May was 1.9 deg F below normal for temperature. The high for the month was 85.0 F, recorded on May 29. The low for the month was 39.9 deg F, recorded on May 18. There was 1 day at or below 32 F. There were 286 heating degree days and 67 cooling degree days.
May was a below-normal month for precipitation with 0.59 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 3.05 inches below normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 0.14 inches recorded on May 3. There were 7 days of rain >.01 in, 2 >.10 in, and 0 > 1 in.
It is abnormally dry throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, with a small area of moderate drought conditions in the southeast quadrants.
The high wind speed for the month was 27 mph on May 1.
April was 3.7 F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 86.1 F, recorded on April 14. The low for the month was 27.0 F, recorded on April 25. There were 7 days at or below 32 F. There were 407 heating degree days and 46 cooling degree days.
April was a below-normal month for precipitation with 2.95 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 0.56 inches below normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 0.74 inches recorded on April 30. There were 10 days of rain >.01 in, 8 >.10 in and 0 > 1 in.
To the left there sits an empty chair, Strange, these days that you’re not there, A hole’s been left so hard to fill, We carry on, it’s hard but still…. In such moments, as they arise, It’s fine to have to dry your eyes, For he’ll be present in his way, To share with you another day. -Anonymous
Today, I became a member of The DX Century Club (DX is shorthand for distance). I have confirmed contacts with amateur radio stations in 100 distinct geographic and political entities in the official DXCC List. It took me a little over a year to make all of the needed contacts, gleaned from over 1660 total confirmed contacts.
All of the following contacts were made using the FT8 digital mode, with no more than 100 Watts. My antenna is a G5RV, a simple dipole antenna with 30 feet of ladder line, and a 6-inch diameter “ugly” balun with 10 turns of the feed line. The antenna and transceiver are pictured below:
This demonstrates that big towers, antennas, and high power are not needed to work the world.
My First 100 Confirmed Countries for DXCC
Alaska
China
Ghana
Luxembourg
St. Lucia
Albania
Columbia
Greece
Madeira Islands
St. Vincent
Andorra
Costa Rica
Guadeloupe
Malta
San Andres Island
Anguilla
Cuba
Guatemala
Mauritania
Sardinia
Argentina
Croatia
Guernsey
Mexico
Scotland
Asiatic Russia
Curacao
Hawaii
Monaco
Serbia
Australia
Cyprus
Hungary
Morocco
Slovak Republic
Austria
Czech Republic
Iceland
Nambia
Slovenia
Azores
Denmark
Indonesia
Netherlands
Spain
Balearic Islands
Dominica
Ireland
New Caledonia
Sweden
Barbados
Dominican Republic
Israel
New Zealand
Switzerland
Belarus
Ecuador
Italy
Northern Ireland
Trinidad and Tobago
Belgium
El Salvador
Japan
Norway
Turkey
Belize
England
Jersey
Panama
Ukraine
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Estonia
Kazakhstan
Poland
United Arab Emirates
Brazil
European Russia
Kenya
Portugal
United States
Bulgaria
Federal Republic of Germany
Kuwait
Puerto Rico
Uruguay
Canada
Fiji Islands
Latvia
Republic of South Africa
Virgin Islands
Canary Islands
Finland
Lebanon
Rodriguez Island
Venezuela
Chile
France
Lithuania
Romania
Wales
Confirmed QSOs
I will continue to make more contacts to achieve the many endorsements (e.g. 100 entities on a single band). I already have 75 contacts just on the 40-meter band.
March was 1.6 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 60.9 deg. F, recorded on March 23. The low for the month was 18.5 deg F, recorded on March 19. There were 2 days where the maximum temperature was at or below 32 F, and there were 21 days where the minimum temperature was at or below 32 F. There were 815 heating degree days and 0 cooling degree days.
March was a below-normal month for precipitation with 2.81 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 0.57 inches below normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 0.89 inches recorded on March 23. There were 10 days of rain >.01 in, 7 >.10 in, and 0 > 1 in. There were also 3.9 inches of snow.
WinLink is a powerful software tool for sending and receiving digital messages via amateur radio. This post shows how a National Traffic System radiogram is sent. Belowis the main WinLink software user interface. The “Message” tab at the top of the main page is selected and the “New Message…” command is selected to create a message.
The “Enter a new message” window appears. The message needs to be entered, addressed, and formatted to send a radiogram. To proceed, select the “Radiogram” tab. I have previously setup the tab since I frequently use that template. Otherwise, use the “Select Template” tab to find the Radiogram.txt template from the many other message templates.
In either case, the Radiogram template is brought up in your default web browser. The message number, call sign, date, and other defaults are already filled. The information for the addressee, message, signature, and liaison station is now entered.
Here the radiogram is ready for submission. The ARL designation in the body of the message is for one of the pre formatted numbered messages. In this case it’s for the “Greetings by amateur radio” message. The ‘X’ is a period and ‘73’ means “Best Regards.”
After the “Submit” button is clicked, the “Enter a new message” WinLink window now has the “To”, “Cc”, “Subject”, and formatted NTS radiogram message boxes filled.
When the radiogram is satisfactorily formatted, click on the “Post to Outbox” tab. The radiogram is now in the “Outbox” system folder in the main WinLink window. To send the message, verify that “Vara HF Winlink” is selected from the “Open Session” dropdown menu. Then click on the “Open Session” tab.
The “Vara HF Winlink Session”, and “Vara HF” modem windows are opened. Therese is the interface for the HF radio that is connected to the PC via a USB cable.
Click on the “Auto-connect” tab to set the frequency and begin transmitting. The software will cycle through the list of server stations until a connection is made. Then the message is sent, and any outstanding incoming messages are received.
February was 7.9 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 70.9 deg. F, recorded on February 15. The low for the month was 5.2 deg F, recorded on February 4. There were 2 days when the maximum was at or below 32 F and 22 days when the minimum temperature was at or below 32 F. There were 786 heating degree days and 2 cooling degree days.
February was a below-normal month for precipitation with 1.99 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 0.47 inches below normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 0.74 inches recorded on February 28. There were 9 days of rain >.01 in, 7 >.10 in and 0 > 1 in.
There were 1.0 inches of snow for the month, with a maximum daily total of 1.0 inches on February 28.
January was 9.5 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 58.0 deg. F, recorded on January 4. The low for the month was 20.4 deg F, recorded on January 16. There was day when the maximum was at or below 32 F, 20 days when the minimum temperature was at or below 32 F, and 0 days when the minimum temperature was at or below 0 F. There were 878 heating degree days and 0 cooling degree days.
January was an above-normal month for precipitation with 3.35 inches of liquid precipitation recorded, which was 0.43 inches above normal. The maximum liquid precipitation in a single day was 1.03 inches recorded on January 19. There were 16 days of rain >.01 in, 6 >.10 in and 1 > 1 in.
There were 5.2 inches of snow for the month, with a maximum daily total of 3.2 inches on January 26.
Stormstown Dispatch 