I hope everybody is staying safe during this surge in the pandemic. By now we all know people who have had it, so it’s really starting to get close to home. I’m hoping that the vaccines that are in trial are as good as early results seem to indicate, and that they can produce them quickly. This isn’t over until we all have a vaccine in our arms.
That probably won’t happen in time for Midwinter Madness. We would have to start spending money to advertise now, so the board made the painful decision to put it off for another year. We might find a way to do a parking lot hamfest sometime in the summer.
Meanwhile, we can all keep up our training, and perhaps even do some cross-training. AERO is working on putting their courses online- if you haven’t had these classes I recommend taking them. They will soon be required for any ARES activations. Another good cross-training to take is basic first aid. I’ve been meaning to take that, it should be the next thing on my list.
As I write this on Saturday afternoon, a chain of sunspots is marching across the sun. The “sunspot number” is 60, and the solar flux is 106. That’s the highest it’s been since I’ve become a ham 4 years ago. I was beginning to think sunspots were a myth. But nobody seems to be taking advantage of it- there’s 1 signal on my waterfall on 15 meters, Helio from Brazil, coming in at 59.
73
Benton Jackson, K0BHJ
