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N5VLZ > ALL 09.07.24 03:00l 215 Lines 7747 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 8597_NS2B
Read: GUEST
Subj: PCL NET SCRIBE JULY 8 2024
Path: IW8PGT<LU4ECL<I0OJJ<PI8ZTM<PI8LAP<PA8F<VE3CGR<K7EK<N3HYM<NS2B
Sent: 240709/0046Z 8597@NS2B.#WNY.NY.USA.NOAM BPQ6.0.24
PCL NET SCRIBE JULY 8 2024
N5VLZ, Daryl, Arkansas (Net Control/Scribe)
KX4AC, Carl, Florida (Early Checkin)
NS2B, Bob, New York (Sysop)
KF5TVG, Bob, Oklahoma
**
N5VLZ:
I hope everyone had a good July 4 weekend, as
I did not. On Tuesday, July 2, I got the tragic
news that my younger brother had committed
suicide with a self inflicted gunshot wound to
the head. There'll be no funeral, just cremation.
He wanted his friends to drink a toast to his
memory at a local restaurant.
From what I understand, he was in extreme pain
at the end, and he also smoked and drank heavily...
but the pain got to be too much. One of his ex-wives,
who gave me the money to cover the fee for the death
certificates, will pay the property tax, and take
over that stuff. His mobile home and his pickup
truck were full of old cigarette butts, beer cans,
and the stench and stain of tobacco and nicotine.
She and her daughter are doing major cleanup work,
and she's going to sell what she doesn't want at a
yard sale, and split the proceeds with me. I told
her that I didn't want any of it, due to the stench
and stain. I still have to go to probate court, as
there was no will...but that may have to wait, due
to other bills. In regard to that, I have cancelled
any and all future travel outside of central Arkansas,
as I can't afford it.
It may be illegal to shoot off firecrackers, fireworks,
etc., in the city limits, but they do it anyway. A
long time lawn mower repair business in southwest Little
Rock burned to the ground, from a stray fireworks spark.
I am so afraid one of those will start a fire on the roof,
or on the lawn. I filed a report with the Little Rock
Police Department on it.
The remnants of Hurricane Beryl are affecting the Arklatex
tonight, and will affect the state, and the Midsouth
through Tuesday. Tornado Watches are in effect into the
overnight hours, and likely will be extended into Tuesday.
Flood Watches cover all but southeast Arkansas. There've
been numerous tornado warnings, some EF-2 or greater, and
long tracked, especially across much of Texas and Louisiana...
the National Weather Service office in Shreveport has already
issued over 5 dozen tornado warnings today. After Beryl moves
out, it'll be hot, hazy, and humid. I decided to cancel The
Pun In Life Net tonight, due to the tornado threat.
ARRL/VEC is finally shipping out the new Extra Class exam books
to its Field Stocked VE Teams, but these will be the last ones,
due to cost. VE Team Leaders are encouraged to sign up with
Exam Tools, and get the Team Lead certification, so they can
print their own items. I printed out 4 new books, with the answer
keys, and templates, but any further printing has to wait until
I can get more paper and ink. I'm to do a license exam session
at the University Of Arkansas At Little Rock this Saturday. I
wonder how many studied the wrong material, as the new Extra Class
Question Pool took effect July 1.
**
KX4AC:
GE All,
I am sending an early check-in this week, because Monday is the PCARS
(Platinum Coast Amateur Radio Society) monthly meeting. We have a
guest speaker this month from the National Weather Service, who is
going to talk about the upcoming hurricane season. It sounds like it
will be a good meeting.
I had a nice and relaxing 4th of July. I did not have any fireworks,
but the neighbors sure did! My 4th of July tradition is to make
popcorn and watch the movie "1776." I really like that movie.
My favorite part is where John Adams is arguing with another delegate
and the argument devolves into insults. Finally, the other man calls
John Adams "lawyer!" and Adams responds with "landlord!"
I have been making occasional treks to the roof of Trinity Towers East
in Melbourne to work on the local W4MLB packet digipeater. It went down
a few weeks ago, and it has been an effort to get it back up. The PC
died, and after some debugging, it was clear that the motherboard was
bad. I managed to find a replacement at a local electronics surplus
dealer. Then, we had a 12V power supply die, but luckily we had a spare
for that. One of the links is still down, but I can verify we are sending
connect messages, so hopefully that is a problem on the peer side. I hope
we are close to back up again.
On the fun side, I got a PDP8 replica kit and built it over the weekend.
It is raspberry pi-based, with a full front-panel, including switches and
blinking-lights. I never worked on a PDP8, but I remember them. It is
definitely a fun thing to have.
Well, I guess that's about all for now. I hope you all are well,
73, Carl, KX4AC
**
NS2B:
GE All!
A good week Daryl, busy! Went out to Syracuse Wednesday night to check
out the fireworks at Oneida lake! Those were good!
Then we went up to the Thousand Islands region for a getaway. I always
thought that the name "Thousand Islands" was a euphemism for "a lot of
islands", and that there weren't really a thousand islands.
Took a boat tour, one of the things the guy mentioned was they did an
aerial survey a few years back, using the criteria that an "island" had
to be above water 365 days a year, and be at least 3 square meters. There
are over 1800 islands fitting that description. Amazing!
On the radio front, I got the bug to make myself a portable FT8 station.
I have 10/20/40 End Fedz antenna that I can raise with a Jackite pole.
I bought a Xiegu G90 radio. I've got a laptop loaded up with WSJT-X. I'm
waiting for an audio cable and a gel cell to arrive, and it'll be ready to
go.
And that's it for me Daryl, BTU >>>
**
N5VLZ:
Bob (NY) FB on the fireworks, the thousand islands, and the radio stuff.
I need to replace the battery on one of my UPS units, but that has to wait
until I get some other bills paid first.
GE Bob (OK), how was your week??
**
KF5TVG:
GE Daryl and Bob and ???
Daryl, I'm so sorry to hear about your brother.
We didn't do anything for Independence Day, other than watch the grandkids
with their little fireworks out in front of the house.
I just picked up a few minutes ago a contact in American Samoa, K8K, grid
AH45 on 15m FT8. It's a dxcc from Yaris Petersons, Hl2gm from Latvia. I saw
his signal from Lord Howe Island (between Australia and New Zealand) a couple
of weeks ago, but was unable to connect when he was there.
We had a lot of rain yesterday here in central OK, and the weather has been
really nice today, unlike further south and east of us.
That's all for now. BTU Daryl>>>
**
Bob (OK), thanks for the condolences. I'm holding up remarkably well. FB on
the fireworks, the FT8, and the weather.
There was a guy in Michigan, who got his "Darwin Award". He lit a firework,
and saw it was tilted. So, he went to straighten it out, and when it exploded,
so did he. :P
Looks like it'll be a quick net tonight, but with the potential tornadic storms
approaching, I need a quick net. It'll be either Tuesday night or Wednesday
before I can post the scribe, unless I can squeeze it in tonight.
Bob (NY), thanks for the use of the BBS. Anything else tonight?? >>>
Nothing more here Daryl. I hope you don't get as wet as Houston did!
Everyone take care and stay safe. 73 >>>
**
Bob (NY), thanks for being here.
Bob (NY), anything else??
**
KF5TVG:
I saw where one place near Houston had received 14.98 inches of rain!
Nothing else from here. Thanks to you guys for making this net possible!
BTU Daryl>>>
**
N5VLZ:
Bob (OK), that's a lot of rain!! Thanks for being here.
That'll do it for tonight's PCL Net. Everyone have a good week,
and we'll catch you down the log. 73 and GN DE N5VLZ. >>>
**
Daryl, N5VLZ -- Little Rock, Arkansas
Please See My QRZ Bio For More Info
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