Apologies to all of you who had to copy so many weak stations with long
callsigns and strange names. Blame it on Tree! At least we talked him out of
using straight keys. This was an interesting experiment:
Low Power
One Antenna Per Band
One radio
No memory keyers/computerized sending
Long calls/names/etc.
In other words, most of the "BIG GUN" crutches that I normally operate with
(KW, multi-antennas, 2 radios) were nixed.
KC5NWX (KR0Y op, KR0Y QTH)
FT1000
KT34A @ 60' (used XA in re-build, up this winter)
402CD @ 60'
80M half sloper
20M 40M 80M
93 97 79 = 269x48 (not 49 as reported)
Hourly rates: 72/72/63/73
Mults NOT WORKED:
ME, OK, LA, MS, WY, AK, WV, NE, VE1, VE8
Know at least three of these were QRV. Activity in general, however, seemed
low and I don't think anyone broke 300 Q's.
Being low power changed my strategy a bit. In particular I called more
unsolicited CQ's as getting through pileups was at times difficult. That
said, I did feel "loud" at times. Seems like the station plays fairly well
(or was it infamous W5 propagation ?).
Now if I get the XA up, get 220V run to the shack, build a 2 radio switch
box, etc. I might be able to operate "BIG GUN" category from home in
February. Yes, that's right, NO MORE LOW POWER SPRINTS for me!!!
73
Jeff KR0Y
jsteinman@aol.com
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