It has been a very good weekend, radio wise.  I was able to work the French DXpedition to JW land.  I was hoping to also work some Israeli stations in the Holyland DX contest because my only Israeli contact died before I was able to get his card back.  I thought it was going to be rough, but conditions were such that I got more than I had thought possible.  I wound up with 6 new 4X contacts!!!!!

 

From there, everything else was gravy….  I wound up working a number of European stations and a few South American stations.  I was able to work in a Michigan station who was working the Michigan QSO Party and a few Canadians in the Ontario QSO Party.  I was not interested in working a contest this weekend, just in giving out a few points since I could not put in a good effort.  I was able to work a Turkish station along with a station in Cyprus, so I was glad we had a wonderful band opening on 20m to the Middle East.  I had not heard anything from there for quite a while!!!

 

We found out this weekend that PVRC did, in fact, reclaim the November Sweepstakes gavel from the Northern California Contest Club.  It was a slim margin to say the least, but it was friendly competition that was enjoyable to everyone.  It was neck and neck and there were even rumors of recounts and lawyers and the Supreme Court having to make the decision (just kidding)……But the challenge will be can we hold onto it in 2007.  NCCC will be coming after PVRC with new members, bigger stations and we will have to rise to the challenge.  I am confident that 2006 was the start of an east coast run for the possession of the gavel.

 

Things are moving smoothly on the May special event station.  We are hoping to have everything set up for operations from May 4^th until the 25^th.  The card has been designed and is now been given a test printing.  Everything is falling into place and we are getting excited about the prospects of a wonderful special event.  We will be operating in teams of at least two to ensure that the newer operators follow all FCC rules and avoid any “liddish” behavior.

 

The Kenwood TS-570D is working perfectly and was able to pull out very weak signals this weekend so that I could work them. 

 

I am hoping that this is the week that I will be able to start work on digging the tower foundation.  I have a few things to get caught up on and then I should have no other big projects for a while.  That will allow me to get this project done and the tri-bander up in the air.  Of course, I have been saying this for some time as something always seems to come up, but I keep thinking positive!!!

 

Larry (W3MGL) has seemed to go into a funk since his wife’s stroke, so I am trying to get him back in the shack.  He has not operated for some time now and I need to put him back on the air.  His wire antenna came down in the recent nor’easter, but he still has the quad on the tower, so lack of an antenna is not an excuse.

 

The weekend ended on a high note with a QSO from a fellow contester who was flying high, literally!!!!   NQ4I was cruising along at 41,000 feet over Texas when I talked with him at 14.200.  I have worked Rick a number of times during contests, but never when he was flying, so it was an added treat!!!!

 

 

So, things are going well in the colonial capitol!!!