Posts Tagged ‘amateurradio.com’
Thinking
March 11th, 2016 | 
Author: Even though the long range forecast for Saturday, March 19th is calling for rain and drizzle, I am contemplating doing another NPOTA activation. The weather this time of year is always changing, so I am hoping that next Saturday will actually turn out nice.
This time I have a hankering to go on up to HP28, Morristown National Historical Park, which actually consists of four different areas:
1) The Ford Mansion
2) Washington's Headquarters Museum
3) Jockey Hollow
4) Fort Nonsense
The best area for operating without causing too much undo commotion to anyone else, is from the parking lot at Jockey Hollow. Jockey Hollow is where the Continental Army wintered in 1779-1780 - a winter which turned out to be way more severe than the previous winter, which has become better known as "The Winter at Valley Forge".
That's where Dave KD2FSI activated HP28 back in January (and where I logged for him as he handled his really first big HF pileup). I noticed some pretty tall trees right next to the parking spots (the parking lot is big), so maybe I can quietly throw my PAR END-FEDZ 40/20/10 into one of them. Of course, the main bands for operating will be 40 and 20 Meters. As is always the case for W2LJ, operations will be primarily CW - but I am thinking of perhaps even doing a little QRP SSB if activity on the CW bands gets lax. I'm not sure if HP28 has been activated via CW. Maybe I can be the first.
This weekend, if I get the time, I would like to finally experiment with building a magnetic loop antenna for 40 - 10 Meters. I have some coax in the basement that's too short for anything else and would serve well, I think. I have a 365pF variable cap that I got from eBay. I have been reading some articles lately and it doesn't look like building a rudimentary loop would be all that difficult. If I have success with it, maybe I can eventually come up with a homebrewed version of the AlexLoop WalkHam model that I can use for portable ops. It might prove to be a viable option when I want to be away from the Jeep, and yet I can't hang an EFHW, or doublet.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
This time I have a hankering to go on up to HP28, Morristown National Historical Park, which actually consists of four different areas:
1) The Ford Mansion
2) Washington's Headquarters Museum
3) Jockey Hollow
4) Fort Nonsense
The best area for operating without causing too much undo commotion to anyone else, is from the parking lot at Jockey Hollow. Jockey Hollow is where the Continental Army wintered in 1779-1780 - a winter which turned out to be way more severe than the previous winter, which has become better known as "The Winter at Valley Forge".
That's where Dave KD2FSI activated HP28 back in January (and where I logged for him as he handled his really first big HF pileup). I noticed some pretty tall trees right next to the parking spots (the parking lot is big), so maybe I can quietly throw my PAR END-FEDZ 40/20/10 into one of them. Of course, the main bands for operating will be 40 and 20 Meters. As is always the case for W2LJ, operations will be primarily CW - but I am thinking of perhaps even doing a little QRP SSB if activity on the CW bands gets lax. I'm not sure if HP28 has been activated via CW. Maybe I can be the first.
This weekend, if I get the time, I would like to finally experiment with building a magnetic loop antenna for 40 - 10 Meters. I have some coax in the basement that's too short for anything else and would serve well, I think. I have a 365pF variable cap that I got from eBay. I have been reading some articles lately and it doesn't look like building a rudimentary loop would be all that difficult. If I have success with it, maybe I can eventually come up with a homebrewed version of the AlexLoop WalkHam model that I can use for portable ops. It might prove to be a viable option when I want to be away from the Jeep, and yet I can't hang an EFHW, or doublet.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Thinking
Even though the long range forecast for Saturday, March 19th is calling for rain and drizzle, I am contemplating doing another NPOTA activation. The weather this time of year is always changing, so I am hoping that next Saturday will actually turn out nice.
This time I have a hankering to go on up to HP28, Morristown National Historical Park, which actually consists of four different areas:
1) The Ford Mansion
2) Washington's Headquarters Museum
3) Jockey Hollow
4) Fort Nonsense
The best area for operating without causing too much undo commotion to anyone else, is from the parking lot at Jockey Hollow. Jockey Hollow is where the Continental Army wintered in 1779-1780 - a winter which turned out to be way more severe than the previous winter, which has become better known as "The Winter at Valley Forge".
That's where Dave KD2FSI activated HP28 back in January (and where I logged for him as he handled his really first big HF pileup). I noticed some pretty tall trees right next to the parking spots (the parking lot is big), so maybe I can quietly throw my PAR END-FEDZ 40/20/10 into one of them. Of course, the main bands for operating will be 40 and 20 Meters. As is always the case for W2LJ, operations will be primarily CW - but I am thinking of perhaps even doing a little QRP SSB if activity on the CW bands gets lax. I'm not sure if HP28 has been activated via CW. Maybe I can be the first.
This weekend, if I get the time, I would like to finally experiment with building a magnetic loop antenna for 40 - 10 Meters. I have some coax in the basement that's too short for anything else and would serve well, I think. I have a 365pF variable cap that I got from eBay. I have been reading some articles lately and it doesn't look like building a rudimentary loop would be all that difficult. If I have success with it, maybe I can eventually come up with a homebrewed version of the AlexLoop WalkHam model that I can use for portable ops. It might prove to be a viable option when I want to be away from the Jeep, and yet I can't hang an EFHW, or doublet.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
This time I have a hankering to go on up to HP28, Morristown National Historical Park, which actually consists of four different areas:
1) The Ford Mansion
2) Washington's Headquarters Museum
3) Jockey Hollow
4) Fort Nonsense
The best area for operating without causing too much undo commotion to anyone else, is from the parking lot at Jockey Hollow. Jockey Hollow is where the Continental Army wintered in 1779-1780 - a winter which turned out to be way more severe than the previous winter, which has become better known as "The Winter at Valley Forge".
That's where Dave KD2FSI activated HP28 back in January (and where I logged for him as he handled his really first big HF pileup). I noticed some pretty tall trees right next to the parking spots (the parking lot is big), so maybe I can quietly throw my PAR END-FEDZ 40/20/10 into one of them. Of course, the main bands for operating will be 40 and 20 Meters. As is always the case for W2LJ, operations will be primarily CW - but I am thinking of perhaps even doing a little QRP SSB if activity on the CW bands gets lax. I'm not sure if HP28 has been activated via CW. Maybe I can be the first.
This weekend, if I get the time, I would like to finally experiment with building a magnetic loop antenna for 40 - 10 Meters. I have some coax in the basement that's too short for anything else and would serve well, I think. I have a 365pF variable cap that I got from eBay. I have been reading some articles lately and it doesn't look like building a rudimentary loop would be all that difficult. If I have success with it, maybe I can eventually come up with a homebrewed version of the AlexLoop WalkHam model that I can use for portable ops. It might prove to be a viable option when I want to be away from the Jeep, and yet I can't hang an EFHW, or doublet.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
The N3ZN Iambic CW Paddle
Behold… mechanical beauty
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| N3ZN ZN-QRP Iambic Paddle (sporting my new call sign) |
I re-entered the amateur radio hobby in the summer of 2015 after a bit of a hiatus. To get my General license in 1996 a Morse code proficiency test was required. At that time I had purchased a cheap MFJ practice key and a used version of the ubiquitous Bencher BY-1 paddle. My Bencher was in reasonable shape but I just never became comfortable with it. It always felt a bit imprecise to me and I wasn’t happy with the width and size of its paddles.
A very special evening
The South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club has two meeting nights each month. The fourth Wednesday of each month is our "official" business meeting, where we take care of all the normal matters that come before any Amateur Radio club.
Designed by Dave Hackett KD2FSI
The first Wednesday of each month is our informal "Operating Night" meeting. This tradition was instituted by our founding and current Club President, Marv K2VHW. His idea was to have an evening set aside where the older members of the club could meet with the newer Amateur Radio ops and engage with them about some radio or operating related topic.
Marv has been down and out with some back troubles, so at our February meeting, Ron N2LCZ. our Recording Secretary, suggested that for the March operating night, that we should do an NPOTA activation. The Washington-Rochambeau National Historical Trail (TR23) runs right in front of our meeting place, the South Plainfield CERT Building, which is on the corner of Hamilton Boulevard and New Market Avenue - Hamilton Boulevard is part of the trail.
We are, quite literally, only about 25 feet or so from the roadway, and the Trail. Our meeting place was originally a gasoline filling station that was converted by the South Plainfield Police Department into a satellite Community Policing Building. When the SPPD took over the mantle of Emergency Management, they generously offered use of the building to the South Plainfield CERT/RACES team. SPARC is allowed to use the building for its meetings.
So last night we got together to put NJ2SP on the air. Dave KD2FSI set up some equipment, his Yaesu HF transceiver and ran some coax out to the screwdriver antenna on his van. Power was provided by a Werker deep cycle battery. We started out on 20 Meters, where unfortunately, we had a close to S9 noise level. Even so, we made QSOs from the West coast to Suriname.
When 20 Meters dried up, we switched over to 40 Meters where the background noise level was slightly lower, but the incoming signals were much louder. And that's where the bulk of our 51 QSOs were made. We were busy for the better part of an hour.
The best part about it all was that neither Dave or I made the QSOs. I sat there as a logger and "QSO Coach" (and control operator) while some of the other members of SPARC, who have no regular access to HF took over. It was not hard to tell that they had a blast and after one or two QSOs, they were behaving like HF veterans.
The high point of the evening was when a visiting YL sat down and took over the microphone. I scribbled out a brief script for her, so she would know what to say and she took off and hit the ground running. 40 Meters seemed like it was quieting down, but as soon as her voice went over the air, the dam broke loose and we had another pileup on our hands. Lee Ann has visited our club a few times and is deciding whether or not she would like to pursue obtaining her own license.
I am willing to bet that last night sealed the deal.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
The first Wednesday of each month is our informal "Operating Night" meeting. This tradition was instituted by our founding and current Club President, Marv K2VHW. His idea was to have an evening set aside where the older members of the club could meet with the newer Amateur Radio ops and engage with them about some radio or operating related topic.
Designed by Dave Hackett KD2FSI
Marv has been down and out with some back troubles, so at our February meeting, Ron N2LCZ. our Recording Secretary, suggested that for the March operating night, that we should do an NPOTA activation. The Washington-Rochambeau National Historical Trail (TR23) runs right in front of our meeting place, the South Plainfield CERT Building, which is on the corner of Hamilton Boulevard and New Market Avenue - Hamilton Boulevard is part of the trail.
We are, quite literally, only about 25 feet or so from the roadway, and the Trail. Our meeting place was originally a gasoline filling station that was converted by the South Plainfield Police Department into a satellite Community Policing Building. When the SPPD took over the mantle of Emergency Management, they generously offered use of the building to the South Plainfield CERT/RACES team. SPARC is allowed to use the building for its meetings.
So last night we got together to put NJ2SP on the air. Dave KD2FSI set up some equipment, his Yaesu HF transceiver and ran some coax out to the screwdriver antenna on his van. Power was provided by a Werker deep cycle battery. We started out on 20 Meters, where unfortunately, we had a close to S9 noise level. Even so, we made QSOs from the West coast to Suriname.
When 20 Meters dried up, we switched over to 40 Meters where the background noise level was slightly lower, but the incoming signals were much louder. And that's where the bulk of our 51 QSOs were made. We were busy for the better part of an hour.
The best part about it all was that neither Dave or I made the QSOs. I sat there as a logger and "QSO Coach" (and control operator) while some of the other members of SPARC, who have no regular access to HF took over. It was not hard to tell that they had a blast and after one or two QSOs, they were behaving like HF veterans.
The high point of the evening was when a visiting YL sat down and took over the microphone. I scribbled out a brief script for her, so she would know what to say and she took off and hit the ground running. 40 Meters seemed like it was quieting down, but as soon as her voice went over the air, the dam broke loose and we had another pileup on our hands. Lee Ann has visited our club a few times and is deciding whether or not she would like to pursue obtaining her own license.
I am willing to bet that last night sealed the deal.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
A very special evening
The South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club has two meeting nights each month. The fourth Wednesday of each month is our "official" business meeting, where we take care of all the normal matters that come before any Amateur Radio club.
Designed by Dave Hackett KD2FSI
The first Wednesday of each month is our informal "Operating Night" meeting. This tradition was instituted by our founding and current Club President, Marv K2VHW. His idea was to have an evening set aside where the older members of the club could meet with the newer Amateur Radio ops and engage with them about some radio or operating related topic.
Marv has been down and out with some back troubles, so at our February meeting, Ron N2LCZ. our Recording Secretary, suggested that for the March operating night, that we should do an NPOTA activation. The Washington-Rochambeau National Historical Trail (TR23) runs right in front of our meeting place, the South Plainfield CERT Building, which is on the corner of Hamilton Boulevard and New Market Avenue - Hamilton Boulevard is part of the trail.
We are, quite literally, only about 25 feet or so from the roadway, and the Trail. Our meeting place was originally a gasoline filling station that was converted by the South Plainfield Police Department into a satellite Community Policing Building. When the SPPD took over the mantle of Emergency Management, they generously offered use of the building to the South Plainfield CERT/RACES team. SPARC is allowed to use the building for its meetings.
So last night we got together to put NJ2SP on the air. Dave KD2FSI set up some equipment, his Yaesu HF transceiver and ran some coax out to the screwdriver antenna on his van. Power was provided by a Werker deep cycle battery. We started out on 20 Meters, where unfortunately, we had a close to S9 noise level. Even so, we made QSOs from the West coast to Suriname.
When 20 Meters dried up, we switched over to 40 Meters where the background noise level was slightly lower, but the incoming signals were much louder. And that's where the bulk of our 51 QSOs were made. We were busy for the better part of an hour.
The best part about it all was that neither Dave or I made the QSOs. I sat there as a logger and "QSO Coach" (and control operator) while some of the other members of SPARC, who have no regular access to HF took over. It was not hard to tell that they had a blast and after one or two QSOs, they were behaving like HF veterans.
The high point of the evening was when a visiting YL sat down and took over the microphone. I scribbled out a brief script for her, so she would know what to say and she took off and hit the ground running. 40 Meters seemed like it was quieting down, but as soon as her voice went over the air, the dam broke loose and we had another pileup on our hands. Lee Ann has visited our club a few times and is deciding whether or not she would like to pursue obtaining her own license.
I am willing to bet that last night sealed the deal.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
The first Wednesday of each month is our informal "Operating Night" meeting. This tradition was instituted by our founding and current Club President, Marv K2VHW. His idea was to have an evening set aside where the older members of the club could meet with the newer Amateur Radio ops and engage with them about some radio or operating related topic.
Designed by Dave Hackett KD2FSI
Marv has been down and out with some back troubles, so at our February meeting, Ron N2LCZ. our Recording Secretary, suggested that for the March operating night, that we should do an NPOTA activation. The Washington-Rochambeau National Historical Trail (TR23) runs right in front of our meeting place, the South Plainfield CERT Building, which is on the corner of Hamilton Boulevard and New Market Avenue - Hamilton Boulevard is part of the trail.
We are, quite literally, only about 25 feet or so from the roadway, and the Trail. Our meeting place was originally a gasoline filling station that was converted by the South Plainfield Police Department into a satellite Community Policing Building. When the SPPD took over the mantle of Emergency Management, they generously offered use of the building to the South Plainfield CERT/RACES team. SPARC is allowed to use the building for its meetings.
So last night we got together to put NJ2SP on the air. Dave KD2FSI set up some equipment, his Yaesu HF transceiver and ran some coax out to the screwdriver antenna on his van. Power was provided by a Werker deep cycle battery. We started out on 20 Meters, where unfortunately, we had a close to S9 noise level. Even so, we made QSOs from the West coast to Suriname.
When 20 Meters dried up, we switched over to 40 Meters where the background noise level was slightly lower, but the incoming signals were much louder. And that's where the bulk of our 51 QSOs were made. We were busy for the better part of an hour.
The best part about it all was that neither Dave or I made the QSOs. I sat there as a logger and "QSO Coach" (and control operator) while some of the other members of SPARC, who have no regular access to HF took over. It was not hard to tell that they had a blast and after one or two QSOs, they were behaving like HF veterans.
The high point of the evening was when a visiting YL sat down and took over the microphone. I scribbled out a brief script for her, so she would know what to say and she took off and hit the ground running. 40 Meters seemed like it was quieting down, but as soon as her voice went over the air, the dam broke loose and we had another pileup on our hands. Lee Ann has visited our club a few times and is deciding whether or not she would like to pursue obtaining her own license.
I am willing to bet that last night sealed the deal.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
For those of us who are less technically inclined.
You may be like me. I've been at this hobby for a while now. I've built a ton of kits, made a bunch of antennas, passed all my exams with no problem. I was in the electronics repair biz for over 20 years, trouble shooting and repairing circuit boards down to the component level. But yet, to this day, I can open up a "QRP Quarterly" or a "QST" and look at the technical articles and feel like they are "WHOOSH" - about a mile over my head.
For those of you in the same boat, I would highly recommend the contents of the You Tube channel provided and maintained by Alan Wolke W2AEW. Alan is a fellow member of the Raritan Valley Radio Club. As a VE, I've attended a couple of Ham Crams where Alan was the lead instructor - I can readily testify that Alan knows his stuff, inside and out, upside down and backwards.
Alan has "The Knack" in more ways than one. Not only is he technically gifted, but the also has the ability to take the Greek out of electronics (no offense to my friends from Greece or of Greek decent), and make difficult concepts understandable, in plain English. And that's a pretty good talent to have when you're a Technical Specialist for Tektronics.
In addition to Alan's You Tube channel, to which I think just about every Amateur Radio op should be subscribed to, Alan gave an excellent interview to Eric on "QSO Today". You can listen to it here - http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/w2aew
Now, I'm not saying that if you watch all of Alan's videos that you'll be able to instantly comprehend every technical article you read in any Amateur Radio publication. But I can tell you that more and more of the content will be understandable and that you won't be totally clueless - like I used to feel. I'm getting better, but still have a long way to go.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
For those of you in the same boat, I would highly recommend the contents of the You Tube channel provided and maintained by Alan Wolke W2AEW. Alan is a fellow member of the Raritan Valley Radio Club. As a VE, I've attended a couple of Ham Crams where Alan was the lead instructor - I can readily testify that Alan knows his stuff, inside and out, upside down and backwards.
Alan has "The Knack" in more ways than one. Not only is he technically gifted, but the also has the ability to take the Greek out of electronics (no offense to my friends from Greece or of Greek decent), and make difficult concepts understandable, in plain English. And that's a pretty good talent to have when you're a Technical Specialist for Tektronics.
In addition to Alan's You Tube channel, to which I think just about every Amateur Radio op should be subscribed to, Alan gave an excellent interview to Eric on "QSO Today". You can listen to it here - http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/w2aew
Now, I'm not saying that if you watch all of Alan's videos that you'll be able to instantly comprehend every technical article you read in any Amateur Radio publication. But I can tell you that more and more of the content will be understandable and that you won't be totally clueless - like I used to feel. I'm getting better, but still have a long way to go.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
For those of us who are less technically inclined.
You may be like me. I've been at this hobby for a while now. I've built a ton of kits, made a bunch of antennas, passed all my exams with no problem. I was in the electronics repair biz for over 20 years, trouble shooting and repairing circuit boards down to the component level. But yet, to this day, I can open up a "QRP Quarterly" or a "QST" and look at the technical articles and feel like they are "WHOOSH" - about a mile over my head.
For those of you in the same boat, I would highly recommend the contents of the You Tube channel provided and maintained by Alan Wolke W2AEW. Alan is a fellow member of the Raritan Valley Radio Club. As a VE, I've attended a couple of Ham Crams where Alan was the lead instructor - I can readily testify that Alan knows his stuff, inside and out, upside down and backwards.
Alan has "The Knack" in more ways than one. Not only is he technically gifted, but the also has the ability to take the Greek out of electronics (no offense to my friends from Greece or of Greek decent), and make difficult concepts understandable, in plain English. And that's a pretty good talent to have when you're a Technical Specialist for Tektronics.
In addition to Alan's You Tube channel, to which I think just about every Amateur Radio op should be subscribed to, Alan gave an excellent interview to Eric on "QSO Today". You can listen to it here - http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/w2aew
Now, I'm not saying that if you watch all of Alan's videos that you'll be able to instantly comprehend every technical article you read in any Amateur Radio publication. But I can tell you that more and more of the content will be understandable and that you won't be totally clueless - like I used to feel. I'm getting better, but still have a long way to go.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
For those of you in the same boat, I would highly recommend the contents of the You Tube channel provided and maintained by Alan Wolke W2AEW. Alan is a fellow member of the Raritan Valley Radio Club. As a VE, I've attended a couple of Ham Crams where Alan was the lead instructor - I can readily testify that Alan knows his stuff, inside and out, upside down and backwards.
Alan has "The Knack" in more ways than one. Not only is he technically gifted, but the also has the ability to take the Greek out of electronics (no offense to my friends from Greece or of Greek decent), and make difficult concepts understandable, in plain English. And that's a pretty good talent to have when you're a Technical Specialist for Tektronics.
In addition to Alan's You Tube channel, to which I think just about every Amateur Radio op should be subscribed to, Alan gave an excellent interview to Eric on "QSO Today". You can listen to it here - http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/w2aew
Now, I'm not saying that if you watch all of Alan's videos that you'll be able to instantly comprehend every technical article you read in any Amateur Radio publication. But I can tell you that more and more of the content will be understandable and that you won't be totally clueless - like I used to feel. I'm getting better, but still have a long way to go.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
