursting at the seams" phenomena, and it would be very interesting (to me anyway) to see how order figures stacked up against those for the K3 and perhaps the KX1.

I continued to get some more QSLing done today.  I am so embarrassed that I have let my QSLing slip.  If you've sent me a card in the past few months and I haven't responded ...... well, keep an eye on your mailbox within the next few weeks.

Oh, and by the way, in my post the other day, I didn't mean to denigrate or sound harsh about DX stations who insist on QSLing direct with a couple of green stamps included.  For guys who are in rare locations, I can understand totally.  If they didn't QSL that way, they would probably quickly go broke.

I also mentioned using the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service.  If you're an ARRL member and you're not aware of this service - please, by all means, check it out!  This is by far the most economical way I can think of to send out QSL cards to DX stations who will accept cards via their Bureau.  They will even accept cards for DX stations that go to US QSL managers!  The ARRL Outgoing QSL Service, IMHO, is one of the best side benefits of being an ARRL member.

My good friend, and fellow Polar Bear, Rem K6BBQ has posted another outstanding video - this one concerning the December Polar Bear outing which coincided with the ARRL 10 Meter contest. Rem is right up there with Steve WG0AT as far as quality video goes.  I am posting here for your viewing pleasure:



Keep up the good work, Rem.  Your craft is enjoyed and most appreciated! The laughs are appreciated, also - it's great when we don't take ourselves too seriously and actually have fun.

Driving to work today, I saw a few Christmas trees already on some folk's curbs, ready for pick up.  For me, that's one of the saddest sights of the season.  But also - getting rid of your tree before New Year?  After all, Christmas is SUPPOSED to last for twelve days -right?  I'm not a die hard adherent to leaving the tree up for all twelve days - but at W2LJ, we do wait until New Years Day or later to do the dirty deed of getting rid of the tree.

I had hoped to be more prolific in terms of blogging compared to 2010.  Looks like I am going to come up short of my goal.  Within the next two days, I'll post some about some reflections from this year and some hopes for 2012.

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

PS: 40 Meter Fox Hunt tonight.  John K4BAI and Tom KV2X are the Foxes.  Two superb ops!  Hope to hear YOUR call being answered tonight.

Holy Shamoly!

Things have been severely slow at work; as we are in an "End of Year" freeze.  No new equipment can be installed until after the New Year.  So there has been not much to do at all.  To alleviate the boredom, I brought my Acer netbook (which has my log on it) into work with me and have been catching up on some DX QSLing.

What a chore!

Some guys are OK with the bureau, some want only direct QSLs, some LoTW only, some eQSL only.  Some won't accept an eQSL. Some won't accept a paper card and so on and so on and so on. It's enough to make your head swim.

Figuring out how to get a QSL can be tough enough; but the "Direct QSL Only" guys are definitely getting a second look from me.  Most of these guys are requesting a couple of "green stamps" for each card.  That could add up fast!  The only way I am going this route is if the QSO represents a country I have never worked before.  Other than that, as much as I love getting QSLs, I'm not paying two bucks each plus postage!

I don't know how these die hard DXers survive this.  In addition to spending heaps of money like they do for top of the line stations and antennas - the cost of QSLing must make them reach way deep down into their pockets.

As it is, to save money, I employ the use of the ARRL Outgoing QSL Bureau. I can't imagine what it would cost to send each QSL individually overseas (even just to the bureaus) with the price of airmail stamps what it is.

In this case, I'm glad I'm not that big of a DXer. I'd never have been able to afford a KX3 at this rate.

While I am on the topic of QSLs ..... I want to let it be known (officially) that I AM NOT the QSL manager for T31A. That is W2IJ (Whiskey Two India Juliet).  Please do NOT send cards to me - I have no way of answering those!

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

Hey, whaddya know?

W2LJ T32C 2011-10-21 00:56:02 17M CW 18.070000 EASTERN KIRIBATI
W2LJ T32C 2011-10-09 20:18:13 12M CW 24.910000 EASTERN KIRIBATI
W2LJ T32C 2011-10-08 20:22:30 10M CW 28.011830 EASTERN KIRIBATI
W2LJ T32C 2011-10-06 00:37:44 17M CW 18.070000 EASTERN KIRIBATI
W2LJ T32C 2011-10-04 23:09:36 17M CW 18.073000 EASTERN KIRIBATI

I have noticed that folks have been mentioning that their QSOs with T32C have been showing up in Logbook of the World, so I went to go see if mine were in there.  Sure enough, these were!

I did submit a real QSL too, so I am looking forward to getting a real one back, also.

This was an amazing DXpedition with superb ops. I am glad that they were able to dig my QRP signals out of the maelstrom of callsigns that were being tossed at them.

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

Favorite QSLs

I got my old Canon scanner working with this HP Laptop.  It will only work with Windows XP, so it has lost its place connected to the big family computer, which is running Vista.  So, from time to time, I will post some of my favorite QSL cards.  This is the one that earned me the QRP-ARCI "1,000 Miles per Watt" award. In reality, it worked out to be 1,191 miles per Watt.  I worked Jeff V73GJ back in February of 2004.  If memory serves me (and sometimes that's iffy!), at that time I only had my K1, the K2 wouldn't be finished until that July.  I was putting 5 Watts into the Butternut HF9V.  I got a 559.  As I recall, Jeff was using a K2/100 and was about a 569/579 here.  The QSO was on 21.050 MHz.

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

Great Club Meeting!

Today was one of those rough work days that you get every now and then.  When I left the building at 5:00PM, I felt like I had spent a week there today!  I knew there was a repeater club meeting scheduled for tonight, but I was not really too keen on attending.  I have missed the past couple meetings, though, and a little bit of guilt was kicking in.

I am so glad that I decided to go, however.  There was a presentation on the QSL card collection of Joe Painter W2BHM (SK) as given by Barry Cohen K2JV.  Joe was a Past President of the North Jersey DX Association and was a very avid DXer.  He's on the DXCC Honor Roll with over 370 confirmed.

Joe passed away in 2005, a couple of years after moving from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.  As Barry explained it, Joe left New Jersey after his wife passed to go live with family in Pennsylvania.  In the move, he gave up his radio station and his antennas.  In his depression over his wife's passing, he simply threw away his QSL card collection and other radio related items.  They just didn't mean anything to him anymore.  I can understand that, were I to lose my Marianne, the love of my life, I would probably be just as despondent.

However, Barry was a very good friend of Joe's and understood the value of what was discarded.  It may not mean anything to the average person, but those awards and certificates mean a lot to other Hams.  So Barry did some serious dumpster diving and saved what he could, including W2BHM's original DXCC certificate, his Honor Roll plaque and a boat load of QSL cards.  He felt that this was something worth preserving for Ham Radio posterity.

Wow!  What a collection!  Some of the cards that he was able to save predated WWII as Joe was first licensed in 1933.  It seemed like W2BHM had more QSL cards from countries that don't exist anymore than I have from countries that DO exist today!

Barry put together an excellent PowerPoint presentation and shared a lot of interesting stories and anecdotes about some of the Hams that W2BHM had worked over the years.  The highlight was when Barry related how he had actually contacted Ivan Pastre F3AT who was one of the Hams that Joe had worked back in the 50s. Ivan was the only person in the world to ever use a FQ3 prefix while he was on an overseas assignment for the French government.  That prefix has never been used again!  Barry recorded bits of a CW QSO that he had with Ivan on 20 Meters.  Ivan, who is now 91 still has an EXCELLENT fist and it was so neat to hear him pound the brass.  I hope my fist is that good, should I be fortunate to live to reach that age!

It was a fascinating evening and even though the meeting lasted a couple of hours, it seemed to have flown by in the blink of an eye.  I was so glad that I attended, it just made the stress of the entire day just melt away!

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

Recent QSLs

I have received a couple of QSL cards within the last week (actually received one today) that are noteworthy, to me at least, anyway.

When I got home from work today, I received an SWL QSL from K6JSS for the QRP-ARCI sponsored flight if iHAB-2 back in October.  It's an impressive card with a picture taken by the on-board camera that must have been at close or near to maximum altitude, I would imagine.  The back of the card features all the "specs' of the flight.  Not bad for merely e-mailing in a listening report.  I am sure there were a few of us who probably thought, "Yeah, right" when it was mentioned back in October that SWL reports would garner a special QSL card.  QRP-ARCI came through; and with a pretty darned nice card at that!

The second two cards of note, which I received last week, were from W8BI, the official call for the Dayton Amateur Radio Association.  I had worked their club call in a couple of QRP contest just about a year ago.  It was nice to get QSLs from them and I will do my due diligence and will return the favor.  This card is also very nice with a full color shot of the building where they have their station surrounded by four impressive looking towers.  No wonder I got 599 reports!  With the aluminum that they have up in the air, I could have been transmitting into a rubber band and I still would have probably gotten at least a  559.

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