FYBO 2008 - In the House

From the beginning 2008 was destined to be an operation from indoors. The winter of 2008 up to that point had had way too much snow and cold to seriously consider getting out to operate. The week before FYBO turned warmer, but while the spirit to get out might have been willing, the body was not.

I got up early, 5:30 am PST (1330Z), and began CQing on 80 m at 1400Z. KK6MC had encouraged everyone to give 80 m a try, so I did, but without luck. The first contact was with WA5RML, Andy, in TX. By then the radio shack had warmed up to 61, so I missed out on the 50s temperature multiplier. KK6MC came rolling in on 40 m at 1440Z. I tried to move him to 80 m, but he didn't have his 80 m antenna up. I tried 2 other times thoughout the day to move him to 80 m without luck.

These stations had quite strong signal strengths here in Idaho.

• • KB6HHT from CA on 40 m

  • K7UP from NM on 20 m

  • K9IS from WI on 20 m

  • KB9YGD from IN on 20 m

  • WA0ACF from WI on 20 m

There were several folks who were operating in a cooler temperature than my 61 to 68F. The ones that reported below freezing were

• • W7AQK 10 F

  • W0RW   20 F

  • KK6MC  22 F

  • WD7Y and W9BOK 27 F

  • KB9YDG 29 F

  • W8PIG and K9EW 31 F

  • W6MV and W0PQ 32 F

The equipment I used was a pair of K2s at 5 w into a 1/2 sloper on 80 m, and a Force 12 C4SXL at 60 feet for 40, 20, and 15 m. A discerning eye will see from the picture that I used TRLog for logging.

With the help of a penguin and several cups of tea, I ended the day with 59 QSOs and 24 States, Provinces, or Countries (SPC) with 18 Qs and 8 SPCs on 40 m, 40 Qs and 15 SPCs on 20 m, and 1 Q and 1 SPC on 15 m. I worked NQ7RP on both 40 and 20 m for the double bonus. The best hour was 2100Z with all 13 QSOs on 20 m. My last 20 m QSO was at 2240Z.

It was a good day. Next year, back in the snow!

P.S. February 1, 2009: from the results, I see that my efforts were good for 2nd place in the HOME category. I missed N4BP's score by just 2824 points out of 22,000. One of the few times I've got close to Bob.