Our next club meeting, on Tuesday, March 5th, will focus on the most popular of all radio antennas, the dipole. Jim Eatman, KG5WAW, will discuss the electrical characteristics of dipoles and how to use them effectively.

I hope to see you at the meeting!

The contest calendar features two fun events this weekend: the Novice Rig Roundup, and the ARRL DX Contest SSB weekend. If you have an old rig with a crystal, or even if you don’t but you like to operate CW, the roundup is worth checking out.

News from the world of ham radio:

More details are being set for the special event in honor of the 100th anniversary of WWV. The station callsign, WW0WWV, has been announced.

While we don’t have a Russian Woodpecker on the bands, it sounds as if we may be troubled by a Russian Sunflower.

News from the world of science:

Superman, look out! There is now such a thing as an injectable night vision serum, at least for mice. Researchers have no word on when the x-ray vision tests will start.

Space probes keep falling on my head…wait, what? Cosmos 482 would have been Venera 9 if it had not been stranded in Earth orbit, and its 1,000-lb lander was designed to survive a fall onto the hellish surface of Venus from a height of 50 km, so there’s no chance at all it won’t survive re-entry. Where and when will it land? Maybe this year, maybe not—in short, no one knows.

Flamingos in Florida had often been considered “escaped pets” by wildlife officials, but a group of scientists has argued that flamingos have been seen in Florida for centuries; there are probably at least some who are natives.

And remember, if you see hungry birds this spring, flamingos or otherwise, please don’t give them white bread.

And if you’re worried about being hit by a space probe, you can take heart that maybe, just maybe, there will soon be a way to turn CO2 back into coal.