I know, this isn't exactly the most monumental news in the world, but I'm still pumped up about it!
Last night, at long last, and after two winter DX seasons working on it, I finally, FINALLY, worked #100 on 80 Meters to complete 80 DXCC -- which also completes 5 Band DXCC too. No, I didn't work AH3D for #100 -- I thought it might happen, but they ended up being #99. It was HH6/DL7CM who gets the honors. He was tougher to work than the Johnson Island guys were! Between the huge pileup, and the fact that he was listening "up" anywhere from +1 to +6 kHz, and never the same listening frequency twice in a row, it seemed... but I stuck with it and got him at long last. Phew! Of course, I'm not quite done yet. There are about 18 cards due in, and I should work another 5 - 10 to cover cards that never arrive or cards that might get rejected for one indiscretion or another. But they will come in due course now that I'm over THAT hump! Most of my contacts this year have been on CW, 100 W to an HF2V vertical with insufficient radials. The phone Q's have been to a companion HF6V, and last year I had 400 W out of the SB200 on 75; this year, it's about 225. Problem's not the finals, there are two extra capacitors switched in on 80/75, and this is a known problem when they die. I just need to get the caps (yes, I know, Harbach) and replace them. Now that the pressure's off, I'll do that fairly soon. One other little irony... I now have 5BDXCC worked -- but not 5BWAC. Still have yet to succesfully work anyone on the Asian continent! I can hear JY9QJ, 4X4WN and so forth nice and strong, but the pileups kill me. Another reason to get the amp fixed (no, I'm on a city lot, I can't put up a better antenna right now). And as a bonus, though I didn't work him, I did hear KS4YT's melodious tones working a GD4 last night. Sure nice to put a voice to the call! Anyway, while there are a lot of people to thank, I want to especially thank EI6S, G0NVD and the entire UK gang that tends to hang out on 3799 (or if it's busy, 3791 or 3792) around 0600 - 0800 to ragchew and provide a "watering hole" for a lot of rarer DX. There are quite a few entities I might never have worked had they not been hanging around these characters! 73, ron wn3vaw 'Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.' --Hanlon's Razor Subscribe/unsubscribe, feedback, FAQ, problems http://njdxa.org/dx-chat To post a message, DX related items only, [EMAIL PROTECTED] This is the DX-CHAT reflector sponsored by the NJDXA http://njdxa.org
