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Turned on the K3’s afterburner to 80 Watts in order to work TX5K on Clipperton and TZ6BB in Mali.

This was the first time I have ever heard Mali on the air. My concern was to just get them in the log. He was very loud on 17 Meters. Afterwards, I did one of those “V-8 forehead slaps”, thinking that he may have been loud enough to work QRP.

I could have tried again at 5 Watts, but somehow it didn’t seem “quite cricket” to try and work them again on the same band so soon.

I heard TX5K again a bit later, and almost as loud on 12 Meters. I tried for a while to break the pileup, but my 5 Watts wasn’t up to it. I will have to try later this week. If conditions keep up like they were today, I should be able to snag them again on 17 Meters via QRP. Patience and persistence will be the key.

I also began working on my PigRig while monitoring the pileups for TX5K. I got all the parts inventoried (yes, everything was there) and got the first few resistors soldered in before I had to step out for a while. Serial #81 is slowly coming to life!

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

I was in the basement, cutting up some cardboard boxes for the recycling pickup tomorrow.  To dispel the quiet and to have something to listen to, I turned the radio on.

I worked K6K/MM on 17 Meters.  My friend Bob W3BBO worked them last night on 20 Meters and let me know that these folks are the DXpedition that is heading to Clipperton.  I worked Clipperton back in 2000; but that was with 75 Watts (QRO).  I will try again; but QRP this time (of course).

From there, I tuned up into the SSB portion of 20 Meters.  I figured I would listen to either some guys chewing the rag, or some guys working DX.  I ended up listening to guys try and work some DX.  To be honest with you, I don’t even know who or where the station was.  He was working simplex and the pile up was not huge; but he wasn’t calling CQ, either.  He had enough stations to handle.

Why do people insist on calling a DX station when they can’t adequately hear him?  I ask this, because there were guys throwing out their calls, while the DX station was still in QSO with the previous station!

It seems to me, that if you can’t hear the DX station well enough to know that he’s still talking and hasn’t finished …… what makes you think that you’ll hear him come back to you?  Do these folks think that propagation is going to magically improve so that a 2X contact can be made?

I’m not getting just on the SSB guys.  It’s no better on the CW side – heck, it’s no better in the QRP Fox Hunts!  I can’t tell you how many times guys just keep throwing out their call signs over, and over and over until you want to tear your hair out.  Call signs being spewed out when the Fox is in the middle of making a contact with someone else.

If you can’t hear THAT, why even bother to try to work them? Unless you can hear him well enough to respond to you, it seems to me that you’re just setting yourself up to be thought of as a Lid by your peers.

That old saying holds true – “You can’t work ’em if you can’t hear ’em.”  But maybe we should also add, “You shouldn’t try to work ’em if you can’t hear ’em!”

Just sayin’

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

Google Earth is so cool!

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

I guess that a few folks who went places to operate for the ARRL DX Contest have stayed on a few days at their respective “vacation” spots.  On the air today, I was hearing a lot of the call signs that I heard in the Caribbean from over the weekend.  You would think that having completed major DX contest that these folks would be kicking back on the beach, soaking up the sun and sipping a cool libation from a coconut shell (complete with little umbrella, of course!).

I worked a couple of them; but the station that intrigued me the most was GM100RSGB, the Centennial Special Event Station for the RSGB from Scotland. At 1914 UTC, they were loud into New Jersey on 20 Meters, and I was able to work them with 5 Watts very easily. According to QRZ.com, this is what their QSL looks like:

This weekend was a bit out of the ordinary for me. I actually got to spend some time behind the radio, Friday, Saturday and Sunday! This was probably due to the fact that I got our weekly grocery shopping done Thursday night in anticipation of the Nor’Easter that visited us on Friday. Plus the fact that I pretty much stayed put and did not venture out much.

In addition to working just a tiny bit of DX, I also engaged in several nice rag chews this weekend, of which a couple were 2X QRP. I didn’t work any new countries, but did get Senegal, Nicaragua, and Providencia Island among others in the log.

15 Meters seemed to be open on Saturday and a for a little bit on Sunday. I really didn’t hear much of anything on 12 Meters and didn’t hear anything on 10 Meters, either. 17 and 20 Meters were their normal selves.

I also played with both rigs this weekend, the K3 and the KX3.  I am noticing that I am running into more K3s on the air than I have in the past.

I have so many things that I want to accomplish. I need to finish that last 10% of organizing the shack. I would like to hook up the K3 and do some experimenting with WSPR. I’d also like to get started on building my Pig Rig.

So much to do, so little time!

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

I don’t know if it’s like this for everybody; or if it’s just me.

I received two e-mails, that I’d like to share – the first is from Andreas, IZ3NYT:

“Hi dr om,

I built a new beacon on 30 meters, I would like your participation, I hope you have fun. receive the signal if I’d like your QSL card.
the frequency is 10139,2 khz cw wpm 8, power 100mw.

The layout and the pictures you can see on my site http://iz3nyt.altervista.org/.

73 de Andrea IZ3NYT”

Keep a listen out for Andreas’ beacon – this would be an excellent way to know if the band is open to Europe

The second e-mail was from Blaine KØONE, pointing me towards a new Website : MorseFusion.com.  They are touting themselves as a new way to learn Morse Code:

“You begin by listening to a novel (over 20 available) spelled out in English (not in code). Then you select which letters, numbers, and punctuation marks you want to gradually start hearing in code. Proper character speed and word rate are maintained during all stages of training.”

and

“Throughout the learning process you focus your attention entirely on listening to a novel, NOT on learning Morse code. Learning takes place gradually and in the background.”

Interesting concept – but not cheap. A subscription of $19.95 per month is involved.  But, if all other methods of learning the Morse Code have failed for you, this might be something you could look into.

I have to admit, the list of novels that have is intriguing. Classics such as “Pride and Prejudice”, “Moby Dick”,  “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (had to read that in High School) and books that are a bit more fun, such as “War of the Worlds” and “Tom Swift and his Wireless Message”.

The Tom Swift and Hardy Boys books were staples of my youth.

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