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Wow!  I can’t believe it has has been over a week since I have played radio.  On this, the last day of September, I just had to get out.  The weather here in Kansas was awesome – 75 deg, sunny and a light wind.

After getting setup, I heard a very faint CQ on 20 meters….

AK4JA (the QRPper) – Bob was calling CQ and was very faint, but readable.  He was in Georgia.  After reading his QRZ profile, he is a dedicated QRP addict, just like me.  I had a bit of trouble copying him, but I believe he said he was running 200 MW!  Thanks for the nice contact Bob!

Still on 20 meters….

N7IV/M (the mobile station) – Joe was calling CQ and was nice and strong here.  He was calling from Minot, ND (which might be a new state for me) – he was running 200 watts from a TS 480 into a Hustler vertical antenna on rear fender.  I believe he said he was on a long bike ride (but my CW skills were having a hard time keeping up 🙂 ).  He thought my lunch time activities sounded amazing – and I agree!  However, I think bicycle mobile sounds even better!

Now it was time to hit my favorite band for DX – 17 meters…

F8EMH (the first Frenchman) – Flo was calling CQ and after a couple of calls I was finally able to work him.  He gave me a 229 – so he has good ears.  He was 579 here and sounded great.  Looking at the map, he looks to live in the northern part of France, really close to the border.

F8AAN (the second Frenchman)  – David was also calling CQ at the bottom of 17 meters.  It took a few calls for him to hear me, but we finally connected.  He also had great ears giving me a 419 – he was 599 in here.  He lives in the western part of France, almost on the coast it appears.

So after a week away, things were still just as fun!  Today brought some interesting contacts, and some fun DX to boot.

I thought I might get skunked today!  The bands seemed pretty dead – and the wind was blowing 20-25 mph!

I finally did have two QSO’s….

IK2CIO – Vini was calling CQ from Italy.  Tried several times and got a 599 report from him – which I suspect was more of a contest style report – but still fun none the less!  I worked Vini on 17 meters.

I didn’t hear any other action, so I called CQ on 20 meters at 14.061.  A very weak station replied….

AJ8P – Jeff returned my CQ from Sherrodsville, OH.  He was very weak, and then someone started calling CQ really close to us.  If I cranked up the filter, I would lose him – so just had to suffer through it.  Jeff said he was running 2 watts.

After I got back to work, I had an email from Jeff.  He sent me this picture and said he was using the Mag Loop inside!  This just makes me want to get one of my loops working so I can start having some radio fun from the comfort of my home.

From checking out Jeff’s QRZ page, he has a couple nice QRP rigs on his page – worth a visit.

Today I went to my usual spot in the local park.  I didn’t hear a bunch of activity, but I kept tuning up and down the band on 17 meters primarily.

I heard a station calling and working guys contest style.  It took me about 5 times to get the call right, since it was so long and he was sending pretty fast.

The call was EI13CLAN – a special event station in Ireland!  What made this really special is because of this…

My father-in-law passed away suddenly in June – exactly 3 months ago today.  Mike was a very proud Irish Catholic.  He had a trip to Ireland planned for August – which he was never able to take.  Mike had been on my mind all day, and then to work a station in Ireland – WOW!  Mike would have loved hearing this story.  I

It kindof made me wonder if he had a hand in helping my signals fly through the air to Ireland! 🙂

If you work EI13CLAN enough, you get this special certificate – I will be happy with a QSL card as soon as they update the Clublog so I can order one.