follow that qar!

For at least two decades, most radio amateurs getting involved with satellite communications have started on the "easy sats," FM birds that simplify hams' first forays into space. During this time, four satellites produced by AMSAT North America have been wildly popular. Two of them, AO-51 (2004-2011) and AO-85 (2015-2020), are now defunct. The others, AO-91 (2017- ) and AO-92 (2018- ), are limping toward their demise. While a few other FM satellites remain operational, and FM repeater operations are sometimes scheduled from the International Space Station, AMSAT-NA recently acknowledged it should have a role in repopulating the easy-sat stage.   AO-51, launched in 2004, was operational for more than 7 years. Photo: VE4NSA. In its 2021-2035 Strategic Plan , AMSAT committed to developing, deploying, and supporting a series of cubesats to operate in low Earth orbit (LEO). And in the July/August Apogee View , President Robert Bankston, KE4AL, prioritized options for meet...

In my continuing quest to spend time hiking and operating rather than driving on my Summits on the Air excursions I chose Province Mountain, less than an hour's travel from home and an easy, quick climb to a partial view. I also like clarity about permission and certainty about my route up. I found W1/AM-409 met both criteria. On the way down, I apparently forked right instead of left and came back out to the road at a spot marked, for now, by a downed birch. It's a little steeper this way than the segment I went up. But on the way up, I didn't see that opening and instead continued to this clear and courteous sign.   The trail starts in East Wakefield, New Hampshire, but on the way up it crosses into West Newfield, Maine. There's a granite post beside the trail to mark the spot. Was it really put here in 1898? If so, it was probably in a big field back then. Just after the marker, there's a nice stretch of hemlocks. Blackburnian warblers were singing here. ...

The New England QSO Party has been running since 2002. I haven’t missed one yet. Nine times I've taken 1st Place Maine Single Operator QRP. In 9 other years, I managed just 1st York County QRP (usually the only QRPer in the county). For four parties I was a pooper, making too few contacts to qualify for a certificate.  I finished 2nd QRP New England in 2012 and 2021, 3rd in 2016, and 5th in both 2002 and 2020.  My top scores have been 18,283 in 2021 and 11,120 in 2010, and my average score through 20 competitions was 3,618. 2021 A New Year's Radio Resolution challenged me to set a personal best for this contest in 2021. The weekend arrived before I got to do any antenna upgrades or additions and conditions on Friday didn't seem too hot. With a lot to do IRL I was tempted to sneak out of my commitment, but by the time I put in a couple of hours on Saturday I was confident I could reach my goal. I ended up claiming 198 contacts (3 of them my first SSB QSOs in 20 years of NE...

The American Birding Association's selection of the ʻiʻiwi as its 2018 Bird of the Year poses a typographical challenge: What to do about the ʻokina? That "single quote" at its start, and right between the i's, is one of two Hawaiian diacritical marks . It denotes a glottal stop, a quick throat-catch like that in uh-oh, so ʻiʻiwi is pronounced ee-EEvee . The ʻokina appears once in the main heading of the Bird of the Year page, but is omitted throughout Nate Swick's explanation of why the honeycreeper was chosen. This inconsistency is avoidable and the omission is undesirable. The ʻokina is not optional punctuation but a purposeful letter. The ABA isn't awkward alone. The Birds of North America account at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology spells ʻiʻiwi three ways (unique treatments in heading and citation, main text, and image caption). The American Bird Conservancy gives this bird two marks but resorts to the straight quote (prime) rather than employing ...

I kept my #ebird365 streak alive on Sunday morning by committing an hour to window watching. I gave most of my attention to the windows facing the feeders, alternating between the kitchen and the dining room to get good angles at all six feeders. As usual, the birds came in waves. Cardinals peaked at six, house sparrows at eight. Juncos, trees, white-throats, and chickadees were in and out in low numbers. Finches took stations when they saw openings, then stayed put. Jays roved at will, usually causing a stir wherever they went. A composed dove sat still, blending right into the dried grass where snow had receded. On occasion, I went to the far end of the house, where a second-floor glass slider opens to a view of a broad back yard. My scans for movement in the bare branches of our looming maple revealed a downy, but not much more. By opening the door and poking my head into the cold, birding by ear, I added more jays, cardinals, and a crow. On my last foray to the loft, I stepped...

My first cup of tea came at the end of a night's work when, vague memory tells me, the cool New England air, the convenience of Dunkin Donuts, and an experimental mood led me to order a cup. I imagined it would be unpleasant, so I assented to sugar. The girl scrunched up her eyebrow when I asked for three. That hot syrup hit close enough to the mark that I brought the drink, with rapidly lessened sweetening, into my beverage routine. At the supermarket, I managed to skip past Lipton, Tetley, Nestea, and Red Rose, instead going for Bigelow then Twinings on a friend's recommendation. Not long after, out west, I found Stash at the grocery store and discovered Market Spice 's loose-leaf array. From this point, I sought tea shops for stocking up and had pretty good luck overall, but a move back east into a semirural area meant mail order would become the new order. SpecialTeas' style, selection, and price made me a regular. I supplemented my SpecialTeas favorites, fo...