Propagation really helps on 10 meters. Last year’s contest was quite limited with just a few stations even visible on the bands. This year it was nearly wall-to-wall signals. Of course, not everyone could hear me, but it was still a much better contest. I also like it when the band dies around 7 PM or so and picks up again around 7 AM. I can get some sleep that way.
For this year’s event I put 164 QSOs in the log with 32 DXCC countries and 28 sections. It was a good effort on my vertical antenna. I used SO2V most of Sunday with one VFO calling CQ every 15 seconds and the other VFO scanning the band for search and pounce contacts. That worked pretty good with only a couple of times getting confused about what signal was coming from which receiver.
My best moment was my first QSO of the contest, which was with Ed, W0YK, who founded and directs the contest. I had not tested my macros and found that after he answered my call, I replied with his call sign then my call sign and the exchange. I could just see him scowling at the waste of time sending my call again! Fixed that right away. Since I’ve attended his RTTY class at Contest University at Dayton the last three years, I’m sure he’s marked me down to stay after class next time for remedial training…
