W2LJ QRP - When you care to send the very least!

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An early Christmas gift

Posted: 20 Dec 2020 08:53 AM PST
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I had sent a Tweet to Jeff Davis, KE9V that it was time to re-publish "A
QRP Christmas" which is a favorite of mine - no .... it would be fairer to
say it is THE favorite Amateur Radio Christmas story of mine.
Jeff surprised me by granting me permission to share it with all of you.
Perhaps you've read it before - it's so very worth reading again. And
perhaps there's a new bunch of QRPers who have never read this before. It
is presented here, as KE9V sent to me to share with you! Thank you, Jeff!



A QRP ChristmasJeff Davis, KE9V
"A foot of new snow and it's still falling, this is getting bad," Tom
muttered to no one in particular. Just then Stella walked in with a sad
look on her face and Tom knew right away.
"The kids aren't going to make it, are they?" he asked. "No," she
answered, "I just got off the phone with them and the roads are all closed."
Great! Two days before Christmas, and the world had come to a halt.
Tom gave his wife a hug and said, "Well Mother, we might as well get over
it, nothing much we can do now but wait this thing out." In the 50 plus
years since the couple bought the house they had weathered many winter
storms, but this would be the first Christmas without the kids and, now,
the grandchildren. Nature could be cruel, but at least they had plenty of
food and firewood, and there was ample gas for the generator in case the
power went off. "I think I'll go see if the repeater is still on the air,"
Tom said as he headed to his ham shack over the garage. Being a radio
amateur had its advantages, and emergency communication was one of them. He
fired up the VHF set, and--sure enough--the local repeater was alive and
busy. Several folks in the community needed assistance, and snowmobile
deliveries were being organized accompanied by hams to maintain
communication.
As with many things, people take communication systems for granted until
they're suddenly unavailable. Two years earlier, with the proliferation of
cellular telephone technology, Middletown decided it no longer needed
Amateur Radio to assist during emergencies. A few months later, the river
overflowed its banks during a massive rainstorm. Lightning wreaked havoc on
the power grid and even cellular telephones were overloaded or knocked out
altogether.
With one loud clap of thunder Amateur Radio was back in the disaster
communications business in Middletown. The Town Council went so far as to
give the Middletown Amateur Radio Club access to a county building to serve
as a communications headquarters and monthly meeting spot.
Stella walked up the stairs to the radio shack with a hot cup of coffee for
Tom. She figured he'd be spending quite a lot of time on the air during
this snow emergency. She was wrong. Tom wasn't all that fond of 2-meters,
really. He'd always been a CW op. In fact, for years he never even owned a
microphone for his HF gear. To him, ham radio was and would always be, CW.
His high school print shop teacher had convinced him to get his ham license
in 1939. A few years later, Uncle Sam took note of his radiotelegraphy
talents and made him a Navy radio operator aboard the USS Missouri. He
served from 1941 until the end of the War and even was present aboard the
Missouri for the formal Japanese surrender.
Not long after the War, he married his high school sweetheart, Stella, and
started what would be a 40-year career at the telephone company. They had
three children and still lived in the very house they'd bought brand new as
a young couple in 1947.
Tom was a tinkerer, and he'd built several transmitters and even a few
receivers. But he was a serious brasspounder and could handle 30 to 40 WPM
with ease. His station was always as clean as his signal, and any piece of
equipment he built was a work of art. It wasn't good enough just to work
and look good--it had to be perfect. Other members of the local radio club
poked fun because Tom had a habit of making sure that even the screw slots
on anything he built were aligned in the same direction.
He didn't buy his first commercially made gear until 1961--a Hallicrafters
SX-140 receiver with a matching HT-40 transmitter. That was the only
store-bought equipment in his shack until over a decade later, when his
best friend died suddenly. His friend's widow gave Tom all the equipment in
her husband's shack, including a complete Collins S-Line. That gear took a
special place in Tom's heart and shack, not so much because it was
the "ultimate station," but because it had belonged to his closest friend.
After retiring in 1986, Tom quit building equipment. He maintained several
skeds with on-air friends from around the world. Saturday nights were his
favorite, for it was then that he met with a large number of old Navy radio
ops on 7.030. He really enjoyed those rag chews! But, one-by-one, the gang
started to dwindle as more and more of his buddies became Silent Keys. It
depressed him so that when his main receiver quit working in 1993, he
didn't bother to fix it. K9NZQ was off the air for the first time since
World War II.
Stella was worried enough about her husband's depression that she told the
kids about the problem. They chipped in and bought him a brand new 2-meter
FM radio for his birthday thinking that would cheer him up. Tom listened to
the local repeater every day, but he rarely transmitted. It just wasn't the
same.
She had hoped that having all the kids and grandchildren at the house again
this Christmas would perk Tom up and chase away the lingering blues but now
the weather had ruined that plan.
"I think I'll go out and make sure the generator still starts," he said as
he passed through the kitchen. "The power lines are beginning to ice up."
Once he was out the back door, Stella took the opportunity to quickly and
carefully wrap her gift to him. One of his friends had suggested to her
that she buy Tom a kit for Christmas. Taking his suggestion, she ordered a
small QRP CW transceiver kit he'd recommended. She didn't know if he would
like it, but with this weather she was especially glad it had a arrived a
few days earlier. Like it or not, at least he would have something to open
on Christmas morning.
Day turned into evening and somehow the power stayed on. More snow was
falling outside. The TV was calling it some sort of record snowfall for
central Indiana. When Tom said he was going to bed and it was only 6:30 PM,
she decided it was time.
"Let's go ahead and open our presents now, and not wait two more days" she
said, handing him the gaily wrapped box. He didn't really want to open
presents, now but he didn't want to disappoint Stella, knowing that she was
still upset about the kids.
"All right, let me go get yours first," he agreed. In a few minutes they
were opening their presents. She seemed to really like the bread making
machine. He was more than a little surprised as he opened the little QRP
kit.
"There now," she allowed, "that will give you something to do for a few
days and it will keep you out of my kitchen." Tom knew he'd been underfoot
lately. "You're sending me to my room without pie?" he said with a smile.
"Go on with you. I'll bring pie up to you as soon as the coffee quits
brewing," she said as he headed back to the shack with the little box in
hand.
By the time she walked in the shack, pumpkin pie in one hand and hot coffee
in the other, Tom had unpacked the box, sorted the parts and was halfway
through the instructions. She was happy to see he at least looked
interested and left the room with her fingers crossed that this might cheer
him up.
He didn't leave the shack until nearly midnight. By then, he had half of
the components soldered to the main board, and he had wound several
coils. "If the power doesn't go out," he muttered, "I could have this thing
running by Christmas!"
The next morning he awoke at 7:30 AM, two hours later than usual. Stella
already had the bacon frying when he walked into the kitchen. A quick look
out the back window revealed yet another foot of fresh snow had fallen last
night. He was glad to see blue sky and sunshine and hoped that meant the
worst was over. After breakfast he was back in the shack, soldering pen in
hand.
Tom was genuinely impressed with the little kit. The instructions were
clear, and it looked to be of high-quality. He had already convinced
himself, though, that he would never make a contact on 40 meters with less
than 3 W. Nonetheless, he was happy to have something to keep his hands and
mind busy. And it was a good thing that he'd kept up that dipole so he
could see if this radio actually worked.
By 7 that evening, the kit was nearly finished. He was ready to apply power
and begin initial testing. Stella knew that her decision to buy the little
kit was a good one when he asked if she'd mind if he ate supper in the
shack. By 11 PM Christmas Eve, the kit was finished. He plugged in the
headphones, hooked up the antenna connection, and applied power.
The noise level jumped, and he knew things were working when he moved the
VFO ever so slightly and instantly heard a QSO in progress. "Now, that's a
good sign," he said to himself. He pulled off the headphones and headed
upstairs to tell Stella the good news. But she was fast asleep. It was
midnight. No point in waking her up now. He slipped back to the shack and
put the headphones back on.
73 ES MERRY XMAS OM DE W5WBL he heard as one QSO completed. Tom moved a
little higher in the band until he heard a strong station in QSO with a VE6
in Vancouver. He was more than a little impressed with the sensitivity of
the receiver. After listening to a few more QSOs he continued moving up the
band until suddenly, he heard a familiar call sign.
CQ CQ CQ de XE3HHH XE3HHH XE3HHH K. Tom almost couldn't believe it. Here
was his old friend Miguel in Mexico calling CQ. He listened as Miguel
called several more times with no reply. Thinking it silly to even try, Tom
grabbed an old straight key and plugged it in. It was the first time in
years that he had even touched a key. "This will never work" he thought as
he tapped out XE3HHH XE3HHH XE3HHH de K9NZQ K9NZQ HW CPI OM?
Tom's jaw dropped when almost instantly Miguel came back. K9NZQ de XE3HHH
FB OM I THOUGHT YOU DIED HI HI MERRY CHRISTMAS AMIGO. The two chatted for
nearly an hour until Miguel had to go.
After the final 73, Tom sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin. He
couldn't help but smile when he thought of just how much fun this day had
been. Building the little kit and actually working an old friend just
seemed to make his day complete. He would have bet half his retirement
pension that there was no way to work Miguel with less than 3 watts. He
knew some guys who worked QRP regularly, but he had always assumed that
actually making contacts was a pretty rough and risky business. At least he
never thought it would be that easy.
He was about to shut down the rig and go to bed when he heard a loud CQ
just off the frequency where he worked Miguel. It was KL7DD. Tom reached
for the key figuring he'd get in another quick QSO--or at least make the
attempt--then go to bed. KL7DD turned out to be Joe in Point Barrow,
Alaska. Joe also was ex-Navy, so the two hit it off right away. What
started off to be a "quick" contact turned into a two-hour QSO. Joe only
had trouble hearing Tom a couple of times. The little QRP rig was holding
its own and making a believer out of Tom in the process.
Four contacts later, Tom was exhausted. About the time he shut things down
and headed for bed, Stella walked in. "Merry Christmas!" she
exclaimed. "What time did you get up? I didn't hear you get out of bed?"
Tom wasn't sure how to tell her he had been up all night 'playing radio' so
he just replied, "early."
"Well, I've got breakfast ready," she said as she walked back down the
stairs. He was still thinking about the contacts he made last night when he
sat down at the kitchen table. "You know Mother," he said with a
smile, "this might have been one of the very best Christmas's we've had in
a long, long time. After breakfast, let's call the kids, but then I need to
be back in the shack by noon because I told a guy that I would meet him on
40 meters to help him check out his new antenna..."
No doubt about it. K9NZQ was radio active once again.A QRP Christmas by
Jeff Davis, KE9V
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72 de Larry W2LJQRP - When you care to send the very least!