[Elecraft] Elecraft CW Net 9th Anniversary Announcement

[kevinr]

Good Evening,
    What an event filled week.  First a partial lunar eclipse and then 
the second transit of Venus.  In 2004 I was unable to find a break in 
the clouds.  This time around I was able to sneak 15 minutes of viewing 
out of the event by waiting for the holes in the clouds to pass over me 
and by moving my telescope around to avoid the trees.  When I got it 
focussed the first time I was amazed.  It looked so artificial.  A 
friend of mine told me he thought Venus looked too large.  Just goes to 
show how very large the sun is.  I was unable to view either ingress or 
egress so I could not see the atmosphere of Venus.

    Weather was not too good though.  As I mentioned lots of clouds 
which brought lots of rain and cool temperatures.  Tomorrow it may reach 
60 degrees again.  I am hoping tonight's 36 degree low will be the last 
time I see temperatures there until fall.  I cannot wait for summer to 
get here with warm days and mild nights.  After all the 40 degree 
weather lately warmth will feel great.  But propagation was much better 
than the weather.  My daily sked into Alaska was easy each day.  Only 
brief dips of QSB but they were never very deep.

     I dug out my old log books and found the one for 2003.  On June 7, 
2003 I had three check ins: VE1RGB , W0CZ, & N5IB.  Nine years later the 
net has changed some to follow the whims of the crowd but it is still 
held near the same frequency and at nearly the same time.  The 
procedures have stabilized while the folks checking in have changed a 
little.  New folks keep checking in each week which is very nice.  I 
have had over 7000 check ins from over 1000 operators running all manner 
of Elecraft rigs.  At first we only had the two Elecraft rigs: the K2 
(first of the series), and the K1.  Over the years Wayne has come up 
with a few other rigs to add to the fun.  Lately I am getting more KX3s 
as they roll off the assembly line and get shipped off around the 
world.  Next year we may need to organize something special for the 
tenth anniversary.  For tomorrow I will run as normal but await your 
comments.

Please join us tomorrow afternoon and 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 2200z (Sunday 3 PM PDT) 14050 kHz
Monday 0200z (Sunday 7 PM PDT)  7045 kHz

       Stay well,
          Kevin.  KD5ONS
-