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Working JT65A can sometimes be very frustrating. Today 10m was open and quite a bit of DX was coming in but the sum total of my afternoon’s endeavours was precisely two QSOs.

This mode does eat up time. I called several stations to no avail: either they didn’t hear me or replied to someone else. A couple of stations I called faded out in mid-QSO so I never received any rogers. I tried calling CQ and had a couple of replies, but they never came back after I sent their report.

It takes two minutes each time to find out if the other guy can even hear you. So you can spend a lot of time on abortive contacts.

On well, there’s always tomorrow!

I always like reading about what can be achieved using a stealth antenna system, so I always enjoy reading the blog of John, N8ZYA.

From a town house in Charleston, West Virginia using 3 watts of CW to an indoor random wire, John has made 1,830 contacts including 361 DX stations in 73 different countries. Simply amazing!

I hope you don’t mind me pinching your picture, John!

From Paul NA5N on QRP-L:

“Head’s Up” – Initial announcement:

The 2013 QRP TO THE FIELD will be held on SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2013

QRP TO THE FIELD is the annual “get out of the house and operate somewhere from the field” QRP event and contest.  It is also the annual event for QRP-L, as this is where it is exclusively administered.

PROBLEMS:
1. Our solar maximum is very disappointing, making contacts more difficult
 than should be expected at this point in the solar cycle.
2. #1 above discourages many QRPers from participating
3. #1 and #2 means fewer stations to work for our efforts.
4. We have new hams and new QRPers joining our ranks all the time, both
 CW and SSB, with various skills wanting to get on the air.

PROPOSED CHANGES:
SOTA (Summits on the Air).  Last year, we joined forces with SOTA for plenty of new stations to work and a new measure of fun (with those strange exchanges!).  We will join forces again with SOTA for the increased on-the-air activity for us both.  Most SOTA stations are QRP.  SOTA does not have an organized annual event; QRPTTF can serve as their annual special event, as well as ours, for increased activity.

THEME: QRPTTF has always been unique by having a “theme” each year.  Last year it was SOTA and summits.  This was last year only.  The different themes for QRPTTF will continue … though, I haven’t figured out YET what this year’s theme will be.  Ideas welcome.  I wasn’t expecting to live past the Mayan Calendar thingie!

CW vs. SSB: For years, I have been asked to add an SSB category to QRPTTF.  There are few organized events for SSB QRPers, and many QRP-L members are SSB QRPers.  We also have plenty of new QRP hams who are SSB only.  Many SOTA stations also find SSB more convenient from those mountain tops.
Therefore, I have decided to add SSB to QRPTTF this year to those who prefer SSB or are no-code QRPers.

I NEED YOUR HELP.
It’s been years (like decades) since I’ve had an SSB QSO on HF.  I know nothing about it, what frequencies are REALLY used, etc.  I need someone who is willing to serve as the Contest Manager for the SSB side of QRPTTF and accept the summary sheets.  Results can be published on your website, or of course, my existing site http://www.zianet.com/qrp/ Please contact me privately if you are interested.

Again, I see QRPTTF (and the Zombie Shuffle) as events for the QRP-L community and our new SOTA friends.  I am always interested in your comments or thoughts on the above to bring more fun and enjoyment to the majority of us.  Hopefully, adding SSB will be one.

There are yet no rules for this year’s QRPTTF (not much different than in the past).  I will wait until I have a volunteer SSB Contest Manager before finalizing this year’s rules and get some feedback from SOTA on their preferred SSB protocols.  But basically, get on the air, work stations, have fun.  The rest are just details!

72, Paul NA5N
Socorro, NM
http://www.zianet.com/qrp/

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

While listening to the bands this evening, I finished my NorCal QRP Dummy Load kit that I purchased a few years ago.

Something that’s been puzzling me for the last couple of years, particularly on the digital modes, is the number of people who address me by name before I’ve told them. These are not stations I’ve worked before – KComm will alert me to those. But increasingly often when I reply to a station they will come right back with “Good afternoon, Julian.” I’ve even had people end JT65A contacts with “TU JULIAN 73”, despite the fact that the operator’s name is not part of the exchange.

I’m not egotistical enough to think that half of hamdom know my name because of my blog. I’ve had people address me as “Mr Julian Moss” which I think is a bit formal for the amateur bands. But it makes me suspect that some database is involved.

It would shake my faith in the parsimony of hams to think that 50% – because that’s about how often it happens nowadays – have stumped up for a subscription to QRZ. But if they haven’t, where do they get the information from? Is there a free callsign lookup database I haven’t heard of? And if there is, doesn’t the fact that you can access a station’s details at the click of a button render somewhat pointless the rest of the QSO?

I was in the basement, cutting up some cardboard boxes for the recycling pickup tomorrow.  To dispel the quiet and to have something to listen to, I turned the radio on.

I worked K6K/MM on 17 Meters.  My friend Bob W3BBO worked them last night on 20 Meters and let me know that these folks are the DXpedition that is heading to Clipperton.  I worked Clipperton back in 2000; but that was with 75 Watts (QRO).  I will try again; but QRP this time (of course).

From there, I tuned up into the SSB portion of 20 Meters.  I figured I would listen to either some guys chewing the rag, or some guys working DX.  I ended up listening to guys try and work some DX.  To be honest with you, I don’t even know who or where the station was.  He was working simplex and the pile up was not huge; but he wasn’t calling CQ, either.  He had enough stations to handle.

Why do people insist on calling a DX station when they can’t adequately hear him?  I ask this, because there were guys throwing out their calls, while the DX station was still in QSO with the previous station!

It seems to me, that if you can’t hear the DX station well enough to know that he’s still talking and hasn’t finished …… what makes you think that you’ll hear him come back to you?  Do these folks think that propagation is going to magically improve so that a 2X contact can be made?

I’m not getting just on the SSB guys.  It’s no better on the CW side – heck, it’s no better in the QRP Fox Hunts!  I can’t tell you how many times guys just keep throwing out their call signs over, and over and over until you want to tear your hair out.  Call signs being spewed out when the Fox is in the middle of making a contact with someone else.

If you can’t hear THAT, why even bother to try to work them? Unless you can hear him well enough to respond to you, it seems to me that you’re just setting yourself up to be thought of as a Lid by your peers.

That old saying holds true – “You can’t work ’em if you can’t hear ’em.”  But maybe we should also add, “You shouldn’t try to work ’em if you can’t hear ’em!”

Just sayin’

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

So you say you’re not into the “Big Gun” contests; because as a QRPer, you feel like a fish out of water.  What’s a QRPer to do?

Fortunately, there are a bunch of operating events (contests, if you will) that were designed just with you in mind.  Some of these are annual events, some are monthly, some are seasonal.  Here are some good ones that I can think of right off the top of my head:

Monthly ARS Spartan Sprint – this occurs on the first Monday of every month – this is a two hour sprint that runs from 9:00 to 11:00 PM Eastern time (you can do the math for your time zone).  Sponsored by the Adventure Radio Society, there are two divisions – the Tubby and Skinny Divisions.  The divisions are determined by the weight of the equipment you are using. The goal is to use as small and light and portable a station as you can manage – although that’s not a requirement to participate. Information about these Sprints can be found here.

Flying Pigs Run For the Bacon – this sprint occurs on the third Sunday of every month.  Another two hour sprint that again, runs from 9:00 to 11:00 PM Eastern time.  This is a very friendly, low pressure sprint where slow speed coders are welcome.  You don’t need to be a member of the Flying Pigs to participate; but it’s fun to have a Piggie number to exchange instead of just the “standard” 5W designation.  Besides, it’s free to join – the club’s motto? “No dues, no rules, just have fun!”  Further information can be found here.

NAQCC Monthly Sprint – these sprints are rapidly gaining in popularity. The North American QRP CW Club was founded by Tom Mitchell WY3H and John Shannon K3WWP. They recently just held their 100th sprint since the club was founded and close to 200 logs were submitted after all was said and done.  That amount of logs has to rival even the bigger QRP ARCI contests, I’ll wager. You have to pay attention to the days on these sprints however, because they alternate monthly between Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. And the contest time is a bit different also – 8:30 to 10:30 Easter time.  Membership in the NAQCC is also free and more info can be yours, here.

Of course the QRP Amateur Radio Club International sponsors a whole bunch of contests and sprints throughout the year.  There are Spring and Fall QSO Parties and events such as the Hoot Owl Sprint, QRP Field Day, the HF Grid Square Sprint, Fireside Sprint, etc.  QRP ARCI is a fine organization and they publish a tremendous magazine called “QRP Quarterly”.  More information about these operating events can be found here.

Then there are also the seasonal, primarily outdoor sprints such as the recently completed Freeze Your Buns Off, and others such as QRP To The Field, QRP Afield, Flight of the Bumblebees, (and my favorite) the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt.  You can Google any of those for further information.

The NJQRP Skeeter Hunt will be held again this August.  The sprint will be have an SSB category for 2013, so those of you who are not into CW can also join in on the fun.  There will be a theme and bonus points awarded for home brewing something specifically for the event; but those details haven’t been ironed out yet.  A general contest announcement will be made near the beginning of May, and Skeeter numbers can be applied for as of May 1st.

Lastly, there are also “miscellaneous” indoor QRP operating events that are held each year, that are not sponsored by major clubs.  The one that comes to mind immediately, for example, is the Zombie Shuffle which is run by Paul Hardin NA5N and his wife Jan N0QT.  This is usually held the weekend before Halloween and is a ton of fun.

There are also the Winter and Summer QRP Fox hunts.  If you like the thrill of navigating your way through a QRP pile up, then these are for you.  The Winter season runs from November to March.  There are two hunts each week, usually on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  One is on 80 Meters and the other is on 40 Meters.  During the Summer, the hunts are on 20 Meters and past practice is that they have been held on Thursday evenings.  Details here.

If you want to build up your log totals, hone your operating skills and have a ton of fun in the process, take some time to investigate what I’ve mentioned here.  If you’ve never tried any of these before, get your feet wet and join in. You’ll be an Old Pro in no time!

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