BOTA 1 on May 15, 2024
Well after a spell of thunderstorms, Brazos Bend State Park shutdown and then a big solar storm that killed all band activity I finally setup the Budipole in the backyard and the FT-710 in the breakfast table in the house since it was so hot. Band conditions were still not very good. Tried 10 Meters using a vertical dipole configuration and 60 watts. The SWR was below 1.5 for the whole band with the lowest being 1.31. The band was very quiet and only got two DX contacts (Brazil and Columbia). I then tried 20 Meters using a vertical dipole configuration and 60 watts. The SWR at 14.075 MHz was 1.14. I was able to get 16 domestic contacts with strong signal reports. Finally, I tried 15 Meters using a horizontal dipole configuration and with 60 Watts. The SWR was below 1.2 for the whole band and the lowest being 1.06. Mainly hunted DX stations. I was able to get 10 DX contacts and 2 domestics including Romania which I had not logged before and the odd station EA9PB which is in DXCC entity Ceuta & Melilla. Ceuta is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa bordered by Morocco.
10 Meter Vertical Dipole
20 Meter Vertical Dipole
15 Meter Horizontal Dipole