A "Just In Case" Radio Club
As you likely know we meet on Monday evenings on the Frederick K3MAD 224.200 repeater (123 hz PL) for a 30 minute net. I am happy to report this Monday was my first check-in to this net. I finally got my HT working as it should on this frequency. It worked surprisingly well.
Those who checked in:
I’m glad I checked my HT. My battery is “swollen” so I need to repair that.
Thanks for running the net Henry!
73,
John
W5ODJ
There was a very informal digital net tonight on 40 meters at 7.07325 Mhz. Myself, W5ODJ, and John, W0MPM, had a nice chat on a very quiet band tonight. We started a little late at 19:33 local time and ended about 20:05.
John was loud and clear at my QTH with a SNR at or above 25dB the entire conversation with 100% copy.
Hope to see you on a digital net soon.
73,
John
W5ODJ
Every Tuesday evening from 8:00 PM to 8:30 PM we get together on ±3.545 MHz for a local CW net.
We always say “All are welcomed and the net will slow to the most comfortable speed of all operators”. Well, guess who that was tonight? That’s right, me! My CW blows but I keep working at it!
And … I took up NCS duties because no one else called the net. Silly me.
In spite of my poor CW skills I was able to hold the net and copy 90% of what was said tonight. Normally I use my computer to help me but it busted tonight too so I was running solo for most of this. My hand keying is not too great but I managed. Hopefully others understood what I was trying to say.
My lack of skill didn’t keep the net from happening. These folks checked in tonight:
Y’all have a great week!
73,
John
W5ODJ
Thanks for everyone who checked in tonight.
We chatted about our weekends and the week to come. Some will be meeting at Wegmans tomorrow (Monday) if you want to join us.
Have a good week!
John, W5ODJ
There were quite a few of us on 10 meters tonight. There were those named John and and a few others. 🙂
I was right in the middle of a bunch of directional signals. I heard everyone well as long as I was pointed in their general direction. When I did that everyone’s signal was clear and strong.
73,
John, W5ODJ
It was a light Wednesday night with only K9CQB and W5ODJ participating. We chatted about and tested a GO KIT before shutting the net down 10 minutes later.
See you on one of the upcoming nets.
73
John, W5ODJ
The band was in excellent condition tonight. Only two of us checked in tonight:
We chatted informally stopping occasionally to call for checkins. We did not continue to 10 meters tonight.
73,
W5ODJ, John
We met at 3.676 tonight for QRM below our normal meeting frequency of 3.675. We listened for others on 3.181 and then moved to 28.405 for the 10 meter portion of the net. Band conditions were excellent but noisy with static crashes from storms in the area. 10 Meters was in rare form (very good). QSOs there continue after we left the frequency.
Checkins:
Topics included the WX Thunderstorms riding across the state the last few days, the Reston Bike Ride coming up on August 25 and The Berryville Ham Fest in August.
I hope everyone has a great week!
73
John
W5ODJ
It’s fun to search out each of the states on the various bands and modes and make contact with the volunteers that help everyone make contacts in the contest. The bands have been in reasonable shape this year if you can dodge the occasional storms that are drifting by.
This year I was able to get the “Clean Sweep” in the 13 Colonies event in the first three days of July. I’ll submit the following log and get a certificate later in the year:
Date Time Freq Mode MyCall RST Call RST 20190702 0215 7223.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2L 59 20190702 0217 7198.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2A 59 20190702 0220 7217.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2C 59 20190702 0221 7182.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2H 59 20190702 0502 7218.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2Z 59 20190702 1508 7210.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2J 59 20190703 0248 7185.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2M 59 20190703 2302 7225.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2B 59 20190703 2304 7180.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2E 59 20190703 2305 7193.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2K 59 20190703 2308 7245.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2G 59 20190703 2313 14247.0 USB W5ODJ 59 K2D 59 20190704 0200 3865.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2F 59 20190704 0204 3986.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 WM3PEN 59 20190704 0206 7174.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 GB13COL 59 20190704 0211 3803.0 LSB W5ODJ 59 K2I 59
I am also volunteering to operate the K2B station on 40 meters. So far I have managed to make 1,523 contacts working a few hours each day the last three days. It’s a crazy time on the receiving side of making contacts for the event. At times the QSO rate is well above 200 contacts per hour. I liken this to listening to air traffic control during a “push” in a busy time of the day. Its very busy and fun to work to manage all of the inputs from the day.
I’ve heard two familiar voices on the air while I’ve been operating. N0JSD and K8SYH reached out to me at some point. It’s nice hearing people we know.
Spotting is easy using DXSummit. Using this tool makes short work figuring out the band and mode for the operators in each state. At some point it’s just about getting into the fray and working the pileups which are very high at times.
Although I’ve done all of the above using SSB I hope to make some time outside of my K2B operations to use other modes to reach out to each state. In particular, I want to see how digital modes work this year.
73!
John
W5ODJ
Compared to most years it was very quiet at my QTH this year.
I’ve been going into and out of making contacts as class 1D section VA. This is the first time I’ve used my own station for Field Day in 10 or so years. I’ve primarily worked 40 and 80 meter phone.
In preparation for Field Day I get my instance of Windows up to date with the latest patches then turn patching off so my computer doesn’t reboot in the middle of a contest. Then updated N1MM to the latest, created a new database for 2019 FD with all the parameters I’d normally use to create a log at the end. Even though I do not plan on submitting a log this year I wanted to go through the process.
The bands have been very active with a station about every ½ kilocycle. It’s interesting to try to work so many so close together. I suspect the band will go back to normal tonight in the evening when everyone tears down their site and goes back to their daily lives.
I didn’t think I’d miss what we’ve done at LARG over the years, but I do. Those were fun times when we were all working together to achieve a common goal. Our first time to win a 5A category was in 2012. That year we came 12th overall internationally.
We did it again in 2013 with a first place finish in 5A and even better ranking internationally at 6th place. And then in 2014 we did it again by finishing first in 5A and even better at 4th place internationally. You can find all that information on our history pages.
I hope where ever you are you’ve been able to enjoy Field Day this year.
73
John, W5ODJ