Last night, I cast my net out upon the waters and was fortunate to have two nice QSOs on 40 Meters. One was with Rick KC4KNN and that was immediately followed up with a nice chat with Scotty KG3W. I have worked both ops before, Rick once back in 2006 and Scotty several times in various QRP events. It's always nice to run into someone you've worked in some contests. The chance to QSO and talk for a bit longer than "559 NJ 5W" is very pleasant.
Tonight, I was tuning around 30 Meters and heard a loud station way down near the bottom at 10.103 MHz. Loud, calling "CQ DX" and not getting many takers. I listened for a bit to find out it was ZB2FK.
ZB2 - that's Gibraltar! Hot chocolate, that's a new one for me! I have heard Gibraltar several times in the past; but was never able to break the pileup. This time, Ernest was not all that busy. I waited until he was done with the station he was working and threw out my call. As I finished unkeying, I heard several others also calling. I thought to myself, "Here we go - from nobody to pile up in 60 seconds" but he answered ME! Little, puny ol' 5 Watt me - and on the first call! Talk about being at the right place at the right time!
There's nothing quite like the exhilaration of netting a new DXCC entity. And I'm a lucky kind o' guy, as I seriously doubt I'll ever make Honor Roll, I have close to 200 more chances to feel that exhilaration again!
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Hello Larry,
ReplyDeleteI've been spending a lot of time on 30 meters also. Last night I heard 9JZGR on the tip of South Africa! I couldn't work him but he was there. I'm just waiting for him to turn the beam towards West Virginia.
Hello Larry,
ReplyDeleteI too, sometimes I feel those "handshakes" aren't really what ham radio is all about. Your comments about an actual "chat" are right on and I still get the most satisfaction working stations who running QRP and using a simple wire antenna. To me...that is where the real fun lies.
Regarding the actual chatting, my CW skill are still at a very early stage so a long chat for me is RST Name QTH and telling them I am new to CW! More than that and my brain explodes...But yes, I use a W3EDP and like the simple things in ham radio. One day I hope to be able to go camping and work QRP from the tent...
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