The Amateur Radio Relay League 10M contest.
Been waiting several months for the ARRL 10 Contest to happen, and I can't be more excited to have it finally arrive.I have the Cushcraft R5 Vertical up at 30 ft and all tuned up ready to go. The Kenwood TS-850 is all warmed up and patiently waiting for my sloppy fist to start pounding out CW. Now if the conditions would just cooperate it could be a fun weekend.
Propagation conditions.
Checking conditions earlier in the week I found that after about 2PM (2200 UTC) 10M conditions dropped out completely after a great morning of working midwest stations and S America. Usually about mid-day the propagation from Northwest Washington state shifts to the S. Pacific and then swings over to Asia by late afternoon/ Mid Evening. The Sporadic E is a wild-card but that is half the fun.
Radio radio radio
SO, as I wait patiently for conditions to improve, it crosses my mind what sort of radio equipment other amateur radio operators will be using for the 10M contest, and what modes ? I know that most of the exotic import radios
are mostly SSB, while a few offer CW capabilities. The other thing that I wonder is what sort of antenna will be used during the contest. I do have a 3 element and a 5 element beam available, but did not get them up in the air in time for the contest. SO what will YOU be using on the air ?