09/15/2008 | WB2AMU I had limited time for the contest this year with a wedding during the day on Saturday and several errands on Sunday. No matter as it seems like conditions were very poor this year on all of the bands! I was able to operate Saturday evening from a hill in the single operator portable category for one hour and one station in my grid (FN30) told me that I was the first FN30 station that he worked in the contest, four hours after the contest started! On Sunday morning, I got an early start at 6 AM, but unlike the great tropo conditions that were present last year in the September contest, it was apparent that this year was going to be much worse, particularly on 432 MHz! I had to use CW much more this year to call SSB signals because of the poorer conditions. I was able to work a few in FM08, FM18 and FM19 on both Six and Two Meters but by 7:30 AM, I could see that it was not going to be a good day. Six Meters was very very quiet for much of the time that I was listening. Some years are not going to be that good but this makes us appreciate the really good years! -- WB2AMU