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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!

Rumour has it that a 70cm version of the DVAP Dongle is on the way. Rumour also suggests that the price will be the same as for the 2m dongle. For those who would like to use Icom’s new ID-31 D-Star handie and have no UHF D-Star repeaters in range, the wait may soon be over.

This afternoon I took a quick bike ride to the Winnipesaukee River that runs between Tilton and Franklin, New Hampshire. I worked Italy, Lithuania and Hungary. It was a wonderful outing with perfect weather. I headed straight for the river, but several boys were fishing in my favorite spot. So I set up in a field alongside the river.

I set up on 20 meters under a large white birch tree. This photo shows the view from my operating position. I was using the HB-1B at 4W with a half wave wire over a tree branch.

The first contact was with Daniele IK2SND. He gave me a 559 and he was a 599. Then I tuned up the band a bit and answered LY2J who was calling CQ. Pranas had a very hard time copying my call. I repeated my call but Pranas still missed a letter. My antenna was off about 5 degrees from vertical, so I decided to move the backpack and make the antenna perfectly vertical. As soon as I did that, Pranas copied my call and gave me a 519. He was 599. Once again it proves the importance of angle of radiation.  I moved  up to 14.062 and called CQ. I wasn’t expecting a call from Hungary! HA6OD answered right away and gave me a 599. Jozsef was also 599. When I told him I was QRP, he sent “FB UR QRP.” After operating for fifteen minutes, I packed up and walked about 30 yards to get a quick photo of the river.

These warm summer days are numbered. The crickets are talking about it. Some of the maples have already started to drop their leaves. This week we’ve had a few nights in the 50s. I want to get out as often as possible.

Or at least that’s how it always feels to me with the last bank holiday of the summer done and no more until Christmas!

As I blogged last week, the conditions are changing and there’s been noticeably less Es this weekend. I did work EA7DUD on 50MHz in a brief opening yesterday and I noticed some Es around 27MHz from Italy and Scandinavia.

Having had a bad cold/cough most of last week (I was forced to abandon a QSO last Friday owing to a failing voice), I’ve been on 14MHz JT65A most of the weekend, often remote controlling the PC from the sofa with Pippi the cat on my lap. Some nice QSOs, most notably with LU2XPK in Tierra Del Fuego and also a couple of UA0 stations in furthest Siberia as well as many enjoyable QSOs closer to hand.

The summer here in the UK may have been the home of the Olympics and Paralympics, in fact I’ve just worked 2O12L, the special event station for the Paralympics. But one thing over everything else has dominated every Englishman’s mind. Just exactly how wet and miserable has the summer been. As I write this it is chucking it down again and the temperature is sliding towards ‘Autumn’. I can confirm that not all the UK is under water, all the time.

That said I have had a lovely week in a small village in Devon called Instow. We rented a small house opposite the beach and did the usual things with the kids. Sand castles, ice creams and cream teas as well as a bit of body boarding (for the kids, not me. I didn’t manage to get a surf board out but that’s probably a good thing). I did manage to sneak in my FT817 and Prowhip antennas fishing rod antenna into the car before the XYL spotted it.

Not many contacts to add into the log but it was nice to hit a US special event station W9IMS in Indianapolis with just a couple of watts. Perhaps it was the overly relaxed operating position.

ICOM has shown the new IC-7100 at the JARL show in Tokyo. The interwebz is buzzing with information, including a preliminary data sheet.

My scan of the preliminary datasheet indicates that this radio is in the class of the IC-7000 or even the IC-706. It covers all modes on HF plus 6 Meters, 2 Meters and 70 cm. (It also has the 70 MHz band which is a nice add for the European countries that have that band.) The radio includes DV (D-STAR) modulation capability and has a new touchscreen user interface. The slanted control panel is meant to make the touchscreen more accessible.

A new HF plus VHF/UHF radio always gets my attention (see my plea for an FT-950 with 2 Meters).  I am starting to think that the real benefit of this rig is the addition of D-STAR capability, which would a good but not essential feature to have.

What do you think?

73, Bob K0NR

Update (30 Aug 2012): Universal Radio has the radio on its website.
There’s a good video look at the radio here.

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!