He has pulled me out on 20 and 12M this morning, not bad with most of EU calling.

Maybe because it was too cold for me to do outside work today, and because the bands seemed in good shape I decided to be a cluster-wh*re today and do band fills towards the DXCC Challenge.  The expeditions out there today were HU2DX, TO3J, ZK2C, TO4M, and the other needed stations active 4U1WRC, ZB2FK, TR8CA, A92IO, 6V7S, CX7CO, KG4KL and others.  Have been able to make band/mode fills totalling 18 slots, mostly on 12 Meters which I still have lots of room for improvement on. All these countries are either non rare, or in the easy to medium category, but with the activity and conditions, these are the good old days right now.

Hard to find?   
     
https://store.usps.com/store/browse/productDetailSingleSku.jsp?productId=S_330900&categoryId=subcatMSS_MSS_PostalForms

How about 3C0E on Annobon in February 2012? Somehow I've missed it in the past, so I hope for one QSO for #314.

I use the SDR-IQ with my FT-2000 for a panadaptor. You can also use it independently with it's own antenna and a laptop as a free standing receiver when you are on the go, or testing an antenna as far as how it sounds to listen to in the woods.The SDR-IQ as a panadaptor is far superior to the DMU system visually and in flexibility.

The article in the latest QST magazine gives an interesting read on previous expeditions to Malpeol, and is eye opening on the dangers involved to life and limb. Everyone should read this, and keep in mid the hams we have actually lost, the group headed to the Carribean whose plane went down last year, the gentleman who died of a heart attack on Aves Isalnd a few years ago. I'm sure there are many more I am not aware of. Keep this in mind when you trying to work that rare one and it takes a while to bust the pileup.

Signal on 80M this morning was great, not as strong on 160m but my antenna is limited.  Worked them on 80 before the amp could warm up, later 160 with some difficulty. Whew.  No doubt that this is going to be a big feast, probably for everyoneat least a QSO or two.

10M was joyful for me this morning, feeling a little more relaxed about waiting for the main shooting match to begin.  There is a clown pirate out there on 40M now being picked up by the W3LPL Skimmer and being spotted all over the 40 CW band, it's a distraction.

Welcome to the brave new world of Ham Radio.  Just like in Lake Wobegone, per Garrison Keilor, all the operators are above average! Truly listening to the 30M pileup today was gross, everyone responding to part calls, no attention to the DX station instructions, cops and lids, the usual stuff that passes for normal nowadays. I made a QSO on 10M SSB today early so I feel some of the pressure is off, and they will be there a long time, usually the lids find other things to amuse themselves with after the first few days of operation.

Another thing I did was to model my home QTH here, with my present antennas.  HFTA says I should abandon all hope for the most part, yet I do "well" considering the location in a valley, with QRO and operating skills, so take it all as relative performance.

I made a big DEM aggregate map, and modelled my future contest QTH location and found out that it's really easy to get carried away with HFTA! Actually it's quite interesting what you find out with it, assuming the predictions are right. Once you start looking at the gain for incoming elevation angles angle vs antenna height plots, you start thinking about yagi stacks alot. I found out that for my site, on the side of a hill with clear views from NW to south, with the top of the hill 600 feet horizontally and 125 feet vertically to the west of the cabin, and earth rolling off another 500 feet to the valleys all around, that getting half way to the top of the hill from the cabin was no better than being at the cabin when shooting in the favorable directions. Shooting up the hill, to the west is horrible for low angles, but when you get on top, it's like the best location you could imagine.  For the DX contests from by NY state location, the poor performance to the west is OK, in the SS, I'll have issues.  I can also calculate the addditional antenna gain for the best tower location versus the feedline loss to get it, and make my choices. So purchase your ham QTH thoughtfully! I think you can do alot of what HFTA does by just careful site inspection, and knowing what HFTA plots look like on flat ground with no obstructions. 

Your best bet is AP2TN

We could ask the Occupy Wall Street guys to take this thing up.  We are the 99%.

Here's the latest word from the ARRL Newsletter emailed to members yesterday:

Logbook of The World (LoTW) is continuing to accept and process logs. As of November 17, the processing delay stands at 52 hours. There are approximately 1.38 million QSOs in 5886 logs waiting to be processed. If you have already uploaded a log, there is no need to upload it again; by doing so, you will only add to the queue. Do not send entire logs that contain previously uploaded QSOs; please use the date range option when signing logs, selecting only those QSOs in a specific date range to upload to LoTW. Following these guidelines will allow LoTW to process the backlog at a faster pace. The ARRL IT staff continues to investigate an anomalous series of events that began on October 29, initially creating the persisting backlog. The IT staff is also working diligently to speed up the LoTW processing time and eliminate the backlog. Thanks again for your patience.

   There you have it guys           AB3CX

Take a good look at Tennadyne T6 and T8 log periodics.  I've been using a T8 for 5 years and it's cheap and higly effective and reliable. I miss nothing on the DX peditions since getting it and do well contesting in a suboptimal location. It's not really heavy and can be rotated by a medium duty rotor like a G800. Ask someone who had their SteppIr dysfunction how much fun that was and how much it cost to deal with it!