TopBand: 160 sunday 2 Nov / early monday 3 Nov (GMT) - fm GM-land

[Graham Mercer]

Greetings fellow relectors (from an advocate of Ex-Pres J. Carter - 
peanuts rule OK!)

Condx seemed exceptional so far tonight - consistent, rather than the 
odd 'Goodie' as has been the case of late ... Season seems to be 
shaping up well - even for us relative QRP / modest / restricted 
station merchants!

Following worked in 2 hour period, commencing 2330z on 2 Nov:

2330z   K0HA       Bill in NE 579 (me 559)
2338     N2RR      Bill in NY 569 - both
2340     W1OO     Lanny in ME 589 (me 579)
2345     K9UWA   John in IN 599+10 (me 589)
2353    W9YSX   Skip in IN 569 - both
2358    WD4JRA John in GA both 579
0001    W3ORU  Dick in PA 559 (me 569)
0003    AC4HB    Don in VA 56/89 (me 569)
0008    K4KR       Dean in GA  569 (me 599)
0012    AA0RS    Dave in CO  56/99 ( me 459)
0025    VE3ZI     Roger in ONT 569 (me 579)
0032     K7CA     Vern in NV 559 (me 359?) .... he also called me at 
0023z
0040     N4XX      Ted in VA  579 (me 569)
0054     KC1XX    Mat in NH 599 (me 599) ... ant works Mat! ( my 
RSTfm u  proves it!)
0111    WG3U   John in MD 579 (me 559)
0112     W4DR  Bob in VA 599 both
0116     N7JW   Jim in UT 579 (me 589)

All on my 160m sloping doublet fed with open wires and 250w output 
from FT-990 ( with some assistance from a very hot FL-2100z that 
glows if increased beyond 250w for more than 10mins!)
Many stations worked for the first time in US during last fortnight, 
together with some renewed aquaintances from 2 or more years ago 
..... so maybe band REALLY has picked up just recently ... or just 
coincidence!

Had to curtail further acrivities as will  be in sole-command of 
grand-daughter at 0730! ... a daunting thought!

73 all ( keep the RF gain up a bit fer us peanuts!) .... use a short-(ish) 
LOW l/w with MLB for reception during periods of high QRN levels  
(which seems to be more/less permanenrt this last 18 months - it 
helps a lot, for those of us with no room fer beverages!) ....
Graham/ GM4BES+

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