[Elecraft] Elecraft CW Net Announcement

[Kevin Rock]

Good Evening,
    After a week's hiatus I will be back to start the Elecraft CW Net and  
pass it around the continent.  We got our power back after a week without  
it.  My Trojan batteries were down to 12.1 volts after starting at 12.7  
volts.  It took two full days of charging for them to recover.  I was  
impressed with all they did for me.  Lighting, two radios, desktop  
computer with monitor, laptop computer for many hours of use, and the  
insurance adjuster's computer too.  The phone service came back a few days  
before we got power back.  It appears the problem was totally unrelated to  
the storm or the power outage.  Something had happened at their switching  
office which kicked me off line.
    Hot running water and telephone service are addictive!  Since I have a  
dial up Internet connection it takes quite a while for me to get my mail  
on a normal day.  Since I was not using this computer, which sits in a  
back room far from the heat source, I was using WebMail which added  
another level of indirection slowing access even further.  I am still  
wading through the 1500+ emails I received over the outage period.
    Thank you for all the good wishes during the darkness and cold.  Yes,  
it was frightening but with some help I am starting to cut the trees and  
stack the slash for later burning.  The wood will not be used for timber  
since the price the mills are offering is too low to make a profit.  I've  
been advised to sell firewood instead to make money.  Too bad, there is  
some prime timber in those trees.
    I have only been on HF for a day since all of my antennas were turned  
into their component parts.  While brushing out we did find some wires and  
insulators so I can salvage that and make another one.  I did get up a  
spare G5RV but have only used it once for MARS so I know it works NVIS.   
Now to see if it will get to the Mississippi or beyond.  One leg is only a  
short distance above my head.  But after five hours of struggle I decided  
that was good enough.
    I found there is quite a difference between Stren and Berkley Trilene.   
I was trying to use Trilene for the first time to get my antennas up using  
my normal technique of teardrop sinker zipped through the trees with a  
wrist rocket.  The Trilene did not feed well and snagged a lot in all  
sorts of trees.  After using about 400 yards in 20 yard segments I tossed  
the roll and went back to the Stren.  First time my sinker hit the roof of  
the house and I got a line back from there to a tree.  The antenna is  
nearly level but my property is at an angle so one leg is about sixty feet  
in the air while the other would injure someone over six feet!  Luckily I  
am more compact ;)
    Tomorrow evening we get to test both the aether and my new antenna.   
Now if I can only remember how to send CW!

   Please join us:

Monday 0000z (Sunday 4 PM PST) 14050 kHz
Monday 0300z (Sunday 7 PM PST)  7045 kHz

       Kevin.  KD5ONS