DX Contest weekend

I know I previously mentioned that I made about 50 QSOs in the sparse time that was available for me to operate in the DX Contest this past weekend. But here's an overview of the countries that I worked, each marked with a red pin:




You can click on the map for a larger image. It seems all the QSOs follow a southwest to northeast line relative to my QTH. I did not work everyone that I heard, I basically just went up and down the bands, working folks at random. It was definitely not a contest effort; but more of a "Who can hear me?" exercise. Not terrible for 5 Watts and little time!

Some good news was received this past weekend. The Cherryville Hamfest in Flemington, NJ, which traditionally kicks off the Hamfest season in our area is back this year after a one year hiatus! I thought for sure it was going to be a goner, but an e-mail from one of the local repeater clubs that I belong to has proven otherwise. I am very happy to see that this Hamfest has not gone the way of the dinosaurs and the dodo birds.

The other thing that I wanted to post about is a new YouTube video that I discovered on Steve K9ZW's blog, "With Varying Frequency - Amateur Radio Ponderings". It is a new video on how to adjust and use a Vibroplex bug. I don't like to mine other people's blogs for material; but this is such an outstanding video that I wanted to relate about it here. I've been asked privately many times about a good resource on how to adjust and operate a bug. This one is superb! Thanks, Steve, for posting this.

72 de Larry W2LJ