QTH: Wareham MA, portable, next to Tobey Hospital. 14027 KHz  QSO end time 0048 UTC.  M0IKE in Chesterfield, England, 100 watts with 2 el quad (Yaesu FT-5000 MP).  My station: Elecraft KX2 & homebrew magnetic loop.  Report to him - (true) 599 QSB, report to me - 549 with QSB to S0, QRK 5.  We had a nice chat.  He dropped to 5 watts at one point and remained QRK 5 but went back up to 100 w at the end of the QSO.  Not bad for the current solar conditions!  Being on the coast helps, I’ll grant.  I also worked Czech Republic last evening.

I also note that when the bands are abandoned by others, I often have 2x QRP rag chews.

73,

Chas

On Jun 29, 2016, at 12:14 PM, fghester@... [4sqrp] <4sqrp@...> wrote:

Preaching to the choir here but just have to say that ignoring the propagation numbers / forecasts may be a good idea.  For the first time in my 38 year Ham career, I recently moved a rig into my home office (from my basement shack).  I now monitor, and occasionally call CQ at the QRP frequencies no matter what the prop. numbers say as I'm working in the office.  I work many other QRP stations throughout the day, and the RBN always picks me up somewhere.  Often, when calling CQ at 5W, the RBN spots me at 10db or better in many different states but no response.  Are too many of us believing the bands are dead when they aren't?  Sure, sigs are sometimes weak and I have to wear the cans but I'm making Qs.  Good old W2KJ (Joe) and I carried on a fun 2 X QRP rag chew on 20M this morning.  He on his new KX2 and me on my IC-7200 at 5W.  Come on guys.  Join the party! / Woody / WD9F