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Tim W3ATB and I hiked down to Old Hill Village today. The Pemigewasset River is up more than 20 feet and the area is inaccessible. We set up in a small field and worked the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belgium and Alabama. We had a grand time.

We hike into the Corps of Engineers flood control area along Needle Shop Brook. We detour and clamber down a steep hill to get near the brook. It’s exhilarating to see the water racing through the narrow channel, filling the air with mist.

As we get closer to the flood plain the road disappears. The river has become a huge lake of more than 1000 acres and millions of gallons of water held back by the Franklin Falls Dam perhaps 8 miles downstream.

Melting snow and recent rains have left their mark. Three miles upstream a man drowned a couple of days ago in the Smith River. Search teams have been called back because it’s too dangerous.

Tim and I find a safe operating position in an overgrown field above the water’s edge. We toss a line over the branch of a small maple tree and pull up a sloper. I am using the KX3 and the internal tuner. I hear OK2PDY calling CQ on 15 meters and complete a quick exchange. He gives me a 559 and he is 579. In just a minute I work Frank PA1FP in the Netherlands. I am only 539 and he is 589.

We’ve brought our jackets because the temperatures dipped into the 30s the last couple of days. But my thermometer reads 60 in warm spring sun. I hand the key to Tim and he answers N4RAY who is calling CQ from Alabama. Rodney gives us a 579. He is QRP but is a strong 599.

Before calling it quits, I snag one more QSO… this time with a special event station in Belgium. OS16M is celebrating Morse Heritage Day. We exchange quick 599s and pack up. Unless we get more rain the water will recede in a few days and dry out within a week.

We’ll be back soon with bicycles to explore some of the most beautiful countryside in New Hampshire.

Thanks to W3ATB for the photos.

Never say that protesting doesn’t help. After Agentschap Telecom withdrew the registration of my Dutch call sign – and some 200 other Dutch hams living abroad – the two biggest Dutch amateur radio organisations wrote a letter to the AT in protest. Not only that, but many of the affected hams also wrote in to appeal the decision. The reasoning of the AT for their action was quite valid, because every database needs to be cleaned up every now and then. Their execution wasn’t and yesterday they admitted to that.

All the affected hams will be re-registered, with their old call signs given back to them. All previously issued registration papers will remain valid. We are being asked by AT to cancel our registration voluntarily in case we indeed never use the Dutch radio space. Re-registration is always possible, because the results of the test to pass the radio amateur exam will stay on record.

All’s well that ends well. 73 from PA2BX a.k.a. BX2ABT

We’ve all come across that frequency.  You know the one I mean.  People on there all hours of the day and night saying and doing nasty things.  It’s been going on for a long time and no one in any regulatory agency seems to do anything about it.  There are websites devoted to that frequency and the people who are on it.  People post things on Facebook and those two websites here in the US about it all the time.  New radio amateurs ask about it and wonder what it’s about.  Old ones complain about it or get outraged.  Some amateurs laugh about it.  Various people theorize about the mental health of the participants on that frequency.  Some waste hours of their lives listening to it, many trying to figure out who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.  Some people have wasted months and years out of their pathetic, useless lives making that frequency what it is.

Here’s the kicker.  There are no good guys on this frequency.  None.  Not one of them.  Especially not the ones who claim they are against the bad guys and are merely trying to make the frequency better by contending with the so-called bad guys.  Even you, listening there.  Perhaps you just listen, or maybe you decide to fire up your linear amp and drop a carrier in there for a while, perhaps to punish them, maybe just to stir the pot, or give yourself a chuckle.  Acknowledge it.  You’ve done it.

No government agency is going to fix that frequency, or perhaps better worded, fix or punish those people on that frequency.  You’re not going to stop what’s been going on, not directly, at least.  Here’s what you, me, and everyone with a brain can do to fix this problem: stop listening to it, stop talking about it, don’t even acknowledge it.  From this day forward, that frequency doesn’t exist.  If you see someone posting about that frequency on a social media website or an amateur radio forum, you say we don’t talk about that.  If someone mentions it on the air in a QSO, in a roundtable, or on a net, talk about something else, like the weather.  That frequency is what it is because we listen to it and we talk about it.  We have the power to make it whither and die.

As you all know from reading this blog, my main interests in Amateur Radio are QRP, CW, portable ops and DX.  I don’t consider myself a hardcore DXer.  I will look for it, I will work it when I hear it, but I’m not one of those guys that has the Cluster send alerts to his smartphone.  I’m not one of those who will set his alarm clock for 2:00 AM just to work a new one. I will, however, bump up the power and leave QRP land to work a new one if I hear it.  I did that last night.

I consider myself one notch above the “Casual DXer” level.

I was fooling around playing with Logger32 and LOG4OM.  While the computer was doing its thing, I saw Easter Island and Qatar spotted on the Cluster.  These were two new ones that I have never worked before. My first move was to bump up the power to 75 Watts.  I’m enough of a DXer to want them in the log that I’ll try to get them in there using QRO power first and will worry about QRP later. Jumping into each pileup, I was surprised to actually work each on the first call.  Qatar was a nice and clean QSO.  Easter Island took a bunch of repeats, even at higher power, but I did hear my call and a “TU” at the end.

Afterwards, I got curious about how many countries I have worked.  I went to Log of the World to do a bit of research.  I have 165 countries confirmed via LoTW.  The problem is, that I have worked a bunch of countries via Hams who don’t use LoTW.  If I send out QSLs to each of these and get QSLs in return, I will have 185 countries confirmed.  I am a bit “iffy” about being in the logs of one or two of those, so 183 is probably more likely.

I know that with my set up here (antenna situation, in particular) – I am not DXCC Honor Roll material.  The probability that I would ever reach that level is slim and none, and slim left town.  I just don’t have the antennas, or the will power to get me there – as I have said before, I am not a hardcore DXer. But, if someday at the end of my Ham career, I could have 250+ countries confirmed, I’d be a happy camper.

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

to those of you who posted comments, or sent me private e-mails concerning the 9:11 UNUN, and particularly to “Anonymous” who provided the link to: http://www.balundesigns.com/servlet/the-102/QRP-9-cln-1-Unun-1.5/Detail

That was an eye-opener.  If the weather isn’t too chilly or damp this weekend, I think I am going to see what happens when I use the 24.5′ and 36′ wires as the radiator.  As my friend Bob W3BBO says, this is the fun of playing around with homebrew antennas – playing around until you discover something that works for you.  It will help if propagation is decent – it’s never a great day to evaluate an antenna when just about no one is around!

The 24.5′ wire would allow decent SWRs on 40 through 6 Meters (according to the chart, the highest SWR would be on 17 Meters at 2.1:1), while the 36′ wire would allow decent SWRs on 80 through 6 Meters (according to the chart, the highest SWR would be on 20 Meters at 2:1).  In either event, this should work better than what I had previously tried, where I was getting a 3:1 SWR or higher on some bands.

I know there’s no “one size fits all’ kind of solution here. If there was, someone would be either very rich, or very famous.  My concern is to be able to go to the park, toss one manageable wire into a tree and get as much operating time in as possible.  Multi-band doublets might yield better results, but at a cost of increased setup time as well as the need for two supports. Another simultaneous goal is to be able to switch bands as much as possible, without messing around with wires too much after the initial set up.

I know – about as easy as trying to change lead into gold.

I’ll keep you who are like minded posted as to what I discover.

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