Enjoying a steaming cup of Earl Grey with a splash of milk along with a bowl of danish cherry tobacco in a Peterson free-hand pipe this morning. I’ve made an appointment to have the furnace people out for annual maintenance. They can’t get here until November 20th which is okay, the furnace is only two years old. I just like to stay on top of routine maintenance in hopes of avoiding surprises during cold weather. Speaking of, there is a freeze warning here for tonight as the prognosticators are talking about 33F for a low temp. In the meantime, it was only 41F when I got up this morning so the furnace is running.
I failed to mention that among the handful of AZQP contacts made this weekend was one with K7UGA. Senator Goldwater’s call sign is managed by the Central Arizona DX Association (CADXA) and is on the air frequently. This wasn’t the first time I’ve put K7UGA into the log, but I’m always pleased to help keep it alive. By the way, there is a 50th Anniversary K7UGA Special Event scheduled to take place the week of Wednesday, January 1, 2025 through Tuesday, January 7, 2025. Watch the QRZ page for specific details as we get closer to the date.
One particular goal of mine has been working 1,000 unique parks in the POTA program before I quit hunting POTA activators. I mean, enough is enough, right? I’m up to 783 as of today, nearly all of those via CW and I’m getting a little bored with that chase and might not make it to 1,000 after all. Activating parks has become as popular as FT8. Ask any CW op and they will tell you that these park activators and hunters signals comprise at least half of all the Morse on our airwaves. Given that there are so many activators coupled with the wham, bam, thank-you Ma’am nature of the contacts, the fun is quickly fading.
Needing a diversion from that, I’m going back to SKCC for more straight key action. I’d like to be more involved with QRP activities, but these are increasingly few and far between and, do you mind if I whine for a moment? Most QRP clubs have their own mailing lists and I subscribe to several of them, and the increase in traffic about things other than traditional QRP discussions are depressing to me. I die a little inside each time I see a message about a net via DMR and how to set that up, or FT8, FT4, or JS8… I’m a longtime member of one of these clubs and love it dearly, but I muted all messages with any one of those topics and now very rarely receive mail from that list…
That’s why I’m going back to the watering holes where there are still a hundred things yet to be accomplished with manually generated Morse. One of my New Year’s resolutions for ‘25 is going to be learning to use a bug. I have a beautifully restored old Vibroplex bug that’s begging to be put into service, but all previous efforts to master it have failed. To be fair, I never gave it much effort.
Next year will be different.
Columbus Day
Happy Columbus Day - chilly in the Heartland this morning, 44F now headed up to 58F for a high today. Autumn has arrived. Plenty of lawn work left to be done along with gathering of leaves that have been falling rapidly.
I’ve had a hankering for boiled peanuts lately, so this weekend I boiled a pound of goober peas. It’s the only way to get them here in the north country. I was a carpetbagger in a previous life, working all over the south land where boiled peanuts was an easy to find treat sold at endless roadside stands this time of year. I took away an affection for them as well as cheese grits and can’t get either one in Indiana so I make my own. The boiled peanuts were pretty good. Note to self, more salt next batch.
I played around a little in several State QP’s this weekend. Mostly in the AZQP as propagation was best there though I also worked a few in the SDQP and the NVQP, a mix of CW and SSB on 20, 15, and even 10 meters. The classic modes are my refuge as I shun sound card amateur radio and am now 37 day free of FT8.
This is getting embarrassing - it happened again. Confusion over what time a ham radio event was to begin spawned copious amounts of mailing list madness. You would think licensed radio enthusiasts could figure out what time it is, but no, this seems a to have become a mystery around the time we got rid of hands on the clock face. The problem is the conversion from UTC, a problem that wouldn’t exist if we used UTC and nothing else. Many hams have a difficult time grasping the concept that UTC Thursday starts on Wednesday evening EST. And with daylight savings time set to end soon, it’s only gonna get worse. I’ve long said that “time” conversion questions should appear on all amateur radio tests because hams generally underperform when it comes to knowing what time it is. Good grief!
Lost in Space
Old Sol has been spewing some of its angry energy towards Earth again with the result being yet another Northern Light show here in parts south of the normal viewing areas. While not spectacular in Indiana, we did get a glimpse last night and the heavenly performance didn’t disappoint. Of course, the HF bands are suffering from the after shocks and 40 meters was in poor enough condition this morning I decided to make this a radio “free” day.
Here in the 21st century we better understand the cause of the aurora borealis and can even predict its appearance in advance of the actual event. I remember watching this same kind of sky show as a ten year-old with my grandmother who was born in 1895. When I asked her what caused the lights she explained to me, matter of factly, that the colored lights in the sky were the result of sunlight reflecting off ice at the north pole.
Silly, sure, but this explanation probably seemed reasonable to those born in a world where knowledge wasn’t available via a mouse-click. Given that information was scarce, and more than half the population couldn’t read anyway, it’s understandable how this sort of thing might be handed down from one generation to the next to become a simple explanation for this sort of natural event.
What’s more difficult to explain is how in the 21st century there is a woman in Georgia, a member of Congress, no less, who claims the government can control the weather and is creating powerful storms and hurricanes and directing them towards Conservative districts. Laugh at my Grandma if you like, I’m laughing at the ignorant voters in Georgia who keep re-electing this damaged specimen.
Day of Discovery
We have been enjoying the nice autumn weather in these parts. 70 degree days, dry with very low humidity, endless sunshine, and 40 degree nights. It doesn’t get much better than that. The farmer’s have been taking full advantage as harvest time is well underway with all the fields being gleaned. It’s the most wonderful time of the year in the Heartland.
I’m still exploring the Elecraft K4, discovering its many features, while usually running a whopping five watts up the wire. I worked about a dozen stations that way yesterday. One of those was WB0RLJ who I have worked eight previous times according to my log. In this case, Jim was activating the Chalco Hills State Recreation Area (US-4011), a little southwest of Omaha, Nebraska.
What I didn’t know at the time was that he was activating the park using his handheld Elecraft KH1 transceiver with whip antenna. I discovered that later when I watched his video of that activation. It’s rather interesting hearing/seeing your signal being received on the other end of the lash-up.
Thanks to this video, I also discovered there is an ADIF utility from VE2ZDX that apparently parses a log file to find specific call signs in a YouTube video. At least that’s what it appears to do. I don’t make videos so you will have to work that one out for yourself, but if you look in the expanded “more” section of this video you will see the call sign of everyone Jim worked during this activation with a URL pointer directly to each specific QSO time in the video.
67th International Airstream Rally
Tuning on 20 meters this morning looking for weather traffic related to the hurricane set to make landfall in Florida, I caught special event station W1A celebrating the 67th International Airstream Rally in Sedalia, Missouri:
Welcome to W1A. The purpose of this special event station is celebrating the 67th Annual International Rally of the Airstream Club International. We’re operating portable from the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia Missouri. We will have multiple operators and multiple radios.
The special event will be on the air from 5 October to 10 October 2024
The Amateur Radio Club was formed in 1963 by Earl Johnston W0ICV, as the “Airstream Net”. At that time its membership consisted of hams who owned Airstream travel trailers and were members of the trailer club which was formed by and named after Wally Byam, the originator of the Airstream travel trailer. The club has in recent years reorganized and expanded its operations in order to serve all amateurs interested in Recreational Vehicles and in travel.
The International RV Service Net is sponsored by the Wally Byam Caravan Club International Amateur Radio Club, WBCCI ARC, an intra-club of Airstream Club International.
Marsh Island NA-120
I heard K5M calling CQ yesterday on 20 CW and returned the call. Turns out a small operation was taking place on Marsh Island thanks to AD5A, AB5EB and K0AP. According to QRZ, they intend to be there again today so I haven’t yet emailed to ask who I worked, but the entry has hit Clublog.
Marsh Island is an island off the coast of southern Louisiana in the United States. There is no permanent human population at the time of the 2000 census. The entire island is a wildlife sanctuary managed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries as the Marsh Island Wildlife Refuge. Wikipedia
Marsh Island is recognized as IOTA NA-120 and as the Marsh Island Wildlife Refuge, POTA reference US-9769. Kind of a ‘twofer’ in my log. I look forward to learning a few details about this operation after the guys have a chance to get back home - which I hope is soon given Hurricane Milton is quickly building in the Gulf.
C21MM Expedition to Nauru
Our team (T2C in 2023 and P29RO in 2022 and other activities in the years before COVID) has decided to announce its next DXpedition. We will return to the pacific and travel to Nauru (C2) in October 2024. We are planning to operate with 5 stations, 24/7 from 160 to 6 m in CW, SSB, FT8 and RTTY.
News and updates available on the main web site.
On October 7, the first six team members will leave Germany and plan to arrive on Nauru on October 10, after an overnight stay in Brisbane, Australia. After their arrival there are still some things to organize, so limited operation (high bands only) will take place. Full operation with 5 stations 24/7 can be expected starting October 15 in the evening (local time, UTC +12). We will pay special attention to our sunrise and sunset for low band openings.
Help the team out by making a donation here.
QSL Cards - Let's Fix This
Having convinced myself that QSL cards are indeed an important detail in our daily amateur radio lives, the question becomes how can this practice be saved and restored? Assuming the cost of a printed QSL card purchased in bulk is around 30 cents each, and an optional envelope 20 cents, we’re looking at roughly 50 cents before postage. First-class postage these days costs 73 cents though post card stamps are 56 cents so there are a few options for savings.
But these numbers aren’t static. The rise in postal rates has been steady and frequent and there’s no reason to believe that might slow down. The current worst case situation for QSLs is sending a card, in an envelope, with an SASE inside. That comes to $2.16 per QSL at today’s rate. Send 500 of those a year and you’re out more than a thousand dollars, an expensive proposition for any of us.
That’s the main reason why “free” Logbook of the World confirmations seemed like such a good deal. And it is, if your interest is only collecting ARRL awards. But LoTW provides only a check mark on a big spreadsheet intended for ARRL awards. There’s no place for photos, personal notes, equipment, antenna or how much power was used, etc. And as we have seen this last summer, LoTW comes with the possibility of problems. We know now the original system, which is still in use today, was assembled with baling wire and duct tape twenty years ago and there is apparently nothing to replace it on the immediate horizon. It’s free, for now, but rumblings and rumors persist that ARRL will one day assign a fee to use it.
We need a completely new service, and it’s probably best if it’s not from ARRL, that permits storage and retrieval of QSL card images. These could be from a static image that could be edited to add pertinent QSO data along with comments, etc. Someone would log into the system, see that they have waiting QSLs that hadn’t been viewed, and have the option of downloading those images or simply viewing them online. It would be nearly the same as traditional QSLing, but without the postal burden - or the actual paper card.
Of course the ARRL (and others) won’t accept these confirmations for award credit, but who cares if you aren’t interested in ARRL credit? And if you are, you can continue to use LoTW too. No harm, no foul. A system like this would provide an option to inexpensively send a reasonable facsimile of an actual QSL card complete with photo, comments, and everything that makes a QSL card special.
While there are services now that allow these to be sent via email, I think it best that whatever comes next be a service where retrieval is optional and doesn’t come via unsolicited email. I simply want to log-in on occasion, and download whatever is available for me. I’d be willing to pay $20-$30 a year for such a service so I think there is a potential business opportunity here for someone, doesn’t matter where, to jump on and build something fresh and new.
Let’s fix this and resume the quaint, cozy practice of collecting QSL cards.
QSL Cards - Historical Markers
Thanks to those who replied with comments about part one of this series about QSL cards. The consensus seems to be that broadcast stations initiated the practice of sending post cards that hams eventually emulated. That’s a good enough explanation for me, though I prefer to believe it was more magical than that. What got me thinking about all this was coming across a lonely box in the attic that contained stacks of old QSL cards. These go all the way back for me…
I was licensed in 1977 near the end of my high school days. It took me a few months to assemble a Heath HW-16 and get it on the air. My Novice call was WD9GCT, an abomination for a CW operator. When I upgraded to General I asked the FCC to issue me a new call, anything would be better, and they handed me N9AVG out of the pool, a big improvement. I held that call for 25 years until a crazy notion about a shorter call sign that started with a “K” stirred and I picked up the vanity call KE9V which I’ve now held for more than 20 years.
The very first QSL card I ever received was from WB4AKY of Tampa, Florida confirming our 15 meter CW chat on August 4, 1977. This was during the summer I graduated high school and just before I was off to college. Several of the cards received during this period included “good luck in college” notes so I guess that transition loomed large enough in my head that I was pounding brass about it with random strangers. I have about a hundred cards from my Novice days and these are a historic treasure for me and indicate what would lie ahead.
After upgrading to General I began exploring the world of QRP and nearly all of the QSLs received during that period were for low-power contacts. Many more than I remembered were apparently of the two-watt variety. All small kits, a dozen or more of them prior to the Elecraft era.
Some of my favorites include one from W6ZH/QRP “Pete” Herbert Hoover, III. Pete was a prolific low-power enthusiast using his K2 (#0043) who also happened to be the grandson of President Herbert Hoover. Another from the father of the modern QRP movement, Ade Weiss, W0RSP/QRP who was running a home-brew concoction when I snagged him. Another from Ken, N2CQ a legend. My first QSL card for a 2x2 QRP contact with AL7FS in Alaska and KH6B in Hawaii remain special to me too.
Then there was this improvised, but priceless “card” from K7MOS in Billings, Montana (back). Charles was 70 at the time and had been using CW since 1953 - 49 years of CW only for this gentleman!
Another somewhat less traditional, letter and card confirmation came from my friend Carter Craigie, N3AO who only recently became a Silent Key. Back in 2002 he was on the Appalachian Trail when his few watts of RF tickled my galena.
There are so many others, all treasures that persuade me that QSL cards are much more than just confirmation of a contact, they’re historical markers in the slipstream of our radio lives. Electronic confirmations, like LoTW and others, are about as boring as watching paint dry. It’s only become preferable due to ever increasing postage costs that has made traditional QSLing unaffordable.
This needs to be remedied…
QSL Cards - In the Beginning
Just a few years after CW displaced King ‘spark’ as the radio amateur’s mode of choice, Mac Anderson began to build his first radio station. Having just turned 15 years of age money was tight and it wasn’t easy collecting the parts required for such an endeavor, but he finally did it. After an agonizing period of study and assembly, his station in the barn attic was ready for testing. He clamped the old cans on his head, powered the thing to life, and began tuning around. To his amazement he heard other stations in QSO. Eureka! A few days later came time to test the transmitter. With a shaky hand he called CQ and signed with his call sign. No one was more surprised then he when suddenly, his own call sign was coming back to him through his makeshift headset. He let out such a yell that his mother nearly had a heart attack and ran to the barn to see what had happened.
The other station was located in White Bear Lake, Minnesota and the operator’s name was Fred. They chatted for a brief moment until Mac’s Mom burst into the chilly radio shack and demanded to know the reason for the yelling. He tried to explain to her that he was communicating, wirelessly, with another radio experimenter nearly 600 miles away. She didn’t believe him. He took the headphones off his own head and put one of them to her ear as he tapped out a quick message and sure enough, Fred came right back. She didn’t look impressed, she looked annoyed and demanded he shut things down for the night and come into the house.
They discussed the incident over dinner as he tried, to no avail, no explain what had happened and how amazing this truly was. She was adamant that all she heard were ‘beeps’ in the headset, certainly nothing that could be understood by humans. Basically, she told him he was spending too much time in the barn in a way that let him know she thought he might be crazy. Sleep didn’t come easy that night as he agonized over how he could prove to his Mom that he really did communicate with someone in another state, via wireless that he had built with his own two hands.
His outlook changed over night as he dreamed up the solution to this situation. He got a postcard and wrote all of the details of his QSO with Fred on the card. He explained his station as best he could in the limited space. And he asked Fred if he wouldn’t do something similar and return the card to him by post.
A few days later, the card arrived and Mac ran with it to his Mom to show her. Upon seeing it, she nearly fainted. There it was, in black and white, and with a Minnesota postmark no less, proof that her boy was a wireless operator.
That’s the story of how QSL cards entered the world of radio. Except that it isn’t. I made the whole thing up. I don’t know how or why the tradition of trading QSL cards became a “thing” in amateur radio, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t happen something like that. Young folks, flushed with excitement from their radio conquests, running into those who didn’t know Morse code and didn’t believe what they were being told, it was all simply too amazing.
The QSL card became “proof” that a distant contact had indeed been made. The timeline for my fiction pre-dates any sort of awards or competition requiring a QSL card so why did hams take this up prior to DXCC, etc.? I believe that in the beginning these were just for fun and to prove to the doubters they weren’t just talking to themselves and concocting stories about their wireless set. I’m also willing to bet that over time these cards became more artistic as a means to coax others to return the favor. Speculation on my part, but it makes some sense.
Have a better story about how this unusual practice began? Drop me a note as we continue to discuss QSLing this week.