Well, our yearly jaunt to Dauphin Island, AL (IOTA NA-213, USI AL-002S) is over. We had one station QRV shortly after 2200Z March 8 and within a few hours had 3 more stations on. As planned we tried RTTY, unfortunatly not as much interest in this mode as we had hoped. PSK31 did a little better, but not much. As in past years, there was considerable interest in NA-213 on the WARC bands, especially by the European and Japanese stations. When all was said and done, we finished with better than 2000 QSOs. Far below last year's total of 4500 but propagation seemed down considerably to us. A fun weekend all in all. I think everyone involved will admit that the highlight of this year's activitiy was the cooking provided by Rose Gollotte and Kathy Becnel (W5UE's mom and XYL). The meals were OUTSTANDING!!! We also enjoyed having Chris, KD5IBE with us this year. Chris is a sophomore at St. Stanislaus High School. He took to RTTY/PSK31 and SSB pileups like a fish to water. Nice to have some younger hams with us. They are not only the future of our hobby, but also our country.
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