Chasing DX - in the Rain

I heard ES1QD on 40m LSB. Actually, I saw him spotted and went over to his frequency. I could barely hear him in there over the noise. The antenna I had hooked up at the time was my loop antenna in the attic (ladder line feed to a T tuner).

Since I wasn't hearing him very well I figured I would try my screwdriver antenna on the truck. This is a decent antenna, but it is a pain to hook up and disconnect all the time so I don't use it too often. When I have used it in the past I have stacked a bunch of 3/8"x24 antenna parts (two buddipole arms, a 10m hamstick antenna mast, and a long buddipole telescoping whip on top for about 12-15' of whip).

Since I wasn't copying ES1QD very well on the loop I figured, if I was going out to hook the antenna up, I might as well make it as efficient as I can. So I went outside... and it was raining. I didn't let that stop me! I went right out anyway.

Apparently it worked and was well worth it. On my second call I got right through the pile up!

ES1QD 40m LSB.mp3

I should have waited a little longer... now hes calling CQ North America as the pile up cleared. In any event, he is in the log!