01/20/2003 | N NRW EN41go Iowa ()

Saturday:

One word describes Saturday,,,, Educational !!!
With noise levels reaching an all time high at my qth , the term weak signal , really hit the spot. This was a great time to evaluate my stations performance (transmitting & receiving) .
Most signals being heard Saturday were wrapped up in a hornets nest of humming,popping,splatting,hissing, & frying. Even with my DSP & a good set of head phones my score at the end of the day was embarrasing to say the least. Activity seemed way down , However it may of just looked that way due to the hi level of noise.

Sunday:

What a difference a day makes. Most of the noise is gone.
6 meters opened up to the east coast. Hello FN31 , FN41 , FM05 , FM06 & surrounding areas. 2 meters started showing signs of life as contacts (400+ miles) as far away as Northern Minn. , Northern Michigan , Canada , Ohio & Arkansas were logged.
Signals were way up on 222 also.
Sometimes even better than on 2 meters...
Again this band continues to amaze me.....
If you don't have 222 , your missing out on a real treasure.(In my opinion)
My 432 mhz. setup was not working at 100 % & cost me lots of points... Grrrrr....

Sum it all up:

Saturday was very educational on the art of plucking weak signals out of the noise...

Sunday was a victory !!! Tons of activity!!! & a nice band opening!!!

Looking forward >>()>> to June.....Will you be there?

If you missed me during the contest its because I ran in the low power section this time.

I was the zero land station you kept asking to repeat his call,,, hi hi.
73's -- N