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Wow – what a difference a different wire makes.

I signed on to the 40 Meter QRP Fox hunt tonight and spotted Dave AB9CA pretty much right off the bat.  He was a bit on the weak side – and then I switched on over to the W3EDP from the EDZ  Dave went from super weak to 569 – easy!  To say I was amazed by the increase in his signal by changing wires is an understatement.  I went from thinking that I might not have a chance to getting in the log.

Drew K9CW in Illinois is even tougher.  No matter which antenna I switch to, this is going to be tough. I am hearing him the best on the W3EDP, though. Right now about 339 at best.

Fingers are crossed for an improvement in propagation.

Addendum – Got Drew ……… using the Butternut HF9V!  Didn’t think the vertical was the best club in the bag for 40 Meters; but it did the trick.  So much for conventional wisdom!

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

Another reason why Steve WGØAT is one of my Ham Radio QRP heroes …….. imagine hiking up to a mountain top in the pre-dawn darkness, just so you can activate a SOTA mountaintop as the sun rises.

That is dedication, my friends!

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

I just finishing lofting the W3EDP antenna into the sky.  I guess it is guaranteed to work, because:

A) I decided to do this on the day that a major DX contest if underway, and

B) I waited for the coldest day of Thanksgiving weekend to do it!  Temperature is only 42F (5C) and the very gust winds are causing wind chill factor, making it feel like the low 30’s (closer to 0C).  My fingers were freezing while tying knots in the antenna rope and untying knots (tangles) in the antenna wire.

Just to make sure that I did in fact, not waste a good portion of the afternoon, I made two quick contacts. One was a contest QSO with C6AQM on 20 Meters and the other was a short rag chew with Bob N1MFW on 30 Meters.

So the antenna works!  How well will remain to be determined as I use it more and more.  So currently the antenna set up is the Butternut HF9V as Antenna 1 and the Antenna 2 outlet of the K3 goes to my antenna switch, where I can pick either the W3EDP or the 88′ EDZ.

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

Two topics that I wanted to bring up today:

Number One – Don’t forget that this weekend (starting in about 45 minutes from the time that I am typing this out) is the CQWW DX Contest – CW.  The exchange on this is soooooooo simple – RST and your CQ Zone (in my case, that would be 5).

If you are thinking of starting QRP DXCC, in the middle of working on QRP DXCC, or towards the end of reaching QRP DXCC – this contest is a good way of helping to achieve your goal.

Don’t be put off by the high speed and don’t be put off with the fact that you are running 5 Watts or less.

A) There will be plenty of DX stations on the air.  You WILL find ones that you will be able to copy.  Search and pounce until you find someone that doesn’t sound like a buzzsaw to you.  Hey, I’ve been at this for over 30 years and I still run into stations where I just shake my head and say,”Huh?”  If you’re not 10000% confident in your CW copying capabilities, you will have the chance to hear that one station give out their call a jazillion times as they run stations. And if that still doesn’t work for you, and you can only copy a partial call – it’s not a mortal sin to log onto DX Summit or some other DX Cluster to see if you can find that station listed by someone else on the band/frequency that you are hearing them (as long as you are not “officially” entering the contest – then I believe the use of spotting is not allowed). But make your best effort. By the end of the contest you will be amazed at how much your CW copying ability can improve in the course of a weekend.

B)  Put out of your mind that you are QRP. I really mean that. Approach the contest just like anyone else running a 100 Watt barefoot rig.  Look, you’re not going to be able to work everyone you hear – but concentrate on the loud ones at first and don’t be afraid to throw out your call.  Contesting brings out the bionic ears on some of these guys and it’s amazing what they can pull out of the aether – ESPECIALLY towards the end of the contest when they are still hungry for points.  Serious DX contest stations that might not otherwise give you the time of day under normal circumstances WILL go out of their way to pump up their contest score.  Take advantage of that.  As the contest progresses (especially the last 24 hours) you will find that you will be able to work stations other than just the loudest ones, too.  But don’t beat your head against a wall.  If you’re trying and you’re just not being heard, move on and come back and try a little bit later.  Propagation may improve and work in your favor.

Number Two – The Android tablet has some Ham apps available that I didn’t even think of when I purchased mine – namely the Zinio and Kindle apps, which are both free by the way.

“Ham related?” you ask?  Yes, through Zinio, I can read both CQ Digital and WorldRadio Online (Note – the subscriptions for these are NOT free). And since the tablet is small and is a WiFi device, I can take it with me into “The Library” to read, if I choose to – or just about anywhere else for that matter.

The Kindle app is strange in a way.  For books, I actually prefer using my Kindle.  But for e-zines that come in a .pdf format?  It’s perfect!  I could never get the “K9YA Telegraph” to load into my Kindle properly. But with the Kindle app on the tablet, it’s better than sliced bread! Prior to this, when I wanted to read “The Telegraph”, I had to sit in front of the desktop or the netbook.  Not always the most convenient situation. I loaded the latest issue onto my tablet just to see how it would work; and I was like a kid on Christmas.  I have a whole bunch of back issues on my desktop computer that I am going to move onto the tablet via DropBox.  Now I will be able to enjoy them in a more relaxing setting.

The ARRL just recently introduced an app for idevices for QST Digital.  Hopefully, they will come out with an Android app soon and I can do all my Ham Radio magazine reading on my tablet – with the exception of QRP Quarterly, of course ……. although………… anybody from QRP-ARCI reading?  😉

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

As you’ve read this blog throughout 2012, it’s been kind of a tough year for W2LJ and family. There have been many trials and tribulations:

My Mom passed away in May, Marianne’s Mom passed away in October. My Mom’s best friend’s husband passed away this September – and even though he wasn’t a blood relative, he was “family” nonetheless. Our cat Sadie passed away this February and we found out this summer, that our dog Jesse has cancer. We’re dealing with Jesse on a day by day basis, trying to keep our 13 year old friend as comfortable as we can. And then we had Hurricane Sandy and the aftermath to deal with. And to top all of that off, I was notified by the company that I work for, that we lost the contract for my department where I work; so I will probably be facing unemployment sometime in December or early next year.

But I’m not the only one with troubles, some have less …. some have more. And I know that even with all that we have been through and continue to endure, my family has been and continues to be richly blessed.

Thanks be to God, I still have a job, if even for a little while. Marianne, Joey and Cara and I all are all in good health. We have a safe, warm house to live in and have plenty of food. Marianne is in no danger of losing her job, so even if I have to collect unemployment insurance for a time while I look for a new job, we won’t starve. We still have my big sister Ann Marie and her family; and we still have Marianne’s brother Tim and his wife, as well as extended family. I have my friends and I have Amateur Radio (the world’s greatest hobby) and I have all of you – whom I consider to be good friends as well.

So I am thankful, for all of that and more. God has been so good to us and continues to be – He truly deserves my thanks, this coming Thursday and always. So when we gather around the table tomorrow, I am hoping to be able to say Grace and give thanks in a steady, strong and unwavering voice. It will be an emotional moment for me and may be difficult to do without faltering, but my thanks to God will be completely from the bottom of my heart.

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

Just by chance, I happened to look at the stats for visits here.

Yesterday, there was a very sharp spike – a lot of visitors – over twice the norm.

Was I mentioned somewhere?

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

I really like Thanksgiving – it is my favorite holiday.

I know that I have many readers that are not from the US, who might have heard of Thanksgiving; but might not be familiar with the history behind the holiday. Here’s a short and by no means authoritative version, of the US version of Thanksgiving. Our Canadian friends also celebrate Thanksgiving (on the second Monday of October); but the historical basis behind their celebration is different than ours.

In the year 1620 a small ship named the Mayflower, left Plymouth, England and headed for “The New World”. The passengers were mainly a group of people known as Pilgrims, who had left England to come to a new land where they could practice their religion publicly without oppression or harassment. The rest of the passengers were people who wanted to come and settle a new land and make a life for themselves.

The Mayflower landed at what is now known as Plymouth, Massachusetts in November of 1620. Shortly after landing, the settlers came in contact with an Indian (read – Native American for the PC crowd) who was a member of the Abenaki tribe. A few days later this Native American returned with a friend named Squanto, who was a member of the Pawtuxet tribe. Earlier in his life, Squanto had been kidnapped by an English sea captain who had sold him into slavery. Squanto escaped and managed to get to London for a time, where he was able to successfully find a way to get back to America (and learn the English language in the process). Squanto introduced the Pilgrims to the nearby Wampanoag tribe. With Squanto’s help, an alliance was formed between the Wampanoag and the settlers which lasted for a period of over 50 years. If this alliance hadn’t been formed, the settlers probably would have totally perished that first harsh Winter. Even though the Wampanoag chief, Massasoit had donated food and provisions to the settlers to see them through that first brutal and snowy cold Winter, almost half of the passengers of the Mayflower perished from scurvy, malnutrition and other disease.

The following Spring, Squanto and the Indians taught the surviving Pilgrims where to fish, how to catch eels, how to plant corn, barley and other crops, which indigenous plants were poisonous and which were not, among other things. The planting and growing season of 1621 proved to be exceptionally good, ending with a bountiful harvest that would, without a doubt, be more than enough to sustain the Pilgrims through the next Winter. The leader of the settlement, Plymouth Plantation, declared that a feast be held that November. It lasted three days and the Native Americans were invited to celebrate the bountiful harvest; and 90 came. The Pilgrims had just completed a “Fowling mission” and the Wampanoag brought five freshly killed deer – so the menu from the First Thanksgiving feast (according to written records) consisted of venison, turkey, goose, duck, various fish (cod and bass among them), eels, clams (quahogs), and fruits and vegetables. As the Pilgrims stores of sugar were used up, there was probably not much in the way of pies or cakes!

Days of Thanksgiving have been proclaimed on and off throughout our history, beginning during the Revolutionary War. But Thanksgiving, as we come to know it, came into its own when a national Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November was proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. And since that time, it has been celebrated annually.

On a radio note – last weekend, I tried hauling up the W3EDP without much success.  Trying to bring down the short end of the frayed and snapped Zepp was futile as it is unmercifully snagged in my neighbors trees and bushes.  So a new plan evolved, which I will try to implement this coming weekend.  Instead of using the mast on that side of the yard, I will run the W3EDP from the house to the maple, horizontally (actually sloping slightly upwards).  Then from the maple, I will allow it to slope down towards the privacy fence post in that far corner of the yard and will tie it off with however much antenna rope I will need – probably no more that 5 -6 feet worth.

I am hoping that the old saying will hold true – “Where there is a will, there’s a way!”

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