K1YPP, checking in.

[K1YPP]

Thrilled to join a new QRP group. We may not use much power, but we are powerful!

I was born and raised in Connecticut, went off to my military duty, and then lived in New Hampshire for close to thirty years. During most of my 50+ amateur years I've been a QRP advocate. Over that time there have been numerous homebrew rigs, along with an HW-7, HW-9 and Steve Weber's, KD1JV, ATS-3A. Many of the homebrewed rigs were Doug DeMaw designs. He was my hero.

In 2007, I set off on the Appalachian Trail with a homebrewed rig and got 600 miles (1000 km) into the hike, when I found I needed a six-artery heart bypass operation. I headed back to the home QTH in Sarasota, Florida, spent 300 days recovering, and then got back on the trail and finished all 2,176 miles. I managed to get on the air from all fourteen states and had a ball. The ATS-3A was flawless, and provided me hours of fantastic contacts, thanks to all you QRP ops. I wrote a book about the experience, Three Hundred Zeroes: Lessons of the Heart on the Appalachian Trail, and in it, I gave the public some idea of what it is like to be a ham and carry a small radio backpacking. I also commented that some of you folks have “Superhuman,” ears!

I enjoy writing about our avocation and have had a number of articles published in most of the leading and not so famous, journals of our hobby.

Recently, during the summer of 2013, Jane, KA1FUN, my XYL and I, traipsed around Europe, and once again the ATS-3A was called to duty. It was inspiring to work so many stations while in Europe, and even made a few stateside contacts. I'm a ragchewer, so I didn't work too many stations, and opted for long contacts instead.

My father, K1ZEO, was my radio inspiration. He was a radio operator with the 82nd Airborne Division in WW II and always loved radio. I grew up with it. He is now a silent key, and my daughter has his call. I'm currently working on a book about his adventures and hope to publish that in the summer of 2014, at the latest 2015.

My favorite QRP watering holes are 40 and 20 meters, mostly CW, with occasional PSK31 activity. See you there!

Dennis, K1YPP
Sarasota, Florida
Author of: Three Hundred Zeroes http://tinyurl.com/2f74mdt
PS: If links to the book are not allowed, let me know, and I'll gladly remove it.

[G0BVZ]

Thrilled to join a new QRP group. We may not use much power, but we are powerful!

I was born and raised in Connecticut, went off to my military duty, and then lived in New Hampshire for close to thirty years. During most of my 50+ amateur years I've been a QRP advocate. Over that time there have been numerous homebrew rigs, along with an HW-7, HW-9 and Steve Weber's, KD1JV, ATS-3A. Many of the homebrewed rigs were Doug DeMaw designs. He was my hero.

In 2007, I set off on the Appalachian Trail with a homebrewed rig .......

Hi Dennis,
Welcome aboard, you're going to love it here.  I'm a fairly new boy here myself and I'm having a ball. There are some things to get used to, the main one being the nautical theme.  FYI, I'm the ship's cat!!  The other thing to get used to is what a nice bunch this is: this is a great group, growing rapidly: the crew comes from all over the world, bound together by a love of QRP. There's usually plenty to read, including my latest failures, disasters and monumental cock-ups.....

Doug DeMaw was one of my heroes too: he was one of the QRP giants in a pantheon which includes GM3OXX, G3RJV and G3ROO. Without the talent and commitment of guys of their calibre, I doubt QRP would be entering the mainstream now....

So, while you're getting your bearings, why don't you take a turn around the upper decks and see what there is?

Cheers,

Vic G0BVZ, GQRP #3078, QRP-ARCI #6211, Ship's Cat\ nipping aloft to keel-haul the spinnaker

[IZ5ZCO]

Welcome aboard, Dennis!

The links to your books are allowed because books are culture and they are part of you.
At Mike's Tavern you can also tell us about your works...
Mike, please, prepare some treat for our new member. 

[VK6MB]

Yes, Dennis, welcome aboard.
Come on down to the Tavern for some Alligator burgers and Buds

73 Mike VK6MB

[K1YPP]

Wow, the waters here certainly are welcoming. I feel like Marlon Brando, as the "Godfather," with a cat purring on my lap. (that, in itself, is a funny story, check it out sometime, the cat wasn't in the script.)

I'll try to be a good citizen (or sailer?). Unfortunately, I'm way behind on my two current books and need to get them done before I can kick back and spend more time on forums. For me, getting on the air is the priority, and I plead guilty to not getting in enough "air time," recently. The last time I was on was Straight Key Night (SKN) and my sending sounded like I was using a hiking boot to kill an insect, rather than good sending.

Nicola, IZ5ZCO, maybe you saw the interview Christian Diemoz, IK1CKN did with me in "Radio Rivista," back in October of 2012? I promised then that I would have the book about walking the Camino de Santiago out "soon," and that hasn't happened yet. It has plenty of ham radio in it as well. One of my goals in writing these stories it to introduce the general public to our amazing hobby. So many just don't know about what ham radio has to offer. I don't bore them with too much radio story, but just enough to get them interested. You'd be amazed at how much fan mail I get from folks writing to tell me they got a ham license because of the book. I can't tell you how good that feels.

I've also had a two hams write me to tell me that, because of my book, they checked on symptoms they were having and had a life-saving surgery on their heart. They were having the same symptoms I was having in the book, and they could have died any second, as I could have. What a thrill that is. One of them had purchased a copy of the book at Dayton, and was in his hotel room on Saturday night and read chapter six, where I have my heart problems, and he thought to himself, "Gee, that is exactly how I'm feeling." He checked into the emergency room the next morning and survived.

Anyway, I don't want to bore you all with this stuff. I need to get back to writing. Oh, Mike, VK6MB, I haven't yet worked a VK on QRP; I'll be watching for you! I have plenty of VK contacts, but not QRP.

72' all

Dennis, K1YPP

[VE2TH]

Hello Dennis,

A warm welcome, you will sure love it, because it is completly different of other places, it is really an exotic place with lot of surprises day after day.

FYI.. I'm the Lighthjouse Keeper, so I checked almost everything to help others 

Hope to meet you on the air someday, as I frequent QRP frequencies everyday.

72 Michel/back to my duties, to check the sea...

[IZ5ZCO]

Nicola, IZ5ZCO, maybe you saw the interview Christian Diemoz, IK1CKN did with me in "Radio Rivista," back in October of 2012? I promised then that I would have the book about walking the Camino de Santiago out "soon," and that hasn't happened yet. It has plenty of ham radio in it as well. One of my goals in writing these stories it to introduce the general public to our amazing hobby. So many just don't know about what ham radio has to offer. I don't bore them with too much radio story, but just enough to get them interested. You'd be amazed at how much fan mail I get from folks writing to tell me they got a ham license because of the book. I can't tell you how good that feels.

Congrats Dennis! I live in a small city (Massa) ​​crossed by the Via Francigena.
You can see the portal of our ancient church (visited by many pilgrims) at Metropolitan Museum of New York:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/62.189

[K1YPP]

Nicola:

I have to say that when I was walking the Camino Frances through Spain, I think I heard more Italian QRP stations than any other country. It may have just been propagation, I don't know.

There is a small chance that I will be back in Europe this summer, in Belgium and Normandy, and there is a chance I may try walking around in Northern Italy for a while. I'll be sure to bring the QRP radio with me, if I go.

72'

Dennis, K1YPP