There was a geomagnetic storm yesterday and wasn't sure I wanted to go out, but this evening I made 16 contacts to 10 different states.

It started out a bit rough with an S-8 noise level, but eventually tapered down to S-2. There were no DX contacts, but some great stateside chats more than made up for it. One was twenty-two minutes long and another lasted forty minutes. There was unusual propagation this evening as I worked into Missouri, Oklahoma, and even Kansas, but also worked the East Coast. As I was pulling up to the dock at 10:00 p.m., I heard a Ukraine station talking to Utah. I heard both of them.

The rig was my Yaesu FT-817 with a $20 computer headset and running VOX so I could row and talk at the same time. The antenna was a 33-foot, end-fed vertical wire held up with an MFJ pole. The log was a 4"x 6" spiral notebook, resting on my lap with Velcro holding it in place. The boat is a Walker Bay eight-foot rowboat. 

Here is a run-down of tonight's contacts and their location. All were made on 20 meters SSB with 5 watts.
WB6LNH  (NH)
W4EIC      (VA)
N6GJR      (TX)
N5GLR     (TX)
N0ECE     (MO)
KC2JAX   (NJ)
W9FO       (IL)
KC0FFS    (MO)
W9HNX    (WI)
KE1DX      (CT)
W1KA       (NH)
N5KDZ     (TX)
K0VET      (MO)
KV0S        (MO)
NC6Y       (OK)
KS0RF/m  (KS)

Just another day running QRP at the bottom of  a sunspot cycle.

73,
Jake, N0LX