As the clock wound toward 0300Z Sunday night I was running (such as it is)
on the low end of 80M. I was already over my previous high QSO total,
nearing 800 Q's. Could I make it to that milestone?? (I'd count that as
an achievement with one 100W radio, one dipole, and no assistance.)
I glanced at the clock -- last digits are 26; 34 minutes to go. It will
take some luck, but let's do one more push!
F1 F1 enter call F2 F3 F1 F1 ...
Ignore KW8N, who has fired up about 500 Hz away on his regular last-hour
blast. (He is good, fast, and LOUD.) F1 F1 ...
Several QSOs later I glanced at the clock again. Huh!?! It still says
26. What the...?!?! I'm not running >>that<< fast.
Oh. That's not the clock. It's the freq readout on the TS-850. I'm
running on 3526. The CLOCK says 0248. No hope for 800 now.
I continued CQing until 0258,slid up to work KW8N, dropped back down to my
run freq for a few more fruitless F1's, and QRT.
Wish I had a story about how I had had enough psychological strength to
find a Nebraska QSO among my attempts to run, or about how a Northern
Territories answered my CQ on 15M.
Oh, well. Wait 'til next year. Only 50 weeks until SS CW 2015.
73, Art K3KU (listen for the weak "Kilowatt United" in SS SSB)
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