[Elecraft] (very late) Elecraft CW Net Report for November 13th, 2006

[Kevin Rock]

Hi Folks,
    I finally got power again a few minutes ago.  The underground line had  
been lifted out of the ground and broken by a fir tree falling over in the  
wind.  This also cut off the 911 comms, the forestry comm link, and the  
aviation beacon at the top of the mountain.  The generator tried to kick  
in and feed all those radios but the fuel line had been broken.  So the  
911 folks cut their way up the mountain and fixed it yesterday.  I only  
lost six trees as far as I could see.  None of them are bigger than twenty  
inches DBH so just barely marketable.
    Sam and I stayed warm but it did get rather boring.  I am caught up on  
all of my reading now ;)  I made a few skeds with the Trojan T105s I've  
got for backup.  I also got to listen to the local radio stations talking  
about our wind storm.  About 80% of the electric cooperative's served area  
was out of power.  We (the folks on our mountain) were almost the first to  
be effected but since there are so few of us up here we were put on the  
tail end of the repair list.  But, I had been warned so I had food, water,  
fuel for the lights and camp stove, plenty of wood in the house, and a lot  
of reading material.
    Twenty meters was wide open today.  Before my sked I was hearing a lot  
of DX and wondered if I would find a spot to work my friend.  However  
twenty meters was not as good on Sunday.  Only seven stations checked in  
with me.  There was a lot of QRM so I must not have been getting out very  
well.  I still had power from the mains at that point so I do not know  
what was going on.  I did have to retune my antenna every few minutes due  
to the rain, snow, and wind.  By the second net on forty meters I was  
running at 50 watts from my batteries.  Only three check ins and there was  
quite a bit of QRM there too.  It is interesting logging stations by  
candle light!  Good thing the front panel is so easy to memorize because I  
did not have enough light to see everything in the area.

The lists =>

On 14050 kHz at 0000z:
W6BK - Dave - CA - K2 - 4910
AH6RE - Curt - HI - KX1 - 464
AA7EQ - Bob - AR - K2 - 922
VE3XL - Ric - ON - Ten Tec
KL7CW - Rick - AK - KX1 - 798    QNI #60!!!
K6DGW - Fred - CA - K2 - 4398
WL7BU ?????    -- very faint could not complete the exchange.

On 7045 kHz at 0300z:
KJ7BS - Mark - AZ - K2 - 539
W3MC - Mike - MD - K2 - ??    QNI #5!  Got you but then lost you again ;)
AH6RE - Curt - HI - KX1 - 464

    I have found a problem I'd been tracking for a while.  N7NLU gave me a  
hint.  The Anderson Power Pole connectors were under tension so were  
making intermittent contact with the back of my K2.  Under the load of  
transmitting the power was folding which was causing me some  
difficulties.  Since I had plenty of quiet time the last two days I worked  
my way through the problem.  The power cable is so heavy it is causing the  
intermittent contact.  I supported the cable with some cup hooks and all  
is well again.  Simply taking the weight of the cable off the PP connector  
was enough to ensure solid contact.  Next time I need to switch to  
emergency power I'll have more consistent contact with my K2.
    I used to run both nets from battery power each week until the deep  
cycle marine battery reached old age.  I've now got two Trojan T-105s in  
series which seem to work better.  I hope to get a few more to run in  
series-parallel to provide plenty of power during my frequent power  
outages.  One day I'll get them charged from the sun (weak as it is in  
Oregon it will be sufficient).  With that much power I hope to run an  
inverter to keep my computers up and running during the black outs.
    Until next week stay warm and dry,
       73,
          Kevin.  KD5ONS  (Net Control 5th Class)

P.S.  More wind is on the way so I had better get a shower and a shave  
before that hits!
    KJR