DRR Atmospherics

RadioSport USA | Texas QSO Party

Good morning RadioSport Nation from inside the shackadelic zone. I drained my first cup of RadioSport juice while scanning ham radio's worldwide network from DX Sherlock with its visual mapping, DX Summit delivered by extreme team Radio Arcala, DX Central (not sure if I like its pop-up window), and DX Watch with its own  visual mapping of hamdom activity across our planet.

The plan through this weekend is Texas QSO Party, log my first Q on 12m, and pump up my 10m Q tally before late Sunday afternoon. Cycle 24 rolls with stellar numbers that I have day dreamed about for several years. Prop is up, baby!

Five Cities ham radio action has a few Beach Boys operating CQ Worldwide RTTY  through the weekend and chasing DX because Cycle 24 numbers are astronomical even for low power, low profile operators living in antenna challenged areas. Also, plans underway to support the Boy Scouts forthcoming Jamboree On the Air to include a unique traditional QSL to be issued for successfully logging the station. I'm the Morse code guy for this event.

Speaking of overcoming one's antenna challenge, I'm reviewing N6BT's Next Generation Antennas, because of Tom's focus on vertical systems and shackadelic's proximity to the ocean. His free literature for download is a great read and fires up one's passion plus imagination for antenna improvement. Anyone out their in hamdom own/operate any of N6BT's verticals and care to give feedback? I'm seriously consider one even two for high and low band coverage.

Lastly, I have installed 4 tape measure radials for experimentation and the results will follow at the end of this weekend.

Ham on!