DX serendipity

On my home from the Ham Basics workshop (see previous post), I turned on the radio in my car to see what stations might be on the air. I was pleasantly surprised to hear several European stations booming in. To say this is rare for my mobile station would be an understatement! I had heard a Finnish station once before a year or more ago, but none others.

I've also learned that my chances of working a weak station from my car (I have a hamstick mounted near the trunk with a line tuner between the antenna and radio) approach nil. Since the station was loud enough, I called DL7MEV (he was in a contest) and he even answered back. I now have exactly ONE European contact from Germany near the Austrian border.

Since that time, I have not heard any stations more distant than Texas and Minnesota (about 1500 miles). That magic of radio continues....

Postscript: I uploaded my German contact into Logbook of the World, and he verified the contact a couple of days later. I assume he needed some rest after a 48-hour contest. Now my trail towards DXCC advances to 14. Just for comparison, several of my friends have contacts with 337 countries verified, so I have a ways to go.