I went to the shack tonight about 2300, pulled on the cans and took a spin on the VFO. 20 meters. It was still pretty warm and a big glass of ice water was soon fetched. I tuned across several domestic QSOs in progress and stopped to eavesdrop on a few of them. It’s nice to hear chatter that’s not POTA related. Don’t get me wrong, the POTA program has been a shot in the arm for CW enthusiasts, but it’s nice to hear folks just chewing the rag.

The band wasn’t in wonderful shape, but it was good enough. I tuned across Gabor, HA7GN calling CQ and worked him quickly. That wasn’t our first QSO but that’s no reason to ignore a fellow. We were soon finished when I noticed a 30 meter spot for W1AW/4 in South Carolina, part of the WAS 250 event. I’m not chasing that one but I hadn’t worked him on 30 before and now I have.

Back on 20, I heard Mike, N1MX from Walpole, MA calling CQ. QSB was making copy a little rough though I would have called him anyway except he was busy at that moment and while listening to his QSO the skies opened and we had a fifteen minute gully washer. When I put the antenna back in-line Mike was still in QSO, but signals had dropped a bit more so I decided to call him some other evening.

He’s a regular on 20 and a very interesting fellow. Check out his QRZ bio page and you’ll see what I mean. N1MX is a solid radio telegrapher who has been pounding brass since 1967.