12/26/2002 | N6XI Had a terrible time sustaining rate this year. Just didn't feel
as loud as usual. Then power went out Saturday afternoon as
Northern CA was belted by a horrific storm. Winds as high as
134 MPH were clocked on nearby ridges. It wasn't that fast at
my place, but I lost a tree, a vertical and five days of power.
When I finally secured the premises and lowered the tower the
rest of the way, there were only two hours left in the contest.
Finished up with generator power. Man-made noise was blissfully
absent during those two hours as power was out all around me.
Only managed about 14 hours of operating. The good news is that
my new tower and horizontal antennas survived the snow, wind and
ice just fine. -- N6XI