Friday, August 07, 2009

Good intentions


I always mean to do certain things and never get to them.

One of those is to participate in the NJ QSO Party. This year, that's next weekend. I've downloaded and printed out the instructions via the NJQRP e-mail reflector. There doesn't seem to be a specific QRP category; but I think I'm going to give it a whirl and see what happens, anyway.

It runs for 11 hours on Saturday; and for 13 hours on Sunday. I am sure that my backside will not be able to put anywhere that amount of time in; but maybe I can generate a lot of QSOs out of this and fill out my log some.

I am in the county of Middlesex; and if you look at the picture above, you can see that's in the thin "waist" of New Jersey. If you were a bird and could walk out my front door and fly directly East for about 15 to 20 miles, you would be in Staten Island.

I have two friends from the old Piscataway Club, Bill W2BT and Don KO2K who used to enter this and take first place for Middlesex County year after year. I think they won the whole thing as top NJ Station a few years, also. Bob W3BBO would probably remember better than me. I'm not sure if Bill and Don are still as active as they were. Maybe if I gave it a half-hearted effort, I could place well.

Tonight, I'm having tons of fun doing some house cleaning chores. I'm trying to offset that "fun" by enjoying a few Sam Adams Brown Ales. As soon as I'm done with the chores, I will sit down for a bit and continue with the book I am currently reading - "PowerCurve" by Richard Herman. The story is about the first woman President and how she and an Air Force general, who becomes her National Security Advisor, deal with hostilities that break out between Japan and China. It's a pretty good read and is going fast. I would probably do my mind a better favor by reading something from the classics; but I'm a techno-thriller junkie. What can I say?

By the way, speaking of reading ........ Do yourself a favor and click on the link I provide down towards the bottom right for John Shannon K3WWP's "diary". For the past few days he has been discussing his QRP QSO streak. For the past 15 years he has had AT LEAST one QRP QSO a day, using Morse Code, of course.

15 years ..... can you believe that? I did it for a year and after 365 days I thought I had accomplished something. No way compared to John! I fervently believe that for this effort alone, that John is way more than entitled to be inducted into the QRP Hall of Fame. He not only has an excellent Website and "diary" (blog) as most of you probably know; but this man "walks the walk" and doesn't just "talk the talk". He's been an inspiration to more people than you could probably shake a stick at. Talk about "teaching by doing" .... this devoted Ham does it and more.

Congratulations, John K3WWP - I wish you another 15 +++++ years of daily QRP QSOs.

73 de Larry W2LJ

1 comment:

  1. Good luck in the NJ QSO Party. For the 2nd year in a row, I'll be on vacation and out of the state while the contest is occurring. Oh well, maybe next year.

    I'll see if I can make some contacts with NJ as K2DSL/4 from NC.

    73 - K2DSL David

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