Hi all. I am back from my trip. It does feel good to be home, but I do
miss working all of you from EN39! Thanks to all those that I was able
to QSO with - in the test and out.
I filled up 3-1/2 pages in my log book - all 6 meters. It was a mix of
half CW half SSB for the most part. I liked working CW because I could
toss the headphones on and not bother anyone HI.
The contest went well. It started out rough. I was a good 2 hours in to
the contest before I worked my first station - K5QE (no surprise there
based on his station, if there is anyone to work its either him or GP's
on Spruice Knob HI).
I worked my first Aurora opening in the contest. That was cool. I have
heard some recordings of strange propagation modes before but I have
never heard from my radio anything that sounded quite like the Aurora
signals! I have a couple short recordings I made
of the opening - one CW and one SSB.
All but 11 of the contest QSO's were CW. I worked one SSB QSO on
Aurora, the rest of those were CW. I had a hard enough time listening
to the CW off the aurora - SSB just gave me a headache! With the way Es
was during the contest it was easier for me to work CW - getting
through the poor band was much easier.
The weather was not too cooperative during the trip. I battled rain,
wind (BIG WIND), and cold temperatures most of the time. There were
three nice days and two of them were the day after I arrived and the
day before I left - right when I was setting up and tearing down. I
guess I got pretty lucky there, eh?
Just a side note on the wind - I drove up there with a STIFF head wind.
I lost about 3-4mpg in the truck because of it. My cell phone antenna
bent over 10-20deg on its mag the second day of the drive (I replaced
the stock 3" with a 5" last year - Im glad I did HIHI). At the island
we experienced a down burst a day or so before the contest. There was
one back in 2001 that took out a lot of trees and put wings on boat
houses, the one this trip wasnt THAT bad but it was enough to stir
things around. I thought for sure the antennas were gone. The front
door was buzzing and the floor boards in the cabin were vibrating. I
was actually on the front porch watching the antennas because I was
worried about them. Once I was pelted in the face with some rain drops
I went in and held my breath! Luckily there were no loud crashes and no
aluminum shooting through the cabin. After a quick evaluation of the
antennas the next day my 70cm beam was 20deg off the rest of them, that
was it. No loose guys and no bent masts.
Thanks for all the contacts! If you would like a QSL card send an SASE
to my posted address and I will get one to you when I can. The card is
going to be made from pictures taken during the trip. Bear with me as I
just got home and need some time to get back in the normal routine.
With Field Day coming up in a week I need to get some things ready for
that as well. I will print out some cards as soon as I can.
73 and hope to hear you all on the air!
Steve, KC8QVO
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
|