Ever since acquiring the Drake L4B Linear - I have added 24 new DX entities. All these new ones were worked using the K2/100 transceiver.
I got the Drake on August 7, 2013. I could not really employ it effectively on multiple bands until I got the high power tuner. But no problem - my antenna is resonant on 40m CW and close to being resonant on 20m.
#145 - On August 9 I added Saudi Arabia HZ1TT on 20m phone - I just ran this barefoot on the K2
#146 - same day - added Faroe Island OY/DL3UB on 40m CW - again still barefoot on the K2
#147 - August 10 - early in the morning before work - found El Salvador YS1/N3PJ on 30m - barefoot on the K2
#148 - August 13 - in the evening East Coast time - bagged Jordan JY5HX on 20m CW -100W on K2
After this point I have the Palstar AT2K 1.5kW tuner
#149 - August 15 - found 9K2GS on 20m phone - first time to use the amp and ran it at the legal limit 1500W
#150 - August 17 - late evening on 30m - found Bahrain A92IO. Running barefoot K2 on the 45ft EFHW. He also confirmed me on LOTW
#151 - Same evening - heard Anguilla VP2ETE on 20m CW - ran the linear at 1000w to get him fighting against QRM. I contacted him again 2 weeks later on 10m phone.
#152 - same evening - 8/17 was a great day - heard French Polynesia (Tahiti) and ran 500w to get him
#153 - Were not done on 8/17 just yet - found New Caledonia FK8CE on 20m CW (He later confirmed me on LOTW)
#154 - Still not done with 8/17 - found New Zealand on 20m CW - ZL6LH - I have worked New Zealnd 3 times before but this is the first time I got confirmed in LOTW - so this was as good as the first contact
#155 - August 17 - final one for a very productive day - found Armenia EK6TA on 20m phone running 600W
It was not until a couple of days later for the first time new contact.
#156 - On August 19 - heard Kryzgystan in a pileup - on 20m CW - worked him with 500 watts
#157 - Minutes later it was Qatar A71CM on 20m CW just a couple of clicks away on the band scope
It was a few days later till another new one turned up. This time it was a one man DXpedition into Palestine E44PM. The pileups were huge. He was working this DXpedition with a K2/100 and a KAT100 which is a basic rig. A fine CW rig but it does not have the DSP technology of today's modern rigs. Regardless, he worked 19700+ QSO's by himslef over the period of about a week. I managed to work him on 40, 30 and 20 and confirmed me in Clublog and LOTW. I consider myself lucky. My first contact was on 8/21. That was #158.
August 22 - finally got Guam on 20m CW KH2L. He also confirmed me on LOTW (a double bonus) That was #159
August 23 was another good day as I managed to bag 3 new contacts on the same day.
#160 - Chad TT8/US3EZ on 20m CW again running about 500 watts
#161 - Ceuta and Mellilla EA9UG on 20m CW running 500 watts
#162 - Ivory Coast TU5DF on 30m CW running about 75 watts
The next day I heard Guernsey MU0FAL on 30m CW and worked him with about 100w. That was #163
The following day I worked Lebanon on 20m phone OD5ZZ running about 1000w to make the contact. That was #164
On August 27, I saw Falkland Islands on the cluster spot and worked hin on 20m phone - running about 1000watts. #165
On August 29, I worked the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador VP8LP on 20m phone - which was #166
On August 30 worked Samoa 5W1SA - very early in the morning on 20m CW - about 9 AM UTC (that was 5 am EDT) and very faint and in the noise floor - we managed to make contact - I was running 1000 watts and he gave me a 339 report. That was #167
On Labor day playing with the KX3 on the Hexbeam - with the beam pointed Northeast towards Europe. I was in the truck with the KX3 and the litlle Hardrock50 was pushing about 25 watts from the 3 watts drive I gave it and the station in San Marino was loud calling CQ with just a few takers - and was working simplex. I gave a him a couple of calls with the KX3 and with my 6 dB of gain - I probably sounded like a barefoot rig - 100watts in power. I gave my call NY4G. He returned with NY? a couple of times. He decided to pass me over and proceeded to call CQ. Well I said to myself, if I am gonna get a new one - I will need to run some power. I ran inside to the basement shack and fired up the K2 and the linear. With the right hand dialing in the frequency 14023 dot 3 and the left hand turning on the wall switch to the linear. I found him in about 30 seconds flat - still calling CQ. I switched the tuner to the dummy load and proceeded to peak the load at about 800 watts. FI flipped the tuner switch back to the band and gave him a couple of calls. He replied back NY4? agn? I gave my call a couple more times and he gave me 539 report and I gave him a 559 report thank you and 73. Well that was #168.
#169 was Market Reef near the Philippines OJ0W on 9/8/2013. Another early morning QSO on 40m at near 1100 UTC
#170 was Bolivia CP4BT. I was trying to make a phone contact in pileup on another station when I saw the spot on Bolivia pop up. I quickly switched to the CW portion of the band on VFO B and I was able to work him simplex.on 9/9/13
Please stay tuned as the count to 200 continues.
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