Pardon the Tardiness

As expected, it is sometimes difficult to find time to post updates to this blog. Things are happening! I've been traveling with the day job -- trips to Phoenix and San Diego, on which I did not bother to carry a radio since I knew I would have little time to use it -- and lots of meetings to begin the planning process for 2009. We really have a concentrated planning program now, not our former practice of waiting until Q4 to cobble together some numbers for Q1 of the coming year, then finishing the rest in the nick of time before the quarter started.

I operated the Alabama QSO Party this weekend for a few hours and had 67 contacts on 20 and 40. I didn't hear a lot of activity but hope there was more going on than what I could detect. I also worked several of the historical naval vessels that were on the air, mostly on Saturday. It is always a thrill to talk with the USS Batfish, which is located high and dry in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in the middle of the Cherokee Nation. That submarine was the subject of my book IN THE COURSE OF DUTY, and hers is a fascinating story -- three enemy submarines sunk in three days, as well as the remarkable tale of how she came to rest where she does today, in the former Dust Bowl, of all places. At any rate, thanks to Charlie and the guys who put WW2SUB on the air whenever they can (also one of my favorite callsigns!).

Finally, I completed the last of the corrections and changes to the manuscript for THE ICE DIARIES, the book about USS Nautilus and her voyage across the top of the world, through the North Pole, in 1958. It went to the printer Monday, June 2, and should be out in mid-July. The special event station -- N9N -- to commemorate that historic transit is still looking good to go the weekend of August 2 and 3. Chuck Motes, K1NAL, and the Navy MARS group are doing a wonderful job with all the footwork. And he sent me notice yesterday that the governor of Connecticut, Governor Rell, has declared August 3 as USS Nautilus North Pole Crossing Day in the state. The more recognition my co-author, the late Captain William Anderson and his brave crew, can get, the better.

I'll update with more as I can. Now I probably have a meeting or something...

73,

Don N4KC