A New DX Station in Martinique #112 .

Just when I thought all the Caribbean stations are worked, another unexpected contact yesterday, with this island just North of St. Lucia. I've not had much time on the air lately so this was a welcome addition to the log book. The Island of Martinique  makes my 112th DX station worked with five watts or less of power with the indoor random wire.

I continue to be amazed at the power of Morse Code. I stand by the phrase "the most efficient mode of communication ever devised that is decipherable with only the human ear". A simple transmitter and receiver using Morse Code is worth it's weight in gold. My antenna a indoor random wire about 50 feet long in a spare upstairs room. I've worked thousands of stations and still have much fun even after 25 years of QRP.

The NAQCC April Challenge

I keep a clock in my shack to commemorate the last "maritime transmission" to "ships at sea" in America. This is an inexpensive clock and can easily be converted into an "Atomic Clock". The instructions and a video is here. My sincere thanks to John (W3JAR) for the link for this project.

I've become quite fond of the monthly challenges of the NAQCC club. This certificate is for completing the March "Sports" Challenge! I enjoy completing these every month.

The "challenge" is to make words out of the call signs of the stations you've worked during the month. You can find instructions and tutorials at this web site.

The game changes every month. I've found using DX stations is a much quicker solution to the puzzle. I've already completed this months challenge. The theme this month revolves around the last CW transmission of the "maritime" stations. This was a " night to remember ".

This is not a difficult game to complete. As a matter of fact, you can easily complete this game by using DX contacts. I'm amazed at the DX contacts possible with only 5 watts of power and a simple wire antenna. The trick is being able to send a receive CW at around 20 wpm.

DX can be misleading and intimidating to newcomers but with practice, you can recognize and return your call sign and signal report in a "quick exchange". Although not always, 99% of DX is "thank you and 599".

You can do this....and it's FUN ! 

Nice QSO with Belgium Station

How often do you have an actual "QSO" with a DX station? If you're like me, not very often; but Nico (ON7NDR) drew me out of the noise this afternoon. We exchanged the standard "QSO" information. While looking at each others BIO on the web, and making comments; we wished each other a Happy Easter and glad tidings.

I followed up with an e-mail and look forward to hearing back from him. I sent this link to him from my blog: It's a TRUE random wire!

The short "video" explains it much better than I could describe it to anyone. As they say; a picture is worth a thousand words. According to the meter on my "tuner" my output is about three watts. This was fun!

Ham radio is such a great thing for friendship and fellowship on a world class level. Isn't this a great hobby?