This contest was entered on a whim. My new callsign had just arrived and I wanted to break it in with style. I am really glad that I put in the extra time and effort to get the top license. To all the sour grapes, look for me in the other Int DX contest next year.
Happy times! With an FT-857 and a store bought G5RV at about 25 feet Eric and I worked as far away as Japan, The Falkland Islands and Belgium. South America is well represented in our log. A short but memorable contact was from Cuba. Growing up as a military brat and getting to talk to someone from there was awesome. I hope to do it again.
We learned alot this contest. I think we learned more than we ever have in a single contest. HF is such a different animal from VHF and up. The mechanics were different; certain bands open and close at semi-regular times. The tuner is a new device that we've had to work with. We quickly moved the SSB filter from the spare 857 into the one we were operating on. The human side is also different. Instead of a double handshake with 'QSL' flying all about as on VHF, it appears that HF contesters are content with a single handshake. The error rate is no doubt higher, but one can afford that with so many calling stations.
I was disappointed to hear non contest stations deliberatly QRMing contesters. They were saying "five nine kay" and "qsl" while complaining about the contestesers. VHF seems so more civlilized.
Great contest. I am starting to think that we may need to add this one to the calendar.
The Log: The log will be available after the submission date has passed.