N5VLZ  > ALL      30.04.25 07:30z 282 Lines 8843 Bytes #128 (0) @ WW
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Subj: PCL NET SCRIBE APR 28 2025
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Sent: 250430/0713Z 26368@NS2B.#WNY.NY.USA.NOAM BPQ6.0.24

PCL NET SCRIBE APR 28 2025

N5VLZ, Daryl, Arkansas (Net Control/Scribe)
NS2B, Bob, New York (Sysop)
N8EMA, Jeff, Florida (New Checkin)
KX4AC, Carl, Arizona 
VA7RBP, Rick, Canada
KF5TVG, Bob, Oklahoma
K0WAV, Scott, Arkansas

**

Welcome to the April 28, 2025 PCL Net. No
early checkins. Net order is Daryl, Bob (NY)
Jeff, Carl, Rick, Bob (OK), Scott, and whoever 
else shows up.

I hope everyone had a good Easter holiday.
Our next net holiday is May 26 for Memorial
Day.

This has been a very stormy spring...I've
been watching Ryan Hall, KJ4WHM, much of
the day. There have been reports of 3-5
inch hail in west Texas in the last week,
along with tornadoes elsewhere.

With the storms and rain, the lawn is 
really growing...so my lawn man is due 
by sometime Tuesday. I prefer only a twice 
a month mow, as it costs too much for more 
than that. 

I have to call SimpliSafe to install the
outdoor camera on the alarm system, as I
don't have the tools, and my friends are
out of pocket right now. At least I can
self install the door sensors, the motion
detectors, and the glass breaking monitors,
and can add stuff to the system later on.
I'm waiting on the next month disability
check to arrive. I'll pay about as much as
I was paying for ADT, but more monitoring
options are available for the same price.

Last night, I had to get out a square dance 
publication, so I can take a few days rest 
from that until next month. Wouldn't you
know it, some items came in today, too late
for the deadline...but I can't wait forever
on stuff to arrive. Yet, it's like pulling
teeth getting folks to send stuff in.

Thanks to a fellow ham radio operator, he
offered the chance for me to do a day trip
with him to the Shreveport Hamfest in August. 
That may be the only one I can do, but with 
my making it a day trip, it'll save a bunch
of money. Since he won the grand prize at 
an area hamfest in March, maybe I can do the 
same in August.

I'm on a diet of Starkist Tunafish sandwiches.
The 3 favorite flavors are the original, bacon
ranch, and honey BBQ. I may try Hickory Smoke
next month, but not sure about the others. I
would like to get some chips or maybe Bush's
Baked beans with it. My A1C dropped from 6.4
to 5.8 last week, probably because I haven't
eaten any cookies, or sweet stuff in awhile.
But, a meal to me isn't complete without some
dessert...and STRESSED spelled backwards is
DESSERTS.

I hope to get a haircut next month...I'm
looking like a hobo who thinks he's Santa
Claus...but "Christmas In July" will be here
soon. I'm also hoping to go out with an XYL
and her OM for lunch, and a time of fellowship,
but they're on the other side of the county. 
It gives the 3 of us a chance to get away from 
the 4 walls we have to look at each day.

**

NS2B:

GE All!

A typical week. Cold, then warm, then cold.

'Twas nice today - got my first yard mowing 
done!

3-5" hail?! That'll put a dent in things - 
no pun intended.

FB on getting to Shreveport - you need to 
get out!

The birthday and Easter were a non-stop eating 
fest. I'm almost glad it's over!! But it was 
good!

Ordered a new radio for my Winlink station.
I had been running it off an old HT I had. 
Figured it time to get serious with it. The 
radio arrived today - waiting for a power 
supply - supposed to be here Friday.

That's it for me. BTU Daryl >>>

**

N8EMA: 

GE All! Typical day here in Florida 92 Degrees 
and HOT! Currently thunderstorms now..

Using my new to me GETAC laptop tonight, this 
thing is nice...

Thats all I have, just sat down to eat a late 
dinner. BTU Daryl >>>

**

KX4AC: 

GE All ... had a pretty good week. The Easter 
Bunny (or Beagle?) was good to me. I got peeks 
and a dinner at Outback.  

This is about the best time of year in Phoenix. 
Cool in the mornings and not too hot yet in the 
afternoons.

Saturday, I took the camera out to Taliesin West 
(Frank Lloyd Wright's place) and dropped off the 
film at a local place for development.

I finally got a long wire antenna looped around 
the house just under the eaves where the HOA 
hopefully won't see it. I setup a bunch of Faraday 
cloth as a ground. It works pretty good, and the 
radio will tune it down to about 3.7Mhz ... so not 
quite to the bottom of the 80m band. Made some 
contacts on 40 an 20m, so it is working, though I 
think I really need a remote tuner right at the 
output of the (;1 UNUN. Anyway, I have the radio 
out on the back patio now until I rig a window 
feed-through.

The lawn is starting to fill in after the winter. 
here are some brown spots, so I got some grass 
seed today to try an help it fill in. The Bermuda 
grass we use here is basically a weed, so it will 
fill in by itself, but I want to speed up the 
process.

Thanks for running the net each week. I always 
look forward to it. >>>

VA7RBP: 

GE Daryl and all on NET.

It has been a fairly slow couple of weeks. Our 
temps have been ranging between 32F at night and 
up to 70F during the day. Doing my usual 40M and 
20M PACTOR in the mornings...the bands (for me) 
have been poor.

Started doing some gardening in our raised 
planters, radishes are coming up, and rhubarb 
is growing nicely. I'll plant a few tomatoes 
later in May. Good Friday, I thatched the lawn, 
and it's starting to thicken up.

Over Easter weekend we drove to Kamloops to visit 
with my Aunt and some Cousins, so at least we got 
out of the house. We're still getting snow in the 
high mountain passes, and encountered some flakes 
on our trip. Really looking forward to warmer 
weather.

Thanks for doing the NET Daryl, and thanks to Bob 
for providing the facilities. Everyone have a great 
week, stay well, and 73 until next time. >>>

K0WAV: 

Well like most down in the SE it was Mostly wet with 
periods of less wet!

We got 3" and they are are calling for 2" over the 
next 72 hours so more of the same.

I was able to get the weed killer out during a bit 
of the drier days and it is showing evidence of 
working.

Yes the HF bands have been rough. I have not been 
able to reliably check into the Central Area Traffic 
Net for about a week now. 20meters for that net.

I was out in at the end of March inspecting my coax 
and it is starting to look a bit suspect. So I lucked 
out on ordering some new. ABR was running a progressive 
discount, and I was able to order enough to get the 20% 
discount and just under the wire. Order on the last day 
of the sale. Well, it has arrived, but weather has 
spoiled my plans to get it in use. 

On other radio things... I have been playing with FreeDV 
for HF. It is a digital voice mode on SSB. You need a 
computer with a mic. You talk into the computer, and it 
digitizes the voice, and then TX a digital signal only 
1.5Hz wide on HF, and on the other end a computer does 
the digital to analog and it is nearly FM quality, no 
static, no hiss, no noise. Pretty cool stuff.

TX Bob for the BBS and Daryl for NCS.

Everyone stay safe and stay weather aware! >>>

KF5TVG: 

GE All and no worries Daryl!

We're under a tornado watch tonight 'till 11pm. 
Multiple days coming up for heavy rain and possible 
severe weather... Typical spring.

Attended our local club meeting last Sat and the 
presentation was about weather radar, by an engineer 
who has been doing development here in Norman OK 
since the mid '70s. Very interesting about how the 
advancement to dual polarization (vert and horiz) 
and lots of signal processing helps determine whether 
the radar is seeing rain, snow, sleet, etc. Turns out 
much of the advancements in weather radar have been 
developed here in Norman.

Not much else to report, so back to you Daryl>>>

Replies from N5VLZ (as best as I can recall them):

Bob (NY), the storm chasers were replacing their car
windshields several times a week!! The Shreveport one
may be the only hamfest I can make, but at least I can
get out. Holidays are for eating. :) FB on the new radio
for the Winlink setup.

Jeff, glad to have you with us. We're here most Monday
evenings at 8pm Eastern Time. FB on the laptop...enjoy
the dinner. 

Carl, FB on the Easter dinner at Outback, the weather,
and the photography. Hopefully the HOA folks won't see
the antenna. FB on the lawn growing. 

Rick, FB on the weather, and several hams reported that
the band conditions on the HandiHams 58th Anniversary
Special Event Station said that HF conditions were awful.
FB on the gardening and the family visit over Easter.

Scott, FB on using the weed killer. You sure got a good
deal on that coax, but too bad the weather delayed the
installation. FB on the FreeDV for HF. 

Bob (OK), sorry I skipped over you. This has been a
very stormy spring. I think during the spring, they
have an open house at the National Weather Center there
in Norman.

**


Daryl Stout, N5VLZ, Little Rock, Arkansas
Please see my QRZ bio for more information.


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