12/09/2008 | N0JK I live in a "no outside" antenna sub-division, with no trees either to put up wires. So to hand out a few points, I bought a 100 ft. length of 24 ga. wire from the hardware store for $4 Friday afternoon and taped it along side our house. Tossed the end up over the garage. Ran a FT-897 (no CW filter) at 50 watts and a MFJ tuner. It actually loaded up OK. I figured I might work a couple of the "big guns" with this setup. As dusk approached I turned on the radio and could hear many stations CQing away. Figured it would be pointless to call any before it got dark, but... K0PY KS went into the log at 2239 followed by K9CT IL at 2241 utc. This thing actually works! By 0410 UTC I had over 100 stations in the log "Search & Pouncing." We had to go to Tulsa Saturday to visit my son, so I shut down early. Picked up a few Qs Saturday morning including WA7LNW UT at sunrise. Got back Saturday evening and operated a few more hours. I could copy some of DX well including P40TA, ZF2AH, KV4FZ, XE2S,and ON4UN. No luck working them with my duct tape wire antenna despite many calls. But at 0337 UTC KV4FZ VI popped up on a QSB peak and came back N0? Icould tell Herb was hearing me! After a number of back and forths he got the call and KS section. Woo Hoo! Working him was the highlight of the contest. Best wishes for the Holidays and my 166 contacts are my "160M Contest" Holiday gift to you. -- N0JK