Sometimes, ham radio can be very frustrating. There are times when it seems no one can hear me, and I swear that my antenna’s come down. Usually, I just write off this experience as it being “one of those nights.”
Fortunately, tonight wasn’t one of those nights. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
As I’ve said before, I usually try to make at least three contacts per day. I made one in the morning before work, and one just before my wife got home from work. So, after dinner, I headed down to the shack to make my third for the day.
For some reason, 40m was really busy tonight. Conditions were good, but there were also stations than usual on tonight. It took me a while to find a guy calling CQ. I had a short QSO, and then thought I’d continue working on the kit I’m building.
I signed with the fellow, and immediately got a call from W4MQC, my friend Alan, now living down in Florida. Of all the guys I’ve worked in the last five years, I’ve had the most contacts with Alan—33 in all. He’s a great operator and always has something interesting to say. We talked about his new K3 and his plans for buying a boat.
During that contact, I lost interest in working on the kit, and for some reason, decided to see what was happening up in the phone portion of 40m. Tuning around a little, I came across a QSO between KC0TPV in Minneapolis and N4SHY in South Carolina. As luck would have it, the propagation between Minnesota and South Carolina gave out, and I was able bag N4SHY and add to my collection of QSLs from stations whose callsigns spell words.
We chatted for a bit, and after he signed, KC0TPV called me. After that QSO, I was feeling lucky and called CQ. Immediately, I got a call from WD4KZK, in Roanoke, VA. Unfortunately, his signal wasn’t very strong, and I lost him. Fortunately, K4BBL, called me, and our QSO topped off a night when it seemed like I could do no wrong. I love it when that happens. :)
N0NPI says
Sounds like a great night! Now I’m a bit bummed that I didn’t try to get on 40m last night. I just got a new (to me) HF rig and set it on the table yesterday afternoon, but never bothered to get on the air. I have a 40m dipole out in the trees, so I probably should get off the computer and try it out!