[Elecraft] Elecraft CW Net Announcement

[Kevin Rock]

Good Evening,
   Chilly once again.  Rainy then sunny but still cold to chilly.  Luckily I can heat one room with my computer :)  I am holding off with lighting a fire but there is still a pile of wood ready if I lose my resolve.  When I travel into town the weather has been milder but still not too warm.  The hummingbirds are zipping by the window checking me out as I write.  The feeder is getting low so I know the defense perimeter has grown larger.  More species have arrived and are ready to assume dominance.  
   Lower the foxgloves (digitalis purpurea) have begun to bloom.  Up here I have not seen any yet but soon they will start.  Pat told me her seasonal indicator was the flowering stalk of the foxgloves.  As the blossoms get closer and closer to the top of the spike the summer is getting closer to being over.  So, once they get started I know how long I have until the weather goes back to wet and cold.  Hopefully soon it will stop being wet and cold!
   Propagation was not too bad on twenty meters this week.  My mentor finished building his new K3/10 and has been practicing with the button pushing and knob twisting.  Yesterday I had my first contact with him through the QSB, QRN, and QRM.  It sounded good.  I know one day he will get an amp for it so he'll go to QRO (100 watts) but for now it is good test of my ears.  Since I have worked with him so long I can copy him even deeper into the noise than I can the average operator.  May be a little ESP because we know each other's topics so well ;)  
   My MARS checkins, on the other hand, have been quite difficult.  I hear the NCS station very well and very loudly but they cannot hear me.  Often it takes twenty calls to get relayed to the NCS.  I think they are running very high power with less than adequate antennas.  Fortunately the folks who study sunspots write that the hiatus is due to end soon.  That may help us in MARS to be heard and allow the rest of us to make more distant contacts.  Reports of 10 meter and 6 meter sporadic E contacts have been numerous this week as well as a few contacts on 2 meters.

Please join us tomorrow 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 2300z (Sunday 4 PM PDT) 14050 kHz
Monday 0100z (Sunday 6 PM PDT)  7045 kHz

   Stay well,
      Kevin.  KD5ONS

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