I turned the rig on during lunch yesterday for a quick spin around 20M and ran into the Alaska-Pacific Emergency Preparedness [http://www.alaskapacificnet.org/] Net run by Will, AL7AC, from Sterling, AK. I heard the traffic net taking Alaska station check-ins… passing their callsigns, locations, and a brief weather report. I was excited because I was hearing Alaska! I’d never actually heard them before, so this was a first. And I wasn’t just hearing one station, I was hearing almost all of them… at least a good dozen. Then the NCS asked for guest check-ins. I grabbed the mic and figured I’d toss in my callsign, not expecting a reply. But Bill came right back to me with a nice signal report! So I thanked him, checked into the net, gave my QTH, and “no traffic”… 1st QSO with Alaska complete!
The quest for Worked All States (WAS) is almost complete… one state to go: Wyoming.