NJ2X

250th Anniversary of the United States of America - QRZ Award Earned!

2026-01-05T19:09:00.006+00:00

Today, I earned the QRZ award that began on January 1, 2026, called the 250th Anniversary of the United States of America. I completed more than the required 250 US radio contacts on January 2, 2026; though, it took until 2026-01-05 18:48:37 to reach 250 confirmed contacts and earn the award. I am the 180th radio amateur to earn the award.

Flag of the United States of America

250th Anniversary of the United States of America

NJ2X was #178 among the first 180 people to earn the award

A big THANK YOU to QRZ for promoting amateur radio by sponsoring innovative and fun awards. I really enjoyed kicking off the New Year by celebrating the birth of our great nation with amateur radio. I am looking forward to helping other radio amateurs earn this award by answering their calls, logging and confirming the contacts. See you on the radio.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Reached 2200 US County Confirmed Contacts

2026-01-02T23:22:00.003+00:00

I was excited to see today that I hit a new county hunting milestone with having completed 2200 confirmed contacts. A big thank you to Ron (W7SHA) in Chautauqua County, KS for being my 2200th US county. This is a great way to start the new year (2026).

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

250th Anniversary of the United States of America - QRZ Award Earned!

250th Anniversary of the United States of America - Day 1 update

2026-01-02T20:53:00.003+00:00

QRZ.com has created a new award called, '250th Anniversary of the United States of America' that began on January 1, 2026. I was delighted to see it appear on the QRZ.com website and I decided to dive in to see how fast I could complete the award. I confirmed 100 entities on 1/2/2026 20:40 UTC.

I noticed this morning several stations that have started using '250' when calling. Fun!

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

2025 - A Ham Radio Year In Review

2026-01-01T18:22:00.009+00:00

2025 was a great year to be alive. It was also a great year for amateur radio with excellent sunspot activity and conditions. One of my favorite radio activities is radio fox hunting. I ran several fox hunts in 2025. I really enjoy hiding the transmitter and helping people new to radio fox hunting learn how to use simple techniques and equipment to find it. I love seeing their happy faces when they find it. So much fun!

Here are a few of my radio related statistics as of 12/31/2025. I find it satisfying to review statistics like these to see how I am progressing. The truest contest is not with others, but with your former self, as learning and growth quietly reshapes who you become.

LoTW

18,341 QSO records
12,434 QSL records
Award progress

DXCC Challenge Award = 880 / 1000 = 88%
WAS FT4 = 50 / 50 = 100% complete

QRZ.com

Leaderboard

Most Band-Countries Worked = 893
Most Countries Worked = 190
Most Confirmed QSOs = 13,354

Award progress

12 Days of QRZ (2025)

Completed 40m, 20m, 15m, 12m, 10m

Grid Squared Award (out of 32,400 possible in the world)

United States Counties Award - My ultimate goal is to work all 3,143 US Counties (located in the 50 States + DC). I am 70% there. It has become increasingly difficult to collect new counties. The hunt continues.

For 2026, I plan to continue working many more DX band-countries toward my goal to earn the DXCC Challenge Award and confirm contacts with at least 100 new US counties. QRZ has a new award called the '250th Anniversary of the United States of America' that I am looking forward to complete in celebration of the birthday of our great nation. I remember the wonderful 200th Anniversary in 1976 and I am delighted to see the 250th arrive. I am proud to be an American. I have never made a contact with an AF (Armed Forces) station. 2026 is going to be my year to do so. If you are an AF station, lets set up a scheduled contact. I would love to have you in the log on our 250th Anniversary.

My homebrew 80m Skywire antenna was destroyed in a big windstorm that took out a couple of redwoods back in 2023. I have a new replacement 160m Skywire antenna that I plan to hoist up into the trees in 2026. Looking forward to having access to 160m and making contacts. See you on the radio.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Completed all Maine Counties with NU1D in Somerset County, ME

2025-11-18T03:05:00.000+00:00

A big THANK YOU to Seth (NU1D) in Somerset County, Maine. Seth is an outstanding radio amateur and helped me with a 20m FT8 contact to complete contacts with all 16 Maine Counties. We tried 40m phone and could faintly hear each other though not well enough to make the contact. 20m opened up and we were able to make the contact easily on FT8.

Maine State Flag

NJ2X completed contacts with each of the 16 Maine Counties

This coast-to-coast contact brings my total number of confirmed Us County contacts on QRZ.com to 2,159 counties (69% of the total 3,143 US Counties).

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Connecting the RCForb Client to HRD

2025-11-10T23:26:00.005+00:00

I recently upgraded Ham Radio Deluxe to the new V6.9. I have been enjoying playing with the new and improved HRD. I thought a good test would be to configure HRD 6.9 with the Remote Hams RCForb client so that HRD can control remote stations. RCForb is a free Windows-based software that enables remote control of amateur radio stations via the RemoteHams.com platform. Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) is a comprehensive software suite for amateur radio operators, offering rig control, digital mode operation, logging, satellite tracking, and rotor control — all in one package.

HRD can be configured to remotely control stations that are on the RemoteHams.com platform. This is the ultimate way to play radio with remote stations and worth the effort to configure if you are a HRD user. Fortunately, the configuration process was fairly straightforward. I documented the steps in case it would be helpful or of interest to other radio amateurs.

RCForb Client in action

How to connect HRD 6.9 to work with the Remote Hams RCForb Client

0. Launch RCForb and connect to a remote station. Choose a station that will allow you to connect and at least listen. The make and model of the remote radio does not matter.

1. Configure RCForb Virtual K3. Set the COM port to a port that is not being used (e.g., COM99). This setting can be found under the Virtual Devices menu. RCForb uses the Virtual K3 setting for radio control purposes regardless of the make or model of the remote radio.

2. Configure RCForb Virtual HRD. Use the default CFG 7809. This setting can be found under the Virtual Devices menu.

3. Close RCForb and restart the application. This is necessary for the COM port setting to become visible to HRD.

4. Start HRD. If HRD is already running, close and restart it. This is necessary for HRD to recognize COM99.

5. Open HRD Rig Control.

6. Click New in HRD Rig Control.

7. Settings:

Company = Elecraft
Radio = K3
COM Port = COM99
Speed = 38400 (default)
Auto Start

HRD Digital Master = checked
HRD Logbook = checked

8. Click Connect. This will connect HRD to the remote RCForb station and enable control from within HRD. Viola!

9. Test the configuration by attempting to change the remote station tuning from within HRD Rig Control.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Upgrading HRD from v6.80.372 to v6.9.0.17086

2025-11-03T20:16:00.001+00:00

I was excited to read the recent announcements about the newly released enhanced Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) v6.9. I am particularly grateful to the HRD team for replacing the database since the legacy MS-Access database had been a source of occasional trouble and performance issues.

The folks at HRD made the upgrade super easy. The only challenge encountered was with Windows blocking HRD Wizard.

HRD Upgrade Steps

1. Download HRD software v6.9.0.17086 (27-Oct. 2025)

2. Run the downloaded HRD software

3. Run the HRD Setup Wizard

4. Read and accept the license agreement

5. Select the destination location

6. Prepare to Install - close the old version of HRD which was running

7. Complete the HRD Setup Wizard

8. Convert the old MS-Access based HRD logbook

9. Allow HRD Wizard process folder access after it was blocked by Windows protection blocked folder access.

10. Run the logbook migration

11. Finish the Migration Wizard

12. Run HRD and verify the logbook was converted

I am looking forward to diving into HRD and exploring the new features.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Digital QSL card from Carlos, EA1TE for a 3/7/2009 20m PSK31 contact.

2025-10-27T17:10:00.002+00:00

Thank you, Carlos, EA1TE, for the digital QSL card for our 3/7/2009 20m PSK31 contact.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Digital QSL card from Michael, VE7AT for a 11/2/2020 FT8 contact

2025-10-27T17:07:00.000+00:00

Thank you, Michael, VE7AT, for the digital QSL card for our 11/2/2020 20m FT8 contact.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Digital QSL card from John, VE7PEY for 4/1/2021 80m FT8 contact

2025-10-27T17:03:00.001+00:00

Thank you, John, VE7PEY, for the digital QSL card for our 4/1/2021 80m FT8 contact.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Digital QSL card from Dale, KJ7RGW 12/28/2021 80m FT8 contact

2025-10-27T16:59:00.001+00:00

Thank you, Dale, KJ7RGW, for the digital QSL card for our 80m FT8 contact.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Digital QSL Card from YV1GIY for a July 17, 2022 30m FT8 contact

2025-04-28T12:00:00.014+00:00

Thank you, Carlos (YV1GIY) for the digital QSL card for our July 17, 2022 30m FT8 contact.

YV1GIY Digital QSL Card

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Digital QSL Card from BV7RR for a May 22, 2022 20m FT8 contact

2025-04-28T01:42:00.001+00:00

Thank you Fingsen (BV7RR), for our 20m FT8 contact on May 22, 2022 and your digital QSL card.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Tuvalu (T2C) contacts confirmed on LoTW from October 2023

2024-04-04T16:31:00.004+00:00

I was delighted to see five of my contacts with Tuvalu (T2C) confirmed this morning on the Logbook of the World (LoTW). The contacts covered a distance of 8,011 km (4,978 miles). These five DX contacts were made in October of 2023. I now have Tuvalu confirmed on 10M, 15M, 17M, 20M, and 30M. These move me closer to earning the DXCC Challenge award by bringing my total to 860 confirmed contacts.

Flag of Tuvalu

Tuvalu (formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands, northeast of Vanuatu, southeast of Nauru, south of Kiribati, west of Tokelau, northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna, and north of Fiji.

Tuvalu is composed of three reef islands and six atolls. Tuvalu had a population of 10,645 in 2017, making it the second-least populous country in the world, behind Vatican City. Its total land area is 26 square kilometers (10 sq mi).

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Completed 12m ARRL DXCC Award

2024-02-13T15:00:00.000+00:00

A big THANK YOU to Bobby (VP8WA) in the Falkland Islands for being my 100th DXCC contact confirmed on LoTW on 12 meters.

Flag of the Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf with 3,662 inhabitants in 2021. At the time of this writing, a QRZ.com query returned a total of 225 call signs issued by the Falkland Islands. The number of active hams will be less than this figure.

The principal islands are about 300 mi (480 km) east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about 752 mi (1,210 km) from Cape Dubouzet at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, at a latitude of about 52°S. The archipelago, with an area of 4,700 sq mi (12,000 km2), comprises East Falkland, West Falkland, and 776 smaller islands. As a British overseas territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance, but the United Kingdom takes responsibility for defense and foreign affairs.

I am delighted to have earned the ARRL 12 meters DXCC award. It took many years to earn this award. All contacts were made with 100 watts or less and using simple wire antennas.

As I write this, I have now completed DXCC on 10 Meters, 12 Meters, 15 Meters, 17 Meters, 20 Meters, 30 Meters, and 40 Meters. At this moment, I will be working on achieving DXCC on just one more band.

6 Meters - No gain antenna
80 Meters - 48 qualifying contact confirmed on LoTW
160 Meters - No antenna

I am also pursuing the DXCC Challenge Award which requires confirming at least 1,000 DXCC band-points on any Amateur bands, 160 through 6 meters (except 60 meters). I presently have 850 contacts confirmed on LoTW toward the DXCC Challenge Award.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Digital QSL Card from KH2GM for a February 10, 2024 12m FT8 contact

2024-02-11T22:14:00.002+00:00

Thank you Jesus (KH2GM), for our 12m FT8 contact on February 2, 2024 and your digital QSL card. The photo is most impressive.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Digital QSL card from N4NQ February 10, 2024 12m FT8 contact

2024-02-11T00:26:00.007+00:00

Thank you, Sid (N4NQ), for the wonderful digital QSL card for our February 10, 2024 12m FT8 contact. I really love the Georgia Queen river boat in the photo. I look forward to our next contact further on down the log.

N4NQ Digital QSL Card

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Vermont QSO Party 2024

2024-02-03T07:59:00.003+00:00

It is time for the Vermont QSO Party 2024! Check out all the rules on Vermont QSO Party (ranv.org).

Event: 0000Z, Feb 3 to 2400Z, Feb 4, 2024

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Meet the students using radio waves to contact the ISS

2024-02-02T13:00:00.017+00:00

This is an excellent NBC's Today Show news program with Harry Smith reporting about students using amateur radio to contact the International Space Station.

http://tinyurl.com/5a2jzrt5

International Space Station

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Digital QSL Card from AA5SH - January 15, 2024 10m FT4 contact

2024-01-21T01:06:00.001+00:00

Thank you, Michael (AA5SH), for the wonderful QSL card for our January 15, 2024 10m FT4 contact. I look forward to our next contact further on down the log.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Digital QSL Card from W0PAS - January 14, 2024 FT4 12m contact

2024-01-20T02:25:00.001+00:00

Thank you, Paul (W0PAS), for the beautiful digital QSL card for our January 14, 2024 12m contact on FT4. I look forward to our next contact further on down the log.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

2100 US Counties Confirmed on QRZ.com

2024-01-14T05:39:00.009+00:00

Tonight (January 13, 2024), I completed and confirmed my 2100th unique US County contact with Shaun (KQ4HUU) located in Carlisle County, Kentucky. Thank you, Shaun, for Carlisle County and the new milestone on my journey to completing and confirming contacts with all 3,007 US Counties on QRZ.com.

My Q-rate for new county contacts has steadily and noticeably declined. Gone are the days where I could make new county contacts all day and night long. I am lucky if I can make a couple of new ones each week. This certainly makes the hunt more interesting.

Accelerating my Q-rate with new county contacts means doing something different than randomly listening and pouncing. At my present declining rate, it is apparent that I simply won't make contact with all US counties in my lifetime.

To increase the possibility of receiving help from hams operating in counties that I need, I signed up on The County Hunter Web. The site has a "Special Needs" page where hams can advertise the specific counties that they are chasing. The idea is that hams will read these pages and offer help when they are able. I decided to only add the states where I need a critical few rare-DX counties. I haven't received any offers for help yet for the few states and counties I added. It would be wonderful if I do.

I have tried directly contacting hams in counties that I need to inquire if they would be interested in setting up a sked. So far, this approach hasn't borne fruit. I have had no success in arranging skeds with this method in spite of many hours of research and sending emails. Nevertheless, the idea is sound and likely required. Eventually, I will need to arrange help to make contacts with some of the more rare-DX US counties (e.g., Greenlee County, AZ).

A variant I have tried is to join various repeaters in counties I need using Allstar Net or EchoLink and make a call to ask for help on HF. This approach actually has worked, and I was able to schedule and log HF contacts this way. Unfortunately, most of the time when I drop my call on a repeater in this way, I receive no response - silence. I have concluded that repeaters in rare-DX counties are rarely used. In general, I enjoy this approach since it involves radio and also for the random fun factor.

Another possibility is to travel (or near) the counties I need to log contacts that way. This is a rather expensive proposition in terms of time, money, and effort. However, it worth considering when incidentally travelling. The obvious mode and band choice in this scenario would be FM on UHF or VFH for portability and making local line-of-sight contacts.

I have accumulated several states where I only need one or two more county contacts to complete the state. If you happen to live in one these counties or nearby and would be willing to help me out, please send me an email to set up a sked with me. I would greatly appreciate the help.

Maine - Somerset County
Vermont - Grand Isle County
New Jersey - Hudson County
Maryland - Kent County, Worchester County
Arizona - Greenlee County
Virgin Islands - Saint John County

If you are an amateur radio County hunter, please leave a comment with what you have found to work well for you. It would be wonderful to learn from you.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Digital QSL Card from N0JL - January 13, 2024

2024-01-13T18:57:00.006+00:00

Thank you to John (N0JL) for sending a beautiful digital QSL card for our January 13, 2024 FT4 contact on 12m. I really love the QSL card photograph with the reflection of the bucolic scene in the mirror like surface of the pond. It looks so peaceful and serene. John, I look forward to our next contact further on down the log.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

2023 - My amateur radio year in review

2024-01-03T15:58:00.004+00:00

Each year, I like to take a look at my progress toward my amateur radio related goals. The New Year is a perfect time for reflection and evaluation. Here are a few statistics I collected related to my amateur radio operations for 2023 as of January 1, 2024. It was a very good year for radio thanks to the abundance of sunspots. Looking forward to even better conditions 2024 as the 11 year sunspot cycle peaks.

Logbook of the World

Total QSO records = 16,788 (3360 added in 2023)
Total QSL records = 11,141 (2,315 added in 2023)
DXCC unique countries = 177 (20 added in 2023)
DXCC Challenge progress = 827/1000 = 66% (171 added in 2023)
DXCC 80m = 46
DXCC 40m = 100 ☑
DXCC 30m = 107 ☑
DXCC 20m = 123 ☑
DXCC 17m = 117 ☑
DXCC 15m = 123 ☑
DXCC 12m = 87
DXCC 10m = 117 ☑
DXCC 6m = 5
WAS from Santa Cruz, County California

WAS 12m completed in 2023
WAS 12m digital completed in 2023
WAS band awards: 80m, 40m,30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 10m
WAS 6m = 22 states
WAS FT4 = 48 states

QRZ.com

Number of grid squares confirmed = 1216 (144 added in 2023)
Number of US Counties confirmed = 2098 (463 added in 2023)
Number of bands with confirmed continents award = 8 (0 added in 2023)
Number of bands with all 50 states confirmed = 8 (1 added in 2023)
Leaderboard:

Most Confirmed QSOs = #6,748 (11,816 QSOs)
Most Countries Worked = #10,170 (180 QSOs)
Most Band-Countries Worked = #7,492 (847 QSOs)

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

Completed 40m ARRL DXCC Award

2023-12-30T14:39:00.000+00:00

A big THANK YOU to Leong (XX9ET) in Macao for being my 100th DXCC contact confirmed on LoTW on 30 meters. Thank you also for being my first contact with Macao. I look forward to our next contact further on down the log.

Macao is a city and a special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. Macao is 60 km (37 mi) west of Hong Kong.

Flag of Macao

I am delighted to have earned the ARRL 40 meters DXCC award. It took many years to complete. All contacts were made with 100 watts or less and using simple wire antennas.

As I write this, I have now completed DXCC on six bands: 10 Meters, 15 Meters, 17 Meters, 20 Meters, 30 Meters, and 40 Meters. I am presently working on achieving DXCC on two remaining bands.

12 Meters - 85 qualifying contacts confirmed on LoTW
80 Meters - 46 qualifying contact confirmed on LoTW
160 Meters - No antenna

I am also pursuing the DXCC Challenge Award which requires confirming at least 1,000 DXCC band-points on any Amateur bands, 160 through 6 meters (except 60 meters). I presently have 825 contacts confirmed on LoTW toward the DXCC Challenge Award.

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

NJ2X

250th Anniversary of the United States of America - QRZ Award Earned!

250th Anniversary of the United States of America

Reached 2200 US County Confirmed Contacts

Related articles

250th Anniversary of the United States of America - QRZ Award Earned!

250th Anniversary of the United States of America - Day 1 update

2025 - A Ham Radio Year In Review

Completed all Maine Counties with NU1D in Somerset County, ME

Connecting the RCForb Client to HRD

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Digital QSL card from Carlos, EA1TE for a 3/7/2009 20m PSK31 contact.

Digital QSL card from Michael, VE7AT for a 11/2/2020 FT8 contact

Digital QSL card from John, VE7PEY for 4/1/2021 80m FT8 contact

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Digital QSL Card from YV1GIY for a July 17, 2022 30m FT8 contact

Digital QSL Card from BV7RR for a May 22, 2022 20m FT8 contact

Tuvalu (T2C) contacts confirmed on LoTW from October 2023

Completed 12m ARRL DXCC Award

Digital QSL Card from KH2GM for a February 10, 2024 12m FT8 contact

Digital QSL card from N4NQ February 10, 2024 12m FT8 contact

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Meet the students using radio waves to contact the ISS

Digital QSL Card from AA5SH - January 15, 2024 10m FT4 contact

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Digital QSL Card from N0JL - January 13, 2024

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