Well, in a couple of hours the MBARC QRP contest will be history for this year and the QRPers will go on to other things for awhile.
Yesterday I processed 6 Silver Salmon, so they went into the brine at about 10PM last evening. So I was up at 4 AM to remove them from the brine and start the air drying before the smoker was started. They smoked 5 hours, then we canned them in pints. They turned out pretty well. While I was up early I listened but 20 was dead. 40 was open to Japan for about an hour before it closed. Managed to work some. Since I don’t have the dedication to get up that time of night on a regular basis, I don’t get the DX that rolls in. Later when KM0U from Blaine called me with a 599 signal, I said hi neighbor! Turned out he was in Blaine, MN.
Well, 4 states eluded me this time. Never heard Delaware, Kentucky, Rhode Island, but Hawaii was in there but didn’t hear me calling. 7 countries and 6 provinces this time. Although I worked Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, it was not my most distant contact. LU7YZ, Alex, in Las Calas, Venezuela was 6,796 miles, at 1359.2 miles per watt. Not as good as last year. Worked Japanese stations in Hiroshima, Yokohama, Chiba, Iwate. I met my personal goal of surpassing 300 q’s this year.
See you on the band with better conditions next year, Stan, N7OC.
