I got on 40 Meters on the K1 tonight and seemed to have a pipe line into North Carolina. The pipe line was very productive and yielded two very nice QSOs. The first was with Jim KB2JWD who lives in Waxhaw. Waxhaw is near the South Carolina border, not too far away from Charlotte.
I've worked Jim before in the Adventure Radio Society's Spartan Sprint; but this was the first opportunity I've ever had to chew the rag with Jim for a bit. Jim was running his NorCal SST rig at 1 Watt out to a G5RV. He was an honest to goodness 579 into New Jersey. That 'lil NorCal rig was doing a great job squeezing out RF into the aether. Unfortunately, Jim had to QRT and couldn't stay on too long. But for as long as it lasted, QRP to QRP QSOs always seem extra special.
The next QSO was with W4/VU2YK. Wouldn't you know that the first VU station that I've ever heard, let alone worked, would be portable in Raleigh, NC ???? Rahul has been in the USA for the last three months, visiting his son who works and lives in Raleigh. He's going to be here for another month, and then will be heading for New Delhi, which is his home QTH.
Rahul was using an Icom IC-706 at 100 Watts to a dipole that was only 15 feet up above the ground. The dipole may not have been high; but Rahul had a killer signal! If the K1 had an analog meter, the needle would have been pegged. We talked for a bit and then the band started going even longer and both our signals were getting weaker. We exchanged the normal "end of QSO" pleasantries and we both QRTed for the night.
A relaxing night on the radio is better than just about anything!
73 de Larry W2LJ
Sure we can work from VU ! But we might have to try harder. Hey I am back in New Delhi and work into East Coast almost everyday. But wait. Thats 20 M and I have 100 watts and a two element quad up 70 feet. Cu on low end of 2o sometimes. 40 is far too noisy right now.
ReplyDelete73
Rahul
VU2YK