This morning was surreal.....
I couldn't sleep so I got up around 0900Z, had a cup of coffee, read for a
while, then went down to the shack. I worked 3D2AG on 80M CW and was
listening to him put in a very nice signal to the east coast while I did
some email correspondence. I QSY'd to 160M around 1145Z.
I worked JH1HDT, JA7BXS, and JA0MVW between 1202Z and 1216Z. 3 JA's!!!
Wow!!!
My SR is around 0723Z. I figured what the heck, parked on 1823 and called
CQ DX. This is where it gets surreal..... I worked JH7PFD, JO1WXO,
JH2FXK, and JA2ZL between 1222 and 1234Z -- They called me! I had to dig
to get some of them, but we made it.
I was going to shut down and noticed BG2AUE was spotted on 80M. I went to
80M.... and oh my God.... I'm hearing him. Coffee flying, I quickly
changed feedlines and turned the linear so the knobs would match my red
electrical tape marks. Squirted some RF.... He was 20 KHz down from where
I had worked 3D2AG and the SWR was higher than I'd like..... but 3500Z are
forgiving so more RF was squirted. He came back to me! Well, I'm pretty
sure he did as he was weak as water, when I worked him at 1259Z, which is
my SR + 35 minutes or so. I have an email out to him and I am checking
LoTW periodically.... well, more than periodically......
I'm waiting for Rod Serling to walk around the corner...... "Here we have
one Mark K3MSB, an unknowing visitor to the Twilight Zone......."
Days like this are what make all the days upon days of crappy propagation
worth it! As my TopBand Elmer Glenn K3SWZ always tells me -- "you have to
put in the seat time and be there when "it" happens..... "
73 Mark K3MSB
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