AmateurRadio.com

It was hot here again today with highs in the mid 90’s – I believe the high for the day was 95F (35C); so I stayed inside where it was cool.

That gave me the chance to play radio and get the K3 completed.  Between spurts of kit building, I managed to work my good friend Bob W3BBO on 40 Meters this afternoon.  We had a nice 30 minute rag chew and he was using the 44′ EDZ that he recently put up at his new house.  It worked well.  He started out at 559, but when the QSB kicked out, he was a solid 599 from Erie, PA to South Plainfield, NJ.  We had some QRM come in towards the end of our QSO; but the KX3’s silky smooth filtering knocked the interference right out.

I managed to get the front panel mounted and got to the stage of doing the smoke test.  No smoke!

Another hour or so and I was able to finish everything, do the calibrations and get the radio set in its place on the shack table.

The first QSO was Neal N4HAF on 40 Meters.  We had a nice little rag chew going and it was an enjoyable QSO. I worked John K4BAI on 20 Meters and started gabbing with him – only to realize that he was partaking of the MIQRP 4th of July Sprint. Doh!  I quickly apologized to John and let him get on with this business of making more QSOs.  I also worked AC8W in the same contest on 40 Meters and then switched back to 20 Meters for a short chat with Mike N0ZH, who will be Skeeter #55 in the Hunt in August, by the way.  It was good to hear Mike, it had been a while since we has last QSOed.

Anyway, after becoming acquainted with the KX3, it was nice to see the K3 is just about the same with a few minor differences.  It will still take a while before I feel “at home” behind it like I do with the K2; but that will come.  Some of the things that are a surprise are 1/4″ sockets for phones and paddles.  I am so used to the smaller miniature jacks that are used on the K1, K2 and KX3.  But it was nice to be able to hook both antennas up without having to use PL259 to BNC adapters.

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

I got confirmation from Elecraft on Monday that my K3 was shipping UPS 3 Day Select. So you have to figure – Tuesday, Wednesday, and delivery on Thursday.  In fact, that’s what the official UPS Tracking Website confirmed for me – delivery by the end of the day on June 28th.  So imagine my surprise when I got home to find a big brown box waiting for me.  Inside was:

Serial number 6625 – just waiting to be built!

Also included inside are the K3 ATU, the 400Hz, 8 Pole Roofing Filter, and the handheld microphone. I also ordered a microphone for the KX3 while I was at it.  And no, before anyone gets all excited, I am not renouncing CW!  I got the microphone(s) for two basic reasons.

1) Doing Ham Radio demos.  I have found that demos go best when you show folks CW and SSB.  There’s nothing like putting a mic into the hands of someone and allowing them to speak with someone halfway around the country, or the globe for that matter.  It’s something that THEY can relate to.  Morse Code is “cool” as I have been told by a lot of kids – but letting them talk to someone in far off Uzbekafgonalakistan is the ultimate “Wow”.  (A note to my lawyer – yes, that is a made up country name).

2) Special Event stations – I really used to like to hunt them.  A lot are not on CW at all these days, a lot are phone only.  Hence, my decision to buy some microphones.  Take for instance the “13 Colonies” Special Event that is held each year around Independence Day.  Last year I was able to find exactly ONE state (MA) on CW.  Maybe I won’t work many; but at least now I can try.

I really have to tip my hat to you SSB QRP guys.  You guys have supernatural patience!  Except for the rare instance, I will stick with CW for a 99% majority of my operating time.  I don’t have your kind of patience.

Tonight was preoccupied with other matters. Tomorrow night, God willing and the creek don’t rise, I will begin by doing a complete inventory.  I don’t expect anything to be missing as K3s are not rushing out the door as the same rate as KX3s.

Oh, and by the way, in case I didn’t mention it ….. the K2 is going NOWHERE!  I am NEVER giving that radio up!

Even though the sunspot number is a paltry 28, I had a good night on 20 and 30 Meters.  Germany, Lithuania, Ecuador and The Ukraine were all easily reached with 5 Watts. I even managed to bust a mini-pileup to work the Lithuanian on 30 Meters.  That felt really good!

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

Field Day 2012 for W2LJ was not to be, so far.

I went down and helped my sister clean out my Mom’s apartment as scheduled.  That was planned and was no big deal – in fact, I enjoyed spending some “alone time” with my big sister.  As we both have our own families now, that just doesn’t happen often enough.

The plan to go down to the Sarnoff Radio Club Field Day site got “kiboshed”, however.  Actually, my sister drove me past the site at around 11:00 AM as we were driving to Princeton to donate some paperback books.  I didn’t see anyone setting up at that point and had planned to stop by later, on my way home.

Of course, shortly thereafter, while packing items in the apartment, my cell phone went off – work. They were looking for a Cisco 9513 switch and line cards for an emergency switch replacement and “could I stick around close, on standby” just in case they needed me to come in and help them locate components?

So after our cleaning session ended, I hurried home just to be available, if needed.  Luckily, I wasn’t needed; but it did put a damper on my plans.

But in the evening, during my weekly Echolink session with my good friend Bob W3BBO, he mentioned his visits to some Field Day sites today and that he might visit a few more tomorrow.  Then it hit me!  Tomorrow!  Maybe tomorrow, when I am back down there, I can hit the Sarnoff site for a half hour or so. And that is assuming they’re still set up.  I know Field Day runs until 2:00 PM; but I know some clubs like to call it quits early.

So for a bit, I lived Field Day vicariously through Matt W1MST’s AmateurRadio.com, where he’s running some UStream of a couple of Field Day sites.  I was watching KC2RA for a couple of minutes when one of the guys mentioned setting up his tent so that he could sleep tonight.

Sleep on Field Day?  What is that, he asked, smiling knowingly?

When I was an officer with the Piscataway club (and was still single, BTW), I did my best to be there for set up, the whole event, and a good part of tear down.  I remember quite a few years where sleep on Field Day was nothing more than a few minutes of cat napping in Rich W2PQ’s pop up camber or Bill W2WK’s trailer. C’mon, man!  We’re there to operate, not sleep!  Who can hit the sack when there’s CW contacts to be made on 80 and 40!

Of course, the end result was being rather bleary eyed and dysfunctional for work come Monday morning.  The other side effect was hearing Morse Code in your head for about 3 – 5 days later until that faded away.  But those were fun days and I wouldn’t trade those experiences for all the tea in China! (Ooops!  Am I still allowed to say that; or is that something the PC police are going to shut me down for?)

Hope you all are having a wonderful Field Day!

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

The past few days, “The Heat Is On” by Glenn Frey from the movie “Beverly Hills Cop” had been constantly running through my head.  It’s been a scorcher and was best described by my friend Kevin, who looked at me Wednesday night and just said one word – “Oppressive”.

Now, truth be told …. I love the Summer.  Just love, love, love it!  The heat and humidity normally don’t bother me too much, but (pardon the pun) there was no “warm up” to this.  One day – beautiful Spring weather. Next day – WHAM! – the height of Summer.  While we had the benefit of an accurate forecast, no one was ready for this, there was no ramp up of heat.

But today, the “Heat is Gone”.  Actually, it was still pretty bad all day; but at around 5:30 PM, while it was still around 90F(32C), dark thunderheads appeared in the western sky. By 6:00 PM it was lightning, thundering and pouring buckets of rain – and ….. it was also 72F (22C). A drop of almost 20 Farenheit degrees.  The balance of the forecast for the weekend looks good – sunny each day and highs in the mid 80s (29C).  That should mean excellent conditions for Field Day.

Tomorrow (and possibly Sunday) I have to continue to help my sister with emptying my Mom’s apartment. However, she just texted me that the David Sarnoff Radio Club will be having their Field Day just down the street (literally) from my Mom’s place.  The NJQRPers sometimes join in on Field Day with the Sarnoff group, so maybe on the way home, I can stop off for a few minutes and mosey a bit.

Another good friend, Rem K6BBQ posted another of his entertaining and informative portable ops videos.  The one shows his efforts during the 7th Call District QSO Party back on May 5th.

Since it was May 5th, Rem was also sure to celebrate Cinco de Mayo by partaking of a burrito for lunch.  It sure looked good and I’ll bet it tasted as good as it looked.  Rem is not only a superb QRP op, (and a superb PORTABLE QRP op) but is also a Ham in the finest tradition of the hobby, making sure that good food is also included as an important part of all these events.

Hope all of you have fun this weekend with Field Day.  You know, even if you’re not affiliated with a club, as long as you have time and no conflicting commitments, there’s always the backyard picnic table or patio table, or local park or whatever.  AND ….. even if you’re not into contesting (and we all know that FD is NOT a contest – Hi!) – Field Day is a good opportunity to try out that new portable antenna you just built. Or that new radio you just built, or that new antenna tuner you just built and need to try.  You get my drift – practical field environment!

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

But the flesh IS weak, tonight!

I would like to operate a bit more tonight; but I am almost falling asleep behind the key.  Due to the heat in the house last night, it was very uncomfortable trying to fall asleep.  My pillow felt like a big sponge all night long; and I finally ended up drifting off around 3:00 AM.  Of course, that was only to wake up for work about 3 hours later.

I will have to be satisfied with one contact on 20 Meters, having worked Serge RN3DN whose QTH is near Moscow.  He had a very pleasant fist and a nice 589 signal into New Jersey and I received a 569 in return.  I would love to tune around and work a few more; but it’s not a good thing when your head snaps as you fall into that grey area between being awake and falling asleep.

The KX3 continues to amaze me. So many features jammed into a radio that is really only just a little bit bigger than some of the 2M handhelds that were around when I first started my Ham career 24 years ago.

Thank the Lord, the air conditioner repairmen came today and were able to make repairs without the need for a new compressor.  It reached 98F (37C) here in Central New Jersey today – not quite high as they expected.  With the combined high humidity, it was quite oppressive.  But right now, it’s a relatively cool 78F  (25C) in the house which is much, much better than what I had to deal with last night.  I should be able to garner a good night’s sleep tonight.

Tomorrow is expected to be very hot and humid again; but not quite as warm as today.  Heavy and possibly some severe thunderstorms are expected late tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening, which will break the back of this heatwave.  High temperatures over the weekend are expected around 85F (29C).

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

tonight, because according to Ron WB3AAL and a post he made to the Polar Bear reflector, band conditions might turn into a mess this weekend:

Space Weather News for June 14, 2012
 http://spaceweather.com 

DOUBLE CME: Active sunspot AR1504 is facing Earth and hurling coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in our direction. A fast-moving CME that left the sun on June 14th is expected to scoop up another CME already en route and deliver a double-blow to Earth’s magnetic field on June 16th. Weak-to-moderate geomagnetic storms are possible when the clouds arrive. Check http://spaceweather.com for images and updates.

Tonight, band conditions are nice and I am having a blast.  I had a very brief QSO with TJ W0EA and this ended up being my first KX3 to KX3 QSO.  I am also hearing a lot of European stations and am able to work quite a few.  But this just goes to show you ………..

My QSO with TJ was very brief because my signal to him was exceptionally crappy.  I looked down and realized that I was still on the EDZ for our QSO.  After signing with him, I switched over to the Butternut, called CQ again and got a 559 from OM7DX in the Slovak Republic.

The other night was a first for me.  I heard my very first VU station – ever!  For whatever reason, I have never even heard a station from India before.  Hearing one the other night was an exciting first for me.

Ah, yes …. it’s Friday night, the work week is done, the weather is nice and I get to go on the radio.  Great way to start Father’s Day weekend!

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

I kept the radio tuned to 20 Meters for the evening and had a variety of QSOs.

The first was with CO6RD, Reynaldo in Cuba.  This wasn’t a long QSO as Reynaldo was working “contest style” racking up the QSOs. But I did get him on the first shot, even though a lot of stations were calling.

Next up was a busted QSO with Mike AA6WQ, who was operating from TN.  We got through the QSO basics, only to have the band pull the rug out from under us.  One minute we were going at it, next minute we couldn’t hear each other anymore. I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles, sometimes.

With two short QSOs under my belt, I was thinking that might be how the evening was going to go. But my fears turned to be for nothing as the next QSO was an almost hour long rag chew with Paul W4KLY in Stone Moutnain, GA.  This was an Elecraft to Elecraft QSO.  Paul was using his K1 and (of course) I was on the KX3.  QSB had a role to play; but in all honesty, when the band was not in fade mode,  our signals were 599 both ways.  We talked about rigs, portable ops and antennas and summer vacation plans.  It was very enjoyable and it is truly amazing to see how fast an hour can go by on you when you’re having fun.

The last QSO for the night was with Rumi LZ2RS in Bulgaria.  He was calling “CQ QRP” and I was lucky enough to be heard on my first call.  Rumi was at 5 Watts; but what really made the QSO was his Yagi at 12 meters up, pointed my way.  I was on the 88′ EDZ pumping out 5 Watts from my end also.  Signals were a legitimate 559.

The bands have been so good lately!  Not the best I’ve ever witnessed; but after the past few pitiful years, this is like Heaven (comparatively).  I sure hope it stays this way for a while and doesn’t take a fast dive off a cliff into oblivion.

On another note, this new 9 cell battery that I got for the Acer is fantastic!  I got it Monday and attached it to the netbook for charging.  I’ve used it Tuesday, Wednesday, and tonight – about two to three hours per night.  The indicator says it still has about another two hours left in it.  Of course, I have Windows set for “Max Battery Life” through the control panel, but even so, this is way outlasting the old battery.  That one gave me about two hours computer time, tops.  This battery should be able to get me through a four hour sprint (outdoors) without breaking a sweat.

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