Holiday Spirits Homebrew Sprint

The ARCI Holiday Spirits Homebrew Sprint  was Sunday December 18th. This gave me a good opportunity to use my kit radios. Kits were considered homebrew for the event. My kits are the Wilderness SST and Wilderness Sierra. The sprint had a 5000 bonus for portable operation so I decided to operate out of the backyard. But it was a hard choice as to which antenna to set up. I finally chose my ground plane for 20 and 40 meters. I got to use the Deluxe Tenna Dipper to confirm it was setup right.

I chose to start on 20 meters with the SST and worked OH X 2, PA X 2, MN, NJ and CA. Then I switched to 40 meters using the Sierra and worked K4MTI "Pepto" here in Panama City FL, then Kelly K4UPG in Orlando FL and John K4BAI in Columbus GA. I enjoy the nearby contacts so this made my day. 

It was chilly in the backyard and it was getting dark I tried to get something going on 80 meters to make at least one contact for an additional 5000 point band bonus. However, I was unsuccessful jury-rigging the ground plane to work on 80. No joy. But a good session overall using the kit radios. There is always some extra satisfaction when the rig is a kit you built.


Greg N4KGL