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I worked a new DXCC entity via QRP tonight, and it was a workout.  The funny thing is, the actual distance? Not so much.  This one was a Caribbean Island. And from the East Coast, the islands of the Caribbean are usually not very hard at all.

But conditions on 17 Meters tonight were soupy.  The QSB was rolling in and out.  My quarry was 599 one second and about 569 the next.  But I finally got FJ/K5WE in the log, and worked Saint Barhtelemy for the first time, using QRP power to boot.

If you look at the map, your first reaction is probably the same as mine. No big deal, right? I mean I’ve worked just about every single island down that way, many of them lots of times over.  We’re talking just a couple of thousand miles – really no big deal even for QRP.  But the pileup was busy and the QSX frequency kept moving.  Once I was able to establish the pattern, it didn’t take long.  But because of the QSB, I couldn’t hear a lot of the stations that FJ/K5WE was working, so it made establishing that pattern just a little bit tougher.

Like I said before, once I was actually able to hear a few of the stations and was able to figure out where FJ/K5WE was listening, I just tweaked my transmit frequency a touch higher and just kept calling until he worked his way up and just kind of fell into my lap.

Conditions are probably just “meh” – definitely not the greatest.  The sunspot number is down to under 100 and the A index is up there.  Not as bad as it was a few days ago, but still not great.  The few Russian stations that I was able to hear were all warbly as if the signals were experiencing polar flutter.  CO8LY was louder than all get out as was H70ORO.  I was surprised that FJ/K5WE wasn’t stronger, considering that Eduardo CO8LY was so strong.  Could be an antenna situation, not sure what K5WE is using down there on his tropical get away.

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

no ……. not the roller coaster at Coney Island – but a new kit from the Four States QRP Group, designed by Dave Cripes NM0S.

“The Four State QRP Group is pleased to announce the availability of the Cyclone 40 Transceiver.

This innovative and simple transceiver by NMØS is an enhanced version of Dave’s QRP ARCI’s 72 Part Challenge Design Contest entry in 2010. This is a complete kit, including the enclosure. The price is a buck a part plus shipping, $104 total, for domestic sales. Purchasing info and more details are on the kit’s home page here  http://www.4sqrp.com/cyclone.php  Here are some of the design features:

.  All through hole parts and easy assembly. NO SMD parts
.  Less than 100 components
.  Superhet receiver with very good sensitivity and selectivity
.  “Perfect” QSK very high speed and absolutely seamless operation.
.  VFO tunes the entire 125 kHZ CW segment of the 40M band at a comfortable
tuning rate.
.  Transmitter output is nominally 4W.  Those built so far are running ~ 4.6W
.  Frequency readout is included so you know where you are at all times.
.  A very attractive PCB enclosure is included, asy to assemble, looks great.
.  All parts are included, jacks, knobs, enclosure, transformers, everything.
This is a complete kit, including a black enclosure with white silkscreened
labels.

We hope you enjoy this high performance transceiver.”

Looks like the Four States Group have come up with another winner. And at the rate these guys are coming out with kits, we’re going to have to change that famous advertising slogan to: “Like a good neighbor …. Four States is there!”

On a side note, this weekend turned out to be even busier than I had first imagined.  Other than my accomplishments of Friday evening, and an 8 minute QSO with Bob W3BBO on 40 Meters on Saturday afternoon to give a listen to his new HF2V antenna, I was not able to squeeze in any on air time at all.  And that QSO with Bob was a bit disappointing as QSB was so deep that it made our QSO more of an adventure than either of us would have liked. Of course, now that I do have time this Sunday evening, we have thunderstorms off the horizon. So for safety’s sake, instead of getting on the air, I have disconnected the antennas.  The past four days have seen 90F (32C) plus temperatures, for the first real bonafide heatwave of 2013.  According to the weather folks, the coming storms will break the heatwave, but will also have the potential for a lot of lightning, heavy downpours and gusty winds.

Ahh summer, you gotta love it!

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

It was a nice night for DX.  I guess there are a lot of folks out there getting their stations ready for the CQ WPX contest this weekend.  They seem to be swinging their beams to and fro, checking out their Amps, and burning the dust off their finals.  Good times for a QRP DXer, good times!

I started off the evening with a brandy new one.  7X4AN, Mohammed in Algeria on 15 Meters  And with QRP, to boot!  So it was a deuce – new DXCC entity worked with QRP.  That was followed by another QSO on 15 Meters with KP2M down in the US Virgin Islands – and was he ever loud!  10 over 9 at least!

From there I went down to the 20 Meter QRP watering hole and called CQ. I was answered by Cliff W9ZI in Wisconsin.  Cliff and I chewed the fat for about 20 minutes until the band started changing and we cut things short before we both QSBed into oblivion.

That was followed by two quickie DX/Contest style QSOs, both on 20 Meters.  I am in the log of Zygi SP5ELA from Warsaw, Poland. Dziekuje, Zygi!  Then over to the Azores to get into CT8/OM7GJ’s log.  He had to be 20 over 9 here in NJ.

Lastly, I went to 17 Meters and worked OM3SX. Mike in the Slovak Republic. Mike was about a 579 here and I received a 559 in return.

In addition to the WPX this weekend, don’t forget that Saturday night, from 8:00 PM until Midnight – local time is QRP ARCI’s annual Hoot Owl Sprint.  That’s always a fun one.  There are bonus points given to anyone who operates portable.  I don’t know if I am intrepid enough to venture out at 8:00 PM this Saturday evening.  I’ll probably sit in the shack in order to just give out points, as usual.

Then come Monday evening, the MI QRP Club will be holding their annual Memorial Day Sprint from 2300 UTC to 0300 UTC..  That’s always a fun event.  Two good QRP events to keep in mind this upcoming long holiday weekend.

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

The weekend was busy, with lots of stuff to do in order to get ready for Mother’s Day, as well as actually celebrate it.  Even though I did not have much radio time, I did manage to get some time in behind the K3 and some good things happened.

The first good thing to happen this weekend was a package that arrived through the mail on Saturday:

Yes – my JARC Antenna Launcher Kit arrived through the mail. Thanks you Joplin Amateur Radio Club! This is going to be a tremendous help with portable operations this summer.

Late Saturday afternoon / early evening, shortly after my weekly Echolink ragchew with W3BBO,  Bob sent me an e-mail, letting me know that 15 Meters was wide open and that he had worked Z81X in the Republic of South Sudan.  I had just finished washing the floors, so I put down mop and bucket and ran down (literally) to the shack.  Sure enough, there was Z81X on 21.030 MHz, working split and sounding louder than all get out.  The pile up was tremendous!  So following my tenet of when the pile up is fierce and it’s a new one,  to  “Work ’em first, get ’em QRP later”, I turned the K3 up to 85 Watts.  After a half hour of chasing, I landed them in my logbook.  Z81X was like one of our wiley Foxes in the QRP Fox hunts in that he kept moving his listening frequency.  Once I established the pattern, and inserted myself in his path, it just became a matter of time.  Bob worked Z81X at 23:08 UTC and I got him a mere half hour later at 23:38 UTC.  Bob checked the on-line log this morning; and yep, we’re both in there. Sweet – a new DXCC entity for both of us!

Then today, I got some time this afternoon behind the dial and got two more new DXCC entities, and these I worked at QRP power.  15 Meters was hopping and netted me UN3M in Kazakhstan, as well as RI1FJ in Franz Josef Land.  The pile ups in these two instances were very small, so I tried QRP from the get-go here and was richly rewarded in both instances.  When the competition is not so fierce, you can afford to “be a purist”.

There was another station that I worked on 15 Meters that caught my ear, as it was a long and strange call sign – LZ1876SMB.  I have worked Bulgaria many times with QRP, but this was a Special Event Station to commemorate the Bulgarian Saint Martyrs of Batak.  A little Googling revealed that these were 700 members of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church who were martyred for their faith in an uprising against Ottomans in 1876.

If you go on QRZ, you’ll find out that LZ1876SMB is just one of many stations that will be on the air commemorating the Bulgarian Saints. For us Stateside ops, if we work five of these different LZ Saints Stations, a very beautiful diploma can be earned.

One down – four to go. I am going to keep my ears open for these stations. Bulgaria is usually (although not always) a fairly easy trip from NJ via QRP.

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

The bands are improving, the geomagnetic effects of the Coronal Mass Ejection seem to be fading. I was able to get on the air after dinner and work a few DX stations to add to my Club 72 QRP Marathon totals.

Many, many thanks to Peter HA5MK in Hungary on 40 Meters, Rolf SE6Y in Sweden on 30 Meters, and Vlad RW6FS in European Russia on 20 Meters.

The final totals for the 2012/2013 QRP Fox hunts were posted today. While I placed nowhere near the top finishers, I did “OK” for living in the Northeast without gain antennas. In the 40 Meter hunts, I nabbed 21 out of 40 possible pelts for a .525 batting average. I did even slightly better in the 80 Meter hunts. There I snared 26 out of 40 pelts for a batting average of .650 – good numbers if I were a slugger in the Major Leagues.

The “Major Leagues” as far as Fox hunts go, are folks like Doc K0EVZ, Dick W0NTA, Dave AB9CA, Dale WC7S, Dave N1IX, Jerry N9AW, Rick NK9G, John N2RK, Todd N9NE and many others. These guys are the heavy hitters, and I am nowhere in their league.

The “portable ops QRPer” in me really appreciated and enjoyed an article by Padraig Lysandrou KC9UUS in the May issue of QST. Read it if you get the chance. Padraig is a relatively newly licensed Ham, as well as a high school student. He and his family (Mom, Dad and two sisters are also licensed) took the opportunity to combine a vacation to Cyprus with Ham Radio. Not QRP, but very much portable. It was a good read, and Padraig is an excellent writer.

Lastly, before closing, for the night, I’d like to send prayers and thoughts to all the folks in Boston who suffered in the bombings today. May the injured heal completely and quickly. May the families of the deceased receive consolation and healing, also.

We are all Bostonians tonight – as a Nation, we gather together and become one.

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

As great as conditions were on Friday night, that’s how fast they went downhill over the weekend. Not sure how things went for the state QSO parties, but for casual DXing, things were the pits.

Personally, I would reckon this was all the side effects from the geomagnetic disturbance that resulted from the CME that recently occurred. As a result, most of the DX stations that I were able to hear were very weak, and the QSB was fast and deep.  For instance, I was listening to EA2DD today on 17 Meters. One second, he was as high as 569 – the next he was ESP.

Even though the SSN & SFI numbers remained favorable, the A & K indices rose high enough to be troublesome. The good news is that things should change for the better rather quickly. Maybe when I get home from work tomorrow evening, things will be better.

One consolation this weekend was hooking up fellow blogger, John N8ZYA. We had a decent rag chew type QSO on Saturday evening, and that made up for the otherwise lackluster Saturday and Sunday.

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

And if I wasn’t so tired, I’d probably stay on the air for a little longer; but alas, I am just about ready to call it a day. As soon as I finish this post, I will turn in.

I have read and heard reports of the big flare that occurred, and how we’re supposed to get hit tomorrow with potentially huge geomagnetic disruptions.. Main stream media news outlets are saying that we might see aurora tomorrow night, even here in NJ.  If that  is true, then tomorrow’s HF conditions will probably be, how shall we say, less than optimal?

But tonight was a good night.  20 and 30 Meters were exceptional.  On 20 Meters, I worked E74UB in Bosnia-Herzegovina, LZ1QI in Bulgaria, TF3JB in Iceland (with 2.5 Watts!), and the topper – the prize for the night A71CM in Qatar.  I have never worked Qatar before, ever  -and to get him in the log with 5 Watts had me doing the happy dance.

On 30 Meters, I actually had two honest-to-goodness QSOs with Lin G4DZE in England and Viorel YO6LV in Romania.  When you can have a civil QSO with more details that RST and TU, it’s always special.  Special thanks to Lin and Viorel for that.  I also worked SP6EIY in Poland and UY5BA in the Ukraine.

40 Meters was a little tougher, but I managed to work H70ORO, a special event station down in Nicaraguan to finish out the evening.

For the record, all tonight’s QSOs were completed with the KX3, using the HF9V on 20 Meters and the 88′ EDZ on 30 and 40 Meters.

I am making so many typos here that it’s ridiculous – thank God for spell check!

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