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News from friendly sources tonight:

As pointed out to me by my friend Drew W2OU – this was posted Sunday on the “DC to White Light” blog:

http://scopefocus.blogspot.com/2012/12/theres-group-of-people-out-there-men.html

The following was posted to QRP-L by Hank N8XX today:

The Stew Perry Top Band Challenge is this coming Weekend. It starts at 1500Z December 29 and ends at 1500Z December 30. One may operate a maximum of 14 hours during the 24 hour period.

The call 160 meters “Top Band” but I figure this will need adjusting, since we will soon have an allocation around 500 KHz, or 600 meters. But, for now, let’s let sleeping lies dog (or some converse thereof).

Details of this event may be found at
http://www.kkn.net/stew/stew.rules.txt

The scoring is a bit convoluted, and the scoring team does all the scoring, so I’m not worrying about how this is done.

BUT, it DOES have a QRP category, and one gets a multiplier for operating with <5 considerably.=”considerably.” even=”even” may=”may” p=”p” platform=”platform” scoring=”scoring” the=”the” watts=”watts” which=”which”>
So, why not crank up the wavelength to about 166.666 ⅔ and give it “ye olde college try.”

72/73 de n8xx Hg
QRP >99.44% of the time

Thanks to both Drew and Hank for some interesting stuff.

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

He was to me. (Thanks to my beautiful wife Marianne and my great kids, Cara and Joey!)

I was gifted with a Kindle Fire HD which is one great lil’ tablet.  I love to read and this is soooooo nice.  I thought the touch screen would be more of a pain than the regular Kindle’s back and forth buttons.  But the touch screen actually makes going from page to page of a book more effortless.  The fact that I can also check my e-mail, surf the Web on it (read blogs) and even watch movies on it makes it all the more of a neat gift.

Marianne also bought me a few “QRP – When you care to send the very least” items from Cafe Press.  The sweatshirts they sell are so nice!  Thick and warm, not flimsy and thin.  The design is big too, it takes up a major portion of the front of the shirt, so there’s no mistaking that QRP is the passion of the wearer.  I was worried that when the design got enlarged to fill the front of a shirt that it might look fuzzy.  It doesn’t!  It’s sharp and prominent and other Hams will know right away what’s going on there.

She also brought me the carrying Field Bag, which will be great for carrying my Kindle Fire and my other Android tablet to and from work.  My brief case was getting kind of ratty, so this is a good replacement.

Cafe Press does a great job and I’m very happy with both items that Marianne got for me.

I also got a nice pair of warm gloves and Joey gave me a “World’s Best Dad” poster and pen and Cara gave me a very cute “Dad” Christmas ornament for the tree.  I did very, very well.

How did you all do in the Zombie Shuffle?  Paul NA5N has posted the preliminary results here.  I came in the middle of the pack, where is about where I expected to land.  I know there are a few more great contesters (such as John K4BAI) who haven’t sent in summaries yet.  I will be a happy camper if I remain within the top 20 when all is said and done.

Don’t forget that next Monday night is Straight Key Night.  Time for me to get a little practice on the Bug again, before the big event.  I sure hope that 2013 turns out to be less stress filled than 2012 was. I really would like to try the “QSO a day” thing for the entire year again.  It’s hard to do that when every time you turn around, something comes up that eats up all your time and attention.

Here’s to a better 2013 for all of us!

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

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

Christmas is almost upon us.

Preparations are winding down. Hopefully, all your trees are trimmed, houses have been decorated, gifts bought and wrapped, and all baking done and goodies carefully put away.

As Mary and Joseph travel towards the star, may your hearts find wishes granted and prayers answered.

May you and your loved ones be blessed this Christmas with the Peace that is beyond all understanding.

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

Surprise!  The world did NOT end yesterday …….. and seriously, did you think for even the tiniest bit that it would?

But it was the shortest day of the year and Winter has officially arrived in the Northern Hemisphere (Happy Summer to you folks lucky enough to enjoy it in the Southern half!).  So for once, I looked towards the dark hours, because at sunset the 2012 Zombie Shuffle commenced.  I made one QSO on 20 Meters with John K4BAI before being called to dinner.  After that, the family went for a drive to go view some Chrsitmas lights.

When we got home, I jumped on the radio – about 9:30 PM and stayed on for a little over two hours.  Much to my surprise, I heard not a Zombie soul on 40 Meters.  Even though I know that 40 Meters goes long, I expected to hear something there – but no dice.

For me, all the action was confined to 80 Meters. When all was said and done, 16 Zombies were nabbed including 4 Maya Kings.  Not great; but not as terrible as I thought it was going to be with 40 Meters out of the picture.

Thanks to all the Zombies and Maya Kings that made it into my log – and special thanks to Paul NA5N for running the event.

This afternoon, I went grocery shopping and you would have thought I went to a regular shopping mall!  There was traffic everywhere and a close parking spot was not to be found.  What is it about the Saturday before Christmas that makes seasoned motorists drive like they’ve never been before the wheel before? Traffic and crowds were a nightmare – glad I have all my Christmas shopping done. Now …. onto wrapping!

As Advent draws to a close and Christmas draws ever closer, I leave you today with a beautiful Advent hymn – “Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel” which is being sung in the original Latin (it started out as a Gregorian chant) by Hayley Westenra who has an absolutely angelic voice.

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

Paul NA5N – Head Zombie and Maya King posted this today:

“I have some exciting news updates regarding the End-of-the-World Zombie Shuffle Friday (tomorrow) night.

First, I was contacted by a ham in Belize who heard about our special event and asked to participate in the Shuffle from the real Maya empire.  Of course I asked him to be a Maya King!

He has agreed and thus will be our real, authentic “High Maya King” on the air, and some nice DX.  (Turns out, his wife is Mayan).  He was assigned Zombie number 1010, so he will be worth 1010+666 = 1676 points.  So listen for a Mayan Zombie who’s calls start with “V31.”  He will be operating QRP. He said he lives about 150 yards from the ocean … so we’ll be the first to know when the Mayan Empire slides into the sea!!!
 
Jan passed 1,000 zombie numbers last night.
# 999 was assigned to Terry K9DXA
#1000 was assigned to Steve W1SGC
#1015 was just assigned.
So there will be a few “4-digit” Zombie numbers on the air.
 
Our friend Ed, W1RFI (who will be in the Shuffle) asked why working Maya Kings aren’t worth “2012” points vs. 666?  All I can say is: “Dang!  Why didn’t I think of that?”  Good going, Ed.  However, I am hesitant to change the scoring rules only one day before the event.  My apologies for missing such an obvious good idea.
 
And, the Central Connecticut QRP Club will be on the Shuffle using their famous club call of W1FB.  This, of course, was the call of legendary QRP ham Doug DeMaw (SK), who authored numerous ARRL QRP related books and articles, and designer of the Tuna Tin 2 and other legacy QRP rigs.  What a great tribute to Doug (who is now a Maya King).
 
So we’ve added two more Maya Kings to the rolls … W1FB and our V31 High King in Belize.  You’ll just have to find out who the others are.
 
It’s almost criminal to have this much fun in the face of the entire destruction of the human race in just hours!    Are we QRPers and Zombies, or what?

72, Paul NA5N
Zombie NR 04
Zombie Shuffle rules and summary sheet at:
http://www.zianet.com/qrp/ZOMBIE/zombie.htm“

Thanks, Paul!  I am looking forward to this tomorrow evening!  And since tomorrow is the Winter Solstice and we have the least amount of daylight, it gives us extra operating time for the Shuffle this year.

72 de Larry W2LJ – For tomorrow night at least – Maya King #858
QRP – When you care to send the very least!