W2LJ QRP .... Do More With Less

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Now what?

Posted: 06 Sep 2016 12:37 PM PDT
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Yesterday was Labor Day in the USA - the unofficial end of Summer. School
resumes, vacations end (for the most part), everybody gets back into the
swing of things. With the resumption of routines, comes less dispensable
free time. That being said, there are a few things that I want to
accomplish before the weather turns cold and nasty as we head into "those"
months.

1) I purchased a 150' length of RG213 from DX Engineering this summer. I
want to get that run to the Butternut, replacing the 15+ year old coax that
is there, before the weather turns.

2) Get the W3EDP redeployed if it comes to that. I hope my neighbors don't
dilly-dally with their decision on that maple tree.

3) Get a few more NPOTA entities activated. The NJ Coastal Historical Trail
beckons as well as the Appalachian Trail. Dave Hackett KD2FSI has a spot
in mind that would entail some hiking. Perhaps during foliage changing
season, that would be a worthwhile endeavor.

4) Play around some more with the magnetic loop antenna that I built. In
particular, I am looking to the New England QRP Club's "QRP Afield" and the
NoGA "Peanut Power Sprint" to help in that regard.

5) Marv K2VHW and I will be starting another Technician licensing class
beginning September 13th at SPARC HQ. We will run every Tuesday night for
eight weeks. We have several South Plainfielders who are interested in
earning their licenses and one or two who eventually want to become
CERT/RACES operators, also.

My one winter time project will be to homebrew band pass filters for 80,
40, 20 and perhaps 15 Meters to be used at SPARC Field Day next year, so
that the stations can operate more freely without interfering with each
other.

What are your Amateur Radio plans for the Fall and Winter?

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

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Some potential bad news

Posted: 06 Sep 2016 05:52 AM PDT
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I was walking out of my house to get in my car the other evening, when I
heard my name being called - never a good thing. It was my next-door
neighbor who wanted to tell me that he will be removing an oak tree from
his front yard.

"Whew!" I thought to myself, dodged some sort of bullet or another.

Then it came. "And we're thinking of removing the maple from the backyard,
too".

Argh! That's the tree in which my W3EDP antenna lives!

My neighbor stated that he was thinking of having the tree topped (trimmed
back), but his wife came out and commented on how she thinks the tree is
riddled with carpenter ants, and she would like to see it gone.

Meh. I mean, it' s not the end of the world if they have the tree removed.
I have enough of that aluminum military masting where I could put a 30' (10
Meter) section in the back corner of the yard, and then run the W3EDP over
to that.

The pain in the butt thing is having to take it down and then be without it
for a while as all this work gets done. My only hope is that if they do go
through with this plan, that they do it quickly. I need to have enough time
to anchor the mast in some cement and get then get the wire back up before
the cold weather sets in.

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