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N5VLZ  > ALL      20.02.24 03:52l 198 Lines 7981 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 3122_NS2B
Read: GUEST
Subj: PCL NET SCRIBE FEB 19 2024
Path: IW8PGT<I3XTY<I0OJJ<EA2RCF<LU9DCE<W0ARP<K7EK<VE3CGR<VE7ASS<VA7RBP<
      VE3KPG<N9PMO<NS2B
Sent: 240220/0132Z 3122@NS2B.#WNY.NY.USA.NOAM BPQ6.0.24

PCL NET SCRIBE FEB 19 2024

N5VLZ, Daryl, Arkansas (Net Control/Scribe)
NS2B, Bob, New York (Sysop)
KX4AC, Carl, Florida
VA7RBP, Rick, Canada

**

N5VLZ:

Now that we're in Lent, Easter is on March 31...so the PCL 
Net will be QRT on Monday, April 1, and that's no April 
Fool. Although when I do laundry, I think it's the season 
of "Lint", year round (hi hi).

While the last few mornings here have been below freezing,
daytime highs have been very springlike. We have a chance
of storms Thursday, some severe, but the spring tornado
season is nearly here. Some models are showing a strong El
Nino, which could mean lower tornadoes in the MidSouth and
Arklamiss, but more in the traditional tornado alley. Then, 
hurricane season is just over three months away. Some areas 
of the country are about to wash away, and there was a rare 
potential for tornadoes in the Sacremento Valley of northern 
California today, with more flooding in southern California.

The FCC's Electronic Batch File System for processing new
and renewed licenses, upgrades, and callsign changes, went
Tango Uniform last Tuesday...so folks wanting these, have
to wait a bit longer. The FCC and ARRL were closed for 
Presidents Day today. And, my HamShack Hotline phone did 
likewise, so I have removed my account there for now. It 
will be a bit before I can get a replacement phone. Those 
are expensive, and a bear to provision, but once you get 
them working, they are a nice way of communication, 
especially during nets, or when you don't want to use 
cellphone time, or say certain things over the air.

I'm starting a new net on the QuadNet Array, on Saturday,
March 2, called the Pun In Life Net, at 4pm US Eastern
Time. Details and connection options are at 
https://openquad.net -- I will use Netlogger for the net.
Play on words humor, ham radio and otherwise, will be 
featured...you'll see I have too much thyme on my hands
(hi hi). 

Speaking of which, the time change back to Daylight Savings
Time is on March 10. Most net times won't change, but UTC
times will be an hour earlier, if you observe the change.
We lose an hour of sleep, but get an extra hour of daylight.
That really screws things up with the net list spreadsheets
that I have off of the hyperlink off of my QRZ bio...and
that was the hardest thing to consider when I set all that 
up. I'm sure there'll be folks who forget to spring forward,
so they'll be an hour late to work, church, commitments, 
meetings, or even ham radio traffic nets.

I've got appointments with the urologist on Tuesday, the
podiatrist on Wednesday, and have to go early vote ahead
of the Super Tuesday elections on March 5. I'd like to vote
for Bill The Cat and Opus The Penguin from Bloom County
(hi hi). I'll be taking Lyft to all of these, since the HMO
transport service only allows 12 round trips per year, and
I've already used 2 of them. Hopefully, I won't have long
to wait when I early vote, but I don't want to be in line
on Election Day. I found out that I have to wait until
after mid-May, before I can have any invasive procedures
done, which would be 6 months after my hip replacement
surgery last November. I'm getting better each day, but
I'm still sore, exercising muscles I haven't used in a
good while.

I need to get some ink cartridges and paper for my Canon
printer...but Canon and Hewlitt-Packard have set it where
you can NOT use generic cartridges (which are cheaper), as
they won't recognize them, and the printer quits working.
So, you have to buy the more expensive name brand ones. I
am trying to find a workaround...the printers aren't that
expensive, compared to the ink cartridges you have to buy!!
Yet, I don't print that much anymore, because of that. If
anyone knows of a workaround, please let me know. I really
don't want to have to buy a new printer, never mind I can't
afford it.

The local Office Depot wouldn't take my debit card, so I
paid cash to get my new ham radio license (N5VLZ) laminated,
and told them "I would take my business elsewhere". I also
need to get a new case for my license exam supplies, as the
handle broke off the one I have, and it's rather heavy. But,
I have to see about other incoming bills, including one from
the Emergency Room last month, after thinking that I had
dislocated my hip, but I apparently severely pinched the left
sciatic nerve.

I'll be up all night Saturday night, preparing the release
of the next square dance publication. It's a waiting game
now, waiting for items to arrive, but so many wait until
the last minute to send things in...and I'm sure it's the
same with ham radio club newsletters, etc. I also have to
make final tallies next week, as I'm the VHF, UHF, and SHF
Net Manager for the Quarter Century Wireless Association.

**

NS2B:
 
GE All!

Was a cold week for us. But moving toward warmer weather 
later this week.

Spent the week puttering with various versions of Pi-star 
for my hotspots. Finally gave up for a bit, and went back 
to 4.1.8 which is quite stable. There's a second 
incarnation of 4.2.1 out that I haven't gotten brave 
enough to try. The 1st release of 4.2.1 was a mess!

**

KX4AC: 

GE all, it was a quiet, rainy weekend here. I have been 
puttering on some small projects. I made some improvements 
to the tuna-tin receiver and ordered a NB CW filter ... 
the tuna-tin definitely needs more selectivity. I also got 
an old Yaesu FT100D from ebay ... been checking it out.  
Receive seems OK, but I still need to get it on a dummy 
load and see if the finals work or if the transistors need 
replacing. If I can get it working OK, it will be a nice
rig for the car. Also been working on a hamstick-based 
solution for HF in the apartment.

**
VA7RBP: 

Good evening Daryl and all on the NET.

Another slow week, project wise. I haven't made any progress 
with figuring out JNOS and AMPRNET yet...

The weather here is still pretty chilly at night, getting 
down to around 20F, gloomy cloudiness with day temps of 
around 40F. Going for walk when there is a breeze is pretty 
uncomfortable.

I almost didn't make it tonight, we have a holiday today, 
so naturally I figured...but I'm glad I decided to check. 
Not much going on. 

Along with the JNOS/AMPRNET project, I have been trying to 
set up and test AXIP/UDP links on BPQ with several guys in 
CA. So that's been in progress off and on through the week. 
Then when I don't feel like doing anything because of the 
outside gloominess, I dive into a library book and read.

Lots of projects still on the shelf, that I haven't been 
paying much attention to, but eventually I'll get around 

OH, I forgot to mention. I finally got to see an orthpedic 
surgeon about my knee this week. Looks like I'll be getting 
some surgery to remove the bone fragment from my knee...
sometime...On the waiting list, as usual.

**

Replies from N5VLZ:

Bob (NY), the groundhog may be right after all. FB on
the hotspots. Sometimes those upgrades are more like
downgrades.

Carl,  FB on the projects...might as well do something
constructive when you're stuck inside due to the weather.
Loved those hamsticks when I was using them.

Rick, bummer on the project difficulties, and GL on the
links with BPQ. The warmer weather will work its way 
northward soon enough...some areas of the Arklatex may 
hit 80 this week before the next cold front moves through. 
We only cancel for Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, 
Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. I 
figured that's why the crowd is light tonight. My late
XYL was a bookworm, but I never was...the reading is too
hard on my eyes anymore...and that has cut down on my
computer time, with ham radio nets and otherwise. I'm
using the Systane Eye Drops, and sucking on throat
losenges like crazy. Pollen season will be here soon.
GL on the knee issues. I've been doing better since the
left hip replacement surgery just over 3 months ago now.
I hope I won't need any more surgery, but just routine
procedures.

**





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