This October was not a good one for Near-Fest. It was wet and cold. Not too many vendors or flea market guys showed up. So it was very sparse this year.
However, I did run into Mike N1STN who had some interesting antenna launchers for sale.
We have all seen this type of antenna launcher before; however, this one is a little different. It has an extension piece on the valve to make it easier to fire the launcher. It is also built with much better PVC material. Mike says he routinely puts 100 psi of pressure into the launcher.
He only makes a few and sells them only at Ham flea markets. He also makes one with an electric valve trigger, but those were sold out.
They are completely assembled and very well constructed. I want to say they were $120 but I can't remember now.
 |
| Antenna launcher |
 |
| Close up view. Notice the projectiles are small orange colored PVC types. |
 |
| Air cannon with an electric valve. Mike was kind enough to send me this picture. Thanks Mike! |
Of course the main reason I go to Near-Fest is for the home made desserts! This year it was Dutch apple pie. Very good!!!
 |
| The local church group runs this food concession where they serve the pie. |
 |
| Pie special this year: Dutch Apple Pie Ala mode! Yummy!! |
Ran into this interesting looking trailer. Reminded me of the NestEgg trailers. It turns out this was a prototype trailer someone had built. The person had a complete Ham station inside.
 |
| This is a home made "Egg" |
Of course no visit to Near-Fest would be complete without stopping by the Nut Net table with Brian WO1VES and Harry WA1VVH. The Nut Net is an informal net that starts every night at 11:00 P.M. on the NSRA Danvers MA repeater and is open to everyone. Brian was telling me that there are not a lot of check ins, but he says there are a lot of listeners. He says a lot of people tell him how much they like listening to the Nut Net.
I must admit it is quite informative as well as entertaining.
 |
| The Nut Net guys Harry and Brian. |
Well, here is my 2018 K3Y QSL card. This one was special because I got the grand sweep. Other years I would only get 18 of 19. One year it was Asia and one year it was South America.
Notice that I had gotten them all by the 9th. I wasn't taking any chances this year!!
The reason I got it so late is because I was moving and didn't want to worry about having it sent to the wrong address. Especially since I was not sure where I would be for awhile.
Thanks to Drew AF2Z and Jeremy KD8VSQ for getting this QSL card to me!
 |
| K3Y QSL front |
 |
| K3Y QSL back |
Moving along, got 60 (need 150) 2xQRP points so far. One note: I have had a couple of sked page QSOs where the other operator was QRP, but did not indicate that they were until they sent their power. It would be helpful if you request a SKCC qso and you are QRP, to please let me know that ahead of time. It will save me some time. Or I could just ask HIHI.
Log book woes:
Well, I did it again. I forgot to correct the clock in the K2FRP SprintLogger. All 59 of my QSOs were off by one hour. It took me half the day to correct the log and correct eQSL.cc and LoTW.
Maybe I should stop using it.
Windows bit me with an update. I have been able to just ignore the recovery feature for the SKCCLogger, but this time.. NOPE!!. When I opened the logger, I noticed that none of my QSOs since WES were there. Fortunately, I was able to recover them after an initial moment of panic.
SKCC:
I am working towards Sx4. It is taking me a long time to get there. The main reason has been the two moves I have had in 4 months. My antenna isn't as good as what I had in VT plus I was off the air for 2 months. I am down to needing 60 more "T"s.
WES:
October WES I had 77 QSO and was 36th overall and 20th in QRO. Bonus was to spell words from calls. I missed one word. I needed one more "P".
November WES was not so good. Ended up with only 59 QSOs and was way down in the standings. I was 69th overall and 51st in QRO, not my best effort.
Brag:
Did not get my 3 per day this month. I ended up with 73 brags which was good enough for 17th place.
Rag Chew:
BTW I got a mention in the June issue of the Rag Chew news letter in the Brag section. Also my article "The SKCC for the Intellectually Challenged " is in the March issue. If you haven't read the Rag Chew, you should. Not just because of me... there are a lot of good things in there.
Here is a link to all issues The Rag Chew
Ted, K8AQM is the editor and is always looking for material for the news letter, so if you have something, let him know. Thanks Ted for your efforts!!
QSOs:
I have had 309 QSOs since my last Oct 3rd. All were CW.
