01/31/2009 | K6TY/0 Braving breezy, 16 degree Fahrenheit weather, I managed to erect a simple end-fed wire over the second story deck at my mother-in-law's Saint Louis home well after dark on New Year's Eve. I used the Icom 730 of my wife, KB0QJJ, her Lionel J-38 straight key, and an MFJ balanced-line tuner. Judging from the wicked RF burns I was getting, I seemed to be loading up my mother-in-law's house wiring against a ground plane formed by the antenna!

I had the good fortune to work Paul, K0JPL, in nearby Chesterfield, Missouri, on 80 m, having been attracted by his noteworthy callsign suffix that matches the abbreviation for the NASA facility at which I work. Now, whether the propagation between us was provided by skywave, NVIS, or the powerlines of AmerenUE will forever remain a mystery of SKN 2009. -- WB6VRN