Wednesday, April 26, 2006
For 4/26
A good day over all.
First off tried to check in to the "Gordo" ARES/Rescue net on 40m on my way to work. No joy. Propagation on 40m was "weird." I could hear the foreign broadcast stations but only one station in California.
It turns out that there were a series of solar flares this morning!
Noon was better. I was able to check in to the Noontime net on 40m and got a good signal report using the Alinco DX-70H and a 40m ham stick on my car. First mobile contact, eh?
Finally, got to have a really nice CW QSO with "Dick" K8GTQ of Flushing, MI on 20m. I was just tuning around and caught a quick CW. And... and everything worked "the way it's supposed to."
After that I did some more tuning around on 40m but didn't find anything happening. Also tried a couple quick CQ's on 30m but didn't really hear anybody. There may have been one station that tried, but I'm not even sure about that.
I like the concept of 30m so I'll have to try it some more.
Finally, I installed a pair of filters into the Icom-706MkIIg. A FL-100 500 Hz CW filter and a 2.8 kHz wide SSB filter. I think the CW filter will help a lot. But I think I made a mistake on the wide SSB filter. Oh well... The price was right...
For 4/25
Heard the "Gordo" Rescue/ARES net, but was on too late to check in. (Got to leave the house earlier!).
The noontime net was unhearable due to strange propagation.
Ran the SLVARES net this evening. We had 13 check ins. Pretty good for a "boring old spring night." We've got a good group of hams up here in the valley.
Finally when fishing for a CW QSO to finish off the day, I called CQ on 10m hoping that one of my SLV QRS buddies might be listening. Sure enough, back came Hap KQ6YV, my CW guru/Elmer.
I wasn't as focused as I normally am, but the QSO was great as it stood. It flowed well and I had "pert near" 100% copy. I'd really like to get fast enough so that Hap can use his bug.
Practice, practice, practice!!!
A good day over all.
First off tried to check in to the "Gordo" ARES/Rescue net on 40m on my way to work. No joy. Propagation on 40m was "weird." I could hear the foreign broadcast stations but only one station in California.
It turns out that there were a series of solar flares this morning!
Noon was better. I was able to check in to the Noontime net on 40m and got a good signal report using the Alinco DX-70H and a 40m ham stick on my car. First mobile contact, eh?
Finally, got to have a really nice CW QSO with "Dick" K8GTQ of Flushing, MI on 20m. I was just tuning around and caught a quick CW. And... and everything worked "the way it's supposed to."
After that I did some more tuning around on 40m but didn't find anything happening. Also tried a couple quick CQ's on 30m but didn't really hear anybody. There may have been one station that tried, but I'm not even sure about that.
I like the concept of 30m so I'll have to try it some more.
Finally, I installed a pair of filters into the Icom-706MkIIg. A FL-100 500 Hz CW filter and a 2.8 kHz wide SSB filter. I think the CW filter will help a lot. But I think I made a mistake on the wide SSB filter. Oh well... The price was right...
For 4/25
Heard the "Gordo" Rescue/ARES net, but was on too late to check in. (Got to leave the house earlier!).
The noontime net was unhearable due to strange propagation.
Ran the SLVARES net this evening. We had 13 check ins. Pretty good for a "boring old spring night." We've got a good group of hams up here in the valley.
Finally when fishing for a CW QSO to finish off the day, I called CQ on 10m hoping that one of my SLV QRS buddies might be listening. Sure enough, back came Hap KQ6YV, my CW guru/Elmer.
I wasn't as focused as I normally am, but the QSO was great as it stood. It flowed well and I had "pert near" 100% copy. I'd really like to get fast enough so that Hap can use his bug.
Practice, practice, practice!!!
