12/22/2006 | K1JT Thanks to all for another highly enjoyable EME contest weekend! I operated my small 2m EME station on both JT65B and CW. No loggers, no clusters, no internet, no telephone, no skeds. I finished with 93 QSOs (84 on JT65B, 9 on CW) and 47 multipliers. If anyone tries to tell you a small station can't make EME QSOs without assistance, don't believe them. It's not only possible, it's a *lot* of fun!

A comment on operating procedure: using a Linrad receiver for the first time in a contest, I found that it is *much* more efficient for me to work in Search and Pounce mode than to call CQ. To put it simply, I can find you more easily than you can find me.

As shown in the following table, nearly all of my QSOs were made in S+P mode:

S+P, I called someone: JT65=71, CW=9

Someone answered my CQ: JT65=4, CW=0

Someone tail-ended my QSO: JT65=9, CW=0

If those using the loggers to arrange QSOs -- presumably "just for fun," rather than as contest entrants -- would develop the habit of staying on frequency after a QSO, I estimate that I could have made another 10-20 QSOs.

I will look forward to working old and new EME friends alike -- in the next contest, or any time!

73, Joe, K1JT

144 MHz: 2x10 xpol, 1.2 kW -- K1JT