03/11/2010 | KD9MS I was in such good hopes of 10 meters coming back. Earlier in the week I actually got to talk to someone in Europe on 10. No such luck this weekend. It did open well to the Caribbean and South America. Not bad for what it has been. 15 meters was hopping right before the contest, but I missed a lot of the JA's that I thought were going to be there at the beginning of the contest. It was a strong band for me over the next two days. Saturday was a lot better than Sunday with signals here in the Midwest of almost 15 to 20 over in some cases. Operating low power is a real detriment on these types of contests. I did pick up a VP8 on 15, a much needed multiplier!

20 was a madhouse after everyone got themselves together about 30 minutes in. The contest is a lot more conversational with some stations the first 5 minutes. Then it's all business.

40 was like 20 in some respects. I2VRN had a pileup that I couldn't break and with everyone else on the band the QRM was nuts.
I didn't do much on 80, only 44 contacts this year, but I needed contacts and multipliers. I need to do something to my 80 meter antenna.
On 160 I modified my DX Engineering 43' multibander to make it into an Inverted U and it played well there. I was making contacts on low power with everyone I could hear. Thanks to all of the stations on 160 for putting up awesome receive antennas! My wife thought I was crazy when I was burying 120 100' radials last year, but it was worth every blister.

Saturday afternoon, my son Ethyn stopped by and tried to operate, but I couldn't get him to say my call. He's only 2 but loves to play with my radio. Hands off until he gets licensed!

It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the next test.
73, Craig and Ethyn -- KD9MS