Tropical Storm Ida and a cold front have put an end to the tropo for now, so
what's a grid chaser with indoor antennas to do? Turn your eyes to the skies!
The Leonids Meteor shower will peak on November 17th, but even now the daily
rates are starting to rise. Last night I had some limited operating time, but
jumped on Ping Jockey to try a few contacts. My first attempt was with Terry
Bess, K8JX in EN64, and we managed to pull off the 770 mile contact in a little
over 15 minutes using WSJT software. This is Grid #73 on 2 Meters for me, and
was a nice contact indeed.
Dan, VE2DSB monitored our QSO and decoded a couple of pings from me, and even
managed to decode several from Terry off the back of the beam. After completing
with Terry, Dan and I attempted a QSO for what must be the 30th time or so.
Alas, no joy in Mudville. Dan and I were still not able to complete our QSO
despite a half hour long attempt.
The ironic thing is that Dan was actually my first ever contact using the WSJT
mode, but the QSO did not count because he walked me through it using the Ping
Jockey Internet reflector. On that initial attempt, we completed in about 20
minutes, with Dan providing guidance and tips on operating the mode via the
Internet logger. At the time, I think we both thought that we'd simply "do it
again" for credit without the aid of the reflector later on.
Hours after the first contact (with three completed QSO's under my belt) we
tried again without success. It's now turned into a running joke between the
two of us. At 1,200 + miles it's no piece of cake for a meteor scatter contact,
but both of us have completed longer ones.
Still the effort and the goal give us a glimpse into what the early VHF Men had
to endure. Endless schedules in an attempt to complete a QSO, and seemingly
endless disappointment. Dan and I are resolved to try around the 17th of this
month during the shower peak to see if we can finally bag that elusive QSO.
I've got a bottle of bubbly chilling in the shack fridge to mark the event,
when it finally happens, and have promised to dance a jig too. My wife is
looking forward to that---you see, I can't dance, and all attempts to do so
have become the stuff of legends in our family.
For those out there struggling with less than perfect antenna situations, hang
in there, and remember that getting there isn't half the fun, it's all of it.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF
EM63nf
121 Mayfair Park
Maylene, AL 35114
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