Weather-wise it was a good day for radio, but I didn't do much beyond listening until later tonight.
I worked a fellow last night with my latest Speed-X key, and it's pretty much dialed in the way I want. I don't know why, but these keys just seem to have a smoother action that most Vibroplexes. I think the mainspring is simply longer, making the pendulum movements a little mushier. I suspect that for faster speed CW, the Speed-X would been too slow. That's not a problem .. yet!
80 CW was a mess tonight. The KSN meets at 3579, and there was a digital station sitting almost on top of us. Not only that, but band conditions weren't good between here and the NCS's QTH (Richmond, Ky.). The QRM was S9 +10 and he was down in the noise. I gave my Icom 746PRO a real workout, tightening down the filters and adjusting the noise reduction to cut down the noise but keep his signal.
As the net continued, his signal built in strength somewhat. I wasn't the only one having trouble, there were at least 3 other stations he never heard calling through the noise. I couldn't copy two of them well enough to even try to relay them in. The band was really long was the biggest problem. The guys on 3898 were talking and a fellow from Maine came just booming in as loud as they were — and they're further south than I am.
I did check in, but I know the NCS had to have only a tentative copy on me. The net was over pretty quickly, and thankfully no traffic had to be passed. I'm not sure an amp would have helped tonight between band conditions and the QRM.
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Sad news to report from our local 2-meter net. Tonya, the wife of club member KC4PJS, died Sunday. She was fighting cancer for at least the last 18 months. She was only 31, leaving her husband and 3 boys. The funeral is noon Wednesday at Grace Heartland in Elizabethtown.
A longtime local ham passed away a couple of weeks ago. Roy McBrayer, WA4AES, passed away. Roy had been a ham a long time but hadn't been very active in recent years as his health declined.
That's all to report tonight … 73 es CUL … det KY4Z … dit dit ….