Congrats on a great achievement, Paul! The more time it takes us to get on HR, the more fun we have, and the more we value the award. What is your station setup? Maybe you could update your QRZ page with some info, since many of those who are chasing HR want to know what antennas/power/location is needed to achieve it.
Current setup is Flex 6600M with Elecraft KPA500, Antennas are 8 Element LPDA (T8) by Tennadyne at 45ft, 145ft OCF at 60ft and 43ft Vertical all on a nice 2 acres wooded area . However, over the years a i went from heathkit AT1 and hallicrafters S-120 to heath Hw101 with HA14 amp..all dipole antenna, then got Ten Tec Omni with 40ft tower with stacked Mono-banders
....then Divorce came along..ham radio gear disappeared..
so.....started over....and rebuild...
Manage to rebuild my life. worked my bunns off
..got two kids thru college...debt free
... a new wife and new QTH and setup Ten Tec Orion II, 40ft tower with TH7dxx and Yaesu FL7000 amp...
At retirement in 2013 got Flex gear (6300 which i traded in later for 6600m) and Elecraft gear and traded out the TH7DXX for T8 LPDA, moved the OCF from 30 ft to 60ft high and installed the vertical.
..with the Flex 6600m i can monitor 4 bands at once with different antennas simultaneously
..and easier to analyze a pileup quickly...
i operate any mode the dx is operating...
lotsa computers here (two mac mini in the shack and three mac minis in small server farm in basement)
SO
getting to HR was a 60 year effort.. slow and steady with life event bumps along the way...
Thanks
Paul K3SF