N4KGL QRP: N4KGL Radio Beacon Rocket Feb 12th Launch Report

N4KGL QRP: N4KGL Radio Beacon Rocket Feb 12th Launch Report: "Thanks to all who were listening for the N4KGL/B beacon on 14.060 MHz which was launched at 1730 UTC on Saturday Feb 12th from the SouthEast..."

Greg, Fine Business on your Rocket Launch. I'm sorry that I missed it, and hope to follow along here and catch future launch(es). 'Great to see that a fellow SKCC neighbor WA2OQJ in Long Island logged your beacon. 73 Phil

Paradise in the Logbook

I was able to check into the 80 meter OMISS net Monday. I've gotten away from SSB lately, but it was good to touch base with the organization that got me started in Ham Radio. Thanks to all for the calls, including KI6WOX, Mike in Paradise, California!

Stations Worked:

KA8YIT Ohio 4/4

W5JDF Texas 5/5

WA4HBQ North Carolina 5/9

K8BEC West Virginia 5/9

WA8HHE Michigan 5/9

KI6WOX California 3/3

W0VD Missouri 5/9

NN1G New Hampshire 5/9

KG5B Texas 3/3

"Night Call" - Chapter 15

"Phone calls at 1:30 in the morning mean one of two things. A relative or close friend has died, or there's a new one on!" pg. 124

Great Quote!

I'm really enjoying "The Complete DX'er" 3rd edition by Bob Locher, W9KNI

F6HKA

I had the pleasure of a CW QSO with Burt, F6HKA again today. A glance at the log shows I've contacted F6HKA four times now....the first three times on 20 meters. Today was our fist 17m QSO. I've never met Burt....never been to France. If I had the pleasure one day, I would thank him for being a great radio operator, great fist for CW, great signal, matches my code speed, and a consummate gentleman. QRZed lookup shows F6HKA to be ~ 5700 km from West Hartford, CT. His strong (RST = 599) signal and pleasant manner make it seem like talking with your neighbor over the fence. Of course, he is on the other side of the world! This is what makes ham radio so much fun. Thanks Bert.

Jupiter Tonight

Observing Jupiter with Ben, using our 6" Dobsonian reflector. We were a little late, as the planet was fast disappearing behind trees on the mountain to our west. Ben encouraged me to look anyway. We had a nice view of the planet, a hint of bands, and Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede. A check of Pocket Universe showed that Io was to become visible separate from the disc of Jupiter at around 2334z. All was out of our view by that time. Man, that would have been neat.

Winter Storm Benedict

Winter storm "Benedict" left 22.5" snow. Not much radio activity today. The ladder line feeding the dipole is about 1 foot below surface. No difference in performance that I can tell.

Studies on Solar Disturbances

An issue of QEX turned up on the kitchen counter last week....thought it was new....but turned out to be Jan/Feb 2010 that must have gotten misplaced around the house. It's no coincidence that I turned to the "Amateur Radio Astronomy Projects" article by Jon Wallace. He's written a wonderful series of articles on this topic over the past several years. This is a great partnership of several of my interests, and I'm working to learn more here. I'm using Evernote web based software to keep track of my personal notes, and the multitude of web resources on this topic.