The Bickford’s Chain has closed.

I have copied a bit of the history from the corporate website.

Since approximately 1986, hams have been gathering every Saturday at the Bickford’s in Hanover to socialize and discuss radio. The group has been meeting since the 1960’s, but the stay in the Bickford’s was long and enjoyable.

These are shots taken of many of the regular participants. Many members of the K1USN club are also members of the breakfast club. Included in the following shot are N1EY, WA1NYC, K1RV, N1ZZN, N1ZMD, W1QWT, W1BT and many of our other friends. In the photo album section, there are more pictures from the last breakfast. Christine, our waitress for the last fifteen years, was also in the group photo. Thank you, Christine!

You can reach the photo album by going to the photography section or clicking here.

N1EY

http://www.cycling.tv/ is pretty cool. I just watched Chris Horner take the second stage of the Tour of Romandie live via the internet. I have been watching the races from Belgium since January with Anthony. He is a lot of fun. I suggest that everyone check it out!

I am working on a pair of 40 meter dipoles that will be a quarter wave apart.  They will be oriented on a slant towards Europe in phase.  Hopefully pictures will be shown when I have them in the air!

N1EY

YV0LIX has been suffering from intentional and malicious interference on 18.160. He was trying to work split and his receive frequency has been blasted with music.

I just worked OC5I on 17 meters this morning. I have mailed the card off to DL5WM. A bunch of good hams from Belgium and Deutschland took off to Peru to activate this island and its’ lighthouse. This is an excellent strategy for a DXpedition as it provides a needed island and lighthouse.

There are pictures of the island at http://www.qsl.net/dl5se.

I have worked eighteen islands and I have eight confirmed as of today.

N1EY

Dick Jolls K1GUG just sent me a shot of N1ZZN and I whisking off a tower section for the secret project.  I think that I look a little suspicious.  I only had four hours of sleep and I had to drive quite a few miles in order to complete the mission.

On a warm day in April of 2006, I took several photographs of bicycles and their owners in the intrepid voyage home.

This shot was taken towards the end of the afternoon looking towards the state house. The rider is heading down Beacon Street.

This rider is enjoying himself and riding against the currents on the northern sidewalk of Tremont Street. Notice the toe clips.

Here is a serious commuter. He has obviously put a lot of time and energy into research and planning for his commute. He is travelling on Beacon Street.

On April 21st, 2006
I talked to a nice fellow in the Maderias Islands. I also worked a station in Sicily.  I also talked to Rolf in Switzerland, again.

I just noticed that Logbook of the World had some incorrect matches.  I had the callsign of an Italian station recorded incorrectly.  He had received my call properly.  I’m stilling counting it as a QSO.  It was done with about 5 watts out of my 703.

I am up to 17 confirmed DXCC entities including LOTW credit.

N1EY

We are working hard at making all sorts of things happen at the K1USN Radio Club.  Site Analysis and planning for a tower installation are on-going.  Several of my fellow club members worked hard this weekend on organizing, fetching, and putting together equipment.

N1EY

Hi Guys and Gals, The start  time has changed from  9am to 8am, starting April 9th 2006 on the. Also, we’ve added an optional 60 mile + arrowed route to the regular Hanson Ride. This new marked route will be a ongoing additional ride.  The extended route goes to Lakeville and back to Hanson. All arrows have a fresh coat of paint.

Thanks, Mike Togo
Tel. 781-878-5445
Fax. 781-878-5446

Now completing his third week aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 13 ISS Flight Engineer Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, already has been making contacts from NA1SS. Over the Easter weekend, Williams made “a handful of random contacts,” according to ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO. The ISS Fan Club Web site reports that Williams exchanged Easter greetings April 15 with WB9IIV, and that N5VHO and WA4HT both heard NA1SS on FM voice while the ISS was passing over the US. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school contacts are set resume in early May. Contacts are scheduled with Bob Jones High School in Madison, Alabama, on May 1, and with the Jaanimmarik School, in Kuujjuaq, Quebec, Canada, on May 4. NASA reports the Expedition 13 crew, headed by cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, has now settled in for its six-month stay in space and is looking forward to receiving a Progress rocket shipment of food, fuel and supplies on April 26.

This week, you can mine digg, play with a new online page building tool, discover what’s in a WikiName, and live-bookmark RSS feeds.

There will be no ARRL Audio News this week. The ARRL Letter will be produced on its regular schedule. Audio News will resume April 28.

YX0A Aves Island DXpedition team member José “Joe” Manuel Valdés Rodriguez, YV5LIX, reportedly died on the tiny Caribbean island April 21. He was 57. A radio amateur since 1987, Valdés was well known around the world as a DXer and contester on HF and VHF. Esteban Romagni, W4DTA/YV5DTA, reports in an e-mail shared with ARRL that his longtime friend suffered a heart attack, and the two physicians with the DXpedition team were unable to resuscitate him. Valdés’ death, at around 0400 UTC, occurred shortly after the YX0A DXpedition got under way. Since the news began circulating, hams around the globe have been posting condolence messages on the DX Summit Web site. The Aves Island DXpedition reportedly has obtained permission to use the memorial call sign YX0LIX until the DXpedition ends on or about May 1. Members of the Association of Radioamateurs of Venezuela and the Grupo DX Caracas are sponsoring the Aves Island (Isla de Aves) DXpedition. Valdés was the DXpedition’s digital modes coordinator and reportedly was planning to concentrate on digital modes during the last few days of operation.

Geomagnetic activity was higher over the past week, with the average daily planetary A index rising over six points to 18. The most active days were Friday and Saturday, April 14 and 15, when the planetary A index was 58 and 29. All this and auroras too were caused by a stiff solar wind meeting an interplanetary magnetic field pointing south, making Earth vulnerable.