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2016 Blog (Send Pete Your Comments and Pictures) K4BAI, John Was able to operate only the last 44 minutes due to a thunder storm and a visit from our son. Hope to be QRV for the whole time next year. If the date continues to be the same as the CQ WW RTTY Contest, the 40M frequency needs to be lowered to about 7031 from 7061 as our 5W or less QRP signals can't compete with the DXers on RTTY. Thanks for sponsoring this fun activity. 73/72 Kelly, K4UPG About to setup when rain started so waited a bit in the car. At 1458 UTC first lightening strike. Car started, driving home. No Pnut #29 this year... drats. John, KE4D Triple the contacts from the last time I worked this! Horrible QRM here this afternoon. Jim, KA0IQT Not the best band conditions today. Lots of deep QSB, and QRN from local thunderstorms. Most signals were ESP + 1 Db. The only station that was much out of the noise all contest was W2LJ. Used my KX2 on internal battery to an Alex Loop portable antenna. 73 Don, KI4MZC Well, there seemed to be a lot of RTTY on 40, and almost nothing on 20 or 15. Good to QSO with one of my Elmers, K4BAI! And, a lot of good ears out there. Thanks for the Q\\\\\\\'s and see you all next year, if not before! Jerry, WE4SGA Thanks. A fun contest. I only worked FLA and GA, so only 2 different SPCs. Dave, K5IX Hey this was fun! my first time as a nut. thanks for putting this on--a great seque from the TX QSO Party. Mike, WH6YH WWDX RTTY stomped a mud hole in the QRP watering holes, but a fun event anyway. Saw a few old friends and made a few new ones. Condx were not thtat great with terrible QRN, throw in weak sig QRP and it offers a great opportunity to work on my RX skills! thanks for the QSOs, 72 Jim, N4TMM Great fun despite band issues. Thanks for running this contest, always one of the funnest. Jim, NO4GA Operated from home at 0.9 watts. Highlight was snagging OK2RZ on 20M SSB! Rig: KX3 Ant: 3 el YAGI + 80M loop (40M). Was a bit slow at times. Spent first hour on SSB quite a bit. Too hot to operate outside. It was an honor to use the club call NO4GA. The chap (Jiri) in OK land popped up the call on QRZ and said, \\\"hey you are the QRP Club! Curt, KB5JO Lots of fun as always, but local Thunderstorms shortened my time on the air Tim, WK4U Gosh I never heard a single phone station! Of course 15M was no good, but I called CQ a few times on both 20M and 40M SSB with nobody calling back. All my Q's were CW, and most of them were on 40M. 40 was my money band this afternoon. Boy those RTTY stations sure were strong!!! Thanks for promoting this event. Bill, KV6Z It started raining at 1955z and stopped abruptly at 2155z. The good news is that there was no lightening. I had a great time and met some new QRPers. Larry, W2LJ Had a blast, as always! Conditions weren\ ' the best, and there was that RTTY contest obliterating 40 Meters, but fun was there to be had. Thanks to the NoGA group for the outstanding job that they always do. The PPS is a \ "Summer\ 's End\" Classic, now. 73/72 Jocelyn, KD8VRX First QRP Contest. Conditions were that great but it/'s a start. Thank you for having the contest, looking forward to the next event/contest. Mike, ND4V Darn RTTY stations right in the middle of contest frequencis. Still was fun! ???? Pickett, AD4S Crappy band condx but always lots of fun..! Mark, NA4O I called and listened, but nothing doing for SSB qsos. On CW, I heard several more than I was able to work. Had to work to shell some of these nuts. Richard, W0IS I used this event as an opportunity to do a quick NPOTA activation of RV04, Mississippi River in MN. Conditions on 20 meters were very poor, and I only made two QSO\'s. I switched to 40 meters, but my only antenna was a Hamstick, so that proved dificult, despite hearing a lot of stations on 40. My only contest QSO/'s were with K7NEW on 20 and N8XX, who was also doing a NPOTA activation. I also had one non-contest QSO with AI6QZ, who was running 100 watts powered by solar at a Nevada campground. Hank, N8XX Fun Contest, report I put into QRP-L: National Parks On The Air & Peanut power 2016 report. I set up along the North Country National Scenic Trail (TR04) at one of my usual spots, and found that 20 meters was mizzable. Did Manage to work AB9CA from Alabama on 20 meters but had to move from 1 watt to 5 watts to do it. Then heard no more CQ NUT or other QRPers around 14060 so I stretched my antenna to ~35 feet, and worked WD8RIF (from Ohio on a different part of TR04) on ~7031 KHz for the first 40 meter contact. At 2030 Z or so the skip was short enough, but we had a bit of a struggle getting through. When I moved up to around 7061 KHz I heard a few 4-landers, and one fellow from Zero land who I thought was a KI4, because he came back with 559 CO #, but it wasn\\\'t KI4?? so I was a bit confused. A bit slow initially on 40, guess folks were trying to make some contacts on 20 or 15, but then picked up. some time around 2100Z things picked up to a steady contact every 1 to 2 minutes, which was OK for a QRP event. I had a few passers-by ask about what this strange contraption was, so I did some PR for ham radio. One couple asked if I was going fishing. I told them this was ham radio and I was \\\"fishing for contacts.\\\" A mom and two kids came by, the younger of the two was a cub scout. He was intrigued with the setup, asked quite a few questions. I told him I was in contact with fellow hams from Georgia, Alabama, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other places. He was amazed. I told his mother to ask his den leader about the \\\"Jamboree on the Air\\\" which I wasn\\\'t sure was recently held or was to be held shortly. I told her it might be only for Boy Scouts, but that kids as young as 6 years, maybe even younger have passed the entrance exam for ham radio. After about 90 minutes I had over 20 nuts in the bag. I figured my wife probably would like me to return and help with getting dinner. She had a hip replaced couple weeks ago and was still using a walker. I killed the switch on the KX2 and tore the setup apart. Got home and was asked to clean up a spill of a bunch of blueberry which occurred only a few minutes before - my wife isn\\\'t supposed to bend over 90 degrees from he waist so it would have been very hard for her to pick up 30 or 40 berries with her \\\"grabber.\\\" Talk about serendipity (or was it ESP?, who knows, \\\"Only the Shadow knows what lurks in he hearts of men\\\" One last comment - from the Reverse Beacon Network, it appears that I would have had a chance of making contacts on 40 meters with 1 watt. Many of the Signal to Noise Ratios from skimmers on 7.061 KHz were > 17 dB, so reducing by 6 dB or so would be >10 dB above the noise, which usually provides reasonable copy on CW. But, since the secondary reason for getting on the air at this place was to have a \\\"activation \\\"of TR04, I figured that 5 watts was a better choice. Over all, a great day all the way. 72/73 Craig, WB3GCK This was my first Peanut Power Sprint and I had a ball. Thanks to the NOGA QRP folks for putting this on. George, K2WO Had a great time, but band conditions were pretty poor at my location in Florida. Stayed inside because of forecasted rain and thunderstorms. Twenty meters started out great but went down the tube with lots of QSB and generally poor conditions. Forty was alive with \"Nuts\", but very bad rain static and noise. Nevertheless, I had a ball and enjoyed the event. Thanks to NOGA and all involved for sponsoring this great event. Pete, WK8S Operated from Bott Park, Colorado Springs, CO Weather was sunny but with a very cold wind. Worked 1 of 2 hours as I ran out of new PP contesters and wind was numbing my fingers. Used KX2 at 5 watts to a multiband homebrewed vertical (Buddipole coil) with 6 radials. All in all a fun contest and will be back for it again next year. Marc, W4MPS Well Brother Nuts, we survived RTTY Purgatory on 40 for Peanut Power 2016. Non stop S-9 RTTY throughout the event. The XYL, our Golden Doodle Bailey and I parked on the shore of Jordan Lake in a beautiful spot near Raleigh, NC. Although it was overcast, it never rained, so the afternoon was very pleasant. I ran my KX3 @ 5W to an inverted Vee segmented dipole cut for 40-30-20. The apex was at 20 feet secured to a fiberglass extendable mast. The rig and computer were battery powered using a 4.6 Ah LiFePO4 (A123) pack. Besides the QRM we also had some QRN, but managed 37 Q\'s of which 35 were \"Nuts\", all CW. I started on 20, which I\'m glad I did because later that band dried up here in NC. I called CQ several times on 15 but nada. 40 was the workhorse band with 73% of the contacts there. Despite the challenges, I had a lot of fun as it\'s always great to work such a FB group of quality Ops. Tnx NoGA QRP for another wonderful sprint. 72
Eric, WD8RIF Operated NPOTA at TR04 at Tom Jenkins Dam at Burr Oak State Park, Ohio. Not included in the numbers, I also worked three NPOTA Chasers who didn\'t send PPS# or PWR. Great event! I am looking forward to PPS 2017! Paul, W4KLY I had previously strung up my new 52 ft. end fed wire that was fed through one of the 9:1 baluns that Norm and I bought as kits at Huntsville, so it didn\'t take me too long to get set up in my front yard under the trees. Unfortunately, the battery in my netbook PC was \"flat\" and the 45 minute charge it got before the action started didn\'t hold up very well and the PC died at 4:15. So, I have a hand written log. The only other problem was that the redwood picnic table I was operating on that I built 35 years ago was infested with tiny little black ants that kept bugging me. I\'ll take care of them today. But working the PPS was a lot of fun. 40M didn\'t sound too good at 4:00pm so my first four Q\'s were on 20 working CO, WA and GA. 20 wasn\'t that great either and having no luck running on 20 changed back to 40 for all my remaining Q\'s. 40 seemed to get better and better as the afternoon progressed except for all the RTTY interference. I was pleased to work Jim, W4QO as NO4GA for my last contact logged at 21:57. Tom, K4AKC I was stuck with 20 meters, but heard few signals. Propagation briefly picked up then faded away. I managed one QSO with Oregon from Alabama, using one watt to an end-fed wire vertical. I still had fun! - Thanks! Randy, K4INC Well Nuts!! It started out pretty dismal weather wise but brightened up just in time. I didn\'t have any luck on 20 or 15 meters, but tried with all the peanuts I had. Moved to 40m early and jumped right into the middle of the RTTY contest. I was surprised at the few contacts I made. Lots of QRM but amazed to see the peanut chasers who were willing (and savy enuf) to exchange between RTTY bursts. Special thanks to NN4K and N4EWT for sticking it out with me through the RTTY and CW QRM. Nice surprise was working fellow NC\'n W4MPS Marc. I set up at Shallow Ford dam on the Haw River canoe trail. Photos to come if the camera worked. Most appreciation goes to the folks behind and up front that make the Peanut Sprint possible. A fun event by any standard. Dennis, W5WIL Operated from a high spot in the Chickasaw Ntl Rec Area here in southern OK. My portable vertical and magnetic loop came up lacking - a linked dipole or efhw would have been preferable but looming storms made me pick antennas I could handle quickly. IC-703 @ 1W with paddle and SLA power. Heard no one on 15m, worked a few on 20 as well as 40m. Rain stopped me 30 min early, but always fun. Odd that I had contacts in NY, NC, IL and CO but no one in GA! Better antennas are a must.ck with 20 meters, but heard few signals. Propagation briefly picked up then faded away. I managed one QSO with Oregon from Alabama, using one watt to an end-fed wire vertical. I still had fun! - Thanks! Gene, W5GW I was using a KX3 at 900 mW outdoors on a CFZ in an oak tree. Signals on 20 and 40 were generally few and weak. It was hard to tell how much was poor propagation vs. poor participation. However I enjoyed setting up and using a portable station. Better luck next year. Marc, WG8Y I put up a tilted 40M Delta loop @ 30ft. Sunday morning fed with 20ft of LL& 4-1 balun to my FT-817d/LDG817 tuner on my back patio. 40 meters would have been fun but the RTTY guys were blasting all the way to 7.030. My highlite was having S58AL answer my CQ on 20m. Didn\\\\\\\'t hear anyone on 15m. Had fun. See ya next year. Myron, WV0H Another grand time with the PPS but this year didn’t get as many as last year due to poorer band conditions. It was my second time out with the KX2 this year and it performed well. I had 12 QSOs, 2 of which were on 40m. I just got my KX2 and used my 40m open wire doublet.
My Park Portable Doublet is nothing but 2 66 foot pieces of wire held by a 31’ Jackite and separated by about 8 inches forming the 765-ohm transmission line. Next year, I intend to set up my 40 foot spiderbeam with an 88 foot doublet arrangement using the same concept. Fun with antennas and radio, that’s what it’s all about. Dave, KD9VT Very tough condx and lots of frustration. I lost several QSOs to the RTTY bunch. They just jump in on top of you. I was only able to hold on to a frequency for a few minutes it seemed. Anyway, operating outdoors with my new KX2 was a lot of fun. Even though it was frustrating, it was a fun sprint and I will be back next year. 73 All and thank you to those of you that called or answered me. Dick, K2UFT Next year how about picking a non-RTTY contest weekend. Seems like 40 m came alive in the second half of the contest. Paul, K4JAZ The RTTY on 40M was a real challenge but I was surprised how well I managed to get around it. This was my first Peanut Power Sprint but it sure isn\'t my last one! I really had fun working the event.. Will, AI4VE I was only able to work the first 45 minutes or so the sprint due to family obligations. I worked a couple on 20m and three on 40m. Heard nothing on 15m. I was on my K3 at home with the attic dipole and could hear more stations than I could work. Don\\\\\\\'t know if it was compromise antenna or conditions. Still, great fun. Just wish I could have hung in there for the full two hours. Bill, VE3XT Planned to operate outside but rain put a halt to that plan. Someone must have put a cone of silence over N W ON, signals were few and far between and weak when I did hear them. Oh well, what\'s the hams lament, \"Wait until next year \". Donald, K4YND Great time KX3 with 5 watts from the yard. 20 not so good for me. Signals very strong on 40 but waves of RTTY would cover them up. Rich, KI4FW Lots of fun. The Two-hour period is just right. I could only participate during the 2nd hour, but still found lots of nuts rolling around in the ether. Tnx 4 the fun. Denis, N2JJF Too much RTTY on 40M. Did not hear anyone due to contest. Only able to participate for 45 minutes but I enjoyed it immensely. Kostas, SV1ONW As a keen homebrewer, my experience with the Delta loop, its easy tuning at the bottom leg by trimming the length and the 1:1.15 at 7.090 (SSB Calling freq in Europe) was invaluable for a 2 watt crazy QRPer. The credits should go to DJ0IP for sharing his 40 meter Delta Loop and to SV1IVK from the AQRPnet (Athens QRP Network) the group where we both belong, who advised me to look for a Delta when I informed my fellows in the group for what I wanted to do. As a regular contributor to the local on-line local technical magazine SV-QRP, I am thinking of writing a short article about it. It is pity that due to darkness and being alone out there, I could not take any pics of the antenna. For next year, I will also have ready my new 5 Watt QRP SDR station (this autumn/winter project) based on a Genesis G40 board that I have just completed and modified to become multiband soon with switchable LPF (from a Yaesu FT-1) and BPF (from SV1AFN). That will be my new QRP baby, following my 20 meter Taurus and my 40 meter ILER (DDS Modified) in a Valise! For your info, SV-QRP and AQRPnet organize for the first time the QRP Marathon, a 42 days free style QRP contest (as there are 42 kilometers in the Classic original First Marathon Run) starting on October 18. During that period, we try to make the longest possible QRP contacts around the world using any HF band in CW(5W max) and/or SSB(10W max) . If you are further interested, I can send you the rules translated into English.
Marc, W4MPS Thanks. That's great ! Peanut Power is always a lot of fun, with FB ops. I enjoy it very much. Thanks to all at NOGA QRP for all their efforts. 72
Mark, K7NEW Wow thanks! I look forward to defending next year. Thanks for the fun contest! 2016 Blog End |
