Our code practice sessions seemed to have moved into the darker hours of the day lately, most often occurring between 5 and 8 PM and utilizing 14 Mhz. That’s okay with me as we have our granddaughter to mind two days a week for the next eight weeks while our daughter has classes. She is scheduled to graduate in August this summer so this small visit time will come to a close. It seems like yesterday that all those grand kids were just born. Time does fly.

I wish I had some new equipment to chat about here but everything just keeps on working as it is designed to do. My antenna must not be large enough as it seems to stay up when Mother Nature exacts some fury. Along with modifying our CW Sked times, sun spots appear to be following along the path to shrinkage as forecast by Livingstone and Penn. This heightens my need for an 80/160 Meter solution for the near future. That will be a tough one to crack. The obvious choice for a small lot solution is a vertical but ground losses are so high that I am loathe to go that direction. Even a low balanced solution would be less lossy.  However horizontal space is at a premium in my home plat. Somehow we will muddle through this dilemma, given time and creativity. Hopefully it will work well for domestic contests and maybe a little bit of DX.

It appears as though summer is upon us already. We had no winter at all so we expect lots of buggy critters this summer. I can testify that the pollen is already thick and I am suffering the worst summer of allergies since leaving California 22 odd years ago. I thought those days were done. Well, not so fast I guess. It appears that particular form of allergy is driven by molds of all sort. Too much rain I suppose, not a bad thing for farmers but hey, my garden can be irrigated.

That’s all for this post. I will attempt more radio content next time but lately we have been motivated by weather and roofs and all manner of repairs. In a way I am happy that radio things keep percolating along as one expects. Too many surprises dents ones soul.

Thanks for reading my Blog. Best, Chas W5PG

I have not been able to get to the gym at all since Tuesday afternoon. Just way too many things happening and so next week we will begin anew. A fresh start to a lifelong journey to lose more weight and tone up a bit. The trip to the roof on Tuesday told me I was not doing enough as the old body was sore for two days after that trip up the ladder twice with the roof scramble mixed in. Old age is a sneaky critter. It doesn’t tell you outright that your not in good shape, it slithers up on you through good books and television and sitting in front of computers and radio sets like a perverted dose of junk food for the mind. I am not entirely sure what destroys your body and ages you most; a book or a Twinkie. Probably both are guilty.

Speaking of books, I completed QTC ( I have a message for you) this morning. I had purchased it some months ago and when I got distracted it was put up on a shelf and so, while waiting insurance people/calls etc this week, I got a bit restless and found it again where my wife had placed it. This is another find at the ABE Used on line book store. It turns out used words read just as well as new words and are much cheaper. QTC was written anonymously by a ships RO (radio officer) about his life on board merchant ships while being employed as a wireless operator. I enjoyed it a lot and anyone with a Maritime background or just a dose of curiosity should read it. It has a chapter at the end detailing and diagnosing the Titanic tragedy. A lot of ink has been devoted to this subject but this is, I believe, a unique view. The book inspired me to make this post and to, as I almost always do, switch on my radio and listen to quite another version of Nature’s Voice-that of HF. HF Radio is spectacular in its’ own right and my life is wed to it. At my earliest stages of life, I cannot say why or how,  my DNA became part of the aether, or at least developed and affinity for paying it a lot of attention. First as a Ham, then as a shipboard maintainer of comms gear and now once again as a Ham. A Radio Ham throughout my Navy days, I had little opportunity to actually get on the radio as it was wartime. Sporadically there were opportunities but they were infrequent ones at most. We are now in the part of the year where I celebrate my radio anniversary: this year is 53 years of almost continuous involvement with radio in one way or another. Although the early years were filled with wonder, via learning and world wide travel, I must say that these later years are much more rewarding. I now have the time, have some knowledgeable friends, and can take the time necessary to let things gently simmer along until the component parts are fully ripened and (I will not say fully understood) at least partially recognized as valuable and ordered and stack ranked into their proper places in nature.

Thanks for reading my Blog. Best, Chas W5PG

However, we are better off than a lot of folks that lost everything so we continue to count our blessings.

Thanks for reading our Blog. Best, Chas W5PG

I had an interesting discussion with a friend about contesting and competition in general. The long and short of it is my friend was disappointed in his results when compared to a second buddy near him that had a comparable station. After much analysis (and I mean sliced every way from Sunday analysis) it came down to his friends use of “spotting” nets vs his use of “no spotting nets”. For my friend, search and pounce on his own was “his” fun. Digging them out on his own was a special aspect of his contesting fun that in all essence “Kept him coming back year after year”. Well, talk about apples and oranges….Firstly, the scores were not that much different, secondly, the hours in seat were similar. The difference came from being assisted. After a lot of thought we mutually came to the conclusion that changing his game to compete with his buddy most likely would spoil some aspects of what he enjoyed and may ruin his “fun”. IMHO that isn’t worth a better score.

Almost every station/operator is unique. If you are competing, then make yourself the target rich environment. Year over year comparisons with your station and your equipment are what matter most. Are we improving, losing or just marking time? There is far too much variation in geography, equipment, and a persons “personal equation” to make external comparisons anything more than academic.

The nature of the human animal is to be competitive. We humans almost always turn whatever we are doing into a sport. We have to be disciplined enough to recognize that sport and competition cannot ruin our enjoyment of things. To that end I am reexamining my core principles with respect to my hobbies. What keeps me coming back? With Radio Sport for me it is mostly social. Sure breaking a pileup late on a Sunday against impossible odds for a new mult is certainly fun. But being part of the shared effort by joining into something is more fun. Perhaps this is why I enjoy Multi-Single so much more than any other category of contesting. It leaves time to sleep, cook, eat and spin those tales that ultimately become the most cherished contesting (lo radio) memories. Ive left a lot unsaid here. Anyone that has participated in any sort of radio contesting will undoubtedly know what I am talking about. It is, after all, as much about people as it is about winning, losing and applied technology.

This brings me to my last point. Peer pressure to perform. For better or worse, Radio Sporting tosses the best in with the least. That is part of its’ charm and also a curse. This occurs locally, nationally, and world wide. If you are a club member, the natural tendency is to gravitate toward having performance anxiety. Not in the usual sense but with radios! There’s that peer pressure again. One may tend to “not show up” because of perceived lack of score or not enough time to do well or make a worthy contribution. Nonsense! Lets not get the little mixed up with the big as my father used to tell me. You’re playing on a worldwide stage but your only competing with yourself. What you do year over year is what matters if competition is your draw.It is possible that competition is not your draw in which case _any_ score submitted is a good score. It is, after all, your fun! This has to remain fun or we all go away. To that end I suggest we all revisit our core reasons for playing at Radio Sport. Find those elements that keep you coming back and build on them. At the same time recognize that your core elements change over time and be sensitive to those changes. That, my friends, will keep us grounded and help us to find rewards with our pastimes over many years.

Thanks for reading my Blog. Best, Chas W5PG

Along the way I managed to snap a few photos that also do not do justice. It was a hoot. It was fun. It was intimidating. All I can say is wow!

The station belongs to non other than George NR5M and I would like to make a public “Thanks” to George for the opportunity to play some radio at this station. Also there are a lot of supporting staff that play a large role in anything like this and so a “Hats Off” to Kenny and others who helped make a comfortable weekend for us all.

Thanks for reading my Blog. Best, Chas W5PG

Simply stated, the core principle at work here is fostering any level of interest in contesting that we find and trying to help it flourish. Licensed? Not Licensed but interested in learning? Come on down! We are a collection of mostly mid-sized stations, with a mixture of seasoned and some with only light experience, some with nothing more than curiosity and enthusiasm. Thanks to N5UI (George) we have a web presence ( http://www.dfwcontest.com/index.html ) and a reflector at Yahoo Groups. So far interest is growing and many of the participants enjoy meeting up once per month on the first Wednesday at a local watering hole as noted on the web site. Structure is loose and we are trying to keep performance expectations such that this can remain a hobby vs being treated as “work”. Those that can play in a contest will play, and those that choose, can avoid playing in contests that do not interest them much. Joining is as simple as signing up at the web site. Needless to say, many war stories ruminate within the confines of the Bier Garten on First Wednesdays!

Like myself, many of the guys have residential restrictions and so have to maintain a lower profile. Is there a place for small pistols or mid-sized stations in a world of giant “mega stations” that grab all the column inches in Ham Radio Journals? We think so. In fact we are predominantly smaller suburban challenged stations with small footprints. QRP? Fine. Just submit a score. Activity is key. Even if only marginal activity. At some point the confluence of face to face meets combined with a free weekend and pretty soon something magical begins to flourish; slowly at first and then into something very rewarding. Improving skills, your hardware, learning or just plain socialization; contesting is a fruitful and entertaining way to spend a few hours relearning old skills or making new ones. The thrill of discovering a new opening, or having an unsuspecting new friend teach you a new twist on an old familiar technical issue or just doing a multi-single with like minded fellows sharing a family recipe for “Rolling Thunder Contest Chili” or “Chili Ding” (Hormel in a microwave ) or sharing a special new blend of coffee while wondering who will be the latest chap to try to steal the run frequency? It isn’t for everyone I realize, but for those that experience a weekend of contest fun and weed though the QRM, there isn’t anything like it.  Admittedly, the best of all my Ham Radio memories are contest memories. Those memories all stem from the mixture of wonderful people, fresh challenges and idiosyncratic episodes that defy description and later impart a joy that really has to be experienced to fully appreciated.

Wonderful things begin to happen when a garden is even minimally tilled. Our monthly meeting and the ever present contest opportunity provide the garden. Participation is the cultivator. Come join us for an enjoyable evening over a meal or perhaps a session in front of your rig, where technology can meet new faces and fun almost always breaks out.

Thanks for reading my Blog. Best, Chas W5PG

I grudgingly meandered up to the blog login on this site and then thought better of it. I checked the blog roll links on my pages first and discovered that G4ILO was down and immediately I began racing about to see if there was a change in health status. No news so far which is good but still, what happened to the G4ILO web presence. I feel I have misplaced an old friend as indeed I think I have. Anyone? Comments?

Im completing the complete works of Conan Doyle for the umpteenth time. This in the form of a reprint of original Strand Magazine articles published sometime around the turn of the last century. Just prior to that read I went on a journey into factory food land via “Omnivore’s Dilemma”, by a chap named Pollan, Michael. It is a wonderful read and takes you on a behind the scenes tour of four meals. You can search for its review if you decide that it is your cup o joe. I highly recommend it as one should take a peek behind the wall of obscurity that clothes our modern food production and distribution system.

We have substituted a gym (YMCA) for walking. My normal ritual is now to walk for thirty ish minutes (power walking) on the track followed by reps on the Life Cycle machines. Not all of those available mind you, just the gut shrinking types of machines. I’m trying to isolate my girth and man boobs into submission. Hopefully this will continue until spring asserts itself and I cannot drive but cycle to the “Y”. That should take an hour and forty five minutes portal to portal each day. The thirty minutes of walking gives ample time to play ARRL W1AW Code Practice tapes at some ridiculous speeds that I can almost comprehend and then find myself hopelessly lost in space aurally again. Practice makes perfect? Maybe. There are two things that are very hard for old dogs to change or learn- One is to develop a new skill at an advanced age, the other is to lose weight and get into shape at an equally advanced age.

But the beat goes on……

Thanks for reading my Blog. Best, Chas W5PG

Chucks class room teacher partner is a lady named Donna who herself has a call ( I forgot it) and has fostered this enrichment for her classroom and permitted Chuck to come into the class setting and worked her curriculum around the Science Enrichment. Aside from normal local SSB contacts, Chuck works some DX which serves nicely to help with Geography and also opens lots of doors for the youth to experience other cultures. It is a lot for young minds to gather in but they seem very enthusiastic.

W1HIS with students at Winn Brook Elementary

We spent about 1.3 hours on 18 Mhz SSB with the children on Friday and worked through each of the three “neighborhoods” that the class is divided into. This was my second attempt at having a QSO with the kids and this one lasted a bit longer than the first and seemed to go very well. There were a number of stations reading our “mail” and some stopped by to compliment the intro to Ham radio to the class. Among those stopping by were KU9RK and KI4EFP. Thanks fellas!

W1HIS with Winn Brook student

All in all a wonderful way to spend some quality time with nice kids. I really enjoyed the whole of that QSO!

Neighborhood 1

Nathanial, Jacob, Eleanor, Symantha, Stella, Calder, Amaleah.

Neighborhood 2

Theo I, Theo G, Rebecca, Kavya, Anya, Ryann.

Neighborhood 3

Brian, Brennan, Isabella, Julia, Juliette, Angelina, and Theo M.

Thanks kids!

Thanks for reading my Blog. Best, Chas W5PG.

Saturday I found it again and actually enjoyed myself in a CW Contest. This one is the latest derivation of the old ARRL CD Parties now reborn as NAQP or North American QSO Party. It was a hoot. I actually managed a smallish run on 15 M early on and was quite surprised to see how many states I could work on 80 M. I had zero expectations for 80 M and so was happy with the results. NAQP is limited to 100 w and so my low and short dipole was handicapped on the lower bands.

Our local contest group (DFW Contest Group) is kind of a low key organization and is also freshly minted in as much as it has been in existence for about a year now. Since its beginning the guys have encouraged participation in lots of low key events such as QSO Parties and State QSO Parties like CAL QSO or NEQP. These are operating events that one can do without committing a whole dedicated weekend to the radio-something that a lot of us have a hard time scheduling. A link to the website is here:

At long last I finally managed to get the Function keys properly set up in N1MM Logger and so things went swimmingly throughout the test. The interface worked properly, the radio and antenna functioned just fine and the operator began to understand the vagaries of CW Contesting. I have done SSB testing before but the challenge for me always has been to do it in Morse. Well, now that I have done a modest effort it may be time to step it up a notch and try for a higher team. Our group fielded four squads and I was on Team #3. Perhaps I can climb the ladder a bit next time. Results were very modest but Matt was here on his last day before Spring Semester so time was of some concern. Still…..I was happy with the result. 51K and 385 Q’s in around 8 hours.

Thanks for reading my Blog. Best, Chas W5PG

Last week I came across a wonderful short video on youtube that I may not have shared here yet. It is done by a physician and is quite cleverly done in stop action cartoon style but the message is succinct and appropriate to today’s society. This short attempts (successfully IMHO) to answer the Question: What is the single most beneficial thing we can do to improve our health? You can find this video here.

I like to listen to Bill Bennett on the early morning radio (Why do iPod and walkman makers never include an AM radio in the features of these wonderful toys?) as he is a non strident radio host, yet manages to explore today’s important themes. He is also a Classically Trained Philosopher with a strong background in ethics. Last week or perhaps before, he had some discussion going that involved subjects as disparate as death and appreciation of life. Some references were made about a book called the New England Primer. I just caught a small bit of the discussion but involved a statement like, “one cannot fully appreciate life without knowing death”. I had not ever calibrated this concept (most of you know I am not a deep thinker) but it sounded intriguing. So, hat in hand off I went to discover what messages were contained in this New England Primer. Low, I never found the bits I was looking for, but did come across a short prayer that I had been made to memorize as a small child. It began, “Now I lay me down to sleep”….I never understood the derivation of that poem/prayer but found it this AM in the New England Primer. My Grand Mother was an old school Quaker so I suppose she would have brought this to our young minds. The prayer may in fact be a lot older but it was contained in a version of this book printed around 1744. Who knows, it may have come from old England.

Now that I have that discovery committed to the blog-o-sphere, I suppose I should go find out about life and death as written by a preacher named Cotton something or other….News after of course.

Thanks for reading my Blog. Best, Chas W5PG