The 2010 Ten Meter Contest is now history and the dust is beginning to settle. At times ten was dead as dead could be. Sometimes one wishes for QRM, not necessarily a bad thing. Here in Amarillo the band was open off and on, but It was near the end that the band really started hopping.

At the start I worked so many CA stations that it appeared I was trying hard to Work All California. I took the attitude that would work every CA station I heard points are points. Later, when evaluating my logs I realized that over 30 percent of my Qs were from CA. Arizona accounted a little over 12 percent.

Sunday afternoon things were running a little slow, then I worked Paul Newberry, N4PN, at 2034Z, my first GA station. Somehow Paul’s powerful signal must have ignited some good stuff up yonder past the clouds. It didn’t take long to work a few other Georgia boys plus some in other southeastern states like KY, TN, AL, MS, VA. Other areas surfaced like MN, MO, CO, WY, IA UT, IL. Gosh!!! From 2034 to 2400 was when I logged over 1/3 of my contacts. The multiplier counter started moving in the right direction. Thanks Paul.

It was at 0346Z Saturday, after working my first Mexican station, that I realized the rules had been changed. That brought about a few golf words. Then it hit me, no big deal, just make a note of their “state” and log a phony serial number, fix the problem after the contest is over. By the third XE I was happy as a lark the ARRL had made the change. It turned out that ever XE I worked was in a different state. Only a nut would complain about that.

Worked KH6ZM, VY2ZM, plus several contesters from South America. No exotic DX, but the event was fun, sure beats the stuff some of my friends do.