[Elecraft] Elecraft CW Net Report for January 10th & 11th, 2010

[Kevin Rock]

Good Evening,
   The nets went quite well tonight.  I used the attenuator on both twenty and forty meters to good effect.  Much less fatiguing than hearing the hiss at the levels I need to run.  However there are a few California stations who could use a dummy load on 40 meters and still make me jump.  Dale?  Fred?  Hint?  If my S meter had a needle it would be wrapped around the pin!  
   On another note: I keep getting emails thanking me for running these nets.  To you all: you are very welcome!  However, I do this because it is so much fun :)  It is great to meet and work such a fine bunch of folks.  Plus you actually put up with me :)  I also get emails thanking me for my announcements and reports.  I find writing them to be fun also.  It is nice to share my daily life in the forest.  Many of you live in cities and do not have elk wandering through your front yard.  How many of you have seen a mountain beaver trimming the alder while on the air?  (Yes, they are real beasties: Aplodontia rufa not Castor canadensis.)  They live nowhere near water.  They are fine neighbors as long as they stay away from the house.  The love to dig and can easily undermine my footings.  If they dig too closely they find my Conibears!

   On to the lists =>

  On 14050.5 kHz at 2300z:
N0SS - Tom - MO - K3 - 008
NO8V - John - MI - K3 - 820
W0NTA - Dick - CO - K2 - 1787
W0RSR - Mike - CO - K2 - 5767
KM4NS - Rodger - FL
K1THP - Dave - CT - K3 - 686
K6DGW - Fred - CA - K3 - 642
K6PJV - Dale - CA - K3 - 1183
NK6A - Don - CA - K2 - 1217
W7AQK - Dave - AZ - K3 - 96
W0CZ - Ken - ND - K3 - 457
K4JPN - Steve - GA - K2 - 1422  * QNI # 120 *
AB9V - Mike - IN - K3 - 398    ** QNI # 270 **
W6SU - John - CA - K3 - 1303
KL7CW - Rick - AK - KX1 - 798
N7KRT - Jeff - TX - K2 - 5471     QNI # 70!!!

  On 7045.5 kHz at 0000z:
NO8V - John - MI - K3 - 820     * QNI # 105 *
K9DMV - Joe - TX - K2 - 5628
W0CZ - Ken - ND - K3 - 457    *** QNI # 315 ***
AB9V - Mike - IN - K3 - 398
N7KRT - Jeff - TX - K2 - 5471
VE7XF - Ralph - BC - K3 - 1823
W7AQK - Dave - AZ - K3 - 96
W0RSR - Mike - CO - K2 - 5767   * QNI # 125 *
K1THP - Dave - CT - K3 - 686
W0NTA - Dick - CO - K1 - 446
K6PJV - Dale - CA - K3 - 1183
KL7CW - Rick - AK - KX1 - 798
N0TA - John - CO - K3 - 994     * QNI # 110 *
N7CQR - Dan - OR - K2 - 1010
K6DGW - Fred - CA - K3 - 642
K7SJ - Roger - WA - K3 - 75

   Thank you Dick for checking in so many of your Elecraft rigs.  I don't think I have them all yet but I do know some of them were only on your bench for repair and adjustments.  If anyone wants to get an accurate signal report please call during the nets.  Both Tom and I try to give valid RST.  In a perfect world I would write all of those I send and receive and list them in these reports.  Then we could get a snapshot of propagation so others can figure out who can hit whom.  If you stick around to the end of the nets you hear me letting the nets go free.  I do not close them but rather go QNF at the end.  If you want please contact others who have worked on the net so you can get a new state or simply meet some nice folks.  Once I let the net go free you can do with it as you will (play nice!)  Please use the opportunity to contact like minded folks.  
   Weather reports were mild out in Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.  On the other side of the continent life was very different.  Even poor Steve in Georgia was having unseasonably cold weather.  Ken mentioned 15 ABOVE zero in Fargo, North Dakota so it is getting warmer :)  Those of you who have never experience a month of below zero weather do not realize how very warm 15 ABOVE zero can feel :)  In Wisconsin we used to pray for snow because that required the temperature to go UP.  However, it can snow at very low temperatures; the flakes fall out of a clear, sunny sky.  Very large flakes can fall when the moist Gulf air flows northward through 30, 40, or even 50 below zero temperatures.  Half an inch of fluffy flakes made the ski trails much nicer.  But at those temperatures my moustache would freeze to my scarf.  Ouch!  I sure hope the winter temperatures will flow back north again to where people know how to handle them.  Down south houses and people are just not ready.
   On that note: until next week please stay warm and healthy,
      73,
         Kevin.  KD5ONS  (Net Control Operator 5th Class)

-