Took a couple of hours last night and tuned 40 and 80 meters during the contest. Both bands were in very good shape for me (from EM55, Memphis, TN area) for Europe, the Caribbean, and South America. I also heard a lot of strong 6 and 7 stations working the same stations I was working, so the band was long and solid. I could work almost anything I could hear.
Hoping to work some higher bands this afternoon and return to 40 and 80 last night.
I'll report in more detail on specific contacts a few days after the contest ends.
My working conditions are IC-7700 (150-200w) into an S943V. Using N1MM+ logger, and Heil Pro-7 with a foot switch. This is my first serious contest effort with the 7700, having recently had both a TS-590 and an IC-746. The filtering and noise reduction are amazing . . . I never had any trouble weeding out the signal I wanted.
I hope you'll get on the air - even if you aren't competing, and work some stations - maybe get a new one or two. My main goal is to finish DXCC on 40m (only three to go) and maybe add a few on 80! Let me know your working conditions and how you did!
73 and good DX!,
Trent
N4DTF
