[v7arcssbnet] Happy New Year, V7ARC

[Steve Schaarschmidt]

Dear V7ARC,

A couple of hours ago, I made my first contact of this year's Straight Key
Night!

My 40-meter dipole had been coiled up in the garage for a couple of years.
I rolled it out across the front yard and pushed the feedpoint up into a
pine tree as high as I could, about 15 feet above the ground.
One end is wrapped around that tree and the other end is tied to a nearby
smaller tree.
My Icom IC-735 is on a card table by the front door.

I started with the transmit power 'way down in case the SWR was high.
It was actually close to 1:1 in the CW portion of the band.
Turning up to 40 Watts, I chatted with a station in Virginia for ten
minutes or so.
He was running a pair of Collins "Gold Dust Twins", i.e., the KWS-1 xmtr
and the 75A-4 rcvr.

I can't remember the last time I was this relaxed on New Year's Eve.
I hope you're all enjoying the evening, too.

THANK YOU ALL for being my friends, and I wish you the best in 2021!

73,

Steve, K0CI
President, V7ARC