Good Evening,
Twenty meters was fantastic this week. Forty meters has been good
too. On twenty I've been turning down the gain and pushing the headphones
very far forward. This makes hearing the sidetone more difficult but it
does offer some protection from the very loud signals. The ionosphere has
been getting a steady dose of solar radiation lately from the coronal
holes. We are supposed to get a strong solar wind stream on the 22nd. I
think I will tune up on 15 or even 10 meters after it perks up the
conditions to see what I can hear.
The winds have died down and we've not had any rain in two days. In
fact I saw the sun which is not normal for this time of year. Since it
was dry I have gotten in a few good hikes. Today I was wondering about a
white cloud on the
horizon. To it's right was the normal, albeit rare, view of Mt. Adams.
It finally dawned on me: I was seeing the truncated cone of Mt. St.
Helens! I had never seen it from the property before. Then I started
scanning around the 'cloud' and realized the latest clearcut has provided
a gap so I can see the top thousand feet or so of the mountain. Before
the top blew off it would have been an easy sight from here. Must have
been something to watch the sky fill with ash and the friction created
lightning within it.
I took another inventory of trees by walking the southern edge of the
property. We lost about a dozen fir trees. The cedar, alder, and hemlock
can withstand windstorms but the Douglas fir cannot. Only the first ten
yards of trees were effected, the rest are fine. I am glad the trees
closest to the house are the most mature and were able to withstand the
blow. I'd have lost my antennas and maybe part of the house if they had
failed under the wind pressure. Over the rest of the property the broken,
hanging branches and the leaning trees were brought down. Now I have
plenty of firewood for the coming years.
Let's hope for the wonderful propagation conditions I experienced
throughout the week to prevail for tomorrow evening's nets. I hope to
hear you. If you can hear someone I cannot please don't hesitate to relay
that station in. It makes the nets more fun when the effort is spread
among many operators.
Please join us:
Monday 0000z (Sunday 4 PM PST) 14050 kHz
Monday 0300z (Sunday 7 PM PST) 7045 kHz
Kevin. KD5ONS
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