...But The Fish Are Bitin'!
Apr. 30th, 2012 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
banjoplayinnerdAbout 10 minutes ago I jumped up and down in my chair. "I got a Kiwi! I got a Kiwi!"
My wife just looked at me. She's used to this kind of behavior anymore. "So much for you going to bed on time, huh?"
The loop antenna is a success. In the past six hours or so I was able to:
* Make a contact on the 80 meter band for the first time in 30 years
* Make contact with a new state (South Carolina)
* Work Hawaii again
* Make contact with a new country (New Zealand)
And the reason I feel pretty good about the loop is: The New Zealand station called me! I didn't have to force him to dig my signal out of the muck; actually, the signal report he gave me was pretty good.
Now I have a dilemma. On the one hand, it's bedtime and I have to go to work tomorrow.
On the other hand, the fish are bitin'.
Pretty soon the band will dry up in any case, which will make going to bed easier. It's just hard to step away when things are going so well.
= = =
OK, I just thought I saw a very faint signal. The software couldn't detect anything, but I decided that if it was someone I might be able to work, I should give them the chance, so I sent:
PLS TRY AGN
This time there was a much, much stronger signal, so much so that if there was one there before, it couldn't have been the same station.
I just got swamped by an Australian setting up a contact with a station in Gabon.
I think it's time to go to bed now.
My wife just looked at me. She's used to this kind of behavior anymore. "So much for you going to bed on time, huh?"
The loop antenna is a success. In the past six hours or so I was able to:
* Make a contact on the 80 meter band for the first time in 30 years
* Make contact with a new state (South Carolina)
* Work Hawaii again
* Make contact with a new country (New Zealand)
And the reason I feel pretty good about the loop is: The New Zealand station called me! I didn't have to force him to dig my signal out of the muck; actually, the signal report he gave me was pretty good.
Now I have a dilemma. On the one hand, it's bedtime and I have to go to work tomorrow.
On the other hand, the fish are bitin'.
Pretty soon the band will dry up in any case, which will make going to bed easier. It's just hard to step away when things are going so well.
= = =
OK, I just thought I saw a very faint signal. The software couldn't detect anything, but I decided that if it was someone I might be able to work, I should give them the chance, so I sent:
PLS TRY AGN
This time there was a much, much stronger signal, so much so that if there was one there before, it couldn't have been the same station.
I just got swamped by an Australian setting up a contact with a station in Gabon.
I think it's time to go to bed now.
