Hi,
The propagation was pretty good this weekend, for the W/VE Islands
QSO party. I operated K4USI from 4 local islands, all were "drive
on", with bridges or causeway access. 3 Islands were in Lanier, one
in Alatoona.
The score is not done yet, but will probably be near 15K (or more!)
from 573 Q's, all SSB. I will put in a short note on final
tabulation. I operated about 12 hours total.
LY3BA was worked from all islands, several other stations also
called in as I moved locations. Thanks Gedimas. Many EU, some AF,
and one VK were logged, as were all states except HI.
I got the linear working from the truck and ran about 400W for this
event, which is loafing for the 1000W rig. It ran cool and without
incident. I did have to add a choke to the base of the hamstick to
keep the laptop from resetting when it's battery got low.
Next projects will be to get an antenna that will take the power,
and get some much better grounding in place. Also a noise free
power supply for the Laptop is needed. The inverter used for it's
power makes hash in the radio. Since it needs 19V, I will probably
just get a big 6V battery, charge it, and put in in series with the
12V from the truck. The laptop is quiet by itself.
All of this should be done in time for the Georgia QSO Party!!
I hope a better antenna makes for better RX, as I missed a lot of
Q's from weak signals.
One Not! Weak! signal was TI8M, Fred WW4LL was the op. They sounded like
They were just down the beach. They seem ready for the weekend, and he
Mentioned several SECC/SEDXC calls present for the operation.
Thanks to all the islanders who called, it was great to hear those
familiar calls again.
73,
Mike, NE4S/K4USI
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