Topband: ARRL CW Contest

[Mark Lunday]

Due to other commitments, I only had an hour on Saturday evening to do S&P on Top Band for the contest.  

Signals from EU were not that strong, but the band was quiet.  

With just 100 watts and a less-than-ideal inverted L installation for xmit (HiZ array for receive), I was able to work 24 stations in an hour.  That's credit to the band and the very good CW ops in EU who were able to copy my weak signal....several ops were very patient and did not give up in spite of some deep QSB on my signal.

I also witnessed some superb CW operators...a lot of respecting the DX calling a specific station in response to his CQ; this patience by US/VE hams is a tradition with top-band and it's nice to see it in action still in 2020.  

Although it was only an hour, I very much enjoyed my contest time and am re-energized on top-band.

Mark Lunday, WD4ELG
Greensboro, NC  FM06be
wd4elg at arrl.net