The RF Blog

“The RF Blog” is here to chronicle my on-air adventures. So much happens in this studio – it’s where the magic is made! When I think of it, I’ll write about band conditions, rare DX and so on. Maybe your station goes through the same things! Let’s compare notes…

– April 13, 2024
Captain’s log. Stardate… Yes, I’m a huge Star Trek fan (for all the series’ except for Discovery, but you could probably guess as to why.). Sometimes, this hobby feels like ST, with all the high tech. The display on my ham rigs, with their waterfalls and meters and so on get me excied. It feels like maybe I’m in outer space!

I’m stuck on 40 meters today and actually, have reached the end of my “ham time”. I have a radio show that I must voice track, and then it’s whatever the XYL has in mind for the day. Somehow, I don’t think it involves radio. 40 was in great shape overnight. Going through my log, at 0530z (UTC), I was on 7.248 with a random group of late-night insomniacs. The band was (mercifully) quiet overnight, the thunderstorms caused by a swirling low pressure area north of the Great Lakes and it’s associated frontal boundary finally move offshore and the storms died down enough so that the HF bands were very quiet.

So, with those band conditions, I worked the following:

N4RAP – Wayne – in Illinois
K9IKE – Ike in Wisconsin
N8KPQ – Daniel in Ohio
WT2O – Cedrick in Illinois
The big prize though, was WD8CIK. Steve in Calabasas, CA! Steve was weak, but readable at an s5. The noise floor was around s4, so he was just squeaking over the top of the band noise. If those clusters of thunderstorms had been in the south and mid-atlantic like they were the previous night, I’d have never heard him.

This morning, the band seemed very quiet. I logged in to the Al Williams net on 7.228 and most of the signals from our check-in stations were strong, including Dave, KA1W who acts as net control each morning. Sad news, as one of our members became a silent key last night. Joe, NM1O had been very active and on the air until several weeks ago, when his health started keeping him off the air. NM1O is yet another in a long string of radio people whom I’ve watched go be with the Lord this year. It’s a sad reminder of our mortality and, we can’t take our radio toys with us when we go.

It’s 9:30 Eastern and time to voice track. I do a show called “The Time Machine” which airs on WGAM 900/1250 AM and 99.9 & 103.5 FM in the Nashua and Manchester, NH area. It airs Saturday Nights, 7-11pm. If you enjoy the Golden Oldies, come listen!

That’s it for today. 73 and be safe out there. Good DX hunting de K1FRC!