[Wswss] Worked #462 towards FFMA, only 26 left!

[Tim Marek]

Hi Gang!

Its been a while since I shared the exploits of what its like
being one of the few serious 6M operators from a fairly
rare state...

Today, I awoke at 330 AM with a stiff neck and my brain 
trying to tell me something... Hard to focus at OH Dark 30... 

After a few mins I remembered that NJ0W was to be QRV 
from DN95/EN05 grid line this morning! Right at 1003 Miles
it will be a tough one as all he has for an ant is a 2 ele Moxon
and my success rate with him at that kind of distance has been
less than optimum. 

I crawl out of bed, ignore the kitchen, stagger to the shack, 
swallow my pain meds and nibble some crackers as the 
rig and computer wake up. Thank god my lady is NOT a 
light sleeper!

Logging into the Pingjockey website I find David - NJ0W
is just getting setup and a list is being setup for him to work 
skeds from. Dropping my call in the Que, I settle back and
wait for the chemicals in my bloodstream to lower the pain
in my neck to a more tolerable level, hoping they dont knock
me out at the keyboard and I end up missing my sked...

2nd station on the list is Dave NJ7A east of me in DN30 Utah,
I tune in and the rocks at this ungodly early hour are vastly 
improved from when I ran with David last night when he first 
arrived at the DN95/96 EN05/06 grid confluence. 

Monitoring their sked I actually hear enough burns that I could
have completed with David... A very good thing!

My turn in the barrel starts at 11:21Z and for 9 Mins not a 
peep... This doesnt bode well... Did NJ7A use up all the 
rocks already during his sked? Is the radio on the right freq?
Is the PCs time correct? SWR looks good.... then BLAMMO!

11:30Z a burst of data!! Both calls and the report!!! YAHOO!
Now sending R26 in using Single Tones my odds of completing
are now rather good. Then it hits... Another good burst but this
time not a single tone but "RR DN95DN05 RR" !!

Sending Single tone 73's I drag the FFMA spreadsheet out, dust
it off and highlight another one... DONE! #462!!! Amazing...
Took only 21 years to get this close! HI HI

Now im curious... Logging into LOTW shows I have only 304 
FFMA grids confirmed in LOTW/VUCC... I bring up the
spread sheet and this time start to highlight the grids confirmed
leaving me a very precise picture of exactly which grids I need 
to track down confirmations from...  

Still, all in all, not a bad way to wake up... albeit a bit EARLY!

The 26 grids remaining on my list are as follows....

CM94
CN83
DL79/88/89
DM02/36/39/46/47/55
EL15/16/58/79/84
EN46/57/67/75/85
FM13
FN45/51/64/67

As this is likely my last season in DM09 (3+ yrs Unemployed, 
Bankruptcy, and Impending Forclosure) I'm still not sure how
much longer we can stay before the bank asks us to leave. 

Untill then, in between selling everything we dont need, packing 
what do, slowly dismantling the station, and the upcoming 10 
day long 6M KW Rover trip to Texas (including the June 
VHF contest) I will be eagerly hunting those remaining 26 grids.    

Any... and I mean ANY help will be appreciated!

I'm off to bed & try to get more precious sleep. 

73s de Tim - K7XC - DM09nm... sk

PS: Yes it sucks loosing the house but my story isn't unique...
I'm looking on it as "An adventure with endless possibilities..."
Adapt, Overcome, Succeed! or as we in the NCCC say... KB!