[Elecraft] Elecraft CW Net Report for February 14th & 15th, 2010

[Kevin Rock]

Good Evening,
   A piece from West Side Story on the radio while I type; thanks Lennie!  Both nets were pretty good though I received comments that 40 meters was going to get better as the night wore on.  Now I am reading of experiments to test the waters above 7100 kHz for a new QRP watering hole.  Thus far the tests are good and QRM is non-existent.  After moving four times to find a clear spot for the second net I may join them for a short commune.  However, there are enough QRP operators joining in just where we sit.  Two folks changed rigs between nets just to test my skills :)  Luckily I have the numbers from previous check ins.  Mike mentioned 40 meters necessitated going back to the K3 since QSB had auroral aspects to it.  I told Dave, K1THP, that he sounded like he was coming over the pole.  It was fun.
   Both bands were surprisingly clear.  Forty was not as quiet as twenty but that is in its nature.  Poor Tom works for his pay but only lands those near me.  Seems like the band is long to him by the time he is called on to act as NCS.  But he takes it in stride and enjoys himself none the less.  Maybe I need to pay him more ;)  I did have one new op test the waters this evening.  Good signal on his IC 746 Pro from Indiana; maybe he will join us again.  I did miss a couple ESP stations and just barely got N2YC out of the noise but he was logged.  On forty there was one I just could not grab.  Sorry :(  

   On to the lists =>

  On 14050.5 kHz at 2300z:
N9OL - John - IN 
W0NTA - Dick - CO - K2 - 1787
AB9V - Mike - IN - K2 - 3993    ** QNI # 280 **
W0CZ - Ken - ND - K3 - 457
WB3AAL - Ron - PA - K2 - 1392      QNI # 60 !!!
N0SS - Tom - MO - K3 - 008
K1THP - Dave - CT - K3 - 686     * QNI # 120 *
W8OV - Dave - TX - K3 - 3139       QNI # 25 !!
K6PJV - Dale - CA - K3 - 1183    * QNI # 170 *
K6DGW - Fred - CA - K3 - 642     * QNI # 165 *
N0AR - Scott - MN - K2 - 4866   ** QNI # 230 **
N2YC - John - NY - K2 - 5949

  On 7044.21 kHz at 0000z:
K6PJV - Dale - CA - K1 - 2092
KL7CW - Rick - AK - KX1 - 798
W0NTA - Dick - CO - K2 - 1787
AB9V - Mike - IN - K3 - 398
WB3AAL - Ron - PA - K2 - 1392
AE6IC - Fred - CA - K3 - 2241
K1THP - Dave - CT - K3 - 686
NO8V - John - MI - K3 - 820

   I think I got all the serial numbers correct but an error may have slipped in.  Please write if such is the case.  I had reports of winter from the east but everyone along the West Coast from Palmer, Alaska to Auburn, California reported very fine weather.  I was experiencing sun alternating with light showers.  I am right on the northern edge of a storm streaming in off the Pacific Ocean.  South of the storm it is sunny and in the 60s.  Poor Scott was working on his snowblower.  I think he uses it too much when he goes fishing ;)  But, then, he does have over 24 inches of ice to bore through before he wets a hook!  I won't begrudge him the power tools to get his Northerns.  
   I am grateful to Dale for running QRP.  His signal was still 599 but much less painful.  There seems to be a conduit between his location and my own; much like the one Rick has from Alaska.  Rick wrote me recently about the mountain which blocks his working very far to the east so his signals are mostly across the Pacific and down a path toward the West Coast.  I have the same problem with TV signals from either Seattle or Portland.  But I have not watched TV in many years.  One, I don't have the time, and two, it is simply too difficult to do so.  But they do put movies onto DVDs just for me.  I play them on my design computer :)  With two monitors I can work on one while I watch a movie on the other.  
   Until next week stay warm and stay healthy,
      73,
         Kevin.  KD5ONS  (Net Control Operator 5th Class)

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