AmateurRadio.com

A most sincere and humble “Thank You so much!” to all those who have and continue to serve our Nation in the Armed Forces.  We will never be able to adequately repay your service.

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

The power came back on at 12:15 PM today – fifteen minutes after Noon.

I have to go pick up Joey and Cara from my sister’s house.  She graciously let them stay with her while our house has been like an icebox.

I will do an extended posting tonight with a Hurricane Sandy recap and some photos from my immediate neighborhood.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and best wishes; and special thanks to Jim W1PID who “checked up on me” each night on 80 Meters.

Ham Radio ops ARE THE BEST!

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

I spent another three hours with my CERT Team today, filling and distributing sand bags to the citizens of South Plainfield who requested them.  I left an hour early as I came home to clean out the gutters, which had filled up with leaves (again).  Did I ever mention that I hate heights and I really, really hate ladders?  I fell off of one as a child, and have had an intense dislike of them ever since.  But you do what you have to do.

The garbage cans have been securely bungee corded to the fence.  All Halloween decorations have been brought in.  I also covered the grill and secured that in place with bungee cords.

All that’s left now is waiting for the “show” to begin.

To all of you in Sandy’s path, I wish you Godspeed and pray that you all will remain safe and directly out of harm’s way.  May we all wake up on Wednesday, and by the Lord’s grace, be able to say – “That wasn’t so bad!”.

I will post as I am able.  If you don’t hear from me – no surprise – the power will have gone out.

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

But during the past week, we had another family milestone event. The last of our parents, my mother-in-law, Nora Dunmyer, passed away last Monday.  The funeral was this past Friday. Needless to say, it was a hectic week – mostly for my wife Marianne and her brother, Tim.

Obviously, the photo above was taken on the day of our wedding (14 years ago, when I was much thinner and my hair had way less gray in it).  In the photo, my father-in-law, Joe is standing next to Marianne, and my mother-in-law, Nora is standing next to me.  She was a wonderful woman who was born in Donegal, Ireland into a large family.  Of all her brothers and sisters, only she and her brother Harry Gallagher came to the United States. As a young woman she earned a degree in teaching. She taught reading and English in the Catholic Schools system in New York City and in various communities in Northern New Jersey, for many, many years.

She was an inspiration to many of her young students, who have since grown up to lead responsible, productive lives.  And several of them contacted Marianne this past week, via Facebook, to let her know how important her mother, “Mrs. Dunmyer” was to them.  That has to be about the nicest tribute anyone can pay.  To touch lives in a significant way was her gift.  She will be missed.

On a side note, Marianne still has plenty of cousins and a few aunts and uncles still living in Ireland. One of her uncles was a Ham, although Marianne cannot recall his call sign.  From the times she has visited the Emerald Isle, though, she was able to tell me about the tower he had on the side of his house, and unfortunately, also about the time it was struck by lightning and how the house almost burned down as a result.

Needless to say, there was no radio activity of any kind this past week.  I had hoped to play in the 4 States QRP Group 4X4 Sprint yesterday, but that was not to be.  However, an e-mail today on QRP-L from Hank  N8XX reminded me that the QRP ARCI Fall QRP QSO Party is next weekend.  So while that is not a portable event by any stretch of the imagination (although there’s no reason it couldn’t be if you wanted) I hope to make a semi-significant effort if time allows. There’s no way in Heaven that I will be able to operate anywhere near the 24 hours out of 36 allowed.

A) I just have too much going on which precludes that possibility.
B) And even if “A” were not true, my butt would preclude the rest of my body from sitting in a chair that long.

So I will be happy if I manage to get 4 to 6, perhaps even 8 hours in of “giving out points”.  Hope to hear you  on the bands next weekend!

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

I am making this brief post on a very inexpensive Android tablet that I purchased through eBay.  Not the ideal way to do this, but fun in any case.

I was amazed on finding so many Amateur Radio apps in the Google  Play Store.

I have a few installed, including Ham Log. It will be interesting to see if this tablet can be used as an effective portable ops logging device.  Reminds me of the time that I used to use a Palm Pilot for that purpose.

One concern would be that the battery life on this thing isn’t all that great.  It will be fun to experiment, though.

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

I am so happy to see that Jim W1PID’s outdoor QRP adventure stories have now been picked up over at AmateurRadio.com, which is a great site, by the way.

Since Jim’s posts will be picked up there, I would ask you to keep an eye out for them and will no longer mention them here, in order to avoid a duplication of effort.

If you’re into QRP and the outdoors, or would like to be, or find yourself forced to live vicariously, please treat yourself to Jim’s sagas.  If you’d like to re-read an old story or catch up on a few you might have missed – here’s Jim’s Website:  http://www.w1pid.com/

Happy reading!  And Jim, thanks so much for sharing.

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

Skeeter logs are trickling in. So far, I’ve received 29. I know there were a lot more than 29 participants; so don’t be shy about getting your log in.  You have until September 12th – but why wait?  Beat the last minute rush.

Full logs (adif and cabrillo files) are not necessary. The following is more than enough:

Name
Call
Skeeter number (if you had one)
Number of Skeeter QSOs
Number of Non- Skeeter QSOs.
Number of S/P/Cs that you worked on all bands. For example, if you worked GA on 20 and 40 it counts twice.
Your station class multipler:
X1 Home stations – commercial equipment
X2 Home stations – home brewed or kit built equipment
X3 Portable station – commercial equipment
X4 Portable station – home brewed or kit built equipment

And whether or not you’re claiming the homebrewed key bonus of 1,000 points. Remember, the key had to have been built specifically for the Skeeter Hunt and you have to send me a picture. (So far, three entries have claimed the 1,000 point bonus and have sent photos).

All soapbox comments and photos will be posted.

On another note (totally unrelated to Ham Radio) I have recently taken efforts towards living a more healthy life style.  I was looking at some of the pictures that Marianne took while we were on vacation and I saw one of myself and thought, “You have GOT to be kidding!”.

For the past month, I have gotten out of bed extra early before work and have been going out for a daily two mile walk (about twice as far on Saturday mornings when I have more time). I have cut out sweetened beverages (still allow myself the very occasional cold 807, however!) and unhealthy snacks.  I am eating more fruit and fresh vegetables.

I have lost about 5 pounds so far; but my goal is to lose 30 by the time we head back to Lake George next summer. The ultimate test came today, when I got home from work. The kids wanted to indulge in a rare trip to Burger King.  While they ate their cheeseburgers, I munched on a grilled chicken salad with (zero fat) honey mustard dressing. I shouldn’t complain as it was quite good; but I was so in the mood for a Whopper!

I recently went for a physical and everything turned out well; except for the fact that my cholesterol is a tad high. The upper limit is supposed to be 200 and I came in at 211.  I am hoping the change in diet and the increased physical activity will take care of the cholesterol level as well as lowering my blood pressure, too.

I remember when I was a kid and was in such a hurry to be a grown up.  Sometimes, it ain’t what it was cracked up to be!

BTW, Doug Hendricks announced today on the QRP reflectors that Hendricks QRP Kits is re-opening as of tomorrow, 8/16.  For those of you who were unaware, Doug’s wife passed away a month ago on 7/16. It will be good to have him back; and it will probably be good for him to be back.  Our thoughts and prayers are still with you and your family, Doug!

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