F  E  E  D  -  P  O  I  N  T

Looks like February is a very different month from January. We have had sleet or light rain twice, and temperatures in the 30's twice. We are back to somewhat crusty and firm snow. The skiing changes every day. The chickadees have started their spring song early in the morning the last few days. The hours of daylight are increasing rapidly now. The snow came off the north side of our roof on Feb. 12th. A big relief to us. It was very heavy with thick ice and deep snow. Snow on the south side is still hanging on.

The K5D DXpedition on Desecho Island is on the air. The DXpedition, headed by Bob Allphin, K4UEE, and Glenn Johnson,W0GJ, is expected to be on Desecheo until February 26. Desecheo Island currently sits at #7 on DX Magazine's Most Wanted list; the island is the second most-wanted DXCC entity in Asia and third most-wanted in Europe. Desecheo is a small uninhabited island in the Mona Passage, 14 miles off the west coast of Puerto Rico. It is part of the US Fish and Wildlife Service's national wildlife refuge system administered by the Caribbean National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

Preparations for the Can-Am Sled Dog Races are progressing. We have a good crew coming up from the south of Maine again. I don't know what we would do without them. Presque Isle Dows will take care of Portage Checkpoint again. The Daigles will be at Allagash. The death of KC1SE left a hole at Rocky Brook. K1JJS and W1LWT will be there. K1XI and N1HBY will be at Maibec. Net Control Days: AA1XD, KB1JDN, NT1N, KB1MHH. Net Control Nights: KB1EBE and KB1CLC. K1MJB, K1ACO, KB1PCQ, and KB1HBD will also be here in various capacities.

Program: We watched the "Story of the Queen Mary and W6RO"
Motion to adjourn by N1QMC. Seconded by N1JHD. Passed. Adjourned: 19:00

Next Meeting: Tuesday March 10, UMFK, Nadeau Hall, Alumni Conference Room.
Submitted by N1QMC

From time to time, Harbor Freight puts its Cen-Tech Seven-Function DMM on sale for $2.99. Sometimes, they send out coupons knocking a dollar off that price. How good are these $2 DMMs? Well, as long as you realize their limitations, they can be quite useful. Here are some ideas about how to use these meters from the subscribers to the Glowbugs E-mail List.
Glen, K9STH, says, “The test leads are pretty flimsy but at the price when they ‘go’ you just purchase another one. I keep one in my tool boxes and some people keep one in their vehicle.”
Jim, W5JAI, writes, “I am thinking about mounting one in a power supply I am building with the dial set on volts, hard wired in, with only the LCD face visible through a window in the chassis. It's cheaper than a “real” meter. I will put a small 9V power supply in to replace the battery. It's a cheap way to get a digital display on the power supply. I tried taking it apart to see if I could mount just the internals of the thing, but it would be much easier to just mount the whole thing, case and all, right inside the chassis with a 3/4" x 2" opening to view the LCD.”