Thank you for looking me up here on QRZ.com-- If you want to read more about my earlier operating history, my website is here. If you are on Facebook, you can find me here. Here's a link on solar activity that I like using, plus another link that I also find useful.

On April 13-15, 2012 I will be operating with a few others to activate a Special EVent Station marking the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. We will be active 80-10m on CW ONLY, and will likely use SPLIT operation if the crowds get big. I hope to hear you on the air!

I have received some very nice SWL reports from time to time. If you are an SWL and want a QSL from me please email me directly at the address above and I can send you a card much sooner. Just remember to include your SWL callsign if you have one, and the usual info you'd put on your card.

I have activated East Chop Lighhouse for a few Lighthouse Society events. If you are using N1MM v.10 or newer, I've created a User-Defined-Contest file (I know, I know, ARLHS events are NOT contests.) that will format your N1MM logging window specifically for logging in ARLHS Lighthouse events. It includes serial number, ARLHS member number, and Lighthouse ID input fields; you can save it by right-clicking this link and saving the .UDC file (2k) in your "UserDefinedContests" folder inside the N1MM logger folder. If you have N1MM running, you'll have to restart it and then select "New Log in Database", and choose "LCL-2010" from the event list. If you are ambitious, you might even tweak the .udc file to suit your own prefernces or update it to a future ARLHS event. Have fun! Bottom line, N1MM is a darn good logging program, even if you aren't contesting. The user-defined contest file given above could be taken as a template to modify for your event, if N1MM doesn't already include it.

If you make a contact with me during a lighthouse activation, please bear in mind the guidlines for all ARLHS events require a serial number for the logbook. If you haven't made any other contacts during the event, then just say it's contact #1.

In April 2010 I activated East Chop Lighthouse during Lighhouse Spring Lites QSO party in memoriam of a friend and co-worker, Dwight Magowan. Dwight and I worked together at 2 different companies since 1982, and Dwight also once served in the Coast Guard; so it is fitting that this activation was in his memory.

On the weekend of Jan. 2-3, 2010, I activated the East Chop Lighthouse for the LCL operating event. It was very productive, landing a new one for some ARLHS members, and I made over 450 contacts.

One highlight was getting a call from Fiji, another was working Lebanon, thanks! I hope to activate East Chop lighthouse again, and to see you on the air during future Lighhouse events.

In 2008 I moved about 2 miles to a new QTH; I have a tower and tribander up, currently a Hygain TH-6 at 60 feet, and a homebrew 5-el 6M beam.

My shack is Multi-Multi capable with 3 operating positions. Rigs currently are: Yaesu FT-736R, two Kenwood TS-850SAT, Kenwood TS-430S, and a Collins 30L-1 amplifier. I use a Vibroplex Iambic Deluxe and Heil BM-10 and Proset headsets for the "Human Interfaces".

Thanks for answering my call if you were picking me out of the pile-ups!!!

If you want a QSL, I'm happy to reply/confirm --once contest deadlines have passed-- via EQSL, bureau, or direct.

Many folks have had trouble getting set up with LOTW (Logbook of the World). ARRL's instructions haven't always been very effective and using the system can seem especially daunting to a newcomer to computers. I am hopeful that ARRL will continue make improvements to their system.

As of December 2011, only 26% of ALL submissions BY EVERYONE ever made to LOTW have resulted in a confirmation. Of the twenty-three thousand plus entries I've submitted, less than 27% (no surprise there) matched up with a confirmation. Well, at least this is improving with time, but anything less than 50% is a sign that the system is still more complicated than necessary, or lacks the sort of features that will motivate new potential users to get involved. LOTW has been around since 2003, prior to the existence of FACEBOOK. By comparison, FB has saturated the online user world with over 800 million users, and even if YOU aren't using it, many of the people you know are. LOTW has not done as well. It can take weeks to complete the process of setting up your LOTW account if you are a NON-US station. It only takes a few minutes for ANYONE to create a Facebook account. If you aren't using LOTW yet the instructions may seem complex, so I wrote a basic "how-to" below.

There are some individual preferences regarding the use of passwords when getting started with LOTW, so pay careful attention to what you do regarding passwords; there will be more than one to remember.The setup instructions currently provided by LOTW have improved, but it might be easier to summarize how you get started with LOTW as follows:

• Download and install LOTW software, resulting in TQSL and TQSLcert on the desktop.

• Run TQSLcert to generate a TQ5 certificate to upload to ARRL as a request.

• Upload the TQ5, here, and wait for a postcard from ARRL to come back to your QTH via snail-mail if you are new to LOTW. If you are not a US station, you are also required to snail-mail copies of your License and one other type of personal ID to the ARRL.

• Verify/Authenticate your location/station address at the LOTW website once you get the postcard, where you then "request a certificate" (TQ6) file to be sent to you via email and wait for that to arrive.

• Once it arrives, load your TQ6 certificate file into TQSLcert, and then IMMEDIATELY EXPORT your validated certification as a .P12 file onto separate backup media(CD, Thumb Drive, etc.) by right-clicking the valid certificate icon and choosing SAVE for creating a portable, backup, or recovery installation of your LOTW software. (The initial setup instructions completely FAIL to mention this important backup/portability measure.)
  
  Don't repeat the whole installation process to set up LOTW on a second computer-- it will invalidate your original installation. Just install the TQSL programs on the desktop of the second/backup computer and import the .P12 file: In TQSLCert, Choose File-->Load Certificate File, and load the .P12 file.

• Run the TQSL program and define your station location(s). Then select log files to digitally sign (a password is required at this part) into .TQ8 files to upload to ARRL, and then VERIFY the uploads went correctly. In order to verify, you must log in with a web broswer and click the "Your Account" link, and click the "Result" link for your upload. There may be processing delays just after a major contest, so you might have to wait a few days to see the result of your upload.

If you have trouble with LOTW, try to hang in there; things will eventually get easier. The instructions are better now than they have been in earlier times.