Elecraft CW Net Announcement

[Kevin Rock]

Good Evening,
    I think summer has officially arrived in Oregon.  No rain for almost a  
week and the temperatures are reaching the 90s in the early afternoon.  
After dusk the temperature drops into the 50s.  On the 4th of July I hiked  
up the mountain to an open area with a panoramic view.  I could see the  
fireworks from many communities over a range of 270 degrees.  However, the  
wind was at 40 mph and the temperature was dropping quickly.  I had a coat  
and hat on and dug out my gloves before I was comfortable.  Since most of  
the cities within my view had no public displays I was treated to the many  
families shooting them off.  Banks, a nearby town, was the only community  
with fireworks other than Vancouver, Washington.  Only the highest shots  
 from Vancouver were visible to me but I could hear them quite easily.
    Yesterday I worked into Oklahoma on 20 meters.  We chatted for an hour  
but the band seemed weak.  There was a little QSB and some QRN from summer  
storms but the band was just not very strong.  Today I am hoping to catch  
the folks in New Mexico running the N5C special event station  
commemorating the UFO crash of '47.  That will be a good test of twenty  
meters because they'll be running voice.  Last night I was able to check  
in to the MARS nets on 75 meters but it took a couple tries.  Being at the  
bottom of the sunspot cycle is not helping voice operations.  MT63 worked  
its magic as it usually does.  Some folks forego voice check ins and  
simply use this digital mode to announce their presence.
    A little after noon yesterday I heard some odd squeaking in the  
kitchen.  It sounded like an angry hummingbird.  When I got there I found  
a male Allen's hummingbird in attack display (or should that be annoyed  
display?) up in the skylight.  Other than cleaning out the cobwebs he was  
not making much headway so I got my ladder.  After chasing him around a  
little with my hands he settled down and stayed in one spot.  This allowed  
me to catch him.  He calmed down as the light went away from my closing  
palms.  He sat on one hand as I navigated down the ladder without the use  
of my hands.  I got him well away from the house and opened up my hands.  
He gave me a funny look, sat for a couple of seconds, and then flew to a  
nearby fir tree.  He sat there looking at me while recovering his wind.  
This is the third time in my life I've held a hummingbird.  They feel like  
one is holding a running electric motor!

    Tomorrow:

1) Hail signs  (first letter or two of the suffix of your call)
2) NCS help (as well as QSP/QNP <relay> help)

    Please join us:

Sunday 2300z (Sunday 4 PM PDT) 14050 kHz
Monday 0200z (Sunday 7 PM PDT)  7045 kHz

    73,
         Kevin.  KD5ONS
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