[Lowfer] Who actually has a lowFER beacon " On The Air " ??

[Paul Daulton]

It should be noted that at least two maybe three of lowfers now on or 
in the past are not licensed hams. 

In April of this year I was honored to speak at Ozarkcon the annual qrp 
bash put on by 4sqrp at Branson , Mo. In my opening remarks I asked the 
group( about 150) how many had a copy of the ARRL handbook?
Everyone looked at each other and all raised thier hands. I said you 
are in good company, two of my friends made presentations at two 
seperate clubs in Little Rock recently. I asked them to poll the 
audience and find out how many had a ARRL handbook. The percentage was 
7 out of 24 for one club and 5 out of 26 for the other. I blame our 
leadership for this. Newcomers are being indoctrinated with the belief 
that learning theory is obsolete( like cw) and it is best to memorize 
q/a pool and get on as soon as possible. 

After my presentation( it was about how to put up a beacon on 
1750meters and how to calibrate ARGO to receive the weak signals) about 
20 guys came up to me and remarked what an impression my opening 
remarks made. They all told me of dropping out of local clubs because 
all the newhams were interested in was storm spotting and repeater ops. 
Same at Dayton several approached me with same comments. 

There is so much to do and so much to be learned it is a shame ham 
radio has been trivialized untill it is unappetising to those 
interested in technology. Qrp groups and the software defined radio 
groups are the last bastion of technology in our hobby. Part 15 and 
part 5 operations are the ultimate qrp!

My picture is on the cover of the summer issue of Qrp Quarterly with my 
demo at show and tell session at FDIM(four days in May) at Dayton. I 
printed up business cards with my beacon info and links to LWCA and 
Yahoogroups/15. I handed out  about 80 cards  and fielded questions 
with the help of Mike WE0H. This is a highly technical gathering of 
builders and experimenters. Some had never heard of part 5 and 15 ops, 
others wanted to know how to get involved. We need more publicity. 
write CQ and QST and ask for articles and if you are able write them. 

Off soap box for now. 
Paul k5wms

Quoting Bill Ashlock <ashlockw at hotmail.com>:
>
> "That makes a total of 7 (SEVEN). There are according to the ARRL 694,346
> licensed amateurs in the U.S."
>
> Ah, com'on Warren. I'd bet the total fun experienced by these seven 
> Lowfers is
> greater than the sum total of all 694,346 licensed amateurs. :)  :)  :)
>
> Should have been up here today. Most beautiful Fall day I've ever 
> seen. Visited
> a 50KW private power plant north of Sandwich, NH, that a guy is restoring. 
>
> Bill
>
> > Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2010 19:28:10 -0500
> > From: k2ors at verizon.net
> > To: lowfer at mailman.qth.net
> > Subject: Re: [Lowfer] Who actually has a lowFER beacon " On The Air " ??
> >
> > That makes a total of 7 (SEVEN). 
> >
> > There are according to the ARRL 694,346 licensed amateurs in the U.S. 
> > 7/694,346 = 0.001%
> > That does not count the Part 5 stations. 
> >
> > Still, gives you an idea of what a vanishingly small minority we 
> are talking
> about!!!!!!
> >
> >
> >
> > 73 Warren K2ORS
> >           WD2XGJ
> >           WD2XSH/23
> >           WE2XEB/2
> >           WE2XGR/1
> >
> >
> > Oct 2, 2010 04:32:10 PM, lowfer at mailman.qth.net wrote:
> >
> > ===========================================
> >
> >
> > In a message dated 10/2/2010 4:20:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> > k5wms at centurytel.net writes:
> >
> > Add WMS  at the watering hole. 185301.8khz
> > Correction to Paul's Frequency  :
> >
> >  OK I have  tried to compile a list of known Lowfers currently operating,
> > to be on
> > the lookout for, with frequencies, using some recent postings from Andy and
> >  others :
> >
> > SIW - 185.2993 KHz  QRSS60  24/7 K3SIW  Garry Near  Elgin, IL
> >           Watering Hole
> >
> > UWL - 185.302 KHz  QRSS30   24/7  Eric  Edmond,  OK
> >           Watering Hole
> >
> > WMS - 185.301.8 KHz QRSS30   24/7  K5WMS  Paul   Jacksonville, AR
> >           Watering  Hole
> >
> > WEB - 189.950 KHz  QRSS30   24/7  Bill    Rosenberg, TX
> >
> > TAG - 185.800 KHz   WOLF   24/7?   W1TAG  John  Holden, MA
> >
> > EAR - 188.830 KHz  QRSS-30    24/7    Saltford, ON
> >
> >
> > 73 - Todd WD4NGG
> >
> >
> >
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Paul Daulton K5WMS
beacon WMS 185.302 khz qrss30/slow 24/7
Jacksonville,Ar 72076
em34wu