Saturday, April 04, 2020

A big thank you

to the folks who came up with the idea for the State QSO Party Challenge!

Even though I am not "officially" participating in it - only as a personal challenge, it is providing a lot of fun and enjoyment. I got on the air this afternoon and in short order had QSOs with Louisiana, Missouri and Mississippi in the log.  Nebraska was a bit harder, but I got a couple QSOs in with the Cornhusker State as well.

Louisiana, Missouri and Mississippi were all plentiful on 20 Meters in the afternoon - but Nebraska was nowhere to be heard. I finally worked W0DB on 40 Meters at about 1932 UTC. I scanned the bands up and down and did not hear another Nebraskan.

After dinner, and before the nightly on-the-air 2 Meter simplex meeting of South Plainfield Hams, I once again searched 40 Meters. The CW portion was wall to wall signals! I cranked down the KX3's filters to an extremely narrow setting and twiddled the dial VERY slowly. Eventually I was fortunate to come across WB9QAF/0 and got my second Nebraska QSO in the log.

My logbook is swelling, due to the State QSO Party Challenge. It's an impetus to get on the air, and that is not a bad thing. As an added benefit, it gets my mind off all this COVID craziness that is transforming our lives. It's good to have a "comfort activity" to resort to in order to help maintain some semblance of sanity.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!


1 comment:

  1. Good evening Larry, I had the same issue with Nebraska and I go thinking about FT8.....I popped up there and was able to make 2 QSO's right off the bat.
    All the best to you and your family during this time.
    73,
    Mike
    VE9KK

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