I worked 5W1SA on Samoa, an all-time new one for me, while waiting for the coffee to finish brewing this morning. I don’t often pick up ATNO’s on 30 meters so this was a pleasant surprise. Samoa (5W) isn’t particularly rare, number 154 on the Most Wanted list.

But according to Club Log, actvity from the island peaked a decade ago and has been declining ever since. A little more than 50,000 QSOs were recorded in 2013 while only some 15,000 took place in 2022. Best I can tell there was an active club there with some 15 members many years ago, but the QRZ bio for Atsu, the operator I worked, says “I’m the only one active residential HAM on the Island” so I guess things have trailed off a bit there?

There were a handful of other contacts made, off and on, throughout the day and a few more band slots filled. In between those I spent several hours outside on lawn work. The weather forecast says we can expect several consecutive days of rain beginning tomorrow. The temperatures have been lovely the last few days. 50s and 60s during the day dropping down into the 40s at night. The furnace has only been used to knock the chill off the house in the mornings.

Good weather for sleeping and for working outdoors if you ask me.