2017 Route 66 On The Air 9/9 to 9/17, 2017

Late to the game, only started on Monday & only doing CW. Got A, B, E, F, G, H, P, R so far.

SKCC run a similar event in January, "K3Y", but ops located in each US call area K3Y/0-9 plus KH6/KL7/KP4 and participating DX stns in 6 WAC areas = 19 total for sweep. No RTTY, let alone FT8, I'm afraid; only straight key CW

 

Worked Arnie N6HC (famous DXpeditoner) as W6B last night on 40M. Tried W6O, but my mobile signal was too lame to make it over the pileup. Still 8 to go!!!! W6A,C,D,E, L, O, S and U!!!
W6O had an incredible signal into the West Coast about 6PM last night!! He must have and excellent station!!!

 

Still only need L & D. Both still no-shows. Some false spots last night on 40 for L but turned out to be one of the other guys. Wish people would listen first before spotting the wrong station. Also wish people wouldn't volunteer to be part of something if they don't plan to operate. It's day 5 and still no indication W6L has been active.

 

Sounds like I'm not the only one who will miss the Clean Sweep!!

 

Found the problem with my mobile station. Had it been working, I would have easily logged W6O last night. I had checked the antenna with my antenna analyzer and it said it was good!! but it turns out the problem was a bad cable between the Coax Switch and the wattmeter. Also the antenna PL259 was one of those 2 piece jobs where U screw a mini Connector into the big connector. That was loose. I am constantly monitoring the DX SUMMIT as Time is running out. If any of the stations I need pop up on 40M I can run out the parking lot and try mobile. Right now the W6E station is on 40M CW, but I have no way to use CW mobile (no hand key) Don't think he'd like a toggle switch at 3WPM.

 

YAY!!!! That idea worked!! Just worked W6S from the mobile in the parking lot!!
9/13/2017 @1741 7271!!!!!
Now need just A,C,D,E,L,O and U. SEVEN TO GO!!!!!!

 

Hey Pat,
Got both Rovers today, and now have a total of 12 to go. Errands to run, but will continue with search a bit later. Good luck Pat......

 

HI Joe!! Good luck, difficult this year!!!
saw Jack at HRO last Saturday.
We both miss U
73

 

Nice going Pat. Good luck with the rest.

 

Thanks Pat, miss you guys too, AND Sue as well. Is she participating in Rte 66? I spotted W6T for you earlier, but not sure if you saw the spot or not. Told Ron to keep and eye (ear) out for you too. Continued good luck in hunting them all down.Still a few days to go...... 73.....

 

Thanks, Joe. Need to get W6A, C,D and E to come up on 40M SSB for us on the West Coast.
Got T a few days ago on 40SSB

 

I just picked up O. 8 more to go 40M seems to be working best.

 

What is torpedoing me is all these meetings!!! MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY I have had nightly meetings that canceled working the stations. I see where they were on and it would have been an easy contact had I been home with the KILLERWATT. Tried on W6O again last night mobile, NO GO!!! 7 to go. Not looking good unless I can knock out some Friday evening. Saturday is our Radio Club picnic, but fortunately we are only 1/2 block from my house, so if needed I can quickly drive home to work them. Monitoring the DX SUMMIT religiously!!!
Also being killed by all the FT8 operations. I DON'T HAVE FT8 and have no idea how to use it. I do RTTY and PSK31!!! W6O was on FT8 again early this morning so I was SOL again!!!
Starting to Panic as Time is running out FAST!!!!

 

W6D was on 20 and 40 last night. Big pileup. Got her on 20 only by dumb luck. She changed frequency and no body knew where. I stumbled on before the first spot went out.

Now W6L is a whole other story. Again, many false spots. People were working W6M and someone spotted him as L. So of course many have L in their log when in fact they worked M. Also another false spot for L on 40 CW. No one there but people were calling anyway.

So only one more to go. Bot L a no show after 5 full days.

 

This contest has been a lot of fun. Some of these stations have been hard to work (being so close to them).