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Tim Kirby, G4VXE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Oxfordshire, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Not a good start for W2LJ in the inaugural week of the 2012/2013 Winter QRP Fox hunt season.  I only worked one of the four foxes – Jim K4AXF who was one of the 80 Meter Foxes tonight.  I was able to hear Ron KI0II in Colorado rather well for 80 Meters, but could not make myself heard to him.

The 40 Meter hunt on Tuesday night was a complete bust.  I never heard AA4XX at all, all night long.  I did hear Kevin W9CF in Arizona very weakly; but then W1AW code practice came on and that, as they say, was the end of that.

It’s supposed to go up into the 50s to near 60 this weekend.  Maybe I will be able to build and hoist that W3EDP antenna, now that the hurricane and snowstorms have passed.   Maybe I can make the weekend “a twofer” as we say in the Fox hunt world – antenna in the air and leaves off the ground!

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].

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].

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 7 November 2012

 Another fairly quiet day on 10m. I took time out from WSPR during the early afternoon to do some PSK31 operating. There was some good DX about. First I worked Ian 3B8IK in Mauritius. I heard 5H3NP in Tanzania, but he didn’t appear to be CQing. I found a clear spot and called CQ myself hoping to be heard by the African station but every time a station from the Eastern USA called me! It was better than when the band was wide open as there was less QRM making it easier to hear stations.

I like working stateside because ops seem more willing to have a proper QSO instead of just exchanging reports and details. I don’t think that says anything about the relative friendliness of Americans and Europeans, it’s just down to the fact that Yanks and us both speak the same language whereas for the European stations that are all I can usually work English is not their native language.

PSK Reporter map showing stations heard/worked by G4ILO on 8 November 2012

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

Now that fall is in full swing and most.....typo alert remove  "and most" (thanks to Gary at rework eliminator for Elecraft K2)and soon all the leaves will have dropped from the trees. The temps  already are starting to drop not yet to freezing but soon. So outdoor activities will be more limited as winter gets her firm grip on this QTH. 

Serial 7372 soon in the works

I find that radio conditions do improve in the winter months and there are some major CW contest to keep me busy on some of the weekends....but.....I don't know about my readers but I also like to have a few winter radio projects on the go. This winter's project is an ambitious one that satisfies my kit building hunger. I purchased another Eelecraft K2 kit, my first K2 kit was a blast to build. With this kit I want to take my time and very much enjoy the build. Another decision I made was to sell the rig once built and run through it's paces. I then can use those funds to put toward my next winters project. I try to keep what I call my well rounded approach to ham radio. This includes on air operating time for sure, reading my monthly ham radio

K6XX's kit for the K2

magazines, blogging and blog reading, interfacing computers with the hobby and of coarse kit building. I also wanted to add a CW tuning aid to my original Elecraft K2 and it just so happens that K6XX has a kit to add a CW tuning  indicator to the rig.  This kit has the dreaded SMD parts!!!! Now having said that I used to say that about kits that came with winding toroid's and that is not a big deal anymore. Below is a video of how the tuning light works.



Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

A few months ago I began using the No-IP Free service in order to be able to access my home network using a hostname or  fixed IP address. This worked well until a couple of weeks ago when I started getting the error “no host”. I logged in to No-IP and could find no reference to my account. So I recreated it with the same details and it is working fine again.

I vaguely recall seeing something to the effect that to keep the free account active you are supposed to log in once a month. The trouble is I find it hard enough remembering what day of the week it is never mind something like that. Previously I had used the DynDNS free service but that didn’t like the frequency with which my broadband changes IP address. My broadband provider says that I can only have a fixed IP address if I have a business account. It would be cheaper to stump up $20 a year for the No-IP Enhanced account. But being a dyed-in-the-wool cheapskate I’d like to avoid doing that. Any recommendations for free IP services that stay working as long as you want?

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

All in a week.  A pretty powerful Nor’Easter is visiting the same areas that Sandy just visited last week.  This time the temperatures are low enough that we are experiencing a heavy, wet snowfall.  By the time morning comes, the meteorologists have said we can expect anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of snow, depending upon location.

It started snowing pretty hard around here at around 4:00 PM and is still coming down.

Fortunately, our power is still on, but I am occasionally seeing those now familiar flashes in the sky, indicative  of power transformers experiencing a non-passive failure (i.e blowing up).  I sure hope the power stays on; but I am seeing via Facebook that parts of South Plainfield have returned to darkness.

I spoke with W2SH, Charles on 80 Meters this evening,  He is a fellow Foxhunter and QRPer who lives roughly 20 -25 miles from me.  Charles lives in a very rural area in Morris County and his property is pretty far from his street.  He experienced a few utility poles in his area collapsing, so he is still without power as not only the lines; but the poles need replacing too.  I gave him my telephone number and asked him to call me if he needs anything.  He told me that he and his wife are in good spirits, they still have gas, so they can cook and still have hot water and have a fireplace to keep the house from getting bitter cold.

Please keep in your prayers all the victims of Sandy who are experiencing another knock down punch this week.

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].