2024 Flight of the Bumblebees

The annual Flight of the Bumblebees will be held on Sunday, July 28, 2024.

The event  will be in a four hour daytime window, from 1700 to 2100 UTC.

This casual QRP CW event consists of 'Bumblebees' who are operating portable stations at outdoor locations, and 'Home Stations' who try to work as many of these 'Bumblebees' as possible.

This event is open to all operators.  Anywhere.  Being at the top of the sunspot cycle, this year's  event has the potential to be very interesting.

Operators who want to go out and setup a portable station at some outdoor location, and be a highly sought after 'Bumblebee', need to obtain a "Bumblebee Number". 

The window for obtaining your 2024 'Bumblebee Number' is now Open.

The https://ars-qrp.com web site will explain the whole process.

I'll be out there as a 'Bumblebee' - hoping to work you during the event.

72,

Jody - K3JZD - 4SQRP 1196

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The  VE Session at the W2QW Raritan Valley Radio Club Hamfest was a mixed bag. We ended up with 8 candidates. One gentleman was an Amateur Extra who let his license lapse. He successfully passed the Element 2 Technician exam and will get his Extra privileges reinstated.

Two other General Class Hams upgraded to Amateur Extra in advance of that question pool changing at Midnight tonight, and we gained one new Technician. Unfortunately, four candidates walked away empty handed.

A bit of a rant. I send each candidate who contacts me in advance with an e-mail that contains EVERYTHING they need to know about the exam session - date, time, location, and all they need to bring with them. I also include links to the proper places to get an FRN and where they can fill out a 605 form.

Everyone showed up at 8:30 and we started exams promptly at 9:00 AM. A little after 9:30, a candidate showed up to whom I had sent that e-mail several months ago. He had no FRN, no Form 605 and was totally unprepared. Normally, I would have tried to accomodate, but helping him get started from scratch would have been disruptive to the rest of the group. I asked him to come to our next regular session.

I just don't understand how someone can come so late and so unprepared when such pains are taken to make sure they have as smooth and problem free an experience as possible. If only he had followed instructions!!! Argh! I hate it when stuff like that happens.

After the exam session ended, I had intended to walk the flea market, but there were other chores to accomplish. I really didn't need anything, but it would have been nice to hook up with friends. Maybe at the Sussex Hamfest in about two weeks.

72 de Larry W2LJ 

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

For many? Yes.  For W2LJ? Not quite.

I will be conducting a VE Session at the W2QW Raritan Valley Radio Club Hamfest at the Piscataway High School parking lot at 9:00 AM.

But for the rest of you:

Contests:

None this weekend. Hmmmmm .... I guess everyone is still in "Recovery Mode" from Field Day.

Special Events:

06/29/2024 | 83d Annual National Speleological Society (NSS) Convention

Jun 29-Jul 6, 1700Z-2200Z, N4V, Sewanee, TN. National Speleological Society K7NSS. 7.050 7.195 14.050 14.285. QSL. Sam Rowe KG9NG, 2749 Commercial Ave, Madison, WI 53704. N4V@NSSCES.ORG

06/30/2024 | Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial Special Event Station

Jun 30-Jul 1, 1500Z-0300Z, N7GMH, Prescott, AZ. Yavapai Amateur Radio Club. 14.319 ±QRM 7.219 ±QRM 21.319 ± QRM 18.119 ±QRM. Certificate. Mike Belanger, W1DGL, 219 W Leroux St, Apt. 202, Prescott, AZ 86303. This event is open to the public. More details, including QSL information is at http://www.qrz,com.db/n7gmh https://www.w7yrc.org/granite-mountain-hotshots

I have an ETS of NJ Club meeting tonight, where I will return to Dave W2OIL his HB-1B transceiver and accessories. I hope the meeting doesn't go long as I have to be up at 4:00 AM on Saturday. In addition to conducting the VE Session, I also help the RVRC by directing vendors to their parking spots. They're supposed to arrive at 6:00 AM, but many start coming as soon as 5:00 AM.

I'm hoping that after the VE Session, I can walk the Hamfest. I really don't need too much of anything, but could always use some power connectors (3.5mm and 2.5mm - NOT Powerpoles - I don't like them) and the like. But, you never know what may hit your eye. Maybe a new HT antenna or a unique project box or something like that.

I'm also hoping Sunday will be "don't do too much of anything" kind of day. The forecast for Sunday is scattered thunderstorms throughout the day, so there might not be much radio for W2LJ.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Yesterday, my friends Paul KW1L, Rick K8BMA, and I drove down to Toledo for the Toledo Mobile Radio Association (TMRA) hamfest. This is generally a well-attended event, so I schlepped a bunch of stuff down there. Some of it was my junk, some of it odds and ends from the estates I agreed to liquidate.

We had a lot of fun, and I managed to net about $250 from the stuff I sold. More importantly, though, I met some great people. One fellow came up to me to thank me for publishing my study guides. I always enjoy meeting readers, and as always, I told him to call me should he ever hear me on the air.

Another fellow, who purchased a copy of my Tech study guide, mentioned that he had let his Extra Class license expire and now wanted to get back into the hobby. I told that should be easy enough, now that all he is required to do is to pass the Tech test. In addition to selling him the book, I gave him my card and told him to contact me if he had any questions about any of the material.

Towards the end of the event, a kid I guess to be 15 or 16, came up to the table with his father and expressed some interest in the RD-5R DMR radio and another analog HT that I had. I had priced the RD-5R at $25 and the other radio at $10. He shyly said something like, “I don’t want to offend you, but would you take $22 for both radios?”

When I replied, “Well, how about $25 for both of them?” he said, “Well, I only have $22 left.”

At that, his father said, “I’ll front you the extra three dollars,” and pulled out his wallet. And, as it turned out, the kid only had $21, so the total sale amounted to $24. Paul, Rick, and I got a laugh out of that.

As he collected the radios, I asked him what his call sign was. He replied that he hadn’t gotten his license yet, but he was going to take the test soon. I gave him my card and told him to make sure to get a copy of my free study guide. And, once he gets his license, to call me if he ever heard me on the air.

I was about his age when I went to my first ham radio swap meet. I hope that he has as much fun with ham radio as I’ve had over the years.

ARDC Community Meeting 2024-02-24

Here’s the latest update from ARDC on their activities.

Hamvention 2024 award winners

The winners this year include:

• Special Achievement Award: Anthony Luscre, K8ZT
• Technical Achievement: Ward Silver, N0AX
• Club of the Year: Young Ladies Radio League
• Amateur of the Year: Edward Engleman, KG8CX

Text over radio with Rattlegram

This might be something interesting to try on a repeater that’s not very active.

Here’s something to help alleviate your post-partum ham radio convention funk.

The YouTuber’s Hamfest features a whole bunch of the biggest YouTubers in Ham Radio with some of your favorite names in amateur radio, LIVE!

And you don’t even have to drive halfway across the country to see it – it’s all hosted on YouTube for you, for free.

The YouTuber’s HamFest starts May 23 at 8am Eastern time. It starts off with an introduction and instructions on following the action with Jason from Ham Radio 2.0, right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiylTCUA33c

He will finish his stream with Flexradio, AREDN, and Ham Radio Deluxe and pass it off to K5ATA’s YouTube channel to talk with Becky Schoenfeld W1BXY and Kris Bickell K1BIC from the ARRL. Then he’ll hand it off to me, and so on and so forth.

If you start late, or you get lost (it’s kinda like the real thing, isn’t it?) no big deal. Just catch the YTHF schedule here: http://youtubershamfest.com/

You can also follow a YouTube playlist here with all of the pre-planned livestreams listed: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG8UQxewXrtYykTpyQL3iPxKzdBrp-MW2

The playlist and links in the schedule will work even after the YouTuber’s HamFest is over. All presentations are recorded and will stay up indefinitely for your later viewing pleasure.

You don’t need a YouTube account (which is the same as a Google account) to view, but you will need one if you want to participate in the real-time chat to interact and ask questions with vendors and representatives from Icom, FlexRadio, Packtenna, Bioenno, ARRL, MFJ, and much, much more.

And to, of course, Like, Comment, Subscribe, and hit the bell on everyone’s YouTube channel!

I’ll be bringing you news from Youth on the Air with Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, talk about a new Youth initiative from Remote Ham Radio, and chat with Dustin N8RMA who runs the State of the Hobby ham radio survey.

See you Saturday, bright and early at the YouTuber’s HamFest!