Maine & Delaware

[W3WN]

(Sounds like an intersection downtown, location of a good dive bar, doesn’t it?)

Two states to complete 10 Meter WAS.

Never heard New England, let alone ME, during the ARRL 10M contest, just have to be in the Shack at the right time, I guess.

DE will be the tough one, way too close for skywave, too far away for groundwave. Though actually I just need a confirmation... did work K2E on 10 SSB during 13 Colonies a few years back. 2010, to be exact. Never got a card, though, nor a LotW confirmation, and after 10 years plus, I no longer expect one; pity, but so it goes.

Any suggestions... constructive ones, that is... welcome...

[N8YX]

Any suggestions... constructive ones, that is... welcome...

Spring/summertime Es opening, and use FT8.

[W3WN]

FT 8? Isn't that mode supposed to be the spawn of Santa, or something?

[N8YX]

FT 8? Isn't that mode supposed to be the spawn of Santa, or something?

No, that's ROS.

I'm feeding the take of my FT8 setup to PSKReporter (it's currently parked on 30M) and noticed a number of 11M monitors active. Curious about what they were hearing, I checked them out. Most of the stations are in EU, APAC or LATAM and are using either JS8 or ROS (the latter not legal for FCC-regulated hams to transmit with).

Hopefully no budding Einstein turns this into an RF-based BBS network as was done with packet radio in the 90s. Keeping non-amateur traffic out of the network was challenging, especially with so many non-US-based SysOps willing to gateway the stuff in.

[W3WN]

Well, well, well...

Maine got confirmed in March 2022, for a June 2020 QSO.

Delaware has been tough. The closest I've come (since the 2010 13 Colonies QSO that never got confirmed, anywhere, ever) was hearing AA1K on CW one fine contest morning, 59++ off the side of his beam... working Europe... in the ARRL DX contest in 2023. As badly as I wanted & needed that QSO, I know better. And I actually ran into AA1K himself at Hamvention this year (he was in the flea market, selling, amongst other things, on behalf of an estate, a restored S Line that looked like it had just come from the factory... and persuaded a friend to buy it), he pretty much confirmed that he would not have answered me. So it goes.

2025 13 Colonies. Early evening on the 4th. K2E on 10 SSB... boy, doesn't that sound familiar. Wasn't sure I worked him, conditions weren't that great. But what the heck.

K2E QSL card came today. 10 M SSB QSO CONFIRMED. (Yay!) Also confirmed my 15 CW QSO, so that now leaves me 3 (OH MI WV) to work & confirm on 15 to complete 5BWAS. (Well, actually, 6BWAS... 30 meters...).

*phew!*

Now, just have to figure out how to do a hybrid application. They don't do that like they used to...