F5UKL QRP Pau, France

Although all the propagation forecasts predict only "good" conditions for 10 meters this morning, I stretched out the indoor end fed wire again, between the bedroom and the bathroom.

I had no intention of working more "SSB" stations on this band. I was fishing for "normal" contacts with simple stations using simple equipment.

I was intentionally looking for CW contacts and it paid off when I heard, (F5UKL) in Pau, France using a K2 with only 5 watts of power.

This was actually a "QSO".

Andre (F5UKL) is located near Lescar, a commune on the far side of the Pyrenees Mountains, which is between Spain and France. He was weak but was hearing me very well (549). I didn't copy everything he sent, but I got the jest of it, especially when he sent a weather report, repeated my home city, and replied to my QRP designation with his QRP designation. At times, his signal peaked to 339, but it was difficult to copy as the signal dropped into and out of the noise.

My friend Dick (F8WBD) recently made a comment about  DX contacts which I think is appropriate in this  case. I agree that it's a "relative" term. This contact is certainly not my longest contact but it is my longest contact with another QRP operator. In my humble opinion at least, this one falls into that category.

I've always said QRP work is a lot like fishing. You never know what you will catch when you throw the line in the water. This morning, I've heard hardly another station on the 10 meter band. I was very fortunate to catch this DX QRP station from France.

I got more excitement working this simple QRP station in France, than all the other "big guns" stations I've worked the last few weeks on this band. To me, this is the ultimate DX, and as my friend Dick said, it's very relative as far as distance is concerned. This one was a real hoot!