Monday, June 27, 2011

Midnight Summer Funshine JT65A Style

June 2011 JT65A
I would imagine that most Alaskan's enjoy the midnight sun. As the case this morning, I was not able to sleep so I opted to play on the radio a bit as it had been awhile. As with many stations, mine his showing the signs of aging. Recent problems are JT65HF just shutting down and disappearing along with audio input problems not to mention HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) stops talking with my rig shortly after I fire up the program. This is not a problem with the software itself, but some windows glitch I have going on that has begun after one of my last updates. All the more reason that I should have a stand alone computer for just ham radio and ham radio only! But since summer is here, it is not a priority for me to troubleshoot my latest problems as I have been spending time outdoors! Yep, we are still alive up here in Alaska enjoying the midnight sun! As the 4th of July holiday weekend fast approaches, I already have to ask myself where the last 60 days have gone. There seems to be truth to the fact that time goes faster the older we get. I think that is accelerated when living in Alaska, especially during the summer months.

My morning insomnia led me to the shack and I decided to play a bit on JT65A on 20 meters. Even with a few hiccups, I was able to make a handful of contacts (screen shot of a few of those contacts above). Oddly, there was not much on CW (my preferred mode) but the signals on JT65A seemed pretty good. So alas, a few more QSO's added on this partly overcast Monday morning. 

I want to thank those few who read this blog and I also hope you are having an enjoyable summer. Propagation here has not been all that great but again, I am basing my opinion on the few times I have operated over the last two months. I had to miss Field Day this year at KL2R and that was going to be the highlight of my summer operating. But hopefully things will work out better for next year as I have had fun up there for the last two.

Station upgrades still have yet to take place but they are moving higher on my priority list. The voice of mother nature is much louder than any signal I could possibly hear on my Icom 756PRO at the moment.  Do you blame me? 

2 comments:

  1. Good morning Phil, yes the midnight sun must take some getting used to for sure. I did see the Pallin show were she did a great job of showing off Alaska. As for computers I too have wanted to get just on machine for the ham stuff. Sometimes I wounder if updating software is worth it as happened to you things just sometimes end up being worse off when updated.

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  2. "Sometimes I wounder if updating software is worth it as happened to you things just sometimes end up being worse off when updated."

    I think I have had more conflicts with updates than not. I no longer have them install automatically and I am more selective and what updates I do install. My contesting and logging software was a switch in my com port assignments! Not sure how that happened but one problem solved, for now. :0)

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