Belated Elecraft CW Net Report for September 10th & 11th, 2006

[Kevin Rock]

Good Evening,
    I am finally back home from work.  The cat is fed and so am I.  My  
email downloaded through its narrow dial up pipe so I can peruse the 361  
messages of varying import.  Yesterday's nets were interesting to say the  
least.  Especially as it got dark and the strange denizens of the park got  
closer to my operating position.  Luckily one of the other amateurs  
volunteered to stay but not too long.  That is why the second net was  
rather short.  We got the antenna down and coiled fairly neatly.  The rest  
of the gear got stowed in a less than tidy manner.  All was well when I  
unpacked so now I get to rebuild my home station.
    Luckily AC power was available at the park so it was easier to set up.  
Since the electricity ran through a buried conduit we were able to ground  
the station very nicely.  This was one of my concerns.  However I was  
right next to where at the food was being served so I had a lot of QRM  
during the first net.  There was also a train which made a lot of noise  
and detuned the antenna.  The antenna was a window line fed G5RV tuned  
through my normal tuner.  It was mounted about thirty feet at the top of  
the V and about eight feet in height at the ends.  I ran out of trees so  
made two wraps of wire around one end.  Both legs of the doublet were  
shorted to ground through fir branches.  As we were raising the antenna  
into position it was pulling itself off the handy limbs so it was  
gradually getting lower and lower.
    After all that I got on the air a few minutes late only to get great  
signal reports from Minnesota and Colorado.  K1EV was coming in stronger  
than I'd ever heard him before.  My normal hops were not where my signal  
was landing.  I was told twice on the air (at least) and twice via email  
that I should work from the park more often :)  Well maybe I will take the  
show on the road again but hope for more time to get the antenna set up  
more to my liking.  The odd thing?  N7NLU was very strong.  We both found  
that quite odd since I was in Hillsboro and he was in Beaverton at  
approximately the same elevation.  I've never known twenty meters to work  
NVIS.  The antenna was low enough but he was less than twenty miles away.  
He wants me down at the park too!!
    I did get quite a few funny looks from the park regulars.  Especially  
when I was shooting my sinker into the trees.  Then the CERT folks wanted  
to know how a radio could possibly work without a microphone.  They were  
asking questions while I was trying to send.  So they would get part of  
the sentence meant for you and you would get part of the sentence meant  
for them.  Quite confusing.  But somehow or another I got through it  
without too much hassle.  One of my helpers had his Novice license back in  
the '70s and has subsequently been relicensed as a Technician.  I bug him  
about getting his Tech+ but he cannot find a callbook with his call in it  
for proof.  I know there is a repository of call books somewhere in Oregon  
but I cannot remember where.  Is it the FISTs club?  Any ideas?  This op  
was very interested in what I was doing.  Hopefully we can reignite the  
fire which once burned within him.  If you can point me in the right  
direction I will relay the information.  Then he'll do the work to gain  
his General license and work on his code speed.

But, on to the lists =>

On 14051 kHz at 2304z:
N0BK - Bruce - MN - K2 - 3646     QNI #80!!
K1EV - Bill - CT - K2 - 2152
N0AR - Scott - MN - K2 - 4866
W6ZH - Pete - CA - K2 - 43
AA0NI - Dan - OK - K2 - 3421      QNI #10!  On a new antenna.
N7NLU - Karl - OR - K2 - 4227
KT5E - Jay - CO - K2 - 5037
N9SF - Bob - IN - K2 - 5308

On 7045 kHz at 0156z:
VE3XL - Ric - ON - TenTec Omni    QNI #115!!!
K6PJV - Dale - CA - K2 - 5345     QNI #5!
K4DXU - Bill - TN - KX1 - 702
KT5E - Jay - CO - K2 - 5037
N7NLU - Karl - OR - K2 - 4227     QNI #60!!

I may have made a few mistakes in the above lists but I was under less  
than favorable circumstances.  Hopefully next time I take this show on the  
road I'll be working in a quieter location with an antenna mounted less  
precariously.  Also there were a couple of signals I just could not pull  
out.  Most of my QSB was induced by metal moving around my antenna.  
Either that train or the barbeque grill was detuning the antenna.  
Whichever it was there was deep fading when it occurred.

I'd better get back to setting up my radio gear so I'll be ready for  
tomorrow and the next evening.

Take care and stay well,
    73,
       Kevin.  KD5ONS  (Net Control Operator 5th Class)


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[KU4YP-2]

Got a nice package in the mail. will keep you posted.

73 Mike KU4YP
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