Two DX and a SOTA!

K-96 Fishing Lake (red dot is where I parked)

I tried a new park today for my lunchtime portable.  I have been having lots of noise at the other park the last several times out.  I was not sure if it was just the bands or the location.  So I moved to a different park, also near my office, and either the bands were good today or the location was better!  The park I went to is called the K-96 Fishing Lake - as you can see in the picture.  Not sure why the water is so green!  (also I just added a page about my Portable QRP Antenna - check it out.)

First thing I always do is pull up SOTA GOAT on my iPhone to see if any SOTA activators are spotted.  There were several on 20 meters.  I could not hear any of them although I could hear stations calling them.

So I changed to 17 meters and heard several DX stations.  I heard PI4DX (Netherlands) calling CQ booming in here 599.  I missed him a couple of times, but then I snagged him!  He said I was 599 also.  Interesting that there wasn't a huge pileup - maybe he is not that rare.  HE WAS RARE for me! :)  After looking up the call it is actually a contest station put together for 5 or 6 guys - nice setup.  Erik was the OP today.  QRZ shows his station at 4,674.5 miles away!

Then I looked at the SOTA spots again and noticed K0JQZ was on 30 meters.  I thought maybe on 20 meters they were skipping over me, and I might have a shot on 30 meters.  Sure enough there Frank was calling CQ.  I dropped him a call and we exchanged 559 both ways.  This is the fourth time I have worked Frank as a chaser.  Today he was on W0/FR-063.  This was good for 4 /SOTA points which puts me at 68 total points.

After working Frank I went back to 17 meters - this DX stuff has me pumped.  I tuned around and heard XE2ST calling CQ.  I was first to respond and he got me after a couple repeats on my call.  He gave me a 559 and he was 599.  When I was replying with my information I heard him say "YES" and I heard another station calling CQ behind him.  Anyway, he copied enough that he said I was in his log and we signed.  Fernando is in Mexico.  Another fun DX contact in the books!