KM4KMU & KN4BLG
WE HAD A GREAT TIMEOur score sucked (4K)Our location sucked (Va Beach 30'
ASL)The propagation sucked (SSB was almost totally dead, local FM was even
bad)The weather sucked (36 deg & rain)The station sucked (Jeep with 100W & a
30' mast is a lousy LM set up) WE HAD A GREAT TIME.
This was a buddies first VHF/UHF contest. He ran an IC 7300 on FT8 and MSK144
from a trailer next to my Jeep and we shared the 6m antenna (his 90% of the
time) while I had full use of the 144, 222 and 432 antennas. The objective was
for us, especially him, a dyed in the wool HF FT8 guy to have FUN. He found
it far more enjoyable and a lot harder, a big part of the fun, than anything he
has done on HF. By the end of the contest he was working the spotting
networks, signal reports and contact maps to find the beam direction for the
next opening to get more Q's and new grids. He put a lot effort into getting a
couple "distant" stations in TX & MO that were always just barely out of reach.
A weekend quest that was eventually rewarded.
A few of my buddies quotes are appropriate:"This is a lot more effort than 20m,
I love the chase"."It's a lot of fun and a challenge to dig them out"."Its like
a scavenger hunt, every opening and every contact is special"."This is harder
and more fun than I thought"."The XYL says I can go to the mountain in June"
Mission accomplished.WE HAD A GREAT TIME
Compliments and thanks go out to N2NT, K1RZ and K1TEO who proved that as bad as
everything was my station could still reach out to a big dog and run two to
four bands. I greatly appreciate your patience and willingness to work a truly
weak signal.
73JohnKM4KMU
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