[Lowfer] Christmas, ROS beacon, snow in TN. ( my idle ramblings )

[Andy - KU4XR]

Greetings to all:,,,I hope that everyone had a great Christmas day !!
It was a " first " in a few ways at my QTH.. The thing I,m most
thankful for is that it was quiet, and peaceful for the day..unlike
the period leading up to it..In general, this was the most nerve 
racking holiday period I ever went thru..But when it finally came
down to just my family; in our home; with the rest of the outside
influences shut out; I don't want to sound like someone who fell off
the wagon and hit their head but; it all changed..One of the firsts
here was " SNOW " , Yes snow !! It has been 41 years since there was
measurable snowfall " On The Ground " in SE. TN. It started snowing
early on Christmas day, probably around 1 am in the morning. I first
thought that the forecasters missed it again, and really they did..
The forecast was calling for 1 to 2 inches, and at present; 10 am
local time on the 26th; we have 4+ inches, and it's still falling.
Snow is not what you would call rare here; but usually no more than 
1 or 2 inches, a couple of times per winter. So far we have already
had 2 measurable snow falls.. The southland has been blessed with a
white Christmas, even as far south as Florida, they are seeing snow.
Local forecasters are saying that we will get from 1 to 3 more inches
here before it stops... Happy kids !! It's gonna make for some
travel problems come Monday morning work time... My first Christmas
snowfall I was a little too young to really remember, but this one;
I'm a little too old to forget, hi - hi: Another first for my family
was what we did on Christmas day.. We started on Christmas eve, 
watching movies, and the snow started, about 2am my wife started
" pre-cooking " some of the Christmas meal..Hmmmm; that all changed,
and here we were cooking almost all of the planned meal that night.
The smell of the food even had the chihuahah dancing around..
We were laughing, opening our gifts to each other and enjoying 
ourselves together, and ended up sitting down to eat at 4am in the
morning..We all took a nap for a few hours, and then my wife was UP, 
and at it again, finishing the cooking, and we had a second feast, 
with all the trimmings.. more movies, blessed with a bounty of food, 
an absolutely beautiful snowfall, it turned out to be " the longest
Christmas day ever " we were up to say Good-Bye to Christmas 2010,
and see the second round of snow start..A memorable event for me.
I truly hope that everyone had a great day, and has good memories.

Radio ramblings; I started the lowFER beacon in ROS - MF1 mode,
it works fine, the radio/PA seems to like the mode, holding steady
output for 20 solid hours now. Hmmmm, the snow seems to not affect 
the antenna system like rain does ??? Christmas day wasn't the best
day to start trying out a new mode, but; " what the hey ".. If there
is any interest; ie: load the software, and look for the signal,,,
I'll continue to give the mode a run on 1750 meters. Email me, and
let me know that you will be trying out the mode in receive, and
then I'll determine whether or not to continue " Experimenting "
with ROS in the LOw Frequency Experimental Radio band...

OK; Best wishes to everyone, and I than you for your time to read
this.. 73 for now:



Andy - KU4XR - EM75xr - Friendsville, TN. USA

LOWfer Beacon " XR " 
 
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