On Sunday 19th January I experienced most likely the best 2 meters propagation conditions in my whole career. After having reached the summit of SP/BZ-014 (1.170 m. above sea level), we began to set our stations in the snow with SQ9BQW (I always carry a shovel to remove the snow and make some room). As usual, I had my handheld turned on in order to catch possible S2S in the meantime. Already at the stage, I noticed that something weird was going on, as I could hear stations from all over Poland despite the poor antenna conditions, and everyone was praising the exceptional conditions.
I therefore hung in a rush my flower pot 3-4 meters above my head and turned on the FT817 in 2 meters FM. Almost every available frequency was busy and I could hear at least three different languages spoken! Initially, I had problems to find a free QRG, but eventually 145.550 FM became available and I started to call. In 1 hour and 15 minutes I made 70 QSO in a row with every corner of Poland and 2 QSO with Kaliningrad (560 km), with QRB of 200, 300, 400 km and more. Noticeably, I could copy everyone not worse than 57, but most often it was 59+. Actually I worked every polish county and I am entitled to apply for a diplom, which I will surely do. My equipment as said was very basic but the propagation and the altitude did the job (let’s say my legs that carried me there also hi). At the end of that I was so shaken (and hungry) that I decided to move to the gastronomic part with a good liofilized chicken and call it a day, I left Wojtek SQ9BQW have the fun in HF and resigned from the CW part. Here’s a picture on the way back, I think that smile hasn’t let my face since then!
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Congratulations Marco and tnx S2S
73, Jarek
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