[SECC] K4OGG CQ-160, Low Power

[Jay Pryor]

I had usual weekend stuff to do on Saturday and did not plan to operate in 
the 160M contest at all.  So I finished with running around and got back 
home around 5 p.m.  My wife was still out so I went downstairs and turned 
on the radio, using the tribander to listen on 160 to see if I heard any 
familiar calls.  Right off the bat, just below 1.830,  there was W4AN/W8JI 
calling CQ.  I figured what the heck and went outside to put up my elevated 
radials, which took about 45 minutes.  I went back to the radio and darned 
if I didn't start having fun.  From the little time I operated, conditions 
seemed great.  EU was louder than I've ever heard from my station on 160.

I got back on the air Sunday evening while my wife was fixing dinner and 
again, got caught up in the contest.  In fact I got caught up in it so much 
that I was calling CQ Test and heard a station answer with heavy QSB.  The 
only letter I got was the first letter, "O."  I figured I had another 
10-pointer and asked him to repeat.  He came back with a much stronger 
signal and sent "Over."  Then I realized it was 0002 UTC.  Oh well.

The bottom line is, this was fun.  I may give it a shot full time next year.

Low power:

171 QSOs
38 Mults
17 Countries

73,

Jay/K4OGG