40 Meters was golden tonight!

Tonight was one of those rare nights when everything seemed to be going right. 40 Meters was golden. The local neighborhood QRN was nil, there were no major all-band encompassing contests, and signal strengths were decent.

In all, I had about 5 QSOs in rather rapid succession. A few were brief; but they were all satisfying. The night started out with a QSO with John K1ESE. John used to be the Contest Manager for the Adventure Radio Society. We've had a lot of Sprint exchanges and a few ragchews. Tonights was mostly about local weather. It's been hot in NJ lately, it's been cool and rainy in Maine with the temps finally reaching the 70s up there. It was 88 Degrees here in Central NJ today!

From the QSO with John, I went down and tuned the Extra portion of the band and heard I2JWA calling CQ. My answer got an immediate response and Antonio said that my 5 Watt QRP signal was 599. Now, for those of you ball and chained to QRO, you might be aghast at anything less than 599. Let me state here now and forever for the record - a 559 signal is NOTHING to sneeze at. It is quite copyable with no trouble at all. As always, we promised to exchange cards via the Bureau.

From there I had a conversation with Sean W8OKN in Michigan. He was using an Icom IC-746 Pro to a ladder line fed dipole at 25 feet. He had a nice signal and I enjoyed our chat. From there I worked Jean VE2GHI who was just north of Quebec on his annual fishing vacation. Looking in Log- EQF, I see I snagged him around the same time of year two years ago, while he was out (you guessed it!) fishing. He was using a Yaesu FT-817; but didn't mention what he was using for an antenna.

This morning was the local W2QW Hamfest which is held each year on the weekend before Field Day. I wasn't able to make it as I had to take my son to a swim meet. He did exceptionally well in his two events; and even though I did want to make that Hamfest badly, I'm glad that I was with my son, instead. He placed 1st in his two events and I'm glad that his "old man" was there to see him. When it comes right down to it, I can get to other Hamfests (and will); but these precious "growing up" moments only come around once in a lifetime. Someday, when I'm gone, I want my son to have memories of me being with him and being proud of him. No matter how badly TV portrays fathers as bumbling fools and idiots; a good Dad makes all the difference in the world in his children's lives.

God gave me an important job to do by lending me two children to bring up the right way. I'm gonna do my best to get the job done right. And I truly believe that if I do do the job the right way, the ripples will be felt down the line for generations to come.

73 de Larry W2LJ