Tuesday, Feb 5, 2002

Contests. So far this year I've worked 2 contests - the RTTY Roundup and the 10-10 Winter QSO Party. Both were pretty successful (for me, at least). I managed to snag 32 states and 15 DX stations working RTTY. I also made 97 contacts in the 10-10 QSO Party.

The real highlight of the year so far was working Scotland on 6 meters. I just got set up on 6, so making a DX contact on that band was a real thrill.

Our local FRRL 440 repeater is now linked to the internet, and I've been spending a lot of time listening to DX on UHF. This is pretty amazing stuff. You can visit the FRRL web site for details on our set up, or go to the IRLP site for complete information.

   Monday, Dec 3

I worked the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes Contest a couple of weekends ago. My claimed score is over 33,000 points, and I worked 69 sections. Not bad for my first attempt at contesting. Now I need to get my CW speed up to snuff so I can try some of the CW contests.

PSK31. I've been running PSK31 for about 2 weeks now, and I am having a real blast. There is almost always someone to work on 20M or 15M, and the low power most stations are running lets "small fry" stations like mine compete for the DX. Plus, the convenience of the software seems to help turn casual contacts into very interesting regchews. If you haven't tried the digital modes yet, consider getting on board. They are great fun.