Now that I am retired long weekends seem to sneak up on me as when I was working it seemed they never could come fast enough. As with CW contesting they just don't seem to come fast enough  but space weather has a way of sneaking up and spoiling the contest....well that is what I used to think anyway. In the past, I would faithfully check out the space weather to get a sniff of upcoming conditions for a weekend contest. If things looked rough I would either skip the contest or dip my toes in it just to see how the ride would go. 

Recently I have changed my outlook on the dreaded solar storms. This weekend was the CWops open contest and it is divided into 3 sessions. I took part in the 2nd session only as I had other things on my agenda for the weekend. From 9 am local time to 1 pm is session 2 I jumped in even with a Kp index of 5. I understood it was going to be rough, and I most likely will not beat last year's score but I have decided to use the poor conditions to hone my CW skills. 

In the past when calling CQ contest and having a station come back to me who was almost non-existent and fading in and out I struggled. Now I have the opportunity thanks to the poor solar conditions to practice this skill! I had a ton of fish on 40m and 20m just waiting for me to dig them out of the mud and toss and turn with them as we both faded in and out.

That was how I spent my 4 hours in session 2 of the CWops CW open contest. My score was not the greatest but that was not my goal and considering the poor conditions I would have been frustrated. Instead, I used it as a learning session to work weak and fading stations. When I say weak at times their signal was not even moving my S meter and fading as well. 

Below is my final score and I ended up operating for 3 of the 4 hours as I started late by 30 minutes and I took some breaks. 

Ham College episode 104 is now available for download.

Extra Class Exam Questions – Part 42
E8D Keying defects and overmodulation of digital signals, digital codes, spread spectrum.

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Hello and welcome to Episode #514 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this short topics episode, the hosts discuss several stories including hacking trains with radio, new satellite launches, solar eclipse research, ZFS, Bodhi Linux and much more. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

Here's another great issue!

'The September-October 2023 Communicator' digital periodical of Surrey Amateur Radio Communications is now available for viewing or download.

Our biggest issue to date, read in over 145 countries, we bring you 132 pages of Amateur Radio news from the South West corner of Canada and elsewhere. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

You can view or download it as a .PDF file:  

Previous Communicator issues are at:

https://ve7sar.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Communicator

and a full index is HERE.  

As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome. 

The deadline for the next edition is October 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at [email protected]

73,

John VE7TI

'The Communicator' Editor

In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Chris Howard (M0TCH), Martin Rothwell (M0SGL), Frank Howell (K4FMH), Bill Barnes (WC3B) and Leslie Butterfields (G0CIB) to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and in the episode's feature is History of British Inland and Waterways on the Air (BIWOTA).

We would like to thank our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

• Tropical Storm Hilary: Amateur Radio Activates
• SDRconnect Preview is available to download
• Arecibo Observatory Officially Shuts Down
• HamSCI Solar Eclipse QSO Parties
• Liquid Metal Battery to Flow into the Commercial Market
• IARU Region 1 General Conference
• RSGB Board Director Co-option

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 184 is now available for download.

Visits with friends at Huntsville Hamfest 2023. Plus Emile’s adventures at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

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