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After reading Larrys post this morning about 15 meters being open, I thought I would check that band out first today when I arrived at the park for some lunch time portable operation.  It has been a week since I have been on the air, so I was itching to get back to some CW.

Sure enough, right off the bat I had success…

DL4MO – I heard Loy finishing a QSO and when they wrapped it up I gave him a call.  He came right back to me with a 449 report – he was 599 here in Kansas.  Interesting thing is this was more than a quick report and “see ya” – I don’t think he could believe I was at 5 watts – he had me repeat my power after I sent it to him.  Loy lives in Germany – a new country for me.  His location is almost smack dab in the middle of the country.

SM5CAK – I heard Lars calling CQ and gave him a call – he was booming in here at 599, he gave me a 559.  Lars lives in Motola, Sweden – looking at Google Earth, it looks like a beautiful area.

I didn’t hear anyone else that was not in a QSO or very strong, so I decided to throw out a CQ on 15 meters…

F5RQQ – Jean-Marc is located in France.  We exchanged a quick report, he sent me 549 and I sent him 599.  Nice quick contact.

With 40 minutes left of my lunch hour, I decided to chase me some SOTA Activators…

K7SO – Sat was on W5N/PW-012 in New Mexico.  I worked him on 30 meters – he was booming in here at a 599 and I got a 549.

NM5S – Alan was on the same peak with K7SO but he was working 40 meters.  He gave me a 539 and I sent him 579.

KE5AKL – Mike was on W5N/SS-001 – Wheeler Peak, which is the highest peak in New Mexico at 13,167 ft.  I found this panaroma photo of the peak at Wikipedia – pretty cool shot.

Panorama of Wheeler Peak, NM – KE5AKL was here when I worked him!

With so many quick contacts, I still had about 8 minutes before I had to tear down, and I spun the dial on 20 meters looking for a CQ….

NK6X/4 – Bill was sending almost to fast for me, but I enjoyed it!  Sometimes it is good to be pushed.  He was in Dallas, GA, which appears to be part of metro Atlanta – I didn’t even know there was a Dallas, GA.  We had a nice QSO for the rest of my lunch hour, but I was having problems with the KX3 key.  Sometimes, it just will not send the dits and dahs when you push the arm.  Not sure what the deal is!

FUN FUN day today!  Thanks to all those that worked me!

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

You’d have to be crazy to stay indoors today! I rode my bike along the Pemigewasset River… on the other side… in Hill Village. I worked Poland, Russia, Italy and Croatia.

Judy and I took the old road south toward Franklin. We passed Bennett’s Brook and I took a quick photo. After riding two miles, we pulled over near a field along the river. There’s an old butternut tree alongside the lane. I stopped here to setup the KX3.

I tossed a line over the top branch and pulled up 33 feet of wire. I started on 17 meters and worked SP1JPQ in Poland. Jerry gave me a 439. He was only 569 and I decided to try 15 meters. That was much better. I called RX6AM after he finished a QSO. Mike gave me a 569. We’ve worked many times before. When I told him I was QRP at 5W, he sent: “Hi 5W great sigs Jim.”

Next I had a QSO with IZ8BRI in Italy. Egi and I quickly exchanged 599’s and then I worked Croatia. 9A2AJ, Tom and I also exchanged 599s. “FB WID UR QRP,” he sent when I told him I was operating portable with 5W. With that I packed up. Judy took a quick photo before we rode back.

Today was much cooler… in the 60s. Here and there a few leaves have started changing color. I’m trying to make the best of the warm days.

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

 

I have changed the shots to try to make them larger as some readers were wanting to see more details. The original pictures were done with Windows Print screen key. Not a very good option if one wants to see detail....lesson learned.These are not the greatest but the best I can do with the original prints.


Well I'm off work today and tomorrow I was off last week with a very bad cold and sinus infection but went back to early and am off again. Now I'm on med's and things seem to be turning around. Oh one thing the doctor asked me to try was a Neti Pot. In a nut shell you flush out your nose with water, it goes in one nostril and flows out the other!! I have heard of this and my son actually does it but there is just something funny about running water all the way through your nose up and into the sinus cavities and out. You just have to be careful and not use tap water and only the solution that is advised to use..........any way what does this have to do with WSRPing.......NOTHING.......I again have set up my Elecraft K3 for WSPR and it works better than ever. I set it up on 20m this afternoon to see how my 5 watts could venture out and about. I was very surprised that my signal made it over into Europe. A fellow blogger Paul PC4T in the Netherlands has hoped to have a WSPR signal meeting....up to this point it has been a no go. But this time around I did make it into the Netherlands to PA0SLT and PA3EDR as well as Italy, Switzerland, Finland and France.


Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Nice contact this morning into Russia with JT9 on 14078 KHz with RWØBT 4397km. On 30 meter I had good WSPR spots in the USA/Canada.

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

This afternoon I rode my bicycle along the Pemigewasset River. Today I brought a microphone along! I worked Italy, Svalbard Island and Estonia using five watts and SSB. This was a first for me.

Judy and I rode down to the old bridge to Hill. It’s right near the spot where Knox Brook flows into the Pemi. We stopped in a small grassy spot, and I set up the KX3 under an oak tree.

I tossed a 33 foot wire over the branch and sat directly under it, so the wire was vertical. I started out on 17M CW. Right away I worked S50R in Slovenia. Leo gave me a 599 and I gave him the same. When I told him I was QRP, he sent, “FB FOR UR 5W NICE.” Next I worked the Canary Islands. EC8AFM gave me a 559. He was a solid 599. Then I switched to SSB.

Right away I heard ES3AX in Estonia calling CQ. August gave me a 58. He was 59. I remembered his call and mentioned that we had worked before on CW. He also remembered. What a thrill. Tuning up a bit I heard Flavio
IZ1JLG calling CQ from Italy. He gave me a 55 and we chatted for a moment. Then I worked JW9JKA in Svalbard Island, Arctic Norway. Svein was on a DXpedition to Bear Island EU-027 and had a rough time getting my call but we completed the exchange and he gave me a 52. I didn’t realize this was a rare catch until I received an email from Dave W0CH who suggested I check closer…. Not just Norway, but Svalbard.

Next was another Italian station. IK6SNR, Lucio gave me a 59. When I told him I was QRP, he said that copy was easy and audio was excellent. I was really excited and equally surprised that I could make contacts so easily using 5W on voice.

I went back to CW to calm down a bit… Pavel OK4RQ gave me a 599 and when I told him I was QRP, he sent, “FB UR QRP S-9.” What more could I ask for? I packed up and headed back downstream toward the car. On the way, I rode alongside a beaver! The swimmer was so long, I thought it was an otter. But when it caught a glimpse of me, there was a loud splash of his tail as he dove beneath the water. As the sun started falling behind the trees, I stopped and took another snapshot of the river.

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

First, before a brief discussion of 15 Meters, I’d like to share a video on QRP – actually it’s HamRadioNow Episode 93 – “QRP (Life’s Long Enough …….).  This was pointed out by Norm WA4ZXV on the nogaqrp e-mail reflector.

The episode is about an hour long, though, so before starting it, you might want to pop some popcorn and open up a cold one and get comfortable for a bit.  (It’s instances like this where tablets and other hand held devices really soar!)

Now on to 15 Meters.  The past few days during lunch, I have been noticing some very loud signals on 15 Meters, even though various propagation tables have been calling for only “fair” conditions on the band. There were a few loud Europeans and South Americans on the band, but I was being beat out in the pileups by stronger signals (Them’s the breaks).  Rather than give up on the band totally, I decided to go on up to venerable ol’ 21.060 MHz and put out the CQ call for a lil’ bit.

I was rewarded with a call from Bert F6HKA who is very well known on the CW portions of the bands. Bert and I have QSO’ed before, but always in a contest situation.  It was nice to be able to spend a few minutes with him today, actually chatting for a bit.

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].