WOW!!  This is all I could say for quite some time on Sunday afternoon August 15th, 2010.  Even my wife was curious about the whooping and hollering emanating from my makeshift shack in the breakfasdt nook.           I knew with my somewhat DWreckpedition setup that I would NOT be a top scorer in this Rookie Roundup, but it was my first ever contest AND my first time transmitting, so I was excited to say the least.  Imagine my delight when my FIRST EVER QSO was with a fellow named Hiram, licensed in 1938, and operating out of Connecticut as a guest operator at W1AW !!!!!

Seems my 'drooping doublet' drooped a bit too much, but it sure worked for the NE  USA.  I only nabbed 4 states and 6 total contacts. So I didn't finish in the top 5.  But having my 1st ever QSO with W1AW will be something I will never forget, and I'm 55, so forgetfulness is probably just around the corner!

After 45+ years as a short-wave-listener, I finally hunkered down and applied myself to secure my Amateur Radio operators license.  I sat for the Tech and General license exams in early June of this year, missing 2 and 4 questions respectively on each.  I then engaged upon a 3-week journey into new depths of radio & electronics theory and applications and secured my Extra ticket in early July of this year, getting 48 of 50 correct!

Participating in this contest whetted my competitive streak, so now I have to figure out how to build a hi-gain wide-bandwidth Super Yagi for EME ! My wife is a Tech and working on her General ticket, so maybe I'll get to do something about that darned 'drooping dooublet'! LOL!! 

73s, Vince  KF5HJK