About an hour before the contest started, I converted my attic dipole from 6 meters to 10 meters.  I didn't have my household goods yet after returning from 2 years in South Korea, so I was prepared to log by pencil and paper.  I would enter the QRP SSB only category using my Icom 756 Pro II running 5 watts.

I operated a total of 15 hours and made 99 QSO's with 39 multipliers for a final claimed score of 7722.  By far, FL was the state I made the most contacts with which is surprizing given how close MS is to FL.  I worked two other MS stations (both locals) and heard at least two others on, so MS should be a pretty easy multiplier to get in this contest.  I did get a few "Thanks for MS--you're my first!" which made me feel good. 

Conditions were so-so with Central & South America being my best DX.  I was able to go high in the band and call CQ with some success given my indoor antenna and QRP power--not too bad for SSB!  At one point someone spotted me and I had a nice run of FL stations. 

The 756 Pro II is a good contest rig and the voice keyer & spectrum scope are very useful.  I found I could hear best with the pre-amplifier off, but the scope was most easy to see with pre-amp one on.  The scope gave me an idea if I would be strong enough to snag a station or if I'd do better to move on and come back later when signals to a particular area picked up. 

I guess my next contest effort will be the ARRL January VHF Contest--QRP portable.

73 and thanks to everyone for struggling to get my peanut whistle call into your log.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!

Jim N3AWS