The Thursday net was called at 20:00 local time. Those who participated:
KE4S
Dave
K8SYH
Bill
AB3KC *
Collins
K3WD *
Bill
W0MPM *
John
W5ODJ *
John
* indicates those who also checked in on 10 meters
Topics were Field Day, 13 Colonies, the recent local weather and PVRC among others. The band was in good shape and signals were strong in spite of the storms and static crashes.
We continued our discussion to 10 meters at 28.405 mHz. That band was in decent shape too.
There were 3 participants of the digital net tonight:
K3WD, Bill
KG4TIH, Paulson
W5ODJ, John
We had a nice long digital chat on various topics including what was being planned for Field Day 2021. Paulson is working on a remote 2D station to contribute to FD this year. Also talked about birds and bees, neighbors, long walks, grounding rods that don’t want to go into the ground (surprise) and many other things.
The 2 meter net was attended by 9 folks tonight. Lots of new hams using their license to share some time with all fo us. Those included:
KO4NMN, Kevin
KO4OCN, Mike
K3WD, Bill
KO4QVQ, Rick
KI4AD, Evan
AB3KC, Collins
KD4HAX, Joe
KF4UUX, Earl
W5ODJ, John
As with the digital net we covered a range of topics from learning CW for Field Day 2021 to politics. It was good to hear all the new hams on tonight. I wish we didn’t have to mess with COVID and could have a Field Day like the good ole days. Hopefully this will sort out this year and we can get back to normal.
Everyone have a great week. See you on one of the nets coming up.
There were two people who checked in for the first time (K45BCR and KO4NCY). Welcome to both of you guys. Hope to hear you on this and other nets in the future.
Tonight I called both the digital net as well as the local 2m net.
No one from the club checked in to the digital net (that I could hear) but I did manage to chat with a station in Puerto Rico who was new to digital and we had a nice chat.
The most famous 2 meter net was held at it’s normal time tonight. There were 11 people who could make the time to check in:
WB2UNA, John
AD7FW, Roy
N4PDY, Mike
AK2M, Kevin
AB3KC, Collins
K2BFY, Henry
KN4HOZ Steve
K3WD, Bill
KS1G, Steve
KO4HHU, Billy
W5ODJ, John
No formal traffic was received or transmitted. Some discussion around the upcoming winter weather, the Geminid meteor shower peak tonight, satellite ops trailer, drone assisted antenna installation, working and school from home.
The next net is tomorrow at 8pm on 220mhz. Check out the web site for the latest information on that net.
It took most of the week but I did finally manage to get all stations for the original 13 Colonies and the two extra stations.
They were tough this year! WM3PEN either used CW or FT8 every time I looked to see where they were operating. I did not have FT8 installed on my computer nor do I really know how to use it. I managed to install the software but was not successful in actually making it work in my favor. So I waited for CW which I finally accomplished tonight.
Speaking of CW I worked 4 of the 15 stations using CW this year. The Tuesday night nets really helped me get this done! I still need to get better at this mode but I’m doing OK with it. Enough to help in a contest anyway.
On the operator side of things I’ve managed to put in 6 hours of work this week. In that 6 hours I have worked 859 unique stations. That’s about 143 per hour. It gets pretty crazy at times.
I hope to work another hour or two tomorrow. Maybe I can top off the list at 1000 for 2020.
This is always a fun event for me. This year was the hardest for me to finish but it was rewarding using some new skills to make it happen.
A quick reminder that the 13 Colonies event starts tomorrow. For more information on the event you can go here. 2020 Event Dates / July 1 (9AM Eastern) to July 7 (Midnight Eastern).
I’ll be operating one of the K2B stations. Of all of the contests I have done this one is the fastest pace by far. Because there are so few operators in Virginia our state, one of the original 13 colonies, is highly sought after.
Last year I had a rate of about 200 QSOs an hour. That’s one about every 18 seconds. I know that when I sit at my desk I have to be on my toes because they come at me fast.
While I am going to be operating I’ll also be getting the “Clean Sweep”. I enjoy doing this each year. Tracking down the bonus stations is always a hoot.