07/25/2005 | KD6AKC/KH6 My first IARU HF Championship, and first 'expedition'. I picked up a TS-50 at Dayton with the intent to use it on the family vacation to Maui. What a great rig! I carried it on the airplane (along with the switching power supply from Dayton, and a borrowed tuner). I set up in a comfortable chair with simple wire dipole and had a great time Saturday evening making contacts (getting up early saturday morning was a waste...8 contacts in 5 hours!, though it did convince me to move the antenna more to the east).

20m was the only band I operated - it worked great for DX, the antenna isn't too cumbersome, and there were plenty of people operating. On top of that I could go on the hike with the family and still be back in time to catch the increase in activity at sunset.

Best contacts were a tough to copy but persistent Italian and a mobile in Michigan - neither of us could believe the armchair copy over such a long path with simple rigs. -- KD6AKC