Ham and Bees

I think I finally have my head around most of CQRLOG, and especially its integration with LoTW. Parts of the UI had baffled me, but someone on /r/amateurradio set me straight and I think I’m good to go. I can definitely see how the hooks into fldigi will be useful once I get into digitial modes.

Had a chance to run the local ARES net last night, which is always a gas. Not nearly as nerve-wracking as the first time. Twenty-nine stations participated, which is pretty good. No major errors, except realizing afterward that I probably didn’t ID as frequently as I needed to. Will definitely have to keep one eye on the clock, or just follow along with the repeater when it IDs.

In other hobby news: the bees are getting out and about on our recent warm days. It looks like both colonies came through the winter well, which is a good sign. It looks like we’re headed for another cool spell, but I’ll be getting an order in for frames and foundation anyway. They’re working something - I saw white-gray and reddish pollen coming in. Dandelions are starting to show up, but not seeing much yellow stuff come in. The grey is probably early maples. The red is likely henbit, but none of the henbit on our property is blooming yet as far as I can tell. As usual with bees: who knows? Probably somewhere else.

During the Skywarn classes, the trainer mentioned that we our current El Nino pattern portended a mild winter followed by active spring weather. Active in terms of convective weather, which is what we were learning to identify and report. I am hoping this sets us up for a repeat of 2013-2014, which was an epic year in terms of honey production. I pulled nearly 8 gallons out of a single colony and got fooled into thinking it would like that every year. They showed me.