It is amazing what comes in the mail when your active with HF. I say you never know who you might meet or what might happen. WA9PWP was calling CQ and I answered. Neither of us knowing the other was using the exact same radio. These kits are not available any longer and though they are out there I can't remember the last time I had heard one on the air. This very well could be the last time I will ever have a random two way QSO with another SW+ 40 so it is worth mentioning.
Tonight I barely squeaked in a QSO. The bands are not very good again and I was barely heard at 0046z. It is N3PBF, Frank in PA. Frank sent me a 339 RST so I knew it would be a difficult exchange. I sent 559, QTH, Name. He replied he didn't get the name. Then he sent no copy. I already have PA in the log so the state count holds but at least I got to continue the QSO a day streak into March! We are supposed to have severe thunder storms coming so I have now unhooked the antennas for the night to protect the SW+ 40. Maybe in the morning I will catch someone else and add to the state count.
Operating the SW+40 pretty much exclusively has been a great reminder of how much I enjoyed building this radio. Though it is not a high performance rig it works pretty well and I appreciate every QSO. My temptation is to want to add something more to this since it is so much fun. This is where I always go astray. I tend to want to spend money to invest something more into the joy of this activity. There isn't anything that would make things better. I hope I will just have fun with this and the money I want to invest is better spent on stamps, envelopes, and maybe more QSL cards.