FLYING PIGS GO DXING

Hello from North Central Tennessee.. The home of the North Central Tennessee Flying Pigs QRP,  International chapter.

John, KM6NN here with the good news that QRP is alive and well here in Clarksville, Tennessee. After a bout of colder than we want to be outside WX and some minor medical issues we could not wait for a sunny day to go out and get on the air. As it happened by the grace of the radio gods we chose a weekend that was the best we could have to be on the air. The ARRL International DX - CW contest was running strong and we set up operating on Saturday morning with great hopes of some DX contacts. The weather was working for us and with no clouds in the sky. We met at our local club office (Donut Delight) at around 9 a.m. Normally we get on 40 meters for a short QSO to work on our CW operation (7120 @ 9 a.m.) but on this day I was gathering up the table and chairs and assorted radio gear for the get together.  In the heart of our town there are several places where trees and light standards can be used for antenna support. So finding a working location was no
 problem.

The day before our get together we called around and let the members know we were going to get on the air and to our great surprise all five of our members showed up. We got to our operating site and started setting up the tables and putting up the Mystery Antenna (W5GI Mystery Antenna). The sun was shinning but we had a slight breeze blowing so we circled the vehicles as a wind brake. Lewis- KF4WK, Doc-NV4T, Richard-KJ4MXI, Rob-N4PJX and myself John-KM6NN went to work putting the antenna up and setting up the table. Lewis pulled out his K-3 and kept looking at it waiting for the antenna to go up and be connected. It was like he was hearing the code even before we hooked it up. I know that radio is good but not that good. In no time at all the antenna was up and attached and before I could brake out the paperwork Doc was searching the 20 meter band. The signals were everywhere and in no time I had KH7B (Mauna Kea Contest Club, HI) in the log. That was on
 5 watts and I thought that was really cool. Then up the band a little and SL0W (Sweden) WOW what is going on? I go back down a few kc's and OH8Z (Finland). This is just too much. I mean I am running 5 watts and using a mystery antenna. Oh my what a good day for QRP radio. Next up was E7VA (Bosnia/Herzegovina) I just can not believe my ears. I now see that we need to time our QRP outings to match the contests that are put on by ARRL and assorted CW groups. Next up was Doc-NV4T and right off he had PJ2T (Caribbean Contesting Consortium) Good job Doc. After looking around a few minutes Doc gave it back to me and ES5Y (Estonia) was in the log.  I looked around and the guys were standing around talking radio. Man it can't get much better than this. During the last hour we worked we were able to get ES5Y (Estonia), OH8L (Finland), GM7R (Scotland), YL3FT (Latvia), and EA8CMX,  Mauri in Finland. With only a couple of hours on the radio we made more contacts DX
 than we have ever made as WA4PIG. WHAT A DAY.... We keep our outings to about two hours and that is enough to keep us for about two weeks. Hopefully the next outing will be sooner than the last, with the good weather coming I see WA4PIG on the air with more members and more fun than the last time. Thanks for your time and 72 from KM6NN, John and the whole gang in North Central Tennessee. Oink Oink

72, KM6NN, John