02/22/2009 | KC2TA Well, it seems that we were blessed with a small blessing of somewhat better conditions over the weekend. Worked an number of new ones including T27A - worked him on 40 meters the first day, catching him on my second call. Couldn't seem to push through the pileup on 20, but at least it's in the log. Worked a three or four new ones, most on 40 using an inverted vee up about 35 feet.

Was planning to put up another wire for 80, but year end closes are a P-I-T-A for accountants, and there were just too many late nights at the office to allow for building one, let alone putting one up!

JA's were strong and the first I've heard in quite some time, but then again my operating habits of late haven't really been conducive to working much of anything. Could have worked PY's for another week!

Only downside was 10 only opened up briefly for brief periods late in the contest, and what was heard on 15 I worked. 40 was wall to wall from .025 to the top of the cw portion and beyond! Forgot how much fun that band is -- got to make a mental note to spend more time there. Wish I had a few more hours to operate, but the honey-do list and a few soccer games to referee cut in quite a bit.

Learned a lot more about the TS-2000 I've been using over the past two years and found I could really cut out unwanted signals quickly and easily.

All in all a helluva nice weekend to spend in front of the rig. Hopefully next year the bands will be a lot better and 10 will open for a more extended period.

ps -- Didn't hear K2PS all weekend. -- KC2TA