A Little Humor Never Hurt Anybody...

You know... the funniest thing happened to me. After contesting in the PODXS070 3 Day Weekend for what seemed like 4 days straight (utc time can do some strange things to ya, people), the oddest thing occurred.

I went to bed, finally, and my room looked like this:



You think maybe the waterfall should come with side effect warnings????

AJ4IJ :)

Three-Day Weekend Comes to an End

First, I want to thank EVERYONE who contacted me, or entertained my contact, during this contest. The PODXS 070 Club hosted a Three-Day Weekend PSK31 contest over the weekend, and we've (the OM and I) had a wonderful time.

*Well, I have to be honest in saying it was a little long for me. I have a hard time sitting through a two hour movie, much less a three day contest*

I ended up with 166 qualifying contacts, 106 member numbers, and 1000 bonus points. *woot* Seeing how it is late, and I'm exhausted, if you're interested in my final point count, then you'll have a nice little math problem to entertain yourself with. :)

Overall, I was happy with the contest. I was afraid that the CQ CW contest was going to interfere, but it wasn't too much of a problem. I think we both did well with the bands we have and the conditions we were blessed with. Unfortunately, 10m and 6m never opened for me, so I made no contacts there. And we don't have 160m here, so I was left to work 80m, 40m, 20m, and 15m only (which is pretty decent I must add!).

I guess the next PODXS 070 contest is in July. I don't know if I'll be making that one or not, being 4th of July and all --- but anything's possible.

Again... Thanks to everyone and Good Luck to all who worked the contest.

BTW -- if I contacted you, you should be confirmed via LoTW and eQSL. :)

LoTW, FTW!!

Alright little kiddies... (Oh my... I had a teacher in high school that always called us that. It had implanted itself into my brain, biting and tearing, until one day... one long and happy day... I could use that single phrase: little kiddies. Now it's gone, for good I hope.)

Logbook of the World is up and running for AJ4IJ. If you've been wanting my confirmation via that, you now have it... provided you're in my log.

I'm so excited about it, and now I can say I have worked all the continents (minus Antarctica), since Japan is confirmed via LoTW. Congrats to Me!! Party Party!!

*doing the worked all continents dance*

-- What's that?? WAC doesn't recognize LoTW??? What a crock of 3 dits, 4 dits, 2 dits, and a dah!

Oh well, I've confirmed them in my eyes! I didn't want no stinking $13 cert anyway. hehehehe

*LoTW FTW Dance!!*

31 Flavors - Upcoming Contest

Ooooooooooh... digi-contest.

The PODXS 070 Club is hosting their 31 Flavors contest THIS weekend (Saturday, April 11th, 09). You don't have to be a club member to participate. Hours of ops are from 12:00pm - 18:00pm YOUR LOCAL time. The rolling start gives everyone a fair chance!

Try your hand at many PSK modes -- BPSK31, QPSK31, BPSK63, QPSK63, and BPSK125. According to the site... The wise contester will use as many variants as possible!

Unfortunately, you probably won't see me working this one... *boo hoo*

I worked the Valentine Sprint, had a wonderful time making TOP YL! But I have to take turns, and it's my OM's turn to work this one. So please look for AJ4JD (member #865)!

For official rules, visit here.

Good Luck!

LoTW: Soon... Soon

For those I have previously contacted... and for those I will work... You'll be happy to know that I will soon be using Logbook of the World.

I'm waiting on my postcard, then my email, and then I'll have everything set up.

Thanks for your patience with this Behind-the-Times YL.... hahaha

But... by the way... I still LOVE receiving QSL cards. :)

WAS Update - 16 to go!

Thanks to all I've contacted for sending confirmation! I now lack only 16 states for my WAS award!

Here's a look at my updated WAS map:

Click for Larger Image

Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Missouri, Delaware, Massachusetts ... I sent you a card. You know who you are. I'm still waiting :) hehehehe

Paying Homage...

The April 2009 QST arrived the other day. Just like every month, Tim beat me to it. It usually ends up in a place that I am least likely to read it (i.e. the "QST Room"). I had a chance to steal it away this evening, and it was already opened to an article that caught my eye:

"PSK - 10 Years On" by Steve Ford, WB8IMY

Yup Yup... It's the big 1-0 for PSK31, and I'd like to send my thank you's out to Peter Martinez, G3PLX for inventing it. And Mr. Ford, you did an excellent job with the article.

See, I got my license back in 1994, so I remember a time when PSK31 was nonexistent. When Tim started studying for his tech license, and the testing information started talking all this PSK31 stuff, I was awfully confused. I didn't remember any of that on my test years ago.

(Now, you have to remember, I took an 11-12 year break from ham radio, because I was a kid... and kids know it all... and I had more important things to do, like chase boys instead of dx.)

I took a little time to read up on PSK31, and got most of my answers from my daddy. But what really got me hooked was actually seeing the digi signals on the waterfall, being able to click on them, and actual words started printing on the screen. I made my first contact to a ham in Florida sometime last year. I'd look up the details, but ya'll know how lazy I am. Anyway, that contact was the icing on the cake.

Speaking of cake...

I really hated that I missed Pi day(3-14), because we had planned some wonderful things. Just the world got away from me and I forgot. So, this evening I thought... why not have cake? Only, we didn't really have a reason to have cake (and I only say I need a reason because if I don't, I feel terribly guilty for indulging myself). So... Happy Birthday PSK31. I devoured a nice large slice of three-layer triple chocolate fudge cake with cream cheese icing just for you! Yum!

No... I didn't eat that much cake by myself! I had a lot of help.