KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Operating Notes: Loooong callsign, a great demo, four days without a contact

Posted: 13 Mar 2017 12:06 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


On Monday, March 6, I worked VE100VIMY/VO1. I think that might be the
longest call sign that Ive ever worked. According to the stations QRZ.Com
page:

VE100VIMY is the call sign issued by Industry Canada, to identify
station(s) which will commemorate the centenary of the Battle of Vimy
Ridge, fought in France in April 1917. On that occasion, Canadian soldiers
fighting as a cohesive unit, succeeded in capturing this strategic point,
which had resisted previous French and British attempts to take it.

This is quite a special event operation. In addition to the Canadian
operations, there will also be a French special event station in operation,
TM100VIMY, according to the stations website.
A great demo

Ive been having a lot of problems with my AT&T UVerse Internet connection.
Over the course of two weeks, Ive had five visits from four different
technicians, and the service is still flakey.

The last tech visit was on Tuesday, March 7. (I would have had them out
here again, but my power was off for more than 96 hours starting Wednesday
afternoon. More about that later.)

He was here for an hour and a half or so. While he was running some tests,
we got to talking about this and that, and I mentioned that I was an
amateur radio operator. Of course, I also mentioned that Im a big CW
operator and showed him a copy of my book, The CW Geeks Guide to Having Fun
with Morse Code.

When he had finished running his tests, he asked if he could see my station
real quick. I said sure, and we headed downstairs. I fired up the rig and
just happened to hear W2XB calling CQ. Don is a great operator, and Ive
worked him many times.

I punched the keyerÂ*up to 25 wpmÂ*and returned the call. Don and IÂ*had just
a short QSO, as I didnt want to delay the tech too long, but it turned out
to be a great demo. I gave the tech my card and told him to download my
free study guide. Who knows? I might have yet another Elmeree.
Back on the air

Last Wednesday, we had a freak windstorm here in SE Michigan. Winds of
nearly 70 mph were clocked in various parts of the area. The windstorms
knocked out power to more than a million people, myself included.Â*The power
was only restored yesterday afternoon, more than 96 hours after it had gone
out.Â*Those 96 hours were the longest time Ive been without power since I
moved to Ann ArborÂ*and the longest time that Ive been off the air in more
than 12 years.

During the outage, my wife and I stayed at my mother-in-laws house about a
half hour from Ann Arbor. If Id known the power was going to be out for so
long I might have considered taking my KX1 and throwing a wire out a window.

My friend, Thom, W8TAM, Â*is still without power. He e-mailed meÂ*on Friday,
saying, I made a couple 40m contacts last night. Im burning battery power
for radio! Hows that for dedication? Â*Hes using a propane heater to keep
warm and a neighbors wi-fiÂ*to send and receive email.

In this age of climate change and deteriorating infrastructure, it probably
is time to think about taking steps to insulate oneself (pun intended) from
events like this.

The post Operating Notes: Loooong callsign, a great demo, four days without
a contact appeared first on KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.