I have been playing around practically every day since my last blog. I’ve been trying to see how far away I can establish a WinLink (email) contact. My best so far is the Cayman Islands which is 1,300 nm away. While I technically knew this all along I am beginning to appreciate antenna orientation. As I have a basic horizontal antenna my sensitivity and signal strength are both strongest perpendicular to my antenna. The orientation of my outdoor antenna was chose for convenience and it transpires is about as far off as I could make it to listen in on the eastern Caribbean traffic. Sounds like more tree work next weekend.
I had my very first verbal exchange today. Some chap down in Virgina was busy collecting contacts. I gladly gave him mine. I was nervous about this as I really didn’t know quite what to say. However, he obtained my call sign which is what he needed for his collection.
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