XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated, rec.radio.amateur.equipment

W2LJ QRP - When you care to send the very least!

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Field Day 2021 Results

Posted: 15 Nov 2021 11:54 AM PST http://w2lj.blogspot.com/2021/11/field-day-2021-results.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

If you're an ARRL member you can check out the 2021 Field Day results. The digital December issue of QST is online.
The South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club, operating NJ2SP came in 3rd place, nationwide, in the 3A - Battery classification.

The results were in two separate columns (necessitated two screenshots) -
10 entries total for the category. Our setup was two KX3's to two MFJ end
feds, the MFJ-1982 and the MFJ-1982LP., each perpendicular to the other -
one running N-S and the other E-W. Dave KD2FSI had his FT-8 and other
digital modes station hooked up to various arrows from his portable ops
antenna quiver.
Once the Contest Results database is updated, I can figure out how SPARC
fared compared to other stations in the NNJ Section, the Hudson Division,
and how we fared against ALL 5 Watt (Battery category) entries.
It was a good time and we're already looking forward to and preliminarily planning for 2022.
73 de Larry W2LJQRP - When you care to send the very least!



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Regrets? I've had a few.

Posted: 15 Nov 2021 08:34 AM PST http://w2lj.blogspot.com/2021/11/regrets-ive-had-few.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email


No one can be in this hobby for a long time without having a few regrets - usually about equipment bought and sold.
Regrets:
Getting rid of my Novice station. Even though I donated it to the Handi-Ham organization, I later regretted handing off my Novice Station, which
comprised of a Drake 2NT transmitter, a Heathkit HR-1680 receiver and a
Globe VFO. The good news is that I have acquired like pieces and have my Novice station back (with the exception of the Globe VFO).
Selling my Icom IC-730 - I did the modification to get the low power
setting all the way down to 100 milliWatts. I sold this in order to buy an
Icom IC-751A. This was back in the day when I got interested in AMTOR and PacTOR and the IC-730's T/R relay was just too slow to support these modes.
My interest in them was fleeting, as it turned out. My interest in QRP has never faded.
Selling MY home built HW-8. To this day, I consider this my biggest faux
pas; and I still don't know what possessed me to do this. This had to have
been the biggest Ham Radio brain cramp that I've experienced in 43 years of being a Ham. Fortunately, Dave KD2FSI gifted me with a mint replacement
that he found on eBay.
Not keeping my Heathkit SB-104A station, that again, I had built myself
After a while, I was blinded by newer and shinier equipment, I sold these
(rig, power supply/speaker, remote VFO, station monitor) to afford newer
stuff. Sometimes I think I was part crow, being attracted to new shiny
objects. This is a major regret.
Semi - regrets:
Selling my K1 and K2 - but alas, I would not have been able to acquire my
KX3 without doing this. Unlike a lot Hams out there, I don't have deep
pockets.
No - regrets:
Selling my IC-751A - great receiver for it's day, but selling it paved the
way for buying Elecraft rigs.
Selling my amplifier - what the heck was I thinking ever buying one of
those in the first place? My fascination with QRO faded more quickly that
you can say "Jack Robinson". In it's defense, it did keep the shack warm. Selling my Kenwood Twins. The T599A and R599A made up my General station
when I upgraded all the way back in 1979. I sold these to afford the
SB-104A.
I still wish I had every piece of Heathkit gear that I ever assembled (and
it was a lot). At the time, I guess I thought Heathkit, as we knew it back then, would never bite the dust. Hindsight is always 20/20.
These days, I am content with my station as it exists. I have a KX3 along
with the KXPA100 amplifier (which I have not turned on in years - in fact,
I took it out of the line.) No aspersions to Elecraft, but I don't need or desire a K3s or a K4. After all this time, I guess I've learned to be
content with what I have.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

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