In desperate need of a palate cleansing following the incredibly acerbic HF pile-ups for Bouvet (3Y0J is QRT now) I stood in the backyard waving my Arrow antenna at the morning sky. A few blissful moments chasing the ISS as it slipped silently overhead resulted in a cache of APRS messages using five watts and my Kenwood TH-D74A handheld.

I could easily fall back into the habit of chasing ham radio in space. Too much focused energy on HF has me burned out on that facet of the hobby right now. Besides, nearly everything on my bucket list takes place at VHF and above. Stepping away from HF for a season is the only way I can make any progress on a list with a hard stop and unknown deadline…