Last night, about 2340z, I (and a lot of others) was calling 8Q7IO on 80
mtrs with no results. I had worked the 8Q before on 80 mtrs, but for some
reason, am not in their log. Condx were not very good and, as a result, his
QSO rate was very slow. I decided to drop down to 160 mtrs and tune around
a bit. I had just installed a preamp on my 2-wire beverages and was curious
to see what the noise level was like, how it was working, etc.
As I tune cross 1828 I hear a CQ (at 0000z) which sounds like a DX signal.
It's the only thing I hear in that part of the band. I listen for a moment
and about fell of ot the chair as I copy D68BW. He had apparently just
started calling CQ, had not yet been spotted on the cluster, and had no
takers. He said he was listening up 3. So I quickly tuned the amp up on
160 and gave him a call. He came right back and we easily completed the
QSO. I spotted him on the cluster but our cluster network was temporarily
not connected east of Iowa. It took a couple of minute for someones else to
discover him as he continued to call CQ with no takers. He had a very nice
signal and was 559 to 569 here in Iowa. A few minutes later when the
cluster connection eastbound had been re-made, I spotted him again.
A nice non-political surprise for election day.
73. .. Dave
W0FLS
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions: topband@contesting.com
Administrative requests: topband-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-topband@contesting.com
|