Incredible Storm!

I've watched this storm grow from the hurricane that brushed by Us in Florida to the huge,devastating storm that Sandy became and My thoughts and prayers go out to all effected by it! This storm is even reaching Us again in the midwest although only a minor rain and wind event now. I've been watching the news and listening to the radio when I am able. Totally incredible-- glad our worst flood in June up here was only a fraction of this storm . I'll take a good old fashioned Winter blizzard over these rain events any time!
73--Tim

Just missed

I haven't posted or been on the radio because We've been on a family trip to Walt disney world. We had a great time but towards the end of the week started to see weather issues.Luckily it stayed East of Us although for a brief time We did have rain and higher winds but that soon passed.Yeah!! Missed out on the CQ WW SSB contest and it sounds like the conditions were very good. Next year!!
  73---Tim

Just been busy....

Yes! Its been very busy both at work and home so I haven't had any chance for radio other than an occasional HF Net! No storms lately so no wind damage but have had a small amount of rain which We very much needed. It also coincidently seemed to help My DSL speed increase  from 2 meg to well over 3.5 meg-- go figure!!
  I still need some time before the snow flies for tree trimming around My antennas- maybe soon.
 73 for now!--Tim

XML & HRD plus more DXCC and G5RV fix

Well I finally took the leap and subscribed to the QRZ XML subscription service so QRZ information will automatically populate My logging program. It did require upgrading from HRD ver 4 to HRD ver 5. Version 5 even does its backups to an XML file whereas the older version saved it to an Access file. Its very nice to have some of the info fill in but the grid locator information is not working . It was working but i tried to change the program to have some other fields fill in and lost the locator grids. I need to become more familiar with the new HRD 5 program.
  ARRL's LOTW finally caught up to all the downloads from the recent RTTY contest and  added My information. Surprisingly this gave Me 6 new DXCC's confirmed. Several I had logged many times but it was during this contest I finally contacted a Ham using LOTW!! I added Asiatic Russia,Austria,Cuba, Guadeloupe,Senagal and Venezuala to give Me 79 confirmed and 99 worked! I also added 36 WPX contacted to bring My mixed total to 403-- enough for an award!
  I also found time this weekend to repair the downed leg of My G5RV. The trees have sure grown fuller since that antenna was first put up. I spent some extra time trimming branches so its now in the clear! Checks great now with the analyzer!
  catch ya on the bands!
 73---Tim

2 New DXCC

Last  RTTY contest I managed to work 2 new DXCC out of 81 total DXCC worked. OE6MDF from Austria and FG5LA from Guadeloupe make it 99 total worked. Hope they confirm thru LOTW but I  also sent each a card thru the bureau .
  Strong winds last night broke one end of My G5RV antenna so tomorrow I need some time to fix it. Thankfully that appears to be the only damage! Snow flurries here tonight--brrr!!!
  73---Tim

CQ WW RTTY 2012

 Its been very busy lately but did find time for the RTTY contest. Will write more when I find time!

Band       QSOs      PTS       ZN      CTY      DX

3.5           1             1           1            1          1
7             45           74          7            13       23
14           61           106        13          19       27
21          83            163        13          24       22
28          77            167        13          24         9
total       267           511        47          81       82

score:  107,310

73---Tim