13 Colonies special Event 2021

 

 This event started July 1st at 8:00 am CST and continued until July 7th at 11:00 pm CST so plenty of time to participate. The 13 colony states are typically on air from morning till late evening using voice, CW and digital modes. Three extra stations are also part of this event-WM3PEN in Philadelphia, GB13COL from Great Britain and a new one this year--TM13COL from France. The two European stations will be difficult for my little station because of my limitation of voice only. No digital connectivity to my win10 pc yet and I'm not a CW guy as a poor 5 wpm is not doable for this type of participation.

 My first successful contact was with K2M from Pennsylvania at 18:52 July 1st on 20 meters and I managed several more the first day. This pattern continued for several days as I added more of the 13 colonies to the log but had no luck with the three bonus stations. Truthfully I hardly saw the WM3PEN station on the air as often as the others although it might have been on when I wasn't in the shack. The weather outside was nice so time in the shack was between yard work and other chores.

 By the last 24 hours I only needed K2I- New Jersey for a cleen sweep of the 13 colonies. Early morning of the 7th I was on the local simplex net when I saw K2I spotted on 40m so after last round on the net I tuned to 40m and K2I was not strong but also not too busy. I transmitted my call and He came back with "who is the N0?" and I completed the QSO and He was in the log. Clean Sweep!!

 In conclusion I'm very glad I spent the time to fix even temporarily my vertical antenna- most contacts were on this antenna except for a short 10m opening when I switched to my mono bander. As usual the operators were patient and superb and it seemed even the pile ups were not too unruly. My check for the certificate is already in the mail after another fun, successful special event!

Tim