[Elecraft] Elecraft CW Net

[Kevin Rock]

To the entire Elecraft group:

The weekend is swift upon us and the crew at Elecraft are teasing us with their mystery product :)  I think it will 
be another fun toy to build.  So once I save up my shekels I will order one.  

But I digress.  This week the Elecraft CW Net (ECN) will settle in to its new day and try to match or exceed the 
number of check ins we achieved last week.  Unfortunately I have no net relays scheduled.  I would like some 
volunteers to ease my task a bit by calling for check ins from their part of North America (or Europe or Asia or 
the South Pacific ).  My goal (I can dream can't I?) is to have a relay station in the SW, the SE, the NE, and in 
the center of either Canada or the US.  I would then rotate through them having each call the net.  What do you 
say?  Are there any brave souls out there willing to take on the burden?  The pay is pretty good and so are the 
benefits :)  

This week I will also try to limit the chaos a bit by calling QNI by region.  I'll start with 0 and run through 9 but I 
know I will have a hard time with the 7 region (my backyard).  This is the major reason for the relay stations.  I 
cannot hear the folks in Northern California, Oregon, or Washington simply because they are too close.  But with 
the help of a few volunteers we can get folks from all over the continent. 

Another method to save my sparse sanity is the use of 'hail' signs.  We use them to advantage in my CW traffic 
net.  The procedure is this.  If your call sign is XX9ABC just send an A then I'll reply with A K and you then send 
your message thusly: DE XX9ABC GE KEVIN TU FER ECN QRU K  Not to put words in your mouth (or key) you're 
pretty much on your own after you complete your call sign :)  But if you just send the first letter after the region 
number in your call I will be able to work more stations.  Remember I have NO contest experience and just a little 
net experience.  I am a rank amateur compared to 90+ % of you.  If it helps me work you or someone else 
please try it.  If it doesn't work I toss it and try something else.  Any suggestions from you contesters used to 
working pileups would be most welcome.

I will run the net for as long as it takes and then let it go free.  That seemed to work pretty well last week.  The 
poor ZL was having a time with you folks.  I hear he had a number of chats with the group.  I worked on the 
garden for a while but when I got back in the house some of you were still at it.

Sunday at 6 PM PDT (0100 Monday for the UTC folks) I will run the Elecraft CW Net on 20 meters at 14050  kHz.
If that is  busy I'll move up until I find a spot for us to  use.

Please join us then.

73,
     Kevin.   KD5ONS   (Net control operator 5th class).