[Mldxcc] #244

[Rick WA6NHC]

Whew!  A long evening and I was beginning to think that I was only 
heating the ground with my 600 watts.  I normally do very well on 40 and 
this was frustrating.  The Caribbean is normally a no brainer from here.

But K1N *FINALLY* answered my call on 40.  ATNO #244 is in the log.

However, much of the evening was also spent finding out where the K1N TX 
VFO knob was bumped to this time, up 600, down 400 or maybe just 30-60 
Hz per bump (at least the tuner uppers and others had a harder time 
interfering).  Hooray for the P3 panadapter to find them quicker, it 
kept me on course.

I fully support SMALL shifts in the TX freq for just that purpose, to 
defeat the ne'er do wells.    Something obviously isn't quite right on 
location yet.  Perhaps as simple as a crowded tiny shack with others 
setting up and bumping the table?  It will be an interesting read later 
and I look forward to it.

The operator (otherwise) is doing an excellent job and is keeping the Q 
rate respectably high.  With the lids sounding off in the RX portion 
(just sending calls without listening, or worse), it was really hard to 
track where he was listening (and I give the op praise for that, 
panadapters make it 'easy').  Finally, when Europe conditions shut down 
and ZL/VK was starting to pick up, it was cleared enough to figure it 
out.  The other option was to simply pick a frequency and hope he passed 
by and heard you.

I write this not as a complaint, but as a note to others in the hunt 
that something unusual is going (at least tonight) on so you have to be 
doubly on your toes.  They were literally all over the place, most 
unusual (maybe one of those cat sized rats wandered through?). The 
initial wall was solid up 35 KHz, impressive, even daunting.

I saw some familiar calls scroll by too, N6PSE, W6OAT, W6SR and 
others...  Congratulations all.

Now if the propagation shapes up, I might be able to get some band modes 
too.  But at least the pressure is off (once I confirm in the online 
logbook).

73 es best DX,
Rick WA6NHC