Turkey Trot is less than a week away. Sign up on-line or get in touch with Randy, KE5JIT. We need your participation, and you’ll have a great time. You could make this your first public service event, and then graduate right away to working at the “big one,” the Dallas Marathon.

Yep, that’s right: the Dallas Marathon is coming up soon, too. Please sign up for that event; there are lots of great jobs still open. The Marathon was the first public service event I participated in. It might not sound like an easy way to get started, but there are tons of other amateur radio volunteers around to help you out and guide you—it’ll be easier than you think.

And don’t forget: there’s a Chili Cook-Off tomorrow afternoon!

There’s one contest going on right now, and it’s a big one: The ARRL SSB November Sweepstakes.

There’s a lot going on in the world of ham radio:

Local Amateur John Langridge, KB5NJD, has made the front page of QRZ with one of his interesting talks about 630-meter operating. Things are looking up for this fun, new band.

The first-ever geostationary amateur radio satellite payload has been launched…but it’s stationed over Qatar, and not useful for North American amateurs.

WSJT-X version 2.0 has a new release candidate out, and there will be a mock contest for testing and training this Monday night.

The famous Maritime Mobile Service Net on 14.3 MHz is still active and still saving lives! And on land, amateurs are helping with the response to the disastrous wildfires in California.

In the world of science:

It’s still the Year of the Bird, and November’s theme is taking beautiful pictures of beautiful birds. There’s still a few more days for you to submit your picture to National Geographic Magazine.

And speaking of birds, a new paper is out exploring the disappearance of the “opposite birds.” The were just as sophisticated as the birds we have today, but the extinction of the dinosaurs wiped them up.

More science papers keep coming out about the Great Eclipse of 2017. It looks like bees stopped buzzing around during totality, but not at other times.

And finally, more and more data keeps accumulating that those busy squirrels you see really do remember where they hide all the acorns and pecans they gather.

Have a great week, and don’t fall into the giant impact crater!

Oh, pssst. Here’s a secret. I’m working on an internet audio feed that doesn’t depend on Echolink, so that you can share it with your non-ham, or non-Echolink friends. I can’t guarantee that it will stay up, but I’ll keep trying: https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/29333