This week there were two Sprints. Monday night was the Adventure Radio Society Spartan Sprint; and Tuesday night was the NAQCC Monthly Sprint.
Monday night was quite productive. When all was said and done, I managed 35 QSOs on 80, 40 and 20 Meters. Band conditions were not the best; but for me, it was a decent effort.
The very next evening, for the NAQCC Sprint, conditions were a disaster! There was NO activity on 20 Meters that I was able to hear. 40 Meters had a lot of noise (QRN) and a lot of signal fading (QSB) ; but I did manage to complete 16 QSOs. As bad as 40 Meters was, I did not dare even try 80 Meters. I'm sure it was probably much worse. In all, it didn't seem like there was a whole lot of activity and stations I always work easily were a real effort.
In the NAQCC Sprint, a certificate is to be awarded to the staion with the most "cross Mississippi River" QSOs. I don't have to worry about that one! My RF didn't make it across the Big Mo. It was like there was a steel curtain or something there; all my contacts were the eastern half of the country only!
Tonight, conditions were not much better. I completed one QSO on 40 Meters, took a break to watch the end of the Mets game and went back down to the basement. I called CQ for what seemed like a half an hour with no takers. A black night for RF propagation.
73 de Larry W2LJ
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