More on Contacts

My longest contact to date was with John, NP2B, in Saint Croix, Virgin Islands this afternoon, at about 1,682 statute miles, 1,462nm. He could hear and acknowledged me, but had to bring in a relay, Dave, KD4CMA, in north Florida, about 941 miles away to complete the check in.

Under the current band conditions, and considering my make-shift antenna, that's not bad, but I can't wait to get my mast up and get out of this yard to see what I can do with a real antenna.

Dave must have looked me up when I checked in, because he included Zoe in the log, even though I hadn't mentioned her. I have apologized to her for the oversight and promised not to make that mistake in the future -- I'll include her in all future check ins.

Boat watch:

It's nice and warm today, so I've got the washboards out, sliding hatch open, and heater off. I've been straightening up the cabin today, and have the cockpit lockers open to warm up the engine compartment. I'm working on clearing out the cockpit lockers and stowing all the gear on the deck, so I can get to the transmission.

Most of the snow is gone now, so I moved the anchors under the boat and adjusted the wires on deck. With the anchors out of the way, I've got plenty of room to stow everything on the coachroof. I'll cover it with the remnants of the boat cover I salvaged, so I should be able to leave it there for a while.

I'm also going to remove the latches from the cockpit hatches to they can't accidentally lock me in while I'm down there working. I might end up remounting them upside down for my trip south, but plan to replace/augment them when I refit in Baytown.