I had the day off and had time to get on the radio this morning for three QSOs this morning. The first was Eric, F5xxx, near Bordeaux, France on 20M SSB. Eric told me he was near the Atlantic coast and gave me a WX report with the temp in Celsius and I told him I was also near the Atlantic and gave him a WX report with the temp in Fahrenheit. The DX packet cluster had a spot from Australia, I don’t remember the band, but I could barely hear the signal and listen to an op in Tennessee work him. That is huge – I’ve never heard a station west of California, east of Moscow, or south of Algeria. It gives me hope that with further antenna improvement, I’ll be able to work Hawaii, Japan, and Australia.
The next QSO was 40M CW with Dick, N2xxx, from Akron, NY. Nice QSO, Dick had a solid signal. The final QSO was also 40M CW with Rik, KB1BIC – the same gentlemen I talked to a few days ago. Our initial exchange was good, but Rik picked up the speed a bit and all I got was a jumble of letters. Just more motivation to keep working on my CW.
I received an email from The Willamette Valley DX Club – home to the ARRL 7th District Incoming QSL Bureau. They said they had some QSL cards for AD7MI and would I please send them a little bit of money for postage so they can mail them to me. I was able to mail off the check and hope to get the cards soon. I wonder who they’re from? It’s always neat getting cards from the bureau.
I got my Blinky Light kit from Electronics Rainbow. My plan is to modify it a bit and use it for Halloween.