Hi Carl:
Congrats on the DX QSO, and thanks for your note to the group.
For many, many years I lived in cliff dwellings. in my last QTH, I ran
nothing more than a hidden end-fed wire that ran out the window, alongside
the brick building a few feet from the outer wall, and then across the
rooftop a foot above the tarpaper. It used the steam radiator as a
counterpoise. My rigs were Ten Tec Argonauts 509 and 515s.
In any case, i made hundreds of DX QSOs on all bands, including 80 meters,
on CW and SSB too. In fact, many of the SSB contacts gave me terrific
reports, and if I didn't tell the other op I was running 3 or 4 watts,
they'd never ask!
I also was one of the first to use AMTOR in the mid-1980s, and of course,
the Argonaut's silky smooth QSK break-in worked really, really well for
that. I had many FB AMTOR contacts, many were long rag chews. The ol' Argo
would puff away, chirping for all it was worth and maintaining the virtual
connection!
So, QRP and simple antennas are no reason for any ham to not have fun! If
you pay attention to a well insulated antenna, a good ground, low-loss
match, and you operate thoughtfully, you can have a blast.
Vy 73, AI2Q, Alex in Kennebunk, Maine .-.-.
Regards,
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tentec@contesting.com [mailto:owner-tentec@contesting.com]On
Behalf Of Peter Inskeep
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 1999 11:27 AM
To: Carl Hyde; tentec@contesting.com
Subject: [TenTec] 1st DX Contact
Carl,
Congratulations on making your first DX contact, and the unusual conditions
under which you made it. My first DX was a VE in Toronto, while I was
living north of Boston. Not nearly so long distance as Belize (which, I
think is the V3 which equates to the VP1 from an earlier post on the
reflector this morning).
When you get to your new QTH, if you put up an 4 element beam, as the OM
from Belize has, your Scout will sound like a kilowatt, too. You could
even turn it down to a couple of watts out and get most all the dx you
want. Wish I had one of those antenna's to go along with my Ten-Tec Rig.
Wishing you many more fine dx contacts in the future.
Pete, NO2D
(Formerly a denizen of the Northern New Jersey hills country, and now a
resident of the relatively quiet DX world of Pewee Valley, KY.)
At 11:08 1999/02/24 -0500, Carl Hyde wrote:
>
>Made a great contact last night from southern New Jersey to Belize on
>twenty meters with my Scout. The only reason I'm sharing this is that I
>just got my General Upgrade a few weeks ago and am in the middle of
>moving so all my big radios and antennas are in boxes in the storage
>unit. But I took four Slinkies and a home brew 9:1 Balun and put a
>slinky dipole in the attic. I've been using my scout just for code
>practice and 10-40 meters. Well I heard this guy booming in last night
>on 14,225 and for the fun of it I dropped my call letters and he came
>back. He was running a Kenwood into a 1.5kw amp into a four element
>beam and he gave me a 579 signal in Belize. When I told him my radio
>was a TT Scout running about 40 watts into a four slinky dipole he
>almost crapped. So chalk another one up to the great little scout and
>good propagation. Must make the guy think " I spent all this freakin
>money and this guy's running 40 watts from a 500 dollar radio and a ten
>dollar antenna" He was also my first DX contact. Can't wait to get to
>the new QTH next month and get the Paragon back on the air. 73s
>everyone. I don't have his call here at work but he will be in Belize
>and was making a regular schedule on 14,225 at about 0300 UTC. He said
>he will be there for another couple weeks.
>
>--
>Carl Hyde
Amateur Radio Station NO2D
Pewee Valley, KY
http://members.iglou.com/pinskeep
Ask about my free Linux Morse401.tgz CW program
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