Miscellania

The Flying Pigs monthly sprint, the "Run For The Bacon" was rather poorly attended last night. I attribute that to Packers/Giants Championship series football. I made 8 contacts before I gave up for the night. Fortunately, 40 Meters was again usable last night; but the band was long. Arkansas, Louisiana, Colorado were a few of the states I worked last night on 40. 80 Meters was a bit on the noisy side which is odd for Winter. The RFTB Autolog on the Flying Pigs Web site reflects the lack of participants.

I think I might put up a key or two on Ebay to try and raise funds for one of the two VizKey bugs. I am intrigued by the vertical bug as well as the right angle bug. There's a video on YouTube showing off the vertical version in action; and it looks like it can be slowed down as low as 15 WPM or so. Plus, it seems that there's also the benefit of the small footprint such a bug would provide.

As mentioned before, I've really become enamored with using a bug. I want to become really proficient at it; to the point where it would take a real hard listen to discern whether I was using a bug or keyer and paddles. A lofty goal perhaps, but a fun one to try and attain.

I've taken some blogs off the Blogroll and have added a few new ones. I took off a couple that have not had entries since last summer. It stands to reason that they will probably not be updated in the near future. I'll keep my eye on them; and if there are new posts added, I will put them back on the list.

It is quite cold here today. The high didn't go past 25 F; and there was quite a breeze, making it feel colder than that. I had the day off, in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. My old company didn't give us the day off. This was the first time since it has become a Federal holiday that I've had it off. Having Monday off is nice; but it always seems to make the rest of the work week seem longer than normal.

So far, as of right this moment, I have 108 QSOs on the books for January. I know that's not a tremendous amount compared to how often some of you out there get on the air. But, it's a lot more than one QSO per day! And that's a lot more that I've been on the air since about last April or May.

Last little note. I am noticing that the daylight hours are getting perceptibly longer. Twilight is taking hold now between the hours of 5:00 and 6:00 PM; maybe with an edge a bit closer to 6:00 PM. Today marks the "1/3rd of the way through" Winter mark. The only thing that could please me more were if it were May. May, June and July are my three most favorite months of the year.

73 de Larry W2LJ