Early on Larry NE1S took the NCS seat and was great at knowing when to jump in and when to let it ride and let the show go on uninterrupted. Later Harry W0LS took the NCS spot and was equally on the mark.
Well, the HMR isn't actually a net, so in fairness to Larry and Harry, Channel master, Master Control, Contact coordinator or any other number of descriptors would be better choices. Larry did do an excellent job. I sent him email to let him know he was 10-20 over S9 down here in NC. Definitely the channel master.
I listened in early on while working on my old Zenith Transoceanic. Had the transmitter warming up but waited until after dinner to tune up. Was greeted with a bright blue zorch from one of the PA tubes that dumped the overload reset. Tried several times to clear it thinking it was a grid short, no success. So I never got on.
Was surprised at the lack of activity overall on the band. Seems like 3.875, .880, and .885 were the only areas of activity on 75. Apparently there was some action down in the 80m portion earlier on but it was long gone before I listened around at 7 or so. I guess if some of the usual suspects don't show up and activate a different frequency, the cluster fly effect takes over. Was a time a few years ago there would be 6, 7, 8 or more frequencies loaded and folks would travel from one group to another making new contacts. 40 and 160, too.
Did hear Buddly at one point around 3.870 trying to draw some folks to another frequency to spread things out. No idea if he succeeded.
A great night for ham radio.. we should do this each month.
Go for it. Do it every weekend. Find a clear frequency, call CQ. No need to wait for someone else to start the action, schedule an event, or say it's okay. Cover the bands with AM. What could be better?
