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Currently accepting suggestions for our next June destination. We are seriously looking into boosting the 2m station to make EME more possible."
++ Ham products from Wisconsin: One of this year's conference presenters is Gary Sutcliffe W9XT. He has created a small family of products that you might find interesting. Contesting was his original focus but there are two products that I get good mileage from in the VHF world. First is his XT-4 memory keyer. It's small and has four memories. Perfect for a rover. He's modified the software so that it can beacon too. I use mine on my 10GHz setup. Next is his XT-4 beacon keyer. It's PIC based, small, easy to program, and doesn't seem to draw much current. You can check out his website at: http://www.qth.com/w9xt/
++ Ham Products from Illinois: K9LU makes a line of tiny CW keys/paddles called Bulldog Iambic Keys. I use the BD-2 Bulldog on the magnetic base for the same 10 GHz setup mentioned above. It's tiny and stays put. His products are visible at:
http://www.amateurradioproducts.com/. This same little Bulldog Key is perfect with a Yeasu 817 as well.
++ Tom, AC5TM, in Louisiana reports;
"Did a moonrise attempt with DL5MAE he has a really good station on his end. Used the W5GAD station using a single 2M5WLC with a ICOM 820H no preamp and a Johnston 6N2 Thunderbolt with 600 watts out. I was unable to hear him but he reported to me in an email later he could hear me weakly. Now to add a good preamp and start to see if I can hear others off the moon."
++ John, W5UWB, from near Houston, TX has given WSJT a try and reports the following: "I am still chasing single yagi qso's on 2 meters and watching for E's (very poor this year downhere!), but decided to try a little digital mode communications. Got going with WSJT441 the 12th of May and with very little operating time (weekends only) have had so far 15 initial qso's on 144 and 2 on 222. Some with rather low power and small antennas. Best DX would be N8OC in EN83 (1330+ miles) last Sunday morning. Admittedly he runs power (1.5kw) as do I, but I still consider it remarkable for randoms. (Beta-Taurids might have given a bit of a boost)." I recall working John, W5UWB, the old way from EN-43. I want to give this WSJT a try!
++ John, KØPW, from the Twin Cities of Minnesota is active on 2m (including EME) and has had lots of fun added to his operations by use of WSJT. He reports the following: "I won the 2002 North American High Speed Meteor Scatter Rally for 2M unlimited power category. WSJT is a powerful MS mode that is vastly under-utilized in the U.S. I just completed my 1 year anniversary of activity using WSJT (FSK441) on 2M. Here is what I got for my effort:
130 Initial contacts on 2M
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