If you participated in the contest, you’re aware that the propagation was simply superb. Lots of action on 15 meters and 20 meters. When I checked 10 meters, I found a few stations and worked them all. I checked 80 meters and didn’t find anything. On Saturday evening I checked on 40 meters and wished I had the endurance to stay up late and do one sweep of the band. But I knew that I’d pay for it the next day and miss all the fun with the grandkids.
Because of the visitors, I wasn’t able to set up the 15 meter Moxon. I sure wish I could have put it into play. It would have been a super contest for that beam. I’ve also been working on a Vee Beam, but just didn’t have it all together in time. Plus, it would have had the same issues of wire’s running over the pool — which was the major focus of the grandkids during their visit.
During the contest I tried one of the tricks I learned at Contest University at Dayton. I used one VFO to select a station and while waiting for them to ID or work the current station, I used the other VFO to setup for the next station, using the P3 bandscope. Then, after working the first station, I’d just pop the A/B button and switch VFO’s and repeat the pattern. It worked really slick and at a minimum kept me busy while waiting on the first station. Since this was an all S & P effort, it was nice to put this in play.
I can’t wait for the IARU contest in early July. I definitely need to clear my schedule and do the full contest and get one of my temporary antennas in the air.
