I use Google Reader to keep track off many of the websites and blogs that I’m interested in, especially the ham radio and QRP blogs. I’ve noticed that QRSS seems to be popping up quite a bit in the QRP zeitgeist lately. I suspect that Bill at SolderSmoke has been the catalyst for much of this. This post on the SolderSmoke blog appears to be the genesis of it all; many of the following posts have been QRSS related. Since this first post and all of the related discussion on the podcast itself, there’s been quite a bit of discussion out there on the Interwebs. I’ve also spotted blog posts from VK2ZAY and KF6KYI, as well as some threads on a few of the mailing lists that I subscribe to. It does seem that interest in QRSS (and beaconing in general) is on the upswing, and I wonder if our lousy propagation conditions have something to do with it (besides the attention from SolderSmoke)?

I have to admit that QRSS is one of those things that intrigues me, enough that I’ve purchased some 10.140 crystals, but you can put it on that huge pile of stuff in the corner that sounds cool but I haven’t had time to do yet. Perhaps when I get settled in the new QTH, my ham radio priorities will re-align a bit and beaconing will float up the stack a bit. I still have an experimental 10 meter beacon that I could put on the air with a bit more tinkering, and I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to get a QRPp QRSS beacon up and running. In the mean time, I’ll just be happy to get a regular ol’ QRP station on the air from my home!