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

A topic being discussed on the CWOps e-mail reflector is about two letters to the editor in the May issue of QST.  I won’t re-print them here. If you get QST, they are to be found on page 24 and the header is “Proud to be a No-Code Extra”. These are in response to another letter to the editor in the April edition of QST bemoaning the fact that the Extra license “is not what it used to be” now that the code requirement is gone (in essence – not the exact words).

The authors of the May letters are steamed by the concept that they are some how inferior because they did not pass the 20 WPM Morse Code test that used to be required to earn Amateur Extra.

I guess they have a point; but as usual – both sides of the arguement have their merit.

Perhaps what we need to do is just get over with labeling everything!  It seems all human beings (not just Hams) love to do that – label, compartmentalize, file and designate.  The problem is, as human beings, we rarely fit neatly into any one compartment.

Black, white, Asian, Hispanic, liberal, conservative, Republican, Democrat, gay, straight, Extra, General, Technician, and on an on and on and on until it makes your head swim. And don’t let’s get started on the nationalities or religions – too many to begin even thinking about listing here for the purposes of this discussion.

I think one of the worse trends that has ever happened in the last few years is all this “celebration of diversity”.   Seriously. We have come to the point where we concentrate too much on what makes us different instead of how so many of us are so much the same.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t meant that we should ignore our differences – we should not all become just some amorphous, giant blob of humanity. We should be proud of our races, nationalities, creeds – but not to the point where they become exclusionary.  We need to look at each other, as well ……. people.

Whether you’re white, black, brown, red, yellow, or purple – whether you’re a man or woman, whether you’re Polish, Italian, Kenyan, Afghanistani or whatever – we all have the same needs and dreams.  We want roofs over our heads, food on our tables, and we want our kids to have a better life than we’ve had. We want to be loved.

Once we realize that despite our apparent differences, that we’re all basically the same – maybe then we’ll truly have peace some day.  Pie in the sky?  Maybe.

Sorry – I didn’t mean to get all “Kumbaya” on you; but some times I get really tired of what are basically, silly arguments that in the end, don’t amount to a hill of beans.

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

I got my April copy of CQ and it’s no April Fool’s joke – the issue is dedicated to QRP!  How cool is that?

Included feature articles:

QRP in Paradise by Woody Hester WD9F
The “Splinter” QRPp Trans-Reciver by Bill Minikiewicz W4FSV
A QRP Superstation by R. Scot Rought KA8SMA
CQ Reviews – the MFJ-9200 QRPocket CW Transciever by Rich Moseson W2VU
Learning Curve – A QRP Primer by Rich Arland K7SZ (who I had the honor of working this past weekend in the QRP ARCI Spring QSO Party).
The regular QRP column by Cam Hartford N6GA
The regular Kit Building column by Joe Eisenberg K0NEB

Yes, we always have great QRP publications at our fingertips like QRP Quarterly and Sprat; but it’s nice when the “mainstream” publications feature QRP.  You never know, maybe we’ll soon meet some new friends who will be joining us after being introduced to QRP by the April edition of CQ.

Thanks to Rich Moseson and all the fine editors at CQ.  And a special thanks to Cam and Joe, who keep the fine articles coming all year ’round!

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

Thanks to K7TRY, now we know!

 Hopefully, I will be seeing this for myself in just a few short weeks!

72 de Larry W2LJ

Got this nice e-mail from John K4BAI, QRPer and contester, exemplar :

Hi Larry:

Hope you will be able to participate in our annual Georgia QSO Party on Apri1 14 and 15. All information can be found on the GQP Home Page at http://georgiaqsoparty.org. It runs 10 hours on Sat (1800Z to 0359Z Sunday) and 10 hours on Sunday (14Z to 2359Z) on 160 to 6 meters CW/Digital and SSB. Georgia with 159 counties has more counties than any other US state other than TX and the small size of most of them means that the mobiles and rovers are frequently changing counties.

Suggested frequencies are 1815 and 45 kHz up on CW and on 1865, 3810, 7190, 14250, 21300, and 28450 SSB. Also 50095 and 50135 on 6M. Digital would be near traditional digital calling frequencies. Multipliers for Mixed Mode stations are counted per mode (not per band).

Band conditions have been pretty good recently, including 20M often being open at night and 15 and 10 providing a lot of QSOs during the daylight hours.

Rapidly moving mobiles have been a hallmark of the GQP, particularly on CW.

Please join in the fun for as much time and you can and send in your log.

Awards are available for high power, low power, and QRP entries from the various states, provinces, countries and GA counties.

Thanks for your support and for passing this information on to others who might be interested.

I should be QRV from many GA counties as W4AN/M.

73, John, K4BAI.

So folks, if you have some time this weekend, let’s support our fellow Hams from the great state of Georgia.  There should be lots of activity – build up your logs and perhaps even be the QRP winner from your state!

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

As I thought, I did not have any real time to devote to this contest, this being Easter weekend.

In about an hour and a half total operating time, I made 18 QSOs – the best DX being EA2LU, Jorge in Spain.  One QSO was made on 40 Meters, and the rest were made on 20 and 15 Meters.  15 Meters was the pleasant surprise.  There was a decent amount of activity there and the signals were nice.  QSB was a fast and furious beast to deal with, though.

If it were any other weekend, I probably would have been able to devote more time. But it is what it is.

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