The new TS-590 was installed Wednesday. It was fully tested and running by remote over the internet by the end of the day Thursday. I made a few contacts Friday to get a feel for how it worked and set up the N1MM logging software. I had never used any logging software before, but I needed to do so for the Minnesota QSO Party. The hardest part to deal with was the switching back and forth between the radio control software and the logging software.
It was a lot of fun and a nice change to actually be the station called in a few pile-ups. I am very used to running QRP and that usually means wondering up and down the bands finding contacts. My 100 watts of power experience is limited to the short time I owned the FT-897D and many years ago when I owned the TS-140. I chatted with 189 stations in forty three states and four provinces.
The Minnesota Wireless Association is a pretty cool group. They are divided into three teams. There is a team for Minneapolis, basically Hennepin county, and then the other two teams are split with the north and the south parts of the state. It is a very active group and they have a lot of fun and camaraderie. It was great meeting a few friends on the air during the contest including my neighbor from back when we lived in Minnesota in the nineties. It will be interesting to see which team scored the most points in this QSO party.
Below is the map of the sections worked. I have to say it makes it easy to see. Not on the map are Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, none of which I heard or talked to in this event.