Well the band conditions have been very poor today, but I was able to make my 700th contact (KI4FIA).

Starting to Make Some Contacts

Conditions have been somewhat better over the last several days. I did not have the opportunity to play radio yesterday. But between Sunday and today I now have 386 contacts in my log. I was doing very well in to PA and the Carolinas. However, I also worked as far west as LA. I also made contacts as far east as Moscow. Everything has been uploaded to www.eqsl.cc. I am going to have to keep working if I am going to break last year's record of 1000 contacts.

Band Conditions

The band conditions have been very poor the last two days. I made two contacts on April 23rd. One contact on the 24th and 12 today.

TW2010

The first intersection of good weather and free time was Monday. So I set up the TW2010 and hooked up the MFJ antenna analyzer. I bought the antenna in late January as a replacement to my Force 12 Sigma 5. Before Monday, I did not have an opportunity to test it out. When the weather was good I was busy. When I had free time, the weather was lousy. Well this last Monday the weather was good and I had free time.

The Antenna looks good. The only place the SWR was a little high was 17 meters (1.6:1). However, in retrospect this may have been due to the facts that I set up the antenna less than 20 feet from car and I did not feed the coax at a 45 degree angle to the antenna. When I get to St. Martin I will set it up properly. If the SWRs are still high, I can always use my tuner.

DXCC Credit

A number of the folks I had QSOs with last year told me that I was their first St. Martin contact and needed it for their DXCCs. I wanted to make sure that these and future contacts would not have a problem using our QSOs for DXCC credit.

I sent a note to ARRL DXCC Manager Bill Moore, NC1L. Asking if I need to provide formal documentation to verify my time in St. Martin. Here is his response:

• Bill
  
  I was in St. Martin last year and made over 1000 contacts as FS/N9QGU. A lot of those contacts have requested QSL cards. Is there anything I need to do so that the ARRL is comfortable that these are legitimate contacts? I will be back there again this year and will probably make a bunch more QSOs.
  
  Thanks
  
  Bob N9QGU
  
  
• Hi Bob:
  
  Thanks for contacting me and at this time we do not need any documentation for your op
  
  Regards
  
  
  Bill Moore NC1L
  DXCC Manager
  
  

US Airways...

So..When we originally booked our tickets to St. Martin in January it was $500 per person. I checked the US Air website earlier this week. The price had dropped to $350. So I gave them a call. They wanted to charge me $100 for a change fee and then give me a $46 coupon. Last year we took United. When the price dropped the credited me back the difference. No questions asked. I don't think we will be flying on US Air again.

St. Martin QTH

The St. Martin QTH is a villa that sits on the northwest side of Mount Rouge about 200 feet above sea level and about 300 yards back from the ocean (Baie Rouge). The top 20% of Mount Rouge is directly behind us and effectively cuts off most of the propogation to the South and South East. This location favors Central America, North America, and Western Europe. North America and Western Europe represented the bulk of last year's QSOs. However, I was able to work North Africa, Japan, and the Solomon Islands. So all hope of earning the DXCC is not lost.