80 Meter CW QRP DXing from the coast of Maine

I only operate QRP. I have spent the last 20 years tediously accumulating 63 countries on 80 meters from my QTH in San Diego and  had only one country in Europe: the Azores. I wanted to see what I could work if I went to the northeast and operated from a place closer to Europe.

So a long time friend of mine, Phil (N0KE) introduced me on-line to a friend of his, Wilt (W1IPL). Wilt and his XYL Ellen and two sons live in a beautiful home in Nobleboro, Maine, a town that is about 8 miles from the coast and about 100 miles from the Canadian border.

Wilt is primarily a 6 Meter DXer, and has a large 6 Meter yagi at the top of a
65 foot tower. He offered to climb his tower in what may be the worst
winter in decades and install an Inverted V and and end fed 1/2 wave wire for a
second antenna.

I got there about noon Friday to find both antennas up and tuned! In
addition he had installed a table and backup rig in a spare bedroom. There was
also a butane heater to ward off the harsh Maine winter temperatures!

I fired up the rig at sunset which was about 1 1/2 hours before the start of
the contest. I was astounded to hear European 80 Meter signals pounding in at
599+! I managed to work 7 stations BEFORE the contest even began including DL, GW, IT9, OM, F, HA, and I was called by Kurt, W6PH, who was doing one of his many operations at VP9.

Once the contest started, it was surrealistic. It was nearly wall to wall 599
European stations. I certainly could not work all, but at that point I was able
to work many. Eventually I was able to work most of the strong stations
especially on the second night.

In all, I worked 68 countries. It would have been 70 if I could have worked the
USA  and Canada! When added to my 80 meter countries from San Diego, my DXCC total on 80 meters is now 116.

132 of my 176 Qs (75%) were in Europe. 14% were in North America. I had 3 Qs in Oceania: KH7X, KH6MB, and KH6LC, but I never heard any other Pacific stations. Try as I might, I never heard a JA station.  My best Qs were OY1CT, YO3APJ, LZ9W, and 4O3A. I got as far east as a couple of Qs with Russia and Ukraine, but they were tough Qs.

Doing this contest from the coast of Maine is an experience I have always
dreamed of and was finally able to do. The results exceeded my wildest
expections. Thanks again to Wilt and Ellen for a weekend I will never forget.

73,   ....Bill  W8QZA