I tried my best to stir up something in the monthly Spartan Sprint last night, and wound up hearing nothing. Again. I looked a little later on 3830 and noticed there were only eight total scores there from SP entrants. Summertime is radio doldrums time and I’m pretty certain that accounts for some of the low turnout. Still, the old QRP events aren’t nearly as popular as they once were and it makes me wonder how long this decline will continue before they all go QRT? Since I was in the shack I worked a couple of POTA stations and...
Since subscribing to the CQ Magazine archive a few days ago I’ve already spent hours spelunking through the early days of the print publication. Lot of things leap out, like how voluminous the magazine was during the 1950’s. Certain monthly editions ran over 200 pages, some even more than that. Not that there was more content, but there were a lot more advertisements — there were a lot more manufacturers. That seems to indicate a healthier amateur radio ecosystem though it’s difficult to make direct comparisons between then and now as the internet and online sales have changed the game...
Words I never thought I’d hear myself say, “I remember fifty years ago like it was yesterday”. My goodness, but I’m getting old! Fifty years ago I was a junior in high school and incredibly excited because it was 1976, America’s bicentennial and celebrations of that major milestone were everywhere to be seen. It felt as though I was living in a very special moment. Though it would still be one more year before I would receive my ham radio license, I was preparing for that day. I had worked Field Day with the local club (hand logging in the...
Twelve years have passed since the 2014 World Radiosport Team Championship took place in the woods of Massachusetts in the United States. That event became the basis for one of the more interesting amateur radio books written in the 21st century, Contact Sport, by author and radio amateur J.K. George. “Pairs of contestants huddle in tents filled with communications equipment. Their voices soar through the air, riding waves into the atmosphere, as they comb through static and noise for a response from the other side of the world. They’re searching for loot in the form of other voices in the...
Another season has changed and another month has come and gone. July is bringing an oppressive heat wave here in the Heartland so I’m certain to spend more time indoors this month. The crops in the field will enjoy this burst of 90+F weather for awhile, but with July and August ahead, I believe we are in for an abundance of oppressive heat. There are 83 days to the start of autumn… Most read posts during the month of June: Introducing FacilisQSO - in this satirical short story set in 2029, a booming new service promises hams DXCC Honor Roll...