Back Again

I'm back. Did you miss me?

I was busy this weekend with the ARRL DX Phone contest, which was a lot of fun. I worked 50 stations in 30 countries, many of which were new ones for me. Some of the ops have already uploaded to LOTW giving me confirmations for their countries.

It was a rainy weekend here so I backed the Titan out of the garage just enough for the antenna to be in the clear, so I could get in and out without being in the rain. That arrangement worked out pretty well for me.

If anyone is interested in the stations I worked in the contest, I have entered all of them in the phpHamlog (link on the left).

I am retired from my job of the last 34 years so I expect to become more active on the bands now. Hope to talk to you soon.

PSKeeping On

I am having some fun with the PSK20. My first contact with it was XE1REW who was operating portable from Tlaxcala, Mexico. Tuesday I QSOed with KO6JC in Moreno Valley, CA, from the truck during my lunch break at work. Today I heard lots of DX stations (Germany, Poland, Scotland) from the truck but didn't work anyone, but tonight during a certain televised speech I was not interested in listening to, I was able to work TG9AHM in Guatemala City, a new country for me.

I will be trying again tomorrow at lunchtime so see if I can pick up some more, all while running 1~2 watts output. That's only 17 dB down from 100 watts, about 3 S-units, as they say.