Today, August 14th, in the Catholic Church, is the Feast Day of St. Maximillian Kolbe, who was martyred this day in 1941 .
He died in the Nazi concertation camp at Auschwitz. As the story goes, there was a successful prion break from the camp. In response, the Kommandant ordered that 10 men be executed as an example of what would happen to those who might attempt any further prison breaks One of the 10 selected men begged that his life be spared as he had a wife and children. Fr. Kolbe volunteered to take his place. The 10 men were placed in a starvation bunker. Over the course of 10 days, the men perished leaving Fr. Max alone as the last surviving prisoner. The Kommandant ordered that Fr. Kolbe be given an injection of carbolic acid to stop his heart.
St. Max is the only canonized saint in the Catholic Church that we know held an Amateur Radio license. His homeland was Poland and his call sign was SP3RN. As far as we can tell, he spent his radio time spreading the Gospel. I highly and sincerely doubt that he viewed Amateur Radio in the same way we look upon it as a hobby or pastitme.
St Max was canonized, that is officially declared a Saint, by Pope John Paul II in October of 1982. Present at the ceremony was Franciszek Gajowniczek, the man whose life Fr. Kolbe spared when he took his place.
There is a weekly HF SSB net devoted to St. Maximillian Kolbe. I try to check into the Sunday evening 75 Meter net. There is also a 20 Meter net held earlier on Sunday afternoons. For more information, you can go to:https://www.saintmaxnet.org/
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Yesterday — 13 August 2024W2LJ QRP - When you care to send the very least!
I have been paying close attention to the QMX Assembled Kits Status page for weeks now. On July 29th, i was 167th place in line. As of yesterday, i am in 33rd place in line. They've really been pumping assembled units out, and I'm anticipating getting an e-mail notice about mine any day now.
I've also been paying close attention to the QRP Labs iO group e-mail reflector and have been noticing that it's critical that the input voltage to the QMX does not exceed 12 Volts in order to not fry the finals. The problem is, of course, that any fully charged battery is going to have a voltage of 13.8 or 13.4 Volts on it. I know, that voltage is not under load, and will drop some as soon as you do put a load on it - but still, after waiting since April, I don't want to take any chances of frying this guy the first time I power it up. That would be just my luck!
So I ordered a 12V Voltage Regulator from DigiKey. This one is manufactured by SparkFun Electronics - I have a few of their kits and come to think of it, I didn't check to see if they have these in kit form - (I have since checked, they don't)
The cost was nominal - only $15.00 and since I don't have any LM7812's laying around, by the time I ordered the individual components and parts I would need to cobble something together of my own manufacture, with shipping costs it would probably exceed this. This little guy will bring any DC source as high as 36 Volts, down to a regulated 12 Volts.
Easy peasy, the input leads will get connected to alligator clips and the output leads will go to the required 2.1mm power plug needed by the QMX. I already ordered and received a few of these in the meantime. So I will be ready for some QMX fun if this arrives at my QTH in the next 2- 3 - 4 weeks. And conceivably, this will accompany me up to Alexandria Bay when Marianne and I head up there in late September, early October for our Anniversary. There are two state parks close by that can be POTA activations.
Fingers crossed!
Fingers crossed for Sunday, too. Both WeatherBug and WeatherUnderground are calling for cloudy skies with a 50% to 70% chance of showers and thunderstorms. Best case scenario might end up with me setting up in the backyard with the EFRW to the Jackite. Worst case scenario might mean operating from the shack. Well, heck ........ I never come close to the top, anyway, so I really shouldn't care as long as I get o participate.
Boo! Hiss!
To end this post, some photos from last night's NorthStar training:
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP _ When you care to send the very least!
Before yesterdayW2LJ QRP - When you care to send the very least!
This weekend saw a mix of various Amateur Radio activities. Getting on HF was not predominant, although I did get on Sunday morning for a bit and worked a few POTA activations. Brave souls, those activators, because all weekend long, the Space Weather Live app was VERY active. It seemed like every time I turned around I was getting a notification of a new solar flare or a "minor" radio blackout. On Facebook, more than one activator commented about the crummy band conditions and the noticeably fewer stations that they were able to log.
Saturday morning saw our monthly VE Session. We had two candidates, one of whom upgraded to Amateur Extra. Our other candidate got his Technician class license and missed becoming a General by only three wrong answers. He got 12 wrong and you're allowed up to 9. So close! The bright side is that he saw the exam, he has an idea now of what's on it and he should have a good idea where he's comfortable with his knowledge and where he needs to study more. I predict he'll be a General class Ham within a month or two.
On Sunday morning, I made the additional "modification" to my drive on mast holder. The lid hinges that I ordered through Amazon were delivered on Thursday. They did the trick to a "T" - or maybe I should say to an "L". HI!
The hinges lock in and brace the two boards at a 90 degree angle, just as I need them to. In fact, this configuration is so stable that in a pinch, any heavy weight will suffice, such as a heavy rock, or a cinder block, or a sand bag or something like that It's an ideal drive on mast holder, and while a vehicle is certainly preferred, it's not absolutely necessary. Conceivably, with a heavy enough weight, I could use this in the field on Field Day would no longer have to mess with the PVC holder that uses the tent pegs and CamJams. That would be a time saver! The only prerequisite is that I'd have to find a location flat enough to place this on so that it's not leaning in any one direction too much.
BTW, before you ask, the 4 holes in the horizontal board are there to give the protruding U-Bolt threads and the nuts the space they need so that when collapsed, this contraption can lay totally flat and not wedged.
Other than that, the weekend was occupied with the normal weekend chores and duties. Hope you had a good weekend and I'm looking forward to the Skeeter Hunt next Sunday!
Tonight we have a CERT training session with the NorthStar helicopter. NorthStar is the helicopter owned and utilized by the NJ State Police for the northern half of New Jersey. (SouthStar covers the southern half of the state). It is used primarily for transporting medivac patients to wherever they need to go depending on the circumstances and extent of their injuries. The session tonight will certify that we've been properly trained on procedures and safety requirements, so that we can approach the helicopter and assist with loading and unloading victims should it ever become =necessary.
Before I go into the goings on for this weekend, a shameless plug first. The NJQRP Skeeter Hunt is a week away from this Sunday. For whatever reason, signups are down this year. The past few years I've had over 200 people ask for Skeeter numbers and this year, I doubt I'm going to hit that mark.
Whatever the reason, the Skeeters have told me that they always have a good time; and that's the most important thing - whatever the numbers. There's still plenty of time to get your own Skeeter number. If you're new to contesting, this is a low-pressure-have-fun kind of event. The CW is not at break-neck speeds and ops will slow down for you. In addition to that, the exchange is really easy and short - S/P/C (your State, Province or Country), RS(T) and Skeeter number or output power. So if you're afraid your code speed isn't up to snuff, join in anyway. I think I can assure you thar by the end of the event, you will have increased your code speed by maybe a couple more words per minute. If you're not the CW type, there's an SSB category as well I try to make this event have something for everyone, and I want everyone to have a good time.
The nitty gritty details can be found at https://www.qsl.net/w2lj or just go up at the top of this page and hit the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt tab. To get a number, just send and e-mail to w2ljqrp@gmail.com with your call, name and the state you'll be operating from. You don't even have to leave the comfort of your home shack to be a Skeeter. The multiplier for scoring is better if you do - but there's no pressure to leave home-sweet-home if you don't want to.
All that being said, I thank you for your patience - here's what's going on this weekend:
08/10/2024 | 247th Anniversary of the Battle of Bennington
Aug 10-Aug 24, 1200Z-2359Z, K1B, Bennington, VT. K2HX. 18.100 21.070 24.915 28.074; all modes in General band. QSL. Ed Landry, N2HX, 50 Jayne Ln., Bennington, VT 05201.
08/10/2024 | Commemorating first deployment of USS Midway with angled flight deck (8/16/58)
Aug 10, 1600Z-2300Z, NI6IW, San Diego, CA. USS Midway Museum Ship. 7.250 14.320 14.070 PSK31 DSTAR on Papa system repeaters. QSL. USS Midway Museum Ship COMEDTRA, 910 N Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101. www.qrz.com/db/ni6iw
08/10/2024 | Herbert Hoover 150th Birthday
Aug 10-Aug 11, 1400Z-2300Z, W0JV, West Branch, IA. Iowa City Amateur Radio Club. 7.245 14.325. Certificate. Dennis Boyd, 700 S. Jones Blvd, North Liberty, IA 52317. Event will be held at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Site icarc.org
08/10/2024 | Wiscasset, Waterville, & Farmington Railway Museum Annual Picnic Special Event Station
Aug 10, 1000Z-1700Z, W1W, Alna, ME. Lincoln County Amateur Radio Club. 14.260 21.280. QSL. Jose P Douglas, 254 Elliott Hill Rd, Round Pond, ME 04564. www.qrz.com/db/k1lx or https://www.k1lx.org
08/11/2024 | Jeux Paralympiques de Paris 2024
Aug 11-Sep 8, 0000Z-2359Z, TM2024JPP, Lillers, FRANCE. Union des RadioClubs. 7000 14000. Certificate & QSL. Union des RadioClubs, 3 rue Saint Lugle, Lillers 62190, FRANCE. All bands will be activated https://log-et-qsl.associations-radioamateurs.org/wp
08/11/2024 | Navajo Code Talkers
Aug 11-Aug 16, 0000Z-0000Z, N7HG, Chinle, AZ. N7HG. 14.265 21.265 7.265 18.133. Certificate. Herbert Goodluck N7C, PO Box 06, Chinle, AZ 86503. Celebrate an annual event to promote the legacy of Navajo Code Talkers of WWII n7hgster@gmail.com
This is going to sound very weird - but here goes. I was driving home the other day and I heard the Seals & Crofts song with the same lyric - "We may never come this way again." And oddly enough, it brought to mind MFJ and how perhaps we may never see the likes of it again. It's very odd how my brain works, sometimes! Scares even me!
I got to thinking that if there was any MFJ product in particular that I liked, now would be the time to try and find it. Stock is depleting and there haven't been any announcements of an interest coming forward to take on the torch, as it were.
I really, really like my MFJ-1982LP End Fed. Coupled with Dave KD2FSI's MFJ-1982HP, these have been our Field Day antennas for years now with nary a complaint from anyone from SPARC. And the fact that they let us place high in our category every year doesn't damage their reputation any. I've also used it for the Skeeter Hunt and FOBB with satisfactory results. The SWR is excellent on all the bands and really the only band that requires the KX3's autotuner is on 30 Meters. And even there, it doesn't take the KX3 a long time to match it up. I realize that it's not a tr-band Yagi up at 50 feet, but I'm never going to have one of those, anyway. You play with the hand that you're dealt.
So I decided to try and find one for home, as a replacement for the W3EDP. I found a HP (high power) version at GigaParts. Not only does the LP version seem to be out of stock everywhere, but I do turn up the power to 85 Watts to participate on the St. Max Net on Sunday evenings.
So I purchased one. This antenna is 132 feet long so there might be some finagling to get it to fit in the backyard. I'm thinking I might have to bring the last 20 feet or so down as a sloper. That's not the end of the world, and I'll find a way to make it fit. I had a full sized G5RV up at one time - this should be not much more difficult than that to make fit.
My OCD notwithstanding, from early on in my Novice days, I have found out that antennas don't have to be "perfectly" installed in order to work. My very first antenna was a MOR-GAIN fan dipole. In no way, shape or form did that antenna get installed with the two legs in a straight line! It was a sharp, horizontal "V", and my Ham friends would come over and look at it and ask me, "How in the world do you make contacts with THAT?" But I did and it served me well for years!
So this is the current configuration of the W3EDP:
If I move that mast all the way back to the corner of our lot (or as far back as I can get it) and make that run a hard "L" instead of a shallow "V", that will "eat up" more of the wire. Then I'd run it to the other mast at the extreme right back corner of the yard and if there's any wire remaining, I would bring it down as a sloper along the property line on that side of the yard, thusly:
Anyway, that's the plan - and you know that saying about plans, mice and men. But I do want to get this done before Winter sets in. I know, it's still August, but time flies, and before you know it .........
One thing I do know, though. Before any installation, that UNUN will get opened and the solder joints double checked and re-enforced if necessary. I like MFJ products, but you learn from experience.
Since the Jackite mast is kind of free floating within the PVC, this version is not quite as stable as the older one, but it is more convenient to use. It folds flatter and I need not mess with wingnuts anymore. With the old version, the Jackite was secured directly to the vertical board and acted as its own stabilizer. The problem is that I keep this in the trunk and on the old version, the wingnuts would vibrate loose over time and get lost - probably went to the same place that socks missing from the clothes dryer end up. I had to replace them several times and that was a pain in the keister.
With this version, I'm not satisfied that the mast leans in towards the vehicle. So I ordered two lid hinges from Amazon. That will allow me to unfold and lock the vertical board at a proper 90 degree angle, while still allowing me to re-fold it back flat again.. Convenience always comes with a cost, I guess. Other than that, it termed out pretty well, and I'm satisfied with it ......or rather I will be satisfied with it once I attach the hinges.
Not scary, frightful, just frightful activity wise.
I got soaked coming home on Friday. I was following the weather and radar all day and was expecting thunderstorms here at work when I left for the day. It was bone dry, but the skies were darkening. All the way on the drive home, I could "feel" that darkness behind me, rather then see it in the rear view mirror. As luck would have it, as dark as it was, it didn't rain and I thought I would beat the storm home. As I got out of car in front of the house (I park on the street), there was a cloudburst. It began raining at a rate of over an inch an hour, with huge, heavy drops that actually hurt when they landed on my arms. I got drenched enough that I had to change clothes once I got inside.
That set the tone for the weekend's weather. It was so humid that the lawn didn't dry out all of Saturday, so we couldn't mow. And that was actually a good thing as the temperature/humidity index made it feel like it was over 100F. We probably would have ended p with heat exhaustion. I told my son that if worse comes to worse, we'll buy a sheep. HI! We ended up getting hit with more thunderstorms and about 0.69 inches of rain later in the afternoon. I was going to grill burgers for dinner, but had to resort to indoor cooking instead.
On Sunday, I got on HF for a little bit around 1:00 PM (17:00 UTC). The bands were a mess. I did not hear anyone on any band except for 20 Meters, where I heard a solitary station, NM8GS around 14.038 MHz.
It was the light ship Huron that was on the air for Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend. They was calling CQ and I worked them easily on the first try. That was when I looked up at HamClock and saw that the K Index was at 6.3. Argh! The bands were pretty much a wasteland. Speaking of which, I just recently downloaded the SpaceWeatherLive app onto my phone.
It's a freebie and you can find it in Google Play and the iTunes store. You can set it up so that you will be alerted whenever there's a solar flare or a CME. A good tool for those of us who are denizens of the HF bands. It was not difficult to understand why the bands were so noisy and dead at my QTH as I was getting alerts for M Class flares almost continuously! One approached M7.2 on Saturday afternoon - almost X Class! I was also getting alerts that there were "minor" radio blackouts. Ha! They appeared to be a bit more than minor at my QTH!
I ended up using the time to fabricate my "new" drive on mast holder. I wanted to take pictures of it "in action" so to speak, but due to even more thunderstorms yesterday afternoon and early evening, that became an impossibility. Today is supposed to be dry all day, so maybe tonight I'll get the chance to get a few quick photos. I did something a little different this time and it's easier to explain with photos as a visual aid.
We ended up getting an additional 0.72 inches of rain yesterday, so we got over an inch and a half for the weekend. Up until recently, it's been a very dry Summer in South Plainfield. Whenever a heat wave broke with thunderstorms, it seemed they always skirted to either the north or south of us. We're making up for that now. Tomorrow evening there is a 605 chance of showers and thunderstorms, which I hope does not pan out. Tomorrow evening is National Night Out, and SPARC will be at the event, handing out literature promoting Amateur Radio to the community. I'd hate for rain to spoil the event.
Also, I've been keeping an eye on Hurricane Debby. It looks like as she winds up the East Coast, she'll be downgraded to a tropical storm, but there is potential for major flooding either Thursday or Friday. Hurricane Ida is still fresh in my mind when we got 9" of rain in one day, just a few years back. We lost Marianne's car when the parking lot where she works became a lake that night. I don't want to go through that again!
European HF Championship - https://euhf.s5cc.eu/euhfc_rules/ - NOTE: This is open to European participation only - this is for "What contest is that? purposes.
Batavia FT8 Contest - https://batavia-ft8.com (If you hear FT8 coming down into the CW sections)
07/31/2024 | 127 Yard Sale/Newhope Community Church Mission to Uganda
Jul 31-Aug 3, 1300Z-1200Z, W8W, Bryan, OH. Williams County Ohio Amateur Radio Association. 146.820Mhz pl 107.2 3.900MHz LSB 7.230MHz LSB 14.250MHz USB. QSL. Williams County Amateur Radio Association, 3440 County Road 9, Bryan, OH 43506. wmscoarc@gmail.com
08/03/2024 | Popcorn Festival, Van Buren, IN
Aug 3, 1400Z-1900Z, W9EBN, Van Buren, IN. Grant County Amateur Radio Club. 7.250 14.250 DStar Ref #24 DMR TG 3100 / DMR TG 31656. Certificate & QSL. L B Nickerson - K9NQW, P O Box 1786, Marion, IN 46952. www.Grantarc.net
08/04/2024 | Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention
Aug 4-Aug 8, 0000Z-2359Z, K0C, Bridgeton, NJ. New Jersey Knights of Columbus Amateur Radio Club . 7.185 14.250 18.140 21.350. Certificate & QSL. Thomas M. Perrotti, N2JIE, 785 Vineland Ave, Bridgeton, NJ 08302-4822. KØC will be in operation from various locations throughout the state of New Jersey, the United States of America, Europe and in Quebec, Canada, the site of the Knights of Columbus 142nd Supreme Convention. www.nj2kc.org
Regarding the oldie but goodie.
I'm going to fabricate another drive on mast holder like I had before. This time, I'm going to make it slightly smaller so that it eats up less space in the trunk. I'm also going to make a change. Instead of holding the Jackite by the U-bolts, I will use them to hold a section of PVC. This way I don't have to continuously tighten and loosen wing nuts. I will be able to just slip the Jackite into the PVC. It will function exactly the same way, with a few cosmetic changes. I never had a problem with the old one not working properly. It was just a bit too big.
I went to Home Depot last night and got the materials that I needed. I ended up spending $22. The hardest part was finding two of the same sized u-brackets. They're in open bins and people must take them out to look at and then don't return them to their proper place. It was a jumble! It may not be elegant, but it's sure a lot cheaper than the commercial solutions out there. (My boss at Sinar Bron, Ulrich Krahenbuhl, was an engineer. He always loved "elegant" solutions.)
I was going to try Craig WB3GCK's version, but the only lengths of galvanized pipe that they sell are 10 feet long. I only need a three foot section and not only do I not have a good enough pipe cutter, but I would also have no use for the remaining 7 feet. Seems like a waste to just throw it away. In any case, I should have plenty of time to build it this weekend, as scattered thunderstorms are predicted for both Saturday and Sunday - throughout the day and evenings - the culmination of yet another hellacious heatwave!
The other thing I need to do is to unpack and check out a purchase that was delivered the other day.
And I'll have to drop off the big (dead) battery at the metals recycling place in town. This battery has the BMS system incorporated into it. After communicating back and forth with the seller, he confirmed I can use the ACME battery charger that I presently use. He informed me I need to be watchful that once I get an indication of full charge (LED changing from red to green on my charger) that I unhook it and not let it go into a trickle charge state for a prolonged period of time. I never leave charging batteries unattended in our house, anyway. I'm too paranoid about something blowing up or catching fire to do that.
Something that John K3WWP has been touching on in his diary entries lately and it got me thinking as well. Bob W3BBO and I also touch on this during our weekly BS sessions.
Whither the rag chew?
If my memory is accurate, back in 1979, when I was a Novice, just about all my QSOs were rag chews, band conditions permitting. You'd meet someone new, or a friend, on the air and there were certain things you relayed. You always gave a brief description of your equipment and antenna, of course. From there you might get into a discussion about the weather or whatever. But they were conversations! And especially with DX contacts you might get a photo of something or other along with your QSL card to see how the fellow at the other end of the QSO lived.
My first award/certificate was for being a certified member of the RCC or Rag Chewer's Club. It was available through the ARRL and again, if I remember correctly, you earned it by submitting a QSL from a QSO that lasted 1/2 hour or longer. There were plenty of those, they were a dime a dozen.
I look at my log book these days, and I have plenty of Sprint QSOs, POTA QSOs, and a smattering of other contest QSOs like CQ WW DX and ARRL DX - but not many rag chews.
Why is that? It's a paradox. We're communicating more, but at the same time we're communicating less. I listen to the POTA guys who check into Marv K2VHW's "Middlesex County Chat Group Net" every night and they'll tell the tale how they made XXX number of QSOs that day. A nice achievement to be sure, but are they (myself included) communicating anything? Usually it's something like "W2LJ TU UR 559 BK", and of course, my reply is not much more - so let's move on to the next contact, please.
In the days of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other social media, we Hams pride ourselves as having been "the first social media", but it seems we aren't so social, anymore. Now granted, since I hardly ever pick up a microphone, it's probably a very different story on the phone side of things, but on the CW side, rag chews seem to be going the way of the Dodo.
So I am going to make a pledge. In my meager on-the-air time, I am going to try and have at least one or two rag chews per week. I doubt that will change anything, but as Confucius once said, "Every journey of a thousand miles begins with one step".
I thought it would be interesting to compare a couple maps. First map is a repeat. It's the Reverse Beacon Network map from Sunday's FOBB outing.
Now this is where my signal was being picked up by skimmers. Basically, computers that can detect signals, even those beneath the noise floor, that other ops might not be able to hear.
A wee bit different, wouldn't you say? I did not work any stations as far as Arizona or Western Canada. But I did work a few stations where the skimmers did not pick me up.
Moral of the story - RBN is a good guide, but it's not gospel. Just because you're being picked up by a skimmer doesn't necessarily mean that a pair of human ears at the same location would be able to pick you out of the noise. As they say on TV, "It's for entertainment purposes only."
Rule of thumb that I picked up from Joe N2CX. If you're going to go by what you see on RBN, pay attention to the s/nr levels. If it's double digit dB numbers, a good receiver and a good set of ears should be able to pick you out of the mud.
That all being said - that's for QSOs between humans. If you're working the digital modes, or just testing out a new antenna to see how it gets out, you'd have to interpret the RBN results a little differently. In those cases, what you see is probably what you're going to get, especially with FT8 and the like.
If the weather cooperates, I'm heading back to Cotton Street Park next Sunday.
Not to operate, but there was another antenna raising option open to me that just occurred to me now, and which I totally ignored. I have an arborist's throw bag and line in the car. The problem is I haven't had much practice using it. Even if I had remembered, it probably would have eaten up more time than I had already spent.
But next Sunday, God willing and the creek don't rise, I'm going to make like David the shepherd, and spend whatever time it takes getting comfortable in using it. I would much rather have had my wire up in a tree than use the Jackite pole. For one thing, the trees are taller and my wire would be up higher. Second thing is that from the panorama photo I included yesterday, there's no dearth of tall trees in the park. Hopefully, I'll be as successful as David was in conquering his Goliath. (According to archeologists, he was about 9-12 feet tall. These trees make him look tiny!)
I still have to figure out an inexpensive solution for a drive on mast. I'd like something less bulky and trunk space gobbling than my first iteration. I may have to spend some time on Google and YouTube for some ideas. You know, for when wire in trees is not allowed and there's no ground to pound in the tent stakes necessary to hold my PVC pipe upright. I'm leaning towards Craig WB3GCK's solution. It looks the easiest and most convenient. Another chore for next weekend.
I am almost embarassed to write this post. My goodness, you would think that this was my first ever attempt at a portable operation.
I got to Cotton Street Park an hour early 12:00 PM - 16:00 UTC. Plenty of time, right? As it turned out nothing could be farther from tbe truth. First off, let me introduce you to the spud eating tree.
I need to buy a yellow shirt with a black zig-zag stripe on it.
You've heard of Charlie Brown's kite eating tree, right? That tree right there, the one behind my car ate two of my antenna launcher bullets, or spuds if you will. Getting them up high and over a branch was no problem. Getting them to come down was another. No amount of jiggling and finagling the fishing line worked. In both cases, the fishing line ended up breaking with the spud still up in the tree. I only brought two with me, so it was on to another solution.
Next I tried putting up the Jackite in my PVC holder. I've done that literally dozens of times without a problem. Not today, my friends! I put it up twice ..... twice it fell down. The difference today was that I learned something. Wanting to keep the bottom of the Jackite as clean as possible, I put a cap on the bottom of the PVC so the Jackite would not touch dirt. The problem with that, I eventually figured out, is that the cap is rounded, and is thus, slippery The pipe needs to be uncapped at the bottom so the hard edge of the PVC can actually "bite" into the soil, creating a firm grip. Once I took the cap off the Jackite stayed up and stable with no problem.
In between that discovery and the failed attempts, I tried using my drive on mast holder to hold the Jackite upright. What a piece of garbage! It is so flimsy that the Jackite was actually causing the metal of the drive on part to bend! The next stop for that thing is a dumpster.
I eventually got everything set up and I was about to get on the air when another unwelcome surprise reared its nasty head. I got the chair, table, radio, key and earbuds all plugged in. All I had left to do was connect to the battery. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was going to use the big deep cycle battery to see how long it would last.
The medium sized battery is a 7 Ah. Underneath the plastic tub is another smaller 5 Ah.
From the photo you can see I ended up using one of my smaller batteries because the big battery was reading 0 Volts! It was just at 13.8V the other day and has not been hooked up to anything in the mean time. How a battery can lose all of its charge like that without blowing up or catching on fire is beyond me. This one did and is going to the metal recycling center in town next Saturday.
After all these fits and starts, I finally got on the air at 17:54 UTC and made contact with Dave AB9CA in Indiana. Scouring the 20 Meter band, it became apparent that signals were sparse and the signals that were present were way down in the mud. Even when I heard a station with a relatively strong signal, QSB made them disappear in a matter of seconds. I made four contacts in my first hour. I was shaking my head, because I thought that for all the trouble I went through, THIS is what my day is going to be like? I started the day with a personal goal of 40 QSOs. HAH! Put a pin in that balloon, baby!
However, at 19:00 UTC, it was like someone turned a switch on and propagation returned! The signals weren't terrific, but at least I was hearing and working people. At about 20:00 UTC, I switched over to 40 Meters and worked some stations there. Signals were much louder on 40 Meters and QSB wasn't quite so deep.
I shut down with about 20 minutes to go as I wasn't hearing anyone new and my CQs on 40 Meters dried up. I worked 21 stations in all. 18 Bees and 3 Five Watt stations. And I learned some things.
1: You can never have too much time to set up.
2: If it ain't broke don't fix it - me putting that bottom cap on my PVC mast holder caused much unnecessary aggravation.
3: You can never have enough juice. By the way, that smaller battery started the day at 13.2 Volts and I checked it again at the end and it was down to only 12.8 Volts. This one is a good one.
4: The EFRW antenna with 9:1 UNUN and the 41 foot radiator was the bomb! The KX3's autotuner had no problems providing a match on any band, 40 through 10 Meters. I would not hesitate to deploy it again as it gives me a few more band options than the PAR ENDFEDZ 40-20-10 can.
About 3:30 PM or 19:30 UTC, I heard a "thunk" off in the distance. The spud eating tree must have had too much to eat and puked up one of the spuds, either that, or maybe a squirrel knocked it down. Whatever, I'm minus only one spud. I'll have to go to Home Depot for some PVC and end caps in order to fabricate a few more spares.
Some photos from the day:
PVC with bottom end cap = bad. PVC without bottom end cap = good.
A panoramic shot of my Cotton Street Park location.
Two views of the set up. Nothing complicated here, unless I make it complicated!
Cant' see it well, but the EFRW went from the tree to the Jackite pole. I highlighted the Jackite in blue, the EFRW in red
Hey Moe! Hey Curly! Thanks for the help in setting up!
Where RBN spotters heard me. Colorado and Wisconsin were about as far west as I got for QSOs.
It got up to 90F, even in the shade. This Summer has been a hot one!
The neck fan got delivered yesterday and performed superbly. Between the fan and a thermal bottle of ice water, I was quite comfortable.
Jul 20-Jul 27, 0000Z-2359Z, W0R, Durham, NC. AF4ZE. 14.074 21.074. QSL. John Swartz AF4ZE, 6203 Chesden Drive, Durham, NC 27713. W0R Whiskey Zero RAGBRAI. Biking across Iowa for RAGBRAI 51. Will operate bike-mobile, QRP as time permits, likely in the evenings July 20-27, 2024. FT8, CW, SSB. QSL af4ze@arrl.net, LoTW, and QRZ.com. af4ze@arrl.net
07/22/2024 | Orleans County NY 4H Fair
Jul 22-Jul 27, 0000Z-2359Z, W4H, Albion, NY. Orleans County Amateur Radio Club. 7.180 14.074. QSL. Orleans County Amateur Radio Club, 14064 W County House Road, Albion, NY 14411. ocarc.us
07/27/2024 | 50th Anniversary of Discovery House
Jul 27, 1200Z-2200Z, NJ2KC, Hammonton, NJ. New Jersey Knights of Columbus Amateur Radio Club . 14.250 28.450; other HF frequencies possible. Certificate & QSL. Thomas M. Perrotti, N2JIE, 785 Vineland Avenue, Bridgeton, NJ 08302. (Discovery House https://dmi-nj.org). NJ2KC.org
07/27/2024 | 50th Annual Bix 7 Road Race
Jul 27, 1500Z-2000Z, W0BXR, Davenport, IA. Davenport Radio Amateur Club. 14.326. QSL. Davenport Radio Amateur Club, W0BXR, P.O. Box 1523, Davenport, IA 52809. https://drac.club
07/28/2024 | Buffalo Soldiers - Commemorating the official formation date of July 28, 1866.
Jul 28-Jul 29, 1400Z-0100Z, WW5HF, Marion, TX. The HiFivers Amateur Radio Club. 14.295 USB 14.074 USB 28.500 USB 28.074. QSL. WW5HF - HIFIVERS AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, 15480 BEXAR BOWLING RD, Marion, TX 78124. Self Addressed Stamped Envelope Required. https://www.qrz.com/db/WW5HF
And there you have it. Enjoy your weekend!
Personally, I'm almost ready for Sunday. I have to pack the day bag, but I know what I'm bringing. I checked the "troublesome" battery last night. When I charged it with my old ACME charger at the very beginning of the month, it was holding at 12.9 V. Last night, I checked the voltage and after three weeks of just sitting in my ammo box, the battery was only down to 12.7 V. There doesn't seem to be a serious amount of internal self discharge. I'm beginning to think (but am not sure) that this was more of a faulty charger problem than an actual battery problem. Time will tell. I am going to use the battery this Sunday for FOBB. It will be interesting to see how much the voltage drops after four hours of QRP Sprint use - between hunting and pouncing and calling CQ. If it's significant, that will tell me more. Given the capacity of the battery, and the miserly power consumption of my KX3, I would think that after a four hour Sprint, the battery should not fall too far below the 12 Volt level. If I take a reading and it's below 11 Volts, then I think it would appear that I do indeed have a battery problem, at least with this one. Luckily, I have two backups.
One thing ,that I think that anyone who does portable ops should have ingrained in their brains ....."You can never have too much juice!"
Gene N5GW mentioned on the QRP-L reflector that rightly, most of the FOBB "action" will be on 20 Meters, with a lesser amount on 40 Meters. He suggested instead of just making oneself an immovable object, to check 40 Meters on the hour and 15 and 10 Meters on the half hour for possible band openings and other activity.
I have all my gear ready to go - KX3 ,EARCHI antenna (9:1 UNUN and 41 foot radiator) ,batteries, earbuds, American Morse DCP paddle and my Joplin ARC antenna launcher. The camping table and chair are already in the back of the car.
I recently purchased a set of these on eBay for when I use the Jackite with my "in the field" support:
I banged up the tent pegs I was using pretty badly at Field Day. I pounded them into the ground a bit too far and had trouble extracting them from the hard soil. I whacked them on the side to loosen them up and in the process bent a few of them pretty badly. These are thicker, more robust and as an added bonus, come wit their own little carrying pouch. Another added bonus - they are Day-Glo red and are way easier to see by anyone who might walk by. It's like placing orange traffic cones out there!
The plan for Sunday is to launch a line into one of the 50+ foot trees at Cotton Street Park and use the EFRW as a sloper or pretty near vertical. Just about all the trees in the park are that tall or taller. In a way, I wish this park was more visible to the public as it would be an excellent Field Day site with all the tall trees. It's a beautiful park, but remains one of the less popular parks in town. That makes it ideal for FOBB and the Skeeter Hunt as there are less pedestrians to worry about walking into antenna wires or coax cables, or even mast supports, for that matter.
I received an e-mail with a question from a reader. "Why don't you do videos like so many others seem to be doing?"
I have delved into making a few videos in the past. Unlike the really good videos you find on YouTube, mine have been done with my phone. To make a video properly, and one that is worth watching and is actually enjoyable to watch, you need more equipment than I can muster. One or more cameras of decent quality are required, a decent tripod, and good editing software and a decent computer to run it all on. The most important ingredient, though, is time.
Between work, home responsibilities and some other commitments that I have, I barely find enough time to get on the air and play radio! Making videos at this point would just eat up precious time that I do not have right now. I am hoping, hoping, hoping to retire next May on the occasion of my 68th birthday. If I can do that, maybe I can begin to think about creating a video or two.
However, maybe this weekend during FOBB, I will take some footage with my phone and cobble something together with the free editing software that I have on my laptop to see if I can make something worth watching. It will be rudimentary at best. And believe me, if I think it turns out like a piece of .........., I will not irritate your eyes and ears with something terrible.
In the meantime, W2LJ will just keep on plain ol' vanilla blogging.
The extended weather out look for South Plainfield. Looks like Sunday may be the beginning of yet another heatwave. I hope that personal neck fan arrives in time!
Yesterday was a CERT day. Like those bumblebee shirts? I should wear it NEXT Sunday! Hi!
From left to right, Bill Meixner KC2PLO, Sharon Padula (non-Ham), Marv Bornstein K2VHW, W2LJ, Captain Wendell Born, our OEM Director - photo courtesy of Councilwoman Christine Faustini
As I had mentioned earlier, the South Plainfield Business Association put on their annual "Christmas in July" celebration. Santa was there for the kids, but it's mostly an opportunity for businesses, mostly local small businesses to display and offer their wares and to increase their visibility within the community. As CERT members, we were there to hand out literature about hurricane preparedness, flooding preparedness and to possibly. recruit more CERT members.
The event ran from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM in order to beat the peak "hot hours" of the day, but it was still pretty hot. I took out my cellphone around 4:30 to check and see what the temperature was at my weather station located about a mile away, and I was seeing a reading of 93 F (34 C). Captain Born is one smart cookie, though. He set up a fan/mister combo right in front of our canopy which insured many stoppers by. I only wish he had pointed the thing inward instead of outward!
Marv and I both made a mental note to make sure we ask him if we can borrow that for next year's Field Day effort. But sitting there in the heat made me think about next Sunday's 90 F (and possibly higher) temps for FOBB. I'm not going to have the advantage of having that mister at Cotton Street Park. And even though it's pretty shady there, if there's no breeze and the air is still, it can get downright uncomfortable.
So once again, I whipped out the cell phone and ordered one of these portable neck fans.
It was only $12 on eBay and should be at my house either Friday or Saturday in time for next Sunday's event. When I was a kid, the extreme heat or cold didn't bother me so much. I grew up in a house with no air conditioning, and it was only later at my time at home that my parents put window air conditioners in a couple of rooms. As one grows older, let's just say we grow more appreciative of the more temperate range of climes. I doubt I could live in a house without A/C again.
Earlier in the day, before I left for the CERT event, I spent some time down in the shack and worked four POTA stations. Signals on 20 Meters were really down and in the mud. The only signal louder than 559 was K8ARE at US-4239 in Ohio. He was 599, everyone else I worked was either 559 or even fainter. I hope propagation is better next Sunday, and again on August 18th!
I know long range forecasts are notoriously unreliable, but according to WeatherBug, this is what I'm looking at for next Sunday:
If this holds true, I'll definitely be at Cotton Street Park, probably with my EARCHI antenna, which I realized is the exact same thing as the KM4CFT antenna. It's an EFRW with a 9:1 UNUN.
I've used it before for SPARC Field Day, so it's proven itself in portable ops. I'm going to cut a slightly shorter radiator for it .....41 feet as opposed to 53 feet. I will lose 80 Meters, but since FOBB is a daytime event, no one gets on 80 Meters anyway.
My first iteration was a homebrew version that I made out of two oak planks way back in 2013.
The two planks were joined by a couple of hinges so I could fold it flat and my Jackite pole was held in place by two U-bolts. It worked, but was heavy, bulky and took up a lot of space in the trunk. It was kludgy at best. One time I lost a wingnut and had to go out and by a few spares.
I really wanted something lighter, smaller and a bit easier to deal with. A couple of years ago, after a search on Amazon, I found this one.
It was lighter, smaller and took up less space in the trunk, Ideal ....... right? As it turned out thr Jackite pole is literally 1 or 2 millimeters too wide and will not fit in the support tube. I used it with the Shakespeare crappie pole that I have, but I really like the Jackite as it's 10 feet taller.
So I started searching Amazon and eBay to see what I could find. I found a really nice mast holder on eBay marketed by Three Mosquitoes Gear right here in New Jersey. The price was $100 though, and that's a bit rich for my wallet.
Finally, Captain Obvious came up with a solution. Use piece of 2" PVC and a couple of hose clamps and viola!
Without spending any more money and using stuff I already had, I now have the mast holder for my Jackite that I always wanted! Took me long enough to figure it out, didn't it? I'm sure most of you out there would have had this lashed up months ago. Once again, W2LJ is slow on the uptake. I can think out of the box too, it just takes me more time.
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