I saw the incorrect use of “antennae” on eHam again this morning. From the authority (Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language):

antenna (an ten’ e), n., pl. -tennas for 1; -tennae for 2. 1. Radio. a conductor by which electromagnetic waves are sent out or received, consisting commonly of a wire or set of wires; aerial. 2. Zool. one of the jointed, movable, sensory appendages occurring in pairs on the heads of insects and most other arthropods.

I think this is pretty clear: hams have antennas, bugs have antennae.

I was able to make some time for the radio this week. I got N8S (Swain’s Island) on 17 and 40 CW. I’m not sure I care if I work them any more; but, I might try before they leave on Sunday. It really amazes me how horrible some of the calling operators are. I’ve made honest “wrong-VFO” mistakes before…but, there’s a patent lack of discipline and ability out there.

Speaking of discipline and ability, W9RE prodded me to get back into the NCCC Sprints on Thursday nights. This is about the best half hour of radio anytime, anywhere. K0SR is the one who convinced me to try Sprinting (the 4-hour NA Sprint) in the first place by saying “It’s a CW operator’s contest.” He’s right. The Sprint is a truly a thing of choreographed beauty as people who know and love CW weave from frequency to frequency working each other. Some day I hope to get good at it.

I need to work on the antenna situation at K8GU. K9BF invited me (again) to come dig through his aluminum pile. I need to do that. I might try to suspend a small tribander on a caternary between two trees. That way, I can lower it if the WX whips up. But, I need to talk to our duplex neighbor about that.