W2LJ's Blog - QRP - Do More With Less.

///////////////////////////////////////////
You can't work 'em if you can't hear 'em.

Posted: 26 Jan 2016 07:15 AM PST
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/feedb...m_medium=email

The snow plows came through to clear our street. Even so, they never
really plow the entire street. They clean it up for sure, so that you can
travel safely down the road, but there's always that snow plow residue on
the sides of the street. So, until the snow melts substantially, I can't
park on the street, as I usually do, there's just not enough room to park
and still have space for other cars to get by. That means I have park in
the driveway. Since I generally get home last, I have to get up and move my
Jeep when my wife Marianne has to leave for work at 5:00 AM (I've mentioned
- she's a nurse).

So this morning, after moving my car for her, I made some coffee and headed
down into the shack. I had about a half hour before I had to shower, shave
and get dressed for work. I figured that maybe, just maybe, I'd hear K5P,
as this is their last day on the island, I believe. And sure enough, there
they were on 80 Meters, calling CQ! And from the rate they were answering
stations, you could tell they were listening for ATNOs - stations they had
never worked before (which would have been me!).

They were decently loud - about 559 with QSB on 3.530 MHz with QSB. Even
so, this was the best I've heard them throughout the entire DXpedition. I
put the KX3 into "Dual Watch" mode, so I could figure out where they were
listening, and then I fired up the KXPA100 to 90 Watts and jumped into the
fray.

Then some idiot proceeded to come onto their QRG (the frequency they were
transmitting on) and began to send an non-ending string of S9 dits, totally
obliterating them.

"You can't work 'em if you can't hear 'em."

Sigh.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!