Happy New Year

Where did 2013 go? It flew by for Me. I didn't have as much "on the air "time as past years but still feel satisfied I managed to participate as much as possible.
I did miss the recent RAC Winter contest due to snow removeal and other chores but am looking forward to the ARRL RTTY RU this coming weekend. I fit the contests in when its convienient for Me.
I've been happy with the amount of antennas and equipment I currently have and don't plan on any additions for awhile. Unfortunately that makes less to write about-which makes it more diffucult to find topics for this blog. Maybe I'll have to expand My topics from Radio only!
I hope the coming Year is a good and enjoyable one for all.Happy New Year--thanks for reading!
73--Tim

ARRL 10m Contest 2013 and 2 new ones!

Friday night turned out to be a bust. I didn't even stick around to have contacts with any locals. There was zero DX for Me in the far north but Saturday and Sunday was a different story. I took care of some chores Saturday morning and then had My first QSO logged with OQ4T from Belguim at 15:23 UTC. It was an endless stream of DX on and off till early evening. I would have a nice score if I had stayed constantly on the air but snow removeal chores and other obligations kept Me in and out of the shack. A typical interrupted S & P operation for Me- but a very fun one at that.
I did notice some strange propagation both days- not surpriseingly My Ground mounted vertical did real well with Dx and My Yagi at 20 ft was the clear winner for domestic contacts. I'm not familiar with using a Yagi for HF contesting ( its great!) and maybe this is not unusual but many signals were way stronger broadside. Must be propagation causing this!
I also was able to add two new DXCC's--Corsica and South Africa to bring My total confirmed to 105. ZS4A from south Africa was a neat contact- found Him tuning up so the Beacon networks hadn't spotted him yet. I had zero competion for the contact which was good- He was very lite on the S meter.
I didn't achieve as many QSO's as I wanted but it was the funnest 10m I've participated in. 156 Qs for around 17,000 points!
73---Tim

Nutmeg

Our beloved Cat "Nutmeg" has passed on to kitty Heaven as of December 10th. She was almost 20 years old and had picked Us as Her family by showing up on Our doorstep and never leaving. We eventually decided She needed Us and became a permanent part of the Family. She joined Our other two Cats We had at the time but was always very stand-offish. She considered herself above all the antics I guess. She will be greatly missed but She brought Us lots of smiles during Her twenty Years with Us!
Good-bye Nutmeg! :(
73 all---Tim

Too Much Snow!!!

Weather forcasts first predicted 8-12" of snow over several days but eventually the area received up to 40" farther north from here. We have about 24-30" of wet heavy snow and now the temperatures dropping fast so it will be very hard snow soon. I had many problems with My snowblower so it seems like all i've done in the last four days is snow removeal or fixing the snowblower. I hope to have time next weekend for the 10m contest but will probably depend on the weather!!
73---Tim