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As part of my 2014 challenge to have at least one QSO each day (as I successfully accomplished in 2012), I decided my old QSL card (which I’ve used for five years) needed a facelift.  Without hesitation I contacted Randy Dorman, (KB3IFH QSL Cards).  Randy does excellent work printing QSL cards.  His services are quick and reasonably priced.   If you are looking to have cards printed, contact Randy.  You’ll be pleased.

I wanted my new card to represent Colorful Colorado as I’m always proud to represent the centennial state when I take to the airwaves.  However, I do truly lack in creativity and imagination.  This is really where Randy made it easy for me.  He helped me find this postage stamp image, he cleaned it up a bit and I’m very pleased.  A Colorado postage stamp QSL card.  I love it!  If you want one of these, catch me on the bands starting in 2014. 

As I have stated before, I really enjoy collecting QSL cards.  So much so that it’s really made me re-evaluate my QSL policies.   For the past several years I’ve almost always sent along an SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) with my QSL card.  But in the early days I didn’t send that many cards and when I was first licensed, first class postage was a whopping 5 cents cheaper.

Now don’t misunderstand me, my decision is not based on the rising cost of postage.  If it were, I would just stop QSL’ing all together and only use the online services.   Which by the way, I do use both eQSL and LoTW…but the excitement factor just isn’t the same as when I walk to the mailbox and find an envelop with a QSL card from a nearby or far away location. 

Really what has driven my decision is what appears to be a duplication of effort between most of the hams I work on the bands.  What do I mean by this? 

First, if I’m going to send a QSL card…I typically do this within a day or two (at the most) of the QSO.  I have discovered, the majority of the stations I work also do the same.  Many times our QSL cards must pass each other in the USPS sorting process.  If I’ve sent along an SASE and the other station has done the same thing…then we’ve both received an envelope with a stamp which may or may not be useable again.    But sadly, I’ve found many stations do not send SASE.

Yes, I understand why some stations may request an SASE and I understand why most DX stations will want a greenstamp or two to help cover postage.  But for most of the average US based stations and for casual QSO QSL’ing I will gladly cover the return postage should you want to exchange cards with me.

I’m not going to change the minds of everyone, and I’m not going to try.  If you absolutely require an SASE and I want your card bad enough, then I’ll comply.  However, I believe my new process will certainly equal things out a little bit.  The paper QSL card process is part of the old customs of amateur radio that I truly hope will never go away. 

Now I must take a short walk to the mailbox and drop off a few outgoing QSL cards and fingers crossed, I have some incoming cards waiting.  I truly hope to work you either in the remaining days of 2013 or certainly in 2014.  YES, I QSL 100% and absolutely no SASE is required. 

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK (Jerry)

I’m gearing up for another QSO a day in 2014 and like a marathon runner might begin training a few months prior, I’ve also started training and prepping for the challenge.   I’ve been on the air running JT65A, JT9, PSK, RTTY and attempting to bust the pileups on SSB for 5J0R (unsuccessfully, but still trying).

Why set a goal of a QSO each day?  I must first give credit where credit is due and thank Keith, G6NHU for both the idea and the inspiration.  Keith successfully completed his QSO365 challenge in 2011.  It was an honor to work Keith in 2011 and be one of the many QSO’s he completed that year and yes he successfully met his challenge.

If you’ve followed my blogging and podcasts over the past few years, you know I attempted a QSO a Day challenge in 2012.  I successfully met my goal of getting on the air each and every day (366 days) and completing at least one QSO each day.  While I can honestly say “It’s not about the numbers”, my logbook exploded with the number of QSO’s going in and most importantly my DXCC count also grew more in 2012 than in the previous years since I had been licensed.   I also earned my WAS in several categories.

I chose not to attempt the challenge in 2013 as I knew my travel schedule would prevent me from meeting my goal.  Also, I have spent much of 2013 focused on my health and as of today, my total weight loss is 36 pounds.  I’m a light 195 with a goal of 15 more to lose between now and Spring 2014.   I feel as if I’m 20 years younger and have no desire to return to the heavy side again.

One thing I do plan to do differently in 2014 which I didn’t do in 2012, is make a QSL card available (a brand new design) and on the back I’ll identify which day in 2014 the QSO was logged. 

As part of my efforts to educate, encourage and inspire….I certainly hope you’ll join me in your very own QSO a day Challenge in 2014.  While I can’t guarantee you’ll add to your DXCC count, or earn your WAS wallpaper…I believe you’ll have fun just the same. 

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

Or better late than never.  Yes, Jerry KD0BIK is still alive.  You might remember I was shooting to complete at least one QSO per day in 2012.  I’m very pleased to report that I accomplished my goal.  However, I regret I am just now blogging about it. 

Those who followed my blogs and podcast may have thought I was abducted by aliens.  I suppose if I could refer to a few work projects as alien, then that would probably fit.  Long story short, I was assigned a fairly large project at work which required some traveling and many long hours.  I pretty much put my blogging and podcasting efforts on hold and tried just to keep everything else pointing in the right direction. 

Also, I hadn’t been feeling well in late 2012 early 2013.  Much of what I was feeling was being caused by seven years on statin drugs to lower cholesterol.  This stuff is pure evil in a pill.  However, without taking the pills I would have to deal with the high cholesterol levels through diet and exercise.  Again to try to shorten this story and not get too far off in the weeds….I’m feeling great and I’m losing weight through diet and exercise.  Since April, I’ve lost over 25 pounds and on target to accomplish my first goal of less than 200 lbs by mid August.  Just a few more pounds to go. 

I provided a little more detail in PARP episode 61 (released just today) if you are interested.  By the way, I’m planning to revive PARP on a limited release plan of one episode each month.  Of course, I’m also hoping to get back into writing the occasional blog post.  I certainly appreciate all the emails and messages regarding my long hiatus. 

OK…so back on track.  Again, yes…I started 2012 with a QSO on 1 January and 366 days later, completed the goal with a final QSO on 31 December.  It was a fun goal, fun project and through it all I managed to work many new DX entities and certainly got on the air each day.  Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing happened in 2013. 

Would I tackle this again?  I think I may try again in 2014.  I didn’t attempt it again in 2013 because I knew I would be traveling and it would be difficult.  But perhaps 2014 I’ll try again.  Do I recommend others try it? You bet!  As I’ve stated before, setting this goal of getting on the air each and every day helped earn many new DX entities and just kept me focused on the hobby. 

The QSO breakdown for December is as follows:

Mode
Number QSO’s

JT65
36

SSB    
0

PSK31 
0

2m FM   
0

Additional notes of interest:

DX Stations Worked in November – 2

New DX Entities in November – 0

Total QSO’s for 2012 – 1428

Total consecutive QSO days – 366

Days left in 2012 – 0

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

This blog update on my 2012 Challenge of having at least one QSO per day is late.  However, I’m still very much on track and as I post this update, I have less than two weeks to go.  Barring the Mayan’s were correct or some other catastrophic issue occur, I should easily coast through the remaining time without a problem.

December is always a busy month for me.  My wife and I typically travel down to Texas to visit my family in early December.  This year was no exception.  I carried my Buddipole, Elecraft KX3 and my laptop and was successful at getting at least one JT65 QSO each day.  On the last evening a cold front moved into the area and I had to enlist my darling wife to come and help hold the Buddipole antenna tripod.  While I had concerns I might not be successful at getting contacts with this setup, the stress was for not.  Band conditions were fine and I managed to work many stations running just 5-10 watts out of the KX3.  The picture is my Buddipole setup as a dipole in my grandmothers front yard. 

Anyway, enough about December…here are my results for November. 

The QSO breakdown for November is as follows:

Mode
Number QSO’s

JT65
34

SSB    
19

PSK31 
0

2m FM  
2

Additional notes of interest:

DX Stations Worked in November – 3

New DX Entities in November – 0

Total QSO’s for 2012 – 1392

Total consecutive QSO days – 335

Days left in 2012 – 31

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

I have good news and I have bad news.  The good news, with less than 60 days to go, I’m happy to report I’ve managed a QSO per day for over 300 consecutive days this year.   The bad news, my streak of working one new DX entity each month has come to an end.  However, the 2012 challenge was not about working a new DX entity each month.  That was just simply a product of being more active in the shack.  I’m focused to continue to push and complete my 2012 Challenge.   

The QSO breakdown for October is as follows:

Mode
Number QSO’s

JT65
38

SSB    
15

PSK31 
0

2m FM  
1

Additional notes of interest:

DX Stations Worked in October – 8

New DX Entities in October – 0

Total QSO’s for 2012 – 1337

Total consecutive QSO days – 305

Days left in 2012 – 61

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

As the subject line reads, I’ve reached the final quarter of 2012 in my 2012 Challenge of having at least one QSO per day.  This update is for the month of September.

September was a busy month for me with a total of 346 QSO’s.  This surge in QSO numbers is of course due to my participation in the Colorado QSO Party.  I also spent a great deal of time organizing the new ham shack and even found time to attempt and successfully activate my sixth SOTA summit.

While it was looking grim on adding a new DXCC entity in September, Uruguay entered the logbook on 28 September to keep my streak alive of also adding at least one new DXCC each month in 2012.   I also had a fairly active month in working DX with 18 QSO’s logged. 

The QSO breakdown for September is as follows:

Mode
Number QSO’s

JT65
38

SSB    
302

PSK31 
1

2m FM  
5

Additional notes of interest:

DX Stations Worked in September – 18

New DX Entities in September – 1

Total QSO’s for 2012 – 1283

Total consecutive QSO days – 274

Days left in 2012 – 92

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

With all the excitement of moving into the new basement ham shack and operating in the Colorado QSO Party, I almost forgot to write this update blog posting on my 2012 Challenge to have at least one QSO per day.  I’m pleased to say that my QSO a Day challenge continues.

As I have stated in previous blog entries.  My own version of a QSO a Day challenge has helped me be more active on the bands and as a result has produced many positive results.

My DXCC count grew by three in the month of August with the addition of Puerto Rico, South Africa and Bolivia.  My DXCC count currently stands at 70 with approx. 65 confirmed.  Also, I’ve not missed a month in 2012 of adding at least one new DXCC to my count.  Hopefully this streak will continue throughout the rest of the year. 

The total QSO count for August is a bit low with only logging 81 Q’s.  But so much of my free time during the month was devoted to getting the new ham shack ready for equipment.  The balance of effort for this milestone versus the lack of Q’s in my opinion balances out.  One other way of looking at this stat.  During both the 2009 and 2010 calendar years, my total QSO count for each year was less than 81. But this isn’t about how many Q’s I can rack up in a month or a year.  It’s about quality over quantity. 

A few other noteworthy items for August 2012.  I operated the PSK63 mode for the very first time and worked the London 2012 Summer Olympics Special Event station 2O12L.  I also successfully worked W9IMS in August which was their third and final special event station in support of the Indy Motor Speedway events.  I’m looking forward to receiving the certificate for working all three race events in the same calendar year. 

Finally, I worked several 2m FM contacts in August in support of the annual Colorado 14’er event.  These contacts also increased my total SOTA chaser points to over 100.

I can’t remember if I shared the website I use to create the ADIF to Google map I display each month.  This web-tool is made possible by David Levine, K2DSL.  Thank you David!

The QSO breakdown for August is as follows:

Mode
Number QSO’s

JT65
68

SSB    
3

PSK31 
5

PSK63
1

2m FM 
4

Additional notes of interest:

DX Stations Worked in August – 13

New DX Entities in August – 3

Total QSO’s for 2012 – 937

Total consecutive QSO days – 244

Days left in 2012 – 122

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK