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There are two upcoming outdoor QRP events being held over the next two weekends.  For many part of the Northern Hemisphere, the weather at this time of year can be unpredictable, to say the least. And as we head closer and closer to October, the weather can become even more unpredictable, so now is a good opportunity to take advantage of outdoor QRP conditions as we inch closer and closer to Freeze Your Buns Off weather!

This coming weekend is QRP Afield, which is sponsored by the New England QRP Club.  “Da Rulz” can be found here.   http://newenglandqrp.org/afield

This is pretty much an all day event – from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM EDT this coming Saturday (21 SEP 1500Z – 22 SEP 0300Z ).  If you operate QRP and portable, each QSO is worth 10 points.  So even if you can only get out for a little while, you can potentially rack up a decent score

The event the following weekend is the Peanut Power Sprint that is being sponsored by the North Georgia QRP Club.  This is a shorty, 2 hour afternoon Sprint and here are the rules for this one (courtesy of Jim W4QO):

Sponsored by the North GA QRP Club (NoGaQrP), this sprint will be held on Sept. 29, 2013 from 4PM to 6PM EDT (Sept. 29 – 2000z to 2200z). Full rules are on the NoGaQrP website – nogaqrp.org Click on NoGaNuT PeTe!

The club is making this one different from most other QRP contests.

1. It is open to all amateurs at any power level. This is to attract some new folks to QRP while running their comfortable power – QRO (<100 watts pls) is welcome and there is a category for that. This is a FUN event. Not cut-throat!

2. It is a short sprint lasting only two hours; not tying up the entire afternoon. Although brief, run reasonable CW speeds for all to copy.

3. It starts late in the day (right after close of TX QSO party!) which will mean those on the west coast will begin at 1PM PDT, later than most contests.

4. There are categories for all situations – the prestigious category is the Peanut Power category – 1w CW or less, 2W PEP SSB or less – operating from the field! This is the GOOBER CLASS!  SOTA anyone?

5. Plaques will be award for each of 5 category winners (minimum 3 entries).

6. Sprint will encourage SSB as well as CW contacts.

7. Multipliers count each band/each mode. Work GA ( or any SPC) on 3 bands and 2 modes each = 6 multiplier.   Puts emphasis on switching bands and modes during the event.  Check SSB on the quarter hour.

8. This will encourage activity on the 3 permitted bands – 40, 20, and 15M. There are suggested frequencies for each band/mode. Notice we are encouraging the now almost dead portion of 40M – 7060 khz and up.

9. Logs are not required – simply a score – however, category winners may be asked to submit their logs for verification.  Watch website for results.

10. Work stations holding a Peanut Power Number (PPN) for 7 points. Stations worked who do not hold a PPN yield 3 points. Yes, QRO stations can request and receive a PPN. You do not declare your category until you send in your entry.

To request a PPN, send an email to NoGaNuT JiM at [email protected]  Requests for special numbers are no longer accommodated. See the current list via the website. Include the word PEANUT POWER NUMBER in the title please.

Jim W4QO

Speaking of outdoor events, this weekend was the Brutus Bash which is held each year by the 4 States QRP Group.  Terry WA0ITP posted this video of last year’s event:

Sure looks like all the 4 States guys know how to have a GREAT time, doesn’t it? I can’t wait to see what Terry puts together for this year’s event!

Lunchtime was good today. I worked Rudy IK4VFD in Parma, Italy, but the prize was working 5Q7Y, the Langeland DX-pedition in Denmark on 17 Meters.  The pileup was crazy, but the key was figuring out that they were listening only 1 KHz up. Most of the pileup was calling way higher than that. I get a kick when 5 Watts finds a way to sneak in!

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

Whew!  The 2013 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt Soapbox page is 99% done and published!  Hallelujah!  I still have to post Andy WN0I’s photos.  He sent me hard copies through the mail and my scanner is acting up; but I should have them up tomorrow Andy – please bear with me!

To see all the comments and photos published so far – please click here.  And to see the scores and where you placed in the standings, click here.

Many thanks to all of you who participated this year, and thanks for all the photos and comments.  If you sent me something and don’t see it – please resend! The big black hole that is the cyber world probably swallowed your e-mail on me!

Also, a very special thanks to Ward Silver N0AX, who included some nice words about the Skeeter Hunt in this week’s e-mail of  “The ARRL Contest Update for September 11, 2013”.  Muchas Gracias, Ward!

And once again, a very big special word of thanks to the NJQRP Club and it’s members for lending their name and for giving the Skeeter Hunt the credibility that it has.

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

I have about 2/3rds of the 2013 Skeeter Hunt Soapbox comments Webpage composed.  Hopefully, I will finish tomorrow night and will then publish them (I’ll post the link here, of course!).  Thanks to all who submitted soapbox comments and especially for all the photos.  I only wish I was a better Web artist, so that I could give them the layout they truly deserve. Once the soapbox comments are published, I will begin printing and mailing certificates.

It is being said that we are now at the peak of sunspot Cycle 24.  Several articles have pointed to that fact. We may, or we may be not.  I am not an astronomer/astrophysicist, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you that from my own authority.

But I do know that 15 Meters has been good lately, and today’s lunch time QRP session was decent again.

In my limited amount of operating time, I worked the following stations:

HA3FTA
9A287R
DK3GI

The first two contacts were pretty much your average “bang bang” DX QSO exchanges of RSTs. The last QSO with Roland DK3GI was a little bit more in depth.  Roland who lives near Nuremberg, was pushing 200 Watts to a beam.  I also found out that it was rainy and cool where he was – it was only 15C (59F). Typical Autumn type weather.

On the other hand, we’re having a brief re-visit from Summer here in NJ. After some cool days and some downright chilly evenings the past few days, the heat and humidity have come back with a vengeance!  It was a sticky 85F (29C) here today, and it expected to go into the low 90s (32C) tomorrow.  But then clouds will come in Thursday and by the weekend, the temperature is supposed to struggle to reach 70F (21C) on Saturday and Sunday.

As Mark Twain once said this about the weather in New England:

“If you don’t like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes.”

The same holds true for New Jersey!

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

My lunchtime QRP session looked promising, right from the start. First off. the weather was, gorgeous …… simply gorgeous! It was sunny with a deep blue sky, and about 72F (22C) with a slight breeze, and the humidity was way, way low. It was one of those days where you go out for lunch and seriously consider the possibility of not going back inside to the office. One of the 10 best weather days of the year …. absolutely!

The 15 Meter band was hopping again.  I had a quick QSO with RO70PR and then a bit bit of a longer one with Lars SM5CAK, who was running serious power. I don’t know what Lars was using for a rig, but he told me that he was pumping 800 Watts into the aether via a beam atop a 75 foot tower. That QSO done, I was hunting for more.  This was the kind of day where I thought I might be able to get 5 or 6 good DX QSOs in rapid succession, just like Jim W1PID on one of his outings.

Then it happened.  TA7I appeared on the very low end of the band, at 15.003 MHz.  He was loud and the pile up was brisk, but not something (in my estimation) that could not be conquered. If you’re a fan of David Baldacci’s series of “King and Maxwell’ books, it was the moment where Edgar Roy would say, “Hot Damn!”

My estimation was wrong.  I could not make myself heard.  This was one of those instances that happens many times in the life of a QRPer.  The DX is loud, the crowd is small, you just know in your heart of hearts, that you will be successful and will get that DX station in your log.

But you don’t.  And to make it worse, it leaves you scratching your head, because you don’t know why. Everything seems perfect, but it’s not.  Band conditions seem good, you’ve worked weaker DX stations just a few minutes earlier. It all looks like “a go for liftoff”, except that the rocket never ignites.

I could be disappointed that I wasted almost a good half hour on a futile mission. But I’m not. You learn quickly in the QRP game that sometimes you’re the windshield, and sometimes you’re the bug.  But tomorrow is another day, and someday …… someday I will get Turkey in the log using QRP.  I’m certain of it.

Besides, if this was like shooting fish in a barrel, what would be the fun in that?

As I close, I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome a newcomer to the ranks of Amateur Radio (even though he’s not even aware of this blog as far as I know).  But this newcomer is special to me, because he’s a Catholic priest – a very, very cool Catholic priest.  I read his blog, every single day.  So a big “Welcome to the hobby” goes out to Fr. John Zuhlsdorf,  KC9ZJN.  Fr. Z got his Tech license and he’s studying for his General.  Besides covering religious topics in his blog, he’ll also cover topics such as art, travel, food, target shooting, various technology related items and now …. Amateur Radio.  Like I said ……. cool, very cool!

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

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.

Today I pulled off a hat trick during my lunchtime QRP session. A triple play, a trifecta, a triple crown ….. three QSOs, one each on three different bands, in about 15 minutes. One on 20 Meters, one on 17 Meters, one on 15 Meters. A lot of band hopping!

The first QSO was a domestic one, but was perhaps the contact that intrigued me the most of the three. On 20 Meters, I worked Mike AI8Z/8, who was on SOTA Summit W8M/UP-057. This is better known as Feldtmann Ridge on Isle Royale National Park. The park is technically part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula,  but is actually an island in Lake Superior, very close to the Canadian shore. I did a Google search for images and have come away seeing that this is one very beautiful location.

Looks like a perfect place for a QRP vacation. This is exactly the kind of QRP adventure that I dream of and salivate over. Some day, I’m going to go on one of these! I wonder if Ken WA8REI has ever been there?

The next QSO happened on 15 Meters, which seemed to be open with a few signals today. I answered HC2SL, Alfredo’s CQ from down in Guayaquil, Ecuador and received the standard DX “TU 599” exchange. He did get me first time, no fills; but I’m pretty darn sure I wasn’t really 599. Alfredo really was 599 up here in New Jersey, however. His signal was really booming in.

From there, it was a jump on over to 17 Meters, where I answered another CQ. This one was coming from Andy DM5MU, from Leipzig, Germany.  Andy came back to me on my first call, also. Andy rewarded me with a 539 report, while I was able to send a 579 his way. The DX does not have to be 599+ in order to get a QSO. If you hear a DX station calling CQ, and they’re not making your eardrums bleed, don’t be afraid to throw your call sign out there, anyway. They might not hear you; but then again, they might. You’re never going to get a feel of who you can work and who you can’t if you only answer the loudest of the loud. Push the envelope – you will be rewarded many times over.

I would have liked to have stayed on longer, but after working Andy, I felt a buzz from my cell phone. A text message indicating that I had to cut lunch short and go back inside to handle a mini-crisis. Oh well ….. how do these crises seem to know when the bands are hopping?

On a “blog housecleaning” note, I have added one blog to the blogroll and have eliminated another.  First off, welcome to Jim Smallwood N7RCS and his blog, “Low-power, low-profile QRP from the Pacific Northwest!”  Looks like it’s going to be a good one.

Secondly, at the request of the blog owner, I have deleted the link to Smoke Curls by Jeff Davis KE9V. Jeff wrote me to let me know that he sold all his Amateur Radio gear and has retired from the hobby.  ‘Tis a pity, I will miss his word smithing – he is one very talented person.

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

Propagation numbers baffle me sometimes. Yesterday, when the numbers looked so good, I thought I was going to end up getting skunked. I did end up working Oleg UR3IFD, in the Ukraine, and I also had a very brief, QSB busted QSO with Paul WA9PWP. But other than those two very brief contacts, it was pretty grim. There wasn’t else much to be heard and my CQs on several bands went unanswered. Advance the clock 24 hours, to find the SSN is down to 35 and the SFI is only at 110. Not great numbers. But despite the numbers, I had a great outing.

I started out on 17 Meters with a brief QSO with Ted LZ1ND, who was calling CQ. Ted was a good 599+ here in New Jersey, and I got a 549 in return. Not a bad report, and Ted got all my basic information, so I was definitely copy-able in Bulgaria. And it looks like Ted is quite comfortable behind the dial of a QRP rig himself. Here’s an old photo I dug up of him on the Web, taken while he was participating in Bulgaria’s HF QRP Field Day.

After Ted, I switched on over to 20 Meters and called CQ. I was answered by Ron W5VYN, from Whitesboro, TX. Ron had a magnificent signal into New Jersey. The fact that he was using home brewed gear made it all the sweeter. Ron had asked me if he was generating any key clicks, and I was happy to be able to tell him that he had a perfect, solid and stable 9 in the “T” portion of RST. His home brew rig sounded just as good as any commercial rig out there. That was a nice QSO.

That was followed up by a “quickie” QSO with Greg N4KGL. Greg, who’s down in Florida, was using one of those new PAR ENDFEDZ Trail Friendly antennas, which was generating a nice 579 signal for him. It’s always nice chatting with Greg, and I wish I could have stayed on longer. But as always, time flies when you’re having fun, and it was time to break down and head on back to work.

So it just goes to show …. you can have a great QRP day, even when the solar conditions say, “Maybe not”.

Even so, I had to laugh on the way home from work.  As I was driving, I was listening to two Hams on a local 2 Meter repeater bemoan the current sunspot cycle.  One was complaining about “How you just can’t work any decent DX without at least a 500 Watt amplifier!”.  I almost lost it right there, I started chuckling so hard.

Lots of QRPers, including N8ZYA, K3WWP, W2LJ and many, many others have log books that attest to the direct opposite!

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