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FYBO was fun today.  No big effort as there were way too many other things going on that vied for my attention.  In between chores and duties, I was able to get out to the driveway, where I had the PFR3A on a battery in the back of my Jeep.  The antenna was the Buddistick on the magmount on the top of the roof.  Kudos to Bob W3BBO for suggesting this setup – it worked great!  The car body acts as a much better counterpoise/ground plane than the single wire and using the magmount eliminates the need for mast and guying.  So if you’re not hiking – this is a great way to use a Buddistick.

It ends up being much taller than a standard Hamstick (definitely not drivable), but the SWR was very nice and I was able to use the PFR3As internal tuner to even get that ironed out flat.

First QSO of the day was with Hank N8XX operating as “Amigo” with the WQ8RP callsign.  In all, I made 11 contacts in between grocery shopping, baking some bread for my daughter’s choir bake sale, etc, etc, etc.

Here’s a better look at the antenna.

On 40 Meters, I undid the tap and extended the whip all the way.  That gave me about a 1.4:1 SWR.  I only made one contact on 40 Meters and that was with Mark NK8Q in Pennsylvania.  He was using only 1 Watt and almost blew the ear buds out of my ears.  I don’t think I have ever heard 1 Watt as a 599 Plus before today.

The temperature was 45F when I started, so for simplicity sake, I used that throughout, even though I think it started dropping for my last couple of QSOs.  I think the lowest temperature that was reported to me was 32F and the highest was 76F.

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

As a pastor the months of December-January are the busiest of the year for me, so I haven’t done much with Ham Radio for weeks now. That is as it should be. As I’ve said before, we must keep our hobby in its proper place. But I haven’t let it completely die, and the hopper has slowly been filling up with things to share with you.

One of those things is the ARRL’s online/mentored course, “Introduction to Emergency Communication.” I’ve registered for the next session of this course which begins on February 29 and runs through April 27. It cost me $50 as an ARRL member ($85 for non-members), but I think it’s worth the money in my situation.

Not that I have to go through this course to learn the material. Much of the material may well be common-sense or a review of what I already know after being a ham for so long. The rest I could pick up by simply reading this book or (probably better) this book. Or I could glean it all from the web or learn it from an experienced member of ARES. So why would it be worth $50 for me to go through a formal course of study?

The answer: for credibility with governmental agencies.

Like it or not, to gain respect from governmental agencies you need to prove that you’ve jumped through a few hoops — especially in a state like Minnesota. Several decades ago Minnesota figured out how important it is to train police officers well. As a former police trainer myself, I cringe when I see poorly-trained officers on COPS. Trust me — agencies that have invested in training are rarely interested in “help” from poorly-trained people, no matter how well intentioned.

So before we go to the local sheriff (who is in charge of emergency management for our county) and talk to him about ARES, we need to get our ducks in a row. Training is #1 — and to governmental workers, that means certification of some kind. Be ready to show Show them paperwork. Other things help too, like uniform vests, jackets, etc., but those things come second. (In fact, you can shoot yourself in the foot with that stuff if you aren’t careful. Take it from me — as a former police officer I know what I’m talking about — if you overdo “the look” in your uniform, your amber light bars, etc. most cops will write you off as a wanna-be commando kid to be kept far away from the grown-ups. If you really want to impress them, wear a tie. Seriously!)

Furthermore, for certification to mean anything to governmental workers it needs to come from the biggest, most widely recognized institutions you can find. For ARES, that means FEMA and the ARRL. I know some hams don’t like the ARRL, and I may get pelted with comments about how terrible the ARRL is. But there it stands.

In order to register for this course you must first complete two free online courses offered by FEMA: IS-100.b, “Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS 100)” and IS-700.A, “National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction”. Whether or not you take ARRL’s course, you really ought to take these courses (especially the first one) if you ever want to participate in emergency services. I for one needed to brush-up on these things, and I appreciated how well they were done.

Once you successfully complete these online courses from FEMA (they don’t take long) you may register for the ARRL course on the ARRL website. Registration closes on Wednesday, February 15 for the session I’m enrolled in, and on Wednesday, March 15 for the session that begins on March 28. There is still plenty of room in my session — of the 30 seats available, only 21 have been taken as I write this on February 4.

The difference!!!

I purchased 2 Baofeng UV-3R Mark II handhelds with some accessoiries from Hong Kong. Unfortenately I had some bad luck with the package as my package got in sight at the customs. Apparently they didn’t believe the customs declaration that it hold toys worth 10 USD. So I had to pay an extra 19% VAT and 12,50 euro adinistration costs. Never happened to anyone but me of course. Anyway, I ordered 2 with profit so after all they are still cheap.  Lots of things have been written about this mini handheld TRX, that’s the nice thing about it. Actually the main advantage and why I bought it is the radio receive capability. You can listen  to the radio and once there is activity on one of the UHF/VHF frequencies it will switch over and back again  to radio when things are quiet. It’s extremely small so I had my doubts when unpacking. But I had the opportunity to have a experience with it as I had a small job to do 45km away from here today. Driving to the job I heard PD1B in QSO with PD/CT2FZY on the coversity network, nice conversation good receive. But it was busy on the road and a little slippery here and there because of the cold weather, so I kept my eyes on the road. On the way back I made a QSO with PD5GVP Gerrie who was also mobile and I noticed that the little Baofeng didn’t get as hot as my Alinco, great advantage. After the QSO I was called by PD2VB Bram who I know I think about 25 years, also a ex-CB operator. Bram does a lot of portable work himself like he already did years ago with a CB walky talky. He told me he had already been active iceskating portable! I could talk to him via the coversity network till I was at home, I didn’expect that from the little Baofeng inside the car! Nearest access point to the network about 10-15km away! So, I think this will be my little radio I always have with me in the future. It’s easy to fit in the pocket and even smaller then todays mobile phone! Some interesting links and info for future reference can be found on the website of PA2OLD Ben. I would recommend the UV-3R yahoogroup for the latest info about this little UHF/VHF mini handheld.

When I came home this afternoon I did a quick lunch. We brought Anneli to her bed for her afternoon nap. My XYL had to go for some shopping. So, I quickly did some necessary household things and after that up to the shack to listen for HK0NA. And yes after 15-20 minutes I finally managed a QSO on 15m SSB. Another new DXCC and I’m a happy operator. Working a new DX is one of my favourites, and when I read for instance the blog of EI2KC who works a new DXCC daily I sometimes get frustrated. I haven’t got  that much time to be active with my 45 hours a week job, family and things in and around the house. But then I think, hey there are other things in live besides radio. I already achieved so much with my hobby, be satisfied! Now next thing would be the PACC 2012, get ready…..6 days to go!

ARRL Field Day is the single most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada.  Each year over 35,000 amateurs gather with their clubs, friends or simply by themselves to operate.

The information packet for Field Day is now available on the ARRL web site.

- Bob K0NR

Since it’s Friday, it must be date night.  20, 30 and 40 Meters are spectacular!  Not a bit of local neighborhood QRN – the local Plasma TV watchers must be out to dinner or a movie.

The FOC is all over lower 40 Meters with their contest, so I switch over to 30 Meters and while quickly scanning, I hear a pileup.  I have no idea who it is, but by listening carefully, I can tell that they are listening up 2 kHz.  Abiding by the rule, “Work first, worry later”, I nabbed them on my third try.

They eventually gave their call and it turns out to be the HU2DX DXpedition down in El Salvador.  The fact that they were able to dig me out of the pileup is no wonder.  Here’s what they’re using:

For SSB and CW, two K3s and a K2.  Digimodes will be done through a Yaesu FT-840. The antenna on 30 Meters is a Spiderbeam.

Not only did I snag a DXpedition, but I score another country for DDXCC!

Sweet!

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

I really thought my MOCAD streak for 2012 was going to come to an end.

Last night, I could not participate in the 40 Meter QRP-L Fox hunt due to rally bad local QRN.  80 Meters was like a desolate, deserted island.  No QRN; but no signals either.  Checking the Reverse Beacon Network, my CQs were being heard all up and down the Eastern Seaboard. There were just no takers.

Fortunately, I was able to get on this morning between dropping off Joey and Cara at school and leaving for work.  I heard Eduardo CO8LY on 17 meters calling “CQ DX” and gave him a call.  I got an answer, so Eduardo in the log (for the umpteenth time, probably) and the streak lives another day.

And if I didn’t make any contacts, it would have been a disappointment – BUT ….. the world will still have kept on turning, the sun still shining, the bunnies and birdies would still be dancing on the lawn.  In the grand scheme of Things, this miniscule streak means nothing.  But human nature being what it is ……..

Tomorrow is FYBO.  I hope to get on for an hour or two in the afternoon. The forecast is for partly cloudy skies and a high in the low to mid 40s.  I will be using the PFR3A and the Buddistick on the magmount on top of the Jeep.  Not a true mobile set up as there’s NO WAY that I would drive around with that antenna on my car.  First underpass I tried to navigate would be a disaster! I will be restricted to 20 and 40 Meters as that’s what the PFR3A has.  If 15 Meters is way open and all the action is there, it looks like I will be SOL.  But if that’s the case, then them’s the breaks.

The other thing I want to do this weekend, if I get the time, is to play around with a new acquisition.  Through my good friend Bob W3BBO, I was able to get my mitts on a “pre-owned” MFJ-1026 unit. I would like to hook that up see if it helps give the knock out punch to this local QRN.  I will have to utilize the K2’s two antenna connectors now as one for transmitting and the other for listening.  According to the 1026 unit’s instructions, you really shouldn’t use it with a rig that has a built in autotuner.  But, if I use “A” to listen with and “B” to transmit with, I should be OK.  Just have to be careful and pay attention to what I am doing.

Good luck to all the QRPers who will be participating in FYBO. Hope to hear and work you tomorrow.

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

On 14.275MHz I have been listening to a ‘news’ broadcast by K1MAN. This may not be news to many of you but it’s the first time I’ve heard what seems like a pre-recorder loop of ‘news’ going on and on and on. Surely this isn’t legal?

I quick Google later I found out that this is an on going issue with the FCC, ARRL and just about every governing body in the US. So not really legal but loop holes are loop holes. Time to close them.

Oh dear