Got a great introduction into Florida weather for my first contest =
since transferring here from Guam last month. First of all, weather =
threatened late in the afternoon almost causing me to shut down, =
although it never developed past the S9+40 static crashes. Near at the =
end of the contest however, I was racing a thunderstorm to my 10:00 hour =
operating time limit. The storm won. I got nervous when the thunder =
started getting loud and I started hearing loud static buzzing on the =
radio. I shut down with 9:40 of operating time. Disconnected =
everything and quietly packed up all my things and got my sleeping son, =
quiet not to wake my host (Paul, K1PT). 10 minutes after shutting down =
I was walking to the car when ***BOOM*** his tower gets hit 75 feet away =
from me. !!SH**!! Quick, throw my son in the passenger seat and shut =
the door **BOOM** the neigbors sailboat's mast gets hit, 200ft away. =
Hop into the drivers seat and ***BOOM*** I think this time its Paul's =
sailboat that is hit. As I drive away I see nonstop lightning flashing =
all around me and in Paul's neigborhood. I'm thinking I may have made =
SOMEONE angry for some reason or another. :)
Fortunately Paul has alot of station grounding and this morning =
everything checked out and there was no damage.
2000 North American QSO Party, CW
Callsign: N2NL (At K1PT)
Operating Time 9:40
BAND QSO MULT
160 30 20
80 79 34
40 200 49
20 201 48
15 152 48
10 89 32
Total: 752 x 231 173,481
Station #1 Onmi 6
Station #2 Kenwood TS940
(Switch to shift keying between rigs and switches to select which rig =
into which ear I wanted)
Antennas: 4el tribander at 60ft, 402CD at 70ft, 80m inverted vee at =
60ft, 160m inverted L, R-7 for 2nd ring (later swapped different =
antennas around manually between rigs)
This was my first attempt at SO2R and once I got the hang of it - WOW - =
it was fun!! Probably over 100 2nd radio QSOs. Thanks to everyone who =
moved for me. 10 never developed, 15/20/40 were great, 80/160 sounded =
good but the approaching storm really hurt me there. I had to shut down =
while I was still having callers and finding mults :(
Thanks especially to Paul, K1PT, who allowed me to use his station, and =
to the Florida Contest Group guys who have welcomed me into their region =
with open arms over the past 2 weeks since I've moved here from Guam. =
BTW I'm US Coast Guard just transferred here (Palm Beach) for a 4 year =
tour, after my 2 1/2 years stationed in KH2
73, Dave N2NL
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