Day 46

I'd love to see France some day, but until then, I'll have to be content to with admiring their artists, sharing a bottle of their good red wine with friends, and talking to Hams who live there. French artist Claude Monet used an interesting style that captured the feelings of places and not the imagine. I've always like his work.

This morning, before I put my shoes on, I worked F8BBL in Tresses France. The operator used the name of Lor and we briefly passed along the necessities and excellent (599) signal reports--- which was both ways. He sounded like he was just next door. Before the morning ended, I also had nice QSO's with other hams in Germany and Italy.

Downstairs for coffee afterwards and a quick breakfast, I found myself back upstairs in the radio room and couldn't resist the temptation to say hello to YN9SU in Nicaragua. I like his new key which produces a buttery smooth sound. It's the only signal I've ever heard from that country and he always answers on the first call.

My next contact was in Switzerland with HB9ICE who was transmitting from the Zurich International Airport and commemorating Swiss Air.  I love those "Special Event Stations" and always try to work them.

My next contact was a challenging QSO with DK0SU who was using the "club radio station" at Stuitgart University in Germany. I took quite an effort to exchange our information because of QRM and heavy QSB. Tom and I shifted back and forth several times to nearby frequencies to complete the QSO. This University is a leader in the automotive engineering fields.

I also worked another French station this morning, but despite being spotted at least a dozen different times on the cluster, can't find anything on the web about it. Should anyone stumble across the specifics for TM5OENSO, please contact me. I've looked everywhere but can't find an explanation other than it's a Special Event Station listed only in France.

My last contact was a short QSO with IZ4DLR near Bologna Italy. Ivan was very complimentary of my 3 watt signal and a random wire antenna and made the remark that it was MORE than enough for a solid copy in his country. We also commented on the weather. He has heavy snow with 9C temps today.

That was it for the morning hours.  I'm VERY happy with these contacts. As usual, I'll be listening for the Caribbean stations again this evening. The weather is beautiful here today in West Virginia with temps in the mid 50's (f). I'll enjoy the mid day hours riding the bike around town.

It's been a productive radio day so far. I've not worked any new countries this morning; but this is my 46th Day of working at least one DX station, every day that I'm on the air. If not for taking a trip to a warm place last week (The Bahamas), they would be consecutive.

Since the beginning of this year, (Janurary 1, 2013) --  I've now worked 105 stations; of which 95%  have been in the DX Category. It's been much fun.....