On 01/05/2015 10:25 PM, Steve Francis via IRCA wrote:
A career low of four new ones here in 2014, all from the first quarter. We've lost everything - frequency checks, equipment tests, DX tests, sign-ons, sign-offs, silent periods, verifications, auroras, Western Hemisphere splits, drifters - and still I run nightly unattended recordings. Don't ask me why.
Probably for the same reason as I still do the same thing: it's hard to break the habit, and, once in a blue moon, you can still get lucky. To your list of things lost, I'll add one that is the worst of all for me: the loss of a noise level low enough to hear weak MW signals.
But as I said, you can still get lucky, and persistence pays off on occasion. I tallied up my 2014 results, and it was actually a bit better than I expected, with 16 new ones heard. All but four of them were in the first quarter. DX tests aren't quite history yet, as they accounted for two of my new ones. And auroral conditions still happen, but I generally find myself shut out of hearing the interesting stuff from the south, since the signal levels are below my noise floor.
So, my recent DXing results have been pretty lousy, but I've had just enough crumbs thrown my way to keep me from throwing in the towel. And when things get really bleak, I can always listen to my old audio clips of great catches and relive those glorious moments of bygone days.
Barry -- Barry McLarnon Ottawa, ON _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx