I got on mainly to test how well my new QTH would play on 432.
Spent quite a bit of time unpacking gear out of boxes, rewiring the amp for
110V,
(no 220 in the shack yet), and wiring all the relays, preamp, and stuff
that makes the station play.
So on contest day I pushed up my 35' mast with small 11 el "rover" yagi.
I was encouraged to hear W3CCX/b in FM29 coming through weak but
consistently.
But by contest start, it started to fog/mist and CCX was pretty much gone.
As the night wore on, it turned to drizzle then rain and signals seemed to
worsen by the hour.
It became obvious my tiny antenna looking into wet foliage was not going to
cut it.
I stuck with it even though the last 2 hours produced few contacts, and
disappointing results
of only 32 QSO's and 11 grids. Best NE was FN43/44, could only reach FN10
and FM29 to SW,
and absolutely nothing west of FN21. It looks like anything above 2M is
pretty much a waste of time
here until I get a tower to get above the trees with some real antennas.
But it was still a lot of fun
to QSO with all the friendly and familiar voices. Thanks to everyone who
got on, and our sponsors!
-73, Ron WZ1V FN31rh
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