08/09/2004 | N0TTW This was my first contest and I only had equipment to run on 70cm. I had a lot of fun and was able to determine my equipment's abilities on that band. Being located in EN32, my goal during the contest was to see how far my limited station would do. At least I kept the band alive from my location (in my mind HI HI).

I used a Yaesu FT-100D through a Mirage D-100-TVN amp. My peak power was 95 watts, 80 on average. I fed this to a hombrewed 8 element beam that was optimized for 432. No preamp was used, but next year that will be the thing.

K2DRH was my first contact of the day. Then again, I would have heard him on a piece of wire.... HI HI.

My best contact though was with K2YAZ in EN74 late in the evening on Saturday. Took a bit of work with the filters on the 100D and a little luck (OK, A lot!), but I got him! Almost 600 miles as the crow flies. Of course his station setup helped with the contact, but it was still a contact.

KC9BQA (EN63) and I were able to talk to (or should I say bumped into?) each other throughout the contest. I guess I surprised him when I told him of my setup.

Had to make the contest short though. Went to bed Saturday and started working again for 3 more hours on Sunday (I stopped at 1600 UTC). Not much activity that I could find. Was hoping for some last minute stations and was able to get 2 more before calling it a day.

Next year, I plan on putting a Pre-amp on the antenna. NW to SW from location was weak, compared to the NE to the SE. Pre-amp should help with the westerly direction.

Hope everyone had a good time. -- N0TTW