ARRL November CW Sweepstakes '12

 Band    QSOs    Pts  Sec
   3.5      13      26    6
     7      23      46    8
    14      30      60   12
    21      35      70   17
    28       4      8    4
 Total     105     210   47
Score: 9,870

NY QSO Party '12

ATS-4 with Code Warrior paddles

KI6J Matcher with 20M half wave wire

Mini with wire antenna out the back

Operated QRP in Dutchess Co. from the parking lot of the Rhinebeck NY fairgrounds.
Single Op QRP
RIG  ATS-4
Ant  20M Endfed using KI6J matcher

30 QSO's X 2 (for CW) = 60 X 20 (mults 20) = 1200 points

NYQP  OCT 20th 2012

Local Time

40M

1107 AA2ZW 599 ERI

1113 W2O 599 OTS

1117 WB2SHI/2 599 WAR

1133 N2R/ONE 599 ONE

1136 K2QMF 599 SUF

1141 N2JJ 599 SAR

1146 W1HIS 599 MA

1147 K2AXX 599 LIV

1148 AA2BT 599 ONT

1155 N2QW 599 ALB

1157 KA2KGP 599 CHA

1208 WK2T 599 DUT

1212 W2LB 599 ONT

20M

1212 N4VV 599 TN

1239 WB8WKQ 599 MI

1300 AA9KL 599 IL

40M

1321 W2M 599 YAT

1329 W2TB 599 599 ERI

1330 W2EME 599 ALB

1348 W2T 599 STE

1349 W2Q 599 STL

1350 K2NK 599 PA

1353 WA3HAE 599 PA

20M

1400 KV8Q 599 OH

1410 W8WVU 599 MI

1411 W4UT 599 TN

1415 K8ED 599 MI

1415 K8QWY 599 OH

1426 WA8PGE 599 OH

30 QSO'S

MULTIPLIERS  20

ERI

OTS

WAR

ONE

SUF

SAR

MA

LIV

ONT

ALB

CHA

DUT

TN

MI

IL

YAT

STE

STL

PA

OH

ARCI QRP Fall QSO Party

Managed to get on for a few contacts on the Fall QSO Party.
Rig FT-1000MkV turned down to 5 watts
Ant. Cushcraft R-7
Conditions were OK but 40 was difficult with the PA QSO party and there was a lot of FISTS activity which is hard to distinguish so I mostly called CQ on 20M and worked the following stations.

N4BP     FL     3412
K9OSC  MN   9616
K4BN     GA    1208
N0UR     MN    6846
NG7Z     WA    11300
W3HZZ   GA    13629
K9OZ      IL      11041
N9ZXL    IL      3758
K4KJP     AL     3759
N4KGL    GA    14176
KA8HDE  MN   13826
WD9F       IL      4250
K4MF       FL      629
K9FO        IL       8352
KB9ILT     IL       8352
W4MQC   FL      3788

Total Q's 16
Total Mults SPC  6
16 x 5 x 6  = 480

JLG Lift today

COG Railway to top of Mt. Washington

On Mt. Washington

Standing in 55mph wind!

Norm KB1OV and COG Train

Touring VY2 PEI

View from operating position

Operating as K3PG/VY2 on PEI

Using an ATS-4 4 Watts and an End Fed wire tied to the 2nd floor balcony railing and a chair in the yard I worked several stations.
    27 Aug 2012
1428 K1YAN 20M   559  Gary in Plymouth MA
1434* WA9PWP 20M   449 Paul in Stoughton WI running 3W
1435   DK1BN 20M   559 Walt remote 100W and 6el Mono Bander
1613 KB4QQJ   20M   559   Randy in Burlington NC QRP and Straight Key
1614 K2JT 20M   549 Joe in Montvale NJ
1617   K6FWJ 20M   559 ?  2W not sure of QTH
1912 K9ESE 20M   339  Jeff 3W Charleston WV mobile
2040* DH1BBO   20M   539 Olaf Goldenstedt  K2 5W Windom
2059* VE2PID 40M   569   Pierre Sherbrooke KX3 5W port. inv. Vee
2132* G3SES 20M   449 Phil 5W from Chester TS-940 at 5W wire ant

*times confirmed by other stations log



Had a great trip to PEI.  We stayed at Andy's Surfside Inn in North Rustico.  The view was what I was seeing at the operating position on the back porch.  We also attended a great Airshow at Summerside.

Sitting in 2-33 at Summerside PEI

AT PEI Airshow

Old Telephone Switchboard at PEI Potato Museum

More Pix of PEI and New England Trip on Webshots at http://community.webshots.com/album/583332329zljQTL?vhost=community&vhost=community

Flight of the Bumblebees 2012

Flight of the Bumblebees July 29, 2012

K3PG

Paul Gerhardt

K3PG

Lovettsville, VA

19 total contacts

15 Bees

19 X 15 = 285 Claimed Points

Set up was at Farm in Lovettsville, VA

Rig ATS-4

Ant End Fed Half Waves temporary in tree

Palm Paddles

Seemed like a lot of activity was fun even with low temporary antenna.

Log

Time Call RX Sent

40M

1:12 W1PNS 569 MA 34 559 VA 69

1:49 AB4I 479 VA 47

20M

2:04 WB4MNK 549 FL 2

2:10 N9NE 579 WI 50

2:14 K9DXA 559 IL 100

2:21 K9EW 559 IL 90

2:33 KX0R 559 CO 24

2:43 K6XM 559 CA 63 449 QRM

2:50 KG3W 559 PA 73

2:54 K4OSO 559 VA 5W

3:56 WA8ZBT 559 TX 5W

3:58 WG0AT 559 CO 222

4:04 AB9CA 559 MN 15

40M

4:08 KE0G 559 MN 5W

20M

4:20 WA4PIG 559 TN 656

4:23 W0CH 559 MO 7

4:55 N7OU 559 OR 70

4:59 LY2FN 559

Rainy Weekend and some Flying

Centreville Day and Two Rivers Bike Ride

Centreville Wharf July 6

Taken from the little ultralight.  The Centreville Wharf was the focus of Centreville Day the week
before.


Two Rivers Bike Ride Que Sheets  B&W Scans as JPEGS of the Que Sheets Click to see full image


15 Mile on Green Sheet and Route Marked with Green Arrows

66 Mile Blue Route 

101 mile Red Route (was on yellow paper)

Note:  Line was missing on this route at 64.43 RT Highman Rd (ck this one)  This sheet was corrected B4 the ride.

Field Day 2012

John and Vicky on PSK

K3LMR on the Fred Box

K3VOX on the Swan 500 working them on 40!

K3PG operating CW

Shooting the tree

I did field day with the local club and got some good antenna comparisons too this weekend.  We had two OCF doublets.  One 150ft overall length up in some tall trees at 45 ft or so.  It played well and was good on 75/80M  Another one was a kludge OCF that started out as a QRP port kit for 30M as a dipole but the guy also had a 50ft or so wire so we added that to one side and put the center on a large tripod with some fiberglass poles added to it to maybe 25 ft and the ends coming down to some 9ft step ladders.  This was still pretty decent on 40 and 20 but would not 'talk' on 80 at all.  S9 signals would not answer.  Another station had a nice QRP portable inverted "L" of maybe 65 ft or so and a single (poor) grnd rod.  Surprising to me how well it did on 80 and it worked well on 40 and 'OK' on 20.  Other antennas were a low G5RV at 20 ft and a low B&W folded broadband dipole which were both poor on 80 but were OK NVIS on 40 and 20.  Only a few stations were worked on 15 and NONE on 10M .  So much for the sunspots on this cycle I guess!

Trish's New Bike

1973 Raleigh for Trish

Nice '73 Raleigh from local Craigslist.  Was owned by a lady who had several 'Rod Brake' bikes and worked as a bike mechanic while in college.  Rides perfect and has a nice original patina about it.
The best thing was seeing the smile on the new owner!

Flying down the Corsica River

Had a nice 45 min flight today.  Flew up the Corsica River towards the Cheasapeake Bay and saw this jet skier on the river.    This is from about 100 feet up.  I was trying to get closer but the skier heard me and shut it down a few secs after the last pix...

Friday Group Ride

Pix of me on the late 70's Roberts criterium bike set up as a road bike with new to me Spinergy Wheels and Shimano Ultegra 8 speed.  This was after a 32 mile ride with the Sr. Cycling group of the Baltimore Bike Club.  We cycled from Church Hill MD, through Barclay, Templeville then Sudlersville for a lunch stop at Parkside Family Restaurant and back to Church Hill.

Yogaville Trip

Last weekend we had a family meet up at Yogaville.  It was really something to see and experience. Four  aspects really stood out:

Community- Everyone who works here also lives on the 800+ acres.
History- We had the opportunity to meet people who had been here for more than 40 years.  Lots of pictures like the 1969 opening of Woodstock, meetings with many presidents and world leaders over the years.
Food- Vegan menu with lots of choices at each meal
Spiritual- The ecumenical atmosphere is welcoming and includes all major belief systems.

BikeE2 to Queenstown Pizzeria

BikeE2 Tandem

Trish and I took the BikeE2 Tandem to Queenstown Pizzeria today.  Looped around a bit and did 16 miles it was great.  The Baltimore Bike Club also had a ride that started in Queenstown today so we got to see some of the riders on the road.

Remembering my 1st 10 Speed

Well this is not exactly it because mine was badged as a Rudge but this appears to be the same bike as Raleigh bought the Rudge line in it's last years.  This catalog page is from the 1962 Raleigh catalog.  I bought this bike with some money from a paper route and some from gifts.  I rode the bike all around the Chatham NJ area.  It came equipped with Cyclo derailleur similar to this pull chain model. http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/Cyclo_Benelux_Mark_8_Tourist_derailleur.html

It was not very good and I soon bought an early plastic Simplex of the more modern parallelogram design. The Rudge was green and had white plastic fenders, GB side pull brakes and a handle bar mounted double water bottle holder.  It also had a Brooks seat.  Here is some info on the Rudge company.  This one I had had the Rudge headbage.  It also had a headlight mount about half way down the right fork tube.

I rode this bike through college and then gave it to my sister in Chapel Hill where it was left outside and later stolen.  I wonder if it would be worth anything today.  I have never seen another one.

When in the USAF I bought a Sears Freespirt about 1973.  It was somewhat heavy but ran pretty well and I commuted often from Bossier City to Barksdale AFB which was about 9 miles each way.  I would then ride to the chow hall for lunch and back home maybe doing an errend or visiting a friend on the way home.  On weekends I would sometimes go for a longer ride with a friend and got comfortable going 50-75 miles on Sunday afternoons riding around Shreveport in the heat of the summer.  

One day I was hit by a car turning right when I was next to them.  It bent the wheel and the frame a bit but I repaired it and continued riding it while in LA.

In 1976 I returned to VA after my time in the USAF and bought a used 1971ish Peugeot PX-10.  This bike had a Reynolds 531 frame and tubular 'sew up' tires.  It was a real light weight and was comfortable to ride long distances.  The frame was 'springy' and it had a somewhat long wheelbase compared to bikes of today.  

PX-10 1967

Modern Pix of a Used PX-10

After the PX-10 was crashed I purchased the Roberts Frame and used the wheels, seat and handlebars from the PX-10.  The frame was bent and repaired but I left it at the bike shop has it had been severely heated and the paint and decals were gone.  I rode a number of PPTC club rides and some centuries on this bike.

New Shimano Front Brake on Reynolds 531 Fork

Shimano Recessed Nut 

Drilled out the rear of the fork to accomodate the Shimano 600 Front brake that is designed for recessed nut mounting.

Manihiki Atoll, North Cook Island E51M Worked with QRP

Just Worked E51M with QRP and an End Fed Halfwave Vertical at 0330 Eastern Time on 40 Meters.
http://manihiki2012.de/

The main product of the Atoll is Black Pearls