Congrats Ron! I can relate to your excitement. This year was also when I completed 5BDXCC finishing up 80 this season.
For whatever reason when I lived in Illinois I just never got down on 75/80 to work DX. I guess I was under that common mis-conception that there wasn't any DX on that band and that my meesly antenna wouldn't be competitive. During the Winter months of 1999-2000 I was making a 1 1/2 hour commute each way to work, so I was "forced" into getting up pretty early. I made an effort to listen to 75/80 for about 30 minutes each day before heading off to work. Much to my surprise I did hear some DX and was able to work most of it. Between the contests and early morning DX I was able to get into the 90's worked. When I moved to Colorado in Sept. 2000 I had hoped that I could finish up 80. I was very disappointed that there was some kind of noise that was 20-40 over S9 across the entire 80m band. I did try to track it down and concluded that the noise was being propagated by the power lines. No, it wasn't the typical power line buzz-hashing noise, this noise sounded more like a flyback transformer from a TV or something along those lines. Being new to the area and busy with a new job, I just chocked 80m a lost cause until I either found the source of the noise or it just went away. Then last year when K1B was active, I happen to chasing them and noticed them on 80m. I figured I would go down and listen. Low and behold, the noise was gone! I even managed to work them on 80. As the days went on, I kept checking for the noise. To my surprise it never came back. To this day it's still gone. Needless to say, I was elated. It appeared I could get back on 80. The only thing I can correlate with the noise disappearing is that my next door neighbor moved about that time. The thing that doesn't make much sense is that my closest neighbor's house (the one that moved) is about 300 feet from my antenna. That seems quite a distance to have 20-40 over S9 noise source, but I suppose wierder things have happend. So early this past fall I decided to try and finish up 80m for 5BDXCC. So far I've managed 40 new ones this season to put me at 132 worked with 102 confirmed. My goal was to submit at Dayton. Looks like I'll be carrying some cards with me this year. Speaking of AH3D, I worked them on 80m CW Wednesday morning. They were 20 over here. Then this morning, Marti was working 75 phone. I flipped the amp on expecting to need it, but called him barefoot for sh*ts and grins while waiting for the amp to warm up. I'll be darned if he didn't hear me barefoot. They must have good ears! Anyway, to make a long story short, glad you got there on 80! I know how good it feels. I guess the next thing for me is to take a stab at 160. I don't have antenna for that band (yet), and guess I'll have to trade my amp for another since it only goes to 80. 160 DXCC barefoot would be a challenge I suspect. Not to mention adding a few new grey hairs! 73 Kelly - KE9KD http://www.dx-central.com On Fri, 31 Jan 2003, Ron Notarius WN3VAW wrote: > 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 > 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
