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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!

I’ve worked Switzerland several times previously (10) but usually on the upper bands. I was surprised to hear and work HB9FIR on 40 meters last night. This was my one and only Swiss station on this band. I was happy to work him!

First off, please allow me to wish all my friends of the Jewish faith a very Happy Passover, which begins tonight.  May your Holy Days be blessed and enjoyable, surrounded by good food, friends and family.

Holy Week began yesterday for those of us who are Roman Catholic, or those who are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church as well as most Protestant denominations.  So what better way to kick off the week (Amateur Radio wise) than by working 3Z14EASTER?

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 65 is now available for download.

Special guest Randy Hall, K7AGE joins us for a chat and good times. Tommy sets up his solar powered portable rig, George talks about DX Clusters, and Peter builds a metal detector. Plus the boys from Mississippi exact some revenge for the Vegemite incident with Grits. Did it work?

1:26:54 Ham Radio fun and a little nonsense.

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