01/04/2010 | NA6DX Another great SKN is in the (log)books. This year, I had a lofty goal of collecting at least one QSO on each of 7 HF bands (80m ~ 10m), using my TS-690S at 100W and my attic wire antenna. Lofty indeed, considering a late start. Needless to say, I fell way short, but had a blast doing it. 40m was no problem, working KW6G (Chas). We had a very nice "chew". Then, I jumped on 30m and worked K7DJO (John), followed by KN7T (Mark) on 20m. That's when the momentum changed. No luck on 17m, which suprised me since that's been a good band for me during the day. Also, no luck on 15m, with my "CQ SKN"'s falling on deaf ears. So I tried loading up on 80m, which is a stretch for my trusty LDG 1000Pro tuner. 3.5:1 is good, right? Maybe not, so I kept the power low and CQ'd away on my J-38 key. Apparently, no one within shouting distance was working 80m CW either. At this point, I figured there's no chance on 12m or 10m, so I did the next best thing--quit while I was ahead (actually even). However, to stay in the boatanchor mood, I went back to resoring my old HW-16 from 1972. Next year for sure, I'll have it on the air for SKN 2011. Looking forward to continuing this truly great ham tradition.

Happy New Year & 73, Roger (SKCC #5268, FISTS #14324) -- NA6DX