[IRCNews] The sun isn't helping us during our "vacation"

[Wayne Michael]

Last year we started camping.

It really interrupts most contest weekends.

Typically on SSB contest I could get about 250 contacts before I am unable to continue.. (wore out or other household activities)

I have not done much with Digital contests (not sure why actually)

With CW I except to be more involved as long as I am shut in the house..

After that my kids will absorb all my weekday free time and some of the weekend time again making it hard to sit in front of the radio.

I usually use the iPad with VNC and run FT8 while doing other things…  CW is going to be a little harder to do this..   at least do it as much..

I use SmartSDR for the Flex Radio and it has three modes for CW.  Paddle / Straight Key and Keyer.

The paddle is two buttons to send di and dah..  the straight key is one button.   It is not the same as a mechanical key but in my world I will live with it.

The mechanical straight key I am using now is a TON of fun.   I have a real paddle too but I have not really mastered it..   I need to finish getting my decoding up to 10 wpm or more..

I hope this isn’t bothering anyone to talk about all  this here and serves more as entertainment in the “shelter in place” we are at..

Thanks

Wayne



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From: David Spoelstra<mailto:davids at mediamachine.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2020 12:24 PM
To: IRC News<mailto:ircnews at indyradioclub.org>
Subject: Re: [IRCNews] The sun isn't helping us during our "vacation"

Do some contests. It's not unusual to get 600+ in a weekend.

On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 12:14 PM Wayne Michael <wrmichael at hotmail.com<mailto:wrmichael at hotmail.com>> wrote:
Dave,

That is very impressive.  I am not sure how you do it.

I use every spare moment on the air making contacts and I only managed to get 10,013 contacts in 2019.

Most of mine are FT8,  none of them “ROBOT” contacts.  For some reason believe we use robots in that mode.  I have som FT4, many SSB and maybe 2 CW.  This year I am on 70 contacts in CW but I don’t know the other counts.  Likely not as many.

I have an addiction to moving up the list on QRZ most confirmed QSO’s list…   I am sitting at about 385/384 usually..  hard to move up from here.

Thanks for comparing notes.  It is good to know I am not the only addict.

de ac9hp



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From: David Spoelstra<mailto:davids at mediamachine.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2020 11:53 AM
To: IRC News<mailto:ircnews at indyradioclub.org>
Subject: Re: [IRCNews] The sun isn't helping us during our "vacation"

LOL, no, I'm not a member. I did check my log since you were surprised how many QSOs I made. Last year I made 12,921 contacts. That's 248/week for 52 weeks straight.

No, I'm not an SKCC member. Sorry.

On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 11:12 AM Wayne Michael <wrmichael at hotmail.com<mailto:wrmichael at hotmail.com>> wrote:
Radio addicts anonymous.

Are you a skcc member?  If so I need your # in my log.
Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 29, 2020, at 10:58 AM, David Spoelstra <davids at mediamachine.com<mailto:davids at mediamachine.com>> wrote:

It's really not that hard when you're on the air 12+ hours a day. I'm doing SSB, CW, FT8, FT4, SSTV, and a few RTTY.

What's the RAA?

On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 10:37 AM Wayne Michael <wrmichael at hotmail.com<mailto:wrmichael at hotmail.com>> wrote:
673 QSOs --- in a WEEK?

It has been a long time since I have seen anything close to that.

Want to join me at the next RAA meeting?

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From: David Spoelstra<mailto:davids at mediamachine.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2020 10:36 AM
To: IRC News<mailto:ircnews at indyradioclub.org>
Subject: Re: [IRCNews] The sun isn't helping us during our "vacation"

Oh, the low sunspots hasn't kept me off the bands. Last week I made 673 QSOs without a contest going! I just need 10m and 12m to open to finish my 9BWAS and 8BDXCC.
-David, N9KT

On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 10:22 AM Mel Crichton <kj9c at att.net<mailto:kj9c at att.net>> wrote:
so make lemonade!

Forty meters has been great to Europe, and that's from here in Montana... I even worked DX on 40 SSB this weekend....

Eighty and 75 meters are still good, although 160 is getting tough from here.... but should still be good in Indiana

And 20 meters is about as good as always....

You just need to get on and make some noise to put some DX into the log

Mel 9C

Well, 2020 just set a new record. So far, 78% of the days have had no sunspots.
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