Pandemic, social unrest, political unrest, unbelievable fires, running out of names for Tropical Storms, even a plague of locusts, and there is still another quarter of 2020 to go! Nevertheless, I’m very grateful to have Amateur Radio as a hobby as it provides many opportunities to keep my brain active and distract me from some terrible things going on in the world.
I set the following as goals for 2020:
- Teach a Technician Class
- Reach 275 Confirmed Countries in DXCC
- Reach 90 Confirmed Countries on 160-Meters
- Reach 1450 Band-Points in the DXCC Challenge
- Reach 40 confirmed states on satellite
Good news is that three of the five have already been accomplished. Not only did I teach a technician Class, but I’m part way through the second for this year. Both are historically large classes being taught online. They have lead to historically large VE sessions, and large number of new hams licensed. At this point I’ve taught between 15 and 20% of all licensed hams in the state!
I did finally reach 275 confirmed countries in DXCC. Almost everything left is dependent on future DXPeditions. That has brought me close to another goal, with only four band-points left to get to my goal of 1450. Two of those came about due to 6-meter openings.
After stalling at 89 confirmed countries on 160 over the noisy summer months, I got back on 160-meters yesterday. I worked two new countries (Iceland and Anguilla) and heard but didn’t work three more in South America. By this morning, Iceland had confirmed (thank you TF2MSN), completing my goal of 90 confirmed countries on 160-meters for 2020.
My final uncompleted goal for 2020 is to work 40 states via Satellite. I’ve been off the birds for months due to foliage, and my usual excursions to parks have been severely limited by the pandemic. I doubt I will be able to work 3 more states before the end of this year. So more than likely I’ll finish the year with 4 out of 5 goals completed.
