"I’ll be one of your two foxii on 80 meters Thursday night, along with Larry, W2LJ, in New Jersey. I'll be operating from Gloucester VA, between 0200 and 0330Z and within +/- 10Khz of 3.560 MHz. I’ll be running my K3 throttled down to 5 watts into an 160 meter full loop up 55 feet."
I've been so pre-occupied as of late that I totally forgot about Fox duty last night! But in a way, it was a blessing in disguise as it took my mind off of the echo cardiogram that I went for today. The good news there is that no one screamed "Oh my! Rush this man to a hospital!" My cardiologist (I still can't quite come to terms that I actually need one!) will call sometime next week with the results. (Fingers crossed for no really bad news.)
The Fox Hunt was a good time, as I was lower Fox. This was Dean's baptism by fire as his first time as a Fox. A bit more on that later. I put myself at 3.5575 MHz, listening up one. That worked well until about 0254 UTC when a QRO and QRS QSO obliterated my ability to hear any Hounds calling me, so I had to go simplex.
In all, not counting the two Foxes, I was able to hand out 45 pelts. I more or less divided my time up between the EFRW and the HF9V. Neither seemed to have an advantage over the other. QSB was a vicious beast at times last night, but even so, I had fun and was able to concentrate on something other than "concerns" for a while. The RBN map from last night isn't all that impressive, but here it is:
I was able to make it all the way out to Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado, even though the map doesn't show me as having been picked up by skimmers out that way.
Dean's first time as Fox was phenomenal! He handed out 50 pelts - a true testament to the superb operator that he is! If I remember correctly, the first time I was a Fox so many moons ago, I was so nervous that I was lucky to hand out 30!
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
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