AmateurRadio.com

I am so happy to see that Jim W1PID’s outdoor QRP adventure stories have now been picked up over at AmateurRadio.com, which is a great site, by the way.

Since Jim’s posts will be picked up there, I would ask you to keep an eye out for them and will no longer mention them here, in order to avoid a duplication of effort.

If you’re into QRP and the outdoors, or would like to be, or find yourself forced to live vicariously, please treat yourself to Jim’s sagas.  If you’d like to re-read an old story or catch up on a few you might have missed – here’s Jim’s Website:  http://www.w1pid.com/

Happy reading!  And Jim, thanks so much for sharing.

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

The following article appeared on eHam – may be of interest to those of you who like CW contests:

CW Open Contest Sept. 1 and 2:

Ed Tobias (KR3E) posted on August 27, 2012
Second Annual CW Open THIS WEEKEND!

Are you ready for one of the most unique and fun contests on the air? If so, jump into the CW Open, organized by the CWops club…it’s three-contests-in-one!

Like most contests, the goal is to work as many stations as possible (in this case CW stations only). Each station may be worked once per band.

Unlike other contests, however, in the CW Open there are three separate competitions at three separate times — each is called a “session”. You can enter one, two or all three of these sessions. Each session is scored separately. For those who enter more than one session, there is also a multiple-session category that combines all your session scores into one grand total score. So, if you enter 2 or 3 sessions you will be competing in each individual session plus the multiple-session category. More chances to win!

Join us for as many sessions as you can make.

Session 1 September 1 1200-1559Z

Session 2 September 1 2000-2359Z

Session 3 September 2 0400-0759Z

The exchange is easy: just a serial number and your name.

Awards: (Sponsored by ICOM America)

•Trophy for 1st place in each time period.

•Plaque for 1st place in each power level in each time period

•Trophy for over all combined score of all three time periods.

•Plaque for 1st place for each power level in the combined score group

Note: if the same entrant wins multiple awards, they may be combined).

•Certificates for achieving more than 100 QSOs in any or all time periods.

Is it fun? Here’s what some of last year’s contestants said:

“A fun, new way to contest. Many thanks to the organizers!” – AE6Y

“Running QRP 5W from IC-7400 to a trap vertical. First time in this contest. Very enjoyable pace. Look forward to next year. – G6CSY

“Good traffic and very quick ops. Hats off….See all you next year. Ciao.” – IK0HBN

“Enjoyed every minute and looking forward to next year! 73.” – KA3DRR

For more information and full rules go to: http://www.cwops.org/cwopen.html

73 de Ed, KR3E – CWops #133

72 de Larry W2LJ – CWops #1005
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

On this next to last weekend of “Summer” 2012, my wife Marianne suggested we take the kids down to the shore for the day.  The last time we were down there with them was when they were just babies, and they don’t even remember that trip. Since then, both Joey and Cara have learned how to swim (even though their Dad never learned) and they are both excellent swimmers.  With dangerous rip tides and undercurrents, it was a priority of ours that they be excellent swimmers before allowing them to venture into the surf.

So today, after Sunday Mass, we went down to Belmar, NJ.

And while Marianne, Joey and Cara enjoyed the surf, I did “Dad Duty” and played sentry, watching all our “stuff” on the beach.  Not a tough job, mind you, sitting in beautiful sunshine, enjoying the salt air and sea breezes and the view.

And it’s the view that ALWAYS get me when we go anywhere near the ocean.

Inevitably, as a Ham, I look at the ocean differently than most folks. I look at that vast expanse of water and that flat horizon, and in my mind’s eye, I can picture the far off countries that lay on the other side of all that water. And I think of my 5 Watts of RF energy crossing all that water and reaching out to all those far away places and it just boggles my mind!

We’ve become jaded. Today’s technology – heck, the technology of the past 40 or so years has shrunken the world and we take so much for granted.  Satellites, cell phones, the Internet have all done their part to shrink vast distances and make the world seem so small.  Communications are instantaneous and we can find out about just about anything, anywhere on the globe in the blink of an eye. And now, it’s come to the point where we demand and expect that instant communication.

But then you take a trip to the ocean.  You feel the warm sand beneath your feet and the cool water lapping at your ankles and you look out upon ALL that water.  And you look, and you look and all your eye can see  is water and horizon.  And it hits you how small you are and how big this world really is.

Then you think of the QSOs – OK1DX, EA6UN, HA5AGS, D3AA, 2012L and it goes on an on. All those places on the other side of all that water – as far as the eye can see.  And those QSOs all happened with 5 Watts of power. Less power than the night light that each night illuminates the upstairs bedroom hallway in our house, zipping across that vast expanse – dits and dahs forming letters and words – making acquaintances and friends.

Awesome – truly awesome to think about it.  I can’t help but thinking that if Mr. Marconi were alive today, he would be a QRPer.  Once the airwaves were conquered, I think it would tickle him to no end to see just how far he could go with lesser and lesser power.  If anyone was thrilled by “The Magic”, it was him.

On another note, I received a nice e-mail this morning from none other than Steve WGØAT.  He included a link to a video of his 2012 Skeeter Hunt effort.

My sincere thanks to Steve and to all of you who partook in the Hunt this year.  And thank to all of you who have sent logs and summaries so far, it’s so gratifying to know that you enjoyed the Skeeter Hunt as much as I did.  The results are racking up, and very shortly after the September 12th deadline, I will make a full posting of scores, sopabox comments, photos and videos.

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

Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the surface of the Moon, died today at the age of 82. The cause of death was from complications from heart bypass surgery which occurred earlier this month.

Neil Armstrong was a humble hero, who did not seek the limelight; and was always eager to praise those who shared in the efforts to land an American on the moon.

You will be sorely missed, Neil.  You were larger than life to those of us who grew up with Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

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

Lots of yard work today.  As a reward, I put some time in behind the key tonight.  All the bands seemed to have a lot of background noise tonight for some reason. Last night, while listening on 20 Meters during the QRP Fox hunt, the background noise was almost non-existent.

Anyway, I worked OK1DX on 30 Meters at 10.120 MHz. He was calling “CQ DX” and wasn’t getting any takers. So I threw my call out there and got an immediate response.  Pavel was 579 here and I got a 559 in return.  No surprise there.  The QSO was a bit more than your normal run of the mill DX QSO; and by the end, Pavel had told me that I had also come up to 579.

Here’s the kicker.  I was running 5 Watts to my 88′ EDZ antenna.  He was pushing 400 Watts into a dipole. My first inclination at learning he was pushing 400 Watts, was to wonder why he was only 579 here. I would have thought at that power he would have been 599+.

Of course, there are reasons for that, I know. But sometimes, even as a QRPer, I fall into that “more power equals louder” trap myself.

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

You never know when you’re going to learn a new and better way of doing something. TJ W0EA posted this on the KX3 list, which led to (what I thought) was a fascinating discussion on how to coil and store antenna wire.

You’d think that winding up a wire antenna is a pretty mundane thing, eh?  But no, there is an art to it, so that when you’re out in the field, you’re not dealing with a tangled mess and cussing like a sailor on shore leave. I tried the method shown above and dang it! It works!

I love it when I learn a new way to do something better.

I am taking some needed vacation time from work on Friday and Monday.  Have to use what days are coming to me as I found out my department is being eliminated due to a contract change.  Originally, I was given to the end of August; but found out that I was extended until the end of October, in order to help train the guys from the new company that is taking over the contract.

But I digress. I still have a lot of yard work to do and hope to accomplish it over this prolonged weekend. But I am also hoping to perhaps get out to one of NJ’s state parks to do a park activation.  Maybe Hacklebarney State Park which is located between the villages of Chester and Long Valley in Morris County. If the weather’s nice on Sunday, perhaps the KX3 and the PAR can get a workout.

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

That pretty much describes the state of the bands this afternoon.  I took a break from yard work this weekend for some R & R time, hoping to get some radio in this afternoon.  I got plenty of time behind the key; but not much to show for it.

I worked W7L, a lighthouse station and HA9RT.  W7L is in North Carolina Arizona (thanks, Hans BX2ABT), according to QRZ, and I finally got in the log after much trying. Hungary?  First try and a 579 report – go figure!

Another nice story with some beautiful pictures was posted by Jim W1PID today. He went up to Knox Mountain with his friend Hans, late Saturday afternoon. Detail here:

http://www.w1pid.com/knox_eve/knox_eve.html

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