Radio: Yaesu FTDX10
Antenna: DX-Eng 80/40 Thunderbolt 55ft Dual Band Vertical
Software: N1MM Logger+ 1.0.9826.0

This year, not one but three Funny Things Happened on my Way to the Forum.

Totally unexpectedly, as everything was exactly as it had been in the previous years. Well, I replaced my “vintage” Ten-Tec Orion with Yaesu FTDX10, but all other elements remained, including the operator. No changes (much less improvements) there.

Firstly, struggling (and far from succeeding) to start a UK sunrise run on 40 m, I decide to quickly check the 20 for any “weird” openings. Lo and behold, I stumble on Brian 9J2BO in a QSO with some innocent soul, outside of the contest. Once he is done, I call, he answers, I tell him I’m in BERU, we do the exchange. Sweet. I spent about 15 minutes scouring the band and, other than him, the band is as dead as they come, nothing else.

Secondly, right after that I had a very productive (toute proportion gardée, “productive” for me, the BB-gun) run into the UK on 40 m around their sunrise. Says N1MM+: 0554-0637Z, 7010.4 kHz, 27 Qs, 37.1/hr. Don’t get me wrong, I know that’s nothing to write home about, but it just doesn’t happen to me; with my setup I normally struggle to make every Q and my “runs” are “crawls” of a few at a time, paid for in sweat and blood.

Thirdly, just before that run Andy G4PIQ asks me to move from 40 to 80 meters for him. Being a really nice fellow, I say “yessir” and QSY to 3509 as he requested even though I have no hope of even hearing him – 80 was really tough for me all night. Guess what? I not only hear him, but we make a Q! OK, maybe it was not me being nice, but rather being married for longer than I am willing to admit and having taken all the obedience courses.

Lastly, and it does not count as the “three funny things”, again I did not make it to the end of the contest. The very last 3 hours or so are always excruciatingly slow. This year I made a pinky swear promise to myself that I stay until the very end in the hope of some VK or ZL making themselves available close to my sunrise on 40, maybe even for bonus points. But I could only hear same stations that I had already worked the previous day, and fewer for that matter. I gave up with about an hour to spare. Well, there is always “next year”.