[CQ-Contest] ARRL 10m States?

[Ray Rocker]

> Are we back into the golden years of good propagation? - Is the
> upturn of cycle 23 underway? Will the 10m polar path, and long paths
> reopen in 1997?  These questions and many others will be answered
> in the ARRL 10m contest December 13-14. 

Thirty hours before the contest, the flux sits at 95. I'm not holding 
my breath for openings like we had in CQWWCW. You never know though.

BUT our good friend sporadic E has kicked it into gear, at least
yesterday: a quick swing through the beacon band around 1930Z
turned up 19 beacons from 7 US call areas, VE3, LU, and VP8, 
with just a wire antenna. Sure hope THAT comes back this weekend.

> But please, please, pretty please can we have phonetics instead
> of long names for the North American States and Provinces?

That is a good point. Last year I did had to give phonetics to a lot
of DX stations who thought Mississippi was "MI". After a while I was
saying "five nine Mississippi Mike Sierra" to all of 'em. 

Reason #5890345 to Just Do CW, I s'pose.

-- Ray, WQ5L ... see y'all from K5MDX this weekend!


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