12/13/2006 | W5ESE This year was my third time to participate in what has become one of my favorite contests. I participated in the QRP single-op category again, and had fun. I tried using radials lying on the ground, instead of elevated, this year, and that seemed to make some improvement, though it could have been propagation. I contacted more stations on the west coast this year, though fewer on the mid and north atlantic coasts. My antenna is a 300' horizontal loop fed as a top loaded vertical against a few 130' radials lying on the ground, and my radio is a Ten-Tec Omni VI with the power adjusted down to about 4W. -- W5ESE