What began this morning as a simple re-hanging of my 40 meter inverted
V, turned into the construction of a completely new antenna.
Apparently the center insulator/connector had failed on the old
antenna.

Since that antenna was quite old, we decided to just build a new one.

So, I now have a nice new 40 meter dipole in a more or less flat top
configuration at 25 feet.

I'm not much of a contester, especially for the phone portion of the
sweepstakes with that terribly awkward exchange.

Nevertheless, just playing hunt and pounce in the first 10 minutes of
the contest, I bagged

TN, AL, VA, IL, IN, MO, PA, MD, NC, and NH, along with extra contacts
in AL and TN for a total of 12 contacts with my TS570 and no
amplifier.

New Hampshire from Mississippi at just after 3:00 PM local time  is a
pretty good haul on 40 meters any day.

I'll probably move to CW later in the evening, and let the "big boys"
fight it out in the contest.

Forty meter CW is one of my favorite hangouts, and I haven't been able
to operate there in quite awhile.



Mike Duke, K5XU
American Council of Blind Radio Amateurs