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43 years ago, this week, I was a 12 year old geek (of course) in love with the United State’s Manned Spaceflight program.  Some of my earliest TV memories were of watching the Mercury launches of Alan Shepard and John Glenn.

43 years ago, this week, the epitome, the apex, the goal was reached.  On Wednesday, July 16th we watched as Apollo 11 was launched from Pad 39A from Cape Kennedy.

Three days later, on July 20th, we listened (breathlessly) and Neil Armstrong broadcast, “Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed”. As kids we were ready to go to bed as the EVA (moon walk) was scheduled for the next day. But Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin must have been on an adrenalin high, however, as they asked Houston for permission (and received it) to begin the moonwalk within hours of landing. Our parents suspended bed time rules and allowed my sister and I to stay up and watch all the history being made.

And watch,  we did! We watched the TV spellbound as ghostly images appeared on our screens. Walter Cronkite and Wally Schirra were our guides as Neil Armstrong uttered those now famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.  I specifically remember the cameras cutting to Walter Cronkite as events unfolded. He understood the significance of the moment and was almost in tears.

Looking back on it, the accomplishment is even more amazing!  The Lunar Module landed on the moon with an on board computer that had less processing power than a scientific calculator or cell phone of today’s vintage.  Those were the days when the sky was the limit, we had the national will to do great things and the horizon looked endless.  I miss the enthusiasm, the attitude and the ambition of those heady days.

To this day, when I find myself outdoors at night and the moon is out – I still look up there and think to myself, “Wow! We actually went there!”.

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

Today was the Sussex County Amateur Radio Club Hamfest, up at the Sussex County fairgrounds in Augusta, NJ.

I went along with two good friends, Tim AB2ZK (who graciously volunteered to drive) and Marv K2VHW.  Both are fellow South Plainfield Hams and fellow CERT Team members.  At the outset, I thought we were in for trouble, as it was very overcast and gloomy as Tim drove up to the house.  I even made sure to bring my CERT poncho along – better to be safe than sorry. Good fortune would be ours, though, as by the time we got up to Augusta the sun was breaking through the clouds.

I met many good friends up there, and was especially happy to hook up with Charles W2SH, who lives all of about 18 miles from me in Millington, NJ.  Chas, as he goes by, is a fellow Fox hunter, who represents NJ very well in the QRP Fox hunts.  If you don’t find my call in the Fox’s log for any particular night, the chances are good that Charles will be in the log.  He is the veteran of many hunts and does extremely well, as one of the baying hounds.  I will have to put the bug in his ear some time about considering to volunteer as a Fox. I think he would do an outstanding job!

I was also very pleasantly surprised to be tapped on the shoulder by Robert, N2SU who is a regular reader of this blog, as well as John K3WWP’s diary.  Robert is an all CW guy and has over 300 countries worked with a barefoot rig and simple wire antennas.  Not a small feat by any means; but all the more impressive considering he’s not going the HI QRO/beam/tower route.  Thanks for the tap on the shoulder, Robert, it was so nice to meet you!

My purchases were limited to some ARRL mini log books for the portable ops bag, two sets of tweezers (one set straight tips, one set curved tips), two BNC to SMA adapters, and some solderless “O” ring connectors.

The SCARC Hamfest is one of the bigger ones in New Jersey and I am always glad when I can make it, as it usually conflicts with our Lake George vacation.  I received a flyer for next year’s event and am glad to say that I will be able to make next year, too!

It strange what you can find at a Hamfest, though.  It’s not all radios, keys, computer parts, and junk.  There are actually some very interesting finds at these electronic flea markets:

Or so it would seem.

I didn’t revisit the mountain top today, just stayed near the cabin and slapped the Buddistick atop the Jeep.  I garnered a QSO with Sam K9GHD on 20 Meters this afternoon.  There was a lot of QSB, but we were still able to manage a QSO.

Sam was using his IC-746 at 5 Watts to a dipole and he was a good 549.  We chatted for a bit and then I went QRT to enjoy the lake for our last day here at Lake George.

This week went buy way too fast. I love it up here and am going to miss it until we come back up here next summer.

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

Band conditions may have been in the toilet; but at least the scenery was good!

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

My trip to the top of Mount Prospect was a semi-bust.  Band conditions were not to be. Steve NU7T sent me this on the Polar Bear e-mail reflector:

Sorry Larry Bear,

ALERT: X-Ray Flux exceeded M5
Threshold Reached: 2012 Jul 12 1626 UTC
NOAA Scale: R2 – Moderate
Potential Impacts: Area of impact centered on sub-solar point on the sunlit side of Earth. Extent of blackout of HF (high frequency) radio communication dependent upon current X-ray Flux intensity. For real-time information on affected area and expected duration ( 1800 z ).Grrrrrr
15m – 6dB attenuation Grrrrrr
20m – 3 dB attenuation Grrr
40m – 17 dB attentuation Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Steve, NU7T PB #300

And Steve was 10000000% correct – the entire time I was at the summit, I heard one, watery and warbly signal on 20 Meters.  All my CQing went for naught.  I was heard on the Reverse Beacon Network, however (by at least one skimmer):

WZ7I	W2LJ	14061.0	CQ [LoTW]	7 dB	20 wpm	1629z 12 Jul

  
Oh well, Maybe things will pick up for tomorrow.  In any event, I’ll post some of the photos I took, later tonight.

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

Is the plan for tomorrow.  It doesn’t qualify as a SOTA Summit, but as per the brochure, the views are supposed to be breathtaking

There’s supposedly a picnic area at the summit, so maybe I can toss the EFHW up a tree and make some contacts.

I’ll take my phone alone and will hopefully will be able to spot myself on QRPSPOTS.

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

Did a little exploratory hike on the trail today, sans radio, just to see what the trail looked like.

I had to turn back early as a thunderstorm came on quickly, and I didn’t want to be out in that.  I did come across some beaver and a red fox.  I think they were quite startled by me  Tomorrow is planned, so I might try again on Thursday.

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