W8MRC - The Ohio QSO Party (OhQP) is just 5 weeks away, and the excitement is already building. Stations from across Ohio are making their plans to be on the air for one of the premier state QSO parties. Small stations from Ohio can make hundreds of QSOs during the short 12 hour event. Get on and call “CQ Ohio QSO Party” and run the pileups! We hope you will join us to make this the best event yet – our goal is to get fixed operations on from every county this year. If you are planning on being on, please let everyone know by posting your county of operation on the “Planned Operations” website at http://ohqp.org/plannedOpsEntry.html For those who don’t know what the OhQP is all about, it’s a fun time for Ohio stations to be on the air and be the hunted station, or “DX”. People from around the world are seeking out Ohio stations in this event, which is a nice change from most operating events. The OhQP occurs on Saturday August 28, 2010 from local noon to local midnight. In the basic QSO exchange, Ohio stations send a consecutive serial number + county, and non-Ohioans (who can only work Ohio) send a consecutive serial number and state/province/DX. Suggested frequencies are: CW: 3545, 7045, 14,045, 21,045, 28,045 kHz; SSB 3825, 7200, 14,250, 21,300, and 28,450 kHz. Don’t be shy – try calling CQ in addition to searching and pouncing. Remember, the world is tuning the bands looking for Ohio stations – your CQ’s will be answered! Full details and an OhQP operating guide can be found on the official website at: www.ohqp.org/. This is a great event for a club activity or a training ground for new(er) hams. QSO rates are as high or higher than Field Day, and there’s virtually no QRM in this event. Round up the club and have some fun. If you are in the mood to enjoy the great Ohio countryside, try operating portable or mobile from a rare county. Remember, the ultimate goal is to just get on the air and have some fun! 73 and we hope to hear you on the air, Kenny K2KW Ohio QSO Party PR Coordinator kenny.k2kw@gmail.com P.S. If any Ohio amateur radio organization has an upcoming event, they can post it on the ARRL Ohio Section calendar, even if they are not a member of the ARRL. http://arrlohio.org/calendar/calendar.php (QSP from Scott N8SY, ARRL Assistant Section Manager)

DX World of Ham Radio - UPDATE: LINK BEIRUT – Lebanese judicial officials say authorities have released a German engineer detained on suspicion of spying for Israel. The man, who worked at a dairy factory in eastern Lebanon, was detained late Monday. He was suspected of involvement in passing on sensitive security information to Israel. The Lebanese officials said on Wednesday no arrest warrant [...]

NG3K-ADXO - Oct 10-20, 2010 -- Sint Maarten -- PJ7 -- QSL: unknown -- Source: N4AA (Jul 28, 2010) -- By DJ9ZB I8NHJ K6MM K4SV K6TD K9CT K9ZO N2WB NF4A K6KK W6OSP W8GEX; 160-10m; SSB CW RTTY; 4 stations QRV 24 hrs/day

N0TU - Talk about a good workout ...that trail up Blodgett Peak (9465') climbs approximately 2500' in a little over 2 miles. Got a late start 9:40AM from the trail head parking lot and didn't summit till almost noon! Weather was sunny and clear and no forecast of T-storms! Woohoo! Setup the antenna/radio and conditions were GREAT it sounded like CQ-WW Wow! ...lots of signals from 14058.5 to 68 ...absolutely amazing for a QRP 'test! I've never heard such a joyful noise!

N0TU - The goats and I went on a reconnaissance mission to check out Huron Peak for a possible 14er (14,000') for the Ham-14er this coming August 8th. When we will operate as NØB! ... It was a picture perfect day in the Colorado mountains and us goats had a super day on the peak! Very few climbers made it out that day maybe 12 or so? for more information on the Ham-14er: http://n0b-14er.blogspot.com/ http://www.14er.org/ Please join us for the fun! Here's some photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/qrp.wg0at...

N0TU - Recently I had the thrill of making contact with Wes Hayward W7ZOI! Who's Wes/W7ZOI you say? Together with another QRP giant, Doug DeMaw, W1FB, Wes was among many who was responsible for popularizing home made construction of simple radio equipment, which fostered experimentation among radio amateurs. Most of all he inspired me to get out doors with radio! By sharing his QRP adventures and stories on the web and in print. I was eager to follow his lead taking my rigs to the woods to experiment with antennas and little QRP cw rigs I built from his and Doug's designs. You could say he started me down the "trail" of 40 years of very rewarding QRP fun!

N0TU - The goats and I put Mt herman on the air for the first time for SOTA Summits On The Air program. Our original plans were to do an overnight but weather was factor. So we hiked up and down both days instead. Made over 35 fun contacts world wide and several summit to summit contacts and several Europeans QSOs. We did get chased around by spring snow flurries but had a fun time. For more information on SOTA:

N0TU - Our original plans were to hike up Mt Herman with the goats for one of the best QRP contests of the season "QRP to the field" QRPTTF. But Mother Nature had other plans. She dropped 20" of very wet-heavy snow on our us instead making it impossible to travel any of the backcountry roads near by. So we tossed the goats a some fresh hay and tossed another log in the wood stove and operated QRPTTF from home.

N0TU - Phil/KL8DX and Suann/KL8SU on their way back to Alaska from vacationing in the lower 48 stop by Colorado to visit Peanut & Rooster for a goat hike up Mt Herman. Phil snags some amazing DX while on top. The goats are up to their usual tricks and antics. Great day on the mountain! Fun time for all!

SolderSmoke News - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrDYEbRGEdsThis video really made me yearn for my shack and soldering iron (all my gear is still on the high seas). OM AK2B is doing amazing modular things in an apartment in NYC. Richard Fenynman would be proud! I was pleased to see the circuits and kits of so many FB radio amateurs (including KD1JV, W7ZOI, and KA7EXM) in this rig. Thanks to Jonathan-san, KC7FYS,

SolderSmoke News - Lulu just announced a big summer sale, good through August 1. This is a good chance to get "SolderSmoke -- The Book" in time for that late-summer beach trip. Just use the coupon code SANTA when checking out. (U.S. buyers may find it more advantageous to use the summer-long free shipping offer.)Find the book here:http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm

VK2TPM - I'm a news addict but the house is overrun with paper and it's time to go electronic. News Limited did a fine job, right at the iPad launch with The Australian for iPad, but it's not without a few glitches...The Sydney Morning Herald launched this week with an astonishingly bad tablet version of the paper - basically a PDF of the whole thing, weighing in at 30MB to download or more, hard to

KE9V - Cornbread Road Episode Five Lazy Days of Summer Hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, watermelon, swimming, fishing, ham radio – does it get any better than this? It does on Cornbread Road where everything has been carefully planned, right down to the the mosquitoes. Cornbread Road #5.mp3 Subscribe to the Podcast feed: http://ke9v.net/podcast.xml Cornbread Road is a different kind of ham radio podcast. It’s an audio experiment, an episodic mystery in thirteen parts being released between the Solstice and the Equinox in 2010. Don’t miss it!

QRPedia - FDA closes Johnson and Johnson plant   More troubles are being see by the drug company, Johnson and Johnson. The Food and Drug Administration has temporarily shut down a medicinal manufacturing plant in Lancaster, Penn. Until the plant can pass an inspection like the one they failed, they are going to remain closed. Johnson and Johnson has already suffered some high profile setbacks over the past a number of months, on the heels of a large recall of children's Motrin and Tylenol products.   read more

KB6NU - Two years ago—almost to the day—I wrote about making a min-solder pot to tin toroid leads. Well, now I finally have one. Sunday, at the museum, Jim, K8ELR, brought down all of the soldering irons he’d ever purchased to try them out in building the little QRP transceiver kit he just bought. The results of that may be the topic of another blog post, but one of the irons he had was a 25 W Weller pencil iron. “Aha,” I thought, “this would be perfect for the mini-solder pot.” I convinced Jim to let me take the iron home with me and convert it by noting that his kit had several toroids whose leads were going to need stripping and tinning. I  did that tonight. I carefully hacked off the end of the soldering iron tip and filed it down. Then, I carefully drilled a 5/64-in. hole about 3/16-in. deep. I then widened the hole to 3/16-in. The hole in the tip wasn’t exactly centered, but I didn’t break through the sidewall of the tip. I plugged in the iron, heated up the tip, and filled it with solder. I dipped a short piece of enameled wire, and a couple of minutes later, I had a perfectly tinned lead! It had worked like a charm. In about 15 minutes, I had eliminated one of the most odious tasks associated with kit building. This is going to be well worth the effort.

W2LJ - Tonight was my night in the barrel as Fox in the 20 Meter Summer Foxhunt. And in the 5 or so years that I have been a Fox, this had to be my worst performance, by far! 20 Meters was lousy for me tonight with some local QRN that was horrendous. I took some video, have a look: And this was one of the times when the bursts were coming at a relatively slower rate! There were times it sounded more like machine gun fire. I had to deal with this for about 80% of the time during the 90 minute time window. Look at how the S-meter moves into 20 dB over territory! I'm very lucky that I was able to hand out any pelts at all. What's even more frustrating is that I have no idea what was causing this. I have listened on 20 Meters a lot the past week or so; and never encountered this before. I am wondering if this has anything to do with the work they did on the utility pole last Sunday when that transformer blew after the thunderstorm. If you were a "hound" in the hunt and tried calling me and calling me to no avail, I apologize. Believe me, it was just as frustrating for me as it was for you. Probably more so. 72 de Larry W2LJ

Medical ARC - From Warren, KD4GUA, This Sunday we will continue the discussion on "Making health rationing ethical." Ian K3IK did a great job of narrating and he will be back on board this week. PS. "Aether" mailed July 27, you should receive it shortly.

K9ZW - Fun & amusing, the vast majority of website based surveys are openly acknowledged as unscientific and biased to the point of uselessness. They can be a lot of fun, and can have a great use in prompting the website visitor to think about topics and perhaps interactively reflect on subjects of mutual interest. The ARRL [...]

NQ3X - Courtesy of sarahbellem : 1.) Go to google and type in "You know you're from [your area] when..." 2.) Cut and paste the list 3.) Bold or italicize items that apply to you. -=-=begin paste=-=- 1. You think its hilarious that getting into New Jersey is free, but you have to PAY to get out. 2. You take pride in the fact that after crossing into PA (from NJ) there is a sign that says "Welcome to Pennsylvania, America Starts Here". 3. You thought everyone in the world had 2 or 3 different choices for ABC NBC CBS and FOX (this reception is getting fuzzy, there must be a storm in Philly, I'll just switch to the New York Channel). 4. You've never had to explain that you are really from Pennsylvania, not someplace in the middle east (Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth, Emmaus). 5. You think Industrial Parks are better uses of the land then Farms. 6. You actually can show people the dairy where your milk comes from. 7. You've never thought that Walmarts are "creeping in" from the South. 8. If it takes less than ten minutes to get to a mall but more than 10 minutes to park and get inside. 9. When Roadside America isn't a warm nostalgic idea but a place you've passed on I-78. 10. If you can go to a church bazaar every night all summer and not go to the same one twice (and not win at bingo either). 11. If you lived somewhere between Mario Andretti's place and Larry Holmes' place and yet never watched a Race or a Prize Fight. 12. If you have rooted for either side in a Lehigh - Lafayette game. 12a. If you own a piece of Lehigh-Lafayette memorabilia (a brick glued to a plaque, a cylindrical piece of white wood from a supposed goal post from a certain year, etc.). 13. If you prefer Yocco's over Pott's or vice versa. 14. If you think Quakertown is far away (25 minutes by car) but you think nothing of driving 15 minutes one way to pick up a friend and then backtrack another 25 to get your girlfriend and then another 10 to get your friend's girlfriend and then another 20 to go to the movies on a Friday night. 15. If you've ever been to a 'platz. 16. If you've ever said to yourself "Damn, I need two more tickets" while attending a platz. 17. If you or any of your relatives have ever "worked the beer tent". 18. You know when Rice's is open for business and plan accordingly. 19. If you know the real reason kids have off from school the Monday after Thanksgiving. 20. When you and your co-workers discuss the "game last weekend" on Monday morning, you're referring to high school football. 21. You think the PP&L Building and Martin's Tower are skyscrapers. 22. If you finish every sentence with "dontchano". 23. You can get pierogies in every restaurant. 24. You actually think ring baloney is good. 25. Ring baloney is an appetizer at most black tie events. 26. You think the Morning Call has a great sports section. 2

frrl.net - The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Create It What better a post than to sandwich more from Tom Peters between 2 postings; one on the demise of the middle class in America and the other on the demise of the traditional business model of print journalism (newspapers) Everyone is aware, or should be aware, of what is happening to traditional business models in the face of disruptive technology and innovation. From the Federal Trade Commission article posted recently: Journalism is moving through a significant transition in which business models are crumbling, innovative new forms of journalism are emerging, and consumer news habits are changing rapidly… Corporations, organizations, and individuals are necessarily in one of three states when it comes to innovation and change.  They are either: 1) running away.  2) standing still  3) embracing the change.  And maybe I will add a fourth state – 4) creating innovative ways at looking at the world, society, and technology that creates change and builds a new future.  Was amazon.com created by the booksellers.  No.  Was the personal computer created by a major player in the computer industry?  No.  What business is Google in?  Yours?  What, and who, is next? It is not “business as usual”.  For those out to, as Steve Jobs says, “Make a dent in the Universe” and for those who envision a future of unlimited possibilities (as opposed to running away), here is more inspiration from Tom Peters on embracing the chaos. They read Jim Collins and grok on “quiet, humble leaders.” I say “Give me the Bold, the Brash, the Brassy, the Egocentric     Dreamers who, like Steve Jobs, ‘Dent the Universe.’” They say they need a “vision” born of McKinsey. I say we need a “Grandiose Dream” born of a Passionate &     Intemperate Belief that the world can be a different, better     place. They say “no child left behind.” I say “education” is leaving ALL our children behind, as it is     totally mis-aligned to deal with tomorrow’s (this afternoon’s)     uncertain, ambiguous, creativity-driven economy. They say we need to “bring effectiveness to the supply chain.” I say we need an IS/IT/Best Sourcing revolution based on     nothing less than an Entirely Original Vision of what     organizations are and how they interact. They say “Globalization is a bumpy road.” I say India and China and Asia in general are within two     decades of running the show: Get ready or get trounced. They say “defense” and “consolidation” are musts for a global     game. I say encourage Offense, nurture a Generation (or 10) of     Entrepreneurs, cherish Creativity & Risk-taking from primary     school onwards … and don’t expect to be saved by a bunch     of bulky, retro behemoths commanded by a phalanx of Old     White Guys who think 30 minutes a day on the corporate     treadmill and 27 holes on the links are a fit defense against     Revolution. They say “If it can’t be precisely measured then it isnâ€