Almost Field Day …

Tomorrow, Field Day gets under way. I had hoped to participate with the club, but it’s not looking too likely. Got lots  going on this weekend … family, church, etc. I’ll try to make an appearance at the site, but probably won’t operate there.

I’ve been fighting a killer summer cold this week, so I’ve gotten behind on a lot of stuff. It was the whole array of symptoms too … cough, runny nose, achy body and headache.  I was off work for two days. My wife called a couple of hours ago, and it sounds like she and my daughter are coming down with it now.

Even if I can’t operate any significant time with the club station, I’ll try and get some operating time in from home. I just can’t totally miss operating during field day. Maybe there’ll be some nice six meter openings!

73 and enjoy Field Day if you’re participating de Dick N4BC

Easter weekend

Lots going on last weekend … church and family related. Saturday, I spent several hours at church for a dress rehearsal for our Easter Cantata (I’m a bass, in case you care!). Sunday morning I was up at 5:30 AM for a sunrise service, then back at 11 for the cantata. After the service, it was out to lunch, returning for a 3  PM Thomas Pandolfi piano concert. Finally, back home for an early bedtime.

My wife was off on Monday, so I took the day off as well to spend some time with her. So, she and my daughter went shopping most of the day. Hey, shopping with that pair is torture, as far as I’m concerned, so I passed on that. Not much on the bands at my QTH, but I did work WL7CG, Alan, on 20 meter FT8 around 2000Z .

Well, it’s now Tuesday as I’m writing this and I only have another hour until I finish work. Hopefully there will be a bit going on the bands when I get home. Just gotta keep trying!

73 de Dick N4BC

Just a little update …

More snow expected tonight … only 1 or 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm) this time. But … you never know. Schools were delayed two hours this morning due to freezing fog and low visibility.

Not much to report for last weekend … had too many non-radio projects, and most of my hamming was watching YouTube videos from ham contributors.

73 de Dick N4BC

Silent Key

I just learned this morning that a dear friend, Al Rhodes (KJ4TDG, ex-WN2SOU, ex-WB2ZCP) passed away on Saturday. Al was a past Vice President of Chapter 119, QCWA, in Tidewater Virginia, and I had also worked with him on several job-related projects. Al worked for Federal Engineering as a Project Manager and Senior Consultant, and had worked with me on our Motorola trunked radio system upgrade from analog to digital for the City of Newport News, Virginia. Originally from Annapolis, Maryland, he currently made his home in Virginia Beach, VA.

It’s always hard to say goodbye to good friends, but unfortunately, we have to and then carry on … but not forgetting …

73 de Dick N4BC

New Territory

I spent a bit of time on 80 meters last night … most contacts were North America. Forty meters was pretty sparse. Just not good conditions. As a matter of fact, later, I actually was wondering if my antenna had fallen down again, signals dropped so much.

So, to catch up with a task I hadn’t gotten around to yet, I decided to enter frequencies into memory for the 60 meter (5 MHz) band on the new IC-7300. I have never operated on this band before, so moving between the five “channels” revealed not too much activity last night. I did hear one CW station, and they were pretty strong; I also heard a couple of FT8 signals on one channel as well.

The CW station was right on the center frequency of the channel. Neither digital station was. The rules state that digital signals must be zero-beat with the center frequency of the channel; they also state that only one station can transmit on a channel at one time. Either the operators were in error, or I need to read some more. I didn’t do any transmitting on that band, other than to send a couple of test signals (VVV de N4BC). I’ll try more later.

Most of the snow and ice is gone now … supposed to get up to 62 today and 71 tomorrow. Saturday, the temperatures drop again, and Sunday they’re in the 30s again. I’m ready though … got a new pair of hunting boots from Amazon yesterday. Probably won’t snow again all winter!

73 de Dick N4BC