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FYBO was fun today.  No big effort as there were way too many other things going on that vied for my attention.  In between chores and duties, I was able to get out to the driveway, where I had the PFR3A on a battery in the back of my Jeep.  The antenna was the Buddistick on the magmount on the top of the roof.  Kudos to Bob W3BBO for suggesting this setup – it worked great!  The car body acts as a much better counterpoise/ground plane than the single wire and using the magmount eliminates the need for mast and guying.  So if you’re not hiking – this is a great way to use a Buddistick.

It ends up being much taller than a standard Hamstick (definitely not drivable), but the SWR was very nice and I was able to use the PFR3As internal tuner to even get that ironed out flat.

First QSO of the day was with Hank N8XX operating as “Amigo” with the WQ8RP callsign.  In all, I made 11 contacts in between grocery shopping, baking some bread for my daughter’s choir bake sale, etc, etc, etc.

Here’s a better look at the antenna.

On 40 Meters, I undid the tap and extended the whip all the way.  That gave me about a 1.4:1 SWR.  I only made one contact on 40 Meters and that was with Mark NK8Q in Pennsylvania.  He was using only 1 Watt and almost blew the ear buds out of my ears.  I don’t think I have ever heard 1 Watt as a 599 Plus before today.

The temperature was 45F when I started, so for simplicity sake, I used that throughout, even though I think it started dropping for my last couple of QSOs.  I think the lowest temperature that was reported to me was 32F and the highest was 76F.

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

Since it’s Friday, it must be date night.  20, 30 and 40 Meters are spectacular!  Not a bit of local neighborhood QRN – the local Plasma TV watchers must be out to dinner or a movie.

The FOC is all over lower 40 Meters with their contest, so I switch over to 30 Meters and while quickly scanning, I hear a pileup.  I have no idea who it is, but by listening carefully, I can tell that they are listening up 2 kHz.  Abiding by the rule, “Work first, worry later”, I nabbed them on my third try.

They eventually gave their call and it turns out to be the HU2DX DXpedition down in El Salvador.  The fact that they were able to dig me out of the pileup is no wonder.  Here’s what they’re using:

For SSB and CW, two K3s and a K2.  Digimodes will be done through a Yaesu FT-840. The antenna on 30 Meters is a Spiderbeam.

Not only did I snag a DXpedition, but I score another country for DDXCC!

Sweet!

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

I really thought my MOCAD streak for 2012 was going to come to an end.

Last night, I could not participate in the 40 Meter QRP-L Fox hunt due to rally bad local QRN.  80 Meters was like a desolate, deserted island.  No QRN; but no signals either.  Checking the Reverse Beacon Network, my CQs were being heard all up and down the Eastern Seaboard. There were just no takers.

Fortunately, I was able to get on this morning between dropping off Joey and Cara at school and leaving for work.  I heard Eduardo CO8LY on 17 meters calling “CQ DX” and gave him a call.  I got an answer, so Eduardo in the log (for the umpteenth time, probably) and the streak lives another day.

And if I didn’t make any contacts, it would have been a disappointment – BUT ….. the world will still have kept on turning, the sun still shining, the bunnies and birdies would still be dancing on the lawn.  In the grand scheme of Things, this miniscule streak means nothing.  But human nature being what it is ……..

Tomorrow is FYBO.  I hope to get on for an hour or two in the afternoon. The forecast is for partly cloudy skies and a high in the low to mid 40s.  I will be using the PFR3A and the Buddistick on the magmount on top of the Jeep.  Not a true mobile set up as there’s NO WAY that I would drive around with that antenna on my car.  First underpass I tried to navigate would be a disaster! I will be restricted to 20 and 40 Meters as that’s what the PFR3A has.  If 15 Meters is way open and all the action is there, it looks like I will be SOL.  But if that’s the case, then them’s the breaks.

The other thing I want to do this weekend, if I get the time, is to play around with a new acquisition.  Through my good friend Bob W3BBO, I was able to get my mitts on a “pre-owned” MFJ-1026 unit. I would like to hook that up see if it helps give the knock out punch to this local QRN.  I will have to utilize the K2′s two antenna connectors now as one for transmitting and the other for listening.  According to the 1026 unit’s instructions, you really shouldn’t use it with a rig that has a built in autotuner.  But, if I use “A” to listen with and “B” to transmit with, I should be OK.  Just have to be careful and pay attention to what I am doing.

Good luck to all the QRPers who will be participating in FYBO. Hope to hear and work you tomorrow.

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

Great success in the 80 Meter Fox hunt tonight, due to the great ears of Dave N1IX and Tom KV2X. The fact that Dave lives in New Hampshire and Tom in New York was to my benefit as these are pretty easy hops for me on 80 Meters.

I went to the ARRL’s Web page today and downloaded the Diamond DXCC (DDXCC) Scorecard, which is an Excel file that you can use to keep track of the entities that you have worked towards the award.  So far in January, I worked 15 entities that count.  So I am 15% of the way there.  Not a terrible start and we have the major DX contests still to come – the ARRL DX Contest coming up in February as a matter of fact.  I don’t know if I will be able to achieve the certificate; but it is a worthwhile and fun goal for the year.

15 Meters did not seem as active this morning as yesterday morning.  I did manage to get Cuba in the log, working CO6WD before heading off to work.  Down the band, there was a huge pileup, spanning many kHz; but for the life of me, I don’t know who everyone was trying to work.  I couldn’t hear the quarry (and I didn’t have the DX Cluster up on screen); but I would assume it was most likely either HK0NA, TN2T or perhaps VP6T.  These seem to be the three “biggies” right now.

The more that I am on the air this year, the more I am coming to realize that “Happiness is listening to a good fist”.  I hope that I fall into that category; but I can sure tell you that there are a lot of folks out there who don’t seem to.  And that’s a shame.

The problem seems to be spacing and “hurrying up”.  And I think I make that mistake myself from time to time, especially if I’m a bit tired and not paying attention to what I am doing.  A long time ago, my Mom gave me a little angel that hung from the rear view mirror in my car that said, “Never drive faster than your Guardian Angel can fly”.  I think we Morse Code enthusiasts should have something along the same lines.  ”Never send faster than your fist can send” (or something like that!).  If you get sloppy, or take for granted what you are doing and don’t pay attention to the task at hand, you’re going to sound pretty awful.  And that’s not fun for anybody.

Sending good Morse is an art.  It is a deliberate act that takes concentration and diligence and practice. Spacing is just as important if not more important than anything else.  It’s a good thing to remind ourselves, from time to time.

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

A little back story is in order to set the scene.

I got two quick QSOs in the books tonight as January 29th turned to January 30th UTC time.  Both were on 30 Meters.  The local QRN was non-existant and since today is the layoff weekend between AFC and NFC Championship football and the Super Bowl, I am not all that surprised.  This is why I’m leaning towards the culprit being a Plasma TV.

Anyway, the QSOs were with PJ2/AA9A and KI9E.  I used the Butternut HF9V in both cases.  In any event, I wanted to get this out of the way quickly tonight, not because I don’t like being on the radio (you all know THAT’s not true!).  My son Joey asked me to watch a movie with him that starts in a half hour.

I can’t deny a request like that!

Hey, if you get a chance, hop on over to John AE5X’s blog.  He has a link up to pictures from the HK0NA DXpedition.  Wow!  This is definitely not a “lap of luxury” DXpedtion!

‘Nite all, I’m headed upstairs for a little Phineas and Ferb!

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

‘Twas a fine day on the radio.  Lots of activity and lots of stations to be worked.  I added a few new ones, new ones as far as working for Diamond DXCC goes, that is.

C6AKQ – Bob N4BP in the Bahamas
UT7UJ – Dmitry in the Ukraine
OE5PGL – Peter in Austria
CT8/HB9CQL – Rudolf in the Azores

and ………

HK0NA on 17 Meters this afternoon.

Yay! Finally managed to break through the pile up.  The team has been there a few weeks now and the pileups don’t seem to be diminishing at all, they’re still in great demand.  Today was the loudest I have ever heard them to date and was lucky enough to get them in my log.

I also spent a few minutes this afternoon working on the antenna setup that I hope to use next Saturday for FYBO.  I hooked up the Buddistick to the magmount and stuck it on top of the Jeep.  Using an antenna analyzer, I found the settings that I need to be at for SWRs of 1.2:1 on both 20 and 40 Meters.  I didn’t make any QSOs but did do some listening.  I heard Ken WA8REI in QSO and his signal was so loud, I thought my ear drums were going to burst.  One of the few times that I actually had to turn the volume control on the PFR3A almost all the way down.

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