What happened to me????

Well, the answer is......life. I went back to school to finish my degree that had been put on hold since my divorce. My wife, Allyson, is very supportive of this endeavor and I am very blessed to have her!!! She has been running interference for me and doing a very good job of compensating for my shortcomings around the house.

So, let's get caught up.......

First....The tower is still in my back yard, on the ground. I have a few weeks before the next semester, so I am putting forth a concerted effort to get the base poured during this time. It is my goal to get it finished prior to CQ WW DX, if at all possible.

Contesting, has been occurring, but not as often due to my class demands. I did get first place in Virginia for single operator, phone only, low power in the Virginia QSO Party. I did get into the Florida QSO Party and I think that I broke the phone only record for Virginia. I also participated in the Helvetia Contest and the Nebraska QSO party (my first time).

I am still working on improving my operating position and hopefully will be in great shape next year in this area. I want to build a good size desk to hold the equipment and to organize things better.

We are organizing a local chapter of the PVRC in the Williamsburg area and will hopefully have our first meeting soon. I am looking forward to getting more people involved in this part of the hobby.

I was re-elected as president of the Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio Club and have a number of goals for the club this year, including gaining members and regaining those who have fallen away.

Field Day for the Williamsburg club this year was a lot of fun. I did not operate as much as last year. I had a lot of offers, but chose to "share" the fun. I did not want to appear to be a radio hog. Of course, it was tempting to get on there and run for 24 hours, but that would not be fair to everyone else. But, the hours I did operate were fun and I am looking forward to kicking the CW station's butt next year. We had more Q's but they beat us on score....Next year, we will take away their bragging rights once and for all (especially, if we can train up some good phone operators in the next year).

Next semester, I must admit, I do have one tough class that will take a lot of time, but being the hard core contester that I am, I have scheduled that class to finish up prior to the start of the "major" contests in October. I am hoping that after that class, things should be easier (contest wise!!).

Those are the major high points over the last few months.....More to come later.