That's pretty cool! I often wonder if part of the poor band conditions occurs because we all turn on the radio, hear nothing, and turn them back off. I'm guilty of that. Yet, on virtually any contest day, there just a few hams short of a bazillion people on the band. I think your experience supports the notion that we should try more CQ's even when conditions appear bleak.
Well done!
Jack, W8TEE
On Sunday, July 22, 2018, 1:13:40 AM EDT, Tony McUmber <tmcumber@...> wrote:
Hi, all you QCXians,
Many people have been bragging on Hans and QRP-Labs and their great product, the mighty QCX, as well they might.? I have received reports from other stations on how clean and crisp the signal is and how well it gets through with only (in my case, anyway) 2 watts and a dipole, and have passed along some of these good reports to Hans.
Tonight (about 0430Z) I was CQing into a dead 40m band and was able to contact a station about 200 miles from me, on the other side of MO. We got QSB'd, so had to cut short.? I listened to "nothing" for a while and found a couple of stations in QSO, both of which sounded quite strong to me.? Turns out one was in the US Midwest and the other in France.? When they signed off I immediately called the French station and got an instant reply.? We had a nice chat and I logged a great DX contact at 4,445.4 miles distance.? That's 2,227.2 miles per watt!? Don't know about anyone else, but for me that was quite a thrill.? I'm enjoying HAM radio again!
jjpurdum