This morning I worked KI4RNY in Alabama. This was my second contact with him, on the same frequency and almost the same time as a week earlier. This week, the signal was a little weaker (229 at best) and band conditions were very, very, poor!
The band was just horrible, and we both had difficulty exchanging the basics, but we sent and received our Calls, Names, and QTH's. Not much more......QSB and QRN were discouraging.
Bill was number 100 in my 2008 log book!
I had hoped for a QRP contact and CQ’d several times earlier on the 40 meter calling frequency. But when sending CQ a little further up the band, there were several signals responding in the noise, and Bill was the "first" I thought I could copy and exchange the “basics” for a contact.
I'm amazed at the QRP contacts I've made this year, with “poor” propagation, and a solar flux mostly in the 60's. I use an "indoor mounted Isotron antenna" for the majority of my contacts. My home, in a "historic district" in Charleston, doesn't encourage outdoor wires or antennas.
I've worked 10 DX stations this year, (most with a little 18” 20 meter Isotron antenna) and 25 of those 100 stations, I’ve worked so far this year, have been using 5 watts or less....
Of those 25 QRP stations, 3 were QRPp. (all on 40 meters)
I worked those QRPp stations while using one watt of power.
The band was just horrible, and we both had difficulty exchanging the basics, but we sent and received our Calls, Names, and QTH's. Not much more......QSB and QRN were discouraging.
Bill was number 100 in my 2008 log book!
I had hoped for a QRP contact and CQ’d several times earlier on the 40 meter calling frequency. But when sending CQ a little further up the band, there were several signals responding in the noise, and Bill was the "first" I thought I could copy and exchange the “basics” for a contact.
I'm amazed at the QRP contacts I've made this year, with “poor” propagation, and a solar flux mostly in the 60's. I use an "indoor mounted Isotron antenna" for the majority of my contacts. My home, in a "historic district" in Charleston, doesn't encourage outdoor wires or antennas.
I've worked 10 DX stations this year, (most with a little 18” 20 meter Isotron antenna) and 25 of those 100 stations, I’ve worked so far this year, have been using 5 watts or less....
Of those 25 QRP stations, 3 were QRPp. (all on 40 meters)
I worked those QRPp stations while using one watt of power.
No comments:
Post a Comment