08/08/2007 | N9TF YA GOTTA HAVE PATIENCE AND DETERMINATION in this contest, especially when you only have the two bottom bands, and only SSB on one of them! I believe this is the best score that I have posted in this contest to date. But, it wasn't good enough to beat Bob, N9AKR. We both have similar stations, SSB and FM on 432/446, and FM only on 223 Mhz. We had a friendly competition going on throughout the contest. We would check up on each others Q count periodically throughout the contest during low activity times, and there were plenty of those! I beat Bob with total grids, but he had just enough additional Q's to beat me in total score, DARN! Although, I was working this contest under just a bit of a handicap, as Sunday the 5th of August was my XYL and my 29th wedding anniversary. My XYL is very understanding to my contest needs. Thanks Wendy! I'm pretty sure though, I missed a Q here and there due to lack of complete concentration! Nice job Bob on your score. Ill get you next time.

Conditions Saturday afternoon were pretty decent with nice Lake enhancement north
and NE around Lake Michigan. But man, was activity down. Especially Sunday. Although, with a heavy blanket of rain and storms early in the morning Sunday, seemed to have killed conditions.
With about 2 1/2 hours left in the contest, I threw in the
towel. The silence was deafening.
A big THANKS to all the rovers who made it into my
log. If not for WB8BZK/R, K9JK/R, N9UX/R, and W9FZ/R, my Q count would have been 35% lower and a real bummer of a contest. Thanks guys, you all covered a lot of ground.
Well, next up September VHF QSO Party. I'm ready as I'll ever be. How about you Bob? Station Conditions,
TS-2000 432/446 50 watts, DR-235 223FM 35 watts, CX-333 triband vertical@ 47', 719B 19 elements@ 44'. No Rx preamps, so if you called and I did not answer, it's my deaf RXer!

73's Gene, N9TF -- N9TF