Mahalo Michael

ALOHA fellow ham radio enthusiasts! Gather 'round, and let me regale you with the tale of my most thrilling (and somewhat hilarious) experience using my ICOM IC-7300 transceiver. With only 100 watts max power and a G5RV jr wire antenna that's seen better days, I managed to make a mind-boggling 52 contacts on 20 meters, parking on 14.268 MHz. The pile-up was massive, chaotic, and incredibly fun – it was like the Black Friday of ham radio!

Working a pile-up like this can really train your ears to pick up call signs amidst the cacophony. It was like playing "Where's Waldo?" with my ears. And I must say, I've become quite the auditory detective.    

My time was limited, as I had only an hour and a half before I needed to have dinner with my wife. As the clock ticked, I could practically hear her stomach growling . But in that short window, I managed to have voice conversations (QSOs) and exchange signal reports with 52 people across 18 different countries or DXCC entities. Many of our signal reports were a true 59, which, as you know, is really good – or as I like to say, the ham radio equivalent of a high-five!

Here's a list of the countries and their prefixes that I managed to make contact with during my adventure:

As dinner time approached, I signed off with a mixture of pride and the realization that my wife was probably plotting to hide my radio gear if I didn't get to diner soon. I quickly wrapped up and rushed to dinner, grateful for my ICOM IC-7300 and the trusty G5RV jr wire antenna for making this amazing (and amusing) pile-up adventure possible.

If you've been considering upgrading your ham radio setup, I highly recommend giving this combo a try. Who knows? You'll be the next one to share your own pile-up escapades, and we can swap stories over a virtual cup of coffee.

Until next time, 73, happy DXing, and remember to keep your spouses fed!