What an incredible tropo opening on two meters yesterday and especially this Saturday morning. It was no doubt helped by people being at home.
In the beginning… I had 52 grids worked on two meters, mostly from several tropo openings along the Gulf Coast over several years. Now I have 66 grids worked. Nice to get an opening in a different direction, northeast into the Midwest. At one point I counted five grids (EN70, EM27, EM39, EM41, and EM49) in one 15 second FT8 decode.
I was fortunate to have the two meter Yagi set up on my push-up mast. I set it up on Monday for the 144 MHz VHF Fall Sprint. This coming Tuesday is the 222 MHz VHF Fall Sprint. I’ve just added a 100 watt 222 amplifier to the shack. I hope to give it a good test.
What a blast that was. Thanks everyone for the QSOs and new grids.
The fun picked up again on Saturday evening when I added 6 more new grids on two meters for a total of 72 at the moment. All were on FT8 with 100 watts into the six-element Rover Yagi at 20 feet.
I pretty much worked everyone I heard. In most cases the QSO went quickly. But in several I’d call and call to no avail. Then they would disappear for a while. Then I’d hear them again, call again, and finally work them.
One station was the most difficult. Called and called over several ups and downs. Finally, I came to the conclusion that they couldn’t hear very well. That was confirmed when their signal peaked up to +00 and they finally came back to me with a -21 report.
This was fun. Let’s see what happens today, Sunday, 27 September 2020.
