We stayed in quarantine for much of November to make the trip down to Charleston to see family we haven’t seen in more than a year. It was a small affair but good for the soul. What else is good for the soul? Satellite passes!
While in town, I tried to work every good SO-50 and ISS pass that came overhead (AO-91 still eludes me for some reason, I can’t hear myself on the downlink). Since I have been off the birds for so long, I think I made most every mistake a rookie could make. But, in less time than it takes to tie my shoe, I had corrected my problems and put stations in the log. I even roved over to Folly Beach to activate a not-quite-rare-but-still-needed grid (FM02) which is also an IOTA contact! Of course it was raining at the time and there were issues.
We also stopped on our way back north to snag an ISS pass in FM04. I was hoping it would be in FM15 but we didn’t leave in time and Lumberton, not Wilson, was where we crossed paths with the bird. For those of you needing FM15 and FM16, I will very likely be back “home” later in December and will be happy to give out FM15 and rove over to FM16.
This is really the first time I have been back on the birds in many years. Sure, I’ve picked up my antenna and made a few contacts here and there but I haven’t really been active during the past ten years or so. I do love anything to do with portable operations so this obviously works well for me. We’ll see if it sticks this time.
Thanks to K4KDR, WI7P, KG4AKV, N8URE, N5BO/R, N4THC, N9KT, N3CRT, and N1RCN for answering my calls. I’ve got you in the logs and you should have already received a QSL via LoTW if you do such things. If I can find my QSL cards, I shall have something in the mail to you as well.
73 for now.
