Glad to hear you're going to be back tonight. I'll be listening on 20m,
if I can get my Realistic DX-160 tuned properly. In a few weeks, I'll
be able to try to check in, depending on what part of the band that
frequency is in.
Kevin Rock wrote:
Good Evening,
After a week's hiatus I will be back to start the Elecraft CW Net
and pass it around the continent. We got our power back after a week
without it. My Trojan batteries were down to 12.1 volts after
starting at 12.7 volts. It took two full days of charging for them to
recover. I was impressed with all they did for me. Lighting, two
radios, desktop computer with monitor, laptop computer for many hours
of use, and the insurance adjuster's computer too. The phone service
came back a few days before we got power back. It appears the problem
was totally unrelated to the storm or the power outage. Something had
happened at their switching office which kicked me off line.
Hot running water and telephone service are addictive! Since I
have a dial up Internet connection it takes quite a while for me to
get my mail on a normal day. Since I was not using this computer,
which sits in a back room far from the heat source, I was using
WebMail which added another level of indirection slowing access even
further. I am still wading through the 1500+ emails I received over
the outage period.
Thank you for all the good wishes during the darkness and cold.
Yes, it was frightening but with some help I am starting to cut the
trees and stack the slash for later burning. The wood will not be
used for timber since the price the mills are offering is too low to
make a profit. I've been advised to sell firewood instead to make
money. Too bad, there is some prime timber in those trees.
I have only been on HF for a day since all of my antennas were
turned into their component parts. While brushing out we did find
some wires and insulators so I can salvage that and make another one.
I did get up a spare G5RV but have only used it once for MARS so I
know it works NVIS. Now to see if it will get to the Mississippi or
beyond. One leg is only a short distance above my head. But after
five hours of struggle I decided that was good enough.
I found there is quite a difference between Stren and Berkley
Trilene. I was trying to use Trilene for the first time to get my
antennas up using my normal technique of teardrop sinker zipped
through the trees with a wrist rocket. The Trilene did not feed well
and snagged a lot in all sorts of trees. After using about 400 yards
in 20 yard segments I tossed the roll and went back to the Stren.
First time my sinker hit the roof of the house and I got a line back
from there to a tree. The antenna is nearly level but my property is
at an angle so one leg is about sixty feet in the air while the other
would injure someone over six feet! Luckily I am more compact ;)
Tomorrow evening we get to test both the aether and my new
antenna. Now if I can only remember how to send CW!
Please join us:
Monday 0000z (Sunday 4 PM PST) 14050 kHz
Monday 0300z (Sunday 7 PM PST) 7045 kHz
Kevin. KD5ONS
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