[JMS] Millen Spans The Continent!

[Gary Carter]

OK, the subject title may sound a bit overly dramatic, but the QSO I had 
Sunday night certainly got me excited! It was about 10:35 pm eastern 
time when I came downstairs to the basement shack to shut everything off 
before going to bed. I turned up the RF gain on the 75A-4 and heard an 
AM QSO going on 3885 kHz. A station in Kansas was having a roundtable 
QSO with several other stations. Just as I was getting ready to turn off 
the power he turned it over to to a KL7OF/7, which instantly perked up 
my ears! No, he wasn't in Alaska, but the next best thing; Washington 
State! I sat there listening to the KL7's S9+ signal and managed to 
break in at an appropriate point and join the roundtable. To my 
amazement KL7OF/7 was able to copy my signal fine and we exchanged the 
usual info to confirm a contact. What makes this 2081 mile contact 
extraordinary for me is that I was running just 35 watts carrier output 
from my Millen 90801 transmitter to my full wave 160 meter loop. Ah ha!, 
you say, he's getting a little gain from using the 160 loop on 75 
meters. Possibly, but consider that the loop is up 25 feet at its 
highest point, slopes into a valley through the woods beside my house 
and the bottom of the loop resides about 10 feet off the ground at the 
bottom of the valley, and the tilt of the slope actually puts the far 
end of the loop about 6 feet below street level, the slope tilting the 
loop to the north-northeast!! This thing is a natural born cloud burner! 
Needless to say band conditions were heavily in my favor last night, and 
I must have on heckuva lobe off this loop pointing to the northwest!

Perhaps Joe Walsh, a Millen-to-Millen QSO JUST MIGHT be possible between 
NC and CA on 75 meters. We might have to try it on a late Sunday evening 
when most of the sidebanders have all gone to bed, hi hi!

73, and happy holidays to all! Gary - WA4IAM