[Elecraft] Fwd: Elecraft CW Net Announcement

[kevinr]

This message never got posted on the Elecraft reflector.  I sent it last 
night but it never showed up.

    Kevin.  KD5ONS




-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	Elecraft CW Net Announcement
Date: 	Sat, 16 Nov 2019 20:28:53 -0800
From: 	kevinr <kevinr at coho.net>
To: 	elecraft at mailman.qth.net



Good Evening,

    Loggers moved in early Monday.  Today I am hearing the beeping like 
after a CW contest.  Each time the harvester moves forward or backward 
there are a series of blasts from the air-horn.  The logger told me it 
is fed directly from the hydraulic cooling system's air pumps.  Luckily 
he is done with the wood nearest the house.  That means it will be 
quieter next week. Here is a link to the harvester he is using. 
https://www.barko.com/products/tracked-harvesters/  With this machine he 
is cutting, limbing, and bucking to length about one tree a minute.  If 
the log he is cutting is unmarketable he bucks it up for firewood.  
There is no way I will ever be able to use it all.

    A note on our Elecraft CW Net exchange.  Since it is a directed net 
I call for check ins then work each in order.  I send a signal report 
and pass control to the operator.  They send me a signal report and 
whatever it is they want to talk about and then pass control back to 
me.  Weather is simple and often gets mentioned. Snow, ice, hail, 
floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, forest fires, etc have been described.  
Crop reports, pets, kids, and travel too. Occasionally a new antenna 
will get checked. Other times a new piece of gear will get tested.  We 
did hear the 1500 watt amp first-hand quite early in its history.  As 
the KX1, K3, KX2, and KX3 came along they got checked in too.

    Operators have used the legal limit down to milliwatts to get my 
attention.  My ears were tested at both ends of that spectrum :)  Some 
folks like to practice copying faster code so they follow along.  I get 
many comments about net reports and how they could hear me even if they 
did not check in.  I have never closed any of the nets; I think that 
would be presumptuous.  At the end of every net I send QNF which means 
there is a free net.  I normally am off the air at that point but I do 
leave the radio on and can hear further exchanges.  It has been fun for 
many years.

    There was another short lived sunspot from cycle 25 this week. 
That's two in less than a month.  I sense a trend.  Maybe this spring 
we'll see a flowering of new spots.

Please join us tomorrow on:

14050 kHz at 2200z Sunday  (2 PM PST Sunday)
  7047 kHz at 0000z Monday  (4 PM PST Sunday)

73,

    Kevin. KD5ONS

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