Manna@80! 

Operations Manna and Chowhound were lifesaving food drops to Northwest Holland 80 years ago, just prior to the end of World War Two. Over 20,000 people had died from starvation and a colder than normal winter. Allied pilots and support staff from the UK, the US, Canada, Poland, and Australia dropped over 7,000 tons of food behind enemy lines. 

There are 10 special event stations operating in these countries Friday, April 25 through Sunday, April 27. If you contact 4 or more, a special event certificate will be issued. Check QRZ.com for any of the following callsigns or Manna80.radio on the web where the stations’ current operating frequencies are available via HamAlert.

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Spin the Random Topic Wheel (Segment 1)

• What Does Your Operating Week Look Like?

This Weekend in Hedonism (Segment 2)

• Cheryl’s Recipe Corner

• Cajun Hasselback Chicken

• Description

• Hasselback Chicken has soooo many ways to prepare it. But, I was looking to change it up and this is what I came up with. It’s on our Tuesday night dinner menu, along with Garlic-Butter shrimp stuffed portabella mushrooms and Cajun-spiced rice with a creamy gumbo sauce to go on any thing that looks like it needs a sauce.

• Ingredients

• 1-1/2 lbs chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless (about 2 halves)

• 4 ounces monterey jack pepper cheese, sliced into thin 1/4 inch slices

• 2 tablespoons cajun seasoning

• 1/2 cup spinach, cooked (frozen and thawed or sauteed fresh)

• salt, to taste

• pepper, to taste

• Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a sharp knife, make slits in the chicken breasts that are about 3/4 inches wide, making sure not to cut all the way down through the bottom of the chicken breast. You will have about 7 or 8 slits per chicken breast, depending on how large your chicken breasts are. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place the spinach evenly in the slits of the chicken. Combine the breadcrumb and Cajun seasoning in a small bowl. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the chicken. Place the pepper jack slices in the slits of the chicken. Place each chicken on its own lightly greased sheet of tin foil and make a “bowl”, surrounding each chicken breast. This keeps the juices contained. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove each chicken breast from its tin foil “bowl” and place on a serving dish.

• Cheryl’s Mixed Drink Corner

• Rum Old Fashioned

• Description

• Let’s add a new twist on the classic Old Fashioned.

• Ingredients

• 3 orange wedges

• 3 Luxardo maraschino cherries

• 1 sugar cube

• 3 Dashes Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters

• 2 ounces Pusser’s British Naval rum

• Directions

• Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice and set aside. Combine two of the orange wedges, two of the cherries, the sugar cube and the bitters in a mixing glass. Muddle the sugar cube with the other ingredients until the sugar dissolves. Add the rum and a scoop of ice to the mixing glass and stir for 40 rotations. Empty the old fashioned glass and then double-strain the cocktail into the glass and garnish with the remaining orange wedge and maraschino cherry.

• Russ’s Drink Corner

• Starward Single Barrel Single Malt Australian Whisky

• Description

• Whisky for the modern, curious drinker. Our distillery is nestled in the heart of Melbourne, Australia. Not the outback. Or a sunshine-soaked beach. Melbourne is a bustling city that celebrates unique cuisines and cultures. Here, we ditch the airs and graces and focus on flavor instead. That’s why we use red wine barrels to mature our whisky. We source all our whisky ingredients from just a day’s drive away. Then, in the wildly varied Melbourne weather, our whisky draws out its signature fruity, delicious flavor in just three short years. We call this elemental maturation and it’s why we couldn’t make our whisky anywhere else. Our Melburnian founder, David Vitale, grew up in a big Italian family. He was born and raised around a food-obsessed, flavor-forward dinner table. And he knows our whisky feels right at home at those moments spent enjoying a meal with others.

• Details

• Mashbill: 100% malted barley

• Region: Melbourne, Australia

• Proof: 110.6 (55.3% ABV)

• Color: Full caramel (may be colored)

• Nose: Vanilla, cherry, red grapes, blackberry, caramel

• Taste: Creme broulee, blackberry, pear, honey, grappa, oak tannins

• Finish: Warm and medium finish with vanilla, hints of oak, dark fruits

• Price: $65 (750ml)

• Rating: 90

Segment 3 (Announcements & Feedback)

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Segment 4 (New Subscribers, New Supporters & Live Participants)

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• Anna - VK4NNA

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• Live Chat

• Darren, VK6EK

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• Woody, KC1VOP

• Eduardo, PU5PEO

• Fred, KI5FQQ

Hello and welcome to installment 577 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this short topics episode, the hosts discuss ORI and the 220MHz band, a potential shake up in US amateur radio licensing, virtual swap space in the Linux kernel, apt, OrangePi and much more. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Dan Romanchik KB6NU, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT and Edmund Spicer M0MNG  to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and the episode's feature is Hiroyasu CQ7373 Review.

We would like to thank our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

• Efforts to Save Marconi Towers in Canada
• Hams Invited to Monitor Meteor Scatter Events
• Ham Radio News Presenter Retires At 101
• This Battery Looks Good on Paper Because it's Paper
• Zero Retries Newsletter Hosting Inaugural Conference
• South African Radio League Commits to Helping Continent’s Less-Developed Nations
• RSGB Board Chair and Vice Chair Announced
• RAC Votes to Cancel Attendance at Hamvention

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 204 is now available for download.

A visit to Bletchley Park, Tommy’s continuing Meshtastic Adventures part 2, DIY 50 Amp power supply, and more on Hamsci’s MW eclipse studies.

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As those who frequently read my blog you know I am into CW contesting big time and enjoy it. This past week I thought it was time to change up my CW contesting routine. It was due time to dip my toes into single operator 2 VFO operation or as it is known in the contesting world SO2V. In a nutshell, you have VFO-A audio in one ear (left in my case) and VFO-B audio in the other (right). With my Icom 7610 can have each VFO on the same or different bands. The contesting software N1MM+ is great for this type of operation, it incorporates many keyboard shortcuts. For example, once N1MM+ is configured for SO2V by just hitting the pause button on the keyboard you can jump back and forth from VFO A to B and the other way around. 

Next is to learn about your contest software when using it for SO2V mode. What are the keyboard shortcuts, and options available to you such as 2 waterfall displays, your qso entry windows may have visual indicators that give you needed information and what program window options do you need to be displayed as some may just be a distraction. 

Some operation goals to work on before trying CW SO2V and I say CW as that is all I do. I have mentioned this one in the past and that is learn to type and not hunt and peck. There are many programs out there now that can help you to learn how to type. The advantage to this is your eyes are not taken off the PC screen as you type a call sign. Both in SO1V and SO2V and more so with SO2V as you have a lot more going on at once at times. Also in time learn without looking where your macro keys are for the common parts of an exchange. In N1MM+ sure you have ESM BUT things don't always work out as 1,2,3 in a contest contact. I have made it a point to know CQ, exchange, my call, His call, exchange repeat and the wipe macro keys where they are without looking at the keyboard. Also, work on your pileup skills and Morse Runner PC program is a good start. No, you may not have a pile-up but with SO2V you may hear 2 signals (VFO-A and VFO-B) you have to learn to tune out one signal to hear the other. Sounds weird I know but it can be done over time with pileup contest software practice. 

How did my first couple of SO2V adventures go you ask? Not to overwhelm myself I started this adventure while operating the Monday Medium speed or MST (25 wpm max) mini 1-hour contest. Some of the blunders were:

At times forgetting which ear was which VFO.

Hear a contact calling on VFO-B and call them but forget to change to that VFO.

 Spin the wrong VFO as I have an external VFO (RC-28) and my habit is to always turn the main VFO.

 Working a contact on VFO-B and out of the blue a strong station on VFO-A (my left ear) starts to call CQ test. 

Then I gave the CWops mini contest a go on Wednesday! This mini-contest is another whole ball of wax. The speed is much faster and there are a lot more stations. At first, I just did search and pounce until I got my bearings and then I started to call "CQ CWT" and that is when the fun began. 

My goal with SO2V is to have fun, work my brain, and better my skills and it really does make the time fly by as you are constantly doing, thinking or looking at something.