AWA Bruce Kelley 1929 CW Party - 2019

Another BK is in the log. This year I worked ten other '29 stations. K0SM/W2ICE was worked outside of the party hours so Andy does not show up in my official BK log.

It was interesting that half of the '29 stations I worked were in MN and they all had, by far, the strongest signals. My 80 mtr antenna is only 15' off the ground. I suspect it was working well as a NVI antenna covering the "locals" fine. After trying all I could think of to clean up my 40 mtr signal I still wasn't satisfied so I stuck to 80.

My BK station stayed pretty much as planned for the first part of the BK using my new push-pull Colpitts and 1940 homebrew simple super but I felt I wasn't hearing as well as I might plus I was having trouble zero beating my own signal. I cobbled in my Drake 2B after the first night.  It helped but contacts were still pretty slow. I also noticed a lot of signal wobble because of wind. I see all of my MN compatriots are running MOPAs. They may have a point.

What's next? The ARRL Straight Key Night on New Years Day followed almost immediately by the AWA Linc Cundall Memorial CW Contest.