A pleasant Sunday afternoon chat.....

BJ Radionut and I set up a QSO schedule, and made contact today at 1720 GMT on 40 meters @ 7.205.0 Mhz

We were able to hold each others signal for a solid 35 minutes before a high level of static on my end started to drown out BJ's signal. Not bad covering a distance of 584.7 miles running an old Kenwood TS-130S barefoot through a home brew wire dipole that's at best hanging 20 feet above ground.....

Once I get my CW key, and some practice under my belt, we'll have to try and schedule a CW contact.....it might be slow....:redface:......but it'll be fun....

First off....I'm no yankee....I'm from South Jersey, and if the Mason - Dixon line was continued through this state, it would terminate at the Barnigat Lighthouse putting me well into southern territory.......:tongue:

The story of my vanity call.....

My original plan was to wait til I made Extra, and apply for a 2 X 1 call, but the one I wanted isn't available...(at least not here in the U.S.)

My first name being Anthony, and the first three letters of my last name being MIG, I wanted to get "AM1G"....but "AM" call signs are only issued in Spain, so I looked into plan "B".....

Plan "B" was going with either "W1MIG" or "W2MIG"....both calls assigned....

Plan "C".....
I got to thinking about this whole vanity call thing, and maybe just giving up on it, when it suddenly struck me....I'am and always have been a weather bug, since childhood I've always had an interest in weather that started when I was 5 years old, and spent 3 cold days trapped in our attic because of a strong Nor'Easter that hit the Jersey shore in March of 1962...(also known as the Great Ash Wednesday Storm of '62)....
Many of my activities are weather dependent, fishing, and surfing are both controlled by the weather, and my job is too.....
So with that in mind, I though about going with a "WX" call, looked up "WX2MIG", and as a backup "WX1MIG"....both listed as available, so I applied and listed WX2MIG as my first choice, and that's the call I got.....

As for the CW....SKCC is using 7.114.0 as their designated beginners frequency, and that's probably the place you'll find me once I get a little practice in. I first learned on an iambic paddle, going with a straight key this time around, so I'm sure there'll be a learning curve. Besides, I've never had any problem sending......I can't read code worth a damn.....:blushing: