01/23/2007 | KE5ELU I operated from my home QTH in EM34 in Central Arkansas. The first week of January I had just updated my base radio with a Yaesu ft-897D and the week prior to the contest I was able to get a 6m dipole up in my attic. I had worked a few other VHF contests with a 25 watt ssb rig but usually my scores were not very good. This was the first contest that I felt I could be at least somewhat competitive. Considering there were no conditions, I was still able to work 10 grids. I consider my station to be pretty minimal up against most 2 meter ssb stations as my horizontal beam is only at about 23 feet in the air. The most power that I could run during this contest was about 65 watts due to an inadequate power supply. Even with that, I worked EM54 & EM63 in Alabama. EM31& EM22 in Texas, along with lots of locals plus EM46, EM45, EM35, EM44. I did get a new grid by working EM27 in Kansas. The majority of my contacts were 2m ssb but I was also able to up my scores by running the bands on 432 and 6m. 6 meter was all but dead here with one opening all the way into Canada that I missed. Special thanks to the rovers that were out there for helping me activate some grids and working multiple bands. I probably missed out on at least 10-12 hours of good operating time due to other obligations but overall this was my best contest yet. I learn a little more with each contest and the upgrades in equipment come slowly. I am already starting to plan for June!

73 -- KE5ELU