Weekend happenings?

For those of you who are going to get on the air and ask, "What contest is THIS?"

Contests

Hawaii QSO Party - http://www.hawaiiqsoparty.org/

ALARA Contest -  http://www.alara.org.au/contests/

World Wide Digi DX Contest - https://ww-digi.com/ - (I'm sure this one won't come down into the CW portions at all!)

 U.S. Islands QSO Party - http://usislands.org/qso-party-rules/

YO DX HF Contest -  http://www.yodx.ro

Kansas QSO Party - https://ksqsoparty.org/rules/KSQPRules2024.pdf?1

Ohio QSO Party - http://www.ohqp.org/index.php/rules/

SARL HF CW Contest - http://www.sarl.org.za/public/contests/contestrules.asp

FISTS Ladder  (Operating Activity) - https://www.fists.co.uk/activitiescalendar.html#fistsladder2024

Special Event Stations:

08/10/2024 | 247th Anniversary of the Battle of Bennington

Aug 10-Aug 24, 1200Z-2359Z, K1B, Bennington, VT. K2HX. 18.100 21.070 24.915 28.074; all modes in General band. QSL. Ed Landry, N2HX, 50 Jayne Ln., Bennington, VT 05201.

08/24/2024 | 2024 Buhl Day

Aug 24-Sep 2, 0000Z-0000Z, W3B, Sharon, PA. Mercer County Amateur Radio Club. 7.074 14.074 7.240 14.245. QSL. Mercer County Amateur Radio Club, PO Box 673 , 32 Shenango Ave, Sharon, PA 16146. We will be on the air during Buhl Day in Hermitage, PA. This year is the 109th anniversary of Buhl Farm Park, which covers 300 acres and was given to the community by Frank Buhl (local industrialist) for use and recreation purposes of the community. Labor Day and occasionally the week before. www.w3lif.org

08/24/2024 | Radio & National Railway Historical Soc

Aug 24, 0000Z-2359Z, K3IEC, Mechanicsburg, PA. Cumberland Amateur Radio Club. 7.250 14.250 21.300 28.400. QSL. Frank Mellott, 1010 Good Hope RD, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050. Cumberland Amateur radio Club celebrating the 2024 National Railway Historical Society convention in Harrisburg, PA. Modes expected to be CW/SSB and digital. see https://www.radioclub-carc.com/ for more details and QSL info. https://www.radioclub-carc.com

Myself? This Sunday is our annual ETS of NJ Picnic. That should be a good time with lots of good food. And, if the weather cooperates tomorrow and I have enough time, I might just attempt to take down the W3EDP and replace it with the MFJ-1982HP. If not this weekend, then perhaps over the long Labor Day Weekend next weekend. Time is going to be the bigger factor as I'm still slogging through getting the Skeeter Hunt Results entered into the Scoreboard and the Soapbox comments and photos into the Skeeter Hunt Facebook page. If I put in a long session tonight, I might have enough time for antenna work tomorrow.

Oh, and of course ........ in between all that I want to try and get the QMX on the air and make a maiden QSO. Not too much planned, eh? And then on Monday mornings I wonder why the weekend whizzed by!

Labor Day? Already? Where has the Summer gone?

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to sebd the very least!

We may never come this way again

This is going to sound very weird - but here goes. I was driving home the other day and I heard the Seals & Crofts song with the same lyric - "We may never come this way again." And oddly enough, it brought to mind MFJ and how perhaps we may never see the likes of it again. It's very odd how my brain works, sometimes! Scares even me!

I got to thinking that if there was any MFJ product in particular that I liked, now would be the time to try and find it. Stock is depleting and there haven't been any announcements of an interest coming forward to take on the torch, as it were.

I really, really like my MFJ-1982LP End Fed. Coupled with Dave KD2FSI's MFJ-1982HP, these have been our Field Day antennas for years now with nary a complaint from anyone from SPARC. And the fact that they let us place high in our category every year doesn't damage their reputation any. I've also used it for the Skeeter Hunt and FOBB with satisfactory results. The SWR is excellent on all the bands and really the only band that requires the KX3's autotuner is on 30 Meters.  And even there, it doesn't take the KX3 a long time to match it up. I realize that it's not a tr-band Yagi up at 50 feet, but I'm never going to have one of those, anyway. You play with the hand that you're dealt.

So I decided to try and find one for home, as a replacement for the W3EDP. I found a HP (high power) version at GigaParts. Not only does the LP version seem to be out of stock everywhere, but I do turn up the power to 85 Watts to participate on the St. Max Net on Sunday evenings.

So I purchased one. This antenna is 132 feet long so there might be some finagling to get it to fit in the backyard. I'm thinking I might have to bring the last 20 feet or so down as a sloper. That's not the end of the world, and I'll find a way to make it fit. I had a full sized G5RV up at one time - this should be not much more difficult than that to make fit.

My OCD notwithstanding, from early on in my Novice days, I have found out that antennas don't have to be "perfectly" installed in order to work. My very first antenna was a MOR-GAIN fan dipole. In no way, shape or form did that antenna get installed with the two legs in a straight line!  It was a sharp, horizontal "V", and my Ham friends would come over and look at it and ask me, "How in the world do you make contacts with THAT?" But I did and it served me well for years!

So this is the current configuration of the W3EDP:

If I move that mast all the way back to the corner of our lot (or as far back as I can get it) and make that run a hard "L" instead of  a shallow "V", that will "eat up" more of the wire. Then I'd run it to the other mast at the extreme right back corner of the yard and if there's any wire remaining, I would bring it down as a sloper along the property line on that side of the yard, thusly:

Anyway, that's the plan - and you know that saying about plans, mice and men. But I do want to get this done before Winter sets in. I know, it's still August, but time flies, and before you know it .........

One thing I do know, though. Before any installation, that UNUN will get opened and the solder joints double checked and re-enforced if necessary. I like MFJ products, but you learn from experience.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Hootowl Sprint

I got on the air last night for the Hootowl Sprint. Activity was not the busiest, but that was probably because the CQ WW PX contest was dominating the bands, especially 20 Meters, I called "CQ QRP" there for a while with no joy. I did hear Mark WB9HFK calling CQ with a FB 599 signal and worked him.

40 Meters afforded me an unoccupied frequency on which to call CQ and I worked another four stations. Not the greatest total, but at least I was on the air. After the fact, I looked up my call sign on the Reverse Beacon Network and this was where I was being heard:

20 Meters was taking me into Europe and 40 Meters was getting me down into the Cayman Islands.

The antenna for the night was my W3EDP. I don't think I've really talked much about how it's set up. My backyard measures only about 50 X 50 feet. Not a lot of real estate back there so I had to get creative. This is how it's laid out:

It's anchored on the side of the house near a second floor window:

The coax runs from the balun down to the window that's on the shack side of the shack side of the basement. From the anchor point, the wire runs out to a mast that I have hose clamped to the chain link fence on the edge of our property.

The wire used to go out to "Ol' Mapely", but the tree which straddled our properties got infested with carpenter ants and became a real cause for concern that given a powerful Nor'Easter or Sandy type hurricane, it could fall on either ours or our neighbor's house, so we had to take it down. We came to that decision after having an arborist come by, who only confirmed our fears. Darn! Trees are an Amateur Radio Op's best friends!

From the "center mast", the wire pivots as per the aerial view and goes to another mast at the far right hand corner of the backyard where it terminates. The masts are military surplus fiberglass.

This photo doesn't show much which indicates that except for that middle mast, which is hose clamped to the fence, the antenna itself is pretty darn stealthy. That really isn't necessary, as at QRP levels, i never get any complaints from the neighbors and I'm not in an HOA situation. 

I would guesstimate that my W3EDP is my weapon of choice probably 75 - 80 percent of the time. It's longer than a classic W3EDP which is about 84 feet long. I had one of those and took it down and replaced it as the wire terminated about half way between the middle mast and the far mast. I constructed this one with about another 25 feet of wire so that it ends just a few inches from the end mast. Even with the additional wire, the KX3's autotuner matches to it quite easily and without any fits. It loads on all bands from 160 Meters to 6 Meters without any difficulty. If you don't have a lot of back yard space, maybe my layout (or something similar) can work for you. Is my solution an ideal solution? Not a chance in a million - but it works and I make contacts with it. So as they say, any antenna is better than no antenna.

On another note, I read where beginning with New Jersey's 2025 fiscal year, which starts on July 1st, that it will cost to get into certain NJ State Parks. This may be a concern for NJ POTA activators. There are several guys who check into the nightly Middlesex County Chat Group Net who often relate their experiences of repeatedly activating Cheesequake State Park and the Spruce Run Resevoir. Starting July1st, it's going to run $5 each time they want to enter those two parks or several other very popular NJ State Parks. The state will offer an opportunity to purchase a 1 year pass for $50. Luckily, the two parks I like to activate - Washington Rock State Park and the Edison Memorial Tower will remain admission free.

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!

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!

Got the new W3EDP up - Plan B

I got the new W3EDP up today with a little modification from my original plan. I intended to move the center mast a little farther back in the yard, but that turned out to be a no-go. There's a small amount of  poison ivy back there along the chain link fence that I didn't want to deal with today, so I kept the mast where it is. The red line shows where I had intended to relocate the mast to.

The added 18 feet of wire brought the end of the antenna closer to the mast on the opposite side of the backyard, but still not to the very end. There's no wire hanging down vertically like there used to be when I had a G5RV. An on the air test proved the KX3 was able to provide a good match with ease on all bands 160 through 10 Meters. The old W3EDP proved a capable aerial for years, I expect the same from this one.

The big surprise of the day came when I was taking the old W3EDP down. I unwrapped all the electrical tape that I had covering where the PL-259 was attached to the balun. When I tried to loosen the PL-259 from the balun, it was already loose! It wasn't anywhere close to being disconnected, but I was able to turn the connector's tightening shell freely with just my fingers. If I was tightening instead of removing, it would have been another turn and a quarter until I had reached finger tightness.

When I attached the coax to the new balun, I not only snugged it finger tight, I also used a pair of channel lock pliers to get it just a tad tighter than finger tight. Not so tight as to damage the balun, but it should remain nice and tight for a long time. Then I securely wrapped everything with electrical tape to keep the connection and the coax free from potential water damage. I should be good for the next 10 years or so, if not even longer.

Later in the afternoon, I headed out the backyard to retrieve the old antenna and I saw we had a visitor.

She didn't even flinch as I opened the back door, but she did keep a wary eye peeled on me. I called my son Joseph over to see and she didn't flinch when he came out to join me on the deck. When Harold, our Beagle approached her to say "Hello", she took off like a flash. She jumped the chain link fence into our neighbor's yard right over that break where there's no cross rail. I was afraid she'd snag a hoof on my coax, but she sailed right over without coming even close.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Windy!

Sunday night we had a cold front come through. We had a severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 8:45 PM but none materialized. We did get some, brief heavy rain. The major effect was gusty winds. It was windy all night and you could hear it howling past the second floor windows of our house. When I awoke in the morning, my weather station informed me that we had some gusts between 25 and 30 MPH.

Good test for new mast for the W3EDP.  It did not come down - the mast or the antenna.

BUT ......... there's always a "but", isn't there?

When I let Harold out of the house Monday morning to do what dogs do, I noticed the wire was lower than where I had left it Sunday afternoon. In anticipation of putting another mast section up next weekend, I did not attach the anchor end of the antenna rope to the fence on the opposite side of the lawn securely enough. Well, actually I did as the wire didn't come totally loose to the point of laying down on the ground. A hastily tied secondary knot intended to take up some anchor rope slack slipped and the wire is now drooping. In fact, the wind blew the wire downward onto the roof of the addition at the back of the house where it snagged on a shingle edge. Drat!

This happened once before when the antenna was up in Ol' Mapley and a limb snapped causing the wire to "free up" from a meandering route amongst twigs and branches a bit.  I will do what I did last time (quite successfully). I will use the Jackite as my extended hand and I will gently move the wire away from the shingle, up over a small vent pipe and back up into free space - all without my feet leaving good Ol' Mom Earth.

Did I ever mention how deathly phobic I am of ladders?  Great for being a Ham, huh?  I fell off the top of a 6 foot ladder back when I was in 2nd Grade. That experience left me avoiding ladders like the plague if at all possible. My palms get sweaty just thinking about them. I will climb one if it's absolutely necessary. It's not something that's near and dear to my heart, though.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Back in business!

 

The rain held off! The day started off sunny in the very early morning, but by lunchtime it had become very overcast. Fortunately there was no rain. It was a bit breezy, but that didn't interfere with getting the W3EDP resurrected.

I ended up using 5 mast sections and the apex is up at about 25 feet right now. I may add another section next weekend, which would bring the apex up to about 30 feet, I haven't definitely decided on that.

As you can see, the mast is secured to a chain link fence post. I don't want my neighbors (who are really super people) getting upset as the antenna is no longer really stealthy. So I'm going to go at this slowly for now.

After hooking the W3EDP back up to the KX3, it was like old times, The KX3 was still able to match it on all bands within seconds. It is very enjoyable and very reassuring to have my wire antenna back.

I was going to give it a re-inaugural workout in the Flying Pigs Run For The Bacon tonight, but I am sitting in front of the TV which is tuned to NASA TV.  The launch of the Falcon 9 space vehicle has my full attention.  Well almost _ I am writing this as I watch.

I did have a nice rag chew with WB9ICH on 30 Meters this afternoon. It was a "Larry to Larry" QSO, which is always neat. I guess those of you out there with more common names run into that a lot more than I do.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

This is all that left of Ol' Mapley

 

Just a stump of its former self.

From what I understand, the tree was infested with ants, carpenter and other kinds. The arborist said it was only a matter of time before the tree either died, or succumbed to a wind storm. You can see the HF9V coax in the photo. It was kind of like a "belt" around the trunk. Now I'll have to coil it up and hang it from the fence.

I did not get the chance to re-install the W3EDP due to some frustrating reasons that I'd rather not go into here. Suffice it to say, a good part of my day got eaten up by doing something I hate doing - waiting in line. When I got home, I had to run some garden fencing across the gap left by the missing trunk, so Harold, our Beagle, won't be able wander into the neighbor's yard. After that, I bagged seven bags of leaves in the front yard that fell during a two day rain storm, Thursday and Friday.

Tomorrow WAS supposed to be sunny, but now the forecast has changed to rain. Maybe, just maybe I can get something done with the W3EDP before the rain starts in the afternoon. We'll see. I did attach the bottom mast piece to one of the chain link fence posts with about a bajillion cable ties. I manhandled it to see if it would move or shift around. That bottom section is going NOWHERE.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Eureka!

 While cleaning out the shack on Sunday, I found some treasure buried in a corner. I had forgotten that I still have about eight of these (just like in the photo):

The photo is from eBay, mine were purchased at the Sussex Hamfest years ago.  I still have these safely tucked away in the basement and they will provide the solution to raising the W3EDP again, once the Ol' Mapley is gone.

I have aluminum ones holding up my weather station and the VHF-UHF J-Pole as well as serving as the mast for the FAR end of the W3EDP. I have no doubt that the remaining sections that I have will also do a great job supporting a wire that weighs next to nothing. I'll strap one to one of the chain link fence posts with a gazillion cable ties and that will in turn support its brethren and the W3EDP. 

Actually, this is not so much a support as much as it is a pivot point. The wire leaves the house, goes to the mid support (which is a dog bone insulator tied in place on one end with dacron rope - the wire goes through the other hole) and routes the wire to the right roughly about  70 - 80 degrees to the end support mast. I should only lose a few feet in height from where the W3EDP was at in the tree.

Money saved ....... a good thing!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

I am officially W3EDP-less.

 The W3EDP came down this morning. It was a little more difficult than I had thought it would be. It was really up there! Unless the entire tree came down that wire wasn't coning down on its own.

I began by undoing where the balun was hanging by the house. That was easy enough. Then I loosened the anchor point at the other end. Lastly, I untied the center support that was holding the wire in the tree. I thought once I loosened that, it would just fall to the earth. 

That didn't happen.

The dacron rope must be wrapped around some limb pretty well. It came down some, but not nearly enough. I ended up pulling the wire through that dogbone insulator that was up there and got it down that way. The center insulator and rope that are still up there are disposable as far as I'm concerned

Now I'm looking at masts to take  the place of the tree once it's down. Perhaps something from DX Engineering or perhaps the MFJ-1904. It doesn't have to be super heavy duty - it just needs to hold an insulator so I can "right angle" the wire to the other side of the back yard.

After that was done,  I straightened out the shack, which is something I've been meaning to do for a while.  I got rid of the large garbage bags of "crap", and got things organized and stowed away. 

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP = When you care to send the very least!

A Tale of Two Georgians

Last night's 80 Meter QRP Foxhunt featured two Foxes from the Great State of Georgia. One was John K4BAI, who lives close to the Alabama border, about half way up the state line. The other was Jim N4TMM who lives in Atlanta, which is not all that far way from John, if you look at their respective QTHs on a map.

You might expect, that although they live a couple to several hundred miles apart, that difference would make "no difference" compared to their distance from New Jersey. Given some variables, such as antenna, etc - they should sound about the same at my end of the QSO - no?

NO!

Their signals were miles apart (pun intended!) John K4BAI was down in the noise. QSB was terrible and at times he was unreadable. He had to QSY due to a traffic net on a nearby frequency. And to my surprise, he was working simplex, which a Fox does not often do until the very end of a hunt after the Hounds have dried up. Listening to him was tough.

Jim N4TMM, on the other hand, was pretty loud. Not 599, but definitely 569 - 579 his signal was pretty stable. There was some QSB, but not nearly as bad as the QSB on K4BAI. Jim had a good, almost conversational quality signal going for him all night.

So which one did you think I worked?  If you guessed N4TMM - surprise! You're wrong!

As bad as K4BAI's signal was, I got into his log. I called N4TMM all night until I was blue in the face. I tried changing frequency a bit in order to vary my tone in his ears. I tried changing from the Butternut to the W3EDP, thinking that one antenna over the other might yield a more successful result. All I got for my efforts with Jim was a skunk pelt.

So what did we learn?

Once again, we learn that propagation is not reciprocal.  Just because he's loud in your headphones doesn't mean you're loud in his. You'd think after 40 years in this hobby that would not be such a surprise; but I have to tell you, it still is. "I can hear him so well - he HAS to be able to hear me!" I'm sure that many of you have uttered that same sentence. It's amazing how hard that lesson is to learn.

We also learn that just because two stations are roughly at the same distance, doesn't necessarily mean both will sound the same, or even nearly the same.  I have no idea why K4BAI and N4TMM were heard so differently here in NJ. I'm sure their antennas probably had a lot to do with it; but I'm sure other, unknown variables to me also made a difference.

We also learn that when you assume ..................... (I'll let you finish that one). I assumed that both stations would be heard about equally as well here in NJ. Once again, I made the wrong assumption.

So better yet, what do we take away from all this?

Since propagation is not reciprocal, the next time you hear a DX station, and he's weak - that doesn't necessarily mean that your signal will be weak to him. It may be; but then again it might not. So don't pass that station by automatically. Throw out your call and give it a shot - you might just be surprised.

If you're looking for a certain country or state, or county, or what have you - and you find one on the air - but they are having a hard time copying you - don't assume that ALL stations in that certain country or state, or county, or what have you will also have a hard time copying you.  When you're working towards WAS and the Hawaii QSO Party comes around and you find a station and he can't copy you, no matter what you try - don't turn the radio off, walk away and give up. There may be another station only 10, 20, 50, or 100 miles away that may be able to copy you like you're in the same room with them.

I think the longer you're in this hobby, the more you think "you know" the ins and outs of what is and what isn't. Instances like last night just go to prove to me, once again, that "you never know ....... you just really never know." It's a hard lesson learned - and maybe it's never completely learned.

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

Skunked again - sort of.

I got on the air last night, in my 62F (16C) shack in order to participate in the 40 Meter QRP Foxhunt.  These hunts have been deplorable for me this year, with hardly any success.  Last night was no different.  The Foxes were NK6A in California and KV2X in New York.  I didn't hear either one of them - although W1AW/KP4 was absolutely booming in to NJ.

Instead of turning the radio off and running upstairs to warmer quarters and an episode of MacGyver on MeTV, I decided to participate for a bit in the NAQCC 160 Meter Sprint.  Just for grins and giggles, I did the search and pounce thing for better part of a half an hour, and also called CW for about 15 minutes or so.

Although my W3EDP tunes up on 160 Meters, thanks to the dazzling auto tuner inside the KX3 (I'd swear that thing would tune up a strand of wet spaghetti), I was probably sending RF into the HF equivalent of a rubber duckie antenna.  Even so, with 5 Watts I made 10 contacts, ranging from Maine, down to North Carolina and as far west as Michigan.  Not a band burner in any sense of the concept; but satisfying enough for an evening that looked pretty bleak, Foxhunt-wise.

What was also satisfying is that, thanks to a great suggestion gleaned from Facebook, I successfully stowed away my magloop antenna.  A few weeks ago, I went onto the DIY Magloop page and asked for suggestions on how the various members stored and carried their loops.

One of the suggestions was a stuff sack - a nylon bag with a draw string that normally you would use to stow away a sleeping bag or other camping equipment.  I went to Amazon and purchased this in the 25" (63 cm) version.

It's made by Liberty Mountain.  The longest piece of the antenna fits with room to spare, and the coiled up loop of LMR400 went in very nicely.  It doesn't look like as picturesque the above photo, as I'm not stowing away a sleeping bag - but it will serve its purpose very well.

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

Wow ..... just wow!

I'm not sure how to even begin this post. Yesterday, the final day of NPOTA was such a good day, there was no time to be sad or mourn its end. If NPOTA was the gift of a great big cake to Amateur Radio in 2016 - then December 31, 2016 will go down as the icing on the cake.  It was definitely one of the best days in Amateur Radio that I have ever had. If it wasn't the best, it was right up there in the Top 10 .... maybe the Top 5.

As stated in my earlier post this week, my intention was to come full circle and to end NPOTA as it began, with activations of both the Washington-Rochambeau Trail (TR23) and Morristown National Historical Park (HP28). The day started sunny and a bit cold as I made my way up to Morristown.  I haven't been up there since last May, and since I take all back roads to get there, I was using my TomTom GPS unit to guide me there. About 1/3 of the way there, the TomTom gave up the ghost.  Rebooting and resetting did no good.  The map screen was nothing but a blank, white screen.  Fortunately, I was able to retrace my steps without getting lost.

I set up in the parking lot and set up my 40 Meter Hamstick on the Jeep roof and the magloop right next to the Jeep. I was intending to start out on 40 Meter CW with the tried and proven Hamstick in order to get the 10 minimum QSOs that are needed for a valid activation; and only then switch over to the magloop for 20 Meters, as I really haven't used it enough to be confident in it as a proven performer.

After getting everything set up, I made myself comfortable and self spotted my activity on both DX Summit as well as the NPOTA page on Facebook.  I was rewarded with 38 QSOs on 7.038 MHz and then called CQ for a bit until the activity died out.  Then I switched over to the SSB portion of the band in order to find an empty frequency.  My goal was to work Dave KD2FSI who was staying in nearby Morris Plains. Dave and I have a history as far as NPOTA goes.  When he activated HP28 last January, I drove up to lend him some assistance.  Together, we both coached several fledgling members of the South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club during an activation of TR23. And when Dave would activate an NPOTA entity during his travels throughout the year, he kept me abreast of his agenda and gave me several ATNOs.

To work Dave on the last day of NPOTA would have been a privilege and an honor.  Gladly, it came to fruition; and I was able to have a brief sideband contact with him on 7.220 MHz (gladly, I thought enough to bring the microphone along, which turned out to be very important). After working Dave, I turned my attention to 14.061 MHz and the magloop.  With the 6:1 reduction drive, it seemed to take forever to find a noise peak, but eventually I did.  After carefully turning for peak noise, I hit the auto tune button on the KX3, thinking that I would "clean up" and lingering SWR. The auto tuner clicked and clacked for about a millisecond as I was already there - the KX3 showing me that I had a 1:1 match.  Now the proof would be in the pudding, Was my home brew magloop as good as advertised; or would be just a waste of my time and money?

The magloop turned out to be a great performer, way beyond what I thought was possible. With only 5 Watts, I was getting great signal reports from California, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, the Azores and Italy! Wow! Something that I built from scratch actually worked and it ended up costing me substantially less than a commercial unit. To say that I was pleased would be an understatement. I was more akin to walking on air.

Then then next hour even topped that!  Much to my surprise, Dave KD2FSI drove up next to me and parked in the space next to mine.  I got out of the Jeep and greeted him and we had ourselves a very nice time talking and discussing NPOTA and the day's events.  

While we were shooting the breeze, we both noticed a group pf people a little bit over in the same parking lot.  They had set up tables and had some drinks and some food that they were enjoying.  One of the women from the group came up to us and asked what we were doing and was my magloop "Some kind of antenna?"  We explained NPOTA and Amateur Radio and that's when she invited us over to join her friends for a warm drink and to explain to all of them what we were doing. It seems they were a group of Norwegian descendants who usually get together, either on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve to enjoy some food, drink and fellowship outdoors.  They gave Dave and me a hot cup of Glug, which was a mixture of red wine, almonds and raisins.  While we sipped we gave a good talk about Amateur Radio, NPOTA, the ARRL and the National Parks System as well as a few points about Emergency Communications.  They thanked us and we thanked them and then Dave and I headed back to our cars. He left to get back to Morris Plains, and I packed up to head back home to TR23.

About a 1/2 hour later, I arrived at the Frazee House in Scotch Plains, which is right on the Washington - Roachambeau Trail; and it was the same place I activated the Trail from during the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt.  When I activated TR23 last January, I did it from the entrance to the Ashbrook Golf Course.  It was open yesterday and I didn't want to cause any commotion, so I came back to the Frazee House which is only a couple of minutes farther down the road.

This time I decided to use another arrow from my antenna quiver,  I also brought along my Joplin ARC antenna launcher and I got a line over a tree and made use of the PAR ENDFEDZ 40/20/10.

I ran the coax into the Jeep through a crack in the window and got down to business.  I ran off a bunch of QSOs on 40 Meters and was about to switch over to 20 Meters when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that a vehicle had pulled up next to me.  This time, it wasn't another Radio Amateur. This time, it was a member of the Scotch Plains Police Department.  I guess I called some attention to myself, being the only car there, in an otherwise empty place.   I got out of the car and walked a step or two to his rolled down window. I introduced myself and gave the spiel about NPOTA and how Raritan Road is part of the Washington - Rochambeau Trail, which he knew.  What the Officer didn't know was that the trail is part of the National Parks System and he was very surprised by that. Then he told me about how his grandfather was a Ham, that in fact W2KKG was his call sign.  We talked a bit, shook hands and he went on his way; and I returned to the Jeep for 20 Meters.

20 Meter CW proved to be a disappointment. Even with self spotting, I garnered only about 15 QSOs before the activity petered out, way too soon in my opinion.  I sat there, with KX3 calling CQ, debating whether I should pack it in and go home.  It was getting to be around 2:30 PM EST, and I only wanted to be out until around 3:00 PM as I had a previous commitment at 5:00 PM and I had to get ready for that. Wanting to get a least a few more Qs in the log; so I decided that I would give 20 Meter SSB a shot.  With the deep cycle battery, I could boost the KX3's output to 10 Watts. The PAR was up in a tree about 50 feet up or so, so I figured, "What the heck!".  I didn't even bother to spot myself, I just hooked up the microphone and started calling CQ on 14.340 MHz, figuring that what would be, would be.

Much to my surprise, about 60 QSOs later, the pileup ceased.  With 10 Watts, I had worked all up and down the East Coast, across to California and Washington State and even up into Alberta, Canada. In all, there were only 1 or 2 instances where I had to repeat anything. It was pure bliss!

As it started becoming overcast and dusk started settling in, I packed everything up and headed home. I was in another world, walking in rarefied air. NPOTA turned out to be everything it was chalked up to be; and more.  Thanks to Sean, Norm and all the ARRL staff who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make NPOTA the success that it was. I have never been more proud to be a Life Member of the ARRL.  Friendships that will last a lifetime; and new memories that will last a lifetime are the direct results of NPOTA. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Later, I was talking with my good friend Bob W3BBO on Skype, as we do just about every Saturday evenming,  I had worked him earlier from HP28 and we talked about our QSO a bit more in depth and about the day in general. Bob stated that, in a way, he felt bad for me.  As he tuned around 20 and 40 Meters, it seemed like it was just wall-to-wall NPOTA. He told me that he was sure I should have been at home boosting up my entities worked total. I told him not to feel bad, as not only had I worked a couple new ones via Park to Park QSOs; but there was nowhere in the world that I would have rather been - handing out QSOs as an Activator on the last and best day of NPOTA.

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

ARRL 160M Contest

Yesterday, we went and bought our Christmas tree. Decorating will happen today, and I'll post pictures later.  In the evening, Cara attended her high school Cotillion. I dropped her off around 8:00 PM, and went back home to wait for the text to pick her up.

What's a Dad to do with a few free hours?  If Dad's a Ham, then the ARRL 160M contest, that's what!

I was hoping against hope, because just two weeks ago, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the QRP Foxhunt group performed a little impromptu 160M Foxhunt. That night turned out to be a bust as I had an S9 noise level all evening, and was not able to hear anyone all night.

Last night, I turned on the KX3 and found a noise level of about S1, and the band was bursting with signals. Hot chocolate!

As I've enumerated before, the only thing I have for 160M is my W3EDP antenna. The KX3 matches to it quite nicely. After tuning for a few seconds, the SWR was about 1.2:1, and I was in business. I began to twiddle the dial and began making contacts, as a "Giver of Points".

Two hours later, I got the text from Cara to come pick her up. In the meantime, I had made 68 QSOs. I worked up the East coast as far down as South Carolina. Towards the West, I worked IN, IL, IA, MO and WI. Not bad for an antenna that was really never designed to work on 160 Meters!

After I came home, I tuned around for a little bit and worked a few more. It was getting close to Midnight, and it was time for me to hit the sack. I pulled the "Big Switch" and turned in, quite content to have a bunch of new 160 Meter contacts in the log.

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