Don’t judge the level of activity of our club by the (lack of) frequency of posts here. All sorts of stuff is going on, so we’re in planning mode at tonight’s meeting…
Annual Holiday Dinner Tuesday, November 19th
Our November club meeting is an opportunity to mix radio talk with dinner. And it’s coming right up! Due to venue availability we will depart from our normal “third Wednesday” this year — instead we’re going to have this meeting on Tuesday, November 19th.
Winter Field Day January 25-26
We’ve been enjoying this event for the past few years. And this year we’re lucky in that Winterfest doesn’t conflict this year! The date is January 25-26 and we’re discussing several ideas. We’re hoping for warmer weather than last year (!).
The club has been having lots of fun in the past several months. You’d not know that, judging by the lack of posts here on our web site! So here’s my take on things of late:
Meetings
Attendance at our meetings has been growing. This may be due in part to a “return to normal”, post-COVID. We have used Zoom to enable “attend from home,” but by and large we’ve had to bring more chairs to the center of the meeting room each month. And not just for long-time members; we’ve also been welcoming new members on a regular basis.
As a QRP club we’ve got a lot of CW operators, of all skill levels. It’s been fun to welcome guys who have just started learning CW! They’ve heard or witnessed that using Morse code is an effective and efficient way to communicate, especially using 5 watts of power (or less!). We’re not CW only of course; SSB and digital modes like FT8 are also great for QRPers. As we near the peak of this sunspot cycle we’re definitely reaping the benefits.
If you’re not a member and you’re in the St. Louis Metro area, please drop in at a meeting and say hello! Third Wednesdays (including tonight!).
Ten minutes before meeting start and we’d run out of chairs! Had to raid the stack in the back of the room to get a seat for everyone.
POTA
Several of us have caught the POTA (“Parks On The Air”) bug, and we’re all watching for an email from someone saying “Let’s do a group POTA on <date/time> at <park>”. We bring our portable rigs and easy-up antennas and get together for the fun, taking turns doing our activations while the rest of us talk radio etc. We have even been known to catch a meal together afterwards. It’s a great excuse to get out of the house and have fun playing radio.
Come to think of it, some of us made POTA contacts with Keith KC0PP who was activating a park in Georgia this morning. Two-way QRP using SSB with 59 signal reports. Ah, the joy of a high solar flux!
One of recent “group POTA” outings had us activating Katy Trail State Park at the Defiance trail head. Other favored group spots include Route 66, Babler, and Castlewood parks, Busch Wildlife Area, etc.
SOTA
There’s a few of us who have been doing SOTA (“Summits On The Air”) activations for the past few years. I was inspired to give it a try last year as Missouri celebrated its 10 year anniversary in the program. The “summits” I activated were rather modest — I never had to break out a machete, pick through brambles, or ford creeks. But a few were nice uphill hikes with spectacular views at the top.
Other intrepid members activated peaks which required a lot more fortitude. Inspiration for the beginner like me! And we sometimes coordinated our outings to trade the all-so-nifty P2P (“peak to peak”) exchanges. SOTA is another activity that all but requires QRP operation. Great fun!
Missouri QSO Party
SLQS members have a real love for this annual event. This year was no exception. We had a few mobile teams that planned and executed routes through our great state, giving out contacts from some of our more rare counties to folks across the US and around the world. Many of us were using the 1×1 special event calls, helping folks try to earn a certificate by spelling out “SHOW ME” and “MISSOURI” using the suffix letters of our calls.
Slack
Not a ham radio activity per se… but some of us have started using Slack to keep tabs on what’s going on. Calling out the latest DXpedition or passing spots. Announcing upcoming POTA/SOTA plans. Trading thoughts and ideas about antennas, rigs, 6 meter band openings… you name it.
Field Day 2024
Heh — you knew I couldn’t let it slip by. Field Day is right around the corner. Tonight’s meeting we’ll be doing some planning, you betcha. The weather should be spectacular! At least for the meeting tonight—who knows what it’ll be like next month(!). Remember that we’ll be meeting at the Field Day site tonight and for the next few warm-weather months. Bring a radio; bring something for show-and-tell; bring questions; bring a sack lunch and something to drink. See you at the park!
Preparations for another SLQS Winter Field Day are moving right along. As I look outside at the thermometer… oh, who are we kidding? As I look at the weather app on my phone (grin) I see it’s a bracing 15º, with “Real Feel” of 1º. All I can say is that I hope the weather is warmer two weeks from today!
When does this happen? Where will we be?
Winter Field Day is a 24-hour event happening this year from 1pm Saturday January 27 to 1pm Sunday January 28. We will only be operating on Saturday.
First of all, we’ll be working to stay warm! The shelter has a fireplace and we’ll be making good use of it.
But it’s all about playing radio! We’ll have three operating positions set up, and we’ll be contacting other WFD participants across North America and around the world.
We will be using one of the special 1×1 call signs for this event. Listen for N0A — that will be one of us!
Visitors welcome!
We’re happy to have visitors, so feel free to stop by.
Come one, come all, to SLQS’ annual “Tailgate Meeting” on Wednesday, September 20. There’s no charge and it’s open to anyone. Bring that radio “stuff” that’s looking for a new home; also be sure to slip a few extra bucks in the wallet before you leave home. You never know what you’ll find!
Aside from the browsing of other hams’ junk treasures, there will be plenty of time to talk radio, and to play radio. There’s at least one picnic table that becomes a “micro Field day” site for the evening. Got a portable rig or antenna you care to show? Bring it and let’s get it on the air!
There will be grilled bratwurst and chips available for a nominal fee while supply lasts (and they go fast!). Please bring your own beverages.
If you’re curious about our hobby… if you are interested in learning more about electronics, learning how to build and solder kits, discovering how we can have so much fun using low power and (gasp!) Morse code… stop by and introduce yourself.
We will meet once again in Creve Coeur Lake Park, in a parking lot that is perfect for this event. Here’s a pair of URLs, both of which will take you to a Google Maps page pointing to the meeting location:
Two things you can count on when Field Day rolls around: rain (usually) and heat (almost always).
This year is no different. We hit 96º degrees or so, and the humidity gave us a few degree boost, with the “Feels Like” temperature reaching 99º. Deprived of hitting triple digits. Grr. Felt like 100 — so there!
We have finished a delicious FD dinner: the traditional SLQS meal of pork steaks, cole slaw and potato salad. Big plus: KK9U’s XYL baked an awesome spread of desserts: cookies of several types. But my favorite: little Rice Krispie treats shaped and decorated to look like HTs. Awesome!
Okay. This is cute. A little HT (“walkie-talkie” in hamspeak) for dessert!
This year our setup went more smoothly than usual, and we are on the air! Working on 40, 20, and 15 meter CW. And we’ve got the digital station running FT8 on 10m
The club call for Field Day is N0A. Hope to work you this weekend!
Military mast plus custom N0SA gazebo mount goes up to hold our 20m dipole plus a long wire
Several members of the St. Louis QRP Society dusted off their radios and put MO on the air for the Missouri QSO Party, April 1-2! Folks went Field Day style, operated from parks, tents or operated from home. SLQS members posted some competitive finishes on 3830 Scores, and every score counts!
Tony KB9LLD (K0U) and John AC9XX (N0U) roughing it for breakfast at Arrow Rock State Historic Site.
As of this writing, it looks like SLQS may have won the club competition, and there are almost 300 logs submitted from all over the world. SLQS members operated 1×1 calls (K0U, N0O, W0C, W0H and W0O) to help folks earn the spelling bee certificates. (MISSOURI and SHOW ME)
Activity map of Sean KK9U’s (W0O) operation from Lake of the Ozarks State Park. Check out the Peanut Whistle for details of how he did, and links to this useful website he used!
Two other state QSO parties ran the weekend of 1-2 April, and from the comments among the contesting types, it’s pretty clear that our QSO party was the most popular, due in part to the many 1×1 callsign operators, and folks going to rare counties.
Thanks to all SLQS members who participated, whether you make 1 contact or 1,000! Tom W0MFQ, Fred N9BSO, John AA0VE, Jeff N0MII, Ron KO0Z, Mike N0SO, Dave W0CDX/W0C, Sean KK9U/W0O, Derek WB0TUA/W0H and Tony KB9LLD/K0U. It’s great fun working folks you actually know in a contest.
To find out who did what, where, and most importantly how, see the April Peanut Whistle!
Briefly, Winter Field Day 2023 will go down in club history as a winner! The weather was unseasonably nice — we almost reached 60º! Jim KKØU warned us that we might need to break out the sunscreen at one point 🙂 It was windy and later in the day the temps began a steady down-slide… but overall, we caught a nice break.
The fire in the Cochran Shelter fireplace helped too!
Bands were not quite as hot as hoped, but we did okay. It was a casual affair with lots of participation, both members as well as guests. We had a total of thirteen SLQS members and four guests. Plenty of activity on 10/15/20/40 meters and we managed to stay active most all of the time we were there.
I’m pretty sure I heard the phrase “annual event” more than once yesterday… here’s to next year’s WFD!
I had the pleasure of giving a presentation about QRP operation at Winterfest 2020. After my talk, I was asked if I could share my slides. I’m happy to do so. The URL links are all active, which will help you find the resources, companies, and clubs that I mentioned in my talk.
One thing I want to be clear about: I am sympathetic to strong opinions on different operating modes. I have my preferences, and so do others. Ham Radio is a big tent and there’s room for all. I had nice things to say about SSB QRP as well as FT8.
That said, I did (and do) encourage anyone interested in QRP operation to consider learning CW. Indeed, there seem to be a good number of new hams attracted to the hobby precisely because of the attraction of learning CW.
So take what you see in my slides with a grain of salt. If you find yourself getting a little agitated… you probably wouldn’t feel that way if you’d have heard my talk.
(Unless you’re a Cub fan. Then the above does not apply.)
The next meeting will be the SLQS Annual Anniversary Dinner Meeting on Tuesday 19 November at Mattingly's Sports Bar and Grill. See additional information under "Meeting Info" tab.
