<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Hey Steve.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Good luck with the antenna. Would love to read about you putting it up, how it works and see some pics. Remember - no pictures, it didn't happen.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Hard to believe your amp is still in custody; hope it gets a pardon soon.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">For QSO Parties, I sometimes see ops spotted on the clusters. Usually, I'll watch the RBN around 40 kHz up from the bottom of the band, or go old-school and just tune around. Hopefully, there will be plenty of Ohio ops keeping the ions up above busy. Don't get too infatuated with those guys from KS or HI, though.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Finally, I just have to ask: is that slash call sign going to go away sometime?</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">GL es 73 de Joe AA8TA</div><div><br>On Jul 9, 2017, at 23:59, <<a href="mailto:swmorton50@gmail.com">swmorton50@gmail.com</a>> <<a href="mailto:swmorton50@gmail.com">swmorton50@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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--></style><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">I’ve been watching the planned county operations and am glad to see quite a few operations have already been posted. I’ve been studying propagation charts, antennas and power levels to optimize my efforts from TI8/AA8HH this year.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">80 meters from here just doesn’t work very well until after the contest is over. Higher power and a better antenna doesn’t make much of a difference. However, a 40 meter dipole, up high, should outperform my vertical. And more power would also help a bunch on 40 meters as well as 20 meters.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Our house sits on top of the first mountain back from the Pacific and we are surrounded by rain forest below us. We have plenty of property and tall trees, but the problem is that they are mostly below the level of the house. From our house, the property drops off VERY steeply into the rain forest. Getting a 40 meter dipole into the trees high enough to work well is quite a challenge. But… I may have a solution. A neighbor of ours bought a drone and is looking for a project. It occurred to me that the drone might be able to haul up a fish line into the tops of the trees that I can use to pull up a rope and antenna.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">So, we are going to try to get that 40 meter dipole hung this year.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I’m still waiting on my amplifier (stuck in Customs Hell for 17 months now). There seems to be some movement and with a lot of luck I may have it released in the next few weeks. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed. 500 watts would make a real difference. Hoping to keep everything up and running for 12 hours (especially the electricity) during the contest. It’s winter here (rainy season) and heavy rains/lightning/static crashes are a big issue, so we’re hoping for good weather here as well as in Ohio!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I do have one question for the group. What spotting network is best to monitor. Last year DX Watch and County Hunter Spots didn’t have all that many Ohio stations spots. In fact, I don’t think I worked a single station from a spot.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I’m definitely looking forward to 2017 OHQP</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Steve – TI8/AA8HH</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Sent from <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986">Mail</a> for Windows 10</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>OhQP-mail mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:OhQP-mail@ohqp.org">OhQP-mail@ohqp.org</a></span><br><span><a href="http://mail.ohqp.org/mailman/listinfo/ohqp-mail_ohqp.org">http://mail.ohqp.org/mailman/listinfo/ohqp-mail_ohqp.org</a></span><br></div></blockquote></body></html>