On the job front, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have been offered a position with the new contractor. There will be little change from old to new - I lose two weeks of paid vacation, but to me that's minor compared to seeking employment with another company at my age. Now begins the tedious process of on boarding. When I was a young pup, fresh out of college, you interviewed and if you were offered a position and accepted, there was a handshake and you started working. Now there's all kinds of hoops to jump through, forms to fill out, etc, etc, etc.
That aside, there's this COVID-19 crisis. SPARC meetings have been cancelled for the time being, CERT classes offered by the county have been cancelled for the time being and the new just came down that Hamvention has been cancelled for 2020. I pray to God that this passes quickly and that all of my family, friends and you, my readers, get through this unscathed.
Fortunately, while Amateur Radio is by large and social activity, it can also be a solitary activity from the safe confines of one's shack. And so it was that I continued to chase my personal goal of participating in all the State QSO Parties in 2020.
This weekend we had the Oklahoma, Idaho and Wisconsin QSO Parties. I managed to get QSOs in all three. I thought that Wisconsin would be a cake walk and the other two a bit harder. Again, I was wrong. There were surprisingly a lot of Oklahoma stations on the air on Saturday and conditions were such that they were all pretty loud. I also scored a couple of Idahoans on 20 Meters. They turned out to be easier to find than expected. I really thought that Idaho was going to be tougher than it turned out to be. Sunday was the Wisconsin QSO Party and I was able to log stations on both 40 and 20 Meters.
The world may seem to be falling apart, but Amateur Radio continues to be an activity where you can find satisfaction, enjoyment and accomplishment - all from the comfort of home.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Congrats on the job front Larry. I'm happy that this worked out for you and sure that reduces the stress considerably. We'll get through this Covid 19 thing. While we have to use good judgement, I nevertheless feel that the media has made the situation worse. God Bless.
ReplyDeleteGeorge
K2WO