AmateurRadio.com

What a beautiful day in New Hampshire! Tim W3ATB and I hiked to Bald Ledges, a little past Sky Pond. We had a fantastic time. We worked the Netherlands, Belgium, England and WA8REI in Michigan.

Sky Pond is a tiny lake in the wilderness of New Hampton. It’s about 12 miles from home. We had a picnic lunch on the shore and then hiked about 20 minutes to the ledges. The view there is stunning.

Toward the northeast, we can see Lake Winona in the foreground and both the White Mountains and Ossipee Mountains in the distance.

I set up the KX3 with a 33 foot sloper to a pine tree. Band conditions weren’t very good, and I worked 17 meters, because that’s where I could hear the most activity. I worked PI4DX in the Netherlands, OS11M, a Morse Heritage special event in Belgium, and then my old friend Tom G3HGE in England. As I was working Tom, a large hawk flew back and forth at eye level out several hundred feet from the ledges. I described it to Tom but I called it an eagle by mistake. He was impressed with the description and wanted me to send a photo!

I packed up my gear and walked up the ledge to see how Tim was doing. He was running the HB-1B on 20 meters and there wasn’t much going on. We went up to the QRP frequency and there was Ken WA8REI just finishing up a QSO. What a thrill to receive a 579 from Ken in Michigan and chat with him for a few minutes. We first met at Lobstercon in Maine. I handed the key to Tim and he and Ken chatted for a minutes before signing. It was a perfect ending to a perfect outing.

The black flies are just coming into their own in New Hampshire. Soon they’ll pretty much control all the outdoor activity. We might not get out much for the next couple of weeks until they die back. Then we’ll have mosquitoes to contend with. All better than snow!

Jim Cluett, W1PID, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Hampshire, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

While talking with my bud, Bob W3BBO today, we discussed an instance that we had both heard, of a Ham who was selling all his equipment.  It appears this operator feels that he has reached the pinnacle of the hobby by working all the DX that there is to work, “So there’s nothing else to do”, and he’s packing it in.

Bob and I were both incredulous.  He’s been in the hobby for over 50 years and I have been in the hobby for 36 years now.  I do understand that with any undertaking, there are ebbs and flows of enthusiasm and interest.  You might be super active for a period and then lose steam for a while. It might even reach the point of becoming temporarily inactive.  And as John Lennon famously said, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans”. Life circumstances change, as do priorities.

But to chuck everything and get out of the hobby because you have “done it all?”  I don’t think that’s even possible!

So let’s say you’ve been fortunate enough to work 9 band Honor Roll ……. there’s nothing left?  How about (wait for the plug) trying to do it again using QRP?  Or how about getting into satellites, or digital modes, or perhaps taking a shot at working all counties?  I have a friend, Dr. Paul Scipione AA2AV, who has worked all counties three separate times – SSB, CW and CW QRP. That’s an accomplishment!

Build something, go hilltopping or become active in SOTA or IOTA, go on a DXepdition! Bounce your signals off the ionized trail of a meteor, or the moon.

My point is, Amateur Radio is actually a hobby built up of sub-hobbies. There’s always something new to try and undertake.  The day someone actually does end up “doing it all” will be a very special day, and I’d like to meet and shake that person’s hand.  For indeed, that person will definitely be very special, and I think I would love to read whatever book they choose to write about their adventures.

Scrolling through QRP-L today, I came across a link to a cool article written by Gerry Lynch, a Ham in the UK.  If you’re contemplating learning CW and are not sure it’s worth your time and effort, you might want to read this: http://www.gerrylynch.co.uk/WhyCW.html

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].

Several years ago I changed my old call sign PAØPSY (and my first one) into PC4T and a few others. (PA9B | PH0TO) but they changed suddenly the rules. When changed you can't get the old call sign back. WTF. If I had known I would not have changed my call sign. Now they will withdraw this rule. At the end of this year I can go back to my first and old call sign again. [link]

Next question: should I? I made a lot of contacts with the PC4T call sign, also they know me by blogging. And now everyone can get a PAØ call sign, it's not special any more. So I tend to stick to the PC4T call sign.

Still in HamCall.net

Paul Stam, PC4T, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from the Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].

It was hard to make a CW or JT65 contact this morning. Sounds like 2008. With less sunspots. I heard a weak CW station on 14060 KHz, but he was jammed by 2 other stations. Why? Anyway, I could make 2 qso's with PSK-31 (YO2UH and EA5ICP) on 20 meter

Yesterday I made 3 CW qso's. On 30m OM4KW and on 20 m OK2KN and Z63ZED. Maybe later on this day I will try my luck.

Paul Stam, PC4T, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from the Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].

This weekend brought great weather and so it was out and about with Julie, but I did find some time for radio on Sunday evening. The bands were busy with contests and not wanting to get involved with them I skipped up to the QRP watering hole on 20m. I started calling CQ as I could not hear to much action. In a very short time W5TM came back to me and I was only 449 but it was a contact and that was good enough for me! Our QSO did not last to long as I was very much in and out I did send Edwin an email thanking him for the QSO. During my next CQ calling a G station came back to me but they were down in the mud. I switch on the APF and we did try over and over again to make contact but things just did not work out. It was pretty cool that my QRP signal was somewhat making it into "G" land. My last contact for the evening was with KA5KMS and this was a long QSO with a solid contact at both ends. Terry was running a Ten Tec Century 21at 25 watts into a dipole.  It was a good evening on the radio! They all were short QSO's but it will help keep me in the hobby, keep my code up and help me become more and more aquatinted with my rig. I have found that I can easily get lost in my ham programs, antenna issues and PC hiccups that involve radio. Bottom line it's great to put all that to the side and get on the radio and make some good old contacts.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 66 is now available for download.

George shows us chemicals you need for your workbench. Peter talks about DATV-Express, digital amateur television. Tommy repairs an Arduino and makes an IP address IDer for his Raspberry Pi D-Star HotSpot. Plus a lot more.
1:04:43 Good times.

Download

YouTube

George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

Today I made more progress. I was able to paint the rack. I decided on a camo pattern since the box was sort of camouflaged. Not that I need it to be hidden, it was just for fun. I also mounted the top shelf.

Here is the rack with the radios and other things mounted.

A side view . . .

Top view . . .

View from the back . . .

The box with the rack inserted. The rack won’t be fastened into the box. I am going to be able to slide it in and out as needed. This will make working on things easier. It would also allow me to provide more airflow if it gets warm in the box during operation. I am thinking about putting a small fan in there somewhere. Not quite sure yet . . .

The box with the lid closed. The lid has an “O” ring around the top, making it water-resistant.

I don’t have anything wired up or connected yet. The space on the lower front portion will have a plate with antenna connectors and other things. That will be a project in itself. I’ll post again when I get more done.

Wayne Patton, K5UNX, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Arkansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].