02/21/2006 | CU2JT My first contest with the new afterburner, which allows me to run up to 500 W. Unfortunately, it does not improve my reception but being in the middle of the Atlantic and very close to the water does help.

I was only on for a couple of hours in the beginning and also during the last hours. We were listed for a golf competition but I'd rather stay home and work the contest. Since there were a couple of "ham tourists" in the Azores (CU2A and CU7/DL5AXX) I did not feel guilty of depriving the US/VE stations of a multiplier.

The antenna here, a 33ft tall vertical, works on 80-10m but the best performance is on 20 and 40m. I can not compete with the KW Europeans with yagis on 20m so my only chance is to work 40m single band. But, at my age, it is becoming more and more tiresome to stay up nights but I will hang in there as long as I enjoy it. -- CU2JT