5 January 2025

  Well, on my Sunday night I set out to try 15m. It was a beautiful evening. Just a light notherly breeze off the ocean. As the stars really began to shine I turned on my radio around 0800z with hopes for favorable band conditions. They were marginal at best. That made the task of pulling out callsigns even more difficult than usual, but with a concentrated effort and patience from my fellow hams, the logbook started filling up. As the band quickly closed to Europe shortly after 0900z I ended up with 131 QSOs and headed back to my room knowing I’d be back at it in the morning.

  Monday morning on Wake my setup went quickly and I was a little early so I tuned around the 15m band. I was happy to hear K5DGR calling CQ POTA, coming in clearly from Arizona. I was even happier when he heard me send my call and “Park to Park.” After a RF high-five, I looked for a spot on the band to be able to work split. First in the log officially was Lloyd, KK7HA, from my hometown in Montana. His signal was S7 and sounded as if he could have been sitting across the table from me. 

  After that I was off and rolling. This days’ QSO rate was just… comfortable. I only had to work “5 up” and was able to work through the pile efficiently. Things would slow down a few times and each time I thought, “maybe that’s it”, and a new surge would come along. That went along for two hours, totalling up to 224 QSOs, and putting me over 2500 since arriving on Wake Island.

  Knowing I’d be back at the same spot in the morning I had left my antenna up overnight on the beach on my mast. When I collapsed the fiberglass mast my hands quickly became covered in salt from the sea spray overnight. Just another sign of the harsh conditions the marine environment yields. It is very harsh on most things man made. I can already see the rust forming on the alligator clips on my linked-dipole antenna. Time for an upgrade.  12 meters is coming to Wake Island soon… 73, Allen