Topband: Not so Boring Report - FT5XO

[Tree]

Wow - am I dreaming?  No way FT5XO is coming in that well a whole 25 
minutes before sunrise.

Seems to be working JAs.  Guess it isn't a bootlegger.

Listen to that pileup!  Wow.  W7LR is even in there.

The dog wants out...  darn...  I run downstairs, let the dog out and even 
take a minute for my own comfort and come back.  Takes a minute of two 
to find out where he is listening - and he is mostly working JAs.  I find
the JA he is working and do a quick tailend - holding my breath.

He responds with "N6?".

I have him now - I pull hard on the rod and try to make sure the fish is
really hooked.

Seven seconds later, I am jumping up to touch the ceiling.

http://www.kkn.net/~tree/ft5qso.wav

Eight years ago, "the big one", VK0IR had a similar opening (from what I am
told).  I missed it because I had an early meeting at work.  

As I explained to my wife, if it wasn't so hard, it wouldn't be as much fun.
That's country #190 for me and zone #36.

Good luck to the other deserving souls who are still involved in the quest.
I hope another opening like this comes along for you.

About 20 minutes after working them, they peaked at my sunrise - at least
5 s-units above the noise.  They were Q5 on my transmit antenna (loaded 
tower).  It seemed that they were having a hard time hearing many of the 
stations - which makes me suspect that they were running higher power this 
time around.  I believe they only have on amplifier and perhaps it was being 
shared between 80 and 160.  This might explain why they were not on 80 this 
AM.

As far as I know, they will be packing up on April 1st - so there may be
two more chance for the west coast.

Finally - when you send in your QSL - you might remember that this type of
operation costs a lot of money to pull off.  I know that they had to pay an
extra $5K just for rising fuel costs just before leaving.  I encourage you 
to think about how much working them means to you - and to give them an
appropriate contribution.

QSL info at qrz.com under FT5XO.

Now - how do I set that alarm clock back to a more reasonable hour?

Tree N6TR/7 in Boring, Oregon 
tree at kkn.net