Topband: Stew

[Merv Schweigert]

The Stew is past..  Started out to be fantastic,  signals from South
America and Caribbean were really strong,  KV4FZ, PJ2T,
P40, 6Y5, CE1, etc were all over S9,  great conditions,  and the
first morning RA4LW booming in.
But alas I was skunked,  about 5 or 6 hours into the contest Sat nite
the QRN started,  then changed to local storms shutting
me down.  When I heard the knife switch that switches the open feed
line on my 80 meter zepp arc across the spark gap it was time to pull 
the switch.
  I checked the band several times after and could only
hear a couple local signals and west coast through the din.
QRN had the meter pegged at 30 plus over 9,

But I got some sleep and it was exciting to start with,  as they say
"next year".   Thanks to all who had to repeat the grid through my noise
and for the contacts.  Nice to see so many familiar calls on again.

73 Merv K9FD/KH6