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WX4QZ > ALL 01.12.20 06:40l 210 Lines 7228 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 8383_NS2B
Read: GUEST
Subj: PCL NET Scribe Nov. 30, 2020
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<I0OJJ<GB7CIP<N3HYM<NS2B
Sent: 201201/0437Z 8383@NS2B.#WNY.NY.USA.NOAM BPQ6.0.20
PCL Net Scribe for Nov. 30, 2020
WX4QZ, Daryl, Arkansas (Net Control/Scribe)
NS2B, Bob, New York (Alternate Net Control)
N9LCF, Gene, Indiana
VA7RBP, Rick, Canada
KF5TVG, Bob, Oklahoma
AB8M, Doug, Ohio
N3MEL, Glen, Pennsylvania (early checkin)
***
WX4QZ:
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. This time
of year is NOT the time to DIET -- that's a four
letter excuse to cheat...or an acronym for "Did I
Eat That?? (hi hi).
I've got plenty of food, drink, clothing, and health
items to last the rest of the year. With my fuel
rewards points, I get $1 off on my next tank of gas.
Found a deal of cornbread dressing that one could
microwave. My late Mom made some of the best of that,
and it's good to know I can still buy some to eat.
But, apparently it was too rich to eat the whole
thing with a turkey dinner (cue the Alka Seltzer
commercial of "I can't believe I ate the whole
thing" (hi hi)).
Just a note that there will be no PCL Net on Dec. 21
or Dec. 28 for the Christmas and New Years Holidays.
Facebook's 2 factor authentication (2FA) is screwed
big time, as it won't send me the SMS of the needed
verification code to logon. I've sent them 3 scathing
messages, threatening to go to another social media
platform. They seem to be more in a hurry to police
content, than to handle glitch reports. So, that
means no Facebook checkins for any of my ham radio
nets, let alone postings, until further notice.
We're to have a hard freeze across Arkansas overnight
and that'll officially end the growing season.
The first snowflakes of the season will be mainly
in northwest Arkansas Wednesday into Thursday; but
it's a reminder the seasons are changing. Dec. 1 is
the first day of meteorological winter...and it's
also the 30th anniversary of when I started Sysoping
with a BBS on a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 laptop.
How things have changed!!
I updated the ham radio humor file, and added one on
"operating internet radio" off my personal website, at
https://www.theweatherwonder.com/elk.htm
Bob, FB on FT8 on HF...there was a CME the other day as
well...so, that may make things interesting.
Gene, I don't know if we'll get much snow this winter;
we haven't had much the last few years. I don't have
dial-up anymore...just telnet and web. I'm one of the
original BBS's in Arkansas.
Rick, I don't do decorations, etc. anymore -- got burned
out on the holidays years ago, especially considering
stuff was in the stores in July. GL on getting that issue
solved. I discovered that to add shareware collections to
the BBS from ISO files will take longer than thought. FB
on the digital work on HF.
Bob, the TV was watching you (hi hi). We'll likely talk
about Doozy on the Hotspot Pi SBC and Zoom Net later this
evening.
Doug, that's the weather deal here in Arkansas as well...
5 inches of partly cloudy on the driveway.
**
NS2B:
Well as everyone, I ate most everything I could lay
hands on. And yeah, it ended up being a multiple Tums
evening!! But, it was a good holiday, even if COVID
kept the congregations small.
The last time we met, Jim babbled about something
about working 15m FT8 - so I got ambitious, and
dusted off my tri-band vertical to try it, the day
I got it online not only was 15m open, but so was
10m - 'twas amazing! 10m FT8 looked as busy as 20m
normally does!!
It holds promise that propagation may return one day.
**
N9LCF:
The Thanksgiving was a bit different due to the virus.
The wife and I had a quiet holiday to ourselves, and
it was nice to have quiet time and no fuss for a change.
I also started packet back in the 90's with a Radio Shack
TRS80 computer, and even located a split screen for packet
use. I thought Heaven had opened up to have such a great
program.
The solar flux did hit 104 one day last week, and the
bands responded to it.
We received snow last night, and the countryside is white
today. Nice change from the brown dull fall.
I did spend most of the afternoon yesterday setting up the
BBS in a different computer and I installed the new 20
version and it seems to be working ok so far. Set up the
SMTP port this afternoon, so it should all be up and running.
**
VA7RBP:
My week was not bad at all. Staying home for the most part.
Except for grocery shopping. Taking extra precautions until
Christmas.
We want to make sure there are no issues so we can get together
with our daughter and family for Christmas dinner.
Sounds like everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I would've
enjoyed doing it twice.
We had snow today, but it's kind of slushy, and temperatures
are expected to be above freezing the next few days, so the
wet white stuff will probably disappear.
I haven't been doing much radio work lately, except for the
morning 40m PACTOR1 sessions, some VARA on 20m, and a bit of
JS8 on 80m and 40m. I heard there was some activity on 17m,
15m, and 10m, but I didn't hear much.
I got the Christmas lights up Friday, wanted to get them up
before the snow came.
Ordered and received a service manual for my Yaesu FTM-3200D
2m Fusion radio...it was acting up, so have to check it out.
I've been fighting with my test BPQ32 node on my Windows 7
machine. Hving some trouble with rig control and my PACTOR1
port. That stuff will probably keep me occupied for awhile
this week. Other than that, I have a couple radios to look
at, and my backup power project to keep me busy.
***
KF5TVG:
Don't see snow in the forecast, but will be below freezing
the next night then rain the day after that. Of course,
this is Oklahoma, so could change soon.
First time in over 40 years that it was just my XYL and me
for Thanksgiving. Grandkids are all 4th grade and younger,
so it was actually pretty peaceful with just the two of us!
Wife wanted me to watch some Hallmark Christmas shows on TV,
so I had a pretty good nap in the process (hi hi).
Put up most of our Christmas decorations the last few days.
We're not used to being home at Christmas, and I've gotten
out of practice with outdoor lights, etc. Worn out after that.
Stalled at 103 DXCC mixed band confirmed. Filled out all but
MS on 15m WAS with FT8. It was a pretty good weekend on 15m!!
Spent a big part of my first "rocking chair" check (also known
as Social Security) on an Icom 705. Yes, it's overpriced, but
I really like it. Great receiver, and made FT8 contacts in
Europe with 5-10 watts.
Thanks for the heads up on Doozy. I've been helping a guy
get his Yaesy DR-1X repeater converted to use an MMDVM
controller, so if I give up on doing D-Star through that,
I'm switching to Doozy.
Hope everyone stays safe and can enjoy Christmas soon.
Thanks to you and Bob for doing the net...really appreciate it.
**
AB8M:
Short message this week. Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving.
I'm putting a new packet station together at the moment. Got
the word that if I could get it in the guy's hands by Wednesday,
he could have it up at a high profile repeater site in town. So,
that kind of adjusted my evening plans.
Suppoed to start seeing the snow here...6-8 inches by morning,
and as much as 12 inches by Wednesday morning. Although you
know how this goes...if they forecast it, we won't get it, and
if they say it won't be a big deal, we get snowed in.
**
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