Good Evening,
The weather has gotten warmer. After tomorrow I will have had 5 days
above 70 degrees. The forecast was for 80 degrees but that has been
revised downward to 76. It got all the way up to 75 today with a lot of
sun. Very warm now. However, on Monday the temperature goes down to the
new Oregon summer normal of 52. Lots more rain for what should normally
be the dry season. I did enjoy the day though and put this warm spell to
good use. I now have a clean truck :) Not sure how long it is going to
stay that way with the mud coming back but for today it is shiny.
Propagation on twenty meters this week was good at times and weaker at
others. Had to cut a few skeds short but got in at least 30 minutes each
time. I ran an experiment on Wednesday testing every set of headphones
and ear buds in the house. Instead of running the RF gain at maximum I
could turn it down on one pair of ear buds to a setting around 12
o'clock. Much nicer. I rarely, if ever, touch the AF gain control. It
is always set at max. A habit I picked up in the late '50s which has
served me well ever since. By riding the RF gain I can eliminate a lot of
the noise on the band. Then fiddling with NR and NB I can get a decent
signal out of what was hard to copy.
I had heard that the sunspot cycle was going up. What changed? I
think it was easier to set up a sked during the solar doldrums than it is
currently. Hmmm... Even though the weather is not showing it the flowers
around me tell me it is past mid summer. The Turk's cap lilies are just
now starting to bud at my elevation. The foxgloves have another six to
ten inches to bloom until they are done. When they are finished blooming
I better have a nice stack of wood because they presage cold weather.
Hopefully the rain will stop soon so I can safely get out with my chainsaw
and cut another six or seven cords. Using a chainsaw in the mud is not
good but I may have to do it or freeze this winter. Maybe I will get a
dry season.
If anyone is interested in acting as a relay station on either net
please email me. I will turn the net over to you for a few minutes so you
can call areas in my skip zone. It sure would prove helpful to those I
cannot reach directly.
Please join us tomorrow afternoon and evening.
1) Hail signs (first letter or two of the suffix of your call)
2) NCS help (as well as QSP/QNP <relay> help)
Sunday 2200z (Sunday 3 PM PDT) 14050 kHz
Monday 0000z (Sunday 5 PM PDT) 7045 kHz
Stay well,
Kevin. KD5ONS
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