Hello all: Thanks for the QSOs last night. Sorry that one of my 80M
antennas was not functioning well, but the zepp seemed to do OK to all
areas. From the comments I have read, the band conditions must have
been much worse than I had thought. I was aware of no QSOs further west
than NM, OK, CO, MN, but thought that was probably normal. Did work as
far north as NH and ON.
I had been on 40M for the first half hour of the NAQCC Sprint and
conditions there seemed exceptionally good with little or no skip zone.
80M also seemed not to be bothered by long skip last night.
N9NE had asked the Foxes to go very low or very high in order to
minimize conflict with the NAQCC event. I was unaware of the SKCC
Sprint, but did hear several calling for it before and during the Fox
Hunt. Did get one number from W0LGU during the Fox Hunt and assumed it
was a NAQCC number. Now that I think about it, he said he was running
100 watts, so it was probably a SKCC number that I got from him and gave
him my NAQCC number in response! However, W0LGU wasn't using a hand
key, but a bug. Maybe the SKCC is for hand keys and bugs?
80M CW will be much more crowded after this week when the FCC
"refarming" regulations go into effect. All of the CW traffic nets that
have been above 3600 will have moved into the 75 khz between 3525 and
3600, but the top end will be occupied by RTTY and other digital modes,
so it is more like 3525 to 3590. Make a note that we will probably want
to avoid 3552. I started on that clear frequency at 0200Z, QSX up about
one. At 0230Z, a high power, high speed CW net started up on 3552.3. I
was alerted to them by their key clicks. I said to them "QRL." As a
result, the NCS made some disparaging comment about "contesters" and
moved the net down 300 hz to directly on my frequency. Talk about
apparent deliberate QRM! I moved up to 3553 and got no replies. I
guess that was still too close to the QRO net stations. I then moved to
3554 and ran there for a while, but the rate was gone. After the net
was through, I moved back to 3552 and continued there until the end.
After 0230, I was QSX on my own frequency and not sending "UP," but a
number of callers still called up one and I picked them up, since the
rate was slow enough to allow tuning from just below my TX frequency up
1 to 1 1/2 khz above my frequency.
We may find that operating split after this week may be much more
difficult. There is very little split operating during major contests
because of the lack of space in the bands and we may need to do more
operating without splits if the split effort doesn't work on a much more
crowded band.
Here is the log:
0201 K4PIC 599 GA LARRY 5W
0201 N3BJ 599 VA ALAN 5W
0202 K8WDN 559 OH JOHN 5W
0202 AE4Y 599 GA KENT 5W
0203 N1TP 559 FL TOM 5W
0203 AJ4AY 599 AL JAY 5W
0204 NV4V 559 KY PETE 5W
0205 K3PH 559 PA BOB 5W
0205 K3ESE 559 MD LL 5W
0207 W9JOP 579 VA BOB 5W
0208 W9XU 559 WI LON 5W
0209 N4KV 559 TN JOHN 5W
0209 KK5LD 559 TX DAN 5W
0211 K4AXF 569 VA JIM 5W
0212 KD5MYU 559 LA PAUL 5W
0212 W8RU 559 MI RON 5W
0213 VA3NR 559 ON CHRIS 5W
0214 AB3CV 559 MD JIM 5W
0214 W9NX 559 IL KENT 5W
0215 N8WS 559 OH BILL 5W
0216 N9AW 559 WI JERRY 5W
0218 N3ZPQ 559 OH FRANK 4W
0219 K5EOA 559 LA WAYNE 5W
0221 N1IX 559 NH DAVE 5W
0222 WA9TZE 559 WI JIM 5W
0224 N9NE 559 WI TODD 5W
0226 K9IS 559 WI STEVE 5W
0227 K5JHP 559 TX BILL 5W
0229 WA8BXN 559 OH MIKE 5W
0235 W9LR 569 WI BILL 5W
0236 N5KIP 559 LA DICK 4W
0237 NK9G 559 WI RICK 5W
0239 NU8S 559 OH DENNIS 5W
0244 K5PSH 559 TX JERRY 5W
0249 K4TJD 599 GA TOM 5W
0254 K8KFJ 569 WV GARY 5W
0255 NO2D 559 CO PETER 5W
0257 AC5JH 559 OK TOM 5W
0258 K9ESE 559 IN JEFF 5W
0259 K1QO 559 NH ANN 5W
0301 KC1FB 559 CT JIM 5W
0303 N4DD 559 TN DENNIS 5W
0306 W0LGU 559 MN TOM 100W
0307 AA5CK 559 OK TED 5W
0308 K0EVZ 559 NM DOC 5W
0309 AB9CA 599 AL DAVE 5W
0312 K8DD 559 MI HANK 5W
0313 K5OT 559 TX LARRY 5W
0321 KZ5J 599 TX PAT 5W
0322 W5KDJ 559 TX WAYNE 5W
0324 K5WQG 559 TX EDDY 5W
0325 K5AEM 559 TX JOHN 5W
0328 N3AO 559 PA CARTER 5W
0329 K1ZZI 599 GA RALPH 5W
0330 WC7S xxx WY FOX 5W
0330 K4BAI xxx GA FOX 5W
Thanks, again, to all and good luck in future hunts. Also, season's
greetings. 73, John, K4BAI.
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