Sometimes it's not always a bad thing when a person can't sleep well, and even more so, when you're a CW operator. I've found another of the "big advantages" of the Morse Code mode is that it can be absolutely "quiet" while playing radio and using a set of headphones. The wife, the dog, and two cats never heard a thing....
Around 2:30 am this morning, I stumbled into my radio room and spun the tuning dial towards the lower portion of the 40 meter DX band. I was hearing a few stations, but nothing exotic, and was about to try getting back to sleep, when I heard the unusual call of 8P6BE, sending fairly slowly, on 7053 MHz.
He wasn't strong, but crystal clear, and out there all by himself.
It was cloudy, rainy, and 74 degrees in Barbados as Hendy (short for Henderson) transmitted from his Tentec rig and a simple dipole antenna. We sent call signs and names back and forth several times to make sure everything was correct. I don't think he had ever heard of West Virginia and neither of us exchanged our cities.
This was actually a nice QSO and much more than a "handshake". I don't think I've ever gone south like this on 40 meters before. It was a nice nightcap to work this unusual station on the unusual band of 40 meters. We both decided to listen again in the early morning hours on this frequency.
4 comments:
Hello John, it is great fun, to have a memorable QSO like this. Yes, CW is so silent. Thanks for the nice Blog entry. I love it 73, Bert
Hello Bert,
A good set of headphones are worth their weight in gold. Hihi
Hey John, Don't you just love when you're the first one to here a new or rare station calling CQ. It makes tuning around all the more worthwhile.73 de Tom ab9nz
Hello Tom,
Yes, it does and especially when the station is a new DX entity for me. Barbados is # 54.
I don't ever expect to get a DXCC certificate with my simple station and my terrible location but what the heck, it's always fun to work an "out of the country station." This one makes nearly 200 for me. 72's
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