IN THE QUEST for the perfect cup of coffee I recently purchased a new electric percolator type pot to see if the perfect brew can be had using that ancient method. Turns out, it can’t. No matter how I adjust the grind of the beans or the amounts of coffee and water the result seems bitter. Looks like the new pot will take its place in a box in the attic.

With the big CQWW DX CW contest now in the rearview mirror the balance of the year on the radio seems slightly uninteresting. In the aftermath of that event I’ve been watching a few confirmations trickle in via LoTW at the typically low-rate that I’ve come to expect from CW contacts. Overall I see about a 60% return in my log from Morse activities while digital work yields over 90%.

That’s not to say that December will be all idle time. I plan to enter my results in the DX Marathon for the first time. Compared to almost any other DX chaser my results will seem downright sickly, but it’s been a good year (for me) in this regard with 125 Entities and 32 Zones worked so far during 2022.

There’s also some cable work that needs doing in the attic to prepare for the additional fire in the wire I expect to make happen in ’23. That along with my annual readings of Walden, A Year of DX, and The Complete DX’er should finish the month.

Oh, yeah, there’s also some big holiday in December…