ARRL November Sweepstakes SSB 2025

 I enjoy this contest even though it has a very long exchange. It tends to slow everyone down a bit and by Sunday even the big gun stations are hearing us little ones better! As usual I wanted to have a fairly decent score but the weekend was very busy. I did manage over the weekend to contact 150 contesters and recorded 60 sections--short of the 85 needed for a clean sweep but still respectable.

 My butternut ground mounted vertical did a decent job being heard on 40-15m and I was glad that 10m was open a bit so My yagi at 25' was useable. I didn't hear much workable on 160 or 80m so all contacts were 40-10m.

 My final score was 18,000 before log checking. It was a fun contest .

73--Tim

QSO parties

 I participated in several QSO parties to help the MWA compete in the QSO party challenge. The Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois QSO parties were all within weeks of each other and I was able to spend some time participating in each one. I didn't have very high scores but I did enjoy the activity and had one fun QSO with a Vikings football fan from Pennsylvania--- Ham radio ,always fun!!

73--Tim

Disney trip

After canceling several vacations earlier this year because I had major surgery, we finally were able to plan a Disney trip during the Halloween season. Epcot was also having its annual Food and Wine festival which we enjoy so the many activities kept us busy. Weather was good and the only hurricane did not track our direction although it caused terrible damage for Jamaica and several other islands.

 I did miss the CQ WW SSB contest but there is always next year!

 73--Tim
 

CQ WW RTTY and CA QSOP 2025

 The contest season has started and the first two on the MWA calendar are the CQWW RTTY and California QSO party. The RTTY contest is my favorite of the year, and I participated a good amount over the September weekend. I always run about 60w since RTTY is full duty cycle and it seems to be enough to be heard. I worked 40m thru 10m and was happy with the amount of activity on each band. Conditions were good! I managed 188 contacts for a final score before log checking of 56,618. Thats a little less than last year but still not too bad for Me.

  This weekend was the California QSO party, and I had less time to participate in this one, but I did manage a few more contacts than last year. Conditions on Saturday were not as good as Sunday but both days had enough stations on to keep it interesting. Propagation seemed okay between California and here in Minnesota. Final score was 5320 with 76 contacts.

 73---Tim

  

13 colonies special event 2025

I've missed 3 years of this special event, and I always enjoy participating although some years I have better luck at contacting stations. This year I found it a little more difficult to find the 13 colony stations but still managed to contact 11 of the 13 but barely heard  the WM3PEN bonus station and never heard GB13COL or TM13COL. I sent for the certificate was glad to chase this event. Maybe conditions will be better next year.

73--Tim