[Elecraft] Elecraft CW Net Announcement and birding report

[kevinr]

Good Evening,

    It was a chilly, wet week.  Rain was slow, mostly continuous. The 
trees love it, there is new growth showing on all of them. The diffused 
lighting had me guessing about a hummingbird's species.  My first guess 
was immature female Anna's Hummingbird. I don't have much experience 
with the immature ones.  They change to adult plumage as they are given 
flight instruction.  A one second long sun break showed me some 
iridescence.  There was a strong gray bar on the leading edge of her 
exposed wing.  Luckily she sat ten feet away for about five minutes.  It 
took a few minutes to scan through all the possible colors of the Anna's 
Hummingbird.  In bright light they are very colorful.  However, that is 
not the base color but an effect of the light.

https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/annhum/cur/introduction

The third image was the best match if I subtracted the lighting. The 
gray bar is much fainter when the plumage is well lit.

   Yesterday I wrote my brother in Wisconsin about the weather. 
Temperatures here were trying to break the 50 degree barrier.  He told 
me it was 101 degrees with rain falling at the rate of 1 1/2 inches per 
hour.  I imagine the humidity was above 90 too.  While it does not get 
as humid as it does in Houston 'tis enough, twill serve.

   Propagation holds steady at not great.  But there is an article on 
SpaceWeather.com from a so called 'heretic'.  If the Terminator Event 
happens soon we will see a strong cycle.  They are not predicting 1957 
levels but hope springs eternal.  Time to call Arnold :)  This is 
another statistical study.  What is the range of probabilities?  You 
never know how propagation will change until you test it.  Is the cat alive?

Please join us on (or near):

14050 kHz at 2200z Sunday (3 PM PDT Sunday)
   7047 kHz at 0000z Monday (5 PM PDT Sunday)

    73,
       Kevin. KD5ONS


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ARTHUR:
Yes, of course! The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch! 'Tis one of the sacred 
relics Brother Maynard carries with him. Brother Maynard! Bring up the 
Holy Hand Grenade!

ARTHUR:
How does it, um-- how does it work?

LANCELOT:
I know not, my liege

ARTHUR:
Consult the Book of Armaments!

BROTHER MAYNARD:
Armaments, chapter two, verses nine to twenty-one

SECOND BROTHER:
And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, "O Lord, 
bless this Thy hand grenade that, with it, Thou mayest blow Thine 
enemies to tiny bits in Thy mercy."
And the Lord did grin, and the people did feast upon the lambs and 
sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals and 
fruit bats and large chu--

MAYNARD:
Skip a bit, Brother

SECOND BROTHER:
And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. 
Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the 
number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. 
Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that 
thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, 
being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand 
Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, 
shall snuff it."

MAYNARD:
Amen