06/18/2016 | N0URW

 N0URW,,, EN41,,, Iowa

Saturday:::  I checked the weather report around noon. Clear skies with a slight chance of spotty showers. At contest start time one hour later, one of these slight chance spotty showers decided to rain on my parade.  So I had to wait about an hour for the storm to pass by. When I did get started, 6 meters sounded like it wanted to pop open but was not ready yet. So I worked some locals on the lower 4 bands for the next couple of hours. Band conditions on the lower 4 seemed normal to the North and South, Less than normal East and West. Then 6 meters opened up towards Florida area around 2200Z. I was working my way up the band, when I heard K2DRH working a DM station. Holy cow , it's open that way too. So I kept the 9 el. pointing at Florida, and turned the 5 el. towards Arizona. I only worked a few stations out in AZ, NM. So it was open, but very spotty. After a couple hours 6 meters moved up the east coast. FM and FN stations were wall to wall until 0300Z. Then it was like the faucet shut off. Nothing , not even locals. I figured alot were off doing skeds, or watching the news or just called it a day. I called in all directions until midnight, but only a handfull of contacts were made on the lower 4 bands. So I pulled the plug and off to bed.   Sunday: Rain,,Rain,, and more Rain,, So after doing the family time thing, I got on around 1500Z. Suprise, Suprise, 6 was open to the Southwest to Arizona. After an hour it started widening out up to Idaho, Montana area. Worked stations in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Idaho. Then Texas stations were coming in loud.  Around 1900Z I heard Florida stations. Stations from Florida to Texas were coming in super strong. Then it opened back up to FM and FN land again. It was coming in from all directions, so I switched to the loop as to not burn up a rotator or antenna switch. 6 remained open the entire rest of the contest. The band conditions on 2, 222 and 432 were also working very well the last hour of the contest. I had no problem making 400 mile contacts on 2, 222 & 432.  Just not as many on those bands due to 6 meters being the bread and butter this time. I had a great time and hope to do it again in July. Antennas/power,,,,2 meters::: 4 homebrew 13 element yagi's../1500 watts,,, 6 meters::: 1-5 el. homebrew yagi,,,1-9 el. homebrew yagi...1-loop,,/ 1500 watts,,, 222::: 1-M2-222-5wl.../ 1000 watts,,, 432:::1-M2-432-9wl.../ 800 watts... 73's,,Dan,,N0URW,,en41,,Iowa -- N0URW