AmateurRadio.com

I didn’t have a whole lot of time to spend, so I did FYBO “down and dirty” this year. I operated for about an hour from my driveway using the same setup that I use from the parking lot at work – the KX3 with the Buddistick mounted on top of the Jeep. It seems to work fine for me there, so I figured “What the heck”.

I stayed on 20 Meters the whole time and made about 8 or so contacts, and called CQ a lot! Among others, I QSOed with Steve K4JPN, Jim N0UR, Dave AB9CA and Greg N4KGL. Not really an FYBO QSO, but by far the best DX was with Guru EA2IF, who is located in Navarra, which is in the western part of Spain in the Pyrenees. Guru, who was also QRP was using a 3 element Yagi. Obviously his altitude and his antenna made the big difference. I gave him 559 and got the same in return.

My reported temperature was 45F. I was a bit surprised when Jim N0UR sent me a 55F from Minnesota. I was not surprised at all that the QSOs from the South were all in the 60s and 70s. Even though it felt chilly after a while, on the whole it sure felt warmer than it has in weeks. This looks to be a brief respite only, as we are being told that there’s a chance for more snow on Monday.

Later on this evening, I was able to hear FT5ZM on 30 Meters, the best that I have heard them so far. They were 559 and the QSB was bad. But they were readable. In fact, I heard them work fellow Fox hunter, Steve WX2S. Unfortunately, I was not able to break the pileup ….yet. But I will get there!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least.