Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (D
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Thu Feb 14 2019 08:25 pm
WORLD OF DX
In the World of DX, Willy, ON4AVT, is on the air as 6W7/ON4AVT from
Senegal, between February 20th and March 30th, operating on 40/20/10
meters using CW, SSB, PSK31, and PSK63. He will possibly be on 60
meters as well. QSL via his home callsign.
In St. Mary, Jamaica, Neil, G0RNU, is operating until the 26th of
February, as 6Y/G0RNU, and can be heard on 80 through 6 meters,
depending on propagation, and other factors. Visit his QRZ.com page
for more details. QSL via eQSL.
In Austria, the International Amateur Radio Contest DX Club 4U1A, is
using the special callsign 4U0R, from the Vienna International Center,
through to the 28th of February. The station is marking World Radio Day,
February 13th. Listen for the station on various HF bands using CW and
SSB. QSL via UA3DX, direct, by the Bureau or ClubLog's OQRS.
(OHIO PENN DX)
**
KICKER: WHEN IMAGINATION AND SOME CANDY ARE KEY TO THE KEYER
JIM/ANCHOR: We conclude this week by asking: What is the REAL key to a
CW lover's heart? Here's Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, with an answer that you may
find we've....sugar-coated a bit.
NEIL: For Jari, OH6DC, a CW enthusiast in Finland, having an imagination
is key. Actually, having a key that's imaginative is more the point.
Over the years, Jari's own style of homebrew CW keys has included bananas,
a chocolate bar, and even lollipops, among their components. Take
chocolate - which of course, he has. Rather than devour an entire bar of
sweet temptation, he has found a way to make it the main ingredient in a
straight key. He shared his recipe with Newsline: Find the firmest
chocolate possible, and leave the smallest practical distance in the gaps
between the contacts. He adds a wooden knob instead of a chocolate egg to
avoid sticky fingers. Melting and breakage are always dangers, he said,
and yes, he has unfortunately broken the key while using it - once during
the Scandinavian CW Activity Group's Straight Key Day. He told Newsline
[quote] "Spare chocolate is handy when those accidents take place."
[endquote]
Well, if you're out of chocolate, there's also Jari's "dual banana CW
paddle," featuring some curved yellow produce ripe for action. That fruit
of his efforts can be seen on his QRZ.com page.
With Valentine's Day just on the calendar recently, one would think a
chocolate CW key might have set some YL's heart to melting -- but no,
Jari had other plans for that occasion. He built a special edition
"Valentine's Day Lollipop CW Key," which he displayed on his website,
along with the lyrics of the Pointer Sisters song "Telegraph Your Love."
There's also a short video showing how the paddles work.
No doubt the lollipop key will store better over time than the chocolate
straight key did. Two years after creating the chocolate key, Jari opened
the box where it was stored, and found that it had turned grey. He told
Newsline he didn't want to eat it -- so he threw it out.
Success, like chocolate, can be bittersweet.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.
**
NEWSCAST CLOSE:
With thanks to Alan Labs; Amateur News Weekly; AMSAT News Service; the
ARRL; CQ Magazine; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; C4ISRNET; HB9Q Team;
Ohio-Penn DX Bulletin; QRZ.COM; Sightline Media Group; Southgate Amateur
Radio News; Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show; Villanova University; Wireless
Institute of Australia; WTWW Shortwave; and you our listeners, that's
all from the Amateur Radio Newsline.
Please send emails to our address at
[email protected]. More
information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's only official
website at www.arnewsline.org.
For now, with Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, at the news desk in New York,
and our news team worldwide, I'm Jim Damron, N8TMW, in Charleston,
West Virginia, saying 73, and as always, we thank you for listening.
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2019. All rights reserved.
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