Rick N8TGQ's advice

 Heeded!

Rick mentioned in the comments section in one of my latest posts that he never goes portable without his trusty EFHW. I am going to take to heart his sage advice, and from now on will always pack my K6ARK EFRW for 40 through 10 Meters.  It's small, light and with one of my 25 foot sections of RG-8X, is not all that much more to carry.

I used something similar (PAR ENDFEDZ 40/20/10) last year at the Lake with my Shakespeare 20 foot Crappie Pole bungeed to a fence post, serving as a mast. It worked well; and I just should have gone with "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But sometimes I'm like a moth attracted to a flame, getting entranced with "lighter and smaller".

In fact, the K6ARK EFRW is what I am planning on using for Flight of the Bumblebees which is coming up a week from this coming Sunday. The only thing I haven't decided is exactly which park I am going to operate from. If I elect to go to Cotton Street Park in town, it's a real short trip home should the weather get nasty all of a sudden. If I go to Washington Rock State Park, FOBB could double as a POTA activation.

The weather here at the W2LJ QTH has been like the Summers I remember from when I was a kid. Nastily hazy, hot and humid with pop up thunderstorms just about every afternoon. If that weather pattern continuers for the next couple of weeks, I may just decide to stick closest to home.

Speaking of other sage advice, I recently read Jeff KE9V's blog post about his "Purge". He's culling down the amount of organizations that he has to pay membership dues to now that he's retired. With my own retirement looming next year, I should probably think about doing the same. I'm already a Life Member of the ARRL and CW Ops. 

The only orgs I continue to pay dues to are QRP ARCI and the QCWA. I'll probably bite the bullet and continue to pay those, though.  Technically, there are no dues for QRP ARCI. Once you join, you are already a life member. The $25 yearly fee is for "QRP Quarterly" which I will continue to subscribe to - for now. QRP ARCI # 4488 is mine whether I subscribe to the magazine, or not.

Will I continue to keep my subscription going for SPRAT?  That may require the flip of a coin.

Life Membership in the QCWA is $500. I should have considered that when I became eligible to join in 2004. There is no way I'm coughing that up now. Dues are also $25 a year and to make Life Membership make sense at this point, I'd have to live for another 20 more years. Will I make it to 88? God willing, I will, but that's not a gamble I'm going to wager on at this point. Not pleasant to think about - but it is what it is,

In addition, I don't plan on making any MAJOR new equipment purchases any time soon. I am quite content with  my KX3 and KXPA100 in the shack, and my KX3 or QMX for portable operations. I don't need a radio with a waterfall or spectrum display. I'm good with what I have; and I don't need or desire the latest and greatest radio with bells and whistles that I probably wouldn't use anyway.  Truth be told is that if all I had at my disposal was an old Heathkit HW-101, I'd probably be happy with that! i guess I'm not a major supporter to the Amateur Radio community economy.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Busy, busy. A lot to do!

Field Day has pre-occupied the last couple of month's worth of South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club meetings. Fortunately, we're on target and pretty much raring to go.  W2LJ on the other hand? Not so much. There are several important things that I need to get done. Fortunately, next weekend is the three day Memorial Day weekend here in the US, so I'll make the best use of the time that I can.

1) I want to construct that 4 States paddle that I purchased.

Last year, I brought my March paddle to Field Day. I'd prefer to leave both my "luxury Ferrari" keys - my Begali and my March paddles home in the shack. Not concerned about pilferage, but more of exposing either to the elements if we get really crazy weather. Last year we experienced a lot of windblown rain during a period of thunderstorms. We managed to keep the equipment dry, but it was an adventure.

2) I will be building a base for my Jackite mast holder.  In the past, I've deployed it like this:

The PVC pipe held in place by the three tie down ropes. It works quite well, but dealing with those ropes while simultaneously trying to keep the pipe upright as currently configured is quite a pain in the butt cheeks. If I had eight arms like an octopus, it would not be a problem. But I don't, so some aid is needed.  I want to build a base for it, and I purchased the PVC that I need to do that. I'll still use the tie down ropes to anchor everything in order to keep it all from being blown over, but this base idea that I have in mind will keep everything upright while I fiddle with each individual tent peg and rope. I'll post pictures next weekend, hopefully.

3) The shack needs some straightening up.  I need to do that so I can accomplish #s 1 & 2 above. I have a three tier cart thing right next to my bench that holds a lot of stuff. The cart that I had been using is old, was never the epitome of strength to begin with and now a caster has caved in and it's a wobbly, unstable mess.. I purchased this one from eBay for under $30. It actually has some metal to it and is not entirely plastic.

This should help clear up some space, because I moved everything from the old cart onto the benchtop to keep things from falling and breaking. It should come early this week.

In addition to the shack work, I need to update NJ2SP's QRZ page with our Field Day info. I also need to write and submit Field Day articles to our town's local publications. One is a print publication and the other is web based.

I also want to go through my VE paperwork for the last 12 months and want to extend invitations to Field Day to the new licensees that are relatively local to us.

Not too much to do .....right? Actually, I can work on the invitations and the news stories during the evenings this week after I get home from work and have dinner.

Finally, to end this post, a tip o' the cap and a hearty round of Congratulations have to go out to John Laney K4BAI. John, who I know from the QRP Fox Hunts, and various QRP Sprints - and, who is a stalwart participant in the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt, was elected to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame at Hamvention this past weekend.  FB, John! I can't think of a more well deserving and top notch operator than you.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Wow! 20 Years!

I have a routine that I adhere to every day when I get to work. When I get to my dungeon/store room/bunker office, I turn on my company laptop and log in for the day. The next thing I do is to go get a cup of water for coffee. Even though there is free coffee in the cafeteria, I don't partake, It's Starbucks coffee, which to me, always tastes burnt. Back during the pandemic, when the cafeteria was closed, I brought in a one cup coffee maker which I still use. So as I was walking over to the water dispenser, I ran into Tracy (who runs the cafeteria) and she told me that today is "Take Your Kids to Work Day".

Then it hit me like a Mack truck! It was "Take Your Kids to Work Day" back in 2005 which caused the birth of this blog! Twenty years - wow! WOW! That's a lot of typing and words! In honor of the occasion, here's a re-post of that very first one:

Take Your Kids to Work Day

This is a new experience for me. My own blog - devoted to, but not limited to Amateur Radio. This should be fun, interesting; and will hopefully also be a learning experience.

Last Thursday (4/29/05) was national "Take Your Kids to Work Day". You might be asking yourself how is this related to Amateur Radio. I'll tell you.

I belong to the Piscataway Amateur Radio Club in Piscataway, NJ. Right across the street from our meeting place is the IEEE. The IEEE is the professional association for electrical engineers. This is THE place if you are affiliated with any of the electronic fields. The wife of one of our member's works there; and approached him about the possibility of our club giving a presentation on Amateur Radio for that morning. The reasoning was, that since Amateur Radio is at least related to what the institution stands for, it just might be a good time.

We were wondering how much interest we would garner. A lot of folks out there think Amateur Radio is a dying endeavor. Maybe from the experience we had, I'm thinking the reports of our demise might be highly exaggerated.

In the weeks leading up to the event; we were told that twenty children signed up for the presentation. We were enthused. Then twenty became fifty; and then fifty became eighty and then eighty became one hundred and twenty. When the demo actually took place, a head count was taken and one hundred and seven kids attended. We were overjoyed!

There were six of us from the radio club. We started the presentation by showing the ARRL's DVD presentation of "Amateur Radio Today". This was followed by a talk by Bob Hopkins WB2UDC which included a QSO over a local 2 meter repeater and then another video. This was followed up by the kids being allowed to play with and be shown smaller presentations on Morse Code, a SSB HF station, a PSK-31 setup, and the kids even got to play with and twiddle the dials of some old Hammarlund and Hallicrafter boat anchors.

The surprise for us though, was that the hit of the day was the Morse Code displays. We had two laptops set up with Morse Midi on them; so the children could type something in and then listen to what they had typed. And we also had Morse Code practise oscillators going. We could not tear the kids away! I knew we had them hooked when one little girl had typed into the Morse Midi box; ready for translation - "This is so cool".

At the end, each participant was given either an Icom comic book; or a CQ magazine publication. We gave each a Morse Code sheet as well as a sheet we had made up listing some Websites pertaining to Marconi, crystal radios and, of course, Amateur Radio. Each kid got a QSL card with contact information to the club with an offer for tutoring, if desired. On each QSL card was a number; and for the coup de grace, we gave away a hombrewed plaque which had a Speed-X straight key to commemorate the event.

Is Amateur Radio dying; and are kids so spoiled by the Internet that our hobby is considered geeky and anachronistic? Ask any of these 107 kids and you might get a very surprising and pleasant answer!

That was a good day, and one that I will never forget! I was accompanied by Rich Pasquale W2PQ, whose wife, Peg, worked at IEEE at the time and it was she who came up with the idea. Also there was Drew Moore W2OU (SK), Bob Hopkins WB2UDC, Vic  Pennetta K2NBC and Rich Moseson W2VU of CQ Magazine fame. When we get together, we still talk about the day and how much fun it was.

The actual "birthday" of this blog is April 30th. I'll have to think of something special in order to celebrate.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

My apologies for not posting lately

 But as John Lennon wrote, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

I went for a physical last September with my Primary Care Physician, and his EKG machine was down, so he suggested "at your age, you should have a stress test done." I went for a consult last Wednesday, and the cardiologist (the same one my wife Marianne goes to) told me I had "an abnormal EKG". Something about "left branch bundle block", or something. So now I'm wearing a heart monitor for a month, and I go for a cardiac ultrasound on Friday and a stress test on March 19th. A follow up visit with the cardiologist in April will decide how we tackle this problem.

Then, on Friday, as I was driving to work at 6:00 in the morning, I noticed I was being tailgated by someone driving one of those stand up electric scooters. I slowed down, pulled off to the side so he could pass me - I figured he was in a hurry.

Turns out that he must have been drafting me, using my Jeep to block the cold winds that were blowing that morning. I told him that it was stupid to tailgate - that if I had to stop short because of a deer running across the road or for some other reason, he could be seriously injured.

Instead of going on his merry way, he started cursing me out and punched out my driver side rear view mirror.

He then proceeded on his way towards Plainfield. Besides be shocked as all get out, I didn't want to follow him, because I figured if he got injured or hit by a car while trying to evade me, I'd probably be open to some kind of crazy civil suit. I called the South Plainfield Police Dept as soon as I got into work and left a voice mail with the Traffic Safety Department, explaining the whole incident.

Being a CERT Member in town may have paid off a bit as I know the Mayor and the Council Members. I asked one of them if it would be possible to have a police car keep an eye on that section of town early in the mornings for a while. This guy is either going to kill himself or injure someone else if he keeps this up. Several residents posted on Facebook that they've seen this guy do this to other drivers, as well as buzz people on the walking trails of Spring Lake Park.

So I haven't been on the radio lately as I haven't really been in the mood - hence, not much to write about. Maybe I'll get on the air tonight for the 40 Meter QRP Fox Hunts. John K4BAI in GA and Dave N1IX in NH will be serving as Foxes. We'll see how I feel tonight. Physically, I feel OK - just been bummed out a bit. To add to it, I spent the weekend "de-decorating" the house from Christmas and that always depresses me.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Well, actually ......

My son Joseph asked me the other day, "What do you want for Christmas, any Amateur Radio stuff?"

I responded in the negative, because off the top of my head, I couldn't think of anything. But actually ....

I've been wanting one of these for a few years now. But there's no way this side of Heaven that I'm going to ask a member or members of my family to spend $200 + on me for an antenna analyzer. And I can mention this here because I don't think any of them even know that this blog exists. It's just another one of "Dad's radio things".

I have a nano VNA, but it's not as convenient to use as a RigExpert. Dave KD2FSI has one and has brought it to Field Day and other SPARC events, so I've seen how easy and convenient it is to use.

I have a bug or two sitting on the shelf that are pretty much just "collectibles". Maybe I'll put them up for auction on eBay to drum up some cash for a RigExpert. It would be so nice to have for setting up portable vertical antennas.

Instead, I set up a wish list on Amazon where they can find some things like long sleeved T-shirts, and shoes, and a few books and little stuff like that. I feel bad about asking for expensive things, although at the same time, if one of them wanted something pricey, I'd have not a second thought about purchasing it for them. Weird, huh?

How about you? Are you asking Santa for any Ham Radio or even Ham Radio related stuff this year? Maybe a new rig, or kit or a related item like a new computer for logging or something?  You can always mention it in the comments and then e-mail the link to your family and friends as a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" kind of wish list hint!

On a different topic, tonight we have a South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club meeting. It's the first one in a couple of moths that will be hybrid - in person AND Zoom. We have a few guests who have contacted me through the NJ2SP@qsl.net e-mail address. One is an 11 year old and his Dad. The son is interested in Amateur Radio and getting licensed. I'm hoping we can set him on the right path tonight, and show him the hobby in a positive and inspiring light.

The other thing that's happening is the election of officers for next year. I've been nominated for President, and I don't think anyone else is willing to take on the job, so it will probably be one of those "1 vote casted by the Secretary" kind of deals. Lord help me! Like I don't have enough on my plate!

Depending on what time the meeting ends tonight, it might preclude me from participating in the 80 Meter Fox Hunt tonight. As if I haven't learned by now, but am going to say anyway - Earl N8SS in MI should be relatively easy to work, while Brian K0DTJ in CA will probably be downright difficult, if not impossible.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

When I was a school kid

there were a couple  of things I always dragged around. One was the current issue of Sky & Telescope. The  other was either an ARRL Novice License Manual or a copy of QST, when I could get my hands on one. I know ....weird kid, right?  But those two ARRL publications played a big part in drawing me into the hobby.  Both were an odd size back then. They were bigger than TV Guide, but yet smaller than a regular magazine like Sky & Telescope. And the best thing inside them, IMHO, were the cartoons by Phil Gildersleeve. I had a few issues and spent many hours looking at these cartoons thinking that some day, "I want to be part of this!".

I can't explain why I loved these images so much!  For me, they seemed to resonate and  capture the essence and spirit of the hobby and it's Golden Age, just like a tuned circuit. Since Phil there have been many great cartoonists that have graced our hobby, but there will never be another "Gil".

But that being said, a couple of years ago,  Eric Nichols, KL7AJ and Jim Massara N2EST, two talented and excellent cartoonists in their own right, approached the ARRL about reviving the "Jeeves" cartoons. They were shot down. Maybe it was due to copyright law or some other issue, but they were turned down.  More's the pity, as I saw the cartoon image that they pitched. It was totally in the style and essence of Gil and had you seen it, you would have sworn that Gil himself had drawn it. Perhaps the ARRL thought that Jeeves was too old fashioned and would not appeal to a younger crowd, but some things are timeless.

However, the ARRL  did publish a book a few years back with a collection of Phil's work. I think it's still available. I have a copy down in the shack that I like to go through and peruse the images. It has become well worn.

The University of Delaware put together s page called "The Artwork of Phil Gildersleeve" with a small collection of some of his images. Click on the title to go there.

As far as the QRP Fox Hunts go, since this is Thanksgiving week, there are no "regular" Hunts. There is a 160 Meter Foxtravaganza, where all the Foxes and Hounds can try to work each other. I went on for a little while, not the whole 90 minutes and I worked two stations, Dean N2TNN in VA and Ron WU4G also in VA. I heard Jim W1FMR in NH calling "CQ FOX" but he could not hear me.

From the looks of the Reverse Beacon Map, you'd think I would have heard and worked some stations out towards the Midwest. Nope, only Virginia for QSOs and only NH for SWL'ing.

Both QSOs and the SWL'ing were done with the MFJ-1982HP.  The KX3 was able to find a decent match at about 1.7:1 on 160 Meters, which considering the antenna wasn't designed for the band, isn't bad. The HF9V would not load on 160 Meters. The KX3 could not find a match and displayed an "ANT ERR" message. That was strange as it used to load up with the old matching stub, but not this one. If I want to get on 160 Meters, which is a nice band, especially during the Winter months, I'll have to confine myself to using the MFJ.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Chat gpt

I don't know much about it, admittedly. I did try to let AI create some Santa Ham images for the blog last December and most of them just came out weird. AI can't seem to get human hands right.

This afternoon, I was perusing one of the wire antenna pages on Facebook, and a guy had chat gpt create a poem about himself and his antenna work. It actually came out pretty well! So for the fun of it, I got the idea to go to one of these free chat gpt sites and asked it to "create a poem about QRP, CW and W2LJ". This is what it came up with:

In the quiet hum of the evening glow,  

Where whispers of the airwaves softly flow,  

Larry W2LJ sits with a grin,  

In his small shack where the joys begin.  

With wires and gadgets, a world to explore,  

He dances with signals, always craving more.  

QRP is his mantra, in low power he trusts,  

In the art of connection, the thrill is a must.  

With a key in his hand, and a heart full of spark,  

He sends out his message, a glow in the dark.  

Each dot and each dash, a rhythm, a beat,  

In the language of Morse, where worlds tend to meet.  

"Hello, OM!" In a flurry they fly,  

On the wings of the ether, they dart through the sky.  

From mountain to valley, across oceans wide,  

In the simplicity of code, there's nothing to hide.  

Pulses of energy, like sparks from the brain,  

A brotherhood kindled, in joy and in pain.  

For in every transmission, a story unfolds,  

Of camaraderie, passion, and dreams to be told.  

With QRP, he finds beauty in spite,  

Of the challenge of distance, in the depths of the night.  

For it's not just the power, but the heart that connects,  

In the soothing embrace of the radio's effects.  

So here’s to you, Larry, with your vintage callsign,  

In the world of the small, it's your passion that shines.  

Through Morse and through signals, your legacy flows,  

In the whispers of the night, where the true friendship grows.

Not bad, eh? For a first shot at this with kind of vague instructions, I'll give chat gpt a "B+", because I'm no poet and it did better than I ever could. I didn't mention my name, so the computer behind this must have gone to QRZ to find that, I guess.  The fact that no one has ever written a poem about me makes it all the sweeter!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Miscellania

Logbook of the World seems to be back. I was able to log on and see my QSOs - which reminds me, I haven't done an upload in a while. I'll make sure to do that over the long holiday weekend. I also checked to see if our July 13th VE Session was removed from the calendar. It wasn't, even though I had sent an e-mail to the ARRL requesting that be done. I received a reply informing me that they still could not access that server. I'll be away that day and rather than put the onus on someone else to act as "Liaison for the Day", I decided to cancel.

Our annual trip to Lake George will be happening soon.  This year, in addition to the AlexLoop and the AX1, I'm going to bring along the PAR ENDFEDZ 40-20-10 as well as my drive on mast base and my 20 foot crappie pole. I'd like to bring the Jackite, but it doesn't slip into the mast holder - it's too wide/thick. Usually, each time we go up to the Lake, I take some time to head up to Mt. Prospect (which is not a SOTA peak) and set up in the parking lot that is near the summit. There's a solitary picnic table there (in the parking lot!) and in the past I've parked the car some 20-30 feet away and have used the end fed as a sloper. There are other picnics tables in a wooded grassy area off to the side, but those are usually occupied by picnickers. Who wants to picnic in a parking lot, right? I usually have that table to myself. I can do a POTA activation as it's part of the Adirondack State Park - US-2001.

We had a CERT meeting in town last night and Marv K2VHW and I were asked to do some kind of licensing class for the CERT members in town. The two words I hate to hear the most were bandied about - "Ham Cram".  I know Marv feels the same way I do. But what I'm thinking is maybe to have a period of reading the licensing manual beforehand with some Zoom meetings interspersed where we can answer questions and explain more "difficult" topics culminating in a day of review - the "cram" - followed by the exam session.

Looking at the QRP Labs website, I'm calculating that based on the number of built kits that leave the factory every month, I may see my QMX sometime in August. It would be neat to have it for the Skeeter Hunt. I was smitten by that HB-1B that I was given the opportunity to play with. I'm looking forward to adding the QMX to my small herd of radios.

Finally, I signed up and am Bumble Bee # 57 for this year's FOBB. The Heinz Bee - LOL! I will probably head over to Cotton Street Park for the event, although if I decide to head up to Washington Rock State Park it would be a two-fer ...... FOBB and a POTA activation.

Thirteen Colonies started Sunday night, I guess. I've no interest in participating in that at all, for reasons which I will not go into here. The best I can say about it is that it generates a lot of activity on the bands. I'll leave it at that.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Happy World Amateur Radio Day!

A good day to get on the air, if you can! And as I'm sitting here, typing this, HamAlert is letting me know that my good friend, Dave KD2FSI is just doing that! He seems to be busy on 40, 30 and 20 Meters.

I didn't realize that our "Amateur Radio Day at the Library" was so close to World Amateur Radio Day. Too bad they couldn't have exactly coincided.

Here's the list of stuff I'll be bringing:

KX3

Speaker / earbuds and "Y" cable

Straight key / Paddle and "Y" cable

Battery

Antenna - PARENDFEDZ (primary choice)

Jackite mast and support system

Laptop and AC adapter

USB adapter for straight key and paddle to laptop.

Morse Code charts

Alexloop (as a backup) if putting up the PAR is mot feasible

Pad and pen for logging any possible QSOs.

UTC Clock

Some QSL cards for display purposes.

And I think that should do it. Tonight we have a SPARC meeting via Zoom. A couple of the guys were going to visit the library this week to get an actual eyeball on the space we'll be dealing with. Hopefully, I'll get a better idea as to what will be possible for antennas.

One of the things I want to mention during the meeting is that someone needs to take photos and perhaps a video or two. These would look good on both the SPARC website and our social media page on Facebook. Maybe we can get another article in QST, like we did for Maker's Day a few years back.

Last night, I spent more time than I should have setting up the new weather station console that arrived from Ambient Weather Systems. I thought you could just set it up from the cell phone app, and be done with it. No, you actually have to go into the device via your laptop or a web browser on your phone, via the IP Address they mention in the instruction book. If I had read the manual more closely, and had not just assumed that I knew what I was doing, I would have been done much sooner.

In any case, I had to rename the weather station with the new console. It was KNJSOUTH60 - it is now KNJSOUTH208 for any weather geeks out there, like myself, who like to look at what the weather is in different locations around the country.

Which leads me to another topic. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a Ham Radio Newbie ask a question on one of the Amateur Radio groups on Facebook, only to be told "RTFM"! I wonder how many of us "veterans" have screwed up because we didn't read the manual? I know I did last night!

No questions from newcomers to the hobby are "stupid". Always be kind and helpful, so that your positive attitude will carry forward to the next generation of Hams.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Odds and ends

I managed to get outside for just a few minutes yesterday as the moon was approaching maximum coverage of of the sun (90%) at 3:24 PM local time.  I took a small shipping box and punched a hole in the side with a thumbtack. It projected a very tiny, but totally sharp image of the moon covering the sun revealing only a small crescent of sunlight. Of course, this is New Jersey after all, and clouds came in for the actual moment of maximum eclipse. But I can say I saw it. This reminded me of the eclipse of 1972, when I had my 3" refractor telescope set up in the backyard, projecting a magnified image onto a white piece of cardboard.

A co-worker managed to snap this with his iPhone.

BTW, Sean Kutzko KX9X was doing some AM Broadcast Band DXing during the eclipse. He observed that during the maximum period of darkening at his QTH, he was able to hear AM stations from over 500 miles away, that he normally can only hear at night. The D Layer was definitely affected! He recorded the AM Band during the eclipse from start to finish and will go over it in detail over the next few weeks, in order to get a better feel as to how propagation was affected.

I saw on Facebook yesterday, where Alex PY1AHD of AlexLoop fame has become a Silent Key:

It is with extreme sadness and sorrow that I share the passing of our friend and colleague Alex Grimberg (PY1AHD), AlexLoop, due to his renowned work with magnetic loop antennas. Inestimable loss for Brazilian amateur radio, an enterprising and visionary colleague - We are all saddened.

I got word from my friend that he was encouraged by your comments regarding using a local WebSDR as a receiver. He was able to hear stations on 20 Meters via the Web that he was not able to hear on his K3, due to the solar panel noise. He made three successful QSOs on 20 Meters and will most likely use WebSDR for making contacts on 14 MHz and above. Thanks for your encouragement! I'm very happy for him - he had been disappointed (that's putting it mildly) with his situation. It's good to know he can be on the air again.

My KM4CMT EFRW UNUN kit was delivered yesterday. I hope to have it built and ready to go for "Amateur Radio Day At The Library" on April 20th. If I don't have it ready, I'll probably employ the PAR ENDFEDZ or perhaps the EARCHI EFRW that I already have in the backpack. It's not that the kit is a complicated build - far from it. It's a matter of finding time. The next few weekends are really filled up now that lawn mowing season has started up again.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Apollo 15

 I'm a child of the Space Age - I grew up watching the launches of Shepard, Glenn - the entire Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs are my childhood and young adulthood memories.

I found this on the internet the other day. It's a film about the flight of Apollo 15 and Commander Dave Scott is one of the producers.

It's 55 minutes long, but is very well done and is worth the watch, IMHO - especially if your a space nerd/geek like I am.

https://film.apollo15hub.org/?fbclid=IwAR0dXWeMfYpJBomb3WFLAubahiTF3waPNbPwADQHG1Gay6oeDfM8b1cDVjA

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Going to re-do the shack a bit and make room for a new addition.

 Not sure why I ordered one of these, but I love the way it looks and it's arriving tomorrow.

It's the HamClock bundle by inovato Products.

I have a 24' TV/monitor that's sitting around doing nothing. I was going to put it out at the curb for a free pickup, but then I saw this. There's no real reason for having this other than the "cool factor" and I always salivated over the Geochron clocks since I was a Novice.

So some of the certificates on the shack wall may not be as visible as before, but I think when all is said and done, I'll have a more "Mission Control" look. This definitely validates my "nerd/geek" card. 

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Some Friday miscellania

 First - an attempt at humor (saw this on Facebook):

This made me laugh out loud and reminds me of home, because whenever I try to explain something regarding Amateur Radio that I'm excited about to Marianne or Joseph or Cara, I see that glazed, deer-in-the headlights kind of look forming in their eyes  Hi!

A while ago, I requested re-made license plates from the State of New Jersey. From before I was born we had black letters on a kind of pale buttery cream-ish color background. That changed for the Bicentennial, when the state went to a "Blue and Buff" plate based on the colors that General Washington wore during The Revolutionary War.  

When the original style was brought back in the 80s, with a more pronounced yellowish color, they were still using sheet metal and were stamped.. They were supposed to have some special kind of reflective coating on them that would make them easier to see by law enforcement agencies, especially at night.

The coating did not hold up well. The manufacturer probably didn't account for harsh New Jersey winters and the amount of road salt that gets put down each year. The coating started to peel and the colors underneath became discolored and pretty ugly. At this point, my plates became really shoddy looking, but I have seen others in much worse shape, some down to bare metal. The State has a program where you can get your plates replaced free of charge ....... IF you have "normal standard issue" plates. Vanity plates, "special" plates and Amateur Radio plate holders have to pay a fee. So what else is new? And get this, when you apply for re-made plates, you have to supply a picture of the old ones. I guess they have to be deemed "worthy" of remaking.

These are the new plates which are flat plastic, I think. They are either screened or printed and then coated with whatever it is that they coat license plates with. You can't see it easily here, but they also have one of those hologram things on them that you can better see if you look at them from a certain angle. I guess that's supposed to deter counterfeiting. If you look real closely between the "2" and the "L" in the photo you can get a hint of it.  Please notice that the new Amateur Radio license plates actually now say "Amateur Radio" at the bottom. Wow - who wudda thunk to put that there?!? 

Don't say anything to anybody, but my old plates are now tacked to the shack wall. Shhhhhhhhhhh! You're supposed to hand them in for disposal ...... but I paid for them, so that makes them mine, in my book. I seriously doubt that if ever any thief breaks into my house, that they'll be looking to escape with old license plates.  (I still have the N2ELW ones too! Double Shhhhhhhhhhhh!)

I also got rid of those ugly excuse-for-an-advertisement dealer license plate frames, and bought the ones the ARRL sells. I popped for a set of these when I purchased my Field Day shirt, and I'm glad I did. These are not flimsy, cheap plastic - these are made from a sturdy metallic something and are really substantial, and they look good, too.

The weekend is looking fantastic, weather-wise. I'll finally get a chance to drop those old SLA batteries at the scrap metal place. Maybe I'll actually be able to get on the air at some point this weekend, as the NJ QSO Party is tomorrow. I like to participate because the event is sponsored by my good friends down at the Burlington County Radio Club, and they are faithful supporters of the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt.

Not that it's been mentioned much of anywhere, but the NEQRP's QRP-Afield which is always held on the third Saturday in September, is also tomorrow. You can find all the details here - https://www.newenglandqrp.org/qrp-afield-2018/ I haven't seen any chatter at all about this on the e-mail reflectors except for one, on the Colorado QRP Club reflector. That's a shame. If events like this are going to get any decent amount of participation, the sponsor really needs to "talk it up" and keep it at eye level. I know not everyone will take notice, but if you don't publicize - no one will take notice. Then, before you know it, you have an event that's become something of the past.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Some things coming

I wouldn't say I'm excited about a few things that I've got coming - but I'm looking forward to their arrival. One is that 15 Ah battery that's coming from Sunny California. It's made it's way to Texas as of the last time I checked the tracking number. It should be here this week. I did not get a chance to get to Federal Metals on Saturday with the old batteries. That will happen this coming weekend.

I also have a set of SideKx end plates and a cover coming for the shack KX3. I was horrified by how dusty and dirty it had become when I took that picture that I featured in last week's blog post. The lighting down in the basement isn't the brightest, so the camera revealed what my eyes didn't notice. I went down to the shack last Wednesday evening with some Windex, Q-Tips and some paper towels. It didn't take long to get it looking factory new.

The problem was, I knew it was only going to happen again. It's the basement and it's not a finished basement. I went on eBay and just for the heck of it, typed in "SideKX KX3" and much to my surprise a set came up! These were from an estate sale from an SK. According to the description provided by his daughter,  they were just sitting down in the basement and from the photos provided, it looks like they were never used. There was a "Buy It Now" option for $25 and after looking at the SideKX website, I knew that was a bit more than 50% off. I grabbed that set in a hurry.  I already have a set of SideKX on the portable ops KX3, so I've installed them before. This shouldn't be a problem.

The other thing that I have coming and will probably be my last Amateur Radio purchase for a long time is another QYT K-8900D for the shack. The one I had in the car and brought downstairs - well ....  when I damaged the coax to the antenna, I must have fried the finals. It will still transmit, but I cannot bring up repeaters that I can easily hit with a handheld. To prevent that from ever happening again to the mobile unit, I re-routed the coax to a position where it does not get crunched or pinched by the rear hatch door. You'd think that being a Ham for over 40 years, I would have done that the first time. Sometimes, my stupidity knows no bounds, and even surprises me now and then.

The QYT is not coming until Thursday according to Amazon, which is OK, but our ARES/RACES District Bureau Chief asked me to run the monthly nest Tuesday evening, as he'll be away on business. Luckily, the repeater has such excellent coverage that using a handheld won't be a problem or even noticeable. I guess I'll just temporarily attach the handheld to the J-Pole coax and will run the net that way.  The Northern New Jersey ARES Net follows a half hour later and the repeater on which that net  occurs does not have as good coverage. Sometimes 5 Watts doesn't make it when that repeater is in a cranky mood.

Lastly, I checked into the St. Max HF Net again last night on 75 Meters at 24:00 UTC. Those ferrites that I put on the coax - WOW! I was able to hear everyone last night! The past few weeks, the weaker signals were "getting lost in the sauce". Not last night! Yes, it was probably in part due to better band conditions as several of the check-ins had commented on, but the background noise was so much lower than it has been. I can't chalk that up to band condition alone, the ferrites had to play a big part in that , too.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

More re-org

 Last Sunday I spent a couple hours cleaning up the shack.

Today, while the heat is still hot, I hope to spend a bit of time indoors re-organizing my portable ops backpack. Like the shack downstairs, it needs a clean out as that hasn't happened in a while. And that's part of the reason I brought the daypack to Lake George instead of the backpack. It's become bloated with things that I sometimes intend to use one day, but never get around to.

There are some antennas in there that I hardly ever use. They can get stored in another bag that I will specifically earmark for that purpose. I also need to go through the plastic tubs I have in there and get rid of (move to another location) the ones that just have superfluous stuff in them.

This will make the pack lighter and easier to tote around.  I'd also like to get over to Home Depot at some point and by enough PVC to emulate Dave KD2FSI's frame. I'm telling you, the man is a genius and I wish I had his sense of design and mechanical acumen.  I think he can go into a store, look at bits and pieces and draw up plans in his mind for all kinds of neat portable op accessories. I look at the same items and all I draw up is a blank.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Miscellania

I recently put a new 144/440 MHz antenna on the car.  Before we left for Lake George, I took the Jeep to the carwash. While temporarily removing the antenna that I had on the roof, I noticed that repeated openings and closings of the rear hatch had caused the jacket and braid of the coax to become damaged. I didn't replace it with anything too expensive, or tall, as I park in a parking deck. It's a simple Nagoya resonator on a magmount. It does the job.  I routed the coax a different way this time, through a path that hardly ever requires an open or close, so I should be good to go.

I also purchased another QYT K-8900D through Amazon.

It's not an Icom or Yaesu, but it's inexpensive and it satisfactorily does what it is supposed to. I had some gift cards from Amazon that were just sitting around and the VHF/UHF mobile that I had in the shack for ARES nets recently gave up the ghost, so I purchased another one of these. The K-8900D that I have in the Jeep was purchased and installed when I still had the Patriot. It has to be at least 4 years old or so and it's given me and continues to give me decent performance, so I went with another. It's not like I'm on VHF/UHF a lot anyway, so it seemed foolish to pop $200 or $300 or more, especially as I want to purchase that QMX later this summer.

I don't think I mentioned that I successfully replaced the coax on that magmount that I intend to use with the Buddistick. I did that on Saturday morning. It wasn't difficult, but it would have been nice to have an extra pair of hands. And how I hate how those tiny pieces of braid can get stuck in the skin of your finger pad. Worse than a wood splinter, by far! 

Checking out the connections with a VOM showed a short from center pin of the PL-259 to the hole in which the Buddistick will be screwed into. There was also a dead short between the PL-259's outer shell to the ground of the mount. And happily, there was an open between the center and ground connections. In theory, it should work just fine.

On a disappointing note, Marianne reminded me that we have a family event to attend this coming Sunday.  It starts at 1:00 PM and is about 30 or 40 miles south of us at one of my cousin's house. There will be no Flight of the Bumblebees for W2LJ this year. Heavy disappointed sigh.

To end this post on a few high notes, Bill W2AOF, Ron N2LCZ, Marv K2VHW and I met on Zoom this past Saturday evening to collaborate on SPARC's Field Day submission. Bill W2AOF successfully uploaded it to the ARRL before the deadline (which was yesterday) and according to what I was able to tell, we accumulated several hundred more points than we did last year. It will be interesting to see how we placed in the Hudson Division as there were a few clubs that cancelled their Field Day efforts as a result of the dire weather forecasts for that weekend. As it turned out, the weather was pretty much spectacular - until right before teardown, when all Hell broke loose!

Lastly, between several of us who were listening, and by our combined efforts, we were able to correctly copy that crypto Morse Code message from KPH for my friend Tim K0ETH. Tim let us know that he was able to plug our copy into an Enigma machine that he has access to (I guess it helps to be a real life nuclear physicist!) and decode the crypto message. Success!

What was copied was:

DONITZ FRLOOKS 2013Z OKTOBER 7  BT 100  BT DBK WSE  BT EVJMZ VISFP CVCBJ SNQDF CVNPL CNFFO EVSLH YOSKU EUWPB QLRGR XRGNW OFQCQ KZRJT AUOLG DVSGM GJFRR OZLRC ANKRI NNTCG WVLRC

This decoded to:

"FORCED TO SUBMERGE DURING ATTACK X DEPTH CHARGES X LAST ENEMY POSITION GRID AJ NINE EIGHT SIX THREE X I AM FOLLOWING".

I was very happy to have been asked to help and am glad that my small contribution aided his efforts.

My Dad served in WWII in the Signal Corp. At the beginning of the United State's involvement, he was stationed in England and was part of the team that were developing and refining RADAR. My Dad never became a Ham, but I like to think that my Amateur Radio genes came from him. Thanks, Dad!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

What came down DID go back up!

 The shed came and the install went rather quickly. It's an amazing process to watch.

They back it in on this trailer which has a second set of wheels that come down that are on a perpendicular axis to the main wheels so not only can they back it in, but they can swivel it it the direction they need.

The driver can control all the mechanized movements of the trailer using a hand held remote. It looked exactly like a TV remote from where I was standing. He can see the trailer movements as they are occurring and he is controlling them real time. Nothing is done from the driver's seat, and there's no guess work.

The shed in its final resting place. They pivoted it and made the final positioning adjustments by placing two long lengths of what looked to be 8" PVC pipe, which acted as rollers. Like moving blocks to build pyramids!

Fortunately, they did not have to remove the fence post that supported my W3EDP mast. I actually could have left it up, but who knew? With my luck, if I had left it up, I would have been panicking that I had to take it down while they waited. The whole process took about an hour andthey  finished early enough where I was able to run the coax back to the Butternut and re-install the W3EDP and my 2 Meter/440MHz J-Pole.

When I disconnected the coax from the Butternut, I was happy to see the coax connectors were still bright and shiny. I had covered them with a layer of electrical tape, then a coating of plumber's putty and then a final wrapping of electrical tape.  This time I went with a layer of electrical tape, a layer of Flex-Seal Flextape, and then the final coating of electrical tape.  I have used the Flextape before and it has been very effective in creating a water-tight barrier.

I had to postpone my weekly ragchew with W3BBO. We'll hook up tomorrow. I wanted to get the antennas up and the associated work out of the way. Boy, I used a lot of cable ties securing the Butternut's coax to the top rails of the chain link fence, but it came out looking nicely done! That's a good thing as the weather for today and tomorrow is supposed to be very rainy with lots of thunder.

I may not be able to get on the air, due to the weather, but at least I can sleep well knowing the installation of both shed and antennas is done.

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!

The purpose of Amateur Radio

 at least, as defined by the Federal Communications Commission for Radio Amateurs in the United States:

Part 97.1  - Basis and Purpose

The rules and regulations in this part are designed to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following principles: 

(a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications. 

(b) Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art. 

(c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communication and technical phases of the art. 

(d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts. 

(e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.

Special emphasis on the last one. Be an ambassador for goodwill!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

New Year's Eve

Happy New Year!

For a lot of us 2021 was a mix - there were some good times and some you'd rather forget.

We bid some friends goodbye, but we also made some new ones.

As we turn the calendar page and ring in 2022, my wish for you is for a new year filled with hope, health, happiness and way more ups than downs!

Personally, I have a few goals for the coming year - but the ones germane to this blog are to get on the air a lot more than I did in 2021 and to write more entries this coming year. 2021 had the second least amount of posts since I started this back in 2005. That's not to say that 2022 will be filled with fluff just to eat up blogger.com space. I hope to spend more time relaying and reporting about the things we have in common - QRP, building, CW, and Amateur Radio, in general.

As the clock strikes Midnight tonight and I lift a glass with my lovely wife, Marianne, please know that I'll also be lifting that glass for all of us - hoping that 2022 will be kind to us all.

And once again, thanks for being here and sharing this journey with me.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!