Were the bands cruddy or what?

 Yesterday.. I got the chance to get on in the early afternoon.. I did not hear anyone on any band save for a few Florida QSO Party participants Other than those guys', the bands were just noise. I went to the POTA spotting page and saw my friend Brian KB9BVN listed as doing an activation - could not hear him. I heard a few weak signals that must have been working him, but I did not hear him.

Also, I normally have a pipeline down into Georgia and Virginia. I couldn't hear anyone from those states. The St. Max Net at 8:00 PM wasn't much better. I heard Lloyd K3QNT, the Net Control  Station alright, but most of the net participants were down in the mud.

I had planned to go over to the Edison Memorial over in Menlo Park to do a POTA activation as the weather was so beautiful yesterday. I'm glad I checked the bands, first. It would have been an exercise in frustration. Maybe next weekend, if the weather holds up.

I took the opportunity to hook my bug up to the computer and let the Ham Radio Solutions bot decode my CW.  Surprisingly, I didn't do all too badly and after about 1/2 hour pf practice I was sending without hardly any errors at all. I'm still not ready to go "live on the air" with it yet, but I'm happy that I'm not too far off.  The hardest part was to remember that the Dahs are not automatically made like with a paddle and keyer. Once you remember that, it becomes a lot easier. 

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!