Topband: Condx, contest

[N1BUG]

I elected to hunt new ones as opposed to making a real 
contest effort.

This weekend once again proved there is no substitute for 
time spent "being there" if you're serious about working 
new ones.  After several days of mostly nil to poor DX 
condx, things improved just in time for the contest.  EU 
was good throughout both nights; a bit better the second 
night and subject to a lot of intense "above average" peaks 
that made things interesting.  Examples:  5B/K3UY was good 
copy for several hours, but for some 15 minutes around 
0030z he was S9+ and C4M came out of nothing to S8 at the 
same time.  Around 0240z 4L2M suddenly appeared out of 
noise.  I had been listening to EU working him for some 
time, hoping to catch a break.  I worked him at 0242 and by 
0248 he had dropped into the noise again.  The whole night 
was full of those little surprises.  You just never know 
when top band will surprise you.  Conversely, I never heard 
A61AJ all that well the second night.  He had been much 
better 24 hours earlier.

Results for me:  5 all-time new, 14 new for this round 
(since my return to top band late November).  I guess there 
won't be many more weekends like that as I should soon be 
running out of easy ones soon.  To help stay awake when 
there were no new ones to go after, I made a run at 
one-weekend WAS.  Worked 49, missing only KL7 due to lack 
of propagation (typical for that path).  Some potential new 
ones were heard but escaped to be chased another day. All 
that got away were marginal path stuff and/or low power 
stations.

It is amazing just what can be worked with a very modest 
setup.  Yes I know how lucky I am to live in Maine, but 
even so... 

73
Paul  N1BUG