Here are some random operating notes:
- Since I still haven’t gotten my 40m dipole back up in the air, I’ve been operating a lot of 80m lately. Many of the stations I work complain about the noise, with many saying that the noise level is S9. I just don’t have that problem here.
I’m guessing that it’s my crummy random-wire antenna. It certainly doesn’t seem to hear as well as it transmits. Then again, I hear a fair amount of S9 stations, so maybe it’s not that at all. Maybe I’m just lucky?
- More stations seem to be using tube gear or homebrew gear on 80m than on the other bands. I’ve certainly not done a scientific study of this, but it certainly seems this way.
- Lots of times at the end of a QSO, I’ll hear a third station give a “dit dit” as though they were copying the QSO and wanted to also say goodbye or at least acknowledge that they were copying. I wish more of them would do more than just dit-dit me. If you’re one of those operators, please feel free to call and have a QSO with me.
- Tonight, I was the net control operator for our club’s 2m Monday Night Net. Including me, we had 25 stations on the net tonight! I don’t know if that’s a record, but it’s pretty close. It took us 45 minutes to get through the first go-around, so I just called it quits after giving everyone a transmission.
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