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This has been an interesting week. We had a few family members exposed to covid. My daughter Kim managed to catch it from her daughter who brought it home from daycare. Then my son-in-law Mark (married to my daughter Jenna, and recently moved to the US) and another daughter’s fiancée decided to go play basketball at the gym a few days before xmas and both apparently brought covid home. Mark and Jenna and their two toddlers live with us, so we sort of isolated, with Margaret and I staying in the basement, and Mark, Jenna, and the girls staying in the top two floors. So far, so good. We tested negative the Thursday before xmas (after possible exposure to Kim), and again on this past Tuesday (after possible exposre to the basketball players, and again this morning. So it looks like we dodged a bullet. But Jenna, Mark, and the two girls all tested positive. All minimal symptoms, thanks, I presume, to the vaccines. So, what to do when isolated in the basement? Well, the new Dell arrived (without the monitors), and a bunch of radios and accessories needed setting up, so this was the week. I took the advice of several and cancelled the order of monitors from Dell and got Asus monitors from Microcenter instead. Good plan. I was able to pick them up the same day. It has not exactly been easy for me—you know computers and I don’t generally get along well. But after several days of tinkering I have the new computer up and running with Microsoft office, Logic logging software, and WSJT-x on both radios simultaneously. Yes, I had that all working on the old computer, but there are a lot of little nuggets I had figured out some time in the past that I had to re-figure out. Remember how to change the RRR message in WSJT-x to RR73? Remember how to move forms on/off of the Logic main window? Remember how to adjust font size in Logic, WSJT-x, or Outlook? Remember how to set up two instances of WSJT-x? I didn’t, and I’m trying not to pester the world with questions. Eventually, after hours monkeying with it, I relearned them all. All but one, really. Eddie, I tried the instructions you sent to set thing up to download LOTW users into WSJT-x. Worked perfectly on the old computer. Didn’t work in the new computer. So I manually downloaded the csv file into the WSJT-x log directories. Not ideal, but after hours of fiddling with it, I went with what worked. It’s on my list to come back to one day. Oh, and you don’t need to import the WSJT-x log to get the color-coded dupe checking. It apparently reads the info from the ADIF file, not the log file. So parking the ADIF I exported from Logic into the WSJT-x log folders was all that was needed. Sounds easy, but it took me hours to figure it out. So, slowly making progress. I have the TS-990 and TS-890 up and running on FT-8 and phone, talking nicely to Logic and WSJT-x. The TS-2000 is up and running on 2m. The remote antenna switch is band following on both radios. Rotor control from the logging software is working. Next up is the Winkeyer setup, then N1MM for phone and CW. Then I’ll take another crack at RTTY setup, although that was a dismal failure last attempt. The Steppir is again broke. Control chip error in the SDA controller. Jeff1 helped me replace the chips, then after working for a short while it went Tango Uniform again. After I get all the software working (and the rest of the xmas lights put away) I’ll do more troubleshooting again. That steppir is great when it’s working, but it has been broke about as often as it is working in the three years I’ve had it. Got to think this thing has some serious design shortcomings. I’m getting pretty close to punting on steppir forever. More frustration than fun. But I’m good on 80, 60, 40, 30, and 2m. Made a few contacts today (9V on 40m was the best). Feeling almost, but not entirely, back in business. Here’s a photo of the new rack mount setup. Not much rats nest of wiring visible from the front. Back is another thing altogether. Not visible, but still a rats nest, but the back of the equipment is readily available despite the rats nest. Went fr

ARRL Surveying Field Day Participants The ARRL Programs and Services Committee is seeking input from stations and groups that participated in ARRL Field Day 2020 and 2021 and has posted a survey. The committee said the survey results may help shape the development of Field Day rules for 2022 and beyond. The survey has already been sent via email to some 13,000 Field Day participants, more than 2,400 Affiliated Clubs, and to the CQ-Contest and VHF-Contesting Reflectors. "Specifically, as we look toward 2022 Field Day, health and social-distancing concerns may continue in June 2022 during the ongoing world pandemic," said ARRL Radiosport Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ. "For 2023 and beyond, the assumption is made that the pandemic will be over, and COVID-related restrictions will be relaxed." Jahnke said the Programs and Services Committee invites participants' insights, in advance of its January meeting, regarding what they consider appropriate for operating ARRL Field Day 2022 during the ongoing pandemic. The committee hopes to learn if participants prefer to continue Field Day under the pandemic accommodations afforded in 2020 and 2021, which included limiting home stations to the Low Power multiplier (150 W PEP), and whether stations in some classes or all other classes should be limited to 150 W PEP as well. Field Day stations operating at high power became the topic of some discussion in the wake of Field Day 2021, when some stations were reported to be running the legal limit on FT8 on crowded bands. The committee is also interested in views on the 150 W versus 100 W change in the Field Day Low Power category definition, which is being implemented across all contest platforms. During 2020 and 2021, ARRL permitted a couple of basic accommodations in the Field Day rules during the COVID outbreak. Participants who could not or did not want to be in a group were allowed to operate from their home stations and contribute their individual scores to their club's Field Day aggregate score. Members' scores were combined to achieve an overall final club score, which then appeared in the ARRL Field Day results summary in QST and on the ARRL website. In addition, Class D (Home, commercial power) stations were allowed to contact other Class D stations for point credit. In 2021, Class D and Class E (Home, emergency power) stations were limited to a maximum transmitter output power of 150 W PEP (Low Power). The idea here was to minimize the advantage of well-established home stations with superior antenna systems and running up to the legal 1,500 W PEP limit. Field Day participants may use this survey link or copy this URL into a web browser: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2022--ARRL-FIELD-DAY-SURVEY. The survey will close on January 17, 2022. Direct any questions to the ARRL Contest Department.

Gents, Back in November I ordered a new Dell desktop for the ham shack. The old desktop is still working fine, but it’s a bit long in the tooth, and I’d like to add capability for more than the two monitors I have now. Why Dell? Well, every computer I’ve bought for the past 20 years or more has been Dell, and they always seemed to work out OK. Well, this week Dell pissed me off. The computer I ordered was supposed to be delivered December 21 (3-4 weeks after the order). But I was notified today that it won’t be shipped until Feb. 1. Not the end of the world, but it just irritates me that they wait almost to delivery day to let me know they aren’t actually going to ship. Yea, there are supply chain issues, but nothing has changed in the past three weeks, and Dell had to see this coming before today. Generally my response to issues like this is simply to cancel the order and never do business again with companies that jerk me around. So, my inclination is to buy from someone else. I get it that it will probably be Feb 1 or later by the time I get one from someone else, but at least it would be from someone pleasant to do business with. So, with that possibility in mind, is there another computer maker out there as good as or better than Dell and will let you customize what you want? Any brands to especially avoid? Dave UW