AmateurRadio.com

I like Christmas, but with that sole exception I hate this time of year. The short days, when it’s dark at breakfast time, dark at tea time, and in between the sun struggles to reach an elevation where it can be seen over the tops of neighbouring houses.

It’s not just the daylight the sun fails to make much impact on. There’s next to no propagation on any of the higher HF bands. I believe that LF band enthusiasts have their best time at this time of year. But I have never been lucky enough to have an antenna for the LF bands. My attic multiband dipole will work on 80 metres but it is shortened so much that the usable bandwidth is barely 60kHz. It is really only usable on the QRP CW frequency and the PSK31 operating frequencies.

Yesterday I thought I would try some digital work on the 30m band. I couldn’t hear any PSK31 at first but I did hear some JT65 so I thought I would try that. I made three QSOs including one with N4ABN which I thought was quite good nfor mid-morning. The trouble with JT65 is that I find it difficult to maintain concentration. It’s 50 seconds before anything is decoded, and during that time my mind has drifted off and I have missed the moment when I should have responded.

Just as an aside, I noticed a quirk with the JT65-HF software. I don’t use CAT control of my K3 (never could get it to work) so I have to set the frequency of the radio and the software manually. But whenever I did this, after a few seconds the frequency would reset itself to 0. I happened to notice that the frequency was being displayed with a comma as the decimal separator. I had left the PC configured like that after testing the fix for the problem with KComm. On a hunch, I reset the separator to a dot (period) and lo and behold the frequency stayed as I set it. I’m surprised that no-one seems to have spotted this but at least we know now how to fix it.

After making a bit of a meal of three JT65 QSOs I decided to switch to PSK31. Although it is not such a good mode for DX, if proof were needed, there were 3 or 4 spots of me on JT65A in the USA but my PSK31 at slightly higher power never penetrated beyond Western Europe.

I do find PSK31 a more rewarding mode to operate, though, because you do usually find out something about the other operator or his station. Having said that, has anyone noticed a trend towards shorter QSOs in PSK31? Quite often now it’s name, report, qth, locator and goodbye. Whilst I can’t say I miss knowing the make and model of the operator’s computer and the colour of the interface cable, I do like to know what power they are running and what antenna they are using.

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

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!

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID, is the founder of Heil Sound and host of TWiT.tv's Ham Nation which streams live each Tuesday at 6:00pm PT (9:00pm ET) at http://live.twit.tv. Contact him at [email protected].

Recently, on one of the email reflectors associated with repeater owners, someone asked how to deal with kerchunkers on the repeater. The term kerchunk means to key up the repeater to see if it is there. It just takes a quick push of the Push-to-Talk (PTT) button on the transceiver to bring up most repeaters, resulting in a kerchunk sound. … Continue reading …
Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

was the title of a catchy tune a few years back.  I am one of those who takes no stock in ancient Mayan prophecies – BUT …….. if there are any Hams out there who are like that that guy in Hong Kong who sold all his stuff thinking that the world is ending Friday – don’t go through the trouble of selling. I’ll be willing to take your Ham gear off your hands for free!

Seriously, though …… don’t forget the Zombie Shuffle is this Friday night, to poke a little fun at those nasty ol’ Mayans, Here’s a little reminder from Paul NA5N:

Zombies and Maya Kings, Gosh. Where has the time gone? Seems it was just summer, then Thanksgiving, Christmas next week … oh yeah, and the end of the world thing this Friday. Hate it when doomsday sneaks up on you like that! 🙂

So a reminder that our special 2012 “End of the World” Zombie Shuffle will be THIS FRIDAY, famous December 21, from local sundown (considered 5pm local) to midnight. Just as the Maya calendar runs out of rock. Early enough to get a little 20M in there before resorting to 40M. Solar flux is 115-120, quiet geomagnetic field, and no big competing contests which should provide fairly decent evening bands.
Rules and other ramblings at: http://www.zianet.com/qrp/ZOMBIE/zombie.htm

NEW TO QRP OR CONTESTING? This is for you. A contest that serves no purpose whatsoever except get on the air and have fun no matter what your code speed or how rusty your fist may be. We all know Zombies can’t crack out 35 wpm in those old blood soaked rags, right? Scoring is based more on serendipity (recording those Zombie numbers) than operating skill. Over the years, we’ve had quite a few new QRPers who accomplished their first real CW QSOs during the Zombie Shuffle. That’s what it’s all about … to give everyone a chance to get on the air and pound some brass.

ZOMBIE NUMBERS can be obtained from Jan if you don’t have one. Zombie numbers are good for life. Or, send your 3-digit telephone area code if you wish. We’re pretty close to hitting 1,000 Zombie numbers assigned (like 35-40 to go). 

ZOMBIE BADGE: It was reported by several that the Zombie badge link wasn’t working on the above Zombie page. I have repaired the link for those who wish to print out their own Zombie/Area 51 badge. 

MAYA KINGS: We have 13 Maya Kings willing to serve you this year fairly evenly scattered across the empire. Plenty of chances to work some bonus points.
For their name, they will be sending MAYA KING, MAYA, KING, or even KING JOE or KING RON (or whatever their name is) as they decide. We even have a special KING ELVIS. Each Maya King worked is worth an additional 666 points. 

I’m sure between sending CQ BOO and KING ELVIS, we’ll drive the QRO folks nuts trying to figure this thing out! 

Whether you get on for 2-3 QSOs, or work several hours, you’ll have fun. And, thanks for participating. After all, the end of the world only comes along every so often. I think the last one was Y2K.

I was listening to Coast to Coast AM radio show this weekend, and one doomsday believer claimed that “every major observatory is tracking the collision course of planet Nibiru with Earth on Dec. 21 – and all observatory employees have been sworn to secrecy.” At the VLA (merely the world’s largest radio telescope), I must have missed that inter-office email! With the internet, Twitter, and Facebook, how on Earth could you keep something like that secret these days?

However, I do feel there’s a chance of a minor earthquake or a volcano might blow its top. Not because the Mayan Calendar says so … but just to prove God has a sense of humor. He can’t wait to drive those doomsdayers nuts! 🙂 

72, Paul NA5N 

OK, so you may have noticed Paul mentioning that you get extra bonus points for working a Maya King.  I happen to be one of those 13 QRP Ops who have volunteered. Just sayin’ ………… you might be able to rack up some extra points for working Maya King W2LJ – so listen for me!

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

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Pat Tice, WA0TDA, is the manager of HANDI-HAM and a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].