*******Happy Xmas and a Better 2021 to you all.******

I was wandering up and down the 20 meter CW portion of the band, yesterday. At one point I heard a very faint signal down in the sticks calling CQ, I listened and listened and still not sure if I got his call correct, no one was answering the call so I answered back…

( Py2AA de N7KO N7KO N7KO K )

The op answered back ( N7KO de PY2AAM TNX FER CALL UR RST 339 33N name is ROD QTH is Santa Cruz Do Rio Pardo, BRAZIL HW CPY N7KO de PY2AAM )

I got his full call this time. We were able to make the exchange, RST, rig es Ant, QTH. It was difficult but we pulled it off. Here is the email he sent me, after I sent him one thanking him for taking the difficult journey with me.

*****************************
(Olá amigo Ken!
Fiquei muito feliz em receber seu e-mail.
E também feliz pelo nosso encontro em CW, sou um eterno aprendiz desta arte maravilhosa que é a telegrafia.
Realmente estava com um pouco de dificuldade de escutar sua estação, devido a QSB e QRN…valeu muito o nosso esforço porque agora tenho um novo amigo. )
******************************

The reason why I shared this email is I can only read English and I had to copy and load it into a translator to understand what he said. But when we communicated using Morse Code there was no language barrier. You all know this as I did but this drove it home.

Now if I had waited until I was sure I got the Op’s call 100% before answering, I may have missed connecting to a new friend in another country. If I was not using CW neither of us could have communicated to one another.

Ken G
N7K0
73′ everyone

2021 QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo

Last year in my blog I asked this same question, but it was before the Expo had started. I received a mixed bag of responses but now that one Expo has completed some of my readers may have a better idea about the Expo and if they will attend this year?

In my humble opinion, over this past year are a few new givens......COVID is still with us and a new type of stain noticed, video conferencing for personal and business has become the norm, working from home is no longer a novelty, most if not all ham radio clubs have cancelled monthly in-person meetings. On a positive note, clubs have stepped up and offered 2 meter weekly net meetings, club meetings via the many video conferencing programs, contesting has been tweaked to allow for events such as field day to be a success, there is a vaccine to bring hope for 2021 and finally on March 13-14 the 2nd QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo begins. 

I did attend the online Expo last year but in a very part-time effort. At times, I found it frustrating to find my way around (which I did mention in my online survey to the hosts) navigating to sections of the Expo. I found some seminars a bit "fluffy" in content and some were just an advert. Last year it was free this year it's 10.00 early bird or 12.50 at the door.....virtual door that is. I will say that if I am going to drop 10.00 I will make more of an effort to attend the site more often over the 2 days. I have not as yet decided if I am going to drop the 10.00 but will take some time to look over the changes that are in effect for the 2nd annual show. 

My questions to the blog readers are: 

-Did you attend last year's QSO Today Virtual Expo?

-If you did what is some of your input regarding the show?

-If you did not attend why not? 

- Who is going to attend this year either for the first time as an alumnus and why? 

The backroom boys 1976-1978, were the lads who did the lighting, sound, and projection of films for the school plays, and performances. Working at the back of the school hall, in and outside of school time.

 Recently all four of us got together and went back to visit what was left of Aelfgar school, Rugeley, where we were educated in our senior years betweek 1974 and 1979.

Who is this scruffy lot? 

Dave, Phil, John and me.  

This was taken outside of the front entrance of the old original school building which is now a YMCA hostel and Doctors surgery.

All of us have a radio connnection. Myself and Dave became radio amateurs, Phil's Dad was a Radio Ham, John and I used to build crystal sets and regen radios in the school holidays.

The school hall and library has already gone and was rubble.

The new part of Aelfgar survived two major fires, gutting the hall and library on both occasions, in the period of when we were all educated there. But had been closed for several years before they decided it was of no further use and the land was to made available for housing.

 Merry Christmas to all

Recently, I commented on participating in the Parks On The Air (POTA) program: How About Parks On The Air? Since then Joyce/K0JJW and I have done a few POTA activations, including a few combination SOTA (Summits On The Air) + POTA activations. We are starting to sort out how SOTA and POTA work for us. I am sure this will evolve over time as there are many operating options with both programs. But here is what we’ve done so far.

Recall that we’ve been focusing on VHF/UHF operating for SOTA, although I did break down and actually made some HF contacts from a SOTA summit recently. VHF/UHF  is a good match for SOTA (Height Above Average Terrain). However, for some remote summits, it can be a challenge to get enough radio contacts (4) to qualify for the SOTA points. Using HF can be a big help in generating contacts. POTA can also be done with VHF, some parks have high elevation, but many of them are not attractive VHF locations. POTA requires 10 radio contacts to qualify for points, so that raises the bar a bit, too.

Yesterday, we decided to hike up Mt Herman (W0C/FR-063) for a short afternoon VHF/UHF activation. I posted both a SOTA alert and a POTA alert.  We made plenty of radio contacts (40 total) and submitted logs to both the SOTA and POTA websites. I know there were SOTA chasers out there but I’m not sure if anyone worked us specifically for POTA. As usual, a lot of hams give us a call just because it is fun to work someone on a summit (without any SOTA or POTA interest).

The majority of our SOTA activations in Colorado are in national forests, which count as “parks” for POTA. So it is easy to tack on a POTA activation when doing SOTA.

Vehicle-Based POTA

Joyce and I also did some POTA activations from a vehicle. It is pretty easy for us to get to Pike National Forest (K-4404) or San Isabel National Forest (K-4407) and set up a portable station.

We used a Yaesu FT-991 and endfed halfwave antennas for 20m and 15m, supported by a SOTAbeams pole. This is the same configuration I’ve used for portable operating from many locations, including some Caribbean islands. I recently purchased a 20 Ah LFP battery from Bioenno Power to use as a power source so that we don’t rely on the vehicle battery.

We focused on HF for these POTA activations and were pleased to have decent pileups of stations calling us on the 20m and 15m bands. Fifty watts to a halfwave antenna works just fine. We also made it a point to call on 2m FM and usually picked up a handle of contacts on that band, too.

What’s Next?

At this point, our outdoorsy portable operating is looking like this:

• SOTA Summits – if the summit is in a park, we will probably go ahead and submit a POTA log along with the SOTA log. Many of the W0C SOTA summits are in national forests, national parks or state parks. VHF-only activations will probably have less impact on POTA…those chasers/hunters tend to be on HF.
• POTA Parks (day trip) – another option is for us to just stop by one of the national forests or a state park and get on the air. (Pike National Forest is about 2 miles from our home.) This will be focused on the HF bands but we can always make a call or two on VHF.
• POTA (RV camping) – we’ve been RV camping in state parks and national forests this past year. An obvious additional activity is to set up on HF for a POTA activation. We haven’t done this yet.

I’ve already done a combination VHF Contest and SOTA activation, so this could be extended to include POTA. Three Things In One. In fact, some locations qualify for more than one POTA park, so maybe it is time for a Four-In-One.

73 Bob K0NR

The post More On SOTA and POTA appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

 Minimalist QRP Book V5.3 from IZ3AYQ

It's a free download:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dw61-PQ-4JA9feh93H_KrldD4RpN1zZT/view

There should be enough ideas contained in it's 77 pages, for you all to get building something over Christmas..