It may be Friday the 13th, but ...........

 It may be Friday the 13th, but that only means we are now one week away from the First Day of Summer. That means that next Friday is Opening Day for signing up for a 2025 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt number!

A few things to know

 Skeeter Numbers are assigned on a first-come-first-served basis. They are handed out sequentially ONLY. The only Skeeter number that is reserved in perpetuity is #13, and that's for yours truly.

 Skeeter Number requests are made via e-mail ONLY to w2ljqrp@gmail.com No requests sent via social media will be honored as I may miss them there. I may miss duplicate requests made via social media AND e-mail. It has happened before!

 Requests will be honored for emails arriving at 00:01 EDT next Friday, June 20th. Any requests received before then will be honored at the end of the first day. Skeeter numbers will be handed out until the day before the Hunt. When you make your request, be sure to include your Call sign, your name and the S/P/C that you will be operating from. I can't count the number of requests I've received over the years without that basic information!

 This year the event will be held on Sunday, August 17th from 17:00 to 21:00 UTC.

 For bonus points this year, we are going to play Skeeter Hunt Blackjack. Work enough call sign numbers to add up to exactly 21 and you can earn 1,000 Bonus Points!

All the details can be found in either of two places:

https://w2lj.blogspot.com/p/njqrp-skeeter-hunt.html

https://www.qsl.net/w2lj/

 Hope to hear from you on the First Day of Summer!

 72 es BZZZZZZZ

Larry W2LJ - Skeeter # 13

QRPTTF Redux

Not exactly sure why this is. Everyone seemed to go by the WA7BNM Contest Calendar, but maybe we were all wrong? Paul NA5N posted this to QRP-L:

QRP-Lers,

Rules for the April 26, 2025 QRP To The Field (QRPTTF) are here:

http://www.zianet.com/qrp/qrpttf/pg.html

My apologies for such a late notice and contributing to confusion over the  QRPTTF date.  My wife and QRPTTF partner, Jan NØQT, recently passed away in  her nursing home requiring attention and out of state travel.  Trying to  get things done post Covid, during lent and holy week and Easter was a  herculean effort.  Thank those of you expressing your condolences and  understanding.  They were appreciated more than you know.

A few of you submitted summary sheets for last weekend. THEY WILL COUNT AND BE ADDED TO THE RESULTS. Or do it again and I'll add both.

I'll be trying out my new Xiegu G90 OUTBACK, probably using my 133 ft. long   terminated folded dipole.  Weather is supposed to be 85F high, sunny and   clear, winds 20-25mph.  Typical windy and warm spring day in the desert.   Hope your weather is nice as well.

Most important is to have some QRP fun on the air regardless of where you  operate from.

72, Paul NA5N

and Jan NØQT (SK)

Unfortunately, last Saturday was Holy Saturday and this Saturday, I will be taking part in a Middlesex County CERT Drill as part of Middlesex County AUXCOMM.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Put 'er in the books!

What a surprise! I woke up to a Sunday morning miracle! The weather prognosticators were off by a bit. It was sunny and very humid, and a quick gander on the weather radar showed no signs of imminent storms, so it looked like a "portable" Skeeter Hunt operation was going to be a distinct possibility.

Over the next few hours, the sun and clouds would alternate, so I decided to "86" going to Cotton Street Park and would work backyard portable instead. I figured that if it did start to downpour, I wouldn't get that drenched moving equipment into the house from the backyard, and I could move it quickly, if needed. I started setting up at Noon - a whole entire hour ahead of time. Overkill ...... right? Wrong, W2LJ, DEAD wrong!

Once again the Jackite mast was giving me fits. The ground was way wet from Saturday night's rain and my new tent pegs were too short to get a good grip of some dry soil beneath the surface and kept pulling out. The mast fell over twice and I could feel my BP rising due to the frustration. Time was passing quickly, and I couldn't remember where I had tossed my longer tent pegs, so I decided to use my drive on mast holder, instead. Using an empty grill propane tank and a 20 lb bag of birdseed for ballast, it worked perfectly, albeit later than I had anticipated. I had stubbornly futzed around with the short tent pegs entirely too long. 

The only challenge using the drive on mast holder here was making sure it was as level as possible on grassy ground.

But in the process, I learned a valuable lesson which I can store away in the memory banks. If the ground is hard and dry, the shorties will work better as they are easier to remove from rock hard soil. If the ground is wet and soft, the longer tent pegs are a must. This was the view of the set up mast, looking east towards the back border of the yard. It stayed rock solid for the entirety of the Skeeter Hunt,. Satisfied that there would be no more antenna mishaps, I eventually turned around and sat with my back to it, so I could keep my eyes laser focused for any dark clouds coming in from the west.

I ended up getting started about 15 minutes late, which in the grand scheme of things was no big deal. I had my normal set up going with some twists. I used my 12 Volt LiFe PO battery for the first time, and I went with the American Morse DCP paddle mounted on the Velamints container which I had talked about a few posts earlier. it proved to work well. The only time my code got sloppy was when I made a few mistakes towards the end of the Hunt from being tired. No mistakes because I held it incorrectly and sent extraneous dits or dahs. And of course, my mistakes were made when trading exchanges with John K4BAI. Nothing like getting all flustered like a school boy who confronts his favorite MLB baseball player!

Dinosaur that I am, I still paper log. No way that I can manage a computer and paddles simultaneously!

It wasn't very hot, only in the mid 80s, but it was very humid. That stainless steel insulated water bottle was a lifesaver. I didn't have to go running into the house for a cool hydration break when one was needed.

Propagation wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. I was hearing a lot more stations than I did during FOBB. 20 Meters seemed to be the go to band for the day, and I'm pretty sure most of my QSOs happened there. I did make two contacts on 15 Meters, Gene N5GW in MS and Perry N5PJ in OK. 15 Meters gets the ribbon for the farthest QSOs. I wish there had been more activity there. I tried calling CQ for a while on 10 Meters with no joy, and that's a shame. A look at the Reverse Beacon Network after the event showed that my signal was getting out to Germany at a pretty decent dB level - double figures, so I would have been heard if anyone had been listening.

40 Meters proved once again to be the band for close in Skeeters and I worked NJ, PA, NY and MD all on 40 Meters. The signals were much more robust on 40 than they were on either 20 or 15. I really like 40 Meters, it's probably my favorite band. The shame is that during events such as the Skeeter Hunt or the Flight of the Bumblebees, 40 Meters is often ignored until late in the event after 20 Meters seems to have dried up.

My strategy is to change bands often. When I've worked 20 Meters for a bit I'll go to another band to see what's up there. Propagation changes and when I go back to 20 Meters after a while, I'll hear stations that I hadn't heard before. Maybe they started late, or maybe the skip zone moved. Whatever, it's a strategy that works for me.

With about 15 minutes to go to the end of the Hunt, I started tearing down and packing up as the skies were starting to look ominous. I could have stayed until 5:00 as it turned out. The deluge, and I mean THE DELUGE didn't start until 6:20 PM local time. In about a 1/2 hour to 40 minutes we got over 3/4 of an inch of rain. I'm so glad it held off! I left my house at about 6:15 to drive up to the filling station to get gas in the car for the week, and the streets were bone dry, Halfway to the gas station, about a 1/2 mile from home, I ran into a wall of rain that was coming down so hard that I had to put my windshield wipers onto "fast" mode. It was creepy because I saw the wall of rain heading towards me. It was moving faster toward me than I was heading toward it! I hate to think of how badly my Ham gear would have gotten soaked if that had happened during the Hunt. I don't think being under the patio umbrella would have helped much.

The obligatory selfie for the bonus points - had to get the Skeeter Hunt logo in there! 

When all was said and done, I had finished the day with 37 QSOs. 31 Skeeters and 6 - 5 Watt stations. I don't remember off the top of my head, but last night I had counted somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 to 20 different States. I had set a goal to make 40 QSOs for the day and fell three short - not bad. For the heck of it, I had decided to take voltage measurements on this new battery pre and post Hunt. I started the day at 13.4 Volts and ended the day at 13.4 Volts! There was a lot of calling "CQ BZZ" yesterday, so for the voltage to remain rock solid leaves me impressed.  I have a gut feeling that this battery, fully charged, will get me and the KX3 through all of Field Day by itself next year.

Once again, thanks to all who participated in the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt. This event is nothing without all of you - you all are the wind that lifts the Skeeter's wings. My part in this is miniscule compared to all you getting on the air and making it the success that it is. THANK YOU and the results will become available on Monday, September 2nd, so you have a couple of weeks to get your log summaries in. My inbox is already flooded and I''ll get to them in due course. PLEASE REMEMBER, if you don't get a confirmation e-mail from me (within a couple of days) that means I didn't get your results, so please try again. For those of you who already sent in your summaries and there are a lot, please give me three or four days to get them on the spreadsheet. For the time being, I'm still part of the everyday workforce so my time for this is limited.

See you all again next year - so save the date - Sunday, August 17th, 2025!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

The internet - a double edged sword.

No doubt about it - the internet is a double edged sword. There's a lot of fake news, garbage, hate, bigotry and plain ol' vanilla stupidity to be found on it, and particular that's true for social media. But if you know where to look, there's a ton of golden nuggets to be found as well.

For as long as I've been writing this blog (20 years now), I've always had the blog role listed on the right side. There have been blogs that have come and blogs that have gone - but each one that I list, I think has value for those of us who love Amateur Radio, and in particular QRP, Morse Code and Portable Ops. By the way, if you know of any real good ones that have escaped my attention, please drop me an e-mail, or bring it to my attention in the comment box. I'm always open to adding to the list.

Just the other day, I added a list with links to YouTube video channels that I think are worthy of your time to pay attention to. I do not have the equipment or time to develop my own video channel and you wouldn't want to risk listening to my New Jersey voice for more than five minutes anyway. The ones I have listed are IMHO, quite excellent. I could never do a job that would even come close to what these guys have done and continue to do. The same thing goes for my offer about blogs - are there really good YouTube channels that I have missed? Let me know!

The last topic that I'm going to touch in this post is about Facebook. Facebook is the double edged sword within the double edged sword. There is so much garbage on there that if you look at it for any length of time, you'd swear your eyes were starting to bleed and you'd also swear you'd never darken the halls of Facebook again. Yet, if you give it a chance, there are so many good Facebook pages that offer so much good Amateur Radio information.

To do it justice, I think I'll have to open another box on the right with links - but for now I'm going to list several Facebook groups that I really enjoy and have found useful and worthy of my time:

Morse Code Fans - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2109567972673278

Parks On The Air (POTA) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/parksontheair

Amateur QRP Radio - https://www.facebook.com/groups/qrpradio

CW Bugs, Keys and Paddles - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1232401453542260

Wire Antennas for Amateur Radio - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1014226582804314

QRP 14.060 MHz - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1576444765759000

QRP Outdoor Radio - https://www.facebook.com/groups/676090859094874

There are so many more! If you truly think that Facebook is a vast desert wasteland, with no redeeming value whatsoever, and you swore to yourself you'd never bother with it - I'd ask you to just do a search on your favorite aspect of Amateur Radio - you're sure to find something. Granted, even some of what you'll find is garbage, but you'll also be pleasantly surprised by the good groups, as there's a lot of good information and ideas being passed back and forth.

And OK, one final, final topic. While we're on the subject of the "plus" side of the internet, it also allows for greater and widespread publicity of the operating evenrts and contests that we all enjoy so much. A case in point,  Paul NA5N put out the official announcement for QRP To The Field (QRPTTF), which will take place on Saturday, April 20th.

The annual QRP TO THE FIELD (QRPTTF) will be held SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024  0800-1800 your LOCAL time (The 3rd Saturday in April).

RULES: http://www.zianet.com/qrp/qrpttf/pg.html (or http://www.zianet.com/QRP/  home page entry)

A few CHANGES and CLARIFICATIONS:

Operate from HOME, OUTBACK (your backyard) or in the FIELD

Scoring change: Bonus points for *working* OUTBACK or FIELD stations for a higher score.  SOTA and POTA stations worked count as a FIELD station.

KL7, KH6, KP4 and DX stations can work anytime they wish during the contest period for best local and time conditions.

Exchange is compatible with most logging programs.  Logging name optional.   

You may have to add up the Outback and Field stations worked manually.

Summary Sheets are a spreadsheet for calculating your score in both Microsoft Excel (.xls) or Open Office (.ods) formats.

Now to express my ignorance.  I do not have any Apple or Linux machines.  If you know of a program to convert between Excel and Apple NUMBERS, please let me know and I'll add the link to the rules webpage for Apple users.

Here in NM, it's been 73F one day, rain and snow the next.  Hopefully, we'll have a nice, warm Spring day for QRPTTF and favorable band conditions. QRPTTF is a fun day to get on the air and QSO fellow QRPers, old and new, at all skill levels, whether from your home shack or outside.  Not a 35wpm contest.  Chit-chat after the exchange is certainly allowed!

QRPTTF is administered strictly through QRP-L.

CU on QRPTTF,

72, Paul NA5N

Socorro, NM

______________________________________________________________________________________

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Mission Accomplished

So, I did get the grocery purchasing done early enough yesterday. It looked like a POTA  activation would be a possibility. In fact, I was done and back home by 9:30 AM. It took another half hour or so to tote everything inside from the car and put everything in its proper place. However, at 10:00 AM, it was still only in the upper 40s (about 8C) so I decided to wait around for a bit. In the meantime, the phone rang a couple times, including a long conversation with my sister.

Around 11:30 AM, it had gotten into the mid 50s (13C), so I decided that all was a "go" and I grabbed my CQ Magazine daypack that I got at Dayton many years ago. Inside were the KX3, the AX-1 antenna, my little blue brick lithium battery, a clock, some earbuds and my Bulldog Clip paddle. The next big decision - winter jacket, or spring jacket? I finally decided on the spring jacket as I layered up with shirt, hoodie sweatshirt and jacket, hoping I would be comfortable enough as there was a light, but persistant breeze which made it feel cooler than it actually was.

I got up to Washington Rock State Park, K-1635, at Noon. There were a lot of people there, but only one of the picnic tables was taken, the one actually closest to the monument. I took the one nearest the road as I had some suspicions about that other one, which I'll reveal later.

The station was set up in minutes. I programmed a CW memory for "CQ POTA" and got busy trying to find a clear frequency. That wasn't as easy as I had hoped as 20 Meters was busting with Virginia QSO Party participants. I did finally find a clear spot a bit above 14.060 MHx and got down to business. I spotted myself on the POTA app, and in a quick flurry I had 4 QSOs in my notepad. My plan was to get the requred minimum of 10 QSOs done, as it was kind of chilly for my taste, especially being exposed to stronger breezes coming in from the ocean at that height above the piedmont.

I had to QSY several times as my spot was overrun by VA QP stations. After a while, when my CQs were not yielding much fruit, I tried 17 Meters and 15 Meters. 17 Meters got me a QSO with Minnesota, but 15 Meters was not getting me any QSOs at all.  At that point I only needed two QSOs to reach my goal, so I decided to hop back down to 20 Meters and become a hunter. That turned out to be a good idea as I got three Park 2 Parks in and exceeded ny target with a bonus QSO. It was then that I became aware of how chilled I had gotten and after an hour of park time, I packed up for the day. Before doing that, I took a couple of obligitory snapshots.

Once back in the car. I decided to go to the Reverse Beacon Network to see where I was heard.

In actuality, I netted QSOs with stations in Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, Virginia, Minnesota and Michigan. There were a couple more states that I can't think of now without consulting my copy of N3JFP's AC Log (or my chicken scratch notepad).

As I was working stations, it became apparent that the park was becoming more and more crowded, The other picnic tables became occupied by actual picnickers. The thing that amazed me was how many younger people in their 20s (probably) were attired in just t-shirts and shorts. It wasn't THAT warm, but I guess the youngsters don't feel the cold like we oldsters do!

That other occupied picnic table that i mentioned earlier? Last night, when I checked to see if my activation had been posted to the POTA stat page, it also included an activation for the same date by W2ITG. I've never met him, but by the posture of the person sitting there, I could tell he wasn't eating lunch. i suspect that was W2ITG, but he activates using SSB, so there wasn't a problem.

Last thing - next time I go back to K-1635, it will be with the PAR ENDFEDZ. As much as I like the AX-1 and enjoy its portability, it's not a wire antenna, which I still think would be better choice when it's possible to use one. Yesterday was a "experiment" to see if the AX-1 is a viable choice. It is, especially when wires in trees are not pernissable or practical. In my mind, however, some wire up as high as you can get it is always the better choice.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Sweet dreams are made of these.

Steve WG0AT from Facebook:

Doing one of my Favorite things is sitting on a rock at 12k' working my good friends aka SOTA chasers with Morse Code! Elecraft's KH1 is really an amazing game changer HF radio! 

W2LJ is thinking that "Right now I'd settle for a picnic table in a park!"

72 de W2LJ 

QRP  - When you care to send the very least!

The latest thing

Amateur Radio is a hobby of niches. Not all facets of the hobby are popular with everyone. That being said, it seems to me, in my most humble opinion, that there are periods where a certain "thing" becomes all the rage.

A few years ago, it seemed like you couldn't swing a dead cat in the Amateur Radio community without coming across something about magnetic loop antennas. More recently the rage has been end fed half wave antennas. These trends of prominence didn't last too long. If you want to look at trends with long standing time (years) in the limelight, I would suggest FT-8 and POTA fit the bill.

I'm not a participant in the digital modes, so I can't realistically comment much about the popularity and proliferation of FT-8, but I can comment on the same about POTA - Parks On The Air - why is it the rage? Again, this is simply my opinion, please take it with the proverbial grain of salt.

1) The spectacular success of NPOTA, National Parks On The Air. When you look back on it, this operating event organized by the ARRL to celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of the National Parks System was a much more huge success than anyone anticipated. In fact, if and when they celebrate the second Centennial of the ARRL in the distant future, I am certain that NOPTA will remain one of the historical highlights of the organization. 

I remember when it was announced toward the end of 2015 and all I saw on the e-mail reflectors that I am a member of were ambitious plans for activations right off the bat on January 1st. NPOTA resonated with the Amateur Radio community quite unlike anything I have ever seen in my 45 years as a Ham. Everyone could participate - no matter what your favorite operating mode happened to be. It was easy to participate in and you had an entire year to partake as much or as little as you desired. If you couldn't activate a park or entity- no problem! There were a plethora of hunters willing to fill up your logbook.

The program was so successful (over 1,000,000 QSOs were made during the event) that it became quite apparent that come January 1st, 2017, when NPOTA had officially ended, that something was going to have to fill the vacuum.  A non-profit organization, Parks On The Air was formed in 2018 to give structure to carry on after NPOTA ended.

2) The proliferation of smaller radios has drastically improved the ease whereby Amateur Radio operations can be taken portable. All mode 100 Watt rigs are smaller, lighter and more energy efficient than ever before. Add to that fact that the latest development of lighter and longer lasting lithium batteries have made it even easier to power them and leave the indoor shack without having to break your back carrying gear around.

In the QRP world, you can find multi band, multi mode rigs that are as small or smaller than a pack of cigarettes (remember those?) With sunspot Cycle 25 coming to a peak some time in 2025 - effective worldwide communication is possible with just a few Watts. You can put an entire portable station - radio, battery, antenna, mic or key and accessories into a daypack and come in at under 10 pounds.

3) HOA's. This is one that a lot of people don't consider, but I think played a major part in the success of POTA  More and more Hams live in communities that fall under the jurisdiction of Home Owner's Associations. Some are quite liberal and Amateur Radio friendly, but others are not. They frown on anything that disrupts their idea of a "perfect community". Things like Amateur Radio antennas are strictly verboten. So what's a Ham stuck in one of these communities to do? They can either find a stealthy antenna solution - or they can take the show on the road - and POTA is perfect for that. Put as little or as much time into it, when and as you want, and you can satisfy that Amateur Radio craving that you can't receive at your residence.

I'm sure there are other factors that I haven't even considered - but these seem to be the main factors to me. I wonder what the "next big thing" will be?

On a sad note, I saw on QRP-L last night that Diz Gentzow, W8DIZ passed away on Sunday after a long illness. Diz was the proprietor of Kits and Parts and was one of the founders of the Flying Pigs QRP Club International. He passed away peacefully at home with his loving wife Nancy and other family members at his side.

I never met Diz in person, but had corresponded with him on several occasions regarding parts orders, Flying Pig matters and the few times he participated in the Skeeter Hunt. He was a kind gentleman with a good sense of humor - one of the good guys, who was respected and admired by those of us in the QRP community.

My friend Brian KB8BVN summed it all quite appropriately ........ "It's a sad day in Hamville."

RIP, Diz, you will be sorely missed. Farewell and "oo".

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

HomeBoo

 

This appeared on Facebook on the Radio Aficionados page posted by Pedro Sanchez Carcelen. 

Speaking of "Boo!", please remember tomorrow night is the Zombie Shuffle. I will not be able to participate as I have to go to a club meeting (I'm secretary so I kinda HAVE to be there - durn!), which always falls on the last Friday evening of the month. I have not been able to Shuffle for about a decade now, and I wish I could be there with all you ghouls, ghosties and beasties. This is by far one of the most fun events of the QRP year. Let me post the notice that comes from the Head Zombie, Paul NA5N:

Hark, fellow Zombies.

Just a reminder that the 2023 Zombie Shuffle will be this Friday, October 27th, starting at 3pm your local time.

Rules at: http://www.zianet.com/qrp/ZOMBIE/pg.html

The sun seems to be taking a slight siesta, cooling down from a solar flux  160+ a couple weeks ago to 121 today.  Still, 20M remains open until a bit after sundown and I have had some nice 15M QRP QSOs mid-afternoon.  Far better than the solar flux of 60 a couple years ago.

The Zombie Shuffle attracts lots of hams who are rusty, and many who have their first CW QSOs and QRP experience.  So thanks to all who QRS and accommodate these ops.  It brings new ops into the "dark side" every year.

So think up a nice ghoul-ish name to share with your fellow Zombies and have some goofy, silly on-the-air fun.(emphasis by W2LJ)

72, Paul NA5N

Zombie #004

PS - The propane truck filling our tank accidentally backed into one of my guy wires, bringing down my south mast on my 133 ft. long terminated folded dipole (TFD). With no support, the north mast came down the next day, so I have dipole wire all over the back yard.  So I'll be on (and limited) to my  trusty 5BTV vertical with 36 radials.  I got fully Zombie-ized, but wouldn't miss the Shuffle for anything.

And lest you think that we Hams are into fun and games and contests and nothing else, let me share with you a post on Facebook, by our very own Goat whisperer, Steve WG0AT:

Way to go, Steve! Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Can you imagine how many acres of woodland might have been destroyed if it weren't for Steve? How many animals could have been killed or forced out of their territory? You don't always have to wear a reflective vest or sit behind a microphone directing a net to be a public servant.  And if Steve's actions don't exemplify this part of the Amateur Radio Code, I don't know what does.

"PATRIOTIC...His/[Her] station and skills are always ready for service to country and community."

Thanks again, WG0AT! You always show what being a superb Amateur Radio Op is all about!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

A gentle reminder .......

 That the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt is NOT this coming Sunday, but is on the following Sunday,  August 27th.

We have over 200 Skeeters signed up for the 12th Annual event and there's still time to get your own number, if you want one. It's not necessary to have one to participate, but having a number adds to the fun a little bit, IMHO.

Just send an e-mail to w2ljqrp@gmail.com with your name, call sign and the state you'll be operating from and I'll add you. Skeeter numbers will be assigned right through the day before, Saturday the 26th.

I know it's a week and a few days away, but here's hoping for good weather for everyone! And if for some reason, the weather is bad at your QTH and you can't get outside to operate, don't let that deter you! Your multiplier might be smaller, but there's still a good time to be had!

This year we have 20 some "Palindrome Skeeters" with numbers that read the same forward and backward - for example, yours truly is Skeeter # 181 this year. Work any Palindrome Skeeter for an extra 100 Bonus points each for a maximum of 1,000 points added to be added to your score.

All the info about the Hunt can be found on the Skeeter Hunt page of this blog, or at www.qsl.net/w2lj

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Obviously there's more than one way to skin a cat.

I was looking at some POTA activations on Facebook and I'm amazed at some of these setups. And I've come to the conclusion that POTA-teers are definitely a diverse bunch!

On one hand you have the guys who come loaded for bear. They are ready for anything and their setups feature 100 Watt rigs in rack mount cases that look like a hernia in the making. Everything is included except the kitchen sink and a smoker for the brisket The table that these configurations are set upon seem to be screaming, "Make it stop!"

Then on the other hand you have the approach of the extreme minimalists These guys bring to the table (wait, they DON"T bring a table!) nothing but a rig the size of a postage stamp with a antenna crafted from almost invisible magnet wire, and an UNUN stuffed into a thimble, a 9 Volt battery AND it all fits in a tube sock! Everything is so small that if you don't paint everything with day-glo paint, it might get missed and left behind!

I'm kidding of course, but talk about diversity in approach! And if nothing, the photos are interesting to look at. The bottom line, I guess, is how much fun you had.

I'm of the mindset of folks like Jim W1PID, Tim W3ATB, Tom K1SWL, Steve WG0AT and other QRP brothers and sisters. They pack equipment somewhat in the middle of the two extremes. Their goal is to get the station up and running in a minimal amount of time with the least fuss. I have to agree with their philosophy, if I'm going to travel to a park, I want to operate, and not spend the day messing around with set up and tear down.

But as I said, to each his own - as Jerry Seinfeld said one more than one occasion "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"

72  de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Already thinking of next year

It's our last full day up here, so no radio today. Just enjoying the day and soaking in all the lake ambiance that I can. But that's not stopping me of thinking about next year.

I need to not forget the Buddistick whips next year. The Buddistick, mounted on a magmount on the roof of the Jeep can really sing. I've used it way that way before and having the vehicle act as the ground plane makes all the difference in the world. I'm not going to bring along aluminum screening, that's for sure.

I will bring along my drive on mast holder and my 20 foot crappie fishing rod. That used to work well for me from the top of Mt. Prospect. They don't like anyone hanging anything in the trees up there; but the PAR, running from a picnic table to the crappie pole some feet away causes no complaints.

Oh, I uploaded my log to the POTA website this morning, so if you worked me, you've gotten credit.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Our Happy Place

Hope to hear you on the air and work you this week. I will spot myself when I do the for real activation of K-2001.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Field Day - another one bites the dust

How was your Field Day experience? First off, I hope you had one. Even with all the preparation, hard work of set up and tear down, it's still a fun and great experience. Being with some of your best friends for 24 hours, all doing the things you all love to do the most - priceless!

The South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club had a very, very good Field Day. I don't know how our effort stacked up against previous years. I'm always a "glass half empty" guy in that regard, and then I'm usually pleasantly surprised when the results come out in December to find out that we did better than I had thought.

The weather was cooperative for the most part. The weather prognosticators were somewhere around the mark with their predictions. There was a very light sprinkle of rain at the beginning of set up, but that diminished very quickly and we were blessed with good weather almost until the very end.

As usual, set up went well.  It seems that SPARC has this down to somewhat of a science. As the main part of the group gets the shelters ready and Ron N2LCZ gets the network of logging computers up and running, Dave KD2FSI and I get the antennas going.

I'm going to get a bit gushy here about Dave. He's a one man Field Day all by his lonesome. I don't know where SPARC would be without him. Between his antennas, the other equipment and the radios he brings ........... But that's not the end of it. His expertise and presence are above and beyond the "stuff" that he brings. We'd be lost without him.

The same goes for Marv K2VHW. He's the Founding President and President Emeritus of SPARC. He IS our spark. An Amateur Radio operator for over 50 years, a two time Emmy Winner for Technical Excellence in Broadcasting, untold experience in mobile communications testing, trouble shooting and repair  ....... how did we get so lucky to get these guys in our group?

When the bell rang at 2:00 PM we were ready. We got going and over the next 24 hours we gave it our best. In addition to the activity behind the radios, we had a lot of visitors. In addition to curious walkers going by us (we are in a public park, after all), we had visits from some folks who specifically brought their kids by to see what Amateur Radio is all about. We also had visits from the Red Cross, and our new Hudson Division Director Nomar Vizcarrondo, NP4H, and our Division Public Information Officer, Ed Efchak WX2R came by during setup. We also got a visit from one of our Town Council members, Derryck White, who is also a CERT member and one of our biggest supporters from within our borough. He even helped us during tear down.

A peaceful Sunday morning scene.

The visit by our ARRL Officials, Nomar NP4H has the yellow lanyard around his neck and Ed is wearing the red ARRL shirt at the right. The banner came out exceptionally well. Thanks, Vistaprint! For the record, going from left to right - Marty WB2BEW, Neil WA2EGE, Tim AB2ZK (with the green CERT cap), Nomar NP4H, Bill W2AOF (SPARC Club President) Ron N2LCZ (IT Expert Extraordinaire), Marv K2VHW, Harry KC2PGX, Ed WX2R.

Dave KD2FSI, our "Indispensable Man" running VHF/UHF, FT8 and all things digital.

Marty WB2BEW with a Phil K2OTA, working SSB. Marty would later get a QSO in the log with France. 5 Watts from a KX3 to a multiband End Fed - not bad!

This is what I was looking at for the next 24 hours. The laptop is one of Ron's Lenovo WS530's.  

Dave's MFJ-1982HP running in a roughly East to West direction. This was the SSB station antenna.

We always try to get a lot of signage up for our site, so that visitors can have their own sort of "walking tour" when we are super busy with other things.

More descriptive signage. Bill W2AOF our Club President got these from Vistaprint a few years ago when they were running a sale. They come in handy and let non-Hams know what they are looking at.

My MFJ-1982LP running in a roughly North-South direction. You can see one of the driveway reflectors that I purchased, holding up the near end, with the UNUN cable-tied near the top. The coax is running down to my KX3. We tie some caution tape to the wire itself as we park in the space off to the right and we don't want anyone walking into the wire. After this shot was taken, but before 2:00 PM, we put little orange cones down so that people would not traverse where we did not intend them to. The weird event of Field Day was that even with that, someone stole and walked off with the driveway reflector at the far end, while we weren't watching. Tim AB2ZK happened to need to go to his car for something and let me know that it was gone. We initially thought that maybe someone had driven into it or something like that, but it was totally gone with no trace (not even pieces) to be found. At least whoever took it, didn't damage the antenna - which performed flawlessly this year, after my soldering repairs to the UNUN. In fact, during the wee hours of the overnight, Marv K2VHW used it to worked New Zealand with our maximum output of  5 Watts. 

I have video of that and will post that tomorrow. I wish that Bill W2AOF had been present for that QSO. He was tuckered from the heat and humidity of the day and left for home to get in some rest. However, he had traveled to New Zealand to visit some friends earlier this year. As someone who made that long flight from New Jersey to New Zealand, I think witnessing that QSO would have really brought home the wonder of Amateur Radio and QRP. We Hams are so used to what we do, that sometimes I think we take for granted how magical it all really is. When you experience that flight, the distance and the time and then you see a "measly" 5 Watts of power do that - for me at least, that is a super "Wow" moment.

Bob WB2UDC giving me a break at the CW station.

The new crescent Moon, coming close to it's set sometime very early Sunday morning.

First light is always a welcome sight.

It's amazing how bright it is so early in the morning. This was taken just a little after 5:00 AM.

The bands themselves were decent, but frustrating. QSB was like a roller coaster. A station would be 599 one second and 339 the next. The bulk of our CW QSOs were completed on 40 Meters, which I thought was in great shape. 80 Meters was decent at night, but there was a lot of static crashes to deal with. Since 20 Meters was the choice of the SSB guys, I only went there when they were taking a break. I could hear signals on 15 Meters the couple of times that I checked, but they were so low in strength that I could not make anything out. 10 Meters was completely dead the various times I twiddled the dial on that band.

Around 12:30 PM on Sunday, you could tell the weather was shifting. While most normal people woke to clear skies and a beautiful Sunday morning with blue skies, by lunchtime the sky had turned to that ominous lead gray color. With an hour and a half of Field Day operating time left, I convinced the crew to start tearing down. About halfway to three quarters of the way through, there were unnervingly close lightning strikes and the clouds literally burst open. We had to retreat to the safety of our vehicles. When the rain lessened up, we were able to finish the job and get the commonly owned Club "stuff" back to the CERT building.

I'll have a few more thoughts to put down for posterity tomorrow, when I post the short video that I took during the overnight. There's a thing or two more that I want to mention. My brain is a big bowl of oatmeal today. In the days when I wore a younger man's clothes, I was able to cope with an "up for 36 hours" stretch with a lot more ease and aplomb than I can now.

More thoughts about weather and equipment tomorrow - stay tuned!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

So what's up this weekend?

 Freeze Your Butt Off - https://www.contestcalendar.com/contestdetails.php?ref=356

Vermont QSO Party - https://www.contestcalendar.com/contestdetails.php?ref=236

Minnesota QSO Party - https://www.contestcalendar.com/contestdetails.php?ref=238

British Columbia QSO Party - https://www.contestcalendar.com/contestdetails.php?ref=269

AGCW 80 Meter Straight Key QSO Party - https://www.agcw.de/contest/htp/htp-en/

North American CW Sprint (Sunday UTC) - https://www.contestcalendar.com/contestdetails.php?ref=253

The high temp in South Plainfield is expected to be 27F with a bit of a breeze, so it may feel colder. I may set up the magloop and KX3 on the front stoop and participate for a bit. I'll be home alone as the kids and XYL are all out tomorrow doing their own things. A rarity for W2LJ. I wish I had a pair of those fingerless gloves. Maybe I can find a cheap pair at the grocery store tomorrow and take a pair of scissors to the right glove.

Then later in the afternoon, I'll hop downstairs to the shack to see if I can't make a few QSO party QSOs, just to fatten the log up. It's been way too long.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

QRP Afield tomorrow !

 As always, on the third Saturday of September, the New England QRP Club sponsors QRP Afield.

All the rules and regs can be found here - https://www.newenglandqrp.org/qrp-afield-2018/

I know, I know ....... the hyperlink says 2018, but the page has been updated with the dates for 2022, 2023 and 2024, so it's current.

I'd like to give it a whirl for at least a little bit, but weekends are just so darn busy, cramming in on Saturdays the things I don't get to do during the week because of that nasty ol' work thing. We'll see. The weather outside is forecasted to be delightful, with partly cloudy skies and temps in the upper 70s.

The backyard has been totally transformed. We had a landscaping crew come in and clean up all the overgrowth reaching into our backyard from our neighbor's yards. They also got rid of the kids swing set, which was 20 years old and beginning to rot.  We also had them tear down and remove the utility shed. The back wall had been broached by squirrels and by limbs form a neighbor's pine tree - which was removed by the new owners who recently moved in. The patio block pad is none the worse for wear and we will eventually get (probably) a metal shed of the same or a bit smaller size. Until then, I'll place the mower and whatever garden tools I wanted to keep on the pad and will keep it all covered with tarps.

The guys who did the job for us were great! No antenna or feedline damage!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Skeeter Hunt Sunday!

 This coming Sunday is the annual NJQRP Skeeter Hunt !!!

There's still time to get a Skeeter number of you so desire. I will be honoring any requests received until Midnight EDT Saturday/Sunday.  Latecomers will probably receive their numbers Sunday morning, so step up and don't be shy.

Complete rules can be found by going to the Skeeter Hunt page of this blog; or by going to www.qsl.net/w2lj

The terrestrial weather in my part of NJ is looking to be cloudy to mostly cloudy with a high of 87F (31C). I will most likely set up in the back yard like I did for FOBB, rather than go to a park. Energy and stamina levels are having supply chain issues these days. I'm just hoping Ol' Sol calms down and that we have some decent band conditions.

Have fun, be safe and have a great time!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least

FOBB Report

I set up on the backyard patio table. The antenna was the PAR END FEDZ held aloft by my 31 foot Jackite pole.

I made 14 FOBB QSOs, 1 POTA QSO and 1 SKCC rag chew.

Most of the activity seemed to be on 20 Meters - only 2 FOBB QSOs were on 40. The POTA and SKCC QSOs were on 40 as well. I was hoping there'd be more activity on 40 as signals always seem to be louder there.

Here's who I worked:

AB9CA

N5GW

NQ9RP

N8GAS

K4BAI

WA8ZBT

AG4P

KK4ITX

N3AQC (K3WWP at the key)

NA8Q (POTA)

AK4JA

W4LSV

WO9B

WB9TWJ (SKCC)

WA1ZCQ

K9DRP

On the whole, I thought activity was on the light side. I remember years when 40 QSOs was more the norm (for me anyway). Maybe the shine is off the apple, a bit? Maybe I'm just not as good as I used to be (which was never all that hot to begin with).

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

A good FOBB suggestion by Gene N5GW

Gene N5GW is always competitive and nearly always show up in the top 5 or 10 of these QRP operating events.

He posted a suggestion on QRP-L regarding FOBB this Sunday. Since he always does so well, it may serve the rest of us to take heed:

"Most of the activity should take place on 20 Meters, but I suggest checking 15M/10M on the half hour and 40 Meters on the hour to improve our chances for QSOs during spotty band openings."

Sounds like a plan, Gene - thanks for the suggestion!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Flight of the Bumblebees is next Sunday!

Just a gentle reminder, FOBB is next Sunday, so if you're thinking of operating portable as a Bee, the time to sign up for a number is growing short. You can check out the Bee roster and see if there's a number you would like to have by going here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eje4xhoXNz6P47x8v9KehhCsf_NjkhfPxzw_-7eT5YU/edit#gid=1688633864

As of now, 62 Bee numbers have been assigned. With this heat wave embroiling the country, maybe folks are hesitant about going a distance from home and setting up remotely. I know that's a concern of mine.

The 10 day forecast for South Plainfield for next Sunday is for cloudy conditions with a high in the upper 80s and a chance of showers in the afternoon. If that's the case and doesn't change, I'll probably set up on the back yard patio table under the umbrella. The antenna of choice will be the PAR END FEZ, most likely. I'm sure most of the action will be on 40 and 20 Meters, although I think the KX3 will match the PAR on 15 Meters as well, even though efficiency will go way down.

If the forecast changes with the chances for precipitation approaching zero, I may get the urge to go to Cotton Street Park, or even perhaps Washington Rock State Park. 

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

I make fix!

There was time today to head down to the basement shack and put the MFJ-1982LP antenna on the bench. This is the antenna that failed for me during Field Day - in the middle of the night (strains of Billy Joel in the background.) How does an end fed antenna go bad? I guess there are a number of ways so I had to eliminate them.

1) The wire itself was not damaged, kinked, cut or otherwise disturbed along its entire length.

2) Opening the UNUN box the toroid looked fine. No cracks, no breaks, again ..... no mars.

3) The toroid windings were of a stout gauge of enamel coated wire - no breaks or other visible defects.

That left two things - either the two capacitors in there shorted out, or one of the factory performed solder joints was dicey.

My gut went with the solder joints. Nothing was to the point of being loose or hanging free, but it looked like whomever soldered the joints thought that solder was going for about $200 a pound. The solderer could have been way more generous with the stuff.

I heated up the ol' Weller, added more solder to ALL the joints and headed out to Cotton Street Park, my home for the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt.

The first thing I did after setting up was to bypass the ATU in the KX3. A brief hit of the tune button showed about a 1.2:1 match on 20 Meters. No more infinite SWR readings!

As long as I had everything set up, I decided to work a few stations. First up was AC6ZM on 14.044 MHz. He was at POTA K-7605. I haven't looked up where that is, I'll do it later.

I know I said I wasn't going to bother with the 13 Colonies Special Event, but they provided such a target rich environment. Perfect for giving a repaired antenna a workout!

I worked TM13COL on 20 Meters, making it through the pile up with 5 Watts. Then I switched to 40 Meters and worked K2E is Delaware and K2M in Pennsylvania. I finished the test back up on 20 Meters by working K2G in Georgia. The op was Phil K3UT and he must have recognized my call as he didn't send that bit of info to anyone else he was working.

I listened for a bit on 15 Meters but didn't hear anything, so I packed up my hastily erected setup and returned home. It's a comfort to know that I have the antenna back at my disposal. However, I'm still going to set up a backup antenna next year at Field Day - bitten once, twice shy.

As far as 13 Colonies goes, that was enough for me. I'll let the newer stations or those who have never gotten a clean sweep have a go at it.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!