Odds and ends

I managed to get outside for just a few minutes yesterday as the moon was approaching maximum coverage of of the sun (90%) at 3:24 PM local time.  I took a small shipping box and punched a hole in the side with a thumbtack. It projected a very tiny, but totally sharp image of the moon covering the sun revealing only a small crescent of sunlight. Of course, this is New Jersey after all, and clouds came in for the actual moment of maximum eclipse. But I can say I saw it. This reminded me of the eclipse of 1972, when I had my 3" refractor telescope set up in the backyard, projecting a magnified image onto a white piece of cardboard.

A co-worker managed to snap this with his iPhone.

BTW, Sean Kutzko KX9X was doing some AM Broadcast Band DXing during the eclipse. He observed that during the maximum period of darkening at his QTH, he was able to hear AM stations from over 500 miles away, that he normally can only hear at night. The D Layer was definitely affected! He recorded the AM Band during the eclipse from start to finish and will go over it in detail over the next few weeks, in order to get a better feel as to how propagation was affected.

I saw on Facebook yesterday, where Alex PY1AHD of AlexLoop fame has become a Silent Key:

It is with extreme sadness and sorrow that I share the passing of our friend and colleague Alex Grimberg (PY1AHD), AlexLoop, due to his renowned work with magnetic loop antennas. Inestimable loss for Brazilian amateur radio, an enterprising and visionary colleague - We are all saddened.

I got word from my friend that he was encouraged by your comments regarding using a local WebSDR as a receiver. He was able to hear stations on 20 Meters via the Web that he was not able to hear on his K3, due to the solar panel noise. He made three successful QSOs on 20 Meters and will most likely use WebSDR for making contacts on 14 MHz and above. Thanks for your encouragement! I'm very happy for him - he had been disappointed (that's putting it mildly) with his situation. It's good to know he can be on the air again.

My KM4CMT EFRW UNUN kit was delivered yesterday. I hope to have it built and ready to go for "Amateur Radio Day At The Library" on April 20th. If I don't have it ready, I'll probably employ the PAR ENDFEDZ or perhaps the EARCHI EFRW that I already have in the backpack. It's not that the kit is a complicated build - far from it. It's a matter of finding time. The next few weekends are really filled up now that lawn mowing season has started up again.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!