03/24/2004 | N2LWL After almost ten years of being off-air, I decided to get into the swing of things with the ARRL DX Phone contest. I picked up 16 new countries towards DXCC, and my 10-year-old son Eryk saw I was having lots of fun - now he wants to get his ticket! Eryk and his sister Kelsey are attending local classes, and in three weeks we may have to buy some more radios.

Conditions were far better than I expected. Using only a vertical antenna and 5 to 10 watts of power, I only had to call once or twice to get through. All of the ops we heard or worked were very courteous, and now my son and I are planning to work QRP from several counties in Wyoming and Colorado. -- N2LWL