Been 11 Years

It's been 11 years since I posted. Not long after I started this blog, my father started battleing for his life. He lost the battle in 2012. Much added responsibilties fell on me, and amateur radio was put on the back burner as my brother and I tended to the needs of our mother and her long battle with Alzheimer's. Mom's battle ended in 2019, and my borther and I settled everything we needed to. In August of 2020 I rebuilt my shack, bought new quipment, and got an antenna back in the air. Wow, how things changed!! All these digital modes,YSF, DMR, P25, reflectors, Raspberry Pi's, FT8, SDR, etc.... Where have I been? You can find my wife, W5ANB, and myself most nights on the Louisiana Traffic Net at 1800 Central Time on 3.910 MHz. Can also find me on my YSF Reflector 36940 - US-Doghouse. Stop by and say Hi. Hope to post now and then.

Mobile Pictures

CQ Worked all Prefixes

I did a little light contesting this weekend on the "Worked ALL Prefixes" contest this weekend. I spent about 6 hours Friday evening and a achieved 50 contacts (6 hours into the contests and I was receiving serial numbers over 1000 and I was just hitting 50). I don't participate for the points, and I don't have near the station the serious contesters do, but it gives me a chance to make some DX (out of North America)contacts that I might not normally hear.

Some of the locations I made contact with were: Argentina, Brazil, Aruba, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, European Russia, Asiatic Russia, France, Alaska, Senegal, Curacao, and Poland so far. I have also made many more contacts in the continental US. The contest is a great way to quickly make your logbook grow.

Worked Japan

After trying for 6 months I finally worked Japan. I worked a JO station on 15m. He was located about 200 miles north of Tokoyo. 55 report. Works for me!

Sunday

Sunday wasn't very good. Worked Brazil on 40m in the morning. I got up at 3 am hoping radio conditions would be good. Of course I planned, so therefore poor conditions! Keep coming back... I'll try to update often.

QSLs

All QSL cards, eQSLs, and LoTW from my station up to 1400 UTC 21 MAR 2010 have been sent out. Thanks for all the QSOs! 73

Saturday's radio activity

Had a great day today on the radio. I started out with a contact in New Castle, Australia on 40m. The Russian DX contest is this weekend and there are many DX (out of North America) stations out there. I tuned around and found 15m to be very active for DX. I had never really spent much time on 15m, I will now! I made contacts in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Senegal (Africa), Slovac Republic, Curacao for some examples. I used the FT-897 with the Heil Proset 5 headset, using 100 watts. All my contacts were SSB voice. Hope Sunday is just as much fun!