My Family and I went to NYC with another family over Memorial Day weekend. I had a little bit of time while the moms and daughters wrapped up their American Girl shopping spree to get on the air and get some ideas on what to see and do. I found activity on the W2CMA 145.230 repeater and looked up the PL tone (same as Paxton, 114.8). I found three hams from the area more than willing to offer up thoughts and ideas — Eric, N2RRA/m; Paul, WB2LIC/m; and Gordon, K2GLW/p (walking his dog in Central Park :-).
Eric, Paul, and Gordon, I’d like to thank you for our QSOs which I truly enjoyed…and thank you for all your ideas on possibilities for what to do and see. It turned out to be a great weekend, weather wise, and we saw plenty: Ellis Island, Time Square, East and West Village, Tomkin Square Park, Washington Square Park, Central Park, and, my favorite, accidentally stumbling upon Katz’s Deli for a Reuben and matza ball soup! Katz’s was on my list, but no one else’s but we all agreed while wandering and looking for dinner, that fate must have drawn us there!
VY 73,
-john
I just received confirmation for the last state I needed for WAS, New Hampshire. Thanks to Joe, W1RRN for the quick turn-around on the QSL. And thanks to all that have QSL’ed for our QSOs. Looking back, I can remember thinking that I’d never contact Alaska or Hawaii on 15w, but it turned out those where much easier than the close-in New England states (though the late addition of a 75m inverted-vee dipole should now make local communication much better).
I may also use this as a good reason to make the trek to Newington, CT to have my QSLs confirmed while I take the tour, and maybe even operate on, W1AW.
I guess the next step is to figure out where I stand on DXCC — I’m in the process of entering my paper log entries into Ham Radio Deluxe which should provide benefits going forward. Time to look into the IO option for my K2!
73,
john, w1jks
So typical of my blogging habits…blog, blog, blog, then months of radio silence! And repeat.
At this point, I’ve got QSLs for 49 of the 50 states…NH outstanding. I had made a QSO with NH two or three months back. Even a QSL w/SASE went unanswered.
Anyhow, today I was testing a 40m inverted vee dipole — completely free-standing in my backyard (a test run before field day). After making a few QSOs (most for the Indiana QSO party), I added another 33′ of wire to each leg. A quick tune around 75m mid to late afternoon and I heard a number of 1 calls…three in NH and one on the Cape. I dropped my call and joined in the rag-chew. I’ve now got 4 QSLs / SASEs ready to send — 3 to NH…odds are good that WAS will soon be a reality!
I really need to get my 80m dipole set up in the woods. It’s not so much a issue of doability…it’s a political XYL issue :-\
73,
-john, w1jks