Subj : Re: New Adventures in Old Tech
To   : Ed Vance
From : n2qfd
Date : Mon Jul 22 2024 07:08:48


 EV> Mal, When I saw QLF , I once put a J-38 key on the floor and used my
 EV> Left Foot to send CQ and began a QSO using the foot for a bit.
 EV> BTW, I am Left-Handed.

 Left handed people are in their right minds! This is what my mom always said anyhow. Dad always said she set the table backwards, but it never bothered me. 

 EV> During the Investigation the operator at the land base station told the
 EV> law that he heard a different FIST sending the end of the message.
 
 I love this and it goes so under appreciated. I can tell who's sending on a
straight key too. My dad's fist for example is so regular to me I know when he's thinking about something he's trying to send. But I can sometimes tell a CQ before the call sign on 40m where I've hung out for so long by the fist too. 
 I think people get the impression that CW is cold and that's just not true. It's such a mind to mind conversation with an individual and that hand on the sending device very much comes though which is why I like the straight keys too. I think the keyers steal away the personality. 

 EV> Those low RST's You gave during the QRP Contest to those stations, was it
 EV> because of Band conditions or because of the very low power the rigs had?

 Both, band was down plus we were all on the electronic kazoos of the amateur
world with just enough electrons to vibrate a xtal. 

 EV> That beast had two 813s putting out 700 watts AM or CW.
 EV> 
 EV> I saved a page showing it -  www.isquare.com/personal_pages/t350.htm
 EV> 
 EV> That address is one I got in 2017, hope it is still good. I don't know
 EV> how to be logged on the BBS typing a reply and being able to use another
 EV> session of Firefox to check the URL out.
 EV> Hope it works.

  GOOD LORD that thing could make you a grilled cheese sandwich while you were sending too. People talk about how much cooling is needed for todays computers, I don't think they appreciate the hum and the glow of tube life!

  Did some Slow Speed Contests this weekend. CQ SST from K3USN the idea is it should be casual and 20WPM max which suits me. Friday the bands were unsettled, but it was only 4-5 PM east coast so makes sense on 40m to be a lot of fade at that hour in the summer. Last night Sunday it was 8-9PM and the bands were stable but everyone knew it too! I worked 2 stations calling SST but then kept hitting CQ FP and it turned out the Flying Pigs QRP club was doing something called the Bacon Run so I looked them up and figured out non-club exchange and got a few of them some points. Then I hit a guy calling CQ WWFF and had to look that up... World Wide Flora and Fauna... whatever, did a quick QSO with him too, then it was time to get ready for bed. 

  Another week of being a NYSEG draftsman is ahead of me and if the world can not have any major computer outages again that would be nice! 

 Best 73

  Mal

N2QFD{Queen City BBS}:// "Does this need to be said? Does this need to be said
by me? Does this need to be said by me right now?" - Craig Ferguson 

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Raspberry Pi/32)
 * Origin: Queen City BBS (21:1/154)

.