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One of my favorite contest/Sprints is coming up this weekend.  The Hoot Owl Sprint, sponsored by QRP ARCI is this coming Sunday evening.  I guess I had lost focus, or wasn’t paying attention, as this came as a surprise to me when Jim W4QO announced this on the NoGA Group reflector yesterday.

The Hoot Owl Sprint is always held on Memorial Day Weekend, here in the US. The rub is that it doesn’t feel like Memorial Day weekend as far as the thermometer is concerned.  It feels more like late April or early May around here.  It’s been chilly and wet for the most part, lately.  We have had very few days where the temperatures have gone into the mid or upper 70s. And the forecast for the weekend is for basically more of the same. Ugh.

I also believe that Monday evening will be the MI QRP Memorial Day Sprint, but I haven’t seen any announcements regarding that, either.  Keep your eyes peeled. (Update: As per the MI QRP Website (should have looked there, first – DUH!) there will only be a Labor Day Sprint this year.)

I am hoping that it will stay dry enough so that I can test out a 53 foot radiator with the 9:1 UNUN at the park at some point this weekend.  According to the SWR Chart on the Balun Designs website, a 53 foot radiator will yield decent SWRs on all bands 80 through 10 Meters. If I get an opportunity to play and the results bear out, then this will be one of the antennas that will be used at the SPARC Field Day effort.

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