Nowhere as exciting as Ed's contact, but a contest is a good place to experiment.
The band started to open around 14-20 this afternoon. I repeatedly called the first station I heard, who was from Ohio. No luck. I took the twin lead of my ballon, tied the twin lead and fed it as a Marconi off the long wire output. First shot bang back he came. Have been getting everybody I call on the first or second try all afternoon. Just worked Saskatoon, which is a poke west from Wisconsin.
I also just worked w1aw on 1.863.4, I have worked them before but never in this contest. Look for wa9top running at 25 WPM.