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<p class="MsoNormal">Last year we started camping. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It really interrupts most contest weekends. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Typically on SSB contest I could get about 250 contacts before I am unable to continue.. (wore out or other household activities)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have not done much with Digital contests (not sure why actually)
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With CW I except to be more involved as long as I am shut in the house..
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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..
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I use SmartSDR for the Flex Radio and it has three modes for CW. Paddle / Straight Key and Keyer.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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..
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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..
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wayne</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sent from <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986">
Mail</a> for Windows 10</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;padding:0in"><b>From: </b><a href="mailto:davids@mediamachine.com">David Spoelstra</a><br>
<b>Sent: </b>Sunday, March 29, 2020 12:24 PM<br>
<b>To: </b><a href="mailto:ircnews@indyradioclub.org">IRC News</a><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [IRCNews] The sun isn't helping us during our "vacation"</p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do some contests. It's not unusual to get 600+ in a weekend.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 12:14 PM Wayne Michael <<a href="mailto:wrmichael@hotmail.com">wrmichael@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in">
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<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Dave,
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">That is very impressive. I am not sure how you do it.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">I use every spare moment on the air making contacts and I only managed to get 10,013 contacts in 2019.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">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. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">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.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Thanks for comparing notes. It is good to know I am not the only addict.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">de ac9hp</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Sent from
<a href="https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgo.microsoft.com%2Ffwlink%2F%3FLinkId%3D550986&data=02%7C01%7C%7C87bb21e7ae154aeea9c508d7d3fdb97a%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637210958993464736&sdata=qUyKlpIpMj0y1frWRQHBkujp%2FS68yuCt%2FdLg%2BKb0WQA%3D&reserved=0" target="_blank">
Mail</a> for Windows 10</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>From:
</b><a href="mailto:davids@mediamachine.com" target="_blank">David Spoelstra</a><br>
<b>Sent: </b>Sunday, March 29, 2020 11:53 AM<br>
<b>To: </b><a href="mailto:ircnews@indyradioclub.org" target="_blank">IRC News</a><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [IRCNews] The sun isn't helping us during our "vacation"</p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">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.
</p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">No, I'm not an SKCC member. Sorry.</p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 11:12 AM Wayne Michael <<a href="mailto:wrmichael@hotmail.com" target="_blank">wrmichael@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:</p>
</div>
<blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Radio addicts anonymous.
</p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:12.0pt">Are you a skcc member? If so I need your # in my log. </p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Sent from my iPhone</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:12.0pt">On Mar 29, 2020, at 10:58 AM, David Spoelstra <<a href="mailto:davids@mediamachine.com" target="_blank">davids@mediamachine.com</a>> wrote:</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">
</p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">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.
</p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">What's the RAA?</p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 10:37 AM Wayne Michael <<a href="mailto:wrmichael@hotmail.com" target="_blank">wrmichael@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:</p>
</div>
<blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">673 QSOs --- in a WEEK?
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">It has been a long time since I have seen anything close to that.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Want to join me at the next RAA meeting?
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Sent from
<a href="https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgo.microsoft.com%2Ffwlink%2F%3FLinkId%3D550986&data=02%7C01%7C%7C87bb21e7ae154aeea9c508d7d3fdb97a%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637210958993464736&sdata=qUyKlpIpMj0y1frWRQHBkujp%2FS68yuCt%2FdLg%2BKb0WQA%3D&reserved=0" target="_blank">
Mail</a> for Windows 10</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>From:
</b><a href="mailto:davids@mediamachine.com" target="_blank">David Spoelstra</a><br>
<b>Sent: </b>Sunday, March 29, 2020 10:36 AM<br>
<b>To: </b><a href="mailto:ircnews@indyradioclub.org" target="_blank">IRC News</a><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [IRCNews] The sun isn't helping us during our "vacation"</p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">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.
</p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">-David, N9KT</p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 10:22 AM Mel Crichton <<a href="mailto:kj9c@att.net" target="_blank">kj9c@att.net</a>> wrote:</p>
</div>
<blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
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<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">so make lemonade!
</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Forty meters has been great to Europe, and that's from here in Montana... I even worked DX on 40 SSB this weekend....</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><br>
Eighty and 75 meters are still good, although 160 is getting tough from here.... but should still be good in Indiana</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">And 20 meters is about as good as always....</span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">You just need to get on and make some noise to put some DX into the log</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Mel 9C</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> </p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Well, 2020 just set a new record. So far, 78% of the days have had no sunspots.</p>
</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:4.8pt">
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