After a multi-day “foot chase” and hide and go seek of wily Alaska ham stations (meep meep!) I finally managed to run down and snag a “confirmer” this evening.
Thank you NL7S for your completed QSO all the way to the final 73, and especially for uploading your log before my license expires in 2029 😉 Your hard copy QSL card is on the way soon!
At least on QRZ, that gives me all 50 states in only about 2 months time since the installation of my out the window antennas.
I’ve had a number of other brushes with Alaskan stations, including one club call sign that did, but now doesn’t log to QRZ, and a couple who QSL’d without actually making the full set of signal exchanges to the RR73 but marked me as a contact anyway. One after another of those always a bridesmaid never a bride moments! It’s enough to make you want to stamp up and down on your bouquet! 😉 (Yes I’m being facetious, and maybe a bit giddy)
I guess the next logical step is to add another band to my setup. I plan on building a second plank and bracket like the first one where I’ll put a 30m hamstick.
Then there are the other modes to play with– Olivia, PSK31, WSPR, RTTY. And I have 10m, 17m, and 6m hamsticks to work with later, but there’s only so many I can fit out the window at one time.
Not to mention that we’re still in the throes of the summer monsoon and I have to bring all the antennas inside every time it rains, rumbles about possibly raining, smells like rain, or flashes lightening. So I’m scampering to bring them in constantly really.
After the last full 24 hours of rain in a day, when I went to put them back out I actually had to empty the window slide channel 3/4″ of water first!
Naked, unpainted wood planks would swell and warp pretty quick if I stuck their feet into a water filled channel. I might not even be able to get them out again till they dried out.
Anyway, the install has it’s problems with the weather, but still pretty amazing to be able to get across and even off continent on such a sub-optimal setup in a noisy QTH, with about 18watts.
First the USA, now it’s time to work the rest of the world!