Time honored tradition for New Year's Eve and Day:

Straight Key Night!

I already have a couple of tickets for another event tonight:

 But maybe I'll use these after getting on for a QSO or two for Straight Key Night.

As per the ARRL Website:

ARRL Straight Key Night: January 1, 2025

12/25/2024

ARRL Straight Key Night is January 1, 2025, from 0000 UTC through 2359 UTC. This 24-hour event is not a contest but rather a day dedicated to celebrating our CW heritage -- radio communications by Morse code.

Participants are encouraged to get on the air and simply make enjoyable, conversational CW QSOs (radio contacts). The use of straight keys or bugs to send CW is preferred. There are no points scored and all who participate are winners. All authorized amateur frequencies may be used but activity has traditionally been centered on the HF bands.

Entries for Straight Key Night must be received by January 3, 2025. Votes for "Best Fist" and “Most Interesting QSO” will be tabulated and included in the results. Send your information to straightkey@arrl.org or by mail to ARRL Straight Key Night, 225 Main Street, Newington, Connecticut 06111. For more information, contact contests@arrl.org or (860) 594-0232.

Visit the ARRL website for more details: www.arrl.org/straight-key-night.

The cold weather has moderated in NJ with it being rather warmish the past couple of days, so I should be able to spend some time in the shack without turning the space heater on. But there is a local meteorologist that I follow on Facebook, and the reason I follow him is that his forecasts are usually spot on. He's right more often than he's wrong, which can be said to be unusual for a weatherman. His latest post included forecasts for New Year's Eve and Day, but ended with an ominous note.  (Paraphrasing here) "After the New Year, Winter is going to bite us on the butt (his exact words) in early January, with way below normal temperatures and the possibility of significant snow events."

Not exactly my idea of kicking off the new year in good fashion.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!